Dive Time

We left Manchioneel Bay at 7:00 Friday morning so we could get a mooring at the Rohne site for our dive. We hung out until 9:00 when the dive boat came with our dive masters Kyle & Samantha. Kyle was from Texas and Sam was from Virginia. They were great! Here are some images from the dive. John took 754 pictures that day so here is a glimpse!


Just beautiful!


A silver spoon from the wreck that is embedded in the coral

Location:RMS RHONE, Salt Island November 26

Thanksgiving Day

We have had a perfect Thanksgiving day! Some snorkeled, some didn't. Lazy, relaxing, just what a Thanksgiving should be! Courtney & Shannon made Thanksgiving dinner in their swimming suits! (with Britton's help of course!) We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, bread, green beans, carrots, sparkling cider, and pumpkin and apple pie! We had a perfect dinner!




On our way to Manchioneel Bay.




Dinner!




Dessert! Yummy!!!!!!

Location:Manchioneel Bay, Cooper Island November 25

Brent in Time Out

Brent had to sit in the dinghy twice by himself on this trip. Once when we ran out of water he went into the gas dock on the dinghy to see how late they stayed open. It was 5:00 in the evening & we thought they probably closed then. He found out that they were open till 6:00, but we had to save our mooring because we had already paid for the night and didn't want anyone to take it. (a mooring is a floating ball with a rope attached to it that is anchored to the sea floor. We tie up to them and stay the night). Brent stayed with the mooring ball while we went and got water. He looked funny in his dinghy all alone while the rest of us were gone.



He is hard to see, but he is out there.

The next morning we were leaving Gorda Sound and after we were going Chip realized the motor was down in the dinghy. We were sailing and he said someone had to go back there and pull the motor up. Brent volunteered to do it. Chip pulled in the dinghy line & Brent jumped in the dinghy.







Then we gave Brent a camera & he took a picture of us!

Location:Gorda Sound, Virgin Gorda November 24 & 25

So sad!

We are sitting in the Moorings getting ready to catch a jitney to the airport. We will post about Thanksgiving and our fabulous dive experience when we get to San Juan! We will also post about swimming with the dolphins and our treasure hunt. Carter and Britton will also update about injuries, (they are sure you are wondering).


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Location:BVI

Under the Sea

A Huge thanks to John! We would not have all of the awesome underwater images if weren't for him!


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Location:BVI Thanksgiving week 2010

Dinner in Gorda Sound

We went to dinner at the local pub. The food was great! Brick oven pizza was the hit!

Location:Gorda Sound, Virgin Gorda November 24

Getting Sad/Griffin

Today was great! Some of us went snorkeling, (Chop, Courtney, Britton, my dad and I), and we saw tons of fish. We saw trumpet fish and rainbow fish and a lot of others. The highlight of my day was the "feast" so to speak. It was awesome! We had turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, bread, green beans, stuffing, cranberry slices, and are now getting ready to have pumpkin and apple pies. The mom's made it for us. Tomorrow should be really fun. We are motoring over to the dive sight of the Rhone where we are going to go diving. We have to leave early, as soon as Chop & Courtney wake up. I almost forgot to tell you about last night. We were in Gorda Sound still and we went to the Pizza and Pub and had dinner. When we were done we watched The Sandlot on a big screen and then walked down a dock with 2 huge fishing boats on them. The boats had lights shining down into the water. It attracted really big sea bass. We couldn't figure out what they were but my mom asked a dock worker and he told us.



I am starting to get sad because we are starting to get to the end of this trip. I am so happy that I was able to come on this once in a lifetime trip! I hope I can come again some time over my lifetime.


Posted in parts by: Griffin Hey in the BVI

Location:Manchioneel Bay, Cooper Island November 25

Thanksgiving Day Carter

Yesterday and today were both amazing! Yesterday we watched a movie called The Sandlot on a huge tv outside by the beach on wooden benches. When were were on the way back to the dinghy to get to our boat we saw 2 huge fishing boats. They both had bright lights that shone down into the water that attracted fish. They looked like barracudas with yellow fins but we found out they were huge sea bass. For dinner last night I had a brick oven pizza that had pepperoni and Italian sausage on it. I also ate calamari for the second time and it was good. It is like little tiny squid. The cool part will be tomorrow, well, one cool part anyway! We are going to scuba dive at the RMS Rhone. Thanksgiving today was really fun. All of the food was really good. I now have 2 favorite Thanksgiving Days. One was when my mom and dad took me to the Chiefs game and now my all time favorite is being here in the BVI on vacation. I am lucky!


