Posted By: uncleclew
Some post-cruise observations - 06/19/2018 01:42 PM
Just returned from 10 days on a Bavaria 46 with Horizon with crew of five. Fourth BVI cruise. Great boat, huge success. A few collected observations:
-- the recovery is amazing one has to keep reminding oneself the extraterrestrial nature of what happened there during Irma; on some level, there shouldn't be anything left, so the whole thing is kind of a miracle; very moving chat with Nick at Leverick about the entire experience
-- the sargassum can really stink but it collects and creates that unpleasant effect only in limited spots, mostly a few places on shore in Tortola and VG; the only anchorage we had to nix was Lee Bay G Camanoe (major stench coming on breeze from other side); keep an eye on your raw water intakes, it shut our generator down at one point during the trip
-- oddly it absolutely poured rain on us this time at the Baths, which turned into the Showers; the kids loved it, the whole experience of being in the caves with water cascading down was a blast and created some incredible pictures
-- concur with the view that Oil Nut is an obligatory lunch expedition now; Horizon redlines Eustacia but the boat ride from Gun Creek is pleasant and fun; the Branson crew was there and we got to have a brief lemur chat with him and my daughter whose school does some work with lemurs; the turtles are everywhere (around the boat dock, not the shallows off the beach)
-- things are happening but it was pleasantly a little quieter than past June cruises, except Anegada which for some reason was packed; we took the last ball in the rear of the anchorage; negative one foot reading under the keel, but a snorkel revealed I could have fit my forearm between the boat and the top of the grass; only time in BVI I expected to run aground but happily we did not
-- I hate it when people tell other people how to run their businesses but the Jarecki family look dumb, at least for now; the Bight used to be kind of the hub for BVI cruises now it feels like a bit of a backwater; Pirates is really pretty terrible, even the teenagers thought the entitled service attitude and prices were dreadful; no sign of Deliverance; maybe 1/4 of the balls taken, broken Willy T lying there to remind one of the past, no big yachts coming in to slum it with the cruising crowd anymore, etc. It's sad because this might be the best natural off-harbor anchorage in the Caribbean and always had a great feel and mix of people. And what is going to replace it? The natural setting for Oil Nut, for example, is so vastly superior for a land based resort that I don't see why anyone would pay super rich people money to stay for a week on Norman. On the plus side, we saw porpoises in the Bight!
-- nothing is ever what it was, right? The new Willy T doesn't quite reproduce the scene but it's still great and we were very happy to have them there (will be a lot safer when they get a dinghy dock installed!); plenty of balls in Great Harbor, I suppose Peter just doesn't offer quite the additional benefit of snorkeling and ample beautiful anchoring spots that Norman has along its shores; also, it would be so nice to get the barge out of there if possible
-- felt like I hemorrhaged cash more this time than before; I felt fine about it for the most part, as it contributes to recovery and the people, as long as the attitude wasn't diffident; for example, the bill at Corsairs was kind of insane but the people of course were great there (so were the two horses that hang out there now!) and we were treated to some real entertainment--what happens there stays there, but let's just say that a total clown who was drunkenly flying his drone from his boat got exactly what he deserved, and the bar staff got an ovation when he came ashore and ended up in a quiet chat with the Jost duty officer
-- I won't charter in June anymore without genset (we used to); we had it this time and it saved us; one crew member with overheating issues and we would probably have had to cut cruise short without AC; breeze went fairly slack last few days
-- PRACTICAL note: Delta is selling an unrealistic one hour connection from EIS to ATL through SJU on Seaborne. SJU has a long way to go still and almost has a feeling of having given up. There is no more airside connection on transfers off flights coming into US, you have to go out and check back in. The Delta desk staff was apathetic and tried to claim Seaborne was late when they weren't (and Delta sold the ticket anyway!). We (barely) made the connection only because the TSA line wasn't bad. Wouldn't chance it again. Would have been nice to at least have had some warning from one of the airlines about this--also Seaborne prints boarding passes at EIS that are kind of fake or something, they don't scan with Delta or TSA anywhere along the way. We have been EIS people but I think we'll ferry next time to avoid SJU.
