From landlocked Colorado, a small group of dedicated Caribbean travelers dreamed of a different kind of vacation…a sailing vacation! One couple were cruise-ship aficionados, the second couple private villa rental devotees, and the third couple adventure/eco-travelers. Was our dream even a remote possibility? And to make our dream even more challenging, none of us knew how to sail, but we thought the ideal sailing vacation would be without a hired captain, just us…over many a cocktail hour, the dreams were hashed and re-hashed. Tahiti? Fiji? A Caribbean destination…but where? During those snowy-evening brainstorming sessions, an idea began to take shape. A few phone-calls later, we had our experienced captain – my brother – and his wife, enthusiastically joining the group. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> His experience sailing on the San Francisco Bay and along the California coast, as well as a previous bareboat trip in the BVI, provided us landlubbers with both an excellent addition to our travel group and also the leadership and skill needed for our dream to come true.

The original planning began in early 2002, with a travel date of August, 2003 agreed upon. Charter companies and boats were researched; e-mails traversed the western US to settle on the specifics. Good fortune occurred when all of our various unavoidable, unchangeable work commitments dovetailed perfectly, and we planned for a Moorings 505 charter, August 9-24. Sometime in early 2003, I began surfing the internet for resources to help with vacation planning; TTOL became a daily adventure in anticipation and solid information gathering. The links to various TTOLers web pages with detailed accounts of life aboard a sailboat were shared among all 8 of us, and many question and answer threads were printed out to take along.
(Particular thanks go to Bill Hartzmann for his charter boat checklist; to Walker Mangum for the Anegada waypoints and narrative of landmarks to watch for; and to Kathie_WE for gathering and posting restaurant closure information for August.)

To put our group into context for you, all of us are in the 55-59 age range…still looking for new adventures, with enough life experience to know … well, you know. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> We have all traveled quite a bit, all over the world, but never before had this particular group of 8 been together. The good news is, we all got along, even in the close quarters of the sailboat, for 15 days, and parted better friends than ever. The bad news is…well, there isn’t any bad news, except that the vacation did have to end. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" />

Saturday, August 9 Travel day , with a variety of itineraries; we arrived throughout the evening and met up at The Moorings in Roadtown. Our boat briefing was planned for Sunday morning…just as well, as one couple’s luggage didn’t arrive until mid-day on Sunday. By then we had our provisions stowed (ordered on-line from Bobbie’s, excellent service, timely delivery). One of the boat reviews I had read gave a recommendation that those over 6’ tall should use the aft cabins on the 505…I suppose all of the men in our group could have shared the 2 aft cabins <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Blush.gif" alt="" />, but we chose to stay berthed as couples! It all worked out fine, no worries about who got which cabin. Once the last of the luggage was delivered around noon, we were off (along with several other Moorings charterers who were also awaiting luggage delivery).

Destinations
Sunday 8/10: Roadtown to Norman Island
Monday 8/11: The Indians for snorkeling, then to Sprat Bay, Peter Island
Tuesday 8/12: Morning sail to Salt Island and Rhone Reef, then in the afternoon, on to Manchioneel Bay, Cooper Island
Wednesday 8/13: Sail to The Baths, Virgin Gorda, and later to Spanish Town
Thursday 8/14: Sail to Gorda Sound
Friday 8/15: Sail to Anegada (2 nights there)
Sunday 8/17: Sail to George Dog for snorkeling, then on to Trellis Bay
Monday 8/18: All the way to Marina Cay
Tuesday 8/19: Around Scrub Island and Great Camanoe to Lee Bay, Great Camanoe
Wednesday 8/20: Through the channel between Tortola and Guana Island, around Tortola to Cane Garden Bay
Thursday 8/21: Sail to Sandy Cay, and later to Great Harbor, Jost Van Dyke
Friday 8/22: Sail back to The Bight, Norman Island
Saturday 8/23: Final sail, to The Moorings Marina, Roadtown, Tortola
Sunday 8/24: Airport – flights home
Our sailing itinerary was partially agreed upon beforehand, and partially developed day-by-day; some needed equipment repairs influenced a couple of the day/night locations.


The Weather

In a word, perfect! Sunny, breezy, an occasional rain shower, one or two brief downpours in two weeks. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

Sailing Lessons

Well…did I mention that John is a teacher by profession? That in combination with his excellent sailing skills resulted in a vacation experience that would be difficult to surpass. It turned our vacation from “just another” 2 weeks in Paradise, to a skill-learning adventure. All of us from Colorado had been reading a variety of sailing instructional books through the long winter and spring. So we had some book learning; our mid-term and final exams were upon us, all rolled into one package. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" /> John had recommended that all who would be handling lines purchase and bring along sailing gloves; some of us, in our ignorance, brought bicycle gloves which we had on hand, thinking they would be just fine. Well, close, but no cigar!

