12-31-14
The plan was to go to Cane Garden Bay for Old Year’s Night with a weather contingency plan to be Soper’s Hole and cab to CGB. Throughout the week the younger crowd kept putting in their vote for Foxy’s. Last year we had gone but it had only been ½ of the group and my kids hadn’t been with us. I have to admit that I was secretly hoping we could do it again, it certainly is an experience. I wasn’t, however, willing to deal with the stress that I was afraid it would entail if we hadn’t gotten to Jost days before Old Years night. Needless to say the college kids prevailed and we said we would “check it out” letting them know that if it was too crowded we would go with the original plan. We had a beautiful downwind sail to Jost. Passed Diamond Cay, packed with boats, passed Little Harbor, hmm, maybe 2 balls available, passed Great Harboar, packed but not as packed as last year, and then to White Bay. We took the chance and went inside the reef. Yes, I was sweating it since again, I was driving a tennis court and there is not much maneuvering room in there without all the balls taken much less with all the balls taken! We found a pretty good spot to anchor, a little close quarters but nothing we were worried about. My brother decided to anchor right off the beach from Ivan’s. At one point as we were watching my husband said, “at this point they could walk to Ivan’s.” We stressfully continued to watch him try to get his anchor set to no avail. Finally the boat phone rang with a call for support and we dinghyed over to help out. We have now decided that my husband is the anchoring God. He is really good at it and got them anchored, a perfect distance from the beach and not too close to the other boats on moorings…and on the first try. We were paid for our services with beers and went back to our boat for some lunch.

We then went ashore to the Soggy Dollar to get our Painkiller fix. It was a zoo but not as crazy as last year. No Elmo spotting and not many people dressed up in costume. Still a lot of people having a really good time! We actually got lucky enough to get a table in all that chaos. Those who hadn’t eaten already had some lunch and we all had Painkillers. Some of us more than others! God, I love that place! Some time in the water and then a walk down the beach where we found the college kids showing us how happy they were to be there! My oldest son loves One Love. Years ago we went there and he became fast friends with Sedi the owner who also happens to be one of Foxy’s sons. Sedi spent the afternoon entertaining Jack with his magic tricks. We go back every time we are there and although Sedi is sometimes more coherent than others he doesn’t remember Jack. Funny thing is Jack could care less he just loves One Love!

The rest of our day was spent at another favorite, Ivan’s. The new place is really nice and we were rewarded with a beautiful sunset from the deck. Of course, probably not my best decision to continue to enjoy drinks here but hindsight is 20/20! We do miss the old Ivan’s but everything has to change and they have done a nice job. They have some of the shell art back up although someone accidently put the peace sign upside down, oops.

Back to the boat for a special dinner on our boat of filet steaks and crabcakes while the other boat went to Ivan’s for dinner and the trip winning conch fritters.
Quick nap for some of us and then back to Ivan’s to catch our cab for Great Harbor and Foxy’s. Some of our group stayed on the boats to enjoy a quieter NYE but my brother’s family and my family made the adventure. For anyone who hasn’t had this experience it really is quite the adventure. I love the walk from the top of the street to Foxy’s. It is reminicent of a Dead show! There are tons of different merchants who have set up stands and we were excited to find one of the stands that had glowy items for sale! It was the coolest stand on the beach, run by a little girl (maybe 8 years old) and her “helpers.” She was a local kid who was fundraising for her school. Needless to say we bought her out of some of her glowy stuff!

A stop over at my husband’s favorite place, Corsairs, for a drink and we continued our journey to Foxy’s. It was a zoo. Much busier than last year when you had to buy tickets for the concert. My theory… last year everyone over partied during the day. This year, they saved themselves for Foxy’s. We tried to get a drink at one of the beach bars and decided to go on back to The Outback to see if it was less crowded. It was. We found a little stand selling beers. They guy running it was from Grenada (where I grew up) so we became friends and I had easy access to drinks for the rest of the night. Something that made me happy that night but not so much the next morning! I thought the band was entertaining and we had a really fun night.

