Jost Van Dyke, British Virgin Islands

Jost Van Dyke is a quiet little island and the ship's tender drops us off in Great Harbor, a sleepy town with a few bars and fishing boats.  On the other side of the island, about two miles away over a steep hill, is White Bay, a fabulous and popular beach.

 Walking to White Bay beach, joined by someone also going that way

 View of the beach from the crest, view back at the ship

As we head up the hill, a dog comes out of a house, looks around, and joins us for the walk to White Bay beach.  He escorts us for the entire walk, but as soon as we reach the beach, our new dog friend noses around the edge of the road and scares a young goat tied to the tree.  Both are startled and jump up fast.  After recovering, our new friend completes his escort duties and runs into the water and starts playing with the kids.  What a great dog life!  We were his ticket to the beach.

Scaring the goat (and dog)

At White Bay, we settle in at the Soggy Dollar, which gained its name because people would swim ashore from boats in the bay and pay for their drinks with water-soaked dollars.

Settling in at the Soggy Dollar

A Painkiller and lunch

 View out from the Soggy Dollar - a popular place!

We order lunch (conch poppers, grilled cheese sandwich (with pasta salad), and fish & chips), a few beers, and their specialty, a Painkiller (dark rum, cream of coconut, pineapple, orange juice, nutmeg). We've settled in at the table and go for an occasional swim, although the swimming area is limited by all the boats, many of which have come over for the day from nearby islands, and start to head back as we get further into the afternoon.  Even if limited to the water close to shore, the swimming in the clear water is amazing.  Other non-swimming people are waving to their friends back home on the Soggy Dollar webcam (Painkillers involved), check it out.

But, eventually, it is time to hike back over the hill and away we go, no local island escort dog this time.

 Hiking up the hill, away from White Bay

 And, down the other side into Great Harbor

We wander through Great Harbor,  just to see what is there.  Great Harbor has 200 residents, most of the permanent residents on the island, five restaurants, and our new-friend dog.

 Great Harbor

After our stroll through town, we head over to the pier and catch our tender home.  Another great relaxing day!

 Departing Great Harbor

Philipsburg, St. Maartin

We've been to Philipsburg several times, both while staying on Saint Martin/Sint Maartin and, two years ago, taking a Windstar cruise that started and ended in Philipsburg.  Philipsburg is on the Dutch side of Sint Maartin (Saint Martin on the French side), the island has been shared between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and France since 1648, with roughly equal populations in both areas, but 60% of the land on the French side.

We schedule an excursion in the afternoon, sailing on an America's Cup yacht and spend the morning at the beach.  Many of the restaurants on the beach boardwalk in Philipsburg rent umbrellas and chairs on the beach, often with beer included for a flat price ($20 for 2 chairs, umbrella, shower, wifi, and a bucket of beers).  As we walk away from the cruise terminal, the prices get better and we meet Sweet Andy, who offers us a deal and we settle in for a few hours of relaxation, swimming, and a beer.

 Beach setup and bucket of beer

 Looking out at the water

In the afternoon, we walk over to the pier and catch a shuttle boat that takes a group of us to three America's Cup yachts, where we split up among the boats and race.  We get to participate in operation of the yacht (I'm a main grinder and have to crank away on a handle as the sails are changed).  This adventure is a little wet and we can't use our cameras, with the hard work we have to do on the boat (we are racing in an Americas Cup yacht!) and all the water flying around, we wouldn't have had much chance.  After the race (our yacht, sadly, did not win), we stop in the America's Cup shop for a rum punch.

 Stopping at the Americas Cup shop after the sail

From the shop, we  walk back to the cruise terminal and note that there are a few very large ships alongside us, including the Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas, which carries over 6000 passengers and 2,384 crew members.  That's large!  While sailing on the Americas Cup yachts, we talk to someone off one of the large ships and he said that all they do is stand in line for everything.

Allure of the Seas and another large ship

We're quite happy with our 200 or so passenger adventure on the Star Legend, never a line!

Star Legend, Allure on the right

Breaking News: Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco

We head into San Francisco for dinner at Kokkari  Estiatorio and realize that the Chinese New Year Parade is today.  This is the largest Chinese New Year parade outside Asia and is held a few weeks after the actual new year day.  We hear that there may be a million people watching the parade and prepare for the crowds.

We experience the Chinese New Year good luck. We get parking at BART!  It is a busy day in San Francisco with SF Giants Appreciation Day event at AT&T Park and the parade.

Our destination is the first BART stop in San Francisco, Embarcadero Station, which gives us easy access to a great night.  We first walk over to the Ferry Building Marketplace to get duck breasts and mushrooms (oyster, shitake, and chantarelle) for our upcoming Valentine's Day dinner.  Shopping accomplished, we head back to Market Street to watch the parade.  As we wander through groups of people and floats preparing to start, we get a fabulous, different perspective than we would just watching the parade further down the route.  The energy is strong, the crowds are celebratory, and the floats are sitting, waiting their turn to go.  With over a hundred floats, some do have to wait quite a while.

Floats waiting their turn

On one corner, the stilt people are also waiting for their chance to go.  I'm not sure I would be up to the long walk on stilts!

 Stilt people

 And, of course, the dragons, some waiting, some getting started down the parade route.

 Dragons waiting

 Dragons in motion

 Complete with the bands.

 Bands getting started

 And, lots and lots of people of all ages walking with the floats.

Walking the route

And, a few riding.

 Riding the route

And, as we walk away from Market Street toward Jackson, where Kokkari is located, we reach the other end of the parade and see the people and floats who have finished the parade heading out for their evening.  We also get to enjoy the firecrackers! One after another, filling the air with percussion.

Packing up at the end

What a great treat, followed by a fabulous dinner at Kokkari, where we are never disappointed.