4am morning after Thanksgiving. Having recovered from being “stuffed” day before, we awake to begin our newest “Cattitude” adventure.
5am leave for Newark Airport. As usual we are bringing a bunch of “funky” stuff, and are concerned with getting past the TSA. This time we have a “new Cooler” that will stay with “Cattitude” a very nice 60 Qt. Icey Tec. Inside it we have my usual 400 slices of precooked bacon, some varieties of cheeses and dried meats, (Sopresatta, Black Peppercorn Salami, Portabello Mushroom Jack, Jalepeno Jack, Garlic Cheddar) 2 containers of non-fat half & half along with a no-fat amoretta Cremora and 4 large boxes of “Egg Beaters….to counteract the affects of all those cholesterol packed items, all surrounded with Techn-ice to keep it cold. But also in the cooler is a new lighted mirror for me…..of course this sets off the TSA radar and they open the box in which the cooler is housed for protection. They also open the large rolling duffle containing our PFD’s complete with CO2 cartridges. (we did include in the case the paper from the website stating that AA has approved carrying of CO2 cartridges for PFD’s in checked baggage.) They also open the 3rd piece, a trunk……inside the trunk was a large spotlight that I guess could be seen on the x-ray machine as a huge gun of some sorts. Well this was a record…..all 3 checked pieces opened. But all passed and off we head for San Juan.

We arrive in San Juan on time and wait to meet our guests (Frank & Paula) there. We have a 3pm flight to EIS and everything is on time. They show up 10 minutes before boarding and as they head to the bus, we discover that they have actually booked the next flight….not ours. That is OK as the next flight out is 30 minutes later. We agree to meet in Tortola and tell them that we will wait for them. Arrive in Tortola on time, we are the first ones from our plane on line for immigration. As usual not a swift process. There are 6 people ahead of us from a prior flight and they take “FOREVER” to get through. One is acutally taken to another room…..reason unknown…..and now there is only 1 agent for our entire plane.

Another first............all our luggage has actually arrived on the same flight as us and is on the conveyor belt by the time we clear. We grab our luggage and head to customs. Again a first, they ask us to open ALL 3 checked pieces. Asks how much food…we tell him cheeses, bacon, eggs, & dried meats……(he see lighted mirror)…..looks in next trunk and finds 9 filters for the desalinator we are installing……finally checks last piece and determines that we owe a total of $9.00. We cheerfully pay him (as we probably had about a thousand dollars of “stuff” for the boat. Off we head to find Andrew’s taxi “TMM’s dedicated taxi service. Our driver is Thomas and we tell him that our friends are on the next plane and that we will wait for them……”No problem” he responds and puts our luggage into the van for safekeeping. Now we just have to wait the 30 min. for that next plane……50 min, 90 min….Finally at 5pm they clear Customs…..Plane was delayed an hour and they were the last ones off. Luckily, their luggage arrived with them and we are finally off to TMM. We arrive at TMM at 6pm…..the same time that Bobby’s market is suppose to deliver.

It is now 6:30 (we worried for about a half hour that we had missed Bobby’s, but they finally showed up). Checking in the foodstuff while the driver was still there, discovered that the frozen tuna steaks were delivered as salmon. Driver leaves with salmon and returns 10 minutes later with ordered Tuna. Everything else to exact order…..I’m always happy with Bobby’s service.

We decide that after we unpack most of our “stuff” and the trunks we keep “on island” and the groceries are put away, we will head to Spaghetti Junction for dinner. Cab picks us up at 8pm.

Spaghetti Junction: Very nice new place….not on the water but a nice size. Bat Cave attached, tho we didn’t go in. We thoroughly enjoyed the meal. Afterwards, decided to head out to Bomba’s for “Full Moon” party. Our first experience. Very interesting. The description of an overgrown “frat party” is extremely accurate. Since this party was on a Friday night…there were many, many locals there. The road in had numerous “booths” all selling various drinks and foods. Stayed long enough to sample the tea at midnight. Not one of us found it to have ANY hallucigenic qualities…Yes, we were dissappointed.
1am head back to Cattitude for much needed rest.

8am Sat morning. Awake at TMM, breakfast & meetings with the staff of TMM to review various plans, issues, & new installations. Pick up the huge boxes from the office….the new desalinator that was delivered 3 days before. We plan to take it out with us to decide when the various components will be installed. Around 10am we see Glenns new boat “Caribbean Spirit” arrive. (Very nice boat….hope to see it up close when we get back to the marina in 2 weeks.) Also see another Lagoon 43 Powercat delivered. All white hull. Will be outfitted in Tortola and will reside in the Belize fleet. It is all white and even tho Paul & I fought with Lagoon for weeks about getting a white hull instead of the dark blue we have, I am SO VERY glad that we got the blue. Much classier.

