Making Memories

• A few years ago, Walter and Nancy, Al and Wally, Jo and Whitey, Nancy and Gregg and the two of us chartered a boat in the BVI. Every time we pull into a new harbor I think of them. You pull in and all you see are wall to wall boats. You have to ride around until you find a mooring ball not in use, or a place to drop your anchor. It's like driving into the mall parking lot at Christmas time. The difference here is everything is moving.
• It was raining when we pulled in through the narrow opening of Man-O-War Cay and navigation can be tricky because it is shallow. You have to be sure no boat is coming out. We could drop the anchor at no cost but instead we decided to pay for a mooring ball because it was windy and the rain was driving. A mooring is safe, you don't have to worry about your anchor dragging. By the time we were ready to leave the boat it stopped raining, it was hot and we were ready for a swim.
• We took the dinghy to shore, tied her up and headed to the beach. We had our snorkel gear with us and started walking. This cay is not big and, still, we got lost. I'm not sure, but I'd say it's less then the distance from Merrick Rd. to Sunrise Highway in Seaford. We finally met a woman in a golf cart, asked directions, and she offered us a ride to the beach. Good thing because we would have been walking miles in the heat.
• The beach was clean and beautiful. Looking through our masks you can clearly see shells and small fish of different colors especially against the oatmeal colored floor of the sea. It's unbelievable.
• This cay is dry - no liquor, beer or wine. You can't even get a drink at the one restaurant, Hibiscus Cafe. Well, the first person we ran into, I mean he ran into us, was drunk. He looked at us and said, "I hope you realize you can't get a drink here!" He laughed and so did we.
• The warm salt water here causes a lot of growth on the bottom of the boat. Because the water was less than 5 feet, Mike jumped in and started to clean the bottom of the boat. It took a scrub brush and a scraper to get the grass and barnacles off. He only had a few cuts from the sharp edges; he didn't draw any sharks.