We’ve been roaming around the British Virgin Islands where we landed just over 2 weeks ago. The Salty Dawg Rally we came down with is centered at the Bitter End Yacht Club in Virgin Gorda – at the extreme eastern end of the islands and it was nice to arrive in amongst a group of familiar faces. However, we took off to explore some of the other islands and bays, initially stopping at Spanish Town where we managed to get a local SIM card for the phone

Long Swim in from the Parking Lot

and then we moved down to the Baths – a very interesting formation of granite boulders whose origin nobody can properly explain and anchored close by – right opposite a beautiful sandy beach – best beach I’ve ever been exposed to with lovely surf and wonderfully soft sand. In the morning we dinghied over to the baths – which proved interesting gaining access to as you’re not allowed to beach your dinghy there with a large area cordoned off by rope. The drill is you row the dinghy right to shore and drop anyone off that needs – along with electronic gear (cameras, etc.), then row back out about 50 yards through the surf to the start of the swim area, tie your dinghy up and then swim in. I’m not the best swimmer in the world – so it was all quite taxing! The reward however was a fascinating scramble through the piled-up granite boulders and rock pools.

The Baths

Next we headed over to the east end of Tortola where we anchored in another rolly spot. We were here in order to drop the mainsail off for it’s second repair to the batten system. Wandering around the small town was interesting – but showed the poorer side of the BVI’s…

We then headed over to Norman Island – a major destination point for the numerous charter boats that ply the seas here. Willie T’s here is a converted old steamer – to a bar and restaurant – where people come to be rowdy and enjoy jumping off the back of the boat from the second floor. Had to be done…

Willy T’s

Our next destination was Soper’s Hole – and nice little harbor with quite a lot of activity. We were able to catch up on internet stuff here and make more inroads to our charging system woes. However, we didn’t stay long – instead heading off to Jost Van Dyke – the party island of the Virgins apparently.

The Soggy Dollar Bar

Soggy Beers

Ohh to be young again!

White Bay – Home of the Soggy Dollar Bar

We had a lovely stay in Great Bay for a couple of nights – with yet more pondering about the charging system. Lunch at Foxy’s was good and we had drinks at one of the numerous beach bars. We walked over to White Bay – home of the Soggy Dollar bar – arriving as complete sweat balls with sensible walking shoes on – with crowds of half-naked people enjoying the beach and the water. How clever of us to arrive at such a great beach without swimming trunks! Never-the-less we had a lovely afternoon there and enjoying watching all the young things strut their stuff!

We returned to Soper’s Hole in order to put Toodle-oo! on the dock so that we could re-charge the batteries properly – our whole charging situation is clearly a mess. We ended up staying there for three nights – getting fully charged and working out a complete solution for the situation. It turns out that the problem is lack of brains – in that I did not work out how serious our draw was compared to our charging capability.

Pelican Lunchtime

Hi Mann – you need a ride on my Ferry? Drive aboard – mind de Rocks!

This goes a long way to finally explaining why when we purchased the boat, she had so many hours on both the engine and generator – they must have used both simultaneously to charge up the batteries for hours each day. Hopefully we have a solution that will reduce the charging time – I just need to find someone sensible to confirm my idea before blowing the whole boat up!

Trellis Bay

View from BananaKeet’s

We’re now back at the Bitter End with the majority of the other Salty Dawgs – ready for a luncheon event today. After that, who knows where we’ll be heading! Our long term plans have been up in the air for quite a while, but if feels like we’re finally settling on a plan to head “Down Island” – to the Leeward islands and perhaps one or two of the Windward Islands, before heading across the Caribbean towards Panama… Another plan laid out in the sand at low tide…