Monday, January 30, 2012

Photos of St. Kitts

Here are some photos from our first week in St. Kitts.





 


 
Monkey Crossing!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Mor' Childs Play BVI's-St. Kitts

Thanks to Jamie for making this awesome video. Enjoy!
Also, check out St. Kitts photos in the Travel Photos side bar.

The Route Continued

     Over the last few days we've started to think ahead in the trip. Feeling we needed to set a timeline for our return journey, we sat down to map out how far south we want to go, which islands we wish to visit most, how long to stay in each place and what route we want to take to get back home. Originally we'd thought to get all the way down to Grenada and several other of the windward islands, but after creating a loose timeline we realized that this wouldn't give us much flexibility and could cause us to rush into poor weather at some point. So we've resolved to explore many of the leeward islands before heading up to the Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas.

     I thought it might be good to post our rough plan so everyone back home has a better idea of what we are thinking. At the moment we don't want to have to do a long ocean passage again, but that may change. Also the dates are a guess and we may end up spending more than a week on some of the leeward islands. There is a gap of one day or more between many of the dates to account for a day of travel between islands.

February 8-15: Dominica
February 16-23: Guadeloupe
February 24- March 1: Antigua/Barbuda
March 2-9: St. Martin or maybe Anguilla
March 10-17: Puerto Rico (To break up a long passage. Likely we won't explore much.)
March 17-24: Turks and Caicos
March 26- April 2: George Town, Bahamas
April 3-10: Nassau, Bahamas
April 11-18: Freeport, Bahamas
April...? Passage to Charleston, South Carolina

     Leaving several weeks in the Bahamas gives us the leeway to take our time elsewhere and leave on a passage to the US at any opportune time. Likely a lot of this will change as we go, but I hope this gives a good outline of what we have in mind for the second half of the trip. Once along the coast of the United States we will work our way to New York City, and then traverse the Erie Canal back to Lake Ontario. Hopefully it will be open by then! If not, we will have to work something out, because doing the St. Lawrence the other way would be a much longer trip than we want to do.

Nicole.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Impressions of St. Kitts

     Basseterre is a Caribbean city with friendly people and a tangible culture. Many buildings are older in colonial British and French styles, the streets have open sewer drains, and reggae and calypso music play from many store speakers. Throughout the day people sit along the downtown streets just "liming"- a relaxed attitude that involves sitting around, chatting and enjoying life. Walking through the roundabout of the circus, taxi drivers called out to us from all sides asking if we wanted tours of the island. No cruise ships were docked so many unoccupied taxis with unique names painted on the front sat waiting. One driver with a brightly tie-died shirt and matching green, red and yellow beard shouted "ah sailors off the boat! The one's yesterday were delicious!" leaving us laughing as we walked deeper into the city.

     Funny enough, our guidebook talks about this colorful character saying, "Ready to party? Call Christian Rameshwar at Tangerine Tours. Christian is from Trinidad and likes to get his passengers in fine spirits with an open bar of lots of beer and four types of rum. He wears very brightly colored clothes and a beard tinted to match. His tour vehicle is a big open bus, where you sit with the breeze and the view. Christian, who loves having fun, will jolly along anyone with Eeyoreish tendencies. He is knowledgable and eloquent on historical tours."

     As the day progressed vendors filled the streets selling fruit, vegetables, homemade rum, and knockoffs of jewelry. One looked like a typical hotdog stand but instead of street meat they sold packets of candy. Port Zante sits along the waterfront just off the long cruise ship dock. It is filled with duty-free shops selling jewelry and what I like to call 'made-in-China tourist crap.' Tacky tourist stuff that you can find just about anywhere. Happily I stumbled upon a lovely little craft shop beside the National Museum that had a small hand painted sign outside advertising, "Made in St. Kitts and Nevis, not China." I couldn't resist going in and I'm so glad I did. The lady running the shop made us feel so welcome. She told me all about growing up sailing with her Dad around St. Kitts, Nevis and Statia. I ended up buying a few small things, including some hand painted items made from calabash, which she explained is a large hollow fruit grown on trees and made into bowls and other small objects. She also assured me that everything in the shop was made by local artists.

