Swim Vacation

We have another week pencilled in for SWIM VACATION aboard Promenade now in early December!
For all the details, and to book, go visit Hopper on SWIMVACATION

Hot off the press is Swim Vacations newsletter for their two upcoming charters on Promenade. Hopper sold 4 spots in the first 48 hours on his December trip. Obviously spaces will not last long.



I love the packing list! I think all my guests should use something like this list. It may stop us getting women bringing formal outfits for dinner, and theme nights complete with cowboy boots!


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Picture by Heather Perry Photography, Swim Guide and Hostess extraordinaire on Swim Vacation Charters!

We were up and moving the yacht at some awful hour of the morning..Heather and Hopper helped by holding down the trampoline...



Simeon came to visit us one evening...


Simeon and the goat...


PS girls, some are very jealous they did not get simeon calendars!


The sunset was pretty off the front of the boat...


And dinner was enjoyed by all...




Found these two scrawled filefish, some of the prettier ones that i have seen...


Found this picture on my camera, thought it was quite pretty...


More of my model this week, Heather and the Nurse Sharks...




And Heather and the turtle! (green turtle she tells me...)


A beautiful sunset coming down the channel....


And another dinner...( I think they are getting full now!)


For those who like the pictures, here are some more silhouette swimming ones below here...



















Oh yeah, and one of the slide shows I had done of the second week...I have to find the first one!

It is possible that I am a tad behind here on the blog, but that is ok, I have more time now...

Swim Vacation was a blast and a lot of fun but we packed a whole lot into two weeks and now we have dropped off and i am happily scrubbing the oven as I have NO charters until mid June!!

But, lets back up quite a bit here...

Lets start with these stunning amazingly healthy garden of Pillar corals with all kinds of little fishies in it. I am not even going to tell you where it is! I have never seen healthier pillar coral here...and I also think that I am seeing more pillar coral then I ever used to so maybe it is surging...






What else have we done?
Well we went sailing...



Kerry and Hopper hard at work here, I wonder what the rest of the crew was doing?


There was a long swim from Monkey Point all the way to Muskmelon Bay..



Some waited until we got closer to the finish line to jump on in..


At Muskmelon a few went for a hike along the ridge...these are from a guests camera...







Heather and I went for a SCUBA dive... this is Heather and the Lion Fish. We found 5!




I basically just switched tanks then and took Jon back down for a dive...



Who I think thought he was Superman...





A Sand Dollar...


And a Southern Sting Ray...


While others simply played in the water...It was a wonderful afternoon!









This afternoon was guest chef night and that meant Hopper was making caesar salad and pirates punch. I did not realize that it took 5 hours to make caesar salad and grilled chicken
Here he is showing Heather how to emulsify eggs..so she could be trained for it next year. I don't think she was buying it and I am sure I heard " you are not adding one more thing to do duties Hopper!" or was that my imagination???


The pirates punch was actually a bit scary. This was a true recipe from the 1700's and entailed grating all these lemons and steeping it in sugar to draw out the oils and then needed brandy and rum. Apparently Foxy's fire water, which I did not know they had back then! Hopper explained to me that the rougher the rum the better for the recipe, as back then they did not have smooth liquors like we do know. That made sense.



We did not have a black cauldron so apparently my pressure cooker would do fine!



We have since found out that apparently Pirates Punch grows as we never seemed to get rid of this gallon jug for the rest of the week!

I'm like a cat on a hot tin roof here...Hopper is "guest cheffing in the galley tonight" and all sorts of things are going on...
But going back to yesterday, the swim guides are getting quite comfortable in the dishes/galley role...







The wind was howling today. We could not get out of it anywhere! We went to Leverick Bay for Beans show and took a mooring ball at the front of the pack in all that wind so no one would drag down on us! Hereafter is just some fun pictures from the show and Leverick Bay..









Our fearless girl guides, Heather and Kim...


Our esteemed leader, Hopper...


