Trip to the British Virgin Islands - Leverick Bay

On January 17th we departed on Jet Blue to Puerto Rico and on to Tortola for our winter getaway in the British Virgin Islands. We met up with our sailing friends in San Juan and started to sample some of the local beverages to prepare for the following week. When we arrived at the Moorings in Road Town, Tortola we were greeted and taken to our floating home – Up Next – upon which we would sail the BVI for the next week. Up Next is a Moorings 43.3 with three cabins and three heads allowing each of the couples independent living space.

We all flew together on Air Sunshine - affectionately known as Rooster Air - into Beef Island Tortola. Here is a view down to Road Town, Tortola as we were heading to the airport

Just prior to landing at Beef Island

Here is Up Next, our home for a week

On the morning of January 18th we split up to perform the various functions necessary before the trip. Phil went along and got briefed on the boat and checked out any new hazards in the area as well as renting an emergency phone in case we had problems. At the same time the crew went to a local store Rite-way to provision for the week. We all met back at Up Next and began our adventure.

Having sailed twice before in the BVI we now managed to perfect the provisioning. We chose beverages through an online system that were delivered to the boat for our arrival (thank goodness that we didn’t have to carry all of those liquids) and then walked to the store for the fresh produce. This is the ideal manner for us since we have found that when food is fully provisioned online and delivered to the boat one doesn’t necessarily get the correct food.

Prior to making the trip we planned our first day and had found that there was a location for a beach bbq with stilt dancers. Therefore we set sail as soon as we could and headed up to the island of Virgin Gorda and to Leverick Bay. Here is our route

We had great sailing and as we were heading up the Sir Frances Drake channel we were close hauled in about 20kts of wind and clocking up to 8.1kts of boat speed. On arrival in Leverick Bay we tied up to a mooring and enjoyed checking the contents of our liquid refreshments.

Some of the crew went ashore to walk and explore, while others checked out the painkillers. We joined up for a wonderful beach bbq dinner, a reggae band and dancing followed by the stilt dancers.

Now that we have internet connection again and are starting to head home, we will post on consecutive days about our adventure in the BVI. Stay tuned.