<pre><br>Day 5: Depart Anegada<br><br>We departed Anegada today at 11:20. As promised, we got our tee shirts from Big Bamboo delivered courtesy of Rondell’s taxi. We raised our main sail and then anchor and carefully motored through the anchorage and mooring field. There were already quite a few new boats in the anchorage. We made the run down the narrow exit and then set a course that would take us to today’s destination, Marina Cay. Again, it was an exciting sail.<br><br>We dropped a line and lure attached to a piece of wood from the fantail and hoped we might get lucky on the way to Marina Cay. The wind was kicking up to about 25 knots, so we reefed both main and headsail. Everything was going quite smoothly and I was enjoying trimming the sails as Jeff took a turn at the helm. Out of nowhere Lori yells dolphins! We had two off of the starboard aft quarter. As the rest of us start to look at the dolphins, Jeff then yells FISH ON! Damm…this is getting exciting. I looked aft of the stern and sure enough, we had something on the line! I started to retrieve the line, extremely excited. Finally I got the fish to the boat only to find I had a barracuda on the line. BUMMER! No fish dinner tonight. The barracuda was a mean looking bastard and there was no way I was getting the lure back. After some minor deliberations with the crew we decided to cut the scoundrel loose.<br><br>The rest of the sail to Marina Cay was without incident. A great breeze combined with wonderful scenery topped off by the barracuda and dolphins. Yet another typical day in paradise.<br><br>We pulled into Marina Cay at 2:30. After two days we thought it best to top off on water, dump our trash and top off the dingy and auxiliary. A boat was just pulling up as we arrived, so we did some 360-degree turns (felt like I was in a holding pattern in a Navy P-3 like the old days). After about 30 minutes we were able to get to the dock. Arcadia’s diesel only took on 7 gallons of fuel, so that’s the last time we worry about it. Lori, Teri and Marrissa jumped off the boat and headed to the beach while Jeff and I took Arcadia to a mooring. I had the Northern mooring all picked out, but as we were fueling a cat grabbed the ball. We took ball close by behind another cat that was flying a TTOL flag. Later, on the way back from the beach, I stopped by and found out the cat was skippered by Daveman. I’d never actually met Dave, but had corresponded via email. Seems that Dave was also in Anegada the same time we were. Had a quick beer with Dave (forgot my sandals) and then went back to Arcadia. We got ready for dinner, and looked all over for my sandals. I remembered that I had them on Dave’s cat, and sure enough, I could see them on the swim deck. We grabbed them on the way in to the dingy dock. <br><br>Had a really nice dinner at Marina Cay’s restaurant. I had the jerked chicken; both of the girls had the chicken pasta, and Jeff the fish of the night. We also had shrimp, calamari, and conch fritters for appetizers. Everyone really raved about the shrimp. The dessert menu was also very good. Overall, it was a GREAT dinner.<br><br>After dinner we dinked back to Arcadia and everyone was in the sack by 9:30 pm. Our plan was to leave at daybreak and head for the baths. I set the alarm…and it was lights out!<br><br><br>Day 6: Virgin Gorda<br><br>As planned, we departed from Marina Cay for the Baths at Virgin Gorda at the crack of day. We wanted to arrive ahead of the crowd to ensure a good spot for the boat. We set 2200 rpm’s and motored at 5 kts to the Baths. We arrived about an hour later and found a mooring ball at the western end of Devils Bay, as recommended by Daveman. Jeff and I quickly went to shore to scout out the small bay, climbing the rocks on the South shore. After about 45 minutes we dinked back to the boat, stowed some beach gear aboard the dingy and headed to shore. We took Dave’s advice and slowly motored to the beach. The water is deep and you can get the dingy to shore with no problems. We were the first ones there and dropped off the gear, girls, and Jeff. I then took the dingy over to the mooring line and swam back to shore.<br><br>The Baths exceeded my expectations! The beach was beautiful, but it was the snorkeling that had me mesmerized. Jeff and I snorkeled from Devils Bay to the main entrance of the Baths East of our position. There was an amazing amount of sea life and beautiful coral during our transit. We saw bountiful schools of fish of varying types topped off by a huge manta ray (at least 3 feet in width).<br><br>Everyone loved the Baths, especially while we had it to ourselves. Finally, about 11:00, the masses arrived and we had to share our piece of paradise. <br><br>We stayed until 1:30 pm, then loaded up and headed for Spanish Town for some quick provisioning. The harbor master was very accommodating at Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor. They didn’t even charge us to drop our trash. We made a quick provisioning run to Bucks market. This is a pretty well stocked store but the checkout girl would not even look or respond to me. Oh well, not everybody likes visitors to their country. By far, the people of Anegada have been the best.