Jan 3rd...Tuesday
Finally, after waiting FOREVER...Louise Arrives. We had rented a car for today to shop and collect her from the airport, so after running our errands, bank, grocery, propane, etc...we get to the airport. Hurrah! She is finally Here!

Wednesday we head out from St Thomas, and stop in Christmas Cove, St. James Island or a few days. The winds are still blowing and we have several squalls blow thru, but still manage lots of swimming and snorkeling. It was fun to watch one of the day boats come in with Cruise Shippers aboard, get their briefing, jump in the water, snorkel for an hour then pick up and go..all while a squall was blowing thru..about 30 minutes after they left, the sun came back out and the afternoon was beautiful. Those poor people who have to travel by cruise ship to see this beautiful place.

Friday, Jan 6th we headed out thru the skinny cut on our way to Waterlemon Cay...as we approached we decided, oh what the heck...lets skip it and head directly to Soper's Hole, West End Tortola to check into the BVI's as it is only roughly 1.5 miles from St. John. We picked up a mooring and cleared Customs in short order, with Jim making a new friend at the customs office in a charming agent who let him know that If I was to get out of hand in the LEAST, Jim should come back to him and HE would take care of me.
After a quick trip to the store on the other side of the bay, we hauled the dingy and prepared to make way...then we heard a call on the radio from Ocean Jedi, who was right behind us, heading in to also clear customs, so we waited just a bit and visited with them til we were all ready to leave and headed over to The Bight in Norman Island together. Ahhhhh, The Bight...This is truly our 'One Particular Harbor' for all of us. It is sheltered and calm, has great entertainment, both in mooring foibles and music on shore and at the Willy T, restaurants if you want them, a beach and hiking also on shore, Great Snorkeling and swimming, and beautiful views all around. It also has the supply boat, Deliverance to bring Ice Cream, bread, beer or ice and take garbage if you need it and access to the cell tower on St. John for ATT 3G. But even without those things...this is it for us!
We had a pot luck dinner with OJ, then when they headed out to the Willy T to party, we headed back for some serious stargazing on the foredeck where at 8:43pm Louise spotted what we thought was a shooting star, but what turned out to be a comet, with a loooong tail streaking across the sky for nearly 8 seconds, an eternity in the night sky viewing world. Even the sky cooperates here in The Bight, putting on a show for us. One more thing I find magical about this place is since it is surrounded by hills that are darker against the night sky, the masthead lights on all the boats twinkle like bright stars against the hillside...one of my very favorite views.

Jan 7th, Saturday
This morning we took the dingy over to the caves to snorkel, and then on the way back Jim dropped Louise and I off for more snorkeling off the northern point and back to the boat...he managed to drop us right over the top of a shark which we watched for a while, then we cruised along the shore where we saw 6 squid fluttering and a spotted eel. Back on the boat we had quite the show for the afternoon while a Sunsail Flotilla came in for the night. Even thought The Bight has about 80 mooring cans and some anchoring room, the flotilla took every last one and still had 20 boats or more anchored. The anchoring is the problem, as it is very deep here and has some coral heads, behind the cans and so takes skill to anchor, which most of the charters simply don't have, especially, if they are like us, former (or in their case current) Great Lakes sailors where you NEVER anchor out overnight. Suffice it to say it was quite the show. Especially when one of the small Sunsails comes in 20 minutes before full dark, anchors crossways to a private catamaran (whose owners are off the boat) and manages to hook their anchor to the Catamarans anchor chain and foul both boats. The sky is darkening, the catamaran owners come back, without a diver, the only solution is to pull up both anchors and untwist them then re-anchor them both. The catamaran does the smartest thing and has the Sunsail boat raft up alongside them for the night. With the way the anchors are set, they are certainly not going anywhere.
The moon is waxing to full in a few days, and tonight the moon rises over the hills just before sunset, and we have a spectacular night sky.

