FOR JUST ONE DAY A YEAR .................................

Finally, yes finally...............We were able to extricate ourselves from PUERTO RICO and the beautiful, warm and hospitable Spanish Virgin Islands............And travel only a short distance to the U.S. Virgin Islands and St. THOMAS where evidence of the recent hurricane EARL could be seen on the foreshore................Inside the channel where there once was a steel dolphin marker, there is now only a remnant sticking above the water ............The 'guide' has become the 'hazard' ............We load up with fuel and water, anchor in the harbour at CHARLOTTE AMALIE and wake up in the morning to a world gone mad...................CHRISTMAS DAY AND NOT A SINGLE CRUISE SHIP ANYWHERE ................ .........No traffic, no people, no noise ....................And it stayed that way all day .......What a shock to the system ............



The "Queen of Everything" still manages to call all those within reach and wish them the SEASON'S GREETINGS ............
Doesn't it just kill you..............86 degrees Fahrenheit, wearing a bikini under that rainbow piece of chiffon, and still standing with both feet in the Northern Hemisphere ............. Photos like this probably cause me to lose cold-weather friends, but .... Oh, well...... No wonder everybody wants to jump on a cruise ship this time of the year ..... And there were certainly plenty of "Mega Yachts" and private yachts in the harbour .....................All, without exception, flying the flags of those little island countries barely a hundred feet above water, where there are more banks than people ................ Now why is that?

"OOPSIE" ................Someone on 'CAKEWALK' has left the garage door open ...... We have found out subsequently that this is the largest private yacht built in the USA since 1930, and at a cost of $US 82m ............plus some change....



And here is something truly amazing .............. A sailing yacht giving birth to a baby yacht .............. Awesome, and no doubt the other black-hulled sailing yacht is also expecting, for look at the size of it compared to the size of the people on deck ................ We watched as more than forty people emerged from down below ....................(Double click on the photo to enlarge it)..........



A day after Christmas and everything is back to normal ...............Obviously 'Google Earth' must have taken the aerial photo on Christmas Day ............Plenty of yachts at anchor but no cruise ships.



The U.S. VIRGINS were purchased from Denmark in 1917, obviously with the intention of building a long cruise ship dock, and today the islands are a mixture of cultures, religions and ethnic groups clearly seen in the market places along the waterfront .............



But when you suddenly realize that a 30ft high palm tree outside 'HOOTERS", in St. Thomas, is made entirely of fake plastic ( what a perfect place for it and not half subtle, is it?), then it is time to pick up anchor and 'mosey-on-out' .............. first we escape the International Cruise ship pirates, and after rounding this rocky outcrop near Caneel Bay in the island of St. John, we put the anchor down again in beautiful TRUNK BAY .............. More to follow later ................