Happy Halloween!!!

As the witching hour approaches on this Halloween Eve, I find myself not in a very "Halloweenie" mood. Which is very strange, seeing as how I am usually the one dragging my friends halfway across the state of Texas to a Halloween party where we end up sleeping on the floor for 2 hours and driving back the next day in time for work. In other words, I love Halloween. I love Halloween parties, costumes, decorations, candy, and did I mention parties? This year is so different. I think it's just stress. So many new things going on, job, living situation, co-workers, island, the list goes on. I feel like I am letting myself down this year, but most of all I feel like I am letting my crew down. I want to show Rebecka a good old fashioned American Halloween (despite the fact that we are in the British Virgin Islands) and I want Meg to have a great Halloween because it seems like she loves it just as much as I do, except for the fact that she is really excited about it and I feel like such a dud. I AM NOT A DUD. But I feel like one. This island is not real big on Halloween. We have yet to hear of any blowout costume parties or bars throwing a big bash in the BVI, but all day long I hear commercials on the radio for St Croix and how the whole island is preparing for tomorrow's festivities to continue throughout the weekend! Just when I started to feel really down on myself about not wanting to go out tomorrow, Meg makes a fantastic suggestion, "Why don't we just throw our own Halloween party on the boat? Just for us. Let's make cocktails and eat popcorn and watch scary movies all night." Its probably the best idea I have heard since we have been on island. I am so relieved and happy about this plan. We are going to have a blast! Girl's night in! I have decided to make the girls my famous Mexican food feast for dinner then its on to cocktails and movies until we all pass out! I like this idea so much better than going into town because Meg and I have plans to surf Josiah's bay at some point this week and it looks like the best day we have left is Thursday. This will be my first attempt at surfing so wish me luck! Hopefully the combination of booze and Mexican food seeping from our pores will deter any hungry sharks and we come back in one piece! I hope everyone has a great Halloween back home or wherever you are!

Tropical Storm Noel moves on...

So, lately we have been complaining about the wind and the rain and how we just want to go to the beach and get some sun. Last night the girls and I decided to check the surf report for Josiah's Bay here on the island, thats when we realize we are basically on the back end of a tropical storm! Whodathunkit? But today the skies cleared a bit and we had a partly sunny day full of hard work. We are learning our way around the island a little bit, and last night our friend Vehn took the girls and I to The Loose Mongoose, a local beach bar, to watch the Red Sox win the WORLD SERIES!!! I cant tell you how strange it was to sit at a bar with only 6 people and 2 cats and watch them win. It was so mellow. I was the only one screaming and jumping up and down while the dinghy's bobbed on their painters in the calm clear bay. Then all was quiet again, and the cats went back to sleep, the bartender turned off the television, and we went home to our boat. We are truly on Island Time.

I am working on a blog just for my pictures so here it is!!!

Jolea's Pictures

Check it out! The ones at the bottom of the page are the oldest and they are from the Bahamas, on through Savannah and a couple from last week. My camera took a hard fall in Savannah and I have to really rig it up in order for it to work but I am trying my best! Enjoy!

A Great Video!

This is Tall Ship Video everyone should see, just another schoonie day on the big blue sea!

Last day in St Thomas

Well, I finally have a second to myself after spending a little over 2 weeks here in St Thomas. It has been a blast! It reminds me a lot of Key West, but the water is so much better and the island itself is beautiful and mountainous! Just to update everyone, I am now working on the charter boat Wanderlust. We are based in the British Virgin Islands and do week long charters. When I arrived in St Thomas I met Meg, one of the other crew members and we totally hit it off, we are both Sagittarius so serious fun ensued. We took our STCW class together and had more fun than I think you are supposed to have while learning how to save lives. We are now CPR certified and know how to use fire extinguishers and we also learned, there is no way I can get my ass in a life raft if I have my life vest ON. Ha ha ha. Rebecka, who you may remember worked with me for a while on a different boat and we had a lot of fun in Savannah, accepted the other stewardess position on Wanderlust and she arrived here the day before we finished class! Great fun! The people of French Town, which is where we have been living this whole time, call us Charlie´s Angels. We have had a great time here and are looking forward to the fun times to come in Tortola. 

We did get to meet our Captain and the dive instructor here last week. We had the boat in the haul out do do some work on the bottom and repair a few minor things, so we got really dirty and really sweaty for 5 days then they took the boat back to Tortola. Before leaving, our Captain informed us that I would be the Office Manager and Chief Stewardess, wow! Lots of responsibilities! He also explained to us that he likes to keep our charters at least a week apart so we don´t go crazy. In this off time, we have the option of working on the boat like maintenance work for an hourly wage or just running off and doing whatever we want to do. This way we have the choice of making money or going surfing if the surf is up at Apple Bay. Nice huh?

I am really looking forward to getting to Tortola! Judy spent some time here last year and sent me a whole list of people I have to meet and I cant wait to get started! But first, I have to pack my bags...

Charlotte amalie from above!

We spent the day at magens bay!

Dont do it!

Open air living.

Can you see the rainbow?

My room is that top left corner up the hill under the palm tree!

My view upon waking... St thomas!

Savannah Smiles Piano Bar

I took this with my phone, when my Mom and Aunt Nita came to visit me in Savannah we went out one night to Savannah Smiles, the dueling piano bar! On the mirror behind the pianist it says "Jolea is sailing off to Tortola!" The deal is, you pay them any amount of money and they write whatever you want on the mirror, the only way to get the words erased is to pay more money than the person before and replace it with a new phrase. It's really funny. Mom and Nita paid to get that up there and it stayed for a good long while until the batchelorette party behind us got wild and started making fun of the bride to be, they must have spent 200 bucks on mirror phrases that night! This is the only picture I have from that night and let me tell you, we had so much fun!