British Virgin Islands

2130 10/31 position 18-26N 64-45W. At anchor in Great Harbor, Jost Van Dyke Island, BVI

Team Arabella had their first full night's sleep in three days and awoke refreshed and ready for their assault on the Virgin Islands.  The winds were still non-existent, so we powered south for three hours leaving Virgin Gorda behind, and passing Tortola on the right.  Peter Island slipped by to port and we picked up a mooring at "The Indians", a group of three rocks protruding from ocean to the west of Pelican Island.

The Indians is a popular snorkeling spot, and the crew enjoyed the warm waters for a few hours.  Just after noon we dropped our mooring and moved a mile to "The Caves", another must see in the group.  There are three sea caves in the cliff of Norman Island, and you can swim into them.  One of the caves is so deep that it is a good idea to bring a flashlight along.  Pretty spooky, especially because the end of the cave was full of floating seaweed.  There were also massive schools of fish there, and a few large predators including four foot barracuda and three foot tarpon.

Andy has a baggie full of imitation Spanish doubloons aboard Arabella.  He brought a handful of them with him and dropped a few at the far end of each cave.  Too bad we can't see the looks on the faces of the folks that find them thinking they've found pirate booty!

Thoroughly exhausted from a day in the water, Team Arabella moved the final time for the day into "The Bight" on Norman Island just around the point from The Caves.

The Bight has sixty moorings in it, but there were only five other boats in there when we arrived.  The cruising season hasn't formally started yet because hurricane season isn't officially over.  Things really get busy down here when it starts to get cold in the continental US.  That's good for us.  Team Arabella doesn't go for crowds.

The next morning I hoisted Andy up the mast to fix Arabella's steaming light that has been out since Lori and I got on the boat. When it was working again we powered ten miles to Jost Van Dyke Island, the site of two of Andy and Patty's favorite bars. First was "The Soggy Dollar" in White Bay where the crew drank far too many Painkillers.  At 2PM we moved the half mile to Great Harbor where "Foxy's" is located. 

We're not kids anymore, so the crew had a late lunch and a nap before making our assault on Foxy's at 6PM. It was Halloween, and just before departing Arabella for shore a dinghy full of costumed kids came trick or treating to Arabella. We've never seen ocean going trick or treaters before.

The adults in Foxy's were in the Halloween spirit as well. As I write this aboard Arabella I can hear the music blasting and folks screaming ashore. Good times!

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