I will freely admit it feels very strange to spend Christmas in a swimsuit going sailing and swimming, enjoying cocktails as the sun goes down – but I’m not complaining (particularly since the northeast is experiencing really, really cold weather this year).

After months of planning and hoping, the Judds were at last in the BVI at the same time as us by boat! I took up the challenge of a rather unconventional Christmas dinner complete with gazpacho, salmon and potato croquettes over salad, and shrimp and spinach risotto. The daily rainshowers held off for us to enjoy a lovely meal by candlelight and starlight in the cockpit. There was only one other boat in the anchorage and Trip  invited them over the next day for Christmas Day appetizers and sundowners.

Stephen & Maureen Judd

Unwanted wooden hitchiker

We did have one bit of excitement when we went to leave. The advantage of dropping anchor in the tropics is that you can jump in the water with snorkel & fins to inspect your anchor. Trip noticed that we were somewhat close to a tree that had fallen and sunk after the storm. Our luck overnight  was to slowly spin and wrap and catch its branches multiple times with our anchor chain. With the help of Stephen and two guys from a neighboring boat, we were able to hoist the tree up, tie it off with line, unwrap the chain and up anchor. We proceeded to motor out of the bay towing the tree, only dropping it once we reached deep water so as to save someone else from our same fate.