Plenty of people wrongly apologize for writing too long of a trip report. I might have finally succeeded. (Go here for trip pics ---> pictures )

Day 0 (April 28th) – Tampa to Tortola

Eight or so months of planning, daydreaming, and anticipating all took a back seat as we kissed & hugged our 4 year old in the driveway and watched him cry. I always knew it was going to suck to leave him behind for a week but man does it rip your heart out.

Our crew consisted of myself, wife Jamie, brother Jeff, and 4 other friends Mayuri, Doug, and first timers Matt & Mary. We chose the “Greyhound of the skies” Spirit Air as the deal from Ft. Lauderdale to STT was insanely low. So low I don’t even want to post it after reading what most from far away pay. A quick 40 min flight from Tampa to FLL was followed by a nice 2:15 one to STT. We had been sweating the ferry with a 3:30 arrival but made it the terminal for the 2nd to last 4:15. With the beautiful beaches of St. John passing by it finally set in. WE’RE BACK!!!

Made the 10min walk from customs to Village Cay Marina and found our house for the week, the beautiful 45’ Blue Moon cat, at the end of dock B. In 2007 we had an amazing week with Capt. Mobbsie (Lionheart) and I could tell within 5 minutes of meeting Capt. Jim Phillips that we made an excellent choice once again. He greeted us with a round of Painkillers and that aroma of nutmeg hit me like smelling salts awakening me back to the Caribbean.

Walked over to Bobby’s for provisions and upon returning with a wheelbarrow full of cases of beer Jim said, “I like what I see.” Everyone but Mary (under the weather) went to dinner at Village Cay, which was actually pretty funny. She had promised/assured her Mom, who doesn’t know any of us, that she would be safe and never alone. Between beers Jeff said, “we’ve been here 2 hours and we’ve already left Mary alone.”

(At the end of some of the days I’ll post a funny line from that day):

"When I worked at Winn Dixie people called me Sclong-helm" – Doug (He later admitted that it took him two years to figure out the crude slang definition…they even paged him that way over the intercom. Needless to say he was Sclong-helm the rest of the week).


Day 1 – Road Town to Cane Garden



After grabbing some ice and checking out Jim sat us down for the boat talk. It pretty much consisted of if someone falls over point at him and let me know, we have 80 gallons of water onboard, and the trampolines in the front aren’t the type that you can jump on…let’s have fun! After loudly playing “I’m on a Boat” as we left the dock I knew we had the right guy for the job.

When we made it out into open water Jim said we can either go that way (Cooper or The Baths) or, that way (head towards JVD or Cane Garden Bay). He was always great at giving options and then subtlety giving an opinion as to what would probably be best. We followed him all week and were never let down. We decided on counterclockwise and set sail for Sandy Cay.

Pulling into to Sandy Cay I aked Capt Jim that, “these contrasting shades of blues and greens never get old…right?” “No, it doesn’t,” he said with a smile. I then asked Jim, “I noticed you have a hard bimini top…is it cool if we jump off from it?” I smiled like a 10 y/o getting in a line at 7-11 on free Slurpee day when he said, “sure” fully expecting an “I’d rather you not”. The beach looked beautiful but I took the next 15min jumping into the water like a kid. We spent a few hours limin, exploring, swimming, and drinking warm Amstel Light’s that Matt swam ashore with. Definitely a great spot to get wet for the first time on our trip.

It was now late afternoon so we swam back for the short sail to Cane Garden. Jim was working on the generator and informed us he needed a new bolt for the alternator bracket…hopefully he could pick one up at a shop at CGB. Interestingly, we’ve spent weeks in the BVI’s but have never been to CGB…we were excited to finally see it. Jim went ashore but came back empty handed in the bolt department. At sunset we went to Myett’s for Happy Hour before sitting down for a BBQ at the Elm. Dinner here was EXCELLENT! My wife & I split the ribs & chicken and we couldn’t get enough of the veggies. The sauce on the meat had a nice little kick to it. Thought we’d maybe see the famous Manpot wandering around but no luck.

