Erica's #28 and #101 - Drop a message in a bottle in a body of water AND Spend a day at the beach

I'm combining these two, since they occurred on the same day in the very same place!

If you read my music festival blog, you read about our group of 10 catching a cab on the island of Tortola during day-in-port #2 on Cayamo.  We took a short but steep ride from the port to a little place called Brewer's Bay, on the opposite side of the island.  The views from the top of the hill/mountain on the cab ride over were breathtaking - I know the shots I got on the fly don't do it justice at all, but here's one as a sample:

Nice, huh?  Brewer's Bay is gorgeous too...nice sweeping beach, a little bar/snack hut, clear turquoise waters, and even a rocky area to one side that provided opportunity for the many snorkelers to do some underwater sightseeing.  Sure, there appeared to be people living in makeshift tents in the wooded area just behind the beach, but who wouldn't want to live here?  (Side note:  I changed out of my swimming attire back in these very same woods before we headed back to the port - this was preferable to the unsavory little bathroom located at the bar!)

Our group staked out a spot, and then most of us took right to the water, where many of us spent most of the day rotating in and out of the water, tossing a football around in the surf.  Some of the group spent a good portion of the day in the sand, napping, chatting or reading and enjoying the scenery.  At one point, we all headed up to the bar for a few cold drinks and deep-fried snacks before heading back to the beach for more fun in the sun.

Since one of my goals was to drop a message in a body of water, and we happened to find ourselves on a cruise, I managed to snag someone's empty wine bottle the night before this beach day, and brought it with me to the beach.  I decided against just dropping it off the side of the cruise ship, as I didn't want to spend the remainder of Cayamo experiencing what the brig is like on a nice big boat.  Time spent in our interior cabin was confinement enough for me.  I wrote up a useless message, since big, sweeping sentiment eluded my mind at the moment I was writing this thing, corked the bottle, and headed toward the surf.

I had to swim a ways out to make sure the bottle didn't just come right back to shore.  I was about even with that anchored catamaran when I shoved it on its way out to sea.  Good thing the water was so clear - I am a strong swimmer, but tend to panic/hyperventilate a bit when I can't see the bottom in a body of water.

I have no illusions that it was swept out into the deep blue Atlantic - I'm sure it washed back to this very same beach when the tide next came in.  Brewer's Bay is likely too large and protected to have a strong current, but hey, you never know!  I put an email address inside in case anyone who found it wanted to contact me - no word yet!

We had a great day with friends on the beach, couldn't ask for a better way to wrap up our time in the British Virgin Islands!