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Trip report - June 9-16 #197960
06/18/2019 03:41 PM
06/18/2019 03:41 PM
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 72
Louisiana
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cajunscuba Offline OP
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cajunscuba  Offline OP
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Louisiana
This was second bareboat charter. First on a catamaran. We got back home 2 days ago and thought I’d share my first trip report while it is fresh in my mind.
We did a crewed charter in 2015 and we did one bareboat charter on a Sunsail 38 monohull. This time we were on a Sunsail 404 cat – MP SEA. We were 4 couples - ages range from 30-47. One couple had never been sailing nor to the BVI before. A friend co-captained with me and we shared the duties.

Day 1: We flew into STT landing at 2:50 and took the 4:00 ferry to Road Town. Checking in at Road Town is not a pleasant experience when coming off the ferry. The other times I’ve arrived into the BVI I was on a boat with 7-15 other people and did not have to wait in that long hot line. I believe we arrived at the Sunsail/Moorings marina around 5:45-6. When I checked in at the lobby I was planning on doing the chart briefing that evening, but since I chartered in June 2017 within 2 years the receptionist said I did not have to attend the chart briefing. Score! We then scheduled the boat briefing for 7:00 AM. I’m up early anyway. Score!
Walking on the boat the first time was both exciting and admittedly intimidating being the first time we would be in control of a catamaran all on our own. We had the majority of the provisioning done through Sunsail and they had most of it in stock and on the boat when we got there.
I should have planned the first night at the marina better. I assumed Virgin Queen would be open that Sunday night but it wasn’t and we discovered this after walking there. We ate there on the first night two years ago and enjoyed it. The only thing open near there was a food truck blocks away from Virgin Queen. It was not ideal but the burger and fries I got were good. I would either cook the first night or suck it up and pay the high prices to eat at the marina…unless any of you have any restaurant suggestions that are within a few blocks away from the marina. We got a few more provisions at riteway that night that weren’t on the boat already.

Day 2: Boat briefer was serious and straight to the point. The boat briefing was done quickly. We prepared the lines and BAM we were out of the marina around 8:30-8:45. This was much earlier than I anticipated. Maybe because it was a Monday morning and they aren’t as busy that morning. Once we were out of Road Harbour we raised the sails shortly to get a feel for it on our way to the Indians. Arriving minutes before 10:00 there were plenty of moorings available. I want to say there were only 2-3 other boats there at this time. So we grabbed a ball close to the dinghy line and hopped off for our first of many snorkels. This is always a great first stop and intro to the underwater world. Some divers helped me find an eel about 15-20 feet down hiding under some rock. On the swim back to the boat I spotted a barracuda hanging out under our boat for a while.
After a good snorkel we heading for Great Harbour, Peter Island. We were on a mooring close to the southern part of the mooring field by noon and had lunch onboard. A few of us snorkeled by the shoreline. Pretty good snorkeling there. I’d like to know if there is better snorkeling in this area though. I love snorkeling and diving. With my scuba experience, I swim down 20+ feet a minute at a time while snorkeling so I’m constantly trying to find out the best spots for a bareboat charter in the BVI. We decided to check out the island since we had a lot of down time because of the early start. Drinks in hand we dinghied over to the beach. We wanted to check out the beautiful beach at Deadman’s Bay. We hiked over to sprat bay. This is where we saw the no trespassing sign and someone working near the shoreline. We could have went farther but did not want to be “those people” and cause any trouble. There was a dinghy on the small southeastern beach of Great Harbour with no one in sight. Don’t know where they were, but it was there for hours. We hung out on the boat for a couple more hours drinking and enjoying each other’s company and we headed for Willy T around 5. We had a great time here jumping, drinking, and dancing. Partied hard. They knocked it out of the park with my mahi sandwich also.