<br><br>We left Spanish Town at 3:15 and set course on a broad reach for Machineel Bay. The wind was down, coming over the port side at about 10 to 12 knots. It made for a nice easy sail to the anchorage. <br><br>At the anchorage, we quickly got a ball and dinked in to check out the Cooper Island Beach House. Had a few drinks, then dinked back to the boat for dinner aboard. Jeff prepared a fine meal, pasta and garlic bread. We all then turned in for an early night. <br><br>Day 7: To Cane Garden Bay<br><br>We were up at 6:30. The night at Machineel Bay is not very comfortable. The boat was hot (no breeze) and we rolled in multiple directions. The views were spectacular, but this was by far my least favorite anchorage to date.<br><br>Had to work a little to get the boat free of the ball. The ball and tether had gotten wrapped around the keel during the night. After getting free we raised sails wing to wing for a downwind run to western Tortola. Our plan was to cut between Tortola and Little/Great Thatch and head to Cane Garden Bay. I wanted to see Quito play tonight for the first time (I’ve heard nothing but great things about his music on the TTOL board).<br><br>Our sail down the Sir Francis Drake Channel was fantastic. As we neared St John’s I thought I’d give my cell phone a try. Success! I called my Mom and a couple of friends. Everyone aboard made some quick calls. It was great…especially since the boat phone is so expensive. <br><br>After we rounded the western end of Tortola, the wind kicked up to 21 knots. We set course on a close reach to Little Harbor Jost Van Dyke. We then tacked and headed towards Cane Garden Bay. It was truly a spectacular day on northern side of Tortola. <br><br>We easily found the entrance to Cane Garden Bay and entered the anchorage. There were quite a bit of people on the beach, although I’m sure it was sparse compared to what its like in-season.<br><br>After getting the boat moored, Jeff and I dinked in to pay for the ball at Ryhmers and had a quick drink. We then returned to the boat and picked up Terri and Marrissa. I ran them back to the beach and then returned to Arcadia. Lori and I hung out on the boat for some quite time. Later we gathered up the sheets and towels and dinked to the beach. Lori did the laundry while I went to Quito’s and had a few cocktails. After the laundry was done, we gathered up the entire crew and headed back to the boat and relaxed aboard until dinner at 7. <br><br>Ate dinner at Quito’s. The food was good. Everyone had seafood except me. I had the steak. The steak was not fully cooked…but I ate it anyway (everyone hates a complainer). We listened to Quito play solo during dinner. After dinner I took Jeff, Teri, and Marrissa back to the boat. The baby was not feeling that well. I then returned to Quito’s and enjoyed listening the Quito and the Edge. GREAT TIME! My wife and I danced on a crowded dance floor to the reggae beat. It was really an incredible experience. <br><br>After a couple of hours, we headed back to the boat. As soon as we arrived, we got our first rain shower. Damm…we had just put clean sheets in the berths. We quickly scrambled to close the hatches and waited out the rain. <br><br>Not sure what time we finally went to bed (I’m really on island time now) but I had a great nights sleep. I did have to close the hatch in my berth at least once more due to rain, but overall this was a comfortable place to overnight.<br><br>Tomorrow we plan to head to Jost Van Dyke and stay for two days (not really a firm plan, we are on island time).<br><br>Day 8: White Beach<br><br>Woke up to a beautiful morning at Cane Garden Bay. We were not in a hurry to leave and everyone was pretty much just relaxing all over the boat in various places. Had cereal for breakfast and pretty much took our sweet time getting ready for the next destination. <br><br>At 11:00 Lori and I headed into the beach and ordered a couple of pizzas at the Big Banana Holding Company. Our ‘Drinking Man’s Guide to the Virgin Islands’ got us a free pizza, and we ordered a second. While waiting for the pizza, Lori had a Bushwacker, which was now her drink of choice. Lori is not a big drinker, so it was a new experience for me to see her drinking at 11:00 am.<br><br>After lunch we discussed the meals we had been eating. The meals ashore were good, but not worth the 100.00-dollars per meal we were spending per couple. Our plan was to hit Sopers Hole for some additional dinner provisions, and then sail over to White Bay at Jost Van Dyke. White Bay was on my personal ‘must see’ list, and this was our opportunity.