Trip report from Feb 24th until Dark n Stormy, 09

On our last charter in October, 08 we experienced persistently cloudy weather and were recalled due to Hurricane Omar.

Naturally, we had to go back – when the horse bucks you off…….. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />

This time we chartered Second Wind from Brent Fennell at his Pro Valor Charters, http://provalorsailing.com

Hope you enjoy our report:

Just for fun, I imported our track from my Garmin and posted it, in case you’re interested. At first glance, it looks like we traveled over land like a Land Rover a couple of times, but later on you will see links to close ups that prove our innocence. At least to that charge. Here is the “big Picture” http://wind-storm-whistles.com/bvi/large_track.htm



2/24:Tuesday: Issue free AA flight from St. Louis to St. Thomas via Miami. Due to some strange quirk in Miami Intl’s gate scheduling, our connecting gate to St. Thomas was LESS THEN 100 YARDS from our arrival gate. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Banana.gif" alt="" /> It seemed like a good omen to me, sort of like winning money from a slot machine at the airport when you go to Vegas ~ and it turned out to be true.
From St. Thomas we took the first available ferry to West End, a cab to Sea Cow Bay and stepped onto Brent’s boat which was set up as promised for a sleep aboard. He stopped by within a few minutes of our arrival, gave us a quick tour and returned early the next morning for a boat check and quick sail, since this was the first time we had chartered from him. And I must say, it was fun. He is a very cool dude, no hype.

2/25:Wednesday: We sailed for about a half-hour with Brent, then dropped him off at Nanny Cay and jibbed on down to Soapers. Perfect weather, lots of sunshine, winds about 10 knots.
Usually we provision from Bobby’s but this time we choose to wait and grocery shop at the Harbor Market. That was different, and pretty fun. We just loaded up the dingy and brought the groceries aboard, making sure to leave any cardboard boxes in the dingy to dispose of later. There were absolutely no bugs on Brent’s boat and I wasn’t going to take any chances. During the boat check, Brent had noticed the fan belt was not up to his standards, so his mechanic; “Boots” stopped by and replaced it around 5 ~ it took him about 5 minutes. All in all, we enjoyed a terrific day. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/circle.gif" alt="" />

2/26:Thursday: Sunny. Off to Jost in search of the bubbly pool! I was seriously prepared; with the gps digits from this board programmed into my little garmin gpsmap 76. We lunched at Diamond Cay, http://www.bareboatsbvi.com/jvd_diamond_cay.html then started hiking.
http://wind-storm-whistles.com/bvi/bubbly_pool.htm

It was all very beautiful, a super hike and we took some terrific pictures. The cliffs reminded us of Ocean Beach in San Diego ~ well worth the effort and I’m glad that another TTOLer had taken the time to post the coordinates and encourage everyone to take the hike. I sure agree – do it. We motored into Little Harbor for the night, intending to walk to Foxy’s and cab it back, but Cynthia at Harris sold us on having dinner at her place and I’m glad we did. Dinner, which was delicious, started on the terrace and moved inside when we got a little rain. We met an interesting couple from Scotland, Walter & Nancy Reid, and chatted with them most of the night. The more I sail, the more I learn, it is really all about the people you meet. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Part of the entertainment that evening came from watching a crew med moor
http://www.cruisingworld.com/how-to/seamanship/med-mooring-made-easy-54973.html
their 40+ foot boat right in front of Sydney’s Peace & Love! I guess it happens all the time, but I’d hadn’t seen it before. They made it look so easy ~ I’m sure it wasn’t the first time they had dropped anchor and stepped off into a party! Captain Ron stuff all the way. &#61514;

2/27: Friday: Bright and sunny, wind E @ 10, we motor sailed on the outside to Monkey Point for lunch and snorkeling and then made for Marina Cay. We had expected it to be crowded, but on this day it wasn’t. There were still 6 or 7 balls left after dark. That was not to be the case later on in our charter. Here is what our track looks like around Monkey Point and Marina Cay:
http://wind-storm-whistles.com/bvi/monkey_point.htm

2/28: We no longer know what day it is: Sunny, some wind and seas and a perfect sail to North Sound. I really wanted to sail to Anegada and visit Walker Mangum’s place this time, since Hurricane Omar made it impossible on our previous trip and this was a super first step. We played “shut the box” and spent the night on a ball at Leverick Bay.