The power was out so we ate at candlelight type levels and listened to a few members of the band whip out some acoustic songs. I love stripped down music like that so I could have sat in one of those swings with ice cold Red Stripes and my wife all night. The juice came back on and the band plugged in. They were good, very good IMO…very clean. We hung out til about 10:30 and made friends with a local guy named Soulja (or Soldier…probably depending on how hip you are). A few people bet him $20 he couldn’t climb all the way up one of the palms and sure enough he scurried up and came back down with a coconut in tow. All this done with, by the appearance of his eyes, a pretty substantial buzz.

Wife and I fell asleep on the tramps while listening to the waves crash. Damn are we lucky.


Day 2 – CGB to JVD



I just can’t sleep IN when I’m down in the ilons…up at 5:00 a.m. That morning I saw Jim fire up the generator so I said, “I thought it was still broke.” Turns out one of the guitarists from the band at The Elm searched his floorboards in his car during a set break and found a bolt that would do the trick. Only in the islands does this happen and make perfect sense.

Everyone was up early this morning and we were off to Long Bay between JVD and Little JVD for some snorkeling. First time in this spot and man was it beautiful. We saw a big turtle while gearing up but overall the snorkeling was average due to low visibility. Jim remarked he’d never seen the mooring field this empty but then again remarked he’d never been in there at 9:30 a.m.

The Capt. had the excellent idea of wrapping up the snorkel, grabbing our flip flops, filling the travel color with an assortment of beers, and getting in the dink for the trip over to the bubbly pool as we’d completely have it to ourselves. He was always full of these wonderful ideas and also made sure we had a fresh frosty one in our hands for the 1 min & 42 second ride to the dock. Made the walk to a deserted bubbly pool and was glad we did…it was pretty cool. A small cooler full of beers was the icing on the cake.

Since Jim was down to one engine he said he’s rather overnight in Great Harbor instead of maneuvering the crowded (with day trippers) White Bay. A little disappointed as you can’t beat that gorgeous WB arrival but it was also neat to see it from the top of the hill on the ride over. Ahhh…Soggy Dollar! Quickly downed a few rounds of Painkillers and played the ring game while waiting on some fritters. Spent the next few hours limin in the water and playing Waboba. What’s Waboba? Go buy one for $9 from amazon.com and answer that question 700 times when you play with it on the beach. It’s basically a small ball that bounces on the water. Takes a few throws to get the hang of it but it’s a blast!

Struck up a conversation with a couple guys about Waboba and the subject eventually turned to beer. Mmmm…beer. Anyway, my brother is quite the home brewer and can name countless brands you’ve never heard of. The two guys said, “we’re distributors with Sam Adams and we’re here with Jim Koch (owner/founder of Sam Adams and on their commercials)…wanna meat him?” “Hell yeah!” We spent the next 15min trying to find him while drinking, Sam Adams of course, with all the guys up at the bar before telling them to come grab us when he comes around.
Well, guess who we bump in to while walking back down to the water? None other than Gabe Kaplan from Welcome Back Kotter! No, not really. We saw Jim Koch. Not wanting to bug him I just raised my Boston Lager and said, “you make some great beers!” He gave me a big nod and said, “Ahhh, why thank you.” My brother said he saw him scoping my beer from far away…beer always on Mr. Sam Adams’ mind I guess.

Things quieted down later that evening and we walked down to Seddy’s. I’ve been to White Bay 4 times and this is my first trip to Peace & Love. WOW…those Bushwackers are no joke! Talked to some Aussies and other boaters and for some reason they gave me the nickname Falcon and my brother Andre. Didn’t make sense drunk and doesn’t make sense sober back home…the name didn’t stick.

Around 6:30 we caught a cab back to Foxy’s where Jim dinked us back to the boat. Large amounts of alcohol played a factor in someone, somehow knocking my mask and snorkel into the darkening water. Jim said we were only in 20-25 ft of water so I figured I’d borrow a set and look for mine in the morning. Mayuri decided her clothes were getting in the way and took those damn restrictive things off…all of them…on deck…in daylight. She strutted like a peacock and every boat within sight distance quickly took notice.

