Sorry if this is long, however we had an incredible time sailing the BVI's.
Photos: http://community.webshots.com/user/nextwave100



The vacation was the best one I have ever been on. The weather was just perfect, the boat worked well and was manageable, we got to everyplace we wanted to get to (except Saba Rock…even though we were in North Sound for two nights…OK, that’s a story for later!) Darcy even caught every mooring the first time, except for our last night at Cooper Island. Turned out there was a barracuda hiding in the shade of the mooring which caught her by surprise!

In the ‘it’s a small world department’, we ran into a couple from Virginia Beach who knew my cousins wife. They were recently married and she moved from Virginia Beach to Milwaukee. Additionally, after our lobster dinner at the Anegada Beach Hotel we met a couple from Houston who sailed J35’s a number of years ago…..a member of their crew was Eric Hood prior to him moving to Zenda.

Our itinerary worked well – Darcy and I thank David and you for your insights. They were helpful. Following was our itinerary:

Day 1: Arrived at Beef Island in good shape and on time – we brought a cooler of hamburger and pork tenderloin (we had to remove the dry ice when we checked in at Minneapolis - $50 surcharge to bring dry ice on the plane – not to worry as everything was frozen hard) We had no problems bringing the cooler through customs – told them it was frozen meats for our personal consumption. That night was your typical preparation for the week. With just Darcy and me on the boat we were able to get settled and provisioned in record time.

Day 2: Woke up to a very light Southerly breeze (where were those trade winds??). We left the harbor well before noon and our first tack took us right to Salt Island. We found a great mooring in the Bight on Norman Island. Your advice on taking a mooring vs. anchoring was good. You do sleep much better at night not having to worry whether the anchor is hold. Well, I guess the photo’s give you an indication of our evening on the Willie T….what a hoot.

Day 3: The trade winds were back in action and we had a wonderful sail to the Baths. Beating up the channel was great, but dragging the dingy behind the boat reduced our performance quite a bit. While initially frustrating, a cold beer reminded me that I’ll leave the performance sailing to the summer months! It was a great ‘rail down’ sail and Darcy quickly found her sea legs. We made to it the Baths in time for a late lunch – what a neat place. Took time to do some exploring and got some wonderful photos of the area. Then it was off to North Sound. We pulled up a mooring around 5:30 and freshened up for an evening at Saba Rock. Up to this point we had been having some reliability issues with the outboard on the dingy. I was a bit concerned taking the dingy into Saba Rock, but I figured if we ran into any problems the wind would blow us back to the boat. As we headed in, the engine killed and any attempt to restart was futile. As we drifted back, I was able to use our paddle to direct us to the boat. Oh well, an evening on the boat under the stars…life was still good.

Day 4: The priority was to get that outboard fixed. Called Sunsail and they contacted a contract mechanic to assess the problem. Turned out the carburetor was terribly gummed up and needed to be removed and cleaned. Once that was completed the engine still ran rough so he cut out the fuel filter and it ran like a champ! We were back in business. We had an extra day built into our itinerary, so we ended up using it in North Sound (would have rather used it in Anegada, but ….) The mechanic was an interesting character. He was a fireman in the UK and through a series of events worthy of a Jimmy Buffet song ends up living on a sailboat in North Sound. We invited him on the boat for a beer after his work was complete and had a great time talking with him. We then took off for a dingy ride and some snorkeling around Eustasia Island.

Day 5: Time to head for Anegada! Turned out there was a flotilla heading for the island so we jumped in line. The trade winds never built, so we had to power the entire distance. We arrived before noon, got settled down, and jumped into our dingy for a day on the island. We jumped into a taxi that was heading for Lobolly Bay. What a gorgeous beach. We brought our snorkeling gear along and headed out to check the reefs. On my way in was when I picked up a conch that had some wonderful coloring. After some photos we place him back and headed to the local beach bar for a beer while we waited for a cab to show up. Soon enough Pat the taxi driver and her 6 year old daughter pulled in. As we were waiting for others to join us, I asked Pat if she wanted a beer….she informed me she doesn’t drink beer, but she would enjoy a pina colada. I asked if her daughter would like a soda and Pat replied that she also likes pina colada’s and she would give her half of hers…..only in the islands…. So with mom and daughter enjoying their afternoon libation we slowly bounced our way back to the harbor. We did have dinner that night at the Anegada Reef Hotel. What a great meal. I had a nice lobster and Darcy had snapper. Just awesome.