     Outside of the city we anchored in White House Bay along the southern stretch of St. Kitts. Green peaks rise up along the length of the island, covered in bush and grasses of green, yellow and brown. Many of the beaches are a dark grey-brown, fairly rocky, with cliffs dipping down into the sea. Nevis towers in the distance, clouds capping its main peak. So far we've done a lot of swimming, snorkeled a small wreck by the rocky shore, and gone hiking along the road around two large salt ponds and a trail up a peak right by the anchorage. After snorkeling on the first day here, I was eager to explore on shore. As I walked a beach with large pale oval stones I glanced down the curve of the beach and caught sight of a small herd of white goats trotting towards me. On and on they came, led by a white bearded old man of a Billy goat. The first thought in my head was, "I wonder if they're coming to drive me off the beach?" As they rapidly closed the ground between us I retreated into the shallows to let them pass. Quickly as they appeared they were gone, clambering off into the bushes, leaving only scents of goat cheese and curdled milk in their wake.

     On our first hike ashore, Jamie, Dad and I caught sight of our first African green vervet monkey darting off the beach and into the low bushes. Small, shy creatures, they popped out of the bushes along the main road and quickly disappeared from view, like deer dodging cars back home. Jamie and I had fun wandering the main road to view the salt ponds and developing real estate on the many hills. We explored a bay to the north side and Jamie mused about kiting in the large murkey salt pond. Today we took the dinghy into the salt pond where Dad and Jamie intended to try kiting, but it was such a swamp! The water was yellowy-green, rocks and pipes protruded through the murk and when Jamie put his foot on the bottom it stuck about a foot into sticky brown muck.

     White House Bay has been an interesting anchorage in many ways. The water is clear and clean, it is fairly secluded with only a few other cruisers anchored around, and there is a useful dock nearby, courtesy of Christope Harbour Development. They are actually converting the nearby salt ponds into a marina, although it is early along in the process. There have been a few negative factors to this anchorage as well. Every day the wind swirls down the nearby hills, tossing the boat around as it funnels into the bay. As Mom likes to say, "The wind goes from zero to sixty knots in five seconds." A bit of an exaggeration, but we did have a problem after the first night when our anchor chain decided to wrap itself around a large piece of metal wreck on the bottom. Every time the wind tossed us in the night the chain would yank and make a banging sound on the bow. It took a lot of maneuvering and Jamie snorkeling in the water telling us what to do to release it. It ended with the anchor free and the piece of metal broken in two separate pieces. After that we made sure to snorkel the area all along the chain to make sure it was clear.

     So far St. Kitts has been a beautiful welcoming country. I can't wait to rent a car next week and drive the undulating hills. Jamie and Dad hope to kite off the north side of Frigate Bay tomorrow. So far our plan is to wait for the part Dad ordered for the auto pilot to arrive and then move on to explore Nevis. I think renting mountain bikes on Nevis will be a great way to explore, and the guidebook assures me that you can get around the whole island in one morning at a leisurely pace.

     We managed to get a sim card for the iPad so we do have Internet all the time now, but I cannot get pictures onto it, so they will follow soon. Also, Jamie has put together an awesome video of photos and video footage from our time in the BVIs and St. Kitts. So that'll be up when we head back to Basseterre to rent a car next week.

