Hi all,
Phew! Just spent the evening organizing pics and writing up a relatively brief trip report.
Pics are here.
Video clips are here.
The trip report is below. Enjoy.
Chris
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Trip report - BVI and San Juan, January 29 to February 7 2005
General Observations
We were really surprised that things weren't busier, considering it was high season. We had been before in May and August, and honestly didn't notice much of a difference, other than that more restaurants and bars were open. We never had a problem getting a mooring in the late afternoon, and never found things overcrowded.
The weather was mostly beautiful - sunny and highs around 80 - but the winds were unusual. They blew from the north and northwest for most of the week, making some of the anchorages that are usually calm a bit uncomfortable. It was actually sweater weather in the evenings. It was unusually dry. We had about 5-6 days without a single shower - not even at 3:00 AM with all the hatches open!
I've never seen so many megayachts. I don't know if it's just the season, but there were several at every anchorage.
Crew - Captain Chris (Meanderer) and Mrs. Chris (MrsCleandre), our kids Alex and Nick, and Alex' boyfriend Kyle.
Here's what we did...
January 29
Our flight out of Buffalo left was supposed to leave at 5:45 AM, but was delayed about 40 minutes for de-icing. There wasn't any fresh snow, but it was cold - about 0F. The delay meant that we had about 20 minutes to catch our next flight in Philadelphia - at a different terminal. We RAN, and made it just as the next flight was boarding. On to San Juan. We flew US Airways on the way down. Everything was okay, but we'd learned from previous trips that it's better to bring your own food! From San Juan, we took Caribbean Sun to Beef Island. The weather was clear and sunny, and the views spectacular. It's always a great way to get pumped. We had Mr. Smith at Customs, as usual. He's a lovely man, and always a great introduction to the BVI.
We took an open tourist taxi from the Airport to BVI Yacht Charters. What a ride! Who needs roller coasters and theme parks!
We arrived, and Cleandre was perfect. We went over to Village Cay Marina for beer and nachos - they have the best nachos going. The crew stayed there, and I went back to the boat for Bobby's delivery. Back to Village Cay for dinner. We had discovered on previous trips that the portions at the restaurant at Village Cay are huge, so five of us shared three meals, and had more than enough.
Slept on board.
January 30
We woke up to overcast and showery weather, with winds 20-25 knots. We hung around the marina and walked over to Bobby's for last minute stuff in the morning, then left around lunchtime. We flew over to Norman Island on the jib only, doing 6-7 knots through 3 foot seas. It was a good ride - saw a sea turtle in the middle of the channel - but Kyle, our daughter's boyfriend, discovered why he had brought Gravol along! Picked up a mooring in the Bight.
We went over to Pirates for a walk around and a drink, then dinner on board. The weather was still a bit uncertain, so we spent a quiet evening on board.
January 31
We woke up to brilliant sunshine, which pretty much continued until February 6. After breakfast and a dip, we sailed down the west side of Norman Island, then spent the afternoon at White Bay on Peter Island. There were about three other boats there, so the beach was basically empty. So much for high season crowds. We motor-sailed over to Soper's Hole late afternoon and caught a mooring. It was Alex' 19th birthday, so we had reservations at the Sugar Mill. We taxied over there for 7:00 PM, and had a wonderful meal.
February 1
We had about a 6-hour sail from Soper's Hole to North Sound Virgin Gorda. The winds were less than 10 knots most of the time, so we were only making about 3.5-4.0 knots ourselves. We ended up motoring the last hour or so, as we would have been beating for a couple of hours, and the crew was getting restless. A dolphin came right up and had a good look at us. Saw a beautiful 4 masted sailing ship, Sea Cloud.
Stayed at Leverick Bay marina. As soon as we went ashore, we were greeted by Nick, the owner(?)/manager(?), who couldn't have been nicer. Dinner aboard, then the kids went to the bar for the evening. They got a real kick out of seeing a very drunk Englishman fall over backwards, bar stool and all.
