Tag: islands

September 17, 2015

Cruising BVI: White Bay, Jost Van Dyke

One of my favorite places to spend the afternoon is in White Bay, Jost Van Dyke. When Dad and Stacy visited last December I got a little click-hapy on the camera. I deleted a few hundred photos from this particular visit, but below are the photos that remain. For the life of me, I could not decide on the usual 10-15 photos I usually post so I am sharing them all with you instead.

If you’ve ever been to White Bay, you can appreciate the magic I feel when I see these photos. I personally prefer to enjoy this paradise during the low season, and early in the morning before the charter boats arrive, before the craziness begins.

Peruse the gallery or click on each individual photo to leave a comment! Enjoy :)

Do you prefer a quiet white sandy beach all to yourself, or a rockin beach bar scene at the hottest destination in the islands?

August 26, 2015

Cruising BVI: Sandy Spit

We couldn’t take Dad and Stacy to BVI without taking them to Sandy Spit just off of Jost Van Dyke.

This little spit of sand and reef has made numerous appearances in all the fancy in-flight and travel magazines. The aerial shot they use even looks like a heart. How romantic, right?

If you get here early enough you can beat the charter boat guests and take a leisurely stroll around the whole island in total privacy. With just a few lonely palm trees and some greenery in the center, the crystal clear water comes bubbling up on the white sand and you immediately feel like you’re in total paradise. The sand is littered with tiny pieces of white coral and a few little tiny shells. In the right light, the sand even appears a little pinkish in color.

The reefs don’t have very much sea life among them, but the water is warm, clear and so refreshing. True island bliss.

There’s so many gorgeous photos, I love them all!! Take a peek for yourself…

Stacy even found a coconut lying on the beach!

After enough fun on our own private island, we launched the dinghy and headed back to the boat for some lunch :)

Want to see for yourself? Check back with us soon for some exciting news to learn how you can visit this very place!! :)

August 10, 2015

Cruising BVI: The Baths (round 2)

In December we took Dad and Stacy to visit The Baths on Virgin Gorda. It’s by far one of the most spectacular places to visit in the Virgin Islands. If the weather isn’t cooperating, however, it can be difficult to visit by boat. Dad and Stacy were in luck, the weather was just right to pick up a day-mooring and swim in.

Each time I visit The Baths it’s more breathtaking than the last. It could be that I’m always looking for a pretty picture and this place is plum-full of them! As if this weren’t photo-overload enough, check out the first post I did on The Baths for a totally different perspective.

Stacy, Dad and I swam in and stashed our fins in the bushes. The inner-Tarzan in Dad made a swift and limber appearance as he scaled a nearby boulder to find the perfect spot. I stood back and laughed a little knowing full well I was NOT going to follow. That one was just a bit too steep for my short, stubby, little legs.

In we go!

Can you feel the magic? This place is incredible. I’m so glad we timed it just right. Well, we planned for the perfect timing but Island Time ended up working in our favor instead.

Let me backtrack a bit to several hours before.

Knowing full well we’d visit The Baths next, we left Norman Island in the afternoon and anchored off of the West side of Cooper Island. The plan was to pull up our anchor before daybreak for arrival at The Baths at first light. We wanted to make it extra special for Dad and Stacy and we wanted to make sure to get there plenty early enough. Early as in 6:45. We know it can get crazy in there once the cruise ship passengers and charter boat guests start to arrive between 8 and 10am. We wanted to make sure there was no one in front of us, and no one behind us as we explored this majestic place all by ourselves.

Well, lets just say things didn’t work out as smoothly as we’d like. I turned on the engine, then the chart plotter and radar. Peter made his way to the bow to pull in our anchor chain with the windlass. Dad and Stacy were just waking up and thought we were crazy for leaving in the dark, yet they were super excited for what was to come.

All of a sudden Peter stopped the windlass. Shit. The anchor was stuck. “Must be wrapped around a piece of coral,” Peter mumbled into the walkie-talkie.

He had me motor around in a few different directions to see if we could dislodge the chain. What seemed to be an eternity later, Peter decided he had to dive it. IN THE DARK. We were in about 50′ of water and the sun hadn’t even begun to come up yet. A little sharky? Yeah, I’d say so! Dad wasn’t too excited to jump in either. So, we waited another 30 minutes until there was a little daylight. Peter took his new super bright underwater flashlight and his spare-air, then asked Dad to assist. Peter planned to dive down and unwind the chain while Dad stayed on the surface with a mask to communicate with me if I needed to pop the engine forward a jib or do anything else at the helm.

Peter’s an excellent diver but he was not happy about this little hiccup. I wouldn’t want to be the one to do it either. We could have just waited it out until full daylight when it would have been much easier to see, but then we’d be visiting the baths with boatloads of other tourists and waiting in line to get from one area to another.

What a guy! It took some serious underwater skills to unwrap that chain from the huge underwater boulder we had somehow swung around at night, but he did it. We were a bit behind schedule, but we would still get there at about 9-am.

Okay, back to our amazing day at The Baths…

Thanks to Peter and Dad braving it out a few hours before, we managed to sneak into our destination without anyone in front of us and without anyone behind us!! SUCCESS!!

It’s hard to see, but this stairway leads into a little pool of water brought in by the tide…

A view of Mary Christine with the mizzen sail up for stability on a mooring ball just outside The Baths:

I had showed them the secret area that not everyone gets to see, but now they had to come back out…

We made a new friend. This little guy followed us along the trails all the way to Devil’s Bay Beach. He didn’t seem to belong to anyone but acted like he’d been here a thousand times.

