M/V ILLUSIONS                        VIRGIN ISLANDS CRUISE, 1999

 
     Angela and I flew to St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands on June 10, 1999.  We landed about 8:30pm and checked into the Admirals Inn near our charterboat company and Frenchtown Marina.  We ate dinner at Craig & Sally’s, which was air conditioned and fairly good.

     On Friday, June 11 we took possession of our Mainship trawler, 35 feet long, with generator and air conditioner, two important requirements for our first charter and boat trip in these islands.  We walked to the grocery store and taxied back, loaded the boat, received our instructions from the C.Y.O.A. charter personnel, and left the marina just after 3pm.  We anchored in Great Harbor at Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands (BVIs) and met up with some of the Houston people there in the TMCA (Texas Mariners Cruising Association).  We could not get our dinghy started and get in to shore to clear customs, so we left our yellow “Q” flag up and stayed aboard for the night.


     The dinghy outboard was a 4hp Yamaha which we soon grew to dislike.  The pull rope broke on Friday night, and I could not find the right tools to take it apart, nor could I find the spare pull rope.  I woke up the next morning with the location of the Yamaha tool kit in my mind.  So, I took the cover off and proceeded to try to repair it.  Eventually I got it started and got the rope repaired, almost as good as it had been; but the engine required a lot of choking to get it running.

     We dinghied to shore and cleared customs after paying about $80 in fees.  We walked to Foxy’s and bought a few souvenirs and a CD of Foxy singing-not too good.  We saw the other few bars and restaurants there and swam a little.  These places had sand floors, thatch roofs, no sides, rusty metal folding chairs or wooden picnic tables, underwear and calling cards nailed to the rafters-character, I think it’s called.  And every time we passed the beautiful water, Angela wanted to get in it.

     At 12:30pm we pulled up the anchor and departed Jost Van Dyke with our “Q” (for quarantine) flag stowed and our British courtesy flag flying.  We took Don Thomson’s advice and traveled along the north coast of Tortola, proceeding east into the wind and some rain clouds.  We passed through the channel between Guana Island and Tortola and then cruised through the channel between Great Camanoe and Little Camanoe Islands.  We then circled Marina Cay (pronounced “key” but spelled as shown) where the Pussar Rum company has one of its restaurants with bar and gift shop and even a few rooms to rent.  The water was very pretty, particularly where the white sand bottom reflected the light back from 30-40 foot depths. 

     Our destination was Cooper Island, where we were to meet the TMCA fleet of sailboats (8 of them, with about 28 or so sailors and crew) for dinner.  We cruised around the end of Beef Island, where the Tortola Airport is located, with Angela at the wheel.  We crossed Sir Francis Drake Channel, where we realized the general size and shape of the BVI group.  We could see the islands of Virgin Gorda, Fallen Jerusalem, Round Rock, Ginger Island, Cooper Island, Salt Island, Peter Island, St John, Tortola, and a few others, all from the same spot.

     We chose to anchor at Cooper Island, and I got into the water with my snorkel gear to inspect the anchor rode (all chain).  We moved once and then anchored in 35 feet of water, with about 175 feet of chain out.  We took the dinghy to Cistern Pt for some snorkeling, and then went to the beach.  About that time a stiff breeze blew up from the south, and we thought one of our deck chairs was lost or soon would be.  We rushed to the boat and took the chairs inside and generally prepared for wind and rain.  We had little protection from the South, and the wind gusts were easily 30, maybe 40, knots. 

     I thought this was a front and it would blow over and be gone quickly, but it blew strongly all night.  Some boats drug their anchors, some left moorings to go to other, more sheltered anchorages or marinas, which freed up some moorings, which Don Thomson and others used to weather the storm.  We rocked and rolled all night, as did the Herndons and Hearons in the sailboat at anchor near us.  They said they couldn’t stay in bed, the wind was so strong.  We all were up checking on our anchors and neighboring boats every hour or so all night long.