Day 6: Needed to get an early start as we were on our way to Foxy’s and Jost Van Dyke. Again that southerly filled in and we had a nice tight rail down reach to Jost. We saw numerous turtles on our way. A whale or dolphins were also on our wish list, but neither surfaced. It was just a gorgeous sail and we hit Great Harbor around 2:00. After dropping our anchor we proceeded to Foxy’s dingy dock and enjoyed a great afternoon absorbing the ‘leave behinds’ at Foxy’s and walking down the sandy ‘main street’ of Jost. After enjoying grilled pork tenderloin for dinner on the boat we again ventured into Foxy’s for an evening of fun and dancing.

Day 7: We pulled anchor knowing this would be our last full day on the boat. We were bumming as we wanted to spend time in White Bay, but it just was not going to work. Our itinerary was to stop at Soper’s Hole and then onto Cooper Island for the evening. As we headed out of Great Harbor, we did swing into White Bay to see what we were going to miss. It hurt knowing we would not have the time to enjoy that beach. Well, off to Soper’s Hole. The place was just jammed when we pulled in, with no open moorings. We wanted a shower badly, as our water tanks were leaking into the bilge and we were out of water…. Just when I was set to say the hell with it, a mooring opened just off the Soper’s Hole Marina. A fresh shower was enjoyed and we spent the morning checking out the shops. After a quick lunch at Pusser’s, we were back on the boat. Again, a light southerly was blowing, so the engine was doing overtime. As we entered the channel, the Indians were dead ahead, so we decided to stop and do some snorkeling. We had a great time swimming around the Indians and then relaxing on the boat. It was time to make our last harbor, so off we went to Cooper Island and a wonderful sunset. We had hamburgers on the grill and then went to the Cooper Island Beach Club for a drink…..or should I say a rum….stiffest drink I ever had.

Day 8: Time to head in. Cooper Island did prove to be the best place to be for the evening as it was a quick ride across the channel to return the boat. One vacation was done, but we had two more nights at a little beach hotel on Cane Garden Bay. Off we went on a taxi ride….and yes, you are correct with driving around in a taxi on Tortola! We went into a slight panic as the taxi driver applied his emergency brake as we were heading down the hill into Cane Garden Bay. The hotel was palatial, by third world standards….but we came to spend time outside and not inside! We treated ourselves to a great dinner at the nicest place in the bay (which is owned by a local reggae singer) and then enjoyed live music and dancing.

Day 9: White Bay was still on my mind, so I rented a 24’ Mako for the day and off we were to Jost again. Thought we would try Foxy’s as we heard the best time to catch him was during the lunch hours. Forgot it was Sunday (we were totally into island time), so we had some rum, then it was off to White Bay. After setting the hook, it was a swim to the beach and the Soggy Dollar Bar for a Painkiller. While there, we noticed the ‘swinging ring & hook’ game you installed at your Rocky Point house. After hanging out and watching the crowd along with some impromptu live music, it was time to get the boat back and prepare for our last night of vacation. We ended up at a little open air bar and grill on the beach and had just an unbelievable meal of grilled mahi-mahi, ribs, and chicken.

Day 10: Time to get off the island…but it would not let us go! Long story, but we should have been back in Minneapolis that night at 10:30pm. Instead, we finally made it back the next day at 7:30pm. Ended up having three fights with mechanical problems and to top it off, they lost our luggage when we landed in Minneapolis. But not to worry mon! We were still in our island mode and not much was bother us.

Thanks again to all of you and this site for the information we had prior to our first trip to the BVI’s. I found everyone and this site helpful and loads of fun reading about adventures and places prior to our trip.




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