We are now back in the cold and snow but today I can look out the window knowing that I have seen and experienced the BVI. I wanted to just thank everyone who helped with advice - Drirchlet, Saildoggie, Nick, ect. In all cases the viewpoints were spot on. Long note I hope it helps others who are going for the first time -

Day 1: Travel to Road Town
Ok many have view points on the subject but we flew into STT and then took, taxi to the east end, water taxi, taxi,..... in all honesty it is a bit of hassle. I fly a ton of miles per year for my job, in the end next time I am going to try to fly to San Juan then go right to Beef Island via air. There is just too much wasted time waiting for taxis (land or water). I agree you are on island time so you do not feel bad but more time on the boat would be better. Our flight was delayed by the volcano, that was a first for me! We arrived at the Moorings base after 13 hrs of travel, turned the corner and got the first glimpse of the Bonic Witch. She was a 43 cat and my first impression was she is huge. From here on out the trip was everything we had planned - Bobby's Market did great, Caribbean Cellars - great, Last stop sports - great. In all cases the TTOL board was perfect. We hit a dinner (C&H I think) at 9pm, two rum punches and eventually got back to the boat for more Carib (my new favorite beer) and bed. I was pretty pumped and could have partied all night. Some great visitors just walking on the dock providing advice and sharing stories.

Day 2
We did the check out at 7am, the check out dude - Lou was really helpful and he was really funny. The process was very helpful, make sure to test everything - windless, .... I will post my checklist. The crew got some last minute provisions and we were pulling out of the dock by 10am. Departing the dock was a stressful test but the IceSailor crew was great we got out, sails up and were at the Indians before lunch. We had to circle a few times for a ball but eventually we were on, my friend Lee beat me to the water as he was so excited he jumped in dressed.

Over to the Bight got a ball then to Willy T's - Ok there was some pretty over-served locals, this is not a place for kids. (hard not to watch <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />) We went back to the boat and everyone took a nap. We enjoyed dinner at the Pirates Bight - We sent a note home to the kids and they were able to see us live on the web cam - good way to connect from a few thousand miles away.

Day 3
We got over to the Caves early, we were the only ones there at 9am, must have been in the water for 2 hrs. This is a MUST stop. We then tried to get into Key Bay for lunch but were shut out, more than three boats there. I could not get a anchor set in White Bay (Peter is) eventually we sailed around the island to Deadmans Bay. We all had a great time - I was first back on the boat at 2pm, and I was right to think that we needed to get going so we can have a ball on Cooper. Advice Point here - make sure you have a mooring spot by 3pm, saves a ton of stress. We did not know this - we got to Cooper Island YC and there was nothing. We were leaving and the mooring master came out and rented us the private ball at Quart-o-Nancy point. We got a receipt and even if it was a scam it gave me time to work on a plan B. Knowing that we got REALLY LUCKY we drank beer had a cigar and watched the sun set. A great micro buzz before dinner. No problems and dinner was very good - I had the Tuna and there was enough for lunch the next day. Remember to make reservations...

Day 3
Some rough seas, we chose to motor to The Baths early, hindsight, we should have raised the sails to smooth the ride. Seas were 5'-7' with long period swells. There was have the boat going Yea Ha, the other half going - are we there yet. We pulled an early ball (8am) at The Baths. Once again some mooring advice - the ball did not have the mooring point showing, I jumped in and tied below the ball. I should have taken my mask as the plastic ring was hanging below the surface as the float was missing. We went ashore - moved all the way through the Baths, Devils Bay and hiked up the back side. Snorkeling around the south point of Devils Bay was pretty good. By noon everyone was getting hungry so we decided to head back to the boat. When we got back to the beach it was like a totally different spot - PACKED with people. We were even a bit disorientated as it was so crowded it looked different than when we arrived. Lesson here, be early before the Cruise crowds or late after them to have a nice experience. This was advice from the TTOL board that I read and it was 100% accurate. We then got on an awesome sail north - 9.4knots. We were ripping through the water up to Leverick. In all honesty I was really amazed that boat could travel so fast. We pulled into the dock at Leverick and I met up with Nick - What a great guy, he made us feel at home. Great dinner of pizza at the lower bar and again we all were a bit tired so hit the rack. Saildoggie I think you were there - It looked like you got hit by a Mack Truck and our crew decided for a 8am go to Anegada so I could not get wrapped up in the Utopia gravity storm.

Day 4
We were curious to check out Necker Is, so we tooled over and enjoyed the vision of the rich and famous. I had done a ton of research on getting to Anegada, we hoisted and started the trip. I tried my hand at fishing and had great luck around Necker, three times we had to stop for hits on the troller. Great fun for the entire boat. I enjoyed doing the navigation, running fix, GPS points, ect... we arrived outside Neptunes without any difficulty. The crew enjoyed the relaxing sail north. As I was a rookie the research was key, getting an early start also key ( Depart at 8am, we pulled a ball just before noon). The folks at Neptunes Treasure were very nice, we paid for the mooring and then caught a cab to the other side of the island. - We choose to snorkel and could not get to the Cow Wreck - next time. We made dinner reservations at the Anegada Hotel via VHF radio from the beach. They needed to know our dinner selections with our reservation - I had only done a poll on the lobster. Advice look on the internet and have the entire groups selection before making dinner reservations. Dinner was great! The best lobster I have ever had, the Mahi Mahi was also good, the swordfish metso metso. Carib Beer, Rum Punch, .... all were great. For shopping - there is a great gift shop. My wife assaulted the place.... After dinner we stayed at the outside bar and ended up dancing the night away with the people who helped to serve dinner. What a nice time - We slept out on the front tramp under the stars.

