usvi-on-line
Oh what a (fort)night! October 2011 Trip Report Part V
Oh what a (fort)night! October 2011 Trip Report Part V
Link to Part I: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=21721
Link to Part II: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=21727
Link to Part III: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=21748
Link to Part IV: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=21762
Saturday, October 8 - This was sure to be one of the best days on our trip because it was boat day with Palm Tree Charters and Captain John Brandi! It was also noteworthy because, joining us on our cruise, would be Rosi, who we've all known on the forum and had been in close contact with lately, but none of us had ever yet met in person. As luck would have it, Rosi was staying just down Rock Ridge Rd. from our digs at Allesandra, so at the appointed time, just before 8:00AM we found her hanging out by the stop sign at South Shore Rd. and she joined us in the Jeep for the ride down to the NPS dock. Being out as early as we were was no doubt instrumental in us being able to score one of the free parking spots close to the dock. I took a walk to the end of the customs building, and what did I see over near the fuel dock?...
There's our ride, and our captain!
As soon as the the pre-cruise boat prep was done, Captain John motored over to the temporary boarding area, we boarded the boat, and pushed away from the dock (don't taze me bro!) and floated in the bay while completing the customs/immigration forms. We were soon underway, cruising the north shore of St. John, while Captain John regaled us with tidbits of island history, geography, and...gossip!
Captain John Brandi
We noticed that the good captain was sporting an orange shirt and blue shorts today. He told us that he wore those just for us in honor of "our" Florida Gators! Doing so had even required that a late load of laundry be done the night before - what a guy!
More Gators on board!
Now THIS is how you start a day!
Before long we were making the crossing over towards Tortola.
West end of Tortola
Sailing in to the harbor at Soper's Hole I couldn't help but notice how different it looked from the last time we had been here, in March. At that time, in the height of the season, this place was literally teeming with boats, on the moorings, out on the water, and seemingly, at every available slip and dock. on this day, it was deserted by comparison - we felt as though we almost had the whole place to ourselves!
Soper's Hole
One of the intangible benefits of cruising with Palm Tree Charters is the fact that since they are so diligent and organized ahead of time with regards to collecting all of the proper information from their guests, that once you're under way, everything almost seems to happen by magic. A good example of this is checking in to BVI Customs/Immigration on Tortola. Captain John eases the boat up to the dock, where he and whomever is working there (not to mention other charter operators) greet each other by name, joke around, etc. Then, while you sit in comfort on the boat, John takes the paperwork, goes into the office, and in no time, is back on board and you're underway!
One of the pieces of information that John's wife Sue asks you for is what kind of trip you're looking for on YOUR day. We had let them know that we wanted to do some great snorkeling, prefereably somewhere that we hadn't been to before, but we'd leave it to the Captain's discretion since he knows best how the conditions would affect the various places we might try. He let us know that our first stop would be Spyglass Wall, off of Norman Island. That was somewhere that he had said that he wanted to take us to in the spring, but the conditions weren't right. It wasn't long before we were geared up and getting in the water. Most of us that is. Poor Rosi had an ear infection and was under doctor's orders to keep her head out of the water. So, being the good sport that she is, she stayed on the boat and hung out with Captain John, and enjoyed the sunshine and tropical breezes (doesn't actually sound too bad, does it?) while the rest of us played in the water.
Spyglass Wall, as the name implies, has a fairly verical dropoff where the depth of the bottom goes from around twenty feet to somewhere close to ninety. We were blessed with good visibility, negligible current, and flat seas, which afforded us ample opportunity to enjoy the dramatic underwater topography as well as some cool marine creatures.
Chet plumbing the depths of Spyglass Wall
Steve "poses" near a sea fan
We took our time enjoying the abundant and healthy coral here;
Nice reef!
Leslie got my attention and pointed out a turtle a good ways below us. He didn't seem interested in sticking around, so I went back to whatever it was I had been checking out. She continued following it from above, and before long he stopped to hang out in the coral;
Our first turtle this trip!
One of our recurring themes this trip was the fact that we must have tried to take a hundred pictures of filefish, but they universally refused to cooperate! This one, that Leslie spotted, gave us probably our best shot at capturing them in a picture.
Reluctantfish
Eventually the four of us made it back to the boat and we headed out to the next stop. Chet had seen what looked like a place with some potential for snorkeling on a satellite photo or map (maybe he'll chime in with those details) - somewhere that John hadn't been before, so we set off, in "unchartered waters" to check it out. We came to a place with sparkling water next to an island with a gorgeous beach (shocking, right?), but we couldn't tell from the water just where the good snorkeling might be, and there was no obvious spot to moor/anchor the boat, so we made the executive decision to move on. Chet had a back up location request, and this one John was familiar with, so off to Cistern Rock we headed!
