12/05/2009 Today we sailed over to Christmas Cove. This is a great way to start a sail trip down here. It is an easy sail and a great place to snorkel. I made my first night snorkel. Titus and 
I took our underwater flashlights and swam over 
to the rock island and looked for fish in the dark. I was kind of surprised at the lack of fish. I guess they must sleep also.12/06/2009 From Christmas Cove we sailed
over to Trunk Bay. There we snorkeled on the reef and hung out on the beach. After hanging out here we then motored to Francis Bay. I am sure this is starting to sound like a broken record as this is the same trip I keep making, but it is an enjoyable trip and beautiful places to see for everyone that comes down and visits.
12/07/2009 This morning we hiked over to the Annaberg Sugar Mill Ruins. This time there, there were two woman that answered questions for people visiting. They gave us a personal tour and provided a lot of insight into the history of the mill how the sugar was processed, or as in the 
case of St John, not fully processed. The final processing was done by the Danish in Europe as 
to control the product.After the hike, we headed over to the BVIs. We went to West End to clear into customs and made a visit to Pusser’s as a welcome to the islands. That evening we stayed in Cane Garden Bay.
12/08/2009 Today we made an early start. We
have a lot of sailing and snorkeling ahead of us. We sailed back around West End and headed for 
the Caves. After the Caves we stopped at The Indians. As always, we had a great time snorkeling these two sights. I am attaching a couple of videos that I shot while with the Allen’s last trip here. After that we tacked our way up the Sir Francis Drake Channel we dropped the anchor at Marina Cay. When sailing in the BVIs, I typically leave a dock line attached at each bow. These are used when we are on mooring buoys for day use or over-nighting. Titus and I had just been talking about how the lines are short enough if they slip through the bow nets, they doo not get fouled in the engines. Famous last words. When we were trying to set the anchor the first time, I lost power in my port engine. I could get it started, but as soon as I put it in gear, the engine stalled. I learned that sound years ago when my daughter Sara and I were doing our trip down the Keys. We fouled the props
with an anchor line as we were dragging and anchor off of Boot Key. The good news is I now have two engines and I was able to maneuver the boat into another area and get the anchor set.
12/09/2009 Today we headed off for one of Cliff’s favorite places. It was his single request when coming back down. It was to go back to The Baths. We sailed over early in the morning and we were able to get a mooring for the morning. I have been here several times and I see 
something new every time I come here. This time I took off with Cliff and went further north on the beach and we did some exploring in the rocks up there. There are some neat little hide-away places in the rocks there. It is quiet with a little water rolling in.I came back to the boat early this morning. As we
started swimming south towards the areas I am used to snorkeling and hiking, it started to rain. I swam back to the boat to close all of the hatches. Of course it wasn’t a little rain, but a nice 
squall. So much for trusting the weather.We then sailed into North Sound of Virgin Gorda. We picked up a mooring at Saba Rock. I figured I would give them a try. For $25.00 you get the mooring for the night, up to 250 gallons of water and a bag of ice. What a perfect match for cruising with a group in the BVIs. All of the basics. I do try and time our trip to arrive here mid-week because both water and ice will be running low by now.
Cliff, Titus and Julie took off for Bitter End Yacht Club to walk around and they dropped me off at Saba Rock to get on-line and start happy hour. This may well be my favorite bar in the Caribbean now. After all of the benefits of getting a mooring here, the happy hour is $2.50 painkillers. You will not find a better deal in the BVIs. The barmaids are friendly and the bar is a really cool looking. It is all carved hard woods with dark stain. The three of them joined me in about an hour and we all had a great time hanging out at the bar.
12/10/2009 This morning we headed up the sound and anchored at Mosquito island. When I usually come into the sound, I take the cut between Virgin Gorda and Mosquito Island. It is 
about eight feet deep and on both sides of the cut there are good looking waves that break. It turns out that when Titus was starting out in his career he was sent to Mosquito Island to work on a power system there. Of the last two trips he has been with me we have come across islands that he had to visit to work on their power systems. The other was Stocking Island. This was across the bay from Georgetown, Exumas in The Bahamas. He and Julie went exploring to find out what is going on there. The island has since been bought from previous owners and the current owners are implementing a green resort.We then sailed over to Guana Island. This is where Cliff and I have seen the large schools of silver fish. This time there was also a large school of Tarpon. Cliff estimated the school to be between 50-70 fish. That is a lot of Tarpon.