Day 3: Pancakes and fruit for breakfast. Make our way to snorkel the Rhone and 2 of the crew got sick from the motion. Maybe it was the pancakes. We had a good snorkel. It was still early so we decided to make a lunch stop at Cooper Island. I don’t know exactly what time we got there, but I’d say between 10:30-11:15. As we approached I saw what first appeared to be red channel markers at Cooper. I know there are none so I get the binoculars and see that it is actually boatyballs. I’ve read on these boards that they were a little higher than the other moorings but it is quite noticeable. There were plenty of FCFS moorings available when I got there. We hooked up and some of the crew hung out at the bar and some of us went snorkel cistern point. It was a good snorkel and worth the trip. We went have some gelato and hung out a while and decided to eat lunch on board. It was a good stop and I could see why it is so popular.
We then made our way to marina cay making it there I want to say around 2 with surprisingly only a few moorings available at this time. I counted the next morning and there were only 3 unused moorings here out of 30. We took the dinghy over to diamond reef for a great snorkel. There was a lot of sargassum here blocking some of the sunlight. Other than that I really like this snorkel spot. Pretty coral and plenty of fish…the highlights though were when I spotted the octopus and we spent a few minutes watching it and I also saw a big turtle here about 25 feet down at the end of snorkel. Swam with him for only about a minute because he was deep. Unfortunately, this was the only turtle any of us saw underwater the whole week. We did see a few above while on the boat.
We hiked up marina cay for some great views/pics. We bought more pusser’s at the little store on top and bought and tried the painkiller mix which was good. We usually make our painkillers from scratch but the mix was all they had here. We had dinner onboard…frozen pizzas we bought at riteway. Easy and laid back evening

Day 4: Most of us are early risers and living on central time probably made a difference as well. Seemed like we were always up and out before other boats. After breakfast we made the short motor to Great Dog for some snorkeling and SUPing. We were the only ones there for the first hour. We all enjoyed the snorkeling here. A decent size school of blue tang (I think) were here and fun to swim with.
After leaving Great Dog we practiced our sailing and tacking for a good while. I made a stop at Leverick’s Marina to top off on water and then we hooked up to a mooring at Leverick Bay. Fruit and deli sandwiches and PB&J sandwiches for lunch onboard. Got a taxi to/from the Baths for $20 pp roundtrip. We arrived at the Baths around 2:30-3 I believe. Crowds were gone. Good fun here as you all know. I did lose my wife for about 20 minutes after I ventured off to jump off some rocks with the guys. I left them and looked for her in the maze of boulders like Tarzan looking to save Jane. We went up to Top of the Baths to grab a drink and enjoy the great views from up there. Here, we ran into some people we met on Willy T and reminisced about the good time we had there a few nights before….so easy to make friends sailing in the islands.
On the way back to Leverick our taxi stopped at a riteway to get more Presidente. Some types of alcohol were going down much faster than others. My understanding from the others in our crew is that the grocery store at Leverick did not have much in stock in general. I put the Presidente in the dinghy and we had dinner at Jumbies Beach Bar. It did not disappoint. Everyone raved about their meals. I got the grilled mahi sandwich again and it was delish. It was happy hour and the frozen margaritas were potent. Great dinner and great company

Day 5: After a light breakfast we were headed for Anegada raising the sails for nice beam reach the whole way. Loved this sail. We averaged around 8 knots. I don’t know if that’s good or not for this cat but we enjoyed trying to make her go faster. We pulled into the mooring field around 10-10:30 to plenty of moorings available. I did not count but I would estimate about 1/3 of the moorings were taken. This was our first time coming here. I was little nervous when I saw only 3.5 feet below the keels at one point. We had time to cook hamburgers and fries for lunch. I noticed a monohull (around 50 ft) leaning slightly that wasn’t swinging or rolling and you could see too much of the bottom paint. We watched it for a while. It had to be grounded. Not much tidal range but I’m pretty sure it was low tide during our lunch. When we came back later it wasn’t there anymore. The tide must’ve went up enough to free him.
After lunch we made reservations at Potters by the Sea for some lobster and then rented some Mokes from a nearby rental shop. It was around $100 for the day for one Moke. You’re supposed to reserve them ahead of time, but fortunately for us someone came back early. I liked this little thing. A surprising stop was near the Flamingo Lookout Point. The beach there was ankle deep for what appeared to be a mile. Very pretty. We made our way to flash of beauty at Loblolly beach. There was a lot of sargassum washed up on the beach and a little was still in the water. A few of us snorkeled this spot and it was really enjoyable. We got a few drinks here and they were tasty. I enjoyed my bushwacker. Our next stop was Cow Wreck. IMO this beach tops Loblolly Bay. We’ve seen some pretty beaches, but this one is at or near the top of the prettiest we’ve ever seen. Next time I think we will just get a ride here and spend the afternoon and run up a big bill at the beach bar. My only complaint is I ordered two mojitos from Ann’s son who is very new. It took him 15 minutes to tell me they don’t make those even though it is on the menu. So I ordered some bushwhackers instead. I was only irritated until I took the first sip of my bushwhacker and “no worries mon!” We were sad to leave this place.
Returned the Moke and it was boat drink time watching the great sunset! Arrived at Potter’s by the Sea around 7:15. Got a rum punch and our meals arrived after a short wait. Five of us got lobster. I was the only one who did not think the lobster was fantastic. It was pretty good to me. I LOVE food and I am easy to please so maybe I was just unlucky this time or maybe it’s better at one of the other places nearby. After our meal we had a great time dancing and the limbo was a nice fun surprise. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. The fun we had here made up for the lobster that did not blow me away.

