All of our mornings begin the same here... up with the sun (or before), coffee, journaling, breakfast, then we get started on some activity or other.
Today we left the Bight early to make the long slog up the Sir Frances Drake Channel and around the end of Virgin Gorda to our next destination, Leverick Bay. But first, we planned a stop off at Salt Island to visit the Salt man and snorkel the wreck of the Rhone.
We sailed out across the Sir Francis Drake Channel trying to avoid the rain ball that was blanketing the channel. It rains almost every day here and today was no exception. Usually it's little balls of cloud that are easy to avoid. 
Today, the clouds were more widespread and we got caught in a downpour. Bruce and Brittney worked fast to get the sails in as the wind had really whipped up. As usual, by the time we got everything battened down, the rain stopped. But with the wind on our nose, we decided to motor straight to our next destination to save time. 
Brittney went below to entertain herself by making the most amazingly delicious guacamole I've ever had. Fresh ingredients and the perfect avocados combined with ambiance to work culinary magic. 
That's it! She's the designated guac chef for the duration of the trip. I still can't believe she didn't get seasick down below while we were underway. Those Scop patches work wonders. We finished the guac just about the time we arrived at Salt Island.
We found a mooring day ball. Unfortunately for us, we didn't realize that it was missing the secondary line with the eye at the end for us to attach our boat to. Bruce had the devil of a time trying to pull up the line and it ended with the handle of the boat hook slipping off of the pole which quickly disappeared in 38 ft of water. It was gone! 
Brittney suggested using Bruce's cane as a temporary boat hook. It worked like a charm and we were soon settled. 
We dinghied over to Salt Island to hike around the salt ponds to where the salt man lives. We had some trouble getting the dinghy ashore and I jumped into the water to walk it up to the edge. It was too deep so I had to swim it in for a while. Once we got it beached, we played around a bit there in this beautiful spot.
We picked our way over the rocks... 
Through the brush and across the salty edges of the salt ponds. 
They were a yucky red color and you could see the salt glittering in the dirt around the perimeter. 
The salt man was not there... so we cooled off in the calm waters there before we hiked back to snorkel over the wreck of the Rhone. 
We had wonderful visibility but there were some pretty good swells. The kids did so well out there.
We played around with the camera. 
Hey! No crotch shots please! We were amazed to be able to see the ship's remains laid out on the floor perfectly, even at 60 to 90 feet depth. Here in the video you can see the bones.
We snorkeled around for quite some time. There were fish everywhere. Here are some of my favorites from this spot.
Of course I have no idea what these fish are really called, but this one I've always called a "movin' on fish"... because everytime I see one of them they are moving on.
The coral were beautiful! 
I wanted to help this little guy as he didn't seem to notice the rather large hungry fish following him close behind. 
Back on board Trinity, we set sail on a tack towards Tortola, hoping that the wind on our nose would not remain there for the rest of the day. Luck was not with us and we gave up and pointed towards the end of Virgin Gorda and motor sailed the rest of the way to North Sound and Leverick Bay. 
We went ashore for a quick look around and to get some ice. The girls wanted to do some shopping. I showed them around a bit then went back to the bar where we had parked Bruce.
He and I hung out in the pool until the girls came back. 
We had a drink at the very top of the bar where we could look out over the anchorage and enjoy the sunset. 
We went back to the boat and worked on dinner. The girls took over the kitchen and Bruce and I enjoyed our leisure on deck... unworried about how the girls were getting along down below.
Tell me again... why is the rum always gone?
While we were cooking dinner... I happened to glance out the porthole and was greeted by my deceiving eyes by THIS! The girls howled! All I can say is that if you don't want your picture to be taken by gawking tourists, DON'T BE NAKED!!!
We settled down after a few more shots and had a wonderful spaghetti dinner with curried vegetables that the girls had made. We ate ourselves sick and went to bed with the sun. 
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