Hello to all TTOL posters. My husband and I just returned last night from our first bareboat sailboat charter in the BVI's. Before I recount our adventures, let me say that we started off the trip with the hubby in an ankle brace for a sprained ankle that was a result of a go-kart racing accident the day before we left. However, we were able to take advantage of the airport carts and early boarding, so it helped. Thanks again to all the kind suggestions I got here on TTOL, the day before we left. Of course, it meant I got stuck woofing all the heavy stuff. So, here goes...
Day 1-We leave a chilly St. Paul, MN at 6:15 a.m. on Tuesday, March 9. Our US Airways flight leaves on time and we have an uneventful flight into Charlotte, NC. We board and back away from the gate about 10 minutes ahead of schedule. However, there is now a massive amount of congestion for departing planes and we wait in line and watch 12 other planes leave. By this time I have worked myself into a frenzy because I am absolutely sure we are going to be late into St. Thomas and miss the 4 p.m. fast ferry (the last one of the day). Before I become hysterical, we are airborne and Jim spends the next 2 hours trying to settle me down. We land in St. Thomas only about 15 minutes behind schedule. Still, I am sweating the ferry connection but we make it. For the ride to Road Town, we sit on the bow of the ferry and enjoy the fresh air. Already, we are completely captivated by how beautiful it is. We arrive in Road Town and find a cab to take us to Maya Cove. My first experience with the roads and drivers of Tortola is all that I heard it would be. I try to not close my eyes too much because our taxi driver is being nice enough to point out the sights as we head east out of Road Town. When we arrive at Maya Cove, we are happy to find that the boat is ready for us. We load our gear and wait for our provisions from Bobby's. The delivery is more or less on time and the order is exactly right, even with all the last minutes changes I sent to Leon! After loading up the frig, we head to Calamaya Restaurant for dinner. While the ambience is lovely, the food and service are merely adequete but it is convenient. After dinner, we pick out fins from the large supply on shore and head back to the boat. We chartered a Beneteau Oceanis 331from Sunsail that has obviously seen some hard use but it was in very good shape. The boat was very well equipped, everything worked just the way it was supposed to and it was very clean. We were delighted with being provided with two wind scoops and rigged one over the v-berth hatch. We didn't know it then, but it was the last night we would ever have to worry about light breezes........
Day 2-We are up early and I stand on the dock watching the surf break on Whelk Point. Breakfast is at Calamaya again, nothing special but the coffee is good. After breakfast, Carlton joins us for our boat briefing. The briefing was thorough and to the point. He made sure we understood everything and did not cut any corners. We attended the chart briefing, grabbed our 2 bags of ice and we were ready to go. Sunsail assisted us away from the dock, we negotiated the channel and the next thing we knew, we were in the Sir Frances Drake Channel. The wind is blowing at least 20 knots and some of the biggest waves I have ever seen are heading right for us. In deference to Jim's injuries, I suggest we motor since the wind is right on the nose. We pound up the channel and around Beef Island Point and continue into Marina Cay. We arrive at about 1:30 p.m. and are amazed to see that there are only a few mooring balls left. We grab one of the balls that is close to the reef and as we realize later, this makes for one rolly anchorage. Oh well, we are on vacation in paradise, who cares? We settle down for some lunch and snooze time. Later in the afternoon, I radio Donovans Reef Restaurant for a reservation for dinner that night and request pick up in their launch. Then we decide to go for a dinghy ride into Marina Cay. After landing we wander down to the path that leads to the Robb White Library. Without thinking, I set off up the hill and I realize about halfway that Jim is having trouble keeping up but he perseveres and we enjoy the view for a bit before heading down to the Pusser's bar. We stop for diet cokes and appreciation of the view. After that, on to the Pusser's Store where we do a little shopping. Back in the dinghy and another ride through the mooring field. I thought we were looking at boats but Jim was looking for topless sailors of the female variety. When he was finally rewarded, he returned happily to our boat. At 7:15, the launch from Donovans Reef picked us and two other couples from boats near us, and took us to Scrub Island. Jim and I were seated at table for two on a corner of the terrace overlooking the anchorage. It was a gorgeous night and a great way to celebrate our 20 year anniversary. We exchanged cards (I am happy to say I did not forget this year) and had a fabulous dinner. First we had conch fritters and then Jim had Mahi Mahi and I had the chicken stuffed with crab, served with a cream sauce. Dessert was coffee and key lime pie. When it was time to go, we waited at the dock and Jeremy came back in the launch to return us to our boat. On the way to our boat, Jeremy tells us that when he does not drive the lauch, he is one of the chefs. By the time we get to the boat, the wind is howling and the boat is rocking at least 30 degress from one side to the other. At my suggestion, we try rigging a "rocker stopper" (dinghy anchor tied to the end of the boom, tie the main off at about 45 degrees from the boat, let the weight hang down into the water) and it helps somewhat but it is a noisy night, nontheless.
