My crew of newbies, now addicted to sailing in the BVI, all flew into STT on US Air. We started our flight by sitting on the run-way at Philly for a hour. No problem as I reserved our fast ferry for 4:15. By the time we got to the ferry dock, the fast ferry was the only option, so reserving paid off. The scheduled time for the FF is 4:15, but when we arrived the sign said 5pm. No problem, we are in paradise! The ferry ride ended up not being so fast as halfway to tortola we lost engine power. The ferry appeared dead in the water. Along with the engine issue was no AC on the lower deck while the upper deck was 56 degrees and freezing. So cold you could see your breathe. Well it appeared that they got one of the engines going and we limped to Tortola. I was happy it happened more then halfway to Tortola as I am sure no one wanted to have to return to St Thomas. Once we got to the ferry dock, the other company boat had to push us into the dock with a group of on-lookers watching from shore. Just as we are docking the rains cames---just great!
We made it thru customs in a timely manner, by now it was dark out. Our meats in the freezer bag were still frozen solid and I paid the duty on it, without any issue. Next we were met by our taxi driver who quickly took us to the Conch Charter docks. Our boat "Mama Cocha" the Lagoon 410 was waiting for us with the lights on and the AC running! By now we were starving, so we threw our luggage on the boat and headed to the Pub! Everyone loved it there and the girls really loved the BBC drink! Now tired and full from a great meal, we unpacked and got some sleep.
Monday morning we woke up to the great caribbean sun reminding us why we were all here! Irene from Conch met up with my wife and I and settled last minute items and sat down with the map to review the itinery. Her time and information was very appreciated. Next Ross met up with us on the boat to complete the check out! All went well and the few items we asked to be looked at were addressed right away. The most interesting of which was the foul smell coming from the port side. It smelled like someone was sick the last night on the previous charter and didn't quite make the head. With in 15 minutes a guy was at the boat with an expensive bottle of bilge cleaner. As he opened up the bilge, there sat practically a case of Budlight and 2 cans of Ginger beer. I wish I could thank the previous charter group for leaving a case of beer for us, but saltwater does a number to aluminum cans very quickly, and the smell from the ginger beer was the source of the foul smell. So make a note: do not store anything in the bilge! It made no sense because the Lagoon 410 had plenty of storage areas! The bilge man did a great job cleaning up and left a lemon/orange smell that lasted the entire trip.
Once we had all our deliveries, Bobby's, Caribbean Cellar, and Last Stop Sports, we were ready to leave and headed right to Cooper Island!
At Cooper we picked up a mooring, some of the crew snorkeled, dived, and hit the happy hour!
Day 2; We sailed to the Baths to find no mooring balls. I sent the crew in on the dinghy and waited it out for one to open. My crew was loved the spot and spent plenty of time enjoying the rocks. That afternoon we motored up to Bitter End to meet up with our friends on The Big Chill, a Lagoon 500. We spent some time dancing at the BEYC before retiring for the night.
Day 3; Big sail up to Anegada! Great sail and made it up to spend the day at Loblolly Bay. Decided not to rent a truck, but rather just cab it over. Also decided to leave the dive gear on the boat, which ended up being a wise decision as the currents were strong and visibility stank out on the reef.
Day 4: Sailing down to Monkey Point then onto Trellis Bay. Crew loved Monkey Point so much we decided to hit it the next morning. We walked around Trellis Bay and of course the girls shopped. That night we had dinner at The Last resort. This was always a favorite spot, but was not impressed this time considering the cost. I am not saying it was bad, but just feel it is time to explore other options.
Day 5: Finally we needed to take on water and refuel the generator. Of the 188 gallons of water, we needed 140! Not bad for newbies! Our crew was awesome as this was the only stop for fuel and water the whole trip. I really liked having two seperate water tanks and being able to switch. The gen. tank was a 32 gallon tank an required 20 gallons refilled. I estimated we burned 5 gallons a night at a rate of 1/2 gallon an hour. What can I say, we liked our AC! The fueling dock was a bit busy this morning at Marina Cay. I and another boat called ahead to establish our turns on the dock only to have someone park his butt right behind the boat already there. I guess I missed the memo! So we got off the dock a bit later then I had hoped and went to Monkey Point, still a crew favorite, then sailed downwind to Great Harbour YVD. Picked up the 2nd to last mooring ball just in time. We talked with Foxy, and walked the beach front area. The sand fleas and mosquitos won the fight and we headed back to the boat.
Day 6: Woke up to some heavy storms and decided to skip White Bay and headed to Cane Garden Bay. Another crew favorite was walking around, visiting the glass blowing shop, touring the Rum Distillery, and lunch at Bananakeet overlooking the beach. The Chicken Roti was great! We headed out and motored to Sopers Hole, a favorite of mine. By this point in the week the weather was starting to shift and more rain and cloud cover was occuring. We missed a few good sunsets because of the clouds. Of our crew, all but one couple was married. So this evening our unmarried crew members got engaged! Can't find a better place then the BVI to propose!
Day 7; Headed back over to White Bay a little later in the day then I hoped and the anchoring field was packed and the mooring balls were all taken. I was not a happy camper, so I sent the crew in again on the Dinghy and waited for a ball. of course three open at once so we got our spot for the night too! This is my second time spending a night at white bay, and the second time I didn't care for it. This time it was being woken to 30+ MPH winds howling thru the gear as the tropical high passed over us at 6 in the morning. That was a bit nerving wondering how long that was going to last.
Day 8: Good morning, or not! Once it stopped raining we headed past Steel point and in route to Nanny Cay. The intial idea was to go to the Indians, but the 6 foot swells and 20 mph winds changed the plans. We docked in Nanny, which was a relief from the beating we took getting there. After spending some time shopping we headed for the last night at Peter Island. This is always one of my favorite quite spots. Having full tanks of O2 left, we decided to play around and dive the spot. What a great time we had. It was truly a wow moment following a sea turtle that decided to drop off a wall that I didn't know was there. We went from 20' to 50' and saw a wall of busy fish and coral. We found an old anchor and enjoyed our last dive. One thing I noticed this trip was the lack of big fish. No baracudas under the boat and very few tarpoon. Our crew got packed for the early departure the next morning and polished off some drinks.
Day 9: Choppy waters made for a rough motoring from Peter Island to Roadtown. Once there the check out with Conch was super easy and off to the ferry dock we went. The ferry ride was less eventful then the one coming over. The only issue was our flights got delayed and we didn't hit our own bed till 3:30 a.m.
As I look back, and thinking I was not going to write a book for the trip report, I left so many details that made this trip great. We were blessed by a great crew who all got along, worked well together, and had a blast. We had a great boat that was in great shape for it's age. We had a great experience with Conch Charters and was very pleased with their customer service and responsiveness to address any issues, which were very few! I would definitily recommend them and will charter with them again.
I want to thank all the TTOL members for their recommendations and wisdom. It is always great to read other people's experiences for new ideas. We plan to be down again in two years. The next time, we will skip Anegada and head to St John's for 2 nights. Maybe our crew will even tie the knot there!
Happy Sailing!