Finally I have the trip report for our bareboat charter June 13-22, 2008. Thanks to everyone on TTOL who helped with input, whether you knew it or not. I have included some details that may seem trivial to some but include answers to a lot of questions I asked on TTOL.

June 13 – Day 1
3 couples left CLT on USAir at 9:30am to SJU. Flight was normal and we got into SJU on time with only about 1 hour layover before our AirSunshine flight to EIS. We carried all of our luggage on as we anticipated problems in SJU. After finding the AirSunshine gate downstairs in Terminal B (where USAir works out of), we finally realized we had to go to the AirSunshine ticket gate to check in, which is outside of security. So we trekked outside of security and checked into AirSunshine. Check-in was straightforward even though the employee could have been just a little nicer. We made it through security in 5 minutes and had plenty of time at the AirSunshine gate. When 1 of us checked the departure screen it said our flight was “departed.” There was initial panic before someone told us they don’t update those screens. When the pilot came to personally take us out to his plane, we piled into the 9 person plane, which some in our group were not too excited about. The pilot was hilarious and very helpful. We had an excellent flight to EIS, flying low so you could really see so much of the islands. We landed in EIS around 3:30pm, about 5 minutes before a large AA flight came in, so we got through customs/immigration quickly. Took the taxi to the Footloose base (Moorings base) with a taxi driver that cracked jokes, gave us a tour, and kept us laughing the whole time. We had originally booked a Footloose 3800 catamaran but due to some problems, Footloose upgraded us 2 weeks before our charter onto a Moorings 4300 cat. We were doing a sleepaboard so the boat was not ready until 6pm. After checking into Footloose office (just down from the One Mart market at the Moorings base and well air-conditioned I might add), the crew retired to the bar for drinks. Footloose reps were nice and helpful…sort of…but there were not many of them around and it appeared they all cleared out by 5pm. I walked to the Riteway where I had been assured they sold bMobile sim cards. I had bought an ATT GSM phone before we left and got it unlocked using a hack I found on the internet. Anyway, Riteway only sold top-up minutes for bMobile. So I walked back to the Moorings base and went into the One Mart market at the base. They did not sell sim cards there but they called their main store and they did. So one of their employees (can’t remember his name but he was a big baseball fan from Dominica) drove me to the main store where I bought a card. Phone worked just fine at roughly $0.60/minute to the US. I got a ride back to the bar and helped the crew finish off the appetizers and beers. We got onto our boat, the Courlander, around 6pm. Bobby’s was to deliver our preordered provisions around 6pm but were late. A call to Bobby’s fixed the problem…apparently they got confused with our Footloose to Moorings upgrade. Provisions were stored. I tried to get a boat briefing from Footloose but they could not find anyone. I was a little disappointed in the Footloose service but tried to remember to relax and get into island time. We made reservations at the Spaghetti Junction (based solely on recommendations from TTOL). 30 minutes before we were to leave, the shore power tower on the dock started to spark and pop very loudly. I immediately threw the shore power breakers on the boat. The cord was completely burned where it connected to the shore power tower on dock. I informed the Moorings and the gentleman at the front desk came with me to inspect (it was probably 7:30pm at this point.) We determined that the tower was bad, not the boat. I sent the crew onto dinner (but could not make my wife go) so I could stay on the boat and get the problem fixed. The Moorings rep fixed the problem quickly by replacing the plug of one of the power cords. He did a quick check of the boat and all appeared ok with the electrical system…or so it seemed!!! Crew came back and loved dinner so I can recommend this place. Many beers later, we went to bed in our air conditioned boat.

