Sorry this is soooo long, hope you enjoy it.

BVI March 28-April 12, 2009

Day 1 – Saturday, March 28
Left Detroit on time with a layover in Wash. DC, leave a little late out of there and get in STT about an hour late. Make our way to the ferry; time to have lunch and a couple of drinks before catching the 2:30 ferry to West End. Even though I asked Native Son if they stop in Red Hook and was told “no”, we stopped in Red Hook! Oh well we are in the islands, no problems. The ferry was very crowded with lots of locals who had been in STT shopping. Took about 45 mins to unload luggage and get through customs. We had a cooler of meat with us, customs officer asked what we had in the cooler “a dead body”, “no…just frozen meat for our charter” he just told us to have a great time, no charge for the cooler.
Outside the custom office we spot Jerry from Jerry’s car rental with our car. He called Cheryl from Purple Pineapple to help with our luggage, stop and fill out paper work at Jerry’s and head to Lemon Grass Villa. What a beautiful place; gorgeous view, spotless with a refreshing pool. What more could we want! It is now 5:30 and we want to get to Myetts for Kapeye’s last happy hour of the season. Had a great time at Myetts meeting TTOL folks: Mike Beswick; Mal and Candace; Monica, Nick and Jean (Nick’s mother); Kayak Dan & his wife (sorry I don’t remember her name); Captain Rick. I’m sure I’m forgetting someone; please forgive me if I did.
After happy hour we headed down to Quito’s to see our favorite bartender Fitz. More cocktails, a couple orders of conch fritters and fish fingers, everyone is worn out from a long travel day. Head back to Lemon Grass for a night cap (not that we really needed one!) and a dip in the pool before heading off to bed.
Day 2 – Sunday, March 29th
Everyone one is up early and starving, no real dinner last night is probably the cause. Sebastions banana pancakes sound like just the thing we need, besides it makes a stunning background for breakfast. Great food and friendly service as usual. From there we head to Smugglers Cove, once there I realized not everyone had a bathing suit, I guess I am so use to always having a suit on under my clothes I did not think to tell everyone to bring beach clothes. No problem, we talk to the sweet ladies on the beach. The girls buy some well-deserved jewelry and we head back to the villa. Change into beachwear and head to Brewers for the afternoon. Sat around on the beach and played in the water for several hours. Two dogs befriended us and shared my beach towel. Time for a cheeseburger in paradise! Everyone enjoys Gina’s burgers and cocktails before heading back to the villa.
After lounging around the pool with happy hour drinks we head to Elm’s for the BBQ and some dancing. Once again see Mal, Candace and Mike. Had a great meal and a good time. All the girls danced with Shadow to Steve and the Elmtones. Down to Quito for a nightcap (it was very quiet in Quitos, no band, no DJ) Head back to the villa for a swim and off to bed.
Day 3, Monday, March 30th
My brother-in-law made breakfast for everyone, then lounge around the pool and do some serious limin’. A few of us head to Roadtown to check on Bobby’s order and pick up some provisions for dinner tonight. Quick stop at Conch to check in with them, Salacious is in and will be ready for our sleepaboard tomorrow. Back at the villa we just lime the day away. Tonight we are have Fitz and Mike Beswick over for dinner, we invited others but they had prior commitments. Dinner is grilled filet mignons with mushroom teriyaki sauce, beef mushroom rice and salad. Had a great time visiting with Fitz and learning of Mike’s adventures. After wine and after dinner drinks I think everyone had full tummies and plenty to drink. Again a dip in the pool and off to bed.
Day 4, Tuesday, March 31st
Today is our sleepaboard day. Although we hate to leave this beautiful villa, we know we are going to enjoy our time on the boat just as much if not more. Once again my brother-in-law makes breakfast, then it’s time to pack, we need to be out of the villa by 11:00. We decide to send the guys to Conch with all the luggage and then come back and pick up the girls. Have a great lunch at Tamarind, thought we would enjoy the pool for a couple of hours, but it’s already time to head to the boat. Our cousin and her husband are joining us today, they called and said they where loading our luggage on the boat, Conch has the boat ready at 2:00 and letting us board already. Tico showed up shortly after, how great it was to work with them. I ordered the wrong beer, no problem they took it back and got what I really wanted. Next Bobby’s show up with our provisions, they tell me there is a problem with my credit card and it is denied, even though I called ahead and told them I was going on vacation!! How maddening, after a 25 minute phone call I finally get it straighten out. Bobby’s and Tico’s where both wonderful to work with and showed up early! With everything stowed and our boat brief behind us, we walk to Spaghetti Junction for dinner. Fabulous dinner and conversation! Head back to the boat for an early night to bed.
Day 5, Wednesday, April 1st
The only thing left to do is get our chart briefing and we can go sailing….yeah! Miles told us a lot of boats would be leaving today, so he was going to see that we got our briefing first so we could get out on the water. It is Conch’s policy to take all the boats in and out of the docks, so after a quick briefing (they could tell this was not our first time doing this) we were sailing out of Road Harbor by 10:00. Raise the main, pull out the headsail and we are sailing in the Sir Frances Drake. The water is as crystal blue as I remember, the breeze fresh and the view spectacular, now I am HOME. We tacked back and forth for several hours, stopped at Cooper Island to snorkel Cistern Point and to leave James a note that we will be back in 10 days, and we hope to see him then. Everyone was into going to Norman to snorkel the Indians with an overnight in the Bight. Dinner on board of grilled marinated chicken breast, garlic mashed red skin potatoes and salad…life is good. Nothing going on at the Willy T so we opt to do some stargazing. We pull out the Sky Scout and speakers; lay on the trampoline for a spectacular night of looking at and identifying stars.
Day 6 – Thursday, April 2nd
Wake to another absolute gorgeous day. Head to the caves for some snorkeling before all the charter boats arrive with hordes of passengers. Just as we are leaving it is getting very crowded. Hoist sails and enjoy the warm sun and solitude of sailing. Even with 8 people on the boat, there is just something so peaceful about sailing, especially in the Caribbean. We decide to head to White Bay, JVD. It is Thursday and we want to try Ivan’s BBQ. We are lucky enough to get a mooring ball and the weather is promising for an overnight stay. First stop One Love for a visit with Raquel and the kids, and of course a few of Raquel’s bushwhackers. The kids are doing great and really like the gifts we brought for them. Enjoyed a yummy lunch of wraps and Quesada’s. Ran into Pondsgirl from TTOL. Seddy’s out fishing so no magic tricks today. Dropped some at the boat and we went around to Great Harbor to check on Rudy. Ran into Rudy, but did not even recognize him, he has been very sick and lost 55#s. He is on the mend now and keeping very busy building houses, working on roads and ferrying workers to and from Tortola. Enjoyed the BBQ at Ivan’s, but not enough food for all the people. We were at the end of the line, so maybe some took more than they really needed. Listening to Ivan for 3+ hours was the highlight of the evening. Some dancing and too many cocktails and it’s off to bed.

