We’ve traveled to a lot of strange places over the years and have traveled by all sorts of conveyances – trains, planes, automobiles, motor vessels, even the occasional donkey and, once and only once, on the back of an Egyptian camel. We’re about to add to that list.
The new place isn’t terribly out-of-the-way: we’re going to the British Virgin Islands, a part of the world tons of people have visited on cruise ships. But we’re not going there on a motor-powered vessel, we’re instead counting on wind power. We’ll be cruising for a week on a 42-foot catamaran, the good ship Casbah III. (Hmmm, wonder what happened to Casbah I and Casbah II; let’s not let our imagination run off into dark corners of hurricanes and shipwrecks.)
Our son Jeff, an occasional sailor of smaller craft, accomplished a bucket item (he’s over 40 so he now qualifies for bucket lists) over this past Thanksgiving when he signed up for sailing lessons and qualification testing in the BVI. He brought along as First Mate his neighbors’ son, Andrew, a high school senior. Together they sailed with their instructor for a week around the islands, trying out the various skills and techniques he needed to demonstrate to earn certification as a cruising captain of a monohull sailboat. They had a blast, Jeff passed with flying colors, and now he’s anxious to try out his skills all by himself.
The two of us plus Jeff’s son, and our grandson, Carter will be his first passengers. Actually, Jeff has designated Carter as First Mate. We’re delegated to the position of Deck Hand, meaning, I presume, that we’ll have to salute, answer “aye aye, sir” to Jeff and Carter and sleep in the fo’c’sle ahead of the mast. We’ll probably holystoning the deck for the entire week, when we’re not at the windlass setting the sails and hauling up the anchor.
But not to worry. The Casbah III sports three cabins, each with a private head (bathroom to you land lubbers). The heavy lifting is done by powered winches and the charter price covers cleaning after our cruise. Here’s a link so you can see what the boat looks like. https://horizonyachtcharters.com/bareboat/2019-lagoon-42-2-2/
The weather in the BVI is said to be nothing but sunshine and temps in the 80s with reliable easterly trade winds. We’ve ordered up provisions for on-board breakfast, lunch and snacking, using Casbah III’s well-appointed galley, and plan on mooring or anchoring each night so that we can go ashore for dinner. We’ll sail, snorkel and swim during the day.
But this is something we’ve never done before and while we have absolute confidence in Jeff we’re really not sure what to expect. But we’ve had these same misgivings at the start of just about every trip we’ve done. The unknown and unexpected is what traveling, for us, is all about.
It turns out that we will have Jeff’s instructor along with us for the first day. Jeff needs to become certified to captain multi-hull craft. One of the big differences is that each of the two hulls of the catamaran has its own rudder and engine. (Yes, we can motor around in tight spots and use them when the wind dies.) That makes maneuvering different than in a monohull. A catamaran is also inherently much less “tippy”, which makes Judy much happier. The thought of balancing on the windward gunnel to keep the boat from capsizing is not a happy thought.
So off we go this coming Friday, April 21, 2023. We’ll fly via Puerto Rico to Tortola, BVI and stay overnight in a Windham hotel. Jeff and Carter fly in on Saturday and we’ll meet at the ship for a noontime castoff party. We’ll sail each day to a different island, snorkeling and touring as fancy calls us. The trip ends the following Saturday at the Nanny Cay fueling dock. Here’s a map of our planned itinerary. Things may change; we’re on no set schedule and so we can go wherever we wish. Click on the picture to make it bigger.
We’ll all fly home via Puerto Rico that evening. Jeff and Carter, being working stiffs, will continue on that night back to Boston. Judy and I, being good-for-hardly-anything retirees, will stay overnight in San Juan and fly out Sunday evening after touring the Old Town and Moro Castle and whatever.
I plan to blog each day and you’re welcome to follow along here at jonandjudy.com. As usual, there will be text and pictures of the trip, including, I hope, underwater pictures from our snorkeling adventures. If you’d wish to receive daily notifications of blog postings, let me know and I’ll add you to the list (email [email protected] or text 603-785-3051). Otherwise, you can visit the site whenever the spirt moves you. If you’ve received such notices on our past trips, you’re already on the daily email list. As always, your comments are always greatly appreciated, giving us the assurance that there still is a “real world” back home