I first sailed the VI in 1988 when in my 20's and have been back many times since, owned half of 2 Moorings boats in the Tortola fleet in the 90's, but this was our first visit in 8 years. More recent trips have been down island. Found this site a few weeks prior to leaving and really appreciate all the great info that is shared here.

We left NoCal early on 11-14 and arrived EIS after 11PM. The Sunsail transfer was there waiting. The chef at the base kept the kitchen open, and the night manager was on hand to make sure we had what we needed for the night aboard in the slip.

We sailed a Sunsail 44i, Just de Ting, owned by my friend with whom I had previously owned the Moorings boats. Beautiful 3 cabin layout, perfect for my 12 and 13 year old sons and my wife and me. The boat was is in good shape with the typical charter boat gremlins here and there, but none was major.

Thurday morning we got a cursory checkout on the boat, probably not sufficient for those less familiar with these boats, but it covered what we needed to know about the engine, windlass, water, and electrical. Once done we headed over to Rite-Way to provision. We like to go to the grocery store when we travel. It's a great way to chat up some locals, find local foods we'd not find on provisioning lists, and give our kids a little exposure to the local culture. Our plan was breakfasts and lunches aboard and about half our dinners. Interesting that Carib was only available through the provisioning division of the store, but we were able to get a case without any problem. Hit Tico on the way back to grab some rum.

Got everything stored and were out of slip between noon and one. Had originally planned to head to the Bite, but wasn't sure about doing the first night there with the kids so beat up to Cooper instead.

After picking up a ball and relaxing a bit, we went ashore for happy hour (2-for-1 Painkillers) and some conch fritters. Met a family that had kids similar ages to ours and were home schooling the kids so they could sail more. Interesting thought!

Appetizers turned out to be enough for dinner, as we were beat from the travel. Headed back to the boat at Sunset and the boys were both asleep soon after dark. The Mrs and I enjoyed a Dark & Stormy on the foredeck.

We forgot to buy coffee, so dinghy'd ashore in the AM for 2 $3 cups of coffee. Breakfast aboard, then a dinghy ride over to Cistern Point for a morning snorkel.

Dropped the mooring and tacked our way up to The Baths. Grabbed a ball on the south end/Devil's Bay side. Sandwiches aboard then a dinghy ride to the baths and hike through the Caves. My wife and one son snorkeled back to the boat while the other and I hiked back through the trail and swam back to the dinghy. As beautiful as I remember it!

Unfortunately my Sea to Summit dry bag was no longer up to the task, and my iPhone, compact camera and my son's iTouch all got damp. swimming to the dinghy. Put them in a bag of rice and all are in various states of back to normal or dead (the camera).

Had a nice breeze sailing north to spend the night in the North Sound, but the wind was on the nose when we turned the corner around Moskito Island so decided to motor sail the rest of the way in.

Picked up a ball at Leverick's (we prefer being off the dock, even if the price is the same). Went in to scout things out and grab coffee at the store. Back to the boat for happy hour then we went ashore for the Friday night BBQ and Moko Jumbies. The boys loved the all-you-can-eat buffet, but the jump up wasn't as hopping as I thought it would be and we called it a night pretty early.

After breakfast aboard we hopped in the dinghy over to Honeymoon beach on Moskito opposite Anguilla Point. We had the place to ourselves, but the wind was up a bit and there was just enough chop that I couldn't get the dingy secured on the beach. So after a half-hour or so we headed over to the little beach near Anguilla Point where it was a bit more protected. Both were beautiful and completely deserted.

We dropped the boys at the boat then went ashore to pay for our ball and pick up a bag of ice. Sir Richard's 110' cat, Necker Belle, was at the dock so we had to check her out. From the outside you can only see so much, but did notice the diving board off the back from the top of the hard bimini. The guy does have his fun!

We had originally planned to sail back down to The Bite this afternoon, but the boys wanted a chill day so we putted up to Saba. We blew up our inner tubes and dropped the kayak in the water and had a play day. hard to beat North Sound as a spot for the water toys! Went ashore for the tarpon feeding, which is a kick if you haven't seen it. My 12-year old was given a whole dorado skin which he used to try to pull tarpon out of the water. A couple rum punches then back aboard for BBQ'd shrimp.

The Leonids meteor shower was to be peaking that weekend, but there was quite a bit of cloud cover (rain most nights), so we chose not to stay up. Word is this wasn't one of the better years for viewing it anyhow.

The next morning we played a bit more, took the dink over to Eustatia, dropped my wife at the Bitter End to hit the boutique, then set out for Cane Garden Bay where we were to meet friends on another boat who had arrived a couple days after us.

We had a lazy reach down. We barely saw 10kts of wind the entire day. An enjoyable sail none-the-less, but not the screamer I had hoped for. Got the toys back in the water in CGB and our friends sailed in about an hour later. We'd sail in tandem with them on their 46' cat the rest of the trip.

They were picking up another couple who had ferried over from St. Thomas, so we went ashore and had a great time getting caught up at Elm's Sunday night BBQ. Dropped the boys back at the boat then headed to the cat for night caps. That thing was absolutely massive. Incredibly comfortable and roomy.