Day 2-We are up early today and are anxious to be off. After a quick breakfast, we head out of Marina Cay and hoist sails. After that, we have a fabulous 2 hour or more sail down the channel to Norman Island. When we enter the bight, it looks pretty crowded. I dig out my favorite cruising guide and spy the suggestion for Kelly's Cove. There are a couple of mooring balls and we grab one. It is a beautiful spot. We hop in the dinghy and head for the Willy T. I know a lot of TTOLers love the place but I cannot see the attaction. We tie up the dinghy, and climb aboard. It is about 2 p.m. and there is one table of 20 something studs and a boat with some party people tied alongside. We sit at one of the empty tables and not one of the staff greets us or acknowledges us. The waitress spends about 10 minutes with the table of 20 somethings and then wanders off to the bathroom. After that, another boatload of studs shows up and they have barely sat down before the waitress is out with a greeting and is taking drink orders. We left then and returned to the boat and had lunch on board. After lunch, more nap time and then I put on my dive skin and went in the water. The snorkeling was great right off the boat. The water depth was about 20 ft and was clear as could be. I swam around and watched the fish while I waited for Jim to join me. While I was waiting, I am pretty sure I saw a small black tipped shark swim below me. When Jim joined me, we swam over to the reef area and got a good look at some pillar coral, small brain coral, fan coral along with some seargant majors and some jacks. The visibility was great. It was only about 4 p.m. at this time so we decided to check out the caves. We took the dinghy across the entrance to the Bight and got a good up close look at the caves. When we returned to the boat, I discovered a feature of the Beneteau that I absolutely fell in love with. A stern shower! I was already hooked on the step through transom with the swim platform and the user friendly swim ladder, but the shower was the best part! What a luxury to shower au natural in the warm sunshine.....
After our experience with the Willy T, we decide on the Pirates Bight for dinner and I radio for reservations. I am told that dinner will be a buffet for $25 a person. It sounds good to us so we book a table for 6:30. By 6:00 pm we are ready to go so we head out. We take some pictures of our anchorage and then we meander throught the Bight. It seems we never tire of looking at boats. One of the ketches we pass catches our eye. Her name is Rubicon and Jim thinks it is a steel hull. She has great lines. We arrive at the dinghy dock with out mishap and make our way to Pirates. Since we are a little early we stop by their souvenir store to check out the merchandise. When we return to the restaurant, our table is ready. We order a couple of O'Douls and then sit and watch the sun start it's slow slide down the horizon. Around this time the Rubicon crew is seated at the table near us and Jim and I find it very interesting that this group of 30 to 40 somethings, are all dressed alike! They are wearing the same shirt (taupe colored golf shirts with the boat name) and all are wearing khaki colored bottoms. Jim and I wonder if this is usual attire for people chartering boats together down here but for the rest of the time we are there, we do not see anyone else in team dress! The buffet that is served that night is delicious and is more than we can eat. There are chips with some kind of mango salsa and guacomole. The salads are unusual and delicious. One is made with yellow squash, peppers and onions in some kind of vinigratte. The other is mahi mahi, grouper and baby shrimp in some kind of mayonaisse kind of dressing. There is also a tossed salad with a fresh tomato dressing, some kind of spicy honey dijon dressing and black bean soup. The entrees were mahi mahi, chicken and BBQ pork ribs. I don't know if dessert was included or not. Some people got dessert and some did not. We were some of the did nots but that was probably a good thing for me. After dinner we sat in the hammock for a while but we were tired and decided to go home. Since there was only a half moon, it was a good thing that I brought a flashlight to help us find our way home.
