Happy Hour

Our favorite way to end the day. A rum punch on the foredeck of Ocean Wings looking out the bay and watching the sun splash into the ocean.  Retirement! I love it!

Privacy

There are so many beaches here in paradise that sometimes you even get one all to yourselves. You can beach your dinghy, catch some "wrays", beachcomb or swim and snorkel. Our little private beach was all those things.

Coconut Hunter

The Bitter End is a resort and marina here in Gorda Sound.... not the end to our story.

Its picture perfect with beaches, hammocks, dining under thatched roofs, quaint hillside bungalows and palm trees lining the shore.

The male of our species still has that cave man hunter buried somewhere deep inside him just waiting to come out. Coconuts are the lure. Knock that coconut out of the tree and drink the warm coconut milk.  Macho Time!
My great white coconut hunter was not immune to that ancient allure. He took on that tree like a true hunter and grinned from ear to ear as he showed off his prize.
Once captured those things are impossible to crack open. So, I'm not quite sure who really won in the end.  

The Check IS in the mail

I believe that saying must have originated here in the Virgin Islands and they probably really meant it.
Check out the postal service! Ask your self ......Do I really want to send Gord and Sue that parcel???
Visa, Mastercard and American Express happily accepted in lui of parcels.

Off to Leverick Bay

The sun is shinning and its a great sail up to Gorda Sound and into Leverick Bay.  We are getting close to the time we will be putting the boat away for the summer hurricane season and there is the question of where? We're renting a car and going on a tour from one end of Virgin Gorda to the other with a stop along the way to check out Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbour for haulout at end of April.
The view from the road is spectacular and although its a narrow winddy road we must share. It's just a little odd to share with goats, cows and chickens all trotting alone the road by themselves like they have           important business and places to be.  Some even wandering around on roof tops like their job is to check for leaks or loose shingles.

It's a beautiful drive as we curve up, down and around this island with ocean on both sides of the road at times and more beautiful bays and future anchorages than we can count.  We headed past Savannah Bay, But he wouldn't stop and let me play in the surf no matter how much I begged.
So, we cruised out to check out the abandoned Coppermine and see if we can find any glints of precious metal peaking out from the rock.
Looking out over this rugged coastline its easy to imagine this mine in the early 1860's ,perched on the edge of the sea and bustling with activity.

We checked out the Yacht Harbour and it was just what we wanted. Decision made! Ocean Wings will settle into Virgin Gorda for the summer and to await our return in the fall.

Final stop of the day is the Baths, huge boulder formations with great tide pools and trails. A swim at  the Baths is a must do.

Rain, Rain Go Away

And it listened!  We finally have sunshine again after 5-6 days of high winds, stormy skies and non stop rain.
So, its not always perfect here in paradise. But it is often a great time to get some chores done.
Just so everyone doesn't think this is all fun and games
One thing to always do, rain or shine is stow, stow, stow.  we just cannot move the boat at all until every little thing is put away or fastened down. Gord also has his pre moving routine of checking oil, engine and all the other lines and fittings before getting underway.
 Windows are another constant chore, the bimini enclosure is all windows that get very salty and must be washed, dried, treated and buffed. The bimini itself also has to be constantly scrubbed and washed.  
Everything on a boat gets this slippery, greasy feel from the salt air, so unless we want to go slip slidin over the edge, we keep it clean.  You don't want to get me started on what a chore the stainless is. No sir!
Refrigeration is a little different on a boat, very drippy, so while it rained I took everything out, scrubbed the fridge and put it all back.
We've also started on that new nav stattion bench and I've done some sewing.  Fender covers are complete and theres a new cushion on the rear deck seat.
BUT! The sun is back out, so we'll shelve the projects for another day and go have some fun!
.

You meet the loveliest People on Sailboats

We heard something you rarely hear and never want to. The other day while sitting at anchor: "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday"!  We turned up the VHF to listen.  Over on the island of Jost Van Dyke, the surf was hitting over 8 ft where the reef was near the surface on the edge of Sandy Spit. A group of people in a Sunsail charter boat, misjudged the depth, and didn't read their charts and were literally picked up by a wave and deposited on top of the reef with the 8 ft waves washing over the boat. All the nearby Boaters came to the rescue (we were too far away) and they pulled the sailboat onto its side and dragged it off the reef. Surprisingly, the engine started the hull was not cracked,  and they motored away. We love Happy Endings! 

A few days later we were anchored in Benures Bay, at Norman Island an we met a lovely young couple, Petter from Sweden, Rosanna from Britain with their 3 yr old son Teddy, aboard their 42 ft Juneau, "Lolo". They had sold everything they had back home and were taking a 2-3 yr sailing odyssey and hunt for a new home in Southern waters. They had been standing on Sandy Spit when the above mentioned sailboat was deposited on the reef in front of them and they were one of the dinghy's to the rescue, so we got the story first-hand.

We lent them a DVD (the 1st movie they'd seen in over a year), and after a great visit wished them well on their sailing quest and home search. 
Teddy was adorable, very smart and already developing his sailing skills.  His first observation was to point to our boat and say "that's your boat, Why do you have 2 masts?"
Fair Winds to Petter, Rosanna and Teddy ...  may we meet again in some beautiful bay!