Heather showing she has blowing power...


A pretty dinner table last night (steaks!)

It is blowing up to 30 knots out and we are about to batten down the hatches, take the laundry off the line (!) and do a slow motor from Beef Island up to Mountain Point on Virgin Gorda. I will see if I can get get caught up on the blog here...
First night dinner, everyone looking a bit tentative still!


Mahi Mahi....


And lemon velvet pie with chocolate crust, homemade ice cream and chocolate whipped cream.I appear to have a dessert crowd this week!


They had a great swim in Great Harbour on Peter the next morning, topped off by videoing of their strokes for the stroke clinic at night. They all look so attentive...


Our newest guide/crew member Kim, has a degree in Reflexology, and as Heather's sinuses are filling up, while everyone else went running on Peter Island (!), she too the opportunity to get a treatment. Personally I think she was just looking for a food rub myself


I made lunch...


They ate it....


And then we went for a bit of a sail into some seas which caused quite a bit of laughter...




Hans Creek area of Beef Island...for an afternoon swim into the mangroves...


Lots of starfish here today....


Swimmers galore..




Promenade anchored in the distance...


Fearless Heather guide type creature...





A little spotted eel...


and John looking at it...


But the clouds were rolling in and the wind was picking up.....


We had a gusty cocktail hour but with van gogh chocolate vodka moccha thingies, everyone was quite happy!




Wind guards down in the cockpit for dinner tonight...it POURED rain for awhile too!

We had a great week on board, but man was it busy! With 3 guides/crew and Bazza and I, none of our feet touched the ground barely for the entire week...after everyone left this AM, we had the boat to clean, reprovision and laundry to do before the new guests started arriving at 400 in the afternoon. Thankfully the first one here was Hopper, the vision behind Swim Vacation, so Heather is smiling because he can help with the work today!




I made my rounds of all the stores, buying extra food provisions this week to try and avoid emptying out my fridge by day 3, and of course, I will have too much food this week, that is the way it goes...

We have three less bodies this week!


In a classic crew fail, from taking the laundry off the dinghy it was kicked into forward and hopper sent our new guide/crew Kim, underneath the boat. Of course he was mortified, but all was fine.


We had lots of rain just leaving harbour, and then no wind, so we motored over to Little Harbour on Peter Island where I made one of my sandwich trays...



Our fearless leader had one of his yearly ice breakers...





Enough said about that! The swimmers went in the water to just get used to it, Heather went with her camera and I went with my scuba gear to take pictures. I am really enjoying having models to take silhouettes of, so you do get to see a lot of those pictures! It is so challenging...



















That is all i will make you sit through today, the other 378 can wait! Time to go do something productive!

Love this last night picture of our swimming group! Heather and i were editing like crazy late trying to get our slide shows done and finished to show everyone...Wine flowed freely, as well as the champagne and everyone had bonded together so well, they were very sad to go...



Dear King and Queen of Promenade-
Many thanks for the pirate stories, the tales of buried treasure, the rich food, the encyclopedic knowledge of the area, and the warm warm welcome to your lovely home on the Promenade. It has really helped us recharge our batteries! J and Sandra, Austin Texas

Dear Kerry and Bazza
I cannot describe the week spent aboard the Promenade. I know words would not do it justice. A week spent aboard was filled with laughter, experiences, beyond the imagination. Thank you for the memories! Nancy...

Thank you so much for taking care of us this wonderful week. Has been such a joy to relax and swim to our hearts content. You have created a place for people to live their dreams! WE wish you will in all your adventures, Alison and Ken, Buffalo NY

Kerry and Bazza, Great trip, great food and thanks especially for the great weather! Mark, Corona, CA

Kerry and Bazza, love you both! Great yacht, great photos (deep water) great food...please keep it all up. We all love you both!

