BVI – Day 4 – Jost to Cane Garden Bay

Day 4, Wednesday, May 4

After coffee, I snorkel to a rocky outcrop near shore. I see anemones (Bass: “sea anemones”?? hee hee), sea urchins and many brightly colored fish. I also take a pass at the anchor. It has not budged an inch and I know Bass will be pleased with his technique. This morning we also get our first crack at the dinghy. It seems strange to me that we have to drag this silly little boat behind us for the entire trip, but I quickly see no alternative for visiting shore without swimming. Obviously many people swim to the Soggy Dollar and when we get there the bartender, whose name tag reads “Oldtimer”, has dollar bills clothes pinned on a drying line above his till.

Jost Van Dyke is known as “A sunny place for shady people”. No one we see looks particularly shady, mostly people are just taking in the relaxed atmosphere. The Soggy Dollar is an open air bar which has fire department patches pinned to the low rafters. The patches are from big US city departments and small, rural departments – next trip we will bring one from Bass’ dept; it’s an auspicious start to the day. We celebrate by having a “painkiller”, the Soggy Dollar’s signature cocktail. The drink is good. We quickly determine it is really basically a piña colada with a bit too much cream of coconut, but the splash of o.j. makes it light and refreshing. And the best addition is found sprinkled on top in the form of freshly grated nutmeg. A nice touch indeed! We order conch fritters, a sandwich and more painkillers.

This day our destination is Cane Garden Bay on the North side of Tortola. We set the main and genny and sail upwind. We are approaching the bay rapidly and it’s another perfect day on the water so we tack back and forth between Tortola and Sandy Cay. Later we lower the sails and grab a mooring ball in the bay (Bass: a few diehards eschew the mooring balls and anchor out close to the entrance reef, enduring a ridiculously rockin’-and-rollin’ anchorage… I’ll pay my $25 thanks!). Cane Garden is the busiest place we have been since Road Town. There are many pastel colored homes dotting the steep hillside. We watch as cars drive up and down roads that go straight up from the shore; they don’t seem to care for switch backs. We wonder what the roads are like when it rains. But it doesn’t appear to rain much at all. The hills are dry and filled with short scrubby brush. There are irrigated palm trees where people choose to landscape their property.

I take a short nap in the cockpit while Bass takes photos. When I wake I go for a swim and wash my hair in the fresh water shower. (Bass: I make the first official “trash run” with the dinghy, getting rid of our trash and buying a few bags of ice at a local convenience store). Bass makes piña coladas, which are far superior to the painkiller. The key to the Sears’ cocktail is the Goslings float (Bass: somewhat damagingly, the only Gosling dark the Ample Hamper could supply us with was 151 proof… woof!). We grill pork tenderloin and watch dark clouds come over the ridge; it does not rain but the clouds help to make a fiery pink, orange and red sunset. We go to bed early as Bass did not sleep soundly while on anchor at White Bay the night before.

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 sail from White Bay to Cane Garden Bay:

Pictures: