British Virgin Islands 12/24 to 1/3/07

didn't know where to stick this.

Wanted to share some thoughts from my Xmas/New Years trip to the BVI.  Too many fine details to recall everything.  11 days in country, 7 of which we spent aboard this lovely 44 ft Beneteau, the "Carol K".  7 Islands, 7 days.  We hit all the major ports except for Little Dix Bay - they wouldn't let me in for failure to meet the minimum size requirement.     j/k. 

Kristal and her parents and uncle and me made five total.  What a motley crew.  The Boat was equipped with three staterooms and three full bathrooms.  Felt incredibly cramped at first.  First night aboard was a very tough sleep.  Every single noise is transmitted right through the hull, from the smallest wave slap to the sliding of the anchor chain or the swaying of the mooring ball.  But after a while, the body and mind grow accustomed, and comfort was found throughout the boat.  Truly an amazing experience.  On clear nights, kristal and I would sleep up top on the cockpit benches.  That is, until the eventual early morning torrents.  Lots of Rum painkillers, lobsters, conch, and of course, fresh fish.  Be prepared to drop a wad, b/c it ain't cheap down there.  There's some crazy a$$ stuff going down too, party wise.  We did Foxy's, Willy T, Pussers, and all the other famous bars.  The ladies reported that the shopping sucked, and I would agree.  Major lack of retail.

Now, the fishing report.  We rented one trolling rig and two spinning rods.  The trolling rig was a heavy action 6 foot rod with roller guides and a reel so crusty Alan Tani would have bitch-slapped the shopkeeper for renting it to us.  40 lb mono.  Two tackle trays with pre-tied wire leaders, snap swivels, etc.  They threw in some live bait terminal rigs, hoochies, jigs that looked like Gibbs-type lures, and broken back rapalas.  They also had pre-tied ballyhoos featuring frozen mullet at $12 for 3 pack, but we had no freezer space, so I passed. 

As we set sail across the Sir Francis Drake Channel at 5 knots, I was doubtful anything could be caught so I didn't bother throwing out a feather.  Day 2, we started under power at about 4 knots.  Got the broken back trolling out behind the boat about 100 yds.  We motor right through large school of tuna up top.  Jumpers, oh yeah!!  The rapala gets picked up and we bag a tuna.  went about 8 lbs.  I'm guessing its a black fin, or a black.  Whatever species, we ate the hell out of that thing.  Could not get the sashimi going b/c we didn't have a blade sharp enough to get clean cuts.  I was literally filleting that thing with a butter knife.     Pan seared with soy sauce, garlic, onions, salt and pepper.  Yum yum.

Caught a variety of species including what I think is a horse-eyed jack on strip of tuna bloodline.  Very impressed with the way that sucker fought.  Had the drag down full and he still stripped.  Was gonna eat it, but I remembered someones admonition about ciguatera toxin.  Plus we were fully provisioned for the trip so no need to go killing another fish.  Caught some other interesting reef species at night when we were moored up, including a bass looking fish with a very mean grill.  It had amazing colors and gnarly teeth.  Saw barracuda and sharks for the first time toon.

Tons of pelican's crashing, but would only see two more schools of tuna up top though.  Most of the time we were under sail and we weren't trimmed for speed in favor of comfort.  Plus, we were always working the lines to jibe and tack, which didn't leave a whole lot of time to man a pole. 

My favorite part of the trip was spending time alone with my wife.  After a few days on a boat talking to no one but your in laws, well, you get the idea.  Luckily we had RIB we could tender to get away.  We found a nice little deserted beach with miles of sand in either direction.  Oh wait, some kayakers had the same idea!!  I wonder if they were NCKA?!   .  But talk about beauty and the beast.  I was dying for some fresh coconut after watching the "Lost at Sea" episode of Survivorman.  So I humped around in the bush trying to find some low hanging coconuts to snatch.  Found some, but not before the mosquitos or biting insects found me.  They were vicious, and lit me up good.  When you would squish them, you could see blood squirt.  Major yuck factor.  Check out pics of my arm - legs looked worse.    Note to Self: take DEET bath before bushwacking. 

It was really good to get back into a daily physical routine.  I was in the water least three hours a day, and regained some semblance of swimming form.  Plus I would do PT on the deck after dinner just to really knock myself out.  Good way to kick start the new year's fitness resolution.