We then anchored just north of there for the night. It is a good anchorage that is protected and quiet.
12/11/2009 After lazing around this morning we took off for Sandy Cay. It was a nice light sail over. Titus and Julie took the dinghy in while Cliff and I swam in. There is a nice trail around the island with different flora and animals to see. Titus was in his element here. One thing I have 
learned about traveling with Titus and Cliff is that Titus is a land guy that loves to hike and Cliff is a fish. It is good to hang out with both of them to get the best of both worlds. Julie is more like me, she likes the water and the land also.We then sailed over to Great Harbor on Jost van Dyke. I have been trying to get there on a
Thursday or Friday night when Foxy’s is suppose to have live music. I hate to say it, but this is one of those days that just goes downhill. I always have a hard time trying to find good holding ground in this harbor. After dragging we finally got the hook to catch. It was tight in the harbor with all of the boats in there. We had dinner on the boat and then went ashore to have a couple of drinks 
and listen to the live music. I was also scoping out the area for New Years Eve. We walked the length of Main Street and I found a couple of different bars that I had not been to. The people seemed really nice. They were also very quiet with none or hardly any customers. We made our way back to Foxy’s. They had the biggest group of people. The band was playing and some dancing going on. I will have to say I was very disappointed with the music. In the BVIs, the reggae appears to me to be a cross between Bob Marley and rap. That was strike one with me. The next is you cannot get a drink for less than seven dollars there and most are eight. Strike two. The third strike is that the people running the bar really seemed to be bothered when you try to order a drink. To me, it just isn’t a friendly place. When I talk to locals and charter boats, most try to avoid Foxy’s anymore. I did find out that Foxy has sold off the business.When we got back to the boat, the winds picked up. When I attached the dinghy to No Rush, we started to drift on the anchor. I am thankful it happened when we made it back to the boat. We reset the anchor and I also set the anchor alarm on the chart plotter. About 1:00am the alarm started to go off. We were drifting again. I got up and set the anchor one more time. This time I stayed on the deck for the night and we did not move again.
12/12/2009 We went back ashore in the morning to explore a little when it was light. I saw my first octopus. Right across from the dinghy dock on the shore there was a small octopus trying to catch a crab that was going ashore. The octopus looked like it was trying to go ashore also, but never left the water. We watched it for awhile and then we spooked the crab back intot he water. The crab now knew what it was like to be between a rock and a hard place. The crab decided to go for the hard space back in the water. As soon as the crab hit the water, the octopus reached out, grabbed it and pulled it into itself and we never saw the crab again.
We then found some coffee for Titus and Julie and looked around the t-shirt shops. We then cleared out of customs to head back to St Thomas.
When we went to lift the anchor, we found out why we did not move again. The anchor was stuck had in about fifty feet of water. There was no way for me to dive it and I was not going to let loose my anchor and 150’ of chain. Cliff and I went back ashore to talk with the local dive shop. Unfortunately they were closed. We then called a dive shop on Tortola and they sent over a diver to rescue our anchor. It took two dives as the anchor chain had wrapped amongst some large rocks. This cost us about $300. It was money well spent as the anchor and chain are worth more than $1,000, but not how you really want to spend money.
Now we were running late to get back to St Thomas. We need to clear in as Titus and Julie are leaving first thing in the morning. The winds were blowing hard. I had full main and jib out. We were seeing apparent winds of 30+ knots. This is the highest winds I have ever seen with full main. No Rush handled it well, but I did notice that we were sailing slower than expected for these winds. I figure it is because I was pinching to make sure I did not over power the boat. In the future I will reef (and I have and seen better speeds.)
We then made it into Charlotte Amalie at 4:00pm. I thought Customs and Immigration closed at 5:00pm. I was wrong, it was 4:30. We made it to the city office at 4:15, but the door was locked. We knocked and no one answered. I checked with the ferry desks and they indicated someone should be in there. While I was checking at the ferry desks, Cliff found a back way in. He found some people and they told him they were closed for the day. Cliff was not going to put up with that. It was 4:20. He demanded and finally talked with a supervisor that instructed the agents to help us. What a way to finish the trip. We did have a good dinner at The Green House.
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