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The elder boy announced that they were selling bread from the bakery: Coconut or Banana. Then he snapped at the younger, "Sit down!" Apparently, the younger boy wasn't allowed to stand.
"When was the bread baked?", June asks.
"I don't know. I just sell it", the elder replies matter-of-factly.
We chit chatted with them at length. They will be going to school
after they leave us; they are not brothers; "SIT DOWN!", he snapped
again.
"Where are you coming from?", the elder asked us.
June replied, "Marina Cay".
No, he tried again, "Where is your home?"
"San Francisco" we said in unison.
"Ahhh" said the elder, "I want to experience the snow. Does it snow
in San Francisco?"
"No", I shared with him. "But the snow is very cold you know. It
actually hurts when you touch it".
"S I T D O W N!!", the elder rolled his eyes as he
barked again to the younger.
June gave him $4 for a loaf of banana bread. They both said, "Thank
you", and the elder retreated to the rear of the dingy,
preparing to shove off.
The younger stands again and faintly whispered to us, "mooring fee".
"What?", I asked.
Again, a little louder this time, "Mooring fee".
The elder heard this and his face went blank, "Oh my gosh!! I
almost forgot to collect the mooring fee!".
The younger sat down quietly and smiled. We got him $30 as he wrote a receipt. They raced off to the next boat in the harbor.
We lazily lounged on deck with coffee and delicious banana bread. Eventually we untied and motored out of Great Harbour toward The Indians and Norman Island.
We followed the lead boat, Gambus, out of the harbor and very soon both boats set sails. We had good wind over the port beam almost the entire way as we left Gambus in our wake. They had told me earlier that our main sail was larger than theirs. Through the narrow passage off the West end of Tortola, we furled our jib and motored through. But, as we hit the Francis Drake channel, we killed the motor and enjoyed some spirited sailing.
We had a bit of a fright when we got a little too close to St. John island. Although we were at least 25 yds off a steep, rocky shoreline, Steve had his eye on the depth gauge as it quickly dropped to 15 ft. We quickly came about as it continued to drop to 5 ft. below the keel, then quickly increased to normal depths. Running aground would have been a fitting addition to our list of mishaps.
The night before, we agreed to stop at the Indians, a rocky outcropping famous for its outstanding snorkeling.
We tied up and we all jumped in. June was out first, but she had trouble with her snorkel fitting. Almost to the rocks, she took off her mask and snorkel to make an adjustment. She put it back on, looked in the water and noticed a pink fish falling to the ocean floor. Then she realized it was her snorkel! She dove after it, but it was just beyond reach, so she swam back it to get a new snorkel. She passed Steve on the way in and explained the situation to him. Steve swam a little further and saw her pink snorkel about 20 ft down in some coral. So he dove down to get it, and felt immense pressure in his ears. As he reached for the snorkel, he felt his ears pop loudly. He abandoned the dive and surfaced. He continued to enjoy the great snorkeling, but back on board, someone noticed a trickle of blood coming from one of his ears, so he proceeded to tell us the story. From then on, he saw a bloody discharge on his pillow every morning. He didn't snorkel the rest of the trip. Now a week after the trip, the Dr. assures him that his ear will heal to 100% (and it has). Good news!
We packed up and motored the rest of the way to our mooring in Norman Bight (bay). Once we settled in, we decided to explore 'The Caves' just a short dingy ride passed Willy T's bar and around the West point. We jumped in the dingy to investigate.
The snorkeling was mediocre, but checking out the 4 caves was good fun!
This will be our last official night with the Flotilla, so all flotilla boats gathered in Pirate's Bight restaurant to celebrate. In this, our last meeting, Richard explained that those taking the last ferry out of Tortola on Friday are welcome to spend another night at sea (unaccompanied) and return to Tortola base Friday morning by 9 am. That would include Lucky Hull 908.
Then Captain Richard began the pre-dinner ceremony: bestowing unique awards to each boat along with a short story. One boat was awarded the 'most experienced sailors', another, 'the tidiest boat', and so forth. The crew of Lucky Hull 908 was conspicuously left until last. I was thinking they would probably have liked to forget our auspicious start. But alas, he announces, last but not least, his favorite award, goes to the crew of Hull 908, the coveted, "Most Likely to Become Pirates" (refrigerator magnet) award! Yea! More drinks!
And, once again, after a fabulous dinner and several drinks, the fearsome (and rather drunken) pirate crew of Lucky Hull 908, dingy'd into the dark to try to find our boat.
See The Indians and Norman Bight
pics. (to
play music, press 
in
the upper-right corner of the pictures)
Video: Sailing to Norman Bight
Next: Cooper Island and Base