BVI Sailing Trip


Introduction Notes from my memory and the ships log of "Jokers Wild" during a weeklong flotilla cruise of the British Virgin Islands by my son Chris and me. We were on a Moorings 332, built by Beneteau in Marion, SC. We were one of 8 boats in a flotilla plus a lead boat with a captain and crew supplied by the Moorings out of Road Town, Tortola, BVI.

Day 1 - Saturday May 13, 2006 We arrived at the airport on Beef Island late in the afternoon due to a late arrival in San Juan on US Airways. Our arranged flight to Tortola had already left when we got to the gate at Caribbean Sun airlines. They were quite nasty and made no apologies even though our flight schedule said we were 25 minutes early. They simply said that their flight schedule changed and it was US Airway problem. In the end, US Airways chartered two single engine, 9 passenger planes that took the 18 of us who missed the original flight to Tortola. After a bumpy cab ride of 6 or 7 miles, we checked in at the Moorings and were introduced to our boat. She is named "Jokers Wild" and is registered in Plymouth England.
After a quick look around I offered Chris the V-berth because of his over 6-foot frame and I took the aft starboard one that is under the cockpit seat. By the time we stowed our personal gear, it was getting dark (sunset is around 5:30 PM). So we headed to the Moorings dining room for dinner. They offered a mediocre buffet with a shrimp and chicken entree (that they called surf and turf) that cost us fifty bucks each. Not a good start to the trip and actually the low point of the week.
Day 2 - Sunday May 14, 2006 The next morning the provisions were delivered and we had the problem of finding places for all that food. We also needed to inventory everything on the boat down to the number of pieces of silverware. We found a couple of discrepancies in the provisions (no apple pie, smoked oysters nor corn flakes) but after reporting the problem, the provisions guy showed up with the missing stuff (except the smoked oysters. We got canned tuna instead). At 10:00 am there was a meeting where we first got introduced to the crew of the lead boat and the captains and some of the crew of each of the other boats in the flotilla. The flotilla captain was Dunbar, a seasoned but young mariner, Wendy the hostess and social director of the trip and Roydan, the technician and mechanic. In the floatilla were two 34 foot monohulls (including ours), three 40 foot monohulls, two 50 foot monohulls, one 43 foot catamaran and the fleet captains boat, a 47 foot catamaran.
An overview of the trip was presented as well as the details for our first days sail from Road Town harbor to Marina Cay, which is just off the NE corner of Tortola. We were free to leave as soon as we were ready and asked to get there before 4:30 pm. It is only 6 or 7 nautical miles so no problem with that. Since it was Mother's Day, Chris found a place with internet access at the marina and sent a Mother's Day message to both Carrie and Geri. Chris and I motored out of the marina around 12:30 pm. The weather in the Francis Drake Channel was clear with some puffy clouds, winds of about 11-15 knots from the ESE.
	Since I had never captained a boat this size before, I was a bit apprehensive about putting up the sails for the first time but except for some sticky sail slides and pesky lazyjacks they went up fairly easily and the boat was as steady as a rock. It was an easy beat up to Marina Cay where we arrived around 4:30. Since we were one of two 34 foot boats in the flotilla and all the rest were larger, that meant they were also faster. That usually made us last or second to the last boat into the anchorage.
But I noticed on the way up that our mainsail had a really bad shape due to the lazyjacks being too tight. (Lazyjacks are the lines on either side of the sail that help keep it in place when it is lowered). I readjusted them and the topping lift after we were anchored and hoped that would help our speed a bit. Since we found that it costs between $25 and $35 per night to hook up to a mooring, we decided to anchor for the night. The captain of the lead boat came out in his dinghy to show us where to drop the hook and give us some tips on how to get it set. Except for a twisty chain that had not been used for a while, it was easy and we were squared away in a few minutes.
