Saturday 24th December
Nowcrew
Sun 25 Dec 2005 15:44
Christmas
Eve
White Bay - Jost Van
Dyke Island
Today we were off to
Jost Van Dyke Island a picturesque sailor's hangout to the west of Tortola. This
meant an early start as it was a two hour sail.
Everyone made a
quick trip to the marina shop b4 we left to buy last minute secret Santa
prezzies, ($2.00 maximum limit was set by Gillian!) along with final provisions
for Xmas day.
We sailed off and
cut through between Little Thatch and Frenchman's Cay then headed straight for
White Bay. It certainly lived up to its name as it was a beautiful picture
postcard bay with golden sands and palm trees.
We all set off for
the beach which only took 2 dingy runs this time, we were getting more confident
with the number of people in each run! In the middle of the bay was the famous
Soggy $ bar aptly named because you have to jump out of the dingy to get ashore
and always get wet up to the waist.
Jason lounged in one
of the many hammocks that hung between the trees around the bar and as we
ordered our first soggy $ cocktail the sky went black and we had our daily
tropical downpour! Andy and the boys decided snorkelling in the rain would
be fun so they headed off into the water. They came back with stories of a
sting ray and tiger fish and were warmer in the sea than the rest of the crew
who were sat in the rain. As usual the rain did not last too long and we headed
back to the boat for lunch. Guess what chef served up?
As soon as lunch was
over we pulled up the anchor and headed around the island to great harbour,
another bay with another famous bar, Foxy's! Before we went ashore Rory was
adamant that he was taken snorkelling again.
He tried his very
best to persuade everyone on the boat to come with him but there were no takers
so he ended up fantasizing about it on deck!
We headed into the
bay and had a late afternoon drink at Foxy's Bar. There was quite a nice shop
there as well so we all had a last minute chance to by a few more Xmas prezzies.
Once again the rain came as we sat and chatted to the rest of the people at the
bar. We all huddled under the dry tables and Andy chatted to the guy next to him
who turned out to be the owner of the insurance company who insured Now3. Guess
who paid for his holiday.
We headed back
towards Nanny Cay at 16.00 and this time the rain did not go away. As everyone
stayed down below in the dry cabin Ian and Ron were once again in full
waterproofs soaked to the skin with the wind on the nose of the boat blowing at
25 knots. It stopped just as we approached Nanny Cay and so getting back into
the berth went smoothly and we tied up for the night.
Rory, Frazer, Andy
and Ian had some Ruby practice before dinner and both boys were perfecting their
Spin pass before long. It was up to Pegleggs for dinner and we all had a
Bailey's nightcap on the boat before bed.
Nowcrew
out.