ChicagoHans

Trip Report: May 11-19 aboard Shawna Raye with TMM

Trip report from our week spent sailing the BVI's. I enjoyed reading and learning from everyone's posts on this forum in the time leading up to my trip and I hope someone out there is able to take something away from my experiences as well. Thanks all! p.s. It's a long one, skip to the brief 'Lessons learned/ things to bring' at the end if pressed for time.

The Trip to End All Trips
May 11-19, 2012
Eight days in paradise aboard the Shawna Raye


Nine friends from Chicago, Philadelphia, Orlando, Miami, and New York converge on the British Virgin Islands for a week of sailing bliss. A mix of guys and gals aged 23 through 30, we had been planning this trip for many months and lost countless nights of sleep to excitement over our week aboard the Shawna Raye, a 2006 Nautitech 47 bareboat chartered through TMM out of Road Reef Marina in Tortola. For half of us it was our first time in the BVI's, for all of us it was our first time bareboating.

We all made our flights and connections and were at the ferry dock in Charlotte Amalie with all of our gear ready for the 2:30pm Friday ferry to Tortola. Without much surprise or care, the Road Town Fast Ferry was delayed island style so we didn't arrive in Tortola until just after 6pm. We had loaded up on booze back in St. Thomas and nearly emptied a bottle handing out welcome shots to all our fellow ferry-goers. Great start.

Quick taxi ride to the TMM docks and we walked aboard to an unlocked boat for our sleep aboard. Everything was clean and in order so we unloaded and started icing down the brews. Life is good. Be aware that this harbor is very well protected from the wind and while we didn't have any mosquito run-ins here, it was a hot, humid, and windless night. Shawna Raye has air conditioning but being a 2006 with many years of chartering under her belt, you can only imagine how well it worked. The TMM office closes at 5pm so the only people at the marina were our fellow charterers and a lone security guard. Safe enough. We did a couple trips to the large Rite Aid and bought more food, ice, and drink than seems reasonable. We were here and we were happy.

Saturday morning reared its beautiful head quickly and the marina was bustling with deckhands prepping boats and the TMM staff doing individual safety briefings. We received a briefing that was short on points of safety and long on stories from the past. With the clock ticking closer to castoff time it was difficult to enjoy small talk even when it was all in good nature. I had arranged a drop off of a double kayak and windsurfer from Last Stop Sports and both were delivered promptly at 10am Saturday mooring, highly recommend them.

TMM required that I have a check-out skipper accompany our boat for the first day considering that this was my first time bareboating. We were connected with Captain Gerry Matt who ran us through every system of the boat and helped take us out. After a few tacks, some practice anchoring and more questions we dropped Gerry off at Peter Island to take the 4:30 ferry back to Road Town. Great guy with lots of experience and a relaxed attitude, if you are looking for a skipper in Road Town you've found him, contact Gerry at genesisbvi.com. Now the boat was ours! Off to the Bight to start the party, Saturday night at Willie T's is a special place to be. The shot skis, naked cannon balls off the poop deck and body shots were all rolling quickly. $30 mooring fee for peace of mind and a great night we had.

Day 2 Sunday morning was an early one. We found that once the sun came up our energy levels spiked and we wanted set sail for the next adventure. In this case, we motored a short distance to the Indians where we were only the second boat of the morning. It was overcast so the colors of the rock were not exploding in our face but we all got in the water and enjoyed our first snorkel of the trip. Some more snorkeling and kayaking around the rocks and then we were off on another quick motor southwest to the Caves. Caught a mooring ball and dove in head first, there is a nice sandy bottom as you approach the rocks which led us to the most northerly and largest of the caves. The bait fish and colorful rock gave way to pure darkness as we swam deeper into the cave. Soon it was too shallow to swim so we waddled even deeper with our fins on. Standing in the back of the pitch black cave and staring out towards the sun creeping in is quite a vista, and quite a picture, bring your camera on this excursion. Back at the mooring ball we had a Lagoon 620 pull up next to us. What a boat! Three levels, thirty foot plus beam with every inch more exquisite than the last. I will admit part of me was happy to see it go as I was getting a bit of boat envy with that behemoth of luxury casting a shadow over our otherwise impressive vessel.

