Something went wrong with our planning. Maybe it's scurvy. Or maybe it's that time and dates don't really mean anything here. We thought we would be picking up Dillion on the fourth day but turns out it's a day earlier. We initially had plans to go snorkeling at the park we missed yesterday due to arriving too late on Norman Island. Then we were to head up to Cooper Island to see a shipwreck and do more snorkeling. But now today was one snorkel less. We were now heading up to the end of Tortola (Trellis Bay) to pick Dillion up at 6pm (or so). My calculations said we had to be under sail by 12:30 in order to make it up the channel.
The snorkeling location was just around the edge of the bay where we were moored. We got underway and powered up to the park. Huh? All the mooring balls are already occupied! Sandra says, "They can only moor up for 90-minutes before they have to be on their way". OK. We got into a “poaching" position. Much like how one eyes a table at a restaurant for the first party to leave their table. So, who's it going to be? It's hard to tell who's just finished up their last sip of wine, and as asked for the check in this situation. We got lucky. Not but 5-minutes in, a catamaran or two picked up and moved on. We slipped in and grabbed a ball.
I've snorkeled a few times, and I like to think I'm a regular Aquaman when it comes to splooshing around in the water. But putting that mask, and taking a big inhale brought back why I don't like snorkeling. The mask closes off the nose. I'm no mouth breather, so it felt like waterboarding myself. I'll give it a try. Alexa and Sandra were already mermaiding their way to the rocks to get some floor bottom views. My breathing is getting heavier and heavier as I hyperventilating through that stupid mouthpiece. Can't the invent a nose snorkel? I get about half-way to the destination, and I've had enough. I'm going to hyperventilate myself into a panic. I turn around and get back to the boat. There! I can check-off snorkeling for this trip.
We've realized something about BVI. The wind is a constant West-to-East blow. The island sits in the north. All we had to do was set a single tack toward Trellis Bay (East End of Tortola). We set sail about 12:20pm which we believed would be more than enough to get into the bay and see Dillion’s arrival. The winds were around 8-12 knots depending on the moment, and most of the time we were traveling at 3.5 to 4.1 knots. As we approached the end of the Tortola, we found we would have to tack a couple times in order to round the point. So, we got a few tacks in, and cleared into the bay (We motored that last mile).
The bay had quite a few mooring balls, so we entered through the Green/Red markers and picked us up on. We dingy’d to the market area where we sat on a dock gazebo having happy hour with Rum Killer drinks. Dillion was a bit late, but then we remembered our Customs experience and figured he'd be there a good 45 minutes with the inquisition. He eventually rolled up in a taxi-van full of folks he apparently made friends with and I'm sure will be exchanging Christmas cards moving forward.
We ordered dinner and then got back on the dingy to make our way to our mooring ball. It was dark now, so we had to guide using the reflection of the other boat's anchor lights. We knew the general direction and we found it in short order.
There were big plans of playing dice or cards, but what ended up happening was a direct beeline to the berths to sleep off the travels. Tomorrow should be 16 knot winds, so it should be vigorous.