Bryan has always loved traveling & if you didn't know, he is the travel planner in our family. He has planned the majority of our vacations, except for Disney, that tends to be my focus. And one of the items on his travel bucket list has been a sailing trip. We had been talking for months about our vacation this summer & he quickly decided that instead of having a big birthday party, we would just do an extended vacation in July & travel for his birthday. So we went big & planned an extended vacation with friends, just us & with the girls.
We flew out early July 5th with 2 other couples:
We had a connecting flight in Miami that took us to St. Thomas:
When we arrived in St. Thomas, we got our luggage & caught a taxi to a harbor where we then caught a ferry:
We took the Dream Speed Fast Ferry from St. Thomas, which is a US Virgin Island to Tortola, which is a British Virgin Island. The ferry took us about 1 1/2 hours & then we had to go through customs, catch another taxi to another harbor, where we finally found our boat:
From the time we left our house to the time we made it to the boat, it took about 12 hours but it was so worth it! Our captain, Alan, was waiting for us & we eagerly jumped on board:
got settled in & had our welcome drinks & appetizers:
Before we went, we filled out a preference sheet where we listed our favorite food & drinks so they had the boat stocked & ready for us :) Our boat's name was:
It was a 44 foot motorized catamaran with 4 cabins with walk around queen size beds:
That meant that every couple had their own bedroom & bathroom & then the 4th bedroom was shared between the captain & the chef. We had expected our captain to be Alan & our chef to be his girlfriend Amy & we had already seen their pictures & talked to them so we knew what to expect but when we got there we learned that Amy had to fly home for a family emergency so we had a new chef named Lynn. The boat also had a galley kitchen, an indoor dining room & an outdoor dining room:
Seriously, look at that fruit bowl! Lynn made amazing fruit platters every day. If you look in the right hand corner you'll see our snack basket which they kept stocked with granola bars, chips, nuts, candy, etc. They definitely kept us well fed! You can also see one of the paddle boards through the window. We actually had 2 kayaks, 2 paddleboards, 1 tube, 1 kneeboard & 1 wakeboard. After we learned the rules of the boat & got settled in, we started our sail from Tortola late that afternoon/early evening:
It took a few hours to make it to our first destination so we did not get to sail our first day. Unfortunately, one of our guests, Nat, got sick on our first sail, but after the first day she took medicine & was fine the rest of our trip. Let's just say that everyone else started taking medicine also to help prevent any sea sickness! I think I was the only one who went the whole week without feeling it or needing medicine. Finally we anchored at Marina Cay for the night. It is a small little island not far from Tortola:
Once we anchored, they cooked us dinner & we mostly had a relaxing & early evening since it had been a long day. In case you are wondering, you actually don't have to sail very much when you come to the British Virgin Islands. All of the islands are nestled close together & you are mostly sailing in the Caribbean Sea between them, so you aren't going far & the water is pretty calm. We would only sail for 1-2 hours a day & we were always anchored when we had our meals or slept. I had no idea what to expect but was pleasantly surprised how calm & easy it was. Our first night was a little rough because our a/c went out :( Everyone else slept great but it was 87 in our little room. Thank goodness Alan was able to fix it. My favorite part of sailing was waking up every morning on the water:
You know I am a morning person so I was always the first one up & the mornings were so peaceful & quiet. I would usually catch up on my email or read while it was quiet. I know what you are wondering, but yes, the boat had wifi 100% of the time! I tried to stay off of my phone the majority of the day (except for when I was using it for my camera) but would catch up on email every morning. James was also a morning person but he would usually get up & kayak or paddleboard while everyone else slept in.
My other favorite part of the morning was breakfast:
Of course it is always one of my favorite meals, but Lynn surprised us every day & we always had the best fruit platters, eggs, sausage, bacon, yogurt, waffles, muffins, cinnamon rolls - seriously, it is crazy how they kept all of this stocked on the boat & she was able to make it out of that tiny little kitchen!
Look at those cute little palm trees!
After we ate on our first morning, we sailed to Virgin Gorda & went to the Baths:
Obviously that picture does not do it justice! This was one of the main tourist attractions in the BVI's that we had heard about before we came. It is an area of unique geologic formations that mostly look like huge rocks. We had to swim in from out boat & then we were able to crawl, climb, swim & jump our way through the rocks. It was amazing & unfortunately we have no pictures to show for it :( Since we had to swim in, we didn't bring anything except for 1 of our friends. His phone is water proof so he swam with it in his pocket & we took a ton of pictures. Well on the swim back to our boat, the phone fell out of his pocket & sank. Our captain, Alan, was able to dive in & find it eventually but we think it got submerged to deep & for too long because we couldn't get his phone to turn back on. He sent it off to be repaired so we are keeping our fingers crossed they are able to at least recover his data. I'll do a whole post about that later if we are lucky.
