Hi everyone,
We just got back from ten days in the BVI. Eight aboard BVIYC's Michoko and a day or two at each end @ the Hummingbirdhouse B and B. I was afraid my expectations were so high the trip could not possibly meet them. This was not the case. We had so much fun, met great people and ate an amazing amount of food. My wife tells people I am doing research for a book titled "Eating your way through the BVI" We were there with our best friend and her ex husband, (they do much better at friends than spouses <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Joy.gif" alt="" />

Normally I would have my wife write this because she is a great writer and I am a poor historian. I will do my best.

January 31st. Up at 3:00 am for a 5:00 flight to Minneapolis/St. Paul, it is 17 degrees below zero. We connected c our AA flight to Miami then on to San Juan and AA Eagle into Tortola. Good flight. We stayed c Yvonne at the Hummingbirdhouse B and B. What a beautiful place. She was a lovely hostess, the view from the pool and lounge area with it's honor bar. The rooms were great and beds were very comfortable. We look forward to staying with her again in August. BVI YC was just a very short way from the B an B. Yvonne drove us down to the marina the next morning.

Feb. 1 We were planning to do the sleep over the night before the charter, we went down to BVIYC hoping to drop off our gear. They allowed us to stow it on Michoko even though she wasn’t ready to go yet. We went to Bobbies to check on the provisioning scene. Very nice market with very helpful staff, alas lunch was calling so we put of the provisioning for later that afternoon. We had lunch @ Pussers in Roadtown, very nice. Great conch fritters and fish and chips. I also had my first painkiller there. In the best painkiller contest, it was certainly a solid contender. We wandered through the shops downtown, very friendly people, no pressure to buy. Not that my wife ever needs pressure. I was visiting with a taxi driver outside a shop; she came out in a sundress and her clothes in a bag. I had been in there earlier and knew they didn’t have a changing room, I asked her about this, she replied, “the lady said I could just change in the corner.” I guess the islands were working there magic on her as she is not a “just change in the corner” girl normally. Later, Chris and I did the provisioning at Bobby’s; we did go a bit overboard. When we go again, we will definitely use them; we will just bring a lot of the little stuff with us, spices, condiments stuff like that. The free ride back to the marina and assistance c getting the food on the boat was a very nice perk as well. That evening, a small squall blew through and the wind picked up a bit. It would remain windy except for about ½ a day for the next week. We did not care a bit. We ate supper at the Captain’s Table, the food was good, they mixed an excellent Painkiller; however, they ran out of the mix halfway through our second round, fortunately I got mine. I understand running out of the special but running out of Painkillers is almost unforgivable. We spent the rest of the evening playing Scrabble and looking at the amazing number of stars.

Feb. 2 Up late for me and went to the captain’s briefing about 10:00, Abbey did a great job providing us with all the information we would need. We had just taken our ice onboard when one of the marina staff came over and said we needed get going as they needed our slip. Fifteen minutes later we are motoring out into the bay. We stayed under power for a while as we got familiar with the sails and the rigging. Most of our collective experience to date was on monohulls. A short time later we raised the sails, shut down the engines and we were sailing, c a heading for Cooper Island. I have been using my pics to help remember what we did each day. Seems like most of the pics for the 2nd are of Doni sun tanning on the tramp. Oh well such are the sacrifices we photographers make.

Feb 3 We had a leisurely sail up to Saba rock, watched the kite boarders, did a bit of shopping and ate supper. We also watched the first half of the Superbowl however we kept losing the satellite feed. Later that night we heard a roar from the bar where we were watching, we thought perhaps NY might have won. This turned out to be true. I also got to see the great collection of vintage outboard motors in the Gift shop on Saba, very cool.

Feb 4 Today found us being lazy, we only made it as far as the BEYC. In addition to some great limin, we had a great meal, more shopping and Painkillers.

