S/V Flying Cloud

February 19, 1997 to March 17,

(Includes island stay on Tortola, BVI's

by Tony Sibol

This is a trip report of a four week vacation in the British

Virgin Islands. Three weeks were spent on Flying Cloud.

2/19 (WED.) The flight to Tortola was uneventful.

Customs asked if I had any food stuffs. I said "two bags of

salted nuts" and was waved through. I am not sure what would

have happened if they knew each bag contained 1.5 pounds of

salted almonds, cashews, and Brazil nuts ... my

emergency/treat stash.

The taxi took me to Budget Rental and I picked up my

cheap (right hand drive; 5 speed left hand shift) car. I was

staying at the "Sea View" in Roadtown for the first time.

Cane Garden Bay was booked up ... I would have preferred to

stay there. The Sea View was clean, had a small pool, and

they served a complimentary continental breakfast. I was

satisfied for $55 per day, including all taxes (This was

high season; it's cheaper in the summer.). That night I

stayed in Roadtown and ate at "The Hungry Sailor" and found

Fitz a past Flying Cloud Bartender, working as a waiter. I

had great grilled dolphin.

2/20 - 2/23 (Thur. - Sun.) With the car I visited a

number of nice beaches on the island, looked up some

friends, and usually spent the evenings at Cane Garden bay

(The social spot on Tortola.). The one exception was Friday

night. A group of us went to Pusser's landing at West End;

they have a $13.95 buffet with great jerk chicken (and other

meats), $2 beers and a live band. Saturday night was

"Bomba's Full Moon Magic Mushroom Tea Party" ... this is a

monthly world famous event. I had been to four and I was not

disappointed when one of my friends quoted a great

philosopher when she said "No one goes there any more

because it is so crowded!"

Sunday I visited the Mooring (A large charter operation

and marina). I found some unhappy people. It seems the winds

had been very high for quite some time. Most people just

sailing in the BVI's could get around all right, but a

number of folks were waiting for a break in the weather

(particularly the winds) before sailing south of the BVI's.

One family had been there for 4 weeks and wanted to sail to

Antigua, but were almost out of vacation time. I will

summarize the weather situation for the whole trip. There is

normally one windy, cool, damp week in the BVI's and it

usually happens near the end of Dec. ... hence the name

"Christmas Winds". This year they were late and lasted nine

weeks. They were starting to abate during my second week and

the third week was normal/perfect. I stayed out of the water

on many days of the first 10 I was there.

Sunday evening I boarded the ship and found most of the

crew I sailed with in Aug. 96 were still aboard. I also

found two people from the Fantome reposition cruise aboard.

For those not familiar with WJ'ers, getting to know the crew

is a real plus for many; myself included. I have known

Captain Adrian for quite a few years. Other members of the

crew, like Danny the chief cook has been aboard since my

first cruise 10 years ago. A passenger (pax.) will come into

contact with 4 or 5 officers plus the stewards (about 5).

Most are quite willing to talk to you about themselves,

their families, and where they come from ... there are lots

of interesting stories. Today was a pleasant evening of

catching up on news, renewing friendships and meeting some

new friends among the arriving pax.

2/24 (Mon.) We sailed to Salt Island; the

population is now down to three people. We just swam off the

side of the ship, since we arrived in the late afternoon.

This week I could only get a confirmed reservation in the

BQ. There were only three of us, so it was fine. I was

starting to get a cold/flu? Turned in early.

2/25 (Tues.) Our destination was Norman Island ... my

favorite snorkeling spot. I just laid around in the warm

sun, no snorkeling for me. That night we sailed to an

anchorage between Norman and Virgin Gorda. The night was

cold and damp, so it was off to bed right after dinner.

2/26/97 (Wed.) It was a nice sunny day when we arrived at

Virgin Gorda and I was feeling a little better. I went into

the Bath & Turtle Pub in Spanish Town and found out the

"Lobster Roll" was no longer available ... big

disappointment. I walked out to Mad Dog's bar and had a

shrimp salad sandwich and took a nap in their hammock. Went

back on the 4 pm launch and laid down on my bunk ... slept

for 15 straight hours. I missed a mock wedding, swizzels,

dinner, and dance at the bath and Turtle. Missing all of the

above were firsts for me!

