My wife and I, started a seven day mixed, cabin only cruise out of Tortola on Feb1. Our Captain, Bob had chartered a 43 Catamaran –“The Life” from Pro Valor Charters at Fat Hog Bay. We met our cabin mates along with Capt and Chef Mango at the boat for a first night sleep aboard. The Capt had finished loading in provisions for breakfasts, lunch and two dinners for the 8 of us. The boat was spotless clean and provided much more room in the staterooms than comparative mono-hulls. After introducing our selves we celebrated at the Grand Reopening of Emile’s across the street. The food was great and everyone enjoyed themselves. (get the chicken wings) The next morning we did a quick checkout and were sailing by 11:00. The weather was great and we reached our first stop - Cooper around 2:00. No problem picking up a mooring. We had a rain drill as a sudden downpour caught us by surprise with the entire crew ashore except for the Admiral and me. We got everything off the lines but didn’t get all the hatches closed. Some of us had damp sheets that night! The next morning we sailed up the channel beating a course to the Baths. The yellow caution flag was out but the swell/surf was not bad. We spent the afternoon swimming and snorkeling around the boulders. After lunch we set sail for the North Sound. We took a slip at Bitter End instead of a mooring due to a temperamental dingy engine. Later that night everyone appreciated that decision! We reserved a table at the Crawl Pub to watch the Super bowl. Having the slip worked well as everyone could retire from the game at their leisure. (before the great almost comeback!) and not have to worry about getting a dingy ride or falling out of the dingy. The next morning we made a long sail down the north coast to Sandy Spit. We ran along about 4 knots going wing &wing in about 6-10 knots of wind. Everyone had a chance to take the helm. The Admiral spent the day on the trampoline! We found plenty of moorings at Sandy Spit. Some of us swam ashore and enjoyed the beach and a swim. From here we made the quick jump to Cane Garden Bay where we met up with the folks from Pro Valor Charters to swap out the dingy motor. The new motor ran great and we took a mooring, again plenty of moorings to choose from (4:00 or so.) We dingied over to Quito’s for a drink before dinner. Quito was there and told us not to miss the blues singer that night. Most of us ate at Myette’s Grill. They showed us around the menu table before seating us. The steak and the ribs were good. We ended up at Quito’s for drinks, great music and really bad dancing -on my part! The next morning we sailed in light winds to JVD and picked up a mooring at Little Harbor. We snorkeled along the rocky part of the bay to the west. Schools of fish were trying to hide from the pelicans and the diving ducks. They were diving in the water not 10 yards from us! White Bay is wicked beautiful and fun! We swam ashore as it was raining lightly. Soggy Dollar was our first stop. The rain made it crowded under the decorated roof, but no one seemed to mind. Everyone was drinking painkillers (11am) When the rain let up we made our way down the beach to Gertrude’s where we made our own painkillers! After signing our names on the new picnic table we wandered further down the beach to Seddy’s One Love. What a great place! Marilyn was behind the bar and took extra good care of us. Maybe it was the outrageous dark and stormys talking but we loved this place. Marilyn was a lot of fun and gave us great recommendations for dinner that night. We left this oasis reluctantly and most of us were able negotiate the walk/swim back, but some of us had to be harpooned and dragged aboard! We did see a turtle right next to the boat. (some swear it was wearing a party hat!) Once we had all aboard, we made a later than scheduled quick sail to Great Harbor. There were no mooring balls available so we carefully dropped anchor in the western edge of the mooring field. As we were swimming the anchor, a mooring opened up – So up-anchor for a mooring closer in towards Foxy’s. We walked down the road to Corsairs (Marilyn’s suggestion) for a fabulous dinner. (Tuna steak was cooked perfectly and Mahi Mahi w/ sauce diplomat was very good) All were happy with their selections. After dinner we wandered over to Foxy’s for after dinner drinks and a lot of dancing! Next day, in a light rain and a squall producing 20 to 30knts, we sailed through the cut and into Soper’s Hole for a quick addition to our provisioning. Here we encountered our trickiest mooring pick-up yet as the pennant float was missing from the only open ball in the front of the mooring field. After realizing we couldn’t reach the pennant line from the trampoline, Capt launched the dingy and tied us off.

