DAY #7 - DEPARTURE DAY :0(

We woke early on our final day (2/8/13) to (yet again) another fabulous day.

We leisurely had coffee and breakfast and lounged a bit on deck before the necessary tasks of packing and showering and securing things prior to the final sail.  Then we headed off to Crown Bay Marina that's near the St Thomas airport, where we'll sail into a slip for Bill and Peggy to stay the night, and for us to grab a taxi to the airport.  Meanwhile, a few final pictures of our last sail of this trip.

Heading out of Christmas cove...

Doug's final "at the helm" shot

About to enter the harbor in St Thomas

The Frenchman's Reef Hotel - where Doug and I honeymooned 30 years ago(!) 3/5/83

In summary -

These past 7 days were blissful and memorable.  We all had a great time, learned a lot about sailing and the USVI/BVI, and totally enjoyed exploring.  Yes, there were some moments, but (almost) all of them were hilarious (at least in hindsight) and alleviated by a daily ubiquitous painkiller!  We (almost) lost several wallets, a kill switch, and we almost lost my camera.  Thank you Ross for being Aquaman for the week!

We DID lose a Croc (actually that's probably a GOOD thing - ha!), and sadly, a cell phone (again, that might have been a good thing!).  ;0)  Several people were submerged, either fully or partially, transitioning from the boat to the dinghy or vice versa or from a dock to the dinghy and vice versa (while the remaining DRY passengers were crying hysterically with laughter).  The dinghy quickly, and frankly, deservedly, was dubbed, "the damn dinghy."

#workinghardfordinghyreferences

But, this experience was truly a fantastic time spent with great friends and our sons.  Not too many people can spend that amount of time together and still have a blast each and every day.  It was so therapeutic to laugh as much as we did over the past week. The beauty of the Virgin Islands is absolutely magnificent.  Hard to express in words how much we appreciate the opportunity to be a part of the maiden voyage of "Lady Margaret."  These past 7 days are memories we'll treasure forever.

Now it's back to reality (and cell phones, TVs, blow dryers, curling irons, and makeup, and heels, and cold weather).

Till the next sail....

***Here's a brief recap of our sailing itinerary

Day 1 (Saturday, 2/2)- arrival to St Thomas and taxi to Red Hook Marina

Sailed to Christmas Cove and moored

Day 2 - (Sunday, 2/3) Sailed to Cruz Bay, St John --- SUPERBOWL SUNDAY

Day 3 - (Monday, 2/4) Sailed to the BVI - Jost van Dyke and then White Beach and then on to on to Cane Garden Bay, Tortolla

Day 4 - (Tuesday, 2/5) Sailed to Monkey Point then on to Frenchman's Cay, West End, Tortolla to stay at Soper's Hole Marina

Day 5 - (Wednesday, 2/6) Sailed to Norman Island aka Treasure Island then on to the southside of Tortolla to stay at Nanny Cay Marina (located between Road Town and West End)

Day 6 - (Thursday, 2/7) Sailed from Nanny Cay Marina back to St John, Cruz Bay and then on to Christmas Cove

Day 7 - (Friday, 2/8) Sailed from Christmas Cove to St Thomas - Crown Bay Marina

DAY #6 - ROSS' BIRTHDAY & Sailing from BVI to USVI

Today is Ross' 26th birthday, and we're all sad he (and Will) are no longer here!

Yes, I stole this shot off Google Images...

We awoke to a routine spectacular weather day---yawn, yawn.

The marina we're staying in is huge, and it offers amenities of every kind.  We're here until noon, and we'll then set sail for another to be determined destination.  Doug and I are already sad that our time here is waining...

Missing this guy...

Thank you, Caroline, for the birthday shirt!

 and this guy too!

Yes, I'm jumping in on this shot for sure...

The 4 of us are left the remainder of the trip saying, "Who ARE you?  Who ARE you?" like 2 of our UK fb playes who shall remain nameless (TCD and MG). Who ARE you!!!? WHO are YOU?!!!

We began Day 6 by leisurely strolling around the marina at Nanny Cay before setting sail again.  Oh, and I was able to "blog" a bit before we left. :0)

Luckily we had enough juice here and there to blog!

The marina was gorgeous!

Stocking up on ice:

AND - a new grill was purchased---let's see how long this one lasts!

Peggy steered us safely out of the marina - 

Our view as we're heading out from Nanny's:

Looking back at the marina:

Cruisin' along....

My "job" for the week (since I'm clueless about sailing) was to be the babysitter of this dinghy.  He was in need of some discipline at times!

First mate Doug on deck untying the fenders

Long hair, don't care - no makeup for a week.  Totally out of my wheel house!

Yes, a "selfie"

Our 11:00AM snack every day (never ending bag!)

Can't go more than a couple of hours without stuffing our faces..

