bvi captains log blog

Two days entries in one here guys, as I have to take my computer to shore to find a connection!

One of the large yacht transport ships was picking up boats in Road Harbor, so I snapped a couple pictures as we went by



And just a picture of the yachts at anchor.

The seas were flat and we were just out of the channel and I was getting myself ready to go to be! Usually my strategy on the way to St Martin (escpecially with 4 of us on board!) as I was filling my water glass, Bazza says, " we are going right over the fish bowl". That stopped me in my tracks!
The fishbowl is a dive off the south drop that we discovered a couple years agao. It is a mound that come up to about 50 ish feet. On one side of this mound it is about 200 feet deep and on the other side of the mound it is a thousand. Unfortunately, noone else wanted to dive with me!!! They all said they could not "be bothered" but, Lisa, being the true dive pro she is finally stepped forward and said she would come. Lisa and I always see great things together on our dive!
In we jump, camera in hand, and I got these great pictures of Lisa sinking in the great blue. The color was spectacular. We think there was a reason Richard and Bazza stayed on the boat, as we felt like we had been dropped on in the marianna trench! We just kept going and going...I stopped going at almost a 130 feet and we made our way in the distance up to a mound which we climbed up to find the FISHBOWL at about 80 some feet. AND guess what it was just as spectacular as we remember it being!



We saw Margate Groupers and Nassau Groupers and other groupers I have to look up.





Nurse Sharks, Reef Sharks, Remora, Horse Eyed Jacks, Lobsters wandering about in the open...





We did not know which way to look and at one point I had 4 largish groupers in my view!!
This was some kind of jack, but not a horse eyed he was quite dark.


This is the only place i see these bright purple fish, that appear to be related to Dungeons, is out on the pristine reefs on the outside. I have never seen them in the inside of the channel.

This triggerfish appeared to think that I could not see him if he stuck his head inside the hole!

About three different types of Angel fish as well!

My computer was telling me that it was time to come up, but since it is on quite a conservative setting, I looked at Lisa's and she still had 7 minutes left on her computer so we went by that!
The only flaw in my diving plan was as usual I was just wearing a swimming suit, no wetsuit and at shallow depth there was the entire array of different jellyfish around, both the stingy and the non stingy kin!!
I therefore tried to look out for the real stingy ones and lived with the sort stingy ones! When we came up the guys told us they had seen about 5 whales and 20 dolphins! So it was a great stop!!
We did not have flat seas all the way over, but I managed to stay in bed and we pulled up to Marigot about 6 this morning.

When I got up about 10:30 Lisa was sitting patiently like a little girl on Xmas morning waiting for everyone to get up so she could open her presents! New island to explore and all. We got the boys out of bed, went and checked in (an entire 5 euros) and quickly made it to the bakery for breakfast and cappucion's. My husband pronounced that we could just pick him up there at the end of the week. Him and his sweet tooth.


RIchard and Lisa got a car for us.

and it was off for a mini tour of the island!
I saw the next fixer up boat, although there is some debate on whether Lisa gets it or I get it!

We went over to the Kontiki at Orient Beach for lunch and it was very comfortable, nice breeze, comfortable seats and we were in the shade.

We thought of my sister as she loves being here with us for these types of things.

Lunch was good, I had conch and cod fritters (although I think it was cod fritters with two tiny pieces of conch somewhere, not as good as ours!)

and the others had calamari and chicken satay. Richard is just being a good like usual!


Then we stopped at a grocery store and purchased a bit of cheese, crackers and chocolate and had a cocktail on the back deck of the boat! We did not go any further. Bazza was reading somewhere today that they have had 2000 cases of Dengue Fever on St Martin! Yeek! We made sure that we had insect repellent on for sure!

We are tied up now in the Fort St Louis Marina, which looks like there will not be a chance in hell that we will be able to make the electricity work for us from the dock and the "wi-fi that is everywhere in the marina" except, where we are docked apparently!

