Sailing Days 1-2: Tortola, Norman and Cooper Islands

Dec 27: We ferried from St Thomas to West End, Tortola to begin our week long sailing adventure. It was a gorgeous morning with the sun shining through the clouds.

On the way over, we did see a rainbow coming across the bay
We arrived in Nanny Cay before the rest of the crew to see the row of sailboats awaiting charter for the week. The blue skies and turquoise waters just begged us to get out there, but we needed to wait on a few things - the food, our captain, etc!
So we sat patiently on the sidelines waiting to leave
Once we got some paperwork done, we were finally able to board Blue Water Bound.

I quickly found my spot out on the trampoline out front.

This was a very comfortable place to lounge, even in the harbor! Captain Billy navigated us out into the Caribbean at about 5 pm
Mike got comfy on the back - hanging on until the sea legs kick in!

We all enjoyed a lovely sunset as we set the front sail to take us to our first overnight in a small bay off of Norman Island.
Dec 28: We woke early with a plan to get to Cooper Island so my brother and Dad could make their scuba excursion. It was a windy day - good for sailing, but with choppy seas it made me a little queasy. The sails were up in full force making for a really cool site -

With the sails up, Mom and I took our spot up in front on the trampoline. We were moving quite quickly, so we're laughing at the splashes coming up to infringe on the photo op (Holly did a great job capturing this moment!)

When we got to Cooper Island, the picturesque harbor looked especially surreal when viewed through the window of our cabin.

The beach was a bit rocky, and provided a great resting place for a number of pelicans (one seen here). There were many fish and oceanic creatures in the waters around us and it was fascinating to watch the pelicans hunt and dive for their food. They were mostly successful while we watched from the safety of the boat. While Eric and Dad were scuba diving, we snorkeled around the cove. It was our first chance to test our new underwater camera together - and it worked well! We saw sea urchin, a turtle and what we think was an eagle ray that was over 8 feet long! I think our underwater shots were pretty cool - do you?

For dinner, we all enjoyed traditional burgers and dogs - it was our turn to cook, so it was a relatively easy night. Grilling burgers on a cookie sheet was a bit of a challenge, but Mike persevered and a tower of meat was served.