Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Sandy Spit n' White Bay

So this morning we awoke and got off to a slow start. So slow that the ruby dawn went on without us. I suspect they feel we sail a bit faster than them, so they wanted a lil bit of a head start... ;) After pulling anchor Russ, today's el capitan guided the prosecutor through the buoys marking the entry/exit to Anegada and we made for Sandy Spit just next to Jost Van Dyke. We sailed on a broad reach, one of the nice smooth and relaxing points of sail. Russ dealt with the Seas handily. Since today was such a long sail, we split duties up into two for the day and Shannon took the wheel from about midday on.. She's had a bit of sea-sickness lately but once she took the helm, it cleared up and she was in complete control. We headed to sandy spit, that beautiful little island with intense turquoise water and white choral sand beach. Not to mention all of those teeny tiny little perfect shells that I like so much. Ruby dawn was already there, so we beached our dinghy and joined their crew in exploring the island. After completely walking around it (about a 2 minute walk) we donned fins masks and snorkels and explored the reef and it's sea life. We then un-beached (is that a word?!!?!) the dinghy and headed back to the our ship, pulled up the anchor and motored west toward white bay. A small rain squall was at our back and by motoring we were hoping to outrun it. Unfortunately a speed boat we are NOT, and we got caught in the rain. At first it was a lil bit of a shock to the system, but then i realized that it was still 80ish degrees and I needed a fresh water shower anyway to rinse off the salt. After that I embraced it and got out from the cover of the bimmeny along with Rich and some of the rest of our crew. It was refreshing, like a summer rain, and all who were doused also enjoyed it...I think.. lol After the squall passed and visibility increased we headed into the eastern side of White Bay and dropped both bow and stern anchors. This was something new for me and I learned a lot. We actually manually put the anchor and hundreds of pounds of chain into the dinghy and motored it out about 70-80 feet from our stern and dropped it over board. We then hitched it to our port stern cleat. Afterward, Mike, Dan and I dove down to check the anchors making sure they were set. They had both dug in beautifully and were nicely set. We also saw that we only had about 1-2 feet of clearance under the keel of our boat! This meant our depth sounder was totally off, as it currently read 5ft!!! Things could have been very bad... White bay was beautiful! Palm trees lining a gorgeous white beach with clear blue shimmering waters. At the west end is the world famous Soggy Dollar Bar. Home of the original "pain killer" a delicious concoction famous in the BVI made with coconut milk and fruit juice and rum! We beached the dinghy, meeting all from the ruby dawn to enjoy the sunset on the beach with icy cool beverages in hand. After sunset we headed back to the boat and enjoyed dinner. Tonight's menu? Steak, baked potatoes, peas and red wine. With a small celestial lesson laying out on the bow to follow dinner. Life is good. All thanks to the Creator. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Open Waters tweenst Anegada and Jost Van Dyke

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