Not sure what to do, I post on TTOL asking what there is to do in the rain here. I don't get any replies before I decide to drive to Soper's Hole - a small marina with some nice shops that I remember visiting when I was here two years ago. There's also a Spa there. Maybe I will go have a body scrub to get rid of all this peeling skin. Sounds like a plan!
When I park and walk across the road, there's a fellow in a white van from a sail charter company. He waves me over, tells me his name is Captain Pete, and asks if I am interested in going for a sail. I tell him I had thought about it but decided not to. He then say's, "Where are you staying? At Sebastian's?" I am taken aback by this and ask how he knows that. He tells me he has seen me there, in the restaurant and outside at the table on my laptop several times. He said he saw me there last night and was going to come over and talk to me but I got up and left before he could do it. He asks if he can take me on a sail now and I lie and say I am meeting someone for coffee. He then asks me what I am doing tonight and my first thought is 'oh no, here we go again', but say "I have no idea, I don't really make plans. I am on vacation." He says he would like to take me out for a meal or to hear some good music. I tell him that's nice of him but I really don't know what I will want to do by this evening. He says he will drop by Sebastian's tonight. Great.
He drives off and I bypass the shops for now and go down to the docks for a look at some of the boats.
A really beautiful sailboat.
Love the name of this boat.
I finally get to the shops and go into one or two and then, as I am walking past Pusser's I see a young mom and her 2 year old daughter that I met while at Long Bay yesterday. I say hi and she invites me to sit with them so I do. I guess I am meeting someone after all! The mom is Melissa and the daughter is Stella and she is super cute. They had spent 4 or 5 days on a sailboat with some relatives and are now at Long Bay until tomorrow when they return home to Seattle. As we chat, she tells me that she took a taxi here and needs to go into Road Town because the bank machine here is not working (probably out of cash - as usual). She said that when she went into Road Town yesterday, it cost her $50 in fare. I tell her that I have a car and will take her into town to the bank there. She is very grateful and so, while they finish a bite to eat, I go to the Spa to get a brochure because I think my idea of a body scrub is brilliant and will go another day, and then for a quick look in some of the shops.
We head into Road Town and I park in the big lot by the sea and we walk to the first bank. It won't take her card. Stella is making some noises and pointing and, when we turn to look, there's a huge blueish crab in the corner of the tiled area - he's pressing himself right into the corner like he is terrified. I can't believe he climbed four stairs to get there. When we leave I am wishing I had taken a photo but figure I will on the way back, but when we return, he's gone.
We go to Scotia Bank and she get's what she needs and we head back to the car and then to Long Bay. I stop at Sebastian's on the way to get into a swim suit and then spend a lovely and SUNNY!!! afternoon in the pool with my two new friends. Stella seems to warm up to me and I help her go to the top of the small slide there and her mom waits at the bottom in the pool to catch her. She is fearless and goes straight down and then wants more. She goes for a dozen times or more and then, suddenly, freaks out at the top and needs to be carried down the steps. And that's it for the slide.
Someone just woke up from a very short nap and doesn't want to have her picture taken.
The best we could manage.
There's an outdoor movie night, a Disney film. at 7:00 at Long Bay. Melissa decides to try to get Stella to have a nap before it starts and so I head back to Sebastian's. I am invited to come back for the movie but I decide to stay in. I head down to the restaurant so I can use the wifi - that is the biggest drawback to this place, no wifi in the room, only at the restaurant. As I am sitting there, Pete, the boat captain I met earlier, shows up. I see, now that he is standing, that he has a very bad limp and that his left arm seems useless, curled up into his side. I ask about it and he tells me he had a stroke a couple of years ago. We sit and talk and he says that he wants more business from the internet but can't figure out how to get it. I take a look at his website and instantly see why he's not getting it. The site is dated and amateurish. Also, in a Google search of BVI CHARTERS, he is buried on the 8th page. He asks how he can improve the site and we spend the next hour talking about that.
After a bit he asks what my plans are for the next few days and again, I tell him I don't really have any. I have three or four places I still want to go to and I will go as the fancy hits me. One is Jost Van Dyke and he tells me he will take me there on his sailboat. I know he does this for a living and that he charges $100 for a day sail, but I am not sure if he is offering as a customer or as a friend thing and doesn't expect pay. So I ask; How much will he charge me, and he thinks a moment and says "If there are other people coming, nothing. If just you, $50." It's a good deal but still twice as much as the ferry. But then, I'd have to take a taxi from the ferry dock to White Bay. And I'd have to leave at 5:00 - the last ferry off of the island. This way, there'd be more leeway. But I don't want to give the guy the wrong idea because I am not interested in anything more than friendship.
I am so not used to handling this sort of situation. It's way out of my comfort zone.
No comments:
Post a Comment