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| Dance of the Leverick Bay Fuel Dock |
After topping off fuel and water at Leverick Bay, we motored out of North Sound to sail for Monkey Point on Guana Island. On the way out of Leverick Bay, the Admiral decided to give the stern steps a quick wash-down with the deck bucket. The deck bucket is tied to a short line, which you use to to haul the bucket back on board once its full of water. Important safety tip: do not drop the bucket in the water while underway. The bucket may fill quickly with water and you cannot retrieve it. Apparently this is how Davey Jones replenishes his deck bucket collection.
Fine sailing today under clearing skies. We reached 10 knots at a few points. Sailing a cat is a very stable experience. When the wind blows the boat surges forward, but you have to pay attention to your speed because there is no heeling over to tell you when to adjust sail.
We didn’t tack once all the way to Guana Island, finally dropping sails when we summoned the iron genny to take us up the east side of the island and around Monkey Point. The moorings were all taken, so we dropped anchor and ate lunch on the hook before taking the dinghy in to the dinghy line near shore. Monkey Point snorkeling was really fun. The kids had a great time- especially the younger ones. This was their first time swimming around reefs and chasing schools of fish. (Only the older kids had explored the reefs by the pirate canons.) I towed the youngest around and could hear her yelling excitedly through her snorkel “Fish! Look at these fish!!” the entire time. I don’t know if she ever even stopped to breathe – she was so busy yelling through the snorkel.
After snorkeling, we sailed around Rogue Point and on to Cane Garden Bay. In Cane Garden Bay, we took a mooring ball and the kids resumed diving practice, jumping off the bow, stern steps, and cabin top.
Pretty much any where they could find to jump from, they jumped. The kids love this Privilege 435, Jeannius. After the adrenaline-pumping high altitude plunge from her decks, the kids would swim between the two hulls and under the galley, mesmerized by the dancing green reflected sunlight on the hulls which transformed the tunnel beneath the catamaran into a Disneyland theme ride, their laughter echoing between the hulls as they raced back on deck to ride “Pirates of the Caribbean” again and again.
Then we rigged a spare line up in the air to swing out and drop in the water. Opening a barrel of monkeys on deck could not have increased the fun we were having. Crew on neighboring boats stopped to watch, and I think our crew ended up in video footage from some nearby boats. There’s something therapeutic about children’s play. It’s ageless.
When we’d finally spent all our energy, we went in to shore to walk along the beach and look for dinner. We settled for hamburgers at the Banana Restaurant. The mosquitoes were out though, so we quickly ate and retreated back to bug-free safety off shore.
Kids are not at all impressed by the beach-side grills and other adult-friendly hangouts in the BVI. They are most impressed with snorkeling, cliff diving, jumping off the boat, and exploring uninhabited islands. I’m adjusting the rest of the trip to include more unstructured exploration and free time for these activities.