Day 7 – Friday, April 3rd
We’re headed to Leverick Bay for the night with a stop at Monkey Point for some snorkeling . It’s right on the nose so we motor all the way to Monkey Point and through the passage past Trellis, once we get past Trellis a ways we get a sailing angle and hoist our sails. We see some 10’s on the knot meter and we are enjoying it immensely. Drop sails and head into the Sound. Motor up to Bitter End/Saba Rock just to check it out. Unbelievable how few boats there are in the Sound. Nick has set up a dock for us a Leverick, today we are just chillin around the pool, shopping and enjoying life. Tonight we are going to the BBQ and Mocko Jumbies. The food is fantastic. So many choices…ribs, chicken, pork, mahi mahi, endless salads, macaroni & cheese, baked beans, deserts and too many others to remember. Everyone was stuffed!!! Stayed and watched the Jumbies but everyone was too full to stay and dance after the Jumbies. Visited with Nick at the bar while waiting for the Jumbies to start. Did I mention what FANTASTIC host Nick and Monica are!! You could not meet nicer people anywhere. Headed back to the boat, everyone to bed but me. A short time later Capt. Rick came by and we had a nightcap or two. It was great talking to him about his adventure to Haiti and his boys back home. Another fantastic day…off the bed. Since we were on the dock we ran the A/C so everyone slept great.

Day 8 – Saturday, April 4th
Monica set up a safari van for us today, in case I haven’t mentioned it Nick & Monica are fantastic host, we are going to explore Virgin Gorda on our own. A first time for us. We got the safari truck from Speedy’s, in usual island time they showed up about a ½ hour late. No problems we have all day. First stop Speedy’s to fill out paperwork and pay. Then on to the Baths. My husband was not into walking down to the bottom of the hill and back up, so we just hang at Mad Dogs enjoying a couple of beers, the roosters and lizards, not to mention the beautiful view from the porch, while the others went to explore. When they returned they were all hungry. Consensus was the Mine Shaft, which turned out to be an incredible choice. The views and food would have been hard to top. Everything from the jerk chicken, Roti and Caesar salad were delicious. From there we went to Savannah Bay, tried to find Mahoy Bay but ended up at Trunk Bay. We just snorkeled and walked the beaches enjoying the day. Back at Leverick to enjoy the pool. We decided to cook on the boat tonight, since we where on a dock no grilling. We planned on tacos for lunch one night, but sounded great for dinner. Tacos, guacamole dip, salsa and chips….perfect. Tonight Michigan State plays UConn in the final four basketball tournament. Since we have two MSU alumni on board we must watch the game tonight. Went to the bar and watched the game and had a great time with Nick, Monica and Jean. MSU advances to the finals. Then off to bed.

