We spent our first night in the BVI at the dock in Roadtown and the next day dawned clear and promising.
During the chart briefing, we found out that the weather would be sporty during the week to come.
We (there were two other couples as well as our base manager from Annapolis) boarded our spacious catamaran and motored out of the Sunsail base,
passing the huge Costa Fortuna (not Concordia) on the way.
I was glad the Baths weren't on that day's itinerary. As predicted, winds gusted well into the 30 knot range with choppy seas. The boat, however, sailed well on the reach to Norman Island under mainsail alone.
We headed a bit past and out of the Drake channel to see what more open water felt like but the mutinous faces of the crew made us reconsider this and we turned around for the predictable upwind beating. We briefly considered snorkeling at the Indians just outside of the Bight at Norman but the 30 knot gusts and wavy conditions told us that wasn't going to be fun.
We grabbed a mooring (maybe the last one) near the Willy T and made Dark and Stormy drinks as the squall hit us
forcing the party indoors.
The Willy T was gearing up for the evening's activities.
This monohull provided an hour of entertainment when they couldn't find a mooring and tried to anchor in what I think were over 40 knot gusts that whistled down from the hills. They dragged and were having trouble when they fouled their dinghy on this neighboring catamaran causing it to go between the hulls. The retrieval process involved getting it out the other side.
It calmed down a bit and we dinghied over to the new Pirates restaurant.
It was rebuilt after the previous brand new restaurant burned down two years ago just after we ate there (during the super bowl) on our previous trip. That one was brand new and beautiful. This one is a bit smaller, I think, but still very nice, especially compared to the bar/restaurant that had been there three years ago.
We hiked up over the hill to get a view of the other side of Norman from near a helipad.
A hermit crab briefly joined us for drinks and dinner
as the sun set over the anchorage.
My ribs were delicious.
We were part of a flotilla of five boats from our sailing organization and everyone joined us as the table kept expanding lengthwise. Clean plates for us.
The "after party" at Willy T was going strong well into the night. Sailors know how to party.
Eventually, we dinghied back for a good rest after our first sailing day.
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