Love, love, LOVE Cane Garden Bay!

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Geo: 18.4269, -64.657

This is where we were back when we bought the boat. It is sheer perfection that we are back here onboard our very own Inspiration four years later!

Cane Garden Bay is a favourite of ours. We'll stay anchored here for a little while! 😉

May 29th, 2015 - Love, love, LOVE Cane Garden Bay!

Hello all,

Okay, where did I leave off?? I'm once again rushing to get photos uploaded, but I'm sending this message from one I had started a LONG while ago! This is however, being sent from Culebra, Puerto Rico. We are on our way back to mainland Puerto Rico to put the boat up on the hard. And then we'll be back in Toronto before we know it! Yay! We'll get to see so many of you so soon!!!! 😉

Cane Garden Bay. (CBG) That's where I last signed off...

We had stayed in CGB four years ago (2011) for a week prior to our charter. We stayed at a perfect little spot called the Mongoose Apartments. For anyone looking to do a charter week in the BVI, we highly recommend that you stay here a few nights before your charter. Even if you aren't on a charter, this was a great place to spend a relaxing vacation! Reviews HERE, or their website: http://www.mongooseapartments.com

We had just put a deposit down on Inspiration before that 2011 trip. So it was in CGB that we talked about how great it would be to sail back down here on our own boat! Four years later, here we are! Cane Garden Bay is just as wonderful as we remember it! Each morning we enjoy coffee in the cockpit watching Pelicans and Red Footed Boobies dive from sky and plunge into the water to catch their first fish of the day. The beach is the main attraction in Cane Garden Bay, and there are plenty of mooring balls for the charter boats, so from our anchorage in the harbour we can watch all the action.

CGB is also the only beach, besides the west coast of Florida, that I have ever found Coquinas. These are tiny clams that dig themselves into the sand each time a wave uncovers them. As a child I used to dig for these for hours. I had discovered these in CGB four years ago, and they are still here. Sigh. Lazy Hazy Digging Days. Happy Sailor Girl! Here's a link to see what coquinas are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donax_variabilis

We made sure to re-visit Bananakeet, the fabulous restaurant where we celebrated Tony's 65th birthday. Again, it was 4 years ago that together, with our close friends Andy, Elva & Velma, we enjoyed a picture perfect evening atop the hills of Tortola looking west over Jost Van Dyke. Actually, it wasn't only Tony's birthday, it was also Andy's which made it a doubly special occasion! This visit was equally enjoyable except for the not-so-great, or to be more precise, the non-existent sunset. I'm sure the sun went down that day, but we sure couldn't see it! I'll blame it on the hazy days of Sahara sand and dust that I told you about last time. Bananakeet link: http://heritageinnbvi.com and TripAdvisor reviews HERE.

After being in CGB for some time we got into the routine. Sunday and Monday were always quiet days in the harbour as most boats have to be back at the charter base on Saturdays. Tuesdays and Wednesdays alternate as being the "cruise ship day" of the week. So we get up to find the beach lined with hundreds of lounge chairs by 6am. While we have our coffee we watch bus after bus come down the mountain shuttling passengers to their beach day. Cruise ship days are good days to do laundry since the locals are all in business-mode selling drinks, island knick knacks and t-shirts to the tourists. Little stands pop up everywhere. Thursday through Saturday are the hopping days in town with live music at all the beach bars and restaurants and every mooring ball within the harbour is full. We were happy to find one of the live musicians to be a Torontonian from the Jimmy Buffett tribute band, “Northern Exposure”. This was a band that Tony had hired for Sailpast at EYC a number of years ago when he was Social Director. We thoroughly enjoyed enjoyed all the live music here.

So while anchored in Cane Garden Bay for over two weeks, we watched all the charter boats come and go. But then we met a few cruisers too! Some of you will know whom I'm talking about when I tell you that “Asante” (http://www.windtraveler.net) pulled into the harbour! This is a young couple with three daughters under three (yrs old), who are one of the leading bloggers about life aboard a sailboat. If you haven't looked at their blog, you should. Britney is an excellent writer, and describes the many quirks of life aboard in her earlier posts when they travelled up and down the Caribbean island chain. Anyways, I was happy to meet Britney and her oldest daughter, Isla (3 yrs), on the beach. I showed Isla how to dig for coquinas, the way I did when I was her age, and as we all know, I still do, even in my 40's! 😉

But then a familiar boat showed up! Robert and Holly aboard Shangri-La, a 44 foot catamaran, were our neighbors at the dock back in February in Provo (Turks and Caicos) at the Southside Marina. Holly and I had hit it off there, in the short time before we left for our passage to the DR and PR. I was so excited to see Holly again in CGB that I actually shrieked her name across the anchorage when they arrived! Yup. Shrieked. Even I was shocked by the high pitch I achieved. Oh my.

Together she and I enjoyed swimming and snorkeling together, and just plain hanging out. Both of us were thrilled to have a “playmate” amongst all the charter boats. We then moved over to Jost Van Dyke and enjoyed one last visit before they haul out for the season. We had a lovely dinner aboard Shangri-La and chatted way into the night. I do hope that our paths will cross again in the future!

I have to tell you how crazy things can get in a wee bit of a blow! It's 'charter boat territory' don't forget! I guess logic escapes those on holidays?!? I don't know, but One windy day was like watching reality television! There were sustained winds at 20 knots, and gusts at 35. We enjoyed the entertainment of two charter boats coming into harbour with ripped foresails, and one with a ripped main. But then came the moment like a train wreck. You couldn't help but watch. A 55 foot Moorings monohull actually passed OVER the reef UNDER SAIL rather than entering the channel through the markers. Tony and I were both watching, watching, watching....in disbelief, I might add...and then I had to cover my eyes when they got to the really shallow area! I uncovered them when I heard the "crunch". Yup, they hit the reef. That beautiful elk horn coral that Holly and I had snorkelled through the day before was now broken....*sign*. Don't they know how long it takes for coral to grow? Don't they care? Don't they KNOW HOW TO FOLLOW A CHART???? Don't they realize how dangerous that could have been if the water was too shallow and they stopped dead? Ugh. Reality TV at it's finest! Ugh.

Okay, enough about CGB. In our last weeks of the BVI's we sailed back to the East end of Tortola, to Marina Cay for the "Women Who Sail Rendezvous". It was great to meet so many women who appreciate the sailing life!

And I hate to say it, but that's all the sailing adventures you're gonna get for the next little while.

Here's the Link to the CGB pictures on the Photoblog: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/inspiration38/1/1430530765/tpod.html

I've got more picture from the final couple weeks of the trip which I'll upload once I'm back in TO.

From there we started our journey back towards Puerto Rico. We are putting Inspiration up on the hard (Puerto Del Rey Marina, Mainland PR near Fajardo) for the next five months. Once we arrive at the Marina we have three days to prep the boat for Haul Out. We fly out the next day. So we will see many of you very soon! Yay! We will be back in Toronto for Sailpast.

Love and Kisses from the both of us!

Just. Can't. Wait. to see you all! 😊

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