Fri – good flights - AA into STT, stayed at Bunker Hill Hotel again, dinner at Greenhouse during happy hour
Sat –breakfast incl at Bunker Hill, walked to ferry, arrived at TMM, beautiful grounds & great staff, Penny and Joe are great, beautiful “Island Kandi”, advised on strong north swells and winds, rented TMM guitar and borrowed another from a friend for the guys, rented dive gear from UBS, Kate and Tony are superb, check out was easy but safety briefing was long, choppy crossing the SFD channel to Peter, snorkelled east wall of Great Harbour, almost like the side of a bowl or wall, surprised by a large water snake barely discernable in the sea grass, beautiful coral and lots of fish, tried Oceans 7 for dinner but passed on the $28 buffet –not that hungry, Deadman’s Beach bar was closed so back to the boat for awesome burgers, anchored near Conrad
Sun – off to Norman, boys dove the Indians with our onboard dive gear, girls sat on swim platform and fed fish, cuda swam through our feet, snorkelled the Caves and saw a spotted eagle ray about 4-5 feet across then back for drinks on the swim platform, noticed snorkelers’ dinghy drifting about 100 or more feet from the ball where it used to be tied, guys went to rescue it and had their intentions questioned, guys offered to leave it where it was or bring it back to the snorkelers, the snorkelers then understood what happened and were very nice about the whole thing, took a mooring at Norman, explored the rocky eastern beach, enjoyed dinner at Pirates until the bill came – those bucket drinks add up fast! rocky night in Norman (due to the swells not the bucket drinks)
Mon – getting used to the swells, earned a couple of bruises getting tossed around trying not to spill drinks, great boat ride from Norman to Sopers for groceries except no balls and no place to anchor, elected to go to CGB then to JVD, once around Steele Point swells were 12-15 ft and 15-20kt winds, made a fast trip to CGB and daringly used Quito’s dock to get groceries, huge pasta night on board, get yelled at by 50ft sail boat circling harbour in the dark with no lights on, our guys took dinghy to sailboat and found another charterer onboard trying to secure her as the crew was ashore for dinner but couldn’t find lights or lines, finally got the boat secured, appears line came untied from mooring ball
Tues – still large swells so no Foxy’s, opted to dive Rhone, once around Steele Point water calmed somewhat and went to Salt Island anchored in Lee Bay, nice spot but too rough to snorkel while guys were diving, good dive but cloudy due to swells, thought about Cooper for overnight but it was rough when we were going by so opted for Trellis, got more groceries, great place for provisions, love the Mongoose, had a bite of hubby’s awesome ½ pound, a full 8 oz burger and the fish chowder was to die for, had my first painkiller, enjoyed breakfast at D’ Best Cup with great coffee, owner is very generous with his time and his coffee
Wed – stopped at the Dog’s for diving, fouled the prop with a floating loose line, the guys put on the dive gear and cut the line free, picked up as much as we could before the rest floated away, searched some time for it, please be wary, guys dove the airplane fuselage and the pics are amazing, girls had blender drinks and caviar on bow while the boys were diving , silly boys dropped the dinghy anchor off the dinghy while stowing dive gear before returning to the mother ship, put dive gear back on and recovered anchor , went to Saba for overnight, no music anymore on Wed which was a disappointment as we hadn’t danced ashore yet, really rough night, thought about going ashore for drinks but it was really rough and then it rained, boy did it rain, decision made, more drinks onboard!
Thur – went to the lee of Prickly Pear, love the new balls placed last year, beach is worthy of an explore and the Sandbox always leaves me smiling, spent more time having drinks on the swim platform - our new favourite back patio then on to Leverick to see Nick and Monica, enjoyed their wonderful reception and drinks by the pool over the course of the afternoon, met up with Greta from TTOL and her crew and shared stories about past trips – great group, after another great dinner onboard we went for a beautiful starlit walk up over the hill towards Saba ending up back at the Leverick bar then took our drinks to one of the great stone patios above Leverick, very romantic
Fri – up to a wonderful lazy morning with nowhere to go, the boys were trying to get a dive in but it was too rough to get anywhere so they came with us girls to Little Dix, Steph had a 60 minute foot scrub/polish change reported to be fabulous for $69 and I had a 30 minute full body papaya, mango, sugar scrub with full ocean view and outdoor shower for $80! The grounds are gorgeous and the boys entertained themselves at the beach and the bar (mostly the bar but there’s a picture of them at the beach) then back to Leverick for lunch by the pool and an afternoon of drinks, had another huge pasta night on board then off to see the mocko jumbies, they now also do a dance around the pool and fall in – quite spectacular, back to the boat for drinks and listened to the great band, PS Nick has Leverick tattoos and you need to show him where you put them – 4 people on our boat – 4 different body parts!
Sat – up early to get underway and noticed lines almost chafed through due to swells, had a big breakfast cleaning up leftovers, said our goodbyes to Nick and promptly left without paying – how embarrassing, emailed once we got home and made good, Nick is so classy, he actually seems prepared to welcome us back next year (I think we have to pay in advance though), it was a very rough ride to Road Town, at two points (Will - don’t read any further) I thought we were gonna wet the rails on the trawler, it was like driving through a washing machine, kudos to our captain who handled the helm very well otherwise it could’ve been really bad, 12-15 ft swells with over 30 kt winds, more bruises but lots of adventure. Once at Road Town one of the fuel docks had gone for lunch, the other was fully blocked by one sailboat so we took “Island Kandi” back and let TMM fill ‘er up. Check in was very quick and professional and we were soon sitting on Pussers front porch enjoying huge burgers and drinks recounting all our wild adventures. Caught the ferry back to STT and spent two nights at Bunker Hill, did shopping, enjoyed dinner at Fat Turtle at Yacht Haven Grand and had a great walk back to the hotel after dinner, enjoyed Big Kahuna for 3 great meals with great service and lots of drinks (formerly Happy Buzzard – say hi to Eugene and Jen), went over the hill to Hull Bay and finally danced to fantastic live music on the grass listening to the waves break while the boys played pool, cheap drinks there! Great flights home on AA on Monday.
In summary, considerably less boat traffic, business owners were talking about 30% reduction in business, but we had sun every day, saw a sea snake and eagle ray (I see new things every trip), saw the people that make our trips special, and learned that CanadianBuoy and I do well in rough sea conditions which is helpful seeing as I’m new to boating and we want to retire on a boat. Tried some new spots – Trellis, the Dogs, Salt Island (likely won’t do Trellis again unless we need groceries) and did new things – rented dive gear for the week, changed charter companies, more meals onboard(all great ideas). Can’t say enough about TMM and “Island Kandi”. They have both spoiled us forever, both are spotless and both made us feel like we were at home.
Thank you
