April brings Friends

We meet Rich at the Weston

Leslie, Rich and waitress ???

Cheryl, Chuck and Lex

 

Ashore April showers bring May flowers, but here April brings friends to visit. Dr.  Richard Anderson from Wyoming came to visit as he had a medical conference on St. John. We sailed to St. John and showed him around Cruz Bay town. That night he introduced us to some friends of his, Rob, and his wife Cheryl, their 11 yr. old daughter Riley, step daughter Lexia and her fiancée Chuck.

Lex, Rich, and Riley

Riley snokeling at Maho

 

The next day we met at Maho for a day on the boat and snorkeling. Riley, Lex and Chuck were beginning snorkelers, but did a great job snorkeling on Maho point. The water was not as clear as usual due to the strong winds, but we all did see some fish and when we went to Francis Bay we saw a big sting ray.

Lex takes well to snorkeling

Rich searches for sea life

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turtle with a Remora fish on it

Cheryl and Riley study the bottom

 

His visit ended with a hike to Annenberg sugar plantation ruins the next day with Chuck, the girls went shopping, and we bid him adieu as he had to attend the lectures at the conference.

Leslie and Rob look out at BVI from Annenberg

Rob at Mary's Creek

 

Sting Ray glides over the bottom

Leslie uses cool gift Rich brought
from her sister

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trellis Bay fire sculptures

Allie and Pete at Scrub Island

Our next visitors were the O’Connors, Peter, Deborah, and Allison, from R.I. We met them in Trellis Bay in the BVI after they had an adventure to get here due to the Northeast weather. We explored some of the British Virgin Islands, including Scrub island, Marina Cay, the Baths, and North Sound and of course the treasure caves of Norman Island.

At the Baths

Allison snokeling at the Baths

Pete dives deep at the Baths

Fish Rock at the Baths

Allison and Debbie at Phantoms Rock

Pool at Top of the Baths Resturant

Guy's Trail at Bitter End Yacht Club

Debbie blows the conch at Happy Ahrr

In North Sound we hiked the Bitter End Yacht Club’s Guy trail then fed Tarpons at Saba Rock and saw Michael Bean’s Happy Ahrrr show at Leverick Bay Resort.  Everyone loved the pool and showers with the great water pressure.

Happy Ahrrr show at Leverick Bay Resort

The caves at Normand Island

Debbie snorkeling

We had a great sail downwind to Norman Island where we laid on the beach, hiked, snorkeled the caves, and visited the famous (infamous) Willie T’s.

Leslie and Allie at Soper's Hole

Another great run to Soper’s Hole let us explore the colorful town and clear customs and immigration out of the BVI.

Dinner on the boat

Pete in the galley

Our trip ended with a sail to the USVI where we shopped in Cruz Bay, snorkeled Maho Bay and had dinner at the Maho Eco Lodge. Due to weather and time we all took the ferry to the airport via Red Hook, then a Safari bus (dollar bus)  to Charlotte Amalie where we saw the shore set up for boat races in connection with Carnival.  After walking around all the booths and people we got another Safari bus to the airport road where we hiked to the airport to see them off. Both visits were busy, too short, but great! 

Easter and Honeymoon Beach

With the coming of Easter we set our signal flags to wish everyone a Happy Easter and took the dinghy into church.  We went to the oldest church in the Virgin Islands and enjoyed a wonderful service. 

While anchored we had the pleasure of a visit from a friendly dolphin and a neighboring boat caught this video.

We went to Water Island and anchored in Honeymoon Bay. Water Island was named so because it had a fresh water spring and small lake. The water was used to make rum back in the day, but in the 90s an earth quake shut the spring. Water Island was an army observation base in World War II and so has old Army barracks and a lookout bunker. In the 50’s, so the story goes, a couple of families rented the whole island from the government for $3,000 and then sub rented barrack rooms to friends for $25 a year. Over the years a community developed and they actually built Honeymoon beach by dredging the bay and using the sand to make the beach. They also built the pavilions and baths. It is a great tight knit community for the most part who love the beach and to get together. There is a movie on the beach on Mondays, and Bingo on the beach on Wednesdays.



The beach is alive

dinghies crowd the beach

 

The next week saw us preparing our taxes while enjoying Honeymoon Beach at Water Island. With the taxes sent Honeymoon erupted into the perfect party as Capt. John and his fishing boat Destiny arrived with fish for a pot luck dinner, and Joes Beach Bar celebrated its last weekend, as it had a sale contract, and a battle of the DJs brought hundreds of young people to the beach to merge into a perfect party.

The fish from Destiny

Dinner being prepared

 

Kids had a geat time too

Even a turtle showed up!

 

Hidi's Beach Bar

Joe's Beach Bar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are two beach bars on Honeymoon Beach, Hidi's at the left end and Joe's on the right.

 

 

The beach was full of people including two icons, Foxy from Jost Van Dyke famous for his bar of the same name, and Manfred the sail maker and only resident on Hassel Island.



Foxy and Manfred

riding a board water jet

There was also an exhibition of some wild water jet you could fly. They had a backpack version and board version. It was a wild and wonderful day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the Island View

One harbor from Island View

 

Later we celebrated our anniversary with a friend, Gordon, at the Island View Guest House. It has a limited dinner menu available to the public 3 nights a week and as the name suggests it has a fantastic view of the harbor area.

On a trip to St John Island we caught a couple of conch and Leslie prepared them. It takes a good beating to tenderize them and a long soaking in a marinade, but they are delicious!  We are now in St. John waiting for friends to arrive.

conch being tenderized