After some swan dives off the boat and a few fruitless attempts at getting up on the windsurf we untied and cast off into the wind for a northeasterly sail along the Sir Francis Drake Channel. We didn't have a particular destination in mind, we were just happy to have full sails up in 15 knots of variable wind. Beating past Peter Island, then Salt and Cooper Islands I began to realize just what kind of ground we could cover on the Shawna Raye. The beer was ice cold, the blender was stirring, and the music blaring, we were all happy in paradise. My only goal for the day was to cover enough ground so that we would be setup for a quick jaunt over to the Baths the following morning. Soon enough we were rounding Beef Island with Marina Cay in our sights. We cleared the reef around its north side and settled on a mooring ball for the evening. The reef at Marina Cay is large and alive. While a bit too shallow to snorkel, zooming around on the kayak proved to be a great ride. We spotted a turtle and sting rays along with some very large Elkhorn coral that had grown to within inches of the surface. Keep a watchful eye, you don't want to whack it with a paddle accidentally. The Pussers store on Marina Cay is laid out beautifully with all kinds of mugs, stickers, and expensive clothing. They also have some basic provisions, even eggs! Although I must say the best thing about the store is their powerful AC system. Plan on leaving your wallet on the boat and browse the store for fifteen minutes. You'll leave without having bought any unnecessary knick knacks while feeling cool and refreshed. The restaurant/bar is nice, we had a full weeks of food aboard so we had a few bushwackers (one of the best in the BVIs, I say) and headed back to the boat. Note: They have free Wi-Fi here.

Day 3 I had planned for an early morning race to the Baths but the rest of the boat thought otherwise. We motor-sailed due east to the Baths arriving around 10:45am to find every mooring ball taken. No real surprise there given the time so we did a couple loser laps of the mooring field and then headed just north of the Baths to Little Trunk Bay where we anchored and then took the dingy back south. Note: There is a large rock that comes up to within a few feet of the surface near Little Trunk Bay. It is charted and clearly visible once you are close but beware, you won't expect it where it is. The nine of us made it ashore and hiked/crawled/climbed though the menagerie of boulders that is the Baths, making it just past Devils Bay before turning back. I had been to the top of the Baths once before and don't think it particularly memorable so we didn't follow the trail that way, we just swam a bit in Devils Bay and then doubled back to the dingy.
Back on the boat our next and long awaited stop was Saba Rock in the North Sound. We'd been watching their regular pictured updates on facebook for some time now and were excited to make it for happy hour which started at four. Naturally we found inconsistent wind while hugging Virgin Gorda to windward so our progress wasn't great. We made it around Mosquito Island and into the North Sound right around 4:30. Thirty minutes of happy hour burned, we raced for a mooring and then to the dingy for the short hop to Saba Rock! Dressed in our pirate best, we explored the island surrounded with hammocks and birds, even a couple pet toucans. After a quick stop at the boat the night continued at the Bitter End Yacht Club where the music was banging and people were dancing, chowing, shooting pool, and having a great time. The party continued back at the boat with a late night swim off the stern in water we illuminated with our 24" LED SuperBrites from Alumiglo. We brought a pair of them, each putting out 2400 lumens through a combined 960 LED's. I'll say we made the most of happy hour and had a great night, thanks Saba we'll be back! Highly recommended the underwater lights for your trip, more info at fishinglightsetc.com

Day 4 The much awaited 13.2 nautical mile beam reach to Anegada. This was our time to shine and wow did we find the wind. A consistent 18 knots with a 005 heading brought us right up to the channel markers at Setting Point. We followed them in at idle forward keeping watchful eye of the shallows and set the hook in 8 feet of thick mud and sand bottom. We were there! The color of the water surrounding this island is nothing words or even a camera lens can properly capture. The truest aqua blue I've ever dreamed of, all around you! For all the fuss about sailing to Anegada, we BVI bareboat newbies had no problems whatsoever and enjoyed the sail. Once things get dangerously shallow the path is well marked and you'd have to be a horses [censored] to drift out of the channel.