Each day began with a short briefing of where we were headed, any new skills we would be learning, and of course our Captain spent time with the charts and GPS. With plenty of eager learners, and a boat whose equipment mostly worked as designed, we had a great time! Each of us had opportunities at the helm and working the jib sheets. A couple of the guys were usually the foredeck crew for raising and lowering the mainsail and grabbing the pennant on a mooring ball. Of course we made tons of mistakes – but nothing life- or boat-threatening, and we always recovered. The path mapped by the GPS was amusing from time to time…tacks that didn’t quite work, backwinded sails (I don’t think we ever had any unexpected jibes)…make for funny snarls on the display.

The Moorings 505 has a lot of great features, and we were usually quite appreciative of the bimini cover for shade. But it definitely hindered the view of any problems with raising and lowering the mainsail, which wanted to get snagged in the lazy jacks. It took us a couple of days to learn how to manage that inconvenience.

One of our biggest challenges turned out to be grabbing the pennant on the mooring ball. Until we learned some hand signals, and also how loudly one has to shout to be heard over the engine noise, we missed quite a few. No extra charge for the entertainment for those boats already secured! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Hairy.gif" alt="" /> We found on more than one occasion that many of the balls have extremely short pennants …maybe 4 feet long… not so good. In fact we had the same experience twice in one day, at George Dog and later at Trellis Bay, both times the boat hook ended up in the water. Luckily it floats! At George Dog we had to use the dinghy to be able to secure our line to the ball. At Trellis Bay, a couple of kind souls from another boat jumped into their dinghy and retrieved our boat hook – thank you, anonymous angels! I am sure our Captain’s patience must have been wearing thin, but it never showed. And over the course of two weeks, we did improve as our knowledge and experience grew. When we had occasion to use our anchor, we did that activity quite well, thank you very much! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Groovin.gif" alt="" />

I guess the worst mess our inexperience got us in was when we were heading along the coast of Tortola toward CGB. The morning's jib crew hadn’t quite mastered the pace, and the one releasing was letting out line too fast, while the one taking in wasn’t going fast enough…and the jib got incredibly fowled on its own stay (not sure if that’s the correct word). It took 15-20 minutes of gently altering direction repeatedly and working the lines whenever possible, until finally all conditions were right for the jib to completely release, the jib sheets were under control, and we were underway once more. In this adventure, we completely missed noticing Brewer’s Bay, so almost missed CGB thinking it must be Brewer’s…but that big ol’ landslide is nicely pictured in the anchorage guide, and we recognized it in time to make the entrance.

Activities other than Sailing

Primarily snorkeling , at
The Indians – wonderful, a great introduction to BVI waters
George Dog – outstanding, and no one else was in the water
The Baths – too cool! (or should it be “too warm” – wow; fantastic UW canyons)
Marina Cay – not worth mentioning, maybe we picked the wrong location
Loblolly Beach, Anegeda – fair; shore entry so the visibility is reduced
Lee Bay, Great Camanoe – fantastic! Afternoon & again in the a.m. Billions & billions of silversides
Sandy Cay – fair; again beach snorkeling has reduced visibility, it rained a bit; but interesting topography
The Caves – better than the best, afternoon & again in the a.m. Oh my gosh, this is a great site! Several turtles, the largest barracuda I have ever seen (and I have 175 scuba dives in my log book), and a wonderful abundance of species.

Scuba diving – 5 of us are certified, we dove The Rhone with John from Underwater Safaris. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> Visibility was superb, The Rhone is a most impressive wreck site for divers; I would love to do another BVI trip where there is more time for scuba.

I had brought along a small fish identification book (I left my 3-volume Paul Humann set at home – too heavy!). That ID book was in use every day after every snorkel by all in our party.

Beaches – from quite elegant (Deadman’s @PIYC) to tiny strips of sun-warmed sand (Lee Bay, Sandy Cay), the beaches are super.