2/27 (Thur.) Salt Island was the island de jour. It was

cold and damp, so I stayed warm and dry on the ship ... but

I was feeling much better. There is coffee and hot water

available at all times. I usually drink coffee, but this

trip I made use of a very good selection of teas and hot

chocolate that is located next to the urn.

2/28 (Fri.) We meet up with the supply ship "Amazing

Grace" at Cooper Island. I went ashore and enjoyed the warm

sun and later got a beer at the beach club. Things don't

change fast on Cooper Island, but a small (12 X 12 ft.) shop

has opened near the dock. A bar is being built and should be

open by now. A small restaurant is also being built and will

be operated in conjunction with the local lobster fisherman.

I didn't get to visit Amazing Grace ... there were no visits

arranged. I did get to see Peter the food service manager.

His participation in the Fantome cruise I did late last

year, accounted for some fantastic meals. Unfortunately his

best creations were too hot and spicy for 95% of the human

race ... of course I loved it! When he toned down the spices

it was so good that we ran out of food! His comment was "I

guess we will have to prepare enough food for 150 pax." I

think there were 85 pax. that week!

Speaking of food, I do look forward to the food on the

ship. I don't eat a lot (Capt'n Adrian always looks at my

sparse meals and jokes, "Are you going to eat all of that

yourself or share it with someone?" Real treats for me are

the tray of sliced fruit each morning, the variety of

salads, vegetables, and soups. There is not a large

selection at each meal, but I can't imagine anyone going

hungry. The quality of the food is quite satisfactory as far

as I am concerned.

We left the Island about 4 pm and sailed to Roadtown and

the usual farewell dinner. I was feeling much better and

attended my first "bar closing".

3/1 (Sat.) Said goodbye to departing pax. and

dropped off my laundry and picked up my rental car. Barb,

one of the people I had met on the Fantome last fall,

offered to contribute toward the rental and spend some time

at the beaches also. Spent some time on the beach at Cane

Garden Bay and made reservations at Rhymers Hotel for the

last three days of my vacation. That evening I had dinner

at Quito's Gazebo with some very nice folks I met on the

ship that week. I stayed after the excellent meal of shrimp,

done in a Caribbean style with a lot of garlic, and listened

to Quito play with a group called "The Edge". They played

good island style music;but the highlight of the evening was

when a elderly couple came in and requested Quito play some

songs from his first tape ("Caribbean Run" 1987). The couple

started the dancing and the floor quickly filled. It brought

back some pleasant memories. With the response he got, I

suspect Quito might start working in some of his old songs

into Sat. night performances.

3/2 (Sun.) After breakfast on the ship, I went to my

cabin to get my things together for a day at the beach. I

wanted to get off the ship before the 11 am fire drill. The

general alarm bell went off at 10:48. As he often does,

Captain Adrian wanted to see who he would catch off guard by

a surprise drill ... he certainly caught me. This drill was

followed by a Man Overboard drill. A little inconvenient for

pax. spending the weekend on the ship, but I don't mind ...

it's good to see the effort being put into safety. I was now

moved into a standard cabin for the remaining two weeks of

my time on board. WJ'er selects a cabin mate to share the

cabin ... there is no extra charge and as usual the person I

shared the cabin with was congenial and considerate, we got

along fine.

Barb and I drove to Brewers bay, a very good place for

snorkeling, but there was surf that would have made

snorkeling dangerous. It was still pleasant on the beach.

For lunch we drove down to Cane Garden bay and spent the

rest of the afternoon there. There was live music at

Myette's, provided by "Ivory and Steel" ... two guys playing

steel drums and an electric keyboard. They were very good.

That evening the new pax. boarded the ship and the party

started all over again ... and I was feeling much better.

3/3 (Mon.) After allowing some morning time for shopping

and Island tours for the new pax.. we sailed out of Roadtown

around 1:30 pm. Our destination was Great Harbor on Peter

Island. The activities that afternoon were safety briefing

and swimming off the side of the ship. That night the

activity was "Naught Nautical Trivia"; Lance the bartender

and I were the judges. (The questions don't change often, so

I have heard a lot of the best, so I don't compete. Note, I

said the "best", not correct ... that's because the right

answer only gets you one point ... the most creative earns 3

pts ... if it's creative and on a level with Lance and my

minds, we have awarded as many as 10 points!)

