Firstly, as a lurker to this board for the 2-3 weeks prior to our recent trip,many sincere thanks to all the posters who gave me such valuable info on boats, places, provisioning etc etc. Now I feel I should repay those generous people with some input on our bareboat sailing trip to the BVI's 2/10/01-2/18/01.<br>Boat Details: Sunsail Sun Odysssey 42.2 three cabin. First charter in the islands although it was my wife and I's 3rd trip to Tortola. Went with one other couple. <br>Arrived in Tortola early afternoon Saturday 10th Feb after flying 12.35pm Cape Air from SJ,Puerto Rico (cost approx $110 round trip pp). The Cape Air Cessna was a nine seat plane so if you dont like small planes and possibly sitting next door to the pilot perhaps another airline would be better. Our young pilot was calm and professional and the 35 min flight was exciting and without much incident. Beef Island airport on Tortola is being expanded with a 1,000 ft runway extension and a new "further back" terminal in the process of being built. The old terminal will be torn down as part of this expansion. <br><br>Sunsail base at Hodges Creek: 20 mins from the airport via taxi. Organised chaos on the Saturday afternoon but with our boat not being available until 6pm as part of Sunsails procedures, we knew we had time to provision for ourselves as we had previously planned. Prior to us leaving the US,we filled two coolers with pre-frozen and fresh to frozen goods such as fish,chicken,shrimps,steaks and burgers and took them sealed with duct tape via carry on (no fruit). I declared them to the customs guy at Beef Island a'port and he just nodded me through.<br>We got another taxi (15-20 mins) from the base into Road Town to BuyRite supermarket.This is a well laid out and fully stocked supermarket and three of us filled up with bulk items like beer,water,sauces,fruit and veg,salad items,barbecue charcoal and fuel starter,chips,juices etc etc.Our delivery taxi driver had pointed out another taxi driver waiting outside the s'market so we got him to take us back to the Hodges Bay base.(Note:carrying/transporting 12-18 plastic bags is not very convenient so a few large and strong squashable shopping bags to put provisions in should be added to your packing list)<br>At Hodges Bay, there are not enough rubber carts for all the charterers to use to transport luggage and provisions down the jetties to the boats so you will have to hunt for spare ones or stalk existing "owners". We were glad we took the time to provision at BuyRite because the much smalller AmpleHamper at the base looked as if it had been looted and the selection,prices and checkout(s) were nowhere near as good as BuyRite even after factoring in taxi fares.In fact on the Sun morning after our Sat arrival we noted a couple of instances of charterers looking in vain for previously communicated provisioning packages which had not been prepared.<br>Because charterers are normally not allowed on the boats until the Sat 6pm time, everybodys luggage is left all over the place and adds to the air of organised choas. The base is nowhere near as pretty as Sopers Hole but the staff seem to be working pretty hard on the boats preparation. There is a swimming pool at the base,a shop,a restaurant(Calamaya) and a small bar but not much else apart from the Hotel. The SunYacht charter base is in the same bay but off to the left of the Sunsail base and the two don't affect each other. At the Sunsail base on the Sat night there were perhaps 50-60 boats on three jetties.Perhaps 35-40 seemed to be going out the next day.<br>The skipper/first mate briefing on the Sat. evening is a Sunsail video of places to go and location details. The briefing room is a small and crowded one.We were given a large chart of the entire BVI/AM VI area which did come in useful but by far the most useful publication we used was a previously purchased copy of the "Virgin Islands Cruising Guide" by Simon Scott ($19.95 via Amazon.com).THIS IS A MUST IMHO.<br><br>Our 42.2 Sunodyssey was 3 years old, self furling main and jib, with a hard bottomed Caribe Dingy with a 4 Yamaha outboard, with CD player/radio/ phone (used Boatphone (# then SND to get a number), fridge and freezer shelf therein, two sinks, VHF,nav table with previously ordered manual GPS. All lines were in good condition and everything on the boat worked well. Equipment such as cups,saucers etc was good as well although for some reason there were no wine glasses, even plastic ones. Configuration was one main cabin and head upfront, two cabins split at back with one head in the main cabin. The front cabin was pronounced fine by my 6ft 3in co-sailor but the back cabins were an inch or so short for me at 6ft and with a 42inch chest with a normally proportioned wife!!! Storage space fine for all foods, clothes (minimal clothes packed). We all took squashable bags and were glad we did because hard suitcases would be very much more difficult to stow.