While Capt and Chef Mango re-provisioned at Rite Way, the rest of the crew got busy checking out the brightly colored local shops. I found more Cubans (cigars not communists) at the Pusser’s store. Not cheap $15., but still fresh.
After negotiating the cut we raised sails and tacked down the channel heading for Normans. Winds lightened to 8-10out of the NE. The Cat was easy to sail but did not come close to being able to go to windward like a mono. But no one was in a hurry and we entered the bight at Norman about 3:00. We found a mooring right up close to Pirates. There were maybe 4-5 open moorings that we could see. We had to take an early reservation for Dinner at Pirates. (should have called ahead) The big hits at the table were the seafood lasagna and the ribs. I had the whole snapper which was good but I would order the ribs next time. Giant Jenga was in play on the beach and looked like a lot of fun. There was some talk about heading over to the Willy T but no one had the energy for it. (that’s twice staying in the Bight and still have not made it to Willy’s). Next morning we dropped the anchor and motored the half mile to the Indians. The morning was overcast, but cleared quickly as a full rainbow was seen in the east. There were already 3 boats in the mooring area. We picked up a mooring in front of the northernmost rock outcropping. The snorkeling was phenomenal – The best of the trip. We made a complete circle around the Indians, but the best snorkeling was between the Northern most rock and the pebbly beach at Pelican Island. There was a turtle sighting, as well as almost every kind of fish and coral imaginable. Looked like the back of Frank’s map! When we finally got everyone back on board, we put up the sails and tacked our way to Peter Island. Winds were 10 to 12 out of the east. After a great sail we headed into Sprat Bay and took one of the half dozen or so moorings at about 3:00. We had plenty of time to sit at Dead Man’s beach and take in the beautiful view with tropical drinks in hand. This beach is a must see. The shower facilities did not live up to the rest of the resort however. We had dinner aboard that night, a nice grilled red snapper. There was no swell, but the winds had us swinging on the mooring all night. The next morning, one of the crew wanted to stay on the beach for the morning while the rest of us sailed around the channel. Our hand held radios came in handy for co-coordinating the beach pick-up. Keeping the dingy out of the surf and hauling our friend aboard was quite an adventure. Once we had everyone aboard, we sailed to Salt Island to swim and snorkel. There were a couple of dive boats on the Wreck of the Rhone and we took the last mooring ball available. After lunch we sailed back to Cooper Island for our last night. (Earlier in the day we had called Deliverance for milk and white wine and they were waiting for us in the mooring field) We made a dinner reservation for later that night and spent time swimming, followed by cockpit cocktails. Dinner was proceeded by our first dingy incident, yours truly doing the dingy dive. After returning to the boat for dry clothes we had a nice dinner. While we don’t remember what we had for dinner, we won’t forget the incredible hazelnut gelato we had for dessert.
We motored across the channel back to Fat Hog Bay where we said goodbye to our new friends and promised to keep in touch and plan another trip. We stayed in Road Town and had lunch at the PUB. They have the best Roti on the island. We checked in at Fort Burt Hotel. The room was clean and spacious overlooking the harbor. Unfortunately the hotel had a function that night and had to get dinner out. We were looking forward to dinner here as we had a great meal here a few years ago. We ended up at Capriccio de mare. The pizza did not live up to expectations, but the Mango Bellini was great. The next morning we saw the 9:00 Road Town Fast Ferry puffing black smoke and figured we better get to the Ferry station early for the 12:00. As suspected the Fast Ferry Cat was replaced by one of the smaller boats. We watched our luggage thrown up on deck and stowed uncovered on the bow. Luckily the weather and seas were calm for the trip to STT. A fabulous week in the BVI. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" />