Cistern Rock
There was some current here, and we could see waves breaking around some exposed rocks in the water, so the snorkelers in the group all agreed that we would enter the water, swim against the current to, then around those rocks, then leisurely make our way back on the leeward side of the rock, and with whatever current there was over there (the "plan" showed off some of the scuba training in the group!). As we got closer and closer to the point the current really picked up. As we were kicking and kicking I was watching the bottom to see how much progress we were making (not much) when I spied this guy resting way down on the bottom, out of the current.
Big nurse shark!
I pointed the shark out to Leslie, but didn't get a picture of it myself, and didn't know until later that she had (good job!)
It was looking like it would be a bit of a struggle to get around that point, so we called an audible, turned around, went with the current, and went to the far side of the rock at the other end. The bottom here, in contrast to the coral on sand we had seen at Spyglass, consisted of volcanic rock, but still was home to some interesting sea life;
Blue nosed trumpetfish
Once we'd had our fill of snorkeling here, we got back to the boat, stowed our gear for the day, and moved on to the next phase of our trip...first stop - lunch!
Captain John took us to Cooper Island where we had a great lunch at the beach club there...
Great lunch spot!
Leslie enjoying her drink!
Rosi, Leslie, Chet, Barb, and John
Cooper Island Beach
What a view! What could possibly make that any better? This!
One of nature's beauties...and a tree!
This was a great lunch - gorgeous view, cold drinks, tasty food, and great service. But we had places to go, so we bade Cooper Island farewell and boarded Palma Bella once more...
Could Barb BE any more relaxed?
We had a nice cruise that took us alongside some of the BVIs that I'd never seen before, which prompted more informative and interesting narrative from the good captain. Before we knew it, we were motoring into this beautiful bay - hey - I've been here before!
White Bay
Captain John was able to back the boat end close enough to the beach that Rosi had no problems following her doctor's orders as we waded ashore!
It was time to go see Mick at the Soggy Dollar and enjoy the beverage that made Jost famous!
Is it possible to be any happier than this?
Maybe it is...
After the few bigger charter boats departed, we had this amazing place almost to ourselves!
Jost/White Bay serenity
The only thing (apparently) that the John/Sue Brandi team can't do is to get U.S. Customs to stay open late, so we left the beach, and got back on the boat to head back to St. John...
Rosi and Leslie
We had to settle for this view as we were wrapping up our day on the water...
Oh, to end every day like this!
We breezed through customs, refueled the boat, thanked and said our goodbyes to Captain John - for now.
It was a contented group that packed into the jeep for the ride back to Rock Ridge Road - but we weren't done for the day just yet. All of us had volunteered to help out with the "Just Play" event, that Using Sport For Social Change was holding on Monday, and we had been invited by Dean Doeling, who heads up that organization, to a goody bag stuffing party at Villa Caribe, out on Boatman Point. So after rinsing off the gear and getting cleaned up we picked up Rosi at the bottom of the hill once more and went in search of the villa (ok - in search of the road, then the villa). The line of cars parked along the road at the foot of a steep driveway indicated that we'd likely found it, and the sounds of laughter as we got close to the house confirmed it.
It was pretty cool seeing all of the folks, residents and visitors alike, that had showed up to help out. I'm sure the catered meal provided by Mathayom/St. John Catering (which was delicious!) didn't hurt! After everyone had a bite, we all got busy with assorted tasks to help prepare for the event. I don't know if they knew I'd been to the Soggy Dollar, or just had other information on my capabilities, but they gave me a job that involved cutting paper with a pair of dull safety scissors, the likes of which I hadn't seen since elementary school! I suppose it was a good decision because I made it through the evening uncut! Once all of the "swag bags" were complete, we joined the exodus from Villa Caribe and, exhausted, headed back to Allesandra, and slept like a bunch of tired and happy campers!
Link to Part II: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=21727
Link to Part III: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=21748
Link to Part IV: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=21762
Saturday, October 8 - This was sure to be one of the best days on our trip because it was boat day with Palm Tree Charters and Captain John Brandi! It was also noteworthy because, joining us on our cruise, would be Rosi, who we've all known on the forum and had been in close contact with lately, but none of us had ever yet met in person. As luck would have it, Rosi was staying just down Rock Ridge Rd. from our digs at Allesandra, so at the appointed time, just before 8:00AM we found her hanging out by the stop sign at South Shore Rd. and she joined us in the Jeep for the ride down to the NPS dock. Being out as early as we were was no doubt instrumental in us being able to score one of the free parking spots close to the dock. I took a walk to the end of the customs building, and what did I see over near the fuel dock?...
There's our ride, and our captain!
