BVI Spring Break Trip Report

[Saildoggie]

First a quick explanation, when Tom Garvey told me Sanctuary was available for 5 days the first week of April for a sweet deal I jumped all over it. The dates perfectly matched my girl’s Spring Break dates from school, well the girls told me they wanted to wait for the June/July trip but to go and have a good time.

I contacted my Nephew, Keith to see if he could get leave from his active duty Air Force and let him know he could bring a buddy. Soon after, they were inked!!!

Now here’s the tricky part, Tony and Melody, owners of AristoCatII saw our dates and offered to have us come aboard a few days with them after we return Sanctuary.

OK, with me here or not?
We met them at Foxy’s Cat Fight last year and had a great time with them,
Most of us know a lot transpired between Sanctuary’s charter co and the ACII peeps but we can put that behind us, we vowed to not even talk about it, let’s just go sailing and have fun and that we did!!!

We got a couple of TTOL’ers to join us, so here we go:

The crew;

Saildoggie
Nephew Keith, USAF Loadmaster
Caesar (Malone) USAF Loadmaster
Tradewinds (Chris)
Sail2wind (Evan)

Started out at Cane Garden Bay on April 3, rented a brad new Montero from Jerry’s as the original plan was to meet Garvey at Soper’s to take over Sanctuary after their charter.
Met Cheryl (Purple Pineapple) at Big Apple for some cold beers and to give her a radio I brought down for Wakumba.

Myetts happy hour with Mal, Candace, Maineskier, our crew and whole gang of fun peeps, on to Elm BBQ for a wonderful meal and then finish off the evening with Quitos, great first day on ilon!!! Even enjoyed a few cold ones with IslandJim!!!
Elm Suites was nice and clean and very comfortable.

Day 1 sailing:
Garvey opted for CGB so no worries, he brought his crew and the laundry ashore and we had a nice briefing with Brent from Provalor Sailing, short and sweet since he knew I have sailed many miles aboard Sanctuary with owner Tom. Quick paperwork and done.
Sanctuary was super clean and ready to go; Tom swam out with his lovely Lady Jan and their friend and went over a few new things aboard with me then swam back ashore.
Bobby’s brought our provisions to the dinghy dock and we got them put away and went ashore for our last goodbyes to Mal, Candace, Tom and crew as well as Georgec1 and his wild crew.
We had some beers aboard and a quick crew meeting and decided to head for The Bight, Norman Island, decent breeze and a nice sail got us there right at sunset.
Headed straight to WillyT after picking up a mooring, the place was a zoo with all the Spring Regatta crowd there; we had a nice dinner and eventually retired for the night.

Day 2;
Sail Norman to Leverick Bay after a great breakfast by Evan, Bananas Foster I believe.
Everyone had a turn on the helm as we tried to stay clear of the Spring Regatta boats that were on their weather leg. We powered up after crossing through The Dogs as the batteries could use a good charge and we had enough sailing for the day.
We backed into the slip at Leverick with the help of always smiling David n the dock and proceeded to the pool for a dip followed by many rum punches and such.
We opted for dinner downstairs at The Cove, they have changed the Kobe burgers to Angus but they were still really great.
Nick even made it down to visit for a bit, he had a long day with Mum and Monica and really went out of his way to see us.
We met Capt. Rick from Sophisticated lady and enjoyed hanging with him and parrot Lucky at The Jumbies bar.
Rick invited us out to his boat for some cocktails, beautiful boat and just incredible inside, the others dropped like flies but dummy me finished off a few more strong ones with Rick before retiring for the night.

Day 3:
Anegada baby!!! The boys and I had Bloody Mary’s and breakfast at The Cove, topped off the water and ice and headed for Anegada. Light winds and flat seas but saw the entrance markers after about a 2 hour sail.
We anchored out in front of Potters and let the boys tool around in the dink a bit then headed into Potters for a drink and a ride over to Cow Wreck.
Cow Wreck was cool, talked with Belle and Alex a bit; Caesar got his first intro to snorkeling.
Back to Potters to firm up our dinner reservation then back to Sanctuary for a few cold ones and a de-salting before dinner.
The service and food at Potters was very good, I really enjoyed my lobster and everyone else seemed pleased with their meals.
I spoke with Potter about our TTOL Flotilla group coming in for an awards dinner on July 1 after our race to Anegada; he will be a wonderful host.