1pm we leave TMM and decide to head over to the Willy T for the evening. Heading out of the harbor, we feel a constant vibration, also appears that water is shooting in via the stuffing box. Turn around and call TMM. We anchor outside of TMM’s lagoon and wait for Lucien to come out to meet us. It appears that we must have picked up a plastic bag or something that caused the shimmy, since starting up again with Lucien onboard the vibration went away. The water we saw was just residual from cleaning the bilge. Lucien gave us a clean bill of health and off we went.

(A quick aside to the trip report….. This trip we were to cruise the Spanish Virgin Islands with 2 couples that joined us for our shake-down cruise in Oct 03. Ed (who produced “Cattitude” the movie) and his wife Cindy were also to join us. Cindy did most of the research for the Spanish VI portion of the trip. Unfortunately, a week before the trip Cindy’s dad had a major stroke and they had to cancel. Since Paula & Frank had not seen as much of the BVI last October, we changed our plans to give them the north shore tour.)

Back to the trip…..we headed for Norman Island and picked up a mooring in Privateer Bay on the south end of the caves (NOTE only 4 mooring balls were at the caves…guess the rest have been “removed” by various boats propellers), spent the afternoon just limin’ and catching up on some needed rest.
Around 5 pm head into the Bight and dropped anchor about 200 feet off the bow of the Willy T. Barbequed onboard and head to the Willy T around 9pm. A lot of people, but not the craziest night I’ve seen. Paul & Paula jump. What more can I say. Belly shots? Etc….Paul has another Willy T experience.

Sunday morning. Breakfast, then Frank and myself pickup anchor and cruise lesiurely out to Diamond Cay…..do NOT ask where the Captain is. We drop anchor on the east side of the harbor. Paula & Frank grab the dinghy and head to shore to visit the “Bubbly Pools”. I take a nap while they are gone and when they return, the Captain comes alive. Late in the afternon we head over to White Bay for the evening. We anchor in about 15 feet just east of the Soggy Dollar. Dinner on the boat and early to bed.

Monday 19th….awake to another perfect day in White Bay. After breakfast Paula, Paul, & myself grab our snorkeling gear and head to the west end of the bay by dinghy. Snorkeling is ok, but not nearly as good as it was in June. Upon our return we all head into the Soggy Dollar for “painkillers” and to visit with KC. KC is still waiting for my daughter (known to him as “Blondie”) to marry him. He call Paul “Pops” and myself “Mom”. We spend the afternoon “Limin”, playing the ring game, and drinking “painkillers”. A late lunch of Honey stung chicken, conch fritters, and a wrap make the afternoon complete.

Later in the afternoon we head back out to “Cattitude” to do a photo shoot of the new cooler. See webshots for Nov 04 trip pics. Hang out onboard. Decide that since we ate such a large late lunch we will just make tacos with cheese and salsa in the oven….grreat plan, but somehow we ran out of propane. Got the tacos done….see photos, but could not light the stove or oven again. Spend the night on the hook. (Quite a number of new moorings on the east end. And all filled up.) Several boats stayed on anchor on the west end. A calm and quiet night.

Tuesday morning….8am…call TMM to tell them the propane issue. We agree to meet at Cane Garden Bay to pick up a new tank they will deliver to the dock. (Luckily we had NOT headed out to the Spanish VI, or we would have been cranky by now not being able to cook.) We check out Quito’s while there. Certainly a major renovation. See webshot photos. The word is that it will not be ready until Christmas…(I have my doubts that they will even make that.) The roof was still being worked on, there are no walls, electric, stairs, (it is still pretty raw). We head over to Bobby’s market for a few “extras” and by the time Paula and I get back to the dock the propane issue is resolved. (While in Bobby’s I hear that there is a “Blue light special in aisle 3”)……..remember that…..!)

Off to Monkey Point. Upon arriving we find that there are only 3 moorings…all taken. We anchor about 300 feet off shore. Take the dink in to the dinghy mooring (we have been using a “SeaStep for getting back into dink…it makes for a much easier & prettier entrance back in). Snorkeling here has always been good, but this time we encounter 17 HUGE tarpons in a school followed by a very large Barracuda. We snorkel for about an hour and see the tarpons numerous times. Fish were VERY abundant. Probably the best we have seen there or elsewhere.
We pick up anchor and head to the Dogs with the intention of more snorkeling. A north swell makes it rather uncomfortable for snorkeling as the waves are crashing into the rocks. We opt to have lunch instead and then head over to North Sound. Upon arrivng in north sound we drop anchor in Drakes Anchorage. The old resort is now posting with a slew of No Trespassing signs. (These were not here in June). They must be making plans to rebuild. We take the dink and head around to the south side of Drakes and stop for a swim by their beach. (Beach also posted “No Trespassing”). Upon returning we head over to Saba for happy hour. Paul is intent on teasing the bar staff. Paula buys a conch shell for a local boat. We now have a contest to see who can blow it. Barmaid Josie joins in the fun. We also take note of “Hot Dead [censored]” on far end of bar. Check it out next time there.

