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Cruising Logs

Family Vacation in the BVI - on a Motor Yacht

Contributed By: Arnaldo Dall’Era

Prologue

It took me almost one year to organize and make all of the arrangements for this family trip. The reason is that some members of my family live in different states and being also medical doctors, must schedule their vacations far ahead. After months of discussions and planning, it was decided that the first week of May was the most convenient time for me, my wife, my daughter and her husband, my son and his wife and my youngest son.

Since all of us are water and boating oriented people, (I have a sailboat in San Francisco) the decision came easy to charter in the Virgin Islands and have the freedom to go where we want and when we want without being stack to a schedule or be corralled in and out of a cruise ship by uniformed personnel.

Next major step was to find the right boat and the right charter company. After spending several days researching the web and reading trip reports on traveltalkonline.com, I finally decided that, for seven people, I wanted a comfortable and reliable boat with good accommodations and comforts. Although most of the charter companies are in Tortola, I wanted to leave from St. Thomas, mainly for two reasons. It is much easier to fly to St. Thomas than to Tortola and also I wanted to spend some time in St. John which, according to several reports, has some of the most beautiful beaches in the islands.

VIP Yachts came out as a good potential candidate. Located at Compass Point Marina, they have an ideal location, they are not too far from St. John and also they were rated very high by sailonline.com . After studying their website and a couple of phone calls, I finally found the perfect boat for us. A new Tarquin 485 powerboat with all of the amenities I was looking for, such as big staterooms with island queen beds, air conditioning and generator.
Right after the decision was made, the deposit was sent and all of the seven flights booked with AA, booooom, the big news came. My daughter in law announced that she was pregnant with the baby due next August. Now… what do we do. After a few days of panic, my son, who is a doctor, assured me that it would still be ok to go on vacation. That was a close call.

Not three weeks passed by, that another rock dropped on my head. This time my daughter announced that she was also pregnant with the baby due in October. After more sleepless nights, the decision was made that, also for her, it would be ok to travel in May.
By now I was ready to take a vacation by myself.

The Trip

Day 1 – May 2, 2003

The itinerary

My wife and I took off with my daughter and son in law from San Francisco on America Airlines to St. Thomas through New York and arrived on time at 11:30 A.M. of May 2. From St. Thomas airport we took a cab to the Secret Harbor Resort where we had booked a two bedroom suite to spend the first night on the island. The resort is very nice and peaceful with a very private beach, calm waters, very friendly people and a delightful restaurant, the Blue Moon Café, right on the water.

Day 2 – May 3

First thing in the morning we took a cab to the Compass Point Marina to meet the people at VIP Yachts and board what it would be our new home for seven days. The boat “Driven” was absolutely beautiful with a full size refrigerator and plenty of storage space for food and luggage and a rich teak interior in all of the cabins. Also very attractive was a spacious aft deck dining area large enough to accommodate ten people at the table. Being a sailor and used to cramped cockpits, I could not believe the room available for sitting or walking around. Immediately, everybody’s favorite place was the fly-bridge with Bimini top and with comfortable seating for everyone. From up there you have a different view of the world and you can see around the entire boat for easy maneuvering and docking. The boat came with a RIB big enough for all seven of us and a convenient swim platform for easy access to the dinghy.

"Driven", our home for 7 days

At noon, my son and daughter in-law who left from Seattle the day before and my other son who left from Denver, arrived. Amazingly, all of their flights were also right on time and all managed to arrive at the marina according to schedule. Thank you, American Airlines for your cooperation. Now we were ready to go.

At the time of the reservations, in order to plan the best possible trip, I had purchased the Cruising Guide of the Virgin Islands and Virgin Islands Anchorages which are invaluable books, showing aerial views of the anchorages with the location of the moorings and dangerous reefs.
After a chart briefing by Glen, the general manager and a detailed walk-through by Steve, we were ready to cast off.
When I reserved the boat, not knowing what we really wanted, I only ordered split provisioning which means that we had enough food to get us started. Since feeding a family of seven adults (plus two unborn babies) is a difficult but critical task, on our way to St. John, we decided to stop in Red Hook to buy some good fish for a couple of dinners. We docked at the fuel dock and we took a short walk to Marina Market that was recommended to us as the supermarket with the freshest meat and fish on the island. It turned out that the owner is originally from San Francisco and a distant cousin of my wife. What a coincidence.
The guy attending the fuel station was not too happy about me taking space without getting any fuel, but a $20.00 bill settled the issue.
My plan was to go to St. John, pick up a mooring at Caneel Bay, do some snorkeling and then continue to Leinster Bay and spend the night there. Our first pleasant surprise was that, even arriving at Caneel Bay at 3:30 PM, only half of the mooring balls were taken, so we had no trouble in selecting a mooring close to shore and swim to the beautiful white beach.
We found the same situation at Lienster Bay where almost half of the 25 mooring balls were still available. By the way, the moorings in St. John are still free.After a nice walk on the trail along the water and a visit on the old sugar mill, my wife, my daughter and daughter in law did the cooking, while the men fooled around with the dinghy and took pictures of a turtle that was swimming around the boat.

