Here we go!
We were a party of 6 - my husband and I, our 2 college aged kids, a cousin and my daughter’s boyfriend. When I say kids, it’s because they’re my kids, but they range in age from 19-26. Our kids have small boat sailing experience. The other 2 had none. In fact, the boyfriend had never been on a plane before today! We were all coming from different parts of the country meeting up at STT.
Saturday – we all finally arrived at STT at about 2:00 pm and we were met by Kevin who immediately ushered us into a cab. We were scheduled to catch the 4:00 ferry from STT to Road Town, but our cab driver called ahead to the ferry company and asked them to reserve 6 tickets. Driver got us there quickly and we caught the 2:30 ferry. Hurray! Paid cash for the ferry tickets ($270 for 6) and we were on our way. Everyone had their blue/black pens and we filled out our C&I forms on the boat. So far, we’re a well oiled machine! C&I was uneventful. We brought a cooler of meats with us and were charged a $10 tax (on a $100 value). Totally fine with me. Andrew from TMM was waiting for us and taxied us to TMM where we found our boat Luffing Out Loud – coincidentally sitting in a slip right in front of Mardis Gras!
Luffing Out Loud is a 38’ cat, 4 cabins + 2 heads. We slept aboard the first night and while the boys got settled in & unpacked, my daughter and I used the 2 vouchers from TMM for a taxi ride to the big Riteway. Before we left, Caribbean Cellars showed up with our liquor order. We were missing 4 bottles of rum, 1 bottle of vodka, 2 bottles of wine, and all of our gallons of water. Also, instead of 2 cans of coconut, they delivered 2 cases. Luckily, my husband checked over the list and sent the rest of the cream of coconut back with the delivery guy and they did refund our credit card. I was thankful that we found out about the lack of water before we headed to Riteway, but wish they had somehow given us a heads up on the items they couldn’t provide. I had our meals planned out and a grocery list ready to go. Unfortunately, the big Riteway was picked clean of a lot of stuff. Quite a few shelves were totally bare. At this point, I was very thankful to have brought with us the food that we did. Back to the boat to put provisions away and we headed to Sharky’s for dinner (see separate restaurant post).
Sunday – we were up with the sun (and the roosters who really have no idea what time it is – lol!). Miss Joyce brought us coffee and was super sweet showing us her chicken babies. We all had one last hot shower at TMM (facilities are great – clean and lots of hot water!) and soon we were off the dock with Travis our checkout skipper. Since this was our first charter on our own, it was great to have Travis aboard for a few hours. We sailed to Norman Island, picked up a ball at the Willy T and had lunch aboard (turkey/ham wraps & chips). We then shuttled Travis to the Willy T where he caught a ride back to TMM. Everyone was anxious to snorkel so we hopped in the dinghy and headed to the caves. 2 of our party had never snorkeled before and didn’t hesitate for a second to get in the water. It’s so much fun to see the excitement on a first timer’s face when they see FISH in the water!  After a great snorkel, we headed back to the boat for showers and then to the Willy T for dinner. Stuck around the bar for a little bit afterward, did the shot ski, and headed back to the boat.
Monday – my husband (Andy) and I were up with the sun and had a cup of coffee. Andy sees people heading out of the Bight and toward the Indians. We make the decision to get off the ball and head to the Indians to make sure we could get a ball and snorkel. Good call as we got one of the last ones that morning. By 8:00 am 8 out of 10 balls were taken with boats circling waiting for something to open up. Everyone snorkeled and had a great time and we were back on the boat headed to Cooper Island. We arrived at Cooper at Noon, spotted one mooring, headed toward it and were cut off by a big Moorings cat. Dang! So we got out our guidebook and headed to Haulover Bay, just around the corner from Cistern Point. We anchored in Haulover – actually we anchored 3 times. The first two Andy didn’t feel super comfortable that we were actually secure. Third time’s a charm and we’re solid! We made a dinghy run into Cooper and a few of the kids swam to shore at Haulover and hiked around a bit. They also snorkeled around the boat and saw their first stingray. We saw a big turtle on our dinghy ride to Cooper. Some of us napped. By 5:00 pm we were joined by 6 other boats anchoring. We didn’t snorkel Cistern Point, but it seemed like everyone needed a little nap and R&R. We’ll get it next time. Dinner was burgers, pasta salad and homemade chocolate chip cookies for dessert.
Tuesday - We left Haulover and headed to Virgin Gorda. Great sailing!! Heading into North Sound we saw quite a few big cats heading much too quickly (we thought) through the channel. I just don’t see the necessity to rush around in these big boats. In any event, we docked at Leverick first to fill up with water & fuel. Guys on the dock were great and our crew was ready with fenders and lines. Next, we head around to our slip and my husband backs that cat into the slip (with a 50’ cat already in the slip) like he’s done it a million times before. Call me impressed at this point! Dockhands only had to grab our lines and we’re in. Easy peasy! We grabbed our snorkel stuff, stopped by the gift shop to get my husband a new snorkel mask (his lenses fell out), kids picked up some cool hats and we’re off in our rental car Nick arranged for us ($70 for a truck – manual transmission- with benches in the back). Off we go to the Baths! I’m navigating and reminding Andy to stay on the left side – kids are laughing in the back getting some awesome views of the island. We hiked the Baths (don’t forget to bring your park permit) and it was a bit crowded, but if you’ve never done it before it’s an incredible natural wonder. On the trail we ran into Captain Genevieve – our instructional captain from November! We stopped at Top of the Baths to grab a few water bottles and we’re back in the truck headed to Savannah Bay to snorkel. What’s amazing about Savannah is not necessarily the fish, but the coral. The most impressive bunch of coral in one place that we saw. Off we head to Hog Heaven! On the way, we see a guy in a 2 door jeep, with a cattle crop out the window herding 4-5 cows down the road. Kids think it’s hilarious! Hog Heaven views are spectacular and the food is great. A definite must! Back to Leverick we go – making an extra circle around part of the island because someone didn’t turn left when I told him to. No worries though! Back at Leverick we all had showers ashore and listened to the last bit of the Michael Bean show from our boat (sadly we didn’t get back in time to see it, but next time!). We had cocktails on the boat and played cards and Heads Up (it’s an app on iphone). Everyone tumbled into bed about 9:00 pm exhausted!
Part 2 coming ....
Julie
