After months of hearing “when are Tyler and Cody coming”, today is the day.  We spent the day anchored at Marina Cay which is a half mile away and much more pleasant than Trellis Bay where we meet our guests at the airport.  To relieve stress, Roy fishes.  Here he is with his prized Hound fish.

Finally evening came, the flight was due to arrive at 7:47, the kids and I pressed ourselves against the windows in the upstairs waiting area.  Tiny planes began to arrive, the first with five passengers, but no Aanonsons.  On the second, about 1/2 hour late, parked in the distance, we could see a few people shorter than the rest.  Oh, yea, here they are.  As they walked by on the side walk, we jumped up and down, waved our arms and danced.

The waiting is over.  The Aanonsons live down the alley from us in California.  They are the homeschool family we played with every afternoon, took bike rides for donuts in the morning when no one wanted to start school, bike rides with the dogs in the afternoons, and shared kid duty for appointments, quick drop offs and pick ups and shopping trips.  Krista and the kids took me and the kids to a movie the morning we left, and then helped cram the last of our stuff in the van.  There were tear inside and outside of the van as we rolled down the alley and off on our adventure.  But how could we share this next week in the Caribbean if we never left? How could they come visit if we never left? Leaving is what makes for a new adventure and opportunity for fun in a new place.

So, lets get this party started!  Our first stop is the Baths on Virgin Gorda.  Along the western end of the island is an area with huge boulders which make for interesting caves and pools to swim in.

Scott and Krista purchased a new Olympus camera for the trip, so we’re going to put it to the test. This camera has a setting for everything including detected when your dog or cat’s eyes are turned toward the camera so you don’t have this directory full of photos of the back of your pet’s head.

After climbing in and out of the rocks and snorkelling around the point, the adults sat on the beach and watched Topaz splash around while the kids went off to find more boulders to climb.

Eric and I are loving this camera, check out the great shots Scott took.  We see this stuff all the time, the colors are brilliant, and our camera gives us disappointing pictures so we never post them.

Common Sea Fan

 

Cody and Krista signalling that everything is great.

Next stop is Sandy Spit.  We’ve been here twice before and were shocked that the shape of the island had changed.  Eric thinks that around Easter we had some stormy weather and maybe it blew the sand from one side of the island to the other.  Fun was had by all either way.

Shrimp

Common underwater view of fish going about their day.  There is a little brain coral, butterfly fish, tangs, plants, and sea fans.

A new place for us is the Bubbly Pool on Jost Van Dyke. We took an easy half mile hike from the anchorage to the windward side of the island to a spot where the waves rush in through a crack in the rocks.  The kids had fun tossing about and trying to test their strength against that of the water.

Off to Sandy Cay, just across the bay.  The kids have a new game for upwind bashing.  When the bow rises on a wave, they jump up and so when the bow drops into the trough they fall twice as far.  Sounds crazy to me but they like it.  If we’re getting water over the bow then they have the added thrill of getting soaked.

We’ve also been to Sandy Cay a few times, but there seems to have been a hatch of blood sucking mosquitoes since then.  It was hard to enjoy ourselves as we were slapping our arms and waving our hands racing down the path.

Back at the beach it’s business as usual.  Jumping in the waves, hooting and hollaring, throwing sand and goofing off.

The mooring we took at the Caves on Norman Island was over a huge school of Tarpon. It was hard to get a good shot of these guys because they were deeper than a snorkeller could easily dive. Tarpon are huge! Usually 3-4 feet long with big fat bodies with brilliant shining scales scattered over their backs.

 

The caves are a popular attraction.  There are three caves with large openings that rise several feet above the water.  The openings provide great light for swimmers to have a look around.

Scott and Krista enjoying the clear warm water.

Yellow Tail Damselfish this fish stands out because the light scales on top sparkle in the sunlight.

Blue Tang fish

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Angelfish

Peter Island was our first stop when we arrived in the BVI.  We experienced great weather at that time, but have since learned that the winds can be fierce.  We tried Whites Bay for the first time, it was nuts with winds gusting up to 40 knots and the boat swinging 180 degrees all night long.  The kids made up a blanket surfing game for the wind, but no adult slept that night.

Lets get out of here! A half mile to the south is the anchorage we usually stay at.

We took our usual walk up to the wind generators.  At the top of the hill the wind was so strong it felt like sky diving, I think, because I’ve never been sky diving.

 

South Bay on Peter Island not only offers this interesting little hike but some great snorkelling as well.

I can’t believe with all the pictures we have, none of the kneeboarding pictures got posted.  Genny and Cody started the craze with Scott towing them all over the bay.  Marie, Tyler and Roy also skimmed by several times.  Scott is a water skier from way back and gave us tips on how to tow.  I think we’ll have to look for a wake board in our travels so they can stand up.

We settled in a Brandywine bay after a long day of shopping in Road Town.  The bay was so quiet and calm we spent the day playing and relaxing.  Even the goats on the beach were peaceful.

But we had to get Topaz out of there before she spotted them.

Hanging around on the boat also means jumping off the boat.

Everyone got into it with their high flying poses.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a great day to celebrate Krista’s birthday.  She was supposed to be with us on the day she actually turned the big Four Zero, but due to our sailing schedule, they had to come the week before.

One last stop at the Rhone, Scott hadn’t been diving in ages.  Unfortunately his new camera is only rated for 55 feet and we didn’t want to risk it on our 70 foot dive.

 

 

We spent our last night at our favorite spot on Marina Cay where we could enjoy the full flavors offered by the restaurant on the beach.

Now that our last guest has left us we have to get ready to head to Florida.  Today was filled with laundry, cleaning and moving Marie back to her room.  Wow, that little girl took up a lot of space in my bedroom.  Eric used his day to clean out strainers, lubricate latches, fix thises and thats.  I got my computer back up and running with Roy and Genny’s math program installed and activated.  Now we’re ready for one last dive on the Rhone, check out of BVI, check into USVI, get a U.S. registration sticker for our dinghy, fill up on groceries and hopefully leave on the weekend for Florida.  I will try to make one more post before we leave.  You can check our FindMeSpot for our current position.  Every 10 minutes or so this little device sends a gps position to a satellite and then posts it on their website.  You can follow this link or use the menu option at the top of our blog.  We plan to be underway from April 27 to May 4th.  If we’re making good time, we may pause in the Bahamas for a few days as we don’t want to arrive in Ft. Lauderdale too much before May 8th.  We have an appointment for a hard bimini to be installed over our cockpit on the 9th.