As this is my first trip report I'll try not to be too long winded:
Seattle to EIS Aug 6 2009
Via American, SEA- LAX-SJU-EIS. Able to upgrade to first class LAX-SJU so I'm happy so far. Very uneventful trip. Made it to BVI Yacht Charters by 1:00 pm. Met by Chris and taken to our boat, 43' Jeanneau Borrowed Time. Had sleep aboard for the night by were able to stow all gear when we got there. Chris lent us a dinghy and we cruised over to Village Cay for lunch. When we got back we decided to do our provisioning that day rather than wait until morning. Walked to Riteway with the list and took about 1 hour to shop. Taxied back to boat and off loaded and stowed food. Next AM after short chart briefing and boat check we were off.
First stop, Norman Island. A cruise by the Willy T for grins and up through the bight to see Pirates, however, they were closed for the season. Decided to motor around to Benures and drop the hook. Two nights at Benures, snorkeling, decompressing, reading and swimming put us in the right frame of mind. Most of the time at Benures was just us. Off to Sopers to get ice, shop etc. then to Sidney's Peace and Love to get my hair braided. Good to see familiar faces there. Strawberry (alias for Rita) does a fabulous job braiding as do her daughters. Dinner Sidney's with a flotilla of cats from Denmark? Cruised over to CGB for the evening. Lovely night at Myetts, dancing and just havin fun. Headed to VG for music at the Rendezvous, however the weather front started to dump some rain so no music tonight. Had fun visiting with Rose and Inge and stayed over another night. Off to North Sound to catch the last weekend of Bitter End. Lovely time, just deserted. We had seen Lee Bay on our way to VG and decided to spend the night there. First time in that anchorage. What a great spot. That was the night it blew 35k and we were on the hook. Our forward bimini gave way about 3:00am with a bang and we had the duct tape and extra line out in no time to lash it down. Ended up staying up and sitting on the deck watching the storm blow through. It was wet and wild and once in a while a little scary but we were hooked really solid and never moved. Next day we head back to VG as our charter was over the next day and we usually stay the night at the yacht harbor so we can offload our stuff for Guavaberry, our home for the next week. Beautiful sail to Roadtown, checked the boat in did a little shopping and caught the ferry back to VG. We enjoyed our stay in VG, highlighted by dinner with Rose and Speedy at Leverick and an invite to a cocktail party at Morgan Freeman's VG home. Speedy took us back to the airport at beef in his "Sprinter".
Our trip home was a little weirder than the trip down with a hazardous chemical spill shutting down the PR airport just as we arrived. About 60 of us became the "leper colony" as we had not cleared customs. They shleeped us through the bowels of the airport to Homeland security, up to an empty concourse and finally decided we were not a threat to anyone and sent us to the other side of the airport that had been opened. Of course the part we needed to be in was the closed part. Couple of hours later we were off and have a fun story to tell about the PR airport. Attached are photos of this trip
http://gallery.me.com/ritairvine#100126