A Tale of Two Chemists: The pros and cons of “going back” … Friday 29

Friday 29 – Saturday 30^th December 2017

“Going back” always seems like a mixed experience. It can be really fun and relaxing to return to places that you like, but it can be a let down if the return doesn’t live up to your memories. One of our concerns prior to making this trip was that we would constantly be looking back and making comparisons to our journey our year afloat in 2012-13 and when viewed through the rosy lens of only remembering the good parts, that this trip would not seem as fresh or exciting. We vowed that we would try and avoid comparing the two, but in fact the two experiences have been so totally different that this has not been an issue. The preparation and passage from Portsmouth to Tortola was a very different challenge than our journey down the Intra Coastal Waterway, and the British and US Virgin Islands are so different the Bahamas that it has seemed new and exciting.

From a pure geography point of view the Bahamas are flat and sandy and the water is always shallow on the banks. In contrast the Virgin Islands are mountainous and most of the cruising areas have deep water even close up to the shore. The sailing is a lot more relaxing, even if the winds are stronger. Obviously we are visiting the USVI and BVI under unusual circumstances after the hurricanes, but even so it’s obvious how much more developed they are and set up for the sailors. The charter sailing industry must be one of the biggest drivers of the economy in this area. In the majority of places we have visited here there are well-maintained mooring balls for the taking. This makes life easier for sailors, but more importantly protects the reefs and sea-bed. On the whole, provisioning is also easier than in the Bahamas.

We are by no means underwater experts but to our eyes the reefs mostly don’t look in great condition here – but this is a case where my memory of the Bahamas reefs may be better than reality. It’s not clear if this is a direct consequence of the hurricanes or too much human traffic or climate change … or most likely a combination of all three. Over the past couple of weeks we have had a terrific time snorkeling and exploring the sea and have seen a tremendous assortment of fish, but we do worry about the health of the coral. On land we have hiked a little and had fun doing some birding. Unfortunately, we seem to have lost our fish identification card and our East Coast USA bird book doesn’t cover all the species we are seeing here. We’ll certainly try and buy a new laminated fish ID card that we can take snorkeling with us.

I started this blog by talking about the downsides of returning to something you have done before, but it can also be great to return to somewhere that you are familiar with. On Friday we left the National Park on St. John with the intention of showing Tasha some of the places that Gloria and I are familiar with. We sailed over to Jost Van Dyke and were delighted to find the immigration people were very friendly and helpful, orders of magnitude better than their colleagues in Road Town. In the evening we went back to Foxy’s for another excellent dinner. On Saturday morning Tasha went for a run on shore and hen we motored to Maracheel Bay on the east side of the Island and explored Sandy Spit and the waters around it. We also went to shore near Foxy’s Taboo, a second restaurant owned by Foxy, now utterly destroyed by Irma, and hiked to the bubbling pool where Tahsa and Gloria swam. In the late afternoon we sailed back over to Soper’s Hole with the intention of returning to Omar’s Café in the morning for what we hope will be another fine breakfast. Going back can be good!