Flying Cloud Trip Report (2/4/06 - 2/27/96)

Part - 1

I left home at 3:20 am, the temperature was 14 degrees F.Eleven hours later I was clearing customs and immigration on Beef Island/Tortola and find no John Courage at Pusser's. There was a small group of us heading out to the ship on the 5 o'clock launch. I didn't find too many familiar faces on board. Max was filling in for Adrian. Kid the bartender, Helly the purser, Harry the engineer, Taran the Sailor, in addition to Danny and Bridge from the galley were the only old hands. One big obvious change was the replacement of the Honduran flag (The one you fly upside down if you are having trouble with pirates.) with the flag of Equatorial Guinea. The life rings now proclaimed Malabo as "Home Port". As I suspected, this was the night of Bomba's Full Moon Magic Mushroom Tea Party. There was a group going from the ship about 11pm, That meant returning to the ship almost 24 hours since had seen a bunk; I opted to skip the party on shore and meet some of my new shipmates and catch up on the news from Max and the rest of the crew. I wish I had flown down a day sooner and been able to go to the party; but I have been to four ... enough for at least a decade. Went to sleep as soon as the steel drum band finished and slept past breakfast. Went to do my regular Monday things. Budget couldn't give me a car for any of my weekends. Good season! Avis had cars, but seemed reluctant to make a reservation for someone who was not going to be resident on the island and said he would sail in every Friday night. Just then a couple I had met on a previous visit came in and during our brief visit, the man behind the counter became convinced "I was for real" and made the reservation. I also got my BVI's temp. drivers license for chasing goats and chickens on Virgin Gorda. Danny made my favorite, shepherd's pie for lunch. My first of too many meals at which I ate too much this trip. While waiting to weigh anchor, Nigel and Mary Peters (X-WJ'er captain and purser) sailed along side in a 45' boat they had chartered. We talked over the water and then later by radio. We (Max knows them also) tried to set up a meeting, however they had problems with the boat and had to return to Tortola and we never got together. Max and I have known each other since the 80's and as he has many time, he let me take the wheel as raised the anchor and sailed out of Road Town. That afternoon we sailed to Beef Island and swam off the side of the ship. There was no activity that night except to meet more people. It was a very nice group of people and interesting as well. The usual 30% were sailing alone or not as couples. The average age was up almost 10 years, not only this week but all three weeks I was aboard. Max said this was happening on all the ships. Didn't bother me to feel like a kid, that's the way I act anyway. The next day we sailed to Cooper Island. Caught up on sleep and came ashore for lunch. Went back to the ship and was talking to Max. Although we both agree with the "3 F rule", Max confessed he had bought a boat. It was a 55 ft. steel hulled ketch, but he quickly said he had it up for sale and a potential buyer was going to look at it this weekend. Whenever Max and I sail together we always have a discussion going on about something, often boating and sailing. This week it was "Did he really want to sell the boat or not". He argued both side vigorously all week ... changing sides daily, sometimes hourly. My position was firm, "You don't buy boats; you rent them!", but discussions like this with Max are stimulating and fun. Wednesday morning we sailed to Spanish Town on Virgin Gorda. I teamed up with five others and we rented a jeep. In fact I think it is the same six passenger jeep "The French Connection" rented a couple of years ago ... Tom, your finger prints are still deeply engraved in the grab rail. We had a good time driving around the island. We had all been there before so we chose our favorite spots. We were going to take lunch to Savannah Bay (A beautiful beach) but a rain shower came up. We were hungry, so we ducked into Gorgio's restaurant. It is new, the owners don't speak English, a waiter does and acts as an interpreter. The food was fantastic. I had a fried pizza ... like a regular pizza with mushrooms and pepperoni, folded in half and fried with just a few drops of olive oil ... not the least bit greasy. A little pizza sauce was then poured on top - great! Everyone was happy with their meal. We ended up at Mad Dogs bar and had a few beers. That night after eating on the ship, I went ashore for the live music at the Bath and