Susan in San Juan Airport
Trip Report April 30-May 15, 2010
Our first trip to the BVI with guests on board!
April 30th/May 1st
Stan’s sister, Susan, joined us for the first half of the trip and my parents came for the second half. We decided to travel through Atlanta rather than Miami this time as we got a good deal on Alaska air miles. It added an extra leg onto our trip to get into Beef Island, but wasn’t bad. We’d do it again if we got another good deal. Stayed at the Westin Atlanta near the
April 30th/May 1st
Stan’s sister, Susan, joined us for the first half of the trip and my parents came for the second half. We decided to travel through Atlanta rather than Miami this time as we got a good deal on Alaska air miles. It added an extra leg onto our trip to get into Beef Island, but wasn’t bad. We’d do it again if we got another good deal. Stayed at the Westin Atlanta near the
airport. It was a very nice hotel and we got a very decent price on Priceline ($70). We met Susan in Miami—she took the red-eye from Seattle and had been there since about 8 a.m. Our plane left Miami at 1:30 and we made it to the boat by about 7 p.m. on the 1 st.
We walked to The Pub for dinner, had a nice meal although I was looking forward to my first chicken roti of the trip and they don’t serve it at night. I love and am amazed by the heat and humidity in the BVI. It’s 7:30 p.m. and we are all sweating as if we’d come from the arctic tundra. Now I know I’m on vacation. TMM marina is incredibly hot with no breeze that evening, but we wake up to a torrential downpour and the heat turns to just simple humidity. There is a lot of activity in the marina that morning. Must have been a lot of other sleepaboards, but we didn’t see them the night before.
We walked to The Pub for dinner, had a nice meal although I was looking forward to my first chicken roti of the trip and they don’t serve it at night. I love and am amazed by the heat and humidity in the BVI. It’s 7:30 p.m. and we are all sweating as if we’d come from the arctic tundra. Now I know I’m on vacation. TMM marina is incredibly hot with no breeze that evening, but we wake up to a torrential downpour and the heat turns to just simple humidity. There is a lot of activity in the marina that morning. Must have been a lot of other sleepaboards, but we didn’t see them the night before.
up early the next morning. Try to get our free bag of ice, but the Leverick Dock is not open when we go to shore at 8 a.m.
May 3rd
Next stop is Anegada. Our first trip out to this coral island so I’m a bit nervous about the sail and entry into the channel. We decide to put reefs in the main sail before we leave the North Sound and something is caught up. Susan wants to be involved in the sailing, so she has taken on the job of raising the mainsail, while I take the job of the genoa. Stan has Susan raising the main sail, dropping the main sail, raise the main, drop the main. Finally we decide we will not be reefing. We get out into open water and end up sailing under the main alone. It makes for a nice sail, but still a bit rainy off and on. Our first time sailing to something we can’t see. The island has a high point of 28
Next stop is Anegada. Our first trip out to this coral island so I’m a bit nervous about the sail and entry into the channel. We decide to put reefs in the main sail before we leave the North Sound and something is caught up. Susan wants to be involved in the sailing, so she has taken on the job of raising the mainsail, while I take the job of the genoa. Stan has Susan raising the main sail, dropping the main sail, raise the main, drop the main. Finally we decide we will not be reefing. We get out into open water and end up sailing under the main alone. It makes for a nice sail, but still a bit rainy off and on. Our first time sailing to something we can’t see. The island has a high point of 28
feet, so it was fun to spot the palm trees first. Stan had the route dialed in according to Walker Mangum’s waypoints and approach chart. You really can’t see the channel markers until you get right on them, but once we saw them, we followed Walker’s chart and had no problem getting into the anchorage. We took the first ball we found on the mooring balls in front of the Anegada Reef Hotel. We didn’t know that the mooring balls outside of Neptune’s are just as deep as those in front of ARF—no one used those moorings in the two nights we were there and we’ve since learned that it’s probably only because others are like us and don’t know any better. We plan to take a mooring away from everyone else next time. Anegada is a fantastic little island. I loved the milky color of the water in the anchorage (I hear it is related to the geology of the coral island, probably extra calcium in the water).
