This was our 7th trip to the BVI, 6th charter with Voyage, our first trip back to the BVI since May 2018 and our second trip down since Irma.

Thursday 11-21-19, Wife, 6 yo daughter and father flew Delta into St Thomas and took a cab to Olgas Fancy, this was our first time staying at Olgas and it was nice place (would recommend), very pretty and the staff was very friendly. We had dinner at Hook line & Sinker, which was pretty good.

Friday 11-22-19, knowing how corrupt the cabs are on St Thomas the wife, kid and I all walked to the ferry dock from Olgas while my father took a cab with the bags. It was an extremely short walk and we actually beat the cab to the ferry terminal, but the taxi still charged $20 for one person and 4 bags ($4 per person and per bag) for < 1 mile. I bought ferry tickets and left our bags at the terminalOlga's and walked down to the Green House for lunch. Lunch was good and we always stop here when we have extra time. After lunch walked back to the ferry terminal and upstairs to the restaurant for drinks and some live music while waiting for the ferry. Ferry trip to west end was pretty good and honestly, I think most of the ferries look either new or well restored. West end customs has been rebuilt, the building seems smaller than the last one, but they got us through there pretty fast. Took a cab over to Voyage, did the sleep aboard check-in on Knot Bad a Voyage 500. This was our 3rd trip on a 500 so I was fairly familiar with the boat so the brief only took a couple of minutes. Voyage has restored a bunch of stuff since the last time we were down, bathrooms and showers look great. Now have fuel and water on the dock, but power IS still missing so getsets are running on the docks. Walked down to Omars for Dinner, which was fine.

Saturday 11-23-19, Luke gave us our check out and we were off the dock by around 10:30. One important note, since Voyage does not have shore power and the genset was running for days before us showing up a dockhand, suggested we fill the fuel tanks. The gauges all showed fuel, so Luke said he didn’t think it was necessary but I should have insisted. On the way to Jost Great Harbor, the port tank dropped by almost ¼ (I guess the float was stuck), live, and learn. Arrived at Great Harbor took a boatyball and had dinner at Corsair, always good, Dave and Vinny are great.

Sunday 11-24-19, motored to Sandy Cay, dingied in and swam on the beach for a few minutes, Sand Flies were a nightmare, if you go here please take bug spray. Motored over to little Yost for the night, took a boatyball, Hiked to the bubbly pool, had lunch and dinner at Foxys Taboo, food was excellent.

Monday 11-25-19, pulled into Cane Garden bay around 11am. Unfortunately, our boatyball was still occupied, took another FCFS ball until the other boat left. Had lunch at Paradise was very good. Saw tones of sea turtles in the bay and workers were busy installing the new navigation buoys to mark the channel into the bay

Tuesday 11-26-19, ran over to Monkey Point for lunch and to snorkel, then on to Marina Cay for the night. We had lunch at Scrub which is always good. Marina Cay had fuel on the dock, but nothing else. Also, you no longer pay for a mooring at the dock they come around. Now that Dream Yacht Charters is out of Scrub, that marina is very full and busy.

Wednesday 11-27-19, sailed to Anegada on a close reach, saw an eagle ray jump twice on the way up which was really cool, still got in around 10:30 am and dropped the hook. I was supposed to have kite surfing lessons with Tommy over at Anegada beach club but not enough wind, so hung out with the family at Cow Wreck, which is always nice. Made dinner reservations at Neptune's and had sauteed conch for a snack and dinner were both very good.

Thursday 11-28-19, the second day in Anegada, still no wind (lessons canceled again), went to Anegada Beach Club via the free shuttle at the lobster house. Played on the beach and had a good lunch. We had Thanksgiving dinner on the boat.

Friday 11-29-19, had zero wind in the Anegada passage; I mean, this was crazy, we had some swells but the water was glass. Pulled into the dock at Laverick to fuel up (I was still a bit concerned whether the fuel gauges were accurate after the initial issue, so topped off just to be safe). I had dinner at the beach BBQ, which was excellent.

Saturday 11-30-19, still very light wind, motored to Great Harbor Peter Island (didn’t really care much for Cooper last time so we skipped it). We took a ball in Great Harbor and was preparing to go swimming and there was a ton of jellyfish in the water. I don’t know enough about which ones are good or bad so we ended up going next door to Norman and took a ball in the Bight. Spent time on Willy T, had drinks and some food there, it was a good time. Went to the beach and played there a while. A small ~20” blacktip reef shark was swimming right at the water's edge, which was really cool to see.

Sunday 12-1-19, spent another day on Norman at the beach and a few more drinks on the willy T.

Monday 12-2-19, got the boat back to Sopers around 7:30 am had breakfast at Omars, which was good. I just wanted to note that Sopers looks so much better now. It's not back to pre Irma but is getting there. Pussers had reopened on 12-1 and there was a retail store now open (shirts and stuff), next to Omars. Did our debrief (Rain made the fuel gauge issue right by crediting us on some of our fuel) and took a cab over to customs, caught the ferry back to St Thomas, had another lunch at the Green House, and spent the night at Emerald Beach resort. This was our send time staying here, and it's not horrible but I do think Olgas is nicer (but not on the beach).

Tuesday 12-3-19, $32 taxi ride < 1mile to the airport, flight home.

Highlights: Love Voyage charters, Love Sopers, and really glad its getting back to normal. We had a lot of good food, people were as friendly as always, saw a ton of sea life. Also did a 10 day charter on a 50’ cat, with just 4 of us. Plenty of room and I think 10 days is just the perfect amount of time to not feel rushed and totally lose track of what days of the week it is.

The Bad: on St Thomas, they need to address the taxi issues. Due to our itinerary, we had to take the taxis 4 times and each time was absolutely ridiculous gouging. In the future, we may fly into EIS just to avoid that nonsense. My wife and I were engaged and married on St Thomas and have a great love for this island, but the taxis have gone from bad to unbearable.

Hi Falcon20,

Great report, sounds like a fun trip! Glad to hear someone else chartering from Voyage and thank you for the updates on the condition of Soper's hole. We are chartering Irie, another Voyage 500, in a couple weeks and the tip on the gen-sets running instead of shore power is very appreciated since we will also be doing a sleep aboard.

Was there any winter surge in Cane Garden Bay?

Looks as if we might have crossed each other's wake a few times! We were there 11/22 through 11/30.

talcon

out standing, thank you so very much....

We also stayed at Olgas Fancy, just before and after our last BVI bareboat sailing vacation. Walked next door to the Hook , Line and Sinker for fun and grub. Used to fly cape air from SJU....this last trip flying into STT and taking the ferry saved us
a load of yankee green.

You put us right back into the BVI. ( good stuff with the shark cruising along, and also we would not mess with the jelly fish unless we knew for certain that they were no problem. Sailed Australia, and the Boxy's were not good, but the Iragangi could kill people, many times, not all, we wore a light wt, wet suit when snorkeling or diving ). You did well for you and your family )

Feels mighty good reading your trip report, and we also, like you, walked from the ferry dock to Olgas, and back on the return. Good tip for others.

Thanks again, I have the feeling that you all will be returning to the BVI for future sailing vacations.

Denny and Erica

Thanks for the report. Glad to hear about Sopers. The market there we always thought was the best on the island.

CHBrow10, No winter surge the night we were in Cane Garden, it was nice and calm. I was a bit afraid of that so did take a boatyball as far north east as possible. I think the big news for Cane Garden was that they were putting the buoys back, which I think was holding some people away.

captdennyj, already started planning our next trip. Forgetting what day of the week it is, is my definition of the perfect vacation.