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Sailing trip report: Days 1 & 2 - Nanny Cay & Norman
Sailing trip report: Days 1 & 2 - Nanny Cay & Norman
I know it has taken awhile for me to get going with this trip report - sorry!. I started over the weekend, but have been busy with kids, work, in-laws, kid's earaches, etc. Yep, it's definitely back to reality...
So without further adieu, allow me to introduce the Motley Crew:
Me (Chris)
Hubby (John)
Ray (Boston resident and newbie)
Heather (Ray's wife; Canadian transplanted in Boston, and newbie)
Rod (Ohio born & raised; power boater but sailing newbie)
Amy (Rod's wife; Canadian transplanted in Ohio, and newbie)
Captain Bob (Minnesota resident with 12 years of sailing experience)
First Mate Carol (Bob's wife; Minnesota born and raised, and "The Boss")
Day one - Friday, 7 March
We woke to a bright beautiful morning, though it was only a chilly 28 degrees. No worries - we're headed to warmer climes. Caught the 7:37 express train from South Acton to North station, during which Hubby received a call from Captain Bob (this is never a good sign). Their flight from MSP to SJU was cancelled because the crew was stuck in DFW. They were now scheduled for a later flight to STT which would not arrive in time for the last ferry to Tortola. They had no choice but to spend the night on STT and ferry over in the morning. Not great news, but not terrible either. We told them we'd have a drink for them and we'd see them in the morning.
We arrived at North Station before 8:30. From there, just a quick taxi to Logan, a breeze through AA check-in and security, met Heather and Ray before boarding the non-stop to STT. On-time departure and 3 ½ hours later, we disembarked to a beautiful, sunny, much warmer day.
Rod and Amy arrived 45 min before we did and were doing a fabulous job of holding down the bar for us. Hugs, kisses and a group pic:
These are happy, happy people
Pictured: Hubby, Ray, Rod, Heather, & Amy
We all received our luggage this time (unlike the last trip). Christopher's Taxi was waiting for us, so we loaded up the van and headed to the National Park Service dock at Red Hook, From there, we boarded Dohm's Water Taxi to continue on to Tortola. The ride was a bit rough on the way; our captain said that it was expected to be rough for the next couple of days, but should calm down after that - perfect! We made a brief stop at the West End customs house to clear into the BVI. The girls enjoyed mango & rum smoothies while our captain went through passport control for us. Very yummy!
West End, Tortola:
Rough water the rest of the way to Nanny Cay; Captain delivered us to the very dock where Knot On Call (from Muleshoe, TX) was docked. Hubby checked in with the Catamaran Company; were told we could board right away. Check out our digs for the week - pretty fancy!
Salon:
Galley:
Nav Station (affectionately referred to as the Geek Corner):
Cabin:
We spent the next hour or so unpacking our bags because there is no room to keep them in the cabins. This came as a surprise to several of the newbies. Thankfully there was a large cargo hold at the stern of the boat which would stow the suitcases for the remainder of the voyage (and most of the beer - more on that tomorrow).
During the settling-in process, we became the lucky recipients of some extra provisions from a nearby boat that had just returned. Among the goodies was a full case of Presidente, a loaf of bread, cereal, paper plates, garbage bags, dish soap (necessary for salt water bathing), matches, and a bottle of Fabuloso all-purpose household cleanser: www.fabuloso.com. It just so happens that "Fabuloso" is quite fun to say and consequently became the slogan of this trip. The product turned out to be very useful as well
After unpacking, a drink became necessary, so off to Peg Leg's it was for Hubby & I, and Rod & Amy.
Sometime within the last seven years Peg Leg's has become more upscale and expensive. The food was good but a bit pricey. The view made it it worthwhile though. Here's to our first evening in paradise - Fabuloso!
View from Peg Leg's:
After dinner the girls opened the Pusser's and made painkillers; just a couple - really
Early to bed (I think) to get ready for the next day...
Sunset from our porthole:
Day 2 - Saturday, 8 March
Saturday morning we woke to our first morning in paradise. Bobby's Market was scheduled to deliver our provisions at 9:00, so we took our showers early in order to be ready to take off after stowing the provisions. I was pleasantly shocked - the showers at Nanny Cay are absolutely gorgeous! Each room (I think there are 12) is tiled in blue-grey slate, and furnished with a dark wood vanity and dressing table with a definite euro feel. I would love to remodel my bathroom at home this way. Luxuriate and enjoy, for this would be the last hot shower for awhile...
Captain Bob and Carol arrived about 10:00. Bob was concerned that we would get a late start because they had been delayed, but Bobby's was late with our provisions as well, so it really didn't matter. Bob went to the office to get the paperwork started and we waited for the provisions.
