And while we are tucked up right and tight in my favorite place...The Bight, the winds are sustained at 22-28 and gusts to 40plus...yup, I said 40...not kidding. The wind is kicking up the waves, and blowing off the tops - inside the bay and in the last gust it looked like a mini dust-nado blowing around behind the boat...(well, better than a shark-nado!)

Looks like the storm is passing again, and on it's way to St. John...we only get the wind here.

Monday, December 23, 2013 The Christmas winds like we’ve NEVER seen them

Yesterday, Sunday we left West End headed for The Bight. The 7 mile trip was as bumpy as usual, and 25 knts winds on the nose. We actually ended up taking spray up to the Bimini, which is rare for us. But not to worry…we see a squall building to the east…no question we are going to get a fresh water rinse! We picked up a can here in what looked like the better protected portion of the bay. Funny thing, here in the BVI’s we have a better AT&T signal than in the USVI’s and all the texts I hadn’t received started popping thru…just another reason why we love it here.

We are enjoying the show as usual, with the charter boats showing up and displaying new and unique ways of picking up the mooring pennant. I admit, it can be challenging, especially in these winds…but really, it isn’t as hard as some make it look! And regardless of the weather, as soon as they arrive they are in the water, swimming, snorkeling, kayaking, heading to the beach and the caves, then making dinner reservations, etc…I find myself very glad that this is our life, and not just a weeks charter, and we can sit back and watch the show. OJ and Guests showed up a little later today and are moored near us – but as they are on the job, we are hanging out, trying not to look sad.

The winds are blowing like we have never seen them in the Bight. Blowing so hard we slept with the hatches closed, and even tried the forward berth thinking it might be a little quieter and more comfortable, no luck there. The winds are blowing 22-28 sustained, with 30-40 knts in the squalls. The interesting thing here is you get the wind at the front of the squall, but very little rain…only a few drops. Except for last night, about 7pm the wind and rain was blowing and swirling so hard we had to shut the sliding doors as well to keep the rain out of the cabin. That storm pounded us for about 40 minutes…but we are now COMPLETELY de-salted, and the cockpit is also very clean.

Today, the winds seem even stronger…and the radio is crackling with a few anchor dragging collisions and adrift boat reports. Makes us glad we are secured here, watching the wind blow the wave tops off, spinning the boat around and making a racket! About 4pm the clouds rolled in in earnest and blocked the sun. This was a heavy overcast of roiling storm clouds making a fabulous display, but no rain. They blew in over us but left a clear open line to the northwest, just over St. John, where we can still see clear sky. We thought for sure our possibilities for sunset were gone. Turns out this evening sky was the most magnificent we have seen this season. The setting sun turned the grey clouds yellow then a gold so bright the sky glowed. Then the colors deepened to orange, pink and red all across the sky until finally they slowly faded to the color of night. 40 minutes or so of God’s Magnificent light show.