July 4: Trellis Bay
We anchored up close in about 5.5 ft. of water by De Loose Mongoose, a bit North of Utopia’s favorite spot, traded greetings with Capt, Kirk, a Moorings captain aboard Broad Reach II our new neighbor for the night.
The crew scattered, some took the dink to the market, teens split on the kayak and I chilled for a bit checking emails and all, ahh, quiet time, put the mesh sunshades down and chilled for a bit.
Sailpuppy, Bert and Racthet had a Griz sighting at Trellis, we hopped in the kayak and headed for the bar at De Loose Mongoose, talked with John and learned that Griz and Ruth had already moved on, met Colin, he was waiting for Geoff Holt to arrive at EIS and was delayed on guess what airline..Starts with an L…
Last Resort was the dinner of choice, made a reservation for the group and were in for quite a treat with one-man band, David entertaining!
We all piled into the dinghy and headed for Last Resort for our 7:30 reservation, the wait Staff was awesome and drinks were flowing within minutes of being seated, we were placed right up front by the stage and were in for a treat, David, the one man band was playing at 9:00 PM!
Ratchet, Sailpuppy and Bert all found the menu to their liking and had a great time:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/saildoggie/BVI610/P7041010.jpgThe Admiral and I were also pleased, I had the steak but ordered it with blackened seasoning, very nice, still pink in the middle, they served it with some sauce that I figured was similar to Heinz 57 Steak Sauce but much to my surprise, a big dip revealed it was Matouks hot sauce, holy coy, broke a sweat in 1 second!
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/saildoggie/BVI610/bvi6103.jpgEveryone seemed quite pleased with his or her meals, David started up and noticed there was already a $20 in his tip jar, I fessed up and we were on a roll!
Tequila shots were awarded to the guests frequently and somehow some dancing started up, I think Malcolm made a comment a while back that I am a good example of the comment “White guys can’t dance” but I had a go at it anyway:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/saildoggie/BVI610/bvi6104.jpgNice sleep at Trellis, the AC felt great!
Up early and off to The Baths for our second visit, we put the main up outside the anchorage and much to my surprise the wind angle to sail to The Baths was perfect, a one tack leg, unfurled the headsail and shut the engines down, had 3 trolling lines out..
We flew past a couple monos and the teen girls were up, Eggo waffles at the bar on Galeaux, I pointed out to Andy that it was raining pretty hard at The Baths and VG was in the soak zone, the dark clouds were approaching but the water under them was not kicked up so kept full sails up…within a few minutes the wind increased from 18 knots to 24 knots, no biggy, just head up a tad in the puffs.
Winds increased to 34 knots, 36 knots…head up a bit more to de-power, going 9.8 knots boat speed with 30 degrees apparent wind heading!!
The waffle munchers did not have a clue until the spray off the bows started showering the front windows of the salon…had a tiger by the tail!!
I was getting soaked at the helm and am sure the monos that were motoring into the wind thought we were nuts!!
Nice pucker effect at the helm but all was safe, the wind returned to 18-20 knots and we were approaching the anchorage.
We furled the headsail and did a neat little quick turn up, drop the main and return to course under full throttle, we came in hot and then hovered as all of the moorings were taken, we were first in line in my book, others arrived and hovered after us..
Andy noticed Coral Dreams, a Tradewinds Cruise Club Captained cat was preparing to drop their mooring so we headed on over, I saw a 20-25 twin engine dark hulled go fast throttling up to snake our mooring, I put the throttles down as well, thanks to the Tradewinds Captain, he continued backing and blocked their approach!!
I woe that guy a beer, the go fast finally backed down when Happy Hooker grabbed the pennant, piracy is alive and well and these guys woulda heard it from me bigtime.
Capt. Jimmy was alongside in a power cat, went over and visited for a bit while the crew gathered their shore necessities.
