Even though we've been down to the islands many times and I’ve been on TTOL for years, this is my first stab at a trip report. And even though we started our charter from Puerto Rico I am going to post it here in the BVI forum because about half of our time was spent in the BVIs. Also rather than a regular chronological report, I am just going to provide an overall summary of our experience, breaking it out into various sections.
Itinerary and Flights
We wanted to do something a bit different while still hitting our favorite BVI stops so we decided to charter from Sail Caribe in Fajardo. We flew out of Portland, OR on Thanksgiving night with a redeye to New York. We only had a 45 minute layover so luckily our first flight arrived on time and we arrived at our next flight to San Juan just as it started boarding. We arrived in San Juan tired and a little disoriented as we didn't get much sleep on the flights. After spending a couple nights recovering from the trip at the Las Casitas resort in Fajardo, enjoying their pools and water park, we boarded our boat on Sunday, December 1. Throughout our ten day charter our stops included Culebra, Charlotte Amaalie, Great Cruz Bay, Sopers Hole, The Bight, Leverick Bay, Cooper Island, Scrub Island, Christmas Cove (St. Thomas) and finally Culebra again. We also made a day stop at Maho Bay on St. John. After our charter we spent another four days in San Juan - one of our favorite cities to explore and hang out it. While the flight to Puerto Rico seemed fairly quick, our return trip dragged on and on. In particular, our flight from New York to Portland was one of those flights where it seems you are just never going to get there. I think it took 90 minutes more than the flight from Portland to New York thanks to the opposing jet stream. We didn't arrive in Portland until 1:00am which would have been 5:00am if we were still on Puerto Rico time.
Weather and Sailing Conditions
The weather started out with relatively calm winds and moderate swell, but with some heavy rain showers. At times our visibility from the rain was probably about the length of a football field in all directions. We had thunderstorms at night for the first couple nights which was a first for us. Mid-charter, conditions took a turn and became very windy with gusts topping out in the upper 40s at my estimation when we were on the outer ball at Cooper Island. Our sail from the BVIs back to Puerto Rico was in 20-25 knot winds and fairly close 6-8’ swells with the occasional 10 footer rolling through. I’m glad we were going with the weather at that time. As mentioned above, our entire trip was fairly rainy though we did get periods of sun as well. Everywhere we went people were talking about how it was supposed to be the dry season and the rain isn't the norm for that time of the year. We've been down a few times in November-December and I have to agree that it was unusually rainy compared to our other trips. Oh well, we still came back tan and relaxed so we are happy.
The Boat and Charter Base
Marina Puerto del Rey is the largest marina in the Caribbean and as big as any marina I have seen. We were picked up and transported around the marina in a golf cart and it was a good thing as we would have had to have walked miles going back and forth between our boat delivering our luggage and for provisioning. The folks at Sail Caribe are all very friendly and helpful and I would recommend them to anyone wanting to charter in the Spanish Virgin Islands. Everyone from Maria who picked us up in the parking lot and answered all of our general questions, to Graham who did our check out sail and helped troubleshoot a few things with the boat, to Jim, the owner of Sail Caribe did all they could to ensure we had a great trip. Our boat was a 2012 Lagoon 450 named Sherman's Lagoon. It was the second cat that we've chartered and was very different from the Voyage 520 that we had before. In particular, it was quite spacious and very comfortable. I was surprised at how high the freeboard was on the boat and when up on the flybridge helm I must have been nearly twelve feet above the water. Still not sure if I like being high up like that or if I preferred the more low profile approach of the Voyage boats. If I am being honest I would say the Lagoon is built more for comfort while the Voyage may have been a bit more performance oriented. The boat was well outfitted including two refrigerators, a freezer and an ice maker, not to mention plenty of small appliances and other handy devices. There was a television in the main saloon that raised and lowered electronically. However, the HDMI ports were covered by the bracket attaching it to the raising and lowering device. Since we had movies and videos on a iPad that required an HDMI port I removed the tv off the bracket and rested it on the counter. It didn't budge during the entire trip, even in the large swell we encountered.
As mentioned, there were a couple issues with the boat. The generator shut down on us during our first night out at Culebra. After trouble shooting it that night and the next morning we finally found that a wire for one of the pumps came apart at its connector and a fuse was blown. They offered to send a boat out first thing the next morning if we remained in the Spanish Virgins, but we were hoping to make it to the USVI that day. We were losing our window to make the passage so we crossed our fingers that the problem really was as simple as it appeared and headed towards St. Thomas where we figured we would be able to find replacements. After anchoring for the night in Charlotte Amalie we bought two boxes of various sized fuses at the local grocery/convenience store and headed back to the boat. It fixed the problem and now the boat has enough fuses onboard for the next 10-20 years. It was good that we figured the problem out as we now had functional A/C not to mention the ability to power of vast array or refrigerators and freezers without having to run the engines all the time.
