Day 8- Last Day in the BVI

First thing this morning we all chipped in to get the boat in ship shape, bow to stern, in preparation to return the Reventador II to BVI Charters.  We dropped our mooring and left the Bight shortly after 8AM for Roadtown. It was a pretty direct sail and not too far so Steve decided to motor in rather than set the sails. It was a bit sad that today would be our last sail, but I think our minds and hearts are already turning towards home.  

Sometime after 10AM we were free to wander Roadtown before our 3:15PM ferry back to St. Thomas, USVI. We strolled toward town and found ourselves at Pusser’s where we mostly ate good ‘ol cheese burgers with a Painkiller or Red Stripe to wash it down with.  

Waiting to board our ferry, we spread out like strangers in the waiting room. Those are Steve’s legs on the far left, then Jimmy, Bill in the corner and John with his back to the camera.  After 8 days on the boat, maybe it’s time for a little space?

Off we all go to climb on the ferry that will deliver us to St. Thomas in about an hour. 

After an uneventful afternoon of traveling back to St. Thomas in the good ‘ol US of A we checked back in to the Green Iguana Hotel and rested before dinner.  However Bill did not rest with us.  He saw a window to catch a flight back to St. Louis tonight so he rushed straight off after our ferry landed and just barely made his flight.  He’s probably landing in Miami right now as I compose this last entry from the comfort of my own hotel room after a great dinner at 13 Restaurant with Steve, John and Jim. Tomorrow the rest of us will scatter back to the US by air to our homes and families.  It was a very, very good sailing trip with the Pirates but as Dorothy said “There’s no place like home!”  

Day 7- Sopers Hole to the Bight on Tortola

I haven’t shared our morning breakfast routine yet. After we turn my bed back into a table we all gather around. Bill makes the coffee with his ever faithful French Press, I eat my banana (all gone now) and bagels, English muffins and bread get toasted in our 4 slot toaster. Peanut butter, butter and jelly gets spread over everything.  We’ve got a handful of Cuties and yogurt left we’ll have to work on tomorrow, our last breakfast aboard.  

We had more good sailing towards the Bight today with 15 to 20 knot winds.  When the auto steering acted up Cap’n Steve asked me to take the helm as we coursed towards the Indians.  I’m a distant second to a functioning auto steer but I enjoyed it.  

Our fairly short sail today was broken up by a midday stop at the “Indians”, a group of sharp and protruding outcroppings just off Pelican Island, a tiny spot of an Island in the Caribbean. We ate great chicken salad made by Jimmy, and some other left overs.  We’re trying to eat what we can before we have to throw it all away tomorrow when we bring the Reventador II in. John said it was the best snorkeling on the trip, excepting the quarter sized jellyfish drifting by.  

Back to Willy T’s, a floating bar that only exists for people like us, sailors that like an adult beverage on a boat.  

Our second round of Painkillers, Wiltsch begged off for a Carib beer, silly boy. 

Willy T’s, creating mariner memories for over 30 years.  Many of the younger folk were jumping off the 2nd floor deck, just like we had done years ago, maybe even naked, but not today!

I don’t know why, but pretty women from England are always asking if Steve and I will consent to letting them have their picture taken with us. Of course we never so no, we’re too kind for that.  Actually I told them it would be the high point of our trip if we could get a picture with them.  They were soooo drunk and filled with pity. 

We haven’t yet gone back ashore from Willy T’s for our dinner at Pirates Bight, but as we rested on our boats cockpit, I thought this might be my last blog edit for the day….

Okay, 2 more photos, our excellent beach side restaurant “The Pirates Bight” with fish from the sea and baby back ribs.  

Lastly, but not leastly, a dinghy full of dingy’s headed back to our boat to settle our food and enjoy a night’s sleep on the mild waves and  breeze of The Bight.  

Day 6- Great Harbor JVD to Sopers Hole, Tortola

Today was a big sailing day giving us our most brisk winds, consistently between 15 and 20 knots.

Steve, ever looking ahead for trouble, or perhaps it’s just “where the the heck am I heading”, it’s hard to say, but I almost always give him the benefit of doubt. 

Bill’s just happy to be alive, sailing with his old friends. Oh, and he had a good morning BM today too!

Steve guides us through a beam reach in strong winds while I hang on for dear life and consider an escape route on the high side of the boat. 

John’s a fixer, he has the “knack “. Sometimes he fixes things that aren’t broke but not in this case. He’s adjusting and lubricating the latch to our ladder off of the swim platform.  

Thanks John!

 

In this place, Myett’s Cane Garden Bay, in 2010 we gathered here the night before we started our first sailing cruise.  That was a night that we still talk of, the night we got a little crazy. Sworn to secrecy, I can tell you no more, but it was a unique entry into what would become a tradition that has helped to keep us together after we all left GE. 

