Day 2, SwimVacation

Monday, March 8, 2010

We woke up to a sun struggling to be seen, working so hard to break through. It peeked through more and more through out the day, giving us all the hope that we might actually go home something other than pasty white.

Great Harbour has always been my favorite swim here in the BVIs and gosh darn it all if it didn’t rise to the occasion again. We woke up to steady winds but no rain. We dove in for a big swim around the periphery of the harbor. We cruised through schools of silversides so thick we could barely see through them. Tarpon patrolled in platoons. Pelicans punctuated the action. A sea turtle here, a sting ray there. The swell was large and we all dug deep. It has become our custom to end this swim at the water fun park crazy blow up toys thing. There’s an inflatable iceberg for climbing, 20 feet tall, and of course, the floating trampoline. How can you not love a floating trampoline when you’ve just swum over a mile to get there? Suddenly we’re all 8 years old bouncing around. It was, as always, a great swim.

We came back to eggs benedict and fresh fruit. After breakfast our swimmers headed to shore for a hike across the island headed by Fitzy. Hopper got some “work” done, and Lisa and I colluded on an excuse to go for a dive.

Backstory: Last November I lead the swim here in Great Harbor with swimmer Chris Matava close on my heels. My mind was blown with a most incredible sighting - a Manta Ray - very very rare in this part of the world. Chris got a super close up view of it, and Keith caught a quick glance. I knew this would never happen again - a once in a lifetime. Right?

Wrongo. Lisa and I were cruising around at about 60 feet, when out of the blue comes my pet Manta. And this time I had the camera to come back with the evidence. Amazing. Mind blowing. A Manta.

So now SwimVacation has a secret - we have a pet Manta Ray in Great Harbour. Don’t try to see it unless you’re with us. Cause he won’t show up for anyone but us.

The group on shore had a fantastic hike - some ran, some walked, they all enjoyed the view and chilled on the beach until Rich went to collect them in the dinghy.

Lunch - crazy good pizza. A respite for our bunch, who enjoyed the few minutes of sunshine we had with naps on the trampoline and bimbo mats.

We sailed around to the back of Peter Island to a spot not often visited by boats, and plotted a pioneering swim there. We kicked off the swim with an underwater video taping for later review, and launched into a 20 minute out, 20 minute back swim along a beautiful and pristine cliff face. The reef was so beautiful here - undisturbed by boat activity. After the swim Joyce and I explored another little reef nearby and found it to be a spectacular reef nursery loaded with juvenile fish of a bazillion colors.

Back to the boat for naughty cocktail hour gaming, nachos, and dinner - ribs and potatoes followed by chocolate cheese cake (enough already! I can’t fit in my suit any more!) After dinner I came down here to blog, but was dragged up to a dance party on the deck of Promenade. Emma and Hopper got into a DJ spin off (I declare it a draw) and we danced ourselves into exhaustion. One by one our swimmers have been trickling off to bed. Hop’s finishing the dishes and I’m typing away. There’s so much to tell - how can our days be so impossibly full?

We’re hoping sunshine awaits us in the morning, but come rain or shine, we know we’ll fill the day with one of a kind experiences.

-Heather

PS. Thanks to Chess for some great pics today!