Once out of the breeze, it gets hot really quickly so we figured out how to fit the wind scoops to the hatches. They are rather large nylon scoops that are placed over the deck hatches to grab more air. We had one for each sleeping quarters and they were really a big help in keeping it reasonably comfortable below. After cleaning up a bit we took the dingy to shore to Pussers restaurant for a coldie and dinner. I had coconut battered, freshly caught wahoo and it was great. Chris had the equally good curie chicken. The price was not bad either. It was a great first day on the water
Day 3 - Monday May 15, 2006 Except for waking up a few times to check the anchor, and to close the hatches to keep out the light rain that fell sometime overnight, we slept like a babies with the gentle rocking of the boat to the swells that rolled into the anchorage. But, the sun rises in the BVI at 5:30 this time of year. I found it impossible to sleep after sunrise so I became an early riser. Chris and I usually spent the early morning tidying up the boat, doing dishes, picking up stuff and having breakfast. At 8:00 am we went to the captains meeting on the lead boat the huge 47 foot catamaran. There we got the plan for the day. Wendy, the flotilla hostess talked about things to see and do at the day's stops, dinner arrangements etc. She told us we would be stopping for lunch across the channel at The Baths, an unusual rock formation on the south end of Virgin Gorda, noted for good snorkeling and interesting sights. For the evening we would be at the Bitter End Yacht Club in North Bay of Virgin Gorda. The captain gave us a couple of compass headings (in case we couldn't figure it out I guess) and talked about the entrance to North Bay. There are actually two channels into the bay but one is very shallow and narrow and we were told not to use it.
	We left Marina Cay around 10:30 am and headed across the channel to the Baths. The weather again was clear with a few puffy clouds. The winds were a bit stronger at an estimated 18-22 knots and seas 2-3 feet. On this crossing I discovered that boat had a pretty strong weather helm (wants to turn into the wind) at these wind speeds so it was a lot of work to keep it pointing in the right direction. We also heeled quite a bit, maybe up to 35 degrees or so a few times during the short trip across to the Baths.
We anchored there and took the dingy ashore. Again as soon as you are out of the wind, it got pretty hot so Chris and I decided to forget the snorkeling and headed up the path to the bar on top of the hill. It was a long trek up but the view was spectacular. We had a pesky sea gull begging from us most of the time but both the beer and the rum "painkiller" were quite refreshing. I guess we had something to eat too but I don't seem to remember what it was. Around 2:00 we left the Baths had headed for North Bay. This time I decided to put a reef in the main and see if the boat would handle a bit easier. It did. It probably went just as fast too but I couldn't tell as the knot meter died on the way to the Baths. It was a pleasant sail around the west side of Virgin Gorda, around the north side of Mosquito Is. to the entrance to the anchorage and the Bitter End Yacht Club. There were not many places to anchor so Chris and I decided to blow the $35 and pick up a mooring. Once again the captain came out in the dingy to give us a hand with the mooring (a permanent anchor imbedded in the bottom with a chain leading to a floating ball with a length of line attached that you tie up to). After cleaning up, we went ashore for the free rum punch on the beach supplied by Wendy.
After a couple of these and taking a walking tour of the Yacht Club we realized this was a really expensive place so we decided to do dinner on the boat that night. We had double cheeseburgers and corn on the cob on the grill. Nothing in the dining room could have been better. Roydan came over to our boat and pulled and cleaned the knot meter. This is a non-trivial job as it essentially puts a hole in the bottom of your boat when pulled. He managed to get it out and back in while only taking on a couple gallons of water, which he painstakingly sponged up and took out in a bucket. It was another great day!
Day 4 - Tuesday May 16, 2006 Today will be the biggest sail so far on the trip. We are headed for Anagada, the northern most island in the BVI. It is unlike the other volcanic islands. It is an atoll, formed out of coral and has very little vertical development. The highest spot is around 14 feet. The other islands have peaks of up to 1500 feet. The captain told us we would not be able to see it until we were within 6 nautical miles or so and it is 14 nm from Virgin Gorda. It also has a very shallow and narrow entrance to the anchorage (and a shallow anchorage too as we were to find out). We left Virgin Gorda around 12:30 am and were treated to a sailors dream. Winds 15-18 kts from the east, a dead on beam reach! Seas 3-4 ft, skies the now familiar clear with puffy clouds (mostly over the islands) and we are haulin' butt. The now working knot meter topped 6.5 kts a few of times. The hull speed of this boat is around 6 kts so that is a big deal.