Day 2 – Roadtown to Cooper Island
Footloose rep showed up around 7:30am to do the boat briefing. He did a good job and was thorough enough for me. Lasted 30-60 minutes. We did talk about the last night’s electrical issue and the apparent lack of real cooling in the fridge/freezer. The freezer indicator light on the boat electrical panel was not working and we thought this may indicate the freezer was not working. The Footloose briefer said no problem , all is ok. But he wanted the service rep to double check the electrical system after the shortout. So the waiting game began. Around 10am, a rep from the Moorings came by and asked if we were ready to leave. I told him we were waiting on service for the electrical system. He inspected it and said it was ok. Told him about the freezer problem and he again said it was ok. We shoved off, did not hit anything, and got the heck out of the docks. It was starting to get really crowded and busy at this time. A lot of boats being turned around and sent out. We motored out and then set sail towards the Baths. It became very clear to the captain (me) that there was no chance we could do the Baths and then hit North Sound. We went back and forth on what to do when a crew member finally said “I want to go swimming and snorkeling.” Problem solved. Tacked the boat towards Cooper Island. Picked up a mooring ball there and we all dingied to Cistern Pt. to do some snorkeling. Saw a 3 ft. shark there (not sure what kind), barracuda, and a turtle. Nice place. We then hit the beach bar there for a “couple of drinks.” The guys took the handheld GPS and found the geocache on Cooper. For those who don’t know geocaching, this is a lot of fun (check out www.geocaching.com). It adds a whole new dimension to tripping around the BVI and I bet kids would love it. We decided to get the famous conch fritters to-go for an appetizer but kitchen did not open until 6pm (it was only 5). So “a couple of drinks” later, the crew and in particular the captain were in no pain. Got appetizers and headed back to the boat for tacos. A great first day and a good lesson….”Don’t push the crew too hard on the first day out.”

Day 3 – Cooper to Baths to Dogs to North Sound
Left Cooper fairly early and motored to the Baths. By 8 or 8:30am, at least half of the balls were taken at the Baths. We went past Fallen Jerusalem, where there were 2 balls. May check this place out next time. Had a nice walk then snorkel at the Baths and then sailed out towards North Sound. We decided however for a snorkel/lunch spot at the Dogs. Pulled into Great Dog Island on the north side and picked up one of the 2 balls. Did a quick snorkel there and saw a cool line of small reef squid staring at us, but also saw a lot of jellyfish. This spot became very popular right before we left. We continued our sail to North Sound and picked up a ball at Saba Rock. I had planned on getting the free water with mooring ball but the crew was doing a great job at conserving so we didn’t need any. We had dinner at Saba Rock, which was good. There is a great spot behind the restaurant that has really green grass and some hammocks and looks out over Eustasia Sound. Great picture spot and nice and breezy too (would be excellent for a wedding too.) We also enjoyed the large aquarium with lobsters and a large eel.

Day 4 – North Sound to Anegada
We had lost some food due to the complete lack of cooling provided by the fridge. We called Footloose on the VHF in the morning but Moorings responded. Luckily, a Moorings service rep was working on the boat directly behind us. We waited for about 30 minutes and he then came over to our boat. We described the whole electrical story and the problem with the fridge and freezer not doing much. He spent about 30 seconds with the electrical panel and said “fridge/freezer will never work like this.” All this after we had asked two separate people at the dock. Anyway, bad breaker was found, he bypassed it, and problem solved. We also had a problem with the battery light staying lit on one of the engines. He said “When you charge the batteries, you have to really rev up the engine to 3000 rpm to get the alternator excited.” We all laughed and the guys asked if he had such a cure for the wives. With problems fixed, we headed to the place we had all been dreaming of since our last charter 3 years ago…Anegada. Had a nice 3 hour sail to Anegada. I charted our course by hand almost the whole way “just to make sure”. Sailed roughly 008M and this put us right on the approach waypoint as suggested by Walker. We followed Walker’s approach chart to the letter and had no problems. Picked up a ball in the field near the Lobster Trap. Had an excellent lunch on board along with several Red Stripes. We packed up for a snorkel trip to Loblolly Beach. Called Dean Wheatley from Potters and he picked us up in our rental truck. After doing the paperwork at his shop (BTW, Dean is an excellent person), we headed to Loblolly. It was hot that day and while the other 4 crew sat in the back of the truck, I drove in the cab with one of our crew who had a sinus infection in the AC. Had a decent snorkel at Loblolly. I am not a marine biologist but we all commented that the coral seemed a little washed out. Perhaps it is the white sand that coated the coral. There did not seem to be as many fish as 3 years ago too. Found some live conch closer to the beach though. Had a couple of drinks at the Big Bamboo and just relaxed. Drove back to Potters where half of the crew went back to the boat. I was looking for a place to top-up the bMobile phone and 2 crew were shopping. One of our crew asked a sales person if there was a hospital on island (her husband had the sinus infection.) There is a clinic in the Settlement. A man in the shop overheard us and asked us what we needed. He was on a cat moored behind us with several doctors on board. He offered some of his antibiotics. We decided to go over to his boat and pick some up. This becomes important much later. We had a nice happy hour on boat and then an excellent lobster dinner at ARH.