<br>(please see below for a listing of useful things we took and recommend)<br><br>The first Saturday night we walked the 150 yards along the road to (I think) "Fat Hog Bobs". (Two large flashlights in the walking party along this road is a must due to the high speed of the passing traffic) Bobs not very busy and shuttered up due to the high winds but the first night painkillers have clouded my recollection of what we ate and how good it was but I don't remember having any complaints.<br><br>The first night at Sunsail is a sleepover at the base. The wind was 15-25 knots out in open water and this carried over to a more windy and choppy first night than we would have liked esp. as our bodies were laboring under a 4 hour time difference. With night lows being at about 73 deg F it can get very warm on board as well and we were loath to open vents because of the possibility of showers soaking our cabins.<br><br>Awoke earlyish to go shower etc. onshore before a planned 9 a.m. on-boat briefing. The mens toilets (two) and showers (four)groaned a bit under the weight of all the men wanting to use them before leaving and I feel an expansion and refurb of them by Sunsail is well overdue. Our boat briefing was good and expansive with all important things on the boat being explained without hurry or hassle. Prior to this however we did however find the water tanks were not filled up so we did that ourselves. It was helpful to use the "pre-charter" checklist that can be found at the great sailonline.com site. Two bags of ice are free c/o Sunsail. The channel out of Hodges Creek is narrow but the buoys are very visible. With so many boats leaving in such a short time the base and channel can get a bit busy tho' so caution is in order.<br><br>Our first sail was partly downwind to Norman Island because we did not want to go to the Sunsail suggested first stop of Cooper Island. With fresh to strong winds of 15-25 knots and a swell of 3-6 ft we had a good sail down to the Bight on Norman Island reaching there about 2pm. We picked up a buoy and over the next hour or so most of the free buoys were picked up. It's a pretty big bay, the Bight, and there are a lot of buoys there but it's popular because of the presence of the Billy Bones bar on the beach and the infamous ship bar "Willie T's. We happy houred at Billy Bones which was busy but not heaving and noted a number of boats anchoring in the corner of the Bight up near Billy Bones. Firing up the barbecue was a bit hazardous due to the amount of wind. Having a flaming barbecue on a boat is a bit hairy !!! We found that most of our cooler frozen food had kept very nearly frozen so we were happy that it would last for the next seven days of dinners/lunches after we had put it all in the fridge or on the frezer tray. <br>After dinner, we took the dingy to Willie T's which again was nicely busy on the bar side but not very crowded on the food side. A lot of fun with most patrons entering into the fun with either Willie T temporary tattoos or Body Shots. As I think many have alluded to,in the evenings this is not a place for children or the faint of heart !!!<br><br>The plan for the next full day (2nd day) Monday, was to take advantage of the strong wind to go up Sir Frances Drake Channel to Virgin Gorda from Norman Island and to the Bitter End Yacht Club (BEYC) there. Ha ha ha. We left the Bight and started to sail up wind with a minimum amount of sail but it was so windy and the swell and wave heights made sailing so uncomfortable on our "new" boat that we rapidly realised that our aim of getting to Virgin Gorda was not going to be possible. Additionally the sky was so full of sqalls and grey cloud that we all had to don waterproof jackets to stay dry and warm !!! <br>After a number of hours of heavy sailing, we admitted defeat and motored for about an hour and a half to reach Manchioneel Bay on Cooper Island at about 2.30 pm. It was very good to get into some kind of shelter although Cooper Island was full of yachts without a buoy to be found so we had to anchor well down the beach away from the most sheltered part of the bay. Having read about the grass on the bottom of the sandy beach and the possibility of anchors dragging, we spent a tense 15 minutes seeing if our anchor was dragging. Apparently it wasn't so we went snorkelling further around the beach to the southerly Cistern Point. Ok snorkelling and clear water. Before taking off the snorkels we visually checked our anchor and concluded it might have dragged some 2-3 feet so in order to be safe we pulled it up and tried to find a better position which we eventually did but it was a worry and a hassle. There is not much to the Cooper Island resort, a little bar and restaurant and some small beachside huts. We coincided with an organised party which might have accounted for the crowded bay and the number of boats there but I'm not sure. Our night was windy and swelly, squally and restless due to our thoughts about the anchor dragging. Additionally prior to our bed time we had watched another boat try and anchor in the dark just off us so we were unsure what their swing was going to be through the night.