The BVI's are a special place - no doubt about it. Think about an entire country that doesn't smoke cigarettes. Of course there are people smoking cigarettes - they are dumb white people from off island and they probably have to look hard for a place to buy them as they aren't very visable. They also avoid (or ban) all the North American fast foot restaurants. You also can't have seadoos or motor bikes over 125 cc's. One newspaper story told about the police consficating a large motorcycle, but the owner simply broke into the police station that night and took it back, but smuggled it off island.
Of course, now we are in the USVI and all that American culture is full face in front of you. For the 6 weeks in the BVI's, we never had any soft drinks or obviously fast food. Two days in the harbour here, we've eaten at Subway twice and the beverage was obviously a soft drink.
Joan's indulgence has been to search out the ads for a hair salon and she found one at the spa at the Wyndam Resort. Now the serious question is what has caused those gray roots to show. Is it:
a) Sailing on life jacket & safety harness days
b) Trying to pick up the mooring ball
c) Worrying whether the anchor is going to hold
d) Trying to handle the dock lines when docking
e) Spending 31 with Bruce (24/7)
f) Always the Mate - never the Captain
g) Boats float, but Joan doesn't
h) Trying to keep the boat headed into the wind for sail take downs
i) Trying to hang on when heeling angles approach 45 degrees
j) Trying to get into the dinghy without falling over or falling out.
Now our decadence pales in comparison to some other people down here. A couple of weeks ago in the North Sound, I saw a nice mega yacht come in so I went down to have a look at it and its name was Rising Sun. It had some unique features like the anchors were not exposed on the side of the hull but were hidden behind doors that lifted up when it was time to anchor. At the aft end, there were a number of garages in the side of the hull where the fleet of accessory boats were kept, ranging up to 30 or 40ft. I couldn't see it, but the empty deck space at the back end was the helicopter landing pad. A recent article identified this boat (ship) as being 450 ft long. My quick calculation makes that about 120 ft longer than the Cheechimon (ferry). The owner of the boat is Larry Ellison of Oracle (computer hardware or software). He is the America's Cup sponsor for the U.S. entry.
After our open air taxi ride across St. Thomas today, seeing some of the poorer sections, some of the locals might find our lifestyle of sailing quite decadent.
Of course, now we are in the USVI and all that American culture is full face in front of you. For the 6 weeks in the BVI's, we never had any soft drinks or obviously fast food. Two days in the harbour here, we've eaten at Subway twice and the beverage was obviously a soft drink.
Joan's indulgence has been to search out the ads for a hair salon and she found one at the spa at the Wyndam Resort. Now the serious question is what has caused those gray roots to show. Is it:
a) Sailing on life jacket & safety harness days
b) Trying to pick up the mooring ball
c) Worrying whether the anchor is going to hold
d) Trying to handle the dock lines when docking
e) Spending 31 with Bruce (24/7)
f) Always the Mate - never the Captain
g) Boats float, but Joan doesn't
h) Trying to keep the boat headed into the wind for sail take downs
i) Trying to hang on when heeling angles approach 45 degrees
j) Trying to get into the dinghy without falling over or falling out.
Now our decadence pales in comparison to some other people down here. A couple of weeks ago in the North Sound, I saw a nice mega yacht come in so I went down to have a look at it and its name was Rising Sun. It had some unique features like the anchors were not exposed on the side of the hull but were hidden behind doors that lifted up when it was time to anchor. At the aft end, there were a number of garages in the side of the hull where the fleet of accessory boats were kept, ranging up to 30 or 40ft. I couldn't see it, but the empty deck space at the back end was the helicopter landing pad. A recent article identified this boat (ship) as being 450 ft long. My quick calculation makes that about 120 ft longer than the Cheechimon (ferry). The owner of the boat is Larry Ellison of Oracle (computer hardware or software). He is the America's Cup sponsor for the U.S. entry.
After our open air taxi ride across St. Thomas today, seeing some of the poorer sections, some of the locals might find our lifestyle of sailing quite decadent.
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