Trip Report 6/5-6/12

This is my first attempt at writing a Trip Report for all of you on TTOL. I hope you like it!

Our day began at 4:00am as the alarm in my phone played it's familiar tune, albeit two hours earlier than usual. My DIF had me up like a shot, showered and ready to go in 20 minutes! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Banana.gif" alt="" /> My wife on the other hand, took "slightly" longer! Our plan was to leave the house at 4:30am to ensure that we would meet the rest of our crew at their house by 5:15am. We had a limo scheduled to pick us up there at 5:30am to drive us to JFK for our 8:00am flight to EIS via SJU. Things went well all things considered. We left our place around 4:45 and were in Staten Island right at 5:30. The limo (a Stretch!!!) was waiting in front of their house. We unloaded our bags and placed them on the sidewalk next to the limo, only to have the car drive away! Apparently he didn't see us and thought he was at the wrong house! A brief chase ensued and before long all was well. Tony and Orelbi emerged from their house and BVI Sail 2010 was underway!

We arrived at JFK at 6:30am for our 8:00am flight. Joan and I had Business Class Tickets so we all used the Priority Check-In and we sailed through security. It looked like the Non-Elite line was pretty reasonable as well.

The flight was uneventful. The Flight Attendant in Business Class was very cool and agreed to bring a couple of Mimosas back to our friends who were flying in Coach. Let the partying begin!

Our transfer in San Juan was smooth. I did take note of how small the gate area was at the American Eagle Gates. I also had a chuckle when the Gate Agent announced that they were boarding rows 1-7 and EVERYBODY jumped up and got on line. Oh well, I guess the whole plane is going to the same place, right!?!

We made the approach into EIS directly over Jost and I got a good look at White Bay. That's when the excitement hit me!!! We landed and we were greeted by Marilyn of The Moorings who handed us a bottle of cold water while we waited for Caesar to get the van. He gave us some interesting history on Beef and Tortola Islands as we drove to the Moorings Base in Road Town.

We arrived at The Moorings and had some time to kill before the 4:00 Chart Briefing so we headed to the bar for some of Jephet's extra strong drinks. I ingested my first Painkiller of the week and the vacation was on! It was extremely hot and humid with almost no breeze so I asked the Desk If they could arrange to have our boat moved to the new dock where the Power Cats are so we could catch what little breeze there was. They were more than happy to help! We attended the Chart Briefing and learned that all of the islands were in the exact same place i left them last time!!!! Relieved, we headed to Bobby's for provisions.

We had decided not to pre-order as we wanted the experience of shopping ourselves so we had the Moorings call Bobby's and have them send someone to pick us up. No problem m'on! Our crew of four filled up two shopping carts and proceeded to check out. $512 later (yikes!!! Oh well, we are on vacation) we packed our stuff into the Bobby's van and headed back to the Pier.

We returned to The Mooring and we were finally told which boat we were on. Broad Reach Two, a Moorings 4000 Catamaran. We were told that the boat was in A-20 so we pushed the shopping cart full of groceries to the A Dock where we learned the hard way that a Cart will not roll over a hose across the dock! The front wheels hit one if the hoses and we proceeded to dump our groceries all over the dock!!! After all that… We got to A-20 which is 2/3rds of the way down the dock only to find that there is no boat in A-20. We had asked the desk to move our boat to the new dock for the breeze. When operations had moved it, but they had not updated the list! Oh well! We pushed our cart back down A-Dock and over by the bar where Broad Reach Two was waiting! We unpacked and stowed our provisions and part of the crew took a quick swim in the pool before dinner.

Our plan had been to take a cab to Cane Garden Bay for dinner but it was getting late so we changed course and went to Spaghetti Junction instead. The food was fantastic as always and we got a kick out of watching the very drunk batchelorette Party that funneled past from
the club upstairs every so often to use the bathroom. We headed back
to the boat and spent some time lying on the trampoline before settling in for a VERY hot and humid low breeze night.

Sunday morning we had our boat show from Lou, one of the guys who sails the Moorings, boats across from South Africa when they are built. He has forgotten more about sailing than I am ever going to learn. He spent 45 minutes or so going over the boats systems. This was my first time sailing a Cat and Lou made me feel very comfortable. We finished the boat briefing, made one last trip to the Moorings bathroom and Broad Reach Two set sail. First Stop... Cooper Island.

