Here's a quick trip report for our March 2014 sailing trip. Three of us rented CYOA's Hunter 36 Island Angel for the second time. This boat works great for three/four people, with a giant cockpit for entertaining. My lady sweet Christine and daughter Lizi were along.

We have some GoPro videos of snorkeling spots to add soon. Photos are at: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=...mp;l=723e541892

Starting from St. Thomas, we overnighted at:

* French Town Marina, St. Thomas
* Maho Bay, St. John
* The Bight, Norman Island
* Scrub Island Marina
* Saba Rock, North Sound, Virgin Gorda
* Great Harbor, Jost Van Dyke on anchor
* Caneel Bay, St. John on anchor

Enroute, we visited:

* Sopers Hole, Tortola
* The Indians and The Caves at Norman Island
* Pirates Bight and Willy T, Norman Island
* Wreck of the Rhone, Salt Island
* George Dog Island
* Prickly Pear Island/Eustatia Sound
* Saba Rock Happy Hour and tarpon feeding
* Bitter End Yacht Club Pub
* Monkey Point, Great Camanoe Island
* Soggy Dollar, White Bay Jost Van Dyke
* Foxy's, Great Harbor Jost Van Dyke

We ate two dinners and all breakfasts and lunches on the boat. The places we ate out at, plus a subjective rating:

* Pie Whole, French Town, St. Thomas - (A)
* Tierra Tierra, Scrub Island - (B)
* Fat Virgin Cafe, North Sound Virgin Gorda - (A+)
* Corsair's, Great Harbor Jost Van Dyke - (A)
* Jewel's, White Bay Jost Van Dyke - (B+)
* Cruz Bay Landing, Cruz Bay St. John - (A+)
* Fatty Crab, Cruz Bay St. John - (B+)

We provisioned at Gourmet Gallery in Crown Bay Marina. The up charge over the Pueblo grocery story was about the cost of a taxi ride back, plus we were able to leave the ladies at Tickles and we had a ride back with Capt. Jay & Debbie. We brought a few items in a cooler to keep the shopping load down. Most of what we bought were beverages. Capt. Jay lightened our load a lot by picking up 12 gallon jugs of water for us at K-Mart. Three of us ending up drinking 10 gallons over eight days.

Some highlights, thoughts and comments:

Frenchtown is a great place to start a sailing trip. Plenty of options for provisioning and restaurants. Checking in and out with CYOA is brisk, the boat was very clean and ready to go. Island Angel was in better shape than November, with fresh batteries - made me happy. Having a freezer onboard this small boat really helped keep our need for ice way down.

We love the St. John North Shore anchorages. Sleeping at Caneel Bay is a bit challenging after the ferries start their runs with all of the rolling their wakes cause. But, Maho/Francis Bays and Leinster Bay are quiet and beautiful. Checking in at Sopers Hole and Cruz Bay is fast and easy. The counterclockwise route around the USVIs and BVIs gave us lots to do and visit between each anchorage.

For snorkeling attractions, we had fun at the Indians. The Wreck of the Rhone was great, with a couple of snorkelers and boat loads of divers; we could see the panorama of the dive site from the surface. George Dog had great snorkeling around the dive buoys. The Eustatia Sound side of Prickly Pear Island has a lot of promise. Snorkeling at Monkey Point was fine, similar to a dozen St. John sites. On future trips I'd like to hit Cistern Point at Cooper Island, Fallen Jerusalem and Chimneys at Great Dog.

We did a night in the marina at Scrub Island. The staff were great. The marina was good, if a bit shallow. The amenities were quite resorty, with large private marble bathrooms for the marina guests. But, we're not really resort people and felt a bit like we didn't fit in. We had left behind the camping out feel of sailing that we love so much. Comparing it to the Leverick Bay Marina, I think the biggest difference was that Scrub Island was a bit more formal and structured. Leverick is a lot more fun and authentic and we definitely prefer the atmosphere there. Scrub wins on bathrooms. Leverick wins on everything else.

We hit some dining favorites on this trip, and have a new one. Pie Whole has a killer beer selection and very good pizza and salads. Tierra Tierra, after dinner on the boat two nights in a row, was a bit of a disappointment; we left saying it was good, but we could do just as well ourselves. The service was a bit tentative and the drink service was slow. Corsairs was solid for a very good meal with some tentative service. Jewel's has my favorite beach hot dog. Cruz Bay Landing is a new favorite, with some great appetizers, good drinks and a great team running things in a wonderful setting. Fatty Crab was a bit of a let down after previous very impressive showings; we did not recognize any of the staff and the dishes were less adventurous with less of a Malaysian influence and more Thai - sweeter, less sour and spicy.

Fat Virgin Cafe for dinner was the standout meal for this trip, especially after eating at Tierra Tierra the night before. We had Goat Stew, Kingfish and West Indian BBQ Ribs with sides like christophenes with pumpkin, fungee and peas & rice. The Kingfish was beautifully sautéed with crisp skin. I asked about the fish options and Ratty, our server, said "Kingfish come off the boat this morning. That's what I'm having for dinner!" Christine's Goat Stew had a lot of savory spice in dark gravy (my mouth is watering as I remember the flavor) and I would go back for that. Lizi's ribs were classic West Indian style with a sweet sauce and falling apart tender. I love my Kansas City and Memphis style ribs, but this is a different style. Ratty gave us great service, the beer was cold and the setting was quite fun.

After Sailing

We extended our trip to do some boat shopping and stayed with Capt. Jay and Debbie for some play time. Lizi was not happy about going back to a snow storm, but the last semester of college is not optional. Standouts for the St. Thomas land-based four days were dinner at Mafolie Restaurant and speeding the day at Honeymoon Bay, Water Island. St. Patrick's Day was a marina tour/pub crawl and some St. Patrick's Day parading in Red Hook with dinner at Tickle's Pub at Crown Bay.

Jay and I headed over to Tortola the day after St. Patrick's day to meet with a broker at BVI Yacht Sales. We looked at eight different boats and came up with our favorite layouts and designs. The results of that exercise is another story to tell.

Cheers, RickG