Jan 8th, Sunday
We were a little disappointed not to be able to see how the anchor situation gets resolved this morning, but would rather snorkel so we are up early and headed over to the Indians for a magnificent snorkel, then on to Trellis Bay, near the airport. They have a full moon party here every month and since the full moon is tomorrow night we figured we'd get here early. Good thing, too because on Monday Jan 9th the boats start to come in early, 11:00am and soon most cans are taken and the anchoring dance begins. We have never seen so many boats here in trellis Bay! Louise and I snorkel up to the shore, then around while the snorkeling is not great here we do spot a ray and a small barracuda, before heading back. The heading back gets a little tricky here as it is now 2pm and the boats are pouring in...we had to swim from boat to boat, watching traffic like we were crossing an expressway, before we made it back to Regenero, with Jim on the binocs watching us the whole time. Another interesting thing here is that there is a reef that extends from a small Cay in the middle of the bay. There is a saying amongst sailors that goes...'when you get into an anchorage and see what looks like the perfect anchoring spot right in the middle where no boats are...they didn't leave that spot for you!" we watched boat after boat, pay no attention to the charts (as this reef is not marked with bouys, but is clear on the charts) and attempt to cross right over the top of it. In the right light, the reef is obvious, but as it gets later in the day, with the sun in your eyes you will run hard aground in an instant. Some boats got warned off, some hit it and made their way off, some hit it hard, and needed extra assistance to get off the bottom. This is often complicated by the fact that some boats feel they must drive thru the anchorage at 8 knts..a lot harder to get off the bottom when you hit it that hard. But, well...very entertaining for us.
We headed over Monday night to the beach and the full moon party which had a West Indian Buffet, that Louise and I liked, but Jim had trouble with the spice of, Jerk Chicken and Curried Goat are not top on his list of desirable cuisine. They had enormous metal sculptures filled with Wood and cardboard that they lit and so had fireballs as well as live music and dancing on the beach. We met a lovely couple, Mark and Francesca, who were on a crewed charter, and shared dinner with us, we had tons of fun and laughs with them. We also caught up with OJ who took the ferry over from Scrub island to enjoy the full moon party.

Tuesday, Jan 10th
We headed up north to Leverick Bay, to take a mooring. OJ met us up here as well and we all planned to and catch the Michael Bean show together. As it turned out, Michael had an immigration issue, and so the show was cancelled, but since they didn't have a chance to get the word out, Nick, the Marina & Hotel Manager had to 'stand in' for Michael. I have to say it was nearly as much fun to watch him pretend, as the real show is. After the show, we caught the ferry over to Saba Rock, and had dinner. It was fun and lovely and we discovered that there is clear view of the eastern sky and we caught the moon after it rose out of the sea...That decided us, and so Wednesday Jan 11 we moved the boat over to take a mooring can with a clear view of the sea. On the way, Louise is sure she saw flamingos on Prickly Pear island....yeah...right, but we humor her. After getting settled, we hop in the dink, and head over for a short hike past the Bitter End Yacht Club, and Biris Creek, then over to the beach on Prickly Pear, and Oh - She was not kidding...there are Flamingos here! A small flock in the flats just behind the scrub brush, now that I was not expecting to see. Louise and I tried to snorkel here, but the current was very strong and we didn't make it too far. We did see the hint of an octopus tucked well up into his lair with a mess of discarded conch shells, their favorite food, littered in front, which was what tipped me off (thank you Sandi for teaching me that!) we didn't get a good view...but we knew he was in there. That afternoon we head a familiar noise and turned to find the seaplane, from St. Thomas taking off from the North Sound just overhead. Well, I wondered where the plane went from St. Thomas, now we know at least 1 destination. Then, after waiting until nearly 9pm, in the chill on the foredeck, and peeking through the partly cloudy sky we saw what we came for - The Moon, big and orange, rising out of the sea - One of my very favorite things and elusive. Admittedly we did not see it long as it climbed into the clouds, but see it we did!

Jan 12th, Thursday
We all woke to catch the dawn breaking, but the cloud cover made it unremarkable, however another breaking caught our eye as we saw a charter boat, with its mooring lines dangling off the bow drifting, unmanned thru the mooring field. Clearly the occupants were still asleep, as the boat drifts away. By some miracle, they miss several boats in a row until they land on one in the back of the pack. By then, someone is on deck and manages to take control of the boat, however, in the dance to avoid collision they lose the dingy too, and so have to retrieve that, then they pull up to the small dock on Saba Rock, apparently to assess the damage. Within an hour they are off the dock, so clearly not too much damage incurred...oh my, there is always something to watch!
We headed out and on the way out the channel we saw a ray jump out of the water, just in front of the boat...a nice show. We stopped at Great Dog to snorkel for the first time, and it was great, lots of big coral heads and dinner plate sized jelly fish, which we avoid, but they are interesting to see. We stop down at Marina Cay for the night and of course Jump in to snorkel again. Each place is different, and Marina Cay is home to many LARGE Barracudas hovering over the sandy bottom, we also say several large rays, purple squid, a flounder and a bristle worm, which they advise you not to touch as they emit a toxin that burns like jellyfish sting. I make it a habit not to touch ANYTHING that way I won't be surprised! In the evening, we went ashore to have a sundowner and listen to some music, it wasn't the headliner, but two very good local guys, very smooth. Shooting stars were plentiful tonight...Louise must bring us luck!