Feb 5 Another day of not to much sailing, as we just sailed down to Leverick Bay Marina. We took advantage of the great deal Nick offers and docked Michoko in a slip, they put us in with an enormous power yacht. They wanted me to back in, Back In, I couldn’t believe it. My first attempt at docking a Cat and I am going in backward with a giant yacht sharing the slip c us and a 23 knot cross wind. Thanks to excellent direction from the marina staff, and Chris’s line toss, (about 25 feet), its good to have and ex Div. 1 linebacker handling the ropes. Miraculously we got it on the second try. The girls were shopping and I told them about our adventure saying we had docked in difficult conditions and were about 20 feet from the huge yacht. Chris gave me a funny look but said nothing. When we got back to the boat he pointed out that our stern was about TWO feet from the yacht’s primary anchor not twenty. I am so glad I didn’t see that while docking. A couple of Painkillers helped c the nervousness about the docking procedure. I got a chance to visit c Nick, what a great guy, he really made us feel welcome. We hired a taxi to drive us the length of the island to the Baths. What a great drive, very picturesque. I was a bit underwhelmed, probably because of all the pictures I seen on the TTOL board, still an amazing place. We did some swimming and sunning. The girls were laying out on their towels about twenty feet from a young couple, the girl was topless, They were way at one of the beach so they didn’t seem to be bothering anyone. We heard some scratching in the bushes behind us, it turned out to be what we called feral roosters. After he was satisfied we didn’t have anything for him to eat, he quietly stepped through the sand to where the aforementioned couple was. I kept waiting for them to shoo him away. They were pretty interested in each other and were deep in conversation. The rooster got right in between their heads before they saw him. He scared them, they scared him and right on que, about ten Japanese tourists came over the hill and started snapping away with their cameras. The poor girl thought they were taking pics of her, (they weren’t) so she was desperately trying to get her top back on. This was good for a chuckle from our group. Very shortly after this we encountered our first herd of [censored]. In the interest of brevity, I will save a hilarious [censored] story I will share another time. We had burgers and a beer at the Top of the Baths café, very good. We also wandered down the little white shack just a few yards from the parking lot. It was so cool. We had ice cream and another beer. Another great drive back to the boat and evening was upon us. We had a great meal and decided to stay for the live music. What a party! Everyone seemed to be having a blast. They was a young lady performing with lit lanterns, she was very good. I even did some Painkiller assisted dancing. I’d forgotten how much better I dance after a drink or two. Hehe. We went to bed relatively early that night as we wanted to get an early start for Anegada. I remember wondering if I would ever be able to sleep on shore again.

Feb 6 ,7 We had a very exciting sail to Anegada, again the wind was blowing hard, about 25 knots with gusts over 30. the seas were about 5-7 feet. Under these conditions we had a first hand demonstration of how stable Cats are in rough seas. (I know rough is a relative term, here I mean for a relatively green Captain and crew.) We made the passage in less than two hours. We had to snag four mooring balls before we found one with a leader on it. The capture crew was laughing so hard I was just glad they didn’t fall in. Anegada is one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever seen and we had it virtually to ourselves. Just a few divers and some ladies sun tanning. Doni had a few tears she was so moved by the beauty of this place. We did some snorkeling and saw a fair number of fish and other sea life. We had lunch at the Big Bamboo, it was delicious. We splurged and had lobster. Doni and Dee went for a long walk along the beach while Chris and I patronized the bar. When the girls got back they went to watch men working on a new building between the bar and the café. It is going to be a combo ice cream / coffee shop. They convinced the fellow doing the final skim that he should let them write their names in the concrete. It will be fun to see if they are still there when we go back in August. Now we understand those people on this board who advise at least two days on this beautiful island. We shopped a bit, ate lobster @ Neptune’s Treasure and Anegada Reef Hotel it was truly an amazing time.

Feb 8 Reluctantly we set sail this morning for the return trip to Leverick Bay. We unanimously decided we needed to return for another night of live music. We had the buffet offered on Friday nights, it was a very solid choice, many different entrees, salads and side dishes. The music, while promoted as reggae was not reggae like we’ve ever heard, however we are certainly not critics and the atmosphere was still a lot of fun.

Feb. 9 Up early today to clean the boat and get packed to come home. Heavy sigh. We thought we’d allowed ourselves plenty of time for the return sail to the marina. Keep in mind the wind had been blowing hard since we got here. We assumed we would have a brisk trip back to the BVIYC base. Not the case, the wind was blowing between 7 and 9 knots. It was soon clear we weren’t going to make it back by noon. We engaged the diesels, since we had only been using them to charge the batts and assist with mooring and docking, we had no idea how fast we would go. We went fast enough to get back well before noon. As we go closer and let the base know we were returning, we received instructions to tie up to the fuel dock. Not too difficult as I have some experience with tying up to a sea wall for water and waste offloading back home. When we got back there was a big cat tied at the fuel dock already. There was, in my humble and inexperienced opinion room for Michoko if they plucked her out of the water with a crane and lowered her into the space. I didn’t see a crane so following the advice of a very experienced sailor, I took it slow, slow, slow. As we got closer, one of the marina staff began to give me directions to slip into position using the engines. He was amazing! I swear I think I could have done it with a blindfold on he was that good. I did exactly what he said to and next thing I knew we had fore and aft lines secure and I was powering down. We debriefed and went through check list is short order. We checked on our reservation for Sognare this August and all of the sudden we were done. That evening, we ate at Pussers and did some last minute shopping. We were up very early the next morning for the return home. If it is possible to have DIF before you even get back to San Juan, we did. We are already looking forward to showing my sister and her husband the magic of the BVI when we return with them in August. Again, thank you all so much for your advice, opinions and for sharing your love of this wonderful place. Sorry this got a bit long but it was truely a life changing experience. I will post pics this weekend.

Mike and Doni