TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Our First Sail

As some of you know we have been vacationing in the BVI for almost 15 years. All land based with the first few years on Cane Garden Bay, then a couple of years on White Bay JVD and the last few years on Anegada.

I want to thank this board in advance for all the tips, ideas and recommendations. You all are a wealth of information. Thank you very much.

I want to specifically shout out to @NWA4Sail and @bailau. Jonny's wife Carol and my wife have communicated on packing. Very helpful. And Rob, you have been extremely helpful with items you have sent me to help in our itinerary planning. I cannot thank you enough. You have answered every email/text and guided us to have a great stress free vacation. I look forward to the painkillers awaiting us at Soggy!!

Again, thank you all for your posts and your willingness to help us rookies. I look forward to posting my first sailing trip report.

Looking forward to possibly seeing you in the islands as we too set out on our first boat vacation!
Have a great trip!
RW

You too Ron! If it doesn't work out I'll hit you up in December. Safe travels!

YEAH for a baptism ! After all these years, you, too, will see through "another" viewfinder. I'm excited for all the crew on your first sail, and I hope you wonder why-ever you waited this long.

Thanks for the kind words my brother...just trying to pay a little forward of all that I have received from the TTOL community...and thank you for helping my college group with happy hour

I look forward to your trip report and for your help when we finally stay "still" in the BVIs for 7 days on Anegada...where I am certainly a "land rookie"

You'll have a great trip and can't wait to read the trip report. There really is nothing like waking up with a new view of paradise everyday.

I'm with Bailau and may hit you up before our first mostly land based trip in March. Going to be on Tortola for a week while we wait for Tortuga to be outfitted for charter. Really looking forward to exploring new places!

Dave

Ndfaninnc - sounds just like us! Land based for 20+ years in the USVI and BVI, and Anegada for last 7 years - headed there next week for 10 days and then to tortola to board 40’ cat for 6 nights. Just husband and me! We have taken 3 sailing classes with certifications in the last month but scared and excited all the same. When is your trip? Our first sailing adventure begins - Nov 30. I need any tips!

Hey Susan! We will be sailing 16th thru 23rd. Not sure which day we will be on Anegada. I suspect mid to late week. Are you arriving to Anegada on the 30th or does the sailing start on the 30th? Hopefully we can meet. My wife and I love Anegada. Where do you stay? We started at McKenzie’s Anegada Beach Cottages. Now staying at Henny’s villas. Beautiful little place. We consider Cow Wreck our 2nd home. We did not go through the certification process yet. So we hired a crew to lug us around for a week. That’s awesome you guys did. I’m sure you will do fine. This board has tons of info and tips. Glad you found it.

Good luck Susan! I'll never forget the first trip after passing the classes. So scary but so exciting! Take it slow, ease into it and respect the wind and water and you'll do great! 6 trips in I still get jitters as we shake the rust off for each trip but nothing beats waking up to a new beautiful harbor every day!

Enjoy!!!!!

Dave

We will be there Dec 1 for 10 days. Sea Tiger, a Lagoon 42.

All decked out in Orange and a large Tiger Paw on foresail for our Clemson Tigers. Hard to miss!

Enjoy your sail and hope to see you down there.

Sea Tiger is a very cool boat...saw it many times around BVIs and is probably the most distinctive boat down there. Only drawback is my son is a Gamecock so Clemson is the rival...

Although I would love to talk BS with you, my Irish this year ain’t there. Good luck in the CFP’s. With your schedule I see no reason Clemson isn’t in. At least as a 3 Seed.

We just came back from the most amazing vacation ever. I'll be brief on the trip report so as to not bore you with details most of you have already experienced.

Day One: We met our crew and boarded Kailani in Red Hook. Sailed to Watermelon Cay for dinner on the boat and anchored for the night. I did catch a nice Horse Eyed Jack right after dinner.

Day Two: Awoke in Watermelon Cay and Captain Steve and I dingyed over to a spot and lobster hunted before breakfast. We only found one. We then sailed to White Bay, JVD and had a great time at Soggy Dollar where we partook in painkillers that were on the board sent by @bailau (Thank you so much!). After a great day at Soggy we sailed over to CGB and moored for the night with dinner on the boat.

Day Three: Awoke in CGB and immediately jumped off the bow of the boat for a morning swim before breakfast. We then went ashore to deliver supplies to PawBVI and then walked to Rhymer's to see Patsy. Amazingly we ran into a friend of our parents who just happened to be staying at Myett's. We then went to Camino Bay for some snorkeling, sailed to the Baths for some exploring and then anchored in Leverick Bay for the night (right behind Scuba Doo!). A couple of cocktails at the bar and dinner on the boat.

