Wednesday, January 4, 2017

British Virgin Islands for the Holidays

We left St. John on December 22nd and arrived in the British Virgin Islands just in time for the holidays.  We checked in with customs and immigration in Sopers Hole, shopped for provisions, charged up and filled our water tanks.  One of our favorite places is Cane Garden Bay where we planned on spending Christmas.  This is where we took the picture “I Love BVI”.  We strung our Christmas lights to the top of our mast for everyone to enjoy.  Our friends from Michigan, Tony and Michelle, joined us for a few days of sailing, diving, and to celebrate New Year’s Eve.  The biggest party on New Year’s Eve in all of the Virgin Islands is at Foxy’s on Jost Van Dyke where hundreds of boats descend in Great Bay and party till morning.  The theme was Circus, Foxy’s Freak Show and believe us, it was!  Dinner at Corsairs is a must with fabulous food where we celebrated not only New Year’s Eve but our 22nd Anniversary!  The next day we sailed to Little Jost Van Dyke to plunge into the bubbly pool which is fun and dangerous at the same time.  There were 30 sailboats all rafted off each other for Yacht Week, quite a feat in itself.  Well, we almost sunk our dinghy on the way back to the boat, four of us and waves crashing over the bow only means the dinghy will fill up with water faster than you can bail and you will sink!  We made it back just in time before we were under water – New Rule:  If we have more than two people and it is rough, make TWO trips (this is probably rule #87 we’ve made since living aboard), wish I had written them down!  Our last days here in the BVI were spent at another favorite place, Leverick Bay, where we always attend the Michael Beans show, great fun.  We are headed to St. Maarten next which requires an overnight sail.  See you in St. Maarten!