Thursday, December 25. 2008
Xmas Day on Promenade part 2
Our Xmas eve dinner was tasty, with our festive chocolates and pineapple for dessert...
We had a cut throat Promenade trivia game after dinner with we had a three way tie on that was then broken down to one winner, Steven, however, it was Xmas so everyone received a Xmas present!
Popcorn, fishing and Xmas movies rounded out the evening and we were all up until midnight and later! This meant that early morning naps were in order. Another creative use of the charts!
Our hearty crew did a dive at Muskmelon, as frankly, everywhere else on this side would have been worse visibility. And it was bad. I think they saw a total of three fish and a few diver silhouettes! On our way we went with the Spinnaker, which was all twisted up in its sleeve, so it looked like we had reefed it to sail over to Jost. We had about 5 men involved in the untwisting of it!
It was off then to the Bubbly Pool for the guests, so David contributed these to the blog today...
The bubbly pool was bubbling along,
Really bubbling as you can tell!
I love this picture of the duck, bird type thing (no Doctor Doolittle am I, so not sure what it is!)
We had a horrendous squall while they were gone, it really bucketed down!
I spent most of the day in the galley. We had potato pancakes (A hucul tradition) and sausages for breakfast, homemade buns and shortbread cookies along with cold cuts and cheese for lunch, and turkey and all the trimmings for dinner! I believe my stove and oven was on all day. Down to White Bay we made it, and tucked right into the corner we found a tight little spot. It was pretty busy and the swell was up, amazed at the monohulls that were sitting in the middle by the reef being tossed and turned around...
Our guests made their way into the Soggy Dollar Bay for awhile,
and when they came back we decided to move to west end. We had a guest/deckhand in training, who complained more then I thought possible about coiling the line from the second anchor that had been done!
It probably took us about half and hour to get over to West End, and we had 2 cocktails tonight (as someone mentioned they had missed them the night before as they were going for a night dive!) Tonight we had Chocolate Bushwhackers and Starbucks Frappucino (alcoholic version!) and they pronounced my drinks way better then on land...
My turkey looked spectacular tonight! I had to show everyone and take a picture before we cut into it...
This is for my mom, using the pointsetta napkins she made me for Xmas still (they get used once a year, so they should last about a century!)
Everyone pronounced dinner a success and we think we have enough left overs for Hot Turkey sandwiches tomorrow night (my dad would like those!) Which is way better in my books then the Mahi we were going to have! Although, I have been talked into making fresh buns again for it....
We had a cut throat Promenade trivia game after dinner with we had a three way tie on that was then broken down to one winner, Steven, however, it was Xmas so everyone received a Xmas present!
Popcorn, fishing and Xmas movies rounded out the evening and we were all up until midnight and later! This meant that early morning naps were in order. Another creative use of the charts!
Our hearty crew did a dive at Muskmelon, as frankly, everywhere else on this side would have been worse visibility. And it was bad. I think they saw a total of three fish and a few diver silhouettes! On our way we went with the Spinnaker, which was all twisted up in its sleeve, so it looked like we had reefed it to sail over to Jost. We had about 5 men involved in the untwisting of it!
It was off then to the Bubbly Pool for the guests, so David contributed these to the blog today...
The bubbly pool was bubbling along,
Really bubbling as you can tell!
I love this picture of the duck, bird type thing (no Doctor Doolittle am I, so not sure what it is!)
We had a horrendous squall while they were gone, it really bucketed down!
I spent most of the day in the galley. We had potato pancakes (A hucul tradition) and sausages for breakfast, homemade buns and shortbread cookies along with cold cuts and cheese for lunch, and turkey and all the trimmings for dinner! I believe my stove and oven was on all day. Down to White Bay we made it, and tucked right into the corner we found a tight little spot. It was pretty busy and the swell was up, amazed at the monohulls that were sitting in the middle by the reef being tossed and turned around...
Our guests made their way into the Soggy Dollar Bay for awhile,
and when they came back we decided to move to west end. We had a guest/deckhand in training, who complained more then I thought possible about coiling the line from the second anchor that had been done!