<br><br>The next morning (3rd day Tuesday) dawned slightly less windy with more blue sky so we were encouraged to resume our sailing up to the BEYC in the Virgin Gorda sound. In contrast to the previous day, we had an excellent sail all the way up to the Sound. Nearly a full mainsail all the way up, a full jib and an average sailing speed of some 5-6 knots with a couple of 8 knots. Much more sun and less swell. And noticeably more boats on the water than the previous 2 days. The channel into the North Sound is again well marked although it easier to find if one is following another yacht into the Sound. We reached the Sound at 2.45pm and were able to pick up a ball facing the Sand Box Seafood Grille on the Prickly Pear Island which is on your port side entering the sound.($20 a night)These buoys are well in the shelter of the land but a good dingy ride from the main BEYC. A quick dingy ride around showed all the buoys were taken there and also further around/up into Biras Creek.<br>That evening we decided to try and dine at the upmarket Biras Creek Hotel restaurant but they were booked up so we booked dinner there the next night which was Valentines Day. Instead we managed to dingy to Biras Creek for cocktails and the sunset. Biras Creek, imho, is a must to go to. 1. It sits so beautififully on top of a small hill with 360 degree views, one side overlooks a lot of the Northern sound and the other side overlooks a large surf wave beach and 2. the bar staff and fittings etc actually in the hotel are first class. After Cooper Island it was like finding another world. About 150 yards back into the sound is a little restaurant called the Fat Virgin Cafe which is VERY casual, quite busy with friendly staff and a good menu and satisfying food. Dingy to the front door. The Cruising guide says it only opens up until 6pm but this is incorrect.<br>After eating at the Fat Virgin cafe, we took the dingy around the front of the BEYC to Saba Rock which is a beachfront bar and grill built on a small rock in a channel about 100 yards wide. Again dingy to the front door. A rather horrible steel band was playing and the bar scene and atmosphere seemed a "20s somethings trying to have a good time" kind of variety. Not much atmosphere, not much fun being had. I would imagine that the proximity of the stuffy BEYC next door infuences the atmosphere and the kind of clientele.<br><br>With calmer seas and a good shelter, a better sleep was had by all and the next day (4th day Wednesday) started sunny and less windy. Because we had booked to dine at Biras Creek restaurant that night, we decided to move and try to pick up a buoy in the actual Biras Creek. A goodly number of yachts had left early so it was easy to find an empty buoy which we did. We also took the time to fill up with gas,water and ice at BEYC. After three days afloat and also perhaps 2 1/2 motoring our water/gas bill was $41 here. That afternoon my wife and the other wife in our party rented out a Hobie cat from BEYC and sailed around the Sound for an hour. Very enjoyable apparently. I took the dingy about a 25 min ride to the west of the Sound to Leverick bay. This is a picture perfect little harbor with mooring balls and a large Pussers (the Lighthouse) and a small swimming pool out front. Very quiet and colorful and a nice place to visit. The snug and protected situation of the harbor mean't hardly any wind and thus a very hot afternoon (85 degrees or so). It's very easy to forget how effective the wind is to cool one off in temperatures in the mid eighties.<br>Back to BEYC for a cocktail and a walk around. BEYC is a full resort and so is busy and commercialised. Rather like a small town !!! For people who like the "freedom" of sailing to secluded and quiet out of the way places, the BEYC is a reminder that there are places that cater for those who want room service, expensive restaurants and a clientele who are perhaps more comfortable on cruise ships.<br><br>The Biras Creek meal that Valentine eve was a mixed bag.(BTW Collars and long pants required for men) Great setting and an upmarket atmosphere,nicely set table,crockery and place settings. Good soups and well presented salads. One error in a main course in that 2nd wife was brought the wrong selection. Pork for main course was tough,rack of lamb was good and one fish main course was good. Portions are small. Wide ranging wine list. Mediocre Port included in the cheese course, nice desserts (ice cream and sorbet) Wines not cheap, $24 for a middle quality New Zealand chardonnay. All in price of $59 per person excl. wine. The general thought was that for the kind of restaurant and price it was, the service was slighty amateurish (but friendly). But location, location, location.......