A few suggestions for sailing in the British Virgin
Islands
Our Route, which I enjoyed very much. A pretty good option for a
week's trip. Everywhere we stayed had mooring balls and good food.
1) Renting the boat...last time we rented directly from the
Moorings. The Moorings doesn't own the boats, they just manage
them for a bunch of regular folks who actually own the boats. The
owners have a certain amount of "Owner's Time" on their boats; if they
don't use the time, they can sell it. So this time, that's what
we did, and saved some bucks. The only difference seemed to be
that we signed a contract with the owner and sent our payment to
him. All of the rest of our dealings were with the Moorings, and
once we arrived in Tortola, they didn't seem to know anything about how
we'd rented the boat. All of the services were the same.
(Except I don't think you can buy travel insurance through the
Moorings, and you have to pay for your own taxi ride in Tortola, if you
buy owner's time. As it turned out, the Moorings actually
substituted another boat (of the same type). Rather than be on
the "Wish Now" we ended up on the "Eftihia", a terrible name for a
boat, by the way, since it plays havoc every single time you have to
identify yourself on a radio call!
2) Selecting a ferry...both trips when getting out of the taxi at the
St. Thomas ferry terminal, we were approached by folks trying to get us
to go on their ferry which was "the next one leaving."
Fortunately, we didn't bite, and went inside to ask around. Both
times, there was an earlier ferry by another company. I don't
know if it's always this way, but for us, both times it was "Speedy"
that was claiming they had the next ferry and "Smith's" that actually
was leaving first. Also, both times Smith's had a faster and
nicer-looking boat. Your mileage may vary. I'd recommend
hanging tough and carrying your bags inside yourself, despite the
high-pressure tactics they use when you get out of your taxi...you're
going to be walking through the terminal anyway, and if they're truly
the next boat then you'll find that out inside and be able to buy a
ticket then. Just because it's 3:25 and someone tells you their
boat is the next one, leaving at 3:30, it doesn't mean that their
competitors "3pm" boat has left yet...it may very well be sitting at
the dock waiting for a last few passengers (you) while the "3:30" boat
hasn't even pulled in yet! We bought one-way tickets...it only
saves a couple
of bucks to buy a round-trip, and then you're more flexible in case
another company has a return ferry at a better time. By the way,
this was the ONLY part of the trips where people were being pushy and
misleading...it's unfortunate that you get it right at the beginning,
but rest assured that you're not going to have to deal with it the
whole time.
3) Getting off in Tortola, the boat makes the first stop at the West
End and then goes on to Road Town. Last time we got off at West
End and took a nice long taxi ride into town. This time we stayed
on the ferry to Road Town, which made for a much shorter taxi ride, but
the customs line at Road Town was insane, taking us about an hour to
get through. Last time, the wait at the West End was only a few
minutes. Again, I don't know if it's always like this, but I
think I'll be getting off at the West End from now on.
4) Boat Briefing at the Moorings Base. While last year's briefer
was very professional, thorough, and knowlegable, this year we had an
abysmal briefer. She was very nice, but didn't seem to know what
she was doing. The first hint was when she tried to start the
engine several times and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't start...I
pointed out that the engine was already running...at first she didn't
believe me, but I was able to convince her...Hmmm. She was also
unable
to start the dinghy outboard and had to call a mechanic, who started it
on the first pull. She told us there was no ice available...yet
when
I asked at the main desk they gave me ice. There were a few other
little things like that, but where she really let us down was with the
GPS: the boat was supposed to have a GPS on it (I'd verified this with
the owner and the Moorings agent, and it was actually in our rental
contract) which was important to us because we wanted to go to Anegada,
a trip that shouldn't be done without GPS, at least the first
time. But when we arrived, we discovered that the Moorings had
actually put us on a different boat, and this one
didn't have GPS. I pointed this out to our briefer and she told
us we were out of luck. I said "But we were told we'd have GPS"
and she said "Oh well...you don't." Visions of not getting to
Anegada swam through our heads and we were very disappointed.
