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Today we all were up about 6 am. Last night it was a bit stuffy in the boat so Jenn and Geoff decided to sleep out on the trampoline (the rubberized fabric that is stretched between the two front hulls and is about 8 ft x 8 ft). However, in the middle of the night, the wind kicked up so (I surmised this morning when I woke up) Jenn went inside to her room and Geoff, not wanting to give up on the adventure of sleeping on deck, setup a makeshift bed on the back settee bench. While Geoff was out front Wes and I were awoken to a loud clicking noise. After investigating to see where it was coming from we discovered that it was the port bilge pump that is located under the floor. I guess it had gone bad. I turned off the electric breaker to it and it is now stopped for good (or until we bring it back to the charter company!). Let’s hope that we don’t have any big leaks! They would come out and fix it but Geoff says we’re OK.
The wind was cycling between 5 and 10 knots in the morning and the clouds were pretty with the sun coming up. Nothing dramatic as the hill on Cooper blocked the official sunrise.
The kids found out that I got internet access last night and wanted to head to shore to get their fix (first this week!). I can only assume that, after they heard about the stock market going up a couple hundred points they wanted to go in and do some stock trading. Not! I’m sure they need to catch up on their Facebook activities. They’ve been trying to train me a bit on it but I’m afraid it is futile. But, they have convinced me that I really need to get with it so I’ll give it a try.
After Geoff made the coffee they were all off and came back about an hour later after I had set the waypoints for Norman Island (no big deal…it’s only 7.5 nautical miles) and, of course, started writing this blog entry. The skies are getting grayer, the wind has died down a bit and it looks like the low pressure area has finally reached us. Thankfully, the 6 foot seas have not.
We navigate downwind with all our sails up and wing on wing for much of the time, cleared Salt Island, then the beautiful anchorages on Peter Island and headed for Norman, dropping the main and furling the jib just as we were passing the point at about 9:00 am. We motored into the beautiful natural (make that REALLY natural) Bight Harbor and decided to take the mooring closest to the dinghy dock and Pirate Bight Bar. Writing this at 10:21 pm I can tell you why this mooring was available but I’m getting ahead of myself.
Oswaldo showed up with the Jost Van Dyke Dive boat right on time at 9:30 am and we were ready for him. We passed our dive gear onto the boat, jumped on board and we proceeded to get a briefing on today’s dive activities. This included three separate tank dives, each to complete a portion of the PADI Advanced Diving program. It is sort of like getting Boy Scout merit badges. The subjects we picked were Multi-Depth Dive, Bouyancy and Fish Identification. Tomorrow will be Deep Dive (on the wreck of the Rhone) and Underwater Navigation. The orientation was well done and we were off for the dives to a location just outside The Bight called Pelican Island and the Indians. Geoff and I had dove here on the last day of our previous trip to the BVIs.
The first dive was to be at three different depths starting at 60 feet, then going to 40 feet, then 30 followed by a three minute stop at 15 feet. Other than me having problem clearing my ears (you have to hold your nose and equalize the pressure in your ears every 10 feet or so), the dive went off without a hitch and the scenery was great.
After our mandatory 45 minute surface interval (to help rid your body of nitrogen) we moved the boat to another nearby reef at an area called The Caves, got on our gear and leaned over backwards off the side into the water. This time we went to the bottom in about 30 feet and Oswaldo worked with each of us to teach us better techniques for making sure we are neutrally buoyant by getting us to do exercises with him. Then, we had to do a number of other exercises including kicking with three different kinds of kicks, all while staying at the same depth, swimming under a rope that was close to the ground (like scuba limbo) and sort of standing on your head by sticking a finger in the sand and rotating on it. Easier said than done.
The third and final dive of the day was done on a point at the far side of Norman Island. Once again, after our 45 minutes on the surface we donned our gear, plopped into the water and followed Oswaldo down to a beautiful reef about 30-40 feet down. This dive was to do some fish identification. He had coached us a bit but he carried a white slate that he would use to tell us what fish and other sea creatures we found. It was amazing how many we found. Without boring you more than I already am, there were probably 30 plus things we saw including two 5 plus foot black tipped sharks (up pretty close!), big rays, red snappers, dog fish, huge French Angel fish and even a large sea turtle that was just taking his time eating sea grass oblivious to us (the turtle was oblivious, not the grass — although I bet the grass didn’t care too much about us either!).
One thing we learned is how to blend in with the fish so they behave naturally and don’t swim away. This worked great and gave us new appreciation for all the life going on in the reefs. Jenny wouldn’t let me bring the underwater camera so I don’t have any proof of the shark and turtle sightings but trust me…we saw them!
I didn’t have any problem with my ears on the last two dives and Colin, the owner of JVD Dive told me on the phone that if it happens again I should go all the way to the surface, take my mask off, blow my nose and then go down on the anchor line very slowly, being careful to clear my ears often. That should take care of it. All of our ears are a bit plugged after doing the three dives and they pop a little once in a while. Pretty normal.
When we returned to our boat we immediately got in the dinghy and went to the bar on shore. I plugged in my computer and found free wireless internet! So, I went about doing my stock trading stuff that I was pretty behind on…especially on a week where the market is up over 200 points. Jenny brought me an island drink of some sort and then she, Geoff and Wes started reading their dive and other books in beach chairs located just a few feet from the water’s edge. Jenny also talked for quite some time with a nice French man (who was there with his French family and friends) who also spoke Spanish and that’s what they spoke!
When I finished my stocks, email and talking to Margaret on Skype (the rented cell phone ran out of minutes and I haven’t been able to recharge the minutes yet) I talked to the French guy, took some pictures and just hung out with the kids. Nice time.
Then, back to the boat for a swim, swim step shower, picture taking of the boys doing flips off the back of the boat and Wes and Geoff cooking vegetable Roti’s for dinner. They were fantastic! All nice and grilled on the charcoal BBQ. I’m a lucky guy to get such good cooking every night on the boat AND fantastic cooking every night at home as well. After dinner I started reading the dive stuff again and made a quick trip onto shore with Wes to pay our tab and pick up a couple bottles of water. There was a reggae band playing loudly and that’s why we were able to pick up the closest mooring. It was LOUD even on our boat. But, I’m happy to say that at 10:30 pm it suddenly stopped, right after they played a never ending song about Party, Party, get crazy, Party, Party all night long, Party…
The kids headed over to a floating pirate ship bar called Willy T’s which is quite famous in these waters but came back after only 15 minutes basically saying that it wasn’t their crowd….meaning a bunch of old people like me! We’re all pooped so we’re going to bed to read and write blogs. Except for Geoff who went to the shore bar to charge his computer and use the internet. Luckily, I am getting a good signal from my “suite”.
Two more dives tomorrow followed by our last night on the boat spent again here at Norman Island before heading back to Road Town on Saturday morning. It is going far too fast all the sudden — although I must say I miss my wife and can’t wait to re-live this adventure with her!
Good night and thanks for the comments some of you have been sending!
Cheryl - Thanks! Glad you’re enjoying it. It takes real diligence to keep up with it. I’ll put pictures in the articles when I get home.
GOOD LUCK GOOD LUCK GOOD LUCK GOOD LUCK GOOD LUCK GOOD LUCK GOOD LUCK
That’s a lot of good luck!
Dale,
I love reading your blog. I can’t even begin to imagine a trip like this so thank you so much for sharing. I truly invision everything you write about.
I love you,
Your Sis