Day One- After a night of little sleep, we caught our 6:40 AM flight out of Orlando with Jet Blue. Very smooth flight on a newer aircraft. The flight attendant was gracious enough to comp our morning screwdrivers. The vacation was off to a good start! Landed in San Juan and had a quick drink at Margaritaville Café before boarding our Cape Air flight to Tortola. My wife had never been on a small plane before, so I arranged the co-pilots seat for her. She was initially anxious, but soon settled in and loved the experience. We touched down at EIS, breezed through customs, and were at BVI Yacht Charters by noon. We settled in aboard Shiraz, a 40’ Beneteau, and went through the efficient boat briefing.
We were sailing with another couple who were flying into STT and catching a ferry over. We took this time to provision at Riteway Pasea. It’s a very nice store. Last year we pre-ordered our provisions and had mixed results. This year we had the time to do it ourselves and I think it worked out better. We picked out what look good and fresh. We did pre-order our liquor through Caribbean Cellars. It worked flawlessly last year, and once again they delivered our colossal order on time.
The other couple landed on time in STT, however, the ferries proved to be as reliable as ever, and they didn’t arrive at BVIYC until about 6:00PM. Looks like a sleep aboard at the marina for the first night!

Day Two- We cast off the lines about 9:00, and had a beautiful sail over to the Indians. Snorkeling was fantastic that day. It was the best we encountered on this trip. After everyone had their fill, we headed over to the Bight for the night. Dingied into Pirates Bight for happy hour and soaked at the beach for a while. After a nice dinner aboard, we headed to the Willy T. We had a great time, although I won’t go into details here in order to protect the guilty.

Day Three- We slept in a little, and I woke with a stage three hangover. We had a nice little sail up to Cooper Island, and caught a few bonita along the way. This was our first time at Cooper, we thought we would try something different this time. We ate a nice lunch at Cooper Island Beach Club, and dinghied up to Cistern Point for a little snorkeling. We were a little disappointed as we were told by others that it was the best snorkeling in the BVIs. This anchorage was the most unsettled that we have been to. Very rolly and inconsistent winds made this a bad night’s sleep for a few of us. Cooper was nice, but I don’t think it will be a stop on our next trip.

Day Four- We got off the ball early, and picked up a ball at the Baths before the crowds arrived. We really enjoyed the relative solitude we had there. We spent a bit of time snorkeling, and had lunch at the Top of the Baths. What a view! We left the Baths, and made our way into North Sound where we picked up a ball at Saba Rock. We love their happy hour and enjoyed the tarpon wrestling.

Day Five- We left Saba for a slip at Leverick Bay and the Dinghy Poker Run. Grabbed a nice breakfast and a few quick drinks before the fun began. The Dinghy Poker Run/ water gun fight was an absolute blast! Began at Leverick with stops at Prickly Pear, Saba, BEYC, and Fat Virgin before returning to Leverick. There was a nice awards ceremony and party for us. We ended up winning 9th place with three fives. Our prize; free slip, water, electric and ice at Leverick! Thanks Nick and Monica!

Day Six- We cast off for the Anegada Lobsta Regatta with 18-20 knots of breeze. It looked to be a great sail! After seeing some of the storms on the horizon we decided two reefs would be prudent. We nailed our start and were reaching along at about 8 knots out of the gate.
A few of the storms made things interesting. The first one hit and rounded us up pretty good. Nothing to bad as it only lasted about 3-5 minutes. The second one was a bit different. We were trying to bring down the sails when it hit. We saw 54 knots on the instruments and rain heavy enough I could only see about 50 yards ahead. We got knocked down pretty hard and broke several things on the boat while trying to get things under control. Thanks to the cat that stood by while we were dealing with this. The crew did a good job sorting things and we were underway again after a healthy dose of humility. We raised very little sail and dropped anchor in Anegada without further incident.
The awards dinner/ party at Whistling Pines was fantastic. We had a great time meeting a few more TTOLers and taking in several adult beverages.

