This may be a bit long - I hope I don't bore too many people!<br><br>May 1st<br>5pm Crew arrive in Bracknell from Sheffield (4 hour drive)<br>Captain – me (50-ish)<br>My Sister, Wendy (also 50-ish)<br>Her son, Joly (20s)<br>His friend, Dave (also 20s)<br>I’ve done a lot of dinghy sailing, some cruiser sailing (RYA Day Skipper) and a couple of previous flotillas in the Med (about 12 years ago) with Wendy and Joly (those flotillas are all the sailing they’ve done). Dave has some dinghy sailing experience. So we’re all fairly raw.<br>Try to sleep – lads get all of a couple of hours after watching Jackass on MTV<br><br>May 2nd<br>Up at 5:45am. Drive to London Gatwick – check in unbelievably quick – where is everyone? Security checks seem more rigorous than usual. Air 2000 flight leaves on time and arrives at St Thomas a few minutes early. Food adequate but not inspiring. Some problems getting a (pre-ordered) veggie meal for Wendy but they promise they’ll fix it on the way back. Queue for customs at STT – while I’m being checked the customs man wanders off apparently to disinfect someone’s shoes – I’m left standing like a lemon and he seems surprised I’m still there when he comes back. Manage to grab a quick ciggie before being taxied to the ferry terminal.<br><br>We expected a few hours hanging around in St Thomas but, no, the ferry leaves immediately. Journey to Maya Cove takes less than an hour – so we arrive at 16:30pm instead of the scheduled 20:00pm – bonus! Clear BVI customs at Maya Cove. I think this is a special for Sunsail customers.<br><br>Boat (an Oceanis 331) seems fine – I’m a bit worried about sailing it (cruisers always seem huge to someone used to dinghies!) but I’m sure all will be fine. Pre-ordered stores already on the boat and appropriate things already packed into the fridge. Seems like everything is there. Do a bit of unpacking and organizing.<br><br>Eat at Fat Hog Bob’s – food good but not exceptional. Lover Boys manage to make every song sound the same – a samba version of “I shot the sheriff” is almost unrecognizable.<br><br>Retire to bed at 22:30, totally knackered.<br><br>May 3rd<br>Awake at 03:30 – time differences cause sleeplessness. It was hot but not too many bugs. Laze around until about 6ish and find out how the stove works to brew up some coffee. Find windscoops – should have fixed them up last night!<br><br>Chart Briefing at 8:00am - loads of people – 16 boats on the flotilla – about 60 people in all. One week and two week flotillas combined. I seem to be allergic to the sunscreen I’ve brought: eyes watering, nose snotty, difficult to concentrate on the information we’re being told. Back to the boat feeling crap. After lots of nose blowing and eye wiping I start feeling human again.<br><br>Boat Briefing is thorough and patient – not sure I understand all the intricacies of the pump out but we’ll worry about that when it starts smelling! (Actually it was so simple I thought there had to be more to it!)<br><br>Eventually set off about 11:30am – all goes smoothly out of Maya Cove – I manage to avoid the reef and we set a course for Machioneel Bay. Hoist the mainsail and we have the first casualty – my cap flies off while I make sure it doesn’t jam – now does not seem like a good time to practice Man Overboard drill!<br><br>Hey – we’re sailing! Do a bit of reaching, close hauled, tacking – crew soon learns – teach them to heave to in case I fall overboard. Beat up to Machioneel Bay, drop sails, practice picking up a mooring buoy – I’ve never had to do it in anger and I’d rather make an idiot of myself while nobody is watching. All goes okay. Quick swim and head off to Marina Cay for the welcome punch party.<br><br>Philmore (the lead boat captain) makes a mean painkiller – everyone seems friendly. Get back to boat about 21:00 and collapse onto bunk – somehow dinner didn’t seem necessary…..<br><br>May 4th<br>Wake about 5:00 - lads slept in the cockpit – spectacular sunrise. Laze around for several hours. Raise the mainsail “on the ball” and make sure I know how the reefing works – very simple: just make the reefing line tight and pull up the halyard! We set off from Marina Cay for Gorda Sound. Boat seems better balanced with one reef so I leave it in – may not be quite as fast but, hell, we’re on holiday!<br><br>Get a bit worried trying to identify the various Dogs but found Colquhoun Channel okay. Turn right and anchor at Drakes Anchorage for some lunch, limin’, swim and snorkel. Dave gets stung by a jellyfish but it isn’t serious. Lads also see a ray .