The buzz from the mega yacht crews in the marina is that Green Island is where they take their day off.  Friday we set off for the 10 or so miles to the east.  Orion, came out of the harbor, put up their mainsail, cranked up both engines and was there in about 2 hours.  Makai cut the engines at the mouth of the harbor and sailed to the waypoint in about 5 hours.  The trip is all up wind, our track below shows that we made it in 12 tacks.  It wasn’t so bad, we usually sail along nicely at 7+ kts, there were other boats out there tacking as well, Roy was fishing, we listened to music, and didn’t use any fuel.

Wow, this place is gorgeous.  The anchorage is huge, rather deep with very shallow shoals all over the place, a dozen or so free mooring balls, and quiet beaches.  I saw this sandy little point and as soon as I could, Topaz and I  swam for shore.

It wasn’t long before we were joined by the rest of the crew.

The got to work collecting debris from the beach and setting up camp.  Sticks and lines made up the boundary, an old sail is their shelter, and this big hose is their telephone.

 

In the late afternoon a few people showed up with kite surfers, it was interesting to watch them put it all together.  Saturday morning, was another story.  All day long kite surfers were being shuttled to the beach.  It was a kite surfer mob scene.

The mega yachts were coming and going, dinghys would take the surfer out into the bay and let them go.  This bay has an outer reef that breaks the Atlantic waves and swells, but no land mass to slow down the trade winds.  We found out our quiet little beach is a destination for kite surfers.

 

While the kids were busy with their ‘projects’, Eric, Topaz and I went out to bird island.

Wearing good strong sandals, we walked around the perimeter of the island.  Sometimes on very sharp jagged rocks and some of the time in the water.

It’s amazing how the island 30 miles south of us has a tropical rain forest, and this island is all cactus.  How does the cactus know where to send it’s seeds?

Years of conch fishing often produce these piles of shells we see all over the islands.  I rarely see live conchs while I’m snorkeling, I need to do more research on where all these shells come from.

Back at goof off beach, the kids are always developing some new skill.

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Right around the corner Eric and Topaz found a beach without kids, kite surfers, or wind.

When everyone is finished for the day, they do a pretty good job of playing games.  Sometimes they draw, other times it’s dominoes, cards and sometimes board games.  Roy made a snow globe with sand and an old rum bottle he found on the beach.

Sunday morning on our way to breakfast on Orion, we spotted something new on the reef.  The channels in this bay aren’t marked with buoys, you need to have electronic charts and good sunlight over head to see the edges of the shoals and reefs.  Saturday evening, this very same boat ran into the shoal we’re all moored next to, he quickly reversed and got off the ground.

Sunday morning was a lesson to all of us in the anchorage about being hard on the reef.  First of all, the boat  attacked this narrow channel when the sun wasn’t yet high enough to see the edges of the reef.  According to our chart plotter, his AIS signal shows him next to the exit of the channel.  So he made it all the way out, but was still to close to the edge and the next wave came and plopped him right up on dry land.  For hours two different power boats pulled and pulled on him and eventually he was dragged off and was towed away, probably back to Falmouth or English harbor.

So the boat on the reef was our first bit of excitement.  After that Topaz was barking at the water and Roy spotted the fish she was barking at.  He scrambled around and got his line in the water and quickly came up with these bar jack fish.  I’m getting nervous about ciguatera poisoned fish.  According to my research, there’s no way to determine if the fish has it, no way to cook or prepare the meat to prevent me from getting it, and no way to cure yourself from it.  Apparently the toxin colonizes in coral beds and accumulates in large predatory fish that feed off reef fish.  Tuna and Mahi Mahi are safe because they eat squid, flying fish and other open ocean fish that feed off of plankton instead of the reef.

I called a local guy over who what coming to get a load of kite surfers off the beach, and he said it could be poisonous, so we opted to catch and release for the sport of it.  And what a sport it is!  These bar jacks swim fast and fight hard.  There is usually a half a dozen hanging out under our boat every morning.  On this morning, Roy had one on the line, then we all saw a much bigger white, silvery body with black trim circling around his fish on the line.  With one snap, it bit clean through Roy’s line and took off with the fish.  Yep, we’re pretty sure it was a shark!  All the kids and I started squawking, Eric was the only sane one and yelled to us from where he was on Orion, to pull Topaz out of the water.  I’m sure the shark sensed the fish’s distress and came by for an easy bite.

Just when we were about to have a quiet evening at home, we met a family at the beach collecting wood.  They invited us for a full moon bonfire.

Apparently this is a Caribbean tradition, or just another excuse for a party.  Either way, lets go!

According to Cruising World, the full moon party in Trellis Bay, BVI  is fantastic. I just looked at my calendar to see which of our guests will be there for the party on March 27 and April 25, and can you believe it, both dates are gaps in our guest schedule!

On this evening it was just three families around a camp fire.  Everyone had a great time and we met a new family with cool new stories.  I don’t have all their facts straight, but they are Brits who worked on and crewed boats from Main to Trinidad and were based out of Antigua for several years.  Now the kids are in school back home and are visiting the Caribbean for a holiday.

No more goofing off, we need to do some exploring, our time in Antigua is rapidly coming to a close.

We took the dinghies to the other side of Green Island.  The anchorages are really small and the reefs very big.  There is even a wreck laying on it’s side to remind us of this.  These hazards also make the beaches more secluded.

Lately, Topaz swims or tromps through the shallows for about 8 hours of every day.  No naps like she’s used to during those same 8 hours at home.  She’s skinny as a rail and we’re currently giving her double rations.  But in the evening, she wanders around looking for someone to put her bed out.  She is so happy here, all the worry, stress and expense to get her here is all worth it.