BVI 2020 Day 03 Soggy Dollar Bar & Guana Island

We were all up at 07:00 to the sound of the genset for coffee.

We got a couple of bags of ice from a guy on a tender for $6

At 09:45, we dropped ball and motored over to White Bay, and took a day ball there @09:55.

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Trip Odometer: 0.97 miles
Moving Average: 4.5 knots
Moving Time: 13:02:00


We all dingyed over and parked it on up on the beach.

Never been to the Soggy Dollar Bar, apparently it is the birthplace of the Painkiller.
It is called the Sogger Dollar Bar because they don't have a dinghy dock: you have to swim in and get your money wet!

Never too early for a Painkiller!

Nice white sand beach
Nice gift shop with tons of shirts and hats.
I bought a set of dominos that have "SOGGY" on the backside.  Came is a nice travel bag, perfect for on Still Time this summer.

The place was not that busy, but everyone was having a good time

Debbie feeling no pain

Check out the live webcam they have:

https://www.soggydollar.com/webcam



By noon, the place was starting to get busy as 60-70 ft monohulls/catamarans anchored on the beach and came shore.  You can see them in the background of this photo:

We were back to the boat by 12:30.

The ladies made some egg salad sandwiches for the trip.

We dropped the ball and hoisted a double reefed main and let out about half the jib.
It was blowing 25+ from the SSE, a very close reach point of sail.

We sailed to the other side of Jost Van Dyke, and the waves were building, so on came the motor and we motor sailed for the 10+ mile pound to Guana Island:

That is the north side of Tortola in the background

Hans and I had fishing lines out but didn't catch anything.

Trip Odometer: 12.30 miles
Moving Average: 7.3 knots
Max Speed: 12.2 knots!
Moving Time: 01:40:00

We really wanted to minimize the unpleasant pounding of the passage.
MMMmmmmmmmmmmm....

Guana Island has beautiful white sand beaches.

We took a ball fairly close to shore in about 12ft of water.

Leg model Jude admiring the white sand beach

After a swim, we piled into the dingy and went to shore:

We walked along the beach, wading in the warm water.

Rita & I

Hans & I

Just look at that sand!

We BBQed some steak off the back of the boat for dinner.

We were treated to an awesome sunset

BVI 2020 Day 02 Sopers Hole & Jost Van Dyke

Started the generator at 07:00 to make some coffee.

I made breakfast consisting of hashbrowns and scrambled eggs.

We left the ball at 09:40 and headed NW under full main and jib.

Winds were maybe 15-20 knots from the east so broad reach, easy sail.
It was sunny and warm.

We dropped the sails as we rounded the point into Soper's Hole.

Don and Hans were on the helm for most of the trip.

What a great sail!

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Trip Odometer: 7.26 miles
Moving Average: 5.6 knots
Max Speed:10.0 knots
Moving Time: 01:18:00

We took a ball in the harbour, gathered up our garbage and dinghyed into shore.
We dropped off our garbage ($3 a bag) and got some ice.

Meanwhile it was painkiller time in the bar at Pusser's Landing

Cheers

Most of us went into the shop there to get some gifts for grandkids back home.

Soper's Hole was DEVASTATED by huricane IRMA in 2017:

Honey, there's a catamaran on the roof!

Much of it has NOT been rebuilt.

After a couple of painkillers, we head back to the boat and dropped the ball and sailed to Jost Van Dyke.  Since we were lee of the Island of Tortola (less wind) and had a short distance to cover, we just motor sailed with the jib.

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Trip Odometer: 4.81 miles
Moving Average: 5.2 knots
Max Speed:8.8 knots
Moving Time: 55:24

We took a ball in great harbour fairly close to shore.

The colour of the water was breathtaking.

We made reservations at Foxys for dinner for 19:00.

We just chilled out, swam, and took in the sun.

Omage to Gord Downie and The Tragically Hip 

Debbie and Hans

Judy and Rita going for a swim

Around 17:30 we, headed into shore.
Foxys has been rebuilt, but not much else on the island.

Most of us purchased clothing at the gift shop there.

Ya Mon

Sign by the washrooms

Dinner was a BBQ dinner with chicken and fresh caught Mahi Mahi.
Delicious

After dinner, a reggae band had most of us up dancing:

Always a fun time at Foxys Tabo.

Everytime we are in the BVIs, we take our photo at the Foxys sign and hammock:

Here is picture of us getting back on the dinghy at the dinghy dock:

Time on the photo was 21:01

BVI 2020 Day 01 Norman Island

We had a great sleep aboard Firebolt.
The A/C units kept us nice and cool all night.
We were up all up at 7am, as Walter started the generator to make coffee.

