I could spend another week working on this. I keep remembering stuff to add. After a Saturday afternoon cocktail I just don't care anymore. Ignore the grammer and punctuation mistakes. Enjoy, I did!

Susan


“We Are The Show!” Cruise - June 26th to July 3rd


Participants
Susan, “Susan says”; Sarah, “I am a college student”; Debbie “Hotty Totty”; Leigh Ann “Mother, Mother” ; Amy, “The Good Child”; and Joannie “Superman, dat Ho”. We planned this trip as a graduation present for Sarah and Amy. Sarah and Amy have been friends since elementary school, even though they have lived many states apart since 6th grade. Then I (Sarah’s mom) invited Debbie (my cousin … okay, she is really my husband’s first cousin but that just gets too complicated to explain so we introduce the other as cousin) and Leigh Ann (Amy’s mother) brought her best friend, Joannie. We came on this trip as friends/acquaintances and left as family. Whew that might have been too much explaining.

Air Travel
Sarah and I flew on frequent flyer miles so we flew on a different schedule than the others. American Airlines - Nashville to St Thomas via Miami on the 25th. Flights were on time. Checked 2 bags apiece, all arrived on time. Long layovers in Miami coming and going. We hung out in both Admiral Clubs, much better place to relax while waiting for flights than the concourses. We preferred the club in Concourse E.

Pre-Charter Hotel – St Thomas
Debbie met us in St Thomas and we spent the night at the Marriott Frenchman’s Reef. Great location, decent food at the Captain’s Café, nice pool and lobby, the rest of the place is pretty bad. We paid $370, two double beds, for one night; ridiculously overpriced. I will NEVER stay here again. I had made reservations for a harbor view room and was put in an ocean view room, our dog house smells better. A fellow that checked in before us was told he did not have reservations or a room despite having his confirmation in hand, after much arguing he did eventually get checked in.

Ferry
CA to WE. We had planned to catch the 12:15 ferry but Native Son decided not to run it that day so we bought tickets for the 12:45 Smith’s ferry. It did not depart until after 1:15.
WE to CA. Again, the 10:00 did not run and we took Smith’s Ferry 10:30.

Charter Boat
Voyage Charters’ Toucan Play. A 58’ catamaran with 4 guest cabins, 3 queens and 1 king, all with ensuite bathrooms. Air conditioning. Wow, great boat. We had plenty of room to spread out and plenty of room to congregate. The cabins were spacious and clean with ample storage. Each morning our rooms were cleaned, beds were made, and we were given fresh towels. We were provided fresh beach towels every second day. The weather provided us with 7 days of good sailing and we took at least one long sail every day; hitting 10.2 kts on the sail from The Bight to Monkey Point! Great tender, Joannie and Leigh Ann water skied.

Crew
Ian Barber and Jody Boyd. Both are from Midland, Ontario. They were the best crew I have ever had; the best crew we could have ever hoped for. They worked very hard to insure we had the vacation we dreamed of and made it all look effortless. When you book a crewed yacht without prior knowledge of a boat and its crew it can be a bit frightening. You put a lot of money down based on blind faith. Our choice turned out to be perfect. We would not have had the fun we did with another crew. Hope they come visit us soon.

Food - Our food on board was five star, every meal. I am putting together a .doc of the week’s menu for anyone interested. Just PM me.