Turtle pub. Good evening ashore ... lots of dancing and a happy midnight launch. The next day we sailed to White Bay on Jost Van Dyke. After lunch a group of us walked over the hill to Foxy's and listened to him sing and philosophize. That night we went to Rudy's for excellent lobsters and then dancing to the live music at Foxy's. Another happy midnight launch. Friday we sailed to Little Harbor on Peter Island and enjoyed great snorkeling. After a pleasant evening sail back to Road Town, we had the Farewell Dinner. After the flambeau, we had a scavenger hunt ... it was different. I ended up wearing some girls bra over my eyes ... what I won't do to win a free bottle of champagne. The bottle was grabbed from my hands just as I was about to open it ... a crewmen reminded me of a treaty the ship had signed with the Royal Air Force. Flying Cloud Trip Report (2/4/06 - 2/27/96) Part - 2 Saturday morning I started saying good bye to all the wonderful people I had met this week ... lots of exchanging address and hopes that we could sail again some time. I then gathered up my laundry and went to pick up my rental car. I had negotiated a low price for their most basic form of transportation. As usual they didn't have one ready to go, so they gave me a sporty red model with A/C, auto, AM/FM tape, and a racing wing on the back. Dropped off my laundry and headed for the beach at Cane Garden Bay. It was a beautiful day and I junked plan A, which was to go back to the ship to changed before picking up Bruce and Lee, and picked them up in my bathing suit. Their plane was actually two minuets early - that's a first! We had drinks at Pusser's and then dinner at The Fish Trap (excellent grilled dolphin) For details see their report WJ-FC REPORT 2/22/96 on this BB. After dinner I returned Bruce and Lee to their hotel to recuperate from their long day and headed for Fort Burt. This old fort has been made into a hotel and the crew has been hanging out there since Quito's (their old hangout) started charging a $5 cover charge. Nice end of a good day. By the next morning, the ship had left the dock, where it had spent the night. After breakfast, a launch took Max and I over to the dock to get our rental cars. I picked up Bruce and Lee, and we headed for the beach. We lay under some palm trees and listened to some beautiful music and some fire and brimstone preaching comings from a nearby church. About 3pm we headed back to Pusser's ... still no John Courage. I took the launch at four and washed up for the new group of passengers. that began arriving on the five o'clock launch. Each week I was aboard, about 10% of the passengers. stay for a second week. So the seven of us have gotten to know each other for one week already. In addition there were three people boarding this week that I had sailed with before. So, by early evening I had this core of friends to start the week off, and ten less names to learn. The new passengers. and the "old salts" enjoyed the steel drum band and many stayed up until the band left. On Monday we set sail for Beef Island and swimming off the ship. As we were sailing, Max told me he had sold his boat. He described how it felt like a huge load had been taken off his back. I assured him it had! I thought he had learned his lesson, but soon he was talking about what he should buy next. This discussion took up about 30 minuets a day until the topic shifted to "can you see the southern cross at 18.5 D. N. Lat." (See Bruce and Lee's report for the results of the later topic.) Max had narrowed his search for his next boat to between a 22' trailerable and a 75' schooner. He had lots of candidates in between, but none seemed to last for more than a few hours, I was steadfast; Nothing below 40' if he was going to sail it in the Atlantic or Caribbean, and you DON'T BUY it, you RENT IT! Part - 4 Tuesday we sailed to Mountain Point on Virgin Gorda, very good snorkeling and beach volleyball. Talking to Max, it looked like this week would be very much like last week, as far as Islands were concerned and that was OK for me. Tortola, Virgin Gorda, and Jost Van Dyke are party islands. During my 23 day holiday, I was on one of those all but 6 evenings. I love the ship during the morning sails and afternoon beaches; but at night I will take a beach bar every time. The next morning found us back in Spanish Town and I organized another jeep caravan?? This trip was described in details I would prefer to forget in Bruce and Lee's report. Briefly we hit Savannah Bay too early and had to put up with the crowds, which at times grew as large as five people. Decided on lunch at Pusser's