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5/29 - 6/4 trip report #283980
06/07/2022 09:04 AM
06/07/2022 09:04 AM
Joined: Apr 2022
Posts: 10
Texas
S
Steve Kelly Offline OP
Traveler
Steve Kelly  Offline OP
Traveler
S
Joined: Apr 2022
Posts: 10
Texas
Just returned from great trip but travel issues were at their height and cost us!

Chartered 534 PC from Moorings - great boat and big difference from 433 and 51

Flight issues. SWA was great into SJU but Cape Air is going to make sure their planes are full so they moved our group of 6 to the next day while we were in the air on SWA! Forced us to stay in San Juan that evening and lost our rooms at the Mooring's base which are not cheap. Hotel they compt us on was full so we had to buy a new hotel at my expense. Trying now to see if i can get compensated by CA on the rooms. Total bs by Cape Air! To add to this debacle, because CA moved our flights back one day, all our covid tests were outside the 48 hour requirement by BVI and we all had to test again at Beef Island at $50 per person! Total added expense for this Cape Air change cost me - $1,500

Finally get to Moorings and all went very smoothly. Boat was provisioned properly, hit the French market before we left and pushed off around 2:30 pm. Headed to Norman and spent the night at the Caves outside the Bite, snorkeled (saw black tip sharks for the first time in BVI along this shore), grilled fish and burgers on the boat, played cards and had a few cocktails. Very nice evening. Btw, Frank Ferttita's yacht (100 + meters) anchored right by us and was quite impressive!

Day 2: early morning swim/dive and then headed to JVD around Soper's (love the look of Soper's, like a small Italian base). Grabbed ball next to pink house, great spot. Took dingy over to Soggy which was hopping. It was all very clean and was the best time we've had there. Had a few Painkillers and watched a bunch of funny, interesting people. A lot of harmless fun! Headed back to the boat to get ready for our son's 20th birthday party/dinner. Untied the ball and headed around the bend into Ginger Bay to have dinner with Cynthia at Harris'. Cynthia and i had been talking for a while about us having dinner with her because it was my youngest son's 20th b/day and he's heading to NYC in August to study acting. I called her from the boat and she said she didn't have help and would be working by herself, but she said please come on. We preordered at her request and hit her dock around 6:30 pm. I love this lady - food was absolutely amazing (best lobster we've ever had but she only had two), custom punch will knock your socks off and she made my son a homemade birthday cake! She asked my kids to help her in the kitchen, to serve our table and another guests table.......my kids loved it and it was an amazing evening! What a special lady Cynthia is, you can test she is a survivor and such a sweet soul - I'll be back soon to see her!

Day 3: headed to Sandy Caye, hung out here a few hours and caught some grouper from the shoreline around the island and cleaned them for dinner. Headed to Guana Island/ Monkey for the night. I love this spot, snorkeled late in the evening, saw lobster, 2 lion fish, an octopus plus all the other amazing things at this spot. Had steak, grouper and fixings on the grill for the evening. Always a great stop.

Day 4: headed to Anegada. Rented car from town and headed to Lobolly. Spent just a few minutes here which to me never compares to my favorite place on earth - Cow Wreck. We spent the day with Belle, she cooked us her incredible cheeseburgers, and flounder fish sandwich. Hung out all afternoon, then had dinner at Wonkie Dog. Food was good but not my favorite, lobsters were huge but you could tell they wanted to serve dinner and kind of hoped you leave back to your boat, which we did. All good and Destiny is super sweet!

Day 5: headed to baths for our newbies on the boat. Afterwards, we move north in Savannah for the afternoon and then around the bend to NS. I wanted to go to Oil Nut, passed Saba and pulled up next to the marina but didn't see anything happening at all so we circled back to Saba, call for a table and they got things ready. I've never stopped at Saba but what an amazing meal. Truly best meal i've ever had in BVI - I'm not kidding! Steak, fish, clams, conch salad and deserts were all fabulous. service was great, could not ask for more! definitely will return here.

Day 6: headed to Cooper, had lunch and snorkeled the north side of island. good spot. One of our newbies wanted to swim back to the boat and we all started yelling at him as he was headed to wrong boat. Well, he doesn't hear us and continues on and climbs up onto another boat as we all are dying laughing. He almost walk into the galley when from afar we can see him realize he's on the wrong boat! Luckily no one was on the boat, he just in the water and headed to us. Had a good laugh over this one. Pulled anchor and heading to our last night on Peter Island, Great Harbour where we had a 6:30 pm reservation at Ocean 7. Whoever owns this place never open for dinner. Several boats were disappointed, we untied and headed to The Bite were we spent the night.

