TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Trip Report on Leopard Island Fun

This is the trip report of Carol and my October 31 to November 7 on our 42 Leopard Island Fun. First, backing things up, Island Fun is in Captain's Compass Charters. Brent, of Captain's Compass did a fantastic job of securing his fleet from Irma. Island Fun only moved a foot during Irma and only lost her mast. As a result, we did "power cat" 3 times since Irma while waiting for a NEW mast and not a used recovered mast as many Irma damaged boats ended up with.
Thanks to Brent, Island Fun has been buffed to a new bright white, Bottom scraped and painted, Fresh varnish on all interior wood. New mast and lines. And solar panels replacing our wind gens.She's like a brand new boat but at a much lower chartering cost. All of Captain's Compass's boat have gotten the same attention.

So, since this trip was just the two of us, we were more interested in great snorkeling and just a relaxed time so it was not the norm of our usual trips. We arrived on Wednesday, had Riteway deliver supplies at 5PM. Gene's at SeaCow Bay opened that night for the season so we had a fantastic dinner. Thursday morning we headed over to Great Harbor at Jost. We took our time playing with our new sails. We decided to head over to St John's on Friday and since you can check out of the BVI 24 hours early, we checked out at customs after we grabbed a mooring ball. After that we took the dingy over to White Bay for Painkillers and lunch at Soggy Dollar. Late afternoon we headed back to Island Fun for wild caught Alaska salmon dinner on the boat. About 3 dozen boats were there overnight. Saturday morning we sailed over to St John. Once in US water, using US Custom's Roam APT on my Iphone, we checked into the US. The Roam APT was easy and great since we didn't have to check in in person. We did go into Cruz Bay to see how it was looking. The open bars and "old" custom building are still needing to be rebuilt. The area from the National :Parks building and up is up and running but with a littler construction still going on. Later we got back on Island Fun and headed over to Waterlemon Bay, (our favorite snorkeling spot beside the Indians). Spent 2 days there. First day, snorkeled and relaxed. Grilled duck for dinner. Second day we hiked up to the sugarcane plantation ruins. Irma weaken the structures somewhat but still worth visiting. We meet up with about 8 donkeys who seemed to be the new grass care personal. BTW, they are doing a great job. While hiking back to the dingy, we meet a couple on their honeymoon (Bob & Katie). We invited back to our boat for lunch and painkillers. Lot's of painkillers, me bad, I hate to drink along. They had a great time hanging out on the boat, just hope they got their jeep back to Cruz Bay ok. On Sunday we headed over to West End to check back in to the BVI. After that we sailed over to Norman Island. Just chilled out snorkeling and using kayak. Monday morning we gabbed a mooring ball at the Indians by 9 am. snorkeled and had breakfast before sailing over to Cooper Island. Once there we snorkeled and had a great lunch at the restaurant. Sadly it started to rain at 3 and didn't stop til morning. After hanging out at Cooper all morning we spent the rest of the day just sailing with no engines running, enjoying Island Fun doing her thing. GREAT TIME.
Have to say how grateful we are to Brent and Captain's Compass. Island Fun and the rest of Brent's fleet and in great shape and are happily shared are really great rates. Feel free to pm me if you want. .

We dropped by Gene's that first day for lunch and believe we saw you..certainly saw your lovely boat. Delighted to hear you came out of Irma in such good shape and are still enjoying our islands so much.

Seems like a lot of C&I experience back and forth. Any reason for that? How was it?

What fun! And glad you are up and running again.

We are about 6 months out from being ready to rent our house again.

We go down 3 times a year and like to visit St John at least once a year. Waterlemon Bay is one of our favorite snorkeling spots in the VI. Plus, in the past we have bought fresh caught fish from a gentleman at Cruz Bay. It really isn’t much of a deal going thought customs. And now with the US customs ROAM apt, it’s way easy to check in to the US. If you want a night or two with few other boats and like grilling on the boat, it’s well worth considering if just for something different.

We chartered Island Fun right before Irma...awesome boat. Loved every minute! I think we were Brent's last charter that summer. May be looking to get down to the islands again in a few years.

So glad to hear you enjoyed our boat. Brent at Captain's Compass does a super job. Hope you come back soon and enjoy her again. She's all polished, painted, new mast and solar panels. Sails and feels like a new boat. You'd be happy with any of the boats in Brent's fleet.