Life's a Beach

Well folks, I've got one month left down here! Woo! It's looking like we'll be home between June 6th and the 10th. I'm hoping a decision will be made within the next few days! Most of the time I feel like the time has gone by super fast, but I've been curious as to how quickly this next month will go. We are currently in the BVIs and are finally going to start slowing down a little bit, which is nice. We will travel around here a bit, hit the USVIs, and then end our journey in Puerto Rico! Since my last post I think we had two 12-hour passages along with multiple others. I'm excited to take it easy! Below are a couple of pictures from our passages so far - the one on the left was a particularly brutal one! Ha ha. Sickness all around. I'm pretty sure I felt the way that they look!

When I wrote my last post we were anchored in Le Saints, which I loved! It was so quaint and quiet there. After we left that area we spent one night in Guadelope. We had planned to rent a car to do some touring there, but it didn't work out. So we went on to St. Kitts for fuel, which was our first time spending the night in a marina since leaving St. Lucia in the very beginning! Next was St. Barts, St. Martin, and Virgin Gorda (BVI territory). We are currently anchored at Peter Island and went to church across the channel in Tortola yesterday! 

I absolutely loved St. Barts! St. Barts is a popular island for the rich and famous. It was most definitely ritzy. We anchored the boat outside of the main port, The Port of Gustavia, and while we were entering the bay I noticed several sail boats go by all at once. Jenn had told me that May 1st was a holiday there, but I didn't realize that the boats were part of a big regatta they do annually. Check out westindiesregatta.com for more pictures and a sweet video! Every other year they sail all the way from France. They come in at all hours of the night and are warmly greeted with bells, clapping, and cheers. We went over to Gustavia that night to meet up with some friends of the Bloods, The Millers, who currently live on their boat there. There was a pretty large celebration going on - camera crews interviewing the winners, tons of stalls filled with various items, and live music. It a busy few days around there and I really enjoyed being around lots of other people!

We spent three nights near the island. We didn't have internet where we anchored, so I made David take me back over to the Port for my break one of the days. Everything there was super expensive, but there was a cute little burger joint that was reasonable and really good! (I've missed going out to eat whenever I want! Ha ha.) I was able to get internet from their little souvenir shop next door and after sufficiently wasting enough time on Instagram and Facebook, I went on a walk to explore a bit. There are tons of tiny little cars and scooters there. The airport is right on the edge of the island, so planes fly right over the main road the leads into Gustavia. I even heard a man was hit in the head by one last year!

{See the cute little pink car? What I wouldn't have given to cruise that around!}

On Saturday, a week ago, we went with The Millers to Shell Beach. They have a little girl, Jade, who is Benjamin's age. I love the Blood family, but I don't often get the opportunity to interact with anyone else. So I really loved meeting Jade's parents, Simon and Meredith. They were the nicest people! Meredith does forensic science stuff for the FBI, so we talked a lot about DC and the pros/cons of living and working there. She mentioned that she would love to USAID, so I had fun telling her a little about the organization and my former job. She and Simon met in TANZANIA! So that was a fun story to hear about too. They've even been to Arusha, which is where I spent my 4.5 months, so I was over the moon to hear about their experiences there!  

{Seriously, shells GALORE!}

St. Martin, however, was a bit boring. We spent most of our time on the boat, but had the opportunity to go to church there, which was nice! Most of the people at that particular branch were white. There were a lot of visitors - cruise-goers and a young couple who were there to adopt some children on the island! There were several other young couples who were in medical school there too.

The BVIs, however, have been really fun! Our first stop here was the North Sound of Virgin Gorda near Saba Rock. Saba Rock was pretty legit and I definitely wouldn't mind going back there someday for a little vacay! It was also very low-key there. We were super close to shore, although there was nowhere to go/nothing to do except sit in the sand and get sand fly bites! (I've got so many, it's ridiculous.) It was still relaxing though. We stayed there three nights and one of the mornings I woke up to a surprise! The kids had all of their schoolwork done, which was nice because half of the battle Monday through Friday is getting them to focus, get along, and stay on task. (Some days it seriously sucks the life out of me!) They were so excited they made me take a picture of the pile:

That day David inflated the trampoline,"hot dog", and raft for the kids. They spent half the day outside getting some sun. I even joined them for a bit after I was done correcting all that work! Later that day Jenn and I went snorkeling out a bit further into the ocean and I saw my first shark! (Eek!) It was a 3 foot long nurse shark. Basically I'm just glad I wasn't bleeding from anywhere, ya know? 

{Check out that amazingly blue water!}

Our next stop was Savannah Bay. Our Savannah, Savannah Blood, was pretty excited about spending the night there! When the kids finished their school work that day, we headed to the beach. Savannah loaded the smaller kids onto their inflatable raft along with their sand toys and my beach chair and we took off for shore. I was in charge of the navigating at the front while Savannah and Isabel kicked in the back. It was seriously tough! Ha. It's a good thing I wore flippers, because otherwise I don't think I would have made it! There was quite the current and I definitely got a good work out! I also (finally) saw my first sting ray that day! I personally think sting rays are creepy little buggers - I just don't want to end up getting Steve Irwined by one! 

There was also a killer sunset that evening! Serious eye candy, right?!

On the way to Peter Island we stopped at The Baths. Oh my heck... The Bloods had been telling me about The Baths since the beginning of our journey and for good reason! They have got to be THE tourist hotspot of the BVIs. Luckily cruise season is ending (or perhaps has already ended), so it wasn't too crowded. It was amazing though! The Baths are essentially piles of huge boulders that form natural tide pools, tunnels, and arches that eventually open up to the ocean. They were so fun to explore! We  climbed all over and through them and even slide down them (ish)! It was also a pretty decent spot for snorkeling! And now for a million pictures:

      

    {Sexaaaay!}