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Location:Manchioneel Bay, Cooper Island November 25

The opposite of a boring Thanksgiving/ Britton

In the morning we went straight toward Manchioneel Bay. It was a good sail I have to admit. This time there really weren't any problems, (that's a good thing!). We sailed past most places that we already went to like the Dogs, (George). Then once we got there we ate while my dad checked out snorkeling. It was really choppy but all worth it. After he got back Grif, Brent, Chop, Mom and I went snorkeling. It was choppy but really worth it. We saw fish from small ballyhoo fish to big long trumpet fish. They were pretty cool! Then when we got back the turkey was all done. You can look for the picture of the feast on another post.



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Location:Manchioneel Bay, Cooper Island November 25

The "Beast" Feast/Nick

This morning was "beast". First we sailed past Marina Cay, The Dogs, V.G. Yacht Harbor and the Baths all the way to Manchioneel Bay just off of Cooper Island. Just before we left Virgin Gorda a man drove up on a boat to our boat and sold us conch shells the size of footballs.when you blow into them, they make a sound like a trumpet. After hours of relaxing, the Thanksgiving feast was ready.



It was "beast". My favorite food was the pumpkin pie. After stuffing our faces we went on deck to look at the stars. Overall I had a "beastly" day!

(thank you to Grif for the use of his word "beast")

Location:Manchioneel Bay, Cooper Island November 25

Happy Thanksgiving!

We may not be able to post tomorrow, so Happy Thanksgiving from all of us in the BVI to all of you! (not in the BVI)




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Location:Vivo Libre

Prickly Pear Island

We followed our treasure hunt clue #2 to the broken fence post and found an old metal box with the next clue. Then we swam, snorkeled and played on the beach.



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Location:Gorda Sound, November 24

Snorkeling at Gorda Sound

We saw lots of conch and starfish on the grassy bottom.


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Stingray below

Location:Virgin Gorda, November 24

Treasure Hunt Clue # 2

1st clue was: shore north to the point with shelter from strong wind

2nd Clue
23-11-4 // 155-3-7 // 197-4-8 // 153-3-2 // 77-1-5 // 22-9-4 // 13-8-3 // 119-29-4 // 124-3-9 // 52-3-11 // 155-3-7 // 12-20-7 // 53-2-2 // 78-9-10 // 194-3-1+2 // 167-12-6 //

204-1-9


B.B. (Billy Bones)


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Location:Gorda Sound, Virgin Gorda November 24, 2010

The Beginning of the Treasure Hunt, Clue #1

Ahoy Mateys,
The treasure is hid. The book is the key to vast riches.
B. B.

105-2-7 // 154-11-14 // 153-3-2 // 21-3-11 // 35-15-1 // 14-1-8 // 98-26-14 // 22-9-4 // 4-28-11 // 61-29-8

The book that we have on board is Robert Louis Stevenson's, Treasure Island, the hardback edition, ISBN1-4027-1457-2 published in 2004 by Sterling Publishing Co. Inc.

Good luck treasure hunters!


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Location:Gorda Sound, November 24

Shock of the Day Answer

Nude sunbather on the beach at Marina Cay, an eye-opener or a cultural education?


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Location:Marina Cay

Gorda Sound 1st night

Location:Gorda Sound11/23/10

View from the top

-Shannon at the top of the 1st spreader on the mast taking pictures of the crew & the view.


Shannon at the 1st spreader. Sorry it is sideways!

Location:Gorda Sound

Snorkeling at The Dogs

We went snorkeling at The Dogs today. The visibility was fantastic! We saw a lot of fish that we haven't seen yet!


