Merry Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Merry Christmas Eve everyone! We've had a great year here in St. Thomas and are thankful for many many things. We've really enjoyed doing the blog and sharing with you all fun, beautiful and crazy
things we've experienced while living here.

Hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Winter Solstice

  

So yesterday was the winter solstice... The shortest day of the year. For the VI it's not that much of a difference. From the longest day to the shortest day there is not that much of a difference. There's maybe an hour difference in the the sunrise/sunset times. It gets dark here early even on the longest day of the year. Add to that being in the sun all day (I know poor baby), it makes you go to bed earlier and earlier. Long gone are the days of staying up late enjoying being outside or enjoying the late night shows.

The one thing that winter solstice means to me, is that while I'm enjoying the sunshine, my friends and family back in the states are enjoying the snow! :-)

Holiday Break

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been enjoying my time off so much that I haven't had time to post.....NOT!

So far I've had the pleasure of cleaning house, doing laundry, grocery shopping, and now cleaning windows. I love having all the windows to enjoy the beautiful view and light Caribbean breezes, but cleaning them sucks big time. Especially when you don't have access to a water hose. But buckets of water and sham wow did the job.

Tomorrow will hopefully be a little more fun. I need to finish up some Christmas shopping and pack for my weekend trip back to the states to visit family. Thankfully I'm just going to Charlotte so it's an easy
flight and no snow! :-)

Miracle on Main Street

We went to Miracle on Main Street last night. It's an annual Christmas event in St. Thomas with food, music, shopping, lighted boat parade, fun stuff. Last year we rode on a friends boat in the boat parade, but this year we went to the actual event and watched the parade. Our friends Duane and Laura with Admiralty Dive Center took second place, congrats to them!

Boat Parade

Spotted Eagle Ray

Here are some shots I took with my new Canon D10 of a spotted eagle ray at Christmas Cove on Great St. James while I was snorkeling yesterday. It was sooo awesome watching it swim. It circled around several times which is unusal.

Here is a video I took thats on YouTube.

Here are the same pics after being adjusted in a photo editing software. What a difference! We used to have Photo Shop on the laptop that crashed but haven't installed one since getting the new laptop last year. I obviously need to make that a priority.

Friday Beach Picture

Yea! It's Friday!  It's been a great week, lots of fun. Last day of work today, then we go on a two week break. WooHoo!

We went sailing yesterday with New Horizons. They did a great job. Drinks and food were flowing, friendly staff, decent snorkel gear and instruction for the newbies. We made two stops, Honeymoon on St. John and Christmas Cove on Great St. James. Christmas Cove was by far the better snorkel stop.

I took lots of pics with my new camera and shot some great video of a southern sting ray and a spotted eagle ray that I saw in Christmas Cove. I will posting a bunch of the pics in a litte bit.

Enjoy!!!

Bowling Island Style

My department is going bowling today for a team activity retreat. It's a nice facility but I've never seen a bowling alley so small. It only has six lanes. It's an activity center that belongs to a church that you can rent out. It has a large seating area and a commercial kitchen that can also be used. I don't think anyone in my depatment has ever bowled before (besides me) so this should be interesting. :-)

Update:
We had a great time bowling, sooo funny. I got high score for the day with a 130! lol
Here is our group shot