Day 3 – May 4

Naturally, we were all up very early. The sun was already shining and the skies were clear, indicating another beautiful day in paradise.
After breakfast, we left St. John for Soper’s Hole to do customs. We picked up a mooring in the middle of the harbor and went, by dinghy, to the Customs and Immigration building which is on the left side, facing the town.

Fortunately VIP Yachts gave us all of the documentation to be filled out in advance so the process was very fast and painless. The officer was very friendly and eager to talk about the beautiful islands we were about to visit. I did not have the nerves to ask him about the half million dollar Cigarette speed boat driven by three local teenagers who just arrived at the Customs dock with a roar of at least 100 Db.
After some walking, shopping and garbage dropping in Soper’s Hole we left for our next destination, Cane Garden Bay where we planned to spend the night.
Everything I heard of Cane Garden Bay was true. It was spectacular with the typical feeling of some exotic far-away land.
Unfortunately it was Monday and Quito was not performing. We decided to have dinner on the boat and go ashore later to tour the island and enjoy tropical drinks at Myett’s.

Day 4 – May 5

In the morning we left Cane Garden Bay and went to Trellis Bay, picked up a mooring and called The Last Resort on Bellamy Island to make reservation for dinner.

The original plan was to have dinner at Marina Cay and listen to Michael Bean who performs Mon – Fri., but my son and daughter in law, being fanatics about dogs, wanted to see the famous singing dogs perform at The Last Resort. It turned out that the dinner was excellent and the singing dogs were very funny.

A word of caution: the water around the east side of The Last Resort is very shallow, even for dinghies. If you are moored on the east side, it is advisable not to cut directly through, but to go around where all of the boats are.

Day 5 – May 6

We were up at 7:00 again for a fantastic breakfast on the aft deck. The sun was already warm and, after a good shower, we were ready to proceed to our next destination, Virgin Gorda with a stop at Cooper Island on the way. It only took us less than one hour to cross the channel and we arrived at Cooper Island around 10:00. What a beautiful spot this is, with a classic tropical beach bar atmosphere. The snorkeling at Cistern Point was also one of the best. We had lunch at the Cooper Island Beach Club which is a beach front restaurant and bar offering very good meals in an informal setting. We left at about 3:00 for our final destination of Leverick Bay. Along the way we cruised around the Baths and the coast of Virgin Gorda but we did not stop anywhere since we were planning to stop there on our way back.
We arrived at Leverick Bay quite late, around 4:00, but, again, we found plenty of available moorings to choose from. Immediately my two sons went on the radio to call Kilbrides Sunchaser at the Bitter End and arrange for a diving tour to the Rhone for the day after.
Fortunately they still had a couple of spots on their boat that was scheduled to leave at 9:00 the next morning.


The Dall’Era family

We then went ashore for the standard shopping and painkillers. After that, we had dinner on the boat where my son barbequed delicious snapper.
It was here that my son-in-law discovered that, at night, pointing a strong flashlight toward the water, attracts the fishes by the millions, including big sharks. So this became our entertainment for the evenings with lots of yelling and jumping by all of us and running around the boat trying to spot the biggest shark. We must have looked like a bunch of idiots.

Day 6 – May 7

At 9:00, on schedule, my two sons left for the Rhone for a diving expedition which turned out to be very interesting for them because Jean Michele Cousteau, the only living son of Jacques Cousteau, was among the group with his daughter.

The story goes that Bert Kilbrides, the founder of the business, and Jacques Cousteau were good friends and they used to dive together. Bert, who is now 89, and lives on Saba Rock island, still dives once in a while and we saw him walking around the BEYC still looking very good. According to the locals, Bert was one of the first to explore the waters of the BVI where he discovered more than 130 wrecks just off the reefs of Anegada. Also he was the diving advisor for the movie “The Deep”.
For people interested in diving, I would strongly recommend this organization. The people were very accommodating and, according to my sons, very knowledgeable and eager to help.

Right around noon we left Leverick Bay to move next door to the Bitter End to have lunch and settle for the day. This is really a beautiful place and we all agreed that it was the best so far. The grounds are spectacular, manicured and very well kept. We all rushed to the gift store to get BEYC shirts to show off at our yacht club.
We also took the dinghy to the reef behind Saba Rock where we were told that there was a mooring line just for dinghies. It was a very wet ride but the snorkeling was spectacular.
Right before 5:00 I realized that we were about to run out of water which it would have been a tragedy for the ladies. So we left our comfortable mooring to go to the fuel dock. The guy in charge told us immediately that he was ready to close and to come back tomorrow. I don’t know if this is typical or not, but after I told him that there would be an extra $25.00 for his troubles, he was not only willing to stay as much as needed but he also volunteered to take our garbage bag. So, my total cost for 185 gallons of water was $60.00. What a deal.

