First part of our Idaho summer

Welcome to North Idaho,

and Twinlow Camp and Retreat Center

 

We loved our time and work at the camp. Tyler Wagner, the camp's director, invited us to work there for this summer. We were hired as part-time employees, but you could've doubted that by the hours we put in. When you have something you enjoy and have the freedom to do it in your own time frame, it no longer feels like work and more like playtime.

 

And we like playtime!

 

I was in charge of the maintenance of the camp (everything from replacing lawnmower blades to light bulbs) and Karen was responsible for bringing in new revenue guests, spreading the love to the current ones and just being Karen. As you can see, Tyler saw right off where our talents were best used! We joined the team of Tyler, "Griz" (the program director), Heather/Roxanne/Erin (the fantastic chefs) and 20 college-aged counselors.

 

Some of the challenges we all faced were tough, but I can honestly say that we enjoyed our time together...we even found reasons to joke when I had to replace a toilet or two that were sabotaged by teenagers dropping their sunglasses in for the fun of it. (it didn't seem so funny at the time, though)

 

 

Here are some of the guest-group ladies, quilting in Selkirk Lodge

One of the best "perks" of the job was our friends and family were invited to join us at the camp, to use the facilities and enjoy the meals and campfires!

We sure made use of that!! 

 

 

Granddaughter Destiny waiting for the boating activities to begin



Daughter Alysia and another granddaughter Andresa,
looking lovely at the waterfront

Luke and his dad, Steve, lighting fire crackers
to drop in the water...they actually work most of the time,
exploding underwater! Tyler's wife, Lizzie, in the background.



Chris, getting sandwiched between her boys



Captain Tyler and his crew, heading out for an evening
of 4th of July fireworks at the lake

 

Some of the tasks I needed to get done were actually accomplished by volunteers, including some visiting NOMADs...Sharon/Gary and Evelyn/Tom.

 

This year's volunteers were involved in painting, installing new windows, working on docks, finishing decks on cabins, landscape maintenance, fixing broken mowers and a whole host of things that made my job so much easier.



Sharon and Gary, NOMAD's that helped at the camp. Not pictured
are the other NOMADs Tom and Evelyn

 

 We took a timely break from our work and traveled to Kalispell, MT for a visit with our friends Charles and Carol. You may recall previous blog entries with them and their boat "Montana Sky."

 

Wonderful food, a visit to the Bigfork Summer Playhouse, a venture out onto Flathead Lake in the their smaller sailboat and a ride through the woods on their horses. Can you call it a vacation, when you are already retired?

 

As this is being typed, they have left this morning from Wilmington, NC on "Montana Sky" for Antigua. Yes folks, across the blue waters of the North Atlantic...10 days with nothing but water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink...and ground to step on...and at the mercy of whatever the weather and seas can throw at them...by themselves. Seriously, folks...I sure would've liked to have joined them!!

 

Please join us in our prayers for their safe passage!



Carol, on the foredeck of their Montana sailboat



Charles getting the royal treatment to prevent rain from
getting in his hair



Charles and Carol, at the trailhead near Big Mountain Ski Resort



Carol and Tully




Charles and me on our "knotheads" 

Another couple that joined us for fun at Twinlow were Gregg and Cyndi Pruett. So fun to play Phase 10 with them, although there's always "discussion" on who's the real winner, winner of the chicken dinner. (I think it's Gregg and me, since we are better eaters than cooks) 

Gregg is photo bombing the girls

 The largest group we hosted for the summer was the Northwest Youth Camp...about 250 folks, (mostly teens) that we provided food (eating in shifts,) operating toilets, life guards to keep them safe on the waterfront and a whole lot of beds.

 

Northwest Youth Camp, with most inside the 100'x50' tent

Tristin (one of Tyler's and Lizzie's) trying out his "horse-bite" technique
on the master.

Sunset over Lower Twin Lake

I will be sharing more of the summer next time, but here's a small teaser...

Karen is holding a lion rug blanket she made for a little someone special!