	The captain anchored at the entrance to the Anagada channel to be sure no one ran into the reef there. Just as we entered the channel, one of the big monohulls gets on the radio to tell the captain that they are aground in the anchorage. He passes us and takes off to help pull them off. We proceeded up the channel keeping a careful eye on the depth gauge. Before leaving the dock in Road Town, the person showing us the boat said it would be a good idea to keep the depth no less than 10 feet as the boat draws 4.3 and that would leave a good safety factor. Well, I am dead in the middle of the channel and it says 5.5 feet! So much for that advice.
As we enter the anchorage, I head for a mooring ball at the far end. The captain is on the back of his boat in the process of pulling the big boat out if the sand but I get his attention (at least I thought I did), and point to the ball and he nods his head (at least I think he did). So I head for the ball but soon realize that I too am plowing a furrow in the sand with the keel. The depth sounder says 2 feet so now I know how far down the transducer is located! With lots of power and a 180 turn I plow our way out just as I see the captain heading my way in his dinghy. He turns around as he sees I am clear now. I head for another ball closer in. I see another boat heading for the same ball. I point to it and him to indicate it is his. He goes by anyhow so I decide to take it. As I ease up to the ball, Chris is on the foredeck with the boathook to grab the pennant. As he does, the boathook comes apart and the hook end falls into the water. Now what! Fortunately a couple in a boat already moored nearby jump into their dingy and are there in a flash. They grab the pennant and hand it to Chris and we are finally tied to earth again. Whew! Now I know why boaters always have a coldie after they get into the anchorage. I forget the exact words from the English guy that helped us but they were something like, "when I saw the bloody hook fall off I knew you were splocked". Chris did retrieve the missing end of the boat hook before we went ashore to the cheers of the crew on the English boat. Chris bought them a bottle of wine that night at dinner.
	The rest of the day was spent at Loblolly Bay on the north side of Anagada. It was a 20 minute ride over there on what they call a taxi but it is more like a jitney. It was a very bumpy ride over coral rock and sand roads. The driver was obviously adept at dogging those funny brown piles in the road that we later found out were left by cattle roaming through the scrub. We ended up at a nice sand beach with lots of shallow coral reefs to snorkel on. But, it was hot so Chris and I again opted for the shade of the outdoor bar, tried out some more local beer, spent some time in the hammock.
At least I did. Chris found out that the one he brought along was not up to the task of holding his large frame. I heard a "pop, pop, pop, pop, thunk" as one by one the strings broke until he landed on the ground. To bad I didn't get a picture of that. After the ride back we got cleaned up and headed to the Lobster Trap restaurant for dinner. We had planned to eat on the boat but were encouraged to support the local facilities since Anagada is off limits to most cruisers because of the difficulty of getting in there. That turned out to be a mistake. Second most low point of the trip was the 8 measly shrimp I got for twenty five bucks. I left feeling cheated as well as hungry. And Chris discovered that the bottle of wine he so graciously bought for the English couple was $75. A real budget buster this dinner!
Day 5 - Wednesday May 17, 2006 The night in this anchorage was pretty rolley, like imagine being anchored in a wash machine! But today was to be another great sailing day. We found out in the captain's meeting that we would be going 24 miles to Cane Garden Bay, the longest sail of the trip. He expected it to take us around 5 hours and suggested we get an early start. I laid out the route on the chart (as I did every day) and copied the headings and distance for each leg on a card that I taped to the helm as it is hard to hold a chart in the wind in the cockpit. I also loaded significant waypoints into the GPS. We left the anchorage at 9:30 AM to find southeasterly winds at 15-20 kts. The sail down to Cane Garden Bay was mostly a beam reach like we had yesterday except with a few legs more upwind. The skies were, guess what, clear with puffy clouds over the islands and the seas were 2-3 feet. This was another day made for sailing and the log shows we topped 7 knots for a few seconds!
