usvi-on-line
Trip Report Part 3, with pics.
Trip Report Part 3, with pics.
Tuesday, December 12th – Up early and head to the RMS Rhone. Between Peter and Salt Island. Fairly big swells on the surface, but we have breakfast and get the gear together and get in the water. Just a short swim, on the surface (don’t want to waste any air time) to the stern. We go down, and head towards the propeller swim thru. This is my 4th or 5th time diving on the Rhone, and I have to say, I have never seen so many fish, and BIG fish.
***I do have pictures, but I need to do some work to them, so maybe I’ll post them after Christmas.
Anyway, there was this huge Gray Angel Fish who followed us everywhere we went. She would swim right in front of our faces and then ate our bubbles. It was really neat! There was also a huge grouper in the swim thru, scared the p**p out of me. Had a great dive, it was very clear. Max depth 90ft. At one point I was standing on the bottom, right at the front of the bow section, I looked up, and could see people snorkeling 90ft. above me. It was really cool!
Back to the boat, put all the gear away, head to Cooper Island Beach Club, get more air, and have lunch. Then head to the Mary L & Pat. Two wrecks that sit side by side, between Cooper and Salt Island. This dive didn’t turn out to be very successful. Three years ago we found the wrecks no problem, this year, we go all geared up, this usually take 45min, each time to get 4 divers in the water, and start swimming, and we swim, and we swim….. and we swim; finally we get to a drop off, which I knew we needed to find. It drops right down to 80ft to a flat bottom, with a little grass and lots of conch. We keep swimming….no wreck. Then Meredith tells us she is really tired and wants to head back to the boat. By this time we had already been swimming for about 25 minutes, and had to swim back. So we all aborted the dive and returned to the boat. It’s actually good that we did, because the current was really strong going back. We all made it back safe, and even saw a few fish along the way.
We headed towards Peter Island, to Great Harbor for the night. A few more drinks, my drink of choice for the week was Cruzan Coconut Rum, orange/pineapple juice, with a splash of cranberry juice. YUM! For supper we had amazing BBQ Ribs and Pasta/Greek Salad. Tonight’s entertainment was a Caribbean Christmas CD. Lots of fun.
Wednesday, December 13th – We decided to dive on the Rhone again, because yesterday was soooooo good. It was good again, and our friend the Angel Fish was in fine form. Sadly, it was time to return the gear, so we head to Nanny Cay….did I mention that it’s hot in there. Holy Cow!!! We have to all go in, cause we need fuel, water and more beer and juice. After Nanny Cay we head, actually we sail for the first time to Jost, to Great Harbor, and Foxy’s.
I, as a rule, don’t go into Foxy’s, I know it’s sad, but I’ve been there many times, and I get eaten alive. I’ve tried everything and nothing works (bug spray I mean). I mean like 100’s of bites, and I don’t even know what bites me. Anyway, M & M go in, Foxy is there, but he is just sitting and talking to a bunch of people, they have a drink and come back to the boat.
If you haven’t figured it out by now, we are not party animals while on vacation, we do drink a lot, but stay on the boat. We get into much less trouble that way.
Thursday, December 14 – today is beach day!!!!!!!!!!! We spent the entire day, well most of it, in White Bay. Partly at Ivan’s and partly at the Soggy Dollar, got lots of sun, meet some really nice people, drank way to many Pain Killers, but lots of fun was had by all. Part way through the afternoon, we decide to head to Sydney’s (I wonder why?) Meredith had never been there before, she wanted to buy a few t-shirts, get her hair braided, and just see the place. Strawberry, the oldest of Sydney’s 5 daughters, meets us on the dock. She always remembers my husband. I’m not quite sure why. We do the usual, look around the stores, buy a few things. I’m not sure if many of you have been to Sydney’s, but it is one of the neatest places. Like Ivan’s, it’s a self service bar, and they have the greatest t-shirts and Stuff. I think the best in the Islands! It’s also the place where Kenny filmed the video for “Living in Fast Forward”.
When we leave Sydney’s we decide to head to Cinnamon Bay for the night, and to check if there are any lights on at Kenny’s house. My husband tolerates me being a huge Kenny Chesney fan. No lights.
Anyway, we had the most amazing sail. Little Harbor JVD, to Cinnamon Bay St. John in 25 minutes, on one tack, with only the jib out. Wow!!!!!!! The wind was our friend.
OK, this night, it’s M & M’s turn to make dinner. We each did 3 nights. Except this night he has a little toooooo much rum, and by 10 pm, dinner still isn’t ready, by the time it was, no one was hungry. He had made Shepard’s Pie. It smelled good! He insisted that he was going to eat it for Breakfast. Yeah Right! That never happened.
Stay tuned for the last 3 days. Still to come. Sydney meets Ruth, We experience Miracle on Main Street in STT, some of us experienced it a little too much….and a run - in with 20 or so tarpon!
Here are a few pictures. The first one is of Keith and me, and the second is of the four of us, at Sydney's. Look at the reflection in the wall map, behind us. It's a reflection of our charter boat.
Here's a link to our boat.
http://www.cyoacharters.com/bareboats/index.html
Click on the Hunter 450.
