BVI Sailing Vacation (Part III)

June 28 - There are Sharks out there

Up at 7am. I slept well, but had to get up a couple of times to check on things as it seemed very windy overnight. Fresh pineapple and honeydew melon along with cereal for breakfast and then an early sailing start. (9:30 am).

Let's say I should have "reefed." It was very windy ... 25 knts out of the ENE, so we were "beating" all the way to Cooper Island (our next destination).  We were heeled way too much for efficient sailing.  I did not know how to operate the "reefing" system on this boat and did not want to try to learn on the fly- so to speak- so I just kept going.  Also, at the start, I had a bit of trouble getting the main up as the full battens kept getting caught on the lazy jack lines.  Needless to say, it was a hard sail (with far too many tacks) into the wind up the Sir Francis Drake, but we made it to the Manchioneel Bay anchorage in 4.5 hrs (12 nm) by 2:00 pm.

Manchioneel Bay, Cooper Island has a white sandy beach.  Suzi and I had a rum punch at the Cooper Island Beach Club and then I played frisbee with Gray before a walk along the beach.  Gray and I took the dingy back to the boat to pick up snorkeling gear while the girls "sunned." We headed over to Cistern point for quick "swim" around the big rock formation. Snorkeling was really good, but what made it great was seeing three nurse sharks about three feet in length just below us as we hovered over them.   Afterwards, we headed back for the girls.  Suzi and I had out first "painkillers" for happy hour then headed back to Blue Tide to clean up for dinner ashore at the Cooper Island Beach Club - first meal ashore.  It was an amazing fine dining experience and I highly recommend!!

Also, while at the Cooper Island Beach Club, I met a man from Virginia at the bar. He was on a large sailing cat with his wife and three other couples. All retired (or close to it) and seemed to be having fun, but with some issues with their boat ... Radio/ CD didn't work (so no music), bathrooms were not functioning up to par ... Hmmm I will make a mental note of that charter company.