Today was a full day, and we didn't even move the big boat. We spent our last full day in the BVIs trying to pack in everything that the west end of Norman Island had to offer.
We started the morning with a relaxed breakfast of pancakes and bacon – it was an interesting food day, too, as we tried to use up everything that was left over on the boat.
Then, around 10:00, we loaded up the dinghy and headed over to "the Caves", which are a prominent snorkelling site just across the Bight (the main mooring bay here). We jumped in for a good snorkel around the caves, and saw lots of great fish and reefs. It was pretty busy, though, and didn't provide a lot more than the snorkelling we had done in Kelly Cove the day before, right off our own boat, so we only lasted about half an hour in total.
After that, we took the dinghy into the Bight for a quick tour, passing the infamous Willy T's floating restaurant, which is an old boat made up to look like a pirate ship, with picnic tables on deck. You can pull your dinghy right up for a meal, and apparently it tends to get pretty raucous at night.
We decided to forego the pleasure of Willy T's for now, and headed into Pirate's Bight, which is the restaurant right at the top of the bay. It had a nice beach, and we had a look around, deciding we would come back later in the day for cold drinks if the spirit moved us.
We then zipped back out to our relatively secluded spot in Kelly Cove, and Alexander and I dropped off the others, then headed across about a mile of open water in the dinghy to snorkel the "Indians", which are two big red rocks sticking out of the water, with a beautiful reef below. We got pretty wet on the dinghy ride over, but the snorkelling was worth it – same fish as everywhere else, but generally bigger, and the reef and coral was more developed too. Also, there were fewer crowds than at the Caves, since the Indians were a bit harder to get to.
On the way back, Alexander practised his dinghy driving skills, and enjoyed soaking me as he hit some big waves.
We had a great lunch on the boat, then spent the afternoon enjoying the perks of cruising in warm water. Katie and Christopher decided to do a "photo shoot", and put on their best clothes that were still clean.
Then, we got into a diving and flipping contest off the back of the boat, and even Sara pulled out some moves that none of us had ever seen (check out her graceful backwards dive at the top of the post).
After all that, we figured we would head back into Pirate's Bight, and get some drinks. Christopher was keen to try some Conch fritters as well, seeing as how we were on a Conch Charter boat, we had bought a Conch shell, and we had even see real live Conch in the wild. Turns out Conch fritters are pretty good, and they were a big hit with everyone.
When we got back to Catywampus, just as we were trying to dry everything out in preparation for packing, we were hit with another rain storm. So, we pulled everything in off the lines, and the kids settled in to finish watching Pirates of the Caribbean.
Fortunately, the rain didn't last long, and we have had a beautiful last evening on the boat. We are all packed up, and ready for an early departure back to the charter base, so that we can be on time for the ferry to St. Thomas, and our flight to Atlanta.
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