Day Seven- We woke up to a beautiful day. A few went in for lobster omelets at Anegada Reef Hotel. We hopped in a taxi and headed to Cow Wreck Bar. Absolutely beautiful! Quite a few TTOLers were there and it turned out to be a blast. We spent the day there doing very, very little. It was fantastic. It is probably my favorite spot in the BVIs. We enjoyed a wonderful lobster dinner at ARH and wrapped up my favorite day of the trip.

Day Eight- We got off the hook and underway early for Scrub Island Resort. We stopped in last year and it was a great break about halfway through our trip. We had a nice downwind sail, and caught several barracuda along the way. We dock at Scrub before noon, and continued our plan of doing as little as possible. We soaked in the pool and tried to put a bigger dent in the rum supplies aboard. Our efforts to support the Mt Gay Rum distillery were rewarded with a fantastic sunset. Scrub offered a casual buffet that night that was fantastic. We hoped their ferry to Trellis, then ferried over to the Last Resort for a few drinks. Another great day.

Day Nine- The ladies enjoyed relaxing at Scrub so much we extended our stay another night.I went up the mast in a bosun’s chair to fix some of the damaged rigging. We ferried over to Trellis for some supplies. We grabbed a sandwich at Trellis Cyber Café; unbelievably good. We spent the rest of the day relaxing at Scrub and enjoyed another beautiful sunset.

Day Ten- We left Scrub for Jost Van Dyke. Stopped at Monkey Point for a little snorkeling, but were disappointed again. We enjoyed a nice downwind sail to JVD and picked up a ball at Great Harbor. We dinghied around the corner to Soggy Dollar for a few painkillers. We absolutely love this spot. It wasn’t too crowded, and Mic is always a pleasure. We relaxed the day away and tried our hand at the ring game. We left White Bay, and returned to Great Harbor for a fantastic dinner and drinks at Foxys. The skies were clear and the stars were out like I have never seen. We all fell asleep on deck.

Day Eleven- Everyone want more of the Soggy Dollar, so we decided to stay another day. We did leave for a quick sail out to Sandy Spit for lunch. Beautiful weather! We did a little snorkeling off Green Cay. Last year this was our favorite spot but this year it seems all the colors and fish had left. We sailed back, picked up a ball, and returned to Soggy Dollar for another round of painkillers. Nobody wanted to leave and we stayed late into the afternoon. Dinner was aboard under the stars.

Day Twelve- All good things come to an end. This is always my least favorite day of the trip. We left JVD and motored to windward back to Road Town. The boat check in was quick and painless. We grabbed showers at the base and begrudgingly departed.
Our companions who had ferry trouble on the way in left for the ferry terminal with plenty of time for the unexpected. However, they got more than they bargained for. It seems the ferry had sunk at the dock in STT and there were no ferries that day out of Road Town. They grabbed a taxi to West End but the only ferry left was headed to Red Hook which meant a stop in ST John to clear customs before reboarding to Red Hook. Thankfully they allotted extra time and they barely made their flight.
Our trip out was much less eventful. After checking our bags at EIS, we had about 3 hours before our flight. We walked over to Trellis Cyber Café for another “famous awesome sandwich”. This one may have been even better than the first. Fat and happy I dozed off for about an hour in a lounge chair. Our flight out was uneventful, and we were home safely before we knew it.

Random thoughts:
BVI Yacht Charters was fantastic once again! The boat was clean and everything worked flawlessly. Their staff and customer service is unbeatable. Thanks again!

The snorkeling was across the board worse than it was last year. It seemed everywhere we stopped was missing fish and colors. The pictures seemed to back this up. The Indians was the exception.

The ferries once again showed their colors. We will always fly into EIS as it doesn’t add a connection for us and we can be at the charter base by noon. The cost difference for us is only about $150. I know this varies for other departures. The ferries cost us a day sailing this year.

Thanks to Nick, Monica, and Saildoggie for everything they did to make it a memorable trip!

It was very cool meeting all the TTOLers. It’s nice to put names with faces. Now when I read saildoggies posts I actually hear them in his voice. Not sure if that’s good or bad. Lol.

Pictures here: http://foxbvi2012.shutterfly.com/


Thanks