Trip report Jan 29 Feb 7
First, thanks to all who post on this forum, the information is always very helpful and allows us to have a much better trip than we could do on our own.
This trip was just the two of us (wife and me) and was our third bareboat charter. The two previous charters were also in the BVI, both with the Moorings in Road Town also on monohulls. We really liked using the Moorings in the past for our charters, but this time we decided to try something different for a few reasons – 1 all the posts regarding ferry problems and, 2- very high quoted costs from Moorings/Sunsail and even Footloose on a small mono for two people and 3- easy to get to SST and lower cost and less timecompared to having to get to Road Town as we had done in past.
So, we rolled the dice and decided to go with Island Yachts in Red Hood St Thomas, on a 37 ft island packet. We also decided to provision ourselves, something also new to us, we had the Moorings provision boats for us in the past and were always satisfied. We did this because the provisioning company in St Thomas did not provide a very “detailed” list to select from, and we just were not sure what we would get---
Day 1 - Early depart from home, at about 4:30 am - way too early to be doing anything (unless you are leaving for vacation) drive to Knox Tn airport, 7 am depart to CLT then to STT for a 2 pm arrival, flight into STT ended up being about 30 min behind sched but was OK. Pick up Budget rent car (about $50) and drive (first time I drive on “wrong” side of road, but no problems) to Red Hook to check in with island yachts. Traffic heavy, takes about 45 minutes to get to American Yacht Harbor. We figure out where to park, and are greeted by the boat briefer at the dock who shows us the way to our boat. Boat is very clean and looks great, although I think it was an 06 model. Not a lot of wear and tear on this boat. We are doing a sleep aboard, so the briefer just shows us the basics to get us settled in, and advises that if we can work through the inventory list on our own this evening, things will go faster in the morning. By the time we unload the car and put our items on the boat, it is about 5:30 or so and we are starved since we did not eat much since leaving home. So we walked up to the Carribean Saloon and had a good meal, conch fritter appetizer, I had cheeseburger and wife had some type of salad and both were very good--- at this point we just wanted to eat quickly because we still had to do the provisioning. So after a quick dinner we drove over to the Food Center to check out the store. We had a back up plan to go to cost-u-less, but after we were inside Food Center store we realized we could do everything from there, plus it was now getting late. Wife had made a very detailed list a few days before, that allowed us to speed through the store in record time. Food / beverages and everything for our trip totaled about $425 and we did not pass up anything we wanted/needed or that was on our list.
Back to the boat, to our supprise the gates on the end of the dock at the marina were closed and locked—very unexpected. We called our boat briefer on his cell, he advised we could just walk down the dock about 100 ft to the east and there would be an unlocked gate there, we just didn’t see that at first. So, a lot of work getting our groceries over to the boat…. This was the only time it seemed a little more like work than vacation. The close gate was locked and all the carts were locked up too…. But finally we got everything on the boated and squared away, and finally settle in for good night’s sleep as we were now very tired.
Next morning, up at 8 and ready to go – but first had to turn in the rental car. What made this work so well is that Budget has a car rental desk at Sapphire Beach resort less than a mile from the marina. After dealing with the car, back to the boat for the briefing. This briefing took 2x as long as we had experienced with Moorings, but with all the systems on this boat including solar chargers, etc.. I was really glad we spent the extra time. These guys to into a lot of detail on EVERYTHING which is really a plus. So, this boat has 3 sails, I not used to that… and in-mast furling of mainsail, not done that before either. After the briefing I was very comfortable with everything about this Island Packet (we learned later that a lot of people call them “island piglet” and I now know why). Since we had not used this company before I did not know if I would have to go out with their guy and "sail", or what to expect for the check-out. I guess they were satisfied, because I they did not mention a check-out sail or anything. After the briefing we cast off dock lines, our briefer took us away from the marina a short distance and hopped into his dingy and was gone. Away at last!
Out of Red Hook the sound was very choppy, winds were about 17 to 20 right off the bat, and would remain pretty windy the first three or four days of our sail. Up with the headsail, mostly up with the main and unfurl the staysail and we are SAILING! Our plan was to beat upwind and spend first night at Leinster Bay on St John, and we did just that. After about 4 or 5 tacks a heavy rain squall comes down the channel toward us, bring in the headsail, reel in the main most of the way but I left the stay sail out… 20 minutes later, rain gone , sail on up toward the narrows- at that point I am already tired of beating into the heavy wind, drop all the canvas and motor through the narrows and on into Leinster Bay. Weather now looking much better, sun back out. Grab mooring ball, kick back for awhile – we finally made it!! A couple of hours later we fire up the dingy, go into the beach and hike the mile long trail up to the Annaburg Sugar/Rum Plantation ruins and explore. Very interesting place and a lot of very old buildings to look around, we enjoyed learning about the history of this place, situated in a paradise setting. By the time we hike back down, dingy over to the floating kiosk and pay the $15 mooring fee, it is practically dark. Dinner on the boat ( something easy to fix for first night red beans / rice / vegs and garlic bread) and then to bed- 3 am- wake up to heavy rain, it lasts about 30 minutes – did the hatch drill.
Next day- time to cruise over to Sopers and clear in. We strongly considered clearing in at JVD (especially based on posts I have read here) but in light of the fact we wanted to get over to the Bight on Norman after clearing in, we decided Sopers would be OK. So… grab a ball right next to customs, I dingy over alone, and in about 15 minutes and about $165 later, it is all done. Very simple, and I have never done this before by myself (only at airports, commercial ferry ). So as I am leaving there are a couple of other guys that must have just cleared in but can’t get their dingy started and I see them getting out the oars. I think they are German? Anyway, they can speak a little English so I am able to offer them a tow back to their boat --- it is basically on the other side of the bay. So after that, back to our little Island Packet and I pick up the Admiral and take here to the other side of Sopers -- where the shopping is. I just remember that we forgot to grab fins from our charter company, so we buy two pairs at the dive shop. Wife goes through all the shops there, we get a couple of items, like tee shirts, etc… and over to the nice little grocery store to get two things we forgot from our list – some paper plates and paper towels. After all that --- motor out of Sopers, unfurl the sails and more upwind sailing to the Bight at Norman. We try to arrive at each day’s destination with enough time to kick back and unwind from all that hard sailing, ha ha. So at the Bight we just sit back and enjoy the sights, maybe read a little, listen to tunes, and just hang out of the boat . I did jump in and snorkel around the edge toward Kellys Cove, very nice, first time in water this trip. For the water we each brought a 3 mil shorty, lets you stay in the water a long time and not start feeling cold. Later - each day’s ritual includes the sundowners just at sunset, in this case always a frozen blended concoction. After dark, dingy over to Pirate’s - I have a great gouper dish, she has the seafood lasagna, both are excellent! Restaurant has been remodeled since our last trip and is very nice. Service is also very good. We never know what kind of service we will get in the ilons, sometimes it is BAD. We watch some “happy” folks playing the jinga game, might do better before the drinks, ha ha.

To be continued ----

M and K in KY