Jan 13th, Friday.
Today we are up and out to Monkey Point on Guana Island. We are the first boat to arrive and have the place to ourselves for a bit while we have breakfast and wait for the sun to get a little higher in the sky. Once in the water we have one of the most amazing snorkeling experiences as we encounter a school of several hundred jacks feeding, back and forth they swim, along and around us, while we hover and watch fascinated by their antics and complete disregard of our presence. If I can upload the video I managed to take you can share it with us! We also saw several large Filefish, and a large school of Blue Tangs that allow us to follow them a while. Then it was back to Trellis Bay for the night where we watched another Catamaran run aground on the reef, this one in the dark..they managed to get off and find a can to tie to for the night.

Saturday, Jan 14th
With the winds up it was a bumpy, salty ride the few miles south to the Baths where we picked up a mooring and prepared to snorkel in. It is a little swelly, but still only a yellow flag day here so after breakfast we jump in. We swam first to Spring Bay, a perfect crescent beach that we think we can walk over to the start of the Baths. However, there is no path so we swim out and around again and land at the usual spot and begin our hike thru. For myself, I could NEVER get tired of this spot... the magnificent boulders, the clear water, and the ending at my most favorite spot, Devils Bay. To try something different we take the walk to the car park, which takes you to the 'Top of the Baths' a place I have long wanted to see, just didn't know it was so easy to get to, on such a beautiful path. We hike down again to the starting beach, then snorkel out and back to the boat. Then we move a few short miles and anchor outside of Spanish Town.
Jan 15th Sunday
The day starts with quite the show as a fuel tanker makes its way into the anchorage. The dock tender was moving around waking up boats who were anchored too close and having them move inside, fortunately we anchored inside and so got to watch the show, without moving. They pull in drop anchor and tie up to a large ship mooring just outside of the channel, then deploy a hose and run it to shore to offload the fuel. After checking out what was onshore, we up anchored and sailed our way down the channel making 7 knts under jib alone...what a beautiful ride to our favorite...The Bight

Jan 16th Monday
Louise and I take a snorkel today...all around the bay, from where we are moored on the northside, east past the beach and dock, to the cliffs on the south side where we discover some of the very best snorkeling in the bay, over almost to the Willie T, then back, across the bay to relax on the boat. A BIG snorkel, especially with the winds gusting, making the swim across the bay a real workout (even without the detours!) This afternoon OJ comes in and they swim by with their guests to say hello.
Jan 17th...time is getting short and Louise's departure is nearly upon us, so we take the bumpy ride North to Trellis Bay where we plan to rent a car tomorrow and drive over to the ferry dock.

Jan 18th - Wednesday
Oh sad Day! Louise must depart today and so we head to shore, with her, her luggage, grocery bags and shopping list and our laundry, ready for a day on shore. However the winds are still up and the dingy dock is untenable for leaving the dingy all day, so Jim says his goodbyes and heads back to the boat while we get the car and head off. After finding the closest Laundromat, we get everything washed, then wet, dump it in the car and head across to West End where the ferry we need to catch is. Louise flight leave St Thomas this evening, so we get a ticket on the 12:15 Ferry to St Thomas, and after a Johnny cake and Patty lunch at a local place I wave goodbye and while she heads west on the boat, I head east to find a dryer! After finishing the laundry, stopping at the chandlery and doing the grocery shopping I am on my way back to the boat at about 4pm. The winds are light now so we are able to get everything hauled back to the boat, return the car and manage to dodge a rainstorm as well, so consider ourselves fortunate.

Thursday, Jan 19th
Scrub Island
After watching a Moorings catamaran run aground this morning at Trellis Bay, and have the entire crew in waist deep water pushing it off again, we headed out just a few miles to Scrub island. Oh My! What a beautiful place. We need to scrub the boat down and enjoy the doing of it in such a lovely marina, with great people, beautiful freshwater showers, and a gorgeous pool and hot tub, which I am embarrassed to say that we used, after all, it was only in the 70s today and a cloudy with it, so it was a bit cool. Ok - Now were ready for the Admiral!