BVI – Day 7 – Saba Rock day sail

Day 7, Saturday, May 7

(Bass: Sorry for the delay in getting this post out, turns out we have to work our butts off to afford trips like this one ;-) )

This turned out to be one of the best days sailing of the week. We woke, swam and had coffee. It was a very pleasant morning with steady wind. But before we could go out for the day we needed to get fresh water and perhaps fuel; We could not tell how much fuel we had used as the gauge was broken.

We motored over to the Bitter End Fuel dock. As we docked a nice guy named Nash helped me with the docking lines and said it might be a few minutes while he helped the 50+ foot monohull in front if us. This boat was packed with people and more kept arriving on the dock. I counted nine and they were still expecting their captain. Suddenly there was a strong smell of diesel. When Nash said stop to the guy running the diesel nozzle he squeezed harder instead and overfilled his tank, with some fuel running into the water (Bass: In the other guy’s defense, it’s not like the pump is the same as at the gas station… oh wait, yes it is!). They needed to now rinse the boat cockpit of their boat while we waited. Getting the smell of diesel out of anything seems impossible to me and I felt badly that they had to live with that smell all week.

As we waited we chatted with Nash, a nice local who kept calling Bass “Capt” (and I kept looking over my shoulder to see who he was talking to!) and complimented Bass on his docking and fueling skills. Not a drop of fuel in the water. And as it turns out we did not need much fuel, but Nash did say he would bet 80% of the gauges on boats he sees daily are not working.

We motored out of Saba Rock and into North Bay knowing we would just be sailing and picnicking today and coming back to Saba for the night. We had also decided we needed more time for Anegada – when (not “if”) we return to the BVI we will head directly to Virgin Gorda and then on to Anegada for a few days. We raised the main sail and unfurled the genny. The wind was great and after about ninety minutes we could see the only trees and only landmarks of Anegada. It was very clear, and the visibility was exactly how Sunsail had recommended it if planning to go to Anegada. We both had slight regrets about not going but we had a very early morning and a long day ahead of us tomorrow. (Classically, in the most open of water we had been in all week was when I noticed a bit of water sloshing out of the bilge when we heeled over in the nice breeze. Best I could tell it was just accumulated and I hadn’t been running the bilge pump often enough; regardless, I felt a lot better after pulling a bilge board or two, having Brig turn up into the wind to flatten the boat – hence one of the odd swerves in our Google Earth track – and running the bilge dry.)

(Sitting in the cockpit that afternoon I had to chuckle at the site of a Montgomery 26X on a mooring near us. This is a trailerable, water ballasted boat that’s about as big as you can trailer safely; the one that was on Redfish last year seemed like the most giant boat of all time compared to Turnstone, yet here in the Saba Rock mooring it looks positively tiny!):

That night we had a great dinner at Saba Rock. Their painkillers and conch fritters were superior to the Soggy Dollar too. We had crawled into bed and were sleeping when the fireworks started. There is no denying the sound of professional fireworks with the fizzing and then the boom. I came up into the companionway and into the night breeze. It was an amazing sight. Big colorful bursts of fireworks filled the sky. Everyone around us were ooohing and ahhing, with the patrons at the Saba Rock bar especially enthusiastic. The show was coming from the area of Necker Island, a very nicely located Cay surrounded by reefs on the Saba Rock side. Necker had been owned by Richard Branson, Virgin Air, since the 1970’s. We read the island and staff of 60 can be rented for parties and weddings. At the end of the fireworks people moored around us were yelling their thanks to Richard for the show. It was a very surreal night.

Google Earth Tour:

Click the link below to download a Google Earth .kmz file that will take you on a fly-by tour of our day sail from Saba Rock:

Pictures:

Video 4 minutes, 05 seconds: