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Our first Caribbean carnival. Loud music, (very, very loud!), fancy costumes, fantastic steel drum bands, ending on 1 May with a tremendous firework display from a barge in the harbour, for which we had a ring side seat on Dreaming On.

This was a great experience. Possibly not quite on the same level as Rio, we are sure but still a great effort and everyone's involved. Wonderful costumes; separate parades for the kids and the adults, steel drum bands playing at full volume, and everyone enjoying the day out. We walked many miles to make sure we did not miss anything.

Turtle watching at Buck Island

The Soggy Dollar, White Bay

White Bay and we've been Soggy Dollar'ed.

The old guys

Sandy Spit, Jost Van Dyke

Adam flew out from the UK to visit. We sailed back into St. Thomas to collect him, then did a quick tour of St. John and the BVI. He was due to stay with us to 8 days. However, due to the volcanic ash from Iceland closing most European airports, he stayed an extra night with us, then flew to New York to spend three days with younger brother Simon in Manhattan.

Unfortunately, he was delayed again and it took him 11 days to get back to UK. We think he enjoyed New York though. There's always a positive side.

We had a great time even though we are still only on one engine and treating that very gently.

Snorkelled with turtles at Buck Island just off St. Thomas.

Sorted out our new windsurfer equipment while in Frances Bay on St. John, then Adam reminded us how it should be done. (We haven't windsurfed since we were in Jeddah).

Adam's windsurfing finale was to perfect the "Boat Start" on the windsurfer. Stepping off the transom swim platform on to the windsurfer and sailing away. Smart ass!

We had to take him to such famous establishments as the Willie T on Norman's Island and Foxy's and the Soggy Dollar on Jost Van Dyke, all in the British Virgin Islands.

The weather was kind to us as can be seen from the photos.

Adam windsurfing in Frances Bay

Now for the boat start.

Frances Bay, St John

Willie T, Norman Island BVI

Adam relaxed!

It's those old guys again

At Foxy's, Jost Van Dyke, BVI

Making our way back to St. Thomas, as Adam arrives on 7 April for an 8 day visit from UK.

Stopped at Cow & Calf, a set of rocks between St. John and St. Thomas for a dive. Wonderful dive site, full of caves and tunnels with lots of colour. Also not deep so we can spend some time down there.

South Bay, Salt Island, BVI

Having survived the regatta's attempt to decapitate us the previous day, we went to moor on the Blonde Rock dive site, which sits in the middle of the sea between islands and is only marked by dive buoys and a blip on the depth sounder.

Although we had installed the new port prop carried down from Fort Lauderdale by David and Carolann, we still did not trust it, (see next section on other repairs), so had not used the port engine. However, the current was strong so we started it up just for a few minutes while we picked up the dive mooring. Just as Iza caught the mooring line, the port engine lost drive. You guessed it! The prop fell off AGAIN!

Luckily this time we knew where, so were in the water a few minutes later for our dive of Blonde Rock, starting with a prop search. Within 5 minutes, Iza found the NUT not the prop, then noticed the prop 3 feet away.

Geoff drew the short straw and swam the prop back to the mooring line where we had a weighted rope hanging to haul it onboard.

Looking over the salt pond on Salt Island, BVI

Now these guys are serious

We made two dives of an island called Deadman's Chest, close to Peter Island, BVI. We knew the sailing regatta was on, but did not expect it to sail right through the dive site, over and over again. Made for hairy surfacing from a dive, looking out for silent racing keels!

Watch it! Here they come again.