Gord, Unmasked!

Suzanne and I took our inflatable dinghy and left our sailboat anchored in Benure's Bay on Norman Island to motor to a "dinghy mooring ball" where one can tie off to a floating, anchored ball during the day to snorkel the rugged, coral coast of the shoreline. It is nice that the Parks Dept. has done this for visitors to make it convenient to attach your dinghy to the ball, free of charge, in 50 feet of water and simply put on your snorkel and mask and swim fins, and push off from the boat to enter the mysterious and wondrous underwater world that takes up over 72% of our watery planet.
We always plan the dive, and dive the plan, but Sue has a lot more hotter blood than I do, so after an hour of sightseeing, and even watching a sleeping 7 foot nurse shark doze on the bottom, I told Sue that I was going back to the dinghy to warm up.
It takes some strong arms to hoist yourself out of the water and over the 3 foot sides of the inflatable boat, so I removed my custom-made, prescription mask and attached snorkel and threw them into the bottom of the boat and with one mighty grunt and heave, like a beaching whale, i hauled myself into the dinghy and relished in the warmth of the hot sides of the rubber boat. I removed my swim fins and plunked them into the bottom also.
Just about then, Sue frantically swam up beside the boat and shouted: "Your mask is sinking"!
I looked down to my dismay to see that my fins must have flipped out my mask back into the water!
Damn! A prescription mask is not just for fun, it is a necessity to see the condition of the bottom of the boat and rudder, etc.
I have a scuba dive tank aboard "Ocean Wings", but the first rule of diving is to never do it alone.
So we raced back to the beach at Norman Island and I ran into the dive shop, just as they were closing, and explained the situation to a very lovely young lady named Cortney Hanson who was the Dive Master there. She agreed to go back to the mooring ball, put on her dive gear and take a look for me.
I was worried about her going in alone, but she insisted that she was fine.
She donned her tank and regulator and splashed in, with Sue floating above to guide her to the last known position. After about 15 minutes of watching her bubbles circling the dinghy as she scoured the bottom 50 feet down, she came up holding a mask and snorkel!
I said: "Sorry, but that is not mine"!
She got the joke and laughed heartily.
I got my mask back and Cortney said: "No charge, have a nice day"!
We thanked her profusely and watched her motor back to Tortola, where she lived.
The next morning, I slipped an envelope with my thanks and enough for dinner and a case of beer, between the dive shop doors.
Thank you Cortney Hanson, it is people like you that make the world a lovelier place!

Sharks, Sharks & Sharks

Not only did I see my first shark, but that sighting was followed the next day by a second and then shall we say a partial third.

The Indians are a series of large rough rocks just east of Norman Island, with some of the best snorkeling in the BVI's.  While snorkelling there, I was busy snapping pics of the little fish when a 4-5 ft shark over took me from behind and swam about 5 ft under me. I had no time to either panic ( which I thought I would ) or snap a pic before he was gone.

The following day in just off the north side of Norman Island , outside a beautiful calm anchorage in Benures Bay. I spotted my second shark. He was in 15 ft of water , at least 10 ft long and havin' a snooze on the bottom. His size caused a few heart palpitations, but when he didn't move I calmed down long enough to grab Gord and frantically point. We kind of edged away slowly and kept a good eye on our path of retreat, just in case.   ***Watch the next post for Gord's account of his unmasking****

Now, what enemies do sharks have? Or, what eats a shark ( besides man of course)  In Great Harbour on Peter Island I spotted a shark head and several long ft of what used to be the rest of him. The snout, with eyes was very large, so I deduced that at some point he was a very big fella. So, what got him?  I was not sticking around to be the next meal . I high tailed it out of there.  I tried to get a pic, but the water that day was stirred up and they didn't turn out. Shall I venture back and try again?  Would You?

Waterspouts and Sunsets

They just seem to go hand in hand. Sitting in The Bight at Norman Island we were having a tall one and watching the sunset in all its glory, spreading pink and gold underneath a layer of fluffy black cloud. Pointing down from that cloud we saw 6 or more waterspouts meandering their way across the channel between Norman and St John.