Day 7: headed back to base. Moorings were great, docked and got ready to head to airport. Wait - more covid tests at the base - this time $630 for this bs. What a government money grab joke! Headed to airport where flights were delayed again so guess what, missed our connecting flight and had to stay in San Juan AGAIN, caught another SWA flight next morning at 6:00 am.

Overall - great trip! Best food we've ever had in the islands and so great to catch up with a few friends and meet some new ones.

Hope to be back again next year!

Many Blessings to all!

SKelly

BVI Sponsors
Re: 5/29 - 6/4 trip report [Re: Steve Kelly] #283985
06/07/2022 09:50 AM
06/07/2022 09:50 AM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,359
Cane Garden Bay, Tortola
JasonHelmbrecht Offline
Traveler
JasonHelmbrecht  Offline
Traveler
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,359
Cane Garden Bay, Tortola
Originally Posted by Steve Kelly
Just returned from great trip but travel issues were at their height and cost us!

Day 7: headed back to base. Moorings were great, docked and got ready to head to airport. Wait - more covid tests at the base - this time $630 for this bs. What a government money grab joke!

SKelly



Sounds like a great trip except for the extra travel expense. Glad you enjoyed!

I am unfortunately experiencing the same issues with Cape Air. Very frustrating. My reasons for traveling to the US do not leave me many timing options for delays so each screw up is about $2k in charter fees.

Why are your costs so high to test? The emed tests are only $25/each and have been recommended many times. Will your travel insurance help you with hotels? I can assure you that Cape Air will not help in any way. Also, that is not really a government money grab if you're using a private service that charges those fees. I don't think either BVI or USVI govt. sees any revenue from the testing requirements. Certainly not the BVI as that test is/was a USVI requirement.


JasonHelmbrecht
Coconut Breeze Villas
Cane Garden Bay
reservations@coconutbreezevillas.com
www.coconutbreezevillas.com
Re: 5/29 - 6/4 trip report [Re: Steve Kelly] #283989
06/07/2022 10:52 AM
06/07/2022 10:52 AM
Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 735
Panama City Beach, Florida
xrayman67 Offline
Traveler
xrayman67  Offline
Traveler
Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 735
Panama City Beach, Florida
Great report! Glad to hear Saba is getting their act together!

Re: 5/29 - 6/4 trip report [Re: JasonHelmbrecht] #283995
06/07/2022 12:43 PM
06/07/2022 12:43 PM
Joined: Apr 2022
Posts: 10
Texas
S
Steve Kelly Offline OP
Traveler
Steve Kelly  Offline OP
Traveler
S
Joined: Apr 2022
Posts: 10
Texas

Hi Jason

I'd definitely leave a minimum of 3 hours between connecting flights.

Covid tests at Moorings are $105 each. I'll have to check with travel insurance but i think i'm out of luck on reimbursements. I agree that it's not a "government grab" but the government regulations are causing huge costs for travelers, i.e. having to retake tests at Beef Island upon arrival because our flight was delayed 12 hours (BVI has a 48 hour window from test to arrival which is way to small in today's travel environment).

Re: 5/29 - 6/4 trip report [Re: xrayman67] #283996
06/07/2022 12:43 PM
06/07/2022 12:43 PM
Joined: Apr 2022
Posts: 10
Texas
S
Steve Kelly Offline OP
Traveler
Steve Kelly  Offline OP
Traveler
S
Joined: Apr 2022
Posts: 10
Texas
Saba was amazing in every respect. Our entire group was overly impressed!

Re: 5/29 - 6/4 trip report [Re: Steve Kelly] #283997
06/07/2022 12:50 PM
06/07/2022 12:50 PM
Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 1,126
M
MIDiver Offline
Traveler
MIDiver  Offline
Traveler
M
Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 1,126
In regards to testing - we always bring more Binax proctored tests with us just in case we have a delay somewhere. They are so easy to use anywhere there is WiFi.

Re: 5/29 - 6/4 trip report [Re: MIDiver] #283999
06/07/2022 12:58 PM
06/07/2022 12:58 PM
Joined: Apr 2022
Posts: 10
Texas
S
Steve Kelly Offline OP
Traveler
Steve Kelly  Offline OP
Traveler
S
Joined: Apr 2022
Posts: 10
Texas

Great idea!!!

Re: 5/29 - 6/4 trip report [Re: Steve Kelly] #284005
06/07/2022 01:49 PM
06/07/2022 01:49 PM
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 6,993
GA/NC
GeorgeC1 Offline
Traveler
GeorgeC1  Offline
Traveler
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 6,993
GA/NC
Going down to the BVI we also wait to take the tests until the day prior to provide a buffer in case of issues.


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