1-1-15
Happy New Year! We had our first sleep in day and nobody really got rolling until late morning. I made some breakfast and then we had a wet dinghy ride over to Great Harbor for some supplies. The grocery store we usually go to, in the middle of town, was closed for New Years, but we had discovered another one at the far end of the road the night before and made our way there. I think it was called Rudy's. He was open and had a really good supply of provisions. Problem of the day…no ice on island. I guess the water had gone out the night before (shocker!) and nobody was selling ice. This is not good for keeping Grandma happy in the cocktail department so we had to get creative and make some ice in our little freezer on board and run the engine a bit more than we usually do. Happy Grandma is a happy crew!
We spent the rest of the day being lazy and enjoying White Bay. I spent some time trying to cure my hangover on the floating raft behind the boat. Then to Soggy Dollar for an early happy hour and our traditional family photo minus Grandma who refuses to go to what she calls the new Soggy Dollar. After years of living in the Caribbean and actually knowing the previous owners of the Sandcastle she hasn’t quite come to terms with how popular it has gotten. Another note to self…Painkillers actually do kill hangovers. Felt pretty good after my painkiller.

Dinner that night was at Corsairs. Although expensive (isn’t that the story for pretty much everywhere in the BVI now) the food was excellent and so was the service. Again we got all 14 ashore to enjoy our last meal all together. After dinner half of us went back to the boat while the younger folk stayed to watch more football.

1-2-15
Up early and off to Diamond Cay for a visit to the Bubbly Pools and the new B-Line Bar. All but the Grands made it ashore for the hike to the Bubbly Pools. My family had been before but it was a first for the rest of our party. We had a drink and a play with the pups that hang out at Foxy’s Taboo and then complete with dogs in tow we hiked our way to the Bubbly Pools. Highlight of the hike was seeing a very small baby goat in the shrubbery. We got to the Bubbly Pools and quickly realized we didn’t come at the right time. The Bubbly Pools were not so bubbly. Oops, poor planning. Still a beautiful spot but we had some non-believers in our stories of how cool it had been. Still got some good pictures.

Back to the dinghys and off to B-Line Bar. They were a little busy but not too bad. I think the owner/bartender was a little over it as he was a bit cranky but served up a delicious Passion Confusion. It was so good I wanted another one but he sold out before I had a chance. We spent some time in the water and playing cornhole. My review… I like the ambience, not that great of a beach but lots of character. Would definitely go back for another Passion Confusion, yum!

Back to the boats and we were off to try to get to Cooper Island in time to grab a ball. Beautiful sail to Soper’s Hole but then had to drop the jib and try to motor up to Cooper. Halfway through our trek we got the call from the other boat that they didn’t think we would get to Cooper in time to get a ball and had decided to go to Norman instead. Our boys were excited as Jack had told his friend Thomas about the Willy T. Ah, just making college kids dreams come true! We made a 90 degree turn, put the jib back up and turned off the engines for a very quick sail to Norman. We were flying and left the other boat in the dust as they had decided to just motor. Got to Norman and it was crowded! I have never seen that many boats in The Bight. We ended up having to anchor right off the shore by Pirate’s Bight. The other boat anchored by the Willy T and we met up there. Yep, college boys were in heaven complete with 15 year old little brother. They did the jump a couple times but thankfully the shotski did not come out. My brother’s boat ate at the Willy T (cheapest meal in the BVI I think) and we went back to our boat to grill up some brats. Got the call at 9pm to over to the other boat for a game of cards but my eyes were already closing. Good day.

During the night the wind started to howl and the rain came in short showers. My husband and I always get nervous when there are high winds whether we are on a ball or anchored, especially since you have to get pretty close to the shore in The Bight to be in shallow enough water to anchor. A bit of a restless night but we had been really lucky with weather, wind and waves so we were still happy.

