As SXM veterans, we were unsure as to what our bareboat adventure would bring us, especially since we were used to seeing any number of islands from the inside-out. This was a first for us traveling by boat, but in a word, we had a BLAST! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Joy.gif" alt="" />

We, another couple and a single friend arrived on the Friday before Thanksgiving, took a private water taxi over to Soper’s Hole, then were delivered directly to our boat. We did a sleep-a-board on our Horizon 48’ powerboat from Virgin Traders. Our provisions arrived about an hour after we did from Bobby’s Market. The order was 100% correct, so I would highly recommend them. We met some folks on the dock and consumed a vast amount of adult beverages. We kept seeing the same people throughout the week, which was kind of cool. The boat was beautiful, in very good condition and everything worked. Kudos to Virgin traders.

Saturday morning, we got checked out and headed out to the Bitter End to watch the Michigan-Ohio State debacle. We had a blast there as the crowd was evenly mixed between fans and our single friend had his share of ladies to talk to since there was a wedding that had just wrapped up. We must have drank way too much as our bill was almost $350. Oh well, we did not come to count pennies, but to have a good time – which we did…

Sunday morning we headed out to Anegada and arrived there about 1:00 pm. After securing a mooring ball, we went to shore and took a taxi to the Cow Wreck Beach Bar. Many thanks to Walker (whoever he is) as we used his GPS waypoints and took his advice on where to go. When we arrived, we met Alex and sat there for about 5 hours consuming all sorts of cocktails and cherry bombs. Alex was a great host and we were excited to hear that he and his band will be playing a gig here in the Atlanta area on Lake Lanier, where we all have our boats. We will definitely be there.

We all had dinner at the Anegada Reef Hotel. It was ok, but more on our impression of the food in general a little later. The water in Anegada was just beautiful, and we watched all sorts of Rays and other fish swim around the boat until the wee hours. More cocktails and that was it for the night.

We were going to stay another day in Anegada, but the weather report called for 6’+ swells, so we decided to head back. We knew that this would not be our last time here anyway.

So on Monday, we headed over to Marina Cay, got a mooring ball, and headed over to Pusser’s. After a great many cocktails and appetizers, we headed back for showers and then returned for dinner. All we could say about dinner is that it was mediocre at best. Back to the boat and additional adult beverages, then bed.

Tuesday, we headed over to Cane Garden Bay, where there was a catamaran with about ten young ladies dancing cheerleader routines on the bow. I just mention this because on behalf of all the guys on our boat, thank you! We hung out on the boat with some other folks we met at our dock on our boat until about 1:00 am. We never made it to Quito’s, which we really wanted to do, but we will have to save that for next time.

Wednesday, we headed over to the Baths and had an absolute blast. It was a lot of fun, and we hiked through, then all the way up to the restaurant at the top. Had a couple of burgers (which were excellent), hung out in the pool, then hiked back down to the boat. It was getting late, so we then headed over to Virgin Gorda Harbor to get more champagne and vodka (morning bloody mary’s and mimosas went way too quick!). We then headed over to the Bight and secured a mooring ball.

We went over to the Willie T and stayed about ten minutes. We all have kids in college, so the music was not that appetizing for us (nothing but BOOM-BOOM-BOOM). We instead went over to the Pirate bar on the other end of the cove and were greeted by the Beach Boys playing loudly on their sound system. We danced, sang, drank and had an absolute great time. We really cut loose here. The drinks were stout, the workers fun, and the other patrons seemed to enjoy the show (actually, everyone had a great time). We also met 5 guys from Scotland who were taking their yearly vacation together. One of the guys just got back from Iraq from being on a submarine. We thanked him, then partied with them for quite a while.

Thursday morning, we snorkled at the Indians, then went over to White Bay on JVD. We spent most of our time at Seddy’s One Love with Seddy and his wife, Raquel. They were too much fun. Seddy’s magic tricks are the perfect culmination to an afternoon of drinking.

We had reservations at the Cooper Island Beach Club for Thanksgiving, so we headed over there and arrived at 4:00 pm. Just as we arrived, the cabin filled with smoke from the engine room. It smelled electrical, so we shut down, anchored a ways off, and called Virgin Traders after making sure there was no fire and doing all the safety checks. The solenoid (sp) on the port engine had burnt out, so we were down to one engine. We were unsure of the anchoring, so when a mooring ball opened up, we carefully went on one engine, using the dinghy to make sure we kept in the right direction. Any number of things could have gone wrong, but none of them did. The other folks with us are longtime boaters and BVI veterans). We hooked up to the mooring ball, showered, then went over to the restaurant.

At the restaurant, we were quite overserved. The only issue was that they did not have Crown Royal (my drink), so I went back to the boat to get it. We met a bunch of fun people there (and wherever we went), but the food was again, mediocre. However, that did not matter as we were with each other (my wife and I) and with great friends.

The next morning, Virgin Traders was there at 8:30 to fix the boat. They did this quite quickly and proficiently, and we were off back to White Bay for our last night. We secured a mooring ball, and decided that we were going to go out with a bang. The ladies spent a whole bunch of money on t-shirts and hats and stuff...

We went back to Seddy’s and met all sorts of folks and had a fantastic time. One theme throughout the trip was that everyone we met was in a great state of mind – but then again, how could you not be. After making a dent at Seddy’s we went to the Soggy Dollar Bar and had several painkillers, then back to the boat to shower so we could dinghy over to Foxy’s for our last dinner – or so we thought.

While at Seddy’s we met the owner of Corsairs (Vinny), who is quite a character. He swore to us that we would thoroughly enjoy dinner at his place, or it was on him. This was after a discussion on our mostly mediocre culinary experiences of the past week. As a side note, the fact that the food was not that good when we ate out did not matter to us anyway. We were too caught up in the adventure to which we were partaking.

We went over to Foxy’s for a couple of drinks, where we met some folks who live about 15 minutes from us in Atlanta. They saw that we were having way too much fun, so they asked if they could join us. We, of course, said yes. We all then walked over to Corsairs.

We were met by Vinny and his wife Debbie, and they were both the greatest of hosts. After several drinks, we were seated and had the absolute BEST meal we had the entire trip. I had Lasagna, my wife had tuna, there were crabcakes, scampi and chicken dishes, as well as a conch appetizer. Everything was cooked and presented with perfection. Everything Vinny said about his food was 100% accurate. We all highly recommend Corsairs and it made for a memorable last night in the BVIs.

Of course, we then had to return the boat after putting almost $1500 of gas in it. We probably traveled way too much, but our friends were anxious that we see as much as we can. They were great guides as well as great friends. We were concerned about the boat shrinking as the week went on, but it proved to be a non-issue.

The trip back was uneventful (the best kind).

Many thanks to everyone on this board who gave some very good advice and helped with the excitement factor leading up to our trip. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />