Beach Panorama

Beach Panorama

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Some parting shots!

We wanted to share with you some of the pics from our last dive...at the "Painted Wall", Dead Chest Island. The wind and waves were too rough to see the southern side of the wall, so we chose to stay on the north side. It was fantastic. It was a shallow dive...about 35' at the deepest.

This barrel sponge is about 3' tall

There were a lot of gorgonians (the bushy plant-looking things)


Here's a Hawksbill turtle, hiding under a rock

We just loved this sponge formation on top of this rock

A large school of Blue Tang


Another Hawksbill turtle, resting under a coral head 

A retired nurse/accountant adrift on the sea

A relaxing sasquatch


WE'LL SEE YA ON THE FLIP SIDE!

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Last hurrahs of the season with friends

Sadly, we're close to the end of our sailing season. It has been a good year for us, tempered with the passing away of Mom. We were able to spend time with most of last season's friends as well as make many more this year. Here's some pictures of good times spent with some of these friends:


Dave Busby shared a meal with us at The Fat Virgin Cafe
on Virgin Gorda


The seagull adds to the ambiance, don't you think?


Dave and I hiked some of the trails on Norman Island

Looking into Benures Bay, Norman Island.
Dave's boat is farthest to the right and
ours is on top end of the bay...
you see them, don't you?

We found this tree pretty interesting...it appears to
have a face of a ghoul on its lower RH section

We had a really nice evening with Karen and Herb Seil for my Karen's Birthday. We had stopped over to visit them in Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda while they were having their boat hauled out for the summer. We plan on stopping by their place in Ohio on our way back to Montana. We sure worked that one out...we're holding their notepad computer for ransom!

Karen and Herb have been very helpful to us,
showing us the "ropes" living and sailing on your own boat...
they have an almost identical boat to ours
that they have been using in the BVI
for years.

On one of our recent trips into Nanny Cay, we picked up Peter and Priscilla for a day sail. We headed out with every intention of sailing, but the winds wouldn't cooperate...just too light. We gave it a try, though. Two hours of slooowly making our way to Manchioneel Bay, Cooper Island, and we were about 1/3 the way there...2 1/2 miles out of 7. We did what any prudent sailor would do with wives on board...we turned on the motor. After a memorable lunch, we strolled along the beach looking at some of the nice improvements made to the area. Later, we returned to the boat where Peter, Priscilla and I took our dinghy over to Cistern Point and reef area for some snorkling.

Flat calm, baby...no wind at all to play with


We saw a rather unique elkhorn coral at Cistern Point reef



Peter and Priscilla

Priscilla and Peter

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Boat wrecks, big and small

You've read about our visits to Scrub Island. It's such a nice place, with the fine dining, pool, and friendly people. We had been told that the resort was getting a brand new ferry...one that could transport their guests in style to and from the dock next to the airport. It was delivered, finally, and started it's service runs.

Unfortunately, after a couple of weeks into the service it became necessary to haul the boat back out of the water for some repair work...the captain (with passengers) ran the boat up onto the "well-marked" reef..............
There she is in all her "glory"

Damage to the bow


Nothin' that a little bit of bondo couldn't fix
Kinda adds new meaning to the description
about a boat being a hole in the water that you
dump a whole lot of money into

I have my hand extended clear up into the deck area
This hole is on the RH side of the boat...there's a
matching one on the other side.
There didn't appear to be any damage to the engine assemblies, but I'm sure there was a lot of pride left on the reef. At least the boat didn't sink...it was mostly perched high and dry on top of the reef.
Karen was able to dive The Rhone, finally. We had great weather, but due to a lot of tiny critters in the water, visibility was fairly poor. She still had a great time...it's one of the dives she has wanted to do. The wreck site is spread over about 800' of seabed. The area we concentrated on (the stern section) was the same one Tom Rambow and I went to in April. The middle and bow sections are in deeper water and we'll probably need to try that one next year.

Karen's prerequisite photo next to The Rhones propeller

Some of the ship's ribs


A 30" horse-eyed Jack that swam next to us

A school of squirrel fish in the wreckage


I followed Karen around some of the adjacent reef area

Karen is swimming past some of the wreck

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Finally, we get a vacation!

