Day 3

Norman and Peter Island

I'm saddled up at a the bar "Bath & Turtle" here in Spanish Town on the Island of Virgin Gorda.  I found internet so I'm quickly posting some updates on our blog.  This will probably be the only time my mother is happy I'm at a bar...so she can receive word of our safe whereabouts!  ---Stacy

We anchored last night off Norman Island near Treasure Caves:

Spent the morning exploring/snorkeling the Treasure Island Caves (the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson’s book “Treasure Island”). 

Connor was our official dingy driver and ferried Keith, Kathy, and Mark over to snorkel around the caves.

Here’s part of the crew over at the caves:

 Mark, Connor, and Kathy

Kathy:

Keith and Kathy in the Caves:

A little bottom time for Keith:

A view of "Hakuna Matata":

   

Meanwhile…back on the boat, Chloe and I stayed there as she is still slowly acclimating to life on board a moving vessel.  Feeling a little queasy, Chloe’s been drinking lot of water, snacking on saltine crackers, and sleeping through a heavy dose of Meclizine.   But I’m happy to report that by the end of the day, Chloe had gotten her sea legs and was feeling great.

Next we made the very short passage to Peter Island.

 

Connor absolutely loves doing any shipboard duties that needs to get done.  Here he is helping to set the anchor with Keith and Kathy. 

No sooner had we set the anchor then he had jumped overboard with mask and snorkel and went out to check and make sure it was securely embedded into the sand.

 

Kathy, Chloe, and I decided to Kayak the short distance over to Peter Island.  Connor followed behind Kathy and had her give him a tow.

We couldn’t resist making a little sand shrine in the memory of Peter Williams who wasn’t with us on this trip.  We’ve missed him!

As sad as we were missing ol' Pete, we did our best to enjoy the day...

 

This is my idea of bonding with my kids:

PROJECT ANCHOR: 

(one tank, two divers, eight zip-ties, fourteen mistakes, endless ridicule)

Mark and Keith joined us later on Peter Island after they decided to do a little boat project.  The “little” project was marking the anchor chain.  “Hakuna Matata’s” chain doesn’t have any markings on it which really makes it difficult to judge how much chain you’ve let off when you set your anchor.  Usually the anchor chain is marked every ten feet so you can estimate how much scope you’ve got to swing by.  (did I use the word "mark" enough??)

The boys got the genius idea to hook up ONE scuba tank FOR TWO DIVERS.  Yes, this narrative is already off to a good start, don't you think?   Keith grabbed some zip ties that I ever so smartly brought with me from the states, in the galley he then measured a 10 foot length of line using his iphone tape measure app, then he and Mark headed down the anchor chain with their one scuba tank.

(they decided to save the precious air in their rented dive tanks by frugally devising a bizarre untested form of buddy breathing.)

Before heading down, Keith handed Mark a weight belt which had about 30 lbs. on it and sure enough Mark went strait down to the bottom--no chance for a ear pop stop on this trip.

With only four hands between them, they devised some wacko sort of routine they’d predetermined above, and the two worked simultaneously to measure, tie, zip, and mark the anchor chain every 10 feet, EIGHT times in a row--a project that should have probably taken 6 hands to complete if you wanted it done accurately.   Only twice did Mark had his regulator ripped from his mouth because he and Keith decided to swim in opposite directions.  

Somehow, through a comedy of underwater errors, they got the job done.  Let's just hope no one checks their work.

A warning to those of you who work at Medford Medical, as Keith suggested this little song and underwater dance  called "Project Anchor" might make a great team-building exercise at the next corporate meeting. 

After a nice sunny day on Peter's beach, sans Peter...

We came home and the boys took fresh water showers off the back of the boat.

  

and we did a little laundry:

Another little project we tackled was figuring out how to increase our unusually dim cabin lights in our galley and salon.  There seems to be the least amount of light coming from what would be considered a lightbulb.  Unfortunately, the galley and salon are where we need light the most.  Kinda hard to do charting and navigation without it--we certainly don't want to end up sailing somewhere cold!   Dim galley lights also makes it really hard to cook, especially if you plan on using sharp knives while being tossed around on the ocean.  

Mark found a serious One Million C.P. spotlight stowed by the captain’s desk and we plugged it in and bounced the mega light off the ceiling.  PERFECT!  Now we’ve got enough lights for cooking!

…AND to spend the evening playing Apples to Apples and Speed Scrabble.  Oh, and eating a delicious Chocolate cake fresh from Kathy’s mega lit galley!

In the late evening, Connor braved a momentary torrential down pour out on the upper deck to secure the mast line than was hanging loose and loudly banging on the roof.  He’s vying to take over Peter’s job as our boat’s heroic “Dirk Pitt”.  But until he saves the crew in a gutsy deed like our last sea adventure-- by jumping in the ocean in the middle of a frantic storm at 2 in the morning to save the boat and crew, well, Connor’s gonna remain just a Peter wannabe.  But you gotta give the kid a little sea cred, he’s working hard on this boat and loving every minute of it.

Cheers!