- John taking our picture from below








The keel of the boat is about 4' long. The barracuda next to it was about 2 1/2' long. He hung out by the ladder and none of us wanted to go up the ladder. Carter & Shannon were trying to get to the ladder but the barracuda kept swimming toward it. Courtney and Britton were right behind Shannon & Carter.

Location:George Dog 11/23/10

Are You Getting Jealous Yet? - Griffin

If you ever go to a buffet, here is some advice that I learned the hard way, never eat so much that you don't want to eat breakfast in the morning. Take a little bit at a time.

Today was great! We went snorkeling and it was awesome! We saw tons of new fish, but the real shocker was, and get this, we saw a 2 foot barracuda underneath the bow of the boat. It was amazing, it cleared all of the yellow Jack fish out from underneath that part of the yacht. It was the most amazing thing I have seen while snorkeling, but I think I will see even better things or at least I hope I will. We also had some pretty gnarly waves coming to Gorda Sound. At times the whole tip of the boat and the anchor would get so low they would go into the salty seawater of the British Virgin Islands. We also went up the mast on a harness and Nick made a hilarious comment when my mom was up the mast. He said, "creak, crack, and then there were eight".




If you cannot tell what that metal hollow pole that I am hanging on is, it is called the mast. First of all I had a harness on but you may not be able to see it, second, that was an amazing sight. Well that is it for today, we will see what tomorrow has in store for us.

Location:Gorda Sound, November 23

Set Sail with Britton

We left the yacht club at about 11:00am and sailed to George Dog Island. When we were snorkeling we saw lots of fish but the coolest one was literally right under the boat. It was a 2 1/2 foot barracuda! It was kind of scary because you didn't want to climb up the ladder since there was a big barracuda right next to you, (well, not really). After drying off, we set sail to Gorda Sound. It was really wavy on the way down here but it was worth it. Right when we were coming into the channel a guy on a dinghy came zippin' around really close to the boat. Well, apparently he was a pro photographer, he took our picture as we sailed fast through the channel. Check out www.yachtshotsbvi.com Vivo Libre, November 23 to find the photos. We picked up a mooring on our second try and hung out on the boat eating snacks. We were all excited when Chop asked us if we wanted to climb the mast! It was kind of scary at first but still really fun. Then we dinghied over to shore and looked around there. After dinner we might watch Pirates of the Caribbean 2 at the shore theater. By the way, my scrapes are much better.




Weeeeeeeee!

Location:Gorda Sound, Virgin Gorda, November 23

Virgin Gorda - Carter

Today was fun. We had a crazy day sailing, the boat kept rolling back and forth on the swells. When we went snorkeling there was a 2 foot barracuda underneath our boat looking straight down at the bottom. This afternoon, I climbed up the mast which is the big pole in the center of the boat that holds up the mainsail. When my mom went up, my friend Nick said,"creak, crack, and the there were 8." The whole time my mom was up there, we were all saying, "I hear cracking noises!" The place that we are going tonight shows movies, I hope they are good.






- Me at the first spreader.

Location:Gorda Sound, November 23

2 in 1 - Nick

This morning I woke up to a great day in Virgin Gorda Yacht Club. Once I was completely awake, I took my first shower in days, it was great! After that, we sailed to George Dog, a neighboring island to snorkel. We saw a few new fish but the best part was a 2.5 foot barracuda that kept hanging around near our boat. After that we sailed around to the other side of Virgin Gorda. My dad set up a harness so that I could go up about 30 feet on the mast. It was AWESOME!







- That is me at the top of the mast!

Location:Virgin Gorda, November 23

Another crazy windy day sailing

We left Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor today around 10:30 & set sail for Gorda Sound. We sailed for about 3 hours. It was crazy! We were keeled over so far and the rails went under water. Brent drove a long time and he had the front of the boat go under a few times. It was awesome sailing! We will be in Gorda Sound until Thursday Morning. Go to www.yachtshotsbvi.com and type in Vivo Libre and see our boat coming into Gorda Sound.








-Look at the horizon and look at the boat. We are flying sideways! Whoohoo!

Location:Middle of the Deep Blue Sea

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Location:Gorda Sound

Beautiful!

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Location:Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor