TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Trip Report - Brown Eyed Girl from Horizon

Just got back. Had the boat from 17-24 December on a BB charter.

Boat
Very nice new 2019 FP Astrea 42.

Goods - Beautiful Interior
Large Sail area
Nice foredeck area
Owners configuration -large master and walk-in shower
Good views all around
Fully digital with multiple touchscreens
Well equipped. NIght lighting is amazing
Good view from the helm on starboard side
Lounging on top of canopy with cushions - very nice

Not so good
Sail stack bag/lazy jacks are poorly made
Built in propane grill looks nice but does not generate a lot of heat
rudders seem small, even for a cat
No wheel lock
Combo swim deck/boat davit a little funky to operate
TV not working, although we did not need it

Day 1- Nanny Cay to Norman
Got the boat at noon but had to wait for provisioning. Scheduled Riteway and Tico for noon delivery. Tico was 1.5v hours late. I will pick up my own stuff next time. Horizon was great about doing boat brief night before and nav brief that morning. Sailed to Norman, caught a ball and had a great dinner at PIrate's Bight. Not crowded at all. Except for full moon party at Trellis, we never had any trouble getting a ball anywhere.

More to follow.

Thank you!! Been a while since a fun trip report. Looking forward to hearing more.

Day 2
Peter Island after Indians. Cooked out - lots of swimming. Beautiful spot. Found a great hiking trail. Got caught in a squall, which of course pulled out the aft lazy jack which resulted in ripping the aft 12 inches of the sail stack cover on the port side. Looks like it was locally made but not sure. Ended up costing me 700 dollars.

Day 3

After some snorkeling stops, ended up at Cooper Island to be ready for diving the next day. Nice little restaurant there, a couple shops, but that is it.

Day 4

Great dive with Sail Caribbean divers - two dives on Wreck of the Rhone. Two in our family snorkeled, two dove the wreck. A great day with good viz and a super dive master. I recommend SCD for a great dive trip! Came back to Cooper and made our way to Marina Cay for the night. Had dinner on Scrub Island - one restaurant of two was open at the resort. Nice resort and marina on Scrub Island. We made the next day a down day and hung at the pool and hiked to the end of the island. Just a great day.

Day 5

Got fuel and water at Marina Cay before departing. Very easy fuel dock. I had made a reservation at the marina in Spanish Town on Virgin Gorda for night of the 21st, so we went there, arriving about 4 PM. This marina is still struggling. Dock hands not helpful but we got in there OK. Learned that it is impossible to see anything on the port side of the boat. Power not working at our slip, they told me I could move to another but it was next to a concrete wall and I was tired of dealing with those guys and their multiple issues. Water not working either. Lots of extension cords. Hopefully they will get better. Next day we took a taxi to the baths. Great destination but I should have taken the boat and grabbed a ball. Crowded I think due to cruise ship visit. Taxis everywhere were about 5-6 dollars a person regardless of distance. Adds up.

Day 6

Went to Trellis Bay for Full Moon Party. Very cool. We got there around 4 PM and figured that, if we could not find a ball, would go back Marina Cay and dinghy over. Some nice locals in a dinghy led us to an empty ball, the second to last one available. Took the dinghy in around 8 PM. Found the shoal in the middle of Trellis about 10 seconds after I said "why are there no mooring balls here?" Lost a little paint on the prop. 80 bucks. The FMP is amazing and well worth the time. We had a blast. It really was the only event with a decent amount of people during our entire visit. Crowds or lack of balls were never a problem.

Day 7

Headed to JVD - our longest sail of the trip. A 12 mile broad reach to JVD from Trellis. So fun. Hit Foxy's for dinner, checked out Soggy Dollar - nothing going on there and they closed at 6 PM. We did grab some painkillers and watched a nice sunset. We motored from JVD to Nanny Cay next day.

Overall a great tip - despite some damage to the sail stack bag. Horizon was a pretty nice group overall and the hotel was good for a nights stay prior to heading out. They said i was getting a "special Horizon Rate" of 192 per night at Nanny Cay hotel, but a guy walked in behind me and got the room next door for 148. Strange.

Forgot to add...Coco Maya on Virgin Gorda - one of the coolest bars I have ever visited!

So much fun thanks for sharing!

Our turn soon!

Thanks for the report Krafty We just got back ourselves and I think we moored close to you at Cooper on our first night.

We were on Horizon's SV 'Precious Time' 41' 2015 FP Lipari

Cheers,

Narwhal

Saw you there - what a great time! We dove out of cooper next day.

Great review . We chartered BEG and we completely agree with your review

Thanks for the review. I have Brown Eyed Girl reserved for Mid June. I'm looking forward to the new version. Sorry to hear the dingy deck wasn't as smooth as it should be.

Thanks for the trip report! Glad to hear about Coco Maya, hoping to hit that next time on VG.

Hi Krafty81

Nanny Cay does extend a discount to our inhouse charter guests, as well as frequent travellers, local travellers and a few others. The rooms have varying rates and it sounds like you had a deluxe room with two queen beds (new room) and the discount applied. The other person must have had a standard room with two double beds, but possibly got upgraded for one reason or another (possibly someone extended their stay and his original room was not available, or there could have been a maintenance issue or something).

I hope you enjoyed your stay and found the room comfortable.

Hope to see you next time.