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This is the name of our boat, "B'SHERT." We guessed the language was Hebrew and when I looked it up on the internet that is what it was. It means, "fate," or "meant to be."
This is a diagram of the living areas of the B'SHERT. As you can see there are four staterooms and each stateroom has a bathroom and separate shower of its own.
What you cannot see is that the darn thing is totally AIR CONDITIONED!
We did not use the A/C during the day, but we used it every night to sleep in cooled splendor.
Here is a shot of the B'Shert sitting at mooring.
I hope it was not B'Shert that happened next... Cindy was getting back on the boat to get money to go get provisions and tripped over a dock line. She twisted her knee badly (later determined to have broken the Femur in the knee area). Bev escorted her to the hospital via ambulance. After a few hours and an X-ray it was determined that it was a severe deep tissue injury. We decided to continue on the trip in spite of Cindy being in intense pain most of the time. She was taped up and given crutches (all for a total of $130).
Cindy was a real trooper (Gazelle's words) and was not a damper on the spirits of the rest of the crew. Everybody chipped in. Bev and Barb took care of the provisioning and the majority of the kitchen duties. The boys sailed the boat. Cindy sat on her tushy.
The girls went to lunch, then parked Cindy in the shade and went to buy provisions.
The guys went sailing. The Moorings friendly captain is showing us the ropes. The ropes ended up being fairly hard to pull on and we shared hauling and winching duties in order not to expire of over exertion.
We came back from the training sail, said good-bye to our friendly captain, and waited for Bev and Barb to return from the grocery store.
When they got back, we loaded the provisions and Cindy on the boat and got underway to Norman Island, an anchorage Gary knew that was fairly close and had plenty of moorings so we could find one at the late hour.
This is the route we followed (yellow): Saturday night - onboard boat at Moorings, Road Town, Tortola; Sunday night - Norman Island; Monday night - Cooper Island; Tuesday night - Saba Rock, Virgin Gorda; Wednesday night - Cane Garden Bay, Tortola; Thursday night - Little Harbor, Jost Van Dyke; Friday night - Soper's Hole, Tortola; Saturday night - Moorings, Road Town, Tortola.
On the way to Norman Island we passed Pelican Point. This is just a sample of the scenery in the BVI.
Our first sunset of the sailing trip was not a disappointment!
Our first dinner at sea was steak with all the fixin's. Gary grilled to perfection. We usually ate outside on the afterdeck. No bugs were in evidence. The night was spent in the comfort of our air conditioned staterooms.
Our first stop the second day was "The Baths." Here boulders come down to the sea and tropical fish cavort in gay profusion (not bad, huh?).
This was the first indication the rest of us had that Barb was deeply concerned about fish with "buggy eyes" and "no necks." Apparently Barb has a long held fear of fish of any sort.
Several of us entered the dangerous waters and risked becoming no neck fish bait to see the sights. Barb declined and Cindy was not yet in good enough shape to feed to the fishes.
Cooper Island was our next stop. We got there early to ensure a mooring and commenced to relax. Our catamaran was so fast we consistently got where we were going well before we expected.
We swam for awhile and dined ashore for the first time. "We," at this point, did not include Cindy or Barb for swimming (injury/fear of fish respectively) or Cindy (injury) for dining ashore. We brought Cindy back a doggy bag (sautéed shrimp).
The next day was Jim's day at the helm. We left the Cooper Island anchorage in a professional manner.
From Cooper Island we sailed around practicing tacking and jibing, and observing the lovely islands. Practice was necessary due to an unfortunate tendency of the jib sheets to hang up on various pieces of hardware on the bottom of the mast. Expert coordination was necessary to keep just the right tension on both the sheets so a snag did not develop.
Eventually such coordination began to emerge... eventually and slowly.
Once again we arrived early at our next stop, Saba Rock, Virgin Gorda, the smallest inhabited island in the BVI. The rock is entirely covered by an attractive resort and restaurant.