That night Jim dropped in his water light and we spent hours watching the tarpons feed and swim around. I grabbed a plastic cup and was able to catch a weird worm (about 3 inches long) and a shrimp by simply holding it still in the water off the back steps. We resisted throwing him on the Barbie.

Cooked soft tacos on the boat but couldn’t find the avocados for our famous guacamole. Also couldn’t find our tomatoes, a tub a cream cheese, and a whole loaf of bread. Evidently there is a wild band of tomato, avocado, and whipped chive cream cheese sandwich eating pirates down in the BVI. Be sure to lock these items up if your sailing soon.

“What’s up Chaz Bono.” Me (Said to Doug when Mayuri said he looked like a butch chick after he put on his bandana)

Day 3 – JVD to Marina Cay



Woke up early, like 4:45 a.m., and listened to some tunes while watching the sun rise from the tramps. Around 8:30 I jumped in and started the search for my mask & snorkel. Watching the boat swing in a pretty wide arc that morning made me realize I might be looking for a needle in a stack of needles. I’m pretty decent at holding my breath at depths and about 15 mins. in while swimming on the bottom I spotted it! Didn’t really care about the mask (it was fogging) but I’ve had that snorkel for almost a decade…I love it.

Got underway an hour later and headed over to Monkey Point for some snorkeling. Great spot but unfortunately it was overcast. Upon getting on the boat I scanned the horizon and noticed the weather was socked in. We didn’t see the sun the rest of the day.


Motored over to Marina Cay around 1:30 and had an adventure grabbing a ball. Our gaff broke in half while pulling up the line and Jim ran up front to see it sinking. “Uh, that’s not good…that’s supposed to float” he said. I told him I could jump in to dive down and get it and he gave his first, and only, “just be careful” of the week. Swam over and dove down but couldn’t locate it (I don’t wear glasses/contacts and I don’t mind opening my eyes underwater). I surfaced to yell for a mask but forgot you don’t just stop a 45’ catamaran…they were already circling through the boats in the mooring field. I dove back down and this time saw it shinning at the bottom…wasn’t easy to get to the bottom without fins but I did manage to grab it. Treaded water for a few minutes and was able to hand it up to my brother as they were pulling up to the ball. While climbing up the swim ladder I heard Jeff yell, “we missed the ball again”. While circling a third time through the field Jim said, “We are now THAT boat…I’m sure plenty of people are having a good laugh.” It was funny.

Went to the almost empty bar at Marina Cay to see Eric Stone but were “treated” to two local guys singing top 40 & reggae. Wow, this place sure does miss Michael Beans. It was lifeless up there except for our group. We can have fun anywhere. Doug, our resident “I don’t care how weird I look dancing I’M DANCING DAMNIT” guy ripped up the dance floor. Words can’t describe it so just picture Napoleon Dynamite…with fewer moves.

That night we cooked burgers, dogs, & mac n’ cheese…another great day!

“That area looks real Sharky” – Mary (Her answer to me when I asked her why she wasn’t going snorkeling with us)


Day 4 – Marina Cay to Leverick



Spent sunrise in the tramp again watching the clouds attempt to break up. We were heading to Virgin Gorda and I wanted sunshine! Underway we had a “You’ll remember where you were moment” when passing The Dogs an announcement came over the VHF that Bin Laden was killed the day before. AWESOME!!! Sort of cool in this age of even the smallest news being reported, chewed up, and spit out in minutes that something of this magnitude took a day to reach us.

Instead of sailing to the Baths and then to the North Sound we asked Jim if we could rent a car at Leverick and drive VG for the day. Most in our group had never been on VG, save the Baths, and we knew how cool the drive over Gorda Peak is. Got a hold of Speedy’s and they had a safari truck waiting for us at the marina. It was funny, we walked into the office, were handed the keys, and asked to swing by Speedy’s in Spanishtown. Crazy. I mean, we’re trustworthy people for the most part but they don’t know that. Guess your on an island so where you going?