Day 4: breakfast aboard then off to trellis Bay for the Michael Beans show!!
Nice sail, moderate breeze, had the trolling lines out; I think we caught a Bonito that we released on this leg.
We stopped at Great Dog for a snorkel and lunch….dogs at the dogs, just right!!

Sails back up and off to Marina Cay, the starboard trolling line lit up, Evan grabbed it first set the hook and Chris finished the reeling while I was steering, saw color, holy Mackerel!!! We thought it was a Wahoo as did Pusser Marina Cay when we presented it to them, but expert examination of our photos tell me it was King Mackerel, no idea they got big, in the 50 lb. range for sure!!!

We continued to Marina Cay and entered on the Scrub island entrance and proceeded in close and up front on the right side of the beach, dropped a hook in about 5’ of water and drifted back on our set right next to GeorgeC1 on Dream Cat.
I was being considerate to a power boat that was a good 30’ behind us, “you OK with this” wrong question, this guy started going off: “Number one there is no holding there, number two you will drag and swing into me, number three, whatever…I told him “just hold on to here and four” he had 200’ of chain out and was stern tied to a mooring.

I grabbed the big fish and held it up to sport fisher’s stern and simply said “you got one of these pal?? No, then just shut up!”

We presented the fish to Chef Tyrone, his eyes lit up; we made reservations for dinner at 7:30 at that time. The Michael Beans show was really good, a nice crowd but a bit tough to keep your drink filled.
We went over to Pusser’s for dinner and told we had to wait, so we hit the bar and ordered appetizers, a menu was presented that had fresh Wahoo $30 we all chuckled about that.

Time passed and we were becoming very late being seated, I talked to the Manager, Alison and was kinda shined me on, me watching all the people eating the Wahoo (King Mackerel) the team had boated. We met a couple from Canada that could not get a reservation (the lady was very pretty) so I went back to Alison and informed her we are no 7 people and need to be seated right away, reminder her everyone is eating OUR fish. We got a nice table near the water and fully enjoyed the catch of the day, the service was decent, and they were very busy.
The bill was presented with a 50% reduction, Evan sent it back telling them that was not good enough, it came back with drinks only but we tipped for the total at full price.

Day 5: breakfast aboard after Evan and Chris dinked over to Trellis bay, Evan fell off the dink on the way back!!
Went through the Great Camanoe cut heading for Monkey Point, e did a sail-by as it looked a bit rough and clouding for snorkin’. We set a course for the Kingfish Banks.

Almost to the banks and both trolling rods lit up!!
We boated two hefty Yellowfin Snapper that looked quite tasty for dinner!

We sailed into Little Harbor and took a ball then brought the fish in to Sydney’s. We paid Harris for the ball then secured the dink to it and headed over to White Bay for a nice afternoon. We anchored out off the rocks at the point that divides the bay from Ivan’s as the anchorage was stuffed with boats. Swam ashore, visited with Vinny, Roger and Mick, drank up a nice tab TriciaH and Tommy left us and enjoyed the afternoon.
Motored back to Sydney’s and cleaned up for dinner, there was a small division of PR Navy wannabees stern tied to the dock; they were having fun and quite pleasant to be around...
Tony and Melody of AristoCat II joined us for dinner and Chris moved on to their boat to have his own cabin.

The Snapper was awesome and served with a smile, we of course tipped well as they did not present a bill.
The boys enjoyed the honor bar and we had another great evening.

Day 6: Up early, Brent asked that we return Sanctuary to Nanny Cay fuel dock by 9:00 AM Evan fired up some sausage and eggs on the way and we made the fuel dock just a few minutes after 9:00 AM

I had called Provalor Sailing’s cell phone on the way, finally Mike answered works for Brent, Mike met us at the fuel dock and brought Sanctuary in for an uneventful de-briefing.
The boat was perfect, no major problems at all, Evan was a bit miffed the masthead light was out and the oven would not stay lit, both mentioned, no biggy.

Stay tuned for part II which starts a whole new adventure, new crew and boat on the same day!!!

