Well to start 2009 off on the right foot a trip to the Virgin Islands sounded like a perfect idea! On December 30th I flew out of Newark, NJ and had a direct flight to paradise, Charlotte Amalie in St. Thomas. What follows is a brief overview of each day of the voyage.
Day 1: I arrived in St. Thomas and met up with Kelsey. We explored St. Thomas and discovered "Two for Tuesday's" at The Greenhouse. The Captain Mango was quite delicious!
Day 2: We woke up early to take the ferry to Tortola. We met the rest of the group at The Moorings and boarded our new home for the next two weeks. After preparing the vessel for voyage we set sail at 3pm and headed to Key Bay on Peter Island where we anchored for the night. It was one of the nicest snorkel sites we had the whole trip. Plenty of fish, coral, and even a nurse shark.
Day 3: We woke up early and went for a long morning snorkel. Saw more turtles and fish as well as a 1.5 ft Spiny Lobster, mmm he would of been tasty! Had a delicious breakfast and then set sail for Long Bay at Virgin Gorda. It was approximately a 2.5 hour trip and it was beautiful, plenty of sun to soak in. Once anchored we went snorkeling at Mountain Point. This was a cool snorkel site because around the point there was this hidden grotto. You had to dive down in the water and go through an underwater archway up into the grotto. Very cool but slightly challenging with the current and surge.
Day 4: We woke up very early to sail over to The Baths just so we could get a day mooring. The Baths were awesome, it is all these enormous boulders which form natural tidal pools, tunnels, arches and scenic grottoes, that are open to the sea. Some of the boulders are about 40 feet long. It is an amazing place to visit but can get very cramped and touristy when the cruise ship folks arrive. After we explored for a bit we hiked to the "Top of the Baths" where there was a little restaurant and a freshwater pool. We had some delicious cheeseburgers in paradise and a nice dip in the pool. Then we took the dinghy back to our boat and set sail for The Dog Islands. We took up a mooring in the North West corner of Great Dog island and did some snorkeling. Then we sailed over to Drakes Anchorage in Gorda Sound where we anchored for the night.
Day 5: In the morning Mary and I took the dinghy out to this little cove to watch some amazing big waves roll in. As we rounded the point we saw most of the waves were breaking on a pretty shallow reef and there were a bunch of surfers out. It looked pretty gnarly. After breakfast we did some "sailing school" with the pro's Mary and Todd. We practiced tacking with the jib and also did two well maintained jibes. We sailed over to Saba Rock and took up a mooring ball at the Bitter End. We explored both Saba Rock and the Bitter End but decided to eat dinner at the restaurant on Saba Rock.
Day 6: We woke up very early to get ready for our first dive trip. We took the dinghy over to the Bitter End and docked outside of Killbrides, the company we were diving with. We decided to do a two tank dive, the first being out at Ginger Island. We dove a site called Diane's Point, it was a sloped bottom with a lot of coral and various fish. Unfortunately there was quite a bit of dead coral which was sad to see. Our second site was over at Great Dog Island and it was called Two Ray Bay.
This was an awesome site because we dove a plane wreck. There were very large schools of fish and the coral was in much better shape. I came to the realization that warm water diving is a lot more pleasurable then the cold water in Alaska! After our dives we headed back to the boat and set sail for Marina Cay. I even took the helm and practiced my cruising skills.
Day 7: After refilling our water tanks we left Marina Cay and headed over to Trellis Bay. It is a very artsy community with a lot of handmade goods. Very cool! After a short visit we set sail for Monkey Point. Wow, talk about exciting snorkeling. There were hundreds and hundreds of minnows, they were so thick you could barely see through them. However, it is slightly startling when your swimming through the minnows and all of a sudden your face to face with a 3-4 ft long Tarpon! After snorkeling we set sail for Jost Van Dyke where we anchored in Great Harbor. After dinner aboard the boat we all piled in the dinghy and went ashore to check out the infamous Foxy's; "where friends are met... and memories made". Oh how true that proved to be! Kelsey and I were hoping for a fun night with drinking and dancing. In the beginning it looked like we were going to disappointed, that was until we met the Scottish couple. Suddenly the party started, the drinks were flowing, and then Kelsey and I met our pirates. The rest of the night... well lets just say what happens in BVI stays in BVI!
Day 8: The next day Kelsey and I being semi-cranky and hungover couldn't get off the boat fast enough when we got to Cruz Bay at St. John. We had a much needed lunch and checked out some of the shops before getting back on the boat and sailing over to Leinster Bay on St. John.
