On May 18th we took out of Indianapolis for San Juan. The trip was smooth and we arrived in San Juan at 3:00 that afternoon. We checked into our hotel, and because they were having some rain, we ate at a little French Restaurant in the Hotel on Green Isle and had a really nice meal. We went gambling that evening at the Windham San Juan, but beware, after 7:00 in the evening you are not welcomed if you have on shorts or a baseball cap. It is the most popular casino in San Juan and they have strict dress codes.<br><br>Saturday, May 19th, we flew on American Eagle to beef Island. Several problems occurred. If you have luggage weighing over 70 pounds they will make you buy a new piece of luggage and then charge you for that extra piece. We also brought an inverter for the boat to charge our GPS, VHF, cameras, cell phone, etc. They kept it and wouldn't let us take it with us. The airline said it was a danger. After all of this hassle we missed our flight, (however it was overbooked and other people got vouchers and $100) but we finally arrived on Beef Island around noon.<br><br>Customs was no problem whatsoever. Retrieved our luggage and off we went to our charter company.<br><br>We arrived at Conch Charters around 1:00. We had a 405 Hunter and it was a very nice boat. We unloaded our luggage and went to The Pub for the briefing. Emma who works for Conch gave us great ideas although this was our second time sailing in the BVI. After about a 30 minute briefing we went back to the boat where Miles went over the mechanics of the boat. We hung out Halloween lights on the biminy so we would know where our boat was when we anchored or moored and finished unpacking. We then headed out for drinks at Fort Burt and dinner at Maria by the Sea. It was a very nice evening and we had a very nice dinner. My husband had ribs and I had steak and it was very reasonably priced. Including drinks was around $35.00. We were tired from the travels and went back to our boat to have drinks. <br><br>On Sunday, May 20th, we wanted to go to breakfast, but we were told that nothing really is open on Sundays. We would have like to have gone to Fort Burt's for brunch, but we were told that it just depended on what chef felt like showing up if brunch was available. No chef showed, so breakfast was out of the question. We then headed out around noon for Prospect Reef for lunch. We didn't really want to patronize Prospect Reef, but it was really the only place open near our boat. We did have a nice hamburger, and it wasn't too expensive.<br><br>The couple that we were to meet finally arrived on the last ferry into Roadtown around 5:00. They unloaded their things onto the boat, and off we went. We had dinner at C&F where we had the best lobster and ribs. I can't recommend this place enough. The shrimp cocktail was collosal and the price is very reasonable. We ended up back at the boat where we fixed drinks and got everything unpacked.<br><br>Monday, May 21st, we headed into town to do some last minute shopping for provisions. We had brought down a lot of groceries from the States, but we needed beer, alcohol, meat, fruits, vegetables, etc. We ended up at Bobby's. They were very nice and after we finished shopping they called us a cab to take us to the boat.<br><br>We finally were ready to set out on our sailing voyage. We headed for Norman Island and got there right around 3:00. Getting a mooring was very easy and it was not crowded at all. My husband and I went to shore and had a drink and paid for the mooring. We decided to go ahead and have dinner and more drinks at Billy Bones so I stayed on shore and he went to get the other couple. Had a very nice dinner consisting of a great caesar salad and garlic bread. We then headed for Willy T's. That was an interesting experience. After having several shots, the girls decided to do the body shot experience. If you know what that consists of let's just say we got the T-shirt. We headed back to our boat and retired for the night.<br><br>Tuesday, May 22nd, we motored to the Indians where we did a little snorkeling. It was very nice around 9:00 where it was not crowded at all. We stayed there for about an hour and a half and then headed for Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor. It was a nice sail and arrived there around 2:00. We docked at the Yacht Harbor and set out for an afternoon of perusing the shops and taking a shower at the bath house. We couldn't resist the pizza at the Bath and Turtle. Really good pizza. We then took all of our purchases back to the boat and headed out again for The Rock and the magasize Margarita. The Margarita is 32 ounces ($15.00) but really great. We then went back to the boat and had dinner.