2-10-11, Nanny Cay Marina, BVI

We finally decided to give take a break from anchoring or mooring and spend 2 days in a marina.  That gives me time to catch up on my blog and enjoy a normal resort vacation for a couple of days.  We have been traveling from St. Thomas to some of the USVI out islands, St. John, and many of the British VI out islands.  While in St. John, I noticed that my raw water pump was leaking a little.  We docked in Red Hook, St. Thomas and I took the pump to Offshore Marine Co. They put a new seal in for me.  They had the right parts.  When I started the engine back up, the pump leaked worst than before.  It was Sunday and Offshore Marine was closed.  I took the pump apart and figured out what they did wrong and now it is as good as new.    
The weather is beautiful.  80 degrees every day and 73 degrees every night.  When it rains is rains for about 10 minutes and then it clears up.
My refrigerator works great now that I have the solar panels installed (two 135 KW panels).  With the water temperature at 78 degrees and the warm temperatures, I need to keep the refrigerator on all day and run it for a couple hours at night.  At night I run the engine to power the refrigerator, but during the day the solar panel easily do the job.
Nicki has been here for the last 4 weeks and she is going back to Florida in another week.  I will be on my own for a few weeks until Erin comes back down and we start the trip back through the Bahamas.

                          Some of the island iguanas.

                        Where the sat while I was in Florida for a month.

 Nicki enjoying a drink before lunch at a resort we stopped at.

Enjoying the nice weather and a drink before lunch.

A resort we anchored at.

The new solar panels installed.

Jan. 13, 2011 St. Thomas, USVI

Nicki and I are at the boat in St. Thomas.  We are docked at Crown Bay Marina waiting for the solar panels that I ordered.  They arrived at the seaport last night and I should have them tomorrow sometime.  We will probably head out Friday or Saturday to a bay with a beach.  We walked over to the area where the cruise ships dock today.

We were in Michigan last weekend to remind us how cold it is back home.

                     One of our Iguana friends sunning on the rocks

                 A large cruise ship, where our boat would fit into one of the rooms.

]

12/27/2010 in Florida

I am in Florida for the Holidays with the boat at the dock in St. Thomas at Crown Bay Marina.  The family had a great Christmas in Mt. Dora.  Nicki and I will fly down to St. Thomas for some more island cruising on January 11th.  Nicki does not have a return ticket yet, so she may decide she likes the warm weather.  Most of the pictures are from when Erin visited the Islands for a week.  I will post more when we return to the Islands, but they will be spaced out erratically.  Internet access is limited.

                                   Erin on a trail on St. Johns Island

                                 Dave at a Sugar Mill ruin

                                        A waterfall on St. Johns Island

                                 Some of the wildlife we ran into on a trail.

                                          Another Sugar Mill Ruin

                                 They like their loud colors in the BVI

                                  Erin in front of one of the caves at Treasure Point.

                                     After snorkeling at treasure point.

                              The Indians rocks, a snorkel spot in the BVI.

                               Erin on one of the nearly deserted beaches.

                                           On the Billy T boat bar.

                                  Our new house in Mt. Dora, FL

The family photo in Florida

ST. Thomas, USVI

The crew has all gone home and Erin has arrived for a one week stay.  After that I go to Florida for Christmas and New Years and then back to St. Thomas with Nicki.

This is the crest of one of the large waves that helped push us to the islands.  As you can see the crests are far apart, but when in between crests you can not see anything but the front of one and the back of the other.

These are the motorcycles we rented to tour St. Thomas

                                     Another rough day in the office.

Kyle with a Conch that he picked up, cooked and ate.

The group at Foxy's Restaurant on Jost Van Dyke

Another sunset while anchored in a bay.

The crew on their last day in the Virgin Islands

The dinghy



Honeymoon Bay, USVI. 11/20/10

Just another day in paradise.  We spent the day in Honeymoon bay, snorkeling and swimming.  There is a small bar on the beach that Jim and Karen went to for an evening cocktail.  Today we plan to go to Christmas cove, where the snorkeling is supposed to be very good. 

St. Thomas, USVI, 11-19-10

We made it to St. Thomas in 10 days.  The wind was behind us the whole way.  The waves were big but rolling.  We only had one 2 hour spell of 40 knot winds behind us.  The rest of the way it was 15 to 30 knots and a very nice ride.  The traditional easterly winds did not kick in until we arrived in St. Thomas.  The weather is great, but I have very limited access to the internet.  All is well. 

11-4-2010, Norfolk.VA

The boat has been in Norfolk for two weeks now.  The winds are out of the South today.  Hurricane Tomas is still close to Hatti and is projected to move North from there.  We plan to leave Norfolk tomorrow morning.  We will be heading South instead of SE toward St. Thomas.  By Monday we expect Hurricane Tomas will be well North of our position.  I have a Satellite phone to keep in contact with Nicki and/or Steve for daily updates on the weather.  We also have a SSB receiver to pick up broadcast weather information.  We expect to have a NW wind for the next two or three days.  This will probably be my last update until we get to St. Thomas, unless we are forced back to the coast due to bad weather.


                             All is well in the marina the night before departure

The Battleship Wisconsin

The Nauticus Museum and Battleship Wisconsin that we toured while in Norfolk

A ship in Chesapeake Bay Harbor

Kyle flirting with the locals