Travis arrived at 1pm on a
Thursday from St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Unfortunately, my sister
arrived the same day (in the evening) at Tortola in the British Virgin Islands.
So we had to throw Travis on board quickly feed him and lift the anchor to head
off to Tortola. We managed to make good time and arrived early to pick up my
sister . . . Jangles was now a full boat!
Travis only had 2 weeks on
the boat and we needed to make the best of it, as the BVI is just so
spectacular. We left the next day to Norman Island, stopping off at the Indians
on the way to snorkel. The Indians are just four protruding rocks in the water
with excellent underwater life. Afterwards, we picked up a buoy at the Bight
for the night. The next morning, my sister, Travis and I went around the corner
in the dinghy to Treasure Point where we snorkeled inside the caves where
Blackbeard’s treasure had previously been found!
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| The Indians |
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| Rebecca inside the cave |
We then moved on to White Bay
in Peter Island. We took the dinghy to a snorkel spot where we saw our first
lionfish and a Caribbean reef shark! Travis and I went paddle boarding in the
afternoon around the gorgeous bay. After all this snorkeling, it was finally
time for a dive. We only have 2 BC’s (other one needs a new seal) so Travis and my
dad went down to dive the wreck of the RMS Rhone. My mom and I snorkeled the
bit we could see. It was quite the snorkel as my mom and I were being stalked
by a giant spotted eagle ray! It was an amazing experience in hindsight, but at
the time we were pretty scared haha. Apparently the same ray came right up to
Travis as they were diving.
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| Travis diving the Rhone |
From here we moved to the
most popular destination in the BVI, the Baths at Virgin Gorda. Essentially a
whole bunch of natural rocks along the beach. Travis and I spent hours snorkeling
and climbing all over the rocks.
From here, it was off to
Great Dog Island where my sister and Travis dived an old airplane wreck.
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| Travis inside the plane |
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| Rebecca at the nose of the plane |
Eventually the day arrived..
It was my 21st birthday. I came out of my cabin to an over the top
decorated cockpit, with champagne and presents galore. We had champagne and
cake for breakfast and had a great dinner at a restaurant in Virgin Gorda
called Cocomayas. Overall, it was a really fabulous day.
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| COCOMAYAS |
We had a report of some bad
weather heading our way so we headed around to Bitter End in Virgin Gorda. We
hooked up with the dive school and Travis went on his first night dive! He
absolutely loved it, the highlight being a small blue octopus. The next day we
went for a small hike around Bitter End, with spectacular views.
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| Off to the night dive! |
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| View from our hike |
Unfortunately the time had
come for Travis to leave. It was a fantastic 2 weeks.
Jangles was now getting ready
to head down south out of the hurricane belt. We had a few bad storms, and
changed our destination twice but we eventually ended up in St. Lucia. We had dolphins
swimming with us three times as we sailed! We headed to Tobago Cay’s for a few
days and had some amazing snorkeling. I got to see my first octopus, rather a
large fellow but fortunately rather timid so I was able to get some really nice
close photos.
We are now in Grenada, where
the boat will stay for the hurricane season. As I leave soon to the states for
2 months, I decided to get a dive or 2 in before I go. My mom and I dived off
the back off the boat at the underwater sculpture park in Grenada. We saw 4
lionfish and about 5 spotted moray eels. . . it was a really amazing dive!
That dive was so great, we
filled the tanks and decided to do one more. This time my sister and I went
down in the same place. We had another excellent dive. . .we saw 2 spotted
moray eels, a sharptail eel, a huge lionfish and even a scorpionfish! Two great
dives to say farewell to Jangles.
As it is possible that this
may be the last Jangles blog of the year (given that no one else knows how to
post them, haha) so here is a short video of our last stretch this year from
St. Lucia to Tobago Cays.
