Quick Trip Report - January 10-24, 2015

[RickG]

We took De Life, our Beneteau Oceanis 40, out for two weeks in January. Our first week had Gordon & Holly with us (Rick & Christine). They are long time friends from the DC area who are avid world traveling cyclists. They had been down before on their friend's old Morgan 36 and thought having a cabin, refrigeration and running water was novel.

Our original plan was to do a clock-wise BVI trip the first week. Well, winds on Monday January 12 were blowing 25kts and gusting more then 35kts. We rather got blown around a bit and decided to head downwind to seek better crew comfort. We dropped off our crew on Saturday January 17 in Cruz Bay and had a week for just the two of us.

The overall itinerary looked like:

Saturday Jan 10 Maho Bay/Francis Bay
Sunday Jan 11 Norman Island
Monday Jan 12 Great Harbor
Tuesday Jan 13 Diamond Cay
Wednesday Jan 14 Little Harbor
Thursday Jan 15 Cane Garden Bay
Friday Jan 16 Great Harbor
Saturday Jan 17 Coral Bay, St. John
Sunday Jan 18 Biras Creek
Monday Jan 19 Leverick Bay
Tuesday Jan 20 Cooper Island
Wednesday Jan 21 Leinster Bay
Thursday Jan 22 Christmas Cove
Friday Jan 23 Independent Marina Sleepaboard
Saturday Jan 24 Home

Saturday Jan 10 Maho Bay/Francis Bay

We got off the dock thanks to our boat partner Capt. Jay. He picked us up at the airport, ran us to the grocery and installed our new gas grill faster than I could unload the provisions. We're lucky to have a great partner like Jay. We got to play with Debbie on our last night.

A quick sail to Maho/Francis at St. John and we were lounging in tome for sunset.



Sunday Jan 11 Norman Island

We met up with Catherine and Henry from Mowzer at Pirates. They are cruising the islands on their Mahe 36, formerly in CYOA's charter fleet. They had just returned from St. Martin and bought a new dinghy. We were very happy to replace our old wee dinghy with their three year old 10' Caribe.



Monday Jan 12 Great Harbor

We got a slower start as we deflated and stowed our wee dinghy and got ready for a bit of upwind sailing. We knew it was windy so we had all of our main reefs in the jib fully reefed. Sweet Christine was on the helm and I was trimming sails when we came fully out of Norman Island's wind shadow. Christine gave up on helm about the same time as our masthead wind sensor went on strike. A couple of squalls blew through, I thought about getting a third reef in our next main, Holly decided that it might be a good idea to don a PFD... after two tacks we decided to head downwind to Jost Van Dyke. That worked out just fine. Sometimes crew comfort is the best reason to abandon plans and let the wind blow you in a better direction.





Tuesday Jan 13 Diamond Cay

A quiet breakfast at Great Harbor and off to White Bay for play time. After that, Diamond Cay and B-Line for the night.





Wednesday Jan 14 Little Harbor

We hit the Bubbly Pool after breakfast and it was safely bubbly. After that, a visit to Cane Garden Bay. Birthday dinner at Sidney's in Little Harbor. The ladies at Sidney's always make us feel so welcome.





Thursday Jan 15 Cane Garden Bay

We had a fun walk around Sandy Cay and some floating about. Cane Garden Bay for Kapeye Hour and to say high to Manpot.





Friday Jan 16 Great Harbor

Lobster breakfast tacos, sailing about, took on water at the North Latitude Marina in Great Harbor and a nice dinner at Corsairs. Holly and Gordon got some helm time since the winds were calming a bit.





Saturday Jan 17 Coral Bay, St. John

We were dropping Holly and Gordon for their week on St. John. After a quick check in and lunch at Cruz Bay Landing, we headed to Coral Bay. The south shore of St. John is a delightful uncrowded sail. Coral Bay was a good spot to grab a shore dinner. Gordon and Holly are vegetarian, so we hit Skinny Legs for burgers. This was the busiest place we saw all week, outside of the herd at Soggy Dollar.



Sunday Jan 18 Biras Creek

We were off to Virgin Gorda by the southern route. No wind, so it was a smooth motor all day. There were actually large swells, but they were more than 10 seconds apart and we didn't really notice them. Fishing along the way we caught one barracuda. We got into North Sound and grabbed a mooring ball in Biras Creek near Fat Virgin's Cafe. We love Fat Virgin's and Ratti and Esther took great care of us.

Randy who owns Reef Bay villa in Coral Bay took some fun photos.





