Day 4: Prickly Pear Island to Marina Cay

In the morning, we discussed what to do. One of the reasons we were in Gorda sound was the potential to do the hike to the top of Virgin Gorda, which we did in 2014. There was no reliable information to weather the lookout tower at the top of the trail had survived the hurricanes, so the only way was to visit Leverick Bay and find out. We saw boats leaving Leverick Bay, so there was a high chance that a mooring ball was available.

We had no sooner tied up and sent Arturo and Mark on shore to find a taxi than when an on-call dinghy from Conch charters showed up to fix our water pump! We were nonplussed by this, since while we did have a water pump problem, none of us had called Conch about it! We suspected that some other boat had called them, but were nevertheless happy that they showed up, replacing the water pump.

Arturo and Mark told us that the taxi driver was found but said the lookout tower was gone, so there was no point doing the hike. They came back, hoisted the dinghy, and since we were in Leverick Bay, filled up with water and did some additional provisioning before leaving the sound.

It was a downwind sail to Marina Cay, so we had a nice easy sail, and arrived in Marina Cay ready to do lunch and some diving.

We started by delivering the family to Marina Cay, and then went on to do Diamond Reef, which had come highly recommended by the dive refill place Arturo and Mark had visited the day before. I was very impressed by the site, though not by the amount of traffic traveling through the channel.

At dinner, we discussed whether to head to Anegada. A look at the forecast said that the best days for doing so was on Friday and Saturday, so we had an extra day. I didn't want to return to Gorda sound, as there was not much to do there, while nearby there was Lee Bay, Trellis Bay, and Diamond Reef to explore. So the decision was made to spend another night at Marina Cay.