Day 9 – Sunday, April 5th
Top off the water and prepare for departure, today we are heading to Anegada. Say goodbye to Nick and thank him for all the hospitality. Not a beautiful day, but great sailing wind. First 45 mins or so it is a pretty wet ride, the rain quite and we had a great sail the last hour of so, we hit 11kts on our sail over. Arriving in Anegada we are surprised to see a cruise ship anchored outside the mooring field. Our plan is to rent a safari bus and hit Loblolly and Cow Wreck Beaches. The safari bus at ARH is in the shop, so happened a local hears our plight; he has a pickup with benches we can rent…great. Not the newest truck, but it gets us where we want to go. First stop Neptunes to put in our dinner reservation and let them know what we want to eat. Then onto Loblolly. Great snorkeling at Loblolly, must have seen 12 turtles, lots of flounder, conch, large school of blue tang, among others. Cow Wreck is our next stop. Very interesting conversation with Alex. Talked about the deep-sea fishing he and his family do, my husband insists our next trip he will be going on a deep-sea adventure with Alex and crew. Enjoyed some conch fritters and cocktails, then back to the boat to get ready for dinner. Of course we made a stop at the Purple Turtle for the girls to get our shopping fix. Dinner at Neptunes was fantastic. I had the lobster and it was one of the best lobsters I have had in my 11 years of going to the BVI’s. Everyone else had fish of some on kind or another; I believe they had Mahi Mahi, Wahoo and shark. Everyone said it was excellent. Used our Drinking Man’s Guide for a free bottle of wine. After dinner we stop at Potters to visit with Liston. He is really expanding his business, says next year he will have a glassed in section with tablecloths for some fine dinning. Hope he does well. We buy several rounds of cocktails; Liston buys all of us a round in return. Back to the boat for some more cocktails and dancing on the boat. Whew what a day!

Day 10 - Monday, April 6th
Hoist sails heading to the Dogs for a snorkel, then onto Marina Cay, we need to drop one couple off at the airport in the AM. Not a lot of breeze but enough to make 5-6 kts. About ¾ of the way to the Dogs the wind really starts to lighten, we decide to drop sails and motor the rest of the way. Off in the distance, toward Necker Island, I see a large splash of water. I thought a sailboat had lost her mast, then I see another large splash…it’s whales! There was a mother and her calf breaching. Turn the boat and head that way. They must have breached 10-15 times each. First the mom then the calf, we were all mesmerized by the site. As we got closer to them they quit breaching. We motored within about 50 yards and sat in neutral watching. They came with in 20 feet of the boat, circling us checking us out. Every time we thought they where gone and we would motor away, they would surface near us again. It had to be 45 mins to an hour that we watched them. It was by far the highlight of the trip. Once in a lifetime experience that we all felt very fortunate to have experienced. Snorkel Great Dog, after seeing the whales, it just did not seem to impress anyone, we are spoiled!! Head to Marina Cay but now it is getting to be around 4:30, no balls left, so Trellis Bay it is. Tonight is the college basketball final so we head to shore to see where it might be playing, no luck, the DeLoose Mongoose is closed on Mondays, no one else has satellite to pick up the game. We did meet the gentleman that owns Island Birds and he invited us to his house on Camonoe to watch the game. Thought that would be a little too intrusive so we kindly refused his offer. Turns out MSU had a bad game, probably best that we did not see it. Cook marinated pork tenderloins on the grill, smashed garlic red skin potatoes and a salad, life is grand.

Day 11 – Tuesday, April 7th
Drop off one couple at the airport for a 12:00 flight out of Beef. Plan is to end up in Great Harbor, JVD. We thought about stopping at Monkey Point to snorkel again, everyone really enjoyed it the other day and wanted to try it again. Monkey Point is very crowded, so decide to move on. Turns out that was the day Jeannius had seen the whales near Monkey Point, we were close to seeing them again, but no worries we already had our experience, we don’t want to be too greedy. Make a stop in Little Harbor to have one of Cynthia’s bushwhackers, but today is her day off. Purchase some items from the girls and a few cocktails at Sidney’s. Meet a guy who was in a cast, he had broken his leg dancing at Quito’s a couple of days prior. He had his wife and two daughters with him, the girls where really missing their dad being able to take them snorkeling, but they where making the best of it, they where not going to let it ruin their trip. Motor to Great Harbor and drop anchor. Takes a couple of times before we get a good set, but now we have a good set and feel comfortable with where we are. Stay on the boat for an hour of two just to be sure. Just as we got to shore we see Rudy coming in with his boat loaded to the max. He and Ivan where returning from a St. Thomas shopping trip. Walk to the dock and our guys offer to offload the boat for them. Rudy and Ivan where so grateful for the help, neither one of them have been in great health lately, so the help was much appreciated. They had everything from about 100 gals of water, groceries to ceramic tile. It took the guys the next hour to get everything unloaded from the boat, loaded onto trucks and unloaded again at Rudy’s store. Gave us girl’s ample time to shop. Dinner on the boat, bacon wrapped filet mignons, rice and a salad. We had to go visit Vinny so he head into Corsairs. Had a long conversation with Vinny, says business has been really down. Hope it turns around for him! We order a couple of pizzas that we plan on having for lunch the next day. Needless to say, we couldn’t go to bed with out at least one piece.

