May 28, 2011

Went for a sail with Pat and Bruce Shewmaker to Clipper Cove for lunch. Winds were moderate and had a nice sail on the estuary. Had a bit of rain going out. A nice lunch at Clipper Cove and a fast sail back.

Start Time: 5/28/11 11:50 AM
End Time: 5/28/11 5:25 PM
Distance: 17.1 NM
Total time: 5h 35 min
Average Speed: 3.1 kts
Max Speed: 5.8 kts

BVI 2011 May 5-13 2011

Lynne and I joined three other couples (Sandra and Doron, Rosemary and Randy, and Catherine and Bob) for nine days on a Lagoon 42 catamaran, Cat Jak, a French boat, sailing the British Virgin Islands, BVI for short.

We left California on Wednesday May 4th and flew over night through JFK to St. Thomas VI. We then took a ferry to Tortolla and a cab to the marina.

Day 1: We arrived at 6pm and took possession of the boat. We stayed on the boat that night and got familiar with the boat and its equipment.

Day 2: The next day we took off for Norman's Island and the Willy T. On the way we stopped at the Indians and did some snorkeling. Willy T's was it's usual wild time. We jumped from the top deck and Lynne got a temp tatoo wild laying on the bar. That night Sandra made a great dinner and we had a fun time on the boat.

Day 3: On Saturday we motored out to the caves at Norman's and did some snorkeling in the morning. We then sailed across St. Francis Drake Passage and put in at Soper's Hole for provisioning. We then sailed over to Great Harbor at Jost Van Dyke. The winds we blowing as we crossed over from Tortola to Jost Van Dyke and we hit over 8.2knts over ground. We got a mooring ball at about 4pm. I when for a long Snorkel around the east side of the bay. Lynne went into town with the other women to explore. Later that night we all went to Foxy's for drinks and Music.

Day 4 Mothers Day: On Sunday we sent a few people into town for ice. It would have been nice to have gone into the local church for services, but the men wanted to get sailing so we took off. We first went to East End Harbor and Diamond Cay to walk the reef and look for sea shells by the sea shore. We also snorkeled and saw sting rays and sea turtles. I also saw two lobsters, but left them where they were.

Doron then wanted to sail directly to Cane Garden Bay and we started in that direction. We had some nice winds and the sail was nice and fast. But as we passed Sandy Cay we decided we had to stop. It was just too pretty to pass up. So we turned back and put the anchor down and went ashore. Bob, Lynne Catherine and Ro walked around the Island. I took another snorkel off the south end. I think they made the better choice.

We then headed over to Cane Garden Bay for the night. We went to shore for a drink, but ate dinner on the Boat.

Day 5: On Monday we left Cane Garden and headed over to Trellis Bay. Randy had arranged to rent a kite board and sail board and needed to pick it up. We sailed most of the way there. It was a long sail and there was a bit of a roll front the ocean swells. Some people got a bit seasick, so we all took turns at the helm. Steering a boat is a good way to treat mild sea sickness. We took a mooring ball at Trellis Bay and Randy got his boards. We then motored over to Marina Cay and got a mooring ball for the night. Once securely on the ball, Bob, Ro, Catherine, Lynne and I took a walk around the island and went snorkeling. We saw a ray and a few other colorful fish. Randy, meantime was windsurfing around Marina Cay and over to Trellis. Eventually we sent Bob, Ro and Catherine out after him. But he was able to sail back and needed only a short tow back to the boat.

Day 6: On Tuesday we set sail for the Baths. The Baths are a very interesting rock formation that

provides great hiking and snorkeling opportunities. In addition, there is a restaurant at the top of the hill overlooking the Baths which has a free swimming pool. We snorkeled the Baths, did the hike through the rock formation and then ended up at the restaurant for lunch/drinks and a swim. While we were there it rained quite hard, but it was a comfortable warm rain. We next set sail for the Dogs for another swim and snorkel. The Dogs are a set of islands off of Virgin Gorda that have some good snorkeling sites. We got a mooring ball and went for a swim. After the swim we sailed to Gorda Sound and Saba Rock. This was one of our longer sailing passages. But we got into the Sound in time to get a choice mooring ball right in front of Saba Rock.

Day 7: On Wednesday Bob, Randy and I went over to eustacia reef to snorkel while everyone else relaxed at the bitter end yacht club. The reef was great! We could even see Necker Island, Richard Branson's private island where Virgin Records has a studio. Later that day we took the boat across the Sound to Leverick Bay. While we crossed the Sound we sailed past the Maltese Falcon, a beautiful, dyna-rigged modern 200 ft long sail boat. Truly a beautiful ship. We then took a mooring ball at Leverick Bay and walked up the hill to Bob's friends house, Mike, for a visit. It was very interesting to see how one lives in paradise. That night we ate dinner at the Leverick's Bay Marina.

Day 8: Lynne's Birthday! On Thursday we set sail for Cooper Island, for guess what? That's right some more snorkeling. We tried to sail there, but the winds were too light, so me motored most of the way We took a mooring ball off of Cooper Island Yacht Club. After snorkeling off of an island between Cooper and Peter Islands, we went over to the yacht club to explore. It was quite new and very nice with a great bar. We then headed back to Maya Cove to return the boat. We got in about 5 pm. We all took showers and cleaned up a bit. After cocktails on the boat we went out to dinner at Pussers East. Lynne and I had Lobster as did several others. The service was not too good, but we had a nice evening.

Day 9 going home: We spent the morning cleaning the boat and getting it ready for inspection by the rental company. We passed and got our deposit back. We then started the long trip back home.

April 30-May 1 2011

Lynne and I went down to wildcat to get some gear for our upcoming trip to the British Virgin Islands. Once we got to the boat, however, the day was so gorgeous, we decided we had to go for a sail. I did not have any clothes appropriate for sailing on that day, but fortunately I had some spare clothes in the boat. However, the only boat shoes I had were my foul weather boots. We sailed up the estuary until we got to the ferry dock at Alameda. At that point one of the large container ships was leaving the dock so we had to drop the sail and follow behind under power. At about this time we heard from Bethany and Doron that they were up in clipper cove and were planning on rafting up for dinner. So we headed up to clipper cove as well and rafted up to the Nanaimo and Messing About. We ended up having baked ziti made by Bethany for dinner. It was great! We the had a few cocktails and ended up dancing on Nanaimo that evening. Our original plan was to head back after dinner, but we had such a good time that we decided to stay overnight and head back the next day.

The next day at 6 AM I disconnected us from the Nanaimo and we motored back to Alameda. We got back it at about 8 AM and headed home. Later that day I went back to the boat and re-oiled the bright work on the outside of the boat to make it look good.

Next outing - the BVI