06 Sept 2012 ... Peter Island, birthday parties and diving with rays and remora's

Ana and I love it here at anchor here at Deadman’s Bay, Peter Island … our home in the BVI’s.

I took this photo of Andrew and Ana walking to Deadmans Beach Bar

I have been in the water cleaning the bottom of Impi … the growth at this time of year seems extraordinary and I have my work cut out for me. Interestingly enough, a first dive for visual inspection caused a bit of a startle as I had not seen a Remora which had attached itself to Impi’s hull.

The fact that there is no wind at the moment, apart from the gentlest breeze, makes for super hot weather and I find it difficult to sleep in this humidity which sends me ‘topside’ for air followed by a cold shower several times throughout the night … I can hardly wait to install our new air conditioning system which Just Catamarans is preparing to ship out from Fort Lauderdale to us …phew!

Strangely enough, with the unpleasantness of humidity and heat, comes a very special beauty … the water is mirror smooth and crystal clear … I can see the sea floor below as if it were about to greet the hulls of Impi for shallowness, yet I look at the depth meter … we are at 5 meters.

The air is clear … there is not a sign of mist or vapour to be seen and the beach sparkles as if scattered with crystals reflecting in the sun …

‘Breathless’ is the word to describe the scene here … in every sense of the meaning … breathless!

Ana had given me some chicken bones which instead of tossing into the bin I rather use to attract fish … fish love chicken … even the rays!

We sat on the back step and watched as fish appeared … immediately we had sharksuckers and remora. 

The sharksucker is a large sized remora and slightly greyer in colour … I find them fascinating as they have become accustom to my presence and are almost feeding from our hands … Ana says its like having a farm and feeding the chickens … the remora's strange looking giant sucker like appendage on the top of their heads clearly rising above the water as they come up to feed.

We have, in the past, observed a number of remora attached to a turtle here in Deadman’s Bay … they obviously ‘hitch’ rides on larger fish as a means of transportation.

Remoras could easily be classified as a parasite since it clings to its host, however, they are not really parasites as they also do good for the host in that they are ‘cleaners’ which not only feed on the morsels left by the host but also clean the host by removing parasites etc.

They have an odd shaped jaw with a distinctive lower jaw which sits well in front of the upper jaw … reminds me of the Tarpon fish jaw type.

I took this photo hoping to show the teeth which are pointed, face inwards and are around the jaw

As they rise up to feed, we would find ourselves in laughter at the odd greedy one struggling to get the food into its mouth and in the process making all kinds of sucking noises whilst desperately opening and closing its mouth which reveals its ‘throat’.

They have small sharply pointed teeth and I have no idea if they could produce a painful bite or one that could severe a finger, however, I get the feeling they are anything but aggressive!

Apparently, fisherman have been known to catch fish and turtles with them by tying a line to the remora’s tail and setting it free … it attaches itself to a host and the fisherman slowly and carefully retrieves the remora along with it’s host!

Whilst I was ‘down under’ cleaning the hull, I observed a number of remora which had attached themselves to Impi and swam around me as if to be playful … at first I was a bit ‘taken aback’ by this activity but before long realised they were harmless.

Also ‘down under’ and ‘not so friendly looking’ was a rather large barracuda which moved from side to side keeping its beady eye on me whilst I scrubbed and scraped at Impi’s hull. Instinctively I would find myself turning around to check what it was up to and making eye contact with them always seems to send a shiver down my spine ;)

Other large fish which join in for the feed as we throw the odd food bit overboard are what I assume to be jacks … possibly blue runners which I am told are fantastic for eating … one thing Ana and I will not do here in the BVI’s on account of ciguatera poisoning which is found in reef fish. 

This form of poisoning is a real threat to consumers of large reef fish here … it is colourless and odourless … produced by an organism that grows on reef algae it is consumed by fish in some infested tropical waters, the toxin being stored in fat it becomes more and more toxic as it moves up through the feed chain and eventually to human beings and can, in certain instances, be lethal. Local inhabitants seem to build up a form of immunity over the years and tourists need to be careful as many locals are convinced that heat (such as boiling the fish) kills the toxicity… which in fact it does not!

Yesterday was Hannah Fehrsens birthday. Hannah is the daughter of Andrew and Carolyn Fehrsen, our good sailing buddies on catamaran ‘Champolion’.

We had been invited to join in the celebration of Hannah’s 9^th birthday, which included a visit to Deadman's Beach bar and grill for lunch.

Hannah (Left), Mathew, Joel and Andrew at Deadmans Bay Beach Bar

The staff were very friendly (as usual) and made her birthday lunch a memorable event by bringing her desert with what has to be the hugest flaming sparkle stick I have ever seen … not properly held I could imagine a ‘lift off’ to the surprise of some green Martian out there in space ;)

We had walked along the beach which I always enjoy here at Deadman’s Bay … it is really stunning.

As I walked along the shores, I could not help but notice how red the sand had become … especially in the ‘surf line’ … a true indication of Saharan dust which to a certain extent has been the reason for delayed hurricane activity. 

We had noticed a lot of red dust and sand settling on the decks of Impi … much to our frustration and especially Ana who had just cleaned it off … however, we are grateful that its presence has also been the reason why we have not been hit (yet) by a hurricane.

Talking about hurricanes … Ana and I have to constantly remind ourselves of the threat of hurricanes … it is so easy to become complacent and we force ourselves to check weather on a continuous basis.

Africa seems to be continuously hurtling some form of weather off its coastal shores and in our direction … of course the satellite imagery projects this in ‘streaming motion’ and we are reminded that the weather is ‘alive and moving’ and cannot always be predictable!

