Kicking it on Catalyst

Here is the Piratical Wendy on the Catalyst deepening her tan in full regalia... and thinking about her true Pratical Name...
Other crew members on the foredeck of the Catalyst catching the delicate morning rays. Creevis up front, The Reverend in the middle, and Kai'Ilio (Hawaiian for "Water Dog"). Note scuba tanks and kayak to our right and tube to our left.
Here is Seaboi the pirate on the ipad in the lounge of the Catalyst.
And here be Switchblade, relaxing in his cabin and reading one of the books he has to finish before he starts Piratical Middle School.
Seaboi and Switchblade, in their pirate PJs, checking out the briney blue as we sail to our next adventure of the day.

Scuba Diving and snorkeling the wreck of The Rhone

This be the sight of the 1867 wreck of the RMS Rhone, a state of the art Royal Mail Ship made of steel and powered by steam and sail...

As Jason, Charlie, Dylan, and Wendy snorkeled above , Matt, Richard, and the Dread Captain Roberrts dove the wreck of the RMS Rhone, below. Which included some "swim-throughs"...
Last known picture of the Rhone:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Rhone

The Rhone sank in 1867 with the loss over 200 passengers, lashed in their bunks to keep them safe during the heavy seas. Only one passenger survived, as did 23 of the crew. Part of the wreck dive is to rub the porthole of the "lucky passenger", which Richard and I both did.

Here's the gearbox and drive shaft... We scuba-ed through that box... it is huge.













And another dive boat moored neareby...


The wreck of the Rhone was also used in the moive "the Deep". Richard kept looking for Jacqueline Bisset but she was not sighted... the pity.

And Jason saw a turtle that was how big?

Anegada: Loblolly, Cows Wreck, and Lobster Dinner at Reef Hotel!

Anagada is a very low island that appears over the horizon as you sail north from North Sound, Virgin Gorda.












Anegada was amazing. The most isolated and least populated of th BVi islands. We rented a truck for the day to tour and... amazing...










We went around the island and saw the endangered iguana exhibit (very low tech) as well as several beautiful beaches.

This is "Flash of Beauty" cafe at Loblolly Beach.












This is the view from "Cow Wreck" beach, which is one of our favorite of the whole trip. We had the beach to ourselves. And a really nice family ran the restaurant with kids hanging out.

The restaurant at Cow Wreck Beach.

Here is a picture of our lobster dinner, and carnage below... Each person got a 2lb lobster and there was family style salad, rice, ginger beer.

We started at a table with the stars overhead and sand beneath our feet. Then a rain storm blew through and we moved to under the outside patio.

Before dinner Charlie and Dylan were invited to play "Man Hunt" by some local kids, Lowel on the left, is the grandson of the restaurant/hotel ower, who was a lovely British ex-pat who's firt job out of college was working at the hotel, fell in love with the owner, and married and raised here family on Anagada. The Man Hunters are below...

' Since Man Hunt is a version of "hide and seek" there was a lot of scampering around as the twilight turned to night, and much laughing, screaming, and chasing ensued.

Farewells all around with the local kids asking with Dyl and Char would be back, and being very sad when they said "not very soon"... heavy hearts.

Then back to the boat for the night...

Hiking around Sandy Cay

Sandy Cay is a very small island with a hiking trail and really nice beaches.
The color of the water off Sandy Cay was surreal...



This is the biggest tree we found on this island trail.
On every island we ran into hermit crabs in a wide variety of sizes. Here's one we found in a tree and it had climbed up to about 7 feet up. I also stepped on a tiny one that had snuck into our villa on Virgin Gorda. Super cute little guy.


We lollled on the beach and in the water after our hike... it was really hot and humid, so the water was so refreshing.

Water Toys at Trellis Bay, Beef Island

The Catalyst had a "Stand Up Paddleboard" or SUP which Char and Dyl mastered immediately and puttered around several of our mooring sites.
We also used the 2-person kayak to look around and Wendy and Matt used it to go ashore at a couple of beaches.

Jost Van Dyke and Painkillers at Foxy's

We had icecream at the local open air store on Jost Van Dyke. The island is best known for its 4 big beach bars, but we only went to "Foxy's" and it was in the day so it was quiet...

