BVI 2020 Day 12 Flights to Toronto

By 10:30, we were in the cab from Road Town to the airport.

We were there in plenty of time, as none of the check in desks were even open.

As mentioned before, we chartered a small plane from Island Birds.
At the counter, we were greeted by this cute young lady, who took our tickets, baggage, and took us through security.

Persons using local airports to travel internationally will now have to pay $50 in fees to the Government of the Virgin Islands.

A breakdown of this fee — which largely has not sat well with residents — shows that persons will be required to pay $15 on departure tax, $5 on security tax, and $30 on what the BVI Airports Authority is describing as an Airport Development Fee (ADF).

In the departure lounge I saw:

After a short wait, we went out to the 8 seater plane, where our luggage was being loaded in the back of the cabin.  We had to put our carry on luggage in special compartments located in the wing behind the engines.

Then this same cute young (maybe 35 year old) woman takes the controls of the plane.
She is our pilot; Island Birds is a one woman operation in the BVIs!

She informed us that she wanted the men in the front of the airplane for weight distribution.
Don got to sit in the seat beside her!

That's Don's shoulder

Are you nervous Rita?

The flight was awesome.
Could see the gauges on the airplane.

Pilot Jamie and Co-Pilot Don

Max altitude was 4500 ft
Max speed was 180 knots
Avg speed was 133 knots
Distance travelled ~90 miles

Took off at 11:39 and landed at 12:18

It was kewl to see our pilot Jamie steer the plane between the clouds.
No autopilot here!

We were whisked off the tarmac in a limo.
What a way to travel!

Back to the mundane lineups for a commercial WestJet flight to Toronto (16:00 flight).

That's Maho Beach

Super Yacht Maltese Falcon

Flight home was uneventful, landing a little after 8pm local time.

There was snow on the ground and the temperature was -5 degrees C.

Quick limo ride home to our Shadow

BVI 2020 Day 12 Back to Tortola

LAST DAY IN PARADISE

Genset on at 07:26 for coffee.

Breakfast wraps

Just look at the sand flea carnage:

We had a flight at 13:00 hours and wanted to make sure we got there.

Left ball at 08:15.

Winds were 12 knots from the east.
We just unfurled the head sail and moved along at 5 knots on a broad reach.

Trip Odometer: 5.98 miles
Moving Average: 5.0 knots
Max Speed: 9.2 knots
Moving Time: 01:12:00

Approaching Road Town

Sad faces...

...as we headed into Road Town to be greeted by Ben from Conch Charters who drove Firebolt into a slip, arriving at approximately 09:30.

We spent some time cleaning up the boat and packing our bags

Here is what we had left over from the trip:

We left this for the cleaning staff.

Ben did a boat de-briefing with us.
They sent a diver in the water to check the keels, rudders, and saildrives.

We identified several problems with the boat.

1. Oil Filler Cap
   There was oil in the starboard engine compartment that needed a major cleaning
2. Chart Plotter
   Nice Raymarine E7 plotter, but no charts on it.
   Basically useless for navigation; no chart detail at all.
3. Boat Tablet
   Old Samsung tablet that was slow and the touch screen didn't work to well.
4. Life Jackets
   These looked OLD and had damaged/missing straps
   Unusable in an emergency
   Doubt that some of them would float!
5. Mainsail Batcar
   A nut had fallen out of one of the bat cars on one of the battens.
   Needed replacement.
6. Headsail furling drum
   There weren't enough wraps on the furling drum to completely furl it.
   We added a couple, and the line was now too short.
7. Fridge
   The freezer worked, but the fridge did not.
   There was a loose wire hanging down (perhaps the themostat sensor?)
8. Interior Trim
   I pointed out several places where the vinyl trim was separating form the doors.
   Easy fix to glue on now before it breaks off permanently

These weren't major issues, but should be addressed for the next charter.
I would rather tell them about it so they could address them.

BVI 2020 Day 11 Cooper Island

Genset started making us some coffee at 07:50.