As soon as the the pre-cruise boat prep was done, Captain John motored over to the temporary boarding area, we boarded the boat, and pushed away from the dock (don't taze me bro!) and floated in the bay while completing the customs/immigration forms. We were soon underway, cruising the north shore of St. John, while Captain John regaled us with tidbits of island history, geography, and...gossip!
Captain John Brandi
We noticed that the good captain was sporting an orange shirt and blue shorts today. He told us that he wore those just for us in honor of "our" Florida Gators! Doing so had even required that a late load of laundry be done the night before - what a guy!
More Gators on board!
Now THIS is how you start a day!
Before long we were making the crossing over towards Tortola.
West end of Tortola
Sailing in to the harbor at Soper's Hole I couldn't help but notice how different it looked from the last time we had been here, in March. At that time, in the height of the season, this place was literally teeming with boats, on the moorings, out on the water, and seemingly, at every available slip and dock. on this day, it was deserted by comparison - we felt as though we almost had the whole place to ourselves!
Soper's Hole
One of the intangible benefits of cruising with Palm Tree Charters is the fact that since they are so diligent and organized ahead of time with regards to collecting all of the proper information from their guests, that once you're under way, everything almost seems to happen by magic. A good example of this is checking in to BVI Customs/Immigration on Tortola. Captain John eases the boat up to the dock, where he and whomever is working there (not to mention other charter operators) greet each other by name, joke around, etc. Then, while you sit in comfort on the boat, John takes the paperwork, goes into the office, and in no time, is back on board and you're underway!
One of the pieces of information that John's wife Sue asks you for is what kind of trip you're looking for on YOUR day. We had let them know that we wanted to do some great snorkeling, prefereably somewhere that we hadn't been to before, but we'd leave it to the Captain's discretion since he knows best how the conditions would affect the various places we might try. He let us know that our first stop would be Spyglass Wall, off of Norman Island. That was somewhere that he had said that he wanted to take us to in the spring, but the conditions weren't right. It wasn't long before we were geared up and getting in the water. Most of us that is. Poor Rosi had an ear infection and was under doctor's orders to keep her head out of the water. So, being the good sport that she is, she stayed on the boat and hung out with Captain John, and enjoyed the sunshine and tropical breezes (doesn't actually sound too bad, does it?) while the rest of us played in the water.
Spyglass Wall, as the name implies, has a fairly verical dropoff where the depth of the bottom goes from around twenty feet to somewhere close to ninety. We were blessed with good visibility, negligible current, and flat seas, which afforded us ample opportunity to enjoy the dramatic underwater topography as well as some cool marine creatures.
Chet plumbing the depths of Spyglass Wall
Steve "poses" near a sea fan
We took our time enjoying the abundant and healthy coral here;
Nice reef!
Leslie got my attention and pointed out a turtle a good ways below us. He didn't seem interested in sticking around, so I went back to whatever it was I had been checking out. She continued following it from above, and before long he stopped to hang out in the coral;
Our first turtle this trip!
One of our recurring themes this trip was the fact that we must have tried to take a hundred pictures of filefish, but they universally refused to cooperate! This one, that Leslie spotted, gave us probably our best shot at capturing them in a picture.
Reluctantfish
Eventually the four of us made it back to the boat and we headed out to the next stop. Chet had seen what looked like a place with some potential for snorkeling on a satellite photo or map (maybe he'll chime in with those details) - somewhere that John hadn't been before, so we set off, in "unchartered waters" to check it out. We came to a place with sparkling water next to an island with a gorgeous beach (shocking, right?), but we couldn't tell from the water just where the good snorkeling might be, and there was no obvious spot to moor/anchor the boat, so we made the executive decision to move on. Chet had a back up location request, and this one John was familiar with, so off to Cistern Rock we headed!
Cistern Rock
There was some current here, and we could see waves breaking around some exposed rocks in the water, so the snorkelers in the group all agreed that we would enter the water, swim against the current to, then around those rocks, then leisurely make our way back on the leeward side of the rock, and with whatever current there was over there (the "plan" showed off some of the scuba training in the group!). As we got closer and closer to the point the current really picked up. As we were kicking and kicking I was watching the bottom to see how much progress we were making (not much) when I spied this guy resting way down on the bottom, out of the current.
Big nurse shark!
I pointed the shark out to Leslie, but didn't get a picture of it myself, and didn't know until later that she had (good job!)
It was looking like it would be a bit of a struggle to get around that point, so we called an audible, turned around, went with the current, and went to the far side of the rock at the other end. The bottom here, in contrast to the coral on sand we had seen at Spyglass, consisted of volcanic rock, but still was home to some interesting sea life;
Blue nosed trumpetfish
Once we'd had our fill of snorkeling here, we got back to the boat, stowed our gear for the day, and moved on to the next phase of our trip...first stop - lunch!
Captain John took us to Cooper Island where we had a great lunch at the beach club there...
Great lunch spot!
