Oct 18^th – 24^th

So another week has passed and on top of that a significant birthday for me, 21 again for the 39 time. We are still in Tortola but having a great time, getting to know a few people around here. We have had a car for a week and so have explored lots of places that we could in theory do by boat but it is good to see all the tracks around the Island and discover the mysteries of how some people get to their houses.....no wonder half the island has 4 by 4s. We have thoroughly tested our little Daihatsu Charade and have been places that I am sure the manual would not recommend.

The weather thankfully is cooling down a bit so night times are not quite the sweaty affairs that they have been to date, if you want to make a fortune, design an electronic system that allows the boats air con units to remotely switch on the gen set and fire up the air con when a threshold temperature is reached. At the moment you have to leave the gen set running all night to have air con all night, so it doesn’t happen and you wake up in a sweat at about 2:00am.

Birthday was a great day, breakfast in bed; lots of pressies and posing for photos with glass of champagne and cake. We toured the island and stopped at this bar and that, then in the evening went to a great restaurant called the Dove. Becky and I needed a crane to lift us out of the restaurant, so I guess the calorie count for the day was probably a little higher than that needed in this tropical weather!!  All in the cause of having a good time. Interesting how the presents divided out and the good wishes: those much younger than you followed the old git theme and those older than you followed the life begins, new era and all of that stuff.

October 13^th to the 18^th

Over the past few days we have spent three days and two nights in the Bight at Norman Island and yesterday touring around a bit: Cooper Island’s, Holiday Resort and then back to Norman Island before sailing back to Nanny Cay. See here for the link for the pictures.

In between times we have stepped up the education programme, Jordan needs to do his GCSEs next year!!

The three great days at Norman Island were very mixed. When we arrived the place was full of Cats, some rafted three to a buoy!  It was the first holiday regatta of the season. This was Becky’s type of regatta, gentle sailing around from place to place, lots of Sundowners and entertainment extraordinaire from those participating. We ended up at Willy T’s, surrounded by Air Stewards and Air Hostesses from around the World, it was their regatta, and they were all letting their hair down! Willy T’s is a big old ‘Pirate Ship’ anchored in the Bight. It is infamous for the number of people who jump off the top deck with very little clothing on! Next time I am on a plane I will look very carefully to see if I recognise any features! One for the Borat fans, a dinghy passed by Willy T’s with six gentlemen on board all resplendent in fluorescent green Borat thongs. Although they posed heartily as they passed by they were a little coy about coming on board.

One of the bar men at Willy Ts, an Irish born Welshman was responsible for applying the Willy T tattoos.  Most of the ‘ladies’ opted for the right breast; he would place the transfer tattoo in place and then moisten it by licking it! To the hoots and hollers of the crowd around the bar. Before we saw this procedure take place Becky thought she might have a tattoo, when Jordan saw the licking in place routine he turned all puritanical and said ‘No way is my Mum having a tattoo!’

Becky and I both succumbed  to the company and I think, the Rum and Vodka drinks, which were relatively cheap and very strong! Molly was the spoilt dog of the night as so many Americans had left their ‘puppy’ back home! Several times she nearly left Willy Ts on somebody else’s dinghy, increasingly she has got a thing about dinghy riding!

Molly swims! Yes the dog that used to just run along the shore barking and making a nuisance of herself, now plunges in with the rest of us and doggy paddles around.....she looks like some flowing crustacean as she paddles along with her hair all fanned out around her. Why after seven years she has decided that swimming is for her is a mystery! Unfortunately like all dogs she does head straight for you and claws will take skin off, however it is easy to redirect her, as she is a very gentle slow swimmer; you just need to guide her round and launch her off in a new direction.

And then they were gone! The regatta moved off to the next place of celebration and we were left with two other boats in the bay which has circa 100 buoys. We swam around the boat in the morning before going to the beach at Pirates Bar. Molly, the swimmer and ice breaker, paddled around in the sea off the beach and as a result we started chatting to a couple who were on holiday, Portia and Ken, with their two kids. We agreed to meet up at Willy Ts for something to eat that night.

