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Our longest sail occurred on the 5th day when we sailed from Virgin Gorda to Jost Van Dyke at the west end of the BVI. We stopped along the way at Monkey Point, another prime snorkeling spot and Sandy Spit, a tiny deserted island with the most pristine white sand. The next 2 nights at different bays on Jost Van Dyke were probably our favorite. We had cocktails at Sydney’s Peace and Love, the site of Gary and Terry’s wedding reception 25 years ago. Unfortunately, the larger than life Sydney had passed away earlier in the year but his memory lived on in pictures and stories by his staff. We continued the party as we crossed the bay in our dinghy to Abe’s. In less than an hour we were eating the tastiest Caribbean lobster in butter sauce that we have ever had. We had enough lobster left over for lobster salad on the catamaran another day for lunch. The next day was spent at the stunning beach at White Bay with its well known beach bar called Soggy Dollar. We arrived early so we could stake out our hammocks and beach chairs and as a Puerto Rican cruise boat blasted the music of Lady Gaga we waded in the water with a painkiller, the bar’s signature drink. Life is good! Dinner that night was at Foxy’s another legendary spot, considered one of the top ten places to spend Millennium Eve and almost 10,000 did. Then it was back to Tortola, with a short stop on Sandy Cay for a nature walk, and finally mooring at Cane Garden Bay for our last night on the catamaran. This was the first of 2 special occasions Dan’s 50th birthday party. Landcrab and Wanda, old friends of our hosts, were throwing an undersea costume party at their view home high in the hills. What a fun evening of meeting new friends and enjoying the Island lifestyle. Then it was time to leave the boat and move to Ft. Recovery Resort for the last 3 nights. The 2nd special occasion came that evening when we celebrated, Gary and Terry’s 25th anniversary at the beach side Elm restaurant. “Our favorite travel book “1000 Places to see before you die” raved about the beautiful sunsets here and they were right. Landcrab even got up and entertained us with his legendary song “Inky, Dinky, Donkey” accompanied by a local band and everyone danced and sang along to this catch tune. Our last 2 days on the island included the following activities: mingling with the locals at an Emancipation Festival Parade complete with colorful floats, Moko Jumby dancers on stilts and colorful costumes like Mardi gras or Carnival, a relaxing afternoon at Smugglers Cove where Jimmy Buffet reportedly wrote “Cheeseburgers in Paradise”, and a 5 star gourmet dinner at a Canadian couple’s lovely home. Twelve fun filled days, maximizing every moment, enjoying each others company, rarely out of our swimsuits, tanned for the first time in 20 years, spending more time in the water than we can ever remember, great food and drinks-all lasting impressions of our time here on BVI. Thanks Gary, Terry, Dan, Sharon, Mitch, and Michelle! We’ll be talking about this for years!
P.S. This blog is a month after our actual time at the BVI from July 23rd to August 4th because of our debriefing bash with our group to trade photos and stories. Thanks everyone for letting us use some of your photos in this blog. Less than a month after we left the BVI, Earl, a category 4 hurricane passed over and did a lot of damage; luckily all of the people we met were safe.

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