It probably took us about half and hour to get over to West End, and we had 2 cocktails tonight (as someone mentioned they had missed them the night before as they were going for a night dive!) Tonight we had Chocolate Bushwhackers and Starbucks Frappucino (alcoholic version!) and they pronounced my drinks way better then on land...
My turkey looked spectacular tonight! I had to show everyone and take a picture before we cut into it...
This is for my mom, using the pointsetta napkins she made me for Xmas still (they get used once a year, so they should last about a century!)
Everyone pronounced dinner a success and we think we have enough left overs for Hot Turkey sandwiches tomorrow night (my dad would like those!) Which is way better in my books then the Mahi we were going to have! Although, I have been talked into making fresh buns again for it....
Our Xmas card on Yacht Promenade
No words needed with this picture! Our guests are much better looking then ourselves and we all wish everyone happy holidays from the BVI
Wednesday, December 24. 2008
Xmas eve on Guana Island in the BVI
Well it is Xmas eve in the BVI and it is glowing (I think I meant blowing!) a gale. Literally, we have seen 35 knots quite a bit today and have had various glasses and soda cans flying around the boat...
Here is last nights dinner, we had steak! Not on the barbecue in big winds though....
We made our way down to Mountain Point to partake of a dive and also some pull toys...
We had a brand new resort diver today, which makes 7 out of the 9 guests that we have managed to get diving this week! First thing we saw when we went down was a nudibranch...or flat worm as you have,
We took family photos....
Neil picked up a conch and he looks like he is saying "mine, and noone is taking it!"
Here we have SCUBA Barbie and SCUBA Ken, AKA, brother and sister....
A little ray that was down there...
Neil was bound and determined he was doing a Steve Irwin, but the Sting Ray took off on him....
This Ray here was at the anchor, siphoning up everything the anchor stirred up...
We were attempting some split shots, although the wind was so gusty it hurled the boat around and we were constantly trying to catch up to the boat...Still turned out not too bad...
Neat silhouette of our snorkeler in the water watching us...
We had lunch, we banana boated, we snorkeled to the beach and finally about 430 we figured we better get a move on if we were going to get anywhere. Put up wing and wing sails and made our way in no time at all down to Muskmelon Bay on Guana Island....
Where else would we spend Xmas Eve? Maybe Salt! Everyone made there way into the water for a night dive, although apparently there was not much visibility at all....Tonights dinner was seafood..
And we have the 5th nights dinner on the table shot....
The rest of the festivity pictures will have to wait until tomorrow. Merry Xmas everyone, if we don't get blown away. Nice to see our Xmas winds are living up to their name. We have also had a few wicked rain squalls tonight as well, but no one else is in our anchorage.. Most people probably think that with ten foot seas and north swells with 30 knots of wind that Muskmelon would not be that good, but we are so wide, we hardly feel it at all...Go trimarans for stabiliey!!
Here is last nights dinner, we had steak! Not on the barbecue in big winds though....
We made our way down to Mountain Point to partake of a dive and also some pull toys...
We had a brand new resort diver today, which makes 7 out of the 9 guests that we have managed to get diving this week! First thing we saw when we went down was a nudibranch...or flat worm as you have,
We took family photos....
Neil picked up a conch and he looks like he is saying "mine, and noone is taking it!"
Here we have SCUBA Barbie and SCUBA Ken, AKA, brother and sister....
A little ray that was down there...
Neil was bound and determined he was doing a Steve Irwin, but the Sting Ray took off on him....
This Ray here was at the anchor, siphoning up everything the anchor stirred up...
We were attempting some split shots, although the wind was so gusty it hurled the boat around and we were constantly trying to catch up to the boat...Still turned out not too bad...
Neat silhouette of our snorkeler in the water watching us...
We had lunch, we banana boated, we snorkeled to the beach and finally about 430 we figured we better get a move on if we were going to get anywhere. Put up wing and wing sails and made our way in no time at all down to Muskmelon Bay on Guana Island....
Where else would we spend Xmas Eve? Maybe Salt! Everyone made there way into the water for a night dive, although apparently there was not much visibility at all....Tonights dinner was seafood..
And we have the 5th nights dinner on the table shot....