Leslie enjoying her drink!
Rosi, Leslie, Chet, Barb, and John
Cooper Island Beach
What a view! What could possibly make that any better? This!
One of nature's beauties...and a tree!
This was a great lunch - gorgeous view, cold drinks, tasty food, and great service. But we had places to go, so we bade Cooper Island farewell and boarded Palma Bella once more...
Could Barb BE any more relaxed?
We had a nice cruise that took us alongside some of the BVIs that I'd never seen before, which prompted more informative and interesting narrative from the good captain. Before we knew it, we were motoring into this beautiful bay - hey - I've been here before!
White Bay
Captain John was able to back the boat end close enough to the beach that Rosi had no problems following her doctor's orders as we waded ashore!
It was time to go see Mick at the Soggy Dollar and enjoy the beverage that made Jost famous!
Is it possible to be any happier than this?
Maybe it is...
After the few bigger charter boats departed, we had this amazing place almost to ourselves!
Jost/White Bay serenity
The only thing (apparently) that the John/Sue Brandi team can't do is to get U.S. Customs to stay open late, so we left the beach, and got back on the boat to head back to St. John...
Rosi and Leslie
We had to settle for this view as we were wrapping up our day on the water...
Oh, to end every day like this!
We breezed through customs, refueled the boat, thanked and said our goodbyes to Captain John - for now.
It was a contented group that packed into the jeep for the ride back to Rock Ridge Road - but we weren't done for the day just yet. All of us had volunteered to help out with the "Just Play" event, that Using Sport For Social Change was holding on Monday, and we had been invited by Dean Doeling, who heads up that organization, to a goody bag stuffing party at Villa Caribe, out on Boatman Point. So after rinsing off the gear and getting cleaned up we picked up Rosi at the bottom of the hill once more and went in search of the villa (ok - in search of the road, then the villa). The line of cars parked along the road at the foot of a steep driveway indicated that we'd likely found it, and the sounds of laughter as we got close to the house confirmed it.
It was pretty cool seeing all of the folks, residents and visitors alike, that had showed up to help out. I'm sure the catered meal provided by Mathayom/St. John Catering (which was delicious!) didn't hurt! After everyone had a bite, we all got busy with assorted tasks to help prepare for the event. I don't know if they knew I'd been to the Soggy Dollar, or just had other information on my capabilities, but they gave me a job that involved cutting paper with a pair of dull safety scissors, the likes of which I hadn't seen since elementary school! I suppose it was a good decision because I made it through the evening uncut! Once all of the "swag bags" were complete, we joined the exodus from Villa Caribe and, exhausted, headed back to Allesandra, and slept like a bunch of tired and happy campers!
Come see us!
-
ColumbiaSCTraveler
- Posts: 528
- Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2011 9:33 pm
- Location: Columbia, SC
[/url]
I have been checking and checking and checking for your next installment. It was worth the wait.!!!!!
You were all the talk at our gym this morning. My sister and her husband will be joining us this Jan for part of our trip. She is hooked on your trip reports and gets all excited about everything she is going to see. She is a newbie but I am sure will fall in love with the rock.
Thanks for taking the time and keep the installments coming.
You were all the talk at our gym this morning. My sister and her husband will be joining us this Jan for part of our trip. She is hooked on your trip reports and gets all excited about everything she is going to see. She is a newbie but I am sure will fall in love with the rock.
Thanks for taking the time and keep the installments coming.
-
msgcolleen
- Posts: 1497
- Joined: Thu Oct 05, 2006 8:33 am
- Location: Allen, Texas
Wowza! What a great day out in the wild blue yonder! 
Great snorkeling! Great friends! Great beaches! Great memories!
And I totally agree that the U.S. Customs office needs to stay open till at least 6 p.m. for a sunset ride home!
Great snorkeling! Great friends! Great beaches! Great memories!
And I totally agree that the U.S. Customs office needs to stay open till at least 6 p.m. for a sunset ride home!
I've got 2 tickets to paradise~Pack your bags we'll leave tonight!
[url=http://www.TickerFactory.com/]
[url=http://www.TickerFactory.com/]
-
Capn Dan and Ruby
- Posts: 1006
- Joined: Sat Sep 05, 2009 10:08 pm
- Location: PC Florida
I agree Colleen! What are they thinking going home before 6pm!?msgcolleen wrote:Wowza! What a great day out in the wild blue yonder!
Great snorkeling! Great friends! Great beaches! Great memories!
And I totally agree that the U.S. Customs office needs to stay open till at least 6 p.m. for a sunset ride home!
Steve! Great TR! Your pics are so amazing! I really liked the different places you went, while keeping one favorite! These TR are worth the wait!
-
designbyroe
- Posts: 1348
- Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 1:27 pm
- Location: Chilaxin on White Bay at least in my mind
