24 September 2012 Great Harbour on Peter Island and a tour of the island with our new friends

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Since our last letter and blog Ana and I have been moving about from bay to bay watching marvelous sunsets and meeting many people who have become new friends ... it almost feels like we have become local citizens here in the BVI's.

This kind of activity really makes for a lack of interesting news to share with you back at home ... our lifestyle is pretty much what most would expect living in the city which is also why we have not posted too much news of late.

I think it will be this way for us over the next while and so I will continue to share as we go along and try my best not to bore you!

So, as mentioned before, we have become good friends with Chris and Jools who live on Peter Island.

Chris heads up the technical side of the entire island which includes electricity and water supply, bearing in mind that these things are somewhat challenging on an island.

Jools is a physiotherapist in town.

Together they have two lovely young children who continuously beg me to tell them about the 'pirate stories' I had shared with them on our dingy ride to Deadman's Chest.

Chris and Jools had invited us around for cake and coffee which was awesome ... not only because the cake Jools baked up was 'to die for', but also because Chris took us on a bit of a tour around the island in his all American pick up truck.

Ana and I just love Peter Island, and the views and scenery on our drive around the island with Chris confirmed why it is that we believe this to be the best island in the entire BVI.

Chris stopped the vehicle high up on the mountain where we stepped out and gazed over a magnificent bay.

Below us there were some buildings right up against the water ... ' the generator which produces our electricity' Chris said pointing down toward the one structure ... 'and next to that is my house' he said pointing to another ... 'and this bay is my bay' he said with a smile as he spread out his arms in the direction of South Bay / Stoney Bay ...

Ana and I gazed at the beauty around us ... it felt we had been transported into a picture book of sorts, you know, those fancy coffee table books where one sees pictures that don't seem real ... where the blues are bluer than blue, the greens are almost gold ... it was incredible to see ... perhaps the skies were especially clear, the day especially bright and without haze and perhaps my eyesight was better than it had been before ... I really cannot tell, but to me the view was something to behold!

On my photo above, one can see the house in the bottom right corner

 The photos above and below are taken from the southern most tip of the island and look over Norman Island to the left, Pelican Island which is next to the Indians appearing as a dark small patch in the middle of the photo, St Johns which is part of the USVI's on the horizon in the middle, and Tortola (west end) seen on the horizon just to the right of St Johns.

We watched in awe as the colours of the blues and greens changed with the 'tick tock' of time ...  as the sun dropped inch by inch, a beauty which restores meaning and purpose to the mind, a sense of awe and magnificence, a moment where ones soul feels the touch of the finger of God ....

We watched as the sun set terrific colours of  turquoise blues and greens to shades of greys in sea whilst it splashed forth pinks, orange and purples across the skies over a little island called Carrot Rock. Carrot Rock is on the south side of Peter Island.

And a little later, looking out to sea toward the west ... there it was again ... that special moment ... the moment I cherish every possible day I am able to ... that moment when the sun casts its signature across the skies and seals the day with a kiss into the history book of time, time that never more shall be ... a reminder to treasure those special moments, family, friends ... to remember what is real in life and to know that today's actions become tomorrows memories ...

We had eaten delicious cake freshly baked by Jools, had coffee and been entertained by Chris, told the kids one or two quick pirate stories and it was time to head back home for Impi which was happily resting at anchor in beautiful Deadman's Bay.

Chris stopped briefly so I could get a photo or two of Impi below ... the sun had set but there was still a distinctive glow of orange across the bay. We had anchored Impi a bit further out since we had observed the turtles like to swim here ... the boat lay easy on the glassy ocean ... all seemed so peaceful with our little home on the sea ... there was not a sound to be heard, not a breath of wind ... and then 'click' as I pressed on the cameras button ... it was difficult to get a perfect shot in such low light and without a tripod ... the photo at first was blurred ... 'Click' again ... this was better, although a bit grainy I was going to be able to share this special memory with family and friends.

