Promenade Sail Dive Charters Blog

Apparently I AM the pancake queen... I have made many this week for little birds with their mouths open...Everyone has to be known for something....


Little Sammi was going for a resort dive and I believe the wet suit was about 18 sizes too big for her....


We appear to have another boat following us everywhere we go this week...


The impossibly clear blue water of Money Bay...


Getting the boats into position to raft...


Felix patiently waiting to swim one more line ashore this week...


Our own private swimming pool!


the next night we circled around forever in the Bight Looking for somewhere we could possibly raft up...It was hardly busy at all


We still had that pesky boat Freedom following us !


Although it is giving me great opportunities for good sunset shots...


Some of the guests found quiet corners to watch everything happen...


Noelle (crew on Freedom) with her great smile ready to throw the lines...


When was the last time you saw a child play with something that did not have batteries or electricity? Ours do this week!


We did have a nice late afternoon dive on Angelfish reef..Here is Captain Richard off Freedom...


Our divers looking like pro's!


At the surface on the end of the dive...


And why not? Pictures of lunch one day!




It is New Years eve and we are rafted up one more time in Trellis bay...(Night 5 of rafting..not bad) I promised to make Bushwackers for both boats...Freedom is making new Years cocktails for the children, and then they are all going off for dinner, and I bet 830 will see me in bed tonight!

...Looking out our front door was pretty nice!


Of course we went diving...


I found a lot of squid!


Not that I could get them that well with a wide angle on, but the colors were so pretty there it did not matter much at all...


We had to work a bit at getting the boats in and out since they put that stupid rock break wall that does sweet tweet across the beach...The only thing they have done over here when they started development was ruin an absolutely stunning place!


We surged quite a bit rafted up last night, but the fact that we can find somewhere to actually raft New years week is amazing never mind wanting the calmest spot every night..


This is Ms 4 year old Lucy. Lucy with her red curls is pretty cute I think!

We found plenty to do to keep ourselves amused in Little Harbour all the next morning. Starting with Resort Divers, Open water referrals, Certified divers who had not dove in 15 years..You get the picture! Chaos reigned supreme getting this under way!
My resort divers were superstars though!


Yeah..it wasn't very deep to start with! Perfect for the first dive...


Caroline under the boat...


It is a strange looking configuration for the hulls..two trimarans rafted together! And the barracuda underneath..


I think the silhouettes, although I am sure repetitive for you guys, are still pretty spectacular looking!


Everyone waving while they have their picture taken...




The end of the dive...11 divers all together in the water!


Terry found a sea turtle to take a picture of..


Then we found time to do the trip up to the old house as well...










We are just an activity filled yacht this week!! Nice to have children on again for a change, even I can say I like these ones

Well the marina was busy with charter boats scrambling around trying to get enough provisioning and supplies to last for a weeks charter on a holiday..We will all know how we did as the week goes on..
Soon enough, we had many trailing down the dock with luggage in hand looking for the boat...


I could not stop smiling at the look on our girls face as she saw the boat and how large it was! Definitely something that made us feel good




Ah yes, luggage showed up too..But they were not too bad!


We are on a tandem charter with FREEDOM this week..21 happy guests from the northeast, and I believe at least half of them are under the age of 14!


After a bite to eat with one of my pretty sandwich trays...




We were off for a sail over to Little Harbour on Peter Island...good wind, nice sail, lots of boats out sailing too..


Little Harbour was perfect for the two boats to raft up..which was great for the guests and the crew...


In a sight you don't see very often, We have someone doing their referral dives which meant that I made Bazza get in the water. I fear that I am not very good at Instructing any more as I hate going in the water without my camera! Plus he is the PADI Instructor...so... He did come out saying it was FREEZING!


Jack was a star though and Bazza put him through his paces!


Others spent quite a bit of time snorkeling and swimming..


Felix just contemplated why he was out on a charter boat with 20 odd people to take care of now!!!!


There is lots of red hair, irish blood, freckles and white skin with this group..


Some just wanted to know when we were getting the pull toys out..They did not care that it was getting close to dark


So we did...


And off they went...


until the sun went down...




A bit of a meeting on where we were going and what we were doing.....


And it was time for dinner where who cares what I made for the main course, dessert was a delicious Lemon Velvet Pie which is halfway between a lemon meringue and a chiffon!


Seems weird to look over and see Freedom's guests sitting at there table eating..They would not even tell me what they were eating! Telling me there was "none available for me" Of course, as a cook, everyone elses meals looks better to me then mine taste after making them a billion times!!

In blazing current! Truly the most I have seen on there. We did it as a drift...a fast drift at that...Twice!




We had a remora hanging around on our boat, which was better then having it hang on us!


A Spotted eel...


The Rhone's Puffer Fish...