Day 3-Friday morning dawns bright and clear. I wake at 5:30 a.m. and sit in the cockpit reading until Jim wakes a little after 7 a.m.. It is a beautiful morning and we decide to head for the Indians. We decide that it would be a good thing to head out early, pick up a ball, have breakfast and then go exploring. The Indians are fabulous up close and we spot an empty mooring ball. We are sitting there feeling pleased with ourselves and decide to have breakfast. After breakfast, I notice that there is a large dive spot approaching us at a very fast rate of speed. When they are within hailing distance, they throttle back and inform us on the loud hailer that we are on a mooring ball meant for use by commercial dive boats only. We drop the mooring immediately, with apologies. Of course by this time there are no empty moorings and a squall comes through so we decide to bag it. We head for the west end of Tortola and the Thatch Island cut. We have good breeze and we are on a very comfortable beam reach. We make good time through the cut and soon Jost Van Dyke is in our sights. We head for Great Harbor and put the hook down. I love the electric windlass!!! We sit for a little while on the boat to make sure that the anchor holds and marvel at how beautiful it is. We are surrounded by these huge hills that are so green, the sky is so blue and the water is that magic turquoise color. When we are sure we are secure, we climb in the dinghy and head for shore. After wandering down to Foxy's (jammed with a day trip party) we wandered back to Ali Baba's for lunch. Jim ordered the chicken roti and I got the flying fish sandwich. We got to talking to the people at the table next to us. Turns out they had been traveling to the BVI for years and they shared a lot of their knowledge with us. When the chicken roti came Jim almost swooned. It was delicious. Spicy, flavorful curry chicken stew folded in a thin wrapper and served with homemade mango chutney. The best thing we had eaten in a long time. When lunch was over, we strolled down the street looking for the ice house since Jim's ankle needs attention. Because of all the activity the last few days, it has swollen again and his limp is getting worse. At the end of the street that runs perpendicular to the beach there is a building with sign that says ice and a sign pointing to a gate. As I push the gate open, a woman waves from the porch of a house up the driveway. She says she will be right down. She sells us two bags of ice, $7.00. As we are lugging the bags back down the street, we spy Christines Bakery so we have to stop in. By the time I rein Jim in he has bought 6 HUGE chocolate chip cookies, cinammon rolls and carrot cake. We lug everything back to the dinghy and head back to the boat. After stowing the ice, I go forward to raise the anchor with the really spiffy electric windlass. One thing I learned, before operating the electric windlass, know how to BRAKE the windlass. Somehow, I got the chain looped and the windlass stopped. In the process of trying to free it, I tripped it and all 100' foot of chain and 150 foot of rode flew right out of the anchor locker and onto the seabed of Great Harbor. Since I have no idea of how to get all that anchor rode back on board since it has now all come out of the windlass gypsy, I resort to the one thing that always saves me in situations like this. I hauled out my arsenal of curse words. After a few minutes of what Jim refers to as my Daffy Duck impersonation, I calmed down and went back to work. I was able to thread the line back through the gypsy and use the windlass to haul the rest back into the anchor locker. We motored out of Great Harbor with our dignity somewhat intact. After we left Great Harbor, we headed east for Diamond Cay. Since it was still early, there were mooring balls available and we grabbed one. I called Foxy's Taboo on the VHF and got reservations for 6:30 p.m. At around 4:00 pm. a power cat showed up, and took the mooring ball off our stern. Turns out there were four couples and the four girls were all swimmng naked. Jim was skulking around the cabin with the binoculars out the portholes until dinner time, all the while suggesting that we consider moving to the mooring ball that was astern of the power cat. I declined. Dinner at Foxy's Taboo that night was beyond fantastic. For appetizers I had the eggplant cheesecake (at Franks suggestion) and it was awesome. Jim had the portobella mushroom with peppers and fried goat cheese. He was in heaven. Before dinner, I visited the ladies room. Well, I was expecting the ladies room. Actually it was the ladies and gents room. I'm in the stall, musing over the sign taped to the door that says "Conserve water, do not flush for #1!", a guy comes into the stall next to me to do his business. I was a little taken aback but what the heck, no problem, okay mon?
