bvi captains log blog

Feels good to be out on the water again! It rained pretty much all night, and then this morning, but it stopped before we picked up the guests. 2 of our guests on this week, Dan and Nancy ( you have heard me refer to them to their ever lasting chagrin as the "old folks from St Marys") brought new victims, ah, friends I believe is the proper term for sun in fun in the British Virgin Islands, or, dodging hurricanes and thunderstorms as you would like to call it.
Of course we have the typical and traditional arrival pictures



Follow by the traditional painkiller on board.

This group had smartly drawn straws to see who was allowed to pick first in the cabin department. I think Dan got the short straw and has to sleep in the extra crew room! They looked around for B, but we told them that we did not think we needed 5 crew to handle 8 guests who don't dive! We did not think we would be doing much sailing today as there was not a ripple on the pond about 11 AM, but by the time we sailed off we had a bit of wind. Sailed by the "Italian Businessmans" house on Buck Island and I have watched this sucker being built very slowly for many many years and I think it is actually close to being finished now!

Lisa made us a light lunch while we were sailing....

and we thought that Dan had gotten his hair spiked and colored but he fooled us, it was a hair piece! Not a good look Dan, Not a good look!!

That means that Rich was relegated to the "swim the line ashore" role once we made it to Salt Island, and he is doing his best B pose here!

I was a big girl and took the line off when we swung out, and I put away the mainsail...See mom the exercise regimen begins. I don't remember it used to take me that long to put away a sail, but hey, times change.
As most people probably know, Salt Island is about our favorite anchorage and about our favorite snorkel here in the BVI. I had my snorkel out and was in the water as soon as we pulled up. Good thing as the horizon looked like this just as we anchored, and we got quite a good rain for awhile.

This is a self portrait about my happiest self! My mask did not leak or fog! Hurrah! My fins still fit on my fat little feet! Hurrah! Buoyancy, forget that, I had no problem with buoyancy!!

All my friends were there today, the anemones (these are all taking with my tiny little camera, so don't expect too much, it was just nice to take pictures)

Some great coral



More cup corals around then I remember

An eagle Ray

An Octopus

A Southern Sting Ray

AND 60 squid!!!!!! (Yes, I did count them!)



I also saw flounder, turtles, lobster and on and on.

We spied some goats on the hill and the guests as well as Lisa thought that curried goat would be a hit for dinner, but Lisa said she would only make it if the guests caught it, skinned it, gutted it, cleaned it and gave it to her, so I guess we are not having curried goat tonight!

This naughty little Boobie bird let me snorkel right up to him and take his picture!

good shot of the boat behind the rocks...

And what the hell, from the front as well!

I have strict instructions from another St Marys member Bob, to post lots of pictures this week as he could not be here, and to give him a treat tonight, I think both Lisa and I are blogging independently of each other, so who knows what will end up on here! Don't expect two posts every day though Bob! This is a special occasion. Nancy wants to know where you saw the large shark jump out of the water as well...I could send an email but I know you will read the blog.
I thought this was kind of an interesting picture, of the guests at cocktail hour with the sunset in the background.

And, of course, the traditional first nights dinner. Lisa fried up some fish with some great homemade tartar sauce and it was enjoyed by all. I love having someone cook for me, but apparently I am on the homemade cookie detail this week.

Now there is some talking on the back deck going on and some half hearted fishing, but we are really too shallow tonight for it. I will finish off with another few of Richies fabulous pictures. I love this cleaner shrimp on the anemone...

And this little crab...

And this is of the jacks on the wreck of the RMS Rhone.


One other little tidbit of gossip, a lot of the boats haul out for summer down in Trinidad as well as fuel etc. Even now they would pay a $1.50 per gallon as opposed to over $6.00 here. Well it has just been announced that as of now, foreign flagged vessels will no longer be eligible for subsidized fuel, they have to buy at "International Rates" which is $6.00 a gallon! I am sure there are some people who are not very happy about that one!

Good to be home and even better to be in the other home on the boat! No surprise to anyone that Miami was a nightmare airport with me spending over an hour to get a boarding pass with seeing 9 different people and then upon arriving in Tortola finding out we had NO luggage. We did not feel so bad though as there was about 25 people on our flight and only about 3 got any luggage at all!
We do have it now though, and I am glad I put some of the perishables in plastic bags!!! (Becel margarine, I love it and always bring some, I will just be scooping it out of a bag instead of a container for the next couple months.
We were starving when we arrived so went out to Village Cay for hamburgers and then Rich and Lisa came to get us (sans luggage!) The boat looked great and we sat around chatting for awhile until bed really called our name. I was a big girl and managed to sleep all night without air conditioning!! There was a bit of a breeze though and that helped.
I had given Bazza helpful comments before we left the states like "what about my air condiitoning?" "Don't you think you should buy something here to fix it with and bring it down with you?" But he ignored me, found it more handy to go to the local stores and pay three times the price today but I cannot complain as he had it up and running for me this afternoon.
Not that we needed A/C today, with the outer feeder bands of Hanna affecting us we had TONS of rain! And I do mean tons. Richard had to wash the boat and the torrential rain pours helped his cause.

