Dinghy on a Dock

 Cane Garden Bay

May 28, 2025 

It’s our third morning on the boat and we are finally getting past the anxiety that Chris installed in us about pooping on the boat. I was the first to break in the toilets last night and this morning Kerry and Lan finally followed suit. Thanks Chris, for making us scared to poop on the boat for so many days! 


We had another early morning wake up and enjoyed relaxing for as long as the peace would last. The trash boat came by at some point and while we had that down to a science, he threw us for a loop when asking if we wanted a 20lb bag of ice for $10, which of course we said yes to. We then headed ashore to see what there is to see. Lan has actually been here 15 years ago and was curious as to how different it was. Seeing as Hurricane Irma ran through the BVIs in 2017 and destroyed many of the buildings, it was quite different. We ended up walking around a bit, grabbing iced coffees, getting free water bottle refills from the lovely woman at the coffee store, and going to the little store for some added provisions. Once we headed back to Unreel (where Chris almost hit only one sailboat, to which he replied “oh” when we warned him we were on a collision course), Lan ended up getting a little stir crazy so decided to sweep the deck and down below, when she handed me a small rug to shake out. I was doing just that when I realized she actually gave me two and one immediately went into the water. Instead of staying calm, cool, and collected, I freaked out a little, got rid of as many clothes as I could, and jumped in after it. Phones immediately came out to take pictures. I was choking at one point because of laughing so hard and not seeing a wave come at me and no one came to help… I later learned they did hear me choke and did nothing about it. In fact, when I was struggling to let down the ladder for myself, Chris and Kerry were looking at a map and Lan was taking photos of the whole ordeal. 

Around this time, we realized we were out of water as well and tried to get our water maker working. 


Unfortunately we were unable to and after a Moorings tech crew came and were also unable to get it to work, we had to go dock and fill up through Bitter End. This was of course its own adventure as the wind was quite strong at the time and blew us right into an already docked boat. Kerry, Lan, and I were filled with so much anxiety that we fled the scene of the crime  and went shopping; the last we saw, the guy who had been on the other boat at the time went over to talk to Chris. We helped our anxiety with some retail therapy, buying all four of us matching bracelets and us women matching rings. 


After meeting back up with Chris, he informed us the other guy was simply a “hedge fund pussy from NYC” but was nice enough and was saying how they also did not have a working water maker. All in all, that could’ve been much worse, and we finally set off for the day much later than planned (around 11:30) to the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack - at least until Chris said it made him feel like he was being chased and we switched the music. 


The sail was about 5 hours and took us to Sandy Cay where we moored and took the dinghy ashore, and I mean that quite literally - we had to beach the dinghy while we snorkeled. This area was much sandier than previous spots and just as I was thinking it’d be the perfect place to finally see a stingray, we saw one!! She was swimming peacefully down in the sand and was so graceful to watch. Once I did attempt to go around her on the back, she kept following me with her eyes to the point where I was running into Lan and we were both freaking out a bit despite the fact she was still on the ocean floor and we must have been about 6’ above her. Other than that, there wasn’t a whole lot to see as it was more sand than reef but it was still lovely, albeit a bit strong of swells and currents. 


Kerry was more enthralled with the beach exploration for Sandy Cay, flipping over and digging up rocks. Lan and I were not as enthralled with the rough footing but followed Kerry like little children, including screaming from Lan when she accidentally uncovered a crab. We found coral skeletons on the beach and learned when it’s alive it’s alive and when it’s dead it’s dead. One of the skeletons was of brain coral and we may have made a few jokes about finding the missing brain of someone we know…. 


I don’t think I’ve mentioned it before, but the water here is rather salty. It does help with buoyancy while swimming and snorkeling but is assaulting to the senses when you first experience it… and every time you experience it after that. In fact, Chris is tired of me talking about how salty the dang water is and he’s convinced I must have written about it before now. 

Once we took the dinghy back to the boat, after a great workout getting it off the beach (thank you sled pushes), Lan was the first to attempt to get off and instead fell off the side and into the water. Instead of helping her, we were all cackling too hard and Kerry was mostly concerned about the shells and rocks she had found to bring home from Sandy Cay. We all appear to have failed our man overboard training from the previous day. 


By this point it’s quite late and we have to hightail it to our mooring spot for the evening before the sun disappears. Kerry, Lan, and I took our posts standing on the edge of the boat and felt like pirates the entire ride. Our destination was quite close and soon we were at Cane Garden Bay, aka the Jersey Shore of the BVIs. I’ve never been to the Jersey Shore, but this felt a lot quieter than I’m sure that is. We had a very quick, easy, delicious dinner of beanie weenies and homemade hamburger helper with a box of craft Mac and cheese and ground beef. Kerry proclaimed it to be the best meal of the trip and said we should do it again tomorrow. 


Post dinner, us women took the dinghy (again. We’re getting quite adept at it and it’s a blast) to the dock to do a grocery store run. Chris said he trusted us to go on our own which in hindsight is a great way to get us to be excited about doing something that he simply doesn’t want to do. It was a quick walk to the tiny store but once we were in the store and standing still looking at (terrible) produce options, we all suddenly got nauseous and realized we were now land sick. This was a fun turn of events and we quickly gathered everything we needed (three bags of chips, more Mac and cheese, and ice cream) and headed back. 


Of course ice cream wouldn’t keep for long at all so we ended the night with ice cream and whist, this time Lan and Chris doing a number on me and Kerry. 


- Rhianna


Whist: 

Kerry and rhi: 8

Chris and lan: 8


Captains log:

Started at Bitter End, exited Gorda Sound past the Dogs and went around the top of Tortola to Jost Van Dyke/Sandy Cay. 

Motored over to Cane Garden Bay. 


















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