Sparkling blue water, fair winds, a good boat and great friends. What more could we have asked for our second year of charter sailing in the British Virgin Islands. We did several things differently for the two week trip this year, including chartering a catamaran rather than a monohull, chartering from a different company, and visiting some different places.

 Our first night was on dry land, at the Island View Guest House in St. Thomas. Perched high above the bay, this small inn offered basic accommodations and great views of Frenchtown and Charlotte Amalie. www.st-thomas.com/islandviewguesthouse. We enjoyed a waterfront dinner at the Hook, Line and Sinker, located in Frenchtown’s marina, and the next day set off by ferry to Soper’s Hole on the west end of Tortola, where we caught a taxi to Nanny Cay.

This year the boat was Camcat, a 37’ Privilege catamaran chartered from The Catamaran Company. Last year we chartered a 41’ Beneteau from Moorings. If you would like to view our comparison of the two companies or our comparison of sailing a cat versus a keelboat, visit the links at the left.

Compared to bigger cats at the dock, Camcat looked short and stubby, with a sloping snout like Snoopy. However, she was roomy enough for our maximum crew of six.

We departed the Catamaran Company base at Nanny Cay on Saturday, April 14, 2001. For the first three days, Lynn and George sailed the boat alone. Even though we were unfamiliar with the boat and had never sailed a cruising catamaran before, we convinced ourselves that we could cruise a boat that size or a little larger without additional crew. That reinforced our plan of buying a cruising cat and sailing several months per year. Of course, we don’t need a lot of encouragement.

We did not have great winds for our two weeks. Last year we saw 15 to 20 knots often. This year we seldom saw over 10 knots of wind speed. BVI is easy sailing and one can sail from island to island without ever being out of sight of land. The first week it seldom rained, but during the second, we got nightly showers, which forced us to get out of bed and close the hatches.

Two new destinations for this trip were Anegada and Jost Van Dyke. Anegada is famous for the treacherous reef that surrounds it and for lobster dinners ashore. We found the reef easy to avoid and the channel well marked. We chose Neptune’s Treasure for our lobster dinner, rather than the better-known Anegada Beach Hotel. The Soares family, proprietors of Neptune’s Treasure, first steams and then broils their lobsters, to make them much more succulent and not as dry as some barbecued versions. Wow, we can’t imagine a better evening. A lobster dinner at $40 is not cheap, but the servings are huge, the food was great, vegetables, rice, and other side dishes were served family style, service was good, atmosphere was great, and of course with our friends, we had fabulous company. It was truly a memorable evening we recommend to everyone.

On Jost Van Dyke we visited Foxy’s both weeks. The second week, we met the man himself and spent some time with him. Don had dropped the names of a couple that took him to England to find a bride and he insisted we return the next morning. Don and George took the dinghy over the next morning to fulfill our commitment to return, fully expecting to find the place deserted. However, as they approached, Foxy came down the dock to meet them and spent time spinning tales in his beautiful Caribbean accent. There are of course other places we should visit next time, but it will be hard not to stop at Foxy’s on every visit in hope of talking to him again. By the way, our crew pronounced the roti at Foxy’s restaurant the best in the islands.

With all the sun and warmth, our crew made a constant effort to remain hydrated. While the drink of the day was mostly water, juice and sodas, the drink of the evening took on a different aspect, especially since Camcat had a blender on board. We think the most popular drink was the Big Bamboo, although we all had a hard time remembering it the next morning!

Big Bamboo
Fill a blender about half full with pretty much equal parts of:
Captain Morgan Spiced Rum
Pineapple Juice
& Cranberry Juice
Add a healthy glop of:
Coconut Cream
Fill blender with ice, blend, and serve immediately.

Our boat was older this year than last and sails and running rigging were showing the wear and tear of four years of almost constant charter use. We ripped a panel in the Genoa in a small squall on the way into Gorda Sound. Catamaran Company agreed to meet us two days later at Jost Van Dyke when we returned from Anegada. We used the sail two days without it ripping further but we kept the load on it pretty light.

Our system of duties worked well again this year and we recommend it to others. With a crew of six the duties are as follows:

Skipper: The trip organizer, primary navigator, and most experienced sailor. A good skipper will help even inexperienced sailors enjoy and participate in sailing.

Trip Food Organizer (TFO): Plans meals and is in charge of provisioning. We have provisioned through Ample Hamper www.amplehamper.com both years with good results. We planned for most breakfasts and lunches aboard, and most dinners ashore, with only one dinner aboard each week. Our only disappointment was the absence of quiches and key lime pies, with the pie baker being off-island during our visit.

Dinghy Coxswain: It is important that someone take care of the dinghy, making sure it is secure and its painter is never in the prop. We have been blessed with crew who take this duty seriously and have done it well.

Director of Dive Operations: If you are diving, have one person organize tanks, rendezvous, and/or logistics with dive companies.

Purser: A great solution to tracking spending and keeping it fair. We have one person collect data on all monies spent for group benefit (dive tanks, provisions, ice, booze, water, meals, etc). The purser totals the amount at week’s end, divides it equally, and those that are under spent reimburse those that are over spent. We do not try to keep track of who had the most expensive dinner, or had an extra drink, etc (after the Big Bamboos, who could remember anyway). We just split it equally and it works.

Lookout: Someone to help the skipper keep an eye out for other boats, shallow waters, and channel markers.

Our crew is great at sharing responsibilities and lending a hand wherever needed, but having one person with primary responsibility for these duties helps.

After two weeks, we are Catamaran Converts. We miss the feel and feedback a good keelboat gives, but by the end of the charter, we had a good feel for the boat and the comfort level and ease of sailing are just too much in favor of the cat to ignore.