Day 6 of our BVI adventure aboard Adonis. . .
That’s a Load of Crap, Captain!
We woke up off Marina Cay after having spent a restless night through high winds and choppy seas; heard the dinghy banging against the hull a few more times than I like as we swung on the mooring line. It was my first-mate’s birthday so we slept-in until 0700; a nice change when you typically rise by 0500! After getting ourselves together, my birthday girl decided to cook French toast for the crew. Very nice and quite tasty. Yes, we all caught some flak for allowing the birthday girl to cook; she’s good at it and said she didn’t mind at all but I still felt bad. Outside, dark clouds loomed and foretold of an impending storm; what’s new?
Captain Bart was listening to the weather forecast on the radio and trying to make a decision about dropping the mooring and heading toward Little Jost Van Dyke and our next destination at Diamond Cay when co-deckhand Matt emerged from his berthing area with a magazine in his hand muttering something about “the head.” I figured he may have had a few too many Red Stripes the night before, but it turns out his toilet was clogged. Hmmmm. Not good.
Matt tried to get his head to flush but it just wouldn’t go. Next up: Captain Bart and “the bucket.” I could tell he wasn’t exactly pleased with this task, but Captain Bart “dove-in” like a champ. After wrestling with ‘Comodus-Maximus’ and a plunger for several minutes, he emerged with a slopping bucket of ‘evacuated water’ and went to the stern to empty. “Bad news,” he said, “That head is NOT working properly.” He hailed Sunsail over the cell phone and informed them of our plight and our next destination. They told us to call them back when we arrived at Diamond Cay and they would send, “Dee Mon.” Lesson learned: bring a few pairs of rubber gloves.
We talked about the weather and could see the dark clouds over Tortola—likely just southeast of Roadtown. We looked over the chart and figured we could make a little time over the other boats that were waiting out the storm; if we got caught, we could hole-up at Monkey Point at one of the balls there and ride it out. We decided to drop the mooring and head toward Little Jost Van Dyke. The adventure was on!
We left Marina Cay and motored the two-or-so-miles toward Guana Island watching the sky, seeing the lightening, and hearing an increasing rumble of thunder in the distance. We counted the seconds between the distant lightening flashes and the sound of thunder to gage the storm’s range. Getting closer. As we approached Guana Channel, we saw the wall of showers about four miles in front of us. The lightening was increasing and getting closer. It looked like the storm was crossing the island over Roadtown and proceeding northeast toward us. Captain Bart set a course for Monkey Point and the crew prepped for a Rapid Mooring Op. We swung off the Guana Channel at Monkey Point, grabbed a ball, tied-off, and as soon as the knot was finished, the bottom fell out. Adonis was immediately swung into the wind and it rained on us like a cow peeing on a flat rock. Just in time! Lesson learned: timing is everything.
We all sat in the saloon as the storm made its way over us. This was a pretty nasty little storm: lots off rain, wind, and lightening. The dual-hull of the cat made it nicer to ride however, and we waited 20 or 30 minutes before the storm pushed off and the weather became more settled for sailing. We dropped the ball and continued our journey toward Little Jost Van Dyke—even raising the sails for a bit.
We arrived at Diamond Cay at Little Jost Van Dyke after passing Sandy Spit—a popular drop of white sand with a few palm trees—and picked up a ball near the shore to take advantage of the pretty coral reef surrounding the island and the good snorkeling opportunities. My birthday girl and first-mate made us a delicious lunch of tuna pocket pitas (I know, I know, it’s her birthday! Somebody else get in the galley!). Captain Bart called Sunsail and “Dee Mon” to look into our head issue. “He be dare in dee hour, Mon.” The skies had begun to break-up a bit and the winds were falling-off. Finally! And look! The sun! We can see the sun! YEAH! We can finally use the sunscreen!
No sooner had we gotten settled at our mooring when we spotted a sea turtle. This was cool, we had a turtle around us yesterday at Marina Cay and now we have one here at Diamond Cay. Neat! Matt and I set off again on another snorkel adventure and were pleased to see an abundance of fish, a couple of moray eels, barracuda, and even a big, old crusty anchor that someone lost. We returned to Adonis in time for “Dee Mon” and his co-worker who arrived in a skiff to fix Matt’s head (at least the pun is good!). While one of the men was working on the head, the other took a look at our freezer that wasn’t quite working up-to-par. Turns out, the throw of a breaker was all that was needed to put the freezer back on track.
The head was another story. “Dee Mon” said the outflow hose from the head was clogged—not by us—but through soooooo many previous uses. There was a ring of build-up in the hose similar to plaque building up in ones arteries—kind of like arteriosclerosis for poop. This build up ultimately closed itself off. He told us he had taken care of it, flushed the head a couple of times and off they went. Total repair time: about 20 minutes. Great, now we can all “rest” in peace!