We quickly went ashore and rented a pickup truck (commonly referred to as 'Jeeps' in the islands) for $75 for the day. We followed the road (a mix of dirt roads and other roads made of sidewalk cement) to Loblolly Bay and spent a couple hours exploring. After some snorkeling (sadly there wasn't much more than rock with grass on the inner reef), a few drinks, and a little play time with the pet goats at Big Bamboo restaurant, we were onto Cow Wreck. Note: if you do stop by Loblolly give Atlantic a good head scratch for us, he is named after the ocean in which he drifted in from and loves new friends. It was a long drive to Cow Wreck past the salt ponds with the missing flamingos (only saw two in the far distance) but when we got there we were treated with yet another white crystal sand beach with turquoise water and cresting waves breaking in the distance. You can shoot hoops, play some slanted-table pool, or even that hook on a string game at Cow Wreck Beach Bar. It looks like it could be a hell of a party but on this day it was just a few people like us who were a little burned up and in need of more ice water than painkiller.

Soon we were returning back to the boat where we found out we could buy live lobster for $8/lb. from the fishermen when they return from checking the traps in the afternoon. Sadly, we had just missed them and all the lobster was already on the restaurants grill for the $50 a head lobster dinner. Regardless, we made our own amazing meal, what it was I don't remember and I don't want this trip report to turn into a play by play of my feeding habits. All I know is that I never went hungry and was well fed throughout the trip, thanks girls! Next time elusive Anegada lobster, well get you next time. Bottom line: make sure you put Anegada on your route, the distance isn't too far and the wind really blows so you'll be there before you know it. The reef surrounding the island is so large and shallow that the color of the water is something you won't see anywhere else in the BVI. Do it for the photo-op if nothing else!
Day 5 Out of Anegada we were heading for the Dogs to catch a National Parks mooring ball and do some snorkeling then swing around the north side of Great Camanoe to anchor up for the night in a quiet cove on the east side of the island. All was going according to plan until we spotted a weather system to windward in the Atlantic. It didn't look too nasty but as it approached I knew we wouldn't be snorkeling the Dogs that day. We kept our course for the Dogs as we watched the wind speed rise. 15 to 20, spiking to 25 and then the real squall line hit and we peaked at 33 knots. The jib had been furled in anticipation and we had decided that if the winds were sustained higher than 30 knots then all sails would come down. Happily the wind stayed high but not dangerously so and we pushed the boat up 10.2 knots to the sounds of cheering and hollering while getting pelted in the rainstorm. The girls got a chance to wear their foul weather gear and the guys all got a bit of a thrill from the power of the wind in our sails. In the midst of it all, one of the weary even got a little radio happy and decided he urgently needed to hear the weather forecast, probably hoping that it would say an unseasonable tropical storm was rolling in and all sailors should return to port. To his chagrin, all we heard on channel six was a sandwich order for a boat over in Leverick Bay. An afternoon squall is never cause for concern in the islands and so all but one of us enjoyed a good laugh.

With all of the rain and clouds we decided to skip the Dogs and head straight for Great Camanoe. Changing course we were now enjoying a broad reach and for the first time I could demonstrate the dangers of an accidental jibe. We made it to the cove we were looking for, threw the hook and went ashore. There was a small rocky beach surrounded by cliffs and because the sun was not out, we weren't able to enjoy all of the colors that I'm sure would have otherwise been blinding us with their brilliance. As it was still early enough in the day, we decided to lift anchor and head around Monkey Point to White Bay on Guana Island. Even though it was raining off and on and there wasn't a glimmer of sunlight we spotted the striking arc of sandy beach at White Bay and knew we had found something special.

Day 6 We awoke to the striking colors of jagged orange and green rock protruding from turquoise fish-and-coral filled waters. It didn't require more than a swan dive off the bow to surround yourself with the best snorkeling of the trip, in my humble opinion. We flopped around Monkey Point for a few hours taking in the underwater vistas and were soon raising sail for a run due west to Jost Van Dyke. The route to Jost included a stopover in Cane Garden Bay on the northwest side of Tortola for a maintenance call on our water system which only burned 45 minutes or so and gave us a chance to stock up on ice and beer. As a point of reference, 45 minutes is all you need in Cane Garden Bay, checking that one off the list indefinitely.