All the best,
Nicole.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

The Night of 100 Squalls: A Passage to St. Kitt's and Nevis

St. Kitts and Nevis
     The passage from BVI to St. Kitts was...frightful. From the start we pounded upwind as squall after squall poured on us. The night brought with it what I like to call "the fears," those irrational thoughts you just can't seem to stop while out at sea. I shivered in my bunk picturing all the bad things that could happen, wondering all the while why I was exhausting myself with these pointless thoughts. Jamie was a beacon of light throughout the passage, ever positive and laughing through the wind and rain. When the rest of us gave in to sleep and sickness he stood fast and helped Dad sail through the night. Lucky for me, aside from a bit of a drowsy stupor, Bonine kept the sickness away. Sarah was not so lucky. Why is it that time seems to slow down to an agonizing crawl when you least want it to? The night dragged on and on as walls of rain and wind hit us one by one. All I could do was wish for the light of day to come faster.
Basseterre
     Finally, in the early morning light, the rain cleared and Statia loomed mountainous in the golden glow. The sail along Statia to St. Kitts brought hope and wonder after the long night. Behind us, the green mass of Saba drifted in and out of sight in the mists. Statia stretched a few miles long, an oil storage depot perched one end and the town of Oranjestad spilling down a perfectly formed volcanic peak on the other end. St. Kitts shone green and fertile ahead as the rare beam of sunlight pierced the clouds. We sailed along the coast to Basseterre, the small capital city where buildings sit low and colourful and a long cruise ship dock ends at a series of duty free shops. The buildings of the city range from picturesque West Indian to British colonial to battered and boarded up. There is an intriguing and distinctive Caribbean feel to the city, a sense of a culture very different from the BVIs. We plan to rent a car to explore the island further and hike in the rainforests of the island's mountain range.
A starfish under the boat
I have to hurry because our internet time will run out, but I will write in more detail soon.
Nicole.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Arrived in Saint Kitts and Nevis

     We left the British Virgin Islands yesterday just after lunch and traveled to Saint Kitts and Nevis. We arrived safely just after 10 am this morning. It was a pretty tough passage with almost continuous squalls with large wind shifts, strong gusting winds and pouring rain at times. It was an upwind leg so seas and wind were against us.

     We did manage to break the autopilot tiller arm into 2 pieces in a large squall at around 4 am and had to hand steer after that. I believe I can get the arm repaired here in Saint Kitts. If not I will have to have one shipped from the US. The scenery here is awesome with the mountains rising up to nearly 4000 ft within 1 mile of the shoreline.

Jon
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Monday, January 23, 2012

From Marina Cay to Lee Bay to Spanish Town

Sailing to Marina Cay
     Over the weekend we rested in two anchorages. The first was Marina Cay, where we've stayed several times. Here we snorkeled two separate reefs. On Saturday we moved to windy, secluded Lee Bay off Great Camanoe Island. This is a private island with residences built high on the large rocky cliffs. Yesterday the wind was howling so we made one long tack to Spanish Town on Virgin Gorda. Most of the shops here are located along the waterfront at the Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbour.
Lee Bay, Great Camanoe
     Last night was especially windy and not at all restful. This morning we woke to people shouting as an anchored powerboat broke loose and drifted towards them. It turns out that no one was on the powerboat, so with the help of several other cruisers, they tied it off on a free mooring ball. The wind continues to buffet us this morning as we rock back and forth continuously. This definitely isn't a comfortable, sheltered anchorage. We keep wondering why anyone would even stay overnight here without a reason. Our reason is to check out of BVI customs to begin a passage to St. Kitt's and Nevis tomorrow. The passage should take under 24 hours and we hope to arrive in Nevis on Wednesday morning to check into customs. At the moment Dad is researching how to check in and we've decided to make for Nevis instead of St. Kitt's because the customs procedures on St. Kitt's appear to be needlessly complex. It will be strange to sail away from the many islands of the BVI after so long here. But, we all feel that we've seen and done everything that we wanted to here and are ready to move on and explore new places.
Childs Play in Lee Bay
     A while back I read through our cruising guide on the Leeward Islands and took notes on each island to figure out which ones I wanted to visit most and for what reasons. For St. Kitt's I wrote, "rainforest, monkeys, hiking." For Nevis, "quiet and peaceful." On the way we'll pass by the islands of Saba and Statia, which are quite small and remote. St. Kitt's itself (or St. Christopher in its long form) was named by Columbus for his patron saint and became the first British plantation colony in the Caribbean in 1623. After French colonists arrived, the two groups ganged up to decimate the Carib population before turning on one another. The Treaty of Versailles later put an end to 150 years of fighting and the island became British. Today St. Kitt's and Nevis are independent, but still have a links to their British heritage, including many hotels created from old sugar plantations. It is likely that we'll spend a week in this area before moving on to Guadeloupe or Dominica.

