Tuesday, November 8, 2011

St. Thomas Day 3 Time to Hit the Water for the BVI

     Day 3 finds us heading out of Red Hook Marina in a 29 foot Fountain boat heading for the BVI.     After checking into the BVI at Soper’s Hole, we headed back into the Sir Francis Drake Channel and headed for Road Harbour and a cocktail at Pusser’s Outpost.     After a brief stop in Road Harbour it was back out into the Sir Francis Drake  Channel again for a trip up past Beef Island, the Bluffs, The Dogs, and Seal Rock before heading into  the Gorda Sound and the Bitter End Yacht Club and Saba Rock for lunch and a couple of fine rum cocktails.

     Saba Rock is a unique little resort, museum, bar, and grill   perched literally on a rock that send you out into the Atlantic Ocean at the eastern most end of the BVI.      We all wandered the rock and visited the Toucans, museum, and sat ourselves down for a fabulous lunch and some more cocktails before continuing our voyage.     Gorda Sound was loaded with sailing vessels and other interesting vessels that we weaved around as we entered the moorings outside of Saba Rock.      As we enjoyed our meal and cocktails we noticed a couple of large tarpon swim by near the boat and a number of people riding their tenders in from moored boats for lunch as well. 

Foxy  and Bahama Bob at Foxy's

     With lunch behind us it was off to the North Side of Tortola and hopefully into Cane Garden Bay for a visit to the Callwood Distillery and Stanley’s.     As we worked our way around Seal Rock and the Dogs headed toward Beef Island, we noticed that we were experiencing 15 to 18 foot long frequency swells.     We kept a stiff upper lip and progressed to the West, but as we did we noticed that the beaches on the North side of Tortola were being hammered by some huge and beautiful surf.      We were not having any problem navigating the swells as we kept moving to the West , but a check of the conditions in Cane Garden Bay, we  chose to take a stop at Jost Van Dyke and see Foxy for a while.     We had a couple of cocktails with Foxy and his Daughter, talked about everything under the sun for a couple of hours before heading back out to sea for the final leg of the day taking us back to Red Hook Marina.

    A stop at the Island Time Bar and Duffy’s Love Shack  for a few cocktails before heading back to the condo to plan for tomorrow’s day out on the water.      It looks as though we are going to spend the day on the southern side of the Sir Francis Drake Channel exploring St. John and Normand Island.     Be sure to keep up with us as we continue our adventure in the Virgin Islands.    ;o)