Up to now we have been to Amritsar, Shimla, Thanedar, Sarahan, Sangla, Shoja.

We could not drive to Kaza, Nako or Tabo because of road closures. Before we arrived, the region received heavy rain, even more than during monsoon season. This caused landslides of which we saw the results: rocks, giant boulders and trees in the road, a collapsed house in Rampur.

Highlights: small villages in Himalayan foothills (see last three mentioned above) and the Banjara Camps & Retreats. More details later.
Lowlights: filth, poverty and squalor, horrible driving habits etc.

At 3:00 AM, we leave to catch a 5:00 AM flight to Leh in the Ladakh region. We will be there for about 6 days. After that, we explore Rajasthan.

That’s all for now. Hopefully next update with photo next week.

village of Batseri. Taken with phone camera.

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Road Harbour (Tortola) to Sandy Cay (Jost Van Dyke) to Cane Garden Bay (Tortola)

We woke up early to the sound of boisterous roosters and goats that inhabit Road Town; in addition, the stench and noise of a large diesel engine running somewhere in the Marina.

Upon awaking we made great coffee with the espresso beans and maker Andrea had smuggled into BVI in her luggage. I guess we have become coffee snobs. We traveled light in spite of bringing a two-cup stove-top espresso maker, a small milk frother and 750 grams of espresso beans from our neighbourhood coffee shop, Cafe Creme.

After a a couple of cups each, we made breakfast and compiled a list of food and essential supplies we will need for our journey. Steve and Andrea took care of prepping the boat for our journey while Irma and Paul found a grocery store closer to the Marina. This time we were better prepared because of the list. We bought 3 days of food that involved minimal preparation, nutritious and tasty, charcoal for the BBQ, water, ice for the fridge/cooler, beer, etc.

By noon we sailed out of the Road Town Harbor in 10 knot winds passing closely past the Queen Elizabeth II. We were in awe of the sheer size and height this massive ship as she towered over the Little Orchid. We scrambled to take pictures as we rolled through the swells and white caps out into the Sir Francis Drake Channel.

Having plotted our course we headed south-west along the coast of Tortola as our skipper sized-up his motley crew. We made excellent time and turned northward through the Thatch Island Cut between the western tip of Tortola and Little Thatch Island.  As we passed through the gap, St. John (USVI) was to our port side and Soper’s Hole to our starboard.

We anchored just off Sandy Cay, a small all-beach island off the eastern tip of Jost Van Dyke. There were a few other boats and catamarans (cats)  anchored on the leeward side of this stunningly beautiful cay which was completely surround by a sandy beach.

The white caps were visible behind the island out to the northeast. These are the famous warm trade winds the blow westerly from Africa and carried the first European explorers to the new world. Sandy Cay had numerous pathways winding into the palm trees through the rocks and shrubs. We loaded the small dinghy with our snorkeling gear, water bottles, towels and sun tan lotion and landed on the beach in the crashing surf.  We felt like kids exploring the cay, examining corral and shells that have blown up on the isolated beach. We swam and sun bathed on the beach and later return to the Little Orchid and headed back to Tortola to find shelter for the night in a safe harbour away from the prevailing winds.

We dropped our anchor in Cane Garden Bay and took the dinghy to shore to explore the beach bars and had Painkillers and dinner at Myett’s to the sound of a two-man steel drum band complete with       . In the middle of the night noisy F-*^* roosters once woke us from the high hills surrounding Cane Garden Bay.

Check out a map of our itinerary.

We left Montreal at 6:00 AM flying with United through Chicago’s famous O’Hurry…to your next plane, onto San Juan and finally on our Cape Air flight to BVI. , or Cape Fear if you have an aversion to small Cesnas.

What a spectacular view we had as we flew low over Puerto Rico, Isla Culebra, the U.S.V.I.s and finally the BVIs, past Jost Van Dyke and landing at the Beef Island Airport on the eastern tip of Tortola.

No beef in site… BVI customs had two friendly and efficient officers checking passports for the 5 or 6 passengers. Quite the contrast to Pierre Elliot Trudeau in Montreal where you wait in long lines at US customs and perform the bizarre American ritual of removing your shoes. Things could be worse, imagine if the nut they caught with the lame homemade bomb in his shoe had shoved it up you know where… In B.V.I. we didn’t even have to take off our flip-flops off we had pulled out of our carry-on.

We commandeered a taxi along the windy coastal road into the capital of BVI, Road Town, which we later nick name Roti Town. We arrived on the docks of the Fort Burt Marina in the warm late afternoon sun and quickly found Steve and Irma who had arrived early that day after spending a few days in Antigua. They informed us that Conch Charters thought we were arriving the next day and they were still cleaning and prepping our Beneteau 32 named Little Orchid for our overnight stay.

Andrea at The Pub, fresh off the plane.

While waiting in a tropical climate we did the only sensible thing one can do. We headed for the nearest local establishment which happened to be conveniently located at the marina and named: The Pub, in case you have any doubts… We tried the BVI drink called Painkiller because of Andrea’s recommendation. Later we walked to a nearby restaurant for dinner and went to Bobbie’s grocery store to buy important supplies for the boat like beer, water, eggs, bread, milk, more beer and a jar of Coffee Mate that Steve thought we needed…a sailor thing?, inexpensive dark rum and the rest of the ingredients necessary to make our own Painkillers.

We walked back to the boat and crashed early. Andrea was grossed out by a Stinky-Man Blanket that the cleaners forgot to change.  Later that night everyone is woken up by Paul yelling: “Hey, Get out of there!” He had a nightmare that some drunk was on the dock puking and thought he might decide to puke down the open hatch onto himself and Andrea. Gee…thanks for the warning Paul! Maybe it was the Stinky-Man Blanket Ghost?…

Check out a map of our itinerary.

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You can also download the itinerary in .kml format to view in Google Earth.

A short film by Gordon Alan Osborne. Shot with a Super 8 camera around 1980 when he was 12 or 13 yrs old.[ratings]