Dining Out / Partying <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/chef.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/chef.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" />

We ate breakfast on board every day, and most lunches. Dinners I guess were about half & half between cooking on board and eating out. Sometimes it just seemed more relaxing to stay on board, have a quiet dinner and our own music on the CD player, and enjoy the peacefulness. Here’s a summary of our on-island excursions:

[color:"red"]Pirates [/color], Norman Island – excellent food & drink; bring a flashlight not only for the dinghy trip back, but for the restroom!
[color:"red"]Cooper Island Beach Club [/color] – also excellent. Definitely fancier but still island-casual.
[color:"red"] Bath & Turtle [/color] , Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda – desserts & drinks only, then tons of fun dancing to Faze 2
[color:"red"] Anegada Reef Hotel [/color] – the famous lobster dinner – we all rated it good, not excellent, but the location more than made up for any “average-ness” to the meal.
[color:"red"]Big Bamboo [/color] – Loblolly Beach, Anegada – just drinks while at the beach – nice
[color:"red"]De Loose Mongoose [/color] , Trellis Bay, Beef Island – this one was the best – great atmosphere, excellent food & drink, good live music…a memorable evening.
[color:"red"] Marina Cay [/color] whatever it’s called – we ordered drinks & appetizers for a very late lunch – great views, good food
[color:"red"]Rhymer's [/color] , Cane Garden Bay – cheeseburgers & Red Stripes for lunch – they really hit the spot!
[color:"red"] Quito's [/color] , Cane Garden Bay – most of us had the “catch of the day” and it was really only fair. Also we hit a night with no live music – so, overall, not an outstanding experience.
[color:"red"]AliBaba's [/color] at Great Harbour, JVD – extremely indifferent service; our later arrivals never did get to order a drink, so we went to
[color:"red"]Foxy's [/color] , we know they were ready to close for the season, but…. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> No food was being served, but there was quite a crowd ordering drinks mid-afternoon, and the service was at best indifferent. We had one round, then escaped from the dark, dreary atmosphere – it was really depressing, and the mosquitoes were biting – and went back to the boat.
[color:"red"]The Moorings Marina [/color] – their bar and restaurant both have top notch service and excellent food, in a quiet, comfortable atmosphere. Saturday night they had live music – a steel drum band – that was very enjoyable. And those who ordered the lobster dinner said it was outstanding! I had their “Seafood Array” appetizer for dinner, and it was delicious!

At these various establishments we tried Painkillers, Bushwackers, NoSeeUms, JamaicaMeCrazy, Quito’s Legend… <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" /> ... and a few more whose names escape me now. I don’t think we ever developed a consensus on which was best; will have to continue the sampling on another trip.

Technical Difficulties

We did have a few problems with the boat, and arranged to have a service technician from The Moorings come on board while we were in Trellis Bay to repair things. We had a fresh-water pump burn out early on, and the shower valve at the swim step broke & was leaking; we were very pleased with the efficient service provided. Once those items were repaired, we had no further problems requiring outside assistance; time spent in Trellis Bay for repairs, and then needing to refill the fresh-water tanks, gave us a very short motor trip over to Marina Cay, and it was so nice there we stayed overnight.

The name of our boat, by the way, was An Balores II … gee, that was a hard one to get your mind around, at least initially. So we called it the Annie B until we could master its true name.

Injuries – not too bad for such raw beginners. But we did have our share – a couple of us slipped and fell on the stairs, causing an in-service on how to go down backwards every time. There was a thumb trapped under a line – the nail will fall off, for sure (by the way, plastic spoons and adhesive tape make a great splint for a thumb); and a puncture wound as a hatch fell shut on a finger; various & sundry rope burns (note to self: order sailing gloves for next time); a wrenched back; and a man overboard in the Spanish Town marina entrance channel – he was tending the dinghy painter…and…well…whatever!!! Most of us were forward getting the fenders out of the crew cabin, so we didn’t see it, just heard our Captain holler appropriately and gather in his very wet but safe crew. I had been “quizzed” just that morning on the man overboard procedure, and was starting to race aft to help when I noticed John wasn’t throwing the flotation device – our dinghy was functioning quite well in that role!

Provisions...again
Along the way we purchased additional groceries at Spanish Town (the market is right there at the marina) and at the Trellis Bay Market. Both had just about everything we needed, or something we could substitute.


Special Memories

Buying sparkling bead costume jewelry from the young woman collecting the mooring fee in Trellis Bay…

Dolphins accompanying our boat as we left North Sound headed for Anegada…

Turtles in almost every bay or cove…

Healthy reefs and abundant life underwater…just a quick listing from memory yields 57 species noted(just the fish, not even beginning to count corals, sponges, etc., etc....)

The wonderful solitude in Lee Bay – there is “nothing” there!

The stars…the stars…the stars…

Camaraderie in close quarters…


Would We Do It Again?
<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Love.gif" alt="" />In a heartbeat! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Love.gif" alt="" />

Thanks again to all of you regular TTOLers on the BVI board whose generous contributions of knowledge and advice helped make our first (but not last) sailing vacation a spectacular success.

Ginny in Colorado