The Mooring field at Machoneel Bay was not too crowded when we arrived. We picked up our mooring with no problem. I was struck by how easy it was to hover over the ball with the cat. The differential thrust makes it very easy. We tied off with a double-bridle and my first mate (aka Ball Grabber)and I began a tradition of immediately jumping overboard following a successful mooring. This was my first touch of the beautiful and warm waters of the BVI this trip and it was awesome! We swam like kids as we jumped off every part of the boat including the bimini and we even swung out from the spare halyard. It was a fun
time. I got stung by an unseen Jelly Fish but that didn't matter.
This was my first sting ever and to be honest, it wasn’t that bad!
Tony (Galley Wench), cooked up some delicious scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon, sausage and English Muffins for breakfast. We then went
ashore for a Painkiller, the bathroom and some dinner reservations.
The Bar Tender at CIBC was also kind enough to give me some vinegar for my Jelly Fish Sting. Once on the beach, we found ourselves playing Cricket on the beach with a few of the employees of the Cooper Island Beach Club and a couple of fellow visitors. Although I go to London 3-times per year, I've never played Cricket in my life. My baseball instincts had me dropping the bat every time I hit the ball (which you are not supposed to do in Cricket) and I could not break that habit. It was an amazing morning! After dinghying back to the boat, we fired up the grill for some cheeseburgers in paradise and hot dogs. We spent the remainder of the day relaxing on the boat before showering and enjoying dinner at CIBC. Our first day on the water culminated with the four of us falling asleep on the trampoline gazing at the stars. It was a perfect first day!

Day two had us sailing up to BEYC in North Sound. I had a Carib in my hand at 8:00am, I was sailing… Life is good! Ball Grabber did his duty perfectly once again and we jumped overboard to enjoy the warm waters of North Sound. We went ashore to BYEC and walked down to the other end to use the pool and the small but beautiful beach. Note for next time… There is a Dinghy Dock right next to the pool. This will save the long walk. We had fantastic Cuban Sandwiches at the Pub. The highlight of the day was when our new friend, 3-year old Amanda from Tortola, ordered and was served a Strawberry Smoothie from the bar unbeknownst to her parents! This had her father asking the waitress if Amanda had the wallet to pay for it! It was a very funny moment. We spent the whole day at the pool. BEYC did not have anything special for dinner that night so my Wife and I decided to make dinner at Saba while Ball Grabber and Galley Wench chose to eat on the boat. I must say that we were less than impressed with the dinner at Saba this time. The prices are high, the food was decent at best (I had the beef stir fry) and the server acted as though she would rather have been somewhere else. The biggest draw for us was the salad bar and, of course, watching the Tarpon swim around the underwater lights. We will probably skip dining at Saba next time. As always, I took the opportunity to enjoy the free WiFi in the mooring field to catch up with the real world before doing some more star gazing and falling asleep on the tramp once again.

Day three was a nice and relaxed one since we were only moving the boat from Saba over to Leverick. Nick was off-island but was kind enough to make arrangements for us via Private Message on this board! Thanks Nick! We are sorry we missed meeting you and Monica but we appreciate the hospitality nonetheless! We took a slip for the price of a ball via the secret TTOL handshake and decided to take a couple of villas on the hill for the night to take a break from the heat and humidity that
is ever present in the BVI in June (The Moorings 4000 has no A/C at all; not even shore-side). Nick (via Melissa in the office) had arranged a Rental Car from Speedy's for us and it was waiting. We drove down island so my newbie crew could experience the Baths and we took loads of pictures along the way. Galley Wench and Ball Grabber said that they could have spent the whole week on the beach on the other side of the Caves (Devil's Bay?) and I suggested that they get some info on Guavaberry Spring Bay. We spent so much time at the Baths (and at Top of the Baths afterwards) that we missed our window to stop at Savannah Bay. That was a shame because I love that beach! That night we had made a reservation to eat upstairs at Leverick, but we had to change our plan and eat downstairs instead because one of our crew was wearing a sleeveless shirt which didn't conform to the dress code of the upstairs restaurant. He would have had to walk all the way up to the top level of the villas to change and that just wasn't going to happen in the heat. Rules are rules so we enjoyed dinner downstairs instead which was quite good and half the price!

