Down in the Islands

Back in the BVI's !!!

Our friends Mike and Magda invited us to once again join them and Denny and Jeanne for a week of sailing on their beautiful 52' boat Vandalay out of Road Town, Tortolla, British Virgin Islands.

Some of you Kidhammon followers may remember my very first post back in 2008 when I described our initial adventure on the Vandalay when we encountered the Category 3 hurricane Omar.  That was plenty exciting but it did put quite a cramp on our exploration of the islands.  Mike and Magda were kind enough to let us join them for this "do over" and it could not have gone better. 

We did the grand tour of the BVI's including spending nights on the Vandalay moored at Road Town, Willie T's on Norman Island, Long Bay on Virgin Gorda, Anegada, Great Harbor (Foxy's) on Jost Van Dyke, and Soper's Hole (West End Tortolla).  Mike being a real Navy man, (Annapolis Grad), made certain that we actually sailed everywhere we went which was great.  The winds were good but not too strong, a few short rain showers and a lot of beautiful sunshine.  The snorkeling at the Indians off Norman Island and at Willie T's was outstanding.  We also put in for snorkeling and swimming at Sandy Spit and at Sandy Cay. 

On Jost Van Dyke we had the opportunity to spend some quality time with Foxy himself as the pictures in the link will attest.

Our crew was named "Crew de los Barrochos" and dressed in our ship colors we terrorized the island watering holes of which there was no shortage.

All in all it was great fun, good food and drink, and the company and companionship simply couldn't be beat.

Click here for lots more pics of this excellent adventure:  BVI's 2011



Ski Adventure 2011

Once again the Old Guys Ski Trip is in the books.  The hearty crew of Brother Denny, Big Dog, Peter the Great, John the Surfer Dude, and yours truly along with cameo appearances by Mark, Dom, and Jillian, all braved the steep, deep, and narrows of the best skiing that Utah had to offer . . . at least for that one week.  The team rendezvoused at Denny's Ski chalet in Park City and enjoyed his hospitality, drank his beer and ate his food.  We skied four straight days -- Park City twice, the Canyons and Deer Valley.  With few exceptions we kept it all either in the trees, bumps, or steep bowls and averaged around 22,000' vertical each day. 

Tim showed up with a couple of video cameras, one mounted on his helmet and managed to knock off a few feet of film (digits/bits??) that go something like this:

What these videos fail to show, in my humble opinion, is just how bumpy and/or steep the terrain actually was while being filmed.  At least that's the way I remember it!