Mancala, Blues, Rain, and Sharks.....

Andrea left this morning after a week aboard the Mary Elizabeth. We had a great time, but it was a strange week.

First, the weather was awful. Before Andrea got here I told her not to even bother to bring a sweatshirt since the weather is always warm, always sunny. Not true. We had only one nice day of weather the whole week she was here....

Andrea arrived late Tuesday night. We had reservations at the marina until Thursday morning and an itinerary full of different islands, beaches, and snorkeling planned. Wednesday Andrea and I did some errands and hung out at the marina pool. We soon realized we probably weren't going anywhere soon though.

(Pic: Andrea and Lauren at the Eco Camps, Maho Bay)

The main headline in the Wednesday edition of the Daily News (the local newspaper) was"Big Waves to Pound Islands". The paper reported "meteorologists called it one of the largest swells to hit the region since 1991, the year of the 'Perfect Storm' of blockbuster movie fame." There was a gale warning in effect and a small craft advisory. So... we decided to try to stay in the marina for at least another day before leaving. We were lucky - the marina was completely booked but someone never showed so we got their slip for the night. Everything was crowded because it was Easter week and everyone felt the same way we did about being at sea - no way!

We ended up leaving Yacht Haven Grande on Friday morning. We saw some big swells - residual waves from the storm - and ended up going to Maho Bay, St. John since it was fairly close and protected.

We had a nice couple of days on the mooring. Andrea introduced Bill and me to Mancala - which has since become the new board game of choice these days...

On Saturday night we took a taxi to the other side of the island and went to the St. John Blues Festival which was fun.

Sunday we hung around and Andrea and I tried snorkeling but the visibility was just awful.

(Pic: Yacht Haven Grande)

On Monday we moved the boat to Watermelon Cay, St. John. The three of us snorkeled the Cay, and Andrea, who had never snorkeled before, enjoyed herself. She was OK with snorkeling because I assured her that there are no sharks (big sharks anyway) in the Caribbean. Well, about half way through our snorkel, Bill and I saw a huge (6 feet!!!!!!!!) nurse shark right there in the reef. Thankfully Andrea didn't see it and we didn't say anything until we were back on the boat so she wouldn't freak out. I actually wasn't sure it was a shark until Bill confirmed (he swam after it to get a better look.) Either way, it was scary to see something, anything in the water that is that big......

(Pic: Bill and Andrea during the sail back to St. Thomas in the rain)

Tuesday we sailed back to Yacht Haven in the pouring rain...We watched the replay of the Sox win in Japan and had drinks with friends. She left early (5:30 am!) this morning. And of course, today it is sunny, warm and beautiful weather.

We really enjoyed having Andrea here - despite the bad weather. It was nice to hang out and enjoy the boat. And since we didn't get to show her all that we wanted, she'll just have to come back for another visit.

Tomorrow Bill and I fly to DC for a week to take care of a few things so we'll be in phone range. Talk to everyone soon.


(Pic: Andrea and Bill playing Mancala)

(pic: Bill, Jason, Keith, Andrea at the Fat Turtle, St. Thomas)

Leinster Bay

We left Yacht Haven on Friday morning and motored to Leinster Bay, St. John. We really only intended on staying for one night, but we ended up staying three. Friday we hung out, read, got some sun. On Saturday we snorkeled Watermelon Cay - which was again fabulous. On Sunday we actually got off the boat and hiked up to the ruins of a sugarcane mill. Here are pictures of some "friends" we met along the way, the view from the top of the hill, one of the three beautiful sunsets we saw, and part of the ruins.

We enjoyed more games of backgammon and good meals on the grill. There are no restaurants, stores, or anything else at Leinster Bay, but we came prepared. Today, Monday, we left and are now in Trellis Bay. First we had to go to Soper's Hole to clear immigration and customs since Trellis is near Beef Island, BVI. Tomorrow we will leave to go to Virgin Gorda Sound, which neither of us has been to before, so we are looking forward to it.

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.

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.

Pictures....

Here are links to our photo albums on the web from the beginning of our journey before we started the blog.

• Bon Voyage Party October 2007
• Preparations for the Caribbean 1500 in Hampton, VA Nov 2007
• BVI Thanksgiving 2007
• St. Thomas, New Years 2008
• Al and Corinne's Visit Feb 2008