Touchdown was spectacular. We could see huge sprays of water being sucked up toward the cloud as it travelled across in front of us for a good 15 minutes before disappearing behind the island. A big ball of flaming sun sank into the ocean as a final finale

Nav Station Makeover

Who ever heard of a boat being built with a Nav Station that is fixed in place with no storage underneath? We all know that sailboats like to tip and everything not bolted, glued or tucked into cabinets goes everywhere. We haven’t been able to find a rubber computer so we figured we’d better tuck it away. Now neither of us are woodworkers, but I’m pretty accurate with a tape measure and Gord’s pretty adept with a saw.

So let’s chop up the Nav Station.

Measuring and marking took a whole day. NO, I’m not slow, boats are not square! The plan is to have everything precut by the woodworking yard and just assemble. So, the measuring is critical.

With tools ready and much consultation amongst ourselves, we make the first incision. Whoever built it did not mean for it to come apart, there were some tricky cuts and pieces to work around.

Reassembly? piece of cake. Everything just slotted into place like we knew what we were doing. The hinge was tricky, due to the lack of working space and I was forced to have my head tucked up under “someones” smelly armpit in order to hold it at the right angle.

Two mornings of work and the finished product is well worth the missed snorkeling.

Scratch that search for the rubber computer off the To Do List.

We have a working Nav Station.

Stay tuned for bench construction.

Touring

You’d think renting a car on St Thomas to do a little shopping and see more of the island, would be easy. You seem to see a rental agency on every corner. Alas, they are booked solid for weeks, the *#&* cruise ships. Joe to “OUR” rescue. He must have enjoyed his days off because he’s going to take another one and show us his Island. St Thomas is only 5 miles wide and 14 miles long. So guess what, all the roads seem to skirt the coast and what do we see? More harbors and Bays of course. The views are breathtaking! The roads are narrow and do not meander up the hills. They just go for it, straight up and straight down. When you’re driving on that opposite side, then you more often that not feel like you’re hanging off the edge. Yahoo!!

Adult milkshakes were a welcome pit stop. I had a cool-a-mint ( vanilla shake with Kaluha and crème de menthe) awesome. I think everything is spiked here on “Island Time”

Magens Bay is a huge Bay on the north shore, so with N.E trades predominant it is not often boat friendly, so we took a swing by. My goodness, wall to wall people bussed in from the cruise ships. Scratch that one off our list of quiet anchorages.

The tourists and locals were all friendly.

Saving Joe

Some people just work too hard. Joe is one of them, Thank God, So, we’ve conspired with his lady, Heather to get him to take a couple days of R&R and of course “A Turkey Dinner”. We’re off and sailing to do a little snorkeling, turkey feasting and taking Captain Morgan along for the ride.


Could life get any better? A genny that runs, good food, good fun and great new friends

Save the Turkey

All boats love those quiet, peaceful anchorages. We were enjoying just such a bay when we heard a sound that cruisers everywhere dread. Rattle, clank, clank, rattle, rattle and then smoke. The Generator! We’re still quick on our feet for old guys and had her shut down almost before we could gasp “ Oh No” We’ve been working on all the self sufficiency stuff and so have 2 great new solar panels which will keep all our house batteries topped up. BUT… the refrigeration runs strictly off the genny. What were the original owners thinking, a great 140 Hp Yanmar turbo main engine and it doesn’t charge anything but it’s own start battery.


Back to that fridge/freezer problem, Ice, let’s load her up, pile the top of the fridge and freezer with pillows and head back to Crown Bay Marina and find Joe and Chris.

We were just cruising into the channel when we spotted Joe and said “Save our Turkey”

Good news (the Genny) wasn’t dead, just sick. A slow salt water drip at a clamp on the non service side had caused major corrosion and totally blew the manifold. Joe’s amazing and five days later we’re up and running again.

Yeah!!! Way down in the bottom of the freezer the steak, chicken and The Turkey are still frozen solid. Joe has saved the day.