British Virgin Islands

Our day started off at Great Thatch this morning...Brent, being the intrepid tracking dog, was taking the guests up to see the fort on Thatch. I did warn the guests that he has "been known" to wander all over the mountain before he found the right path! Brent was confident though, and off he went, machete in hand...

He found the path up right spot on, termite nests and all.

We had had a discussion about making sure you are actually touching trees on your way up and NOT cactuses...

They found the large crabs that live in holes..

and an artistic display of some of the old bottle pieces up there...

They found our geocache right where it was supposed to be...

Then they went to find the graves, Patty thought it was quite thoughtful of them to provide aloe vera plants all the way along so she could put it on her various scratches! We aim to please...Planted those last summer just for our guests.

Our intrepid explorer then zigged when he should have zagged and made it to the Salt Pond instead of the ocean. "Fine" he thinks, I will just cut across the shallow end of the salt pond to the ocean. He leads the way. And is immediately sucked down into quicksand like mud, exclaiming that it is NOT like the Salt Ponds on Salt Island...

They made a hasty retreat and went back up and around where they found us lying off shore waiting for them.

We then went for a snorkel down the shoreline...It was, as always pretty... This is Irma, our 84 year old!

And Andy our 82 year old! They could swim the pants off of me!

We saw coral banded lobster, and several large puffer fish, schools of Blue tang, and of course bait fish...

Then I got the universal sign for shark, or "Mullet" as we are supposed to call them for one little lady on the boat!

And yep, there he was. A proper shark too, I have to look him up!

By the time we were out of the water the buns were ready to go into the oven for lunch, and we had lunch before going for a sail over to Norman Island this afternoon.

Oh yeah, I forgot the inevitable, tweezers and needles that were needed after the trip up the hill!

They snorkeled at the caves and the lounger came out...

We gathered for cocktail hour...

Well, some did, some wondered why we were interrupting their nap, until they tasted the Bushwackers and then we managed to finish a few pitchers of them!

Brent is practicing being a guest here and decided he quite liked it...Don't get used to it Brent!

Seems in no time at all it was time for dinner, and it was Mahi Mahi on the barbecue tonight along with fresh homemade ice cream....



I think Bazza has a bait fish in the water to see what we catch tonight, but no serious fishing going on....

I have been on this yacht for 12 years now and NEVER, not once, been up the mast. Nor have I had a desire too, not particularly liking heights.
This morning I was minding my own business, chopping up things for ceviche in the galley when my husband came into the galley and mentioned that he thought I should go up to the top of the mast and take some pictures. It must have been the energy drink I had in my hand, but I thought "yes, I should" the colors of the water, sky and reefs were outstanding today. It was a very small moment of bravery followed by wondering what in the hell I had agreed to.
He promised me that i did not actually have to climb the mast, that they would winch me up....
GULP... I first asked him if he had the queen sized version of the harness and what it was rated for!

He desperately tried not to giggle as he was refitting me...(smart man)

I took extra lenses with me, as I wanted to get some wide angles of the boat as well as the sea...

My heart was beating quickly and I shrieked quite a bit going up!

By the time I reached the top there was not a chance I was changing lenses, so I blindly swept around taking a few pictures...

They yelled up that I could let go of the mast and lean back, but their was not one single chance in hell that i was doing that!













Then I wanted down quickly, and that will be the last time for the next 12 years I do that! Yes, it was nice.
I did start a trend though, and EVERYONE on the boat took a trip up the mast! That is right people, the 84 year olds made less noise then I did going up this darn thing!!







This is such a beautiful corner of Anegada, a trip was made to Conch Mountain. The mountain was mentioned hundreds of years ago in records and our guests always love going to see it. Today was no exception.



Bazza mentioned something about him staying up wind of the performance!




Some snorkeled, and Sting Rays and Nurse Sharks were seen today...