<br><br>On Wednesday, May 23rd, we decided to take a taxi ride and tour the island. The other couple went to the Baths. My husband and I had been there last year and wanted to experience other parts of the island. We got in touch with a great cab driver, Cyril's Taxi, and Cyril took us all over the island showing us different areas, stopping wherever we wanted to take pictures. We ended up at Gun Creek where we took a ferry over to Saba Rock for lunch. The nice thing about this is that we told Cyril that we would like to have lunch there, and he radioed ahead and had a water taxi waiting for us when we arrived at Gun Creek. Anyway, we had lunch and several cocktails and then it was back over to Gun Creek for the return to the boat. On our way back, we had seen Georgio's Restaurant in Savannah Bay and decided that we would have dinner there. We went back to the boat to change and had a very nice dinner at Georgio's. Went back to out boat and retrieved the other couple who had decided to fix dinner on the boat and headed out for the bath and Turtle and a little dancing. <br><br>The next day we headed out for Savannah Bay and a great morning of snorkeling. The water was so nice. And for anyone who doesn't like deep water this is a great place. You can go out about 75 to 100 yards and never get past 5 feet deep. There are a lot of places with sand and coral and you can rest during the way. Great fish, and great coral sightings.This is also a great place since it was very secluded. If you don't want to go into Savannah Bay and anchor, you can always stay at yacht Harbor and catch a taxi. It is $6.00 a person roundtrip and about a 10 minute cab ride. After we had done the snorkeling we radioed Cyril to pick us up. I cannot recommend enough having a handheld VHF on the islands. it is great for calling taxis and if you have two couples it is a great communications device. We had mentioned to Cyril about the expense of our groceries so far. he told us that of course the commissary, Bobby's, and Riteway are expensive. But he took us to the SuperValue and Cash and Carry. They both have great prices. We paid $19.00 for a case of Cokes at Bobby's, whereas at the SuperValue and Cash and Carry they were $12.00. However, note at the Cash and Carry that you have to buy things in bulk (i.e. three or more of an item or a case). But this is a great place if you have a boat with six or more people. They are located in Road Town and Spanish Town.<br><br>We then returned to our boat for a sail to Levrick and Saba Rock. This was Thursday afternoon. We arrived at Saba Rock and got moored. Dinghied to Saba and had several cocktails and decided to return to the boat to fix dinner. Had a great dinner but several funny things happened. We were moored next to a Moorings boat who had hired a captain. The did not have lighter fluid on the boat so the captain had to borrow ours. He used it all up and we couldn't get our grill fired up. Then we he tried to return the empty bottle of fluid he returned to his boat, but forgot to tie the dinghy and it floated off and we had to retrieve the dinghy for him. Moving along, we ate a great dinner and returned to Saba for music and dancing. <br><br>On Friday, the other couple decided that they would like to rent a kiyak at Bitter End for a while and then they decided to have Cyril pick them up at Gun Creek for a night of camping at Savannah Bay. We definitely did not want to partake in that so we stayed on the boat and then returned to Bitter End for their lunch buffet. We had a great lunch and then went shopping at Bitter End. We returned to the boat for cocktails, but being so full from lunch decided to skip dinner and return to Saba for hopefully a trip to a local pub located at Gun Creek (Cyril's Pub). However, there was no power on shore, therefore, the trip had to be cancelled. We did have a good time on Saba when the music started. John (we don't know his last name) played great music and we stayed there until midnight. Lots of people and a great time was had by all.<br><br>Saturday we decided to dinghy to Prickly Pear for some snorkeling and shelling while waiting for the other couple to arrive back. Great shelling on Prickly. Found lots of conch shells (in tact) and other shells that are beautiful.<br><br>The other couple arrived back around noon, filled up with free water and ice and we headed out for Levrick for gas. We shopped around Levrick for a while when we were getting fuel. We then headed out for Marina Cay. We got there just in time to get the last mooring. Since this was a Public Holiday weekend for St. Thomas, it was quite crowded. Went up to the top of Marina Cay to the Library Bar and heard some great music while having a few Painkillers. We had run into Emma (from Conch) and her mother who was visiting from England, and decided to meet up at Donavan's Reef for dinner. Our other couple decided they were tired from the night before and stayed on the boat. The one nice amenity that Donavan's has is that they have a water taxi that will come right to your boat and pick you up. One of the best dinners we ever had on our trip. The salad was excellent, as well as the stuffed mushrooms. We were disappointed that they were all out of the filet, but the ribeye was delicious as well as the fish. The bill with drinks, appetizers, and entree was $69.00. After closing down Donavan's we decided to return to Pusser's and have a nightcap before returning to our boat. The water taxi took us over to Pusser's. Pusser's was a let down because it was closing at 10:00. Very rude bartender and staff. But we managed to pursuade them to fix us one drink before they closed. It was still a very nice evening. However, once on the boat it was a different story. Very rough sleeping that night as the waves were very rough. Our toughest mooring of the trip.