Antigua Sunset
I know you've all been there....you work all year long, slaving for "the man"; enduring the hardships of the months that never seem to end; weather that is gloomy; the stresses that seem to build...then there's this light that starts to glow on the horizon. As the days get closer to "The Vacation", anticipation starts to set in...the days seem to get longer, and you feel as though "The Day" will never get here. FINALLY, IT'S HERE!




Rib Steak, Caribbean-style
Half of a lobster tail 
Well, we feel your pain also. Our vacation was a short flight to Antigua, the home of our honeymoon 11 years ago. Our adventure started with the departure flight from Tortola being delayed about 3 hours. Evidently, the thrust from a heavy Virgin Airlines aircraft leaving Antigua had ripped up some of the runway, so planes couldn't depart or arrive at the airport. When we did get in, the rental car company had just closed their doors (even though they assured us they would wait for the delayed flights); Off in the taxi we went. Arriving at our hotel, the desk clerk couldn't find our registration. We did get a room for the night, finding out later the one we originally booked was "under renovation." The next morning, we met the two women (Mary and Marilyn) who were staying in our "under renovation" room...they were wondering why the room seemed so unorganized and dirty. We all were given better accomodations along the beachfront and, despite the "old" condition of the rooms, we were happy. The hotel had a wonderful restaurant over the water at the end of a dock. We sure enjoyed the food; some of the best steak Karen has had in the islands, and my lobster was pretty good also (It didn't measure up to that which comes fresh out of the sea by your own hands)

A second honeymoon celebration



The lady who cleaned our room (Blondie...and no, she wasn't blonde) really appreciated the daily tips we gave, and tried to make our stay a little special.

One of Blondie's daily flower arrangements she left us
Mary and Marilyn, in their room above us, overlooking the sea
When we had booked our reservation week to Antigua, we were unaware that it coincided with one of the premier sailing competitions in the Caribbean...Antigua Sail Week. It and the Classic Regatta of the previous month, comprise some of the best sail racing in the region. Yachts come to compete  from all over the region, as well as some from Australia, Europe and the US. We had heard there were over 80 sailboats in the competition. Our hotel happened to be on the other side of the island from most of the sailing activities, so we needed a car. We've driven quite a bit while in the USVI/BVI...it's all left-hand driving as you would expect in Briitish-influenced islands. What made it easier for us to adapt to was that most of the vehicles are still configured like those in the US...steering wheel on the LH side of the vehicle.

Not so in Antigua! Yes, it's still left-hand driving on the roads, but virtually all of the vehicles are set up like "proper British" vehicles.

I don't know why Karen always felt it necessary to fasten her seatbelt


I kept turning on the wiper blades everytime I thought I was using the turn signal

Most of the sailing activities were down in Nelson's Dockyard, one of the few remaining marinas in the world that still retain the original structures from the early 1800's. It's quite a historic place with some of the original artifacts on display in many of the buildings.


The museum's floor was painted red, as an example
of what the early warships did for their decks...to help
mask the blood from many of their battles


Part of the original Kitchen

The original Officer's Quarters, recently renovated


This is the area where the ships would be docked under a building, then the
sails would be hoisted up through the building's floor to be repaired


This would look great on the bow of our boat
We didn't get to participate in any of the sailing...I wanted to though...but did enjoy the marina area. We talked with some of the boaters, enjoyed a meal along the pier and strolled around the area.


Some of the many race boats in the marina

We drove around other areas of the island to see what we could see....

One of the many military buildings situated on
the hills surrounding the main harbor


The view from "Shirley Heights" looking into English Harbor.
Nelson's Dockyard is in the upper right area, just beyond the boats
anchored

An alleyway in the main city, St. John

Let's see...they needed to build the sidwalk, but the fire hydrant was
in the way. Should they relocate it, or?
We picked up Mary and Marilyn for an evening out among the sailing crowd. Everyone was celebrating the happy times of Antigua Sailing Week and, evidently, no hard feelings were had for the losers...All were enjoying the alcohol and food. Many of the locals set up booths for their food specialties; there were local "provisions" (root vegetables like potatoes), seafood (including lobster), steaks, deep-fried you-name-it, etc. And lots of beer. Unfortunately, for me no one seemed to consider that some of us really like desserts.


Karen, Mary and Marilyn at one of the marina "beer garden"

We all enjoyed the seafood, including the lobster


The cook enjoyed having her picture taken, after
cooking our seafood and lobster




Capt. Jack Sparrow, and friends stopped the girls and wanted
to get a photo with them