Anyway, back to lunch … we had eaten well (thank you Andrew, or should I say Hannah) … I had eaten a lovely chicken roti whilst Ana had the shrimp quesadilla … it was time to walk all this food off which we did by venturing up and over the hill to Sprat Bay.

Ana and Carolyn Fehrsen walking along a path from Deadmans Beach Bar

Joel runs ahead on the board walk at Sprat Bay

Peter Island, along with most islands in the BVI at this time of year, is very quiet. In fact, most islands have no open restaurants or lodging at this time of year which Peter Island keeps operational despite the lack of tourists.

Due to there being so few people around, we decided to venture down to the main complex and ask if it would be in order for the kids to swim in their ‘rather grand’ swimming pool whilst the adults enjoyed a drink or two at the little poolside bar.

Entrance to the main complex at Sprat Bay

Swimming pool at Sprat Bay (Peter Island Resort)

We love the pool at Peter Island in Spratt Bay … Although the water is almost as warm as the ambient temperature, one finds relief from the sweltering humidity of the day and the setting is magnificent.

In true style, the staff here are exceptionally friendly and welcoming … we all ended up playing ball for the rest of the afternoon and I think Hannah had a great birthday despite a lack of young friends.

Andrew and I had become ‘water horses’ carrying the kids on our shoulders in some kind of ‘water war’ … I was to be the horse of Joel who excitedly thumped and kicked me into shape whilst fighting Mathew off Andrew’s shoulders … it was rather exhausting and reminded me of my deceitful mind … a mind that keeps persuading my (almost) 50 year old body that it is 18!

Ana in the meanwhile decided it was rather dangerous being a ‘water horse’ as she almost had her bikini top removed a number of times in the process …

Anyway, we had had a terrific day, a day which had not ended until after supper on board Champollion where Carolyn also spoilt us with her delicious chocolate cake …

Once again we had one of those ‘breathless nights’ … I was up early this morning and was awestruck by the beautiful sunrise which rolled up out of the night and greeted the day into existence … the atmosphere was awesome and I hoped the reddish sky of the morning was a sign for some rain to follow … we need a good downpour here, one that cools … not a drizzle which only produces humidity … a good and thorough soaking!

We are enjoying 'unusual' skies after tropical storm Leslie passed by ... this was sunrise

The following morning I took to cleaning the hulls as there is a ‘white spaghetti coral type organism’ which is growing down there … one that spreads very quickly. I recall our good friend and electrician in Cape Town, Robert, talking of this as being a mission to clean … these things apparently thrive in the summer water here!

Every now and again I would take some time out to swim about and photograph the beautiful spotted eagle rays.

I was being pretty cautious about the number of jelly fish which were brushing up against me … they were tiny totally see through jelly fish and I could not see any tentacles. I scooped one up to have a closer look and it literally collapsed into a heap of jelly in my hands … I figured it should be safe to stay in the water with these guys as they did not produce any sort of sting. 

Of course the ‘sea wasp’ or box type jelly is a different thing all together … you may recall my post about them a while ago.

It was not long after I had observed these tiny jelly fish than a number of larger jelly fish arrived … the ‘Moon Jelly’ as they are called here.

I took this photo of a 'Moon Jelly Fish' diving down from the surface

The moon jelly had tentacles and apparently produces a sting which is more of an irritation than a serious condition … we have been told it feels as if one has been caught in ‘a bramble bush’.

Andrew Fehrsen was telling me that he had been stung by one last week and it produced a very uncomfortable irritation to his skin … not as bad as being caught in a ‘bramble bush’, but enough so that one would not want to make a habit of it JFortunately the moon jelly fish were not around for too long and I was able to enjoy swimming about with the turtles, rays and remoras in beautiful clear water in between scraping the hull clean.

Afternoon produced those beautiful colours we are seeing more and more of at the moment …  oranges and reds … the water was incredibly flat and smooth which enticed Andrew into some fun filled ‘skurfing’ (standing on a short surfboard whilst being towed by a dingy). I have not done this in years but decided to give it a go.

This was hilarious as Andrews’s 15hp motor really struggled and strained to get me up, however eventually I was skurfing and having a blast of a time!

Young Hannah is an expert skurfer and put us men to shame … of course there it was again … my young mind in an old man's body … thoroughly exhausted it was time to settle down on Impi for a drink or two.

Afterwards Ana and I sat on the back step of Impi and fed the remora fish with bread. Of course the seagulls took this as 'free lunch' and we chuckled as we watched fish verses bird going for the food.

For sunset we took the dingy across to the beach and joined the Fehrsens for ‘sundowners’ whilst lazing about in the warm shallows …

We watched yet another spectacular sunset kiss time into history … another day never to be repeated and I feel grateful to be spending my time here at beautiful Peter Island in the BVI’s.

Other photo's I took over the last two days:

Ana on the beach at Deadman's Bay

Deadman's Bay ... Catamaran Champolion (Left) and Catamaran Impi (Right) in the background

Carolyn and Ana walk along Sprat Bay Marina ... Mathew Fehrsen behind with his soccer ball

Hannah (birthday girl) and Joel discover a pirates anchor

Deadman's Bay Beach Bar and Restaurant 

Deadman's Bay Beach Bar and Restaurant  ... the bar section

I think it is easy to understand why we love this island so much !!!

And some important news I got after a phone call with Irma back in South Africa ...

My friend Raoul who underwent a 7 hour triple by-pass heart operation today has been very much on my mind ... Irma advises the doctors are happy with the procedure and all seems to be successful ... "Now that's good news!"