Monday Jan 19 Leverick Bay

We spent some time at Prickly Pear Island swimming about. There was a cruise ship having a party at the Sandbox, so we dinghied to Saba Rock and did a walkabout. Off to Leverick to grab a mooring ball at the quiet back of the mooring field and a bit of happy hour. We chatted with Michael Bean and helped him load some new (to him) sails on his dinghy. Back for Happy Arrrrr and dinner at Jumbies. Jumbies did a great job keeping everyone lubricated and we were the last ones still there enjoying a quiet dinner after a manic happy hour.



Tuesday Jan 20 Cooper Island

I was up early mornings getting some work done. I love to see the sunrises and took photos every morning. We stopped in Spanishtown on the way to Cooper to buy a Digicel router. Being able to keep up with work while on the boat will let us take more and longer trips. We got the last mooring ball at Cooper and were pretty much looking the webcam in the eye. My apologies to anyone who joined me for my shower.

We had tapas for dinner at the Cooper bar, which was just okay. They were beautifully composed, but just safe tasting and rather under seasoned. The rum bar did not disappoint.





Wednesday Jan 21 Leinster Bay

We spent the morning lounging at Cooper and sailed to St. John timed to get in too late to check in. We ran up the Q flag and spent a wonderful evening in Leinster Bay. We had BIG rain storm blow in from Tortola, so we closed things up and tried out the TV on our boat. We had never turned it on - plugged in an HDMI cable to the ipad and we had movie night.



Thursday Jan 22 Christmas Cove

We headed to Cruz Bay after breakfast to check in with due haste. It is a small world and we ran into Holly & Gordon as we walked to C&I. They had a great time on St. John with lots of kayaking and SUP fun. Holly did lose a pitched battle with a sea urchin on her last day. We finished our last night out and about at Christmas Cove. This is such a fine place that I'm not surprised so many boats camp out here for months at a time. I'm just surprise that they are permitted to.



Friday Jan 23 Independent Marina Sleepaboard

We spent the morning getting the boat cleaned up. We always feel that we need to pitch in get some of the dirty work down. Jay does all of the real maintenance and Debbie keeps the boat super clean. To assuage our guilt we gave the bilge a good scrub and cleaned all of the interior surfaces. Off to the marina to get things cleaned up and dinner out with Jay & Debbie.

Saturday Jan 24 Home

Breakfast at Cariga's and we dropped Jay's car off at CYOA. The full team was turning boats and a new Helia came in from France while we were chatting. Thanks to Debbie for a ride to the airport. We're back on March 27 for ten days.

Holly & Gordon had a great stay at Coconut Coast. They really enjoyed the newish managers and took advantage of their kayaks with dropoff at beaches. They also did kayak trips with Arawak Expeditions. They also rented SUPs at Cinnamon Bay and had a great time. Holly enjoyed a close encounter with a sea urchin their last day. You have to be careful doing SUP in shallow water!

Thanks to liamsaunt for her great Trip Report and a reminder of what a wonderful place St. John can be.

Cheers, RickG

[inuny]

Thanks for the sailing report. We'll probably be sailing for less than a week in the BVI first week of December. I always forward your reports to our co-captains

[patr]

Rick - LOVE your trip reports. Thanks so much for taking time to share.
You & your sweet Christine are living our dream!

Hubs just retired & I would love to send send him down to the VIs to sailing school. I might PM in the near future to ask some schooling questions.

[RickG]

Thanks!

Patr, sailing school is a blast. I missed my lady, but I'd go back again with her. Always more to learn.

Cheers, RickG

[liamsaunt]

I really enjoyed your report! I need to get out there and explore the BVIs more. The boat that takes us out for our day sail in the summer has been offering to hook us up with a charter outfit. I am nervous about going with my summer group, so many people in such a tight space for a long time! Maybe someday. Not this summer though

[wontongirl]

Thanks for the wonderful trip report. I really enjoyed reading about your adventure. I've got to talk my husband into doing this.

[jmq]

Thanks for the report Rick.
Was this conversion from landlubber to sailor/yachtsman the plan all along or did it just hit you ?

[FinsUp]

Ahhhh..Rick you have me dreaming of what I'm going to do when the kids grow up!! Not that I'm wishing a minute of their childhood away..this just sounds like the perfect way for my husband and I to enjoy our "adult" life...instead of our "adult" life beginning in our late 40's, we'll have to wait a decade or so!! But oh so worth it. Thanks so much for sharing...

[RickG]

Thanks for the report Rick.
Was this conversion from landlubber to sailor/yachtsman the plan all along or did it just hit you ?

jmq, I've been working on finding my perfect St. John spot for my own since 1999. I've looked at it all, ran the numbers and it just didn't make sense financially. Still, I wanted it in a hard way. Buying the boat is the way I can make it happen for about 5% of buying that 2-bedroom 2-bathroom place that I dreamed of. The cashflow looks like a St. Thomas condo fee. As sweet Christine likes to say, if you don't like your neighbors you just move.

Cheers, RickG