Anchorages
In order of our stays:
Cane Garden Bay – CGB makes me smile. Well, it all makes me smile. I always enjoy time here and this night was no exception. Enjoyed a lovely sunset and a swim, then after dinner we went to Quito’s. On a mooring ball for the evening.
Little Harbor, Peter Island – Nice sail. Quiet and peaceful here. Lunch, snorkeled and water skied. Saw an eagle ray, barracuda, and sting ray.
The Bight, Norman Island – Crowded looking anchorage. Ian took Joannie and Leigh Ann to the Indians and the Caves to snorkel. After dinner we headed to the Willie T. On a mooring ball for the evening over in front of Pirates.
Monkey Point, Guava Island – Great sailing to get there. Lunch, then snorkeled. Saw turtle and only one tarpon.
Trellis Bay, Tortola – shopped at Aragon and HiHo’s. Went to the Last Resort to listen to the band after dinner. The band was very entertaining as was the crowd. On a mooring ball for the evening.
Baths, Virgin Gorda – enjoyed a climbed through the Baths, swam at Devil’s Bay, wanted to snorkel here but there was a jelly fish warning so we didn’t risk it. Went to the Top O’ the Bath’s for lunch and Mad Dog’s for ice cream. Got a taxi tour of the island from Glenn, including seeing Morgan Freeman’s house and the Copper Mine, ending at Leverick Bay where we met back up with our crew and boat. Glenn was a great guide and shared interesting antidotes on the islands history with us. He also showed us pictures of a whale that beached itself in Spanish Town earlier in the week, very sad. Highly recommend Glenn.
Gorda Sound, Virgin Gorda (by Biras Creek) – We were hoping to anchor off of Eustachia Island but the water was too rough. Leigh Ann and Joannie kayaked. This was the only night we stayed on boat all evening. Nice and peaceful. Anchored for the evening.
Setting Point, Anegada – ahhhhhh, I love Anegada! Rented a little pickup truck from Dean Wheatley. Went first to Loblolly, Leigh Ann and Joannie tried to snorkel but it was just a bit too rough. The beach was crowded with lots of locals as it was a holiday. Had a couple of drinks then took a drive to the Iguana Rehab (closed) and through the Settlement on the way to Cow Wreck. Dinner at Neptunes. Anchor for the evening.
Leverick Bay, Virgin Gorda – arrived at noon just in time for the Poker Run. Dinner aboard. Anchored for the evening.
Sandy Spit – Ian sailed us out of Gorda Sound and pretty much took a due east course. He then put up the chute. Toucan Play has one of the most beautiful spinnakers I have ever seen, took my breath away, took all of our breaths away. Wow. We had a great sail to just about due north of Jost before we all helped in pulling her down and heading to the Spit. There we snorkeled, swam, dove, and danced until it was time to head out again.
White Bay, JVD – I almost cried. It had been nine years since I last visited. Many changes, but still it is a beautiful place. This was the first time for everyone else, they loved it at first sight! We all (well, we ditched the girl’s at the hammocks) attempted a pub crawl and if we hadn’t been overserved we would have successfully completed unaided. For the final trek to Ivan’s we required our Captain’s assistance.

Restaurants/Bars
Petit Pump Room – Ate here twice. Breakfast before the ferry to WE: bacon and eggs, ham omelet, beer and daiquiri’s. Food was great, service slow. Had lunch here before heading to the airport: club sandwich and chicken sandwich. Food was great, service better this time. Note: no free drink refills.
Quito’s – We were there on Thursday night for Quito playing solo. Saw Malcolm, Candace, Mark, Bill, and I think Nick’s wife, Nina?. Sarah and I hit the dance floor together and Quito played Little Feet, very special. Fitz fixes us our first round of several and we dance and sing until Quito leaves. It’s very hot so we naturally take a dip in the water to cool off. Singing, dancing, drinking, swimming…..great start to a great trip. (hmmmm, why are there folks on the dingy dock taking our picture like we are pod of beached whales????)
Willy T’s – Dance for bit with a fun group but it’s kinda slow this night, so we don’t stay very long.
Top O’ The Bath’s – Sunday lunch. Profile was playing, they are really good. We had conch and crab fritters, bbq ribs and chicken, jerk chicken sandwich, hamburger. All was good, as was the service. Highly recommend stopping in on Sunday to hear Profile.
Mad Dog’s – stopped in here before taking our island tour to get ice cream. Great little spot.
Big Bamboo – had a drink here after hanging out on the beach. It was crowded this day due to a holiday. Service was spotty.
Cow Wreck – One of my favorite spots. (but I’m sure you won’t like it) Walked the beach, talked with Alex, taught him how to make “Red Roofs” (lots of mango rum topped with some cranberry juice and a twist of lime), ate lots of conch fritters. I might just move here. Heaven.
Neptune’s – Dinner: lobster, swordfish, tuna, mahi mahi. The mahi mahi with the cheese on top was not so great, the rest of the food was good as was the service.
Potter’s By The Sea – Must have a Potter’s Bushwacker. Ian and Sarah beat Jody and Debbie at Pool. Great spot. Potter is a good host. Nice place to end the evening.
Leverick Bay, Sand Box, Fat Virgin, Bitter End, Saba Rock - see Poker Run
Soggy Dollar – Start of our pub crawl. The next two stops are a bit fuzzy.
One Love’s - Wins the “Best of the Bushwackers” Award. Just had to try the pineapple soak in Tequila, it was horrible. One Love was not amused by our fun, which we thought was funny!
Ivan’s Stress Free Bar! - Bushwackers at One Love’s kicked our butts so we whistled for the captain to come pick us up and take us to Ivan’s. Great place. Met Ivan and a couple of folks there. We had a couple of drinks here but no one recalls what kind. Somehow Ian got us all back in the dinghy and back to the boat.
Foxy’s – Ian took Sarah and Amy here our final night. Sarah went to the bar to order two Lime in da Coconuts (margarita mix and coconut rum) but instead ordered “tequila mix and coconut rum”, BIG MISTAKE. What the girls got was a cup of tequila and coconut rum. LOL Need I say they don’t recall their final evening very well. Thank GAWD for Ian, he earned his money that night for sure!