Head back to Cattitude, hoist anchor and head over to Leverick Bay for dinner and the evening. Pickup a mooring. Was told that they will credit you the $25.- for the mooring off your dinner bill, also, free water and ice the next morning. That you have worked, but by the time we got to the dock to pay the booth was closed. We used our Drinking Man’s Guide for 2 free entrees. Dinners were Tenderloin Fillet, Ahi Tuna, and MahiMahi. All great. Another calm nite.

Wed Dec1 Early rise and head to the dock for water. Since we never paid for the mooring, we pay $13. to top off our water tanks. We don’t need ice since the “IceyTec” cooler is holding cold so very well and that combined with the IceMaker making a bin of ice at night while the genset is running.
Off to Anegada we head. Sky is blue, water is calm, sun is shining. What more could we ask for. About half way across we cruise past a Moorings Flotilla that headed out about an hour before us. Within an hour of leaving the dock at Leverick we are heading in the channel at Anegada. We drop anchor at the west end of the bay. (Turns out to be a good choice, since the entire mooring ball field filled up from the Moorings Flotilla)
We decide to dink around and check out dinner menu’s. We stop at Neptunes and then The Lobster Trap. At The Lobster Trap we find a Jeep for rent and decide that that will be our best way around. Price $60. for 24hrs. No downpayment, no look-see at drivers license. Wilfred tells us that the keys will be in it when we come back in after lunch. We rent it from 1pm to 1pm. Head back to Cattitude and have lunch, pack up Carib’s and a jug of “painkillers” snorkel gear, towels, etc. and head back to Lobster Trap where our Jeep is waiting with the keys in the ignition.
Paul is nominated driver and bouncing down the road we head. A quick stop at Pomato Beach. (probably one of the prettiest in the Caribbean.) We continue on stopping at various points until we reach Cow Wreck Beach. Here we unpack our provisions and spend the afternoon limin on the beach. We are on the beach with only 2 or 3 other couples. About 4pm we pack up and continue our tour around the island. We stop briefly and Loblolly and find the crews from the flotilla there. Lots of people. (Glad we picked CowWreck)
Continuing our circle were drive past the airport, the Settlement, and finally Anegada Reef Hotel. We leave the car at The Lobster Trap and dink out to Cattitude for more cocktails. A very nice bottle of Moet Chandon that Paula bought for us at Bobby’s market in CGB. Tonite is our 31st wedding anniversary. We decide on Neptune’s for dinner. The DMG gives us 2 free bottles of wine with dinner. Can’t beat it. We are asked to order in the afternoon and our order is 1 Lobster, 2 Chicken, & 1 Swordfish. (Paula and Frank were surprised that they each got a half of roast chicken, they have not eaten down here that much and didn’t realize that when you order chicken….that is what you get….a chicken) Salad, garlic mashed potatoes and corn on the cob completed the meal. We spent some time after dinner talking with Vernon about his history on the island. Very, very, interesting. Dink on back to Cattitude.

Thurs Dec2. Early breakfast and we head in to pick up our trusty jeep. Drive back to Pomato Point for the morning. Frank wanted to dink there (I think he was DONE bouncing around in the jeep.) He got voted down as we didn’t know whether we could get past the reefs without going very far out. 5 min. in an airconditioned car made better sense to us. We lazed on the beach for the morning. NOW, I know why people love Anegada. I think this is probably the prettiest beach in the BVI. Paula & I take a walk south and east on the beach all the way around the bend and can see Cattitude in front of Neptunes. Maybe we could have dinked, but without local knowledge, I wasn’t too fond of the idea. Paul walked north and west on the beach around the NW corner as far as the new villas. Noontime we headed back to The Lobster Trap and dropped off the guys. Paula & I wanted to do the shopping thing. We passed Pam’s Pottery the night before and I wanted to check it out. We headed out as far as Pam’s, but alas she was closed. There were 2 more pottery places on our way back that we stopped at. Stopped to put gas in the car and on our way to Anegada Reef Hotel gift shop, call the boys on the radio to start the grill. 1:30pm we return the car, but Wilfred is no where to be found to pay. We end up paying the waitress in the bar. (she asked us how much we owed) What a system.
Paul comes in to get us while Frank is barbequing cheeseburgers. After lunch pick up anchor and head to Jost/Great Harbor to clear out of the BVI.

4:30 we pull into Great Harbor and pull up right to the concrete pier on front of Customs. We all run in hoping to clear before they close. We make it just in time and clear out in a matter of minutes.

After clearing we headed over to White Bay to anchor for the night.

End of BVI North Shore Tour

See Part 2 US & Spanish VI Tour for rest of trip report

Hope to have the pics up sometime today the 26th Dec