Just wanted to say thanks again for the experience of my life. You and Bassa make a great team and are an inspiration. My dive was one of the highlights and it was cuz I felt very secure with you and Heather. My best memory will be of the Promenade rescuing me from my swim when my legs cramped. It was surreal when the massive Bird hovered over to me so nimbly in the choppy sea and plucked me out. Paul, Maryland




On to the next Swim Vacation week!

I am not sure where the last few days got to, except for apparently it was very busy as I seem to be behind as can be in blog land... We have had some fun though, as you can see with one of our guides in our mackerel stuffed down the back of his trunks....I wonder if I can put up pictures of the other guide in a Jock Strap??? Is that politically correct?



I believe it was Thursday this week before we really had a chance to take garbage in. Fitzy and I got extra brownie points as we took all thirteen bags of that smelly stuff in the dinghy. I was embarassed to be around other people in the grocery store afterwards I smelt so bad...


A mood shot of the Sea Cloud...


Chicken Sate for dinner one night...


The guides had gone up the top of the hill at Oil Nut Bay and took some great pictures.








And this is Fitzy really going beyond the full service giving a swimmer a lift back to the boat at Necker!


One night my guests had mahi mahi. They really liked it...


Bazza and I equally enjoyed our loaded baked potato with a side of apple streusel pie!


Our last afternoon I managed to sneak away at White Bay on Peter Island for a dive all by myself...and considering there was an eagle ray swimming around down there I found a couple nice pictures...





I also went into the shallows to take some mood pictures...





A nice anemone...



and lots of little fish under the boat...



And if Peter Island resort wants to know where all their beach furniture is, well they should send someone out diving once a week here. I found 6 various assorted chairs and loungers, and I just covered a tiny part of the bay!


But the absolute best, bestest part of the dive was when I saw one of our swimmers snorkeling to look at the Eagle Ray in the shallows!!!


It was so nice that he had such good form too! A perfect model and it all meant I got some lovely silhouette shots!

This pic was from dinner a night or two ago...


Yesterday after the swim, I was getting ahead on some of my ingredients for breakfast, as you can imagine breakfast cooked to order for 15 is not one of the easier options in my world. I kept on cooking more and more then all of a sudden, it was easiest to put everything out buffet style for them to build their own. It was massive, and we did not eat until well after 10....


While most of the swimmers and guests took a look around Necker Island, 4 of us dropped off the boat and Bazza left us the dinghy to do a SCUBA dive on the Invisibles....Not too much current and good visibility.... These pictures are all from that dive.

What you don't see in the pictures below is the keystone cops antics of all us middle aged divers with cameras, getting into the dinghy at the end of the dive in seas that had picked up a bit!

Then I had one of life's embarrassing moments, I had the 4 of us in the dinghy and all are gear, but decided to take a bit of a look around Necker Island before going to the boat. I know the shallow patches in there, but I guess with the extra weight I did not compensate enough on one sand patch. To my utter embarrassment, and in full view of everyone on the sand spit and the other boat there in the anchorage, I bumped along the sand attempting to get out of it.

Just to make sure that everyone heard, I trimmed up my engine too far and the sound reverberated across the entire place. I had just finished saying to the guests that Bazza hates when I drive there as there are too many shallow spots!


















It was off for a lovely sail then by spinnaker down to Guana Island, where the only fishing action was a barracuda. Heather is doing a 365 day photo project on her website and this picture of two of our guests napping under way is really nice, see it here at heather perry photography.



I thought that I had fed them such a large breakfast that the rest of the meals would not be well eaten. Ha! They gobbled up 5 lbs of hamburger with burrito's at lunch and then a whole load of steak and mashed potatoes at dinner as well! Followed by ice cream thank you very much...Tonight I think a baileys and kahlua cheesecake may be on the dessert menu.....

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So our intrepid swimmers made their way around Mountain Point yesterday, with the intention of going into the Moon Pool...Unfortunately it was a bit surgy, but it still meant I swallowed a ton of salt water going upside down and turning around to photograph the swimmers... An entire 600 pics I think I took, I promise to put each and every one of them up on the blog for you!













