British Virgin Islands
Our more loyal visitors will have noticed, and quite possibly (we
hope) bemoaned, a hiatus in the updating of our website.

After leaving Culebra and the Spanish Virgin Islands, we proceeded east in
mid-December. We bypassed St. Thomas, spent two nights at St. John, then
sailed into the British Virgin Islands in time for Judd to celebrate his 19th
birthday at Willie T's at Norman Island, which had been his special request.

We then pulled into the Village Cay Marina, in Road Town, Tortola, where we
left Dakota Rose  for a few weeks while we travelled home for the holidays.
Our old friends, Pam Lendzion and Presley King, were gracious enough to
save us some marina fees by flying in to cruise Dakota Rose for much of the
time we were gone.

Following the holiday break, three of us (Steve, Jay and MIke; Judd decided
over the break to discontinue his voyage with us in favor of work, school and
car payments) flew back to the BVI to pick up where we left off. Which, of
course, first involved a couple of days of repairs to the boat before setting out.
Which brings us to our excuse for our neglect in updating this site. We'd been in the BVI so many times already that it was
a bit old hat; we just found ourselves forgetting to take the camera anywhere.

Which is not to say that we didn't have fun: Russ visited us for a week, we spent a weekend on the beach in Jost Van
Dyke with partyers from St. Thomas and the cruise ships, spent a full day hanging around at the main Immigration Office
to get our tourist visas extended, took in the full moon party at the Bomba Shack, almost went kite boarding in North
Sound, Virgin Gorda but failed because the wind died (this was Jay's third such letdown), and generally had a good time.
And we took a few pix, which follow. But, overall, we can't help but feel guilty that we've let our visitors down a bit. Sorry.
We'll try to do a better job from here on out. In the meantime, feel free to browse the pix from our 2005 family visits to the
BVI, by clicking here.

After waiting for the ideal weather window, on January 28 we left Leverick Bay, Virgin Gorda, at 1615 for a fast, overnight
sail to St. Martin.
As soon as the opportunity presents itself, in Trellis
Bay, Mike follows through on his commitment to
braids  ... with the help of a generous contribution
from Russ to help defray expenses
Unfortunately (or perhaps not) Jay was told that his hair is
too thick for the same treatment
Also at Trellis Bay, we helped launch the Aragorn Studios'
replica of an Arawak sailing canoe. Reminiscent of scenes at
modern boat ramps the world over, once she was in the water
they realized they'd forgotten to install the drain plugs, and a
mad effort followed to locate them while the canoe gradually
filled with water and came to rest on the bottom. Once bailed
out, it was an exciting sail.
Chillin' at Loblolly Bay, Anegada, and scuba diving the reefs,
caves and tunnels with Ley, our guide
Scenes from White Bay, Jost Van Dyke, home
of the Soggy Dollar Bar, purported inventor of
The Painkiller
Mike and Jay earn some spending money agreeing to
pose with day-trippers from the cruise ships ... ok, well,
that's not strictly true, they did it out of good will
Relaxing on the boat from a tough day at the office
with Readbeard the Pirate