We had a wonderful time in February. We had guests the entire month. We took a vacation from boat projects and became tourists for the month just enjoying the islands and the company of our guest.
The first part of February Sharon's sister Shelly and her husband Mike visited. We picked them up in St. Thomas and cruised throughout the U.S. and British Virgin Island. They had rented a boat 20 years ago and spent two weeks sailing the Virgins. They were surprised by how much had been developed and how many boats there were cruising the Virgins. After spending last year in Central American where most of the time we where the only boat we were equally in awe by the crowds. It took a few days but we all got use to the idea of sharing these beautiful islands with other people. Most of the other boats were charter boats enjoying a week's vacation. So everybody was in a real festive party mode which makes for good fun. An extra entertainment bonus was getting to watch all the charter rental sailors try to handle and anchor a boat they knew very little about. We had lots of good laughs watching the nightly musical chairs of everybody trying to anchor up for the night.
Our travels went something like this: we sailed everywhere in great winds of 15 to 20 knots. Wonderful Caribbean sailing as we hardly even used the motor. Thank goodness we didn't need to motor. Even after weeks and weeks of preparing the boat for our guests, the day Shelly and Mike arrived we had an electrical relay go out on the starter glow plugs. We couldn't start the motor with out jiggling the relay each time! We carry lots of spare parts but as Murphy would have it no spare relay and no town big enough in the BVI's to buy one. So we sailed everywhere which is what we wanted to do anyway! We started at St. Thomas and sailed to Lenster Bay on St. John.
The next day we sailed to Cane Garden Bay on Tortola and checked into the British Virgin Island. Cane Garden's beach was beautiful. We tried some snorkeling but we were very disappointed in the water clarity. Next we sailed to Norman Island. It was Shelly's Birthday so we squeezed as much as we could into the day to make it really special for her. Our morning sail was a wonderful fast romp. We snorkeled at the Caves on Norman Island. The Caves were not a disappointment, they were great. The water visibility was great. There were three caves you could swim into. One of the caves you could swim into total darkness. There were lots of fish around the caves. The fish seemed to be quite used to people, as they would swim real close to you. At one point we were surrounded by a huge school of yellow tail jacks, lots of fun. That evening we went in for Shelly's Birthday Dinner at a restaurant/bar called Billy Bones. It was a fun place right on the beach. The food was good and it was a party atmosphere.
The following day we snorkeled at some rock pinnacles called Indian Rocks. It was a very nice snorkel with pretty rock formations, coral and lots of fish. Then we sailed to Manchioneel Bay on Copper Island. We returned to Tortola Island and anchored at Trellis Bay. Trellis Bay has a great little restaurant that a local musician sang island songs all evening. We enjoyed hamburgers and sang along with the crowd. The following day we sailed to Virgin Gorda and snorkeled at the famous "Baths". The Baths were beautiful. The "Baths" have huge granite boulders that form neat little bays and coves. It's a picture perfect kind of spot. Huge gray boulders with white, white sand beaches and torquisous clear water. Absolutely beautiful. We anchored that evening at the Bitter End Yatch Club on Virgin Gorda. The yatch club with its hotel and restaurants was beautiful. It's a classy five star kind of place. We had a wonderful time walking the grounds and sipping Pina Colotas. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner that evening at the Saba Rock Restaurant.
From the Bitter End we needed to turn around and start heading back toward St. Thomas. Shelly and Mike's visit was coming to an end. On the way back we spent a night in a pretty bay on Peter Island called "Little Bay". The following day we sailed to St. John for lunch and a snorkel in Hawknest Bay and then continued back to St.Thomas. Shelly and Mike had to fly home early the next morning. It was wonderful to have family with us to share our adventures with. It really reminds us how much we miss our families while we are traveling.
Our next guest was Don, Vaughn's best buddy since grade school. Don traveled with us for three weeks, from St. Thomas to Antigua. Don had timed his visit for Vaughn and his birthdays. The boys were both turning the big 50. A reason to celebrate for sure!!! We spent the first week of Don's visit revisiting our favorite spots in the U.S. and British Virgins. Don tried snorkeling for the very first time. Even at almost 50 you can still try new experiences. Not only did he try snorkeling but he ended up loving it! While we traveled in the Virgins you could hardly keep him out of the water!
