Wednesday, December 16, 2009
The night was windy but there were no waves so I slept soundly and woke relatively late at 7:30. After a leisurely two cups of coffee I set off for Spanish Town in order to complete immigration formalities. The wind was quite strong in the North Sound so I opted to let out a reefed genoa and still hit 8 knots on the run downwind. Just as I was ready to change tack I saw two dolphins approaching from behind like torpedoes, and this time I made it to the front of the boat with camera in hand and took over 30 photos, almost all of which were pointed in the wrong direction, at the wrong time and out of focus.
Customs and immigration went well, but at the cashier’s window I waited for 45 minutes to pay my US$13.80, occasionally hearing the cashier in the next room talking to someone on the telephone; despite the immigration official going in and telling her twice that there was a customer. I had forgotten how it could be in the BVI.
I sailed back to the north sound and as it was almost directly upwind I had to tack several times. It was an exhilarating sail with GPS speeds of over 9 knots with a treble reefed main and 2 reefs in the genoa so I was not too overpowered, unlike some of the boats I was sailing with. While they were fighting the boat and playing with the sails I was comfortably zooming along with Otto doing all the work (Otto-pilot) and I was just sitting in the cockpit drinking water and watching the racers. Anchoring next to Prickly Pear island didn’t go too well, it took me 3 attempts to get hooked in, the first two I ended up too close to mooring balls for comfort. Nevertheless, I’m solidly attached to sand in 20 feet of water and can relax now.