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Published: September 17th 2010
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For 25 years, we have heard the stories and seen the pictures from Gary and Terry, our dentist and his wife’s yearly sojourn to the tropical paradise that is the British Virgin Islands. So when we received an email one January morning inviting us to join them on their summer sailing session, it took 5 minutes to email back saying we were in. This was a special sailing because it was not only their 25th wedding anniversary but also our other friend, Dan’s 50th birthday. There would be 7 of us including Dan’s wife Sharon, a good friend from Chuck’s old work and a new friend Mitch, who we learned was a mortgage banker who had horses that raced at Ascot this year. We would be sailing on a two year old, 46 ft. catamaran complete with 4 cabins, A.C. and a private bath. A month before we left southern California, we all got together for a pre-BVI dinner to familiarize ourselves with our itinerary, packing requirements and basically what we should expect. We knew then we were in for a fantastic time. We arrived on Tortola after Tropical Storm Bonnie had already passed over the area and had good weather
for the entire 12 days before Tropical Storm Collin arrived. The catamaran Eh Voila was even more luxurious than we had expected and our first huge surprise was the addition of Michelle, our dental hygienist friend to the passenger list making our crew an energetic 8, ages 27 to 67, plus a local captain named Jimmy! Because our hosts have spent so much time in this area of 54 islands; they knew all the best places to moor, the best beaches, the best snorkeling spots, the best beach bars and restaurants plus over the years they had befriended many of the local people. Each day, with Terry’s help, I would highlight our course on a map of the area and now looking back, I can’t believe how much we experienced. Our first day out we snorkeled in a wonderful area called the Caves off of Norman Island and partied at Willy T’s, an old pirate ship permanently anchored in The Bight. We were so excited that night that we stayed up late lying in the netted trampoline watching the moon and the clouds and appreciating every minute of this magical place. The second day we sailed through the Sir Francis
Drake Channel, past Peter Island, Salt Island and the wreck of the Rhone with our destination being Trellis Bay off the east end of Tortola. We took a water taxi over to Marina Cay spending the afternoon alternating between the beautiful turquoise water and the beach bar that made our new favorite drink called the Bushwhacker. All of us were anticipating the Full Moon Party that was to take place that night at Trellis Bay. We were not disappointed. It was an evening of local food and drinks, good music with the highlight being the lighting of fireball sculptures floating in the water. On the third day we sailed to the area on Virgin Gorda known as the Bitter End because of its easternmost position in the BVI. It is also the site of the famous Bitter End Yacht Club and the Fat Virgin Cafe where we spent the afternoon. That night we had a great dinner at Saba Rock a tiny island resort popular with the yachting crowd where they spend the night off their boats in a nice hotel room with a real shower. After dinner we were entertained with a fireworks display originating from Necker Island, the
private island home of Richard Branson-the British multimillionaire founder of Virgin Atlantic. Early the next morning we moved our catamaran across the bay to Leverick Bay and docked for the first and only time. All other days we moored or anchored. On this day, we met our local Rastafarian guide named Cumba in his colorful “One Love” open air bus for an all day land tour of Virgin Gorda. We chugged up steep hills climbing to 1100 ft. and were awed by the views, we toured the swanky resort of Little Dix Bay with its $750 a night hotel rooms and we were totally impressed with the natural beauty of The Baths. Here, huge granite boulders create shallow pools and coves and connect grottoes where we snorkeled and ultimately swam 100 yards back to the beach. It reminded us of the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. We cooled off that evening in a freshwater pool playing Marco Polo with some local kids.
To be continued…
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Ray
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Paradise
This looks like so much fun!