<br><br>Just as we are about to set off for Biras Creek we hear one of the other flotilla trying to find out how to get into the Sound – they’re lost. Exchanging GPS coordinates with the lead boat doesn’t seem to help. Lead boat offers to send a dinghy out to the entrance to the Sound to guide them in – in the meantime they suggest they should motor in circles. In the distance, we see a boat motoring in circles south of Necker – so we talk them in. It just goes to show all this technology isn’t as good as chart and eyeball!<br><br>Motor over to Biras Creek for a group meal at the Fat Virgin Café. Once again food is adequate but not spectacular. Fat Virgin closes at 21:30. Various attempts to raise other establishments for a late night drinking session are unsuccessful. Sunday night in BVI is drier than England!<br><br>May 5th<br>Wake up early again (05:00) – short rain shower – enough to wake everyone. Briefing at 08:30. Sail off to the Baths but find all the moorings are taken and several boats are waiting for empties so we poodle up to our proposed overnight stop at Spanish Town marina. Despite high tension in the skipper we manage to dock without trouble – finger piers look a bit solid but guidance from the lead boat crew is clear and helpful – no problems.<br><br>Go to The Rock Café for dinner. Food good but on the expensive side. Large Margaritas are big enough to swim in! Piano player seems good but a bit restrained – playing to his audience (‘60s and ‘70s stuff). Got better when he let loose on Mustang Vickie (the flotilla birthday girl). Wendy and I give in about 23:00 but the lads stay on. Joly does a turn on the piano which everyone enjoys and a duet with the resident player. Sometimes I wish I still had the resilience of 24 year olds!<br><br>May 6th<br>Wake up about 06:00 to bump – bump and discover all the fenders resting on top of the pier – bit of a mystery but peace is soon restored. Lads a little fragile this morning but we set off about 09:00 and sail off to Sandy Cay. I decide to go around the top of everything when I see several showers heading for Marina Cay – we manage to miss all of them but something goes wrong as we try to goosewing and the jib ends up in a mess (wineglass) – first time that has happened to me and I’m not sure what to do. Drop the main and motor in circles to clear it – that works!<br><br>Good lunchtime stop at Sandy Cay – then on to White Bay JVD where we mess about rafting up 16 boats for a beach BBQ.<br><br>Excellent BBQ prepared by Lead Boat crew (thanks, Betsy). Wendy gets the best veggie food of the holiday – everywhere will do something but it nearly always seems to end up as salad, broccoli and carrots and fries – okay once or twice but it can get boring.<br><br>Evening spent in Ivan’s Stress Free bar (except there was staff and paying cash for drinks). Does that make it Ivan’s Stressed Bar? Music provided by the Local Flavor, International, ever changing, All Star Band – at last musicians playing for the fun of it not what they think people want to hear – the difference is dramatic. Bed around midnight – as usual, the lads play on….<br><br>May 7th<br>Wake up about 06:30 – Joly is still up and is a bit manic. He decides to wash the cockpit with the deck shower. I suggest he’ll do better with the bucket and go to brew coffee. When I return I find him filling the bucket from the deck shower – I should have been more explicit! He soon gets the idea though once I explain about limited fresh water and lots of the salty stuff.<br><br>At the briefing, we are advised that there will be a race today – signals at 10 minutes and Go – we make a perfect run to the line (well 30 seconds late!) only to be told we’re 5 minutes early – apparently the delay was advised on the radio but the cockpit VHF repeater doesn’t work on our boat so we missed it. Second start is a bit chaotic but we’re about 4th across the line. Course takes us roughly upwind, around the eastern end of Little Thatch and downwind to a finish in Leinster Bay.<br><br>Joly falls asleep (it must be the decaff coffee I made him!). I decide to do the minimum possible number of tacks and, somehow, we cross the line second a couple of minutes behind the leader. For the smallest boat in the flotilla this isn’t bad and once the handicap has been applied (1 minute per foot) I think we might even have won.<br><br>Lunch in Leinster Bay – turtles are impressive. Joly discovers that he lost his wallet during his all-nighter so we search the boat looking for it. Motor/sail up to Norman Island for a group meal at Pirates. Food excellent – bar staff work hard and have a lot of fun – they’re easy on the eyes too. Excellent food. – no regrets at missing out on the Willy T – next time maybe.<br><br>May 8th<br>Wake up slow…..<br>Free sailing day. Plan was to snorkel the caves, pop into Sopers Hole for provisions, stop off and Sandy Spit and end up back at White Bay to see if anyone had found Joy’s wallet. We managed 2/ and 4/ so 50% isn’t bad.