3/4 (Tues.) We returned to Cooper Island and this time I

did some snorkeling ... very good! We got the dress up party

over with early this week. I donned my handy toga and kept

it on for a few hours. Not much dancing this week.

3/5 (Wed.) Virgin Gorda day (almost every wed. is

... lots to do there.) After lunch at the Bath and Turtle

Pub, I spent most of the day hanging around the baths and

Mad dog's bar. That night there was a good jump-up at the B

& T Pub. I made up for missing it last week and returned on

the mid-night launch.

3/6 (Thur.) The ship made an early start for Jost Van

Dyke. this included a sail out into the Atlantic and then

down the north side of Tortola. Our first stop was the sandy

spit off Green Cay. A good beach, with fair snorkeling. The

snorkeling is usually good on the reef leading to Green Cay,

but the waves were breaking over the reef and snorkeling

would have been dangerous.

That night I went into Rudy's for a lobster dinner ... he

had extras and gave me a second lobster; very good.

Afterwards a short walk down to Foxy's ... surprised to see

Foxy singing at 9:30 pm; he usually only sings in the

afternoon. It turned out the Mother of one of the regular

band members had died, so the live band didn't play that

night. I returned on the 11 pm launch and there was a good

group at the bar till 2ish.

3/7 (Fri.) At the crack of dawn, the ship motored across

to Thatch Cut, at the west end of Tortola and sailed up Sir

Frances Drake Channel to Little Harbor on Peter Island.

After a fine day snorkeling, we sailed to Roadtown; arriving

just after sun set.

3/8 (Sat.) After say good bye to the departing pax. I

picked up my car and drove down to West End for a little

shopping at Soper's Hole Wharf (shops) and Marina. There

were showers in the area and I decided to get the little

shopping I had to do out of the way. By noon the weather had

cleared and I spent the rest of the day at Cane Garden Bay.

That evening I went to the Jolly Roger for dinner and music.

3/9 (Sun.) Drove around the island and hit a couple of

beaches. Felt restless, so I went to Bomba's Shack. Their

live music starts at 3pm ... enjoyed that and then went back

to the ship to shower and meet the next group of pax.

3/10 (Mon.) That afternoon was my last week to take

the wheel as we raised, first the anchor and then the sails,

and headed out into Sir France Drake Channel. As we sailed

to Beef Island, Adrian talked about the upcoming dry dock.

Most of the work to be done would not be apparent to pax.

However the most visible changes would be the conversion of

the two BQ's (bachelor quarters) into honeymoon suites. All

the plumbing fixtures in all the cabins would be replaced.

We swam off the side of the ship in the afternoon. That

evening I got to know many of the new passengers better ...

a varied and congenial group. The conversations around the

ship went well into the morning in fact one in particular

out on the widows net didn't end until about 3:30am.

3/11 (Tues.) The ship tied up to a rock near the caves at

Norman Island. The snorkeling was fantastic; as usual. Got

lots of underwater shots and in the afternoon some of us

just floated around on deck pads ... just like a jellyfish

... "life without a brain"! Late in the afternoon we sailed

to an anchorage closer to tomorrow's port of call. There

were a group of six of us that were enjoying each other's

company very much, so I asked if they would like to join me

in a jeep rental on Virgin Gorda. <HO! HO! HO!>

3/12 (Wed.) The six of us (We ranged in age from a 12 and

14 years old up to much larger numbers.) definitely decided

to rent the jeep after Adrian pointed out that you can only

see the best beaches if you have a jeep and that it is

almost impossible to get lost on Virgin Gorda! (Obviously my

five passengers are not on the internet!) Our first stop was

Savannah Bay, a group from a cruise ship were just leaving

as we arrived and that left us alone on what some say is one

of the top ten beaches in the world. The two girls and Dave

the young folks Father, could have spent the whole day here;

but the 12 and 14 year old hadn't eaten since breakfast ...

