The British Virgin Islands

That's one way not to get your shirt wet

We had a nice sail through the Anagada Passage.  Winds were on the beam about 18-20 knots, seas running 5-7, also on the beam.  Not too bad for that particular passage.  We went straight to Jost Van Dyke to clear in and then of course had to head to famous Foxy's for a painkiller and a swing in the hammocks on the beach.  The next day we headed to Trellis Bay to meet up with our friends Sabbaticus and go to the Last Resort Bar.  Wouldn't you know that as we were finding an anchoring spot in this crowded anchorage we came a little to close to a shoal and ran soft aground.  A heavy hand on the throttle to our 210 hp Cummins and a push from Solmate and Sabbaticus' dingies and we were floating free within 3 minutes.  Embarrassing, yes, but hey, it happens to everyone and of course we love to give a show to the cruisers having sundowners.  It could have been worse - we could have been French and been naked!

The Baths

Anyway, had a great time at the Last Resort and danced the night away to a great band there.  The next day we all sailed over to the Baths.  The Baths are huge rock formations that you can climb up, around and over in crystal clear water.  This was my first time seeing them and it was awesome!  No moorings were available there, so we had to anchor a little bit away, right next to 2 super yachts, one with an inflatable slide going down to the water!  

Our next stop in the BVIs led us to Peter Island where we hung out for a few days, paddle boarded, snorkeled and generally relaxed.  We had a nice picnic on the beach with our friends that ended in a great bonfire.  

Spider woman

We sailed around the backside of Jost Van Dyke to check out Foxys' daughter's place called Taboo.  The anchorage there is tight and a charter catamaran got in Maria's way and she had a few choice words for them, including yelling "bozos" "how many numbnuts does it take on the bow to pick up a mooring ball" and my favorite "what do you think I'm driving, a frigging Porche""!  When they asked her if she wanted them to move and get out of her way she replied "it's up to you,...you have the gel coat, not me!"  We enrolled her in Foxy's anger management course!  

The final stop was back to Jost to have another great night at Foxy's followed by a very relaxing day around the corner at Ivan's Stress Free Bar where we swam, played frisbee and boccee ball in turquoise blue water and pure white sand.  

Cath and Maria at the Baths

We left the BVIs and made the short hop over to the US side - first to St John and then over to St Thomas.  We spent two great nights in Christmas Cove - a very pretty and protected spot with free moorings and great snorkerling.  We went over to St Thomas and anchored off of Water Island.  We ran into a bunch of our friends from Grenada.  We also got a chance to see our very very funny friends, Hannah and Paddy on Rita T whom we had met in Cape Canaveral and also hung out with in the Bahamas on our way down.  We did lots of dinners and sundowners with them.  We had great days on the beach playing volleyball intersperced with provisioning trips in town.  We were able to fill up our new Dometic freezer with tons of frozen meats and goodies at the Cost-U-Less (think Costco but no membership fee).  

Joana at Sunset

Beach picnic

Maria made some beer money welding up a guy's exhaust.  We have a TIG welder on board complete with a bottle of Argon gas so she has been welding up and down the Caribbean for other cruisers to supplement our cruising kitty.  We don't advertise but get a decent amount of business just by word of mouth.  She is able to weld steel, stainless steel and aluminum.  Our biggest problem actually has been keeping our bottle of Argon full and finding places to refill it.  

Love bonfires on the beach

It was time to go so we kidnapped Connor (a 14 year old on Sabbaticus - we actually did ask first if we could kidnap him) and made our way to Cuelbra.  

Welding job for another cruiser

Beer money for Maria!

Queen of the hill!