All in the TOES!

Oh how wonderful our beloved Capt. Sasha is. He can do just about anything around the boat.... with the push of a button! I was telling my dad the other day about our awesome electric winches on board when it dawned on me that Sasha may be taking waaay too much credit for the work around this little boat of ours. She sails like a dream, but can leave you with a bit of a foot cramp. It's all in the TOES! Check out the photo of Sasha hoisting the main single handed. The hardest part of the job is figuring out where to sit during the whole operation. In all reality this little luxery is probably saving my butt more than anyone else!!

Wonderful Weather Underground

Current Location: Cooper Island Beach Club
Lat/Lon: 18°23.15' N 64°30.9' W
Air Temp: 80°F Sea Temp: 80°F
Weather: Starry Skies

So as you may already know, I LOVE to track the weather, and one of my favorite sites is The Weather Underground. Well, it was annoying to me that the BVIs did not appear on the weather radar page, so I emailed them, and less then a day later, lo and behold, there they are! AWESOME!! Great work guys.

I also like Weather Underground co-founder Dr. Jeff Masters' weather blog. During the tropical season, that and Rob Lightbown's Tropical Discussion pages are invaluable resources. In addition, I rely on the local NOAA forecasts as well as other great Caribbean weather sites such as CaribWX, and WeatherCarib.

Finally, I have always relied upon the Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC) Wave Watch 3 (WW3) models to predict swell events for surfing both back in New York and down here in the Caribbean. In fact, we have some swell heading our way tomorrow, so we are going to try to avoid it since we have guests on board. I hope sometime soon I will get to use my surfboard!!!

SCUBA diving is fun

Current Location: Sandy Spit, E of Jost
Lat/Lon: 18°27.03' N 64°42.6' W
Air Temp: 80°F Sea Temp: 80°F
Weather: Isolated Showers

Here is a picture from our last charter. The honeymoon couple loved scuba diving so we dove as much as possible, up to three times a day! Here is a great pic of them having fun:

What's the Third time??

Cut me once, shame on you. Cut me twice shame on me. And third times the charm?!? Just sent my knives to be sharpened before coming down this way. I'm rethinking that so called great idea as I find myself chopping under sail or mid conversation with guests. Either way I'm usually only able to keep one eye on the knife and the other... not. Today was the third good one. Three fingers and one amazing wash cloth later I'm still learning. As he ran to get the Bactine and bandages today Sasha asked me to "please stop cutting myself". I told him I'd do my best. Ps. Mom, I'm setting up a PO Box next week-- please send more washcloths, at this rate I might make it till Christmas.

Second Charter

Second time around-- you'd assume it would be similar to the first, but this time they brought the whole famdamily. Mom, Dad, and 2 boys ages 14 and 8. The parents are originally from Kentucky but are raising the boys on the east coast now. Great people so far (aka. they LOVE my cooking). We are anchored in Francis Bay off of St. John and as soon as everyone is up and we do a little breakfast we'll be off to Jost Van Dyke to check into the BVIs and say hello to Foxy. I'm excited to work with the kids over the next few days, they are really into the ocean and all it's creatures. We bought fish ID cards for snorkle time and hope to begin naming fish this afternoon! The excitment over the underwater world is refreshing and a great reminder as to how special this place really is.

Gorgeous sunrise over St. John

Current Location: Francis Bay, St. John, USVI
Lat/Lon: 18°21.86' N 64°44.8' W
Air Temp: 80°F Sea Temp: 80°F
Weather: Partly Cloudy

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Current Location: Francis Bay, St. John, USVI
Lat/Lon: 18°21.86' N 64°44.8' W
Air Temp: 80°F Sea Temp: 80°F
Weather: Scattered Showers

What a long day! Wake up in Village Cay Marina (after dropping off our guests, doing laundry, provisioning, cleaning the boat, and servicing the generator yesterday), sail 15 miles downwind to Redhook, St. Thomas, anchor outside because our slip isn't ready, end up picking up our new guests at the fuel dock, get them moved in, tour the boat, motor out to St. John, eat lunch, snorkel, kayak, unwrap the dinghy painter from the propeller (yes, it even happens to professionals like me), grab a mooring in Francis Bay, re-splice the dinghy painter, cook dinner, and, finally, go to bed. We are sure to sleep well tonight!!!!!

Full Moon Party at Trellis Bay

Current Location: Trellis Bay
Lat/Lon: 18°26.88' N 64°31.9' W
Air Temp: 80°F Sea Temp: 80°F
Weather: FULL MOON

Howlin' at the moon, fireballs in the water, steel drum band on the beach, and our first full moon party at Trellis Bay! Pics soon, busy day of diving tomorrow.

Boat Photo

Here are some more photos of the boat. (Top Left: Crew Cabin, Top Right: State Room, Bottom Left: Master Suite, Bottom Right: Salon) These were taken during the boat show so they give you an idea of how good it can look when no one is allowed to touch anything! ! Sasha and I have been enjoying the first charter-- these people are up around 6:30 every morning wanting to dive. We love it!

Amazing diving today

Current Location: Cooper Island Beach Club
Lat/Lon: 18°23.06' N 64°30.85' W
Air Temp: 80°F Sea Temp: 80°F
Weather: Almost a full moon!!!

We dove Angelfish Reef and the Indians today and it was awesome. We saw turtles, sharks, barracuda, tarpon, and countless other fish, as well as corals, pirate caves, etc. Check out this Flamingo Tongue.