Let the Thunder Roll

December 2001

This was supposed to be our maiden voyage with Mama Cocha but because of a delay in production we ended up sailing another Lagoon 410 from the Sunsail fleet.

We arrived at the Sunsail base on Friday night and were greeted by a very pleasant staff , a bottle of champagne and RAIN. It rained all night and all day Saturday. By 2 pm on Saturday we decided to brave the weather and go for it. We surfed down the Drake channel under jib ducking  squalls bringing horizontal rain and at some point 40 knots of wind. We made it to Soper's hole just in time for the rain to stop and give us a chance to zoom in Pusser's for a few pain killers and a lobster dinner....Things are looking up.

Unfortunately the next morning brought us more rain and thunder so we decided to motor over to White Bay where for some reason the weather seemed a little better. We enjoyed the afternoon there in between showers.

White Bay

We left late afternoon to go around the pointe to Great Harbor and dinner at Foxy's. Foxy was not there but the lobsters were and we enjoyed yet another lobster dinner.....perfect remedy for the foul weather.

The storms continue all night and were still looming in the morning when we cleared out of the BVI on Jost and sailed to Caneel Bay.

Caneel Bay

After a quick clearance from immigration and customs we went for a tour of the town in Cruz Bay. We had to duck a few rain showers again and spent part of the afternoon trying to find another medicine to fight bad weather at the Love Shack.....Dorothy found  the "Funky Monkey" to do the trick.

The next day we had to go back to Norman Island to meet up with the Sunsail mechanic so he could try to fix the CD player, no sunshine, no Buffett, no good. So back to Soper's Hole for customs and then on to the Bight where finally the weather really cleared up.

The Bight

The next day we had a glorious sail up the Drake channel where Dorothy and I practiced on tacking...I counted 14 tacks to the Gorda Sound. We had dinner at the Bitter End and crashed...all those tacks plus real sun for the 1st time...

Bitter End yacht Club

In the morning we rented a Hobie wave and had some fun zooming around in the sound. We spend the rest of the day just relaxing and finally had a terrible dinner at Saba Rock....

On Friday we sailed back downwind to Cooper's for lunch and then on to Marina Cay for our last evening in the BVI which we spend with friends on Camanoe. They have the most beautiful view from their house as you can see  in the picture below.

Camanoe Anchorage

Quick check out in the morning and we are heading back home....