Leverick Bay Dinghy Poker Run

While in the BVI we took part in the Leverick Bay Dinghy Poker Run. It is a charity event with the money going towards a charity for animals. We all dressed up as pirates and sped off in the dinghy ready for some pirate water fights. The guys each bought a poker hand and you the collect a card at each stop (including a drink each time and perhaps a bite to eat!) Andre managed to come in 6th place with his poker hand and even won the prize for best dressed male after taking over my pirate hair-do when we arrived back at Leverick Bay.


Here is a really fun video I made to show you what a great day we had as pirates as well as some photos. As always you can click on the first picture to enlarge it and then flick through them all, and you can watch the video in HD on vimeo by clicking here. (It makes a difference!)


Leverick Bay Dinghy Poker Run 2012 from Anneliese Mostert on Vimeo.

BVI Holiday 2012

We arrived in Antigua on 30 June with a band playing at the airport and cocktails waiting after a lovely free upgrade on the plane. It was very hot and I went in to the first bathroom to change out of my jeans and into a summers dress. From Antigua we still had a short flight to Tortola with a stop in St Maarten. It feels like a bus ride with the stops in between on such a short flight! Charlis the taxi driver recognised  us immediately as we exited the airport in Tortola and took us to Village Cay Marina to my Dad and Colleen. Simone and Jonny were waiting already too after arriving by ferry slightly before us. 

Sunday morning Colleen and I went grocery shopping to stock the boat for the next 10 days. I was impressed at how well this island grocery store was stocked. Three heavily loaded shopping trolleys later we were ready to go back to the boat.

After unpacking the groceries we went to say hello to one of the crew members on Neckerbelle and he gave us a quick tour of the yacht. We were happy to be able to now say that we've been on Richard Branson's boat! (He was obviously not on the boat at the time.)

We left Village Cay Marina (Tortola) and had our first snorkel at Bar Bay where we stopped for lunch. Here we also had our first encounter with lion fish and dad managed to get three which we fed to some lobsters under a rock. They must have been surprised at this Sunday lunch buffet being delivered right to their door!

Lion fish are eating their way through the Caribbean, multiplying quickly with no natural predators in this region and due to their venomous spines, few predators in their native habitat. They are endangering the coral reefs and reef fish and for this reason people are encouraged to capture and kill them or if you don't have the appropriate equipment to do so, to mark the area and report it. Their spines are dangerous to touch, even when dead. My dad has this orange tube from which they can't escape once inserted and uses a Hawaiian sling to catch them.

From here we sailed to Long Bay, Mountain Point where I lost my hat. The wind grabbed it off my head so quickly, I had no time to grab it back! Dad turned the boat around to try and get it but with the swell it sank very quickly and we couldn't find it. Oh well.

It was at Long Bay where we also went for our first night snorkel. An interesting experience snorkeling in the dark with torches.

Monday Simone and the guys had their first scuba dive at Mountain Point while Colleen and I went for s snorkel. We then continued on to Eustatia Island which we started calling "Google Island" as it was briefly owned by Larry Page, co-founder of google.

Below is a video of the first dive. You can also click on the vimeo link for better viewing.

Mountain Point Dive, Virgin Gorda, BVI from Anneliese Mostert on Vimeo.

Garden flowering!

Just in case you miss seeing and hearing all about how my garden grows, here's another update before we leave for holiday!

Look at all the roses!! They're growing over the fence
from our neighbor. Not complaining! They're beautiful!

Hydrangea flowering at the front door.

Same as your's Ma?

Bit of garden at front door with Clematis
and sweet peas too.

Veggie patch coming along. The squash while strong in
their pots have not shown much promise since in the ground.
Peas to the right doing well, even tasted the first one this
week. Radishes standing tall and actually should have
been lifted out the ground and eaten already. Would have to
become compost when we get back. Lettuce happy as always.
Fennel just starting to sprout and raspberries turning pink!

Cousins in Regensburg

On Sunday (last weekend) we drove to Regensburg. Minus Andre. He stayed in bed as by then he felt really ill... Again it was very hot. Me not being used to having hot weather for more than one day at a time only packed one t-shirt and a selection of long sleeves!

It's a beautiful town next to the Donau river (Danube river- Blue Danube waltz ring any bells for you? This is the river.)

We strolled through the town past a huge cathedral. Had ice cream next to a fountain. (So European in the summer time!) And then strolled back along the river.

Love you Mom! xx

Family photo before having to leave for the airport.

Cousins in Munich

Last weekend Andre and I flew to Germany to see Mom and Jürgen, but really especially to see my two cousins who were visiting from South Africa. It's been over three years since we've seen each other. It was great to spend time together again and we had a fantastic weekend. Unfortunately Andre got really ill and spent half the weekend in bed... We think it might have been the delicious chicken burger he had on the airport.

Lots of photos following below!

Waiting for the train (underground) in to the city.

Love the city hall. I take a photo of it every time I'm there.
I don't think I'll ever get tired of it!

Before Andre started feeling ill. Still his usual self here.

Fruit and veg at the Viktualien Markt.

This is where the October fest was held.

Looks a bit different to when we were here in September...

My lovely cousins!

A Paulaner horse. There was a festival and free beer was
handed out.

Making sure you won't be nibbled on as you pass by!

Walking the streets of Munich.

Andre still in top form!

Back down to the train.

Olympia Park (where the olympic games were held in 1972)

From the top (nearly) of the Olympic tower looking over
the olympic park. This was where Andre gave in and had
a nap under a tree while we went up the tower.

And ending the day with a braai!

Yoghurt maker

I've been making my own yoghurt for well over a year now. I've been doing it by boiling milk, then letting it cool, mixing with live yoghurt and milk powder and then wrapping it in a warm towel and leaving it in the airing cupboard next to the hot water tank for 10 hours.

Now we've got a yoghurt maker! My mom had one when we were younger and as I recall it didn't make very thick yoghurt. (The yoghurt I've been making up to now has been really thick and creamy and silky.) So I wasn't all that convinced this was going to work.

But it did!

I learnt that you should use UHT milk, which I didn't know stands for Ultra Heat Treated milk and is the long life milk. It worked perfectly! I didn't even add the milk powder I usually do to make it extra creamy. I always add a bit of vanilla though which makes it taste really good.

The yoghurt maker takes 7 pots and it took 1 liter of milk to fill with 2 teaspoons yoghurt per pot. Each pot is a perfect portion size for breakfast. Plug it in and leave for 9 hours. It also comes with an extra 7 pots so I don't have to wait for the first batch to be emptied before making the next lot. This way we can always have yoghurt. And reserve the last pot to make your next batch.