Our other issue with the boat was a bit more serious. After leaving St. Thomas we had a nice leisurely sail under full main and jib to St. John. When we arrived at Great Cruz Bay I furled the jib and went on to drop the main but it didn't move. I checked all of the usual suspects but everything was open and clear and the sail should have just dropped. We winched pretty hard on the reefing lines to the point where I was getting worried about tearing the sail but it still wouldn't budge. Fortunately the winds were light and we grabbed a ball in the bay with our main sail up. Long story short, the charter company had a couple of local riggers come out and one of them had to go up the mast to get the sail to come down. Turns out the main halyard somehow developed a twist in the rope. On this particular boat, the main halyard comes down from the tip of the mast, through a block at the top of the sail and then back up to the mast where it is tied off. The twist in the halyard caused the two runs of line to wrap around each other and then bunch up when the sail was raised. The result was too much friction to lower it and it also looks like it might have got a bit jammed into the top of the mast. After getting the sail down the riggers and the charter company recommended sailing with at least one reef in the main to allow more space between the top of the sail and the masthead. This was fine with us since the wind was supposed to be increasing significantly for the remainder of the trip. We only ended up using the main two more times after that since the rest of our sailing was downwind in high winds and our jib generally sufficed. However, on our second to last day we were sailing in 20-25 knots of wind and decided to raise the main with two reefs. We reached Culebra and when attempting to lower the sail we had the same problem as before. We pulled into Soldiers Point on Culebra and picked up a fairly protected mooring, though we were still dancing around it with our main raised. After several attempts to lower it we were able to get it about 1/4 of the way down but then it would not budge even with me and my son hanging on it with all of our weight. Since it was getting late in the afternoon we were resigned to spend the night on a mooring ball with our sail partially raised. However, in a last ditch effort I climbed to the top of the mast steps and threw a dock line over the highest sail car I could reach. We pulled the reefing lines out a bit, secured them to each side of the dock line hanging from the sail car and started to winch on them. Slowly, the main began to lower. Once we had the reefing lines pulled down as far as possible I had to do the same procedure once more before the sail was free enough to be pulled down by hand. By now the sail and sail bag were a big mess so I wrapped the dock line around the whole thing and decided not to mess with the main on our trip back to the base the next morning. Although a bit of a hassle, I value the experience and only feel that it will better prepare me to handle future issues - which no doubt will come up from time to time.
I want to make clear here that Sail Caribe was great to deal with throughout the trip and I would recommend them to anyone. The issues we had with the boat were freak occurrences and could happen to any boat from any charter company. I would have no hesitation using Sail Caribe again for another SVI sailing trip and would rate them right up there with the best companies we have worked with over the years.
Food and Ashore
As an amateur foodie, dining is one of the highlights for my trips. We had dinner at some ok places, some good places and we had one or two great meals. Overall I would have to say we were a little disappointed with the dining compared to previous trips, but still, we didn't go hungry and we did have some good meals.
Our first memorable stop was Pirates. I heard they had a temporary bar set up but I didn't expect much - maybe a makeshift hut with a choice of a few cocktails and beer. However, what we found was a "temporary" structure that rivaled many of the popular beach bars in the BVIs. Their food was good, but the atmosphere was so much more that we expected and it was a memorable night. While there we did a quick snorkel at the caves but my kids weren't that into it so we only spent about 20 minutes in the water. We did rectify that abbreviate snorkel by taking a nighttime swim with the tarpon off the stern of our boat.
Friday we found ourselves at Leverick and enjoyed the BBQ and the Jumbies. Great entertainment and a good selection of quality food to choose from. Plus, the laundry facilities and the the fresh water pool are always a nice bonus. I will add here that the dockmaster at Leverick is a real pro. We took the last slip available which was the south side of the double slip at the end of the dock (the slip across from the phone booth). As we were approaching the winds kicked up from 10-15 knots to probably 25-30 and he directed me to come directly at the dock on an angle with my starboard bow aimed straight at the outer corner of the slip. Once we were within a couple feet he tied off our bow dock line and the wind swung us around almost 180 degrees until we were sitting astern of the slip. We missed clipping the boat settled in across from us with our stern by probably 2-3 feet and I saw a lot of wide eyes from the people on that boat. The dockmaster (wish I could remember his name) was calm and collected the whole time and obviously knew exactly what he was doing. He might have even made it look like I knew what I was doing - though I kind of doubt that.