The teen girls and along with Andy and Dionne went for the boulder tour while I settled into Poor Man’s Bar for a really great Bloody Mary!!
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/saildoggie/BVI610/P7041033.jpghttp://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/saildoggie/BVI610/P7041036.jpgI brought the dinghy in to load the crew, man; the dinghy ladder Voyage provides is great!
We slipped the mooring and sailed headsail only on a nice reach toward Scrub Island Resort, Tommy manned the galley and made some great wraps with the leftover chicken.
Radioed into Scrub and finally raised Marina Joe, assigned us slip B23 wherever that was!! We were instructed fenders on port and back in….OK, um, hey, kinda windy and a bit tight to spin around with a dredging operation right there, only about 1 1/2 ‘ to spare on width of the slip…..got her backed in very nicely and as soon as the dock lines were on a big squall hit, I really needed that after that docking, felt GREAT!!!
We were next to GTCapt. (Barry) what a treat, great guy with a fun crew!
Joe came out and gave the crew an awesome tour of the facilities, wow, really nicely appointed and really quite spiffy, we met his Wife Karen in the gift shop, lovely Lady.
Ratchet, Sailpuppy and Bert were off to the pool and waterslide, I soon followed and bellied up to the swim up bar, met Bridget of Wintertale and later Brian..Now THIS is chillin’!!
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/saildoggie/BVI610/bvi6106.jpghttp://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/saildoggie/BVI610/bvi6107.jpghttp://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/saildoggie/BVI610/P7051048.jpghttp://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/saildoggie/BVI610/P7051053.jpghttp://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/saildoggie/BVI610/P7051073.jpghttp://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/saildoggie/BVI610/P7051081.jpgSome of the crew enjoyed the wonderful shore showers and the teens raved about the shampoo and conditioner!
Dinner upstairs was very good, we ordered off the “all day” menu as we have had plenty of fancy dinners by now.
July 6: Wow, I know what day it is!
Said our goodbyes and loaded up on ice, made bacon and banana pancakes for the crew then a Bloody Mary for myself, said goodbye to Bridget and Brian, Barry and crew as well as Marina Joe…again, it was tight getting out of the slip, the dredging buoys were even closer, required some throttle jockeying but Barry gave me a 10!!
We has a great sail “the long way” down the Drake, original plan was to head to White Bay, Andy steered wind on wing DDW and did a great job, we waved over the YachtshotsBVI guy for some final pictures:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/saildoggie/BVI610/IMG_6860-6Jul10.jpgI saw a cat sailing up the Drake, hey, it’s Utopia!
I got on the VHF and hailed them, funny, they said where are you guys, I answered “you should be yelling STARBOARD at us right now!”
We said our goodbyes and did a group “WOOOOHOOO!” that they could have heard without the radio!
The weather was a bit unsettled and squalls very possible, we opted to return to Cane Garden Bay for a calm night and a bit of packing up to return Galeaux in the morning.
We had a nice dinner at Myettes joined by a few other TTOL’ers, Capt. Jim and Joyce, others too, a little rum fog on this one…
July 7: up early and “decommissioned” Galeaux of my flags and tore down the fishing gear to pack, underway to return to Sopers and Voyage base, had to finish off the Bloody Mary fixin’s along the way..
We took our only real mooring of the trip in Sopers as Voyage instructs charterers to do so and then call in to have the cat brought in..
I was instructed to bring Galeaux into the fuel dock, this was a first…greased her right in there too.
Check out was a breeze, a new guy, Childs performed the deal, 5 minutes…no squawks, nothing broken, nothing lost, and everything on Galeaux functioned perfectly..Unlike her Captain at times…
Tricia and Tommy headed off to an early ferry and Andy, Ratchet and Dionne hung back, Jerry’s brought a Jeep over and I shuttled the crew to Jolly Roger for lunch, great as always!