on Leverick Bay. I did encourage this decision because I thought this was the day the mystic road came out of the mists every two hundred years ... I was right. Ended the afternoon at Mad Dogs ... I started having a feeling that a pirate attack may be imminent, so I volunteered to stay alert in the hammock and guard the jeep while the others went to the Baths and Devils Bay. Max jogged out to Mad Dogs and we discussed cruising catamarans ... the pirate attack did not materialize. That night was the Valentines Day dance at The Bath and Turtle Pub. The music was a little slower, but very good. A good group from the ship were there and we had lots of fun until the midnight launch. The next day we sailed for Jost Van Dyke. We arrived late in the morning at White Bay. Lunch was served on board and the first launch started for shore. Amazing Grace was anchored nearby and their launch headed for shore also. The launches approached the beach, but seemed to avoid going up on the beach. Through binoculars it became obvious that there was hardly any beach to land on. What there was of a beach, was very steep. The F.C. launch drove up on the beach and rolled on its' side far enough to throw the passengers around a little and take on some water. The passengers. got off and the Amazing Grace launch towed our launch back with about a foot of water in it. Most of the passenger on the beach walked over the hill to Great Harbor and both ships motored over to the much more sheltered harbor. So the first launch ashore in Great Harbor wasn't until 3pm ... just in time to hear Foxy sing. Very good afternoon ... except for the passengers. in the first launch, who were still a little shaken up. That night I went into Rudy's for a lobster dinner. Rudy had recently had the walls painted white. He had marker pens spread around so you could write on the walls. If you stand at the start of the buffet table and look to your right, you will see "Tony (Pyrate) 2/96". After dinner, it was down to Foxy's for dancing until midnight. Friday morning we sailed to the caves on Norman Island. This is my favorite snorkeling spot and it was no disappointment. That evening we sailed back to Road Town, arriving well after dark. The good byes started after the farewell dinner. I addition to Lee and Bruce, there were a lot of people I was going to miss the next week. It is hard to compare one weeks passengers. with another, but this week allowed me to meet many interesting and friendly people. Rosie and Hide were two women from Austria who were staying for the next week. Early in this week I had them start teaching me some Austrian/German. It was fun ... I gave a list of words/phrases I wanted to learn (Yes, No, very good, need a drink, etc.). They tried to teach me "how are you?", but it was too hard, so I asked how to say "everything". I then adopted the phrase "everything OK?" I guess that combined with my accent really sounded funny ... they always laughed when I said it. Fortunately their English was much better and we had a good time together. Saturday morning I spent some time with Bruce and Lee ... mostly trying to bribe them to favorably influence their report. Said goodbye to all and did the usual laundry/car thing. Spent that afternoon at the beach. That night it was back to Cane Garden Bay for dinner and dancing at Quito's. Sunday I went to sage mountain (the highest point on Tortola) for some quiet time ... very beautiful. They are building a restaurant in the car park near the peak; it should be open soon. It has an observation deck and should be a pleasant place to eat. Spent the rest of Sunday at the beach. Took the 4 o'clock launch out to the ship, after being promised by Pusser's that the John Courage would be flowing tomorrow morning. After showering, I hung out at the bar with the 7 other people staying over from last week and we compared notes on our weekend activities. I told one woman what an ugly purple car I had to drive around all weekend. She said she saw it on Sat. when I drove it out on the dock next to the ship. She said it was exactly like the one she drives at home, and she loved that color ... ooops. The new passengers. started to arrive on the 5 o'clock launch. Again, it was a very nice and interesting group. A buffet dinner was served on deck and the band began to set up. A good amount of dancing, led by those of us who stayed over from last week ... we didn't have to travel all day and were ready to party. Monday morning I returned my rental car and was delighted to find the John Courage flowing at Pusser's. Rosie's watch said it was 4 pm in Austria, so I had two pints.