Day 9: In the morning we headed ashore to hike up to the Annaberg Sugar Mill ruins. It was a nice walk and the ruins were pretty cool. At the ruins there was a local who gave out samples of sugar cane, "chew but don't swallow", it was not what I expected but very yummy. After the hike we went for a swim/snorkel out at Watermelon Cay. It was awesome snorkeling and I got some of my best underwater photos there. I saw a huge beach ball sized puffer fish, rays, flounders, very large starfish, barracuda, and the typical reef fish. Once back on the boat we headed over to Salt Pond Bay on St. John. It was late afternoon by this point so we took the dinghy up to the beach and hiked Ram's Head. What a beautiful view from the top!
Day 10: We left fairly early the next morning and sailed over to Road Town, Tortola to check back into BVI customs. Once done with customs we sailed to The Indians for some more snorkeling. I decided to sit this one out and soak up some sun. After snorkeling we headed to Privateer Bay on Norman Island.
There were a bunch of caves so Kelsey and I took the kayak and went exploring. Later that night during dinner we were eating our Cornish Game Hens by headlamp light and throwing our bones over the back, when we started hearing a slurping noise. I jumped up and shined my headlamp over and we were all shocked to see a bunch of sharks sucking the bones off the surface of the water while bats were trying to grab them of the surface. I of course had the crazy idea of going fishing! 
So I tied some dental floss to a hot dog and threw the hot dog out and lured the sharks closer. It was amazing to see all the sharks in various sizes and of course it freaked everyone out for snorkeling the next day. Later that night some of us wanted to go around the point and check out Willie T's so we took the dinghy over. The Willie T is a floating pirate ship bar/restaurant and it is quite a hoot. Within 5 minutes of arriving we did a "Shotski", watched a girl run around topless and molest the bar tender, a guy peed on our dinghy, and we convinced a very drunk obnoxious guy to jump off the top of the ship. The night only got better when the really drunk group left and the Yachtzee's arrived. Not only did they dance with us but "The Lady in Red' turned the railing into a stripper pole and Kelsey lead the whole group to Michael Jackson's Thriller.
Day 11: We had another early start in the morning because we were going on our second dive. We sailed over to Manchioneel Bay on Cooper Island where we met with our dive group. We left a little after 2pm and headed over to the Wreck of the Rhone. The RMS Rhone was a royal mail steam packet ship that transported cargo between England, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. She was wrecked off the coast of Salt Island in the British Virgin Islands on October 29, 1867 during a hurricane. It was a very cool dive site with awesome visibility. We saw tons of fish including groupers and some very nice coral heads. After the dive we headed out for our last group dinner on Cooper Island.
Day 12: The trip was slowly coming to an end and no one wanted to leave. We all packed up our stuff and cleaned up the boat while we sailed back to The Moorings base. Kelsey and I parted ways with everyone and took a taxi back down to the Ferry building where we caught a ferry back to St.Thomas. That night we decided to end where we started at The Greenhouse. We made it an early night and relaxed in our room before falling asleep.
Day 13: Our departure was nearing but Kelsey and I had a few hours in the morning so we walked around St. Thomas and went into some of the shops before finally taking a taxi back to the airport. Our flights left at similar times so we were able to go through customs together and then kick it in the airport before we parted ways to head back to the real world.
This trip is by far one of the most amazing experiences I have had to date and I was able to share this adventure with some really great people. It was also a great way for me to add to my life list of birds and fish. Some of the sightings include the Antillean Crested Hummingbird, Brown Booby, Magnificent Frigatebird, and of course one of my personal favorites the Brown Pelican. As far as the fish go, there are just far too many to mention!
Over Valentines Day weekend, I decided to head into the city (New York) and go to the Natural History Museum. It was a day filled with trains, subways, and dinosaur bones. The museum was absolutely huge and I didn't even come close to seeing everything. Some of the highlights include The Hall of Biodiversity which was absolutely stunning. 
The Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, which contained an enormous recreation of a Humpback Whale hanging from the ceiling. The Akeley Hall of African Mammals, is where I got up close and personal with some elephants and tigers. The Margaret Mead Hall of Pacific Peoples, yay I got my picture taken with the Rapa Nui (Easter Island) statue. 
There was also the Primate and North American Birds Hall. Lastly, one of my personal favorites was the Saurischian and Ornithischian Dinosaurs. I got to see one of the only real fully reconstructed T-Rex skeletons in the world. It was so cool! There was also a Stegosaurus and a Brontosaurus. 
After the museum I went to this little tapas restaurant downtown. Las Ramblas was by far the tiniest restaurant I have ever seen, seating maybe 20 or so people. But the Sangria was delicious as was the food. After dinner I took the subway uptown and hopped on the train back to New Brunswick. It was a fun day and I will definitely have to go back to see the rest of the museum.