We were running a little slow in the morning, so took breakfast fixins over to the cat and cooked up a storm in the huge galley (galley or kitchen on that thing?).

The wind had begun to move south, in fact was as far south as I can remember seeing for the remainder of the trip. We had a quick run over to Sandy Cay for some more fun with the water toys.

Dropped the balls (when did they put balls in at Sandy Cay?) and headed up past Diamond Cay to pick up a mooring off of Foxy's Taboo. With the downhill run, one of the gals chose to paddle the SUP all the way over.

We did some wakeboarding behind the dinghy and a bit of snorkeling. One of the guys on the cat had brought an underwater light which we rigged to the swim ladder on the cat and watched as 100+ tarpon circled around as the sun set. We had Foxy's Taboo t ourselves that night for a needed mellow evening.

In the morning we hiked out to the bubbly pool, where I had never been. Really a neat, fun spot. The swell was breaking in pretty good and the boys were almost able to body surf it as it came into the pool.

The cat had to drop a crew member at the airport the next morning so we debated Marina Cay or Trellis. With the wind so far south, we had a reach east and were able to sail on a single tack from Sandy Spit all the way to Monkey Point. Given the wind, the cat decided to take advantage and chose a longer sail all the way around Scrub.

We got to Marina Cay in time to fire up the BBQ for mid-afternoon burgers. After the cat arrived we took the dinghy out on the reef for more snorkeling. Saw a couple good sized rays.

We ended up eating dinner ashore again. So much for half the dinners aboard! Service and dinner were both great.

When we awoke in the morning, the cat had already left for Trellis to make their crew drop and hit the grocery store. We puttered around on shore, got dinghy fuel, and Pusser's t-shirts for the boys while we waited.

Once the cat got back we headed for Anegada. Between the two boats' crews we have dozens of trips to the BVI, but none of us has ever gone through the Camanoe Passage between Scrub and Camanoe. We looked at it on the chart and the GPS and while it looked easy enough, we chose to sail around Scrub instead.

Withe with so far south, we were close dead down wind heading to Anegada. Being so deep and again with light air, both boats ended up motor-sailing a good portion of the crossing. We wet some hooks and pulled in a baracuda and hooked another.

Turns out there was a Sunsail floatilla in. The south wind had the Anegada anchorage running a pretty good chop and only available balls were all the way in. The cat made its way in, but I getting depth readings of 0.2' and couldn't see the bottom so chose to drop a hook east of the mooring field. The only time we got the anchor wet all week!

We gathered up the snorkeling gear, went ashore, reserved our lobsters at the Anegada Reef Hotel, then hopped a taxi/pickup truck over to Loblolly. The south wind worked in our favor here as the north shore was as calm as could be and we had a great snorkel, saw all kinds of fish and coral and another what had been daily rainbow sightings.

Smoothies and Big Bamboo to clean the salt water out of our palates where we chatted up a grew of a dozen or so sailing a 56' cat while we waited for our taxi driver to come back.

Between our two boats, we bought sourdough, brownies, and key lime pie from Pam as she putted around the harbor. Not sure we left much for anyone else!

This was our last night out and we had a great dinner on the beach. We retired to the cat for sipping rum and a wisdom session. Given our boat was ll the way across the harbor and cat had so much extra room, we all actually ended up sleeping aboard the cat.

in the morning we went back to our boat to grab breakfast stuff and brought it all back to the cat for one last group meal. The other crew followed us back to our boat after breakfast and we handed off the left over provisions, raised anchor and headed fro Road Town.

now the the south wind was pretty much on the nose, and light, so again, not much choice given time constraints but to motor sail. Once we rounded Beef island we pulled out the jenny for one last tack into Road Town.

Our flight was 9:15 the following morning, so after getting on the dock, and packed we took the dinghy over to town, puttered around a bit and bought a roti to share.

Showers ashore followed by Thanksgiving dinner at C&F. BBQ'd ribs and fresh dorado. Hard to beat! A nice walk back to to the boat and one more night aboard before our morning flight.

All in all, a great trip.

My observations:
The BVI is no longer the undiscovered gem it was back in the day. While certainly not overrun, I can see how it could be during high season. The cats and power cats have changed the dynamic and made the area much more accessible, for better or for worse depending on your perspective.

I can't believe how many mooring balls are in place now. I'm sure it helps protect the bottom from knuckleheads who drop on coral, but dropping/setting anchor really isn't that hard.

I don't know what the deal was with our house batteries, but no matter how much I ran the engine, I never made it through the night without the battery alarm going off. I'd never had that issue before.

Meals, while never really inexpensive, have become pretty pricey. Figure ~$30 a plate for entres almost everywhere. If it were up to me, we'd have had more dinners aboard. But no complaints, the food and service was good everywhere.

With our boys along and this not being a party trip, we skipped some of the standards (Willy T, Soggy Dollar, Foxy's, Sydney's). And, I was fine with that. I have so many great memories of fun times at those places, I'm not sure I could have done the memories justice on this trip.

I love the BVI for all the reasons anyone would. Our boys had a blast, and I hope they will one day be back with their buddies having the fun I had in my misspent youth. As for me, though, I think my next trip will back down island somewhere looking for someplace a bit more undiscovered.