Look at the curves and form on this girl!




I think they all look like little sea otters!


The cutest guide of all!


We made our way up to the back end of Prickly Pear for overnight, but there was about 16 boats already anchored there so we continued on to Oil Nut Bay quite happily!




Tonight was a shot game and dance party. Yep, our days are pretty busy!

While the swimmers swam this morning, I built egg platters. I don't even want to mention how many eggs i have gone through so far, but I imagine it is about 14 dozen. Half way through!


The internet and camera cafe is a little busy this week.....




While at the Baths (with a billion 300 lb sweaty visitors) Gary and Mary Ann brought me back presents for the boat! Hot sauce is always appreciated!


We went up to Mountain Point....just at the time that I was going to serve lunch. I have never seen the flies SO BAD here and I have seen them bad before! There was a cloud of them all around our food!




Of course it was into the water again after lunch, turtles, divers and photographers abound...








Gary shows the best form possible!!! Maybe....

I swear I spend more time actually searching for internet to upload my blog here on the boat then actually doing the blog.. We are at the Baths, and when he anchors in close, our chances of getting either cel service or internet go down dramatically. A lot time was logged in the water yesterday, both for divers and swimmers and in some cases both...
Right as all were going to bed last night, a nipple broke off the hot water heater, which meant the entire contents of the water tanks were spilling into the engine room. Great thing that it was noticed by clever guests or guides and for the night Bazza just turned off the water. WHich forced everyone to brush their teeth with Perrier, hope you don't mind Hopper!
He was up then bright and early to fix it. The swimmers all made their way around Great Harbour for their morning swim and I made a serious dent in the pile of eggs when they came back...

It was time for a trip to the Rhone for more swimming, snorkeling and scuba diving for a few too. I can tell it is high season in the islands, I don't believe I have ever seen so many divers and boats on the wreck, it was crowded and looked a bit like "silly season" (to coin a phrase from the south of France in summer) both above and below the waves...

Of course there was current on the deep, so we rambled from shallow to deep and then deaked in to the shallows to swim back to the boat.
Enjoyed taking pictures of the swimmers diving down on the shallow part of the wreck, and I enjoyed even more taking pictures of the photographer, Heather, Taking pictures of the swimmers! Not everyone has two photographers following them under water taking pictures you know!

Then it was around to the anchorage on Salt Island, where again, there appeared to be way too many boats for our liking, but Bazza anchored us in the shallows and while some went for a wander around the island and hike to the top, the two photographers took Jay and Paul with us and got in the water one more time...The colors there are so soft and pretty for photography....

After we used up more air underwater the swimmers jumped in swimming, Jay and Sandra took up kayak position after them and the boat hovered off shore picking up divers as they were ready to come on board...Off for a cocktail hour sail up to the Baths and celebrated Fitzy's birthday tonight. The other two guides gave him the day off from dishes, and man, it felt like this birthday lasted for months by the time we had finished all the dishes and glasses from the entire days schedule for 15 people!

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On the wreck of the Rhone, Heather photographing Will and me photographing them both...


Our resort diver, Paul, going in (the man actually has more confidence then he needs at his age!)


Paul again, videoing me....


I love the classic photographers pose here! THis was off Salt Island


ANother one of Paul getting in the water...


Barracuda off Salt Island...


Yes, we are heading that way! Jump!


Could it be Paul again? I think so, he appears to be our ham!


Well someone has to provide me with good material!






Not sure where Fitzy has this much energy after all the dishes!




Charmaine adopted a gentler approach...


Not Mark though!


threesomes...(exactly how many swim suits did Heather bring on this trip? I see a new one every time she gets in the water!)





I would say it had to be Will!




These two actually knew how to Paddle! They managed to beat the swimmers by making it all the way to Cooper Island



There were all kind of references to Fitzy being the sexiest guide etc on his cake (!) I just wanted to know when he could start doing dishes again!