After lunch we took a long leisurely spinnaker run down to Raffling Point on the other side of Anegada, catching a random barracuda and yellow tail snapper, but nothing edible.
All are now walking on the beach and I am heating the oil for conch fritters! The charter yacht ZIngara had the incredible good fortune of taking pictures of an ORCA, about an hour and a half from St Croix! I never even knew we had any down here!

I understand there was a Boston Whaler accident last night up at Biras Creek. Two people traveling to Gun Creek and one stepped away from the throttle and they were thrown out, Unfortunately, a young man died. I don't know any other details.
The wind has shifted and we had a great sail down to Jost Van Dyke from Guana Island this morning. I spent the time in the galley doing prep work, and apparently we were hitting 11 knots sailing down here!
White Bay was as pretty as ever and the guests spent a few hours in at the various bars...

Before we pulled up anchor and went around to Great Harbour for some shopping. As you can see, Great Harbour is nice and empty. The closed we have anchored here in a long long time!

Love the Pelican!

It was time then for another sail down to West End on Tortola for a bit of shopping for food and cocktail hour (margaritas and ANOTHER round of conch fritters! They like them!)

Our guests, since they had started drinking that morning at the Soggy Dollar Bar, just decided to keep up the fun and it was time for the shot game...Of course, only if everyone played!

We had a fun time, and even had a couple trick shots...



Poor Sammi was the winner, or loser, however you want to call it, with having to swallow about 6 shots tonight at least, everything from Jager to Bacardi 151 (he did not like that one here!!!)

Surprise though, I won the game!!! All 22.00$ of it and I only had to drink two creme de banane shots! THis was good as I still have to make dinner, which was steak and mashed potatoes tonight!

THe guys are fishing, looking for Tarpon, and I can only guess what the rest are up to. I love this picture of the three young ladies, lined up watching the two boys anchor. Of course, they may have been telling them how to anchor which would be about right in the female/male world!

Three dinghies were stolen from Trellis Bay last night, Saturday 20 June:
SV Serendipity: 14 ft Caribe with yellow and white cover, big S on inside of walker, stolen from the boat
SV Viking Dream: 11 ft Caribe with 25 hp Mercury o/b, missing little Caribe dolphin on the front of the dinghy, stolen from the boat
SV Excalibur (Horizon fleet): 11ft Caribe with yellow tubes and o/b painted blue, stolen from the Loose Mangoose dock

We woke up to Western Day on the boat..The guests had brought cute little bandanas and coozies...

It was the crews favorite lunch though, homemade burgers and buns!

Brent made it back to all the crews happiness and was in his proper place cooking burgers again...

We sailed up to Salt Island and after lunch I took them on a snorkel safari, the light was gorgeous, and as usual everyone said that Salt Island was their favorite of everywhere we went...I have to stop saying that before it is over run!
Of course I took my camera on the snorkel, and put on my good wide angle lens, it was so pretty!

I tried to line up the guests in front of the Lion, Manhead, Sphinx, Gorilla, whatever you like to call it! Pretty colors...

We found an octopus lair, urchins, bristle worms, flame helmets and probably about 6 large tulip shells!

A couple just floated on their noodles into the beach...

We found lots of dead urchins...

The colors and clarity was just really nice for taking pictures...



I knew we had a field of starfish there, and I don't think I have every heard someone squeal as much as what Sharon did when we came across them! I have never seen someone so excited!

They were beautiful and there were lots!

Here I just liked the nail polish in the fins!

Brent brought back presents for all, fish fileting knives for Bazza and he carted this new lounger down here. Apparently they did not even weigh it when he got on the plane! Good thing since it came in at 76 lbs!!!!

And a close up view, it looks great. We just could not really get any more charters out of the old one, we were contact cementing and patching it every single time we used it. Simeon said the last time we had it out some one had to sit with their finger in a hole to keep it together! It was a faithful lounger and it served us very well.... Rumor has it that this on, although not sitting as many, is much more comfortable!

Brent took the guests on a tour of Salt Island late in the afternoon, once it cooled down..

Edie walking on the pond...

Brent took these pictures and this one is very pretty!

Our "old folks" made it ashore as well...

Group shot..