Advice - when traveling from Neptunes to Anegada hotel stay in the channel even with the dink - there is a shoal between the two and you can run aground.

Day 5
Depressed we had to leave paradise we moved from Anegada to Guana Island - very nice sail for part of the trip then we were forced to motor sail as the wind dropped off to 5 knots. Good practice on bearing points, gps, ... the only problem is the crew was a bit spent from dinner and drinks and a few took a nap in the early morning sun and got cooked. Everyone needs to watch each other in the sun - I wish that I would have intervened as the balance of the day was torture for my wife and one other. They recovered well but were sore. I wanted a mooring ball at the southern point on Guana to explore and snorkel -they were all full, it is a pain in the a### but we are getting pretty good at dropping the hook so we pulled into the bay and got in the water. There was some great snorkeling close to shore and one of the crew went running on the island. He took a VHF radio to hail us if he got booted, no problems. For the night we had two choices Trellis or Marina Cay. I thought the team would want some time on Terra Firma so I tended towards Trellis - Bad choice. The bay was full of bugs and you felt that you were just in a mangrove swamp with a few bars, not really the island scene. So I would not visit it again unless you needed a spot out of the wind. Ok - one not so great spot in all the good ones thus far...

Day 6

We got over to Jost Van Dyke - the sail was pretty rough again, so we took the first bay possible. We dropped the just behind Little Jost Van Dyke and snorkeled the cut between Little JVD and JVD - Awesome. Pretty technical/difficult as there are a ton of sea urchins but back in the mangroves we were with bone fish, barracuda, the reef between in 5' water was great. We explored Foxy's little bar but I wanted to get into Great Harbor for the real thing. We could not find a ball in Great Harbor so once again we went through the process of getting the hook set. We selected a spot just off the service channel 28' feet of water. With a set we went ashore - the walk along the shops was nice. I hiked up the road and got some great photos from the ridge line. We had lunch at Foxies - the Buffet song Cheeseburger in Paradise fit the scene perfectly. Then we got back to the boat and I really wanted to get over to the Soggy Dollar - The little anchor in the dink did not hold so well but we managed to have a few beers and I would recommend to spend even a longer amount of time at the Soggy Dollar. Back to the Bonic Witch before dark - we all just started playing cards, dice, and having a party. Before long we lost track of time, and never thought to made dinner reservations. We blindly went ashore and were lucky to get a seat for dinner - the buffet was ok, not great for the price. We would need to think about better coordination of the day if we were to do it again. But at the moment I was drinking Friggin in the Riggin and did not care. The live band was great - dance off was great - all the women in our group were like rats leaving the sinking ship when he started walking through the crowd. Great time, back at the boat we had a few more as it was our last night. There was a group a women that we saw at Anegada and really cut lose at JVD. At 4am they were skinny dipping and having a great time. I have not heard the song "Strokin" by Clarence Carter since I was on Great Keppel Island in Australia.

The wind kicked up and we got rain - the first of the trip. Anchor held but a bit of stress I must admit, GPS alarm was set in Anchor mode and all we did was swing.

Day 7
We had a great sail over to Sopers Hole, dropped part of the crew off at the customs dingy dock. Then we got back on our way to the Moorings base. We got in around 10:30am, we could not check into our hotel until 1pm. So, no reason to get in early ever again. Note that check into the hotel eventually was 2:30pm - the hotel at the Moorings base is close but I found it lacking in service and hot water. Strange blend - we loved overlooking the harbor but for the cost we expected more.

In the end - The Moorings boat was great, very clean, no mechanical problems, there was a problem with the GPS but I brought my own with the trip pre planned so not a big deal for us. I would recommend it, service and location were very good. We moved from spot to spot and I still did not get to Oceans 7, Bitter End, Saba, Peace & Love... everyone is thinking about when we will be coming back with the kids.

Research - you MUST HAVE Virgin Anchorages by Cruising Guide Publications (Nancy & Simon Scott) this is a great book. We also found having chart 32B from WATERPROOF CHARTS Punta Gorda FL was good for pre-planning and on the trip. The publication on BVI Pirate.com for navigation to Anegada was also great. I think I will also buy the map for the next trip just as a back-up to the GPS. I did find that the weather forecast on THE MONGOOSE 104.9 FM to be helpful but I would like to know a better method to get the weather. The food from Bobby's, drinks from Caribbiean Cellars, and equipment from Last Stop Sports - all without a hitch. In total we traveled 113nm.

When I get a moment I will post my checklist in word format - my wife is finishing the video and we will post that as well. Thanks again to all my TTOL friends, IceSailor.