Debbie and I made french toast and bacon for breakfast.

We dropped the ball at 09:38, hoisting the sails going out of Trellis Bay.
Not much wind, maybe 8 knots from the east.
Close hauled around Beef Island, boar away to a broad reach, then headed up to a beam to Cooper Island.
Pretty slow, but relaxing.

Yellow is where we dropped the sails.

Trip Odometer: 6.3 miles
Moving Average: 3.3 knots
Max Speed: 9.9 knots
Moving Time: 01:55:00

Rita and I have never  been to Cooper Island before.
Let me tell you, it is beautiful!

We had made arrangements to hookup with some friends from the Whitby Yacht Club.
They were two days into their charter, while we were on our last night.

• Chris/Glenna
• Tom/Kim
• Ben/Janet
• Jim/Catherine

They had chartered a Lagoon 45 called Scuba Doo, and were at Willy Ts on Norman Island the night before.

One thing about Cooper Island is that you can't anchor there, mooring balls only, and the mooring balls tend to get taken early.  We were happy to get there before noon and find the last two available balls right next to each other.

We took one and dingied over to the other and tied our stand up paddle board to the other.

Our Whitby friends were not responding to radio hails, cell calls, or text messages.
We were content to hold the ball for them.

Meanwhile Hans and I went ashore to pay for the balls and sampled some beer made on the island.  A hoppy IPA; twas good.

We talked to a couple at the bar in their 30s.
They are on their off day being captain/first mate of a crewed Moorings 45.
Interesting folk; they had been doing this for several months a year for the past two seasons.
They asked us what our favourite spot was.
We said "Little Harbour" on Peter Island.
They called it "Unemployment Bay"; a place where Moorings captains would go for a couple of days between charters.
They said they are responsible for the cleaning and maintenance of the boat, provisioning, and catering to charter guests.

When we got back to the boat, Scuba Doo came in and took the ball we had for them.

Here is a photo of Firebolt (left) and Scuba Doo (right):

We talked to them on the radio.
Glenda had twisted her ankle on the way from Norman Island this morning.
They were asking if we had any tensor bandages in our first aid kit.

We did one better and dingied trama nurse Judy and parametic Don over to their boat.

Don/Judy splinted/wrapped her ankle up and put it on ice, saying that something is broken.
Back at Firebolt, Colleen remembered about a marine rescue service in the BVIs:

https://visar.org/

As part of the fees to charter a boat, everyone has to pay $20 to this organization to support it.

We radioed Chis (Glenna's hubby) with the info.
He called on the VHF, and VISAR was there within 15 minutes from Road Town!

VISAR arriving

Glenna being loaded on the tender

After another 15 minutes, Chris/Glenna were wisked off to a the hospital in Road Town:

https://youtu.be/rdbFhm39jkQ

LOL Ben saying "Bring me back a Big Mac"

Glenna had fallen down the steps from the main salon down to her cabin.
Something about slipping on a avacado.
She fractured her big toe in several places, and another bone in her foot.
Needless to say, Chris/Glenna's trip on the catamaran was over.

We were glad to hear that they stayed on land at a resort for several days before going to St Maartin and then home.

We later went to shore to check out the resort.
Dive shop.
Really nice gift shop
Coffee Bar

Walter and Colleen have a wet drink

We met up with the Whitby folk:

Chris and Tom from WYC

Dinner was awesome

Saying good bye to our friends from Whitby

We were back to the boat by 21:30.

I took some photos of the lights of Road Town:

BVI 2020 Day 10 Trellis Bay

The diesel coffee maker didn't start until around 8:30am, as most of us didn't get much sleep with the music going on on shore

We left the ball just before 10am.

Wind were 10-12 knots from the southeast, full main and jib.

Yellow circles are where we hoisted/dropped the main.

Trip Odometer: 11.2 miles
Moving Average: 5.1 knots
Max Speed: 8.9 knots
Moving Time: 02:12:00

Nice relaxed sail on a close reach most of the way.
We really had to pinch up to clear Guana Island.
Shortly after we cleared the point it was time to drop the sails and motor into the channel to Trellis Bay

We took a ball at 12:48pm and had lunch.
Some of us went for a swim.