<br><br>We dropped our mooring ball headed out of the anchorage and set our sails for a broad reach to Sopers Hole. It was a nice sail along the northern shore of Tortola. We rounded the corner at the western end of the island and sheeted the sails in for some close hauled sailing. After a short beat, the plan was to tack and then immediately furl the head sail. During the tack Terri (with baby in arms) cut behind me while Lori and Jeff tended to the head sail, furling it in. As Teri cut behind me she stepped on the movable seat that gives access to the swim deck. The seat dropped, then bounced up and into the water. The timing couldn’t have been worse as the crew was pretty well engaged in furling the jib. The important thing was Teri and the baby were okay. They could have gone overboard.<br><br>As soon as we had the jib furled enough (this was pretty quick) I tacked around and went back to the spot that we lost the seat. When we lost it I noticed that it was quickly sinking. We looked for about 30 minutes but never found out. So, after 6 days of sailing, we finally broke / lost something on the boat. It could have been worse.<br><br>We then furled up the main and motored into Sopers Hole. This is a beautiful marina. We headed to the water dock to take on some water and drop crew for the provisioning run. There was someone from the marina waiting to assist us, but he had an attitude and was of little help getting the boat secured to the dock. It didn’t help that my wife did not properly secure our aft docking line to the cleat (it fell off). <br><br>After we got the boat secured, a much nicer fellow showed up to help us out. I stayed with the boat to top of the water while the rest of the crew headed to the Ample Hamper. After I topped off the tanks I started to tighten down the caps with the winch handle. Just as I finished tightening the final cap my hands fumbled the winch handle and over the side it went, between the boat and the dock. It was not a floating winch handle. I was pretty bummed to say the least. In the span of 45 minutes we had now lost a winch handle and our swim deck seat. This boat was equipped with two winch handles although you only have to have one. Regardless, the second handle makes life much easier.<br><br>I went to inquire from the person who helped us with the water about where I could purchase a winch handle. Instead, he introduced me to a diver who quickly came to the rescue. He made one quick dive and just like that we had our winch handle. I had to force the diver to take some dollars for his efforts.<br><br>We were finally set and departed Sopers Hole, a little frazzled, but ready to press on. We headed west between Big and Little Thatch and found we had a cell phone signal from St Johns. We were able to call home and check on the kids. This was the first time since we left that we were able to talk with them. We then rounded Great Thatch and set sails for a reach to White Bay, Jost Van Dyke.<br><br>We arrived at White Bay around 4 pm. There were quite a few boats (most looked to be staying temporary) so we decided to take the western entrance and slowly motored in and began the search for a suitable place to drop our hook. After entering the anchorage we made a turn to starboard and found what appeared to be a good place to drop the hook. We were off of the rocks that separate the east and west beaches in 7 feet of water. We dropped the hook and I backed the boat down. While setting the anchor we felt the boat jolt a few times and realized we had touched bottom. We were not aground, but we were bumping the bottom from time to time. We raised the anchor and headed to deeper water in the eastern part of the anchorage. There were more boats here but we found a spot along the beach just to the west of Ivan’s. We were in 10 feet of water so we planned on putting out 55 feet of scope. It took us three tries to get the hook set. On the final try we put out and enormous amount (based on our 10 feet depth) of scope, about 100 feet, and that did the trick. I talked with the skipper of the crewed boat next to us and he said he laid out 150 feet of scope. He also said (and Jeff confirmed when he dived the anchor) that the bottom here is pretty hard and that it can be difficult to get the anchor set…hence, use more scope and hope!<br><br>After we got the anchor set and confirmed we were not dragging, we headed into the Soggy Dollar for a few painkillers. The girls did some shopping and then we motored over to Ivans. The place was empty, but I can see that it would be a fun place to hang out. We will stop by again tomorrow.<br><br>We then headed back to the boat and had a dinner of turkey burgers and potatoes. The dinner was awesome, and we did not drop a combined 200.00 dollars. We then hung out on the boat the rest of the evening and kept an eye on our swing. I was a little nervous about hitting the crewed yacht, but the skipper of that vessel seemed pretty content (he’s done this a lot more than myself). <br><br>Finally, everyone was done for the night around 10:30 pm.<br><br><br><br>