Cruising the US and British Virgin Islands

CINDY:

So what the heck have we been doing since we made it across the ocean to St. Thomas??  Well after a celebratory lunch and a few beers Skipper Dan left us to fly home.  That night Rob, John and I had a great meal at the Hook Line & Sinker, which we found after stopping to ask directions and being sent down a dark side street to the Frenchtown area of Charlotte Amalie.  Next day, after a laborious lowering of the dinghy from the davits, we took it across to Honeymoon Beach on Water Island, a lovely spot with the best fish tacos we've ever had at Heidi's.

The view from Honeymoon beach

 We had fun drinking her QAC's (quiet afternoon cocktail) and watching the cruise ship folks flood in for a 2 hr excursion.  That  night we welcomed aboard 8 of our lake friends from Dock C who were finishing up a charter trip.  We enjoyed showing off the boat and having  cocktails and apps before going out for a delicious sushi dinner.  Thursday morning John left us to fly home after having done yoeman's service on our 9 day cruise, we can't thank him enough!  Then that night we took our Captain and First Mate from our charter cruise 2 years ago out to dinner, John and Susan Stephenson.  This was starting to feel more like a vacation!

During the days we had work done on the boat, did laundry, enjoyed showers at the marina, and made many provisioning trips.  Susan was kind enough to take me along with her to the stores she shops at for her charters one day, and downtown to shop another day.  Boat work too - maintenance on engine, work on freezer and fridge and navigation plotters.  Finally, after 6 days in the marina we were ready to take off on our first island adventures!

First passage was to Christmas Cove where we anchored in 40+ feet of water and then ordered a pizza from a boat outfitted with ovens called Pizza Pi.

Sunset at Christmas Cove

 Next stop was Red Hook on St. Thomas for a night where, after my comical lassoing of the pylons and a death defying leap from the back transom to the dock,  we met Bernie, age 85, and Sherron, who had been cruising for 10 yrs! They gave us some good info about Trinidad where they leave their boat.. We got our Raymarine software updated there so our chart plotter was finally working properly - yay!

The next day we left the USVI for the first time and checked into the British Virgin Islands at Great Harbour on Jost Van Dyke.

 We spent 2 nights there enjoying lovely White Bay, home of the Soggy Dollar Bar.  Then on to Trellis Bay for 2 nights where we attended the Full Moon Party with new friends Corrie and Dale.

Burning man - they fill him with wood and light him up

Wood carving by local artist

 They have been cruising for 10 yrs aboard Hi-Flite and they had lots of good tips for us.  Thanks to Sabrina Nichols for asking them to connect with us.

Next stop:  idyllic Peter Island where I hooked the mooring ball on the first try - woo hoo!  Enjoyed snorkeling and watching a sea turtle swim near the boat.

Approaching Peter Island

Then to Soper's Hole for a night, back to Crown Bay on St. Thomas and over to St. John by ferry for Valentine's Day.  There we renewed our wedding vows at sunset on beautiful Trunk Bay with 75 other couples, an annual event provided at no charge by a local clergywoman.  This was completely unplanned, we read about it in the local paper and decided it would be a good way to mark our 40 years of marriage.

 It was a beautiful and romantic - if over long - ceremony, which we  followed up with a delicious Italian dinner before catching the ferry back to St. Thomas.

Mikey and Karen come to cruise with us!

Next evening (2/15) we welcomed Lake Perry friends Mikey and Karen Vannostrann aboard..  We had cruised together on charters twice before so we knew we would have a great time!  We re-visited ports we all knew and enjoyed each one:

• Honeymoon Beach on Water Island - The QAC became our on board standard drink for the week!
• Soper's Hole - the bureaucratic check in process to the BVI was not so fun but lunch at the Key and Lime was great.
• Peter Island - lovely evening in a quiet anchorage, snorkeling in the morning
• Leverick Bay on Virgin Gorda - A delicious dinner at the upstairs restaurant, although we missed seeing the famous Michal Beans Happy Arr show 😢.  

The boys admired the ladies at the bar

The girls tried to compete

• Cane Garden Bay - Mikey and Karen's favorite, beautiful beach and dramatic lights up the steep hillside at night
• The bubbly pool on Jost Van Dyck which was much more active than the last time they visited it.
• Great Harbour - We took the dinghy over to White Bay and had an interesting landing in the rolly surf!  Even more interesting re-launch when we left, resulting in sand filled swim suits 😎   Later that evening we had a near baptism getting out of the dinghy at Foxy's, but we had a good meal and some fun music and dancing there.  Rob says he is way ahead on his one dance/yr quota now.

We returned to St. Thomas on 2/21 so the Vannostran's could catch their early morning flight on 2/22.  A great week with great friends who were so easy to cruise with, they helped us work out our processes and procedures and even did the dishes!

ROB:

Following the departure of our guests, we spent several more days in Crown Bay Marina completing canvas work, re-provisioning and getting haircuts, then we were off again, this time heading east across the south side of St. John.  We checked back into the BVI at Road Town, Tortola, although we were nearly in our slip at Village Cay Marina before we were told that we could not dock and had to dinghy into the customs office on the other side of the harbor.  One of our only frustrations with the BVI is that checking-in and customs procedures and fees seem to differ so much from one office to the next, but all offices are bureaucratic, slow and grumpy.  The Road Town office is perhaps the grumpiest, particularly late on a Friday afternoon.  After this lovely experience, my outboard engine quit on my return to the boat and I learned that our dinghy oars are particularly short and ineffective.  Finally I made it back to Avventura and we crossed the harbor again to take our slip at the marina.  WHEW!  A great guy quickly fixed my outboard early Saturday morning and said the job was too small to even ask for payment.  I insisted he take $20 and my faith in the residents of the BVI was restored.

We had a rollicking sail about 24 miles from Road Town out to Anegada, the most remote and least developed of the British Virgin Islands.  The entry to the harbor through the reefs is a bit challenging, but we were in the harbor by early afternoon and got the last mooring, in about 6.6 feet of water.  This got my attention because we draw 6 feet of water, but I don't think we ever touched bottom, even in the chop we had in the harbor.  We dinghied ashore at the Anegada Reef Club and rented motorbikes, driving all over the island and dodging the occasional goat and bull, which roam free on the island.  Dinner of grilled lobster was shared with a delightful British sailing couple back at the Reef Club.

Sunday morning we had the magnificent beach at Anegada's Loblolly Bay to ourselves,

Ghost photographer

but we headed back to Avventura at noon to make the crossing to Virgin Gorda.  We had another fun motor-sail and checked back in to Leverick Bay in the North Sound.

View of the marina from my morning walk up the hill

 I love this place!  Cheap nightly rates, 100 gallons of free water, and a free bag of ice with every stay.  On top of that, the showers are OK, there is a fun beach bar and you can use the pool.  Monday night we caught the Happy AAARRHHH show by the incomparable Michael Beans, who does one-man band pirate shtick better than any entertainer around.  I managed to win the conch blowing contest with a sustained tone of 41 seconds and won a bottle of rum for my efforts - pretty good for an old guy!

We are holed up at Leverick Bay now waiting for the best weather window for the trip 75 miles east to Sint Maarten.  We will probably make that trip Sat night March 5, arriving Sun morning March 6.  We plan to be there until March 16, then start our trip south through the chain of Caribbean islands.