Dinner for me was fresh (3 hour old!!) grouper, grilled and served on a bed of linguine with a cream sauce with baby shrimp and italian sausage!!!!! Jim had the mahi mahi and loved it. Dessert was key lime pie. By this time, it is too dark to finish our scrabble game so we head for the boat. Jim decides to sleep in the v-berth that night and turns in about 11:00 p.m. I choose to sleep in my favorite spot, the double settee on the starboard side of the main cabin. The wind again is blowing in from the harbor entrance and it is probably a steady 21-23. Around 11:30 p.m. I turn out the light, put my book away and start to doze off. The next thing I know is that there is an almighty god-awful BANG that seems to reverbarate through the hull. Jim comes flying out the v-berth and we are both asking "what the hell happend????" I am scrambling for my glasses and the flashlight and make it on deck without my feet touching the ladder in the companionway. The sight that greets us and leaves me speechlees is the 45 foot ketch grinding against our starboard side hull! Jim is asking what happened and the other skipper hollers over that we have come off our mooring. I turn on my flashlight and run for the bow, the adreneline is pumping now and I am wondering how much this will cost us. What I see is my mooring bridle (the one I checked three times before bed) is securely fastened to the port and starboard cleats and we are solidly attached to our mooring ball. I swing the flashlight beam to starboard and see the ketchs bridle line hanging loose off the port cleat. I hollered at the skipper that we were secure and he was not. He said "Oh", started his motor and backed off of us and did not say another word. We waited till he was moored and then Jim hailed him and asked him to see us before he left in the morning. It took about an hour for the shaking to stop and after that any noise woke me up and started me vibrating all over again.
Day 4-It is a beautiful morning in Diamond Cay but the wind is really howling now. Outside the entrance to Diamond Cay, I can see the surf pounding the east end of Sandy Spit so I bag the idea of anchoring there today. Instead we dinghy over to the reef between Jost Van Dyke and Little Jost Van Dyke. We tie up at an old pier and make our way along the edge of the reef, climbing over rocks and wading through eddying little tide pools. I find some shells and on the beach and big conch shell, smashed on top of a boulder. We stand and watch the surf pound the reef and it is exciting and beautiful. The waves look to be at least 15 feet high when the hit the reef and the spray comes flying in. We are mesmerized and forgot how long we have been standing there until all of a sudden we realize that the water that was around our ankles is now almost up to our knees. We get out while we still can. Back at the boat, we lounge around and laugh at the pelicans who are diving for fish around us. Finally, around lunch time, we decide to see what the seas are like and head out of Diamond Cay. Once we outside the harbor, the sea attacks us. We make a quick run for Little Harbor and duck inside. While the water is mostly calm, the wind is funneling around the point but we are grateful to be out of the 9 foot swells! We pick up a ball and spend the rest of the day reading, relaxing, swimming and watching the goats on shore. Early in the evening, we dinghy into shore to pick up some ice at Abe's General store and pay our mooring fee. Back to the boat before dark to grill steaks, but it is too windy to get the grill started so we end cooking them on the propane stove. We spend a somewhat uncomfortable night because the wind is just screaming into the harbor and the boat is rocking and rolling. Some of the gusts are so hard you can feel it make the boat heel over.
