Hobknobbing with the Rich and Famous

Photos:
1. Windswept Island Girl.
2. Captain and First Mate on shore leave in Anegada.
3. Our "rugged safari" truck.
4. The crew relaxing on the east shore of Anegada.
5. First Mate and Crew ready for the Anegada Nightlife!

After our last post we continued to enjoy the fabulous amenities at the Bitter End Yacht Club, the girls tanned/shopped and Jim went fishing until a shark came up and ate his lure…and that was the end of that. The Bitter End is located on Virgin Gorda. There are several multi-million dollar yachts anchored here, which are fun to watch. Their yacht tenders tenders are bigger than our boat!

As it was getting late, we motor sailed over to Leverick Bay, fueled up at the dock and enjoyed the pool, showers (MJ and Mom both showered, dressed and were ready to go while Emily remained under the refreshing fresh water shower…we were worried she would want to take up permanent residence there), perused the book trade (excellent selection) and even more Internet (free WIFI).

Emily and MJ have been enjoying the ten to twelve hours of sleep each night. Em was really excited about the fact that she’s been faithfully waking up at around 6:30 am her time, “I’ll already be waking up early, so it’ll be an easy transition when I get back” (until MJ reminded her that to keep up this regimen she’ll have to go to bed at 6:30pm)

The seas were a tad bit rough for our three-hour tip to Anegada but the wind was excellent. MJ continues to hold post on the bow (no Jib Sailing – it was too rough anyway). Just as we prepared to enter the secret entrance to Anegada (this is a narrow, winding reef entrance where your depth finder says 1.2’, 1.3’, 0.7’, 0.5’, 0.5’ etc…), dark and ominous clouds and sheets of rain engulfed us. Emily and MJ dashed below deck and continued to read their books while Jim and Lara brought the boat to anchor in the pouring rain. At one point Lara squatted down to see the girls comfy, warm and dry while she was sopping wet with water dripping down her face, she rolled her eyes and said “Oh yeah, it’s great being the parents.”

While we were making arrangements for our rental car, Richard Branson (Virgin Records, Virgin Atlantic Air and owner of Necker Island) wandered by. He, and his entourage (a crowd of kids-grand kids?) took off in his 26’ “Dinghy” with twin 250 hp motors.

We finished up the day with cocktails at Neptune’s Treasure. We made it back into our boat right as another bout of rain hit. Since we had all had naps, we played two rounds of cards that night. We would have played a third, but the girls were putting Jim to shame and he grumbled something about “You three are reading books while playing and I’m concentrating really hard and you’re still beating me…no, I don’t want to play another round.”

The following day, Jim woke up early and left to go fishing (this is real fishing, ie: no catching has occurred). The girls woke up leisurely and had a good time enticing cute little birds to eat crackers out of their hands. The birds thanked us by pooping all over the deck. The Captain ordered the Crew to swab the decks.

When Jim returned, the crew went ashore and picked up our rental car. We are now convinced that have somehow offended the folks at the Anegada Reef Hotel. We were given a safari style, Nissan pick-up with built in benches (in the truck bed) for extra riders (ie: this is the truck they use to ferry riders to the distant shores – business was light, so they RENTED this monstrosity to us); for a moment we had visions of making our money back by offering our own taxi service, but the contract limited us to only having four people in the vehicle.

The tourists (MJ and Emily) road in the bed of the truck on the benches. Little did they know that Jim and Lara were in the truck cab enjoying the air conditioning! Aaah, it’s great to be the parents!

We saw the Island’s flock of pink flamingos and spent a few hours at the famous Loblolly Bay.

While snorkeling, we saw a flounder (strange looking fish with both eyes on the same side of his head!), a perfect (live) Queen conch – resisted the temptation to make her a souvenir and spotted two of the prehistoric looking crocodile fish – Tylosurus Crocodilus. The best part of the Loblolly Bay snorkeling was the two sea turtles that were eating sea grass. MJ and Jim were content just swimming above them while Mom and Emily insisted of getting pictures with them, which meant swimming really fast with the photographer on one side of the turtle while the other person maneuvered to the far side (of the turtle). This is done with everyone underwater. It was a very neat experience.

Everyone had a hot shower (the Captain imposed a one gallon limitation per person) and got dressed up for we had dinner reservations at Neptune’s Treasure. This was the first time in a month that Jim has worn a shirt with a collar! This seaside diner was decorated for Christmas with blinking lights and a Christmas tree. The restaurant has been in the same family for more than 40 years with the owner arriving to the Island in 1960 and the family living in a tent for three years while they built their house. There are lobster pots at the end of their dock from which they pull your dinner!

The next day Jim got up for more fishing (caught nothing but some mullet and a small shark) and then we sailed (full main and reefed Jib) all the way back from Anegada. The winds were quite stiff (20+kts) but we are getting used to that along with the 5-6’ seas! It is actually an uncomfortable ride as the boat is heeled up (we could see water through the window in the salon) on its side for three hours and the Captain wants the Crew on the high side of the boat side most of the time.

We anchored in the lee of Prickly Pear Island in Gorda Sound for more snorkeling and another visit to the Bitter End Yacht Club (free WiFi!).