After breakfast with the statutorily unpalatable coffee (which we were now avoiding in favour of tea, which yielded only a marginal improvement) the morning sail took us to Virgin Gorda, where we could snorkel, explore, and play in the sand.Day Ten: Tuesday 5th January
After breakfast with the statutorily unpalatable coffee (which we were now avoiding in favour of tea, which yielded only a marginal improvement) the morning sail took us to Virgin Gorda, where we could snorkel, explore, and play in the sand.
While sailing, we hung around on deck soaking up the sun, reading, taking photographs, drinking beer and generally taking it easy. Deck life on the Sir Francis Drake is very laid back, and there is no particular need to do anything unless you want to. The only time-critical obligations are mealtimes which were always at the same time and shore visits and launch times tended to be worked around the meals.
Right: sunbathing on deck
On Virgin Gorda we visited The Baths, a series of natural caverns and pools formed by large, lumpen rocky blobs apparently dumped by ancient volcanic eruptions. These lumps are huge, and they simply lie around on the beach, creating fascinating caves, rockpools, and hollows which cluster around and extend back into the land. We explored the caves and snorkelled for what seemed like hours in the hot sun. The snorkelling was good. Lunch, served on deck, was spare ribs (delicious) with pasta. For dinner we had steak, which was a bit dry and dull, served with steamed potatoes, also a bit lifeless.
Above; the baths on Virgin Gorda
© Copyright 1999 Richard and Samantha Harrison