We rented a car from Dean—he was at the ARH bright and early at 9 a.m. with our jeep. He takes us first to his shop to fill out paperwork and stops along the way to let us see the pink flamingos. They’re too far away to get a good picture, but still a beautiful and amazing sight. The map he gave us is basically just an outline of the island with a couple of lines drawn on it showing that there’s a road that circles the island and a few that crisscross. You can’t really get lost for more than a few minutes and even then you aren’t really lost. We drove to Loblolly first. We were the only people on the beach. It was beautiful, but he wind was blowing pretty hard. We decided to see what Cow Wreck was like, probably a 20 minute drive away. Cow Wreck is
equally beautiful and the wind was blowing just as hard. We decide to stay put and plant ourselves for the day. Susan takes some long walks on the beach and I swim. Lunch is good. There is a restroom with no toilet paper, but it’s clean and nice that they provide that. There’s also an outdoor fresh water shower which was nice at the end of the day. When we’ve finally had too much sun, we head back to town for gas before dropping the car off. The only pump in town is closed so we give Dean extra cash for the fuel. This must happen often because we get the car with about ¾ tank and he tells us to fill it to that level before returning. We eat on the boat and, as usual, crash early from all the fun and sun.
May 5th
We wake up early for a long sail to Jost Van Dyke. Knowing it will be a long sail, we make sandwiches before heading out. I’m again nervous leaving Anegada as I’ve heard horror stories of running aground in the sandbars or coral around the channel markers, but Stan is very competent and we successfully manage to make our way out. It’s actually pretty easy if you follow the charts and guides provided, but it takes going out there the first time for me to realize this. It takes us almost 6 hours to reach Little Jost/Diamond Cay on a broad reach, but it’s a beautiful sunny day and a wonderful sail. This is the kind of
We wake up early for a long sail to Jost Van Dyke. Knowing it will be a long sail, we make sandwiches before heading out. I’m again nervous leaving Anegada as I’ve heard horror stories of running aground in the sandbars or coral around the channel markers, but Stan is very competent and we successfully manage to make our way out. It’s actually pretty easy if you follow the charts and guides provided, but it takes going out there the first time for me to realize this. It takes us almost 6 hours to reach Little Jost/Diamond Cay on a broad reach, but it’s a beautiful sunny day and a wonderful sail. This is the kind of
sailing I love. I’m ready to be there at about the 5 hour mark, but it’s been such a beautiful day and nice sail that I’d go from Anegada to Jost again without a second though. We arrive about 2 p.m., lots of mooring balls available, take the dinghy to Sandy Spit for a short walk around and snorkel/swim and then to Foxy’s Taboo to pay for the mooring fee and walk to the Bubbly Pool, which we knew wouldn’t be bubbly. It’s still a nice 15 minute walk. In the morning as we are leaving I see a good sized eagle ray breach just off the stern of the boat. It’s a remarkable sight—the ray must have shot 5 or 6 feet into the air.
May 6th
May 6th
We motor around to Little Harbor and immediately dinghy to Abe’s for a taxi to White Bay. $10/person to get from Little Harbor to White Bay. We spend the day at Soggy Dollar drinking Pain Killers and Dark and Stormys. Love that bar, that bay. The swimming is wonderful. We didn’t bring our snorkel gear, but I see that people do snorkel off the beach where the rock steps go over to Ivan’s. Lunch is nice—Susan has fish and chips, Stan has the flying fish sandwich and I have chicken roti (very nice—slightly spicier than at The Pub). Abe picks us up at 2 p.m. and takes us to Foxy’s where we have a drink and Foxy talks to us about Seattle
before taking us the rest of the way back to Little Harbor. No extra charge for the hour-long stop at Foxy’s, which is nice.
We were the only boat in Little Harbor when we left, but there are 6 or 7 boats with us now. We dinghy in to Sydney’s for a chance to make our own drinks and then to Harris’ Place for dinner. Way too much food! Salad, lobster soup, entrees and dessert. Plus a drink for each of us. For the three of us, our total bill was $100. It was a nice dinner, but buggy. We were eaten
by mosquitoes both on the boat and at dinner. Not much of a breeze in this protected anchorage. Take the good with the bad.