In the afternoon the kids and I took the dinghy to the caves just outside the Bight where we snorkelled surrounded by yellow and blue striped shoals of fish, the occasional snapper and on the way back saw a large stingray nestling in the sand.

Willy Ts that evening was a complete contrast, just the eight of us in and three others. However the night proved just as eventful as Willy Ts was being circled by a drunk in a 38 to 40ft Jeanneau. He had moored up his Jeanneau to Willy T’s dinghy dock! Which the bar staff took exception to, and then in a drunken pique left the dock leaving his three crew on board Willy T’s. He circled us, coming closer and closer, for about one and half hours to the taunts of the three on board Will T’s: they held up the food they had ordered shouting ‘lovely food!’ and ‘great drink’. Despite his drunken state you had to admire the ability he had to turn that boat on a sixpence backward or forward! He departed in a huff leaving them to swim the three miles back to Tortola!

The water around Willy Ts was alive with fish as the night drew in. We threw in some chicken bones and they disappeared in a flash. As there was no objection Jordan decided to fish, in seconds he caught a 5 to 10Ib horse eyed Jack that put up one hell of a fight. He landed it on Willy T’s, the other barman, a Devonshire man, expertly unhooked it and back in it went.

The three abandoned crew men had now become the worse for wear and the ‘lady’ of the party kept lying on the bar and encouraging her beau to squirt whipped cream on her anatomy and lick it off. This is a Willy T’s thing but on the fourth request the bar staff had had enough! The third member of the party a young, gay, black guy known as Pinky was by this time throwing histrionics about being abandoned. However help was at hand, a powerful local Cigar Boat, complete with pink under deck lighting, two 150hp outboard engines and four on board, dressed to kill in a rap kind of way, arrived from Tortola and agreed to take them home. However, I was the lucky recipient of a drunken hug from the whipped cream specialist as she mistakenly thought I was her lift home.

The family of four who had joined us said their goodbyes and set off in their dinghy to the other side of the bay. We left 5 to 10 mins later. We heard cries of help in the night as we set off, in the darkness we saw our new friends in their dinghy stranded in the dark, the outboard on the dinghy having conked out. We set off to the rescue and towed them across the bay to their Cat. On the way the bay was even more alive with fish and Jordan was struck by a horse eyed jack on the back as it leapt out of the water, in pursuit or being pursued not sure which. Of course he claimed he had been bitten but there was no mark on inspection!  So I guess Jack had scored a point back for his brother Jack who had been hauled out of the water so unceremoniously an hour or so earlier.

We returned to Chilly, Becky back fell into a deep coma! And Jordan and I did some fishing, this time not successful but we did see a wonderful sight, an octopus, brown in colour and about 2 to 3ft long swam around the boat. As it rounded the stern it inspected the swim ladder before continuing on its way. How does such an apparently delicate looking creature survive among the voracious Jacks and big mouthed Barracudas?

The next day we sailed back to Tortola but not before stopping by the beach and waving goodbye to Portia and Ken who were off back to the Moorings base to complain about water in the starboard engine compartment and a dinghy that did not work! While on the beach the swimming Molly, as always broke the ice with another couple, who had moved out to Tortola, but were now moving back much to his chagrin. He had achieved resident status and therefore tax free status as far as the UK was concerned, need to think about that one!

Yesterday, the 17^th we set off for Cooper Island holiday resort with Sam and Simon who run the Hotel here. (India has befriended their daughter Ella and is in to stop overs now.)  We anchored off the Holiday Resort at Cooper Island; it is the start of the season so once again we were the only ones around. Everyone swam and dinghied ashore where we enjoyed a quiet beer until the three parasols on the sea edge took off and like rockets propelled themselves spiky bit first at us, we were lying on beach loungers a few yards back. Luckily two missed but one struck Jordan a glancing blow on the knee and then thudded into Sam’s stomach. Fortunately the spiky bit in this case was padded and blunt, she had an indent but no puncture wound, Jordan on the other hand was hopping around on one leg. I think he took most of the force out of the parasol before it thudded into Sam. It is amazing how an idyllic moment can be turned into something dangerous in a flash.

