Catching Time: Joan is Forever at Waterlemon Cay

Day 5: May 26^th

Today I went through a massive range of emotions: happy, sad, devastated, thrilled etc etc. Today was the day we've been waiting for, but also dreading. Today we took Joanie to her final resting place on St. John.

The plan for the day was the same as it was for the wedding which was supposed to happen a year ago. The only difference is that we were having a burial, not a wedding. We chartered a boat for the day: Born to Rhumb which was captained by an adorable married couple, Andrea "Andi" and Shane.

We began the journey to Waterlemon Cay, which is where Joan wanted to be placed. It was incrediably hard and powerful and something I won't forget. The sun was bright, the water was turquoise and sparkling. Her urn was a beautiful coral pink color, made of salt. Dad set her in the sea, and the urn would dissolve in about two hours. I think there should be a great sense of closure from this, and I hope I see that over time. But at that moment it just felt all so real again. I could imagine her sitting on the boat with us, white hair whipping around in the wind, a drink in hand and a smile on her face. Though she was gone, I think we all felt her presence throughout the day. I am a bit religious, so I imagine her looking down on us and being proud that we followed through with the plans she made. Bless Andi and Shane... they were so sweet and respectful. They even thanked us for sharing the moment with them. I think Joan would have really liked them both.

We continued on to Tortolla customs for entry to the British Virgin Islands. Hooray for a new stamp in my passport! We all got a Painkiller (drink) and set off for the Indians to snorkel. We snorkeled around some super reefs and of COURSE I dropped my new water camera in about 42 feet of water. I didn't have a little floaty attachment so down she went. :( However, Andi was amazing and so mermaid like. She just said "I got it, give me a sec" and dove down FORTY FEET to save this cheap ass camera. And she made it look effortless.

After the Indians, we set off to Norman Island (The inspiration for Treasure Island) and snorkeled through the caves there. The colors were so beautiful! I didn't bring a camera, but I'll try to snag photos from Val.

From there we set off to Jost Van Dyke for lunch at Foxy’s Taboo. I got a "Wreck" (think lots of rum and fruit juice) and a grilled fish sandwich. Plus their chips and salsa...homemade. OMNOMNOM.

We went around Jost on the boat for some shopping at Foxy's main restaurant/shop and some photo ops. I got a few cigars and some kitschy goodies from the BVIs because who knows when I will return.

A cool stop on the way back around Jost was to Sandy Spit: literally a little spit of land in the middle of the sea. Beautiful white sand and two palm trees. Of course the trip to the BVIs wouldn't be complete without (drum roll).... topless girls! A bunch of college age party goers were on the spit drinking and a few girls were walking around with their fake boobs out. No real boobs are THAT perky. Holy cow. They also brought a blow up doll onto the beach... I don't know. Um, it's best not to focus on that. So anyway... beautiful coral, swimming and white sand. And boobs. Hooray for boobs.

Our last stop was to the Soggy dollar Bar, where we intended to get some drinks, but after we got in the water we decided we just wanted to float and watch some other boats/yachts dance and zip-line off their masts. Andi even swam over and did it herself! Good form! I'm too chicken and would probably bust my ass so I stayed in the water.

We headed back to Cruz Bay for customs and said goodbye to Andi and Shane. If you ever venture down to the islands, and want to do a boat trip, contact Born to Rhumb. They were amazing.