I’ll try to keep this as short as I can, but being this was our first charter (usually land-based), I have lots to remember, say and express! It was an AMAZING trip and it went by way too fast….but that is how it normally happens, right!?!? Booked a Lagoon LP430 powercat thru Joann at Catco. She and Catco were amazing to work with and really made this first charter an easy one. On the trip: Myself (Carrie), my husband (Chris), my son (Tristan), my parents (John and Debbie) and my brother (Chad).

Tues Feb 12th/ Wed 13th: Depart SEA for IAD at 11pm on United. This was an uneventful flight, getting us into IAD on time. Arrive IAD on the 13th on time. Departing IAD for SJU. We were on time for departure, but there was a late flight coming in that United decided we should wait for since there were 30+ people supposed to be on our flight. We had 3 hrs from the time we arrive SJU and depart on Cape Air that was quickly eaten up. We were supposed to depart SJU at 3:50, but landed (finally) shortly after 3pm. United in SEA said they would not book our bags thru, so we had to retrieve our bags, run to the Cape Air desk, check in and then run thru security to the gate. As you guessed, we missed our flight. Next option was standby for the next 2 flights, but booked on the 8:05 flight. Finally made it to EIS just before 9pm. Met Al after getting our bags and off to Nanny Cay. My parents and brother were already there as they were on an earlier Cape Air flight. They’d been fed and watered over at Peg Leg. My brother, Chad, and husband, Chris, headed over to Peg Leg for a “release” drink after 24hrs of flying! Back to the boat and to bed.

Thurs 14th: Up early to meet Al and head to Roadtown for provisioning. The men stayed behind for the boat briefing. The larger items (water, sodas, etc) had already been delivered by Riteway earlier that morning. No substitutions, everything as we had ordered. We decided since we did not know the size of the fridge on the boat before seeing it, we would examine the space and then provision the rest ourselves. Back to the boat, the briefing was almost done. Winds were in the 16-21 knot range and there were some BIG waves out there. So, we started marking the “safe” harbors for these land-legged people! Finally met our captain…Tim. He was more of a teaching captain, which was much appreciated. He was there to help, but otherwise we didn’t even know he was there. Off the dock around noon and off to the Bight, Norman Island. Got a mooring ball no problem just off the shore to the right, near Willy T. Went to the Willy T for a quick lunch (Zues was as funny and crazy as ever!!) and then back to the boat for a swim. Dinner that night was at Pirate’s Bight. Everyone had amazing meals, but my chicken wasn’t anything to brag about. The band was great, lots of dancing! Decided to see what was happening at the Willy T. Since we had our son Tristan (10yrs old) with us he was taken back to the boat with my mom. It was a little hairy over there!! Tim is BIG on leaving 4-6ft of line loose when tying up your dinghy on the dock to allow people to get on the dock. When we arrived at the dock, the boats were tied up so tight that we had to jump from boat to boat to get to the dock. One person was not too happy that we did that and approached us on the dock. He started throwing around some language and then walked away. A little immature, but we were on vacation and nothing could bring us down! Stayed a little while then back to the boat to sleep.

Fri 15th: Up early and some on the boat had a hang over….won’t get into any details but I will say it’s not a good mix with 21-25 knot winds and waves! Mooring collection was a bright ‘n early 8am, but we were up so no biggy! We decided to see if we could get in some snorkeling. Left the Bight and since we had a reserved spot at Leverick Bay for the evening, headed over to Great Dog. Picked up a ball there and into the water. Snorkeling was pretty good. Not a lot of schools of fish, or any I could name, but it was still nice. I got into an area that the coral was pretty big and some waves came in tossing me around a bit, but nothing too worrisome. Left Great Dog and off to Leverick Bay. Arrived to find Nick on the dock waiting for us! It was so good to see him! All I wanted was a shower. Mom and I packed up and did a bee-line for them. Captain Tim left us around 4pm to head back to Tortola as his journey with us was over. He was great fun! Went over to the BBQ around 6ish for some drinks and to toast our 5yr wedding anniversary. As always, the food was perfect, the band was great and the mocko jumbies were a blast. Off to bed around 10pm. It’s amazing how early you go to bed when you’re on a boat!!