All the best,
Nicole.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Hiking on "Alvin's Heights"

     Late Tuesday morning, while Dad and Jamie went kiteboarding yet again, the rest of us went on a long hot hike above Biras Creek Resort on Virgin Gorda. A trail leads along the waterfront of the Bitter End Resort, through a swampy mangrove trail full of skittering lizards, to several trails around Biras Creek. This resort struck us as the perfect escape: small, secluded, intimate, in a tropical setting overflowing with colourful plants and flowers, with a heavy price tag to match its tranquil setting. It boasts a location between three different bodies of water- the North Sound, the Atlantic Ocean and the strikingly blue Caribbean Bay. We've hiked the "Orchid Trail" several times now, passing up above the Bitter End for a nice view of the North Sound, then down to the far side of that resort. This time we took a path called "Alvin's Heights," which cuts up a higher hill to overlook all three bodies of water.

Biras Creek
     Scrambling up the dry red earth, the landscape gradually shifted from palm trees and turk's cap cactus to pipe organ cactus and frangipani. At the very top, the plants changed again and sun-bleached grasses crowded the forest floor beneath trees intertwined with green vines. Hiking to the summit was hot, sweaty work, but looking down on the North Sound from a new perspective brought smiles to our faces. After an out-and-back to "Alvin's Lookout," the trail turns towards the tragically-named "Lover's Leap," before descending over loose red rocks to a beach of stone and dried coral beside the simple luxury of Biras Creek's ocean suites. Back at the Bitter End, we discovered the perfect answer to our strenuous trek: a delicious, calorie-infused, melting-in-the-hot-Caribbean-sun, ice cream bar. Anyone who knows me well knows I love my ice cream. And how I've missed my daily fix since the boat life began!

All the best,
Nicole.




Tuesday, January 17, 2012

On Happiness and Solitude

Happiness is...a deserted beach all to one's self.
"Solitude isn't about being alone, it's about being receptive to the energies all around, and once touched by them, I was linked in a way that felt elemental and essential. And rare. Those energies immersed me wholly in the moment; they made me feel deeply alive. Happiness, I knew then, was never going to come in the form of "another." It would come to me in fits and starts all throughout my life's journey, as long as I took time to notice it." -Janice Holly Booth, Only Pack What You Can Carry.

Nicole.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Island Greenery

Here are various photos taken while hiking around the Bitter End Yacht Club on Virgin Gorda. There are many beautiful flowers to be found among the palms and cacti.

Nicole.







Sunday, January 15, 2012

Boat Life, Land Life, and Travel Plans

Back at the Bitter End Yacht Club
     Nanny Cay is a large marina that caters directly to cruisers. It has a long wooden walkway stretching past the docks to a plaza with a grocery store, marine store, dive shop, yacht brokerage, several restaurants and small shops. Along the water there is a beach with lounge chairs, a beach bar and a fresh water swimming pool. During our short stay at the marina we had time to complete many small errands and got to enjoy the swimming pool and beach. This was our first time in a pool in ages and I had forgotten how much you float in salt water compared to fresh!

     Lounging on beach chairs after a refreshing dip I felt a sense or normalcy, a change from the boat lifestyle. Living on land has become a novelty- how strange! Sometimes I miss the stability of living on land in a solid house where showers are regular and beds are large. That night after the sun sank below green hills and whisked away the day's heat, Mom and I strolled the boardwalk and marvelled at the luxurious tiled bathrooms available for marina guests. It's an odd life, living on a boat. We've spent a lot of time away from land lately, only setting foot on solid ground when visiting an island for supplies or to go for a walk. Most of the islands have little on them, besides a restaurant and dive shop, so visiting anywhere with more than a few buildings its a big change. I don't necessarily miss the buzz of towns and cities, but it will be a definite eye opener setting foot in one again after being surrounded by water and green hills for many weeks now.

     After one brief night in Nanny Cay we sailed back to Cooper Island to drop off our rented scuba tanks and made one long tack back to the North Sound at Virgin Gorda. The wind has returned, so the focus of our days has shifted from scuba diving back to kiteboarding. There's also wonderful hiking to be had around the Bitter End Yacht Club, so that offers some variety.

