A Beautiful Day

Yesterday started out at the dock at Leverick Bay with a shower, and a beautiful rainbow:

We snorkeled Eustatia Reef and saw a SHARK:

Then we stopped by Biras Creek and saw an iguana eating a flower:

We travelled around the North Sound in our dinghy in the company of about 22 other dinghys. We were all participating in the 2nd Annual Leverick Bay Dinghy Poker Run, which is a sort-of race around the sound, where everyone dresses up in pirate garb and piles into their dinghy and then cruises to the different resorts in the area:

At each of the 5 stops, each player got a card, and the one with the best poker hand at the end, won. Well, one of our guests this week, Swashbuckling Sam, took 1st place and all the glory with his winning hand: a full house with three 3s and a pair of Queens! The prize was a real silver pirate doubloon from the Saba Rock gift shop!!

The event raised over $2,000 which was donated to the local animal rescue, and is used to fly vets from the states down to care for the local pets and strays.

Willy T

We had fun on their honeymoon. :) -- I haven't done a shotski since college ski tournaments!

Joe's Cave

Joe's Cave is finally open again! Because of winter winds and swell the entrance to the cave has been a little tricky to pass. Lighter winds and small swell mean that we can visit one of our favorite snorkel spots again. I love this picture of Sasha exiting the cave. You have to swim about 20-30ft underwater to get in and out.

Cobb Salad

UPDATE: Here is another Cobb Salad. It was delicious!



It's SUMMER in the islands and things are really heating up-- my new goal is to keep the boat and myself as cool as possible. This means lots of low to no heat meals (especially lunch). Cobb Salad is a favorite on the boat, lots of fresh veggies and awesome color!

Also easy to do at home. A few heads of lettuce topped with any random leftovers in the fridge!

Foxy's Wooden Boat Regatta

Lots of pretty boats came out for Foxy's 35th Wooden Boat Regatta. This one is in a class of her own!

Here is the start line of one of the races:

This one is unique:

And of course the comittee boat:

Another Good Book

Not that we have too much time on our hands, but during a long sail it's nice to have a book to read. I've had my nose stuck in food books lately, just finished a book called Ratio. The idea is to get away from using a recipe and begin using basic ratios instead. Great idea for the dyslexic chef... memorize lots of sets of numbers and ingredients...hummm.


I've moved on to Food Matters. This one was sent to us by Sasha's father. Great read, but it's dense with information so it has been slow going in order to absorb. So far it's a very close look at how our abundant eating habits are not only bad for our health but bad for the health of our planet, too. There are lots of tips for eating in a way that will also help you save money, calories, and the planet! A win all around.

The week of F I S H!

Not that many of them ended up on the table but, this week we caught the most fish we have ever caught! Everything from 6" yellow tail snapper to 3' barracuda, you name it we probably hooked it. We have a family with us this week and though they claim not to be "too into fishing" they sure spend a good amount of time doing it.



Last night may have been Gary's glory catch. He's been talking all week about catching a shark (I've always wondered who would want to do such a thing) and as the day was ending in Savannah Bay he finally did it! We caught a few bait fish on our sail back from Anegada and decided to chum and brough up a 4' nurse shark!! SO mush fun!

Cleaning Dorado

It's become a new trend to find a fresh fish before each charter because... well, why not? This is one of the perks of living in the islands! Our buddy Nate who takes his fishing boat up to the North Drop brought this cow back for us. Because I've never cleaned a dorado before I bribed another charter captain with the offer of pizza to teach me how. (Jay will do anything for good food!)
Step 1: Catch the thing & get it on ice
Step 2: Find a good spot to make a mess on the dock.
Step 3: Cut along the dotted lines, rip off the skin, then cut down the spine to remove meat.
Step 4 : Poke the eyeballs and throw carcass in the ocean.
Step 5: Cut out bloodline & bones to leave nice fillets.
Step 6: Rinse fillets in SALT water to remove bits of dock & store in freezer.

After some hands on coaching I'm ready for a chance to clean my own! **For anyone at home cooking saltwater fish remember that if you are going to rinse it always use salted water, fresh water will make it mushy (because of osmosis).

We dove the RMS Rhone this morning-- the visibility was great and hardly any current at the bow section. We saw a huuuuge Green Moray in the stern section-- too cool! The thing was bigger around than my thigh (no fat jokes needed).

Interior Pictures

We were playing around taking some interior pictures the other day--- this might be a favorite.