BVI Sailing Vacation (Part I)

Well, it has been quite awhile since I last wrote and I have a lot to write about; thus, without further adieu I bring part one of a trip report from our BVI Sailing Vacation – June 2011 (please excuse lack of proper grammar as this is taken verbatim from my journal):

June 25 - An Early and Tired Start

Late to bed and up early for a 6:30am departure from the Tulsa International Airport; a tired start to our vacation, as always ... 12.5 hours later (including 2 connections and 4+ hours in layovers) we were in St. Thomas, USVI at the Morning Star Marriott - 7:30pm and getting dark already (eastern time zone, but no observation of daylight savings).  I was trying hard to decompress and get in vacation mode, but not yet "feeling" it.

The beach at the resort is small, but nice and clean. I note there are very cool tennis courts overlooking the beach and the turquoise Caribbean water. We brought tennis racquets, but this is vacation and the kids (and Suzi and I) need a break from the sport we all love ... Hmmm, not sure we will play on those picturesque courts after all. Dinner at Coco Joes/ resort ... Not again...

June 26 - Boat Briefings and Possession of "Blue Tide"

Up at 7am (early for vacation) and a walk on the beach with coffee, Suzi and Gray (Kiki slept in and she needs it). Breakfast overlooking the beach/ ocean at Coco Joes (I thought I said "not again!").  The company of Suzi and Gray made up for the lack of the culinary experience. We were entertained by an aggressive seagull that "attacked" a diner and stole food off her plate while she was seated with fork and knife in hand. She screamed - LOUD - and eventually the wait staff saved her and the remains of her breakfast from the offending gull. More coffee and another walk along the beach listening to the crashing waves and watching the tiny beach begin to come alive with the early risers trying to find their favorite "spot."  I took some photos of the kids and Suzi to chronicle the affair - I endeavor to take photos this vacation!  We all grabbed a quick shower and a cab to the Road Town Fast Ferry ... destination: Tortola, BVI.

The ferry ride was uneventful, but I was excited to see the islands that I have been studying for the past 4 months. On the way in through "The Narrows" I was able to identify where we were by referencing my iNavX chart on my iPad and using land formations - this gave me a bit of confidence as almost all BVI navigation is by line of sight (but you still must identify the correct island).  Customs was a breeze and I wondered - why even bother?  Bags were not scrutinized, we were not scrutinized - but I'm not complaining as the whole process took less than 15 minutes and we were at the Moorings marina by 1:30pm, a full 2.5 hours ahead of my carefully thought out schedule!  Can you tell I'm not on "Island time" yet? 

We were assigned to "Blue Tide", a 40 foot Beneteau monohull with a dual helm.  This was a bit intimidating as this was my first charter and the biggest boat I had ever been on was my 30 foot Catalina.  Andre performed our boat briefing and then I went to see Michael for the Skipper's meeting. The boat briefing is where the "real" information is exchanged.  It is a time where you learn all important aspects of the boat's systems and where they "feel" you out to make sure that you know your way around the $$$$k boat they are releasing for your unsupervised week long journey. The Skipper's meeting, on the other hand, is worthless ... almost.  You cover information on possible itineraries, different anchorages, where to drop your garbage and possible re-provisioning places - the type of information that should be well studied or known from previous experiences.  If you don't know it by the Skipper's meeting, then you will be overwhelmed with information and not recall a thing.  At that point, Blue Tide was then "officially" released to our possession and I was told we were free to go at first light.

As we settled on Blue Tide and stored our clothes in our respective cabins, I helped Suzi check all our boat provisions and store all food and beverages in various parts of the boat. Hopefully I will remember where we put the wine!  Then, Suzi washed all fruit and chopped the veggies - what a head start for the week (later in the trip, we wished she would have pre-mixed Bloody-Mary's and cut lime wedges ... difficult tasks while underway - heeled and bouncing through waves).  Instead of dining out for dinner, we had smoked Gouda cheese and crackers, a salad and lasagna baked in the on board oven.

Gray to bead early ... Kiki and Suzi are watching a DVD ... I'm on deck finishing a glass of wine ... writing, thinking and feeling like I'm almost on vacation and island time!