First, I'm sorry for anyone who has postponed their trip due to Covid-19.
Another wonderful trip to the Virgin Islands. Feb 21 – March 9. TMM, Lagoon 380 Glissade 2. First night at Maria’s by The Sea. Nine nights (plus the sleep aboard) on Glissade 2. 4 nights on St John after sailing. Two whole weeks!! We’ve sailed the Virgin Islands many times. After a crazy 2019. Our goal was to sail, relax and have fun. I know a number of you hate boatyball. We took full advantage of reserving Boatyball for every anchorage except Norman (which doesn’t have any boatyballs). Twice when we arrived there was a boat on our reserved ball. With that said, both times the other boats moved promptly off the mooring. We spotted turtles at numerous anchorages. Mostly good weather after the first couple days. We were amazed how wonderful the islands looked compared to a year ago.
TMM was great. Didi was very responsive throughout the booking process and when we emailed with questions. We would definitely consider using them again.
Boat was clean and well maintained Free Wi-Fi Great boat for crew of two Touch screen chart plotter All lines ran to helm station Electric winch Great visibility at the helm She was a fast little boat even when reefed Comfortable bunk Well stocked Riteway across from TMM base Pleasant TMM staff
A few small negatives to note. None of these impacted our great time. The fridge was too big, hard to keep cold. Tiny freezer compartment. Small helm station. Could not stand while steering. The hard top Bimini was right at eye level. Poor Galley design. Hardly any space to prep food. Small main salon, no storage. We stored nonperishables and gallon water in the forward port cabin. Scuppers in cockpit did not fully drain (design flaw). The dinghy was not properly inflated. Dinghy pump on boat fixed that issue. Grill screw was stripped. Did not hold firmly on rail. Only used the grill once. Hopefully TMM will replace the grill.
Holiday officially began Friday Feb 21 at 230p (left work early). The fun has begun! 445p Amtrak from Mystic CT to Penn Station NYC. LIRR from Penn to JFK. Over night at the Radisson JFK.
Saturday Feb 22 900a nonstop AA to St Thomas. Left on time, wheels down early. Time to step out of the aircraft into sunny Caribbean skies. The first scent of Caribbean air, ah! 230p Native Son, ferry boat “Oriole” to Road Town. About 20 minutes in customs line. Short walk to Maria’s by the Sea for one night. We decided to add an extra night at the beginning of our trip. Last year’s outbound flight delay caused way too much stress. Maria’s was a perfect choice. Great location, large room, fridge, clean and view of the harbor. Easy walk to Bobby’s to pick up sun screen, toiletries, water, fruit and yogurt for breakfast. Great store, had just about anything you could need. Prepared foods to go as well. Pusser’s for happy hour and dinner. Super nice waitress. Night cap at Maria’s bar. A great first day!
Sunday Feb 23 Breakfast on the balcony. Morning walk to Village Cay Marina for coffee. Tonight, sleep aboard Glissade 2. Afternoon spent at Cane Garden Bay. Took advantage of the free beach lounge chairs. A wonderful lunch at Quito’s. Another great wait staff. Arrived TMM base prior to 500p. The boat was ready, boarded early! Finally we could unpack. Our food deliveries were on time. Good Moon and Riteway. Caribbean Cellars delivered our wine on Saturday. Missing one bottle. They got that bottle to us Monday morning. Dinner at The Pub. Armed with a flashlight for the dark walk back to base.
Monday Feb 24 A visit from TMM staff member Joyce. She brought us some homemade bread. What a sweet heart. We had just finished our boat briefing and the skies opened up with a down pour. About an hour later we were off the dock for our check out sail. No issues and we were on our way to Cooper! The skies and wind remained unsettled. Opted to motored to Cooper. My husband did a great job at the helm getting me close to the mooring. My boat hook and line skills came through. No problems getting on the ball with the bridle in place all by myself. Cooper was as beautiful as ever. Gorgeous blue clear water. But our first dip into the Caribbean waters will have to wait. Too many clouds. After lunch did some dinner prep and relaxed. It’s never too cloudy for happy hour. We ventured a shore with our rain jackets. Free seats at the bar! Cooper Island is blessed to have Jason as a bartender. He’s great! Some rain decided to join the party. It had let up by the time we headed back to Glissade 2. The clouds lingered. This was a first, ate dinner in the salon due to unsettled weather. Not much rain protection in the cockpit.