All of us loaded into the dinghy and headed to shore.

Trellis Bay is right near the airport, and boasts the best Full Moon parties around.

http://www.trellisbaymarket.com/full-moon-party-2020/

The full moon was last week.

They have these metal firepits on the beach:

Would be kewl to make something like this for home!

Trellis Bay is where Michael Beans kept his boat during the 2017 hurricane IRMA.
The story goes that the boat was driven on shore and written off.
However, Michael couldn't get on the island for months and his insurance policy said that he had to make a claim within 30 day of the incident, so no insurance.  BASTARDS
He purchased another boat that was in not bad shape, and had to hire excavators to dig a channel in the beach to re-float her.

Someone had fashioned some beach artwork out of sailboat steering wheels salvage from wreaks from the hurricane:

Not much was opened there, as they were still re-building:

We had some drinks at the restaurant:

...and picked up a couple bottles of wine in the store.

Another BVI tradition for Rita and I: getting our picture taken in the fishnet trampoline on the beach.

Here you can see the Canadian Flag on Firebolt from the dinghy dock:

BVI 2020 Day 09 Indians & Sandy Cay & Cane Garden Bay

Noisy coffee machine started at 08:00.

I made breakfast of sausages and pancakes.

We left the ball a little after 09:00 and motored over to the Indians:

Trip Odometer: 1.38 miles
Moving Average: 5.1 knots
Moving Time: 00:06:31

The Indians are a National Park (no anchoring allowed).
We were able to get a day ball fairly close.
Rita and I have never been there.
Most of us ventured out for a swim and snorkel.
It was awesome.
Sorry no photos, but I do have some underwater video that I still have to download.

We left at around 10:30 bound for Sandy Cay on Jost Van Dyke.

Winds were very light <10 knots from the east.
We shook out the reefs on the main and sailed the entire way.

BATTERIES DIED on the GPS NO TRACK

Trip Odometer: 11.2 miles
Moving Average: 5.1 knots
Max Speed: 8.9 knots
Moving Time: 02:12:00

Sandy Cay is another place that Rita and I have not been to.
We took a day ball

The white sand beach was awesome.
Rita/I, Hans/Debbie, and Jon/Dude went ashore and explore the island.
The island was not very big.  It took about 15 minutes to follow the trails around the back side of the island.

Coming back in the dinghy, Hans decided to jump in the water as we neared the boat at it was very warm.  He forgot about his brand new prescription sunglasses he was wearing!

We were in about 18ft of water with a sandy bottom.
I put on a mask/snorkle and fins.  I floated on the water until I could see them on the bottom, then dove down and got them!

I would say Don is pretty relaxed

This shot is now the wallpaper on my computer

We had lunch, then dropped the ball, raised the sails to go across the channel to Cane Garden Bay

GPS TRACK FUBARED

Trip Odometer: 3.12 miles
Moving Average: 2.7 knots
Moving Time: 01:08:00

We motored into the bay, and tied up to the town dock and fill both our water tanks, as we were down to 1/4 tank left on one tank, and had two more nights on the boat.

Took a ball about 200 yards from shore.

$30 USD

This is the rate typical of taking a ball all over the BVI.
We always asked for a receipt.

We dingyed ashore and walked the beach.
We decided to have dinner at a beachfront place called Paradise Bar and Restaurant.

We had a table just behind the umbrellas here, but we all were getting bit by sand fleas, so we moved inside the restaurant.

There was a fire on the beach, and the music started from club Paradise.
MAN IT WAS LOUD

We were talking (screaming) to the owner of the club.

He was saying that he could hear the music from his house on the top of the hill.

Music to his ears because it means he is making money!

We got back to the boat around 21:00.
The music from club Paradise was still LOUD and went NON STOP until 3am!
NOBODY slept well this night.

I would not recommend staying in Cane Garden Bay because of this!