This trip was made by myself and my wife Mariam flying in from San Francisco along with another (non sailing) couple, coming from San Francisco and my brother flying in from New Jersey. This was my and my wife’s 4th BVI bareboat trip. The couple that came along are avid scuba divers and my brother also is certified. I got my certification a month ago so I could dive with experienced people and see the underwater sights. We chartered Kiora, a Lagoon 38 catamaran from BVI Yacht Charters.

Saturday – 12/27/08
Arrived, Bobby supplies (mostly) arrived after two tries, dive gear (mostly) delivered by Blue Water Divers, dinner at Spaghetti Junction. Spaghetti Junction had moved again, the food is still great. Check in your order from Bobby’s, we didn’t since we trusted them and stuff started coming up missing resulting in another visit with forgotten items from their first trip.

Sunday – 12/28/08
Took a cab over to Nanny Cay, got a 15’ RIB Tender from Island Time, picked up the rest of the dive gear. Left the dock at 10:30 or so, headed to Cooper, no balls at 12:30, so headed to Marina Cay. On the way the oil and temp light came on the left engine, shut it down, called BVI, continued on one engine. No balls at Marina Cay (picked up a private before we realized it was not public, try turning a 38’ cat into the wind with only a right engine), anchored. BVI folks arrived, diagnosed a bad impeller, none on board, off they went back to the base to get one for a quick return and repair. We headed to Marina Cay for dinner but they couldn’t take us till 8:00. Crew was not happy so I decided to run over to Trellis Bay and the Last Resort. The crew did not like the looks of the Last Resort (despite my insisting that it was highly recommended by TTOLers). Sooo off we went in search of a restaurant on shore; found a place next to the stage where the full moon party is held in a place run by a guy named Jeremy called the Trellis Bay Cyber Cafe. Good food, strange place, interesting guy, but we had fun. Took the tender back in he dark to the boat (we forgot the flashlight, but it had running lights!), off to bed.

Monday – 12/29/08
Up early and off to the Dogs for some diving. Grabbed a ball on two of the Dogs (George and Great) for a two tank dive. On to Leverick Bay, arrived late (5:50) got a slip, early dinner seating (we had made a reservation with Nick and got the TTOL ball rate for the slip). Dinner was great, tough getting the bill after the restaurant got crowded. Watched a movie on the boat, did some web surfing after everyone went to bed on the Leverick WiFi.

Tuesday – 12/30/08
We rented an Explorer and headed off to the Baths. Lunch at the Top of the Baths and a couple of hours swimming and snorkeling – it was great, sunny, the water was refreshing, we entered the water at the base of the path and snorkeled around (and through) the outside rocks working our way well down south and back. It was cruise ship day at the Baths, but not crowded out in the water. Had a refreshing porch break at the little place just outside the Baths turnaround Mad Dog Café, beautiful spot on the corner of the porch to look at the sites and relax in the breeze with a cold drink. We had Dinner at Saba Rock via shuttle from the Leverick Bay dock – nice touch, the buffet was good.

Wednesday 12/31/08
Up early, got groceries (some of the crew returned to Mad Dog to get a forgotten towel) on to Bitter End/Saba Rock mooring field. Before we left Nick stopped by to say hello and make sure everything was ok. We told him we were headed to Bitter End, his reaction was classic (you are going to do what? ;-)) but I wanted to keep the crew happy and they wanted a New Years experience. No moorings though, so anchored off Prickly Pear Island. As I was backing down from the anchor there was a loud bang – the previously shortened tender painter had hit the prop (darn crew, oh wait, I directed the line length, no one to blame but myself) – that would later cost me $150 for a new painter (plus my deposit at the charter co for catching a line in a prop. until they check for damage). It didn’t wrap, just cut it and after a quick dive to recapture the escaping dingy we were back in business. Safely anchored in the North Sound we relaxed, took the tender off to snorkel Estancia reef and around Necker Island. Ran the propeller into coral (that would later cost me $200 for a new propeller) but had a nice snorkel in a couple of places. New Years Eve Dinner at Bitter End Yacht Club was great (if pricey; $600 for 5 of us), walked around, headed back to the boat to doze on the trampoline and await midnight. All heck broke loose at midnight and Richard Branson sponsored fireworks on Necker Is. which occasionally broke over the top of Prickely Pear. Happy New Year 2009!

Thursday – 1/1/08
Up early heading to RMS Rhone for a two tank dive. Great experience diving the front and rear sections. A lot to see, amazing sea life and wreckage. I had snorkeled it before, but there is no comparison to actually diving it. On to the Bight, dinner at Willy T (boy, was that wild, lots of cigarette boat folks in from Roadtown) along with the usual antics. Food was good, left quite a (stunned) impression on the crew.

Friday – 1/2/08
Some of the crew drove the tender back to Blue Water Divers at Nanny Cay to get the air tanks filled, and then on to the Indians. I always wondered what was down there; it was a good dive a lot like hiking through canyons (or floating through). Tried to dive off Dead Chest, but it was getting late and rough and there were only yellow balls, so we cancelled that dive and headed to the BVI dock. Dinner at Pusser's was fine and back to the boat.

Saturday – 1/3/08
Up early, finish packing, drove the Island Time tender back - paid for the damage ;-( - , cab to the airport. Flight to San Juan uneventful, flight to Miami delayed 8 hours (AA - mechanical) so missed all our connections and could not easily get rebooked the Sunday after New Years. I decided to go to Atlanta to buy clothes and go to work (since I was supposed to travel there Tuesday anyway), wife got the last seat out Sunday to San Francisco to collect the luggage and my brother grabbed a flight to LaGuardia with hopes of getting a shuttle back to Newark. The couple that accompanied us got stuck in San Juan for 3 days trying to get home... Alls well that ends well! It was really another great BVI trip!