I'm finally getting around to writing a trip report. I've posted a few shots at:
http://community.webshots.com/user/cardinalairThis is our 4th charter in BVI - the first time we've taken our teenage boys. We we on a Beneteau 405 with Conch Charters named Little Wolf. Great boat. Great service from Conch (as usual). Our AA flights from Greensboro, NC to Beef Island were almost perfect - arrived just 1/2 hour late at 5PM on Dec 21st. Packed too much - as usual - and AA lost one of our bags. So, had to stand in line to report the missing bag (apparently, lots of missing bags!!) No worries. Taxied to Road Town - the original plan was to meet Tony and Katie from UBS Divers. We had promised them cold beer at the Pub when they delivered our dive equipment. Since we were late, we feared that we had missed them. But sure enough, our equipment was stowed on our boat (8 tanks tied up in racks, all the other equipment on board). Tony & Katie were at the Pub talking to some of the Conch crew - so we immediately joined them for our first taste of the Islands! They are top notch - great equipment and service!
The provisions were all on board also from Riteway - spooky - everything went so well! After everything was stowed on the boat, we went over to the Pub for our first "islands" meal. The boys tried Conch Fritters for the first time - which became an automatically ordered appetizer. We let them have a drink with dinner - the older one (17) sampled a different beer at each meal. The younger one (16) decided he preferred drinks such as frozen daquari's ....beer was not to his liking. Back to the boat for a fairly early night - travel + beer + gently rocking boat in the islands seems to do that to you.
The checkout with Conch was a breeze. We had been on a charter with them in June, so we knew the drill. We were sailing by 10AM! (They even let us motor off their dock on our own because we are now fairly familiar with the "sandbar".) Had a nice sail over to Norman. We decided to gear up and SCUBA at the Caves - just to get the kids back in the water on a easy, shallow dive. It had been since spring break in Key Largo since they had been diving, so they needed a little refresher. Turned out to be nice to be under the water instead of snorkeling with the crowd! A great treat - spotted an octopus - got a great video of it changing color and moving. Caught a mooring at the Bight and had dinner at Willy T's. Couldn't convince the kids to jump Neked....played poker back at the boat, like we did almost every night. It was worth lugging the poker chips!!
Up early so that we could get a mooring over at the Indians. Had a nice dive - sure enough, when we got back to the boat there were other boats waiting to take our mooring. We realized at this point that our refrigerator was not "freezing" the plate. Called Conch on the cell phone - lucky - AA had just delivered our missing bag - so we could kill two birds with one sail! Conch had the refrigerator recharged and leak-checked in less than a 1/2 hour. The younger teen enjoyed that time in Road Harbor buzzing around on the dinghy. We sailed on to Trellis Bay for the evening - met Tony with tank refills - did a little shopping - had dinner at DaLoose Mongoose. Older teen sampled another brand of beer - younger teen had "Sex on the Beach" (cute drink w/juices) ...along with a picture to show his friends....
Up early again (a pattern we seem to get into) - this time sailed over to the Rhone. Had a great dive - both the stern and bow sections. This is the 4th time we've been on the Rhone - different every time! (Had to take the kids there, of course!) Had a great sail into a foggy rain towards Virgin Gorda. Broke out of the fog to beautiful sunshine at the baths. It was getting late, so we just snorkeled off the back of the boat over to the Baths. The kids loved it so much, they made us promise to let them come back in the morning for more snorkeling. Turns out, they liked snorkeling as much or more than diving....they got to "do their own thing" while snorkeling. Mom and Dad were in a bit too much control while diving!! Off to Yacht Harbor for the evening. Spent a little while shopping in Spanish Town & time for a drink at Bath & Turtle. Back to the boat for burgers on the grill & poker.
Christmas Day! As promised, we took the kids back to the Baths for more snorkeling. After about 1/2 hour, the older teen comes back to the boat in a tissy - he had been stung by a jelly fish - they had snapped a picture of this jellyfish before the sting - looks like it might be a box jelly - little pink ends on the tentacles. I had nothing but Benadryl to give him - no vinegar or lotion. The "sting relief pads" slot was empty in the on-board first aid kit....He had a nasty raised sting on the back of his arm and side of his back. The pain subsided after a few hours. We had seen jellyfish before, but never these with the long tentacles.
