Hard to believe we have been here for 3 weeks already. Boy we settled into the laid back, minimalist boat lifestyle. Our immediate goal the past week was to find a spot to watch “that” game last Sunday. A little known fact about the game in Denver was that it was played on the day of a full moon. Could that have been a factor in the result? The full moon solved where to watch the game. Trellis Bay on Tortola has a full moon celebration.

This week we have been on the move to stop at so many of the great spots that make up our backyard down here. The distances travelled varied from a couple of miles to 10 at the most.

From our transmission repair we headed to Cooper Island where there is a beachside restaurant and a fabulous snorkeling site. Then we went for a brief stop at Fallen Jerusalem, an island near Virgin Gorda, which we call our own Baths. We named it after a well known section of Virgin Gorda where there are huge boulders stacked on top of each other forming caves. Our Baths consists of a small beach with boulders ringing it.  We snorkeled ashore and explored the island. Then we sailed onto White Bay, Guana Island for the night. This island is named for a rock formation that looks like an iguana head. A great place to swim and walk on a 3/4 mile white beach.

We then backtracked a bit to Marina Cay, a small island at the east end of Tortola that has a coral barrier reef making for a protected anchorage. It has one of the best snorkeling sites in the area. Next door is Scrub Island that has a new resort on it. Like Norman Island it has a road bed cut in that makes for great hiking. We went from 0 to 285 to 0 to 436 feet over about a 3 mile hike at 85 degree temperature. So at the end we had to stop at the resort pool bar to rehydrate.

Just a short hop brought us to Trellis Bay on Tortola. We jockied for a spot at the bar to watch the game. The bartenders were not too excited with our club soda orders, but by the end of the game we almost downed a few drinks. Tough game when Brady is the leading rusher with Manning running for more yards. At least we won’t have to worry where to watch the Super Bowl.

Luckily we had the full moon party winding up to get our minds off the defeat. The party consists of music and barbecue along the beach culminating in bonfires set in steel globes on the water at 10 pm – quite a sight.

From there onto Jost Van Dyke again to Great Harbor, a quiet local village, fun to walk the streets. This is also home to the famous Foxy’s, a beach bar and restaurant. With still some northerly swells we had to stop at Little Jost Van Dyke for a dip in the “Bubbly Pool.”  A half mile hike takes you to a small beach surrounded by large boulders with a small opening to the ocean swells. The surf blasts through the opening making the bubbly pool. What fun except Judy managed to break a toe as she was swept by a wave into a rock. It only slowed her down for a day.

We then passed Sandy Spit (see picture), a 30 square yard island with sandy beach surrounding it. We motored on to Judy’s favorite, Cane Garden Bay,  with its hard sand beach great foe walking. Then back at the boat we were entertained by a group of dolphins frolicking around us and by a foolish 20 something that tried to ride the surf in his dinghy but crashed and burned – but was not hurt (pics to follow).

Last night we spent at Soper’s Hole on the west end of Tortola with a great view from our back porch. Today before moving on to Peter Island we had a 45 minute treadmill hike at 30 degrees on a hill next to Sopers. After a 5 mile beat to Peter Island we hope our next boat which we pick up tomorrow will sail better than 50 – 60 degrees apparent upwind.

We do keep up with the weather back home. You were lucky in New England. Around Richmond and Washington DC schools were closed most of this past week.

Our backgammon tournament has had a dramatic turnaround with crew now solidly in control at 9 to 7.

This post will go out without pictures but hopefully we will be able to upload photos soon.