In the fall of 2019 we booked a 10 day charter for July 2020 with Moorings on a new to the fleet 46.3 monohull. Needless to say, a few months after booking COVID hit and our planned vacation was postponed a year.

We flew Delta from Houston to Atlanta, spent the night and met up the next day with our son and his girlfriend who took the red-eye from Denver. The flight to St. Thomas was uneventful but the snacks were god-awful. I understand the need to package things in boxes and not offer choices to even first class passengers like us, but beef jerky?

With all the uncertainty concerning ferry schedules and availability we decided to use Dolphin Water Taxi to get us to the BVI. Up until the last moment we were hopeful it would be a water taxi in both directions but inbound taxis were still not authorized so they put us on a charter plane to Beef Island. Dolphin was great on both ends of our trip so I recommend them highly. They aren't cheap but the service provided was worth the price to us. Processing at the airport was quick since we were the only 5 people in line.

Originally we planned a 10 day charter with 2 days on the front end at the Moorings hotel to give us time to settle in. When the BVI opened with a 4 day quarantine, we decided to stretch our 10 day trip to 14 and to do a sleep aboard since I thought that hotel accommodations wouldn't be allowed for the Day 0 quarantine. Of course by the time we arrived the quarantine restrictions had been lifted for fully vaccinated people but we stayed with the modified plan since we certainly could find things to do with 4 extra sailing days.

A tropical storm was brewing to the south which while it never hit the BVI did make for some boisterous wind and sea conditions. At one point 45 knot winds were predicted so we chose to spend our first 2 nights in the marina. We had friends coming in later for their charter so this also let us meet and visit with them before we headed out.

The first night we ate at the MYC (Mariner Yacht Club a.k.a. Mariner Inn). The food was good and the service was wonderful. They were working with the limited menu that I guess was put in place for the quarantine / deliver food to the boat. Charlie's was closed which was disappointing. Our second night we went to Pusser's which I guess is as close to a tourist trap as you'll find in the BVI but we've never thought of it as such. The pizza, shepherd's pie, fish & chips and the Painkillers were all great as was the service.

During the day we did our unpacking which is something we typically do our first night out from the marina. It was nice to get everything stowed without being rushed to do so after a sail. We also took care of several boat issues ranging from the important (A/C not working) to the trivial (why won't the hatches stay open!). Every request we made to customer service was promptly dealt with by multiple people. There weren't a lot of boats going out so perhaps that is why we got such great service, but regardless, it was appreciated.

We ate dinner at MYC on our 3rd night with our friends who were tired after a long day of travel. The weather forecast looked good for the next day so we planned to leave for Peter Island while they stayed at Moorings waiting for another couple to join them (transportation issues from St. Thomas).

The next day we got an early afternoon start for Great Harbour Peter Island where we grabbed a ball just off Oceans 7. We used the BVI Ball app to pay for it which worked well. It even had the ball pinpointed on the app. I still have doubts about the security of this app but this was the only place we found it in use. We didn't go ashore but Oceans 7 was open. Later that evening a large group arrived via ferry for some sort of graduation (I guess) party. Masks weren't in evidence so I guess this should have been a warning to us about the upcoming surge in COVID cases.

...to be continued