Jim handled the driving duties (thank God as we were all feeling pretty toasty) and off we were with a cooler full of cold ones in tow. Made the two gorgeous stops at the viewing platforms and took in our first “overhead view” of the BVI’s. Stopped by Speedy’s to officially rent the truck and paid only $75…not bad split 7 ways.

The next few hours were spent exploring The Baths and limin on Devil’s Bay…God I love this island. Hiked back up to the top of the baths to have lunch at the Top of The Baths…would’ve loved to be there when they came up with that name. Had a great BBC and the wife and I split a Jerk Chicken sandwich and some so so fritters. Everyone, including Capt. Jim who had never done it this way, was really glad we rented the truck for the day. The views are just incredible on the mountain.

That evening we went to the Michael Beans show…sort of. We had a slip directly across from the stage so we climbed up on the hard top bimini, cracked open a few beers, and watched the show from there. We had wifi service so, as some on here may already know, we called home and had our family take control of the Leverick webcam and zoom in on us. What an interesting world we live in…I was conversing/posting with TTOL'ers from around the world who were watching us live on their computers. Cool.

We all took our first showers of the week and drank lots of alcohol. Another great day!

“There were three girls and one of them was definitely a female” – Doug (Capt Jim. must have repeated this gem from Doug 100 times that night and it never got old)

“You know, they’ve really improved upon the Geo Tracker” – Matt (Said from the back of our safari truck when we pulled back into Leverick. It probably isn’t funny to you now reading this but try drinking all day and hearing that come out of leftfield. Hilarious.)

Day 5 – Leverick to Anegada



You look forward to everyday but man was I itching to get back to Anegada. Virgin Gorda is special as it’s where I married my amazing wife exactly four years ago this day (on a deserted Spring Bay by the Baths) and I go back and forth as to which my favorite island is. They’re all incredible but if I could snap my fingers and go somewhere in the BVI’s for a day it would probably be Anegada.

That morning we walked over to the grocery store at Leverick and absolutely destroyed some spinach quiches and coconut tarts. Man those tarts were excellent. While prepping to shove off I met two TTOL celebrities. First Nick stopped by as word had already spread of the webcam, our mooning of the Michael Beans crowd, and late night nudity. What a friendly guy and a pleasure to chat with for a few minutes. A few minutes later Rick from Sophisticated Lady walked by so I said hello and told him I enjoy his webcam posts.

We had a nice sail to Anegada and my brother and I spent most of it sitting in the bow chairs. It’s always neat seeing the mirage like trees pop up in the distance and with the sun almost directly overhead the shallow anchorage looked like a giant swimming pool.

Jim ran down the dining options and informed us he’s well taken care of at Potters after his charity charter for their dock. Sounds like a plan. We packed up all our gear and a cooler full of frosty travelers and loaded into the dinghy. Coming down the new dock we were greeted by Potter’s son, Elias if I remember correctly, who showed us a whopper of a lobster…10lbs he said. It was the biggest damn crustacean I’ve ever seen.

Went across the street and secured a safari truck for 24 hours and off we were into the lunchtime Anegada rush hour…I think we saw one car. Stopped by Flash of Beauty just to get a peak and then continued on to heaven…Cow Wreck. There can’t be too many better places on earth and there were maybe 6 other people crowding the spot. Started off with a round of Wreck punch’s and order some conch fritters…the best of the trip IMO.

A couple hours later I met the world famous Walker! What a nice guy. Only got to chat with him briefly though as Belle’s grandson, Enrique (spelling?), took a liking to my brother & I and had us running all over the beach. Holy crap what an arm on that kid! Four years old and he was chucking baby coconuts to me at least 25ft in the air. We played an assortment of games with him and just had a blast. Later I said to my brother that, “this is the real Caribbean.” You never really visit a place until you spend time/get to know the people who call it home. It’s a memory that will last a longtime.