Said our goodbyes again then off to find Lemon Grass Villa…well, I guess I drove past and had to make a hairy 3 point…make that 5 point turn around up on the hill, called Cheryl, her son Mack met us at Bobby’s and escorted us to Lemon Grass.
What a nirvana after 11 days of sailing!!!.. Incredible views, open layout upstairs, awesome furniture and decorating, gourmet kitchen, I can do this!!!
The girls were all in the pool in no time and life is good!
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/saildoggie/BVI610/P7071112.jpgThe view:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/saildoggie/BVI610/P7071120.jpgPoor girls are miserable!
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/saildoggie/BVI610/P7081134.jpgGourmet dining, Stouffers French French_Bread Pizza never tasted so good!
Hopped in the cool open shower in the bedroom and WHOA! What’s going on here, the place is ROCKING! I was almost bouncing off the walls, although a big cat has very gentle motion, something about a land shower after almost 2 weeks aboard, gets me every time!!
We slept soooo nicely, very comfortable and very quiet, except of course the built in rainforest effect, the critters really get going after dark but the AC drowns it out nicely.
July 9: last full day on ilon, up early and tending to issues at work, the wifi at Lemongrass Villa rocks!!
Chilled around, later met Mal, Candace and Cuz Robin over at Stanley’s for a few cold ones and final dips in the BVI waters. Then off to Bobby’s for some grillables, chicken breast, rice and some goodies…Sailpuppy was ejected from Bobby’s while she had a T-shirt on, bikini bottoms are not allowed without shorts over them???
Had to actually have to create quotes for a hot project from work from the villa, paid off, we were awarded a major program.
A nice nap then radioed Free Spirit II with my handheld, the Kneafsay tribe had just anchored in CGB and were sweltering aboard, ran the jeep down to the dinghy dock and brought them back for a nice afternoon by the pool..Get this, MIKE BROUGHT BEER!!!
The chicken was great as was the Company, Sailpuppy and Bert enjoyed hanging with Lilly as well!
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/saildoggie/BVI610/P7081143.jpgDO NOT leave your computer logged in or camera around with Kneafsay in the house, self-portrait:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/saildoggie/BVI610/P7081142.jpgOur guests:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/saildoggie/BVI610/P7081145.jpgJuly 10: Rounded the girls up and loaded the Jeep, off to STT!
Dropped the gear off and got the tickets for the 10:30 ferry and dropped the girls at Jolly Roger and ran back to Jerry’s to drop the Jeep…back at JR, Bloody Mary and Eggs Benedict….THE BEST!
Boarded the ferry and saw Geoff Holt but did not want to bother him, pretty rough ride on the famous Bomba Charger, some good size swells were coming in!
Did meet Geoff and family at the C&I line at STT, what a great guy, congratulated him on his awesome sailing accomplishments and wished them a great stay.
Taxied to Emerald Beach BW and tried to check in…RUH OH, in my haste booking online I accidentally pre-paid Best Western Caribe!!!
They would not the credit but offered free shuttles to enjoy the EB location.
The Caribe was not what we wanted…we checked in, the bar does not open until 4r:00 Pm, outa here, back to emerald Beach in the shuttle!!
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/saildoggie/BVI610/P7091153.jpghttp://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/saildoggie/BVI610/P7091150.jpghttp://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/saildoggie/BVI610/P7091151.jpgThe Caribe was, well, pretty dumpy, lots of major renovations going on and the place had a strange smell to it; the diesel exhaust from the power plant also was kinda sickening.
A short walk to the airport and pretty good breakfast then a tearful goodbye with Sailpuppy and Bert before we boarded our flight.
Thanks to a Great crew, TriciaH and Tommy, Andy, Dionne and Rachel (Ratchet) special guest Manpot, Haley (Bert) and of course the Admiral and Sailpuppy!
Had a great time with all the TTOL'ers and really great hosts at all of our eventgs!
Whoa, what a TRIP!
Would we do it again, um, yep, already booked Galeaux for next year!!!
