I woke up at 6:30am. Mostly the heat, but also with the nightly squalls in the middle of the night, I must get up and close the hatches. The sun, it seems, rises a lot earlier here. In any case, a lot was happening this day. The prediction for wind was 16 knots. Thus, the day under sail was looking glorious.
One thing we needed to do in the morning was make it to the Market to get a few more supplies and ice. They opened at 9am. We got there as they raised the gate. Not much we needed (Ice, Beer and Propane Canister). We dinghy'd back to the boat with our haul and started preparing for sail.
We pushed out of the marina area around 10am and decided to reef just a tad as the winds were 16 knots, and we wanted to see how the boat handled. When the genoa came out, we were off like a speed boat. This time we got to do a bit more tacking as we headed to The Baths at the South side Virgin Gorda. By God! There was more snorkeling to be had (for 3 anyway).
We found the last mooring ball at the Baths and squeaked in behind a large Catamaran. The balls were close, so I was a bit concerned for the swinging radius. Theoretically, we should all swing the same radius. However, I've noticed sometimes this doesn't happen. We moored anyway.
Sandra, Alexa and Dillion hopped into the dingy and motored to the shore. You could only tie up the boat on a rope away from the shore, so they had to swim the rest of the way. I stayed behind and relaxed after a good day of sailing. I figured out the blue-tooth stereo and played my crunchy tunes.
When they came back, it was about 2:30. They overstayed their time by 15-minutes snorkeling around. I forgave them while I finished my beer and stretched my arms.
Now, it was time to head North to find us a mooring ball for the night. We set sail, but it only took 1 hour of effort to get to the spot. It was also our first Jibe in about 3.5 years.
Getting hooked up to the mooring ball was a real nightmare. This ball was not easy like the other ones in the BVI's where the loop was extended by a rope, so it weighs very little. This ball was like the ones we had in the San Juans, where the loop is at the end of a real heavy chain. With the wind we had to make several attempts to grab it and pull it up before drifting off it. We were spent after the labor of pulling that thing up and hooking it. We looked around the cove and couldn't see any other mooring balls. Most boats seem anchored. Hmmm, everyone must've given up on the ball except us.
Once we were settled in, Alexa and Dillion decided to take a short excursion to the small town of St. Johns. Sandra and I hung back and relaxed. She convinced me to do a jump off the stern, which I reluctantly participated. It was at least cooling, but dang that water tastes funny.
Alexa and Dillion motored back in, and we started to make dinner. We now have a propane canister so we could do this outside on the grill. We had flank steak, corn and zucchini. It was basic, but the grill did the job, and the wine made a a nice finish for the day.