It was truly a wonderful trip and one I will remember forever. I hope the kids remember the great experience they had. Although most of the sailing was a little boring to them, they enjoyed going to the different islands, beaches and snorkeling.
Day 0/1 Wednesday and Thursday - spent traveling to the BVI. It is not an easy trip from Denver. We left we'd afternoon to Miami and spent a night there before heading to St. Thomas on Thu morning. From St. Thomas we ferried to Tortola, were we met with Brantley and Sandra, Shawn and Lena. They had already purchased and loaded the boats with provisions for the week. We had dinner by the dock and spent the night on the boat.
Day 2 Friday - We set sail around 10 am from Road Town to Norman Island (went out the long way and back). We picked up a mooring at the Bight, snorkeled with the kids and had a great dinner from Pirates Bright.
Day 3 Saturday - We went from Norman Island to Josh Van Dyke mainly by motor, as we had to go up wind. We moored at the Great Harbor, played at the beach. Foxy's is an institution in the BVIs and they were having a fund raising event for a children's music school. Foxy himself was there, Michael Bean had a kids shoes, and we stayed for the fundraiser BBQ. Mason ate 6-7 gigantic ribs and Audrey lost her 1st tooth (lose for many weeks) after her corn on the cob!
Day 4 Sunday - We sailed over to Marina Cay for over 4 hours. Audrey got stung by a bee on the boat - there were tears, but at least we know she is not allergic. Kids didn't want to snorkel and Bill was feeling sick (cold). Lena and Shawn rented stand up paddle boards and went out whenever he water was calm enough. Lena and Shawn cooked a great dinner.
Day 5 Monday - We sailed to George Dog for snorkeling, kids thought water was cold (they have no fat). From there we sailed to Virgin Gorda, and on the way we could see Necker island (Richard Branson's island). We saw a dolphin (rare encounter) by the super yacht Samadhi, and moored at Saba Rock. The kids enjoyed swimming at the pool at the Bitter End Yatch Club. And then they saw the tarpon feeding at Saba rock. Dinner take out from Saba Rock as good.
Day 6 Tuesday - Sailed from Saba rock back to Norman Island where we started on one sail, down wind. Stopped first by the Caves for some snorkeling and went back to the Bright for the night. Snorkeled at the Bright again for another an hour without the kids, working up our appetite. Had breakfast for dinner to cook all the food we had left.
Day 7 Wednesday - Left the Bright early and picked up a mooring at the Indians. Snorkeled there after breakfast - it was beautiful! The kids didn't want to join us, as they had enough snorkeling. Saw a barracuda underneath our boat when we came back.
Whenever we were close to St. John, we could get AT&T LTE signal and had spotty wireless on the boat. No had turned off my work email, which I almost never do on vacation. But while checking my personal email that morning, I saw a reminder to check in for our flights. I thought it was bizzare since our flight didn't leave for another. 32 hours. Then I noticed that our flight from St. Thomas to Miami left at 8 am next morning, a different flight than the original 3:50 pm one I had booked. I called American half panicked, but they had canceled our original flight, but we were able to book a 4:05 pm flight. Why they didn't do that in the first place is beyond me, but the crisis was adverted. We sailed over to Peter island by Ocean 7 and had lunch. Back to Road Town and checked in at the Fort Burt hotel for the night. The shower, although poor in pressure, felt wonderful!!
Dinner at Fort Burt that was great, Brantley had called in advance to reserve and make arrangements to celebrate Audrey's upcoming birthday. 8 of us were joined by the 2 couples who are sailing with Brantley and Sandra after we leave. We had cake and ice cream and Audrey couldn't be happier.
Day 8 Thursday - Shawn, Lena and 4 of us travelled back from Road Town to catch our ferry to St Thomas. We had lunch at Cuzzins Carribean food and headed to the airport to catch our flights. We landed back safely in Denver at 11:30 pm and home at 1 am!
Turning back my work email revealed 350+ new emails. It will take a while to get thought.
- The BVIs are beautiful / water is unbelievably blue!
- We saw many super yachts spotted! One with a helicopter - the true 0.01%!
- Shawn and Bill were great at picking up the moorings!
- Lena loves to cook / we all benefited from that
- I got lots of bites, Lena also, but none of the others! The bugs prefer Asian skin.
- Saw so many types of fish, lots of sea urchins (gigantic ones) and bareacudas!
A wonderful trip! We hope to one day be back!
List for next time: more snorkeling at the Indians and the Bight, check out the Baths (closed due to the Northern swells), SCUBA drive the Indians for Bill
More pictures to come.
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