Day 5-We are up early and decide to get out of Little Harbor since the wind has calmed down a little bit. So we set off for Soper's Hole since we need to get some water in the water tanks. We have a great sail to Soper's Hole and just as we arrive a squall blows in. We make our way to Soper's Hole Marina and tie up along a seawall. Jim finds the guys at the marina who direct us to a slip. Usually we can dock a boat without a problem but the wind is trying to blow the boat sideways in the slip so it is a bit of a challenge. After we fill the water tanks, we go ashore to a little cafe called Pisces for their breakfast buffet. After we have eaten the guy who runs the place tells us they have free internet access, if we would like to use. I send a quick email to some friends before we leave. While I am doing that, Jim is making friends with some of the local guys hanging around and picks up some great tips. I saw the boat Aristocat leaving about the time we were arriving. What a beautiful boat. Anyway, we leave Soper's Hole by about 10:00 a.m. and head out to Drake's Channel. What I see scares me to death. The biggest waves I have ever seen and the wind is shrieking and blowing the tops off the waves. We are heading for Cooper Island and it is a hard slog for the next 10 miles. Jim does most of the helming. We arrive at Cooper Island at 12:30 and find there are a few mooring balls left but I get the impression most people decided not to go out that day. After we pick up the mooring ball we catch our breath and then have lunch on the boat. Afterwards we dinghy in to shore and spend some time exploring the Cooper Island Beach Club and the boutique and I make reservations for dinner at the restaurant. We return to the boat and then head out to Cistern Point for some snorkeling. The snorkeling is great. I saw a golden eel and two large barracuda's. It really is a great spot. Then it's back to the boat for some relaxing time before dinner. We went back to shore for dinner at about 7 p.m. and I was absolutely charmed by a small grey tabby cat that was hanging around out table. I ordered the chicken roti and Jim ordered shrimp. The chicken roti was a disappointment after Ali Baba's and the shrimp was barely adequete. The cat that was hanging around loved the chicken roti and we were having a great time until Jim caught me sneaking some shrimp off his plate to give to the cat. We tried the Banana Sausage Roll with Caramel for dessert. Again, ho hum. We headed back to the boat and settled in for the evening. We spent another evening on deck doing what we had been doing every night we were here, just gazing at the stars. Other than the nights we have spent on Lake Superior, I have never seen so many stars at night. It was overwhelming. About this time we found there is another method for torturing you and keeping you up at night. The mooring ball banging your hull. The wind was blowing so hard and the seas were so rough we were spinning on the mooring line. Then the boat would swing in such a way that the mooring would end up against the hull and go BANG BANG BANG about every half hour or so or however long it took you to get back to sleep. Jim spent half the night on deck trying to figure it out how to make it stop.
Day 6-Slept in a bit this morning because the wind and the seas settled down a little bit around 5 a.m. so we got some sleep. After breakfast we decide to head down to Peter Island to see what it looks like down there. Once we are out of the protection of Cooper we get slammed again. The wind is back up to over 25 and the swells are HUGE. We manage to get to Peter but the anchorage on Deadman's Bay does not look good so I suggest we return to Cooper. We trun around and now we are right into the wind. We turn the motor on so that we can shorten the trip but it is terrifying. The waves keep getting bigger and they are coming from all directions. The worst part is crossing the channel between Peter and Salt Island. I kept telling Jim, "this is where the Rhone went down and I can see why". We finally make it back to Cooper and snag a mooring ball, although there are very few left. Again, not many people have left. We hang around on the boat, just enjoying watching other boats. What gets interesting is that as the day goes on, boats are pouring into Machioneel Bay looking desperately for moorings. I swear, by 2:00 p.m. there was nothing left. I had the VHF on for a while and heard some of the cruisers calling their bases and being told by the Charter companies to not anchor at Cooper and to try Marina Cay instead. However, by about 4:00 p.m. or so, there were a half dozen boats with anchors down and they hung on during the night. Around mid afternoon we discovered we could not flush the head. We called Sunsail and they sent a service guy out to work on it. He started taking the head apart and I was apologizing and I blamed it on my husband for plugging it up. He laughed and said it was not our fault, it was calcium deposits. He took the hose out, cleaned it and put it back together again. We took the dinghy to Cistern Point again to snorkel but between the wind and the waves, visibility was not great. Plus, about a half dozen divers showed up (I was surprised, it's kind of a shallow site) and were all over the bottom. Between that and all their air bubbles, we couldn't see a thing so back to the dinghy. A word about the dinghy and snorkeling. I was very glad to have my "Sea Step" that I bought from Sailonline.com and the dive skins that had been recommended by a poster here on TTOL. Both of these made snorkeling much more pleasureable. Jim spends a couple of hours before before bed time trying to stop the banging of the ball against the hull. He rigs up the dinghy between the mooring line and the boat and it actually works pretty well, until about 4:45 a.m., when it woke us both up again. By this time the wind had diminshed slightly so we left it alone and crawled back into our bunks for another hour and a half.
