Ahoy, Matey!

Yeah! We officially have our ASA Bareboat licenses! What a week... we sailed completely around Tortola, in order to practise maneuvering, navigating, mooring and anchoring. Our instructor, Captain Erin, did a fine job! And she even let us make the odd stop for fun things too! Hee hee! Along the way, we met up with some amazing folks from Pennsylvania. Bob and Lori (I apologize if I don't have the spelling right!) were also learning to sail, and they were taking lessons from our Captain's hubby, Captain TC. It was great to meet them and we spent a couple of evenings enjoying the local attractions as a big group. After spending two nights at different bays on Jost Van Dyke, we sailed to St John today to clear customs. Then we motored over to Red Hook on St Thomas, where we unloaded our belongings from the monohull and moved aboard an absurdly luxurious catamaran! Next we made a trip to the market to get our provisions for the week, and after a brief lesson in sailing a cat this weekend, we will be on our own... look out! Ha ha, just kidding. Sandy and Pete are excellent shipmates, and we are all really looking forward to exploring more of the region.

The BVI and USVI are far more rugged than I expected, since the majority of the islands are volcanic. But they are still very beautiful and the water is gorgeous! What a fabulous place!
Cheers!