     Plans for visiting the leedward islands are beginning to solidify and shortly we'll be doing a two-day passage to St. Kitt's. After a week or so at St. Kitt's and Nevis we'll island hop to Guadeloupe, Antigua, and Dominica. Dad hopes to get all the way to Grenada, but I am skeptical as to whether we will have enough time to visit it properly and spend a few weeks in the Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas on the return journey. I will keep everyone updated on these plans as they unfold in more detail. At the moment Dad is keeping a close eye on the weather to find a safe weather window for a passage. Happily, it will be a short one this time!

All the best,
Nicole.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Rule #1 in the Laws of Boating: Things on Boats Break.

     Like the law of gravity or the laws of physics, this rule in the law of boating is consistent and unstoppable. Things on board boats always break. This immoveable and often frustrating force ensures that Dad has a "fix-it" list going at all times and can usually be seen plodding around with tools of all sorts in his hands. The jobs may not always be strenuous or time-consuming, but just as the sun always rises, the jobs are always there.

     On top of this rule, I have to mention that Dad jinxed us last week. While having a family discussion over which island to visit next, we ruled out going to St. Martin because it is overly commercialized and has been described as "just one big shopping plaza." One potential reason for going there would be to purchase any parts needed for the boat because it has prime marine facilities and is a duty-free island. But Dad ruled this reason out, saying we don't have anything big to fix and haven't in quite some time. Mom and I responded with an "Uh oh. You just jinxed it." I think we've become a bit superstitious living on a boat, but when things can go from fine to distaster so easily it's bound to happen.

     So I can't say I was entirely surprised when yesterday, as Mom pushed the "Up" button on the windlass to lift the anchor in Manchioneel Bay, the windlass abruptly ground to a halt, an important piece suddenly breaking and making it impossible to use. Ten minutes later saw all of us on the bow hauling the sizeable main anchor up by hand in the hot midday sun. We weren't entirely sure we could get it up in the first place, with it being so heavy, but after finally getting the anchor into the bow locker we relaxed to look for a mooring ball and discovered that a flood of charter boats had taken them all up! We felt strangely vulnerable and trapped, not being able to put down an anchor anywhere and being blocked from mooring balls by the crowds of charter boats. So off we went, quickly stowing things and closing hatches below decks, accross the Sir Francis Drake channel to a marina in Nanny Cay.

     That afternoon, Dad spent a few frustrating hours in the local marine store and then on the satellite phone searching for the right part to repair our broken windlass. For a while the search seemed hopeless and we wondered if we'd ever anchor easily again, but luck prevailed and he was able to order the part from a store in the U.S. So it looks like we will be able to use the anchor again soon, but will have to stick to mooring balls for the time being. There are so many fidgety devices and parts on boats that it's no wonder things are always breaking. We are just lucky enough to have a captain who's incredibly capable when it comes to fixing things. So thanks to the fix-it man...though we know it frustrates you having to pick up those tools every few days, we really do appreciate your ability to fix just about anything!

Monday, January 9, 2012

Traveling through Time


     Three wooden masts towering in a blue sky, square sails drawn, hundreds of ropes fanning downwards onto bright wooden decks below, the Stad Amsterdam looked like it had sailed clean off the pages of a maritime history book. As it coasted regally into the Bight of Norman Island, dark blue and red hull sitting high above the water’s surface, it was easy to imagine the navy ships of old patrolling these waters for pirates and enemy ships alike. Anchoring just beside us, the Stad Amsterdam overwhelmed our miniscule 44 foot boat, giving us the best spot in the bay from which to view its curving lines.  Seeing such a beautiful and massive sailing ship made me feel connected somehow to the nautical history of these islands. I felt like I could perceive the past more vividly than ever before, easily conjuring mental images of white sails, old fraying ropes, elaborate captain’s hats, muskets and cannons spewing smoke, and the ominous colours of the Jolly Roger snapping in a brisk breeze. 

     Several times on this trip I’ve experienced a similar sense of connectedness with sailors of the past. One moment of particular clarity stands out, having occurred during a solo shift on the ocean passage from Hampton to Bermuda. Gazing up at the stars illuminating the dark blanket of sky above I realized that all sailors throughout time had looked upon these same skies, felt the movement of these same waters, experienced the same emotions as I was feeling: a sense of awe with the beauty of the world, queasy from the rolling motion of the swells, small and insignificant when faced with the awesome power of the ocean, a sense of freedom when imagining new and unknown destinations. 