3/1: Probably Sunday: Mostly sunny, 10-15 knots. We had planned on getting water before we left for Anegada but The ALFA NERO had docked at the fuel and water dock the night before, and she took up a lot of space, as you might imagine, being 269 feet long and number 29 on the world’s largest yacht top 100 list. Yep, right there she was. What a sight. Seems the owner is a sincere soccer fan and he needed to dock for the night so his satellite reception would be perfect. When they left, her Captain eased her out at very slow speed and with respect. It was pretty cool, in my opinion.
http://www.showboats.com/Articles/Features/Sun-Sational-Seaworthy-Sleek.asp

Our sail to Anegada was very pleasant, mostly due to Walker’s waypoints and perfect weather. Little did I know that the “worst” thing on our entire trip was about to happen, and it had nothing to do with rocks or reefs. I had flaked out the anchor chain on the deck a few days ago at Monkey Point, and had some dirt that I wanted to clean up. So, after we settled in on a ball, I took cleaning gear up front and started washing her down. Using “cleaning” muscles that are rarely used, I guess. Next thing I knew I had screwed up my back and could barely move. The moral of the story is so obvious I won’t even point it out. After lots of aspirin and a bit of time I was able to hobble around and we made it to the Anegada Reef Hotel for supper. We met Mr. Olsen of wifi fame when he needed a dingy ride back to his boat. http://www.bvimarinewifi.com/index.htm
Unfortunately, we didn’t get to Cow Wreck Beach this time, so we will have to go back. http://cowwreckbeach.com

3/2: Monday: It took me a full ten minutes to climb out of bed because of my back, and for the next few days Mari had to do most of the sailing and boat stuff, which she hadn’t really had to do before. Funny how sometimes the “worst” things turn out to be blessings in disguise, huh? We had a good trip back to North Sound and settled in at Saba Rock, another first for us. We had lunch at the rock and dinner on Second Wind, another perfect day.

3/3: Tuesday: Rainy this morning – forecast for a low pressure system moving in and maybe stalling on top of us. At this point we are thinking that the dark and stormy weather coming up would be great for the annual race, but we all know how that turned out. With Mari at the helm we left North Sound for Marina Cay but when we got there we found a totally jammed parking lot, at 3pm. We heard that Michael Bean was appearing that night, and he really drew a crowd. So we just picked up a ball at Trellis and had dinner at the Loose Mongoose.
3/4: Wednesday: Overcast, looks like maybe the best weather on this trip is behind us. Still, it is much nicer than it was in October, so we are really happy. Since my back was a lot better, we decided to sail to Peter Island, Great Harbor, and spend the night there. We went ashore for a beer and just hung out. I spent quite a bit of time snorkeling and the coral looked very healthy. We were supposed to return Second Wind the next morning around 10, but we were enjoying our trip so much that I called Brent and negotiated a late afternoon return instead. No problem.

3/5: Thursday: Slow moving system leaves us with a mix of clouds and sun, and not much wind. We mostly fiddled around and sailed around until we had to return Second Wind to Nanny Cay. Brent was there to meet us and help us dock, the debriefing was easy and quick and we spent our last night at Marias by the Sea. Come to find out, Marias allows the Tortola Chess Club to meet there on Thursdays, and they let me join in.

3/6: Friday: Here is where our trip got a little goofy ~ lots of spray up top on our ferry to St. Thomas ~ PLENTY of wind and waves ~ so much wind, in fact, that our plane couldn’t land from San Juan. To make a long trip home story short, we wound up leaving St. Thomas so late that we had to spend the night in Miami due to missing our connecting flight home to St. Louis. Later I found out that the Dark and Stormy had been canceled.

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Tikotiko.gif" alt="" />