Am trying to capture everything from 2 weeks in paradise. First, a little background on our crew. We had 10 young people (late 20’s and early 30’s) on a lagoon 500. About half had been to the BVI once before on a bareboat, half it was there first time in the area. We had several people who were sailors in their earlier lives, some who have kept up with it, and some who were not sailors at all.
We flew down direct on AA from Boston to St. Thomas, no issues with the flight, ended up arriving about 10 minutes early. We had made the decision to opt for a water taxi through Dohms to get us over to the islands…this was well worth it, we got off the plane, there was a cab waiting for us, brought us right down by red hook to the water taxi dock, we got moving on the water taxi, pulled into the West End where the captain took all of our passports in while we waited on board, 5 minutes later we were back moving in the water taxi over to Road Town. All in all it took just over an hour to get from STT to the dock in Roadtown!! Went into Catco to check if our boat was ready as we were early but they were still cleaning it. We had lunch and our first pain killers at Villiage Cay, and then divided into two groups: One group dealt with the paper work at CatCo, and got everything on board, while the other group went over to Nanny Cay to Island Time to pick up the over sized dink we had ordered (a 17’ RIB). This was something we were on the fence about doing but was very worthwhile, it provided more comfort for 10 people, but more importantly it gave us a level of mobility that was very appreciated. We all met back on the boat, Ticos and Bobby’s delivered everything, with virtually no mistakes. We unpacked and went back to Villiage Cay for a light dinner. After dinner we explored a few places for some drinks, stopped by the watering hole and Bat Cave, but things were very quiet (especially considering it was a Friday night), so we decided to get some sleep.
Day 1: We got up, had breakfast on the boat and starting last minute provisioning, etc. A few of us stayed around and dealt with the Catco briefing. It was very quick and to the point. I asked if we also needed to do a chart briefing, they said only if I would like one. They did notice on issue with the pulley on the main halyard which the quickly fixed and we were on the water by about 10:30AM. We had a quick sail over to Peter island, we sat on the beach and enjoyed some pain killers at the bar. I had read in many reports that Peter was not overly friendly to the boating crowd, we had a very different experience. We went into the beach bar, no shirt, no shoes, dripping wet, and asked if we were OK going in dressed that that, the response was a resounding “sure, you’re on the beach!” We then motored the quick trip over to Cooper. Great little trip, but when we were pulling up we noticed one of the engines would not go into gear. Sitting at a stop, with only one engine I wasn’t able to move forward in any way I could control (putting the single engine in forward would just cause me to spin and I didn’t have enough room to get momentum to be able to steer by the rudder). I was able to reverse somewhat to get clear of the moorings and we got two people in the dinghy to help get us to a mooring. Using the dingy to push our bow we were able to maneuver to the mooring at which point we called CatCo and then send someone over to check out the engine. About an hour later they had diagnosed it a bad clutch while we swam and drank. They asked if we could return to roadtown the next morning and they would be ready to do a quick fix for us. We adjusted plans, made our way into Cooper Beach club for dinner (we had a reservation) which was casual but very nice, went back to the boat for a few night caps and games on board, then hit the sack.

Day 2: Woke up early to make the trek back to Roadtown for our new clutch. Used the dingy again to help us get up enough momentum to get off the mooring field, get our sails up and get pointed off the wind. We had a nice sail to Roadtown motored into the channel where CatCo met us so they could dock it on the one engine. One of their staff took the wheel and started the non functional engine. He put it into gear and told me that it seemed to be working a little, enough to steer (at which point I felt a little embarrassed that I had warned them that one engine would not work at all). He slowed pulled into the slip, hit reverse with the bad engine….nothing. The boat slowly floated and T-boned the dock (maybe slightly off tee boned…maybe it was a 45 degree angle). We were moving slow, so the damage was minimal, but there was definitely a lot of cracks on the front of the boat. There were a few jokes about the captains captaining ability and his claim that the engine was working, but all in good fun. We may our way up to the bar/restaurant while they replaced the clutch in record time. With the new clutch they realized the engine still would not get into gear, so they dispatched the diver and had them replace the prop. With a new prop we were able to use both engines and after only about a 2.5 hour delay we were on our way (with fresh ice to boot). We went to the Indians, most of the group snorkeled while a few stayed on the boat to monitor it, then they returned and the last few went snorkeling. The snorkeling was OK, but with the algae bloom there was definitely less visibility than what we had seen before in the water. We made our way to the Sopers where we picked up the last member of our crew at the ferry terminal and then hit Jolly Roger for dinner. Dinner was great, had the BBQ combo and would highly recommend it. (There was a speed boat competition that day in St. Thomas so as we ate dinner people were returning and clearing customs in the West End. It was very obnoxious seeing the go-fast boats cut through the anchorage at 50%-80% throttle in the sunset and dark. If anyone were ever swimming at their boat or even if someone was on a dingy without lights there could have been a very sad situation, I’m surprised there is not more controls over this.) After dinner we decided to head to Bomba’s for the live music. We had a great time, not many people there, plenty of bomba punch to go around, we drank, dance, and ended up on stage singing and playing the piano. Even though it was a great time, I think this might be one of my last trips to Bombas, although it can be fun it is not always overly comfortable (can feel a little “shady”…and that is coming from someone who has quite a tolerance for shady’ness). I think we would have had just as much fun staying at the Jolly Roger. Cabbed our way back to the boat and slept like a log…a log who had drank 4-5 too many Bomba punches.