We anchored near the north end of Cane Garden Bay around 2:30 PM. After tidying up the boat we went ashore to test a few local brews and have a look around. There are a series of restaurants and bars along the beach as well as some souvenir shops etc. But tonight was to be another meal on the boat so we headed back before dark. For dinner we dug the steaks out of the fridge and grilled them with more corn on the cob. Later on the captain came by and asked if we wanted to go for a night sail on the big catamaran.
We said sure, expecting to take a sail around the island or around the bay. But instead the captain motored all the way to Norman Island, which took a couple of hours. Everyone on the boat (around 25 or 30 people) was ready to hit the sack even before we turned around to come back. People were sleeping everywhere, on deck, in the saloon etc. I guess he thought we were more of a party crowd than we really were. We were to find out later that one of the biggest party spots in the BVI is on Norman Island but nobody was in a mood for it that night so he headed back to Cane Garden Bay. After the long ride back, we were all anxious to get some sleep. My last entry in the log for this day is at 1:15 AM (remember the sun comes up at 5:30).
Day 6 - Thursday May 18, 2006 Today's sail is to the island of Jost Van Dyke, the home of the famous Foxy's bar and restaurant. But first, we are going to have a regatta, that is a sail boat race from Cane Garden Bay, across the channel and counter clock wise around Sandy Cay to the finish line at Green Cay on the east end of Jost Van Dyke. The rules are, mainsail only at the start with engine running (so we have some control and don't run into each other). Once clear of the pack, jib up and engine off. Both the channel crossing and the final leg will be downwind runs. The scoring will take into account the size of the boats by some mysterious formula that only the captain knows. We will use the usual timed start with horns a 5 and 2 minutes before and at the start. Chris and I have never gybed the boat (had the sails change sides while going down wind) so we headed out of the bay early to do some practicing. After we heard the 5 min gun we headed back toward the starting line and then paralleled the line but on the front side. At the two minute gun, we were just about to the pin at the end of the line so we went 50 seconds out, then did a 180 which put is behind and parallel to the line on a starboard tack (which has the right-of-way over boats on a port tack). When the starting gun went off we were about 50 yards inside the pin. We just turned downwind and were about the second boat over the line. Great start if I do say so myself. Now for my secret weapon, the wing-on-wing maneuver. That is to sail just lightly off dead downwind, put the main on the lee side and the jib on the other. This is normally done with a whisker pole which holds the jib further out from the boat but we didn't have one of those. But the captain had given me some advice earlier that you can hold the jib out if you free up the top so the wind will fill there and keep the bottom from collapsing. So before the race I moved the jib sheet cars further back to let the top of the jib open up. It sort of all worked except the wind was really fluky for the first several hundred yards so the main kept flopping from one side to the other and kept Chris busy hauling in and hauling out the main sheet. But we got around the island ok and were heading for the finish line. Just ahead and a bit down wind was the other 34 foot boat. We were catching them as we were stealing some of their wind. We tried the wing-on-wing thing again and we were now passing them. The other boat got the idea and went wing-on-wing too but we are still faster and about ½ a boat length in front and about 200 yards from the finish. Then we get a wind shift, and another accidental gybe so the main flops to the other side and blocks the jib. But we hold course and watch the other boat slowly pull ahead and beat us by ½ a boat length. DAMN! But, who cares, we weren't really racing anyhow right?
	After getting our adrenalin up it was time to slow down again so we all dropped anchor at Green Cay to chill for lunch. There is a nice sandy beach there and a small reef and some of the folks went snorkeling. But instead of that, Chris suggested we use the standing invitation we had from the captain to visit the lead boat "anytime". So Chris grabbed a bottle of Tequila and some Margarita mix and we took the dingy over to the big cat for some island time. Before long the Tequila was gone and we were all pretty relaxed.
Wendy kept her cool as she does not drink but was busy with her hobby of making beaded jewelry. After our nice chat with the lead crew we went back to our boat to head for our evening stop.