For breakfast we had bagels and yogurt:

Debbie and Colleen

Jon and Dude

The ladies took a cab to Riteway supermarket and got all the fresh provisions we needed.

At 09:30 all the boys got a briefing on the boat.
Ross did an overview of all the systems on the boat.
Motors
Generator
Batteries
Water
Anchor
Dinghy
Electrical

He was were very thorough.

We were treated to a beautiful rainbow:

Happy Valentines Day
I had packed some chocolates and cinnamon hearts for Rita.

Hans and Walter holding the dingy stable

At 11:00 Walter and I got the chart briefing in the office.
Here they layed out were we can anchor and such.
What is open.
Where we cannot go (example north shore of Tortola)

We left the dock a little after noon and headed out towards Norman Island

In Tortola Harbour, we rigged up a double reef in the main, as it was blowing 25+ knots, and there were threatening thunderstorm cells coming from the east.

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Trip Odometer : 5.44 miles
Moving Time: 01:16:00
Moving Average: 4.3 knots
Max Speed: 9.1 knots

Winds were from the SE, we sailed with the double reef and partial jib, sailing on a close reach.
On a catamaran, you can't sail too close to the wind.
Inside 45 degrees, your speed drops off.

After about half an hour, one cell came through, so we furled in the jib and rode it out.
We got PELTED by rain and 35+ knot winds.
Boat took it nicely.

When it passed, we motor sailed at low RPM due south to Norman Island.
We turned the motor off and unfurl the jib around Peter Island.

We took a day ball at Treasure Point for almost 3 hours.
Everyone went for a swim and a snorkle.

We then moved over The Bite Bay, home of the Willy T bar and the Bite restaurant.

As we motored to the ball, the winds picked up (40+ knots) with major rain.

From inside the cabin

There was major wind and rain for the rest of the night, and we decided to not venture with the dingy to the Willy Ts.

Debbie made dinner on the boat, Indonesian Nasi Goring and Chicken Saute.  (very Dutch)

Sint Maarten to Tortola BVI

We were up at 8am and had a lovely breakfast of hardboiled eggs, croissants, and cheese.

We got all packed up and into a cab by 10am to get to the airport.

On the cab ride over, we saw many ship wrecks left over from hurricane IRMA two years ago

This one was a floating restaurant

We got to the airport by 10:30 for the LIAT flight at 13:00.
Plenty of time to get check in, through security and such.

However, nothing goes smoothly.

Don/Jude and Hans/Debbie got through no problem.

I presented my ticket confirmation, and they couldn't find it in the system!
Turns out, I never bought a ticket!
This was because when were were booking the flights in August, LIAT didn't have the schedule yet, and stoopid me never got around buying the tickets when they did!
The ticket confirmation I had printed out was from 2015!
DOH

Luckily, the flight was not full and I was able to purchase tickets for Rita and I.
WHEW

We waited patiently for our LIAT flight to come in with Walter and Colleen from Barbados.

The waiting is the hardest part

 We never got a call for boarding, no announcements on the PA, until well after the 13:00 flight time.
Judy checked her phone and the LIAT flight with Walter and Colleen on it was circling Sint Maarten.

Turns out the plane had a problem with an indicator light on the landing gear, and could not land until they confirmed the landing gear was down!

They landed safely and were greeted by fire and emergency trucks.

FromWalter's phone
time on the photo was 12:40

LIAT had to get another plane together for the flight.
We met Walter/Colleen at the boarding gate.
The only casualty was Walter's duty free booze he picked up in Barbados.

We boarded the new plae around 14:00:

Colleen and Walter

The plane took off at 14:34...

...and landed at 15:10

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Trip Odometer: 98.3 nautical miles
Moving Average: 312 knots
Moving Time: 35 min

We were now in the BVIs!

We had about a 20 min cab ride to the Conch Charters base, arriving around 16:00

We unpacked our luggage, and headed to our home for the next 10 nights, the Leopard 48 called Firebolt!

Once we got settled in, we headed to the local bar and had our first Painkillers

The ladies walked to the local grocery store and bought some more provisions, while the boys got ice/mix and enjoyed some cocktails!

Later that night we went back to the same restaurant for dinner.

Our provisioning order from Riteway got delivered on the dock after dark at around 8pm.

Here is a YouTube walk around of the Leopard 48:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neYSicoSyV4

We really liked the front seating area with a walk through door.
We speed a couple of hours out there that night.