Day 5 – Anegada
Boat did not move and we all took it easy. Some of us took the car into the Settlement to find some fresh bakery for breakfast. The Settlement is an unusual place and I wish we had spent more time there and knew our way around there. Bought a variety of stuff at Dottie’s Bakery and took them back to the boat. After lounging around some, we took the truck to Cow Wreck Beach to laze around. Got some good chairs on the beach and took a swim. A couple of us walked down the beach with GPS and found Walker’s North Coast geocache. Back at the beach bar, we retired to the bar for a couple of drinks. Met a lot of nice people and had lunch there too, which was very good. Killed a couple of more hours and many more drinks before it was time to head back. Dropped the rental truck off at Dean’s (did I mention Dean is an excellent person?) and then back to the boat. After several more Red Stripes, the captain and mate decided to take the dingy around Pomato Point and find Walker’s West Cost geocache. It was around 4:30pm at this point. Needless to say, we did not get real far around Pomato Point before the depth of water was less than a sheet of paper. We backtracked a little and then beached the dingy. We walked for about 15-30 minutes around the east side of Anegada. We had never been over there and found the nearly empty (1 boat) anchorage over there. This is a really nice spot for those who want some seclusion. We eventually found the geocache (thanks Walker for installing these). The first item we saw in the geocache was a can-hugger from Myers Park Mortgage in Charlotte, NC. All of our crew is from Charlotte, so this made for a really cool find. Returned to the boat with stories of the savage sea, deadly pirates, etc. Had a nice, relaxing dinner on board. Played charades on the bow and entertained the entire anchorage…at least we thought we were funny and entertaining.

Day 6 – Anegada to Sandy Cay to Cane Garden Bay
Left early as we had a long 25nm sail to Sandy Cay. On the way, the skies were a bit gray but most of the weather was heading behind us. The nervous captain hairs on the back of my neck prickled a little at the weather but no problems. We had winds of 25 knots or so with some following seas. Max boat speed of 10.1 knots was obtained on this leg. Anchored at Sandy Cay and had lunch. Did the nice hike around the island and then headed back to the boat. Motored over to Cane Garden Bay, getting there around 2:30pm. I had forgotten that it was a full moon tonight, so the bay was already crowded for the Bomba Full Moon party. The last couple of balls were taken in less than 30 minutes. Loaded up on ice and got some dingy fuel at the fuel dock at CGB. This is a really nice dock for fuel, water, etc. for boats. Opens at 7am too. Very easy to get in and out. A couple of us went into town to get some provisions. We walked first to the Arundel/Callowood distillery. I am into rum so I wanted to see this. Just follow the road away from the dingy dock (west I guess) and you will find it on the left. The distillery isn’t much but we were given a tour/speech from one of the distillers. I tasted a couple of rums and bought a bottle of the dark rum to bring back. I am still trying to acquire the taste for this rum. It is different than what most people would have had…not bad, just a little different. But it was interesting to see history as I believe this is the only operating BVI distillery and almost 200 years old I think. We hit Bobby’s Market for some groceries and top-up minutes for the phone. Had a couple of beers at a beachside bar that was pink (I can’t remember the name.) Had dinner that night at Myett’s and everyone had a nice time. What was interesting was that the waitress gave us a tour of the “food”, which showed us everything they had to offer ahead of time on a buffet like area. Made ordering easier. Dinner was good and the steel drum band was ok. I was hoping for more of a reggae band. Sunset there was outstanding. We (guys) convinced the wives that we had to check out Bomba’s full moon party. I think the taxi over was around $40 for the 6 of us. The drive from CGB was crazy…very curvy roads and I would not walk this at night for a ton of cash. The taxi driver was very nice and quite funny. Bomba’s was crazy with a lot of people. We got beers and walked through the old part nearest the beach. We then crossed the street to where the band was. The band was excellent and there were a ton of people, a lot with the mushroom tea mugs. None of our group participated in that. I was very surprised at the number of younger people there (20s). We danced just a little and it was decided it was time to go home. We did the Full Moon Party once but doubt we would do it again. Would love to see the Trellis Bay party though.