<br><br>On Sunday, we decided to sail out by Monkey Point to Cane garden for the remainder of the Music Festival. We arrived about 1:30 and was pleasantly surprised that it would be going on all evening. We got anchored and went ashore. Started at Quito's for a cocktail and then started heading down the beach listening to the music. The accoustics were great and they had a really nice sound system. For being their first year of having the music festival, it was really nicely organized. We all met back at 6:00 to go change and shower and returned to shore for 8:00 reservations at Paradise Club for great Prime Rib. $14.00 a person every Sunday night. Had a good meal and then walked the beach and found two nice hammocks to lay in and listen to the music. It started raining around 11:30 so we headed back to the boat. The only night we had rain for an hour.<br><br>On Monday, we headed for Little Harbor on Jost Van Dyke. We were thinking about staying there, but changed our minds since we wanted to dinghy to Soggy Dollar and that would have been a little long for a dinghy trip. We decided to anchor in Great Harbor. Got anchored and took the dingy to Alvin's and Soggy Dollar. Had a great time, but the flying fish sandwich was a little chintzy. I had a great garden salad at Soggy and we had lots of fun. Alvin's was a great place also and since we had never been there it was quite a treat. Alvin was nice and I would recommend this place as it was not as crowded as the Soggy, and very relaxing as well.<br><br>After playing on the beach and shelling on the west end of the island for a while it was a dinghy trip back to the boat for a shower and change before heading to Foxy's for cocktails and to Sydney's Peace and Love for lobster. We had several cocktails and had arranged for one of Sydney's daughters, Marina, to pick us up and take us to Sydney's. We love Sydney's because of the family atmosphere, the honor bar, and the lobster, coleslaw, and potato salad, and corn. Again, with drinks and dinner, the cost for two people is around $75 including tip.<br><br>The next day, Tuesday, we went back on shore for ice. We had one of the best bloody mary's at Foxy's (took five minutes to make), got ice at the Ice House, and delicious raisin bread at the bakery located right before you get to the Ice House. We returned to our boat, and began our day of sailing. On Alvin's suggestion of great snorkeling and shelling, we decided to go to the inlet between Great Jost and Little Jost. Very secluded and only two boats including ours were there the entire day.The couple that was with us was a little hungover from the night at Foxy's so they remained on the boat while we went shelling. After several hours of this we headed out for Soper's Hole. We got a cok space at Soper's around 5:00. Went on shore and did a little shopping, but stores closed at 6:00. Had a great appetizer of boiled shrimp and $.25 chicken wings. We returned to the boat and went over to Jolly Roger's for dinner where my husband had the combo platter of chicken and ribs, and I had a steak. Great meal but too much food. Two people can share a meal at this place. We returned to Pusser's for an after dinner cocktail and back to the boat.<br><br>On Wednesday, we decided that we would take a day trip to St. John. We took the first taxi out and arrived right around 9:00 to St. John's. Had a nice breakfast and then started shopping. Mongoose Junction, I think, is a much nicer place than Havensight in St. Thomas, and a lot more specialty shops. We had drinks at Margarita's and at Woody's. Lunch at Woody's was great. Did a little bit more shopping, and then returned to Woody's for happy hour before taking the ferry back to Soper's Hole. After returning to Soper's we had arranged for a trip to Bomba Shack. it was an interesting place. That is all I am going to say about the Bomba. We returned to Jolly Roger's for a night cap and then retired for the night. <br><br>Thursday was our final day at sailing. We took out of Soper's and headed back to Road Town. We had made plans to meet Emma, her boyfriend, and mother at LaCabano (located right next to Pusser's). Definitely the best dinner of the entire trip. The filet was unbelievable, my husband had Sole that was prepared in a light mustard sauce. For appetizers I had the escargot, and he had the french onion soup. All in all the best dining experience. Defenitely sit in the swings at the bar.<br><br>The next day we packed up and left for the airport. We had a 6:40 flight to San Juan. Again, American Eagle is the worst airline experience. We were two pounds over on one piece of luggage, and they made us take two pounds out. The funny thing is that we had four carryons and we just loaded to two pounds in one of those.<br><br>A weekend of fun was had in San Juan. We returned late last night to Indianapolis where a limo was waiting to pick us up. <br><br>We have already started planning next year. What a wonderful 18 days of holiday.<br><br><br><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Administrator on 6/5/01 02:13 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