After a few hours there, we sailed to Cooper Island:
Why hello Captain Bryan! Our boat was actually 3 stories. The first level had our bedrooms & bathrooms, the second level had the kitchen, the dining rooms & the trampoline at the front of the boat, but then we had a third level where the captain drove & there was a sundeck. This was absolutely my favorite spot & I always sat on top everywhere we went. Technically Alan was behind the wheel 95% of the time but every now & then someone else got to sneak behind there :)
Cooper Island is a small family owned eco-resort with a beach club:
We anchored in Manchioneel Bay & you could either swim in or take the dinghy in:
Bryan & I took the dinghy boat because we wanted to bring our camera, money, etc.:
This island was so cute! The only way to get there is by boat so it isn't crowded. They have a coffee shop, an ice cream shop, a rum bar, a restaurant & a boutique.
We quickly found some where to sit & made ourselves comfortable. I spent the majority of the afternoon reading:
while some of the others napped:
Between all of us, we tried out the coffee shop, the ice cream shop, the restaurant bar & the rum bar:
You know I was pumped about the ice cream shop! And Bryan is a rum drinker so he was excited to see the rum bar which claimed to have the largest selection of rum in the virgin islands. Unfortunately, he didn't try out any :( He never took medicine on the boat & since this was our first full day, he was not feeling good. He had a headache all day & slept so we finally convinced him to take a pill that night before bed & thank goodness that helped. Let's just say he was fine the rest of the trip after he maintained his daily dose of Dramamine!
As fun as it is being on the boat, I enjoyed walking around Cooper Island. I went a little crazy in the boutique & spent the rest of our trip carrying around a big bag of souvenirs from here. But I loved the vegetation, the water & seeing our boat:
James had a GoPro camera & a drone so he got some great pictures from both. He caught this one of us going back to the boat. We spent the night there & then woke up the next morning & took the dinghy boat to Cistern Point where we snorkeled. Obviously we did not take cameras out there except for the Go Pro which James caught this awesome picture of Bryan under the water:
This was basically a rock formation out in the open water where we saw a bunch of coral, fish, 2 barracudas & 1 eagle ray.
We snorkeled early so we took the dingy back to Dolphin Splash where Lynn had breakfast for us.
After breakfast, we sailed to Peter Island:
Peter Island is bigger than Cooper Island but it is the same kind of feeling. Mostly an uninhabited island except for 1 resort. When we got there, it was beautiful weather so we anchored, swam & had lunch. Alan actually grilled us shrimp kebobs & they were delicious:
Peter Island is a nicer resort so again, we decided to take the dingy in so we could bring stuff with us & spend time on land:
By the time we walked the beach to the resort, the weather changed & it was cloudy & rainy the rest of the afternoon. That didn't stop us from having fun because we were already in bathing suits so who cared if we got wet?! Our friends were coming to stay here a few days later so I had fun walking around the property & checking it out. It was beautiful & very tropical, however, my pictures don't do it justice with the dreary weather:
It actually rains quite a bit in this area, that's why the islands are so lush, but they are usually short rainfalls, this one just lasted a little longer. Eventually it cleared up & we enjoyed the pool, had a few drinks & even ordered appetizers:
We shopped again, I read some more & the guys slept. Are you noticing a pattern here?!
Eventually we headed back to the beach & the guys took the dinghy back to the boat with our stuff while the girls swam back to the boat. Of course it started raining again & I have to admit, it was kind of fun swimming in the rain! So much fun, that we got out the kayaks & the paddleboards & played the rest of the afternoon. We even showered in the rain! They had a shower at the back of the boat & it was easier just to shower back there than it was in our bathroom. First time I have every showered in public before, but don't worry, we kept our swim suits on :)
We had dinner & spent the night there that night & we woke up to a beautiful morning! Peter Island has a 5 mile hike that goes around the island to the top called Sunset Trail so we decided to do it first thing in the morning:
Alan dropped us off on the beach & we followed the main road until we found the trail. Before we really even got started we had beautiful views of the harbor:
Isn't the water gorgeous?! That's one of our boats down there! It was a pretty good climb to the top but they had a few rest stations along the way:
It took us longer to get to the top, but when we got close & saw what was up there, I sprinted:
It was the cutest little spot with colorful Adirondack chairs & cold water. It was worth every step when we finally made it up there & could see the view of the Atlantic ocean on one side & the Caribbean Sea on the other:
Nat had a recent tennis injury that started bothering her so she didn't make it quite to the top, so we had to celebrate without them:
I think the hike took us about 2 1/2 hours total so Alan & Lynn were waiting for us on the dock when we got back. As we pulled out of Peter Island, we found a dolphin that swam out with us for quite a while:
We were never quick enough with the camera to get pictures of the wildlife but we did take a few as we sailed to our next destination:
Yep, everyone is helping out, visiting & having a grand old time while Bryan napped. Again. I think I should have done a whole blog about all the times & places Bryan napped around the islands :) The first part of our trip was the more relaxing islands but the second part of our trip was the party islands. I'll save that for part 2 but I'll end with a gorgeous picture of our boat that James took with his drone:
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