I almost caught a photo of this little dog leaping off the rock into the water! Dad was ready to get the photo too, though he didn’t make a second leap.

Cool creatures everywhere.

All in all, we had an amazing morning!

Don’t forget to see all the photos from my first time through: The Baths

What is ONE word you would use to describe this place?

March 11, 2015

IZZY IN THE ISLANDS

It feels like yesterday that our friend Izzy was here on the boat with us…

Peter and I had been chatting with Izzy over emails for quite some time. He found us while searching for cruising blogs with dogs and had a-million-and-one questions about how we went from zero sailing experience to being liveaboards in the Caribbean. He had questions about having a dog on board, safety in foreign countries, how we have access to the internet, what we do for food, and all kinds of other questions about the cruising lifestyle. He seemed genuinely interested in the whole experience and was very appreciative of the time we spent talking with him. We knew there was something special about this guy, so we kept writing back.

You see, Izzy has the same dream we once did to sell everything, buy a boat and sail away with his furry four-legged best friend. He desperately wants to leave the rat-race behind and go explore the world. He shares our passion for the sea, for the tropical sun and for the feeling of freedom you get when you hoist those beautiful white sails and turn off the engine.

We invited Izzy down to come sailing with us and see what this lifestyle is all about. He arrived in Grenada toward the beginning of November just after our haul out. We took him grocery shopping in Grenada and showed him how to get around. Then we showed him our whole routine. Docking the boat for fuel, cleaning the bottom of the boat, securing the outboard motor before a passage, navigating through channels, trolling fishing lines under way, and many other operational tasks. He learned about watermakers, engine maintenance, marine plumbing, and all kinds of other bits of knowledge we’ve acquired over the last year and a half.

We left Grenada and sailed up to Sandy Island just North of Carriacou. Peter and I had been there before and wanted to show Izzy the pretty beach and great snorkeling.

Peter showed him how he dives the anchor to make sure it’s dug into the sand well. We even had him watch underwater as I backed the boat down in reverse so he could actually see the anchor dig in.

It’s a good thing we took extra care making sure our ground tackle was secure because later that night Izzy experienced his very first squall. We had gone over to visit our friends Mike and Jennifer on Three Sheets for sundowners and dinner when a 30-knot squall barreled through. It was pitch-black and we had anchored in the back of the pack just in front of a reef. It was more stormy than we cared to venture out in by dinghy to go check on the boat so we sat tight on Three Sheets and waited out the storm. Our Delta anchor held solid, though my stomach was in knots the entire time.

That night we laughed so hard we all got an ab workout and Izzy was super stoked to experience first hand just how amazing the cruising community really is. He couldn’t believe how easy it was to meet such kind people that all share a similar passion. We’re pretty sure he was already hooked but this night really sealed the deal :)

To put the icing on the cake, we took Izzy to the Grenadines and made our way over to the Tobago Cays. Our first trip there a month before was amazing but seeing it again was just unreal. The view is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced and I’m pretty sure Izzy felt like he was in a dream too.

We swam with turtles and dove along the drop-off at Petit Tabac. Izzy got the full Caribbean experience in our favorite place of all time.

We visited with our friends Dustin and Courtney on Captiva over an incredible gourmet lobster dinner and Izzy heard even more amazing cruising stories.

I’m short and all… but Peter was standing up hill from me, I swear :)

We hope Izzy had a good time, we know we sure did! He is back in LA now tying up some loose ends and selling many of his belongings. When he finds the perfect cruising boat he plans on moving aboard with his dog, Kova, and then he’ll prepare the boat to meet up with us (we hope!) down island.

Izzy is a fantastic writer and an INCREDIBLY GIFTED artist, illustrator, designer and instructor. If you’re interested in learning more about Izzy and why he is choosing this amazing life at sea, click >>here<<. If you’d like to follow his progress be sure to check out his website: www.artaboard.com

We’re currently in the US Virgin Islands looking for work now that Peter has completed all the coursework for his 100-ton Masters Captain’s license! Do you know anyone that’s hiring?

March 8, 2015

The Windtraveler Twins Turn ONE!

You probably know by now that Brittany and Scott have returned to Asante with Isla and the twins to pick up where they left off cruising around the Caribbean. It’s even more awesome that just a few days ago the Windtraveler twins, Mira and Haven, turned ONE! Can you believe it?

We had sailed over to Maho Bay, St. John earlier in the week for Genevieve’s super fun surprise party on a local floating bar, Angel’s Rest. I still can’t believe Genevieve and Brittany got me to jump ;) Be sure to check out all the shenanigans >>here<<.

For the twins’ first birthday, March 6th, we got everyone together again on shore for a little celebration which turned out to be a picture perfect location for this very special event. With Arias and Ellia (SV Necesse) and Isla, Haven and Mira (SV Asante) the beach was overflowing with cuteness!

It’s pretty obvious from the photos, but these darling babies really are THIS happy in person! Their little personalities are bigger than life and so different from one another. Hats off to Brittany and Scott for living on a boat with three under three and making it look so easy!

I’m so grateful I had the opportunity to capture all these gorgeous photos on such a special day, though it was so hard to choose my favorite photos. There are dozens more, but these are the ones I couldn’t wait to share…