Time to get caught up on some of the reference letters we have received from recent guests! This will be in place of a blog entry that I do not have time to do before losing email service on the way to St Martin.
We called Delta Petroleum at 1130 this morning, saying we wanted fuel. They said, sure come on after these boats! We said it would be duty free fuel. We were then told that we could only buy duty free fuel between 9 and 12 and we should come back tomorrow!! Hello!!! Do the duty free pumps explode at noon?? I hear they don't like the paperwork with duty free fuel, so limit it. Quite frustrating to have to pay full price when we were entitled to duty free!
They are calling for some thunderstorms today so we will see what our see are like going over to St Martin. We basically threw the laundry and garbage off, got diesel, threw B off as he is going to Puerto Rico with his brother for the week tomorrow and we are on our way!

Swim Vacation

I was completely blown away by the Promenade, her captain, and crew. Richard and Lisa figured out exactly what we, as swimmers, needed, and delivered. B silently kept everything in order all day, then made sure no one ever drank or danced alone all night. You have hired truly gifted people. "Hooper" Maine

Cabin Only Sailing March 2008

We have been on the phone ever since we landed in Charlotte, NC, telling everyone what a wonderful time we had! We will definitely be back, and ready to tackle any water sports you throw at us. Our bodies are fine! Maybe a little sore, but so what! We had a great time and it's our own fault for being out of shape! It was better than expected! That was the best vacation we have ever had! We can't stop talking about it. The crew was marvelous and so much fun! As well as the other guests! The comment I wrote that Lisa posted on the blog doesn't even do the trip justice. It is so hard to put into words how much fun we had! We will be back! Even though the wind and the swells were challenging, Lisa and the crew always managed to have a "cunning plan" to insure we had a great time. The weather was really not an issue. I love Brent! If I had a son, I'd want him to be just like him. Tell him to keep in touch. Paula Keller, North Carolina
Thank you all for your fantastic hospitality during our time aboard Promenade. We cold not have been spoilt more. The food was tasty, the cocktails mean and the activities very well organised. You all did a great job and we will be very happy to recommend the cruise as a wonderful holiday to everyone else we know. Helen and Keith, London England

April 19-26

We loved the Promenade and crew! What a great vacation this was! You had just the right touch with all ages, the younger ones, teens and adults. You also accomodated all of our needs and wants beautifully. We will definitely return. Thank you so much. THE GRITTERS and KENJI, NY and Mexico

What a wonderful experience. greatly exceeded all expectations. We had a second yacht, the 46' beneteau Jasper and although expecting to eat on Promenade we did not expect the considerable assistance from Richard in docking, fixing problems and advice. I've been sailing in the BVI three times and did not know that so many good anchorages and snorkeling sites existed. The crew were always anticipating our needs. Fantastic! in every way. Meals were fantastic and the crew accomodated the various needs of children and adults alike. We wish Richard, Lisa, and Mr B and Kerry and Bazza every success for the future. THE BONDS, NY

The vacation of a lifetime. I feel like we've been made lifetime friends with Mr B, Richard and Lisa, Kerry and Bazza. You really know hot to manage the correct mix of work and play. It just amazes me how fate plays out. We were to be on another boat and through some zigs and zags we ended up on PROMENADE! Thank the good lord. It was all so perfect. Here to your lifetime of health and happiness! THE O'BRIENS, NY

We are almost blushing from the kind words. We were a little scared that they would have been dissapointed in Richard that he was not like another charter captain they saw out at Foxy's who took part in the dance competition by dropping his shorts to his ankles, raising his shirt and massaging his nipples! Blind drunk and then drove his guests back to the boat. Our guests were quite happy without us doing that! I guess even B behaved and kept his own clothes on! Usually it is him that we have to watch! Have a great trip home guys...

We will update as we can, but we are on our way over to St Martin to get batteries and internet will probably be sketchy!

Where does the week go? And how did I ever have time to work charters AND do the office and website stuff! My inbox is about 40 emails long, I have about 4 people looking for charters (where? I am not sure I have any room!) and the thousand or so pictures I took this week are helter skelter all over the place!
We have managed to cook enough food for an army!
Todays plan was White Bay on Jost. All the big adults took the sailboat and we chugged down with everyone else. For some reason the teenagers and under do not seem to care whether we have the sails up or no! No wind today anyways!
Our star resort diver, Kenji, is from south of Mexico City and he did his first dives this week! He was a natural! Richy and I took the divers onto the end of Jost This afternoon. Great visibilty!

We did pick up an arrow crab to look at him.. (i know skewer me later...)