Day 7-Up again at 6:15 a.m. and we decide to make our run across the channel, due north, to return to the Sunsail base in Maya Cove. The passage was not too bad. There were still some monster rollers but the wind had lightened a bit. We reached Maya Cove and had a few anxious moments negotiating the channel. It seems that you are awfully close to the reef and we were sweating it. Anyway, we tied up at the end of the dock without incident and breathed a sigh of relief. By 10:30 we were in a taxi heading to Road Town, where we spent some time shopping and having lunch at Pusser's. We caught the fast ferry at 2:30 and were in St. Thomas and on our way to the Mafolie Hotel by 4:00 p.m.. The taxi ride to the Mafolie was an experience unlike any other. The hill to the hotel is steep with lots of switch backs, not to mention the taxi engine had almost no compression left. There were a couple of times I thought we were just going to start sliding backward. I kept my eyes closed a lot. While our room was small, definately on the rustic side and much too close to the street for my comfort, the view of Charlotte Amalie Harbor was stunning. We had dinner that night at the Mafolie Restaurant and it was wonderful. We both splurged and had lobster. I could not believe the hunk of lobster meat I pulled out of the tail. Jim had to help me finish it. Dessert was again key lime pie and it was delicious. We went to bed exhausted and it was a quiet night other than the horns honking outside our window, as cars negotioated the hairpin turn, the roosters crowing and the sirens blaring. The morning was beautiful and we enjoyed the rather bland complimentary continental breakfast, but the coffee was good. We took the free shuttle down town at 10:30 a.m. for the much anticipated jewelry shopping trip. After trips to Colombian Emeralds, Little Switzerland and Cardow, we ended up at Jewels Forever. Raj was great and sold me 3/4 carat diamond studs, a tanzanite and diamond ring and Jim got a beautiful Citizen Eco Drive watch. After that, we rewarded ourselves with lunch at the Greenhouse and then went looking for a cab to take us back to the hotel to get our bags. As we walked the Gande Strasse we asked three or four taxis but they were all going to Cruise ships. Then we found Flamon Taxi and it was the best taxi ride. The driver used to be a Chicago Fireman and State Trooper. He has a mike rigged and has another riding with him to do local color. So, as we are riding along he is telling us about himself and his partner and then he says he will tell us why they drive on the left. The guy riding shotgun tells us the long story about the donkeys and carts used to traverse the right side of the road on hills so cars had to go left. Then Flamon says "No, that is not the real story. The real reason we drive on the left so the tourists won't rent cars. The reason we put the steering wheels on the left side is to screw with the British so they won't rent cars either!" We were cracking up and were sorry the ride was so short. Got back to the Mafolie, picked up our bags and got a taxi to the airport. Sadly, we bid goodbye, promised to return and went home to Minnesota.
Thank you all for reading this and I hope you enjoyed it. I hope to have pictures soon.
Princess of WBL