Day 3: Woke up early, but everyone was a little bit groggy. Went to rinse off in the deck shower just to realize that somewhere along the line we might have left a faucet loose and we had drained out our last 100 gallons or so of water. Decided to fill up later (after seeing what was required to dock at soppers) and we started our way over to trellis, but the weather was overcast, 25-30knot winds and some good sized waves. We began sailing upwind for a little a little while, but with the seas we decided to motor over there. It was a rough and wet ride, but we got to Trellis, go a mooring, lit the grill cooked up lunch, swam and relaxed. Around 4:00 we took the dingy over to Marina Cay for Happy Arrrrr (this would not have been possible without the oversized dingy). Walked the grounds at Marina Cay…very nice, and then go some good seats for the Beans show. We didn’t know what to expect but boy were we impressed. We loved it. I loved it so much and was so talented that I managed to get on stage several times and get provided with several shots of pussers firewater. If you looked at me, or God forbid tried to talk to me, by the end of the night everyone could tell I was the big winner. We made it back to the boat after, cooked up some food on the grill (only partially successfully). There was some exciting talk about a trip over the last resort, but the big winner decided to go to bed (or was forced by Mrs. Big Winner) and everyone had a few more drinks before following suit.

Day 3: As I woke up I told everyone about the fact that the pirate had poisoned me the night before. The conditions had gotten worse, with winds north of 30 knots and a lot of clouds, we decided to motor over to our next stop, leverick, before the rain got there. This was another rough wet ride directly into the surf. It was nice and short and before we knew it we were in the protected water of leverick. We had reserved a slip before hand with Nick, so we all crossed our fingers and said a few payers as we backed this 50 footer into a slip in high winds. Some how the boat went right in no problem. Nick had arranged for all of the guys to go out fishing while the girls went over to Biras to the spa, but due to the conditions neither us nor the charter captain wanted to head out fishing. We all decided to pile into the dingy and head to Biras (another trip which would have been tough without the upgrade dingy). The girls got massages and the guys decided they should too. The men were not used to getting messages, but something about an “aloe wrap” sounded good after a bunch of Irish kids spent 2 days in the Caribbean sun. The girls went first as the guys had lunch and sat a the bar. It was a good thing we left early as the skies opened up and it POURED. When the girls we done the guys made their way awkwardly into the spa. Between their lack of experience and some language barriers there were several entertaining moments during the massage which made it even more worthwhile. As we were all well rested now we made our way back to the boat, had some drinks at jumbies and very good dinner at Leverick…we were very impressed. The plan was to head to Anegada the next morning (for the first time) but with another windy and rough day, and with so much we could still see on virgin gorda we decided to stay another night. So we called it an early night and went to bed.

