July 10. Still stuck and playing the waiting game

We're still stuck and playing the waiting game. Even according to Chris Parker this has been a very unusual year for this kind of weather. He has never seen such strong trade winds to last as long as this year. They usually are also five days apart from each other, not this year as we get one every 3 days not giving a chance for the sea and wind to settle and leaving us stranded instead. Unless we want to stick our necks out into "Small Craft Warnings". So we played tourists once more and rented a car for three days. Three days of driving didn't even put a dent into the tank as the island is even smaller as St. Thomas and also a lot more pristine with breathtaking views. The driving is also more exciting as the roads literally turn into a roller coaster ride. The roads are very narrow, of course they seem a lot more narrow when driving on the left side and go over every steep hill there is. As the car slowly grinds it's way up, up, up and up and come to the top all you see is blue sky, until the car drives over the hump and goes down, down, down and believe me it gives you the willies when you look down that steep narrow road. Some are as steep as 60 degrees and wayyyyyy down the hill the road disappears, I mean gone as in no more road until you just get to the end and you realize it sharply turns to either left of right and up, up, up you go again. I you sit in the back seat all you see is asphalt on the downhill run as it is so steep that the roof of the car is blocking your view. It was quite exciting and made for a few screams from the girls in the back seat, more so the first day as we slowly got used to it by the third day. At every curve there is a sign saying "Stay Left", even though the curve turns right, but it will keep you alive driving in the left lane. Some occasional wild goats and donkeys help the excitement as they like sharing the road. It was quite an adventure and we really enjoyed the magnificent views of all four sides with all the little islands of the Virgin's in the background no matter where we looked, especially the view over the BVI. The beaches we followed around the island are just as you dream them to be. We also had the change to watch Italy win in the soccer finals.
Last night we had another strong wave blasting us with heavy winds and lots of rain and another one is already on it's way leaving us little time to move, not enough to head to the Leeward Islands yet. Tomorrow we'll sail to Tortola in the British Virgin Islands and from there to Virgin Gorda, where we hope to finally catch a ride south towards St. Martin and finally our destination Venezuela, before the tropical waves decide to turn for the worse.