My new favorite appliance

So I broke down and got a proper internet solution for the yacht. My idea to use a cell phone tethered wirelessly via Bluetooth to provide internet to one of our laptops was ingenious but also slow and cumbersome to use.

Today, I purchased a Kyocera KR2 Mobile Router, which is a wireless router that takes a PCMCIA cellular network card! Plus, look at all the blinkylights! This brilliant device creates a WiFi hotspot anywhere it can pick up an cellular connection from CCT Boatphone (which completely covers the BVI) and all the computers onboard can share this always-on connection without tying up our telephone line. Better still, the EVDO connection is about 10x faster, which (among other things) means more blog posts for you!

Another benefit of this system is the ethernet-enabled hard drive which contains backups of all of our music and photos from our trips that is now available from any computer on the network!

Scrub Island Silt

In these photos, you can see the distinctly lighter, silt-laden water surrounding Scrub Island as we sail from the Dogs to Beef Island. In the top photo, looking NW, Scrub Island is in the background. The second photo is looking East back towards Virgin Gorda. The silt was most likely stirred up by the recent swell and appeared to completely surround Scrub Island for a radius of 1 to 1.5 NM to the South and East. The last photo is the wonderful bumper sticker I bought at Flukes at Trellis Bay.

We are currently anchored in Bluff Bay, south of Beef Island, near Hans Creek. The creek is a highly valuable ecological marine fishery and mangrove habitat for a multitude of marine, avian, and land-based species and is one of the most beautiful unspoiled areas in the BVI. It too has been slated for development into a 200 room hotel with megayacht marina and golf course. Please help stop this madness!!

Delightful DeLonghi

Yes, the appliance on the left is one of my favorite items on the yacht. It seems demeaning to call it an appliance, as it is so much more.... as vital as the anchor, as useful as the sails, almost as magnificent as the yacht herself.... The Espresso Machine!

Turtle Nom!

Yes, I know it has been a LONG time since the last blog post. We have been VERY busy with charters and improvements to the boat. More on that later. Today, I want to share a couple of very special photos. We were anchored in Rendezvous Bay on the south side of St. John for shelter from the 30+ knot winds and 10 foot swells last week. While I was snorkeling and checking the anchor, I saw the most amazing sight, a huge green turtle with two remoras chilling on his back. The turtle was busy NOMming on some (aptly named) Turtle Grass and didn't mind me hanging out with him for a good 15 minutes!