The boat was bucking like a rodeo horse last night on its mooring with the wind and seas there were coming from the southwest. Rich said he almost moved the boat in the middle of the night, but he did move this AM over by the cruise ship dock where it is quieter.
Rich showed me some of his underwater photos, and he is getting very good. So, I have taken the liberty to showcase some of his pictures this week that i found! He is really enjoying the camera.
I have to start with a turtle as I love them.

Then a squid as I like the colors in them equally as much.

A great shot of the wreck of the Beata

And I think this is called a butterfly fish, but not entirely sure. It is pretty though!

That is all the fish pictures for today, we will save some for the rest of the week!
I did also take some pictures from the plane when we were coming in yesterday.
this is Sandy Spit.

And this is Culebra

great view of Little Jost Van Dyke

Guana Island

And a picture of White Bay on Jost Van Dyke


I also took some pictures of Scrub Island, which really looks like it is just waiting for a hurricane to come and take it away. I heard from the taxi driver that a lot of the workers had quit as they were not getting paid, but soon the development should have some new financing coming through and it will be up and running. We will see. I also have heard that the silting curtains do not work and have not worked since the day they were put down. Yeah, like we could not have told that by looking at them!












Also understand that a group of the Prospect Reef Timeshare owners is suing the BVI government as they never received any compensation for their timeshares when the government bought out Prospect Reef. That is now a couple law suits at least against "our generic government"...

Rich and Lisa have just gone to the chicken van for chicken and ribs for all and then I think it is time to take that to bed with a movie. Tomorrow is pick up charter day again, so I may actually have to put some of my stuff scattered all over the salon away in the AM. We will see whether our guests manage to fly around the storm clouds to get down to the islands.

My friend Janice passed on these photos wanting to know if we thought they were real, and yep, I believe they are! I think it is a great picture. We saw quite a few in schools in the Galapagos, schools of hundreds, although where we saw them the water was so murky you could not really make them out too well.

"Gliding silently beneath the waves they turned vast areas of blue water to
gold off the northern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula . Sandra Critelli, an amateur
photographer, stumbled across the phenomenon while looking for whale sharks."

Well I have been sitting in Seattles Sea Tac airport for most of the afternoon. They have no Admirals Club with AA here, and although the flight is operated by Alaskan Airlines, Alaskan says they have asked American many times to exchange Club privileges but they have always turned them down flat. Alaskans Club Lounge is WWWAAAAYYYYY better then Americans Admirals Club! They have self serve soda machines, espressos, cheese and crackers, soups, cookies and up to 3 complimentary drinks per person. Admirals Club gives you coffee, water and pretzels. Anything else is way over priced and bad. What a surprise! Just like their airplanes.
Funny thing checking in our baggage we were a couple pounds over the 50 lb limit and they let it go as opposed to making us paying a lot of money or do gyrations trying to even out the bags somehow. We had a record today, only 2 checked bags, although I have to admit that we stopped at the USPS to mail down a couple parcels!
We saw the parental unit off, or I should say they saw us off...and they are on their way to see Willy Nelson at the Marymoor field tonight. I told them to make sure they bring their umbrellas! Bazza really whined when I made him leave his winter jacket with my parents today. We DON'T need it in the BVI!
We have spent the last two nights sleeping on the hardest beds possible! Where do some of these hotels find these beds? Even boards aren't that hard! Last night I think it was also the smallest double bed I have ever seen. I thought that Bazza should sleep on the floor at the end, to give this large girl room to actually sleep on the bed, but he was having none of that! At least a few months of charters will wear of some of this weight (Ha! Like it ever has yet. When I started doing charters I weighed about 55 lbs less then now. That is 10-11 years ago. An average gain of 5 lbs a year. At this rate, I won't fit on the boat in another ten years!)

Well we are in Seattle, going to be attempting to board my nemesis American Airlines later on today to come back to the BVI! We shall see what tales we have to tell this time!
I have been asking Bazza what he is going to do about my broken air conditioner on the boat Lisa, everyone knows what premenopausal women are like!

I, unfortunately, because of the economy, have a cancellation on the boat at the end of next May! Too bad, but lucky for someone else who will be able to snap up this prime week!

May 23rd to 30th -Pick up late afternoon. Drop 9:00 AM on the 30th (Sat to Sat) CANCELLATION. Now available

One interesting tidbit I heard from Hopper at Swim Vacations In planning his trips swimming through the BVI this winter he sent me this email, and a good thought.
"While researching flight options for my December trip, I discovered that it has remained inexpensive to fly into Puerto Rico (I read they paid off the airlines). Even with a night’s stay in PR and a Cape Air flight to Beef Island the same morning we set sail, it’s cheaper than a flight to St Thomas, a ferry, and a hotel in Tortola.
The St. Thomas flights are few and very expensive."
Good idea, I have asked where he is staying in San Juan that night, although I know there is a Best Western right at the airport...
That is all for this morning, off i go to the APPLE store before heading to the airport.