Steve, Jim and I stop at the Myett’s for a Painkiller and a toast to our history. 

And speaking of history, just outside of Cane Garden Bay where it all started, we drop our memorial to Dan, and to a certain extent, the Crocs that he wore that we relentlessly teased him about.  

Attached was this emblem Steve had made up, all dropped together at about 80’ deep, not far from where it all began. 

Soper’s Hole on the west end of Tortola, our anchor for the night. 

Jimmy takes the lead as our Chief Hoser as he fills water tank #1. 

Our dock hand, safe from the sun but not combustion.  

Dinner from the ships grill and galley again with chicken, broccoli, corn and salad.  

Good night Sopers Hole. 

Day 5- Marina Cay to Great Harbor Jost Van Dyke

After Bill and I made a run to the Scrub Island Marina for rum, club soda, ice and to dump our trash we had a leisurely departure for Jost Van Dyke on a westerly course mostly running with the wind.  The seas were forgiving and made for a nice sailing day, only changing our sails once.  

This cat had us in their sights as they headed south for over 30 minutes and yet somehow found a way to cross closely in front of us.  

Cap’n Steve saw them coming and was prepared to give-way if necessary but that might have meant we would have had to put our drinks down and get up!!

😄

We moored for lunch and a dip at Sandy Cay and found a little calm. 

For lunch and with some help from the boys I made some old fashioned tuna salad just the way my mom made. 

And while I was working on lunch Bill prepared to swim to shore with empty vodka and cranberry bottles to pound some sand from the beach in them.  You see, we needed some ballast to weigh down an underwater memorial for Dan.  Unfortunately at the beach the swell was strong and latent rocks prevalent so he came back with only the cranberry bottle filled. How many people swim with ballast around their shoulders?

John approves of the tuna salad. 

They say into every life a little rain must fall but in our case it won’t stop people from swimming off the boat next to us.  The rains can be a little frequent but usually only last 10 minutes are less.  

John performs a buoyancy test on Dan’s Caribbean memorial. 

Reventador as we leave for dinner ashore.  

Approaching the Corsair, our beach bar for the night, I was thinking tonight must be thong night.  How lucky!  But  I soon realized these young ladies were just availing themselves of a bar stool. 

This is a picture of us at the Corsair in 2016.  L-R me, Steve, Jimmy, Bill Amos, Dan(RIP) and Bill W.  Eight years seemed to go by in a flash. The Corsair hasn’t changed much, but we have.  

BVI 2024-Day 3 Leverick Bay to Anegada

Leaving Leverick Bay we had to stop for more potable water.  It seems our desalination system doesn’t like to work. I have the hard job of holding the garden hose in the hole, Bill has the slightly less hard job of watching me. 

Shortly after our fore and aft water tanks are filled and Cap’n Steve prepares for our disembarkation to Anegada, fiddling with something clearly nautical, our beer cooler.  Bill watches intently, hoping to be a captain someday too. 

We had a glorious day (actually they’ve all been glorious, I just didn’t want to be sickly repetitive) heading north to Anegada.  The wind from the east meant we could pick a course and hold it for the four hours it took to sail there. Easy, peasy and very pleasy. We had about 8 other boats, mostly catamarans for the baby sailors, joining us along our northward jaunt, we passed them all. Aaaargghh!


So many pictures of me working so hard. Is nobody else working today?  We use these bubbly things with rope on them to protect our boat from the dock in case Cap’n Steve miscalculates his docking maneuver.  They’ve come in quite handy!

If we had to nominate one of our crew who looks like a pirate, it would have to be this bad boy.  Aaarrgghh!

After a less than classic mooring job at Anegada we celebrated our mediocrity with lunch, beer and a dip in the clear, crystal Carribean Sea.  Jim and I enjoy the soothing, warm waters and sun, imagining a different career path as porn stars.

Once upon a time we came here on a sailing trip and I’m told I had over-imbibed that day.  Today I’m here to try to redeem myself.  So far, so good!

Anegada is just a slip of land, barely above sea level at the far end of the BVI.  It will be our turning point and it is absolutely beautiful, like a 3D version of a Corona advertisement. 

Our sailing mate and very good friend for anywhere from 25 to almost 50 years was Dan Klenke.  He passed away unexpectedly in the spring and we’re trying our best to honor him with our presence here again. 

The picture on the backs of our shirts is of Dan on a a previous sailing trip and it says “No more a stand to watch, Old Sailor”.  Rest in peace Danno! We speak of you well and often.  

We had our traditional lobster dinner at the Anegada Beach Club and it was excellent from start to finish. 

Some started with their own “Bushwhacker” drink before dinner but I decided to make it my dessert at the ending of an excellent day.  My smile is almost as big as the one on my drink.  Cheers Dan!!