Day Four: Awoke in Leverick Bay and got in line at the fuel dock to load up. We then headed for Anegada with breakfast aboard. We grabbed one of Peter's balls and the crew stayed aboard as Melissa and I went ashore. We called Dean on the way and he had a jeep at the dock for us. We then drove up to Cow Wreck to see Ann, Andrew, Bell and some friends of our Philly. Then went to Sid's for a drink or 10. We stopped at Wonky Dog to see Desnee and Peter. We just had one drink there and went back to the boat for dinner.

Day Five: Awoke to a beautiful morning in Setting Point. Just before breakfast was served a dingy pulled up to our boat. It was Warren! It was an absolute pleasure to meet Warren. Super nice guy. Thanks to Rob for helping to arrange the meet up. After breakfast we informed the crew that today WE are entertaining them on OUR island. We took them first to Flash of Beauty for some snorkeling. Then drove over to Cow Wreck for a few hours of drinking and playing. Then went to Sid's for a few drinks and an arm wrestling match between my wife and Sid. Of course my wife won the match! We then got back on board for dinner. After dinner we went to Wonky Dog for a few drinks and then to Potters for drinks and dancing.

Day Six: Awoke in Setting Point and after breakfast we sailed to Cooper Island. On the way we threw a couple of lines in and we landed a huge 75-80 lb Cobia. It took about an hour to land the beast. A great fight and lots of fun. Cooper Island is such a cool little spot. We hung out there for a couple of hours then sailed over to Norman Island where we moored for the night. Of course we had to jump off of Willy T's before dinner.

Day Seven: Breakfast on the boat and then went over to the Caves for some amazing snorkeling. The captain then took us to Hansen Bay to hang out at LimeOut for a bit. Excellent little bar. So much fun. We then went over to Salt Pond Bay to swim and snorkel and then to Lameshur Bay to anchor.

Day Eight: Awoke in Lamshur Bay and did our last jump off the bow and a few minutes of snorkeling with the turtles. Beautiful bay. We then sailed the South Drop in hopes of catching some more fish. Did not happen But what a beautiful sail back to St Thomas. The crew very kindly dropped us at Emerald Beach and came ashore with us for a final drink and our good byes. Of course our Philly friends were there to great us. After lunch and a few drinks it was time to board our flight and head home.

I cannot say enough good about our crew. Captain Steve and Captain/Chef Caitie were nothing short of amazing. Their attention to detail was beyond words. They were there when we needed something and not there when we didn't. Their sole goal was to make sure our vacation was epic. They more than succeeded.

Here is the link to a video Caitie made of our trip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CY0RiVjrZeg I hope you enjoy watching as much as we enjoyed this trip. Thank you to all of you who over the years have given great advice to having a wonderful sail.

Great trip report and video! You guys really covered some ground!!!

Wow...what a great video. Thanks for the great report and video. Glad the Cobia made the cut on the video.

Have a great holiday my brother...

@ndfaninnc --- Any C&I stops in the BVI -- or USVI [entering from Norman I. to Hansen Bay, STJ?]
Covered a lot of ground and sounds like a fine trip.

I'm not exactly sure how it was all handled. Since we chartered with a crew we did absolutely nothing with C&I ourselves. I do know that Captain Steve checked us in when he dropped us at Soggy. He grabbed our passports and dingyed over to C&I. What he did when we left BVI waters I honestly do not know and never thought to ask.

Caitie did an amazing job editing the video. The Cobia was a must for the video. The largest fish I have ever caught. Steve took the map you sent me and marked our entire route. It looks so cool. Thank you for that. BTW, staggering away from Soggy with a very small tab was all you brother. Thanks again. Happy Thanksgiving Rob.

Perfect video!!! Looks like an awesome trip

It was great to meet you guys in Anegada

Fantastic video.

Will the next trip be water or land based?

Where is "Sid's"? That sounds like a new place for us to check out.

Sid's is at Pomato Point. Beautiful little place. Our new go to for dinner on Anegada. Been there 3 or 4 times. Excellent food. Sid is a really good guy. Love going there.

Sid is Dean Wheatley's brother. Try their excellent fish tacos.

Glad you guys had such a good time. It was nice to read your report and watching your video! Look forward to seeing you all sooner rather than later. In the meantime have a great Holiday Season, Jonny and Carol

Just saw a post from Sid's on IG. Lobster Tacos. Looked fantastic!

Loved the video and trip report. BVI dreaming! Husband and I will be there in 3 months. Sailing Glissade II with TMM.

Awesome trip report and video too!