Had a wonderful visit to the usvi for a couple of days
Quick highlights
Chartered from CYOA - Frenchtown - a budget week - three couples on a Mahe 36 (what a nice little sports car(cat) Smallish, with some ventilation limitations, but sails great. Kimber, Nancy and Cap'n Jay and all the gang at CYOA were great. Had no major issues with the boat. We did rent a car at the airport, shopped cost u less and k mart and then returned the car at the seaplane base – this is the way to go.
First day - sail to St John - Francis Bay is always a nice place to moor, and Maho Bay Camps had a great breakfast and nice store. (no rhyme intended)
Next day - Waterlemon Cay was a nice snorkel...lots of sea creatures. Saw an octopus and loads of starfish
Jost - Great harbor has TEN new moorings (orange - pay at the fuel dock) The Soggy Dollar was quite crowded - take a bit of the ambience away - Ivan’s is always cool Snack shack next to the ferry for breakfast sandwich is a must.
Up to this point light wind and beautiful blue skies - Monday morning had a romping good sail en route to Norman - hit 8 knots in 15-7 knots of air reaching along Tortola - later went completely flat as we motored to the Indians. Had the BEST Indians snorkel ever - loads of fish and the coral looked pretty good in the bright sunlight
Pirates and Willie T are the same. The “scrapbook” on the tv screen now makes it even less of a kid friendly place - no way to hide THAT from little eyes.
Had a flat day motoring up to Leverick with a stop at Saba - GREAT apps and service at Saba- just didn’t have time to stay. Keisha(?) from St Lucia served us VERY well- always smiling.
Nick and Monica – what GREAT hosts. The food, the pool, the TTOL deal. Shout out to the dock guys as well. AND THEN THE STORMS CAME..as we finished supper, Biblical rains and lightning came and lasted all night, with it lessening but not ending in the morning. We scrubbed (pun intended - you’ll see in a minute) the Anegada trip for several reasons, not the least of which was the really uncertain forecast.
We also had a medical ‘urgency’ (not quite an emergency - the clinic at Spanishtown (Iris O’Neal clinic) took very good care of my crewmember who had the issue.
So we tried out Scrub Island - a short sail (in the pouring rain) from North Sound - a delight. The TTOL deal is great. I won’t drop Leverick Bay (too much fun) but will add Scrub as a stop for future trips (it is a shallow basin) Scrub is a NICE resort - great pool, bar service, showers – first class. Elerie at the pool bar was fantastic. Thanks to Binny and the staff
Next day - As it cleared the winds came up - we sailed down the north shore of Tortola back to Jost with one reef in and 20 knots steady - hit 9.1 on the gps COG at one point - might have been going faster through the water - what a nice sailing cat!
Saw a lionfish while snorkeling at Little jost - 100m ft south of nthe old concrete pier under a ledge. That night – Corsairs was wonderful - Vinnie is a great host abnd the food was wonderful.
Next day – a decent sail back to St John - sailing at 6-7 knots most of nthe time. C and I folks in Cruz Bay were pleasant and professional. Christmas Cove and Fish Cay at Great St James were a wonderful surprise. Nice anchorage and surprisingly good snorkeling!!! Saw a huge spotted ray just circling around there.
All in all....another week in paradise !
Mahe 36 cat is a little sports car - got up to 9.1 knots in 22 knots of wind...it will sail a little on almost any wind and that 9.1 knots was with one reef in, the ladies happy and zero drinks spilled <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" /> It is small, and the ventilation is weak. I could NOT recommend this as summer charter - get her sister with AC. When the winds are up - a really NICE two couple or couple and kids boat.
****and of course, PM with any specific questions