Day 6: Raised the sails for a great sail heading for Great Harbour at Jost. This was our longest sail of the trip. Broad reach the whole way. We made a stop and anchored to check out Sandy Spit. Beautiful little spot. We then motored to Great Harbour to find a full mooring field. As I’m navigating through this somewhat tight mooring field to see if I can find a vacant ball or someone leaving by chance, I see a guy swimming between boats in front of me. He stops, treads water, and watches me as I’m moving forward. At this point I’m thinking “ok, he’s waiting until I pass through” and I move forward turning away from him. I was WRONG. He proceeds to tuck his head underwater and swim DIRECTLY towards my bow. I have boats on both sides of me so what do I do. Some of my crew are yelling at him but his head is underwater and I lost visual because he is so close to the bow. I guess he heard them or saw the boat because he turned, but WTH! NOT SMART! Anyway, no more than 30 seconds after I pass up “smart guy” a crewed catamaran is casting off a mooring RIGHT by me. Score! Since Foxy’s BBQ buffet was that Friday night I expected the moorings to be high demand but not full at 1:00-2:00. Went to Foxy’s gift shop since it closes at 5 (I think) before taking the dingy to White Bay to beach bar hop. I’ve had my share of painkillers at Soggy Dollar and on our boat so I tried some different drinks. Soggy Man was pretty good and strong. The banana bender was delish. For some reason it was at this point I realized how much I missed my little ones but no need to bore you with that.
That night was Foxy’s BBQ and I should have known I was supposed to make reservations, but they were able to take us and put us at one of the tables closer to the road. The no-see-ums were getting us so I went get the spray from the boat and it wasn’t bad after that. Don’t know if it was just our table since it was separate from the others or if all the tables were getting bit. Anyway, I can say that ALL of the food for the buffet was delicious. I can see the reason for the rave reviews. It’s most definitely worth going to again. (side note: we had 2 vegetarians with us. They were charged less for the buffet and they loved it as well). After our meal we were tired from partying the night before so we called it quits early.

Day 7: I love waking up on a boat on the water. Drinking coffee at the helm and watching the sunrise with my wife may one day be routine, but right now I have to soak it all in on our trips. We motor to sandy cay. We are the first ones there again and pick up the closest mooring to the beach. We have breakfast there and swim/snorkel to the beach. I spotted a stingray trying to bury himself and show him to the others. Many of the palms and other vegetation are gone due to the hurricanes, but the beach is stunning. We hiked through the trails around the island. I try to be considerate of others and leave the mooring around the 90 minute limit. There were still some available around me though.
We let out the jib and motor sailed for the pass between Great Thatch, Tortola, and St John on our way to Norman Island for our last night. We arrived there to a wide selection of moorings. Two from our crew went hiking and the rest of us snorkeled the caves and a little snorkel spot just south of Water Point. Good snorkeling at both, but better at the caves IMO. We made a pass by the old abandoned Willy T. The rest of the day was spent SUPing, having boat drinks, and drinks on the beach. They offer one free rum punch per mooring fee. Just show them your receipt. We had a nice sunset for our last night. We cooked spaghetti onboard for dinner. This was our calmest night for sleeping. I didn’t notice much of a difference at each overnight stop. Not enough of a difference that affected sleeping (for my part anyway).
Day 8: One couple had an earlier flight than the rest of us and needed to catch the 9:30 ferry so we motored back to Sunsail marina early, called in docking assistance, and someone was waiting at the end of dock A to bring our boat in to the slip. We docked around 8:15. I’m always impressed at how effortlessly and fast these guys can back these big sailboats into the slips. We cooked breakfast once docked and started the unpacking. We had a good bit of liquor leftover that we gave to the boat about to leave next to us. I’d say about 700 ml maybe more. Lucky them. Someone was nice enough to give us some things before we started our charter so we paid it forward.
Reggae festival made the ferry experience pretty unpleasant with the herds of people. I’ll spare the details but it was a long day of travel and we pulled into our driveway at home at 2:10 that morning. UGH

