REPORTS FROM THE RIP: Through the eyes of a child

Patrick and Lauren sailing

My star with a starfish

The family is gone back to the states but the time we had here will linger on for quite a while.
While my kids are no longer children, It was wonderful to spend the last week watching them and seeing the trip through their eyes as they explored and swam and enjoyed the Virgin islands. I think that they were surprised and shocked by the brilliant colors of the water here. I constantly asked Patrick and Lauren to try to describe the colors they were seeing. Its hard to do.

My daughter sent me the following excerpt to add to this blog.>>>>>
I have to say the ocean and all of its beauty is one of the hardest things a person can try and describe to another. Its like trying to describe color , to a person who is blind. I start with this, because I want you to understand how truly difficult it is to describe the beauty of the the Virgin Islands. Almost every cove we stopped in had a beach that looked as if it were like a page ripped right out of a travel magazine. The beaches were like swimming in eight feet of cool liquid blue crystal that hugs a white sandy shoreline. Palm trees and mangroves trace the waters edge creating an almost surreal tropical paradise. Sometimes we would anchor up in coves that didn't really have much of a beach, but to make up for it they had 40 feet of crystal clear water, to where you could look over the boats edge, spot a starfish, and dive down to get it without even taking a second glance.
Now I'm fortunate, Ive been to many of the worlds most beautiful countries, and snorkeled some of the worlds most beautiful reefs in the Bahamas. However there was something different about St Thomas and the rest of the Virgin Islands. There is no way I could ever pick a favorite part of the trip, because everything was so breath taking. But if I really had to chose I would say that my favorite part of the trip, was that I didn't really argue with my brother a lot! which generally happens quite often haha. Also it was really nice seeing my dad and spending time in paradise as a family!
I really hope you all can experience it for yourselves one day, so you to will try and explain the unexplainable beauty of the Virgin Islands to your family and friends :)<<<<<<<

I think she did a great job of capturing and sharing what she saw.
Personally I think her most exciting times were swimming with the turtles and squealing like a little girl as a big tarpon peeled line off of her fishing.
The fishing is slowly starting to pick up on the North drop. There are a few boats going out. The ones that are getting out are reporting seeing more marlin each day. Also they are begining to see more schools of small tuna. We will start fishing again at the end of this week. For now though, We will be doing oil changes and maintenance for the next two days
Make sure wou page all the way down and watch the short video I added of one of the beaches here.