We made good time overall and were soon anchored just of the shoal better known as Sandy Spit. Draw up an image of fifty palm trees surrounded on all sides by a ring of white sand and you have just painted a portrait of Sandy Spit. I raced ashore with my kitesurfing gear and had everything rigged up to ride in about fifteen minutes. There were several other kiters out that day and even more taking lessons on the beach. It was a great to see other kiters considering that I am a novice at best and hadn't had my kite in the air for nearly a year. Suffice it to say, fifteen minutes was not an adequate amount of time to properly rig my kite after so much time away. I rushed it and somewhere along the way crossed the lines. I got a launch on the beach and was immediately dragged out into the water with no control as the lines quickly wrapped around themselves, disabling all control of the kite. I spent the next twenty minutes or so dragging across the channel while trying to untangle the lines to no avail. Eventually Thomas and Cyril brought the dingy around to rescue me from the deep channel and return to the boat. My ego now in check, I packed up the kite and decided today was not my day. Turns out that while I was getting dragged off into the horizon our anchor had broken free and the boat went adrift. Luckily there was little current and Ryan was quick on the helm to remedy the situation. It seems that you must anchor very close to the beach at Sandy Spit as there is an underwater cliff that drops from 12 feet of beautiful sandy bottom to 90 feet of ocean deep in a span maybe thirty yards. With Ryan red-faced with anger and stress we sailed away to our next stop, Sandy Cay.

Sandy Cay is much like Sandy Spit in its description, although it is a bit bigger, doesn't have sand all around and the center of the island is more like a jungle. It was donated to the National Parks Trust in 2008 by the Rockefeller family and is open for all to enjoy. Inside the jungle-like brush of the island is a mix of mangroves, palms, birds of every color, hermit crabs galore, and many creatures I could hear but not see. There is a trail that circles the inside of the island that I highly recommend. At this point the crew had showered (who showers?) and was getting antsy for our final destination of the day, the famed Soggy Dollar Bar at White Bay, Jost Van Dyke. I will admit that this was something I was even more excited about than Saba Rock or Anegada. Soggy Dollar has a webcam on their website that shows the view from the bar out to the bay and updates every minute, all day, every day. When you're sitting at your desk in Chicago watching, this webcam update can become awfully addicting. It was nearly time to eschew the webcam and see the beauty through our own eyes. Passing Great Harbor to starboard and taking in the view of all the yachts in the impossibly clear water of White Bay really got our juices flowing. We entered through the westerly channel markers and threw the hook in ten feet of water directly in front of the Soggy Dollar. Hello Webcam! Your turn to watch us! With all of the excitement over White Bay brewing we decided tonight would be perfect for our long-planned White Party. We threw on our best Diddy, Tupac and any other old school rap we had, donned our whitest and brightest, popped the bubbly and the party was on. Soon we were taxiing up and over Dog Hole Point on the way to Foxy's for a night of dancing and a frivolous attempt at outspending the entire bar. No one clearly remembers how it all ended but it sure was fun.

Day 7 Having had such an amazing time the night before and waking up to blue skies over clear water made it an easy decision to stay at White Bay another night. Of all our stops this was the first unanimous decisions to go for the repeat. We were down to our last 24 hours on the Shawna Raye and with a solid anchor and more booze than any one boat could drink in a day it was time to take off the Captains hat and let the ilon vibe dictate over all. The day was spent floating around, making new friends over painkillers at Soggy Dollar, and emptying bottles of rum on the beach with other charterers. Cyril and I even got some Schweizer time in when we met a group of Swiss on the beach. It was an all-day kayak party, float party, liquor stash smashing party, and it was exactly what we needed for our last day in the ilons, mon.

Day 8 The boat was due back to her masters at noon Saturday. The trek from White Bay to Road Harbor is a bit farther than we could comfortably sail her and still make the noon deadline so it was full motor ahead at 2200 rpm giving us a comfortable boat speed of six knots. I'd like to finish this by writing that the ride back to Road Town was an uneventful hop and a skip though the last of our BVI route. I'd like to do a lot of things. I never went into the pros and cons of sailing a six year old boat with many miles on her hull, mostly because I didn't want to stain the reputation of a boat that we truly loved and of an organization like TMM that was always pleasant to us and prompt with any queries.