May 7th
We have a moderately long upwind sail to get to Marina Cay. It rains again for Susan’s last full day. She’s had as many days of rain as sun. We’re just glad it’s always warm—rain or shine. We get a ball at Marina Cay and are surprised that there are still mooring balls left even at dinner. Susan uses the wifi to post that we’ll be at the Redbox at 4 p.m. our time if anyone wants to see us. Hard not to laugh because we know we had to hold each pose for 15 seconds, so some of them are when we got bored holding a pose and decided to turn our
May 7th
We have a moderately long upwind sail to get to Marina Cay. It rains again for Susan’s last full day. She’s had as many days of rain as sun. We’re just glad it’s always warm—rain or shine. We get a ball at Marina Cay and are surprised that there are still mooring balls left even at dinner. Susan uses the wifi to post that we’ll be at the Redbox at 4 p.m. our time if anyone wants to see us. Hard not to laugh because we know we had to hold each pose for 15 seconds, so some of them are when we got bored holding a pose and decided to turn our
backs and look at nothing in the water or we slap our butts for 15 seconds like dorks to make sure we get the photo. We eat at Pussers—what a nice location for a meal. Service is slow so it’s nice that it’s the end of the trip and we’re already on island time. Susan and I had a fantastic virgin drink of cucumber, lemon, lime, orange, ginger—all fresh and muddled together with soda water or 7-up. The ginger gives it a kick. I feel healthy just remembering that drink!
May 8th
We hang out in the morning and decide to make our way to Trellis to meet my parents and drop Susan off at the airport. We grab a ball and head in to shore to dump trash and shop. At about 10:30 Susan and I decide to walk to the airport to see how late my parents flight will be (on time arrival would be 10:50, after getting through customs and immigration we think we’ll see them at 11:30), but there they are,
We hang out in the morning and decide to make our way to Trellis to meet my parents and drop Susan off at the airport. We grab a ball and head in to shore to dump trash and shop. At about 10:30 Susan and I decide to walk to the airport to see how late my parents flight will be (on time arrival would be 10:50, after getting through customs and immigration we think we’ll see them at 11:30), but there they are,
walking down the dirt road from the airport to Trellis at 10:30!
Susan gets checked in, my parents get on the boat and Susan and Stan
Susan gets checked in, my parents get on the boat and Susan and Stan
meet Bobby’s for our second round of groceries. My dad’s knees are very bad. He’s had knee replacement on one and needs it on the other, so his knees don’t bend far and where they do bend it causes him great pain. Because of this, he has trouble getting in and out of the dinghy. It takes us several days to get a system down that works for him. He has no trouble jumping off the boat and using the swim ladder, so until the toe incident he is able to enjoy the warm BVI waters. We all have lunch on the boat before Susan needs to get to the airport and we need to get going to make it to Norman before evening. We leave for Norman Island at 1:15 and arrive about 4 p.m. There are surprisingly
only defective mooring balls left. It surprises me because there are so many mooring balls in The Bight that it seems there should always be some available. Especially after we’ve seen every anchorage with spare mooring balls every night so far—even those with only a few mooring balls such as Diamond Cay/Little Jost. The first ball we take has no pendant, just a
quiet. The snorkeling is usually good so I talk my dad into snorkeling from shore to the boat. He shaves his moustache, which he hasn’t done in about 20 years and still can’t get a good seal on the mask! Very frustrating for him as he really would like to see some wildlife. Stan takes him back to the boat on the dinghy and I quickly snorkel to the boat myself.
