Jost Van Dyke

This is the view of St. Thomas as we were leaving!!!
February 8th 2008…1:53 pm. Well, we started out early to get to St John’s…7:30ish…and the closer we got…Paul saw that with the wind direction and strength we could sail quite comfortably to Jost Van Dyke and check in to the BVI’s…

so here we are…anchored in Great Harbour and all checked in by customs and immigration…even with the shotgun…which they were going to take away from us and store it for us while we were here…but there was only one police officer and he decided that if they “sealed” the case and we put it in our “safe”…that they would allow us to keep it. We walked along the road to see about diving for lobster here and found out that we need to get a permit from the fisheries department in Road Harbour on the island of Tortola.

We also walked down to the “famous” Foxy’s bar and decided that we would spend some of our happy hour time there tonight. I may have to buy a dress there…we’ll see…walked back to the dingy dock on the beach. Also, the screaming kids you hear on this island are real “kids”…the goat kind…lots of white goats on the hillside!
So, anyway, we will be making our way through the BVI’s for ten days or so as winds and weather permit…

Off to the BVI's

Friday Feb 8 6:50 We will be out of internet for the next few days. Will blog when we can. Will be back in St Thomas next week to pic up out mail...Joyce's new computer and my new wifi antenna. I think I have enabled the comment feature on this blog. My son Brad had asked forthis feature. We will see.....

Dive Pictures

So here I am giving you all a hug from underwater...with my new dorky looking goggles and dive skin cap (I keep trying to stay warm)....everyone else was in shorties...I had my 3 mil complete suit on...


This turtle was in a big hurry to get away from us....


This was a baby spotted moray eel in between the coral ...

Four eyed butterfly fish...

And, I bought a fish thing to be able to identify the pretty fish but because we are 2 hours (or more) behind....I'll tell you they are beautiful...and give you the names later...anyway fun two tank dive...but NO LOBSTER to be found...Paul had even gotten the butter out...perhaps in the BVI's....

Stinky goes for a swim

Thur 2-7-07 11:45 AM Well we have named our dinks and outboards...the little 8' is Little Bit..the outboard is Stinky. After just a few days with the 4 stroke Yammaha, one gets spoiled...no noise and no 2 cycle stink. Well on the way back from our shopping excursion yesterday we got caught in a tropical downpour. We are not talking rain but torrents...streets had an inch of rain ..they could not drain fast enough. We had to stop at the Internet Cafe to finalize the order of Joyce's new computer. Seems all the workouts with Graboid has take its toll on her Sony . The keyboard only likes to accept every 3rd keystroke. My used IBM just keeps on tickin...(Thanks Brad) We ordered her a new IBM per Brad and now have to wait for it. This AM we planned to go the internet cafe and then to K-Mart for some booze and last minute food before going over to St John and the BVI's. We have a week or so till the computer comes in. I was putzing on the SLOOOW internet connection while Joyce was taking a shower when some neighbors rapped on the hull to tell us our dink was upside down. Damn...%$@$*&% It was. So we brought it up on the stern, Joyce was able to pump up the port side tube...seems we knocked the valve thing loose yesterday and the thing deflated overnight. The wake of some passing boats caused it to flip. We hauled Stinky up on the rail/ This isn't the 1st time I have had an outboard take a bath. Removed the plugs, flushed with fresh water, sprayed with WD-40., replaced the plugs...10 pulls and it started. Back on Little Bit....some more coaxing and Stinky was running. Our neighbors came by to check on our progress, some Brits off a big cat. We then went life jacket and sandal searching. My flip-flops and 2 life jackets had gone floating off. We recovered 1 sandal and 1 jacket. So now we are 2 hrs behind...might have to wait till tomorrow to go to St John.

FINALLY some pictures....

Sunday February 3rd…9:14am…

So…yes, Friday I had a lot of fun shopping while Paul struggled with the internet and internet viruses at the internet shop – shopping has a lot less stress – when will guys ever learn!!!! Look the door even says “SALE”!!!




Friday late afternoon we motored the Lady H over to a bay off of Hassel Island where the water is cleaner and anchored. Paul replaced the hose to the water maker that he explained a blog back or so…the one that took us a few days to get made. (At my suggestion he had the old one fitted with another part and so now he has an emergency “spare”.) Saturday was supposed to be our day of “rest” after walking most of the town Friday…so we made water (we were down to 250 Liters) and were able to do two loads of laundry in the morning! Then we – as Paul calls it – “dinked” over to the Radio Shack on the other side of town…returned one of the wifi units…picked up another…and went to the Dive shop so I could get signed up for a two tank dive (stay tuned for underwater pictures – I’m going Tuesday morning).

After the third load of laundry, we motored the Lady back over to “town” anchored again while trying to get the best signal for wifi…nothing good, so we went into town and to the internet shop. Well, Paul went to the internet shop…I went shopping again…then back to the boat and a lamb dinner with salad….oh, so good…

This morning we took the dingy in with the bikes (to get our cross-training) and rode along the waterfront down to the cruise ship dock and back the other way almost to the other cruise ship dock (there is a cruise ship dock on either end of the bay), then back to the internet shop. St Thomas is really not the best place to ride bikes (not like Key West - which is SUPER bike friendly…so much so that I would not want to DRIVE there)…but since we left really early…before breakfast…none of the cruise ship people were off the boat yet and we had the sidewalk mostly to ourselves. We hadn’t ridden for two weeks but we both were able to jump on and enjoy the exercise…

This being Super Bowl Sunday we are now back at the boat resting for our BIG evening at Hooters….yes, in order to watch the game….Hooters! This is still the United States after all, there is even an Office Max, Home Depot, K-Mart, Wendy’s and McDonalds…even after all these miles of sailing!!!!