It was a short hop around the south side of Jost Van Dyke to Great Harbor and the anchorage. We dropped the hook in about 25 feet of water, tidied up the boat and took the dingy to shore to explore the famous Foxy's. Foxy's started out as a small waterside bar run by a guy who had been a seaman for many years but returned to his home to settle down. He supposedly entertains his guests by telling them things about their home town that they don't even know and by playing bluesy calypso music. I never did see him but Chris caught a glimpse of him just after we got ashore.
The place is now a very large waterside restaurant and bar with a very small stage. During dinner a small band come on stage to play some calypso music but no more Foxy. We did some shopping in the gift shop and had an early dinner. I thought the BBQ rib dinner was great but Chris was not as impressed. Anybody who puts sautéed garlic in the vegetables is a friend of mine! Since we didn't get much sleep the night before, we headed back to the boat around 9:00 pm to catch up.
Day 7 - Friday May 19, 2006 Today it's off to Norman Island. This will be mostly an upwind sail so lots of tacking and not much groundspeed. We left Jost Van Dyke around noon and beat our way around the west end of Tortola, through the Thatch Island Cut, between Little Thatch Island and Frenchman's Cay and into the Francis Drake Channel. We headed a long way east trying to minimize the number of tacks but it still took several and Chris was starting to threaten mutiny if I made him do any more. But one last one took us northeast and into The Bight on Norman Island. We got there around 3:00 pm and picked up a mooring as no anchoring was allowed there. By now I was feeling really guilty that I had yet to go snorkeling or take more than a couple of pictures with my underwater cardboard camera. So the plan for the afternoon, or so I thought, was for us to head to the caves, a popular snorkeling spot just around the corner from the anchorage. But Chris had other plans. He grabbed his bottle of single malt scotch and told me to drop him off at the captain's boat on my way to the cave. So I did. He appeared to be well received as I dropped him off. I then headed the dinghy around the point to The Caves and tied up to the mooring with the several others that had gotten there before me. I pulled on my flippers and went over the side made the short swim to the caves.
There were lots of fish and interesting rock formations and some grey looking coral but I guess living in FL spoiled me as I expected a much more colorful scene. But I made several dives to get closer looks at the fish and sea urchins for ½ hour or so. I shot a bunch of pictures, then climbed back into the dingy (no easy feat I might add) and headed back to the boat. I was going full tilt with the dingy on plane (it wouldn't do that with both of us in it) and as I came around the point I see a big flat rock dead ahead and about 1 ½ feet under water. I made a really quick hard left and managed to miss it and still stay in the boat.
After cleaning up a bit I headed to the captain's boat to join Chris. Soon all the rest of the flotilla participants came as well for dinner. This was to be our last night of the trip and the lead crew was throwing a BBQ dinner on the big cat. We had one of the better meals of the trip with BBQ chicken and ribs, vegetables, salads and banana bread etc. etc. It turns out that Wendy is a caterer in the off-season and that lady does know how to cook. All together there are over 40 people in the flotilla and we all got on the boat easily. After dinner there was an awards ceremony where they gave trophies for the boat race. I knew we were not getting any winning prizes and I was just hoping we were not going to get the "Dead Ass Last" trophy I had seen in the assortment of those to be given out. Thanks to Captain Dunbar's mysterious formula, we didn't, even though we had been the last boat to physically cross the line. There were a few songs and guitar accompaniment from one of the younger cruisers, a song by Royden and then it was time to really party.
	Anchored in The Bight on Norman Island is the Willy T, a true party boat. It is probably about 100 feet long. On the foredeck is a restaurant and aft a bar and small dance floor. There is another deck above the dance floor with some tables and the boats most famous part, a small platform way at the stern to be used for jumping in the water, about 20 feet below. And if you jump from this platform into the water, you get a free T-Shirt. But there is one important caveat to getting the T-Shirt. You have to jump nude!