The Boat:
We were very impressed with the boat although we don’t have much to compare it to being our first bareboat on a catamaran. We did have a problem with the starboard holding tank being clogged. We noticed the second day on the water. Before the charter began I told our crew no TP in the head. It got a little worse each day and the last day at Norman we quit using that head. If we had a longer charter it would have become a problem for us. I let them know the issue at the debriefing. Other than that all the systems worked great. The a/c was nice to have. The fuel tanks were full when we got on the boat and I wanna say we used 1/3 - 1/2 of the fuel. The boat was easy to handle in tight spaces. Docking and undocking was easy as well. There are scratches and dings here and there on the boat, but not from me! The dinghy started with one pull, but seemed to be struggling throughout the trip. I thought it was the dingy, but I think it was the fact we had it loaded most of the time with 8 people. The last day I was on it by myself and was flying.
Crew: Some people help more than others. I enjoy doing most things that have to do with the boat, but it was nice to have help cleaning after meals. Some people respect the water usage and others leave water running while washing a fork. We split all provisions which was OK for food as nobody ate much more or less than others. Alcohol is a different story. Some started drinking at 8:30 and basically did not stop. I have no problem with starting that early. You’re on vacation right? The cost of alcohol was split also which wasn’t fair for those that didn’t drink as much. So I’m open to suggestions on how others handle things like this. This caused no arguments or rift in the group. It’s just something we noticed.

P.S. This trip report ended up being longer than expected so I’m sorry if I rambled too much. I find the info on these useful so thought I’d add to it…

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Re: Trip report - June 9-16 [Re: cajunscuba] #197964
06/18/2019 04:08 PM
06/18/2019 04:08 PM
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 16
Louisiana
J
JotejoraMS Offline
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JotejoraMS  Offline
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Louisiana
Great report. We leave in 2 days from Shreveport for 10 days on a 40' cat. Fifth BVI bareboat for wife and me, but first with our 5 kids and first on a cat. Can't wait!

Not encouraged to hear of a full mooring field at Great Harbour. We typically like the smaller crowds this time of year.

What part of Louisiana?

Re: Trip report - June 9-16 [Re: JotejoraMS] #197994
06/18/2019 09:04 PM
06/18/2019 09:04 PM
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 72
Louisiana
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cajunscuba Offline OP
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cajunscuba  Offline OP
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Louisiana
For the most part there were plenty of moorings available during the whole trip. When we left cooper around 12:30-1 I noticed plenty still available on a Tuesday. Like I said m assumption is the reason the moorings were full at Great Harbour, JVD was mainly because of Foxy's BBQ buffet that night.
I'm in the big city of Eunice relatively close to Lafayette, LA.
Enjoy your trip with the family. Lots of great memories will be made! I can't wait until mine are old enough to take.

Re: Trip report - June 9-16 [Re: JotejoraMS] #198000
06/18/2019 10:24 PM
06/18/2019 10:24 PM
Joined: Apr 2014
Posts: 2
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Juslimin Offline
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Juslimin  Offline
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jote
we have 4 boats runnin out 6/28 and doin the counterclockwise loop.

we from Baton Rouge, when yall gonna be down ?

Geaux Tigers !