Day 12 – Wednesday, April 8th
Since we got to Marina Cay too late to get a mooring last time, we decide to try again. Wind is right on the nose, so no sailing today. Motor to Marina Cay taking the cut between Great Camonoe and Guana. We arrive at Marina Cay early but decide we should get a mooring ball while we can; all the mooring balls where taken by 1:30-2:00, so good call. We spend the afternoon playing in the water and the riding around in the dinghy. Got to the Michael Bean show early, but not too early, it was filling up quick. As luck would have it a table right in front opened up just as we got there. A good time was had by all. Dinner on the boat again, cheeseburgers in paradise and pasta salad. Continue the party in the boat, if you were moored close to us…sorry about the loud music, but we where getting primed for Quito tomorrow night!

Day 13 – Thursday, April 9th
Destination Cane Garden Bay, but need to stop in Little Harbor, JVD for a Cynthia bushwhacker. My sister-in-law thinks Cynthia’s are the BEST. Still no one home, oh well I guess we will have to come back next year. Hoist sails and head to CGB. We get into CGB around 2:00, head to shore for some shopping and cocktails. Late lunch at Stanley’s, even though we had burgers last night, still needed a Stanley’s cheeseburger fix. Back to the boat for happy hour, a little bit a rain brings a gorgeous rainbow. Looks like it is raining VERY hard in St. Thomas. We get a few sprinkles. Fun afternoon watching the other boats come in. Someone on a cat makes 4 passes at the mooring ball next to us before finally hooking it, then just looped the pendent over the horn. They started looking around and noticed that no one else was tied up that way and changed to a bridle. A 54’ monohull comes into the mooring field after 6:00 and he heads to the government dock and picks up a captain. The captain was brought aboard to anchor the boat for them, and then they took him back to the dock in their dinghy. Amazing. We ate such a late lunch we just have appetizers and some leftovers for dinner before heading in to see Quito’s. Quito’s is very quite; we enjoyed having our own private concert. Talked to Quito for some time about his children and life in general. Another great day!

Day 13 – Friday, April 10th
Our last day on the boat, tonight we want to end up on Cooper Island to visit with James. Motor around past Soper’s hole and down the Drake, pretty rough ride, but we had an absolute blast riding on the trampolines getting just soaked with the large waves. Us girls were giggling so much we had mouthfuls of saltwater. Not good on the eyes, but it was a worth it. Grab a ball at Cooper and set out to find James, James is doing well…not much progress on his bar that he keeps telling us he is going to open. Maybe next year. He has a bag full of beautiful shells and beach glass for the girls, we invite him to the boat for dinner, he accepts. Dinner of lasagna, salad, garlic bread and wine. Very quite night, James was on the wagon. We enjoy some conversation and make an early night of it.

Day 14 – Saturday, April 11th.
Share some our extra provisions and a cooler with James then head for Roadtown to return the boat. Another great trip, hate to see it end. Very easy check out at Conch then we head to Maria’s By the Sea for our final night. There is a large wedding going on in the dining room and out by the pool. After we check in we find out the pool is closed for maintenance, uggg! The whole reason we spend an extra night is to relax by a freshwater pool and enjoy our last day in the sun. After some thought I call Village Cay and see if they have any openings, they do so we decide to move over there. At first Maria’s said they could not refund our money, but after asking for the manager they refunded the entire amount. The rooms at Village Cay were more, but it was worth it. My husband & I went to the Spaghetti Junction to celebrate my birthday, while the rest of the crew went to Pussers for pizza. Lovely night, great conversation with some transient boaters at the bar at Village Cay, the off the bed.

Day 15 – Sunday, April 12th
Catch the 8:00 Roadtown Fast Ferry that did not leave until almost 8:30, we sat on the boat in STT for an hour before they unload the luggage and let us off. We never clear customs until 12:15! We planned to do some shopping in STT, but no time now. Oh well I guess we saved some money. Easy check in at the airport and we are on our way home. Another great trip…already thinking about our next trip.

Colleen

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