Of course I could go on forever about Deadman's Bay, but I have done more than my fair share of talking about this bay in previous posts .... before I move on to our dropping anchor at Great Harbour, let me refresh your memory with one more photograph of Deadman's Bay ... one I took a while ago with Ana and Andrew Fehrsen walking along the beach ...

Ana and I had decided it was time to move on to Great Harbour, also a beautiful bay here at Peter Island.

Somehow we had always sailed past Great Harbour .... sailed to anchor rather in serene 'Little Harbour'.

Due to it being hurricane season here in the BVI's, we see' little to no boats' around us and Great Harbour, a bay that usually bustles with activity is now one we can have to ourselves ... and have to ourselves we pretty much did, except for one night when a beautiful schooner arrived and anchored up against the southern shore

I spent some time diving here ... I had hoped to find the anchor which had been cut away by the captain of the RMS Rhone (same vessel we dived on and I wrote about in my previous blog) due to it being stuck in coral here. Unfortunately I was unsuccessful but will try on another occasion.

We cruised around Great Harbour investigating all the nooks and cranny's we could ... the place is beautiful!

We also stopped to look at the popular' Oceans 7 Beach club', now closed on account of hurricane season.
It is tucked neatly into a cove on the south western shore ...

The day was crispy clear and the water sparkled about us ... this time of year is magnificent and the skies change colour on a regular basis ... it sometimes feels a bit eerie as one starts to wonder what this means in terms of weather, the lack of yachts around these waters, hurricane season, this being the very spot the RMS Rhone had cut anchor and fled for 'safety at sea' before being smashed against the rocks at Salt Island ... witnesses testify to stunning weather followed by a rapidly falling barometer ... my mind worked over these facts for a while but soon became once again mesmerized in the blues and greens and yellows of this magnificent bay ... of course I took a few photographs ...

We eventually settled and dropped our anchor behind a rocky hill which formed the north western most tip of Great Harbour. Great Harbour is known to be deep in places ... we wanted to hang just off the shore and found good sand below us ... a nice hold for our anchor!

Of course we made sure the anchor was well dug in ... the 'tips' of the islands leading to open sea are usually the very places one finds turbulence as waters rush in and out and around these 'heads'. For Ana and myself, we found the few days we spent here to be beautiful and calm.

Impi moved around the anchor a number of times changing our views from distant hills of greens and golds to rock faces which felt so close one could reach out and touch them ... and of course the beauty toward the west over an open sea to those most spectacular sunsets I love so much.
Evening upon evening, we marveled at what must be some of the most spectacular sunsets we have seen since leaving on our trip around the world ... on one particular evening the sun splashed out such a beautiful signature which displayed all sorts of colours we never knew existed in a sunset ... I struggled to get 'that perfect picture' from a moving platform (yacht) in low light conditions ... I was desperate to share the moment ...

The following evening surprised us yet again ... with totally different colours we once again sat with drinks in hand and watched another day kissed goodbye by in such spectacular style ...

To put the 'cherry on the cake' so to speak, every evening we would watch pelicans soar past us in the setting sun ... their bellies full from all the fishing, they seemed to be too lazy to put any effort into flapping their wings yet they cruised effortlessly a few feet above the water ...

As the day darkened, I noticed nearby one of the local men sitting patiently in his little dingy with fishing rod in hand waiting for his catch, waiting for enough fish with which to feed his family ... patiently waiting in a beautiful environment ... I wondered if he had been born here, if he had grown up here and if he realized and appreciated the beauty of his world ... I wondered ...

We have really been enjoying these moments here in the BVI's ... of course we wish hurricane season would move on and be something we do not have to contend with anymore but at the same time we are loving the peace and tranquility this brings to such popular sailing grounds ... we are blessed for sure!

The northern tip of Great Harbour (taking the photo, I faced toward the south). Great Harbour to the right and Sprat toward the left

Impi at anchor ... seen from within Great Harbour ... North directly ahead