Lots of schools of horse eyed jacks...


Lisa, Kyle and Katie on their safety stop...


Katie with an arrow crab...


Late afternoon silhouettes...




Taken from just underneath the surface, Katie coming out of the water...


And a couple pictures of food!!!!
Conch fritters and Garlic Bread...


Lisa's Jambalaya she made one night...

Brought to you from the very windy with large seas British Virgin islands... I actually cooked the steak indoors this week, as I was not liking my chances of the BBQ staying lit in the wind..



Where the fishing fun never stops...


Even little sting rays...


Star Clipper sitting at the Bight...


And just one of the many things that have broken this week, we were outside the channel when half the dinghy fell into the sea when lines on the davits broke..


But right after that we had DOLPHINS!!!




And maybe a bit of SCUBA too..I think this was our second or third trip to Angelfish Reef this week..


Must be! Always lots of barrel sponges on there...


And a little turtle..


Ryan was oblivious to the turtle behind him on the dive...


The A team coming over the reef...


They also were oblivious to the barracuda that was quite curious behind them too...


Schools of Sennet just off the point...


Mr Barracuda..


And I think that about covers today (well yesterday anyways..(! My friend Dan here spends most of the dive looking down growling at us

The wind and seas are kicking our ass. The end.
Always challenging when there ain't nowhere to hide and barely anywhere to dive!! Peter..Norman....West End...Norman Peter. And repeat!

We did have a nice night dive with the sting rays and tarpons down at West end... An eel and a sting ray in the same frame! Very unusual....


Sting Ray...


I had on a very wide angle lens..But this eel just blew my mind away!










OK, that is enough of that weird looking creature!
We took the guests on a nice little dive the next morning off of Little Thatch....


We saw TONS of things....


And the boat was there to pick us up...


Off to Norman Island we went again that afternoon for a beautiful sunset...






And then we had some fishing fun!
Doesn't it look like Lou Lou is having fishing fun?


We watched the guests circle the person with the fishing pole around and around the boat trying to keep the fish on the line...


They were rewarded..


By barracuda the next morning too!


Although I think we were trolling pretty close to this barge!


A random lunch...


And Ryan looks like he should be going back to bed down his hatch not eating!


I think that covers it for tonight..not caught up but semi caught up anyways...

..So Little Harbour on Peter Island, a brilliant afternoon, and 4 divers from Illinois that need certifying..off Princess Lou Lou goes!







Not sure why they are smiling and happy, they are about to be put through their paces!


It was Dan's birthday tonight. We were going to put a candle in his bananas foster, except he did not want dessert! So, I found a piece of fudge instead. It was the smallest most pathetic looking thing I have ever done for a birthday!!!!


I made up for it with a promenade hat and tshirt that Sheila promptly confiscated and put on her head as she loved the color!


An unsuccessful night fishing, and it was time for two more dives to finish off the cert's. This time on one of our favorites, Angelfish Reef!


Let's all gather together now...


Mother Hen and the baby birds...


I think it is skill time!


Finally off to see the reef!


I wonder if some were low on air?

After an all too brief three hour turnaround yesterday, our new guests from the cold weather of Chicago came happily down the dock..Saying that they had seen all of Roadtown, and it took about 5 minutes!


They had dropped their luggage and off they went...


They were pretty good on the bags!


Riteway thought we should only have half our order today, so we hung around on dock and had lunch waiting for the driver who promised to bring the second half......




Of course they didn't, nor did the phone do anything other then go to voicemail..so eventually we gave up and Princess Captain Lou Lou took us off the dock..She needs to get her helming skills topped up!


Although I swear she is looking at it wondering which way is forward or backwards!


Yes...you are cute!


These guys had the worlds worst theme song they played on leaving harbour which was from an old Russian TV show. Believe me, it was bad, but Dan sung along anyways...


Bazza came up with Lou Lou's advent calendar accusing her of eating more chocolates then days had gone by in December but he was wrong! Lisa would not cheat that way!!!!


4 divers finishing off their open water certification this week so off to Little Harbour we go!

All the Swim Vacationers left us at 9 AM this morning, and by 12 noon we had our new guests on board, so I think it is time to wrap this last week up...
The wind was non existent and then blew from the north like hell and all our anchorages that we normally swam in, sucked!
We definitely had color coordinated swimmers this week!


Intrepid Lou Lou..going on safari, or at least out in the tender to spot the swimmers! Must protect that delicate english skin you know!


Multi Purpose Lou Lou, picking up mooring balls...


Swim Guides planning the days route...


The Little One is excited that they have finally decided ON a route!


This was an epic swim, from Monkey Point on Guana Island all the way around to Muskmelon Bay..








Some of us were smart enough to watch the swim from the boat...