Have fun all!
-- the recovery is amazing one has to keep reminding oneself the extraterrestrial nature of what happened there during Irma; on some level, there shouldn't be anything left, so the whole thing is kind of a miracle; very moving chat with Nick at Leverick about the entire experience
-- the sargassum can really stink but it collects and creates that unpleasant effect only in limited spots, mostly a few places on shore in Tortola and VG; the only anchorage we had to nix was Lee Bay G Camanoe (major stench coming on breeze from other side); keep an eye on your raw water intakes, it shut our generator down at one point during the trip
-- oddly it absolutely poured rain on us this time at the Baths, which turned into the Showers; the kids loved it, the whole experience of being in the caves with water cascading down was a blast and created some incredible pictures
-- concur with the view that Oil Nut is an obligatory lunch expedition now; Horizon redlines Eustacia but the boat ride from Gun Creek is pleasant and fun; the Branson crew was there and we got to have a brief lemur chat with him and my daughter whose school does some work with lemurs; the turtles are everywhere (around the boat dock, not the shallows off the beach)
-- things are happening but it was pleasantly a little quieter than past June cruises, except Anegada which for some reason was packed; we took the last ball in the rear of the anchorage; negative one foot reading under the keel, but a snorkel revealed I could have fit my forearm between the boat and the top of the grass; only time in BVI I expected to run aground but happily we did not
-- I hate it when people tell other people how to run their businesses but the Jarecki family look dumb, at least for now; the Bight used to be kind of the hub for BVI cruises now it feels like a bit of a backwater; Pirates is really pretty terrible, even the teenagers thought the entitled service attitude and prices were dreadful; no sign of Deliverance; maybe 1/4 of the balls taken, broken Willy T lying there to remind one of the past, no big yachts coming in to slum it with the cruising crowd anymore, etc. It's sad because this might be the best natural off-harbor anchorage in the Caribbean and always had a great feel and mix of people. And what is going to replace it? The natural setting for Oil Nut, for example, is so vastly superior for a land based resort that I don't see why anyone would pay super rich people money to stay for a week on Norman. On the plus side, we saw porpoises in the Bight!
-- nothing is ever what it was, right? The new Willy T doesn't quite reproduce the scene but it's still great and we were very happy to have them there (will be a lot safer when they get a dinghy dock installed!); plenty of balls in Great Harbor, I suppose Peter just doesn't offer quite the additional benefit of snorkeling and ample beautiful anchoring spots that Norman has along its shores; also, it would be so nice to get the barge out of there if possible
-- felt like I hemorrhaged cash more this time than before; I felt fine about it for the most part, as it contributes to recovery and the people, as long as the attitude wasn't diffident; for example, the bill at Corsairs was kind of insane but the people of course were great there (so were the two horses that hang out there now!) and we were treated to some real entertainment--what happens there stays there, but let's just say that a total clown who was drunkenly flying his drone from his boat got exactly what he deserved, and the bar staff got an ovation when he came ashore and ended up in a quiet chat with the Jost duty officer
-- I won't charter in June anymore without genset (we used to); we had it this time and it saved us; one crew member with overheating issues and we would probably have had to cut cruise short without AC; breeze went fairly slack last few days
-- PRACTICAL note: Delta is selling an unrealistic one hour connection from EIS to ATL through SJU on Seaborne. SJU has a long way to go still and almost has a feeling of having given up. There is no more airside connection on transfers off flights coming into US, you have to go out and check back in. The Delta desk staff was apathetic and tried to claim Seaborne was late when they weren't (and Delta sold the ticket anyway!). We (barely) made the connection only because the TSA line wasn't bad. Wouldn't chance it again. Would have been nice to at least have had some warning from one of the airlines about this--also Seaborne prints boarding passes at EIS that are kind of fake or something, they don't scan with Delta or TSA anywhere along the way. We have been EIS people but I think we'll ferry next time to avoid SJU.
Have fun all!
