Virgin Gorda

We  left the anchorage at Lee Bay and headed to Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda after breakfast, there was little wind so we motored. Coming into the marina our allocated berth needed a tail first manoeuvre up an intermediate channel Into a berth half way along the line of boats, I’ve not had to do this before but it worked fine although we then blew off the berth towards the boat on the other side had to come out again and back in again by which time the marina chap had arrived to take our lines. I had hoped to test our battery charger with the shore power here and  

so,  once we’d secured and settled in I used Graham’s connector and one of Martin’s spade connectors to re instate, hopefully, the battery charger. Unfortunately the shore power sockets don’t match my plugs so we couldn’t test it. In the meantime Katharine and Martin had been to the marina office to see what was what and where it was and after some time faffing we all set off in a brilliant open backed truck with bench seats style taxi to the baths. The baths. On Virgin Gorda are a series of granite boulders which have fallen to make an impressive set of caves and swimming / paddling opportunities, they are only a couple of miles from the marina. We paid our entry fee of 3 dollars and had a lovely few hours enjoying the views, swimming, paddling, exploring and so on at the various  baths / caves on offer. It was very hot and by the time we got to the end we were very thirsty and not a little hungry. Brillliantly there was a cafe at the end and we had some cold drinks and sandwiches / pizzas at a table before a final swim and clamber back up to the car park. The taxi on the way back dropped Katharine and Sally at the supermarket whilst the boys went back to the boat, got rid of garbage, topped up the water and then prepared to go to customs and immigration to clear out, when Katharine and Sally arrived back with some provisions Katharine, Sally and I pottered off to the office to clear out and spent an amusing half hour doing so being bossed about in a jovial sort of way by the  immigration lady. On the way back from here we went into a restaurant establishment to check it out for dinner and it seemed pleasant and welcoming so had some happy hour drinks,  and after a little Patrick and Martin joined us. It rained for a little and I went back to the boat to close the saloon hatch and took the opportunity to have a shower too. Some cards were played, starters had and then we ordered main courses - Katharine again going for fish, quite unlike her, but the meal was good. Sally won the progressive whist tournament, again, and some rodeo riding appeared on the television which was also quite amusing before we all went back to the boat, everyone else had a shower, and  then we retired for the night. The forecast had been for light winds but it’s now 0630 blowing quite hard and we will leave fairly soon. We need to stow the dinghies and sort ourselves out a little but are nearly prepared, we have to settle with the marina which may not be possible until about 0800 but we’ll see. Hopefully these NE winds will see us through to St Kitts without too much trouble.

Slainte

Jock and all.