Day 2 – Scuba & Happy Arr

Monday morning saw Anne, John and I (Steve) going off scuba diving with Paradise Watersports out of Peter Island. Helen dropped us off in the dinghy and got some good practice with it getting back to Dignity. The two dives we did were called Angel Fish and Pelican (something) both either just off or close to Norman Island. Both were coral dives. The highlight was seeing a seahorse which is very rare in the area.

After our dives we quickly ate lunch then headed off to Cooper Island for the evening. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the moorings at Cooper Island were all taken and we couldn’t find anywhere to anchor. So we went over to Marina Cay and found that all taken so we went around the corner to Cam Bay where we’ve been before and anchored for the night.John and I took the Dinghy back to Marina Cay to make dinner reservations. We decided to take a look at the bar and found that cheap drinks were only there for another 5 minutes so we figured we should get two each. Then live music started which a guitar playing chap who was very entertaining. Having glugged our beers we went back to fetch Anne and Helen before the live music finished. We found time to polish off a bottle of wine on the boat.

Back at the “Happy Arr Bar” we were able to see the last 30 mins. We met up with a couple of cruisers, Tony and Sue, whom we got to chatting. We found be were both heading to North Sound the next day so we agreed to meet up for dinner at Saba Rock.
Dinner was delicious. We had a seat by the balcony overlooking the sea. Perfect.

Dinghying back and fro from the boat gave us wet bums. Who cares.


Day 2 Google Earth Track

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Day 1 – First full day aboard. Peter Island.

I woke up this morning with the realization we were finally aboard Dignity – our future home. The weather was looking a little miserable but that didn’t matter. While I waited for everyone else to wake up I Skyped my parents who are currently living in South Africa. Video conferencing is a great way to stay in touch. Even better when you have the BVIs as your background.


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Day 0 – Arrival

Traveling to the BVI was no problem. We left reasonably early to avoid any last minute issues but the road traffic was no problem and the self-serve check in seemed to have eliminated the queues (lines) we are used to at Newark. Thus we had a bit of a wait in the departure lounge but that was ok as we were in good company.

We had a 5 hour wait in San Juan, Puerto Rico between flights so we dropped off our hand luggage and headed into the old town. We asked the taxi driver to drop us off at a good local restaurant which he did.

After lunch we walked along the coastal road a fort called “Castillo San Felipe del Morro” which we entered and explored. It was quite interesting to see a little Caribbean history from the Spanish point of view. In particular, reading about Francis Drake made him sound a bit of a failure.
Back to the airport and the excitement mounted as we were now approaching the time we would finally get to set foot on Dignity. Our flight to the BVIs left about 10 mins late and took a while to take off as there was a line of airplanes ahead of us. Immigration / Customs was conducted on “Island Time” which means things took their time. Finally through this we found a taxi waiting for us to take us to Nanny Cay.And finally – we are here. Dignity was the first boat we came to on the dock. Helen walked straight past her as she was expecting a smaller boat – despite having seen several before. Anne and John were very impressed and pointed out the photos they have seen don’t do her justice.The only fly in the ointment is that there is some work going on in the rear starboard cabin and there’s a smell of diesel in that cabin. Good job there’s just the two couples. We arrived too late to talk to the engineers about this but will do in the morning.After unpacking and having a good look around the boat we headed off to Peg Legs where we had a couple of lethal Painkillers each and ate a delicious pizza & some appetizers. After this we crashed. We needed it.Keep an eye on our BVI 2008 Photo Album as we’ll be updating this when we can.

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Almost there

One day and a bunch of hours and we’ll finally be Aboard Dignity. I can’t believe it’s so near. The party really starts Friday night when our friends Anne and John join us for the evening before we all head off to the airport the following morning. The laptop is coming with us so I’ll be blogging along the way. If my new antenna works I’ll be posting my blogs as well as pics. Let’s see.

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More Video from Sebastian

I have to keep an eye on Sebastian’s website as he’s posting new updates to his Atlantic Crossing video every now and then.  Right now he’s on “Test 6”.  It’s a great mix of video and music and gives a sense of their time crossing the Atlantic last November/December.  As a reminder, here is a link.  Be patient, it is getting quite long now but well worth the wait.

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