Fortunately, I decided to ask/complain at the front desk, where they
told me that they have a whole bunch of handheld GPS units that they
loan out freely. I kinda think the briefer should have known
that. If I hadn't been as assertive, we would never have known
and would have missed what may have been the most beautiful part of the
trip.
5) Dinner at the Moorings Base...don't. The food was pretty bad,
and overpriced. The live music was mediocre and very
intrusive.
If you have the energy, I'd strongly recommend going into the downtown
area and finding somewhere else to eat. It's not far. Last
time we took the dinghy
straight across the harbor, tied up at a dinghy dock, and had a tasty
meal at a waterfront restaurant, but this time we were too tired by the
time we were ready to eat.
6) The Ample Hamper did a good job with our provisioning, getting
reasonably close to what we ordered, and on time for our arrival.
This
was in stark contrast to the last trip, when they delivered the order a
day late (!) and with many many things "unavailable." The most
absurd
on that trip was that _all_ of our main courses were "unavailable" but
all of the things we'd ordered to have with the mains showed up.
For
example, no meat for the grill, but they did give us the charcoal and
BBQ sauce we
ordered. Great. The only thing this time was that they
didn't have
mild salsa so they substituted "extra extra hot." Clever.
But overall
it was fine. I think it helped that I telephoned them a couple of
days
before we went down to confirm the delivery time, and called again from
the ferry across to Tortola.
7) If you use a scopalomine patch, make sure you put it on early,
before you start
sweating & putting on sunblock. I didn't, and my scopalomine
patch
came off without me noticing the first morning out. I felt really
terrible. I think I
should have put the patch on either the night before or in the morning,
right after my shower, but I forgot and put it on after I'd started
sweating. In the end, it took an alcohol wipe,
followed by a benzoin swab (for added stickiness), followed by the
patch,
followed by some tape...but the patch was on really well then!
Next time I plan to shower, use alcohol and benzoin, and then put it
on, all the night before...I'd forgotten how easily I get seasick, and
how uncomfortable it makes me.
8) If you possibly can, go to Anegada. It's amazing. I
found some good info on-line on getting there. We followed the
directions carefully and it wasn't that difficult at all, and well
worth it. I have a little bit of info on this page: Click here for Anegada
Anegada Superlatives:
Best beach bar of the trip: Cow Wreck Beach
Best snorkling of the trip:: Flash of Beauty
Best dinner on Anegada: Neptune's Treasure
Where we'd stay ashore on Anegada: Neptune's Treasure
Best shopping on Anegada: Anegada Reef Hotel
9) When to be in harbor...The charter companies require you to be
moored or anchored by sunset. We had heard that we should be
shooting for 3:30pm in order to guarantee getting a mooring ball in
high season. We did that, and were able to get a mooring ball
everywhere except for Little Harbor, Jost Van Dyke, where we had to
anchor. If you're happy enough anchoring, then you shouldn't have
to worry about this.
10) Planning food...We planned to eat breakfasts and most lunches
aboard, and eat ashore every night. It's not cheap to eat ashore
down there, but it's nice to get off the boat and it sure beats cooking
in the tiny galley of a Moorings 334. We ended up
following this plan, except on Anegada we also bought lunches at the
beach bars and we had breakfast out once. We also had plenty of
snacks and drinks aboard. Fresh bread is available at many stops,
so don't buy too much at the beginning since it won't last anyway, but
try to buy pretty much everything else you'll need at the beginning of
the trip...there aren't a lot of places to restock, and it's a pain to
have to carry much stuff to the boat by dinghy. Ask the
chartering company to borrow a cooler with your boat (Moorings supplies
these) to keep some cold drinks and snacks up on deck, both to
encourage everyone to stay hydrated and to minimize the opening and
closing of the galley icebox to keep things in there cool.
10) Buying Pusser's rum? Buy it in the BVIs, where we
consistently paid $8 per bottle. In St Thomas it was at least $13.
11) Books..."Virgin Islands Cruising Guide" and "Virgin Anchorages" are
must-haves for figuring out where to go, how to get there, and what to
do once you're there. www.cruisingguides.com