Barbecuing hamburgers today for 18 people was interesting as we make homemade buns for them! My mom will like this picture, and they all turned out the size of mini loaves not hamburger buns but they were very good!

Here is a school of Tangs on the dive today.

So this evening, I have been copying pictures for the guests to beat the band, Lisa had had every tshirt out in existence, laundry is being done by the guests (most are staying on tortola for a few days) and the boat looks like an end of charter week charter boat with 18 people on it!!!
B is off on vacation with his brother to Puerto Rico for a week, and there is/ was some debate on whether we were going to St Martin or Puerto Rico to get batteries! I think St Martin won because Lisa and I whined enough!
...TIL TOMORROW!

Well when I woke up this morning we had lost most of our non divers onto Jasper to do some serious shopping at Bitter End, Lunch at Leverick Bay, and then meeting up with us at Marina Cay in time for Michaels Beans show. We were well on our way to the Chikuzen, with a dive done before and after lunch!! Now this is pretty exciting for crew and guests alike. It was flat, it was beautiful, and we heard whales and dolphins. They sounded so close I kept on looking behind me for them but no luck.
I am going to let the pictures speak for themselves today! I took about three hundred or so of them!

No visibility at all hey?

We had friendly cobia as usual today!





Schools of grunts

Schools of Horse Eyed Jacks





Our intrepid divers..

Spectacular!
Then of course all the diving led to this, napping on the way back in.



We met up with the other yacht at Marina Cay and most headed off to see old Michaels Beans, while the divers took the opportunity to do some banana boating and some predatoring while then going on a night dive! Whew!! Lots of activity!
Dinner was shrimp and chicken alfredo, and here are a couple dinner pictures, we have not had any for a couple nights.



Now they are busy looking at the Tarpon off the back deck while those who have done a bunch of dives are looking for their beddy bye!

I am not sure where the day has gone! I seem to have been in the galley cooking a mountain of food today, a mountain I tell you!!!
The guests took us out to Giorgio's in Maho Bay for dinner last night. All 18 of us!

Some of us looked like we were ready for bed, never mind dinner!

I am not sure what Brent and the boys were up to. Maybe doing the Macarena??

And all the girls wanted to sit with our very own LULU!

And how was the food and venue you ask? Nice, romantic, fairly expensive. I had the steak and it was nowhere as good as mine is on the boat, but the potatoes were nice and fresh and little! We had happy servers as well.

For those looking for live lobster, they have them live and bring the ones you order out to your table while they are still alive to show you. They were enjoyed by all.

You can drop off right at the stone dock and a waiter will light your way up the path, and then the dinghy driver takes the tender around to anchor it. It is a wonderful setting, pretty Italian, and all our guests and the crew enjoyed it. Lisa said she loved the Tiramusu and I had a nice cup of cappucino!
The next day was a big expedition to the Baths, and it was busy! Not a mooring ball to be seen and many boats anchored. I made Brent and Lisa get in the water so I could take some snorkeling pictures and they whined and bitched and squabbled the entire time! Lisa managed to do the entire thing with barely getting her hair wet!

They turned out really nice though!

Then it was time to return to our floating laundry ship which is even worse this week as we also have all the fenders for rafting up on the front decks and the banana boat. It is a busy boat!

Add on that someone fed the seagulls as well after lunch and, yes, we were looking a tad bit tacky But having fun!!

Took some pictures off my camera on our dive yesterday on the back side of Ginger... This is just up along with wall.

I have been lucky with the turtles this week, here is another one that posed for me yesterday.

Oh and what can I say, it appears I had an Eagle Ray swimming around me as well. Not one of my favorite dive sites. You can get some depth here, and the coral is pretty, but ever since I moved here a decade ago, I thought that the reef was pretty sterile, not a lot of fish, so it is nice to see the creatures, otherwise it would have been a pretty boring dive with one cowfish!



Up to Muskmelon Bay this afternoon and there was snorkeling, diving, sailing and resort diving going on! Richy found this weird fish. I think maybe it is a Scorpion Fish, but I have not looked it up yet. I have never seen one here if it is. maybe someone out there knows??



This is a big day, my blog is up before dinner! Yippee!!
We are up at North Sound, and no fishing action at all this week with it being around full moon. Definitely looking like summer out there! Hoping to hit the Chikuzen tomorrow, we will see!