We continue to enjoy our times here in the US Virgin Islands aka USVI where the weather has been in that Goldilocks zone where it gets cool enough at night 25C/77F) for comfortable sleeping and comfortably hot (30-32C/88-90F) during the day.  The easterly Trade Winds are blowing about 15 knots most of the time, sometimes dying down to 5 and sometimes gusting over 25 kts when we are out in the channels when on the move and the water is a consistent 27C/81F.  Hard to ask for much better and easy to understand why this area and the whole Caribbean is so popular at this time of year.

It was Christine’s birthday on the 15th and our wedding anniversary on the 21st so we treated ourselves to some time in places like this idyllic beach in Honeymoon Bay.  This was a particularly special treat for Christine as she had spent lots of time anchored here in Honeymoon Bay on her sailboat Sunrise which she and her husband Jim had built and then chartered for several years out of the USVI in the 80’s and then again in the 90’s with Tim aboard.

The far end of the beach you can see in the photo above had a small bar where everyone was hanging out but to our delight we found this old wooden picnic table at the other end of the beach and enjoyed an extended B’day lunch all to ourselves.
Then we moved back to Brewers Bay which is tucked in behind the extended runway of the St. Thomas airport creating the ideal breakwater to keep us well protected from the swell.  The runway is the length of rocks you can see in the background here.  Brewers Bay is is part of the University of the Virgin Islands UVI so the beach is part of a park area of the campus and is a very peaceful spot being on the far western side of the island with every little traffic or population.
While in Brewers Bay we had another terrific treat in the form of a visit with a high school friend of my daughter Lia who has been living and working here in USVI for over 20 years.  She reached out to us when she read that we were coming here and came out to spend an afternoon with us aboard Möbius.  Trish was a very impressive young lady and we all thoroughly enjoyed our conversations about times old and new.  Thanks Trish!
Brewers Bay was also the perfect spot for us to wait the last few days before our Grandson Liam (7) and Christine’s son Tim and wife Ashley flew in from Florida.  I took Christine ashore the day they arrived and she walked over to the airport to meet them.  If you look closely at this photo (click to enlarge) you’ll see what I mean when I say that while I was back on Möbius I could also watch their plane come in and land right beside me!
At last!  We have a real pirate aboard and a very modern one who also a space pirate as well apparently.
Here is a map of the routes we took with Liam and family.  Brewers Bay on St. Thomas Island over on the far Left where we started and Francis Bay on neighboring St. James Island over on the far Right where we ended up.
With no time zone change and a relatively short flight from Ft. Lauderdale to St. Thomas everyone got a good night sleep aboard Möbius and next morning we headed out on our first trip seen in Red on the map here.  We stopped and anchored across from Crown Bay marina which as you can see here is also beside one of several cruise ship ports here on St. Thomas.  Christine took Tim ashore so they could do the grocery shopping for the rest of their visit.
Then we continued on to Francis Bay which is another spot that Christine and Tim had been to when Tim was a young boy aboard Sunrise. 
It was a real treat for Tim to be able to show Ashley and Liam this part of the world where he spent several years when he was about Liam’s age.
Hard not to have a good time on secluded beaches like this!
And watching sunsets from the aft deck.
Although you probably can’t top the ultimate combo of a dog, an iPad, Mac’n Cheese and Goldfish!  At least for a seven year old.
We spent two very fun days and nights anchored in Francis Bay doing what one of the big motor yachts beside us we called “Chillaxing”.  Everyone got time to swim, snorkel and suntan and had fun doing a whole lot of nothing.  Just what vacations are for.
Much to Liam’s delight, Christine got the drone out and showed Tim how to fly it off the foredeck of Möbius and they were able to get some super aerial shots just before sunset.
On Saturday we pulled up the anchor and headed back over to St. Thomas Island to our next anchorage in Christmas Cove, the Green route you can see in the map above.  In spite of this being the USVI Yacht Race weekend, there are not too many boats on in the bays.
Christmas Cove is particularly well known as being the home for the famous Pizza Pi boat
Tim & Ashley treated us all to Pizza Pi last night.  Thanks Tim & Ashley!
No surprise that pizza was also a big hit with Liam in particular and a fun way for us to spend our last night together.

As I type up this blog post, Christine is ashore taking Liam, Tim & Ashley back to the airport as sadly their time with us here is up and they have to fly back to Ft. Lauderdale later this afternoon. 
Christine rented a car so she could take them on a bit of a tour of St. Thomas and she took them up to Mountain Top overlooking Megan’s Bay on the North coast of St. Thomas.  As you can see, it was a great day with an incredible view of all the surrounding islands in the background. 

Safe trip home Tim, Ashely and Liam.  Can’t wait for our next time together.

That’s a wrap for now folks. 

Next week we have our good friends Sue & Bob from Victoria BC flying in to spend a week with us and they will probably join us for the passage over to Culebra and Puerto Rico which is where they fly out from.  So Christine and I will enjoy a few days to ourselves and getting the Guest Cabin on Möbius ready for our next guests and our next set of passages.  I’ll have all the details on that in the next update here and till then our sincere thanks for taking the time to join us on these adventures and hope you’ll be back for the next update in about two weeks as we get another new month started.  Yikes!  How did that happen so fast??!!

-Wayne