True to our original plan as laid out in my earlier blog post, my two friends, Pili and Alfredo and my wife and I set out to visit the locations in the BVI that we particularly liked from our last trip. We also wanted to explore some new areas that we had not been to before.
I’m happy to report that we did see everything we planned to see but, as usual, the weather basically determined the order in which we actually saw them.
All of this was further complicated by the World Cup soccer finals, because, of course, we had to plan around being in front of a decent TV set with a couple of cold ones during the afternoon of this event.
We had originally planned to be in Anegada on the day following our arrival at the base in Maya Cove, but the wind was howling at 25 kts plus that day so Anegada was clearly going to be a no-no. So we ran helter-skelter with the wind behind us from Marina Cay to Cane Garden Bay and hung out at Myetts hotel and on that great beach for most of Friday.
The following morning, we crossed over to Great Bay on Jost van Dyke and took a short dinghy ride around the point to White Bay which of course on a Saturday was pretty crowded and the Soggy Dollar bar looked like Times Square on New Year’s eve; but we found a great little place nearby called the One Love Bar that had a superb menu that included lobster quesadillas. WOW..!!
Now, White Bay is a superb beach, arguably one of the best in the world under any conditions – not good for over-night stays, mooring or anchoring, mind you, but a GREAT beach where you can laze away the hours, get a healthy tan and generally do the things you do on beaches.
Sunday was Soccer time so we had to find a decent flat-screen TV and a nice comfortable environment to watch the game. So we high-tailed it against the wind (with a little help from the two Yamahas) all the way BACK to the Bitter End Resort, made it by 2pm, and watched the game. We visited the inevitable Fat Virgin’s Cafe to get the girls a T-shirt and then dinner on the cat.
Monday Morning the wind had diminished to very acceptable levels so we scooted from Gorda Sound up to Anegada and arrived about midday. We ran into our friend Charly on CRYSTAL CLEAR doing a day charter out of Biras Creek.
He was kind enough to part with a bottle of fine Argentine wine that found a good home on our boat. We had a fine grilled lobster dinner at Whispering Pines on the beach at Anegada. Do they have a great salesman in Sam in his dinghy, or what?
Tuesday was NOT SO GOOD as the weather deteriorated, the wind shifted to SSE and we had to take it on the nose all the way down to the Sir Francis Drake Channel.
It was a 6 hour sail and a WET one, so we decided to reward ourselves with a nice dinner at the Peter Island Resort – yes, we did clean ourselves up after the long sail, never fear.
So we stuck our nose into Sprat Bay, found ONE mooring ball left and went ashore to a very remarkable dinner experience at the resort restaurant.
Wednesday was an unremarkable sail to Cooper Island, total relaxation, swimming in the beautiful water and finally having to clean up the boat and pack up our belongings for the return on the following morning. Why is there always SO MUCH STUFF to pack on the way home..??
This time we chose to fly out of Tortola on Sunshine Airways which is a 15 minute flight to St. Thomas. All this may seem a bit complicated but, I have to tell you that everything you read about the trials and tribulations about taking the ferry across are true.
The 12:00 pm ferry from St. Thomas to Road Town was cancelled and then pushed back to 4 pm. Not good. So we had to make a run for Red Hook and caught the 11:45 ferry to West End Tortola which thankfully was running on time. Basically the ferry system is a disaster these days.
Everything you read about it is unfortunately true. If possible, do arrange to fly into Tortola from St. Thomas or San Juan, Puerto Rico.
For the benefit of the techie sailors out there, we were on a 2013 model Lagoon 40′, S2, owners version with three cabins, genset, air conditioning and power winches.
Any of you out there that would like to pursue this type of sailing vacation to the BVI, please feel absolutely free to contact me or any of our associates at 877-759-8263 or simply use our handy contact form. Yes, we offer not only sailing boats and catamarans, but also an excellent selection of motor cats as well.
Remember you can always rent or charter a “bare” boat whether you run it yourself or whether you choose to hire a skipper for the duration. It’s not as expensive as it sounds. We also charter fully crewed yachts and catamarans, both sail and power.