There seems to be no shortage of folks willing to do this as several, both guys (ugh) and girls did during our short stay there and I saw several more wearing the "I came, I saw, I jumped" shirts. One party was a girl celebrating her 21st birthday. She and her two girlfriends did the deed while her dad held her clothes! Strange huh? No one in our party was brave enough to go for the T-Shirt but Chris made it his mission to meet and chat with everybody on the boat, and he did. He also showed some locals how to dance (using one of the local's girl friends as a prop) and got his picture taken with several. On the upper deck he ran into a family from Charlotte. And after some conversation we found that they sailed a Catalina 22 on Lake Norman (just like we do) and in fact Geri and I had met them a picnic at the Lake Norman Sailing Club. Small world huh? After what seemed like a long night of partying, I convinced Chris it was time to head for the boat around 11:00 PM.
Day 7 - Saturday May 20, 2006 Well this is it, our last sail before turning in the boat. We needed to have the boat back at The Moorings dock by noon and it was about a 1 ½ hour sail across the Francis Drake Channel one last time. After breakfast we packed all our gear and tried to get things organized before heading back. Around 10:00 we slipped the mooring, motored out of the anchorage and hoisted the sails. After rounding the point of The Bight, we took a heading of 30° on the compass, which took us inside of Pelican Island and straight for the white water tanks on the entrance to Road Harbor about 4 nm away. The wind was 12-15 knots from the ENE which put us just off the wind from a full beat.
The weather was again clear with the now familiar puffy clouds and is was a great and relaxing last morning on the water. We didn't talk much on the way back but tried to soak in as much of the scene one last time as we could. Once in Road Town Harbor we called the Moorings in Channel 12 on the VHF radio and they gave us a slip number and advised which side to rig the fenders and docklines. About 11:35 am I managed to slip into the dock without hitting anything and got a "nice job captain" from the dock hand. Nice way to end a week on the boat.
	There was a furry of activity now getting our stuff off the boat, getting inventory checked by the Moorings folks to make sure it was all still there. We were short one of our life jackets as it was still in the dinghy when one of the Moorings folks ran off with it but that didn't seem to bother them. We also told them about our broken boathook and they seemed OK with that too. Once in the marina, there is no wind so it gets really hot quickly so we were anxious to get checked out and find somewhere cooler to relax.
We made arrangements for a hotel for the night, got a cab to take us there, got cleaned up and spent the afternoon wandering around Road Town. The next morning we caught our flight home. This was a great trip and it was wonderful sailing and wonderful companionship with Chris. I hope to do it again.
The Boat The boat is a Moorings 332 which is a Beneteau 332 built for the Moorings and outfitted to their requirements. Here are some specs: Length overall 34' 0" Length at the waterline 30' 6" Beam 7' 8" Draft 4'6" Displacement 9900 lbs Sail Area 580 sq ft
The boat was equipped with a 120% genoa on a roller furler. The main used lazyjacks and a "SailMate" system which makes it easy to lower and stow the sail. At the helm was a compass, GPS, depth sounder, knotmeter and auto pilot. On the bow was a 30 # CQR anchor with 100 ft of chain and another 200 feet of nylon rode, all collected by an electric windlass. Also on board was a second anchor, a 30 lb Danforth with 200 ft of nylon rode. Over the cockpit was a bimini top for shade as well as a dodger over the companionway.
We furled the dodger before we left the dock and never put it back up until we returned. It was really just in the way as it blocked access to the traveler and also the breeze to the cockpit and my bunk vent. The galley had a propane two burner stove with oven, a dual stainless steel sink, a pressure fresh water system and an "in the counter" fridge / freezer. The head was equipped with a sink, extendable spout / shower head and of course the manual (pump, pump, pump-a-lot) marine head. The huge house battery (about three times the size of a car battery) was charged by an 80 amp alternator mounted on the Yanmar 27 hp diesel. We had to run it about 3 hours a day at 1600 rpm or more to keep the battery charged up. There was also a separate starting battery for the diesel.
	Dragging behind was our 10 foot rigid inflatable dingy with a 15 hp Mercury motor. It would not plane with both of us in it but still was a dependable runabout and pickup truck to get us and our stuff to shore and back. The dingy had an anchor and a portable all round white light for night use.

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