Our Last Visitors

We are back in St Thomas after spending a week in the BVI's with our daughter Jessica, her husband Ryan and his parents, Lonnie and Gene. And before you ask- yes we had the dogs on the boat too.  It was a bit crowded and I was a little nervous having that many people on our little bitty floating home but it was a lot of fun and nobody fell overboard. We checked in at Jost Van Dyke and it had to be the easiest check in I had with the dogs this whole trip. We spent a day at the Soggy Dollar drinking painkillers and the evening at Foxy's. Then the next day we headed over to Cane Garden Bay on Tortola after stopping at the bubbly pool, which wasn't too bubbly because there was hardly any wind the whole time they were here. Had dinner at Myett's which is one of my favorite places (theirs too now I think). Then we headed over to Norman island and actually spent Wes's birthday at the Willy T and needless to say we had a blast.  It was a great week and we did a lot of snorkeling. Knowing that we weren't going to back to the BVI's in who knows how long, we wanted to make sure we enjoyed it and we sure did.

Unfortunately there was hardly any wind the whole week they were here so we weren't able to do a lot of sailing. We motor sailed most of the time and on one engine because YES once again we had engine trouble. Wes ordered a heat exchanger because the starboard engine kept heating up and we had it rushed delivered hoping we would get it a few days before they came but of course it gets here the day before they came. Wes installed it but the engine was still overheating. Then the port engine belt kept slipping after we got over to the BVI's but Wes was able to switch the belts so at least we had one engine for the week. 

They all left on Wednesday and it's now Thursday and Wes spent the morning getting the engines working and was able to get everything fixed.  Then this afternoon we ran around getting the boat loaded with food, beer, wine and dog food because we plan on leaving St. Thomas in the morning and heading to Fajardo, Puerto Rico to start the last leg of our journey.  We were both a little sad yesterday with the kids leaving then realizing we were going to be leaving St. Thomas.  It's kind of been our home away from home since we have spent so much time here but I think we are both ready to start heading back to Colorado.  We will be stopping in the Dominican Republic for a couple days after Fajardo then to the Bahama's.  The plan is to spend about 3 weeks making our way up the chain and hopefully get to the US around the first of June giving us a month to make it up to Maryland through the Inter coastal Waterway, spending as little amount of time in Florida as possible since our experience there last time was not so good.  But we definitely need to be in Ocean City Maryland by July 9th because the whole family is meeting there for a week on the beach. 

Dinner at Myett's in Cane Garden Bay

Having cocktails at Quito's on Cane Garden Bay

Lexie found a new napping spot

Ryan, Gene, Jess and Wes jumping off the Willy T

Wes doing a backflip off the Willy T

Wes Snorkeling through the cave at the Indian's

Hanging out at Foxy's

At the Baths

Jess and Ryan trying to find shade on the boat

We opened Wes's 16 year old bottle of Rum he bought at the Bacardi factory.

and had a toast for his birthday

a couple of sunsets along the way

Loving the USVI's

We spent the last couple of weeks hanging out on St. Croix and loving it. We kept saying we were going to leave in the morning but then we would end up staying another day.  We spent most of the time in Frederikstad, which really isn't the main port but it's where the cruise ships come in and we really liked the anchorage. They get about 16 cruise boats a month, which really surprises me that more don't stop on this beautiful island. It gets a little crazy when a boat is in. The beach gets packed and shops open just for that day. They also set up a bunch of tents where the locals sell their stuff.
We did spend a couple of days at Christiansted, which is the main port.  We rented a car but this time we made it to the Cruzan Rum factory.  We tried last time we were there but it was closing just as we got there but this time we made it.  It was a lot of fun even though they weren't making any rum at the time but they were delivering molasses and we were able to taste it right out of the tank. They have been making rum there since 1760 and you pretty much just found it in the West Indies. But in 2008 Jim beam purchased the distillery and they brought all the bottling to the states. So they everything over on a boat to be bottled and then they send 20% back to St Croix to be sold in the islands. Needless to say we purchased several different flavors to try out.

Christensted fort

Old sugar mill made into a bar on the boardwalk in Christensted

The molasses you could taste right off the truck

Lots of rum aging

almost pure alcohol

The sugar mill at the entrance to the Cruzan rum factory