snacks didn't count. So we drove up to Leverick Bay for a

proper lunch. Fine with me; there isn't even a beach bar on

Savannah Bay yet. After some photo stops near Gorda Peak, we

did the Baths, Devils Bay and Mad Dog's bar. The last bit of

excitement came when I was awakened from a nap in Mad Dog's

hammock at 3:53pm to drive back to the 4pm launch. The

stories of the ride back got more and more exciting with

each retelling. (I got a note from one of the girls

addressed to me AKA Mario Andretti.) Of course the real

reason everyone wanted to get back to the ship was to report

to Adrian that "Tony got lost again!"

That evening after dinner on the ship we went into the

Bath & Turtle Pub for the live band. It was a good party and

a happy group returned on the mid-night launch.

3/13 (Thur.) After a short sail out into the Atlantic, we

put into Leverick Bay, in North Sound, Virgin Gorda. At

story time Adrian asked if I had gotten lost "again!" on

Virgin Gorda. After I confessed, he allowed me no time for

my explanation of the many extenuating circumstances.

There was only a small beach here. All kinds of

small boats were available and transportation to Saba Rock

and The Bitter End Yacht Club. Pusser's landing had a pool

which we could use. That night there was a fantastic

fireworks display. At first I thought it would just be a few

rockets from a private yacht; but it turned out to be 20

minuets of big commercial stuff. No one had any idea of why

the display was put on ... so we thanked Tusola the

Activities Mate.

3/14 (Fri.) Cooper Island was the destination. Very good

snorkeling, and then the six of us visited the beach bar.

Susan, one of the gang of six, attempted to set the world

record for drinking "Pain Killers"! She had no problem as

far as PK's per minuet; but between us all we didn't bring

enough money ashore for Susan to make a clean sweep of the

PK record book. (A side note: As I drove the launch back to

the ship, Susan told the crewman I shouldn't be driving

because I had had a beer ... what a nerve! There Susan, we

are even for you telling Adrian I got lost again. :)

We sailed back to Roadtown that evening and the last

night aboard was relatively quiet.

3/15 (Sat.) Drove around the Island with one of the

"group of six", dropped her off at the airport and headed

for Cane Garden Bay. Checked into Rhymers and relaxed on the

beach until the happy hours began. Stopped by Sabastian's By

The Sea to see how Lance the ship's bartender was doing. He

is thinking about leaving the ship and working at Sabastians

full time ... on weekends he is working there to see how it

"feels". Quito charges a cover charge if you don't have

dinner there so I ate at the Jolly Roger in West End and

listened to their live music. (Wish I had gone to Quito's

because a girl from the Fantome relocation cruise was there,

and would be on Flying Cloud the next week.)

3/16 (Sun.) Laid around on the beach till noonish. Had

lunch at the restaurant on top of Sage Mountain ... very

good food (That's what my notes say ... can't remember what

I had!). Adrian had invited me out to the ship for the

Sunday night buffet and steel drum band. That's when I found

out Mary from the Fantome trip was aboard; also Zelda,

Fantome Purser was there to fill in when Valeri (Purser)

left to return to CA. I had a busy evening visiting and

saying farewells and thank you's to Mary and the crew. Spent

the rest of the evening sitting on Rhymer's veranda and

having "quiet time" overlooking beautiful Cane Garden Bay.

(A note about lodgings - Rhymer's has gone down hill and I

think I will pay a little more and stay at Ole Works Inn

from now on.)

3/17 (Mon.) I had a leisurely breakfast at the restaurant

between Rhymer's and Quito's (I keep forgetting the name ...

they have a tasty breakfast and a do-it-yourself coffee urn.

They also have an excellent happy hour at 4pm.) After my

last walk on the beach, I finished packing and returned my

car and started to the airport. My flight (and the one after

that) were over booked. I was surprised to see many people

giving up their seats for only $300 in travel vouchers. I

have gotten free round trip tickets for shorter delays then

those people faced.

The trip home was uneventful. I returned to a whirlwind

of busyness ... thus the delay in this report. But I am

still feeling pretty good and starting to think about my

next trip.

Tony in Del.