Stephan Go to Tortolla. My wife and I chartered a bareboat from Sunsail in January and had a ball. If you take the plunge and charter, I strongly suggest that you spend the extra $100 or so and get a new boat. Ours was a 2002 and we had problems. I have taken the liberty to attach below a previously prepared summary of our trip. It will give you an idea of our trials and tribulations and our overall good time. If I can help you with other questions contact me directly. John Jennings ---------- Honeymoon in the British Virgin Islands Turquoise water, 80 degree sunny days with an occasional shower and a steady wind. What else could a sailor want? How about a larger boat with a large head, a hot shower and a lot of islands with quaint bars on sandy beaches where the rum drinks never end? On January 10, 2008 Barb and I flew to Tortola, BVI via San Juan on American Airlines. We landed on Beef Island and then caught a taxi (Toyota minivan) along with several other couples and rode on the left side of the road to Roadtown. While in BVI we never got used to riding on the "wrong side" of the road. We checked into the Marina Inn overlooking a marina packed full of mono hull and catamaran sail boats. This marina at Wickham’s Cay is the home of The Moorings, Sunsail and Footloose, all chartering companies. The smallest boats were 32’. We chartered a 34’ 2004 Beneteau, Mina was her name. Not only could you lease a boat but about anything else you desired such as electronics, kayaks, floats, etc. You can also have the boat provisioned with food, beverage, captain and cook. We only opted for the food. If we had to do it again we would personally provision the boat once we got there. We had a lot of food left over. We chartered from Sunsail. They accepted my sailing resume with five years of experience sailing Escapade (now Barjoh), our 27’ Catalina on the Chesapeake Bay, as enough experience to sail Mina or any boat up to 40’. After going through a chart briefing, telling us where we could/should go and what to expect, the next morning we had a limited boat briefing educating us on how the boat “works”. This left a little to be desired. For example the boat had three water tanks but we received no instructions on how to switch to each of them. Also two of the tanks were empty. And it would have been nice if the operation of the propane stove had been demonstrated. The propane tank was empty. Additionally, the fuel (diesel) gage did not work all the time. Late Saturday morning we were off in a boat we knew little about. Wheel steering for the first time -- nice, but as I had read you do lose a feel of pressure on the rudder. And a very good (for the time being) autohelm. In order to get acquainted with Mina, we motored across the Sir Francis Drake Channel to Norman Island and caught a mooring for the first time in The Bight, a peaceful and quiet cove. In our dingy that came with the charter, we did a little exploring in The Bight where we found the William Thornton, a floating restaurant, which is a replica of a topsail schooner. Allegedly if you are on the Willie T late at night after everyone has consumed more than their share of rum, risqué things happen. No, we did not have dinner or drinks on the Willie T . We later had drinks, (did I tell you about the rum) and dinner at the Pirates Bight Restaurant. Very good. By the time we finished dinner, it was dark and we forgot to bring a flashlight. Despite the rum we are able to identify our dingy by the bright string we tied on it to distinguish it from 15 to 20 other identical dingys. We motored through the silhouettes of numerous boats looking for a 34” charter with Sunsail printed on the main sail cover. We found the boat. As Barb is tying up the dingy I looked up and realized we are tying to the wrong boat!! Needless to say we did not forget a flashlight for the balance of the trip. The next morning after paying the guy who came by in the dingy $25 for the use of the mooring, we were off for a day of sailing. We turned northeast into a 15 kt wind, sails went up and we were close hauling and tacking up the Sir Francis Drake Channel. I could not seem to get that much speed out of the boat. Possibly had something to do with sail trim and wind/sea conditions. About five hours later we pulled into Leverick Bay on Virgin Gorda Island, a beautiful sheltered bay surrounded by high green hills dotted with quaint pastel villas covered by red clay roofs. We caught a mooring on our first attempt. We felt like pros. On our trip today the autohelm did not work. From Leverick Bay I called Sunsail on my cellular phone. The VHF did not work because of the hilly terrain. Sunsail advised they would have a repairman from Virgin Gorda drop by the next day. We decided to stay another day in Leverick Bay and enjoy the area and to have the autohelm repaired. We could visit the entire Gorda Sound via dingy. The next day we took the dingy over to the Bitter Inn Resort and spent the afternoon touring. We met some folks from Virginia who had chartered a 40' something catamaran. They advised it was very stable but sailed like a “pig”. Not sure I know why the use of the word pig, but I got the idea. And, did I tell you about the rum. They had those drinks at the Bitter Inn!! By the time we returned to Mina, Alberto, a bare footed local had showed up in a dingy. Our autohelm repairman had arrived. After crawling in and around Mina he found the rudder sending unit was disconnected, but he did not have the parts to finish the repair. Since we were sailing to Trellis Bay on Beef Island the next day he advised he would call ahead and have a repairman meet us there. Before setting sail to Trellis Bay we took an early morning taxi trip to the other side of the island to The Baths for a quick visit to see this unusual picturesque area of large boulders cast into the water and along the shore by some long ago