Happy New Year!!!
We brought the New Year in with a bang at Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands.  Supposedly one of the top five places in the world to celebrate the New Year.  At least 3-5,000 others thought so.  We had a blast at Foxy's in Jost after a thrilling cab ride over the mountain to get there.  8 of us in all.
     Tom made the most of his 60th birthday by celebrating twice- the first party was with friends in CA and the second was in Virgin Gorda on January 4 (the actual birthday) at Leverick Bay with five couples who enjoyed a delicious BBQ on the beach, live music, and Jumpies - talented dancers on stilts.  When the 283 ft Maltese Falcon sailed into the bay Tom was certain it was his
birthday present.  Oh, the delusions of advancing age!
      Resting up after our 12 day passage in November in Virgin Gorda at the Bitter End Yacht Club we then headed out to the many beautiful islands with sugar sand and swaying palm trees such as Cooper with great snorkeling, Road Town, major government center, for
provisions and to pick up Linda, Richard, our crews, girlfriend, Norman, Kelly's Cove for a Willie T's experience consisting of lots of craziness on a floating old boat, Cane Garden for glass blowing and the rum distillery tasting - oh, so smooth, and Anegada where 8 of us rented a van to tour the very flat limestone and coral island.
     Shortly after Richard and Linda left we met up with our friends Torben and Judy of the boat, Tivoli, out of Richmond, CA.  We had last seen them a year earlier in the San Blas Islands off Panama.  Great to reconnect in Christmas Cove, US Virgin Island of St. James.  Leaving our boat under Torben's watchful eye we returned, along with Judy, to the SF bay area for Christmas.  Christmas in CA was a whirlwind of fun parties and celebration with family and friends.
      Returning to the warm climes on December 30 we immediately left with Judy and Torben for Jost Van Dyke and the New Year.  After a brief stop in Great Camanoe we returned, much like homing pigeons, to the Bitter End which has turned out to be one of our favorite places.  Looks like this will be a great place to hide for at least a few days from the extremely strong easterly trade winds.
      With the winds predicted to continue to blow from the east until late January we have decided to go west to Puerto Rico with Tivoli.  We are excited to see PR before continuing our journey east to St. Martin.