Prickly Pear Island, BVI

 Deep Bay was a very nice anchorage.  I should have slept like a baby.  But I didn’t.  After we arrived yesterday, Larry snorkeled the anchor to make sure it was set nicely.  He then went over near the mangrove shore and snorkeled for about ½ hour.  He came back with some huge conch.  Now, normally, this would excite me.  Unfortunately, we did not have a fishing license for the BVI and it is illegal to take anything from the water without a fishing license.  This didn’t seem to bother Larry but I convinced him to leave them in the water (he tied them off to our swim ladder) until dark so that the people at the resort (we sat just outside their swim area) couldn’t see him.  Well, we got watching Lord of the Rings and he forgot about the conch.  It wasn’t until about 1am when we went to bed, we remembered.  He said he’d take care of it in the morning.

Well, all night, my imagination was at work.  I could envision strangers in the night (the marine patrol) coming to see if we were ‘legal’ with our paperwork and all (having cleared customs, etc).  We were the only boat in this beautiful anchorage and it seemed kind of like we were hiding from something.  They’d discover the conch.  They would arrest us and confiscate the boat.  Our dreams would be over.  Were two conch worth the risk?  I didn’t sleep.

Perhaps it was my lack of sleep, I don’t know.  But when we got up this morning, I felt very anxious … you know, the kind of anxiousness you feel right before you’re about to do something that could be dangerous and it’s somewhat out of your control.  If you know what I’m talking about, you also know how hard it is to shake that uneasiness.  Hmmm … you don’t know that feeling?  If not, you need to get out and experience life.  It’s a little scary feeling this way but it lets you know you’re alive.   

Each day we watch the weather.  We are waiting for a ‘good’ (not perfect) day to do the 80-mile crossing between Virgin Gorda, BVI and the Leeward Islands.  We will head for Anguilla but it is almost due east, fighting wind and waves.  If our progress is too slow or uncomfortable heading directly into the winds, we will veer off slightly and head for Sint Maartin, the Dutch side of the island of St. Martin.  Well, the weather hasn’t looked too favorable.  Right now, Tuesday seems like our best bet.  We will leave early afternoon, in hopes to arrive at our destination early morning (probably between 8am and noon).  Our average speed is impossible to judge over that amount of distance and sea conditions.  The winds are forecasted between 15-25 knots but head on the nose.  The seas should be 5-6 feet (if they calm some).  If we were headed in a direction where we could sail, this wouldn’t be so awful … but dead into wind and waves for maybe 20 hours is NOT something I’m looking forward to … AND … so the reason for anxiety!

Me being anxious made Larry anxious.  He wanted to help me feel better.  He wanted so much to relieve something that was really out of his control.  We went for a small dinghy ride around the bay and wanted to go to the beach and walk across the narrow part of the island to the other side.  Unfortunately, the entire inner bay was marked off with buoys that said NO BOATS.  Even so, we skirted alone the mangrove edge towards the beach.  I didn’t feel comfortable pulling the dinghy up onto the beach.  It was a private resort and the signs clearly said no boats.  I’m not usually this insecure but I really just don’t want anything to happen.  We headed back to Soulmatie.

We decided we would leave this bay and head back towards the more populated area of Bitter End.  We motored the mile or so, past an adorable tiny island called Saba Rock and into the sound.  Just off the mainland is Prickly Pear Island.  We found a very comfortable anchorage off the beach.  There were only 3 other boats in this entire area so it was still quite remote.  But it is the off-season and even Bitter End was surprisingly sparse of boats.  Only a dozen or so mooring balls were taken (about 1/10th of what could have been).

The waters here were amazing … turquoise and clear.  We took the dinghy to the far side of the island and found an awesome place to snorkel.  Amongst the boulders and reef were staghorn and brain corals, colorful tropical fishes and large crevices and valleys to swim through.  It was the best snorkeling we’ve done … maybe ever!  It was AWESOME!  

Back on Soulmatie for the evening and another session of Lord of the Rings.  Whether from exhaustion or the melatonin that I took, I was able to have a somewhat restful night.