Day 4: We had some breakfast and went online at Leverick, then caught Tiger Taxi over to the Baths. Our driver was great stopping at points along the way to show us the sights and telling us all about the different places on the island. It was a great ride. We went all through the baths and Devils bay, snorkeling and swimming. It was a great time, better than last time we were there (although last time we were there were some celebrities there at the same time which made some of the woman, and one questionable guy named Mike, VERY excited). After a few hours in the water we made our way to top of the baths for some lunch and drinks. Although a little overpriced, the food was great as were the drinks. Somewhere along the line at Happy Arrr we had decided it would be a good idea to do a pub crawl/scavenger hunt through the north sound that night. We decided to do boy vs. girls, so we may our way to the bitter end yacht club for dinner and discuss what the stakes would consist of. Over some Pizza and red stripes we decided the losers would need to wait on the winners hand and foot the next day. So we agreed on the list of items and the values of each (pictures making drinks behind the bar, signing a patrons chest, getting your photo taken inside of a guests room, etc.) then the girls immediately tried to cheat. After we corrected that we had another drink and the race began. The men quickly realized they were slightly outgunned by the woman as they did carry more sex appeal than ourselved. But we still managed to get everything we needed at the Bitter End. We then went to our next, and quickly decided our last stop, Saba Rock. We had a few drinks and quickly got the items we needed. It looked as though we could be in the situation where there was a tie (and everyone knows a tie is like kissing your sister) so we were down to the previously determined sudden death tie-breaker….first one to have a picture of a team member swimming with the tarpon at Saba rock. Very quickly the men were in motion and one team member was wet yelling “take a picture!!” Without doubt the men had won, we went back to the boat, went to bed, basking in our glory.

Day 5: We woke up and got a very early start to Anegada. We were a little worried about the sail up there as we had not done it before. It was a beautiful day and a great sail. We went well west as we followed Walkers directions and chart. As we got close we started seeing the boats leaving the channel just as we hoped and we able to follow them and the notes and chart and get to a mooring easily. I can not encourage people enough, if you have not done this, go to BVI Pirate a read all of the directions and buy the chart. It very simply made life easy. We went a-shore and rented a pickup truck with benches in the back which we quickly got over to Lollaby Bay and Flash of Beauty. The beach, the bar, and the snorkeling were all amazing!! The worst part about this was we needed to make the decision whether we should stay there, as it was our favorite place we had been on the trip so far, or should we head over to cows wreck which we had heard so much about. We decided to go over to Cows Wreck, seeing a flock of flamingos in the distance on the way, we go there and realized we mad a great decision. We had a great lunch at cows wreck, followed by a few drinks and relaxing on the beach. After a little while we decided to go back to the back and relax a while, but before leaving we asked the woman at cows wreck about where to go for a lobster dinner. We decided on the Reef Hotel and she called in our order for us. We went back to the boat, napped, relaxed, showered and then got in the dingy to head to dinner. We weren’t sure which was Netpunes Treasure and which was the Reef Hotel, so we figured it’s a 50-50 shot we’ll head to the further one first. Although my wife told me differently, we headed over to what turned out to be neptunes treasure. In a perfect example of why you shouldn’t take anything for granted we tried to cut right from the mooring to the resturaunt….right over a huge sand bar. We were going very slow as we were in no rush and in an anchorage, so we noticed it getting shallower, but not before we slowly glided onto the bar. We backed out and decided to go back to the boat to figure out a) if we were going to the right place, and b) how to get there. On the way someone informed us that we were heading to neptunes not the reef hotel so we were able to adjust course and get to dinner. Dinner was great. We were skeptical of the Caribbean lobster (we are spoiled with Maine Lobster so close), but it was outstanding…as was everything else we ordered. After a nice dinner we headed back to boat, had a couple drinks and called it a night….very happy we had make the trek to Anegada, it was most people’s favorite stop….even though the girls never paid up on their debt from the pub crawl.

Day 6: Another early morning and were on our way to Jost. Another great day, but light wind. After a great sail, with the music playing, the blender going and the sun out we made our way to Jost. We dispatched the large dingy to see if there were any moorings still available in White Bay (we avoided anchoring over night on this trip). They came back and failed on their mission as there was nothing. So we went by Sidneys and moored there. We cooked up some lunch on the boat, swam and drank, before piling into the dink and heading to white bay (another trip not possible without the upgraded dingy). We went to the Soggy Dollar, played some ring toss, bought some souvenirs, then made our way to Ivans and had a few drinks there. We decided it was about time for dinner so we went over to Foxy’s, got more souvenirs and had the BBQ buffet. This is the second time going here, the second time I have been very happy I went. Foxy wasn’t there but his dog taboo was. We ate, hung up a shirt…then it was decided it was in the best interest of some of the people who seemed like the were going down hill at this point (maybe me, I plead the 5th), we should head back to the boat. After some drinks on the boat we realized that the there was another boat who had lots of music and seemed to be having a good ol’ party. Unfortunately who were interested in asking if they could join in the party were banned from doing so by their wives…so we all went to bed to rest up for our last night.