Those who made it to the summit...

and a nice silhouette...

Brent, looking down here is considered an extreme sport and you could hurt yourself! SO don't do it!! We don't need any more broken body parts!!

I did not that roosters sat in trees like birds, but apparently they do!

We all piled into the saloon afterwards for a slide show, which we enjoyed very much...

Some found a quite moment to sign the guest book...

And some enjoyed their last sunset of the trip!



I made spaghetti and meatballs tonight, and I thought I was making a ton, as I even had the large pot out, but they were so happy to see comfort food, they ate almost all of it!!

Brent, who obviously had just been in Alberta REALLY got into the theme of the day, with his great belt buckle!

The rest looked pretty spiffy anyways as well..

The last day is always busy as we try and fit everything in. Yesterday was no exception... I was exhausted. Today they had family reunion shirts on, although I had to laugh as the two old folks were off and running as soon as hit the dock they were so happy to see the back end of the boat!



The crew, looking mottley....


The guests are staying at Harbourview tonight and all looking forward to a long hot shower I think, TV and a nap before flying early tomorrow. It was a busy and good week... On to cleaning we go!

I mentioned yesterday that Sherri found the message in a bottle, well, it was 2004 and we managed to decipher about half of it that I will put up here..It is enough to get the gist and Sherri is going to try and get in touch with them and tell them we found their bottle!

2004
From the sailing vessel Royal Clipper in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean invoke the gods of ... and Eolos, gods of all four winds, so they may ...this message in a bottle to the....someone who will be kind and understand the meaning and.....

I am writing this message in a bottle...I am exactly in the middle of the Atlantic between Barbados and the Azores..... I wish to tell you that, if by the grace of god you ever find this message, ...worked out well for us, we will return to our day to day lives, our destinies....and you dariling and I want to ....as long as possible....time... God Bless our union Juan

I hope to get in touch with you and thank you. You can contact me in the address or via email.

And last but not least, guest comments from the week.... and by the way, for everyone in their family who commented on the blog, I did read out the comments last night...


What a wonderful vacation! Your patience and kindness are so "Texas" with such a big group you were attentive to all our needs and expectations. Your boat was very comfortable and you made us feel like we were part of your extended family. Kevin and I will never forget you and the wonderful time we had with you all. Thanks so Much.
PS: Please keep up the blog Kerry. We will continue to watch your adventures with other lucky families! KEVIN AND EDIE, NEDERLAND, TEXAS

I just THOUGHT I had seen the BVI! So many fabulous moments and such a great vacation. Kerry-you are a great hostess and tour guide. Baz, your nightly science lessons were awesome. And Simeon, what can I say. Thank you for helping me get over at least two of my fears! I hope to see you all again sometime in the future. Best of luck and godspeed as you travel. SHERI, VA

Thank you for making this vacation everything we had hoped for. I love hearing your stories and admire your adventurous spirits. We will go home relaxed and try to keep this Caribbean state of mind for as long as we can. I wish you all well and you all keep living your dreams. DEBBIE AND CARL, HUMBLE, TEXAS

Thanks for a wonderful vacation and all you attention to details, really appreciate the extra effort for the elderly couple! May you always have smooth seas and fair winds... MIKE AND SHARON, TEXAS

Thanks for a wonderful vacation. You made it hard to go back to the "real world" So many highlights...night snorkel, hike to the fort, aquatic science lessons, starfish and you always picked the best anchorages. This has been a trip we will never forget. Take care and maybe we can come back next year! KAREN AND RAY, HOUSTON, TEXAS

