Straight back into it…….We have nearly been back in the Islands for a month and it has been a mad runaround. We got the boat all set up and de-hurricanised and back into the water from Puerto Rico for our first trip which was on the 7th October. We went out for a week in the most amazing conditions. A typical summers left over week. Flat mirror water, had to motor everywhere and had a great dive on Blonde Rock which due to swell is not always accessible. It was strange being back diving in the BVI. Cayley and I had recently spoiled ourselves on our recent vacation to Australia. We were on a live aboard dive trip out of Cairns to the Barrier Reef. So it was always going to be interesting to compare the diving. I was pleasantly surprised really. Blonde Rock as most of you guys know is a great dive. Lots of soft corals, plenty fish and the odd pelagic around. There are many ledges to explore and lobster aplenty. The visability was not what it looked like from the surface. Very deceptive actually. We had about 50 feet which was great but not comparable to the Coral sea, 120 miles offshore of northern Australia. Great fun.
The trip ended on a high note with the wind eventually playing the game and we had a great downwind sail of the Sir Francis Drake channel.
Conditions over the next few days changed rapidly and we were suddenly staring at a possible Cat 1-3 hurricane bearing down on us, coming from the WRONG direction. OMAR was coming from the west which unheard of really. A few hurricanes have passed the Virgin Islands very closely to the south having come from the west. The BVI was very soon under Hurricane watch and at one stage there was a mad rush to HURRICANISE the boat again. Aldebaran was very lucky to get a huge slip at Village Cay Marina and we ended up having 8-10 feet on either side of the boat. We stretched her out in the middle of the slip and she never moved. The BVI was very lucky. Omar rushed away further and further south as the hours went by and we got a maximum wind of about 60+ kts. Cayley and I were not on the boat at the time of the winds. We had a hotel room at Village Cay which was boarded up, safe and sound. We were worried for awhile though as many local people seemed very unconcerned about the approaching hurricane. Comments like: ” BVI never gets hit” and ” it will go south”, “we will be fine” were heard around the Island. It just seemed there was no urgency………. Anyway thank goodness Omar headed off East sparing the BVI its full force but unfortunately catching many people unawares in Anguilla and St Maarten. A few boats being badly damaged in the area. We are no still at Village Cay Marina getting ready for the annual Charter Yacht Society broker show. Lets all polish and wax our fingers off and look like we are behaving ourselves for the show