     I think that part of the adventure of travel is experiencing these kinds of moments, where you feel a link to something outside yourself, something bigger than yourself. For someone who studied history all through university I have often felt a sense of camaraderie with people throughout time, but never in such a dynamic way, and I think that understanding the history of a place helps to bring these kinds of vivid experiences about. There’s definitely something to be said about the merits of travel and the fresh thoughts and emotions that surface while observing new places. 

Just some food for thought,
Nicole.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Exploring Coral Reefs at Norman Island

     It's strange to sink back into a routine while living such a transient lifestyle. But the day that our visitors headed home things began to feel "back to normal," though with the added bonus of now having Jamie with us. That day we sailed briefly to "The Indians" where the others snorkeled while Dad and I went diving. There is so much life beneath the water here that it's mind boggling to swim among it. Bright blue creole wrasse swarmed in schools, sparkling in beams of sunlight. Spotted goatfish combed the sandy bottom, probing with their whiskers, while black and yellow rock beauties darted among clumps of coral. Browns and beiges, purples and reds, fish and coral of all shapes and sizes surrounded us in a chaos of colour. Although we got a bit lost and confused and ended up surfacing near the busy mooring balls, every dive here presents some new colourful creature to marvel at.

     A short hop brought us back to Norman Island, completing a loop of the entire BVIs for the first time. Anchored in the busy bay called the Bight we settled down for a night of movie-watching and constant snacking. I'm not sure if it's the fact that I spend most days in the fresh air or am more active than back home, but I seem to be in a constant state of hunger since arriving here. Cookies do not last long on this boat, that's for sure.

     Wednesday, we snorkeled the caves at Norman Island, where it is commonly believed that a pirate- the island's namesake-once hid a treasure of Spanish gold. Entering the oval cavern of the southernmost cave it is easy to imagine piles of gold glimmering alongside the smooth colourful rocks and green, purple and orange walls that glint in the filtered light. In another cave that has walls spattered with orange cup coral a huge school of tiny silver fish moved as one, expanding and parting as a large grouper passed among them. A striped lizardfish snapped alert from the bottom to prey on the school's outer edges before settling back down convincingly camouflaged. Exploring the reef outside the caves we found a small sea turtle surfacing for gulps of air before trundling down to feed off a clump of coral. They seem to be able to hold their breath a long time.

     In the pulsing heat of the next day, a hike on the island took us past a low open restaurant with the word "Pirates" written in bold white letters on the red roof. Jamie waited to start his scuba diving lessons on the porch of the dive shack for Sail Caribbean Divers at Norman Island, which has dive gear tacked haphazard on its walls and doors. While Jamie began his solo lessons with his friendly dread locked Scottish instructor, Mom, Sarah and I plodded along a muddy red trail-like road to take in the view from a nearby hill. As we hiked upwards on questionable footing, small brown lizards skittered off into the tangling green underbrush. The top of the old road overlooked the Bight, a busy anchorage for charters on their first days out due to its proximity to Tortola, which lies just across the Sir Francis Drake Channel.

     Jamie continued to excel in his dive lessons on Friday while the rest of us set off to nearby dive sites. Sarah and I explored the "Sandy Ledges" in Privateer Bay. Mom and Dad navigated "Kelly's Cove" near Water Point. After returning to the boat to retrieve our forgotten weight belts, Sarah and I tied to a mooring in Privateer Bay and descended to a disorienting bottom covered in turtle grass. Following our compasses we eventually found the long reef ledge and swam a slow, comfortable pace, watching fish in their aquatic playground. It's amazing how at first on a dive you can be completely overwhelmed by all there is to see, shimmering scales grabbing your attention every few seconds, but when you settle down and focus on one patch of reef, one coral, one fish, you notice so much more that wasn't obvious at first glance. In any section of a reef you can watch a creature reveal a telling detail about its once-elusive character: a fish with a piece of coral in its mouth, a sea mollusk with a spotted pattern latched onto a soft coral, a juvenile filefish circling a rock with near-transparent fins swirling like the tiniest fan.

