“Don’t stress, mon”

Since we’ve been quoting local wisdom lately…. these were the words of the mechanic working on our outboard motor in response to our question “How much do you think this will cost us?” Easy for him to say.

Hey... bring back our dinghy!

In true island fashion it took a few weeks to get the parts that we needed (though each day they said the parts would probably be in ‘tomorrow’) and we were looking forward to finally having the motor up to speed (bad pun not intended).  So… the outboard is fixed and runs "like a bat outta hell” (another direct quote from the mechanic). We paid the ransom… um.. I mean.. the bill for the repairs and were on our way.

The rain still comes and goes in big heavy downpours… filling up our water tanks, and the dinghy, each time.

We’ve been bumping around the BVI for a while – visiting some of the over-visited spots as well as some places we haven’t been before. In no particular order…. Key Cay, Trellis Bay, Saba Rock, Spring Bay, Little Harbor, Lee Bay, Cam Bay, Monkey Point, Anegada and a few others.

Waiting for the rain in Key Cay

Spring Bay – just up from the Baths on Virgin Gorda is beautiful, and we ended up spending time there since the Baths were so full of charter boats we couldn’t get near them.

Trellis Bay – with it’s wonky dock and cafe with spying eyes.

Saba Rock - at the north end of Gorda Sound, has a great view of the sound and draws charterers and us regular people too. We anchor pretty much everywhere, but they have a great deal here - pick up one of their mooring balls for $25 and get up to 200 gallons of water and a bag of ice! We ended up being here between big rains (and I'll admit to using our rainwater tank fills rather freely, since for a while it seemed like it would never stop raining) so we picked up a mooring ball and filled our tanks. Judging by the number of dinghies at the dock here, looks like we're not the only ones who thought this was a good deal.

Two more good reasons to stop at Saba Rock..... well placed hammocks, and $2.50 painkillers every day.

And a reason to take a look around the nearby Bitter End Yacht Club - cool artwork! Even showing the way to the restrooms....

But one reason not to stay for too long is that everything else is really expensive! You'd have to really be craving your Cheerios and Triscuits to buy them here. 

Cool critters and cool flowers still all around....

With the rain still hanging around.... we decided to go north to Anegada for a change of pace (yep... gotta get away from the fast pace over here on Virgin Gorda) and sit out the cloudy days there. There's a flock of pink flamingos that makes it's home on Anegada and we trekked out around the Salt Pond hoping to catch a glimpse of them. Nope, no sign of them... not even a pink feather floating around. Still it was a nice walk and we did see some cool orchids.

Saralane waits for the rain in Anegada

Leaving Anegada...

One place we keep returning to is LIttle Harbor on Peter Island. It's close to Road Town and seems to be overlooked in favor of the bigger splashier places, but it's a lovely little harbor full of fish, turtles, spotted eagle rays, goats and birds.

Sunset in Little Harbor

This little box fish hangs out under the boat every time we stop here...

As usual I've let too much time lapse between posts so this is getting long enough that my attention span is beginning to feel challenged. I'll pick up with the fishes in the next post...