Somehow we’d managed to do over a dozen Caribbean charter trips without ever having visited the British Virgin Islands. The BVIs are training grounds for charterers; most do their first charter there.
So, Sunday was our first experience of the BVIs, and it was much as we expected: lots of mooring balls, nearly all occupied by charter boats. We, however, anchored. We have a good anchor.
We did appreciate and enjoy our Sunday of rest and relaxation. There were swims (J, T and P), naps (G and T), reading (J), and island exploration* (P).
* Pete’s island exploration was eventually curtailed by mean-looking, swimming cows blocking the beach.
In the late afternoon, Tony, Gayle, and Jane took the dinghy to shore and met Pete (who swam in earlier). We enjoyed a few drinks at the beach bar: very pleasant (see photos below).
We considered eating on shore, but we sensed that the few restaurants available might share characteristics with other small island restaurants (plain food, slow service, and high prices).
The guys were keen to go for one more drink but got waylaid by emergency dinghy-motor repair. Gayle whipped us up a delicious dinner of jerked filet mignon, parsley-buttered potatoes and green salad. (No need to go to shore in search of food.) We opened a nice malbec to go with but I am embarrassed to say that we didn’t manage to finish it. The spaffers were knackered after a long sail and a happy day.
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- Our first flying fish. This little guy must have flown aboard when we were sailing downwind. The mask and snorkel are for scale.
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- Tony cools off in the water with a refreshing beverage when we arrive at Anegada.
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- There were moored boats all around us. It was like an RV park on the sea.
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- Our boat (far left, I think) from the beach at Anegada.
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- Tony and Gayle at the beach bar.
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- Chilling out on Anegada.
And a side benefit of reading your blog … increased and improved vocabulary! (spaffers 😉
Um, yes. I should create a glossary page for this blog.
SPAF stands for “Strange Performance Art Fridays”. When we first met Pete, he would organize SPAF events in San Francisco for a group of friends. Spaf entered our vocabulary as a noun – the event; a verb – to attend the event; an adjective – to describe a worthy event; an adverb – spaffy; and spaffer – one who attends a spaf event.
When we needed a name for our TIC, we called it SPAF Properties. When we needed a name for the boat group, we called it SPAF Marine.
So, in the blog context, the term spaffers just meant “us”.
Sounds very pleasant, as usual. Love that you’ve got better food available on board. Got your mail about Soggy Dollar, thanks! Next time…