Sat 16th: Winds were still high, with some heavy seas so the decision was made to just head over and get a ball in front of Saba Rock. As I was in Dive BVI before we left, I heard a familiar voice come in and ask the lady behind the counter if I was in there. Before I could see who it was or respond, she was gone. It was Monica looking for me to say hello! I found her a little later and was able to see her before we headed out. It was so nice to see them both! Nick and Monica are awesome people in every sense of the word. They make Leverick Bay such a desirable location. I look forward to seeing them every year! Over to Saba Rock, pick up a ball and decide to head around Prickly Pear to do some snorkeling. Beach the dinghy and head to the point directly across from Eustacia Island. Fabulous snorkeling! There was an abundance of live conch, a spotted ray, squid…you name it, we saw it. Back to the boat and call into Saba Rock for dinner. Dinner was great and Tristan loved the “sea life aquarium” they had by their boutique with the lobsters, fish, eels, etc. Back to the boat and to bed.

Sun 17th: Foggy, rainy, windy….kind of miserable. I kept telling everyone…it will burn off. Sure enough, it was gone by 11am and the sea was almost flat! The decision was made to see if we could get a ball at either Trellis Bay or Marina Cay. Made our way over there and Marina Cay was looking a little full. Found a ball at Trellis Bay just off the Last Resort. Chris, Chad and I went into to pay the mooring fee at De Loose Mongoose and make reservations for dinner, then off to the airport to see if they had Sebastian’s rum on hand. SCORE!!! They had a whole bunch. We walked out with 4 bottles! Back to the boat to shower and relax. Reservations at 8pm for dinner at De Loose Mongoose’s BBQ. Food was amazing and the 1-man band they had was phenomenal. For some reason there was another group of people standing behind our table at the “bar” area that spent their evening mocking us. Not sure why, but they made a sport of it all night. It was nothing short of rude and unnecessary. Again, we were on vacation so we just ignored it and had a great time regardless.

Mon 18th: Out of Trellis Bay around 10am and over to Monkey Point. This is always a highlight since it has some of the best sea life I’ve seen on any of my trips! Spent a few hours there and then off to Little Harbor, JVD. Found a ball right off Abe’s. Went in to pay the mooring fee and caught a cab over to Foxy’s Taboo and the Bubbly Pool. Got there and it was full of people! We were able to enjoy it for about an hour and then head back over to Taboo for drinks. Back to the boat around 4pm. Showered and then over to Harris’s Place for dinner. As we were in the dinghy heading over to Harris’, we were surrounded by 5 little dolphins jumping in and out of the water! It was magical! Cynthia was an absolute hoot at Harris’s Place! The 4-course meal was so good! Only one down fall….I had successfully gone how many days now with NO bug bites?? Walked away COVERED with them! I was so upset!! Went over to Sydney’s for a few drinks and then back to the boat for the night.

Tues 19th: Left Little Harbor to see if we could see Sandy Spit and Sandy Cay. The winds were high and we had a little trouble anchoring so we decided to throw in the towel and head over to White Bay. Captain Tim told us to try and pick up a ball in front of Ivan’s Stress Free. As we arrived, there was not a mooring ball to be found. We circled for a bit and a boat left and we grabbed the ball. Lucky! As we pulled in, we were surrounded by turtles! We counted 5-6 little ones that stayed in the harbor our whole stay! Grabbed the ball, went to Ivan’s to pay. Off to Foxy’s for lunch. Great lunch as always. Tristan made friends with Foxy’s dog, Taboo which kept him occupied for quite awhile. Back to the boat for swimming, libations and relaxing. The turtles were everywhere!!! Decided to cook some chicken on board for dinner and at that time decided to spend our last night (20th) right where we were!

