Showing posts with label Adventure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adventure. Show all posts

Monday, January 12, 2015

Sailing the British Virgin Islands {Part One}



10 friends, a boat and a map
{part one of three}

A few weeks ago, Dan and I went on a trip of a lifetime…. literally I can’t imagine a more amazing trip. I’ve been posting along on insta. We sailed the BVI’s on a 50ft cat with 10 of our best buds. I found myself relaxing in the bow net thinking, “Wow, how are we here right now? How did this happen to us?” I believe my favorite day included scuba diving a 150 year old shipwreck, climbing to the tippytop of our cat’s mast and cracking open fresh coconuts found on shore. We were adventurers, semi-sloppy "wine connoisseurs" and wannabe pirates for 9 beautiful days. We were free as can be! Each night I would watch that sunset and count my lucky stars. Thanks Evan and Mon!

I’ll share my journal with you day-by-day, in a 3 part post and give you all the ins and outs if you want to see the same sights and sail the same route on a trip of your own some day.

- Day One -
We landed in St. Thomas along with our friends and took a cab to Charlotte Amilie’s “Fast Ferry” to catch a boat to Tortola, BVI to pick up our Catamaran from Voyage Charters. Three or so of our friends graduated from Cal Maritime, so no need to hire a captain. Our friend Evan sent in his resume and the company approved him the rental. Yahooo. 10 friends, a map and our own boat!

After an hour or so ferry ride, we arrived in West End Tortola and went though customs. We took a taxi to quaint little Soper’s Hole in Frenchman's Cay to pick up “Knot Bad”.  We ordered our groceries from a market in town and they delivered them to our boat. Well that's convenient!

It was a beautiful night with big fluffy clouds and a warm breeze. I loved listening to the jazz music playing at the restaurant in the distance as we unpacked all the groceries on the boat. Huge tarpon fish swam below our boat in the glowing blue water. I went to bed with a smile on my face. "We’re actually here!"

-ferry ride to tortola-


-our home for the next 9 days-

-fluffy clouds and tarpon-

-miss mon's blurry head and a beautiful night sky-

- Day Two-
We departed from Soper’s Hole and sailed to Beef Island to join the Full Moon Party. All the moorings near the island were full so we anchored at Little Camanoe (a deserted island) nearby. We spent the day snorkeling for shells and relaxing on the beach. The boys hooked up a hammock to the boom and we’d take turns lounging in it. Our friend Monica made Painkiller drinks and we all slipped into a state of  complete happiness. That night we ate family style - all 10 of us around the dinner table and feasted on BBQed pork, tofu and veggies.  After dinner we crammed everyone into our little dinghy and ventured off into the night, crossing the channel to Beef Island. I must admit I was a tad nervous with 10 people in a struggling dinghy motoring further from land than one would want to swim at night.  But alas we arrived safely and I learned to trust my seafaring sailors…we made it to the Moon Party.
It was cool…a bit of an older crowd (40-50's) but still cool. Long Bay on Beef Island is a mile or so stretch of beach with fun bars and hippy-dippy pottery shops. We drank rum punch and danced with Moko Jumbies and fire dancers all night.  They even had an aerial silk dancer that hung from a crane! 


-coffee and some journaling-


-floating at little camanoe with beef island in the distance- 



-diving for shells-

-sandcastle playdate-


-happiness in a hammock-



-fire dancers and beach bonfire-

-moko jumbies-

-my love-

-Day Three-
We sailed to Great Dog and anchored near the Coral Gardens Plane Wreck. Dan and I had never  been scuba diving before, but four of our friends were certified and they talked us through the whole process. I had always wanted to learn how to dive! I think I was more nervous about Danny diving than I was. I have a rather vivid imagination and sometimes it gets the best of me. But when would we get a chance like this again? Seize the moment right!? We were in good hands…the best of the best. Danny and I each went with a friend equipped with a dive watch and fancy diving goodies. Wow what a feeling! Breathing underwater is so amazing…it felt like a whole new world was opening up. Now I have dreams about breathing underwater. I’m hooked. I want more! Thanks for taking us Jeff and Cole! You guys are the best!

We had a fun time exploring an Atlantic Air BVI plane that crashed after takeoff in the 90’s (no one was hurt), the plane languished in a hangar for some time prior to being dismantled for scraps. The BVI dive operators were able to persuade the owners to give the fuselage over for use as a dive site. It was sunk in about 45ft of water east of the dive boat moorings on Great Dog Island. It was beautiful and amazing! I even managed to swim inside the cockpit while Cole took a picture! Unreal!

And that was just the morning…after the dive we sailed to Anegada Island and radioed-in a reservation for the Anegada Reef Hotel restaurant. 10 freshly caught lobsters were awaiting us. Sailing was long today about 4 hours between Great Dog and Anegada. It was nice though, most of us took advantage of the time by lying out in the nets or reading and I took to making coconut-iced coffee for everyone. Aww this trip is a dream.

Upon arrival at Anegada we moored the boat and explored Pomato Point - walking along the white sand beach with turquoise water.

That night we bobbed in our floaties, watched the sunset and ate like kings.