I think he is trying to get away from the large burning flame here on the cake....




Dinner had copious amounts of food and wine, of course I made so much pasta that it is going to be a lunch time meal today as well...To go along with the too many ribs I made the other night AND the too much bread from lunch yesterday...


But it was a happy group at dinner anyways, we gave them bushwackers and NO ONE figured out what was in them! They kept on thinking it had rum (cuz we were in the islands) and if they knew me, they would know that i hate rum but love bushwackers so....


Ah, back to pics of my large lunch...




Ah, back to the Rhone, this must be Jay, always capturing my divers best sides I am!







Heather again...


Gary inside the wreck, he complained about his worthless dive light afterwards, good thing I had strobes




Snorkelers on the surface...


Back to the resort diver jumping in (a tad busy to put these in chronological order this week...)




Back to the wreck of the Rhone...






Now it is time to get this posted while I have a glimmer of internet and go start the massive amounts of eggs benedict that are required for this breakfast once they get back from swimming around the Baths

Our first official full day has been interesting to say the least...
All the guests managed to find each other and had dinner in at Village Cay....


It did not take them long to look like they were relaxed and belonging on the yacht this morning....


although, some new trainees had to change sheets this morning when she ended up putting a couple in the wrong cabin. She may be smiling on the outside, proving she is a domestic goddess but since she emailed me (all the way from the aft cabin to the fore cabin) at 130 AM in the morning worrying about it, I don't think she was smiling on the inside somehow...


I hear that her husband would appreciate the proof that she actually does have these skills though!


Sailing out of Road Harbour we passed Michael Beans boat sailing in...


And others had no problem getting right into relaxation mode. This guy is from Austin, so I think it comes naturally to them!


Heather and Fitzy, after doing all the important domestic diva chores, had to confer on other important business matters...


We had one last arrival about noon so we took the yacht up to Brandywine Bay to wait while having a swim in the water....I went looking for creatures...after all we had a Marine Naturalist on board who could explain all the animals to the guests...


I loved my little display of creatures,


Eventually I was asked if they could move my "zoo" so the guests could get out. I liked that word!



Eventually we spotted a small figure hailing us on the beach...Have to admit that there is something poetic about being dropped off in your traveling clothes on a white beach in the Caribbean to board your yacht with your luggage in tow...


I thought he should be maybe be made to swim out with his luggage held over his head..I am sure i have seen an ad featuring that somewhere!


Most everyone had the chance to go for a swim....


Except our domestic goddess who had to learn deckhand skills next!


I managed to get lunch on the table....


And then I had to get this picture out of the galley window as we had 4 men pop up who wanted to be involved with the sailing, helming, anchoring etc this week. Very unusual, and I just knew that the more who looked like they were interested, the less I was going to have to do!


Although I did wonder why Bazza was already scratching his head in bewilderment!


The anchors came up, the sails went up, the swim vacation caps came out...


The guides tried to look busy so no one could ask them to do more dishes....


We made it Little Harbour, they swam, I napped (I like this part!) and I had to giggle as when they were getting ready for dinner I had never seen this done quite like this before, taking out an assortment of red wines, letting them all breathe before dinner...Usually I start with one or two!


And it is a happy group, (who actually managed to put away about ten bottles of wine tonight) enjoying their first nights meal...

The Swim Guides/victims/crew members arrived first. They found a little hole to stuff themselves into, (they actually had EARLY flights into the islands! How unusual!)


It was a big jump into the cockpit for the "little one" Heather, she is not very tall this girl!


But she was happy to be here anyways!


I finally felt it was sufficiently late enough to have my "I am charter ready" drink....


and we waited for everyone else to show up, tucked right into Inner Harbour Marina....


13 people plus Bazza and I on the boat this week, so this means only 11 more to come, of course at all staggered times!