We paid the marina bills, let go the lines on "ARITA" and headed out to sea to do some sightseeing and sailing through the VIRGIN ISLANDS, on our way back to PUERTO RICO where we intend to do all the major stuff on "SOUTHERN COMFORT", our future 'Home on the Seas' ........ Now the BVIS, (That's British Virgin Islands) have some spectacular locations like these granitic boulders on the beach at "The Baths" ...... And there are many beautiful things to be found on the beaches, particularly at this time of the year, when to the north of us there is snow and ice in the U.S. and Canada ...... Brrrrrrr ..... Don't know how they do it ......
First though, we sailed around to North Sound on Virgin Gorda and spent the day swimming and beach-combing and seeing the tall ships at anchor loaded with tourists out to enjoy the sunshine and the blue water ...... Met up with Steve, Ruth and Heather on the yacht 'Clear Day', whom we hadn't seen since the Bahamas two years ago ..... A beautiful 'Hylas' sloop .... That's "ARITA" not "CLEAR DAY" in the photo above on the right ......
And around the bay are little islands with hide-away resorts, the sort that are perfect for private honeymoon getaway ...... And a little further around the corner is 'Necker Island', Sir Richard Branson's little bit of Paradise ...... Rentable at royalty prices, or at least for a couple of oil wells a week ...... We get the same views for free, every time we anchor .... Now who wouldn't want to go cruising ...... Which reminds me to remind you, that our beautiful yacht "ARITA" is now 'For Sale' and fully equiped and cruise-ready, and we are not looking for an oil well in exchange ..... You can step on board and we'll step off ..... Just like that ....... Our email addresses are down below and all the pictures are on www.stthomasyachts.com ........ Meantime, we'll sail some more and keep working on the new boat ......
A day later we sail around to "The Baths" and show our friend Linda the sights ...... By now you have obviously realized that "The Queen of Florida and the Bahamas" is perfectly at home in a swimsuit ....... And loving it .....
And so is Linda ......... And I specifically asked them for some 'Hollywood Catwalk Poses' ..... And got it ....... I wonder if they walk like that in Beverly Hills ? .......... Must be hell on the pelvis .....
Not everybody is there in swimsuits ........ Doesn't mean you can't enjoy it just the same ...... These boulders really are spectacular .......
Most of the islands are volcanic with fine-grained basaltic type rocks exposed and weathered, with deep bays all around that provide poor holding for anchoring, but here at 'The Baths' there is an outcrop of coarse-grained granite, that over time has exfoliated and the layers have shed like onion peels and left these sculptured fragments and rounded boulders ...... The granite weathers to white sand and that makes this place, with its white sandy beaches and clear blue water, even more exotic ...... A kid's paradise for exploration, and adults don't do so badly either ...... Just caught a glimpse of a pidgeon feeding on sea-grapes ...... Such smooth feathers ..... Almost not real ...... Tried to get a photo from a different angle, but each time I moved he moved also, so as to be fully enclosed by the branches ....... Clever pidgeon and well camouflaged ......
And on to 'Road Harbour' on the island of TORTOLA, but not before spending the night anchored off Marina Cay ..... Look at all the wrecked ships in the harbour when hurricanes two years ago took a swipe at the island, while only five miles away our " SOUTHERN COMFORT" sat high and dry above the ground and sustained no damage at all ....
That cruise ship with the high stern we thought was the World's largest cruise liner .... Some phenomenal statistics not worth repeating ...... But it turned out to be another ...... We saw most of the passengers in town where we went to clear Customs and Immigration so as to officially leave the BVIs and enter the USVIs ...... That's an imaginary line a couple of miles outside the harbour ...... You could sail out there in the afternoon and cross that line a dozen times on a good tack to windward ....... "So which country are we in now"? ..... "Don't know and don't care" ......
But it sure is a colourful 'mecca' for tourists, who may be short of a T-shirt or two ..... Even this rooster doing his aerobics in the middle of the stalls is uniquely colourful .....
Back on board "ARITA" life is peaceful and tranquil unlike the cruise ships where it is hyper-active, day and night .......
Beautiful anchorages in a place where celebrating "Christmas" is almost an enigma ...... The best they can do is hang some coloured lights on a palm tree .... We actually had a wonderful dinner out on 'Bellamy Cay' at a restaurant called 'The Last Resort' .... A really special treat, something we rarely do as cruisers for we are on a cruising budget ......
And it therefore required some special grooming from my personal barber who removed 'inches of excess' ...... Now not everybody gets the benefit of a barber in a swimsuit, though I'm sure many wish it were so .......
A nice little sail to 'Coral Bay' on the island of St. John in the USVI, where the girls swam, snorkeled and shampooed with great delight ..... Just look at the symmetry of this exo-skeleton of a sea urchin ............. Nature is just awesome .....
Then another nice sail along the lee shore of St. Johns island all the way past St. Thomas to the Port of 'Charlotte Amelie', where by now the wind is gusting well in excess of 20-25 knots ...... Blustery and rainy, but we make it ashore to see the sights and buy a little wine for the "Queen's Birthday" coming up soon ...... And yes, this was our dinner out at ' The Last Resort' .....
We've tucked ourselves right into a corner of the bay so as to avoid those gusts that sweep down from the mountains ....... Linda's visit has been good for both of them and they have thoroughly enjoyed each other's company ......
Just have to show you some more tropical flowers in case you thought we lost our touch ......
The same goes for these French and Canadian visitors who admired "ARITA" but did not leave us with a cheque ...... We are likely to see them again next year in PUERTO RICO ......
And sometimes you can't believe what you see .......... Even from far away ..... it was the crew standing on the underwater 'wave-breaker' ........
Just as we were leaving the harbour in St. Thomas this seaplane came in for a landing only to divert at the last moment to avoid hitting our masts and do another circle before landing over the top of us .... These photos were taken on the second time around ...... This time we had warning ..... His approach is through the gap between two hills with limited vision .......
And it all looked pretty calm for a good sail over to CULEBRA in PUERTO RICO, the final leg, but by the time we hit the open ocean, the swell generated by the last few days of stormy weather had left some sizeable waves in various directions ............ Not fun ..... Dropped the mainsail and sailed along under half-a-genoa and still did 8.3 knots ..... Sleigh ride ..... I'ts a Christmas thing, I guess ...... Very bumpy and very, very lumpy ...... But a wonderful feeling to re-enter 'Bahia Honda' in Culebra and to see familiar yachts and wonderful friends ....... One of the many pleasures of cruising ....... Before we left VIRGIN GORDA on this week's little cruise we needed to clean the bottom of the dinghy .... Amazing how much slime and weed can become attached in just four weeks ...... Oh, and I thought someone had painted a blue bikini bottom on the boulders at "The Baths", but it turned out to be just a bit of sky ........
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