Day 7 Cane Garden Bay to Sandy Spit to White Bay, JVD
We filled the tanks with water at the previously mentioned dock and then headed to Sandy Spit for a hike and pictures. Anchored at Sandy Spit and swam into the beach. We took the “hike” around the island and 2 minutes later, we returned to our stuff and took some pictures. Found some interesting shells and rocks in the water there and the snorkel back to the boat revealed some different fish and wildlife that we had not seen before. Pulled anchor and set the boat sailing towards one of our favorites….White Bay and the Soggy Dollar Bar. Had an excellent quick sail over to White Bay. Looked for the channel markers for the middle entrance (closet to Soggy Dollar Bar) but they were gone. So took the right entrance nearest Ivan’s and took one of the last balls…it was around 11am. Had lunch and then took the dingy in and signed up for the BBQ at Ivan’s that night. We hit the Soggy Dollar Bar around 12:30 or so. There were not a lot of people there at this point. But soon the boats started to show up and it got crowded. I assume a lot of the boats were day charters out of USVI, etc. There was a group of at least 20 young women there that we found out was part of a bachelorette party…what a way to go out!!! We were able to get the little gazebo next to the bar and started into the Painkillers. While ordering drinks at the bar, I listened to some people discussing the Red Sox. I believe one of those people was GlennR from TTOL (I recognized his picture later from someone’s trip pics.) Met a group of 16 people from Lake Wylie, SC (very close to us in Charlotte) who were on 2 cats from Voyage Charters. Shared too many painkillers with them and played a lot of the Ring Game. As it got close to 5 or 6pm, we realized a majority of the crew was hammered and dinner was not too far way. So we paid our HUGE bar tab and headed back to the boat. Went to the BBQ at Ivan’s, which started around 7 or 7:30. The food was very good. We assumed that we could make more than one trip to the buffet but by the time some of the crew wanted to go back for seconds, they had cleared out most of the food.

Day 8 – Day of the Squall (White Bay to Sopers Hole to Norman Island)
We had a late morning in White Bay due in part to the number of Painkillers the day before. Eventually we pulled out and set the sails for Sopers Hole. Winds at this point (9am or so) were around 20 knots under beautiful skies. Made good progress but the wind was starting to creep up and eventually started to get around 30 knots. My nervous captain level started to go up just a bit but all was well. We were getting a little closer to the cut and were starting to get headed by the wind. At this point, it is 10 or 10:30am and the wind finally gusted to 40 knots. It was time to shut it down…so dropped the sails and motored the rest of the way to Sopers. Winds at this point were consistently in the 40 knot range with an occasional 45-50 gust. Sopers was very windy but we picked up a ball and headed to Pussers for pizza around 11am or so. Had a nice lunch and a couple of drinks. Everyone went shopping for their kids but two of us stayed at the bar for another Red Stripe. The skies were starting to get a little gray at this point and we saw in the distance what appeared to be some light showers. We realized we left some hatches open on the boat so one of the crew ran to take the dingy out to the boat. It was now 11:30 or 12 and it (the squall) hit. Crew made it to our boat to shut the hatches ok fortunately. The wind had to be 60 knots or more. Tables and umbrellas were overturned and everyone ran for cover. I have never seen something come up that fast. Even the locals were keeping their heads low. The storm passed and the crew came back from closing the hatches. He had heard the may-days on the VHF of the boat that sank. Re-iced the coolers and we motored off towards Norman Island. The wind was still significant and the Passage was very churned up so we motored the whole way. On the way, we saw some boat cushions and a yellow life preserver/collar in the water. We did not know at this point that a boat had sunk in this area earlier. Picked up a ball towards the back of the Pirates field. 4 of us then did the excellent hike to the top of Norman Island, which starts behind Pirates. This is a 30 minute hike and very steep only for the last 5-10 minutes, but the view and breeze on top is amazing. Took some beers with us to celebrate. Met the rest of the crew at Pirates for a couple of drinks and then headed back to the boat. When we pulled up to the boat, people on the boat next to us were screaming at us to turn on our VHF. Weird I thought….anyway, we heard the conversations with VISAR and a boat in the Bight that had someone unconscious. VISAR was still 15 minutes out. But we had noticed the catamaran carrying the doctors that had helped us out in Anegada. I zoomed over to their boat in the dingy, but their cat was empty. I went over to Willy T’, assuming they were there. Apparently, someone at Willy T’s was also listening to the VHF and had asked about doctors. I saw our doctor friends piling into a dingy. We found the boat in distress and went over. I did not get out of the dingy but the doctors jumped on. I headed back. About 10 minutes later, we saw the ultra fast red VISAR boat show up. They spent about 15-30 minutes and then left. We noticed the boat left not very fast, which we thought may not be a good sign. Dinner was a bit subdued for awhile.

