We spent Saturday at Smuggler’s Cove, a beach on the north side of Tortola about a mile from our rental house.  Upon returning from a snorkel, I entered an area filled with a giant school of smaller fish on which the pelicans were dining.  It caused me to ask myself, “what if I brought my camera into the water and stood here in the middle of the dining room?”  I did and below are some of my shots.  It was not easy to always properly focus on the subject given the water action on my arms as I held the camera at water level not to mention the obstacle of their speed and position relative to the sun.  But I thought these were almost good enough to share my experience.  Double click the thumbnail for a larger image.

We are taking a break from winter weather for the sixth year in a row with a return for the second time to Tortola in the British Virgin Islands.  We came here again because of the very peaceful nature of this island (no large hotels), the wonderful views from our rental house and its terrific owner.  There won't be many posts from here as we don't do a whole lot on this trip.  Mostly catching up on work, reading, enjoying the sun and surf and continuing Words with Friends contests.

We are joined this first of our four weeks by Debbie and Dale Cummins of Liberty, Indiana (my home town) for their fourth visit with us and will be joined at the end of the trip by our other four time guests, Lisa and Dave Wangsness from Big Canoe, Georgia though Lisa also has her childhood roots in Liberty.

We are staying at a place called Limeberry Villa which is owned by Jon and Katy Morley.  They are extremely accommodating landlords and last night they had us and the guests from their other rental property here to their home island of Little Thatch, a 54 acre island five minutes off the eastern side of Tortola that is owned by a British businessman.  It used to be a resort but he now has Katy and Jon manage it solely for his use (with the exception of its Seagrape Cottage which is still available for rental http://www.seagrapecottage.net/index.html).  Swimming, snorkeling, kayaking and self-made pizzas baked in their very own pizza oven.  It was a fantastic evening and we are grateful for their hospitality.