TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands BVI via St Lucia - Conclusion

It was a Friday, our seventh day of the journey. We had covered approximately 350 miles. Two passages out of the three were around 125 miles each, which took roughly 15 hours per leg. Many of the crew had never made night time passages and a lot of valuable experience was gained. Even though we took a couple of wonderful sightseeing breaks along the way, the four hour watches and the lack of quality sleep was getting old. Assigned to the last 4 hour watch, 0200-0600hr, my wife and I were greeted this morning by a beautiful sunrise. The entire crew would be awake for the first glimpse of the virgin islands on the horizon, big smiles all around!
















Rounding Virgin Gorda with Necker Island to starboard you could feel the excitement building in the crew. During our passages we saw fewer than five vessels underway combined and the boat traffic around the North Sound was a bit like approaching the Washington beltway....I exaggerate a bit! Once at the channel markers to the North Sound we could see our pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, Leverick Bay Marina! Unfortunately we would first have to raise our yellow quarantine flag and head straight to Gun Creek to check in with BVI Customs and Immigration. Anchoring in the bay 100 yards away from the visitors center was straight forward. With thirst quenched with a celebratory beer, Matrix and I hopped in the dinghy to clear us in. The process was painless, but having the 6 forms pre-filled out would have been convenient, I mean..how many hours of down time did we have!!! We found out that we arrived on a public holiday, St Ursula's Day! Fortunately only the school kids had off and the 2 customs officers at this remote port of entry were happily at their perch!! Now on to Leverick!!!!







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Matrix had coordinated a slip with Nick and as always it was ready for us when we arrived shortly after noon. The guys at the docks are always friendly and welcoming here. It didn't take long for everyone to decide on what activity they would do first, obviously our youngest member needed some well deserved pool time! I headed up to grab a beer of course and stopped in the office to say hey to Nick and Monica. It was obvious that the passages had Donna feeling confined, she strapped on her running shoes and off she went....run Forrest!!!

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A good time was had by all at Leverick! Saturday we all woke well rested in the comforts of our a/c! We would have loved to stay longer than one night, but Dan had to catch a flight out of Beef on Sunday, so we reluctantly shoved off. See you in August Nick!! The crew wanted to snorkel a little, so on our way to Scrub Island Marina we stopped at Matrix's "secret spot". We still had plenty of provisions left, so I grilled up some burgers and brats, everything always tastes better on a boat!

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We arrived at Scrub just before an amazing sunset! Scrub was empty. We could not raise them on the radio, so with all the room available we took the easiest dock! Checked in at the office, received the TTOL discount! and they told us we could remain at the dock we were on, perfect. Pool bar anyone!!

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Sunday morning Donna and I took a nice walk about and enjoyed a great breakfast at the restaurant. The rest of the crew joined us later at the restaurant and soon after we had to shelter in place at the bar for a passing squall, drinks anyone?! The youngster needed an after breakfast nap so 4 of us decided to ding over to Marina Cay. After one drink and some walking around it was time to get Dan to the ferry to bid farewell. Until next time Dan, it was fun to sail with you!!

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The boy likes his pool time, so we took Matrix to the slide!! Oh yes ma'am, a beer would be nice thank you! After some sun and fun my wife and I enjoyed a quiet dinner for 2 at the Tapas restaurant, food and atmosphere is always nice here.

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Monday morning, our final day. The last day of any trip is a drag, but as usual we made the most of it. Shortly after sunrise we walked over to Scrubs beautiful north shore beach and pool. We saw absolutely not a soul on this early morning walk. I tried to take photos of the perfect sunrise, but the hazards of keeping a boat chilled resulted in a fogged lens, uggh! Eventually it was time to leave the boat owners to themselves. Hugs were freely handed out and on the ferry we went. Thank you Matrix family for having us aboard s/v No Regrets, it was a fine passage! Fairwinds!

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