Day four was our passage to Anegada. It was slightly rolly as our course was 90 degrees to the swells but not too bad overall. We took a ball and went right ashore to make dinner reservations at Neptune’s. We had a few drinks and chatted with Linda who has lived on Anegada for 40 years! Nino was kind enough to cut down some fresh coconuts which Ball Grabber (who is from Cuba) used a Machete to cut up. We added rum to the milk and we enjoyed! Then we get a cab to Cow Wreck Beach where we enjoyed Belle's famous Cheeseburgers and helped ourselves to drinks from behind the bar. Newbies take note... You write your name down on the pad on the bar and then you are on the honor system to report the drinks that you get for yourself! It makes or a very special experience. The water was beautiful. That afternoon was one of the highlights of my trip! We went back to the boat around 4:00 and chilled out for a few minutes when we had the only hic-up of the trip! My wife was sitting on the louvers by the tramp when she felt a heart palpitation. Then her heart started racing uncontrollably. It is a condition called Supraventricular Tachycardia. It happened once before about a year ago and we thought that it was being controlled with medicine. This wasn't as scary as the first time it happened because we knew what it was and there was no mystery to it. I took her pulse and estimated it to be around 195. We found out later that it was actually 234! Her Blood Pressure also rose to a dangerous level. Being a two-hour sail from the nearest hospital, we dinghy’d in to Potters where Potter himself called Laura, the island's Nurse. By the time Potter drove us to the Clinic, Laura had already spoken with the Hospital in Road Town and made the decision to initiate an Medical Evacuation. The plane was on it's way! After a quick ride in a Cessna 402 converted for Air Ambulance and a very interesting ground Ambulance ride, we found ourselves in the Emergency Room at Peebles Hospital in Tortola. The good news was that my wife was being treated. We were comfortable in the Air Conditioning! The bad news was that our comfort level was about to change dramatically! Somewhere around mid-night a decision was made to admit Joan for the night. At first they were going to put her in a bed in the Women's Ward which would have meant splitting us up. We were in the middle of a traumatic event in a strange place and we really didn't want to be apart. The folks at Peebles found a solution and put her in a bed in the Surgical Ward on the Second Floor where I was allowed to sleep on a chair next to her bed. This was good news and we greatly appreciate their efforts to accommodate us! Now the bad news... There was no air conditioning in that part of the building! What followed was an extremely hot and uncomfortable night. Oh well, I guess it's better than the alternative! Joan's heart rate dropped to normal limits and her Blood Pressure was brought under control. The doctors decided that they we could continue with our vacation as long as we went home an got her treatment by the weekend. Now for the next challenge… We were in Road Town and our crew was on the boat in Anegada. They don't know how to sail, and the next Ferry to Anegada wasn't until the next day. Hmmm. Enter Norville Brathwaite, the Chief Pilot for VI Airlink who had flown us to Road Town the night before. The Brathwaite Family (extremely nice people!) own the business which is conducted with a Cessna 402. They also own a Cessna 172 and Norville was kind enough to solve a major problem for us by flying us back to Anegada. Norville, you were the hero of our vacation! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" /> A short plane ride later, we were back in Anegada reunited with our crew and the vacation was back in stride! And was it ever! Our crew had spent the day at Lil Bit doing laundry and drinking all day! Let's just say that at least one of then was "slightly" inebriated! We joined them at Lil Bit before waking over to Potters to make dinner reservations (thanks for the ride Potter! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />) and then we Dink'd back to the boat to relax. The evening culminated at Potters by the Sea where we wrote our names on the wall and ha a great evening. Best of all, WE FINALLY GOT OUR ANEGADA LOBSTER!!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/circle.gif" alt="" /> The Carrot Cake was fantastic as well. Don't miss it!

My plan for the day following Anegada had been to sail from to Jost Van Dyke. But having lost a day to our medial adventure, I was concerned about being able to sail from JVD to Road Town with enough time to clean and return the boat at the Moorings. Rather than forcing my crew to wake up early and rush things on the last day of vacation, we decided to change course and spend our final day at Marina Cay. That way we could take a leisurely sail back to Base in the morning. We had lunch on the boat where we hand-fed the seagulls who would at bread right out of our hands in mid air! We also saw a large Turtle and a pack of Reef Sharks. We spent the rest of the day on Marina Cay limin' on their beach. Even saw a Sting Ray there and I got some kitty love from a skinny but VERY affectionate island cat (made me miss my Skittles at home!). That evening we cooked ALL of the left-over food: Chicken, Burgers, Dogs, Pasta and Sauce and various Cheeses. It was a feast and a great final night together! We spent the late night hours on the bow where we reminisced about the trip and talked about wanting to do the next one!

The dreaded final morning began with a quick trip ashore to use the facilities followed buy some cleanup and packing operations. We cleared around the east side of Marina Cay and sailed for a while (Jib only) back towards Road Town. We were on a dead run and when our speed dropped below 4 knots I fired up the engines for the last time. I called the Moorings on VHF 12 by the Ferry Dock and waited off of A-Dock until one of the Moorings staff dinghy’d out to us and asked if he could drive. I always enjoy watching these guys work as they are masters of their craft. He squeezed Broad Reach Two into an opening near the Pool that I would have never attempted in a million years! We cleaned up the boat and waited for the Check-Out which progressed with no problems. We spend the remainder of the day in the pool and we watched the USA v. England Match in the World Cup at the bar next to the pool (Good show USA!!!). We also took the opportunity to board a 4600 and a 372 Power Cat. Both are very nice boats and are of great interest to us as we would definitely like a boat with air conditioning if we charter in June again.

Caesar drove us back to the Airport where our experience was uneventful. One note of interest is that after they called our flight, we were lead outside into the hot sun where we were forced to stand and wait for about 10 minutes. If you are concerned about such things, you would be better off staying inside until you see the people actually walking on the tarmac. We had been concerned about the time it would take to clear immigration and customs in San Juan but it was absolutely not an issue. It was a REALLY long walk from the American Eagle Gate where we arrived through to the Arrival Hall. Be prepared for this! We breezed through both desks and were waiting at the gate for our flight back to JFK.

Overall, a great time was had by all. I’ve been home for 5 days now and I already have DIF! Until the next time!!!...