1-3-14
Up early as today ½ of us were going back home. It was really blowing but we managed to get Grandma in the dinghy and over to the other boat. Since she lives in South Carolina she was traveling home with the North Carolina crew. We said our goodbyes to everyone on the other boat and went back to our boat to prepare for the trek to one of my husband’s favorite places and a traditional last stop for us, Cooper Island. We knew we had to get there early for a ball so even though it was still blowing like heck and overcast we pulled up anchor and motored our way to Cooper. It’s not a proper trip if you don’t have to get your foul weather gear out at some point and we did! We hit a squall on the way and with huge grins on our faces (while the kids looked at us like we were crazy) we wiped the rain out of our eyes and made it through to sun on the other side. As we approached Cooper we could see the mass exodus from Manchioneel Bay so knew there would be plenty of balls available. The bay was a bit rolly but we got a ball close to the shore and it was not bad at all. The sun had come out and we were ready to enjoy our last day in Paradise. We went over to Cistern Point where the boys snorkeled. They were very excited with spottings of an octopus, school of Blue Tang and a lot more sea life. Back to the boat for some quality float time for mom, sunbathing for daughter and paddle boarding for the boys. The excitement began when my husband came back from his paddle board excursion to report a dolphin sighting. He and I had seen a pod of dolphins in the marina back in Roadtown but we hadn’t seen any since. We watched the dolphin swim around the bay and noticed a snorkeler swimming with him. My husband paddle boarded back over and then we noticed a yacht’s dinghy in the mix. I normally am not the type to bother the dolphins but the kids wanted to get a closer look so we dinghyed over to check it out. We stayed a safe distance but there were now 3 other people in the water so my kids jumped in and swam over. Experience of a lifetime! After about 10 minutes my youngest son came swimming back to the dinghy and told me I had to get this experience. He jumped in the dinghy, gave me his mask and I went to check it out. The dolphin would circle around us, dive down to the bottom and then come back up right at you. He absolutely loved my oldest son. He was wearing an American Flag bathing suit so we determined that the dolphin liked his suit. He would swim down, come shooting back up and rub against Jack. Crazy! I lived in the Caribbean for 10+ years and never experienced something like this. What a way to end an amazing trip!
After cocktails on the boat we splurged that night and had dinner at Cooper Island Beach Resort. We had made the decision late so when I called for a reservation they couldn’t get us in until 8:30. We went ashore early with plans to have a drink before dinner but our table was already ready. We ordered and I swear had our food within 10 minutes. It was really good too. We were done with dinner, paid and on our way around the time our reservation was supposed to start. Great service and great food. My husband wanted to check out the Rum Bar so we ventured over there where I took some alone time on the very comfortable deck furniture (that’s my excuse for dozing off) and my husband and daughter heard the story of Peter the resident dolphin (pronounced Peta by the English rum guru) while my husband sampled the different flavors of rum. Again, heaven and a perfect way to end a perfect vacation.

The wind kicked up again during the night and we verified that the Christmas Winds had made their way to the BVI just in time for us to go home.

1-4-15
Up early and left for Roadtown around 8:30. The wind was blowing pretty hard so we called to have someone bring the boat in. If you have ever been to their fuel dock, you know it is pretty tight. My decision to call someone was validated when the guy bringing in the boat said, “Wow, it is really blowing, this will be a bit more challenging than usual.” Another thing about BVI Yacht Charters that I love… when I made the call the office woman who answered the phone was more than happy to send someone out and we hardly waited for him to get there. Great customer service! Safely at the dock we loaded up on fuel and they took the boat to a slip for us. We packed up, did a quick boat check out, took showers and were in the cab to the ferry dock by 11:00. Very efficient!

Ah, the ferry… It actually was pretty good this time. You just have to be in the mindset that you will have to wait in line to get tickets, wait in line to get on the boat, wait in line to get off the boat, wait in line to go through Customs/Immigration, wait in line for a taxi, wait in line to go through Customs/Immigration again at the airport, wait in line to check bags, wait in line to go through security… blah, blah, blah. As we were waiting in our umpteen line with people around us complaining profusely we recommitted to our vow to fly in and out of Beef Island. Our 4 person line was looking pretty good at that point.

No flight delays although we were kind of hoping to get bumped for the $650 vouchers we were hearing announced for other flights. Beside that fact that it was 0 degrees in Denver our only issue was getting our bags when we landed. There was a problem with the baggage getting off the plane and we had to wait 2 hours for our bags and didn’t leave the airport until 3am. Nothing like that, though, was going to kill my vacation happy buzz. Great trip and can’t wait to start planning the next one!

Sue
s/v Ripple
Leopard 40

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