February 2
Incredible cab ride to the Baths - "Tiger" was our cab driver - very nice guy. Spectacular scenery. It was a rough day at the baths - 3-5 foot swells, with the occasional 10 footer. The snorkelling wasn't great, but the swimming and bodysurfing was fun. Some idiots brought dinghies in to the beach. One was swamped completely, and the other flipped, outboard and all. I guess because it was rough, a lot of people decided not to go that day, so we had the beach almost to ourselves. Great lunch at the Top of the Baths after (VERY hot jerk chicken), then back to Leverick Bay for dinner on board.
The wind was blowing straight in over the reef, and kicked up through the evening and into the night. It was quite rough and noisy. I got up in the middle of the night, just to make sure that our line to the mooring wasn't chafing.
February 3
Diesel and water in the morning before heading out. I met Rosemary, another TTOLer, from the UK, at the dock. She recognized our boat name and introduced herself. It was a bit of a trick getting off the dock, as the wind was blowing straight in on the beam at about 15-20 knots.
It was a really wild ride out of North Sound. Swells were about 10-15 feet, and we were heading straight into them at first - going vertical and catching air in a 38 foot boat was a new experience - then on the beam for an hour or so. MOST of the crew didn't mind, though no one objected when we got south of Great Dog and things calmed down. We had been planning to head all the way down to Jost Van Dyke, but decided on a shorter trip to Trellis Bay instead. We did the shops at Trellis Bay, then had happy hour at the Last Resort, and dinner aboard. Alex and Kyle decided to have dinner at De Loose Mongoose, but said it wasn't particularly good.
February 4
We sailed from Trellis Bay to Deadman's Bay on Peter Island. This was one of our best sails. We were making 8 knots on a close reach/beam reach, the sun was shining, and all was well with the world. We spent the day on the beach at Deadman's Bay - and had a look around Peter Island Resort, then motor-sailed to the Bight on Norman Island for the night. The kids went to Pirates and the Willy-T - lots of jumpers, apparently.
February 5
We moored at Privateer's Bay, then swam off the boat for a couple of hours. We then had another great sail back to Road Town. We had a fabulous dinner at the new Spaghetti Junction. It's too bad that it's not right on the water, but it's quite grand. We were chatting with April for a while, and were made to feel very welcome. Lorraine, our server, was lovely. The food was about the best we had on the trip.
February 6
We had an 8:00 AM flight to San Juan on Caribbean Sun. The weather wasn't great, so no good views this time. It was rainy in San Juan, but it stopped by the time we got into town. We stayed at the Old Gallery Inn in old San Juan, right along the wall between the two forts. What a unique place! It's a 300 year old house, which is a combination house, hotel, art gallery, art studio, and salon for the performing arts. It is owned by the artist Jan D'Esopo, who is very much in evidence. The place is jam packed with paintings and sculpture. We counted 27 pieces of art in our roughly 12 x 12 foot room! It's very eclectic and fun. We spent the afternoon walking around old San Juan, and were hugely impressed. Lots of narrow cobblestone streets, two forts, etc. etc. - it felt like Europe. We had an incredible dinner at "Baru" - a tapas restaurant on Calle San Sebastian - highly recommended.
February 7
Brilliant sunshine and warm temperatures. We spent the morning walking around the forts and the gardens of "Casa Blanca", Juan Ponce de Leon's house built around 1534. Caught a taxi to the airport around 1:00 PM, for our 3:00 PM flight to Newark, then later flight to Buffalo. We almost missed the 3:00 PM flight, because it had been changed to 2:30, and we hadn't noticed. The gang had all gone back out through security, and I was sitting at the gate with the bags, when they started boarding! It was a little tense, and involved some running the length of the terminal, but we all made it. Flights on Continental were uneventful and on-time. We got back to Buffalo around 10:00 PM and home about midnight.