May 10th
We head out for Jost Van Dyke. Nice sail. We get there just in time for a downpour. Mom and I get in the water for a swim and get hit with another downpour. We try to get back to the boat, but not in time. Doesn’t matter, it’s still nice and warm and there’s no lightning. We see many turtles in the bay. We saw turtles everywhere this trip. They are all around us, but we don’t get to see any while snorkeling. The dock here is so high that I don’t think my dad can climb up it so my mom and I walk to the bubbly pool without him. In the morning we decide to anchor at Sandy Spit. We find a nice spot and set anchor in about 10 feet of water. The bottom drops off sharply but we set immediately. We go ashore with the dinghy and spend about 2 hours there. A catamaran shows up about 5 minutes before we plan to leave and anchors so close that we cannot pull our anchor up without hitting him. Doesn’t matter—he swings into us and luckily
May 10th
We head out for Jost Van Dyke. Nice sail. We get there just in time for a downpour. Mom and I get in the water for a swim and get hit with another downpour. We try to get back to the boat, but not in time. Doesn’t matter, it’s still nice and warm and there’s no lightning. We see many turtles in the bay. We saw turtles everywhere this trip. They are all around us, but we don’t get to see any while snorkeling. The dock here is so high that I don’t think my dad can climb up it so my mom and I walk to the bubbly pool without him. In the morning we decide to anchor at Sandy Spit. We find a nice spot and set anchor in about 10 feet of water. The bottom drops off sharply but we set immediately. We go ashore with the dinghy and spend about 2 hours there. A catamaran shows up about 5 minutes before we plan to leave and anchors so close that we cannot pull our anchor up without hitting him. Doesn’t matter—he swings into us and luckily
hits the metal anchor holder on the bow and only does damage to his own boat. We try to tell him we’re leaving so he pulls up anchor and allows us to leave. We learn a lesson here that we need to talk to other captains as they are getting too close and not assume they know what they’re doing.
We raise our sails and have a nice 30 minute sail downwind to Great Harbor. There are no mooring balls, but there are two day sailing tour boats that look as if they are checking in and will be leaving shortly. It’s only about a 5 minute wait before one takes off and we get a mooring ball. We will stay here two nights. We go ashore and wander around for a while before coming back to the boat to relax and have dinner. A cat pulls up behind us yelling out “Spokane,
We raise our sails and have a nice 30 minute sail downwind to Great Harbor. There are no mooring balls, but there are two day sailing tour boats that look as if they are checking in and will be leaving shortly. It’s only about a 5 minute wait before one takes off and we get a mooring ball. We will stay here two nights. We go ashore and wander around for a while before coming back to the boat to relax and have dinner. A cat pulls up behind us yelling out “Spokane,
Washington”. Turns out they are not just from our hometown, but live one block away. We can see their house out our kitchen window. We have learned a lesson from yesterdays anchoring and when a large cat starts to anchor in the mooring
field we tell them they are too close and they move on. The next morning we take a cab to White Bay. It’s usually easy to find a cab at Foxy’s, but there are none to be found. We have to track a cab down near the ice house. They send one from the Perfect Pineapple. A very nice vehicle, but unfortunately, my dad stubs his toe so hard that the nail is standing at a 90 degree angle and just hanging by a thread. My dad doesn’t complain. We get to Soggy Dollar and ask if they have first aid supplies. Turns out that the owner, Tish, is a nurse and can help. But she has used all her supplies on a man who had a 5 inch gash on his leg so she piles my dad into her car and drives him back to Great Harbor Clinic where she and Derek pull the nail off and bandage him up. Tina drives my dad back where he spends a nice day sitting on the
beach. We are so grateful to them both. I realize a toenail is not a major emergency, but I really hadn’t considered the need for medical attention prior to the trip and am just glad for their help. We have a drink at Foxy’s and spend our second night in Great Harbor.
May 13th
We head back to where we spent our first night, Norman Island. We leave early and it is rough through the cut, past Soper’s and St. John. Seems it’s always rough in that area. When we finally get past St. John we are able to raise the sails and it smooths out a little. We knew we wanted to get to Norman early after our last experience of getting the last choice of mooring balls. We get a nice mooring ball to the East of
May 13th
We head back to where we spent our first night, Norman Island. We leave early and it is rough through the cut, past Soper’s and St. John. Seems it’s always rough in that area. When we finally get past St. John we are able to raise the sails and it smooths out a little. We knew we wanted to get to Norman early after our last experience of getting the last choice of mooring balls. We get a nice mooring ball to the East of
the harbor—far from the Willy T. The pendant looks new, which is good for this anchorage as it has a reputation of not taking care of the mooring balls. It’s a beautiful spot and a great place to spend our last night, although my dad might disagree after seeing the 3 nude men bathing off the back of their boat in the morning. Ahhh, it is the British Virgin Islands!