Here is Matt talking with some nice bar flies. The guy had a belly-long beard with beads braided into it.

Peter Island- "The Indians" and a SCUBA dive for all...

We had some really good snorkeling at The Indians, a rock and reef formation off of Peter Island, where we spent another night.


Then on to the "North Sound of Virgin Gorda after a stop at Spanish Town to buy provisions and get cash.

We moored off Prickly Pear Island and Wendy and Matt swam into the beach... there was a volleyball court. The rest of the gang was playing with the tube and wakeboard. Wendy and I borrowed a volleyball from the "The Sandbox" bar and rallied. First time since Wendy shattered her ankle on 13 March, so this was big. We eventually had some others from the bar come over, and our kids and Richard showed up so we had a pickup game and Wendy JUMPED... It was awesome.

Evenutally swam back out to the boat and off to moore near the Bitter End Yacht Club and have drinks there, and at the amazing tiny island of Saba Rock... With Atocha treasures for sale!

Cooper Island & First Water Entry for Char & Dyl

Cooper Island was another point where played and moored for a night. The boys played on this huge inflated iceberg and the floating trampoline behind it. Alll three boys leapt off the top of this beast into the bay, with Dyl's first attempt ending in a monumental belly flop as he changed his mind from a dive to a jump just as he leapt. Painful... but after recovering he went back up and leapt off again.
Charlie and Dylan have the "rally gene"...
Here is the Catalyst's dinghy heading in to shore. Our captain, Alan, went to shore and jogged pretty much every evening.

We had appetizers and drinks at the bar/restaurant on the island and had our first contact with a group traveling on another boat who provided us entertainment from a distance due to their drinking and spats...
And the restaurant on Cooper Island as seen from the Catalyst.

All the divers did a dive that day... Here are Dylan & Charlie's first water entry from the Catalyst...

Snorkeling the caves at Norman Island-Pirate's Bight/Willie T's

We boarded the Catalyst and sailed directly to Norman Island, the island that inspired R. L. Stevenson's "treasure island". We snorkeled these caves which was really cool... LOTS of wildlife and we looked for treasure, as reportedly many years ago a chest of treasure was discovered hidden in these caves... Or so the story goes.

Saturday on... On the Catalyst!

Well, we made it onto the Catalyst in Road Town, Tortola after a ferry ride from Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda. Above is a map of the trip on the Catalyst so far. You can click on the map for a bigger version.

Charlie, Dylan, Jason, and Wendy all took Captain Alan's PADI certified scuba "resort course" and all got in two dives. They did great!! We have underwater video footage of them diving.

Richard and Matt got to dive a couple times, including the wreck of the RMS Rhone. This was an awesome dive.

The boys have tubed and wakeboarded behind the dinghy. We also found a beach bar with a sand volleyball court and Wendy hit some volleyballs with Matt. She actually jumped a little! That ankle is definitely on the mend.

We have seen LOTS of wildlife in the ocean.

We will be adding more pictures.

Flags Flying: Wooten and Ullus Portus

We have pre-hoisted the Wooten Flag, as well as our Privateering colors....

Beware, all ports in Tortugas...

Now to see who salutes them.

Our Privateering motto proudly proclaiming "Ullus Portus in Tempestate"

Friday... Final full day on Virgin Gorda

Several parties of snorkelers have gone out. Our laziest day by far. Dylan and his Dadm played tennis, which was "righteous" and very hot. Then this intrepid team got kayaked beyond the outer reef to where the water got very deep and very dark blue. The outer reef was REALLY shallow with bits sticking out. Low tide, yes... We also took a dip out there and getting back on our kayaks was not as hard as we thought it would be.

Charlie and Janie had their first turtle sighting this AND saw a puffer fishg.

Boys went to the beach and frolicked. Charlie-Chucking was the order of the day. Also Frisbee and a bit of volleyball.

Wendy found a left-over box of sticky buns and Richard is overseeing the production.

Tonight will be full moon. Dinner will be "breakfast": eggs, potatoes, and bacon. Then perhaps off to some exotic entertainment...

The Baths at Virgin Gorda