<br><br>An early start to the next day (5th day Thursday)and an itinerary of the Baths and then around and down to the northern facing Cane Garden Bay. A nice sail downwind to the Baths, again much lighter swells and the kind of sun and wind that we knew to expect. (85f day - 75f night) Managed to get to the Baths about half an hour before it became much busier. There seems to be a system of some buoys being for commercial boats, some are for "small" yachts, some for bigger but generally there seemed to be chaos with every man for himself. Personally I think the Baths are over-rated. Small crowded commercial beach(es) boring big rocks and only adequate snorkelling altho' my wife said it was more than disappointing. I stayed on the boat because I think they are over-rated. An hour is enough. Our route to Cane Garden Bay on the North side was an interesting one in that we headed north-west to Marina Cay ( a lovely easy sail), turned south west,past Trellis Bay and then headed through the narrow channel between Little Camanoe and Great Camanoe and then down the channel westwards between Guana Island and northern Tortola. (A combination of sailing and engine should be used for the narrower channels here but reference to the Scotts "Cruising Guide" is invaluable) The downwind sail along the Northern coast of Tortola gave some wonderful scenery with some largish swells. Cane Garden Bay is somewhat hidden from this approach but we reached there about 3.15pm, again to find no buoys available. In contrast to Cooper Island the anchoring here was easy and secure. Very little swell and sheltered conditions. Happy hour at beachside Paradise Club (owned by the Big Banana Holding Co.)with beers and Painkillers etc being $2 each. Nobody told me Carib beer (from St Lucia) is 5.2 in alcohol strength !!! Barebecue again on the yacht and then a dingy back to Quitos to catch a solo Quito Rhymer. He plays solo on Thursday and then Friday and Saturday with a band. Having heard him nine years and then three years ago, I thought his voice was going a bit but last week he sounded great. A bit surprising how few people were in the bar. Only some 5-10 people on the dance floor during the non singing parts of the evening and plenty of table space in the front part. (on Fridays there is a $5 emntrance charge so it must get much busier then). Earlier in the day the beach was not too busy either and the wife and I were happy to see that over the 9 years we have been going there,there seems to be no great commercialism. Our second wife in the party bought a coconut from the back of a locals car for $2 and he cut and plugged it and later cut it up for eating. <br><br>A rather late lie in after the night before,and on the next day (6th day Friday) a short and leisurely sail around to Sopers Hole with arrival there at about 11.30 am to pick up a buoy. With no Sunsail at Sopers Hole there seemed to be plenty of space and buoys were available up until about 5.30pm as far as we could see. The intent of the short sail was to allow us to get to a beach and picnic for the afternoon. <br>At Sopers Hole there are a number of chic shops for holiday memorabilia, a Pussers Hole and an Ample Hamper but beware, the Ample Hamper closes at 5pm. A taxi driver outside Sopers Hole agreed to take us to our secluded beach of choice and he then picked us up at 5pm after we had swum and snorkelled all afternoon. Yummy. Taxi fare $20 each way which compares favorably with the typical $60-80 daily car hire fee at the West end of the island, with no hassle.<br><br>Barbecue again and then dingy to have drinks at Pussers Sopers Hole. Live reggae band playing who were quite a good cover band but again not crowded at all. Most night Pussers here has some kind of featured meal ie that Friday night, all you can eat Mexican buffet, other nights included a ribs feast and a shrimp fest. Disappointed at the lack of atmosphere at Sopers Hole we took the dingy over the harbor to the Jolly Roger pub and restaurant. Enter the bar to find nobody eating and six people at the bar, time approx 9pm I think. Watched the bar TV to see the BBCWorld TV station showing pictures of Iraq in the Gulf War.....errrrr...a slow realisation that the pictures of a burning Baghdad were current. Being on a boat with no news can be strange. Wondered if World War 3 was going to start without us.