 
 

 

 

Below the waterline, with Cyndi and Gregg and Karen

Sitting near the Chimney

For some of our last dives of the season, Cyndi and Gregg provided me with ample opportunity to get some "bottom time." I believe we went on at least 6 dives during their stay with us, mostly to places we had never been to. It's always exciting to see some new sights, although the fun of being together is the most special.

 

One place we did visit again this year was the Chimney. It is becoming on of the more popular dives in the BVI and this year proved to be a challenge to find a place to "park" the boat...no sooner than we had the boat tied to the mooring (the only one available of the four) and a commercial dive boat came over and asked us to vacate the commercial mooring. Dang...if we only could've been in the water already and we wouldn't have had to move. Anyway, we attempted anchoring in a sandy area with little luck due to lack of swing room. Fortunately, we were able to grab another mooring after some folks left. Down into the water we went and had the time of our life...we even spent more time at the Chimney area than ever before. Below are some more of the photos of the dive.

 

corals and sponges



nice blue coral



brain coral



pencil gorgonian



black coral



feather duster tube worm



donkey dung sea cucumber

 

 One of the other dives was at Diamond Reef. The site gets visited so often, that it appears the fish are used to being fed...sure was a lot of them following us around.



me, swimming normal



Gregg, doing a handstand
(turn computer sideways for effect)



nice formation of fire coral growing on an
ancient elkhorn coral



nice formation of sponge and algae on our rudder
(turn computer sideways for correct alignment)



another fine feather duster tube worm



clear bell tunicates on a gorgonian



blue bell tunicates sharing space with colorful sponges and coral

 

 

Cyndi and Gregg were singing..."so long, farewell, we
bid you adieu to you and you and you"

 

Karen and I spent some quality time below the boat...in Christmas Cove. I'm constantly reminded how fun it is to dive with her. She sees so much more than I do, usually because I'm swimming too fast. When I slow down to her speed, I get to see a lot of things that are unique:

 

a rarely seen, colorful sea slug
about 3/4" long...



...spotted in the sea grass under our boat...



...by sharp-eyed Karen

 

See ya next season!

 

 

 

Gregg and Cyndi, above water

Yep, I'm still alive...I've been lazy and not served you all well. We've had a full plate for the last month and half...getting the boat ready for haulout and leaving the islands, flying back to the states, dentist and doctor appointments, visiting friends and relatives and, in all, driving over 1,500 miles to get to Rathdrum, ID to help out at one of the youth camps for the summer. I will try to be a bit more active with the blog...


The playtime last summer with Gregg and Cyndi continued this winter, with their return to the islands for their second sail with us (8 days). This allowed us to take them to places they were unable to see in 2012.

We took sooooo many pictures, the blog would need to be about 5 postings long to get a lot of narrative in with the pics, so I will spare you some of the writing and show a few of the hundreds of pics we all took. This blog will be about the land visits...the next will be the diving!

They arrived into the BVI (Sopers Hole) via the ferry from St. Thomas. We provisioned the boat and then motored to Cane Garden Bay for the night.

Cane Garden Bay Photos



Enjoying the wall art on one of the buildings



Entrance to Callwood Rum Distillery. The favorite flavor
we decided on...the popularly-called "Lose Your Panties Rum"



Gregg and Cyndi are liking the atmosphere at Myett's...



We are still there...in the afternoon...



Toddy and Sue heard about the get-together and
joined us later...

We actually looked up/down the beach at the other restaurants for the evening's dinner...either they were closed or "unappetizing"...so we returned to Myett's and had a "mah-ve-lous time, dah-ling."



...and we are still there in the evening!

The next day, we sailed to Jost Van Dyke Island for visits to some of the attractions in Great Harbor...Corsair's, the ice cream shop, the dive shop and, especially, Foxy's!

Jost Van Dyke Photos:



Actual proof of our visit. I was there...I'm holding camera



Behind Foxy's, the "Endeavor II" sailboat is under construction...
slowly...the delay to finish is due to $$ and time.
It is fashioned after some of the early island work sailboats.
Maybe it will be completed in a year or two.