Tuesday Feb 25 Tuesday morning the weather was still unsettled. Set off under power to Leverick. Northerly swells. Waved as we went passed the Baths. Didn’t look like any boats were there. We hadn’t planned on stopping any way. Ended up motoring the whole way to Leverick. More sun and less clouds later in the day. After lunch a provision run to Chef’s Panty. Relaxed on Glissade. Happy hour ashore. Stayed for a few Michael Bean pirate songs. Very happy and enthusiastic crowd watching the show. Dinner in main salon again.
Wednesday Feb 26 Woke up to clouds with a forecast showing partly cloudy. Anegada was waiting. Finally some sailing! With the sails reefed. Under way around 10a as the skies were starting to clear. That beautiful, peaceful anchorage was calling to us. As always, a great one tack sail to Anegada. The wind held steady mostly above 16 knots. Some good swells along the way made for a rocky ride. “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning” by Sam, a very happy welcome to Anegada. Afternoon at Cow Wreck (our favorite beach). The winds remained. We never went in the water. Enjoyed the beach none the less. Dinner at Anegada Reef. Al Fresco dining with your feet in the sand, wonderful! Ernie the bartender is great, so friendly and funny too. Loud music wafting over from Potter’s. I did a little Saturday Night Fever dancing (one too many glasses of wine) on the way to our dinghy after dinner. Music was shut down around 10p. All was quiet in the anchorage.
Thursday Feb 27 A gorgeous morning. Sunny and calm. Sadly we say, “Goodbye Anegada”. Jost Van Dyke awaits. A long and warm downwind sail to Great Harbour. As we took turns at the helm. The other took refuge in the shade. Lots of sunscreen, frequently applied and lots of water drunk. I wanted to spend the night at Diamond Cay. But my husband really wanted to go straight to Great Harbour. There were numerous large yachts and small cruise ships anchored. Securely on our mooring. Time to cool off and regain some energy. Our first dip in the warm Caribbean waters. Ah, what a wonderful feeling. Our boatyball was near North Latitude Marina. Despite being further from the dinghy docks. It was very convenient to unload trash. The small shop at the marina was perfect to restock gallon drinking water. Had a small selection of other goods as well. Best to have smaller currency $5, $10, $1 (bills), as they didn’t have a lot of change. Next on the agenda. Happy hour at Foxy’s. After a visit to Foxy’s gift shop. We both walked out with purchases. We snagged stools at the outdoor bar. A couple glasses of wine. Took advantage of Foxy’s bug spray behind the bar. Not sure what they use, it wasn’t at all sticky and smelled lovely. Dinner on board. In our bunk early after a long day.
Friday Feb 28 No sailing today. Managed to reserve the same boatyball we were already on. After breakfast went a shore. So excited to see a table of baked goods set up near the dinghy dock. A free sample of their macaroons. Oh so yummy. We promised to stop back and buy some of their amazing goods. Wandered to Cosairs for coffee and to make a dinner reservations. We were in the minority, everyone else was ordering some sort of alcoholic beverage. Hung out at the bar enjoying our coffee and the view. Watched as the cruiser wander in looking for free wi-fi and a loo. Vinny promptly sent them along their way. His septic system is small and costs $1800 each time for a pump out, three times a year. Only patrons have the privileage of using his facilities. Amen! A quick stop at the grocery for a few things. They were out of fish and no yogurt, bummer. Back to the baked goods. Bought a couple veggie empanadas (for lunch), a bagel, a loaf of whole wheat bread and one macaroon. Took the dinghy around the point to White Bay. The Soggy Dollar was a crazy circus. So many people. Bought a couple things at the gift shop and two pain killers. Snacked on our empanadas. Enough of the crowds. We hike over to Ivan’s and the quiet side of White Bay. Ivan’s is small and not self serve. Hoping they will expand as time goes on. You could see remains of the old Ivan’s. No shaded area on the beach either. We lathered on more sunscreen, relaxed then cooled off in the water. And repeated. A glass of wine at the bar to celebrate being back at Ivan’s to top off our day. I bought an Ivan’s logo pin and attached to my Pusser’s beach bag. Dinner at Corsair’s was great. Kenny and the wait staff were excellent. Great food! A wonderful evening. We will definitely eat there next time we’re on Jost. Thanks Vinny and crew.
