We just got back from one of our best ever BVI trips.
Took our now-standard route, BOS-STT thursday morning and then the RT fast ferry. No more SJU for us. We travel light and never check bags. We were even lighter this time with a kindle replacing about 10 lbs of books - we're big readers. I hadn't tried it before, but as an added bonus I found that the kindle connected everywhere and has a usable web browser which allowed me to get the weather forecasts. Even tho I usually go off-line on vacation I also used it to read the news, since I have friends in Sendai.
Amazingly, the ferry was the "Provincetown III", the same boat we take to p'town in the summer, brought to the ilons for the winter. We even sat in our usual seats. We're confirmed Footloosers now, and Samson was waiting to meet us in RT. Turned out he was the brother of another Samson we knew. He stopped to pick up his wife and daughter on the way, just the friendly family atmosphere we like about Footloose.
We got on our boat, "Alexia", SO 35, and started stowing the food and doing the inventory. Now we were a bit concerned, as Alexia did not look like a winner. It was getting dark and the lights were very dim with shore power. After fiddling with everything I found that jiggling the ignition key fixed the lights, not a good sign for the electrical system. So I started the engine to check that. It started fine, but I couldn't find the fuel shutoff in any obvious place. Turns out it was in the second stateroom, amazingly stupid design. The radio didn't get WX and there was a non-functioning GPS in the nav station, not where I would want a GPS. No big deal, but combined with an overall rundown look, it didn't look good.
Next morning Winston was there at 8:30 for the boat briefing, during which we discovered the anchor windlass didn't work, confirming our concerns about the boat. He said they's have a mechanic fix it. A little while later, another boat pulled into the slip next to us. I didn't think anything of it, but then Dolphus showed up, told us that they didn't have the part to fix the windlass, and that was our new boat. We were not happy about moving the provisions, another inventory, and another boat briefing!
However we slowly came to realize that a wonderful thing had happened. We had escaped the ratty Alexia for the beautiful, like-new "Lilia", Beneteau 373. We loved this boat! It sailed and motored beautifully, was extremely roomy and comfortable below, and had a huge head/shower.
So we got ready and had time to chat with Jenette, the wonderful woman behind the Footloose desk. Colleen from Footloose helped us take the boat out, first time I've seen a woman in this job. The channel was blocked by a string of 10-15 dingys. Saying "dingy disaster!", Colleen gently pushed them off to the starboard with the bow, then made a Y turn, backed out, then made a 270 degree turn in reverse to take us around the end of C dock and into the fuel dock, and an egg against the dock wouldn't have cracked when she came to a dead stop. I was in awe.
We got a late start with all the moving so we just motored to the Bight, and Lilia was doing 7Kt at 2200 RPM. Got in at about 3:30 but still found a mooring in Kelly's cove, our favorite.
To be brief, we visited our favorite spots, with a lot of time and dingy activity in north sound. In our last 2 trips we had high winds and seas, to the point where they were more like sailing challenges than a relaxing vacation. We were hoping for "normal" this time, and we got it! Winds 15-20, seas 5-8, describes the entire time. Plenty of wind for good sailing, never overpowering. We always put the first reef in, and that was perfect. It was sunny every day. We did our usual of sailing early and getting a mooring early. There were just 2 of us, and the mate does not like to anchor on vacation. The moorings really do fill up very early at Cooper I and Marina Key.
We ended up mooring by first making a bridle with both ends tied to the same cleat, then, once secured, doing the same from the other cleat, with the loop away from the anchor a little shorter. This eliminates sawing. We considered bringing a snap hook but, after discussion with BostonDavid, decided we didn't want to have to undo the hook if unmooring in strong wind. We were very happy with this system.
Dingy had a leak where the shackle for the painter is attached, so the boat leaked with any weight in the bow. Took it to Saba and Leonard, the Moorings tech, fixed it with some sealer. Leonard is definitely not on lion time, he was applying the sealer within about 10 min of the time we arrived on Saba, and he had been out in his dingy when we arrived.
Met a lot of nice people. Hello to Peter and Sue from MA, except I don't think they read this forum. Gave my copy of Walker's Anegada chart to some nice Canadians who were going for the first time.
Enjoyed 2 new features of Moorings base. Charlie's bar is actually a good restaurant, and you can get a decent latte at Ginny's.
The ilons magic really kicked in on this trip. I'm usually worrying about several projects, and I didn't think about them once. My knees felt 30 years younger. Even the mate, who doesn't love the ilons as much as I do, kept saying how perfect it was. One more 25-30 Kt trip and I don't think she would have done it again.
It's always hard for me coming back. I was in a bit of a daze last week. Got a little work done. Somehow pulled a muscle so had to take it easy swimming but was back to OK friday. Missed the big NE masters meet because of the trip, but hey, there are priorities.
Not too long to NE sailing, and then planning how to get back to the BVI.