The sun was setting so Jim wrangled us kicking and screaming so we could make our 7:30 dinner at Potter’s. We made a quick detour to see the yellow cottages that have broken and even fallen into the sea. Pictures of these should adorn the cover of The Importance of Mangroves & Vegetation Weekly. What a sight! Left the truck in a lot and got the feeling we could’ve kept the keys in the ignition only to find it there tomorrow.

While the girls got ready for dinner we watched the sun ignite the western sky and made some cocktails. Some of us just stayed in our trunks and shirts…yet another highlight of Anegada living. The wife and I split a lobster and ribs. I think I enjoyed Anegada Reef Hotel a bit more last time but that’s nitpicking isn’t it? Took the dink back to boat and fell asleep counting the stars from the tramp and thinking of the unlucky souls sitting on their couches like zombies watching some reality show abomination.

“Look, I’m not going to debate the “better-ness” of the sunset now as opposed to 5 minutes ago.” - Matt (Said to me after I came back topside and said that the sunset looks even better now. Matt disagreed, paused, and then said this ever so eloquently)

"I DON’T EVEN WANT TO GO BACK ON THE BOAT!!!" – Matt (After being informed that we had to leave Cow Wreck and head back to the boat. He even said it in a pouting 6 year old way.)

Day 6 – Anegada to Leverick



Up before 5:00 am again. I’ve given up trying figure out why. Laid on the tramp (insert joke here) and listened to some Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds acoustic stuff while watching sun light up the exact opposite place it did about 12 hours ago. I enjoyed seeing the early riser from each nearby boat do the same thing. It’s like we’re each in some sleep-deprived club. Jim laid out our options for the day. We could overnight again in Anegada but then make the long sail to The Bight tomorrow for our last full day…doable but lots of time underway. Or, we could spend most of the day and head out by 3:00 for VG or maybe Trellis.

Loaded back into the truck and headed to Loblolly for some snorkeling. WOW! There are probably more Caribbean islands that we haven’t been to than those we have and this snorkel ranks at the top. So much fun squeezing and zagging your way through the cuts in the reef only for it to open up into what can be described as coral amphitheaters. Breathtaking! Saw barracudas, all the regular fish, rays, giant lobsters, and a shark when we got close to the big cut and dropoff. We even got Mary to go with us…evidently this area didn’t look too “Sharky”.

Even though we all craved for another day at Cow Wreck we figured we couldn’t spend 3 days on Anegada (2 this trip & 1 in 2007) and only go there. Went around the corner to Big Bamboo and although crowded, compared to CWB anyway, we still had a great time. After a few stiff drinks I fell asleep in the hammocks by the restaurant while the others…well, I don’t know what the hell they were doing cause I was asleep in the hammock. What, do you expect me to keep tabs on them every second?! Woke myself by snoring a couple times and decided to get out of that cacoon as I only had a few hours left on Anegada. Killed that time swimming in the ocean and taking the Waboba square in my nuts when it took a wicked hop of a two inch rogue wave. It was a good show for those on the shore who said the Waboba ball disappeared into my manhood region for a good two seconds before falling back into the water. My brother, who threw it, felt so bad. I, the recipient, felt worse.

Got back to the boat and were underway by 3:00. We figured we liked Nick’s spot at Leverick Bay so much we’d head back for another night. Left our mark (and some of Blue Moon’s paint) on the dock when pulling in but Jim assured us he’d seen worse…often. Beans had just started his show and this time we decided to participate. After drinking all day on Anegada, all sail back, and now here at the show none of us were feeling any pain. Mayuri, Jeff, and I each got a question right and reluctantly drank some free rum. Matt entered the conch blowing contest and represented with an amazing…3 seconds! Beans did remark that it was a “solid 3 seconds.” The winning blower, some guy named Freddy, made the inexcusable decision of picking some stupid backpack over a bottle of rum. Matt obviously not a fan of this choice yelled out over the silent crowd with his hands on his head, “NOOOOOO FREDDY! You made a mistake!” Funny sh*t!