The craziest part of all was going three days without a proper shower.  Fresh water is a scarce commodity at sea, subject to ration.  Plus, her family totally thinks I'm a panty waste b/c I have to have a shower every night when we go camping.  Hey, I wear contact lenses!!  So on this trip I set out to prove them wrong.  Instead of showering in our head, I would go out and pretend to swab the deck during squalls.  Once, during an especially intense downpour, Kristal's dad caught on and threw me a bar of soap.     He was probably doing himself a favor!  J/k.  With all the swimming and diving, the showering/ water conservation routine wasn't really an issue. 

Now the pics.  Sorry for the rambling.

Sounds like you had a great trip.  Those Jack can really fight.  In the mid eighties I was on a 500+ foot ship anchored off of Suva Fijii in 200 feet of water.  Every night around 2 AM I would get hit by fish that would tear off line and then break off.  I was using 12 inch red snapper that I caught during the day for bait.  Finally, I caught one that didn't break off--must have been a smaller one.  I was using a rigid boat rod and litterally could not lift it up to pump the rod to retrieve line.  I had to back across the deck and then trot forward to get any line in.  When I got him up, it was a Jack.  only about 30 #, but boy what a fight.  Imagine taking him on a kayak!  Tried to eat him, but so tough I threw it out.

Excellent report!  I was trying to convince my wife to sell everything and live on a sailboat for a few years...something about gardening stopped that fantasy.....

marmite, I'm REALLY glad I didn't bag that Jack, now.  Would've been a shame to have to waste such a fighter.

rockfish, I was really intersted in living on a sailboat after I got home.  I saw an ad for a 45 ft liveaboard in the Port of Redwood City for $650/month.  Would have saved me a $hitload of commute time to the City, but, like you, the wife wasn't having it.  She said, "YOU could go live there."   .

lobsters, coconut juice, Fresh tuna sashimi and piss-warm-water 

Martin....please tell me you brought a rice cooker 

HA, wifes...
at least she lets me play with the kayaks...
We'll be moving to Sac in August and I told her we would need a 20+ foot cutty for the rivers and bay   I might just get it too....(can you say shuttle  )

Wholly Lobster!!!

Great pics and report.

I almost moved to the USVI (St Thomas, I think) when I was younger. My dad was in the Army and that was where he picked to get stationed. He got his orders for there, but unfortunately my brother and I would have had to go to private schools and my parents just couldn't afford it at the time.

We ended up in Naples, Italy, which to this day is still the best place I've lived. Still I can't help but wonder how insanely awesome it would have been to live in Paradise for four years.

Thanks for the post!

Nice, yes.  Paradise, it ain't - at least not the BVI.

One thing that struck me was the generally poor of service.  Ok, granted the tourist clientele comprises mostly boat lizards who are out at sea for days who don't require much.  But even in Tortola near the strip of town where the cruise ships dock, I found the service to be generally poor.  People seemed irritated that they have to work for a living.

As a kid growing up, maybe I could handle that, foot loose and fancy free.  But as a professional, it would be impossible to find decent help because of the indolent island mentality.  I bet every lawyer down there ends up in a fee dispute with his clients or takes plantains/ fish for compensation or some squirrely $hit. 

But again, that's just my cursory impression of the BVI.  Likely that USVI is better in that regard.

My first wife and I were married on the island of St John in the USVI. While that was 13 years ago, I don't remember getting that impression at all. Local people seemed a bit shy if anything, but certainly not surly. I'd go back in a heartbeat given the chance.

Scott

That's just it, I'm sure things are different on US territory.  Apparently there is more retail and franchises with standardized management, protocol and training, etc.  I guess I'd like to qualify my last post by saying the service was generally not to a level to keep me from going back in heartbeat.  (only next time, i'm bringing my own arsenal).

Shellback,

I don't think you're the only one lives where he does because of career satisfaction.    We spend so much time at work that the work we do and the people we work for are a huge factor in no only what we do but where we do it....Of course, there will be others who will opt to make a decision based on other factors.  I think in the end we're all exactly where we're supposed to be.

I got to admit though...some of those pictures would make it a really hard decision to make.

I think we all make those types of choices- some choose career, some choose lifestyle. Different points you choose different things
We ended up in Marin so we could be close to the water, trails, roads...but did pursue teaching on Koror, palau a long time ago, chickened out though -figured i'd end up going stir crazy inspite of amazing fishing and diving