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April 17, 2008
Soper's Hole, Tortola
Continuing our circumnavigation of Tortola, we left Cane Garden Bay after dropping garbage in the dumpster on the beach and a nice walk. The winds were very light, but we enjoyed a nice close reach to the cut between the west end of Tortola and Thatch Island.
Soper's Hole has certain nostalgic significance for us. It was here that we left Platina to attend Chisholm's sister's wedding in Toronto in the spring of 2005. This was a time when we were hustling north out of the Caribbean for hurricane season. (When we finally arrived inside the insurable zone 8 days after the deadline, we felt very exposed in the low-lying Bahamas).
The significance of leaving Platina was an emotional one. She had become our home, our trusted partner in our journey. Leaving her alone for two weeks required a certain degree of trust and confidence. It would be our first test.
The wedding festivities and visits with countless friends and family created a wonderful distraction. I recall that I was seriously relieved to return to Soper's Hole to find Platina resting patiently waiting for us. She waited less than 36 hours for us to be ready to head back out to sea.
This place holds fond memories for us, and it seems fitting that we picked up a mooring in front of a Platina sister-ship, registered in La Rochelle, France, the very place we met Platina for the first time and began our journey at sea.
We walked the road out of Soper's Hole, a trek we had taken many times. This singular event made me very weepy. I kept it to myself.
I am reading The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini) and find myself perpetually on the verge of tears. Clearly, a state of mind.
Posted by dave at April 17, 2008 12:40 PM