Adonis lay in about 20 feet of water in Diamond Cay on the far shore away from Foxy’s Taboo. We all wanted to see the Bubbly Pool and take in the libations of Taboo. We donned our swimwear and dinged to the dock at Taboo, got directions—including a painkiller for the walk—and set off on the long trail to the pool. Ashley made a new furry friend on the way, Midnight, a small, black puppy that followed her and managed to convince her that he needed a good “boat home;” Matt helped her re-think the idea and we quickly picked up the semi-apparent trail to the Bubbly Pool without the pup. It was fun going through the brush, in the water, up the hills, and over the boulders during our adventurous trek to the Bubbly Pool. Interesting how signage for the manchaneel trees was spray-painted on the rocks, “Poisonous Tree” with an arrow pointing to them.
We made it to the Bubbly Pool where there were only a few people enjoying its comforts. With our gnarly crew arriving, we must have scared them off because they didn’t stay long once we arrived. We shot some photos from the high boulders surrounding the pool, took a few in the waters from the pool, and numerous others from the shore. We all got some good pictures. Boys that we were, we tried our hand at tossing small rocks and pebbles into the cracks and crevices of the boulder walls surrounding the pool. The ladies took their turns too and landed a few as well. It was obvious there had been MANY “tossers” before us. We hung out for maybe an hour before Captain Bart, the admiral, Matt, and his first-mate, Ashley headed back to Taboo for more painkillers. My first-mate and I lounged in the pool a bit longer. Lesson learned: when throwing rocks above you, make sure you are not directly below in the path of the rock’s descent.
We met some folks at the pool who, surprisingly, lived just north of our hometown in Williamsburg, Virginia. Once again, small world! They had come to the Bubbly Pool once before—seven years ago—but the trail was not so clearly marked and they never found it; ended up on the opposite side of the boulders with no access to the pool. They said they took a right turn at the painted rock when they should have made a left. Alas, they were better navigators this time. We chatted for a while as the sun made its presence known and the clouds broke up even more. We bid adieu to our new friends from Virginia and trekked back down the trail toward Taboo. On the walk back, we met a goat lounging on a rock as we crept along the trail and saw small, cruising sand sharks in the shallow lagoon. I simply had to try my hand at scooping up one of these toothy creatures; figured it couldn’t be TOO hard to catch a small shark in this shallow water. I eased into the water ahead of the school and put myself in their path. Bent over and. still-as-a-stone, I waited for the school to cross between my legs and I planned to grab one as it came past. Uhhh, no. Mother Nature equipped these creatures with sensory organs to detect electromagnetic impulses; the kind living creatures emit. I was obviously emitting a LOT of impulses. Had I reasoned this out, I would have realized why I couldn’t catch one and they always seemed to dart away when they got three-feet from me. Lesson learned: don’t try to grab things that are better equipped than you.
Unable to catch the quick little boogers by hand, we wandered back to Foxy’s Taboo. On arrival, we found it important to catch up on our ration of painkillers and ultimately decided to dine here this evening. We were told by the bartender that dinner begins at 6:00 p.m. . . . IF the cook shows up. Hmmmm. Allowing logic to play out, I decided that if the cook did not show, I would dine upon “cold barley soup” that evening—probably Red Stripe.
As Captain Bart and the admiral returned to Adonis to clean-up for dinner, Matt, Ashley, my first-mate and birthday girl, Kim, and I stayed behind and had a few more celebratory beverages. It’s interesting how some things can appear soooo funny after a few drinks. While we were sitting around enjoying the afternoon and chatting, we spotted various small lizards zipping around the floor, walls, and pretty much everywhere around Foxy’s Taboo. We were observing one smaller one when a larger lizard charged in, mounted it, and engaged it in a “copulatory embrace” (Fat Daddy K’s Dictionary of Seemingly Appropriate Terms). Needless to say, we had had a good laugh and got some interesting photos. Lesson learned: probably not a good idea to dress up like Barney around Foxy’s Taboo . . .
When Captain Bart and the admiral returned, we had a nice dinner—nothing fancy—a few more drinks, and acquired the necessary souvenir tee-shirts. As the evening advanced, the winds died and the mosquitoes visited. Thank God for our handy bug spray! It worked wonders on keeping us bite-free. Lesson learned: keep bug spray handy at all times.
We returned to Adonis for a nice, easy evening. We saw our Diamond Cay turtle five or six more times and began to see and hear small goats on the island as they bound across the shore rocks in search of something to chew on. Fun to watch those itty-bitty new-born kids gain their “sea legs” as they followed momma up and down the rocks. We had more drinks, played, “Left-Right-Center,” and watched “Along Came Polly” with Jennifer Anniston. The weather was finally settling down and we were all looking forward to a good nights sleep when Matt emerged from his head once again—magazine in-hand—with a look of disdain on his face. “Clogged again. Won’t flush.” Damn. Fortunately, we had an unused berth and head. Break out the bucket . . .