Saildoggie photo/video link here:
http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/saildoggie/BVI409/

Tradewind's photos here:
http://photobucket.com/BVIApril09

[Saildoggie]

We really enjoyed sailing Sanctuary as always, but time to move on......

After saying our goodbyes to Mike at Provalor Sailing, he called George to come pick us up, George is great, used him many times.

Mike offered one of the plastic bins to collect our leftover food; the boys loaded it full with the frozen stuff on the bottom and ice on top.

A little 4X pulled up, it was George’s dad, great guy, lived on Tortola all his life, had to alert him to watch the road when any women were in present view tho!!

George took us from Sea Cows Bay all the way to Trellis Bay where we agreed to meet Tony and Melody aboard AristoCat II. Long trip for only 415 per person, we each gave him a $20 because he cracked us up the whole ride.

We got some cold beers from ‘De Loose Mongoose and talked with Simon for a bit, inquired about rooms at Beef Island Guest House and he offered us a killer deal.
AristoCat II anchored right out front and Chris brought the dink ashore, we loaded our provisions and gear aboard.AristoCat and Melody heard of our plan to stay ashore for the night.

Mel would have no part of that, no way, you are staying aboard with us!!
Tony had grilled up some awesome pork chops and Melody had the mashed potatoes ready to go, did I mention these two are awesome cooks??
Rounds of Bushwhackers and such followed we totally enjoyed the afternoon watching boats trying to anchor all over the place.

We saw a Moorings Captained power cat do a novel re-set of his anchor a bit further forward, he left it set and just powered forward over the anchor for a while, dragging it along the bottom, quite interesting to watch.

It was a comedy all around the boat, what a spectacle, boats cramming in here, there; anywhere they think they could fit!!

We later headed into the full moon party, what a blast, lots of fun people, STRONG drinks and music!! The fireballs were cool as were the Jumbies and fire rope and music, by the time we ate the food was kinda lacking, it was so over-spiced I couldn’t eat it.
We all had a blast and it was clearly time to go when Chris was heeling really hard and thought that tiki torch would hold him up!!!
The Full Moon party at trellis bay is a must do, we will be back, my girls would love it!

Only complaint, the porta potties were disgusting and no other restroom facilities to be had.

Also bummed we did not wake up for Chris’s departure..it was a rough night after all…

Day 7:
Wonderful breakfast aboard ACII Tony and Melody are quite a team, it was really great!!
We sailed on around the outside of Guana Island with a course set for the Kingfish Banks.
Keith took the helm and amazed us with his skills as a new Skipper sailing wing on wing effortlessly, we adjusted course and he deftly pulled off the cleanest low energy gybe we had ever seen!!

We caught and released a nice bonito.
No more fish were to be on the banks, pretty choppy conditions, so Keith gybed again and we headed for Jost.
We smoked 2 other boats on the way to Jost, both formidable cats, a crewed Voyage cat and a Leopard 45, Keith was grinning pretty big by now!!

We sailed into Great Harbor and anchored up near the ferry channel.
Pretty much kicked back the rest of the afternoon, went in to Foxy’s and visited with Paulfox and SusanZ, met Paul’s new Donkey and checked out the Sloop project a bit.
We walked down to Corsairs and made dinner reservations the proceeded to lounge around ACII some more.

The pizza at Corsairs was really good as was the service; we had a really large, rowdy group seated next to us. The menu items looked absolutely awesome; I saw many of them being whisked from the kitchen, going to try some of the regular dinner items next time, nice menu!!

We headed to Foxy’s after dinner and watched some of the antics, it was entertaining for sure.
Back to ACII for a night cap and wind it down, we had put the dink up on the davits and were chilling out.

We then heard a dinghy outboard revving really high in neutral over near the rocks toward the shore from the ferry channel, the revving continued and the dink was going no where.
This continued for a good 40 minutes, we were waiting for the engine to fry.
Just then I suggested we put the dink down and lend a hand to this poor soul.

OK, we had put the leftover pizza box in the dink to dispose of so left it there when Tony and I went to see if we could help.

