I have been coming to the Virgin Islands with my parents and sister since I was eight years old, and this was my sixth year coming to this extraordinary place. This was our first year coming aboard the Guiding Light, and there hasn’t been one dull moment here on board. We arrived on the catamaran on Saturday, when we sailed to Waterlemon Key. We stayed, snorkeled, and hiked the island all through Sunday.
Monday we sailed to White Bay, my mom’s favorite place in the whole world, and relaxed at Soggy Dollar Bar for a while. My sister and I buried each other in the sand, and got to try Virgin Painkillers, which were the most amazing drinks ever. We then sailed to Foxy’s, where we hung up a t-shirt of ours from Illinois. That night back on the boat, we all laid on the trampoline and watched the night sky. It was cloudless that evening, and I swear we could see every star possible. At home, if I lay on the grass on a summer night and look up at the sky, I can only see about a fourth of the stars that I can see in the Islands. My sister claimed she saw three shooting stars total.
Tuesday we sailed to Sandy Key, where we swam ashore and played on the beach until it started to storm. We then went and snorkeled Monkey Point, and ended up at Savanna Beach in Virgin Gorda. The next morning Shane showed us a different route to explore the Baths that involved jumping off rocks, snorkeling, and showing us a rock in which we went under to find a big gape to where we could stand up and breath! The rock had a very big echo, so even if you were whispering, everyone could hear you as if you were talking normally. It was so cool! After the Baths we went to Cooper Island and anchored there for the night. We had a delicious dinner there as well.
Thursday we went to Salt Pond Bay on St. John, where we kayaked to shore and relaxed for a while. Then friends of Shane’s anchored there as well and brought their dinghy over and visited with us.
Today we checked in at Cruz Bay, and then sailed to Buck Island, where we got to swim with the sea turtles! When they came up for air, they would get extremely close to us and acted as if we weren’t even there!
I leave tomorrow, back to cold Illinois where it’s snowing right now. I have to wait another year before I can come back and enjoy a great trip once again. I really do hope we come back and sail on the Guiding Light again.