BVI #4 Peter Island

This morning we headed back to West End (Sopers Hole) on the island of Tortola to visit BVI Customs and Immigration. When we entered the BVI's on February 1st, we stated that we expected to stay for about two weeks. We neglected to check our documentation and passports, one of which stated that our stay expired on Jan 12, 2011 (we were still in Puerto Rico at that time). The same error occurred on Lamb Chop's paperwork. After fighting almost gale force winds, we were told we could not dock at the Customs dock. Kaos would need to come alongside and let someone off with the passprts and documents, while the Captain waited out in the bay. That someone who jumped ashore was me. Once inside, I was told that even though the errors were clearly theirs, nothing could be done to correct the mistake without going to headquarters in Road Town, not an acceptable solution in our opinion, but that's the way life is.
We docked the boat at the Jolly Roger and enjoyed a good, hearty lunch. Alan walked back to Customs following lunch and spoke to a supervisor, who reluctantly re-issued the paperwork after we requested that they give us our out clearance and we would spend our money back in the US Virgins if they insisted on making things so difficult, when the error was theirs anyway.
The howling wind made getting off the Jolly Roger's dock quite a challenge, and conditions continued to deteriorate as we entered Sir Francis Drake Channel, en route to Fort Recovery, where we dropped off Alison and John off to spned a couple of quiet days ashore before flying home to Canada.
Their bags were literally thrown on the dock as a resort employee tried to tie the boat down long enough to let them disembark. No time for goodbyes, once they were on the dock, power was pored to the engines as we tried to work against the wind to get off the dock. Just another "Kaos" moment!

Once underway, we contacted Nanny Cay Marina for transient dockage. Unfortunately they were full due to weather conditions, so we continued on, looking for a calm spot to overnight, eventually settling on Great Harbour on Peter Island.

We spent a few quiet days anchored in tranquil Great Harbour waiting for the wind to blow itself out, before heading back to the BVI's.
Cutting throgh the trail on the beach, we walked across to the upscale Peter Island Resort and Dead Man's Bay. The resort requests that cruisers respect the privacy of their guests, but allows visitors use of the beach bar and the far end of the beach. As we approached the beach, a squall was rapidly approaching, so we sought shelter in the beach bar and refreshed our spirit with a couple of $7 beers. To put things in perspective, happy hour domestic beers in Cruz Bay, St. John were $1.

Beach, Peter Island Resort

Squall approaching Peter Island Resort