You know it’s going to be a fantastic day when you wake up on a yacht and the first person you speak to is Richard Branson. He was on a boat with about a dozen people headed for a small beach on Virgin Gorda, and passed right behind us. He waved back as I yelled “Good morning, Sir Richard!”. It’s not uncommon to see him in the BVI, as he owns two islands here, but he makes for a decent celebrity sighting. I mean, he’s one of only two billionaires to fly into space in a penis-shaped rocket this year.

We planned a big swim from Mountain Point to Savannah Bay, about 2.5 miles along Virgin Gorda. Our first stop was the sunken Kodiak Queen, at one time the last surviving vessel from the attack on Pearl Harbor. It’s resting quietly here now, and attracts mostly scuba divers. After that we set our watches for 15 minutes, and kept swimming for that long before re-grouping. It rained, a rainbow appeared, and the whole scene got rather dramatic. A tailwind pushed us along. Heather, on her shift atop the SUP, guided us expertly into the bay. This is no easy task, as the entry is only 50 yards wide and quite hidden. Lots of smiles and high-fives back on the yacht, where we were greeted by our snorkeling comrades, tropical smoothies and a nice quiche. Life is good.

We sailed over to Great Dog Island, one of the uninhabited group of “Dog” Islands in the northern part of the Drake Channel. The geology here is stunning, with big cliffs soaring up from the depths, and caves and tunnels everywhere. Underwater, it’s aquarium-like, with schools of tropical fish glinting in the sun, and we even saw a shy nurse shark swimming along the reef. We all swam into an open-roofed cave, the swell gently urging us in and out. It was more of a cool-down, a recovery from our big morning swim.

Back at the Scrub Island Marina for our final night, Painkiller cocktails and chips and dips. A beer and Rose run to the little market. A nice filet for dinner, with Ali’s fabulous goat cheese bread pudding. Heather put on a great slideshow of images from the week, conversations drifted late into the evening.

I’m so grateful to all of our guests these two weeks, for being open to possibility and for trusting us with their holiday.

I’m especially grateful for my partner Heather, Captain Richie, Zack, Fitzy, and John. A special round of applause for Chef Ali, who is brand new to us. Her food was out of this world.

We’ll make our way back to Maine and other points this weekend, and undoubtedly many of us will experience delays and mediocre service on the airlines. At least we all have a tan, and memories of two weeks in paradise.

Hopper

Friday is Phallic Rocket Men and Mango Smoothies

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