Re: Trip report - June 9-16 [Re: cajunscuba] #198021
06/19/2019 09:11 AM
06/19/2019 09:11 AM
Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 735
Panama City Beach, Florida
xrayman67 Offline
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Originally Posted by cajunscuba
I would either cook the first night or suck it up and pay the high prices to eat at the marina…unless any of you have any restaurant suggestions that are within a few blocks away from the marina.


Great trip report. There is the Sports Bar located up the hill just to the west of Rite Way that has good food and very reasonable in price. The chicken curry was delicious!

Re: Trip report - June 9-16 [Re: cajunscuba] #198024
06/19/2019 09:16 AM
06/19/2019 09:16 AM
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 788
Kannapolis, NC
ndfaninnc Offline
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ndfaninnc  Offline
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Kannapolis, NC
Great report. Tons of good information. This only makes my 4+ months until our first charter seem longer. Thank you.


Go Irish!!

Bill

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Re: Trip report - June 9-16 [Re: cajunscuba] #198028
06/19/2019 09:56 AM
06/19/2019 09:56 AM
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 6,993
GA/NC
GeorgeC1 Offline
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GeorgeC1  Offline
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If you are chartering with the Moorings or Sunsail the easiest thing for dinner at a reasonable price is the pool bar. You have to ask for the sandwich menu which has burgers, fish sandwiches ect.. You can also get pizza from Charlie’s. If you are sleeping aboard the dinghy should be at the bow of the boat and you can take to across the harbor for numerous options to eat.
G

Re: Trip report - June 9-16 [Re: Juslimin] #198043
06/19/2019 11:38 AM
06/19/2019 11:38 AM
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 16
Louisiana
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JotejoraMS Offline
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JotejoraMS  Offline
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Louisiana
We leave the dock on 6/21 and return to Nanny Cay on 7/1. We will be flying a LSU flag. We should be in the Norman/Peter area when you guys are starting out.

Re: Trip report - June 9-16 [Re: GeorgeC1] #198091
06/19/2019 04:53 PM
06/19/2019 04:53 PM
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 72
Louisiana
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cajunscuba Offline OP
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cajunscuba  Offline OP
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Louisiana
Originally Posted by GeorgeC1
If you are chartering with the Moorings or Sunsail the easiest thing for dinner at a reasonable price is the pool bar. You have to ask for the sandwich menu which has burgers, fish sandwiches ect.. You can also get pizza from Charlie’s. If you are sleeping aboard the dinghy should be at the bow of the boat and you can take to across the harbor for numerous options to eat.
G


Good to know. Is there a dinghy dock at or near those places across the harbor?

Re: Trip report - June 9-16 [Re: cajunscuba] #198103
06/19/2019 07:16 PM
06/19/2019 07:16 PM
Joined: Dec 2018
Posts: 1,343
Washington DC
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bailau Offline
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"We did have a problem with the starboard holding tank being clogged"

Next time if this happens call Moorings service and they will send a contractor out with a compressed air tank and he will go underneath and blow the s*** out. This has happened to us 4-5 times especially when the boats have sat for a while (e.g. post hurricane or Oct after base was closed). They have come to Norman, Peter, Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor

We had one curious sole who wanted to watch for some reason in the water and was surprised when the contractor went flying by him in the water back to the boat followed by a large "cloud".

I can also tell you opening the pump out and using a "plunger" doesnt work either...but is really funny to watch

Re: Trip report - June 9-16 [Re: cajunscuba] #198410
06/23/2019 07:37 AM
06/23/2019 07:37 AM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 73
Rhode Island
AnneQ Offline
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Rhode Island
Great trip report. Thanks for posting. It's the combination of the small things like watching the sunrise with a cup of coffee and your spouse, the overall beauty of the area, the snorkeling, the great restaurants/beach bars and the wonderful people you meet that make this place special, and your report captured all of that.

For the first night with a sleep aboard, our crew has been to the Tortola Sports Club that xrayman67 mentioned and have taken the dinghy across as GeorgeC1 suggested (we tried it based on GeorgeC1's previous mentions of this idea) and both are great options. The sports club is very casual with good food (nothing too fancy), fairly quiet, and the people are great. Taking the dinghy across was a lot of fun, and there is a good place to dock the dinghy. Just go straight across and meander along the shore's edge - you will find it.


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