Muskmelon was spectacular, we had no other boats in there, and we turned off all the lights to watch the meteor showers!!!!


One of our assorted lunches this week....


And that will have to do for tonight! it is 8:07 PM, but someone said it was bed time...

I hear the strains of the song coming into my hatch as the swimmers prepare for their last big swim of the week, probably about 3 miles, on the back side of Peter Island..My mind has already been filled with the food and liquor orders that I have placed laying in my cabin this morning for tomorrow's charter..We have a short 3 hour turnaround tomorrow in the AM.. But first, it is a beautiful day out, calm and sunny after the raging cold wind we had of the last day or two...

Before the wind came, we had a gigantic swim from Monkey Point to Muskmelon on Guana..I think it kicked about everyone's ass!


Some of us were clever enough to take this view of the swim though!


Another boat up on the beach on the back side of tortola..First time I have seen this one!


The "little one" thought she needed chocolate for energy for that swim..and she did, she eats like a sparrow and is tiny tiny tiny!


Not my friend Lisa, she is not big into eating like a sparrow...she and I did get to go for a dive though! I think Rich should buy her a new present.....like a camera housing...

Heather And Allison's Blog and pictures on Swim Vacation today are AWESOME! Check out the blog!

Took awhile to get to the second half of my blog entry! Too many good things going on for blogging in this weather... I did manage to get going for a dive with my two girls Heather and Lisa...we went outside Deadmans on Peter Island and Bazza picked us up an hour later in the tender..
This abandoned fish trap had a very large crab in it as well as about 6 lobsters, that we thought were maybe trapped but they skittered right through the mesh just fine!


At the Baths in the late afternoon it was time to take a couple of the Swim Vacation guests on a get acquainted with the water dive..4 SCUBA Instructors on board this week, there are no shortage! I just took pictures


As you can see there was no shortage of picture opportunities!


Found this wonderful field of staghorn coral, apparently just behind and off where boats anchor as it was really lovely...


Ken looking up at the sun beams in the water.. He had on a 100 tank. We were down forever!


Yes, the boat was perfectly framed in the background when we came up for air...


More sun beams on the water...


Heather and Ken at dusk...


All in all a pretty fun dive!


We are now anchored in Muskmelon Bay on Guana Island, watching the birds circle around..The swell is starting to pick up a bit and at 10:15 AM I am waiting for my swimmers to come back so I can put eggs benedict breakfast out.. Another great day in the BVI

It's action Lou Lou!! I think she likes this Deckhand Business..She says it was easier then her other job used to be on here!!!


But then again we have plenty of action swimmers today..in an absolute spectacular day for swimming around the islands...


Two big swims...great harbour and then a swim in between Deadman's Bay on Peter and Dead Chest Island..Yo, ho, ho... (no rum)


Leaving Deadman's Bay..


They made landfall at Dead Chest! All of them...


And Action Lou Lou!!! Came back in the dinghy!!!


Poor Bazza spent his time setting up my camera and trying to figure out why my strobes weren't working...


And the second half of the blog may just have to wait as action Lou Lou and Kerry and going for a dive while the swimmers go into the Baths and wander around

Ah! The excitement!! Miss Heather basically pushed her fellow guides out of the way and sprinted down the dock to get at Lisa and I
Yes, there is a Lisa underneath this hug!


Will Might have been feeling a bit like chopped Liver!


And opposed to the nice neat picture that Heather had put on her blog of all her camera gear laid out neatly to pack (I put it up on this blog yesterday..THIS is what her gear looked like half and hour after she was on board!


The next morning the guests made their way down the dock, led by smiling Allison, who was on board last March! Allison might have been leading the charge, but she was lucky one with no luggage arriving with her..


And we were off..although not before I realized I had forgotten to leave a DVD in Village Cay Marina for 42 which meant that Ms "definitely throws like a girl" was supposed to lob it on their trampoline! We delegated to Will...with Lisa as moral support!


And he scored!


Will is a very important member of the crew..as we make him swim the stern line..I mean look at him, not like we can use him for a lot else now is there!




It seems both girls where there for moral support and encouragement swimming this line today, they were so glad they were not doing it...


But he did an admirable job in Little Harbour!




Now I think that is just about enough pictures of Will on the blog for today! Jamie, with the big white grin, hails from Oregon..and he is just happy to be here..


It was time for me to learn the fine art of doing sandwich trays again. Lisa was quite impressed with my meat slicer on board and has stated she wants one now too!


One thing Swim Vacation is known for, and that is there colorful SPEEDO's..


I understand that Ken's wife bought these for him...Lucky Man!


Lisa and I did manage to break away and go for a late afternoon dive in Great Harbour..Nothing too spectacular, a pretty Sting Ray...




And a shiny horn! One of our more unusual finds I think!