Saturday May 16 – Arrived in STT to downpour conditions and headed to the Ferry. Grabbed a couple drinks at the Pump Room with the rest of our crew who slowly arrived. The tickets we bought for the Ferry ended up being on the smaller Smith’s ferry, though no one told us that as we bought them. The RTFF left first, and didn’t stop in Sopers Hole like we did. Oh well, the sun came out as soon as we hit the BVI, and we saw nearly no rain for the rest of the trip, other than a few sprinkles. Previously, we had always flown in the EIS, but tried to save a few bucks doing STT and ferries. I probably won’t do that again. The ferry option is kind of a clusterf*** and you feel like you are part of a herd of cattle. Arrived at the Sunsail base by about 6pm and had a few drinks and pizza at Charlies while the Sunsail crew finished off our boat. One of our crew arrived a day early by mistake and had been already been hanging out for 24 hours. I can’t say I felt bad for him. Sunsail provisions finished dropping everything off by 9pm that night. I don’t think anything at all was missed. Those guys work hard and offered great service. We did all food and booze through them (a cool $1600), and I would use them again. The boat looked sharp (Sunsail 444) and we were in high spirits.

Sunday May 17 – Up early for a 7am boat briefing (tip: it’s good to get the early briefing so you not waiting on anything but yourselves once it’s time to leave the dock). Grabbed 9 egg sandwiches for the crew at a cool $9 each (ouch), sent a crew member to the chart briefing, and a few others to grab last minute supplies from the Riteway. Then we were ready to go! Headed out the Drake to an absolute dearth of wind as a rain shower went by farther south out by Cooper. As the shower passed, the winds followed and we were soon pointed south getting a feel for the boat. A couple of tacks, and we decided to jump on a ball at the Rhone for our first snorkel of the trip. After a snorkel and lunch on board (for all you 90-minute watchdogs: there were still a few empty balls and no one else waiting), we motored over to Cooper for evening. This was my first time actually stopping, and it was very nice with a good vibe. We made it to the happy hour and really went to town on the two for one deals. That made it an easy decision to stay for dinner at the restaurant. The entire bill for 9 people for dinner, drinks, all the happy hour action AND the 10% service charge was about $450. Either they butchered tallying up the bill, or it was a way better deal than I expected. I had had too many painkillers at that point to inspect it that closely. A great first day all around.

Monday May 18 – Early off the ball and we motored straight into the swell and wind for breakfast at Fallen Jerusalem. While on the ball there, we had a bit of a swell, and several of the crew still were getting their sealegs (along with feeling the effects of the boozy previous night). I had never been to FJ before, and really enjoyed it. There are two balls, and we had the island to ourselves. A few of us swam to shore and climbed the huge rocks on the northern edge of the island. It really is like a mini more rugged Baths – there are a couple of crawl spaces where you can tunnel under the huge boulders and come out on the other side of the island. Breakfast here, and then we sailed north for Mountain Point and Long Bay. We grabbed a ball at mountain point, did some snorkeling, and took the dink in to Long Bay for some anchoring recon, as I had never been in there before. It’s just an awesome little place and we ended up bringing the big boat in to anchor in about 18 feet of water on straight sand. This was a great overnight stop for us – super peaceful; I think there was a professional charter crew tucked up further in the bay.

Tuesday May 19 – We had to drop someone off at the airport due to some emergencies at home, so we sailed wing on wing this morning to straight over to Trellis (note: the cat doesn’t love this point of sale, but we managed; perhaps the winds were just a bit flukey). Got the passenger to the airport, a lunch on board, and we motored over to White Bay Guana Island for the night. We spent the afternoon hanging on the beach, then making drinks in the blender on board.

Wednesday May 20 – Up early, as we wanted to do some sailing and work our way back east to North Sound. First, a snorkel at Monkey Point though. Another great stop; there’s a little cave tight up in the rocks that is loaded with sea life. After this stop, we motored west around Guana, past Muskmellon Bay, and out into open water. I had heard good things about Muskmellon, so wanted to scout it for a future trip. It looks completely deserted, save for a single white mooring ball tucked way up on the North side of the bay (I think it was north side; I’m not looking at a chart right now). It looks very pristine and unvisited there (i.e. my kind of place). Getting out into the open water, we got the sails up and were soon zipping along between 7 or 8 knots. We deployed the Ballyhoo and landed a barracuda after not too much time. More sailing, sandwiches were made, and soon one of the other ‘hoo went off and the drag on the reel was really singing this time. Got the boat slowed down, and soon we had a three foot kingfish on board. Lots of screaming and high fiving. I didn’t bring any fillet knives, but I had brought a knife sharpener which came in handy. We got this guy filleted up in know time, and one of the crew members earned a Michelin star with a homemade ceviche he whipped up while we were still underway. We pulled into North Sound, watered the boat at Saba, grabbed a mooring and enjoyed the freshest of ceviche appetizers. Everyone agreed this was the best day so far. We had dinner at Saba that night, which was fun as well.

