Cruise ships and mega yachts

Well, we will be leaving Yacht Haven Grande marina tomorrow morning. It has been nice having email and chatting with everyone. This really is a cool marina. Like I said, there are some crazy huge mega yachts. The amount of wealth is unfathomable (and a little sick). These boats have crews of 9, 10, 11 and more. We have seen yachts with helicopters on the top decks, sailboats in the "garages" and other simply CRAZY stuff.

Instead of the dinghy dock, we are on the fuel dock for this stay -- which is right next to the cruise ships .There are usually two or three a day. Actually, the ship we were on last year when we went on a cruise with Joe and Nancy docked right here. Bill took this picture yesterday. Puts things in perspective....

Anyway, we are off to St. John for a few days and then to St. Croix to see Kerry and Trent and their new baby Abigail Mary before Andrea gets here March 18th.

Talk to everyone soon.
Lauren and Bill

Here are some pictures of Maho.

What a sunset.....
View of the bay from where we were moored....

Bill starting the big climb to the top of the Eco Camps....

Maho Bay

Maho Bay in St. John was a blast. We had a really nice time - so nice that we decided to spend the entire week there. We actually ran into several other boats from the 1500 (at one point there were 8 boats!) so we had lots of company. There isn't really too much at Maho Bay besides the Eco Camps, which are these tent like things that people (mostly families with kids was our observation) vacation in. We went up to the Eco Camp two nights for dinner (the only restaurant around). Each night is a different "theme" (i.e. Italian night, Captain's Choice night [=leftovers], Asian night, etc.) It is cafeteria style and there are only three entree choices so you better like the theme. BUT... there was a salad bar, which was nice. We went on Prime Rib night and Caribbean night. The interesting thing about the Eco camps is that they are way high up in the hills. So... to get to the restaurant, we beached the dinghy on the shore and then climbed 1,200 steps to the top. The views were breathtaking of course (see above!)

There are a few beaches at Maho Bay, but we mostly stayed on the boat and did some more snorkeling. We saw three huge (4-5 feet across) turtles, which was very cool. And a very large ray. And a starfish. The visibility wasn't as great as it was when we went with Corinne and Al, but we enjoyed ourselves. We also cleaned the water line on the boat and the dinghy (yuck), played lots of backgammon (the cummulative score is currently Bill 60, Lauren 44) and read a ton. Between the two of us, we finished five books. We also got a mooring for the day at Caneel Bay and then took the dinghy to Cruz Bay to reprovision before going back to Maho Bay.

One night the 1500 boats decided to have a bonfire on one of the beaches. Bill and another guitar player Bob served as the live entertainment. It was a lot of fun.

Now we are back at St. Thomas, Yacht Haven Grande marina. We are having a problem with the bow thruster (which should be fixed soon after much troubleshooting by Bill) so we are actually on the fuel dock for the night - which is very interesting because we are pretty much nestled between all of these crazy huge and overwhelming mega yachts. Oh, and don't forget the cruise ships. Today there was only one. We'll see about tomorrow. We got here early enough to do laundry and go to KMart. We should be able to get our 'errands and chores' done by Thursday and head back out.

We will stick around the Virgin Islands until the first week in April. Andrea is coming the 18th (yeah!!) for a week and then we will actually fly back to DC to do taxes etc. while the boat gets pulled so the bottom can be treated.

Anyway, that's about it. Send an email if you feel like it. And we are getting mail forwarded to us. Lauren and Bill

We are off....

to St. John for the next ten days or so. We are going to start at Maho Bay and work our way around the island. We are both looking forward to leaving the marina and returning to some peace and quiet.

More pictures

Here are some more pictures from last week -- including a few shots of the spinnaker.

BVI

Saturday we went to Soper's hole in the morning and checked into the British Virgin Islands and restocked some food. We then went to the Indians, which are three big rocks (see below!) near Norman Island where we moored for a few hours and did some more snorkeling. Again, amazing. We saw an even bigger baracuda and again, lots of fish and coral. The water was a little deeper, so it was a different experience.


We left the Indians and went to the Byte at Norman Island for the night. We had dinner at the famous Willie T's - which is a floating restaurant. Sunday we we were off to the Baths - which is my favorite place so far. The Baths are basically these huge boulders that you can swim in and out of. We snorkeled from the boat to the beach and then took off our gear and climbed through the rocks to the other side. Then we snorkeled back and saw some of the coolest coral and fish yet. Again, hopefully the underwater camera pictures will come out well.



We left the Baths and sailed to Trellis Bay in Tortola where we cooked on the boat and had drinks at the Last Resort.



Monday we sailed to Jost Van Dyke. Bill and Al got the spinnaker going and the Mary Elizabeth was the most beautiful boat on the water. It really was amazing - and well worth the effort. Once we got to Jost, we tried to get a mooring in White Bay but it was full. We ended up mooring at Little Harbour and ate lobsters at Sydney's Peace and Love.



In the morning we took a taxi to Great Harbour and did the Foxy's tour while Bill checked us out of the BVIs. We left Jost and had a great day of sailing back to Yacht Haven Grande. On Wednesday Al and Corinne left in the afternoon and Bill and I started in on our errands.

We had so much fun with Al and Corinne. It was a great visit full of backgammon tournaments, amazing snorkeling, and fun times with friends. Come back soon!!!

More to come....

St. Thomas / St. John

Well, I arrived in St. Thomas on Wednesday the 6th and was welcomed by beautiful sunshine, amazing roses, and great friends -- Al and Corinne Wickel! It was so nice to be back on the boat.

We hung around the marina (Yacht Haven Grande) for the night and met some of the people that Bill has befriended over the past couple of weeks.



On Thursday, we left the marina and went to Maho Bay in St. John. We got a mooring and went snorkeling and had a great night. Friday we went to Watermelon Bay in St. John and did some of the coolest snorkeling! We saw a baracuda, lots of different types of coral, and literally hundreds of beautiful fish of all sorts. Amazing. We took lots of pictures with an underwater camera, so hopefully they will come out.

Al and Corinne's visit

Here is a picture of Bill, Corinne, and Patrick taken by Al (Wick). Corinne and Wick flew into St. thomas yesterday to spend some time on the Mary Elizabeth. Today they are watching the Superbowl (go Pats!) with Amy and John who are graciously hosting.

Three days and counting.....

here goes....

Well, here is my first attempt at keeping some sort of blog / journal / record of this crazy adventure that is about to begin. I leave on Wednesday morning for St. Thomas. Bill, Wick, and Corinne (who flew down today from Boston) will be at Yacht Haven Grande Marina. There is still a lot to do before Wednesday but I am definitely excited as everything starts to sink in!

Cindy's Blog

Before we started With the sea as our livingroom... Cindy kept up a blog of the trip from Hamton, VA to Tortola BVI. She, Joe, and Bill covered 1500 miles in 8 days. The pictures are great. Check it out.

http://www.yoyo.org/~bortee/blog/