TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands S/V ORION Part 5

BVI July 31 - August 9, 2017 (Part 5)


0545hr, oooooh look at me sleeping in!! Once up top I saw a beautiful sunrise glow with sun beams streaming across the sound, then in a blink of an eye..poof, it was gone. Camera not at the ready. Today I would be in search of ballyhoo! Kyle at the dock told me that Bucks in Gun Creek carried frozen rigged ballyhoo, awesome! Did I mention that the fisheries department emailed us while in Biras Creek requesting Donna fill out and sign another authorization form?, see..we had no luck with my card so Donna used her Amex, luckily Craig brought his lap top and she was able to electronically sign and send. We are finally legal fishermen now, cool! Note to self, do not procrastinate until the last week to submit paperwork!!

After scrubbing the deck a little Donna and I took some towels to the machines early and walked through the grocery store. The Leverick grocery store is very well stocked with anything you'd need. We grabbed some fresh produce, Coco Lopez, bottle of cab and 2 cases of Presidente! etc.
















Sydney and Craig wanted to jet ski and I was on a mission to find bait! So off I went with only cash in my pocket, so unfortunately no photos of Bucks grocery store in Gun Creek. When I arrived I eased up to a concrete ramp with a dock, asked a young guy working on his boat where I could park, he said I'm supposed to park at the C&I dinghy dock, but he said no problem tying up with him to save the extra walk, nice guy! I've been to Gun Creek C&I before, but never to Bucks. It's a 1 minute walk down the road and they have all kinds of stuff, nice store. I found the rigged ballyhoo and also grabbed blue gatorade, 2 bottles of Presidente and a can opener in the shape of a shark! I quickly returned to the dinghy and presented the nice guy with a cold Presidente for his kindness, opening it with the awesome new opener in the shape of a shark, cheers! Once back at Orion I saw Donna walking with warm clean towels. She said the guys were about to come out on their jet ski, cool.















When the guys returned from zipping around in the sound they said they loved it then showered in the phone booth, love that! Lastly we topped off Orion's water tanks. Sorry we had to leave Leverick and the sound, but we were excited to actually raise the sails and find the wind! Well rested and well provisioned we bid farewell, until next time Leverick Bay Marina!









In the middle of the sound we turned into the wind and raised the main by hand until the battens cleared the lazy jacks then the electric winch took over, easy peazy! Out beyond the channel markers we were under full sail, making 7 knots and loving every bit of it. The weather front had fortunately passed us by and we enjoyed 15-20 knot winds all afternoon. Our first plan was to head to the Baths for a stop, but everybody had been there done that and we were enjoying the sail, so we headed out to deeper waters to see if the fish would like our hand line presentation. FISH ON!!!










I think we departed Leverick just before noon and our fishing detour had us approaching Sandy Spit at approximately 1700hr. We did motorsail the last 2 hours of the leg to make sure we arrived with plenty of time to enjoy Diamond Cay. Sydney took a long turn at the helm surfing down the swells, makes me happy to see that she likes it. Approaching the mooring field in front of Taboo it looked like we had the place all to ourselves, nice. Unfortunately the Beeline Beach Bar was closed when we went by, but that's what we get for arriving late in the afternoon.












With building clouds I wasn't sure if the sunset would produce the incredible colors we have always found here, it was a waiting game. First came an extended grey blue period and our hopes diminished, but then....wait foooor it.......BOOM! Beautiful I tell ya!!























A nearly full moon rose as darkness fell upon our empty bay. The moon had a big ring around it most of the night, maybe an astronomer could tell me what that was? weather related I suppose. I prepared steaks on the nice gas grill while Donna moved our string of solar lights to the bow. With the lights of Tortola way out in the distance we enjoyed a wonderful dinner.
















To be continued...Cheers!

Great report Beerman! Finally found the time to read and enjoy them all. S/V Orion maybe a good option for our next trip since Mardi Gras is no longer around. I don't know how I could get used to the helm station on the port side though.... can't wait to read the upcoming ones and enjoy the great photos.

Go BEERMAN, go!

Thanks! I think I docked 5 times and 4 out of 5 were on starboard by choice, only port side was Delta fuel dock. I could see the starboard bow clearly standing up, but the stern I had to squat to see, not a problem really. TMM had me put her in a slip with another boat, I liked seeing that boat off portside. Orion is very nice! We took Mardi Gras out a couple years ago and Orion with only a foot difference felt much more open, but then there were only 4 of us this time!. Barney said Mardi Gras is in private ownership on west end.

Twanger I'm going!!! I have plans at the end of the week and if I don't get these done I'll lose the steam! Thanks for the rally call!!

That was a 22 degree lunar halo caused by high altitude ice crystals. The halo appears to cover 22 degrees of the sky because as the moonlight is refracted at a 21.85 degree angle by the hexagonal ice crystals.

(Probably more information than you wanted.) <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Professor, VERY IMPRESSIVE!
But why can't you remove a hyperlink in your sig line that is long out of date? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />

Keep it coming Rick, love every word and photo!

What Twanger said!

We always go to Bucks grocery store in Gun Creek a couple of times when we are on VG. This hard to find store (if you're driving from Spanish town) is obviously used mainly by locals. They sometimes have great deals on liquor, etc. that the other Bucks (which cater to tourists) don't have.

Great reports so far! Go Hokies!

Ice crystals....so what you're saying is we were real close to seeing snow in da ilons, cool!

Only about 40,000 feet away! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Enjoying your report and the beautiful photos. Looking forward to reading more!

Cheers,
Tony

Morning Tony!

This weather phenomenon is the same thing that causes "sun dogs" or in extreme cases "sun halos" to appear. I recall having to calculate that angle as part of an undergraduate optics (physics) exam <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

Snell's Law. n1/n2=sin2/sin1 One of the many useless bits cluttering my mind. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Updated with pics

FYI - Buck's Market at Gun Creek was closed last month (another victim of Irma). Don't know if they plan on re-opening.

Beerman, these trip reports are fantastic! Glad you re-shared or I would've missed them. I'm at T minus 112 days until my next trip, so perfect timing. Hope you are going back soon...need more Beerman reports.

Thanks for the info Kmon!

Halcyon, many reports need the pics replaced, slowly but surely! We will be back down this summer!

Beerman Trip Reports-Greatest Hits Remastered
Winter nights just got a little warmer
Thanks

Mike

Nah, that's good stuff. Now if you want to talk about wasted brain cells, how many old TV theme songs can you hum / sing?

Dan