| Letter From The Editor: Flotilla Vacation
If you or anyone you know is involved in planning group travel you may want to consider a yacht flotilla. A flotilla is a group of yachts that sail together. What better way for friends, family, or business associates to enjoy a luxury adventure? This allows you to experience the different islands together and yet have the privacy of your own yacht.
Flotillas are ideal for travel clubs, country clubs, yacht clubs, religious organizations, family reunions, or corporate incentive travel.
For more information about flotilla opportunities please visit our flotilla page
or call 800-556-0431 to find out how to get started.
Barometer: Highlights Of An Island bar
Anegada Reef Hotel Bar
Probably like no other hotel bar you’ve ever visited before. Located on the beach at the Anegada Reef Hotel is a charming little hut of an honor bar. Sometimes there’s a bartender, sometimes not: just keep your own tab and settle up before sailing on. This a great place to gather and share stories with others staying the night onboard yachts moored in the tiny Anegada Harbor. This is the only anchorage spot in the barrier reef that encapsulates this remote slice of tropical heaven.
Annaberg Sugar Mill & Plantation: Back To The Past
I recently visited the Annaberg Sugar Mill and Plantation. I highly recommend this for a trip back into colonial times and the past of St. John. The ruins are a part of the island's rich agricultural history of producing molasses, sugar, and rum. St. John was settled in the early 1700s by Danish immigrants because of its potential as a sugar cane growing colony. The Annaberg factory was manned by slave labor until 1848 when the Danish West Indies slaves were emancipated. St. John Island blossomed into a thriving and sweet society during this period.
The Mill is one of St. John's best preserved examples of the culture during the colonial era. Remnants of the windmill and factory itself are situated atop a hill overlooking Leinster Bay. This was the perfect location to capture the trade winds to operate the mill and crush the sugar cane. The juice from the plants was collected and then boiled in copper pans. The fires that heated the "coppers" were fueled with the dry cane stalks. Up to some five hundred gallons of juice was produced per hour using this method.
The site is open for tours on a daily basis. The short guided walk will take you back in time to an era long past. This tour is a fantastic opportunity for professional and aspiring photographers to capture the rugged beauty of these stone structures surrounded by lush wilderness.
Your charter yacht can moor in Leinster Bay of St. John, where the ruins are just a quick dinghy ride away. This is also a great overnight spot as you will be enveloped in the preserved nature of the Virgin Islands National Park. Inside tip: The snorkeling around nearby waterlemon cay is fantastic!
Featured Yacht: Panache
Panache is an 85 ft. Cheoy Lee power yacht with four staterooms accommodating up to eight guests. Her crew of four will assure that your every need is attended to while you enjoy island hopping in style. Her plethora of toys and water sports equipment include something for everyone. The floating trampoline is a blast for kids of all ages! She is available for charter in the Virgin Islands during the winter months and in the Bahamas during the summer. As one of the most popular yachts in the Caribbean her name accurately describes her: distinctive and stylish elegance.
Click here for a link to more information about Panache
Call 800-556-0431 for her availability
Calendar Of Upcoming Events
October 29-30: Foxy’s Cat Fight (Multihull Race) Foxy’s Tamarind Bar, Jost Van Dyke, BVI
October 30- November 6: Dry Creek Vineyard Pro Am Regatta at the Bitter End Yacht Club on Virgin Gorda. Clik here for details
December 30/31: Old Year's Eve and New Year's Eve Party at Foxy's Tamarind Bar, Jost Van Dyke, BVI
March 6-11: 26th Annual Bacardi Rum Billfish Tournament in the Bahamas Click here for details
May 28-30: BVI Music Festival, Cane Garden Bay, Tortola Click here for details
Bomba’s Surfside Shack Full Moon Party, Tortola
Full moon dates for 2004: September 28, October 27, November 26, December 26.
Full moon dates for 2005: January 25, Februaury 23, March 25, April 24, May 23,
June 22, July 21, August 19, September 17, October 17, November 15, December 15.
Fine Upstanding Member Of The Island Community
The Parrot Fish
I chose the Parrot Fish to describe this month for a simple reason: It’s my favorite tropical fish. Their bright and vibrant colors are amazing. All together there are about 80 species of the Parrot Fish Family that inhabit tropical waters around the World. The exact species may be difficult to identify because this fish has many different color combinations and in various stages of their lives they actually change color. Like many fish, male Parrot Fish are the most colorful displaying very vivid shades of bright yellows, pinks, reds, greens, blues and turquoises. The females demonstrate drab, dull colored shades of reds, browns and olive greens. The Princess and the Stoplight species appear as if they have been tie-dyed.
Their name comes from the fact that the teeth of both jaws are fused to form a parrot-like beak. They also have grinding plates known as pharyngeal teeth located in the back of the mouth. These are used for grinding the algae and coral that they eat. This fish ranges in size from about six inches to the larger species of up to two or three feet. If you lay still while snorkeling you can often hear their beaks crunching as they eat.
The best characteristic of the Parrot Fish is how common it is. You can almost always be guaranteed to swim with this colorful creature at any reef in the Caribbean. They are the squirrels of the underwater forest.
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