Our best meal and stop in the islands was at Scrub. That was after our crazy windy night at Cooper and by that time we really needed a bit of rest and relaxation so we grabbed a slip and spent the day and next morning there. Their pool setup is great and my kids had a great time making laps on the water slide (ok, I may have made a few laps myself as well). Later my wife and I dined a Caravella and I have to say that it is one of my favorite restaurants I have been to on a vacation. As I stated in a previous thread, the scallops were excellent and I am still trying to figure out what spices chef Davide used in them. As a matter of fact, all of our food was great and the setting is unreal. We dined at the bar and Staci was an excellent bartender and host. Something about Scrub just really appeals to me for a one or two night stop on a sailing trip. This is our second time stopping there and I am sure most future charters will include stops at Scrub as well. Hopefully their bankruptcy won't change the resort and when/if chef Davide leaves they will be able maintain his excellent standards.
We had a few additional really good meals in San Juan. We dined at Il Mulino at the Ritz Carlton and my wife declared it is one of her favorite, if not her favorite restaurant anywhere. I have to agree that the service and quality of the food is very good and I can't find any faults with it. IMO it doesn't quite match up to the specialness of Caravella and a few other places I have been to, but it is quite good. We also dined at the pizza place at the El Convento hotel in Old San Juan. Good pizza and a great selection of beer. The owner is very personable and friendly and while I would not consider it gourmet per say, it is a very comfortable restaurant that I will return to on future trips.
I didn't make many comments about ashore activities aside from dining here and that is primarily because we spent a lot of time on the boat moving from one place to the next. We purchased a BVI parks permit but didn't even make it to The Baths or any of the other sites where we would have needed it. I think we snorkeled all of one or two times during the entire trip and spent minimal time on the beach. Really, our only beach day was a few hours at Maho and the weather wasn’t great that day. It was definitely a more sailing-oriented trip compared to previous trips.
I do want to add one gripe about the Bitter End Yacht Club while I am here. We arrived in North Sound initially planning to spend one night at the BEYC and then one night at Leverick. We have visited the BEYC on all of our previous trips and like the variety of activities and options they offer. When we arrived on this trip we grabbed a ball in a mostly empty mooring field and then went to a virtually empty resort. We thought it was a bit odd but we proceeded to do a bit of shopping and then went to the beach. When my wife went to order drinks she was basically informed that we were free to spend our money there, but that the entire resort was rented out and we were not allowed not use their beaches or facilities, and that the restaurants would be open to serve the group that rented the resort. My biggest complaint is that they did not have any notices or signs stating that the resort was rented when we arrived at the dock. However, I also feel that renting the entire resort to a private party is not the greatest move for one of the primary facilities in North Sound. I understand that they are free to make whatever business decisions they want. However, the decision to close the resort to the public will make us reconsider using their facilities in the future, and I heard the same frustrations voiced by other people we met on our trip. In the end we went to Leverick Bay for the night and had a great time so maybe it was a blessing in disguise.
Summary
Although we had a couple issues with the boat and the weather didn't fully cooperate we still had a great trip (and my wife and kids concur with that statement - I'm not just speaking for myself). With that said, if the goal for a charter is to sail the BVIs I am not sure I would charter out Puerto Rico again. However, for exploring the SVIs and maybe the USVIs, Fajardo is the perfect location to start from. For future trips I think I will keep the SVI charters separate from the BVI charters, unless we have a minimum of two weeks on the boat. There is just too much time spent travelling between the two areas and I would estimate that 1/2 of our days were spent making passages. When problems developed outside of the SVIs, Sail Caribe was unable to simply send out a chase boat to deal with them. We actually saw very little of the SVIs and also didn't get as much time in the BVIs or USVIs as we would have preferred. It was a bit of a whirlwind as we tried to fit too much in to our ten day charter. In addition, we also had to keep a close eye on the weather to ensure we would be able to make the return trip to the SVIs and get our boat back on time. Everything worked out fine for this trip, but I could see the weather dictating when and where you go. I would have to classify this trip as more of an experience/adventure versus a relaxing charter. Not bad, just different that our past charters with a lot of new experiences.