With that being said we encountered a serious situation on our route back that could have been avoided with a simple warning at the initial briefing. The Shawna Raye has two fuel tanks, port and starboard, each with its own gauge. In the initial systems check I noticed that the starboard tank read full while the port tank was empty. After raising a concern I was assured that it was simply a faulty gauge and the port tank was full. As we left White Bay for our return to Road Town the gauge read 1/4, easily enough to complete the nine nautical mile journey. We were motoring through the narrow Thatch Island Cut and approaching Frenchmans Cay on our port side when the port engine started sputtering, and then cut out completely. We cranked it back to life but it soon died again. Shortly afterwards the starboard engine was following suit. Engines off, sails up and an immediate call to TMM base to notify them that we will be coming into Road Town under sail power. They were responsive and told us to hold our course and they would send a chase boat once we were closer to Road Town. I would have appreciated a chase boat bringing us some extra fuel but that's in the past at this point.

We sailed all the way to the first channel markets of Road Town and luckily there was little traffic, if any. Sails down and we cranked up the starboard engine knowing that it had just an inkling of juice left from the way it had cut out earlier. Our destination was the Delta Petroleum dock on the east side of the harbor. With the chase boat from TMM trailing us we slowly maneuvered in that direction with all fenders out and the secondary anchor ready to go. The prudent move when you are without engine power and at risk of collision is to drop anchor and signal to nearby boaters that you are in distress. Of course, the main anchor and the only one we had used all trip requires engine power for the windlass to release it so we were left with the smaller secondary anchor as a last line of defense. The boat was 200 yards away from the fuel dock cruising at four knots when the starboard engine finally gave out and would not crank back to life. The chase boat gave us one last push and we just barely got close enough to throw the dock hand our lines, engineless and lifeless in the water. We tied off to the dock and it was crises averted, high fives all around. It took a team of three technicians from TMM to get the engines back up and running after topping off the fuel, then a short hike across the harbor to the Road Reef Marina and off the Shawna Raye after a week of adventure and memories that will never fade. Such a fantastic journey through the islands with an amazing group of friends, I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Hats off to everyone, it was quite a ride, mon!
-Hans
Chicago, IL
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Trip Statistics

Max wind speed: 33 knots
Max boat speed: 10.2 knots
Distance traveled: 76 nautical miles (87 miles)
Bottles of liquor consumed: 25+ mostly rum, mon
Beer consumed: 15 cases (350+)
Future Yacht Name: Structural Damage
Future Dingy Name: Nutmeg 3000

Lessons learned/ things to bring:

(a) Bring a set of lightweight, sun proof, and breathable clothing that covers every part of the body. I recommend PFG gear from Columbia. There will be times several days into the trip when you are tired of lathering up in suntan lotion and you want/need to be out in sun but your skin can't take it. Only solution is to cover up head to toe. A nice wide brimmed hat is invaluable as well. You will be sunburned on this trip; the key is to keep it manageable.
(b) Double kayak rental is mandatory; it's so useful especially when you have a lot of people aboard. The flexibility gained from having a kayak and a dingy is immeasurable.
(c) Windsurfer is unnecessary unless you are very serious about it. It was too much of a hassle to find adequate wind at the anchorages and we never went about searching for wind with the entire boat.
(d) Water management, water management, water management. Keep an eye on the gauges; abruptly running dry is no fun.
(e) Benadryl. I tell my crew to bring whatever pills/medicine they need to think straight. Unfailingly someone will get too much sun, bug bites or whatever, and get a little swollen. Benadryl is the answer and it is usually not in the first aid kit. Bring it.
(f) Medium size mesh bag with drawstring: you can fill it up with dirty dishes, take it to the transom and shake it in the water. You'll be feeding the fish, saving freshwater, and saving time. All in one!
(g) Bring suntan lotion from home even if it means you have to pay to check a bag. The selection in the islands is terrible even at the big stores and when you do find what you want the price of one bottle of lotion is nearly what the checked baggage would have cost. Seriously, one little skinny tube of SPF 45 for $17.95...if you can find it, most of the smaller shops will only carry the baby bottles of 'special' face lotion or some sort of SPF 4 lip balm. Good luck.
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