We were up at 6:30 again.  I fixed the coffee because Pat “only knows how to fix the second pot of the day.”  By 7:45 we were motoring to Biras Creek and Bitter End, a pleasant trip.

Biras Creek was elegant - a private hotel on the spit of land separating North Sound from the Atlantic.  We walked about the well-manicured footpaths designed for the rich and famous.  We inspected the gazebos with their intricate wood carvings and exposed beams.  The door stops were carved, wooden fish.  The door handles were carved lizards.  One gazebo held the biggest pool table I ever saw.

Sarah writes:
“Biras Creek - Open air gazebos on mountain.  Beautiful look-out.  Carved wooden handles on doors.  Carved chess sets.  Carved planters.  Second gazebo with pool table.  Sponge-painted walls.  Trails down to the water winding through beautiful flowers.  See lots of lizards.  Seemed to be a small, pretty, private resort.  Not many people wandering through like we were.  Swimming pool overlooking the bay.  Tennis courts at the bottom of the hill.”

Then we motored the half mile to Bitter end Yacht Club.  I was surprised to find that it was just another shopping area.  Rather small, but quite elegant, it contained another Pussers and a few other boutiques, lots of rental places for all manner of sailing equipment - sailboards, sailboats of several varieties, scuba diving, parasailing and water skiing.

Sarah writes:
“Bitter End Yacht Club - There is where the shark pen is, at the dinghy dock.  Cottages on the hill - golf cart taxi.  Ferries to other places.  Fish jumping.  Boobies diving.  Pelicans skimming.  Bought souvenirs - salt, perfume, hats for Will and Andy, gas & water for the boat.  Left garbage.  Windsurfers skimming.  Beginning windsurfers falling.  Parasailer flying over Leverick Bay.  The watersport place advertised, “Spot sea turtles from 600 feet!”  Volleyball at the Beach Bar.  Bought sea salt, perfume, hats for Andy & Will.”

We left Bitter End Yacht Club at 10:45 headed for Monkey Point, where we arrived about 2:00.  There were high ocean rollers at first from the East, then stronger from the North.  It was downwind sailing.

I loved sailing in the ocean swells.  It feels like you really ARE sailing around the world.  I love the rhythm of the waves and the rocking of the boat.  I love seeing the mountain beside you recede toward the horizon and the one in the misty distance come to port.  I really DO like sailing on the ocean.  Sailing around the world would be 90% just like this.  The other 10% would be stark terror, but, of course, it would be worth it.

Sarah writes:
“Sailing to Monkey Point.  Two-three foot seas.  Light wind.  Royal blue water.  Sandwiches while sailing.  Experimenting with sails wing on wing.  Some big rollers.  Smooth sailing around the point.  Tied to a buoy.  Flurry of activity and excitement getting ready to snorkel.  Lots of pelicans.  Fish flouncing everywhere.  Waves splashing up on the rocks.  Great snorkeling.  Beautiful coral.  Parrot fish.  Blue fish.  Row the dinghy - Pat & I hang our heads over to see.  Will gets sting on neck.”

At Monkey Point we saw thousands and thousands of little blue minnow-sized fish, larger parrot fish below them and lots of yellow-tails.  I talked Sarah and Pat into “snorkeling” by leaning over the dinghy as I rowed them to the best spots.

About three, we motored through the cut to Marina Cary, but all mooring balls were full so we wound up at Trellis Bay again.  I immediately hustled everybody into the dinghy for a trip across the bay back to Marina Cay and Pussers.  Sarah closed her eyes most of the way there and back, but I managed the trip with hardly any splashing water over the edge.

Sarah writes:
“Motor to Marina Cay - No buoys left.  Motor back to Trellis Bay.  Immediately take dinghy to Marina Cay - all the way across the bay.  Pat says, “There was a time in my life when you couldn’t pay me to do this.”  I said, “Me too and it wasn’t very long ago.”  Found the dinghy dock.  Went in to Pussers, walked on around the beach to restaurant with a beautiful view.  Back to Pussers for ice cream and a drink.  Dinghy back across the bay to the beach where “the tree” is.  It is decorated with shells, flippers, glass jars, netting, coral.  Will and I added shells and a feather.  Dinghy across to The Last Resort Restaurant.  A goat is on a picnic table eating the palm thatch roof.  There are two white parrots in a cage beside the restaurant.  Vanilla the donkey is out in front of the restaurant.  We check out the little shop at the back with paintings and jewelry.  Back to the boat to fix dinner.  Opened the corn meal to fry fish - bugs.  Sent Mickey and Andy to store to buy more.  Store closed.  Will bake fish instead.  Small rain shower.  Anchored next to Endless Summer from Huntsville, Alabama.  Snapper, baked potato, green beans for dinner.  Will feeling sick - finally feels well enough to eat baked potato.  Listened to Mickey read Tales of the Caribbean.”

During the cockpit sitting tonight, we were well entertained by the two six-year-olds on the boat next to us named Dare.  In fact, they entertained the whole harbor with the fishing episodes off the side of the boat.  Each time they caught a tiny fish, they squealed with delight, “I got one!  I got one!  I got one!  I got one!”

I read aloud for an hour or so from Pat’s new book by Fritz Seyforth entitled _Tales of the Caribbean_ with interesting chapters like:
No Problems Joe
A Sailboat, a Cricket, a Search for Paradise
Killer Reef Ahead

On page 21, Seyforth quotes some sea ditties about weak stomachs, heaving decks, and leeward rails that seems appropriate for this crew:

“Golden doubloons and pieces of eight.
Throwing up to weather all that you ate.
And
“Incredible beauty, indescribable class.
Look out for the vomit or you’ll slide real fast.
And
Weed in the rigging and foam in the scuppers.
Oh dear Lord, I just barfed my uppers!”

He describes the Virgin Islands this way:
“No area anywhere in the world offers better cruising than the Virgins, with some hundred islands and cays sprinkled over an area forty miles long and ten miles wide in the northeast corner of the Caribbean Sea.  The western third of this delightful patchwork belongs to the United States, the remainder is British.  The Virgins are rugged, mountainous islands rising sharply from the sea, but they are not particularly lush.  The climate is relatively dry and the land is short of towering forests and cascading streams.  Much of the beauty is in the islands’ outlines and peaks, ridges and cliffs against clear blue skies and white trade-wind clouds, and shorelines of small bays, hidden coves, bright beaches, and warm clean water.” (page 13)

“A businessman in St. Thomas advertised for a new employee.  The salary was good, the working conditions excellent, and best of all, the job required working only one day a week - Wednesday.  A likely prospect seemed interested, but had a question, “Will I have to work EVERY Wednesday?” (page 17)
 

End - Day Eight - Motherofallvacations Vacation