One month report

Suddenly realized, as I was into my second box of contact lenses, that I have already been here a full month. So as I have not been posting this week to the blog, that it would be good to just recap on where things are and how I’ve found this first month in the BVI.

After a miserable arrival, long flight, bad connections and bad weather the first few days I must admit that I was very close to calling it quits. Things got better when I moved out of the Hotel and into my own flat. People at work have been great and have since been meeting quite a few people which helps pass the time away.

One of the things that has struck me the most since being here has been a clear divide between the expats and the rest of the community. I would have expected to see more interaction, like there is in Gib between local and expats but here both keep their distance. The expats have set up their routines and keep to it. I posted a message on Facebook to see what there is to do and the reply was;

Tuesday and Thursday nights Apple/Capoons Bay (different names same place) softball field for rugby training and a few beers after at Bombas! Its the best place to be!

Depends what you are after.... Tuesday taco night at Yacht Club, Thursday walleyball at Peglegs, Fridays is the Dove/Castaways/Quitos/Le Cabonon. Saturdays is quieter so normally off boating-Soggy Dollar, Willie T etc Sundays is all about Tamirind club at Josiahs for brunch and cocktails!

And it is very much like this. Pick a day of the week and people will turn up in a particular location to do the same thing, week-in week-out. I suppose that being a recent arrival I am still taken away by the natural beauty of the place and still have many, many things to discover and try out so I find the idea of an almost fixed agenda rather difficult to fit in with. Who knows, by the end of the six months I might just be in the same routine.

As for the BVI itself, I do like it here. The place is beautiful and the people are great. I am still surprised when people in the street say hello, ask “How you doing?”, even if they don’t know you, cars stop to let you cross the road. Dare you walk into a place and not say good morning/afternoon/evening to all!

Yes, there are some issues which concern me, someone got shot down the hill where I live a few days ago, per capita the BVI is ranked 9th in the world for gun crime. A 13 year old was arrested behind the supermarket that I go to for firing a shotgun and was found to have a hand grenade at home. People get arrested for carrying weapons, boats get found with cocaine in them. But having said all of this, I still feel more threatened walking at night in London or La Linea than I do here.

I’ve got other islands still to visit and most of February is already taken up with one thing or another (more diving, I start my sailing lessons) and I am also going to yoga once a week! Then I have a very important visitor here for all of March which will be absolutely great. Have already booked a long weekend in Puerto Rico and Virgin Gorda (also part of the BVI) and as I have taken almost all of March as annual leave that will mean that I get to see even more, but this time not by myself! There are tons of things to do in the BVI, particularly if you have someone to share them with.

That leaves me with another three months left in the secondment. Fortunately it looks like I will have plenty of work on my plate so that should mean that most weekdays all I will want to do is to relax and catch a movie (downloaded from Pirate Bay as there is no cinema here). I want to carry on with my sailing to obtain the bareboat charter licence (which should mean that I can charter a boat and skipper it myself) so that should happen in April. I will also follow up on the Advanced Diving Course which will take another few weekends. That makes it May.

And after that it is time to start packing. That is 23 weeks away which is a long time but these two months should fly past. I would be fooling myself if I said that I was not missing home and I frequently question the wisdom of having agreed to this secondment but as someone I know frequently tells me “things happen for a reason”.. I’m still trying to figure what the reason is!

Anyway more looking around the BVI in store for the weekend as well another dive on Sunday. And as it is St Valentine’s next week and my partner is not with me, three blokes in the office in a similar predicament are going to go out on St Valentines to console ourselves J

Creepy crawlies

If there is one thing you can be sure off in the Caribbean is an abundance of wildlife.  Not only have you got an excellent selection of flora, birds and fish of every kind and colour but also a good selection of insects... so far only one cockroach! 

 

In the picture what I nearly stepped on outside the apartment thinking it was a leaf!

 

Also have a couple of resident lizards/iguana/salamander type things... too fast to photograph but they keep me company :)

HMS Rhone Dive

Picking up divers from a catamaran.

Had my best dive yet today. In what looked pretty miserable conditions this morning with a heavy swell, rain and overcast sky I almost regretted having come out to dive. Anyway, we headed out to Cooper Island to rendezvous with a catamaran and pick up three divers from the boat before we got to the dive site.

The rocks on Salt Island where the Rhone went down.

When we got there there was still a swell and there looked to be a strong current running, not good! Getting in the water first was also a bad idea as waiting around in all the choppy water made it a bit uncomfortable. Eventually they all got in and we made it down to the bottom (70ft) to be greeted by a spectacular sight of a ship laying on its side. The ship sank in 1867 in a hurricane. Built as a mail boat ferrying mail to and from the Americas and Caribbean to and back the UK. it went down will all hands on board bar one so this is a ghost ship! This is also a big boat, I kid you not. The first dive was around the bow section and we got to sail inside the hull and come out the other end... absolutely spectacular!

Diver with the rudder and propellor behind him... look at the size of those!

On the second dive we went out to the stern section where the rudder and prop are standing (the ship split in two when she hit the rocks as the cold water and ships boilers did not mix). The stern lies in about 30 ft of water so this means we got a lot of time on this section including being able to come across a silver spoon caught in the machinery which is still shinny, and we all got to make our three wishes on the lucky porthole. I'll explain... there is still a shinny brass porthole on the wreck which it is alleged was assigned to the stateroom for passengers on their honeymoon. So tradition has it that if you rub the porthole in a clockwise direction three times and make a wish for every turn, your wishes come true.... so who can give up an opportunity like that?

Part of the Rhone

There is another tradition about Salt Island (this is where the ship hit the rocks) which came about from the sinking of the Rhone which you might be interested in. Salt Island gets its name as traditionally salt was farmed here (and was done so until recently). When the Rhone went down the people who lived and worked on the island (it is deserted nowadays) went out to try and save the sailors on their little boats etc (remember that there is a Force 5 Hurricane blowing). For their heroism the Queen decided to exempt them from all taxes with the exception of one bag of salt. Still to this day, the BVI sends Her Majesty one bag of salt a year!

No-one had an underwater camera on this dive (boy am I regretting not having bought one!) so I stole a couple of pictures from other photographers on Flickr. Their web address are ... http://www.flickr.com/photos/cgallent/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/76319246@N00/ . Sorry guys!

So what looked like being a miserable dive at the start ended up being the best to date!

Trellis Bay Saturday Night

Popped down to Trellis Bay tonight to check out the night-life down there.  There was a local group playing "Fungi" which is the local sound, some local food and a nice fireball to keep you warm as it was a bit breezy tonight!

 

Trellis bay is a strange but funky place with little cool cottages that serve food, others sell locally made pottery and handcrafts, there is even a cyber cafe!  It is almost hippy like but  a nice hang-out place to be.

Just for family!

These shots are just to demonstrate to the family that I am still alive, eating well... etc....

White Bay - Jost Van Dyke

I think this beach ticks every one's idea of a Caribbean beach scene: coconut trees, hammocks. white sand, turquoise water....... painkillers (I should explain that this place is famous for this very alcoholic-and somewhat addictive drink)

 

Jost itself is one of the BVI's smaller islands with only 300 permanent residents and consists of little more than a settlement where you can find restaurants, bars and a school (the church has closed down recently).  The Main Street is made up of beach sand and there is a very relaxed feel to the place.

Hot Property

On the way out on the ferry came across this magnificent property built literally at the furthest point of Tortola.  Don't know who it belongs to but a magnificent piece of real estate if ever there was one!