     On Sunday, June 13, the fleet moved east to Virgin Gorda and The Baths, world-famous cruising destination and postcard picture of the BVIs.  Hundreds of huge granite boulders are placed in various positions against and on top of each other to create a maze like a cave with some sand floors and some salt
water moving in and out.  With care, a path, and some wooden ladders and scaffolds for assistance, we could move from The Baths bay to Devils Bay, a delightful place to swim.  These rocks are not indigenous to this area and may have come here from as far away as North Carolina, moved here by a glacier?  The scientists are not sure how or when they got there.

     We ate lunch after our swim and struggled to catch up to the sailboats again, this time in Gorda Sound, or North Sound, at the eastern end of Virgin Gorda.  The famous Bitter End Yacht Club and Resort were located here, and we picked up a mooring for the sum of $20 per night.  We ate ashore with a large group of TMCAers and returned to our air-conditioned yacht for a good night’s rest.  However, the generator died about midnight and we had to finish the night without air conditioning.  All the sailors (none of which had any air conditioning) felt real sorry for us the next day when they learned of our plight.

     At 10am we all gathered on the sailboat “In The Red”, which had been chartered by 3 TMCA couples and was the largest boat in the fleet.  We motored over to Drake’s Anchorage with 4 dinghies in tow (ours was used to reserve the mooring).  We went ashore in the  dinghies, and we walked over a rocky mountain trail to Honeymoon Beach for a swim.  The little bay was nice, but Angela slipped on the trail and sat down hard on the rocks.  She was in some pain over that for a few days.  After returning to the bar near the boat, we had a drink and reboarded the yacht, this time motoring over to Leverick Bay.  We had lunch at the Pussar’s restaurant there, and did some shopping, too, of course.  The shop was air conditioned, and the outside seating for lunch was hot.  After lunch we took a few group photos and returned to the Bitter End mooring and our own charter boats.  That sailing was fun!

     We were informed the generator problem would not be repaired that day, so we tried to get a slip with shore power, which CYOA said they would pay for.  The Bitter End was full that evening, but we got a slip the next morning.  Monday night we had a TMCA group dinner at Saba Rock restaurant, which we reached via dinghy. The sail boaters had a briefing about their planned trip to Anegada on Tuesday.  We had a hot night at the mooring and moved as soon as we could on Tuesday.  CYOA asked us to run the engines at 1800 RPM for a few hours to charge the batteries, so we did run them for 2.5 hours that evening.

     We had tentatively planned to go scuba diving on Tuesday, but getting a slip became more important, and Angela wasn’t feeling too well.  The harbormaster could not guarantee us a slip; we had to wait and see if someone would leave.  We didn’t want to leave the boat on a mooring to go scuba diving and miss an opportunity for a slip, so we waited and took one about 10:30am.  We filled up with water for the first time—the water cost $0.12 per gallon.  The slip was $40 plus $15 for electricity.

     After lunch we took the dinghy and went to the reef beyond Saba Rock, in Eustatia Sound.  We snorkeled at the reef while our dinghy was tied to a mooring ball.  Then we went to Oil Nut Bay, passing many shallow areas and refs along the way.  Our dinghy was very slow and very hard to start and keep running; at times I thought I might have to row home.  We collected some shells and went back to the Mainship about 4pm.  The mechanic was there, and we spoke to CYOA over the cell phone.  The generator was not repairable in less than one day’s time, so we would not have the use of it unless we could let them have it for one whole day, maybe more because the mechanic was from Tortola and the parts were in St Thomas.  We agreed to turn in the boat a day early and get a day’s refund.  They could then fix the generator in the extra day that they now had before the next charter.  We were not as interested in the boat without a generator because we had to be in a marina to use the A/C; once there we could not use the charcoal pit and they requested we not use the head, so it was definitely inconvenient.

     On Wednesday I finally agreed with Angela that our hot water heater was not working.  It was hard to tell if it was working because the engines running would heat the water in the tank, and if you showered right after running the engines you got hot water.  We had run the engines every evening until Tuesday night, when we moved into the slip in the morning.  Sure enough, we had no hot water on Wednesday.  The circuit breaker was not tripped, so I got out the book and tried to locate the hot water heater to check it.  It seemed to be behind a panel that was really hard to reach at the end of the bed in the small stateroom, so I didn’t follow through with getting to it.  I called CYOA and left a message on their answering machine so they could plan on getting it repaired when we turned it in to them.