     A reef really is the most diverse and magical place imaginable, each crack and crevice of rock positively crammed with life. You could come back to these sites again and again and see something new every single time. On every dive, as I observe the creatures around me and make sure to leave the reef completely untouched, I feel incredibly privileged to have this opportunity to explore such intriguing places. It's obvious that this is an exhilarating sport when we all return from each dive eager to share what we saw with each other and ready to plan out the next day's dive.

     Today we continued diving and switched locations. Sarah and I explored "Kelly's Cove" with Jamie snorkeling at the surface following our meandering bubbles, and later in the day Mom and Dad discovered a nurse shark and an impossibly large crab hiding beneath the rocks of the "Sandy Ledges." That makes our second nurse shark sighting, the first being caught on Brooke's camera while snorkeling on a reef in Eustatia Sound.

     Tomorrow we will explore a site called Angelfish Reef at the edge of Privateer Bay while Jamie completes his first day of open water dives. Unfortunately there's no internet here, so pictures will have to wait.

All the best,
Nicole.
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Tuesday, January 3, 2012

On Endings and Beginnings

     Today we said farewell to Brooke and Granny H. as they set off on their air travels to return home to the cold white North. Spending the holidays together on the boat was such a happy and refreshing experience for all. Being able to share some of our sailing experiences with them felt rewarding and let us look at the beauty around us with fresh eyes. Having the family together again reminds me of how important it is to spend time with the people you love and how lucky we all are to have one another. We won't soon forget all the fun had and the places explored while together.

     The end of the holidays and beginning of a new year marks a fresh phase in this trip. Now four months in, we will soon leave the Virgin Islands to explore the leeward and windward islands. I look towards moving on to different destinations as a new goal. There's something in the concept of change and in movement that I find exciting and invigorating. I guess it's part of the constant need to have something interesting to look forward to. I blame the parents for this characteristic restlessness, always taking us to awesome places and involving us in new sports and activities. Blame, and thank them, because this is a characteristic that will always ensure my life doesn't become stagnant or boring.

     Anyways, before I get ahead of myself in the excitement of setting off towards new horizons, first I'd like to officially welcome our newest crew member Jamie on board! The rest of us are so happy and excited to have him with us for the rest of the trip and hope he doesn't get tired of us too quickly! Check out the newest bio on the "Crew" page of the blog for a few snippets of info.

     At this point we will remain in the BVI until later in January to get Jamie his scuba certification and get as much diving in as we can before moving on.

Happy 2012,
Nicole.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

"The Baths" at Virgin Gorda


     Today we grabbed a National Park mooring off the south-west end of Virgin Gorda and snorkeled to shore to visit the famous rock formations known as "The Baths". This area of the island is strikingly different from the rest of Virgin Gorda. Large clumps of granite boulders dapple among the twisting limbs of mangroves, contrasting with pale beaches tucked between stone piles, creating a panorama of green, brown and gold. This area of the island is so different from the rest of the Virgin Islands that you can't help but wonder how these rock formations occurred. One of our numerous guide books notes that a trip to the baths is an essential part of visiting Virgin Gorda because, "Where the sea washes in between the huge rocks, large pools have been created where shafts of light play upon the water, creating a dramatic effect."


     On our way to the beach we (the kids) were distracted by the beautiful sea life clinging to the bottom near the boulder-strewn shore and couldn't resist diving down to take photos. Washing up on the beach we left our fins with Granny H. and made our way into the crevices of the baths and felt like explorers discovering cool clear pools and hidden cracks between massive boulders. Eventually the trail led to a tiny beach called Devil's Bay with water as blue and clear as a pool. Here Jamie found a small crack between rocks where the swell washes in creating a washing-machine-like wave pool where you can enjoy yourself floating back and forth on the sandy bottom whilst gathering a surprising amount of sand in your bathing suit bottoms. Exploring the baths made us wonder what it must have felt like to be the first to discover such a unique place. I can say with surety that visiting the baths with my siblings is one part of this holiday that I will always remember in the future.

Enjoy the photos :)
Nicole.