Before we took up a mooring we stopped by the water and ice dock (where the sailboat is tied up in this picture. And thereby hangs a tale...
As our intrepid helmsman Jim piloted us expertly up to the dock, Rob and Gary stood ready to throw dock lines and step ashore to secure the boat. The plan was Gary would throw a line and Rob would jump to the dock to tie us up.
In a temporary lapse of judgment and excess of zeal, Gary (hip and knee replacements and all) threw himself ashore in an estimated vertical leap of about 1 foot. Unfortunately, the actual vertical leap involved was closer to 2 feet and Gary deposited himself on the dock, to the gasps of several observers, in a sort of sprawling, rolling, knee skinning manner. Leaping immediately to his feet, relatively unscathed, he completed his mission of tying up the boat. He was sore that night.
The Saba Rock dock hand, upon learning of Cindy's injury as well, christened us the "Wrecking Crew."
During this stop, Gary repositioned the Marine Corps Flag he had brought for us to fly to this more optimum position. Admiral Partington was gracious enough to acquiesce to this display, perhaps agreeing with Gary that it made it unlikely that "anyone would mess with us."
It was also at Saba Rock that Barb was enjoined to venture into the water for the first time, despite the very high possibility of the presence of fish. Figuring a large inflation device would make her harder to swallow and likelier to float, she was issued a pink inner tube. Her aspect was so striking in this get up that Gary christened her the "Sugar Plum Fairy."
After some additional persuasion and gnashing of teeth, Barb did indeed enter the water and did indeed survive.
That evening the uninjured members of the crew once again went ashore for dinner, leaving Cindy sniveling on the boat. We brought her back ahi tuna.
Departing Saba Rock the next morning we made our way to Sandy Cay. However, the winds were high and the prospects of anchoring there caused us to delay our visit there till the next day.
Next stop Cane Garden Bay, Tortola. We sailed around for awhile in light winds, making a hash of our tacks and jibes. Eventually we fired up the engines and transited the short distance to Cane Garden Bay, our anchorage for the night. Barb and Bev were ferried ashore by Gary, where they shopped for some ice and critical ingredients for that evening's on board repast of linguine with shrimp.
Cane Garden Bay is a well know hot spot on Fridays and Saturdays, but we were there on Wednesday, so it was not crowded. This locale is celebrated in a Jimmy Buffet song. The yellow building is Quito Rymer's Gazebo and the pink one is Rymer's Beach Resort. Rymer is a popular local singer who performs live on Thursdays and Saturdays.
Note that there has been no mention of opening the holding tank valves while between destinations.
Departing Cane Garden Bay the next morning we made our way to Sandy Cay. This is a small picturesque uninhabited island popular for snorkeling and walks.
After one abortive attempt at anchoring in one spot we chose another and dropped the hook. After quite awhile of trying to determine if we were truly anchored well enough to leave the boat, it was decided we were not. So, Gary volunteered to stay with the boat (and Cindy) to ensure it would not go astray. The rest of us went ashore.
About the time this picture was taken, the anchor began to drag and Gary was frantically calling to us to return and help him re-anchor. We did not hear him.
Eventually, with much back an forth between the anchor windlass and the engine controls, and with the advice of a neighboring boater, he was able to bring B'Shert to a stable position.
Bev, Barb, Jim, and I remained ashore with the girls taking a great walk all the way around the island and the Skipper and I going for an extended snorkeling swim. We found that the further we got from the dingy beach to prettier the reef and fish became. There were often large schools of very small, almost transparent, fish swimming all around us.
Departing Sandy Cay was very exciting, but the "no harm, no foul" adage seemed to apply.
While enroute to our next destination, Sidney's Peace and Love at Little Harbor on Jost Van Dyke, Gary called on the VHF to reserve six lobster dinners. Yes, you heard correctly, six, Cindy was going ashore if she could prove herself worthy by getting in the water for the first time.
The radio conversation was pretty entertaining as Gary conversed with "Sweetie" to secure the requisite number of dinners.