     We wanted to go to Norman Island to see the caves, so we did that, arriving there about 1:30pm.  We anchored near the caves and fired up the charcoal grill and cooked 2 steaks and 4 chicken breasts.  We had some steak and chicken for lunch and took the rest with us to eat later.  Then we moved to Nanny Cay in Tortola (during a big rainstorm) where we got a slip for the night.  At Norman Island we could not get any fresh water to move through the water system.  We tried everything we knew to do and then called CYOA and left a message on their machine for them to call us back and help us figure out what to do next.  Although we never heard from them, when we filled up with water at Nanny Cay the water system started working again.  Our large tank had been full, but the two small ones had been used up, primarily cleaning shells, I think.   (Angela cleaned the shells, and she disagrees with this assessment.)

     The slip at Nanny Cay was $33 plus $10 for electricity.  Water was $0.12 per gallon.  It rained in the night and was very humid the next morning.  That marina was the home base for several charter companies.  There was a hotel and a restaurant on the premises, but it really seemed deserted at night.  The island of Tortola rose up dramatically on two sides of the marina, which was west of Road Town a few miles.

     On Thursday we left Nanny Cay and moved out into Sir Francis Drake Channel and some big swells.  The big difference in boating there versus this area in Texas was the ocean swells and the 15-20 knots of wind most of the time.  We left early to be able to return the boat before noon, including clearing customs and fueling the boat.  Our route around St John took us close to Soper’s Hole at the West End of Tortola, through The Narrows, into Francis Bay, by Trunk Bay and Hawksnest Bay and Caneel Bay to Cruz Bay.  The wind was strong when we got back to Frenchtown Marina in Charlotte Amalie Harbor, but we got the boat in okay.  (Diesel fuel was $1.34 on St Thomas; I understood it was $1 or so more in the BVIs.  We used about 140 gallons in our 6 days there.)  After some discussions with CYOA, to be continued the next day, we took a taxi to the Marriott Resort at Frenchman’s Reef, where we planned to use up some of my long-saved Marriott Rewards program points.

     We stayed at the Marriott for five nights.  It was a very nice place, having just completed a $52 million renovation.  We ate at all their restaurants and took their water trolley across the harbor to shop in town.  On Saturday and Sunday we went scuba diving south of St Thomas in the Buck Island area.  Seas were 3-5 feet on Saturday, 5-8 feet on Sunday—rough!  In town we made some new friends at “Happy Hour” at the Dutch Reformed Church from 5:30 to 6:30pm each night, right before dinner.  We ate at a sushi restaurant in St Thomas that we enjoyed very much.  Generally the food was expensive and not particularly great for the whole trip.    
     Generally the weather was a lot like Houston’s with additional wind.  Sometimes the wind was cool and pleasant.  The water was gorgeous!



       

     On Tuesday, June 22, we left the Marriott at 8am and taxied to the airport, where we met Ed and Marion Herndon and Ed and Dorothy Hearon.  The 6 of us flew to San Juan on American and had some brunch there, and then on Continental to Houston.  When we got to Houston, the airport was shut down due to heavy rain.  After circling as long as they could, the pilots took us to New Orleans for fuel.  Then we went to Houston, arriving 2 hours late.  We had missed our shuttle to Ellington Field, so Continental paid for a taxi which drove us there.  We found all of our luggage and our vehicle and made our tired way home.

     It was a very nice trip.  I didn’t call home or the office, and they didn’t call me.  It was a relaxing vacation, especially after getting off the boat.  Boating is more of an adventure, it seems to me, with some danger and repair work always staring you in the face.  CYOA finally agreed to give us a day’s refund for not providing a boat with a generator and air conditioning, which is what we clearly had said we wanted when we arranged the charter, so I guess it was a fair settlement in the end.  I would like to charter again and see more of these Caribbean islands.