We returned to Chilly Oyster to recuperate and for drink and food. We sailed around to the Bight again, where we ran into Portia and Ken with a ‘new’ Cat from Moorings, the oldest one in the fleet Ken shouted across. The rest of the day was spent snorkelling and swimming before a great sail back to Nanny Cay. On the way Jordan caught his first Tuna of the season, which is now being sushied a la Mackenzie.  A perfect end to a great day.

12th Oct: Kids having fun
We're still in Nanny Cay and have settled back in well. Days are spent on schoolwork, we have gone back to getting the kids up at 7 as it just gets too hot in the afternoons to work, so we try and have them finished between 2 and 3, and cleaning. Dave does the former and I do the latter, not sure which is harder! Even the locals are complaining about the heat so we don't feel so bad. Had a great weekend, Friday night was spent in the local bar, a rustic place that serves cheap burgers and wings, I don't recall a huge amount but we met up with Samantha, who we had met previously and who runs the hotel/resort here in Nanny Cay, her husband had man-flu so it seemed only appropriate that we keep her company. I do recall going to bed and then waking up to find the kids still out, so having to get dressed and go and find them at some unearthly hour, a further indication that either A) they are having a great time here in this safe environment or B) I am a terrible mother! I know what my sister would say!

On Saturday afternoon we went to a beach/pool party, invited by our neighbours who are a family we met 2 years ago when we chartered here. The father is the skipper of a huge power yacht, moored opposite us, and he lives with his family on a yacht on the dock. They have 3 girls and have lived in the BVI for 8 years now. Indy made friends with Hannah, the youngest, 2 years ago. When we arrived back here last week it was Hannah's 12th birthday and Indy immediatley muscled in on the family dinner out (as only Indy could!), saturday was her party, see photo, we all attended and had a great night. As I type, both Indy and Jordan are having meatballs with the first officer on board the super yacht, Indy has also spent a night or two on board, as you might expect.

We had planned to take Lincoln and his family sailing on Sunday, but he was too busy, and it poured down most of the day, so after a rainy pool session in the afternoon, Dave and I went back to the local bar around 5 and finished the day off mixing with the fairly mixed and international crowd who frequent the place, as usual, Molly made the introductions. It continued to rain today but the chores got done and we borrowed Lincoln's car to do a bit of shopping and look at a Cat in Hodges creek, about 10 miles north of here, in return I helped Lincoln out with his accounts, he has been so good to us, it was great to be able to recipricate. might go out sailing tomorrow, see what the weather's like!


8th Oct: The clean up starts

Becky started to clean the decks, Chilli was looking very dull. She couldn’t believe the amount of filth that came off;  the stern area and up to the quarter are now looking a picture, another couple of days and she will be back to pristine. As she goes Becky is also doing the stainless so look out we will be going for concourse boat of the year if she keeps this up!

The kids have renewed friendships and we have been invited for a Saturday bash on board a multi million pound yacht a few ‘doors down’ so looking forward to that.

Lincoln who looked after Molly for us all through the Summer has invited us around tonight so we are all going to see Molly. The kids are thrilled. Lincoln and his chap Edward have done most of the work on Chilli, I would recommend them to anyone, great guys, thorough, patient and very professional in their approach.

Very hot in Nanny Cay with not a lot of wind so it will be good to do a bit of exploring around the familiar BVIs, we do love it here; it is especially good off season as no competition at all for moorings etc. However the air con is working a treat and we cool ourselves down at the hottest time of the day and enjoy the wonderful evening temperatures and of course the sundowners!