Bobby's didn't show up with our provisioning order until almost 11:00 - right on island time. Of course the delivery coincided perfectly with Francois from CatCo's boat briefing, so as Bobby's delivered what seemed to be at least 100 boxes, Francois and the guys went over every detail of the boat with a fine-toothed comb. Man did we order a lot of food! Where on earth are we going to put it all??? We had beer, frozen goods, beer, snacks, beer, wine, beer, breakfast foods, beer... you get the picture. In addition, we somehow ended up with 12 cloves of garlic an at least a million bagels. I would never have believed the amount of storage available on that boat if I hadn't seen it for myself. Thank goodness we had a large cargo hold in front - and very thirsty people
At about noon we were finally ready to set sail:
Our destination was Norman Island, The Caves & the Bight, so we didn't have too far to go the first day. Winds were still up; had to tack and jibe a few times and hit a few pot holes on the way, but we made good time, arriving at in about an hour. We grabbed a mooring ball on the far left side in front of the Caves, and jumped right in for our first snorkel of the trip.
The Bight & Caves:
The water was clear, visibility good, but it was SO crowded. I have never seen so many people at the Caves before. And dinghies - lots of dinghies. I was actually hit by a dinghy coming out of one of the caves! The guy was dropping a passenger off at the mouth of the cave - hello! We snorkeled all the way down to Treasure Point and back.
After everyone returned to the boat, we decided to head around the corner into The Bight to secure a ball for the night. Anyone familiar with The Bight knows that there are loads of balls and getting one is usually not a problem - usually... We headed toward an empty ball on the Willie T side, when out of nowhere whizzed a dinghy towing an empty dinghy. Because dinghies are way faster than motoring sailboats, he won. We trolled around a bit more, but that was it - no more balls - but quite a few "reserved" with empty dinghies. Okay, grrrrr, I'm not liking dinghies very much today. It was after 4:00 already which left no time to go anywhere else. Capt. Bob was apprehensive about dropping anchor because of the winds, so we returned to The caves side and grabbed the ball we had earlier. These balls are for day-mooring, but we had no choice (and there was only one left!). We'd just get off first thing (early) in the morning.
We cooked on board (steaks, salad and garlic bread -had to start using the garlic- and wine, lots of wine) and called it an early night. The winds were still up, and the cave side is not as protected as the Bight, so the boat pitched and rolled (accompanied by creaks and groans) all night. Normally I sleep well on boats, I was on and off all night. Finally a torrential downpour at 4:30 AM was it was it for me. Time to make the coffee...
So without further adieu, allow me to introduce the Motley Crew:
Me (Chris)
Hubby (John)
Ray (Boston resident and newbie)
Heather (Ray's wife; Canadian transplanted in Boston, and newbie)
Rod (Ohio born & raised; power boater but sailing newbie)
Amy (Rod's wife; Canadian transplanted in Ohio, and newbie)
Captain Bob (Minnesota resident with 12 years of sailing experience)
First Mate Carol (Bob's wife; Minnesota born and raised, and "The Boss")
Day one - Friday, 7 March
We woke to a bright beautiful morning, though it was only a chilly 28 degrees. No worries - we're headed to warmer climes. Caught the 7:37 express train from South Acton to North station, during which Hubby received a call from Captain Bob (this is never a good sign). Their flight from MSP to SJU was cancelled because the crew was stuck in DFW. They were now scheduled for a later flight to STT which would not arrive in time for the last ferry to Tortola. They had no choice but to spend the night on STT and ferry over in the morning. Not great news, but not terrible either. We told them we'd have a drink for them and we'd see them in the morning.
We arrived at North Station before 8:30. From there, just a quick taxi to Logan, a breeze through AA check-in and security, met Heather and Ray before boarding the non-stop to STT. On-time departure and 3 ½ hours later, we disembarked to a beautiful, sunny, much warmer day.
Rod and Amy arrived 45 min before we did and were doing a fabulous job of holding down the bar for us. Hugs, kisses and a group pic:
These are happy, happy people
Pictured: Hubby, Ray, Rod, Heather, & Amy
We all received our luggage this time (unlike the last trip). Christopher's Taxi was waiting for us, so we loaded up the van and headed to the National Park Service dock at Red Hook, From there, we boarded Dohm's Water Taxi to continue on to Tortola. The ride was a bit rough on the way; our captain said that it was expected to be rough for the next couple of days, but should calm down after that - perfect! We made a brief stop at the West End customs house to clear into the BVI. The girls enjoyed mango & rum smoothies while our captain went through passport control for us. Very yummy!
West End, Tortola:
Rough water the rest of the way to Nanny Cay; Captain delivered us to the very dock where Knot On Call (from Muleshoe, TX) was docked. Hubby checked in with the Catamaran Company; were told we could board right away. Check out our digs for the week - pretty fancy!