***I do have pictures, but I need to do some work to them, so maybe I’ll post them after Christmas.
Anyway, there was this huge Gray Angel Fish who followed us everywhere we went. She would swim right in front of our faces and then ate our bubbles. It was really neat! There was also a huge grouper in the swim thru, scared the p**p out of me. Had a great dive, it was very clear. Max depth 90ft. At one point I was standing on the bottom, right at the front of the bow section, I looked up, and could see people snorkeling 90ft. above me. It was really cool!
Back to the boat, put all the gear away, head to Cooper Island Beach Club, get more air, and have lunch. Then head to the Mary L & Pat. Two wrecks that sit side by side, between Cooper and Salt Island. This dive didn’t turn out to be very successful. Three years ago we found the wrecks no problem, this year, we go all geared up, this usually take 45min, each time to get 4 divers in the water, and start swimming, and we swim, and we swim….. and we swim; finally we get to a drop off, which I knew we needed to find. It drops right down to 80ft to a flat bottom, with a little grass and lots of conch. We keep swimming….no wreck. Then Meredith tells us she is really tired and wants to head back to the boat. By this time we had already been swimming for about 25 minutes, and had to swim back. So we all aborted the dive and returned to the boat. It’s actually good that we did, because the current was really strong going back. We all made it back safe, and even saw a few fish along the way.
We headed towards Peter Island, to Great Harbor for the night. A few more drinks, my drink of choice for the week was Cruzan Coconut Rum, orange/pineapple juice, with a splash of cranberry juice. YUM! For supper we had amazing BBQ Ribs and Pasta/Greek Salad. Tonight’s entertainment was a Caribbean Christmas CD. Lots of fun.
Wednesday, December 13th – We decided to dive on the Rhone again, because yesterday was soooooo good. It was good again, and our friend the Angel Fish was in fine form. Sadly, it was time to return the gear, so we head to Nanny Cay….did I mention that it’s hot in there. Holy Cow!!! We have to all go in, cause we need fuel, water and more beer and juice. After Nanny Cay we head, actually we sail for the first time to Jost, to Great Harbor, and Foxy’s.
I, as a rule, don’t go into Foxy’s, I know it’s sad, but I’ve been there many times, and I get eaten alive. I’ve tried everything and nothing works (bug spray I mean). I mean like 100’s of bites, and I don’t even know what bites me. Anyway, M & M go in, Foxy is there, but he is just sitting and talking to a bunch of people, they have a drink and come back to the boat.
If you haven’t figured it out by now, we are not party animals while on vacation, we do drink a lot, but stay on the boat. We get into much less trouble that way.
Thursday, December 14 – today is beach day!!!!!!!!!!! We spent the entire day, well most of it, in White Bay. Partly at Ivan’s and partly at the Soggy Dollar, got lots of sun, meet some really nice people, drank way to many Pain Killers, but lots of fun was had by all. Part way through the afternoon, we decide to head to Sydney’s (I wonder why?) Meredith had never been there before, she wanted to buy a few t-shirts, get her hair braided, and just see the place. Strawberry, the oldest of Sydney’s 5 daughters, meets us on the dock. She always remembers my husband. I’m not quite sure why. We do the usual, look around the stores, buy a few things. I’m not sure if many of you have been to Sydney’s, but it is one of the neatest places. Like Ivan’s, it’s a self service bar, and they have the greatest t-shirts and Stuff. I think the best in the Islands! It’s also the place where Kenny filmed the video for “Living in Fast Forward”.
When we leave Sydney’s we decide to head to Cinnamon Bay for the night, and to check if there are any lights on at Kenny’s house. My husband tolerates me being a huge Kenny Chesney fan. No lights.
Anyway, we had the most amazing sail. Little Harbor JVD, to Cinnamon Bay St. John in 25 minutes, on one tack, with only the jib out. Wow!!!!!!! The wind was our friend.
OK, this night, it’s M & M’s turn to make dinner. We each did 3 nights. Except this night he has a little toooooo much rum, and by 10 pm, dinner still isn’t ready, by the time it was, no one was hungry. He had made Shepard’s Pie. It smelled good! He insisted that he was going to eat it for Breakfast. Yeah Right! That never happened.
Stay tuned for the last 3 days. Still to come. Sydney meets Ruth, We experience Miracle on Main Street in STT, some of us experienced it a little too much….and a run - in with 20 or so tarpon!
Here are a few pictures. The first one is of Keith and me, and the second is of the four of us, at Sydney's. Look at the reflection in the wall map, behind us. It's a reflection of our charter boat.
Here's a link to our boat.
http://www.cyoacharters.com/bareboats/index.html
Click on the Hunter 450.
I'm really enjoying your report! I love reading about the scuba diving. I used to dive but don't anymore because John can't come with me--he has chronic sinus issues that make it impossible for him to equalize. So we just snorkel.
Nice pictures--you really look like you are having fun.
Nice pictures--you really look like you are having fun.
It's like looking in your soup and finding a whole different alphabet.
Love the reports
I am really enjoying your reports. Sailing and diving are two interests that we have but have yet to do the work associated with picking up the hobby.
-
California Girl
-
Bill in Va
- Posts: 442
- Joined: Thu Aug 10, 2006 3:56 pm
- Location: Lake Gaston, Va
Great report and pic's
Thanks for a great report. Glad you were there the week after us. The wind was a real treat then. Couple of days there were 40 knot gusts. I've been on the Rhone twice and can't wait to meet your grey friend..God bless...Bill