I ran out of gas by 11:00 but all I missed was…our group polishing off 4 bottles of rum and flirting their way on to The Necker Belle with the only true currency in this world…boobs. The captain of the Necker Belle, lets call him Captain “Smooth”, made sure that visit was short lived when he said to Mary, “OK you’re on so get naked.” Needless to say Mary immediately turned around and walked off. Bro, we all like breasts and we all want to see them but try to sprinkle in a little more subtlety next time.

“That’s the first time I’ve gotten high of someone’s jacket.” – Mayuri (Said after giving Michael beans a hug after the show and detecting a certain herbal odor.)


Day 7 – Leverick to The Bight



Last day. Well, last full day. Can’t think of a better way to start it than getting some more crack…a.k.a. coconut tarts. Thirty seconds in the microwave gets them all nice and gooey. Did a little shopping, grabbed some ice, and paid the bill before shoving off for Norman.

Calmest day of our trip…little wind & small seas. The entire group spent most of the long trip sitting up front under the shade of the spinnaker and reliving funny stories from the week. Normally this would’ve been a hugely depressing day but Jamie & I were so ready to get home and see our boy. Don’t know how military families do it.

Moored at the Indians for a great snorkel. Visibility was huge and the sun illuminated everything. Had to turn back at one point when most of us started to get stung by jellies but they were just concentrated in a small area. I love I guess what you would call free diving and asked Jim what depth we were at when we returning to the boat. “43 feet” he said. Took a few quick breaths and then a few deep ones and dove down to my happy place on the ocean floor. Ever since I was little I’ve always loved sitting underwater as long as I can. Looking up 4 stories through the water at the bottom of the boat and then shooting back to the surface like a rocket is so much fun…wish I was doing it right now!

It was around 2:00 when we arrived to a sparsely populated but crazy scene in the Bight. First there was a guy knee boarding through the mooring field who got the brilliant idea that he was going to go under a boats mooring line while the dinghy pulling him was going around it. Can you say clothesline! He seemed ok but I’m sure he felt it the next day. Then, we watched the boat next to us launch each other twenty feet in the air over and over again. How you say? They ran a line from the top of their mast down over the transom and straight back in the water, which appeared to be about four times as long as the mast was high. The other end of the line was tied to a dinghy and a little past midway was a ski rope type handle. One by one someone would swim out to line that was lying limp in the water and then the dinghy would throttle it in a straight line away from the boat. This would lift the line out of the water and take whoever was holding on about 15-20 ft in the air. It was quite a sight and a good thing to do while drinking on the back of your boat. We asked Captain Jim why he doesn’t do cool things like that with his boat.

Made reservations at the T for 7:00 and dinghied over around 5:00 for the bar scene. Nothing too crazy went on before dinner except for me getting my wife and Mary to flash the VISAR crew as they circled the boat. I told them those guys are all volunteers and the only help should we ever need it…it was their duty! Ate dinner and had a blast throwing French fry after French fry into the water and seeing the frenzy ensue.

The bar got busy that night but the group sort of petered out around 10ish. I'd like to tell you about the 6ft tall amazon blonde lady dancing that night but I don't think there are enough words between a thesaurus & a dictionary to describe the spectacle she put on. Just imagine the way Elaine from Seinfeld would dance if suddenly all her joints and limbs were on backwards...and she was on ice...and she was on stilts...that was attached to a pogo stick...that was sending intermittent electric shocks through her body. IT WAS EPIC! She was so bad that a guy came over and said, "She's not with you...right?" When we said no he said, "good, cause she's the worst (bleeping) dancer I've ever seen!"

Climbing off the dinghy back at our boat Jim noticed some bio-luminescence firing so we spent some time messing around in the dark water. I even confirmed you could stir it up by taking a whiz. Hey, it was for science. Had a few more drinks on the back of the boat and then fell asleep watching the stars from the deck.


Day 8 – Norman to West End to St. Thomas to Ft. Lauderdale to Tampa

Went home. It sucked!