We found a couple good night spots with Don in the Virgins. We returned to Norman Island hitting Billy Bones for some fun and then ended up partying till closing time at Willy T'S Bar which is on an old 100 foot boat in the bay. We enjoyed another great night in Trellis Bay hitting the Loose Mongoose and Last Resort Bar. They both had local boys singing the night away. We had a good time. We sailed from the BVI's Bitter End overnight to St. Martin for Vaughn's big Birthday Celebration. He got to enjoy his birthday from the first minute to the last minute of the day. The first minute was a night watch during our sail from the BVI's to St. Martin. Sharon caught a nice fish (Sierra) on the sail over so Vaughn's B-Day dinner was to be fresh fish on the BBQ. Wonderful! We arrived in St. Martin in the early morning all took quick naps so we would be ready to party the night away. We spent the afternoon checking out hot spot for the night. We were disappointed to find out that even though St. Martin is supposed to be a great party island Monday nights were dead! You guessed it Vaughn's B'Day fell on a Monday night. We enjoyed the nice fish dinner, hit a couple local bars and stayed up till midnight because you only turn 50 once!
We spent the next couple days in St. Martin. We spent one day in Philipsburg checking out the Dutch side of the island. Philipsburg is where the Cruise Ships dock. It has beautiful blinding white, white sand beaches and a million shops with everything from T-shirts to Emeralds. Then we spent a day in Margot on the French side of St. Martin. Margot was a very cute town; quaint and very French, with great restaurants of which we had to try one. We left St. Martin and sailed to St. Barts. We spent the night in St. Barts in a lovely little cove. The beach was beautiful. We enjoyed a nice walk up the hill to get some nice lookouts. The vegetation on all the BVI's, St. Martin and St.Barts is very dry with lots of catus and low shrubs. The islands are not really high enough to catch the rain clouds. That changed dramatically the next day when we arrived in St. Kitts. St. Kitts is a volcanic island where its highest peaks are almost 4000 feet. It was lush and green cover in sugar cane and high rain forests. The next day we adventured out by bus to explore the island. We spent the morning exploring a wonderful old restored Fort, called Brimestone Fort. The Fort claims to be the best restored example of a 1600's Fort in the Caribbean Islands. It was perched up on a knoll top commanding a view of the entire leeward side of the island. The building and grounds were wonderful with lots of cannons and old relics.
We stopped in a little local bar/restaurant for a beer before returning to the boat and ended up spending the entire night talking the owner "Brenda". Brenda was a delight to talk too. She shared all kinds of information about her island and then ended up spending several hours in the kitchen cooking up a special meal of ribs just for us! Talk about island hospitality! The next day we sailed from St. Kitts to Nevis. Nevis is another volcanic island, beautiful and lushly green. We anchored in a nice bay facing a lovely 4-mile long white sand beach. We strolled down the beach a found a great little restaurant called Sunshine's. The fellow that owned the place is named "Sunshine". We ended up partying the night away talking to the local folks. Vaughn and Don ended up back in the kitchen partying with the waiter and cook! They made a drink they called the "Killer Bee". We are not exactly sure what their secret receipt was but by the ended of a night of drinking "Killer Bee's" we were lucky to stagger back to the boat with out drowning ourselves!
We left Nevis the following day and sailed to Antigua. We spent a couple days at English and Falmouth Harbor. English Harbor is a National Historic Park of a 1600's English Naval Base. It was fun wandering through the old historic sites. Then we sailed around Antigua to St. Johns Bay. We celebrated Don's 50th Birthday in St. John. We again tried to find a live music band but all we could find was a Kareokee Bar and a gaming Casino. Oh well it was a fun night anyway and Don did get a birthday present at the Casino, $400! Don headed home from Antigua at the beginning of March, well tanned.