Wed 20th: Easy morning since we weren’t going anywhere! Mom, Tristan and Dad headed to the beach and to Ivan’s to pay the mooring fee. Chris, Chad and I stayed on the boat to watch what we called “bumper boats.” It was absolutely astonishing to see all the boats that came in full speed around the reef and boats, literally racing between boats to find a place to drop anchor or grab a ball! A few dropped anchor and it was quite comical! As the wind would pick up, there would be a massive rush on the boats to make sure they didn’t hit the boat they anchored too close to! There were even boats that were anchoring in front of the channel entrance! At one point we almost saw a 3-boat pile up! All in all, it was a great afternoon and it was better than watching TV. Back to Foxy’s for dinner that night. Met and spoke with Foxy for awhile. The 1-man band they had that night was a bit off in my opinion and some of the songs he was singing were not family appropriate, lyric wise. Back to the boat for late night libations and then to bed.

Thurs 21st: Sad morning as we get up early and head back to Nanny Cay to bring the boat back. Get to the dock at 11am and start to unpack the boat. Al is there to meet us, but he needs to take us to Jerry’s for our car since the one we reserved thru DeDe’s was not operating. He was very accommodating with the situation which we greatly appreciated. (Side note: Trudi was amazing to work with. She helped set up all the taxi transfers, rental car, etc. She is perfect to work with!) Get the rental car at Jerry’s and then over to Long Bay Beach Resort for the final 12 nights. We’ve driven thru LBBR before on the way to Smugglers so we knew somewhat what to expect. Over all, it was a very nice resort and a good place to get your land legs back after a charter. Our room was very nice up on the hill with a pool view. Dinner that night was at Quitos. Had my Quito Legend (maybe I had a few, can’t remember!) and a magnificent dinner! I would have to say that by far, it was the best dinner of the whole trip. A close 2nd would be Leverick Bay BBQ. Saw Manpot’s da Ting parked by Myett’s and again by Banakeet, but never actually saw him. Back home to bed….one that wasn’t moving!

Fri 22nd: Last day on the island. Over to Sebastians for breakfast. Asked for Uschi, but only got a confusing look from our server so I left it alone! Great breakfast, just as I had remembered it from 2004! Grabbed some bottles of Sebastians Rum to bring home. Off to the beach out front LBBR. Big waves so Tristan was in heaven. Back to the room to rest, shower and pack around 4pm. Went down to the BBQ buffet for dinner, which was also quite good…not as good as Leverick Bay, tho! Off to bed around 10pm.

Sat 23rd: Up and on the road by 8:30 to EIS. No problems until we get to SJU. Flight was delayed 38 mins, which ate a lot of our 1hr 15min lay over in ORD! Ended up sitting on the runway for another hour. Get up in the air to find out we are landing in ORD at 8:20 and flight to SEA leaves at 8:23! I pretty much started panicking since that is the last flight to SEA until morning. As we approach ORD, we land around 8:05, get to the gate at 8:15. Luckily we were in row 10 and the exit was row 8 and our connection was the gate next door (NEVER had that luck before!!). Run to the gate, as we are getting on the plane, watch says 8:20! Come to find out, they decided to hold the plane since there were 20-30 people on the SJU-ORD flight that were on the ORD-SEA flight. Amazingly, we got into SEA a few mins early and all our bags arrived with us!!!

As you can see, we had no plan, we were all over the map with where we went! We had no rhyme and no reason other than to have fun! Not even a week home and already planning and conniving to see what I can do to get back there again next year! It was a great, fantastic, magical, eventful…..not enough adjectives to describe it fully! Everyone was so helpful with the planning stages….and I STILL brought too many clothes!!! Pics are uploaded and can be found under the BVI Feb 2008 album (the one with 200+ photos!).

Cheers! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

BVI Feb 2008 Pic