REPORTS FROM THE RIP: Cleaned my bottom

A few days ago, a few of the crews were looking at renting a few small boats and going over to one of the neighboring islands for a day off the dock. At the same time, I was planning to take the Blue Heaven to a clear calm cove to clean the bottom. I made a call to the boss and he said to go ahead and take the Big boat. Cleaning the bottom on this boat with 7 or eight guys would go quickly.
So when Last Sunday rolled around, We piled aboard some crews and I had one of the boss's friends on board. We were just going to go to St John and clean the bottom and swim, But instead, we decided to take it slow and go to the BVIs. It was only a couple miles further. We Eased over to Tortola and cleared customs first at the British Virgin Islands customs dock in Tortola. We then putted over to Jost Van Dyke. Jost is an island between St Thomas and Tortola. On Jost there are some great beaches and cool bars that everyone collects at on weekends. We slid into the bay in front of the Soggy dollar bar and dropped the anchor. The beach is one of those places people dream of seeing. It is lined with palms and the sand is soft and white with crystal clear water. There were many boats there and everyone had the same thing in mind. The soggy dollar is one of the bars on the beach. It got its name from the fact that everyone that comes by boat, swims to the beach and pays with soggy dollars. The Soggy dollar is famous for its " Pain Killers". It is a punch drink with 4 different rums and has a hint of pine apple and fruit juice. It is topped with powdered nutmeg. ( Word has it that the Nut meg is what really gets you messed up). I had a sip of one But having the responsibility of the boat, I refrained. Not partaking in a few Pain Killers was tough but probably best. We all floated and laughed and enjoyed the day there. As the afternoon wore on, we decided that we would take the boat over to Normans island to Willy T's. The Willy T is an old steel hull boat fashioned to resemble a pirate ship. ( well Kinda)..... It sits in a protected bay anchored there. It is a popular destination for party revelers. There is a constant stream of dingys coming and going, ferrying the curios and the regulars to and from. Once again, The Pain Killer seemed to be the preferred drink there. There is one other thing that is unique about Willy Ts. If you jump off the bow topless then you get a free drink. And butt necked gets you a t- shirt. Unfortunately there was not much of that going on the day we were there. But the two TV screens that have a constant slide show going tells the tale of much debauchery that happens there. I am looking forward to my kids coming in a few weeks. They are going to love these places. And NO Lauren you can NOT get a free t-shirt.
We did get the bottom cleaned while anchored there. It took all of us no time to scrub the green slime from the waist of the Blue Heavens hull with all the boat crews scrubbing.
It was a great day had by all. My boss's friend that only one day before had been planning to fly out, was over joyed that he had let me talk him into staying the one extra day to experience what he did.
The Liquid Gold finally made its way to the marina after being stuck in Puerto Rico for a week replacing a blown Turbo. Beyond that, There is rumor that the are more boats on the way.

While in the Dominican Republic I met a nice lady that writes for the local magazine in Casa De Campo. She interviewed me for the magazine about fishing there in CDC. It came out pretty good. Here is a link to the article http://casadecampoliving.com/2012/06/fishing-blue-marlin-out-of-the-marina-casa-de-campo-interview-with-captain-ed-thompson/