Day 7: For our last day we decided to hit Norman. We quickly made the sail over to Jost and got a mooring. We all piled into the dingy and shot over to spy glass for some snorkeling (again, only possible via dingy due to the upgrade). Tied up to the single mooring and began snorkeling. The snorkeling was great, but we made a foolish mistake that we had not made during other stops, we all went snorkeling leaving the dingy empty on the ball. You can quickly see where this might go….we spent some time snorkeling….it was amazing, then looked back and noticed we had drifted a little ways from the boat so decided to make our way back. Soon someone astutely noticed that we were much closer to the ball than the dingy and the dingy appeared to be loose moving towards the beach. We quickly all started swimming over, making about 300-400 yards to the dingy faster than Michael Phelps would ever dream. We got the dingy and only the prop was grounded, so we were able to guide out the dink and then power back to the mooring. We check the dingy and were happy to see no real damage…just a couple small dings to the prop which we pointed out to island time when we returned it for which we got a $300 bill. All in all very good results from what could have been a much worse situations. We were very lucky but it goes to show how important it is to not be hasty and follow the guidelines that you know are the right way to do things (like keeping someone on the boat when everyone snorkels). We won’t be making that mistake again. We then made our way to the caves and snorkeled there despite mixed reviews we had got before hand….they were great!! Snorkelling-wise this was the best time I had. The water was clear, lots of fish, coral, and the caved themselves were great. We then went back to the boat, and cooked up the last of our food on the grill for lunch. We swam and had a few drinks before making our way over the Willy T. On our last trip to the BVI the Willy T had gotten the better of us, leaving us with one crew member having some difficulty stepping into the wobbly dingy and ending up instead in the drink…but now we were older and wiser. The Willy T was great, lots of music, dancing, and drinks. It wasn’t long before several members of the crew (myself included) earned their T-Shirt but heading off the top deck (although we learned the T-shirts are no longer). We had a great time, then all of us successfully made our way on the the dingy and shoved off to Pirates for dinner. Take that Willy T!!! We made our way over to Pirates singing and cheering on other boats. As we pulled up to the dock and the ten of us began getting off (this time on the small dingy) on of the girls slipped a little, creating a domino effect and sure enough one of the guys was in the water….William Thorton - 2, Us – 0. There were several bad judgments at this point, Pirates judgement to let us come in for dinner (after all had just had a crew member swim in), as well as ours to go out for dinner. But we sat down, had what turned out to be a great dinner, laughed, drank and even sang until we finished our food. On our way out the band had started to play which got us quickly dancing away. We danced up a storm, even included a quick congo line through pirates, before heading back to the boat. We had our last drinks that were in the cooler before going to sleep.

Day 8: Another early rise and got right underway to roadtown. It was a nice day so we made short work of the trip over, and many people cleaned the boat and packed while we piloted over. We pulled into Catco where they met us and brought it into the dock (not before another staff member warned us to “put fenders everywhere”…obviously no one had forgotten the original docking). And we all started pulling out our bags to go our separate ways. Several people went over to St. Thomas (to Frenchman’s Marriott), one couple to long bay, while myself and my wife stayed on the British side at Peter Island. It was a great trip, and it sounds as thought everyone was very happy with their land based portions as well.

Peter Island: As me and my wife made our way to Peter Island we could not have been happier. We were able to catch the 10AM Peter Island Ferry which got us over there before 10:30. We were met at the boat and told our room wasn’t yet ready but they were taking our luggage and would be happy to bring us wherever we would like (beach, pool, etc). I told them we would love breakfast. They said that it had ended a little while ago but lets see what we can do. The shuttled us up the beautiful restaurant where they had yet to break down the buffet so we were in luck. They asked if we would prefer something off the menu and we told them it would be great if we could have eggs benedict, the were happy to oblige but informed us they had thrown out the hollandaise already…that was fine with us. Sure enough, they came out…hollandaise and all, they made a special batch for us. Such a great way to start the stay and they continued to exceed expectations. The food, the service, the rooms, everything was beyond what we expected. The weather included several days of downpours, which we thought might be tough to deal with since there are no TVs and not much to do around the resort…but it was not problem. We were content after a week of activity to relax, eat, sleep. 3 nights there was the best way to end out trip and I will absolutely be back.

All in all a great trip, learned more about the BVI, things to do (upgrade the dink, water taxi or fly into tortola, Anegada!!!, The Caves, Leverick, Happy Arrrrr, Peter Island) and not to do (Sopers/Bombas, Leave a dingy or boat unattended on a day mooring, try to win against the Willy T).

Now…back to reality....or planning my next trip!