Poker Run – Everyone agrees this was the most fun day.
Started out at Leverick Bay with Shot Skis, got registered and got our first card. Saw Mal and met Saildoggie and Mike of Jeannius. All of the Poker Run participants left Leverick together to go to the Sand Box. Lots of fun. Water cannons, water balloons, zigzagging in front of each other creating lots of spray. Everyone had a smile on their face. The best was this one little boat with kids waving us over for a picture, of course we got suckered in, and as soon as we got close enough the sweet looking angels pelted us with water balloons. At the Sand Box I met Mr. HeatherlovesJVD, lindakay, amurphy, Twanger (who I deemed Tee-Wanger), and Dom of YachtShots. For some reason that fails me now, we decided to sing Rocky Top, which prompted Debbie to sing Hotty Totty (Ole Miss), which prompted a lady from Festiva to come over and introduce herself to Debbie, she too was an Ole Miss grad. Turns out they were sorority sisters in school together. Small world. The rest of our group played volleyball while I visited. Then it was time to head to the Fat Virgin. But our dingy keys had been stolen. hmmmmm, Yes, Dear was starting trouble. We got our keys back and made our way to the next stop. At the Fat Virgin, everyone got their cards. We didn’t stay here the full hour, it was hot and we were crowded in tight. Off to Bitter End. By the time we got there we were parched and starving. We ordered a basket of french fries, two pizzas and several rounds. The food and drinks were great. (Bad form to one of the boats for bringing their own drinks and lunch up to the restaurant.) I had never been there before, great place to stop. Now we head to Saba Rock. Time to give Yes, Dear a little payback. We had waited for Yes, Dear to leave before us. We pulled up next to their dinghy as discreetly as possible, united it and towed it out about 75 yards and dropped the anchor (should have taken it further but we had been spotted). They had to swim out to retrieve it, victory was ours! Another great time at Saba ….. if you go don’t miss the beautiful gardens. After a few more rounds and a bit of shopping we headed back to Leverick. Nick and Monica did a fabulous job organizing the Poker Run. Sarah won fifth place with her hand and received a gift certificate for a massage at Leverick. She later gave it Jody for all of her hard work. Much thanks again to Nick and Monica.


Notes – This was my tenth and best trip ever to the BVI.

There must not be many all female cruises …. what a shame. We were often stopped and asked how our trip came about. One fellow at Neptune’s just couldn’t understand that we had left the menfolk at home. (he was one of your guests georgepb)

Thanks also to the Sand Box, Fat Virgin, Bitter End YC, and Saba Rock for sponsoring the Run. It was nice to have the opportunity to see places I had not seen before. (shhhhhh ..... saildoggie's full trip report may be read at BVIPirate.com)

On the taxi ride from the CA ferry dock to the airport we shared a cab with PamRomney’s brother and family. Wish we could have able to spend more time with them, nice folks, shared some cool stories.

A while back there was yet another post requesting information about Bomba’s reputation as a partying place. Mal made a response that just stuck with me. He said visitors often come to Bomba’s to see a show, they stand along the wall nursing their drinks for hours just waiting for something to happen. What they don’t realize is “they are the show”. (sorry, Mal, that was not the direct quote, but close ……. y’all get the idea) I see this happen a lot, not just in Bomba’s, I see it everywhere. So, for me, our trip became the “We are the Show” cruise. We enjoyed every minute, we seized every moment. I have no best and worst list. It was all the best and none the worst.