Mid-January brought a visit from our Barrington friends, the Rideouts (Barry, Dale, and their college age kids, Chris and Taylor). They had never been on a tropical vacation as a family and it was wonderful to be a part of it. They are also avid and skilled sailors which was nice to have additional and capable hands aboard. They brought extra luggage with them which consisted of items we forgot at home, spare and repair parts, and a lot of meat. While they were with us we sailed from St. Thomas to St. John and then over to the BVI (which included stops at Jost Van Dyke and Norman Island (not forgetting the Willie T) and then back to St. John and St. Thomas. We enjoyed great snorkeling with them at the Indians and Caves (Norman Island area). Josh and I have known the Rideouts at least a dozen years. They are a loving and caring family which didn't fade a bit in the confines of a boat.
Josh had to fly to Dusseldorf, Germany for a dealer meeting/boat show a few days before the Rideouts were flying home. I really enjoyed extra company while Josh was away. Unfortunately, a major snow storm was hitting the east coast of the US which delayed Josh's return. And even more unfortunate, I dropped my phone in the water as Jacques and I were going in to shore to watch the Patriots game. Now I have no contact with the outside world AND Josh is out of the country. Since I had not recently done a back-up of my phone, I lost a lot of photos from the last two months. Lesson learned!