Photo on Foxy's wall, with Kenny Chesney and him "jammin'"

Our next day's sail took us north of Tortola, south of Guana Island and then to Great Camino for the night. We rounded Monkey Point on Guana (with 3 other boats) and discovered the race was on for Lee Bay. There's usually no more than two other boats there. I have no idea where all the boats were coming from, but when we got closer we noticed the bay was full...7 boats! The decision was made to go north to the next bay (where no one ever goes) and try it out. Perfect place to anchor and dive, we found out!

 

An early start for Trellis in the morning was in order, as the bay would fill up quickly for the Full Moon Party. We found a great place...one of the last mooring balls...at 9am! It is always fun, but a little sad also, to watch the folks show up late for the party. Yes, there's about 100 mooring balls in the bay, but trust me on this: if you want a mooring...don't show up after 12pm and expect one available. The following day, we dove at "Diamond Reef"...just across from Trellis Bay.

Trellis Bay Photos:



The "Esperanza", an old sailboat that belonged to
Michael "Beans" Gardner. He sailed this up and down
the island chain...22' with 4 people. Its final resting place is
near Aragorn's Studio.



The "burning men" on fire at the Full Moon Party



Cyndi and Gregg, whooping it up with the crowd...



and then relaxing in one of the largest hammocks in the islands.



The tanned, happy couple!

Karen and Cyndi, with William Baldwin
and some of the mocko jumbies! 

We had a really long, enjoyable sail to the North Sound of Virgin Gorda, anchoring for the night in the Leverick Bay area to see the Michael "Beans" show...and a visit to Flip Flop beach!

Virgin Gorda,
Leverick Bay Photos:



Gregg and Cyndi get their party faces ready for Michael "Beans" show!

Cyndi and Gregg tried their best to win the conch-blowing
contest...but despite the extensive high-quality training
we provided, they were defeated.



I've been told that girls are attracted to pirates...
and here's more proof!

 

First and foremost, Michael gets the kids involved in his show



The winners of the pirate-naming contest. Winners are offered a swig
of his rum swill-in-a-bottle, if you dare.

Positive proof that you need to get there early or make a table
reservation ahead of your arrival!

New and old pirates!

Gregg and I get to pose as mocko jumbies....



...but we know that at the end of the evening, we get
to go home with the prettiest girls!

 

Whilst the girls of the group scrounged for errant flip flips at
Flip Flop Beach, the guys harvested coconuts...
 

...and tossed some like tiny footballs.

Cyndi and Karen set a new world record in recovered flip flops...and
hats and other miscellaneous stuff in all levels of decay.

 

We motored the boat from Leverick Bay to seek out a dive spot next to Necker Island (belonging to Sir Richard Branson.) The waves and wind were up, but seasoned divers like us aren't easily turned away. I thought we found a nice sandy spot to anchor in and couldn't believe how tight the anchor set on the bottom. By then the wind picked up even more, so we decided to leave...but the nicely set anchor wouldn't release. A lot of winching, maneuvering the boat and so forth finally brought anchor aboard...bent into a nice arc. Seems we were actually hooked into a crack in the limestone bottom...not sand. (Enter a real big sigh here)


Sir Richard's home, under construction after last year's fire.

Who would've guessed this nice sandy islet had a hard limestone base.

We toyed with the idea of spending the night in Eustatia Sound, but it wasn't very protected from the weather...soooo...we headed back into the North Sound and towards the Bitter End Yacht Club, anchoring between it and Biras Creek Resort. Unfortunately, the other anchor I attached didn't set well, so we (Gregg and I) graciously accepted Karen's advice to "just grab a mooring so we don't have to worry about the weather." No sooner than we tied off onto the mooring when a powerful rain squall came through, lasting about 1/2 hour. Divine guidance through my wife!

 

Bitter End Yacht Club Photos:

Sssssseeeee, there'ssssss sssssnakessssss in thesssse islandssssssss

 

Up on the trail behind the resort

 

Prickly pear flower

Hope you enjoyed the pics...next, comes the diving!