I have had a crap couple days here...life always seems to be easier when I am out circling the waters and taking my camera for a dive. Having said that, I just rolled on the floor laughing...
If anyone ever watches the ABC news from St. Croix here, it may be the news but it is often the comedy half hour. Lets just say there is lots of local colour in the news!
Tonight they were talking about a guy who said he was kidnapped, put in his trunk and shot on St Croix at one gas station. No, that is not funny, what is humorous is that he was not even at that gas station (at 130 in the morning) he was somewhere by Salt River in one of the local Lovers Lanes cheating on his wife. "bad guys" (direct quote from the reporter) came along, pistol whipped them, threw him in the trunk, shot him, told the girl to jump in the ocean and swim...Which she did and apparently was rescued by a dinghy in the middle of the night, which prompted the reporter to ask what a dinghy was dong out there in the middle of the night and so the stories go. He repeated over and over again that this guy was not putting air in his tires at 130 AM at the gas station where he was kidnapped, but was at lovers lane. Then, and I am paraphrasing here, the reporter states something to the effect of, "remember the old stories that white people always tell in the states, well, not always, but a lot of the time, that black people are getting sick of, that 2 black guys stole your baby or car or whatever" well on St Croix apparently the new story is that you are were kidnapped at a gas station...the gentlemen who was put in the trunk is off island getting medical treatment, although when he gets back the wife may finish off the job.... :)
Glad to finish off my day with a smile...Here also is a turtle picture, which also makes me smile...

Town days on the other hand, do not make me smile. I was sad to hear of the passing this past weekend of Dr Jana Downing at Peebles Hospital. We had been going to see her since we moved here, and she always did a lot for the island, and the local Diabetes association. She will be missed.
Since we needed prescription refills we went to another clinic and I was sitting waiting in the room with all the people coughing and sneezing and thinking that it was probably the worst place in the world for a sick person to go!
On the plus side, I needed a mammeogram, since I had not had one since my operation a couple years ago, and I could get in immediately. On the down side, I am not sure how effective of a mammeogram it was...I don't believe that they had half my breast ON the damn thing! We had a very expensive day in town. We left our car across from Bobby's to get washed while we were doing our running around, and when we get back in, I put my phones in the middle catch all as I normally do, only to find out that the washers had left a large puddle of water in there, and I had two phones in there splashing around in the water for half an hour. One is ok, one we are not sure yet, it is still doing funny things...
Gosh it was warm in town! I have been chasing a couple checks that were supposed to have been sent over for me a few days ago and it took about 4 trips back and forth and more phone calls to finally find one of them! I mean, we are not talking small checks, they were both over $8000.!
We were down at Nanny Cay and there was a multihull that we knew was in the boatyard with quite a bit of damage on it. This was a crewed charter yacht, that fetched up on the rocks by breaking anchor line on St Thomas in the middle of the night a month or so ago. The name is not important (it is not Promenade though!) as I understand they are hoping to rebuild. It was a sad sight to see, as this boat has been around a long time! Really drives it home on how flimsy our boats are against rocks! Thought people would be interested in the pictures though....











We hit the banks, Marine Services, Conservation and Fisheries, Customs, Labour Board, mail, post office and pharmacies. How do you think our day was? Only to get home last night and find out that my brand new laptop pro, that had JUST been replaced 6 weeks ago or so, was frozen. And I do mean frozen. Nothing you did to this baby was going to get it unfrozen. Sigh. You say "well of course Kerry has everything backed up, she has time machine, and a external drives etc etc" yep, things are backed up until I got my new laptop, then I thought, "well, I will just wait until I get up west this summer and have my fast networking connection as with a new laptop it should be fine for a couple months" Yep, Laugh now...It is winging it's way back to my sister in California as we speak and I have her an appointment at the Genius Bar at Apple tomorrow night!
Back to the old cheapo baby Mac...While on my way into town today to ship said computer, I ran across an accident at Riteway/Domino Corner.
The little blue taxi on the right was really banged up on the right side and the gold car on the left was banged up on the left...They have that whole corner and area so messed up it is always an accident waiting to happen!

Richard goes back to the doctor on Friday about his knee, so then we should know more on how he is doing which I will pass on.... That is the end of my gossip and news for the day, I will leave off with an article from the Beacon last week on Trish from Yacht Serendipity and Ann from Sand Castle doing reef check...



I have to agree that fish counts are way down, but they are obviously diving somewhere different then I, as I am not seeing a lot of healthy coral myself...