Once moored we grabbed Cindy, resplendent in a personal floatation device, and drug her down the stairs at the back of the boat. With Gary yelling, "keep your arms down," we supported her efforts down the four steps and she slipped fetchingly into the sea.
This seems an appropriate time not to describe how Cindy had been taking care of nature's demands while being too hard to drag down the stairs to the facilities. Suffice it to say that being in the water was a great relief.
After our swim, we dressed for dinner and posed for a group photo. Cindy is happy, she is going in to her first on shore dinner of the trip, and it is lobster.
Upon arriving at the restaurant, Gary met "Sweetie" in person and we ordered our reserved dinners. We were told the bar was "self-serve." I took this to mean we had to go to the bar and order our own drinks rather than have them brought to us. WRONG! It really was self-serve. You just go behind the bar and make the drink you want. Then you write what you got on a tab for eventual payment.
Lobsters, freshly caught and delivered to the kitchen that day were brought with all the fixin's: corn-on-the-cob, cole slaw, potato salad, and rice. Everything was great, but best were the lobsters. THEY WERE HUGE! They were also extremely tasty, prompting Barb's memorable statement, "the next time I go to Red Lobster in Lincoln I'm going to cry!"
There was so much lobster the boys had to eat their own and finish the girl's second half. This was definitely the gastronomic highlight of the trip.
No trip to the BVI is complete without a stop at Foxy's. We sailed for awhile and then moored one harbor over to have lunch at this famous bar. As we ate we were entertained by a talented island singer.
Bev reclines in a "BVI barstool." The advantages of this set up are not immediately obvious, but are eventually realized. Nature's endless cycle of drink and pee can be indulged in with virtually no effort.
At some point our dingy became very attractive to the seagull population.
The three intrepid sailors combine to navigate and sail between ports-of-call. This was the easy part of the program. One person took the helmsman's duties for each day as the other two contributed advice. When physical effort was required the other two also served as the sail handlers and deck hands. I wish I had a picture of us raising the mainsail or furling the jib. Both involved plenty of huffing and puffing. Old though we are, we managed to provide the muscle needed to get the job done.
Our next to last evening on the boat was spent at Soper's Hole, back on Tortola. Upon arrival, all but Cindy went ashore. Bev and Barb shopped and obtained the required ingredients for what proved to be a delicious meal, while the guys slurped "Pain Killers" at Pusser's Bar. There they chatted at length with a guy who was about to depart on a family trip consisting of 20 family members. He said that this was their sixth trip and they always had a great time.
Upon returning to the boat the girls (minus the wounded Cindy) prepared a shrimp fettuccini that was divine.
The following morning we enjoyed a great breakfast again courtesy of Bev and Barb. We then departed Soper's Hole and steered to Norman Island (the same place we stayed our first night) to do a little swimming and relaxing before returning to the Moorings base in Road Town.
Cindy was totally intrigued by the permanently anchored boat that serves this harbor as a bar and grill. She desperately wanted to go and have a drink, but her injury prevented that much climbing around boats. We watched as others more fortunate drank and hurled themselves into the water from the second deck. Cindy was crazy with envy (she heard they sometimes do it naked).
In spite of being unable to visit the bar, a great time was had by all bobbing around the boat in the delightful waters of the Caribbean.
It was finally time to head for the barn. We sailed around for a little while and then put about for Moorings base. Gary did a spectacular job fitting the catamaran in between to other boats (see above).
Gary and Bev went shopping for dinner and over the next hour or two everyone enjoyed a very long, non-water-limited shower at the marina. Dinner was great, of course: grilled pork tenderloin, cabbage and potatoes, and lots of wine.
Sated as usual, we all enjoyed our last night on the B'Shert.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention Gary's heroic efforts to avoid wasting our leftover food, drink, and floats. He flagged down or otherwise accosted numerous people until virtually everything usable was in the hands of grateful people who were about to leave on their sails.