Day 9 – Last Day – Norman to Peter Island to Roadtown
We left the Bight not too late, anchored and snorkeled the caves. After the caves, we sailed towards Peter Island. Had an excellent sail over that was tainted a little by the lanyard of my handheld GPS breaking, sending my GPS to 100+ feet down. Was not real upset except for all of the track information I lost as I had hoped to overlay this info on a map for the crew. We sailed a bit and then pulled into Great Harbour for lunch at Oceans 7. It was around 11:30 and we were the only boat there. Beautiful site and the facilities were very clean and nice. Nicest bathroom I had seen all week. We had a couple of drinks including the famous Bushwhacker. We ran into the doctor boats and asked about the previous night. Unfortunately the man could not be saved. Anyway, had a nice lunch there. We had time before heading back to the Moorings base in Roadtown. Everyone wanted to relax on the beach and hammocks. Knowing this would be the last time I would be able to sail a big boat like this for probably 3-4 years, I was itching to get on the boat again. I announced to the crew that I needed one person to go with me so that I could sail a bit while everyone relaxed on the beach. The two male crew all jumped up and off we sailed. Had an excellent 1 hour sail. Went back to Peter Island and picked up the ladies. Sailed back towards Roadtown and saw the frigate that Prince Harry/William was supposedly on. We thought we may have gotten too close and that they may fire on us!!! We pulled into the Moorings base and radioed Footloose about where to go. They gave us instructions and we started to pull into that slip. The Footloose guys started waving and telling us not to bring that boat here. Again, confusion regarding our upgrade from Footloose to a Moorings boat. So we found our own spot on the new A-minor dock, got tied up, and hooked up the AC…very nice. We noticed a couple of boats coming in and almost no Moorings people around to help. I saw a couple trying to bring a large cat into a small spot near us with no help. So I jumped up and grabbed a couple of lines for them. Thought the lack of Moorings people was strange. I headed to the Footloose office to check-in and talk to them about the fridge/electrical problems. In the office, I repeated our story of how we had asked 2 people before we left on Day 1 about the fridge, our service call, etc. Footloose rep said their policy was to replace any food lost, which does me no good since we are leaving the next day. I was nice and did not really want to push things…was hoping for a complimentary appetizer or the like. The Footloose rep appeared to have no options for me so I then started to pack up my stuff, said “well if that is all you can do, then ok” and started to walk out. She then said “Hold on a second.” She did some computer work and handed me a certificate for dinner for 6 and a bottle of wine at the Moorings restaurant. I was shocked. Told her thank you and returned to our boat with the prize. Had a nice dinner, which was a BBQ, at the restaurant. Tried to drink the rest of our beer on the boat and everyone slept nicely with the AC.

Day 10 – HOME
All got up early, cleaned the boat some, packed, and took showers in the very nice new shower house Moorings built (behind the newest reception desk.) We wanted to take the 8am taxi to EIS and of course, Footloose did not open until 8am and I started to worry about who would debrief and check us out. This appeared to be the theme for Footloose….good service and nice people…if you can find someone. Moorings rep came by for our debrief, which took about 15 minutes. No problems there. Took taxi ride (scenic route over the mountains that I have never done before.) Checked into AirSunshine for our 10:30am flight to SJU. We were surprised at the $20/person airport fee and then another $20/person departure fee. I guess I knew about this but after having spent a lot of money already in the BVI, it was a little shocker to spend another $240 for all of us to just go home. Flight to SJU was via Virgin Gorda. Wild landing on a dirt runway and the views of that side of VG were very cool. Landed in SJU no problem, walked through C&I, but had some trouble finding our way back to ticketing/USAir. SJU could use some signs. Airport was packed with people. Had some lunch and then an uneventful trip home to CLT. All luggage made it and was good to see the kids again.

Things we missed and/or for Next Trip
-Friday BBQ and Jumbies at Leverick Bay
-Fallen Jerusalem
-Bubbly Pool at Little JVD
-Car rental/explore more of Virgin Gorda
-Try other restaurants on Anegada
-Trellis Bay Full Moon Party
-Monkey Point for snorkeling
-more sailing!!!!