I am writing this note to thanks all those who provided me with advice and provide feedback for fellow sailors.
I purchased the Scott cruising guide for planning purpose and I found it very useful.

We rented with Sunsail with an Oceanis 393 with two cabins and two heads. Perfect for two couples. Rigging, hardware and lines etc were all in good shape. Inside was a bit beat up. Look liked somebody had hard luggage bouncing around below.

We flew into St Thomas and took the ferry to Tortolla. We prebooked the taxi-ferry-taxi with Sunsail and I am glad we did. Our plane was late. They held the ferry for 20 minutes for us. If we had checked our bags, it would have been a bad start to our holidays.

The winds were 20-30 knots which was stronger than I remember-1985 when they were 10-20 knots. No big deal but I adjusted our sailing plan accordingly. We visited St Peters, Norman, Little JVD and Marina Cay.Thet were all as I remembered except for Marina Cay which was once a nice spot. The construction/destruction of Scrub Island makes the anchorge less than idyllic. We snorkelled all the Islands visited plus Monkey Point (best) , The Indians and the Baths. Other potential locations were missed because of sea state.

At first, I thought the mooring balls were not a good idea. I used them and and made for a more restful night in shifting winds. I also think they make better use of the bays. I was glad to see that boats now have holding tanks. Made for more enjoyable swimming off the boat.

We used Bobby's groceries and were happy. We pre-ordered all the staples/frozen stuff.On arrival at the Sunsail base, we then picked up the fresh stuff and had it all delivered at once. Food was fine.

We generally ate on the boat and hit the local beach places for sunset drinks. On our first night, we ate at the Moorings restaurant. Food was ok but way overpriced. The beer was cold and we were tired after getting the boat stowed, so it fit the bill. Our last nigt we went the Dove Restaurant in Road Town. It was not cheap-$200 for three including wine but the food was excellent. Highly recommended.

Overall, a great albeit too short a trip. Thanks for your help.


Paul