volcano. After returning to Mina we left our mooring and sailed on a broad reach to Trellis Bay. A nice sail. We caught our mooring and called Sunsail about the repairman and were advised they had not heard of the problem!! After cooking steaks on the charcoal grill and enjoying a dinner aboard Mina, the repairman showed up. He turned on the auto helm and it worked. Alberto did not know that he had to reboot the autohelm to finish his repair. The sun went down and we dingyed over to The Last Resort, a restaurant on an island in Trellis Bay. They also had rum drinks! Barb left a dollar bill stuck to the ceiling, but I will not go into the details as how she accomplished this. The next day we motored for a short distance to Monkey Point off Guana Island where Barb did a little snorkeling. The water was exceptionally clear. Ready to move on we dropped our day mooring and turned for Jost Van Dyke Island, a sail on a broad reach where we rolled with the swells, while clipping along at 6-7 kts. We planned to stop at Little Jost Van Dyke Island but there were no moorings available. While trying to find suitable anchorage we almost became grounded on a reef. Bad judgment on my part. We abandoned our effort to find anchorage and ventured down the coast of Jost Van Dyke to Little Harbor where we found a mooring in a nice quiet bay. Exploring the shore in o ur dingy we found Sydney’s Peace and Love Restaurant. We met Sidney, a middle aged family patriarch and fisherman, cooking Anegada lobsters that he recently caught. We pre-ordered dinner which was ready when we returned that evening. Invited behind the bar to make our own rum drinks, we realized Sydney had hit upon a sure recipe for a party, with every customer being his own bartender! When day broke, we started our next to last day on Mina with some brief clouds and a shower. We set our course for Thatch Cut, the passage way to Sopers Hole on Tortola Island where we planed to spend our last night on Mina. The wind was strong. We continued on a beam reach to Thatch Cut. Our GPS is registering 6-7 kts and an occasional 8 kts. The boat’s knot meter was not working . The dingy seems to be skipping along on the waves. We arrived at Thatch Cut in short order but we were having too much fun to stop now, so we turned around and sail round trip back to Jost Van Dyke on a beam reach. Wow, this was sailing at the best! We finally gave in to a good time, dropped sails and motored into Sopers Hole. We caught our mooring and ventured out in our dingy, which had been leaking air and water for the past several days. After, you guessed it, we had a rum drink, Barb ventured off to have a massage. Our last night on Mina was interesting. A storm came though with strong winds and driving rain. Mina spent most of the night weaving and searching through the wind. I wished I had brought my anchor sail. The forecast for the next day was for bad weather, rain, 20 plus kts wind and 7’ swells. We had to return Mina by 11 am the next day and our return trip would be directly into the wind. The morning sun broke through and I am up and about. Weather is not bad. I hit the starter button on the faithful diesel and it did not "grunt". For some reason our two batteries are dead! I searched through the boat looking for electrical drainage and turned off everything. I dingyed over to the marina looking for a jump start. While waiting for the shop to open, Barb yelled that she had successfully started the engine. We left our last mooring and motored out into increasing bad weather. The wind increased, horizontal rain fell and the swells got higher. I felt like I was riding a bucking horse. The dingy was skimming along behind Mina. Two other boats accompanied us. When we finally pull into Wickham’s Cay, the clouds and rain cleared to reveal another beautiful island day of sun. As directed over the VHF radio, we prepared Mina with fenders and moved the dingy line to a bow cleat, preparing to maneuver Mina stern first into a slip. There is a problem, there is no slip. A Sunsail employee jumps aboard and wedges Mina into a previously non-existent slip. Fenders were overriding each other and boats were pushed aside. We tied up after a week aboard Mina. We thoroughly enjoyed our honeymoon. The experience will live with us for a long time. We highly recommend and would like to do it again. The trip could have been more enjoyable if Sunsail was more detail oriented and properly maintained their boats. Now all I have to do is sort through the 600 or so digital pictures Barb took.
John In a message dated 8/4/2008 5:20:18 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Same topic different area, not sure this is the proper list but any comments welcome:-) I am planning to charter a boat sometime in January either in the Abacos or Tortolla, most likely a Catamaran with the Moorings. I have been boating a major part of my life but sailing for only two seasons with my own Catalina 27 on the Hudson river. Looks like either Abacos or Tortola makes for short legs and easy sight navigation and the Moorings seem to have a good reputation. Any suggestions regarding the company, area, weather, things to do while there, experiences etc.. are greatly appreciated:-) Good sailing. Stephan -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, August 04, 2008 4:03 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: catalina27-talk: Bareboat Cape Cod Area Not saying not to ask around once you get there, but she is pretty knowledgeable about the business. ************** Looking for a car that's sporty, fun and fits in your budget? Read reviews on AOL Autos. (http://autos.aol.com/cars-BMW-128-2008/expert-review?ncid=aolaut0005000000001 7 ) **************Looking for a car that's sporty, fun and fits in your budget? Read reviews on AOL Autos. (http://autos.aol.com/cars-BMW-128-2008/expert-review?ncid=aolaut00050000000017 )