Salon:
Galley:
Nav Station (affectionately referred to as the Geek Corner):
Cabin:
We spent the next hour or so unpacking our bags because there is no room to keep them in the cabins. This came as a surprise to several of the newbies. Thankfully there was a large cargo hold at the stern of the boat which would stow the suitcases for the remainder of the voyage (and most of the beer - more on that tomorrow).
During the settling-in process, we became the lucky recipients of some extra provisions from a nearby boat that had just returned. Among the goodies was a full case of Presidente, a loaf of bread, cereal, paper plates, garbage bags, dish soap (necessary for salt water bathing), matches, and a bottle of Fabuloso all-purpose household cleanser: www.fabuloso.com. It just so happens that "Fabuloso" is quite fun to say and consequently became the slogan of this trip. The product turned out to be very useful as well
After unpacking, a drink became necessary, so off to Peg Leg's it was for Hubby & I, and Rod & Amy.
Sometime within the last seven years Peg Leg's has become more upscale and expensive. The food was good but a bit pricey. The view made it it worthwhile though. Here's to our first evening in paradise - Fabuloso!
View from Peg Leg's:
After dinner the girls opened the Pusser's and made painkillers; just a couple - really
Early to bed (I think) to get ready for the next day...Sunset from our porthole:
Day 2 - Saturday, 8 March
Saturday morning we woke to our first morning in paradise. Bobby's Market was scheduled to deliver our provisions at 9:00, so we took our showers early in order to be ready to take off after stowing the provisions. I was pleasantly shocked - the showers at Nanny Cay are absolutely gorgeous! Each room (I think there are 12) is tiled in blue-grey slate, and furnished with a dark wood vanity and dressing table with a definite euro feel. I would love to remodel my bathroom at home this way. Luxuriate and enjoy, for this would be the last hot shower for awhile...
Captain Bob and Carol arrived about 10:00. Bob was concerned that we would get a late start because they had been delayed, but Bobby's was late with our provisions as well, so it really didn't matter. Bob went to the office to get the paperwork started and we waited for the provisions.
Bobby's didn't show up with our provisioning order until almost 11:00 - right on island time. Of course the delivery coincided perfectly with Francois from CatCo's boat briefing, so as Bobby's delivered what seemed to be at least 100 boxes, Francois and the guys went over every detail of the boat with a fine-toothed comb. Man did we order a lot of food! Where on earth are we going to put it all??? We had beer, frozen goods, beer, snacks, beer, wine, beer, breakfast foods, beer... you get the picture. In addition, we somehow ended up with 12 cloves of garlic an at least a million bagels. I would never have believed the amount of storage available on that boat if I hadn't seen it for myself. Thank goodness we had a large cargo hold in front - and very thirsty people
At about noon we were finally ready to set sail:
Our destination was Norman Island, The Caves & the Bight, so we didn't have too far to go the first day. Winds were still up; had to tack and jibe a few times and hit a few pot holes on the way, but we made good time, arriving at in about an hour. We grabbed a mooring ball on the far left side in front of the Caves, and jumped right in for our first snorkel of the trip.
The Bight & Caves:
The water was clear, visibility good, but it was SO crowded. I have never seen so many people at the Caves before. And dinghies - lots of dinghies. I was actually hit by a dinghy coming out of one of the caves! The guy was dropping a passenger off at the mouth of the cave - hello! We snorkeled all the way down to Treasure Point and back.
After everyone returned to the boat, we decided to head around the corner into The Bight to secure a ball for the night. Anyone familiar with The Bight knows that there are loads of balls and getting one is usually not a problem - usually... We headed toward an empty ball on the Willie T side, when out of nowhere whizzed a dinghy towing an empty dinghy. Because dinghies are way faster than motoring sailboats, he won. We trolled around a bit more, but that was it - no more balls - but quite a few "reserved" with empty dinghies. Okay, grrrrr, I'm not liking dinghies very much today. It was after 4:00 already which left no time to go anywhere else. Capt. Bob was apprehensive about dropping anchor because of the winds, so we returned to The caves side and grabbed the ball we had earlier. These balls are for day-mooring, but we had no choice (and there was only one left!). We'd just get off first thing (early) in the morning.
We cooked on board (steaks, salad and garlic bread -had to start using the garlic- and wine, lots of wine) and called it an early night. The winds were still up, and the cave side is not as protected as the Bight, so the boat pitched and rolled (accompanied by creaks and groans) all night. Normally I sleep well on boats, I was on and off all night. Finally a torrential downpour at 4:30 AM was it was it for me. Time to make the coffee...
Last edited by ccasebolt on Tue Mar 25, 2008 5:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Chris, Great trip report. (I'm not quite sure how I missed out on meeting you at the BB??) We spent a night at the Bight on a mooring ball in December. I can't wait to hear more, boating has become my newest passion and I'm so envious! How great for you and your group. Anxiously awaiting your next TR. Ali~
STJ - I "get it"
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