The wind blows hard all night. Gusts up to 25 knots, but I slept well knowing the pendant was fairly new and I’d snorkeled over the ball (and, of course, Stan backs down on every mooring to ensure if it’s going to break it’s more likely to do it right then and we cleat off with two lines—the first from the starboard side to the pendant back to the starboard side and again from the port cleat to pendant back to port cleat).
May 14th
We leave for Road Harbor at about 8 a.m. knowing we have to stop for fuel. They’re good at the fuel dock and will try to get out to you to help with lines. For 15 days on the boat we’ve used 11 gallons of fuel at a cost of $36. Stan thinks we’ve motored too much. We get back to TMM and arrange for a cab at noon. This gives us about 1 ½ hours to get everything cleaned up, shower, talk to the TMM staff about any issues we have with the boat, get our stuff into our locker and get to the cab. It’s so hot there and we have so much to do that I get very cranky. My mom is such a trooper that she just continues to pack and clean while I run around like a chicken with my head chopped off. Next time I will remember to get as much done in the nice breeze of Norman (or wherever our last night is) knowing that it isn’t just the feeling of being rushed back at TMM, but the lack of breeze makes it miserable to clean!
We are sitting on the boat when Reverie comes into the marina and hits a sandbar in front of us. Reverie has a deep keel (7’0”) and probably not a lot of options in that tight marina. They struggle a bit to get her free. I’m sure it couldn’t have done any damage. They couldn’t have been moving at more than about 1 knot, probably less.
The wind blows hard all night. Gusts up to 25 knots, but I slept well knowing the pendant was fairly new and I’d snorkeled over the ball (and, of course, Stan backs down on every mooring to ensure if it’s going to break it’s more likely to do it right then and we cleat off with two lines—the first from the starboard side to the pendant back to the starboard side and again from the port cleat to pendant back to port cleat).
May 14th
We leave for Road Harbor at about 8 a.m. knowing we have to stop for fuel. They’re good at the fuel dock and will try to get out to you to help with lines. For 15 days on the boat we’ve used 11 gallons of fuel at a cost of $36. Stan thinks we’ve motored too much. We get back to TMM and arrange for a cab at noon. This gives us about 1 ½ hours to get everything cleaned up, shower, talk to the TMM staff about any issues we have with the boat, get our stuff into our locker and get to the cab. It’s so hot there and we have so much to do that I get very cranky. My mom is such a trooper that she just continues to pack and clean while I run around like a chicken with my head chopped off. Next time I will remember to get as much done in the nice breeze of Norman (or wherever our last night is) knowing that it isn’t just the feeling of being rushed back at TMM, but the lack of breeze makes it miserable to clean!
We are sitting on the boat when Reverie comes into the marina and hits a sandbar in front of us. Reverie has a deep keel (7’0”) and probably not a lot of options in that tight marina. They struggle a bit to get her free. I’m sure it couldn’t have done any damage. They couldn’t have been moving at more than about 1 knot, probably less.
Getting to Beef Island by about 12:30 gives us time to check in, eat lunch and get through TSA. Our flight is on time out of San Juan. At San Juan, my parents stay the night at the Best Western in the airport and we fly off to Atlanta. Our flight out of Miami is delayed until 1 a.m. (3 hour delay). The AA gate attendant tells us at 12:50 that we have 15 minutes to board the plane or the pilots will be over their FAA regulations for flying time and the flight will be cancelled. Never seen so many people run so fast, including the AA staff. There was a guy doing nothing but looking official and checking his watch. We arrived in Atlanta at 3 a.m. and got to our hotel at 3:30. We booked the Hotel Midtown thinking we’d have an evening and full day to see Atlanta. As nice as Hotel Midtown (and what little of Atlanta we saw the next day) was, I’d probably
just stay closer to the airport next time. However, we spent a little bit of time roaming around Piedmont Park and went to a nice Farmer’s Market where we had scones and cake for breakfast. Yum!
May 15th we’re home and planning our next trip in November.
May 15th we’re home and planning our next trip in November.