Sunset - Cane Garden Bay

Day 7 – May 8

We left early today because we planned, on our way to Norman Island, to stop at the Baths, the Rhone and the Caves.
A couple of moorings were still available at the Baths but dangerously close to shore. Here is where I really appreciated the maneuverability of a twin screw powerboat since we had to navigate between several very closely moored boats to reach our mooring balls. Because we were so close to shore, we decided to swim rather than taking the dinghy.
We only stayed there for a couple of hours but I wish we could have spent the entire day and hiked the nearby trails up to the top of the Baths.

Next, we stopped at the famous Caves which were the highlight of the trip. Inside the Caves the water is only four to five feet deep while just outside, it is forty feet. The variety of tropical fish was unique and with our underwater flashlight, we were able to admire the fantastic colors of the walls. Again we were lucky to find an available mooring right next to the last cave so we did not have to swim too far.

Unfortunately not too long after we got there, a tour boat came in from Road Town full of noisy day-trippers who snorkeled for about one hour and then left as fast as they arrived. For the entire hour the stereo on that obnoxious boat was blasting music so loud that the sound waves were reflecting from inside the caves making impossible even to identify the songs.
Disappointed for not having found any buried treasure, we left the Caves and cleared into the Bight on Norman Island by about 4:30pm and caught a relatively protected mooring away from the Willie T. but close enough to the Pirates where we were planning to have dinner. And what a dinner it was. We were lucky to be there on Thursday night when they have a spectacular buffet for a low cost of $25.00 per person including dessert. Also, very convenient was “Deliverance”, a boat service that, around 5:00 PM, does the round and comes along your boat to pick up your garbage at the cost of $3.00 per bag.

Before going back to Compass Point we also had to clear US Customs and Immigration at Cruz Bay. This turned out to be very easy and a fun adventure. We picked up a mooring in Caneel Bay and went by dinghy into Cruz Bay harbor and directly to the dinghy dock at the center of town. Again, as in Soper’s Hole, a group of local young men were cruising around near the Customs dock in a powerful, bright yellow and roaring speed boat, Miami Vice type. We wondered if those guys were in charge of delivering packages directly from Colombia.

We are now getting close to the end of our vacation and everyone has a long face and looking aimlessly at the horizon hoping for some magic super power that would let us stay for a few more days.
As we entered the channel to Compass Point Marina, we call VIP Yachts on the VHF to come out and direct us to the fuel dock to fill up the tanks. Here is when the most pleasant surprise came about. After all of that going back and forth from island to island for seven days, in spite of two powerful engines and a 15KW generator, we only used 115 gallons of diesel for a total of $218.00.

True, I did not push the boat very hard, since we cruised at around 10 knots most of the times, but still, considering the size and the weight of the vessel, it was not bad at all.
Since it was still early in the afternoon, we decided to do some touring of the island. I called Budget to rent a van and they came to the marina to pick us up for free. Great service.

It did not take me long to get used to the driving on the left side of the road and among other places we took this very winding, narrow and steep road to Paradise Point that has a fantastic view of the Harbor. We had our last painkillers while watching the sunset. Our vacation was over. After a delightful dinner at Dottie’s Front Porch restaurant at the marina, we spent the night on the boat ready to leave early next morning for the airport.

Conclusions

It was a perfect family vacation and it worked out very well for us just before the arrivals of the babies. It was wonderful for me and my wife to spend time together with our sons, daughter, son in law and daughter in law and realize that we all got along so well. I strongly would recommend it to anyone as a way of spending some quality time together as a family.

As far as the boat is concerned, I don’t think that there is anything more comfortable than a large size power cruiser. Although a sailor for over forty years, I was glad that a decided to go with the Tarquin 485. Sure, in certain occasions I missed the exhilaration, excitement and thrill of sailing, but, overall, I had a lot of fun and enjoyment in driving a powerful motorboat. Another possible solution for all of us would have been to charter a large catamaran, but, after looking at one, I did not feel that the sleeping accommodations were as comfortable as with the Tarquin. Also, catamarans don’t have a fly-bridge.

The main difference of having a power boat rather than a sailboat is that we did not have to worry about the direction of the wind. At 1800 RPM we were cruising at about 10 knots in complete comfort and with a commanding view of the surroundings.

The funny thing is that I noticed that more than half of the sailboats and especially the catamarans were motoring instead of sailing. I asked the people on a huge catamaran from the Moorings if they ever used the sails and they said that, except for sailing down wind, it was much more convenient to motor.

Unfortunately we had to skip many other beautiful islands such as Anegada, Jost Van Dyke, Peter Island and Sandy Spit. This is good, because it gives us a strong reason to start organizing another trip for next year (if my son and daughter find a babysitter).

The Captain, Arnaldo Dall'Era

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