To the Bitter End

Sunday morning we showered onshore again. It's become a bit funny to us how something we generally take for granted during the rest of the year becomes something we look forward to and anticipate here. Besides showering, some more groceries were bought. That is when Ben and CG discovered saltfish.

In an effort to find out what this was, they asked a local guy about it. He said, "If you saw this fish you wouldn't want to eat it. It is like the woman (now looking directly at CG) once a month (motioned his hands downward) , it is moody, like the woman."

Ben and CG bought it.

Once everyone was back on the boat, we all ambushed Sammy with water guns! Happy Birthday to Sammy! He quickly retaliated by opening up a bottle of water and splashing all of us. And a good time was had by all.

Then we left the dock. Here are a couple of photos I took at the last second before leaving; one has the supermarket in the background, the other has the Swiss ship that was anchored there. We're still puzzling over how a landlocked country has a registered ship.

As we were leaving the dock area another boat kept cutting us off from our escape, motoring backwards and forwards in front of us. From their movement it wasn't clear if they were going in or out, then Sammy asked if they were going in or out and they said in, giving us a dirty look. Then they proceeded to motor backwards, almost into our boat, and Sammy shouted "WATCH OUT!" But there was no collision. Sammy called out "Have a nice vacation!" I'm sure that smoothed things over.

Our sail for the day was VERY choppy and windy. We went pretty fast, but the boat was often keeled over very much to the side and it could get quite rocky. We often sat at the edge of the boat opposite where the boat leaned, to counteract with our weight.

But I steered part of the time!

I'm looking up in the photo because that is what I was doing quite often. It was to check the angle of the sail in reference to the wind. It was important to keep it at a certain angle so we could travel. Steering was both my high and my low of the day. High because it was amazing (and harder than steering a car), low because I was afraid I was going to kill everyone. The winds were very strong.

Other notable moments of the trip (which were too hair raising to take photos of):

• The knot in the jib furler that Ben caught as we tried to furl the jib. Everyone needed to help because the tension was so strong.
• When the jib sheets were ripping around where Amichai was standing because they were loose and Sammy shouted to CG to "Pull for Amichai's life! Pull for your husband's life!"
• When the wind blew off the metal lid of the BBQ grill and it flipped around on its thin metal string, making a huge racket

But we finally arrived at our next destination, which was at the top of the island of Virgin Gorda. One of the first things we noticed was as we moored, which was lots of blue jellyfish in the water! It was both very cool and very creepy.

The wind blew a towel off our boat, but Sammy managed to fish it out before it sank. Then he and Yoni wrung it out.

Yoni: I feel like I’m killing a swan

After lunch, this lady showed up:

Yes, that is a lady that pulled up alongside us in her dinghy, selling jewelry. She was French-Canadian. Ben talked to her a little bit about Montreal, then CG bought some earrings.

It was time to go ashore. This is what awaited us:

The Bitter End Yacht Club. It was nicer than we expected, actually quite a nice place. Since we've recently become accustomed to judging places not only on their outside appearances, but by their bathrooms as well, I can testify that this place also had air conditioning in their bathroom, and the walls and floor were made of dark wood. So it's pretty nice.

The lady at the front desk when we arrived was Kasheema, of the Green Eyes. Green eyes that Ben complimented her on, only to find out from CG later that they were definitely lenses. In any event, Sammy got a $10 discount for our mooring because it was his birthday!

Then we went off to enjoy ourselves. Sammy and Yoni went kiting:

The rest of us went to the beach a short walk away. It was a really gorgeous beach, with palm trees, beach chairs, thatched roofs over the chairs to shade from the sun, and the softest sand ever. It was perfect for walking on - it sank in just enough to feel amazing, but it was firm enough that you could walk without slipping back and forth. I admit, I walked back and forth several times just to experience it. Then I went into the water, along with Ben and CG.

There were no jellyfish.

Sammy and Yoni came back and we sang Happy Birthday to Sammy again. Then we bestowed our gift upon him: a massage at the spa, on us. Since the spa was closing soon, he got the massage this morning instead. He said it was very relaxing and quite oily. But good. And then the people chased us around for the money, but Ben (who had the money) had gone off searching for iguanas. But we're not up to that yet.

Yoni and I began building a sand castle. Since the tide was coming in, it was important to build a defending wall around the castle, which would also form a moat. Yoni guided me, and CG as well, from his years of experience building sand castles as a child.

Yoni: This is a grown-up's beach; no one else is doing this.

The castle looks like a tower-lump, but Yoni assured us that there were actually castles that looked like this in the 11th century. We also added a staircase to the castle tower, which made it look somewhat like a ziggurat:

Sammy: Yoni, that’s quite phallic of you.

Nearby there was a hammock, which I went to relax on. The Birthday Boy joined me.

Amichai, Sammy, and I then went over to the restaurant/bar which had WiFi, where we checked email and relaxed. Ben relaxed on his own in his island paradise

while Yoni and CG made a golem.

So maybe it was sand, not earth and clay. But Yoni and CG made a large sand woman.

CPR:

Then CG destroyed the sand woman, which I took a movie of, but it may be too violent for our readership. Then Ben, Yoni, and CG joined us at our table. CG got a Bushwacker, which was basically an alcoholic milkshake, Ben got a Malibu Bay Breeze, and Sammy got a 7&7 with too much 7. We also got free popcorn!

We took the dinghy back as it began to get dark and realized that it seemed as if the same loud Puerto Ricans had come from Spanish Town and moored nearby. But our focus was on dinner, which we needed to use our BBQ for.

The wind was so intense sparks from the grill were flying all over and we were afraid some would land on the dinghy and the petroleum would catch fire. We frantically moved the dinghy to the other side of the boat.

Then we began cooking, to the music of the Beach Boys and The Shins. Dinner was Ahi tuna, corn on the cob, salad, and...brownies for Sammy's birthday!

Our experimentation with timed picture-taking, count down 10 seconds:

It was also the first meal we had on the boat that was downstairs.


There was a bit of disagreement between CG and Amichai on how to draw an anchor:

 In the next campaign, be sure to Support the Bottom.

After the meal we talked for awhile and then went to sleep.

This morning we had croissants for breakfast! Sara Lee frozen products, everyone. We then dinghy-ed in for Sammy's massage and other activities. I've been working on gathering photos and writing the blog, Amichai did some work he had to catch up on, and Yoni, CG, and Ben disappeared in a search for iguanas.

Until next time!