You know you just had a great bareboat charter when you return home with assorted bumps, bruises, scrapes, nicks, rope burns, and swollen ankles … and you still can’t wipe the smile from your face!

Day 1 - Road Town to Manchioneel Bay
Day 2 - Bitter End via The Baths
Day 3 - Leverick Bay
Day 4 - Marina Cay via George Dog
Day 5 - Diamond Cay via Monkey Point and White Bay, Guana Island
Day 6 - Cane Garden Bay via Green Cay
Day 7 - White Bay, JVD
Day 8- The Bight via Soper’s Hole

I need to preface my trip summary with the following. My only other visit to the BVI was back in November of 2003 on a Moorings flotilla. That month was supposedly one of the wettest on record and everywhere we went, the locals were all commenting on how the rains were unusual. For several days of our week-long excursion we had multi-hour rain showers … the mud from the islands was dumping into the sea and affecting visibility for miles. Even with all that “misfortune”, it was the best vacation of my life. And now I had my own crew, my own boat, and eight whole days to explore.

Day 1 - Left Road Town later than expected due to … I’m really not sure what. We slept aboard and were hoping to get out by 10:00 or 11:00, but instead were on the water at 1:30. With the sun setting at around 5:30, we were pressed to make our first night’s mooring. Still, though, we sailed for an hour for the sheer joy of it … nice 15 knot breeze coming straight from Cooper Island, our intended stop. We hove-to (or is it heaved-to?) and had a relaxing lunch mid channel before setting sail and then motoring for Manchioneel Bay. Arrived shortly before sunset and then grabbed dinner that evening the Cooper Island Beach Club. Our vacation was underway!

Day 2 - Early morning departure – motored to The Baths. Arrived at 7:30 AM and found one other boat moored. Had the entire baths and Devil’s Bay virtually to ourselves for nearly 2 hours. Set sail for the North Sound in a nice breeze. Rounded Mosquito Island and decided to catch a ball at the Bitter End. This stop was one of the highlights of our trip – rave reviews by all of the crew. The visitor’s pass to the pool was well worth the $10 … we lounged, we sipped cocktails, we settled into “ilon time.” Dined at The Emporium, Bitter End’s more casual restaurant; the food was very good and one of our most economical choices.

Day 3 - Slept in the next morning knowing that we were staying in the North Sound. We toyed with the idea of staying at BEYC, but opted in the early afternoon to head for Leverick Bay to get more “destinations” under our belt. Leverick Bay was nice, but the construction of the new dock impacted our stay … they had a tar pot bubbling all day and the prevailing winds spread the “aroma” throughout the mooring field. A good reason to go ashore and enjoy a few painkillers until the evening … which is exactly what we did. The crew showered ashore and we returned to the boat for a fabulous dinner of tortellini and garlic bread prepared by my son and his girlfriend.

Day 4 - Another early morning departure as we motored to The Dogs for some breakfast and snorkeling. The snorkeling at George Dog was good and the setting made for a wonderful breakfast. We lollygagged for a couple of hours on the mooring ball and then set sail for Marina Cay for the evening. What a little jewel of an island! Very picturesque and peaceful. We lunched at Pusser’s Restaurant on the beach, explored the portion of the island that was accessible, and went back to the boat for some more swimming, sunning, and snorkeling. Dinner that night was at The Last Resort … unfortunately “the singing chef” was taking a break that evening. The meal was delicious, though, and we all enjoyed the evening immensely, despite the lack of entertainment.

Day 5 - This morning it’s off to both Monkey Point and White Bay, Guana Island. Wow! Do beaches get any more picturesque than this? The snorkeling is great at MP, but the beach at White Bay captivates us and we linger far longer than we had anticipated. As far as my crew is concerned, this is the nicest beach we saw during our stay. [I’ve seen Loblolly, though, so I’ll spring that on them our next excursion!] We start our sail to Diamond Cay, but the winds are light and shifting … we are part of a pod of three boats all sailing the same direction and we are the first to give up on the winds and kick the diesel into service. The other two boats soon follow suit and soon we all are motoring toward JVD. We pick up one of the two remaining balls in Diamond Cay and the kids are off in the dinghy to explore Green Cay. That evening we dink in to Foxy’s Taboo for yet another gourmet sampling of the local cuisine.

