An Expensive Day in Paradise

With the new AIS working I just wanted to sail around and have Flying Cloud show up on other boat's navigation systems, but Meryl had other ideas. She had her own challenge trying to sew new side panels that would hang down from the bimini to block the sun. But I’ll let her tell that tale.

With a couple of major projects under our belt it was time for a little R & R. On May 18th (34 years ago on this day I was about to travel down to Vancouver to work for FEMA following the eruption of Mt. St. Helens) we motor sailed over to Norman Island to check out a new neighborhood. Compared to Little Harbor, The Bight was like a Walmart parking lot the day after Thanksgiving. Gunnel to gunnel with charter cats everywhere.

We decided to dingy over to the famous “Treasure Island Caves” and snorkel around. Three are three sea caves carved out of the limestone cliffs and one of them goes back quite a ways. It's always a little scary diving in the dark caves, but these were so full of people you could just follow the bikini bottoms. And despite the crowds, it was actually fairly good snorkeling, with the occasional huge tarpon doing a drive-by under our legs.

Newly remodeled Pirates Bight restaurant at The Bight.

Enjoying a well-deserved beer at the Pirates Bight.

We went into the newly remodeled Pirates Bight restaurant for a sundowner during Happy Hour. I have to say it's not the same with crowds of charterers compared to the cruiser crowd we’re used to hanging around. You feel like you're in a Fort Lauderdale beach bar right after the convention hit town.  The restaurant was fabulous, however, and the service excellent. For a small appetizer and two beers we dropped $28. That’s why we don’t do this often.

We did take advantage of a delivery service called Deliverance, a black speedboat full of ice, bakery goods, and other food items. Since we had about two weeks of garbage on board, we were very lucky to have these guys take it off our hands. To show how desperate we were for fresh food items, when he was grabbing the last homemade brownie and it fell to the floor of the boat, we just said “We’ll take it anyway.” Desperate men do desperate things.

The next morning we sailed south to Soper’s Hole for fuel and water.  We also discovered we were three days overdue on our cruising permit and there was a Custom’s Office just across from the fuel dock.  I thought we’d just get a quick reprimand and pay $30 for an additional month, but the senior Customs guy got involved and declared we’d have to “import” our boat to the BVIs and the fee was $202. Since we were only going to be there for another week that really, really hurt. Trying to keep up on all the rules and ever-changing regulations of the various Caribbean islands is a full time job for a very responsible person. We don't have any of those on board.

Another gorgeous white sand beach, this time at Cane Garden Bay.

Myett's on the Beach.

While this nice soft focus looks dreamy, it's because I forgot to clean the camera lens.

Continued through Thatcher Pass at Soper’s Hole to the backside (north) of Tortola Island and motor sailed (wind on the nose) an hour up to Cane Garden Bay. It’s a beautiful little bay with a fun village, some good restaurants, and about three small grocery stores.  Even though we didn’t seem to be out of anything big, we managed to rack up a $150 grocery bill in about an hour of shopping.  Had sundowners and dinner at Myett’s, sort of an institution in Cane Garden Bay, and sat and watched the sun set while Candyman played a medley of Caribbean and Jimmy Buffet songs. Perfect end to a very expensive day.

Having been without Internet for about a week, we  decided to stay an extra day in Cane Garden just to get caught up on email and other chores.  When I cranked up the computer and finally got Quicken running I was shocked to see that someone had stolen our Charles Schwab ATM card number (not the physical card which was still in my wallet) and emptied out our Schwab cash account to the tune of $1500.  I had just transferred that amount on May 7th and on the 10th someone in the Philippines made seven withdrawals totaling that amount. Schwab eventually figured it out and blocked the card, so that when I tried to get cash at Cane Garden Bay the ATM machine wouldn’t give me any.  Got a hold of Schwab’s Fraud department and they were great to deal with. We use this card rarely, and the best I can figure is maybe when we were in Hong Kong getting a foot massage someone got into my wallet and electronically copied the card with a reader device, then used that to make an identical card. The security guy told me that the number embossed on the card face is different from the number used on the mag stripe, so that’s the only way they could get it. I still don’t understand how they could have gotten the PIN since it’s not written down anywhere.  Moral of the story is don’t keep much cash in your ATM account and guard the card with your life.