The rest of the festivity pictures will have to wait until tomorrow. Merry Xmas everyone, if we don't get blown away. Nice to see our Xmas winds are living up to their name. We have also had a few wicked rain squalls tonight as well, but no one else is in our anchorage.. Most people probably think that with ten foot seas and north swells with 30 knots of wind that Muskmelon would not be that good, but we are so wide, we hardly feel it at all...Go trimarans for stabiliey!!
Tuesday, December 23. 2008
megayachts in the BVI
I forgot my nightly dinner picture last night, Chicken Pasta Pesto we had and they did pretty good considering I always make mounds of pasta!
We were not up and moving at 7 this morning, but they managed to spend several hours in at the Baths, David took these pictures again...
Must not have been too many cruise ships around as there were not that many people other then the million boats that were there...
They enjoyed their climb around there, and we made a trip into the yacht harbor for a few provisions as well as picked up a spare boat hook behind the boat that apparently a monohull had messed up getting totally a ball (obviously) and after 20 minutes they motored away in disgust and left there boat hook in the water!
It is Xmas time so that means that it is time for some of the large mega yachts to show up on our shores...Pelorus is the 14th largest yacht in the world, as is owned by Roman Abramovich, Russian Oil Billionaire and buyer of English football teams....The yacht apparently has a crew of 40 and cost $300 million to build!
And then even larger is Rising Sun, about the 5th largest in the world with 82 rooms on 5 levels, owned by Larry Ellison of Oracle. We see this yacht quite a bit here...It only cost $200 million to build though!
The guests particularly were amused at the pictures of our chinese laundry ship in front of the yacht....
And just in case you wanted to look in Rising Suns garage, there are jet ski's and power boats galore....
These boats dwarf a lot of normal megayachts, like Starfire with is about 120-130 feet and you can charter it for a quarter of a million dollars a week plus expenses, if you are not quite in the Pelorus league....
We anchored up by Biras Creek out of the wind somewhat, and looking behind us the Sound looks quite empty...
This is a new twist on Bazza napping today, although notice, he is still napping with his computer, just a different position! Poor man, on the way up here he had a fan belt go on the dive compressor and the engine within about 5 minutes of each other so while the guests played and had massages at Bitter End, he fixed all his toys....
We saw the guests off for cocktail hour ashore and then I was busy getting steak ready for tonight. It turned out it was way too windy to barbecue, so we did them inside, but I also made yummy baked potatoes just like Outback Steakhouse, rolled in Olive Oil and Butter, rolled in Sea Salt and then baked for an hour and a half. Man, they were tasty!
We were not up and moving at 7 this morning, but they managed to spend several hours in at the Baths, David took these pictures again...
Must not have been too many cruise ships around as there were not that many people other then the million boats that were there...
They enjoyed their climb around there, and we made a trip into the yacht harbor for a few provisions as well as picked up a spare boat hook behind the boat that apparently a monohull had messed up getting totally a ball (obviously) and after 20 minutes they motored away in disgust and left there boat hook in the water!
It is Xmas time so that means that it is time for some of the large mega yachts to show up on our shores...Pelorus is the 14th largest yacht in the world, as is owned by Roman Abramovich, Russian Oil Billionaire and buyer of English football teams....The yacht apparently has a crew of 40 and cost $300 million to build!
And then even larger is Rising Sun, about the 5th largest in the world with 82 rooms on 5 levels, owned by Larry Ellison of Oracle. We see this yacht quite a bit here...It only cost $200 million to build though!
The guests particularly were amused at the pictures of our chinese laundry ship in front of the yacht....
And just in case you wanted to look in Rising Suns garage, there are jet ski's and power boats galore....
These boats dwarf a lot of normal megayachts, like Starfire with is about 120-130 feet and you can charter it for a quarter of a million dollars a week plus expenses, if you are not quite in the Pelorus league....
We anchored up by Biras Creek out of the wind somewhat, and looking behind us the Sound looks quite empty...
This is a new twist on Bazza napping today, although notice, he is still napping with his computer, just a different position! Poor man, on the way up here he had a fan belt go on the dive compressor and the engine within about 5 minutes of each other so while the guests played and had massages at Bitter End, he fixed all his toys....