Day 6 - Thursday morning and it’s so hard to believe that our vacation is over halfway done. I refuse to let the onset of DIF bring me down, though, and we drop the hook off of Green Cay for a more thorough exploration of the beautiful little island. After a couple of hours, we hoist the main sail yet another time for the short sail to Cane Garden Bay. Ever since my 2003 flotilla experience where Cane Garden Bay got dropped in favor of the more protected Great Harbour, my dream has been to get to the bay that JB made famous – and now I’m here. What a contrast to the moorings we’ve seen so far. Cane Garden Bay is hopping and crowded but by about 5:00 the crowds have all but vanished … must have been a cruise ship in Road Town. Lunch at Stanley’s, dinner at Myett’s … life is good. We met the rest of the crew at Quito’s and this was one of the nicest highlights of our trip … you might even say an American Express commercial in the making –

Roundtrip airfare for two … $850.00
Cost to charter a 47’ Beneteau for 9 nights … $3,500.00
Partial provisioning of yacht for nine days … $600.00
Dancing barefoot with your wife at Quito’s … PRICELESS!


Day 7 - Again the winds are a bit finicky and inconsistent so after a few floundering attempts at catching a cool breeze, we motor for White Bay on JVD. I have found my paradise! In my minimally-experienced opinion, White Bay is the perfect blend of solitude, beauty, and beachfront amenities. We pick up a ball in the sandy, shallow bay and immediately dink over to the Soggy Dollar. I’ve made it a point to sample the various painkillers from our previous stops and now I have the opportunity to sample the one that started it all. I have to say, it’s among the best … then again, I have yet to meet a painkiller that I didn’t like. Dinner that evening was pizza onboard … one of the best meals onboard, in the opinion of the crew, but it made the salon VERY uncomfortable with the oven running for over an hour baking custom ordered, personal-sized pizza pies. That evening, three of us braved the dark and round the point in the dink and head straight to Foxy’s in Great Harbour. I’m a little disappointed to learn that the gift shop is closed as I had wanted to replace my well-worn Foxy’s ball cap from 2003. We stay for about an hour before the late night at Quito’s starts to catch up with us. There was musical entertainment, but no Foxy in sight … maybe he came on later.

Day 8 - It’s 7:30 AM of our last full day in the BVI. Our night’s destination is The Bight, but I decide to pull into Soper’s Hole for 100 gallons of water and a last chance for the crew to get their souvenir shopping done. I remember Soper’s Hole from the 2003 flotilla as being a breeze-less, buggy anchorage … but I’m glad we decided to stop. It’s a pretty little port and deserves a second chance … the next time. We leave Soper’s after about three hours and have without a doubt, the best sail of the trip. Tacking between Tortola and St. John, we make our way toward Norman Island as I tweak the sails and see just how close the Beneteau 47 will sail into the wind. She sails beautifully and the sail is invigorating in a steady 12-18 knot breeze. We arrive at The Bight to a parking lot of mooring balls. We grab a convenient one and jump in the dink for a trip to The Caves. Great snorkeling! The water is crystal clear and the darkness of the caves offers an alluring escape of the late afternoon sun. My wife and I dinghy over to Willy-T’s for a couple of cocktails before heading ashore for our last dinner as a crew at Pirate’s. I don’t know if it’s knowing that our vacation is coming to a close, but it’s one of the best meals we have in the BVI.

Day 9 - We awake to the bitter-sweet knowledge that our vacation is coming to a close. We drop the ball at 7:00 AM and once we clear the point, we raise the sails for one last joy ride across Drake Channel. The winds are steady at around 15 knots and we make good time in an endless close reach to Road Harbour. We tack a few times just for the fun of it and then drop our sails for the short motor back to the TMM docks.

ADDENDUM

Best unplanned visits:
Trellis Bay Cyber Café – Jeremy took great care of us and introduced me to the “Dark & Stormy”, a fabulous concoction of dark rum and a homemade ginger puree. It was a nice break from my painkiller quest. Very nice Conch Fritters and they whipped up an order of sautéed mushrooms for the two vegetarians on our crew. Great customer service – just plain nice people. If I had known about “dark Wednesdays” at The Last Resort, we would have dined here.

Pisces Restaurant, Soper’s Hole – We only had breakfast here, but the food was excellent and the service superb. Highly recommended.

Least friendly people in all of the BVI? The immigrations/customs people at the airport. You talk about a poor first impression.

Negotiated our charter direct with the boat owner. It was a new TMM boat, nicely maintained, and well appointed. Except for the discount, we noticed no difference from chartering direct with TMM. A great experience and would recommend this approach for a nice discount on your next charter.