Koinonia Sailing and RVing

During the remaining weeks in the Virgin Islands, Don and I enjoyed visits from friends and family. Our first round of visitors were our daughter Victoria and her (now) fiancé Trey. During their week with us, we visited the British Virgin Islands which included swimming at the Baths (cool boulder rock formations) in Virgin Gorda, snorkeling around the caves of Norman Island and the bed of sea fans at Money Bay, listening to live music at the Last Resort in Trellis Bay, burgers at Soggy Dollar in White Bay on Jost Van Dyke (location of Kenny Chesney's music video No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems), and an evening in Great Harbor, also on Jost Van Dyke, which home of the notable Foxys restaurant.

Some of our highlights: Victoria and Trey seeing a nurse shark, the lobster that would not surrender to the spear, fish that would not take the bait, sailing among the boats participating in the Rolex race series (we were not racing), lounging in the hammock and hammock chairs, beautiful beaches, scenic views, Trey's fabulous cooking - especially the grilled sesame ginger pork tenderloin, Trey seeing a guy at Willy Ts whom he had previously met in China, and Trey asking our blessing to marry our daughter.

The week rapidly came to an end. The day for them to return to the real world had come and with that, the arrival of our daughter Olivia. With additional trips to the airport, we said good bye to Victoria and Trey (who left on a much later flight) and picked up Olivia.

During Olivia's week with us, we explored the rock formations at the Baths (boulder rock formations) on Virgin Gorda, snorkeled on the reefs in Trump Bay on St. John, kayaked in Great Harbor on Jost Van Dyke, visited notable restaurant destinations, Foxys, Soggy Dollar, and Willy Ts, attended the full moon party on Beef Island, zip lined among the tree tops at a zip line park overlooking the famous Megan's Bay on St. Thomas, and visited Blackbeard's castle. On the day of Olivia's departure, we had to take the dinghy (with people and luggage) from the anchorage in Charlotte Amalie harbor to shore, while dodging heavy rains. After an aborted first attempt due to a sudden downpour, we had a lucky break in the threatening weather where we could get to shore with enough time for a turbo charged shopping trip, before catching the cab to the airport.

The next week was spent in Charlotte Amalie harbor in St. Thomas while awaiting the arrival of our next round of guests. In the anchorage, we enjoyed visiting with two other boats whose owners we had previously met; "Plane to Sea" and "Island Girl". We had originally met the owners of the first boat two and a half months and approximately 300 miles earlier at the beach cookout on the island of Dominica. We met the owners of the latter boat, which is Koinonia's twin (also a Hunter 41DS) when we first arrived in the Virgin Islands at the Bitter End.

We later met our next round of visitors, Pete and Debbie in St. Thomas. Getting our friends and their luggage to the boat via the dinghy went well, as the choppy harbor had settled down. During their time with us we visited various bays on St. John, which included hikes from our anchorages at Caneel Bay to Cruz Bay, and from Francis Bay to the sugar mill on the other side of the island, toured the town at Cruz Bay where we enjoyed tropical smoothies and later some conch fritters, and snorkeled in Trunk Bay and Francis Bay off of St. John. Pete and Debbie are also fabulous cooks. So needless to say we ate some great meals while they were there. While dining at a restaurant in Red Hook, Pete saw a colleague he knew from back home - another one of those small world experiences.

Pete and Debbie's visit was followed by my mother's visit. Mom did a great job of adapting to living on a boat, which also involved the physical feat of getting off of the rocking boat and into a rocking dinghy. We entertained ourselves with snorkeling, kayaking, and long walks to explore island of St. John, which included a walk to the old sugar mill. The snorkeling and kayaking adventures were firsts for mom, as well as driving the dinghy. While on one of the beaches on St. John's, we were visited by a donkey who left his friends to examine our straw beach mats. I was able to retrieve our mats away from the curious creature before he consumed them for lunch. We had a beautiful sail to Megan's bay, where we anchored for the night and spent the next day enjoying the scenic beach.

While in the anchorage in Francis Bay, we once again saw our friends from the boats "Plane to Sea" and "Xscape". We had also met the owner of Xscape at the beach cookout in Dominica described earlier in this account, as well as in the Les Saints islands. I never would have expected that all three of us (boats) would have ended up in the same anchorage.

The end of my mother's visit also marked a break in my cruising schedule. I flew home with my mother, where I was able to avoid the four day sail to get the boat from Puerto Rico to the Exumas, as well as spend the next month taking care of personal business. The day I flew out, Don's friend Rick flew in to help with the next leg of the journey towards home. My plan was to rejoin the crew in Georgetown, Exumas in mid May.

We had a fantastic time in the Virgin Islands. It was fun to share the beautiful islands with our family and friends, and make great memories along the way.