<br><br>Last full day(7th day Saturday) was planned to be a sail from Sopers hole across the SFD Channel to snorkel at the Indians and then sail up to the Sunsail Hodges Creek base to park overnight to be ready for an early flight out Sunday morning. But our first mechanical breakdown occurred as we were pulling up our furling main. Obviously when we had last pulled it in, a crease had occurred in the main sail which caused a jam in the furling mechanism in the mast so we were unable to get the main sail out more than about 20%. <br>After battling to do this and also stopping at Nanny Cay (very narrow entry, shallow entrance but full marina with difficult turning areas) to try and solve the problem using a borrowed Bosuns chair, we gave up and motored to Hodges Creek getting there about 4pm. Filled the yacht with gas and allowed one of the Sunsail team to back the yacht into the allotted mooring. A slightly disappointing end to the last day. <br><br>For our last night we got a taxi from outside the Sunsail base into central Roadtown ($20 20 mins)meaning to go to Cafesito to eat but when we got there it didn't look too busy so we walked the 75 yards along to Pussers pub where the ladies shopped and I watched English soccer on the TV. The menu here is pretty simple pizza, burgers etc. so we decided to try and find Marias by the Sea. This is a restaurant in a hotel just behind Cafesito but it was very dead (8pm) so as a last resort we went back to a cafe next door to Pussers to have Moules, a Guinea Hen, a tomato Feta Greek salad, and Snapper. Very simple but at least it was busy and alive. One awful toilet tho'. Also recommended by our cabbie was the Captains Table in Roadtown.<br>Discussion with the Sunsail staff about the main sail problem elicited the advice that one has to be very careful with a furling mainsail in that when one is pulling it in it is easy to get a crease and a subsequent blockage that will stop any full unfurling being possible. This gets more likely the older the sail because the older the sail the more likely it will get slightly out of shape and more likely to mess up when being brought in. We felt better that two Sunsail staff couldn't solve this main sail problem while we were there !!! The lessons to be learnt from this is 1. Check that all sails work fully BEFORE starting any charter and 2. concentrate on everything at all times when sailing because one bad furling at the end of a sail, when one can taste the cold beer onshore, can cause serious problems.<br><br>What to take tips (apart from the obvious like sun tan cream): <br>- large,medium,small Ziploc bags for storing everything from sandwiches/food to sugar to tablets to sun tan cream.<br>- heavy duty gardening,work gloves to handle the anchor and anchor chain when needed.<br>- a battery operated lantern. Our yacht had no outside the main cabin light.<br>- a small transistor radio. Sometimes it was difficult to tune our onboard radio to 780m ZBVI radio for the 8am weather reports.<br>- clothes pegs<br>- as many detailed charts as possible because the charts supplied are on a very big scale.<br>- a pencil flashlight for carrying in fanny packs ashore and for use in the dingy at night.<br>- a waterproof fanny pack/ wrist purse to carry money and credit cards etc when snorkelling.<br>- a waterproof camera<br>- more films than you think you will need. Spare video cassettes. I took an hour of video in the first four days using up my 60 minute tape.<br>- a car lighter battery charger/adapter because on our boat there were no other plugs.<br>- wine bottles wrapped with bubble wrap. You will probably find your own wine selections better and cheaper than those available on the islands and you can recycle the bubble wrap for duty free purchases made.<br>- bungee cords. eg we used ours to wrap around the steering wheel when we were anchored to stop the wheel making an annoying grinding noise all night when it was moving.<br>- a Leatherman tool. We used this to tighten nuts as needed, cut things and also as a file.<br>- more CDS than you think you will need. With a four hour sail, one can use four or five CDS. Over a week they can mount up. <br>- a bandana for wrapping around ones neck when snorkelling. A tee shirt will leave your neck open to the sun and a bandana will help stop any burning.<br>- more kitchen towel than you think you will need. We used lots in cleaning out the greasy water that accumulated all over our dingy floor,the throttle etc.<br>- a couple of large string bags for either carrying snorkelling stuff, keeping fruit in and using for provisioning.<br>- beer can and bottle cozies- drinks gets warm quickly.<br>- a roll of Duct tape for odd jobs. We used ours for sealing our coolers for transportation and also to wrap around areas where line chafing might occur.<br><br>Hope all the above helps future travellers. If anybody wants further info. please ask away on this bb thread.<br><br>
