This post is authored by guest-author Riley Flynn, our sister-in-law who along with Bill sailed with us for 7 days in the BVI. It is back-dated. We have enjoyed revisiting the memories pulled from Riley's travel journal and hope it brings as much sunshine to your day as it has to ours.
Sunday Funday is what some call it…I’d agree!
Today, waking up to beautiful turquoise blue waters at Cooper Island, we had coffee/tea, mapped our route for the day and jumped in with both feet. With Fiona’s help, we sailed west to Norman Island, while some of us caught up on reading, and others simply enjoyed the view.
Once there, we joined several boats that were moored to enjoy our Sunday Funday and night. We had some lunch and enjoyed our favourite activities.
Matt, Bill, and the girls snorkeled around the boat and saw some colorful reef fish, while Laura and I got on our SUP boards. We cruised between boats and she took me to see “Willy T”, a barge-like boat that looks like a fun party-place for kids, and kids at heart.
For dinner that evening, we hopped in the dinghy for a short trip to shore to have dinner at Pirate’s Bight which is a beautiful open-air restaurant with white stucco walls, sconces made from shells, and high vaulted wood ceilings. We sat near the waters edge and enjoyed fresh fish, lobster, and roti’s…a first for Papa. The music was a mix of 60’s and 70’s accompanied by a steel drum and a little dancing 😉
After a fun night, and a good sleep, we woke refreshed to start a new day. A morning swim perked us all up, and we got ready to head to The Caves on the other side of the island for some great snorkeling. Once we were moored off the shores of the Caves, Matt, Bill, and the girls loaded up on sunscreen and snorkel gear and took the dinghy closer to shore.
They swam inside and around the caves and saw all kinds of brightly-colored fish such as parrot fish, as well as anemones and even a sea turtle.
After they returned, we had a picky lunch on the boat together, and enjoyed the sun and salty air.
We packed up and started our sail upwind to Sopers Hole on the west end of Tortola where we were planning to spend the night. Hurricane Irma (2017) hit Soper’s Hole very hard, and Laura & Matt said when they were here in 2018 they saw total devastation without any recovery. However since then there have been big improvements. Images of the wreckage were plastered everywhere, giving us “before” and “after” views of what it looked like before they re-built. The devastation is very real, and there are still pieces of the buildings in the water. Some of the shops have re-opened, so we poked in and bought t-shirts, bracelets, and a beach cover-up.
We watched the sunset from the patio at Pussers, famous for the island's signature drink the Painkiller, and sipped on the local beer 'Carib'.
That night we made dinner on the boat, which I think we can all agree has been our best meal yet…probably because it was a team effort and made with lots of love. Grilled local snapper, coconut rice, grilled broccoli, grilled pineapple and fresh home-made papaya salsa, YUM! I must note that grilling for 8 on a 12” briquette BBQ that hangs off the side of the boat was pretty neat.
Looking forward to waking up tomorrow to another day of sailing and fun in the sun. Monday’s never looked so good!
Hope we won’t need too many of those Painkillers tomorrow…
Riley
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