Thursday May 21 – Cruised over to Leverick in the morning to get a few more supplies from the store there, and unloaded some garbage. Headed back out of North Sound and cruised down wind for some snorkel action at the Dogs. Everyone agreed this was a great stop, though a power cat did race us for what they thought was the last mooring. It wasn’t and everybody was happy. Snorkeling here was excellent. We didn’t hang too long as were were going to keep on sailing for Diamond Cay to spend the night. We had another nice strike on a cedar plug north of Tortola, but this one popped off. The cedar plug came back with a bunch of toothmarks, so probably another barracuda or kingy. Eventually made it to Diamond Cay, where some of the crew went to B-Line, and some snorkeled Sandy Spit. I went to SS – the area between the spit and Green Gay in about 4 feet of water is Conch heaven, though unfortunately my fishing license doesn’t permit harvesting the Conch. I bet they would have made a nice ceviche too. Regarding B-Line (I hope I don’t upset anyone with this): the contingent who went to the bar thought it was a great location and setup, but that the bartender was a d**k. Maybe he was just ready to pack it in that afternoon, since they were the only ones there. Also, no blended drinks there apparently, as his genny cannot handle the load?


Friday May 22 – Breakfast on board and headed over to White Bay JVD for the morning. We arrived by about 9am and there were several open moorings to chose from. We did witness some shameless Americans here race over to grab a mooring with their dinghy from a French cat that was literally 10 feet from picking it up –people on the bow, boathook in hand, and everything. There was a bit of shouting, and the French cat ended up anchoring nearby. The captain seemed to know what he was doing so all was good. Early lunch and drinks at SDB and then we departed as we knew we wanted to charge up to Peter Island for our last evening on board. Some of the other guys on board headed up our sailing leaving White Bay and put us way down near St. John with no easterly progress, so eventually we turned on the engines and did a LONG slog straight upwind to Peter. We anchored that night in White Bay Peter Island (south side) all by ourselves in about 20 feet of water. Very tranquil. One embarrassing event: having had a few too may blended drinks after our arrival I put down one of our bait rods leaning against the stern rail, rather than back in the rod holder. I turned around just fast enough to watch it disappear over the side, as something decent sized grabbed the bait! Oh well, thankfully it wasn’t a very expensive setup.

Saturday May 23 - Up early, as we had to be back at the Sunsail base by 10am. We had some crew catching a noon EIS flight, and the rest of us planned for the noon RTFF. We decided a quick snorkel at the Indians was in order before crossing the Drake back to Sunsail. We were the first ones to snorkel the Indians that day (as far as I can tell) and it was terrific. Tons of large fish on the southern edge. Back on board for a final joy shower, then we headed back to RT, packing the boat up as we motored back. Off the boat, and easy boat check out, and quick breakfast at the buffet, then into the taxis to the Ferry. Everything went smoothly on the return, with on time ferries and flights!

Final thoughts:
1. I feel like I did more motoring this trip than in the past, but am not sure. The winds were a bit lighter than previous May trips we have done. This was our third time in May.
2. The Sunsail 444 is a great boat, other than it’s inability to point (which I’ve heard is just a cat thing). Everything worked perfectly on our boat, named Vuja De.
3. I think I’d like to go the Spanish Virgin Islands next, as the parts of the BVI experience that appeal to me most are the sailing, and the tranquil/quite/middle-of-nowhere places.
4. Thanks to everyone here for their input over the years. I really appreciate it!
5. Forgive any typos. I did not proofread this before posting.

Great report..wondering which barkeep you got at B Line??

I walked away with the same feeling/opinion at B-Line....the guy behind the bar on the day we were there last May was not good.

What's your rule of thumb on whether to eat or not to eat? If you're underway in the channel then green light?

BLine barkeeper: I think the crew had the impression that he lived on the premises, but that could be incorrect?

Ciguatera: I think that rule of thumb is as good as any other. Anything caught trolling should be ok with the exception of barracuda, which should go back from whence they came.

thx

Boy did we have the opposite experience at BLine last July. We can't remember his name now sadly, but meeting the gentleman behind the bar was one of the highlights. He was engaging and interesting, sharing stories about growing up on and the history of the Josts.

I really enjoyed your trip report, our kind of trip. The more we go the more we like the more out of the way places. Yep, SVIs in the fall for a couple of weeks before Cat Fight.

Jerry's been behind the bar the 5 or 6 times we've been to B-Line. We see him dinghy over in the morning and shutdown around 5. Our experiences have been good and expectations have been low. The beer was cold and we usually get a free one with the cap toss game. To each their own. We'll be back in July for a couple of nights, really like that anchorage.

Cheers, RickG

Really enjoyed the trip report. Sounds like a wonderful week. I hope the person or people who had to leave early had everything turn out OK. We leave for Little Dix Bay one month from today. Can't wait to get back there.