Sailed over to Marina Cay for fuel at Pussers - then on to Jost - Great Harbor for Christmas night. We had earlier made reservations online with Vinny for dinner at Corsairs. We had met Vinny on our trip in June over at White Bay - so we wanted to try his restaurant. Much to our disappointment, the place was dark! Nobody home. We had done the BBQ at Foxy's on an earlier trip, so we were hoping for something different. (Tricia and Tommy - TriciaH - sorry we missed you - again!) We decided on the only other alternative - Ali Baba's. It was OK - just not exactly what we had been planning.
Spent the next morning at White Bay - snorkel, tshirts, ring toss, hammock, etc. What more could you ask for? The plan was to sail over to Green Cay and dive on "The Playground". It's a wonderful dive that is like the Baths, but deeper - lots of fish, etc. There was one mooring last year just off Green Cay - but the ball was no where to be found....quite disappointing - no way to anchor either. So, it we were forced to set sail back towards Norman. Got out the dive book and found a dive site off Great Thatch called Holiday Inn....never heard of it, but it sounded nice and one of the only alternatives on our way back to Norman. We anchored in the beautiful little bay off Great Thatch - the dive was nice, but nothing terribly exciting. Just right for a pretty long day. Sailed back over to Norman - this time anchored just before the mooring field. The kids spent the rest of the daylight snorkeling. Had dinner at Pirates - great ribs & salmon (shipped in from Alaska??)
Last full day - the plan was to dive Alice in Wonderland off Ginger Island. Little did we know what awaited us!! We've been on this dive 3 times - and love it. We have talked this one up to the kids....stopped off at Cooper and got tank refills at Sail Caribbean - very convenient. Drinks at Cooper Island Beach club while we waited...a lady came up to the bar asking the attendant if there was anywhere to purchase baby powder for her "chaffing child".. The response was "no" - have to go to Road Town. It was obvious that she was on Cooper for the duration of her vacation . Overhearing her distress, I volunteered a tube of Desitin creme that was in my medicine kit. We ran back to the boat in the dinghy and fetched it for her. Goes to show that you probably do need to go over prepared to a "deserted island". Off to a nice said over to Ginger Island. The seas were rolly out on the exposed side of Ginger - but that has always been the case before. We picked up the mooring and proceeded to gear up for the dive. We did our usual prep routine and one by one got into the water. We swam towards the dive site and proceeded down on SCUBA. Had a wonderful dive - absolutely no problems with current - didn't have to swim hard to get to the actual site. We turned around when the lowest tank read 1500 PSI and came up to our 3 minute stop at 1200PSI. This appears to be when we (unknowingly) got in a current. A really BIG current. By the time we all surfaced, we were significantly behind the boat, and losing ground. We could not make any headway at all towards the boat. Big Problem! We eventually ended up being swept out into the channel. Luckily, another sailboat had been anchored in the sheltered bay at Ginger - they happened to pull anchor about the same time as this was all happening. We ended up getting their attention with (very tired) arms waving and whistles (Thanks, UBS for putting whistles on the BC's!!) A great sailor from a Horizon Charter Beneteau got in his dinghy and came to our rescue. He and his son patiently got us all aboard their dinghy and took us back to our boat. (Their dinghy had a pretty tough time with all our weight plus trying to fight the current...) I can't thank him enough - we didn't even get his name or boat. We were exhausted. I know, pretty stupid of us. I hate to think of where the current might have eventually taken us. We've read several references to Alice in Wonderland, none of which mention treacherous currents. We learned a very good lesson! After that experience, we just motored back to Cooper - had a great "last dinner" at Cooper Beach Club. Had the Drinking Man's Guide - they gave us a great bottle of Merlot. Winding down - one last poker game.
Morning sail over to Road Town to check out with Conch. Had banana pancakes at the Pub - easy checkout - hard to leave. We had 3:15pm flights, so we we're in a big rush. American put us on the 2:15 flight because we were there in time. The San Juan - Miami flight was a little early, but they made us sit on the ramp waiting for our gate...too long - we missed our MIA to Greensboro connection. So, we got to stay in Miami courtesy of American. It pays to be nice to the agent -they gave us $100 in meal credits - plus gave us 3 hotel rooms. The kids were thrilled - they each got their own hotel room. We were up at 4am for a 5:50am flight - ughh...they put us on the bus to board the plane, then told us the flight was canceled due to mechanical difficulties....so, we ended up on a flight to La Guardia then to Greensboro! Oh well, better at the end of the vacation than the beginning!
Oh, of course, NONE of the bags made it home with us....no worries - AA delivered them to us the next day. Just a little moldy....
Planning 2 weeks in May 2006!!!
