New Year, Familiar Guests

Mixing up some rum punches for four after a hard day of being tourists.  

We had some time back in Long Bay for Christmas, pulling out an old bottle of Romanian wine to go with our non-traditional (and unusual for Troubadour) grilled steaks. With reservations at American Yacht Harbor, we took off on the 27th for Red Hook to enjoy some time with shore power and showers, and to make it easier for Linda's cousins Steve & Rose Price to join us.

The van brought them right to the marina, so after a celebratory beer, we wheeled their luggage (mostly full of stuff for us!) to the boat and got them settled in. After some quick shopping the following morning, we spent a night in the park at St John before sailing to Jost Van Dyke to clear into (and out of, very convenient) the British Virgin Islands (BVIs). This was all very exciting stuff for us: As you may recall, our transmission was in Nassau the last time Steve and Rose visited us in Georgetown, so we didn’t motor or sail anywhere.

We had been pondering whether we wanted to brave the crowds at Foxy’s for New Year’s Eve, and after seeing the boats swarming around, and the lack of protection and good holding for anchoring, we opted for a quieter NYE. When we found Trellis Bay also swarming and a night at Marina Cay quite rolly, we motorsailed to the North Sound of Virgin Gorda and had a nice, if somewhat subdued, time at Leverick Bay, just hanging at the restaurant/bar and around the pool and beach. With Steve wearing his Packer gear, let’s just say we were having more fun than the crowd from Detroit!

On our sail back Southwest, the crowds continued at the Baths, so we reluctantly passed that area by in favor of Great Bay on Peter Island. Since our guide was written, a few mooring balls have been installed which is handy as the bay is quite deep and the shallow end has a large sign stating it is a fishing preserve – no anchoring. The depth didn’t seem to deter the megayachts anchoring in the bay, making for fun views. We arose early the next morning to make our way to the Rhone, and arrived ahead of the crowds to pick up a park mooring. After sorting out and assembling four sets of scuba gear, we had a great dive on the wreck, seeing the whole wreck and returning along the shallow rocks to the vicinity of our mooring. Alas, the wind we were expecting to take us to Norman Island had died out, so we motored through the glassy water to the bight and a nice lunch on the Willy T.

With our week up, we cleared back into the US at Cruz Bay, giving us an excuse to visit the Tap Room for some draft beers and lunch. Our mooring at Caneel Bay was exposed to ferry wakes, which got us going early for our trip back to Long Bay in Charlotte Amalie. After one last meal together, Steve & I brought the luggage ashore and we hailed a taxi for their trip to the airport.

Since then, we’ve been relaxing, reloading, and doing some boat chores to get ready for sister Lindy and her hubby Rich arriving on Friday!