<br><br>Did my first ever boat BBQ – okay but ran out of puff just before completing last veggie burger – more charcoal next time! Lads take the dingy to check out whether Joly’s wallet has turned up anywhere – hence stuck on boat and early night – not a hardship!<br><br>May 9th<br>Another free sailing day - stay in White Bay – Joly walks over to Great Harbour to report his lost wallet and discovers that someone has already used his cards to empty his account – not good. Police helpful but ask him to call in at Road Town before he leaves to sort paperwork.<br><br>Lads go off to concert by Burning Spear at Foxy’s in the evening. Wendy and I sit on the back of the boat discussing life, the universe and everything and watching all sorts of boats appearing – presumably people going to the concert. HM Customs BVI also appear and check out several boats – lots of worried looking people.<br><br>May 10th<br>Sailed up to Sandy Spit – what a spot! Last night’s concert was (reportedly) great – Joly overhears “Look at de white boy move!” and is convinced this is a ringing endorsement of his dancing skills!<br><br>Sail back to Sopers Hole to meet new one week flotilla boats at Punch Party. Dock Hand seems to think everything about our boat is “totally wrong” – but so what! Good meal at Pussers.<br><br>May 11th<br>At the briefing we discover another race is scheduled for today. Start line near Frenchman’s Cay, around Little Thatch and finish at Little Harbour. Make a good (downwind) start but bigger boats overhaul us – probably not too bad on handicap because we’re still all fairly close at the finish.<br><br>Group Meal at Sidney’s Peace and Love. Food very average – get hauled back out of bed because they want paying that night – no settling up in the morning!<br><br>May 12th<br>Easy sail to CGB – snorkel with turtles. Joly heads over to Roadtown to sort paperwork with police. Eat at Big Banana Paradise Club. Good food – excellent musician playing blues and reggae.<br><br>May 13th <br>Early start (about 05:30). Motor to the Baths and get there before the crowds. Bracing sail back up to Gorda Sound. Fill with water at Saba Rock – they didn’t seem to want paying for it – moor up at Biras Creek and dingy over to BEYC for supplies. Miss the briefing for the sail to Anegada – didn’t even know it was on but the lads were in the bar and heard most of it.<br><br>BBQ in a stronger wind wasn’t a great success – more charcoal next time!<br><br>May 14th<br>Sail to Anegada. From Gorda Sound to anchored at Anegada in less than 2.5 hours – good sail – though I’m not certain I would have found the buoy without following the other boats. Lots of boats around – about 20 apart from the flotilla. Laze around in the afternoon apart from a Gibsea 51 that ran aground about 20 feet away from us – we moved away while they tried everything to get it off – eventually the rising tide did the job for them.<br><br>Dinner at Potters-by-the-sea. Good ribs even if the service was a little eccentric.<br><br>May 15th<br>Leave Anegada for Maya Cove – stopping off for snorkeling at George Dog. Just outside Maya Cove a ray jumps out of the water about 20’ off the bow and waves goodbye to us.<br><br>Prize-giving Dinner at East Harbour View. It turns out we won the first race and third in the second. Also get a prize for fastest small boat.<br><br>Later, go to Bomba’s Full Moon Party. Much smaller than I had expected – more tourists and fewer locals but atmosphere good and very friendly. Manic taxi ride back about 3am.<br><br>May 16th<br>Up at 06:00 to pack and empty boat. Ferry leaves promptly at 9am. Check in at airport. Several hours to kill at Emerald Beach Resort – there are worse places to wait for a plane!<br><br>Plane leaves a bit late – first stop Antigua. Airport is heaving and there’s nowhere to have a smoke – oh well, only another 10 hours to Gatwick…..<br><br>Of course nobody knows anything about a veggie meal for Wendy. Air 2000 staff look smart, work hard but show very little initiative to care for passengers.<br><br>May 17th<br>Arrive at Gatwick at 08:00 – back in Bracknell by 10:00. Crew set off for Sheffield a couple of hours later.<br><br>Overall a wonderful holiday. The flotilla gives you a lot of freedom and as much support as you need. It is also good to know you’ll often meet up with some of the same people. Would I do it again? – certainly – and so would the crew! And I would recommend the Sunsail flotilla to anyone who feels they might like a little additional support – or even just a little more sociability. Lead boat crew (Philmore, Betsy and Craig) were excellent.<br><br>Regrets? We didn’t get our act together to go diving – I guess we’ll just have to go back next year…..<br>