A week back from another great BVI adventure and the DIF is running high. After numerous BVI boat trips my wife and I took a break to have kids and this is was their first overnight adventure on a boat since our 5 year old was born. We decided to do a crewed charter to give us more eyes on the little ones and to help make sure they had a good experience so that we can come back often. Fortunately for us our college age niece’s spring break was the same week so we took her along for additional help and to give her a much needed vacation as well. We arrived at Beef Island from NYC on 3/14 uneventfully and met up with Capt. Jim. Jim is a personal friend of ours and has run his charter business
web page for 18 years now and really has a handle on how to make any trip extra special. After completing his detailed preference sheet in advance we boarded Flamboyance (a 60 foot Ocean schooner) fully stocked with all our favorite food and drinks for a fun week. We made our first stop at Deadman’s Beach which is a personal favorite of my wife’s for their mango margaritas and to have some beach time for the kids. As usual Peter Island provided a fantastic first stop and everyone had a good time before we went back to the boat and moved to Great Harbor for the night. Jim’s cook Patti is fantastic and cooked many delicious meals for us all week; she was prepared for our kids and had back up meals for them when necessary. Patti also set up journals for the kids so they could leave with a book full of pictures they colored and stories of the islands we visited with them. I obviously can’t say enough good things about how well we were treated during this trip so I’ll just leave it at that. The next morning we sailed over Cooper Island for some snorkeling and beach time with the kids and then off to Scrub Island for the night. We visited the resort along with our 5 year old who loved the pool slide, while Patti watched our 3 year old take an afternoon siesta. The resort is great but it definitely in need of more people. It really feels like they over built this place, I just hope it is successful in the long run. Every one on Scrub Island resort we welcoming to us and made us feel welcome.
Saturday morning we motored up to the North Sound where we were meeting some friends with kids and were able to watch the mega yachts racing which was an unbelievable sight seeing huge sloops powering through the waves. We met up with our friends and the kids got some time again on the beach to play in the sand, chase hermit crabs, and take pictures on Prickly Pear Island. That night we left the kids behind and went out to dinner at the Bitter End where the food was good not great but the atmosphere was as outstanding. Being an avid windsurfer I always love being over at the Bitter End just to check out their equipment and walk around their beautiful resort. Our plan was to leave for Anegada the next morning but we awoke to howling wind and overcast skies so we hung around the North Sound and let the kids play on the beach with their friends. At around 2:00 PM the wind had subsided and the sun was out so we decided to make a break for the Anegada so we could wake up there and take advantage of a full day on the island. We arrived just at sunset and anchored in 9ft of water in front of Neptune’s Treasure. The keel on the Flamboyance is 8ft so this was about as close as we can get but it left us with a truly spectacular vantage point to view the super moon that evening and gave us a very private setting that was flat with a nice breeze. We awoke to a perfect day and went for a swim with some turtles after which Patti had fresh pancakes for us. We decided to spend the day at Loblolly and off we went. For spring break the islands were very empty and the harbor at Anegada had about 6 boats in total. You could tell they are having a down year in tourism. Our lunch at Big Bamboo was very good and we snorkeled a bit, took some pics, had a few cold drinks and decided to head back to the boat just in time for Capt. Jim’s cocktail hour at 6pm. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" />Jim makes some great frozen drinks which is a nice luxury on a yacht. The next morning we thought we would have an exciting longer sail down to Jost now that the kids had acclimated somewhat and it was a beautiful day but as we approached Guana Island the seas built to about 15 feet and the wind kicked up to close to 20 knot gusts. Jim took quick action putting my three year old son at the helm and providing him with one of the great thrills in his short life. With three sheets to the wind the little guy sailed the boat for over an hour right up to Sandy Spit. My wife and I were very proud of him and he took the whole experience very seriously which was great to see. We anchored up off little Jost and went to the beach there, this was our first visit to these three beeches. No matter how many times we have visited these waters we always try to find something new and this was a great little find. We relaxed, cranked the music, and had a few cold drinks to celebrate our successful sail. We left at sundown to overnight in little harbor since the wind was still a bit strong for sleeping and went to Sidney’s after dinner to do some shopping. Very quiet here too, as you could tell they are not getting the crowds they would normally expect during March. The next day brought us to White Bay and we were the first and only boat there from about 9:00 am to 10:30 am which made for great pics and swimming. We claimed our place at the Soggy Dollar and played the ring toss with the kids until they grew tired. Our niece had her first painkiller and now has a new favorite drink. We swam out the trampoline with the kids to let them jump around and in return they allowed us to lime for a full hour uninterrupted. Jim and Patti then planned a treasure hunt for the kid that they thought was great. My daughter was especially impressed that pirate treasure included a small princess doll that she got to keep. This increased our liming time another hour and was just what we needed to kick back and take in a beautiful vista. By 3:00 PM White Bay was packed with day trippers and was quite the scene. We headed back to Flamboyance lifted the hook and sailed off to Norman Island for the night arriving just before dark. Jim tucked us into a great corner of the harbor we had never been to before where the water was a magical turquoise color and crystal clear. The kids had a ball feeding the fish left over scraps. This was also formal night aboard the Flamboyance where Jim has a beautiful chandelier that he hangs from the canopy over the cockpit creating a formal atmosphere. After another delicious dinner we read some books to the kids and we all turned in early.
The next morning we headed up to Virgin Gorda to check into our villa at Nail Bay and Jim took us right to Spanish town which was a huge convenience. We had Jim and Patti over for a BBQ that night to look at pics and to thank them for an unforgettable trip that we won’t forget. Nail Bay is great and provided us with a perfect end to our trip in a fantastic private villa where the kids could play in the pool and we could all relax and go about our day at a nice slow pace. We were able to go to the Baths at 4pm and avoid the crowds and take in some live entertainment at Top of the Baths with only three other couples there while watching another perfect BVI sunset.
Our kids had a great time and are now on their way to becoming addicted sailors like my wife and I. Sailing with kids is a great family bonding experience and a great learning experience at the same time. It was very different from the trips we took pre-kids but was special in its own way. The biggest difference is that we were all in bed early and up very early. We spent the next three days exploring Virgin Gorda by land and swimming in the pool and ocean but we couldn’t stop talking about the great experience we had on the water while sailing aboard Flamboyance. My wife and I were a bit nervous that our kids may not acclimate to life on the boat or that bad weather may make it uncomfortable. Our kids were entertained at all times or sleeping. They each took long naps regularly and they are not nappers but the rocking of the boat was just too much for them. We can’t wait to go back with them again! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Banana.gif" alt="" />