We saw the guests off for cocktail hour ashore and then I was busy getting steak ready for tonight. It turned out it was way too windy to barbecue, so we did them inside, but I also made yummy baked potatoes just like Outback Steakhouse, rolled in Olive Oil and Butter, rolled in Sea Salt and then baked for an hour and a half. Man, they were tasty!
Monday, December 22. 2008
Diving on the RMS Rhone again...
With very little fan fare and commenting I am going to let most of my pictures from this morning talk for themselves. We were up to wake up bells ringing and in the water by 730 AM. We had a very nice dive on the RHONE today, and I took the opportunity to go in a bit before everyone else so I could take some silhouette shots, which are about my favorite, although it is one way that digital does not do them justice. Film is much better.
one of my divers coming down...
Matt sinking against the sun...
I think Neil was just being goofy...
Coming around the compressor
Nice little turtle, with a prop mark of some type of damage on his shell as well...
My Rogues gallery of divers! I like this picture...
We saw lots of lobsters....
This permit posed nicely, but then turned his back as if to say "you cannot see me now"
Filefish, actually filefish. I called the Trumpet Fish File Fish in my blog yesterday...
My divers have done a few dives and now they are like poetry in motion...
Inside the deep part of the wreck...
Someones fresh new weight belt that we did not bother to pick up off the deep end....
This turned out very well, looking up at the Permit...
We came across Simeon and our two certifying divers near the end of the dive....
And a nice crab sitting inside the wreck.
Yes, it was a very nice dive!! Then we made Eggs Benedict for breakfast, and Hash browns (yummie!) and then the guests were off on a marathon tour of Salt Island. These pictures following are all courtesy of David, cuz believe me, I did not climb up the hill to the geocache!
I hear some walked the wrong way around the pond, and some sprinted right up the hill....
Our geocache is still safe and sound, if not looking a little moldy from being there a few years!
We have a nice picture of the non diving ladies on the top...they don't get in too many pictures!
And a whole group shot down by the dock on Salt Island...
Then it was a snorkel, at the Sphinx, and the next plan was a slow motor to the Beatta to dive, where our twosome worked diligently on getting there gear together in record time (sort of!)
The twins took the opportunity to have a nap....
And our two newbies are now certified and a great dive was had by all. We took off late this afternoon sailing up to the Baths and had cocktail hour under sail. We are having perfect sailing weather for Promenade lately....
There are a few boats at the Baths tonight, so we watched the sunset....
and then watched a moorings dinghy at the Baths that had the plug out and the engine under water. They must have left it there and gone on their way, as there is no moorings boats left at anchor here!
one of my divers coming down...
Matt sinking against the sun...
I think Neil was just being goofy...
Coming around the compressor
Nice little turtle, with a prop mark of some type of damage on his shell as well...
My Rogues gallery of divers! I like this picture...
We saw lots of lobsters....
This permit posed nicely, but then turned his back as if to say "you cannot see me now"
Filefish, actually filefish. I called the Trumpet Fish File Fish in my blog yesterday...
My divers have done a few dives and now they are like poetry in motion...
Inside the deep part of the wreck...
Someones fresh new weight belt that we did not bother to pick up off the deep end....
This turned out very well, looking up at the Permit...
We came across Simeon and our two certifying divers near the end of the dive....
And a nice crab sitting inside the wreck.
Yes, it was a very nice dive!! Then we made Eggs Benedict for breakfast, and Hash browns (yummie!) and then the guests were off on a marathon tour of Salt Island. These pictures following are all courtesy of David, cuz believe me, I did not climb up the hill to the geocache!
I hear some walked the wrong way around the pond, and some sprinted right up the hill....
Our geocache is still safe and sound, if not looking a little moldy from being there a few years!
We have a nice picture of the non diving ladies on the top...they don't get in too many pictures!
And a whole group shot down by the dock on Salt Island...
Then it was a snorkel, at the Sphinx, and the next plan was a slow motor to the Beatta to dive, where our twosome worked diligently on getting there gear together in record time (sort of!)
The twins took the opportunity to have a nap....
And our two newbies are now certified and a great dive was had by all. We took off late this afternoon sailing up to the Baths and had cocktail hour under sail. We are having perfect sailing weather for Promenade lately....
