Team Monohull sailed 170NM and managed to make it around Tortola twice as planned!
We flew direct from Miami into EIS instead of my usual STT / night / ferry and it worked out well. We visited The Indians twice, two different Dogs, JVD twice - Diamond Cay & Little Bay and Soggy / Hendo’s / Foxy’s, Marina Cay, Bubbly Pool, Saba rock, Peter, Cooper, Salt, jumped @ Willy T, Norman, Guana and Monkey point. After Bubbly we stopped by Sandy Spit to water the palm trees, then off to sail up North toward Anegada to take advantage of great sailing conditions - 6-7 ft waves and wind 17-24 knots. Anchored a couple times, docked a couple and did 2 solo mooring ball pick ups which was fun. The monohull didn’t hold us back and allowed us to point to < 30 degrees off the wind.
Mooring balls at Trellis were in rough shape - on the third try I found one that didn’t have a damaged pennant. It is also sooo easy to pick up and drop off people here that I may change my planning next time. Provisioning was spot on from Bobby’s but alcohol got delivered to the wrong boat - that took a bit to sort out. Trellis market was one of the better stocked grocery stores where we reprovisioned. We dined at Coco Maya for a birthday celebration - fabulous food and location that didn’t disappoint. Dined another night at Hendo’s & watched the sunset at Soggy. Marina Cay rebuild looks great, but it’s not ready for prime time - their systems were not working and we couldn’t even get a round of drinks at 9pm. Saba was gorgeous as usual, sand and sunset in front of Soggy was fabulous. The snorkeling was really good multiple places. We were able to view a lot of the Rhône wreck from the surface, the Dogs had great coral and Indians were so good we went twice. Get to the beach at Monkey Point / Guana if you can, fantastic location.
Waypoints Yacht Charters was outstanding and Anthony the base manager is amazing. We had a couple small issues (broken AC pump, leaky hatch, loose steering) with our Dufour 53 but they helped us solve them quickly. We also had an upgraded dinghy which was well worth it!
On the last night we found the best anchorage I’ve ever seen on the back side of Norman - gorgeous with not a soul in sight. What a fantastic way to end a great charter. Next year I’ll likely rent an monohull again as it didn’t hold us back. I’m also thinking about sailing to St. Croix, has anyone done this from BVI? I already secured permission from the charter company.
Until next year!
Last edited by Alex Corbishley; 02/09/202410:03 AM.
