It’s a rainy day in this version of Paradise; Tortola is a pretty dry island and obviously needs the rain, so I don’t begrudge the weather. We got out and did a snorkel sail excursion yesterday, so today wasn’t planned to be anything but perhaps driving around or hiking. Now that it’s raining, it’s looking to be a relaxing day, and we have stuff to make sandwiches if necessary, although we’ll probably get pulled together to get lunch somewhere “out.”
Yesterday at almost the last second I booked a snorkel sail with Patouche Charters, as we had left messages on several answering machines for different companies yesterday. One guy nearby had availability and was actually in the office when I called, but didn’t take credit cards; we got a call yesterday morning fairly early from Julie at Patouche, apologizing for not returning the call earlier due to a problem transfering their calls. They took credit cardsand didn’t need us to be there until 9am, so that was how we ultimately decided to go with them.
Drove past the Dolphin Experience on the way in and saw a dolphin execute a perfectly circular leap in the air, so I added that to the list of “wildlife sighted.” By the end of the day, we sighted many anemones, sponges, David saw a manta (and got the video to prove it) and I saw a glass ball float but couldn’t dive down to retrieve it. Also: a bunch of goats “for your viewing pleasure” and a pack of wild dogs.
The boat was crewed by Shane, a friendly young Tortolan guy, and Faye, a yachtie-type young woman from Maine. There were only 6 guests so it was a very nice and laid-back time, almost like going out with friends. On the way out of the harbor, Shane spotted a friend on another boat and decided to get in a little race with him; Shane and I quickly bonded over the whole “sail is better than motor” thing and he and Faye got sails up and raised the engine out of the water. We chuckled along very quickly and soon wewere zigging and zagging back and forth trying to get upwind of the other boat. At one point we almost took out their dingy – “Ooops” was my comment to Shane – and then pulled ahead. The Legacy was anchored out in the harbor too – I saw a few people moving about on board. They’re done for the week and probably just hanging around until time to move the ship into dry dock.
Faye mentioned that the Legacy was often pulling into Tortola unexpectedly for one thing and another – engine problems, etc. and didn’t have a very good opinion of the ship, remarking that it needed a good coat of paint and some serious work. I told her about the dry dock and refit.
We went first to an area called The Caves – at first farther down, and then Shane moved the boat right at the Caves area, and in both places we enjoyed the snorkeling very much. The catamaran we were on had a really nice swim ladder that was easy to grab onto going up and down, and they set up our masks with de-fog for us and everything. As soon as we came out of the water each time, they were there with a plate of sweet pastry or a can of something to drink. Nice, nice people. The other people on the boat werea couple of couples and 2 guys from New York – the latter were staying at Fort Recovery and we ended up giving them a ride home.
After the first 2 snorkel swims at the Caves, we moved over to the rock formations called the Indians – swam around them to see a long, deep coral wall on one side, and a shallower area with beautiful coral on the other side. I saw plenty of fish all places, a fair amount of dead coral, but a lot of healthy coral and also sea fans and soft corals billowing in the currents. It was lovely.
More pastries, had lunch, more drinks, and then a leisurely sail back to Road Town. The other boat we had beaten so handily earlier beat us into the harbor… but their motor was running the whole way, and they were coming from a direction that they had more wind to work with for the run in to the harbor area before dropping sail.
During a stop at the grocery store, Pierre and Dmitri and I (they didn’t look like their names, but looked like ordinary raffish American guys) were wandering around shopping, and started singing spontaneously with one of the store shelf stockers, who was singing “When the Saints go Marching In” in spite of the Muzak playing something by Bob Marley. So we all started singing – me croaking along, the other guys happily enough (they’d had some of the rum punch). It was a fun time. On the way back, we spotted thegoats and dogs, which the NY boys found entertaining and remarkable.
The rest of the day: napping and then making sandwiches and having a rum punch.
Today will probably be spent hanging out here waiting for the rain to stop, and then wandering around in search of a meal.
It’s a dog’s life.