Saturday Feb 29 I wanted to spend a night at Diamond Cay. But we still need to get more provisions. We decide to sail around for a couple hours and spend the night at Cane Garden Bay. The sailing was fun. But an unfortunate decision to spend the night at Cane Garden. Provisioning worked out well. I will warn everyone away from spending the night at Cane Garden. Maybe because it was a Saturday. Blaring music until 400a. We closed all the hatches and the main salon door. The music was one long song with the baseline turned. You could almost feel the boat vibrate. Amazingly, I did manage to fall asleep with two pillows over my head. Woke up during the night. The music was still blaring. Thought it was 100a. It was 300a. Didn’t fall back to sleep until after 4. When the music finally stopped. We were underway before 700a motoring to Monkey Point for breakfast and snorkeling. We will never return to Cane Garden Bay. If you and your crew want to party all night Cane Garden Bay is the place to go.
Sunday Mar 1 The water was calm. No other boats as we motored to Monkey Point. A perfect way to start the day. This was our first snorkel of the trip. Very sad, there wasn’t a lot to see. So much damage from the hurricanes. Even though we were disappointed with the snorkeling. We enjoyed our morning relaxing at Monkey Point. Happy to be away from Cane Garden. We tried to sail from Monkey Point to Diamond Cay. The winds were too light and from behind. We weren’t the only boat under power. After lunch. Time for a dip into the clear blue waters. Ah, so refreshing. We were too lazy to venture a walk to the bubble pool and we visited the pool last year. The quietness of Diamond Cay was wonderful. It was not to last. A powerboat enters the anchorage with loud music and some sort man screaming out words. Would you know. He grabbed the boatyball next to us! Oh no!! I had to laugh, I didn’t want this to ruin my mood. Thankfully he turned off the music and went ashore. Later on he moved his boat to the dock. We were looking forward to happy hour at Taboo. We loved Taboo last year. Sadly, the bartender was awful. We tried to be extra friendly and polite. He served us promptly. Not a hint of a smile. He looked miserable. Our bartender last year could not have been nicer and friendlier. To make things worse. Another power boat, out for the day, comes into the anchorage with music blaring. Ties up to the dock and leaves the music on full blast. Eventually a number people get off the boat. Wander around taking pictures, then get back on board. No one patronized the bar. They noisily remained at the dock. Causing paying customers to leave. My husband jokingly said to me “maybe they think this is Cane Garden Bay”. We tried to endure but left with our unfinished wine. As we arrived back at our boat they were leaving the dock. The rest of our stay was quiet. The night sky was amazing. We laid on the tramp looking at the stars. My husband’s iPad has a stargazing app. We held it up to sky to find out what constellations we were gazing at. Tried to get some selfies. That didn’t quite work out. Some good laughs.
