Trip report April 30-May 10, 2019

Tuesday
Arrived from SJU on Seaborne. Customs <10 minutes. Sunsail had a driver waiting at terminal. Upon arrival to marina, Sunsail notified us we had been upgraded from a 38 2 cabin to a 41 3 cabin. We declined the upgrade since there was only the 2 of us. Sleep aboard that night and provisioning at One Mart. They give you a free ride to store and back.

Wednesday
We had ordered a dingy ladder from BVI Watertoys, but do to a mix-up, it was delivered to the wrong boat and no one could figure which one until after we had left the dock. The base manager loaned us one they had at the base. BVI Watertoys offered to deliver us one the next day if we were going to Norman, but we went to Cooper. We got off the dock around 11am after an 8:30 boat checkout, wonderful breakfast and a quick trip to Riteway for a few last-minute items. Nice sail over to Cooper. We picked up the last ball around 1:30-2:00. On board Painkillers, then a super dinner at Cooper. That night I might have gotten an hour or two of sleep. The winds were howling and shifting, so I was up every hour checking our proximity to the other vessels.

Thursday
Left Cooper for the Baths. Plenty of moorings around 11. Took the dingy in to the dingy line and swam in. Our first time doing this, but that day the swim seemed pretty easy for both of us. After enjoying the baths, we sailed over to Marina Cay. Dinner under the tent was great!

Friday
Left Marina Cay for Anegada. Beautiful sail and we arrived around 12:30. Grabbed a mooring. It was kind of strange on the way to Anegada. We did not see anyone else sailing there. Anyway, we took the free shuttle over to ABC and had a super time there watching the kite boarding. We also had a delicious dinner, after which the ABC manager took us back to the dock because she didn’t want us to have to wait for the shuttle to arrive. Great personal touch.

Saturday
We had some friends come up to Anegada for their first time. They were on a Moorings 51 PC. Eight of us rented a couple Moke’s and bar hopped all day. Lunch and snorkeling at Flash of Beauty was the highlight. Everyone enjoyed a great dinner at Potters.

Sunday
Our friends left Sunday morning, but we decided we needed one more day at Anegada. We decided to taxi over to Big Bamboo for the day. Dinner on board that night.

Monday
Great sail to Great Harbor, JVD. 6-9 knots SOG with avg. 7 knots. Wind speeds 15-20. Plenty of moorings in GH. Took dink around to White Bay. Met our friends again for dinner at Corsairs and drinks at Foxy’s. Corsairs food was fabulous! I did have an issue with the dink. Prop hub started spinning. I could go slow, but over half throttle engine would just rev. I called the base and they said they would bring another on Tuesday, but our friends were leaving the next day, so we simply swapped dinks. Problem solved.

Tuesday
Took our new dink back for a day at White Bay. Lunch and drinks at Hendo’s couldn’t have been better. Dinner on the boat.

Wednesday
Sailed to CGB for water refill. Yes, GH has water, but wind was blowing hard into dock, and I wanted to sail some today anyway. 20 cents/gallon at CGB and ice was $3.50/10 lbs. We then sailed to Little JVD. Had lunch at Foxy’s Taboo. Very friendly and good drinks. We then dinked over to B Line for more drinks, then dinner aboard.

Thursday
Rainy morning, but beautiful rainbow appeared over Jost. Sailing to Norman. After the rain, winds really let up. Slow tack up to Norman. Snorkeled the caves, then had dinner at Pirates Bight. Nice atmosphere, but very expensive and food was our least favorite of anywhere we had eaten.

Friday
Back to Road Town. Boat check out was very quick. Had another delicious breakfast at the marina restaurant. Taxi ready at noon. Seaborne flight delayed 1.5 hours. We had planned an overnight in San Juan. Many missed their connection.

Kim and I had a spectacular trip and look forward to our return to this special place. The people of these islands always make us smile!