-my babe and our morning snorkel at great dog island-


-snorkeling with jeff and ry. checking out the reef-


-suited up for my first dive. crashed my plane ;)-


-mooring at anegada-


-a view and a yumi-

-a cute man in a doughnut and coconut iced coffee-

-danny and me time-



-dive baby dive-

-friends-

-anegada reef hotel dinner-


-love this man-


Days 4,5,6 (part 2) and Days 7,8,9 (part 3)
to come.

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Countdown to the Virgin Islands!


In about two weeks Dan and I are hopping on a plane to meet up with some friends in the Virgin Islands! Whattt!!!? Yeah I know...I can hardly believe it myself. We have been counting down the days! A few months ago our friend Evan asked us if we wanted to sail around the islands (US and British). "Who us!? Ummmm heck YES!" Although we aren't much of what you would call sailors...no problema, Evan is a merchant marine and sails/drives huge boats for a living. So we are in good hands. His family happened to have boat credit in the islands and they didn't want to use it, so Evan and his lovely wife Miss Monica invited us on the trip of a lifetime! We get to sail our own private 5 stateroom catamaran! We are beyond excited and so stoked that they invited us! We'll be spending 7 days or so on the sea with some of our best buds -- floating in my doughnut and sippin on island drinks. Oh this is going to be a very Merry start to our Christmas season!

Below are a few pictures I've been collecting to get me amped for our adventure :)













Pictures: Virgin Island, Bar and Drink, Dock, Photographer and Island, Baths and Fire, Starfish, Swimsuits and Boat, Hammock and Lobster, Pineapples, Cozy Boat and Friends

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Honeymoon Part 1: Barcelona, Spain

Dan and I LOVE traveling. Neither of us had ever been to Europe (besides a layover here and there), so we thought that our honeymoon would be the perfect opportunity to take time off of work and see the places that we were dreaming to see. Asking for a month off was a bit of a stretch, but luckily our jobs were flexible enough (and bosses gracious enough) to swing it. Once we got the a-ok, Dan and I began brainstorming for possible destinations. “Should we go to one place and stay for a few weeks or should we travel all over and only stay a few days in each spot? Hmmmmm…what to do?” We ended up doing a whirlwind trip, stopping in 10 different countries and 17 cities! We thought it would be best to see as much as we could with the time we had.

Our first half of the trip was a Mediterranean cruise that started in Barcelona, Spain and ended in Venice, Italy with 8 stops along the way. And for the second half of our honeymoon we bought a Eurail Pass and traveled in a huge loop that ended in Paris, France. It was the perfect trip -- a grand adventure with my hub. We loved every second of it, even the running around like chickens to catch trains and getting lost in Berlin and Istanbul! It was all magical.
-- Honeymoon Part 1 –
1 of 14
Our plane landed in Barcelona, Spain and we had 3 amazing days of exploring the city until we boarded the ship. We stayed in a beautiful hotel called AC Sants located near the SantsTrain Station and Plaza de España. The front desk was very helpful... they mapped-out all of the places we were hoping to see. It also helped that Dan is fluent in Spanish, God bless him and his bilingualism!


We took a walk down to the beach. It was fun to see the hustle and bustle of the Mediterranean cafe's and the colorful changing closets on the boardwalk. Dan jumped in the water and swam out to the furthest buoy {this is a habit of his}. The water was WARM and the beach was spectacular.


{Barcelona's fish sculpture, known as Peix in Catalan by Frank O. Gehry}


{Exploring La Boqueria was my favorite!}

{So many bright colors and tasty treats!}
There were tons of mini restaurants with bar seating in La Boqueria. We found a crowed counter at El Quim {crowded usually means good food right?} and we snagged two seats after a couple left. People were elbow to elbow, drinking wine and eating beautiful dishes like huevos fritos con llangueta y chipirones {Fried eggs with baby squid in ink sauce}.


It's always somewhat hard getting pictures of the two of us together when we travel {unless if you do the one-arm selfie}. Our tip is to ask someone who's holding a camera, chances are they're from out of town as well and they won't mind helping you out.  Offer to return the favor. "Can you please take our picture? We can take one of you too!"

{Gaudi's Casa BatllĂł and Casa Mila}

The gorgeous Sagrada Familia! Construction started in 1882 with Francisco de Paula del Villar and then with GaudĂ­ until his death in 1926. Since then different architects have continued the work. They say it will take another 20 years to complete. Yikes! But what a magnificent sight it was!



{Feeling very small}

 {At Park Guell}



{Catedral de la Santa Cruz y Santa Eulalia AKA Barcelona Cathedral}


{A lit door in the depths of the cathedral. What's inside!? }

  
I heard of this little gem -- Granja La Pallaresa on a travel show and knew we had to find it. They serve crispy churros  that you dip in thick hot chocolate! Gaaaa it was to die for. We got lost along the way and must have asked 15 people for directions. We finally found it amongst a menagerie of windy little streets in El Barri Gòtic.
Carrer de Petritxol 11, 08002 Barcelona, Spain (El Barri Gòtic)
 P.S. Danny looks so handsome ^^^^

{In our happy place} 


 {I dig this house. When can we move in?}

The McDonalds in Europe are super luxurious two-story mansions with plush chairs, chandeliers and real drinking glasses. They even had macarons! We had to try one. Why can't we have fancy McD's at home?

{Barcelona you are beautiful and amazing}

Check out Part 2 of our trip in Monte Carlo!