What's That Smell ...

An overnight sail has brought us to the BVI's (British Virgin Islands), which have, to be quite honest, come as a bit of a shock. The guide book describes them as a great place for chartering giving easy insight to delightful anchorages and beaches etc.

To us it feels like the Solent, hotter with better beaches, but just as crowded, with the same level of stupid radio chatter. Worse than this is the number of Americans - nothing personal, but you are loud and seem to want to turn the place into Disney Land. The USVI's (US Virgin Islands) are three or four miles away (but they won't let us go there without a visa) but clearly the Americans have ruined their islands so are moving in on ours! Additionally it has come to our attention that in America 'Nimrod' is slang for 'Dimwit', rarely can an American pass our boat without pointing this out to his or her friend. You'd think that even if the Americans aren't educated they might at least have some manners and speak in quieter voices !

Jo (Lucy's sister) flew out and joined us for a very relaxing week (a week of Jilly Cooper addiction for me), although at first alarmed by our laid back (lazy ?) lifestyle she seemed to slip into the swing of things with amazing ease! The week was however haunted by a smell, it started with me smelling it in the aft cabins but nobody else could, a day later it was there for everybody. Over the next two days we took the boat apart looking for the smell, drying, sniffing etc. I was convinced it was gas and took the gas locker apart, checking for leaks. All to no avail. Then we threw out the week old rubbish that had been in the dinghy locker - surprise surprise the smell has left us !

We spent two days in Anegada, this is not only supposed to be very beautiful, with fine beaches, but also quiet as it is a 12 mile sail or so away (by far the longest sail in the BVI's). In addition the anchorage is surrounded by reefs making it a nerve wracking experience. So much in fact that several charter companies allegedly ban their boats from going there. SO we got in - without going aground - and anchored in 2.5 meters of water, swam and relaxed. We were about to go ashore when a motor boat (approx 30 foot cruiser) moored behind us caught fire, It proceeded over the next 2 hours to burn completely and then finally sink. During this the local fire brigade (the island only has a population of 600 or so) loaded a water pump onto a small boat to try to put the fire out. Unfortunately the pump was far too powerful for the boat, meaning that whenever the hose was turned on the boat was jet propelled in the opposite direction. In addition to this the unstable platform meant that the hose bearers kept on falling over, losing control of the high pressure jet. We weren't sure whether to laugh or cry, fortunately nobody was onboard the boat, and they managed to get enough water on the foredeck to keep the mooring lines intact. On our second day in our quiet Island hideaway a Sunsail regatta ended a race in Anegada, so out anchorage was invaded by about 40 boats full of exuberant French - so much for peace and quiet. Still the beach was fantastic and we had a really good lobster supper.

Hello to Daniel on board S/Y 'Dasher', a Sadler 34. A chance meeting in a bar to get email led to a very very late night at a very local bar, holding one of their famous 'full moon' parties. A fine night, but neither Lucy or I really got out of bed the next day.

The news on my painting exploits is surprisingly positive, as the coats went on our technique improved with the two person two pass approach proving impressive. The final job is really not that bad!

So I think we shall stay a little longer in the BVI's before slowly starting to make our way back to Antigua.