There are a few boats at the Baths tonight, so we watched the sunset....
and then watched a moorings dinghy at the Baths that had the plug out and the engine under water. They must have left it there and gone on their way, as there is no moorings boats left at anchor here!
Sunday, December 21. 2008
SCUBA on Angelfish Reef and the Indians
It is a beautiful day here in the BVI. Not a drop of rain anywhere. Found this picture of a rainbow from yesterday when we left the marina.....
Todays activities were mostly diving related. Some were still certifying, and I took lots of Sudafed and went diving with the certified divers this morning. We did a "live dive" dropping in on the outside of Angelfish Reef...
So we only had to go one way with the current. Lazy hey? We saw a grouper...
and two little lobster....
I love the barrel sponges around here, they are all so massive...
A little file fish...
Neil called me over to see the little Eel they found and it was small! I had a wide angle lens on, so he is just a speck in the middle of the picture I believe....
Coming over one of the canyons...
A little turtle which was disappearing just as fast as he could when he saw us....
Lots of little fish...
Then, we played "stupid human tricks" as opposed to "stupid pet tricks" (or maybe it is the same thing?)
Matt just hung out and watched us....
Jay did a fin stand...
Steve did a handstand (I love the colors here)
And a ninja pose...
...and crosslegged.
We found a conch to look at, surprisingly nothing in it and no hole to show that someone had taken the conch out.
We spied our certifying divers and Simeon swimming by, and we all watched the Barracuda for awhile....
After all this activity we picked up the few girls we had left at the beach while we were diving, had lunch, pulled the banana boat around for awhile (well, some napped!)
And then it was off to the Indians for a dive. I think my divers took exception to me calling them slow yesterday and they were geared up and in the water in no time! Water is a bit murky for this time of year....
And I kept my eyes peeled for a Lionfish, but I saw none! One Horse eyed jack in the school of Wrasses.....
Some nice glassy eyed sweepers in the cave....
and then it was off for an exciting sail up to Salt Island for the night dive. Yep, three dives tonight!
I think I should make them sleep as we have decided on a 7:30 AM dive in the morning as well on the Rhone, before the hoards descend. They had a great dive tonight and saw large crabs and lobsters, dinner was served...
And now they seem very lively playing Scattegories for those who have done three dives!
Todays activities were mostly diving related. Some were still certifying, and I took lots of Sudafed and went diving with the certified divers this morning. We did a "live dive" dropping in on the outside of Angelfish Reef...
So we only had to go one way with the current. Lazy hey? We saw a grouper...
and two little lobster....
I love the barrel sponges around here, they are all so massive...
A little file fish...
Neil called me over to see the little Eel they found and it was small! I had a wide angle lens on, so he is just a speck in the middle of the picture I believe....
Coming over one of the canyons...
A little turtle which was disappearing just as fast as he could when he saw us....
Lots of little fish...
Then, we played "stupid human tricks" as opposed to "stupid pet tricks" (or maybe it is the same thing?)
Matt just hung out and watched us....
Jay did a fin stand...
Steve did a handstand (I love the colors here)
And a ninja pose...
...and crosslegged.
We found a conch to look at, surprisingly nothing in it and no hole to show that someone had taken the conch out.
We spied our certifying divers and Simeon swimming by, and we all watched the Barracuda for awhile....
After all this activity we picked up the few girls we had left at the beach while we were diving, had lunch, pulled the banana boat around for awhile (well, some napped!)
And then it was off to the Indians for a dive. I think my divers took exception to me calling them slow yesterday and they were geared up and in the water in no time! Water is a bit murky for this time of year....
And I kept my eyes peeled for a Lionfish, but I saw none! One Horse eyed jack in the school of Wrasses.....
Some nice glassy eyed sweepers in the cave....
and then it was off for an exciting sail up to Salt Island for the night dive. Yep, three dives tonight!
I think I should make them sleep as we have decided on a 7:30 AM dive in the morning as well on the Rhone, before the hoards descend. They had a great dive tonight and saw large crabs and lobsters, dinner was served...
And now they seem very lively playing Scattegories for those who have done three dives!
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