We motored up to the stranded dink and I held the pizza box out, “sir did you order a pizza?” …..the look on he guy’s face was totally blank, he was so hammered he could not speak…OK, that wasn’t funny, “Sir, grab your painter, we will tow you” he reached over the bow of the dink, no painter….we threw him a line and towed him to his boat, he spoke only French.
During the tow he said take me back to Foxy’s, but my boat first, I give you money….
We towed him to his private Bennetau with Ontario CAN on he stern and he clamored off his dink, setting it adrift and tying our dink to his boat...

Tony managed to grab his dink and we shined a flashlight toward the prop…the painter was all balled up around the prop…hmmm…..dink wont go, engine cannot be lifted, no painter, what could be wrong???

Tony carefully unwound the painter from the prop, started the engine and put it in gear, worked fine.

Drunk guy comes back out, gets in his dink and speeds off, leaving our dink tied to his boat….need less to say we were laughing our A$$ES off at this point.
Took a good hour to wind back down and go to bed after that one!!!

Day 8:
Talked Melody into making Pizza scramble with the leftover pizza, dice it up and add some scrambled eggs, serve with bloody Mary’s, life is good!!

We watched a huge fire that appeared to be on the beach at Great Harbor but turned out to be a trash fire that burned a really long time with huge flames.
Did a trash dump and picked up some more drinking water and we headed out for Norman Island.

What a great sail to weather, good wind steep chop and fun!!!
We made a lagoon 420 look silly and beat a couple of charter monos, we did get passed by a very light Seawind cat that had been racing in the Spring regatta, ton was trying hard but I explained, he has nothing aboard and is a very light cat.

Approaching The Bight, we were amazed at how many boats were in there!!!
We needled through all the moorings and anchored in close at one of Tony’s “secret’ spots. Tony and Mel got the feedbag going again, unreal grilled teriyaki glazed burgers topped with pineapple served with baked beans, and did I mention these guys cook up some mean grub???

The parade of large and small sport fishers, ladies with small bikinis and fun to watch anchoring, back down to shore med mooring operations going on all around us was quite a spectacle to observe. The PR Navy was there in force and out for a good time, they all got louder as the rum began to flow!!
There was not one minute when stand up paddle board, dinghy or close passing boat did not go by!!
The boys took the dink into Pirates and we chilled aboard just taking it in and floating around behind the boat for cool off breaks.
Took the boys over to Willy T and drank a few with them then left them to pick up later.

Dinner at Pirates was VERY good, my rib eye steak was excellent, everyone enjoyed their meals and the service was top notch.
Met Rupert, the Manager, very pleasant Gentleman, discussed the possibility of bringing the TTOL Flotilla in one night, he vowed to have a band for us and make it a special night.
Rupert sent a free round of drinks to our table; we really did not need them but drank them anyway.

The key lime pie was really good, I shared with Keith and he even smeared some on his face I laughed so he continued to smear it all over my face and I let him!!.

We returned to AC II and the boys continued to Willy T closing the bar at some hour of the night!

Day 7: Up early and motor-sailed to Soper’s as we had flights out of STT later in the day and Tony and Melody had PAYING Customers arriving that afternoon.

Capt Jim of Blue Moon came over and visited for a bit then it was time to ferry over to STT, the 10:30 was not running so got on the 12:00 ferry, kinda sweating making flights at 2:10 and 2:40 PM.
Georgec1 was also sweating the schedule as he had similar flight times.

The STT Airport was a ZOO!!
Getting through Customs and TSA was a nightmare..We still made our flights!!!

That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it!!

Many thanks to Tony and Melody for their incredible hospitality, all the food, drinks and fun we could handle!!!
I got a feel for what it is like on a crewed yacht with a team that “get’s it” as they were on top of everything and AC II was immaculate and extremely comfortable.

Those two have even more fun doing their “thing” and enjoying the crew aboard than can be imagined.

Even as friends, we were pampered like their guests and just thanking them would never be enough.

I must say I can even more highly recommend taking a crewed charter with Tony and Melody aboard Aristocrat II, the cat’s meow in EVERY way!!


OK, their webite is here: www.utopiasailing.com

Don’t worry Tom, I did not share ALL of our racing secrets, Foxy’s Cat Fight ’09 is coming up and they will be foe on the water yet friends at the bar!!

As always, GREAT people, sailing, cannot be beat!
Saildoggie photo/video link here:
http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/saildoggie/BVI409/

Tradewind's photos here:
http://photobucket.com/BVIApril09