We head back to Cruz Bay, St John's to check back into the US at Custom's

Guess we're not making a quick getaway with the barbed wire?

 The United States allows us back in - guess they didn't hear about our escape from Cane Garden???

Well, hey...as long as we're here.....

A final "Santé" at high tide before we set sail again

Lovin' this spot!

Doug and Bill bring the dinghy over to us to head back to the boat.

The Captain and First Mate

Dinghy cam view:

We arrive at Christmas Cove at dusk.  Took a little while to locate a mooring, but we do, and all is good for the night!

How's that for a dramatic view?

The money shot!

 Our view of St Thomas and the St Thomas Yacht Club from the boat

We took the dinghy over for dinner as none of us felt like cooking, and we had another great dinner but ended up having a couple of casualties along the way.  

1. As we entered the marina yacht club the dinghy's kill switch leaped out of the boat into the Caribbean.  Good thing the water is like a swimming pool, and the red cord was easily seen and retrieved (with the help of a flashlight or two).  ***But --- we had a backup jimmy-rigged kill-switch at the ready - my camera strap.

2. Bill sadly had to say, "Goodbye" to one of his newly purchased (and soooo good looking) Croc sandals. Somewhere, some fish is enjoying that left large Croc I'm sure.

Bill was still hanging on to hope, and not letting that right one go!

"Maybe it floated back to me???"

Our pic at dinner - HAD to get a sneaky shot of the most boring bag of hot air in the form of a human alive (the red faced guy in the black shirt).   We felt so sorry for his employees (who could've been the entire cast of "Office Space") that we wanted to take them back to the boat with us! Here they are being held captive by this man aka "THE MOST INTERESTING MAN IN THE WORLD":

"Blah, blah, blah, blah, your students, and blah blah blah blah your coursework...."

It poured rain (for the first time on our trip) while we were eating, then after dinner, we headed back dinghy style to Lady Margaret, and then we stayed up way past our bedtime solving most of the world's problems.  Sad that our time to depart is drawing near.

DAY #5 - BVI

Sadly, we bid adieu to Ross and Will this morning.  It's another gorgeous day in paradise, and we are so sad to see them go.  Since it's Ross' birthday eve, we sang "Happy Birthday" to Ross with an Otis Spunkmeyer Chocolate Chip Muffin before he left. :0(

They'll ferry

from Tortolla to Charlotte Amalie in St Thomas, and then take a taxi

back to the airport from there.

A father-son pic:

UK buds

Ross and Will: don't leave us!!!!!

Not exactly sure what OUR plans are for the day, but we've decided to do a bit of housekeeping (laundry, pick up some more "provisions" etc.), and we'll see where the day (and seas take us).  We may never come home...

More later -

What a day!

We started out shopping for some provisions at Soper's Hole Marina.

Shop, shop, shop

Then Doug took the helm and steered us out into the Caribbean!

Goodbye to Soper's!

And we're off!

As you can see, it's been a very stressful week...

Life is good

Who's steering the ship?  Can you say "autopilot?"

We chose Norman's Island aka Treasure Island as our next destination. Norman Island, locally known as Treasure Island because of legends of pirates and buried treasure there, is believed to have inspired Robert Lewis Stevenson's Treasure Island.

Unhooking the dinghy:

Pulling into the Treasure Island dinghy dock -

As we arrived we heard, "Fire in the Hole" and this gentleman fired a small cannon!

Beautiful stop!

Cheers! We have motor oil!

A quick shot at Treasure Island

Treasure Island quick shot!

Does this not look just like a Bull?

Bill and Peggy manning the ship

Lovebirds

The sun started to set as we were nearing Nanny Cay Marina for the night.

Set in one of the finest and most central locations in the BVI, Nanny Cay is located on the South side of Tortola, between the capital Road Town and West End.

Nanny Cay is a fully equipped marina and boat repair facility has berths for 180 motor cruisers and yachts. It includes 40-room hotel, two restaurants (the Genaker Cafe and Peg Leg Landing), a small supermarket, shops and boutiques, dive shop, WiFi, gym and spa. You can use the volleyball court, relax by the beach or a large swimming pool which overlooks the beautiful Sir Francis Drake Channel- where you can watch the yachts sail by.

Another fabulous sailing day wraps up!  We're here for the night, and we decided to dine aboard the vessel.

***One mishap - as we were coming in from exploring around the marina Peggy slipped and twisted her ankle.  She quickly had a golf ball size bump, but after rest, ice, compression and elevation - and Voltaren (thank you Cate and Dr Cullen), she's on the mend.  But...probably no dancing tonight...And Bill had an unidentified nose scrape that resulted in him looking like he had just gotten out of the boxing ring.  Then Doug had a fight with the dinghy that resulted in a scrape.

Guessing MY days are numbered?

Peggy's R.I.C.E

Doug's boo boo