Snorkeling in the British Virgin Isles

Fish are fish and they don't really know much about National boundaries.  So almost all of the fish we saw were similar to the ones we see in the US Virgin Isles.

Except this guy... Never saw him in the American Isles...

Beautiful colors and a whispy tail and extra large feathery fins...

Hard to tell, but this lady is about a foot long...

But, glad to see my favorite fish makes occasional visits across the pond.  The bright clear weather helps really make the colors on the parrot fish pop...

So we'll just call this lady my favorite British fish!

The Baths - Our second trip to England

The baths on the island of Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands.  This is one of the trips we have planned since we got here.  Saved it for our next to last weekend.

The baths has nothing to do with cleanliness, the refer to the huge granite boulders that dot the beach and provide natural tidal pools, arches, mazes and scenic grottoes that are open to the sea.

The Baths were "discovered" by Christopher Columbus, and Virgin Gorda was named by him.  It is now one of the most visited attractions in the British Virgin islands.

Everybody gets buggy eyed at the amazing unique look of the beach!  Or maybe this fellow's eyes are still bugging out from 1997 when Tyra Banks filmed a famous cover shot for the Sport's Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.

Our tour included time to swim in the clearest water I have ever seen... An amazing blue green color.

Here's Jackie...

And don't get too excited, but there were enough wet T-Shirts to get a contest starting...

The Baths are a "must do" if you get the chance to visit.  Everywhere you look, it's a different picture postcard.

British Virgin Islands - Part 5 - Jost Van Dyke and the Painkiller

Our final stop for the day was our longest...

It may be tiny, but the British Virgin Isle of JOST VAN DYKE is among the more famous beach bum stops...

No easy docking, everyone just parks their boats as close to the beach as you can get and makes a swim for it (actually, we were walking, as the water is about chest high).

The most famous of teh bars that line the very LONG beach is the "Soggy Dollar" bar.  Name makes sense, since everyone has to get wet to get there, most of the drinks are paid for with wet money.

Among the most beautiful beaches on the islands, the sand is perfect white.  No rocks, great beach.

Wonder how I would look in one of these two suits... not everyone can pull it off and look good.

Generally, the more pasty white you are, the longer shorts you should wear... just a rule of thumb.  And never write words on your ass.

The star drink is the Painkiller... mixture of rum, orange and pineapple juices, cream of coconut and nutmeg...

The third one is the best one.

A great place to end our day!

British Virgin Islands - Part 4 - Beach Combing at Sandy Spit

After lunch, we were taken to one of the smallest of the British Virgin Islands, but also one of the more picturesque.  The island is only about the size of a football field, but it is completely surrounded by white sandy beach.

It was getting a little cloudy, and the temp was a borderline comfortable 80 degrees.  So we decided to forgo snorkeling for the rest of the afternoon.  But swimming from the boat to the island was fun.  We wandered around the island, hunting shells..

Found a few interesting things, but this is  a popular little island, so nothing big...

Life was pretty good

British Virgin Islands - Part 3 - Lunch at the Willy T

The Willy T is a floating restaurant bar on the far side of Norman Island.

Pretty full menu of food at one end of the boat...

Pretty well stocked bar at the other...

They even make their own RUM!

Just drive your boat up and you are eating and drinking in minutes!

We were in England, so had to order the fish and chips... freshly defrosted and they tasted great!

A great fun and unique break!

British Virgin Islands - Part 2 - The Caves of Norman Island

Still in England, God save the Queen...

Real pirate treasure was found in these caves, but being able to snorkel in about 100 feet was the attraction now.

There were plenty of fish...

BUT WHEN THE CRY OF ...

TURTLE TURTLE TURTLE

Went up, we all chased him down...

He swam faster.

British Virgin Islands - Part 1 - Indian Rocks of Norman Island

We rented a boat over the weekend and with everyone humming the tune to Gilligan's Island, we were off to the British Virgin Islands.  After a quick stop clearing customs (no arrest warrants between the lot of us), we were off.  We spent the morning snorkeling around Norman Island.  One of our stops was the Indian rocks.

British fish look surprisingly like American fish, we did see a very large Barracuda.

And (I assume), just in case the queen comes for a visit, they had lots more trumpet fish (long skinny ones, with their noses broadening out like a trumpet).

But the coral was the best we have seen since we arrived.

This Trumpet fish was among the longest I have ever seen.. at least 3 foot (probably 4 foot).