British Virgin Islands
Sailboat Cruise - August 2006

Overview:

Eight of us, all living in St. Croix at the time, took a 1-week sailing cruise next door in the British Virgin Islands. The BVI is widely regarded as the best sailing area in the world because of the tradewinds, warm weather, beautiful scenery, many harbors and coves, short distances between islands, easy navigation by sight, boating infrastructure (marinas, harborside restaurants, etc), and friendly people. In fact, half of the people who visit the BVI stay on a boat. We started planning 4 weeks in advance, which is "spur of the moment" as these things go, but we arranged our schedules, and it was low season, so there was no problem getting a yacht. We chose a 40 foot catamaran for its spaciousness, from The Moorings charter company. With 8 of us, it was economical to hire a private air charter to fly directly between St. Croix and Tortola, which took 20 minutes each way. Otherwise, it would have taken 6 hours each way with the ferries and the waiting time. We enjoyed unusually good winds for August, and we had almost no rain. It was a bit hot at night when the winds died down, and most of us slept on the deck at one point or another. The total cost was about $1050 per person. The good times were incalculable.

The Crew. Bobby was the first mate (upper left). Bobbow was the skipper (lower right).

A Moorings map of the BVI (plus St. John, USVI, which we didn't visit). Our sailing routes were similar to the sample routes shown here.

Day 1

• Flew Coastal Air private charter from St. Croix to Beef Island, Tortola.
• Took a taxi to the Moorings charter base.
• Got a chart briefing, went aboard our 40 foot catamaran "Milagro", got boat briefing, had lunch at the base, and got our provisioning (food and drink) for the week.
• Snorkeled at The Indians.
• A bad dinner for some at William Thornton boat bar/restaurant.
• Overnight at The Bight, Norman Island.

Larry & Kim, Jamila & Bobbow, Cathy & Bobby, John & Adele, ready to depart at the St. Croix airport	Approaching The Indians for snorkeling	Moored at The Bight
John & Adele	Sunset at The Bight	Bobby & Cathy

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Day 2

• Snorkeled the caves at Treasure Point, Norman Island.
• Sailed upwind towards the wreck of the Rhone, but abandoned it due to lack of progress.
• Anchored at secluded Key Point, Peter Island.
• Cathy's famous meatballs and spaghetti for dinner.

The caves at Treasure Point	Adele & Kim with floatation devices	A guy named Guy, from yachtshotsbvi.com
Bobby & the ladies	Kim & Larry	Happy Hour at Key Point

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Day 3

• Snorkeled the wreck of the Rhone, Salt Island.
• OK dinner at The Last Resort on Bellamy Cay, and overnight at Trellis Bay, Beef Island

Cathy	John & Bobby
John on watch	Poop generator	Rainbow at Trellis Bay

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Day 4

• Moved over to nearby Marina Cay early for snorkeling.
• Shopping at Pusser's store.
• Snorkeled and walked the boulders at The Baths, a very popular jumble of giant granite boulders on Virgin Gorda.
• Excellent buffet dinner at Bitter End Yacht Club, and overnight at North Sound, Virgin Gorda.

The Baths	The Baths	Plotting the adult beverage re-supply
Heading ashore at the Bitter End Yacht Club	Bitter End Yacht Club	North Sound

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Day 5

• Moved closer to Saba Rock for WiFi.
• Attended Moorings briefing for Anegada (how to get there without hitting a reef)
• John lost Adele's hat in North Sound, although we tried to retrieve it.
• Sailed 3 hours to Anegada, beam reach, brief squall.
• BBQ chicken lunch.
• Visited all restaurants, perused their dinner menus and prices, went back to the boat to confer, and radioed in our order.
• Played Rummikub for the first time.
• Very good dinner at Potters By The Sea, Anegada.

John & Bobby raising the mainsail	Naughty girls feeding naughty gulls	Bobbow & Jamila, limin'
Anegada Sunset	Jamila & Bobbow at Potters By The Sea	John & Adele at Potters By The Sea

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Day 6

• Taxi to Loblolly Beach, Anegada, for spectacular snorkeling.
• Jamila found a nice pair of Revo sunglasses in the sand.
• Sailed towards Jost Van Dyke, 5 hours, beam reach.
• Secluded anchorage at Green Cay near Sandy Spit.
• John and Larry buzzed over in the dinghy to Foxy's Taboo for ice and rum.
• BBQ pork tenderloin for dinner.
• Saw bioluminescence in the water.

Cathy's Panorama of Loblolly Bay
The shallow turquoise water stretches for miles around Anegada	Limin' Larry	Sunset from Green Cay

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Day 7

• Snorkeled at Green Cay.
• Garbage / lunch / internet stop at picturesque Cane Garden Bay, Tortola.
• Cruised through Long Bay, Tortola for John and Adele.
• Looked at Benures Bay, Norman Island, but took a mooring at nearby, secluded Soldier Bay for the night.
• Snorkeling. BBQ steak for dinner.
• John untangled us from the mooring ball overnight, which was rubbing noisily on our hull.

Milagro from Sandy Spit	Milagro from Sandy Spit	Rounding the west end of Tortola
Cane Garden Bay	Adele & John at Long Bay, where they got married a few years earlier	Smilin' Jamila

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Day 8

• John and Bobbow buzzed over to Pelican Island and cleaned sand from dinghy on the way.
• More snorkeling at Soldier Bay.
• The circling winds in Soldier Bay tangled us on our mooring lines, which took a while to undo.
• Returned yacht to Moorings.
• Lunch at base.
• Taxi to airport.
• Confusion getting food, liquids, and knives ready for customs and pointless security check. They separated us from our dangerous objects for the security check, but moments later we lifted them into the plane.
• Flew back on Coastal Air, and circled Salt River and Judith's Fancy, where 6 of us live.

John & Bobby sailing

Bobbow, Bobby & John at the cockpit

Ready to fly back home

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Yacht Shots BVI

Professional photos taken by yachtshotsbvi.com on three different days in the Sir Francis Drake Channel near Norman Island

John, Adele, Kim, Larry, Jamila, Cathy, Bobby, Bobbow	(a detail of this shot is below)	(a detail of this shot is below)
Too busy sailing to pose today	Bobby, Cathy, Bobbow, Jamila, Kim, Larry, Adele, John	All of us

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