We spent a pretty lazy Memorial Day weekend - just "recovering" from our BVI trip. Steve and Gretchen invited several couples from the community over for a potluck. I thought the lineup of golf carts made a cute photo....funny, none of us play golf!!


The crew relaxing before enjoying a great potluck. We have some great cooks! Amazing how there is always a good balance of different food at these events.
After the gathering, Duane and I surveyed Steve's progress on his airplane construction. It is a Velocity - look at http://www.velocityaircraft.com/ to see what the plane will look like when finished.

This is his hangar - the mezzanine is actually partitioned off with clear plastic (not really visible) and is air conditioned so that he can do all the epoxy work in a controlled environment.
Here is Steve explaining about a tool he is using...

Really tedious construction - but he seems to enjoy the process. He is extremely dedicated and capable - I'm sure it will be an award-winner when complete!

We're baaaccck! We all tried to lose our passports thinking that the TSA wouldn't let us come back into the USA.... we'd just have to stay in BVI! I'm just going to post some random photos - I took 1200!! These few will give you a sense of the 12 days of fun! Das Boot - our doggy catamaran named Kathryn - she 'weren't fast but she was spacious!

Much sitting around, playing Scrabble, reading, sleeping (oh yeah, lots of sleeping - I could do a whole post of photos of Dick sleeping....)


We got to see the "Mock-O Jumbies" - a local family that dances on stilts to island music. Doesn't sound all that great until you see that they are just balancing on 2x2 boards.



Many pretty photo ops - Leverick Bay in the North Sound of Virgin Gorda.
Much SCUBA was accomplished - about a dive a day - and about 500 photos. I'll have to photo-shop many of them to adjust the color (too much blue in many of the deeper ones)


Many fun dingy-rides to shore - here the captain appears to be entertaining the girls.
Remember, I said random....pretty purple sponges - this will be more vivid when I remove the blue.
Many beach bars were visited. Many jokes told.
Pretty fish - I don't have my guide in front of me now but I think this is a "grunt". The coral that he's hovering over was soft and velvet-y, swaying in the current.
Anchoring the dingy on shore - many times we tied the dingy off to a dock - but there was no dock on this shore.
Posing with Captain and Captain Hook!
At White Bay, Jost Van Dyke - the beach bar has a "ring-toss" game. I walked up to it and tossed the ring - caught the hook first try....Pat tossed it for several minutes before catching the hook. He just hates being beaten by a girl!
Another pretty scene...
Not too many shots of Karen on Karen's camera!! Maybe when I get other people's photos, there will be more of me! Oh yeah - I love my short hair. Didn't miss the fuzzy pony - tail for a second!
Happy people!
More chatting on the boat - what else ya gonna do??
More chatting, different day....,different island.....
More happy people....
Remember, I said random....I think this is a "spiney lobster" - looks like a water bug...this shot was so close that my flash was actually effective. If I had a powerful spotlight, all the underwater photos would be brillant and colorful.
This is a porthole on the 150 year old Wreck of the Rhone. You're supposed to rub it for good luck. We always find it and give it a rub. Seems to be working! Guess we'll have to visit it every year for luck!
Captain at work...looks tough, doesn't it?
Yup, tough work, all that sailing!
Snorkled over to a deserted island we'd never visited called Fallen Jerusalem. Very cool boulders.
Buddy walking around the rocks at Fallen Jerusalem
Duane and an enormous pile of conch shells - I've never seen so many in one place.
Lindy navigating amongst the boulders.
More happy people!
And more...

More happy people, notice a theme here?
OK, you probably don't even want to know what Pat is sitting on....this is the head out of the airplane......who else but Pat??
Pat and the "Twin Flamingo's " from Las Vegas!




Notice the theme - sit, talk, laugh, repeat....
Silly....



Many happy dingy rides...



More sleeping....can't tell who that is under the periwinkle hat, can you??



Snorkeling in the "Caves" off Norman Island. A moment later a surge knocked them over....


This was cool - first time I've seen a living starfish - this was taken just through the water - not with the underwater camera.
Our last day we spent at a small guest house on land....Duane said, "I wonder who could have taken that photo?" when I saw it on the camera....
Almost done - the last morning before heading to the airport, I saw these three black spots moving thru the water from the next tiny island....turned out to be these three dogs.
One of the cooks at the guest house said that the three dogs swim over like that every morning, run down the beach a good way, the come back and swim back to their little island-home..
BOO HOO - flying away.....pretty cool....

Yippee! Less than 24 hrs to go before our BVI trip. Back in a few weeks. Sharon and Buddy are on their way to stay with us tonight - and it's off to the airport at about 3:30AM in the morning.

You're probably not so impressed by this Gulfstream, but I am.....this is one of the biggest jets we can handle at the Asheboro airport. This one belongs to Dillards Corporation. The pilots were super nice (they aren't all, believe me!) They took on a good bit of fuel - so Karen's happy!