I've definitely been slacking on the updating of my blog this past week. It's been a busy few weeks for me here, not much time for limin'.
I have been organizing the Holiday Sailing Camps at RBVIYC, and that has been quite the learning experience! We just finished the first camp yesterday, and we start the next on the 21st! Things have been running smoothly, the kids are having fun, the weather has been good (no doubt!) and we have some good numbers next week as far as registration goes!
A couple weeks ago our coach boat was stolen right from the dock where it was locked up. Of course, when this happened Chris, the godfather of sailing himself, was in St. Thomas competing in a match racing regatta. So I had to deal with this myself, and I have no experience dealing with missing coach boats since that doesn't exactly happen to often back home in Canada. Apparently, dinghies get stolen pretty frequently around here, and this wasn't the first time the yacht club has had a coach boat stolen.
I spent a lot of time over the next week and a bit trying to find our missing coach boat. I filed reports with the police, sent out about 400 emails, made phone calls to marinas and charter and dive companies on the east and west end of the island, I drove around Road Harbour in our small dinghy searching for it, but with no luck. When Chris returned from St. Thomas, we borrowed a large and more powerful RIB to search along the coast and each end of the island. No luck their either, but when we were on the east end of the island, we saw some local fisherman slaughtering two of the largest sea turtles I've ever seen. It was absolutely gruesome, and turns out highly illegal. We ended up putting a press release on the BVI News website, and the next day an off-duty police officer spotted the boat at the Road Town ferry down while having a drink at a local bar. He went to investigate and the 3 youth that had the boat recognized him as police and scattered. Our boat was returned to us but is in extremely rough shape. So now I'm working on getting a sponsor to donate the yacht club a new RIB for our sailing programs.
This past weekend also brought about the holiday season with 3 back-to-back Christmas parties. The first was a pretty swanky affair, and our entourage rolled in dress to the part with flip-flop, shorts, and t-shirts. The second party was hosted by the owner of the boat I live on, Colin. He lives in an incredible house on the top of the mountain, and over looks Cane Garden Bay. His party was a pig roast, and it was amazing. It was the first pig roast I've ever been to, and it will not be the last. The food was incredible. The third party was also on the top of the mountain, and was a tonne of fun, with the old and the young challenging each other in rounds of beer pong. Chris and I were the reigning champs of the evening winning every game we played, as well as 6 games in a row.
It is very strange to be down in the Caribbean for Christmas, as it can be difficult to get in the holiday spirit without the cold weather, snow, and ugly sweaters. But mostly it is strange since I won't be having any turkey dinners with my family, there will be no snowboarding or partying with my closet friends, no Christmas eve traditions with Ryan, and I won't be able to enjoy all the delicious treats Mallory and her mother make! Thankfully, my parents are taking the opportunity to come visit me over Christmas (they probably just got on the ferry in St. Thomas right now) and then after Mallory will be visiting over New Years. I'm stoked I won't be alone over the holidays, but it is this time of year more than ever, that I realize what awesome friends and family I have, and how much I miss them right now!!! I'm also looking forward to February when all my boys come down!
That was a rather long update, I gotta keep posting more consistantly. On Monday I will find out if I'll be getting my first ever motor vehicle, so if all goes well I'll be posting some photos of that!
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