Monday Mar 2 Destination Norman Island. With a stop at Soper’s to buy water and wine. A relaxing sail to Soper’s. Great to see plenty of boats on moorings at Soper’s Hole and looking pretty good. A couple shops open. Voyage facilities look great. They have ice for sale. The grocery is not open yet. The Voyage office told us it will be open in May. That we could cab to a grocery store. We took the ice back to Glissade and decided we would check out going to the grocery via cab. My husband asked at Pusser’s. They told us about Kelly’s. Reached by dinghy or walking. We went via the dinghy. Keep the docks to starboard, go under the bridge and it’s shortly after the bridge, on the right. They have a small dock. What a great find. Back to sailing. Average winds were 10 to 13 knots. So much fun. We had wanted to sail as close to the anchorage entrance as we could. After sailing south past Flannagan Island. We tacked. We’d been keeping an eye on some threatening clouds but it looked like they were heading away from us. Wrong! In no time the winds were up to 18 knots and even hit 20. My husband quickly got the jib ready to be furled in. A bit messy pulling in the jib. Very thankful to have the electric winch. When the main came down. It didn’t fall neatly, some of the sail was hanging outside the sail bag. Husband went above to get all of the sail into the bag. I was so happy when he was back in the cockpit. What happened to our lovely fun sail? Plenty of free balls. Sun was back out. After a late lunch. Our refreshing plunge into the water, AH! Headed to the Willy-T for happy hour around 430p. My recommendation, go the the Willy-T around 5p. When the day trippers are on their way. Too many kids running around to get back to upper deck to jump off. I know they deserve to have their fun too. But I do prefer an adult atmosphere for happy hour.
Tuesday Mar 3 Our last full day on Glissade 2. Destination Cooper Island. 700a, boatyball reserved. Today’s plan snorkel the Indians then sail, sail, sail! Motored out and nixed the snorkel plans as the winds had pick up over night. Headed back to anchorage entrance to raise the main. Nicely reefed main, jib out, passed Water Point, Glissade 2 was flying. Steady winds, 15 to 18. Until we got coverage from Peter Island, the seas were fairly swelly. It was lots of fun. We sailed all morning. Winds mellowed averaging12 knots. Glissage 2 loves the wind. Arrived Cooper around 130p. What a fabulous last day! Refreshing, re-energizing plunge after lunch, AH! Pineapple mimosas to toast our wonderful trip. The dreaded P word (packing) could not be avoided. Our reward would be happy hour ashore. Jason was was in his bartender zone. Happily serving everyone (the bar was busy) and making us all feeling welcome. He could certainly teach the Taboo bartender a few lessons in customer service. For dinner we cook up what was in the fridge. Veg, quinoa and leftover fish.
Wednesday, Mar 4 Up early, motored back to TMM. Entered Road Harbor with a couple cruise ships. No problems getting docked at Ft Burt for fuel. No one around. After about 15 minutes we called TMM. They got in touch with Ft Burt. 15 minutes or so later someone arrived to get us refueled. Used this time to do some more unloading prep. With a bit of instruction from TMM dock staff. Docked Glissade 2 with no problems. We said our goodbyes. Sadly our sailing adventure was over. Had the chance to thank Joyce again for the homemade bread before heading to the ferry. St John here we come!!
We were in Cane Garden Bay the night before and it was loud. Our boat did vibrate and it was 4:10 when they ended. Sounds like the same entertainer was there. There was a special festival that weekend as it was a holiday in Tortola. We learned that if an anchorage is pretty empty when we get there, ask why and maybe move someplace else.
Sorry that you and Philggct had a bad night in Cane Garden Bay. You had the misfortune of joining us the weekend of Spring Fest. Normally, it's not so bad so I wouldn't shy away again. Even for that weekend, if you'd known, the SE corner probably would have been fine. You can see the schedule for the festival on FB (BVI Spring Fest) each year but it's always the last weekend in Feb/first in March depending on how it falls.
Jason, Thanks for the tip about the festival. It's great to know Cane Garden Bay doesn't party like that all the time. It is a lovely beach. And we really enjoyed our lunch at Quito's.
Jason, Thanks for the tip about the festival. It's great to know Cane Garden Bay doesn't party like that all the time. It is a lovely beach. And we really enjoyed our lunch at Quito's.
It's spectacular here right now with the cruise ships missing and most of the lounge chairs stacked up out of the way!
We still enjoyed our afternoon, the drinks, sunset and overall time at Cane Garden. The night is not part of that adventure and we learned to ask ahead about things like this during chart briefings.
