First Waterford Harbor International Cruise 

 British Virgin Islands

As P’Tits Loups 2 lay at anchor off Sandy Spit, a shower drifted down the North coast of Tortola near the end of a week of sunny skies, fair winds and clear blue water.  Earlier in the week, Debbie [1] had awakened wondering what day it was.  With one day drifting into the next, without traffic, schedules or deadlines, we were on island time!  After the short shower passed us by, a dingy ride brought us to the rocky shore of Little Jost Van Dyke. Tarpon cruised through schools of countless shimmering silver fish, an inch or two long. Rays winged away as we snorkeled above them.   A large turtle swam placidly below me. My wife, Joanne, loved the snorkeling here.  

Waterford cruisers arrived according to their individual plans. Some of us vacationed in Puerto Rico in route to Tortola.  Rhonda, Ted and their niece Angela arrived a day early to find their best shopping in Road Town. Arriving early, allowed them to lunch at Skyworld, a restaurant with a birds' eye view in Road Town, Tortola.  Rhonda says, “This was a great way to start the trip and to see all of the islands that we would be visiting.  The food was delicious and the view spectacular!  Debbie & Terry chose Air Sunshine for an almost personal airborne tour of the islands with a cool clearing of customs in Virgin Gorda.  Dick and Jan ferried over from St. Thomas. A taxi ride from Beef Island Airport deposited Beverly, Scott, Joanne and myself at the Moorings base in Road Town Saturday evening.  I caught up with Vernon and Debbie across the street at the RiteWay market.  They had already filled two grocery carts with what would be become, to name a few meals, Hawaiian pancakes, extravagant omelets, Philly steak sandwiches and fish tacos. We added twenty-one gallon jugs of water before checking out.

Meet the crew of the Sam McGee at the C&F Restaurant, Road Town, Tortola: 

Scott, Beverly, Jan, Dick, Bruce and Judi

At the Sunday morning briefing we learned among other important things not to use the Moorings provided binoculars as underwater looking glasses.  It was suggested that we monitor the radio for weather reports; we never did, not even once - remember, we were on island time.  We were also reminded to bring the dingy back, the same one we left with.  Could we lose a dinghy?  

Waterford cruisers left Road Town on four charter boats, each to follow their own course up the islands along the Sir Francis Drake Channel. Rhonda, Ted and Angela crewed the Karen Anne.  Dick, Jan, Beverly, Scott, Bruce and Judi handled the Sam McGee, a Moorings 465.  Bill, Steph, Ed and Pam employed a cook, Jane Cheesman[2], aboard La Belle Vie, also a Moorings 465.  Joanne and I were aboard P’Tits Loups 2, a Moorings 3800 catamaran with Vernon, Debbie, Terry and Debbie. 

Haulover Bay, Cooper Island provided my best snorkeling experience – spotted rays.

P’Tits Loups 2 was not a great sailer. While Sam McGee reached up the channel in glorious fashion at near eight knots, we cheered when P’Tits Loups 2 stretched out to almost four!  As we tacked off the coast of Tortola on the way from Cooper Island to the Baths we found ourselves back on a heading for Cooper Island! It was definitely time to convert to a motorboat. As we did so, the port engine sounded out a brief but gut wrenching, crunching & grinding complaint.  A quick check showed that the dingy was still attached to the stern[3]. Vernon, however, made a mental note that a knot in painter was missing.  As we motored toward the Baths, a look to the stern showed us that we had lost the dingy! Dinghy recovered, and Baths explored, we joined all the cruisers for dinner at Saba Rock in the North Sound of Virgin Gorda.

After dinner Vernon explained the mystery of the missing knot to all. The prop had cut the painter into not two but three pieces and at the same time welded the piece attached to the dingy to the piece cleated to the stern. The weld held until it broke under the strain when P’Tits Loups 2 reached cruising speed.  The third piece, the piece with the knot, Terry found wrapped around the shaft after we moored in the North Sound. OK, Vernon. At the next Commodore’s Ball, Vernon will award the Missing Knot Painter to a lucky cruiser. Check with Vernon for the selection criteria.

We held the first WYC International Hobie Regatta on the North Sound with Beverly & Scott, Terry & Debbie, Vernon & Debbie and Joanne & myself crewing the Hobies.  Joanne & I won. However, I suspect Vernon cheated and held back. How could we beat someone who campaigned a Hobie 16 all over the state of Texas? Then again our Hobie carried the name of Lucky. Anyway, we would have made the local news but by the time Channel 2 showed up we were eating lunch poolside at the Bitter End.

Aragorn arrived by skiff at Marina Key to display piles of tee shirts and other stuff. This was my best shopping experience!  Several cruisers visited his studio in Trellis Bay on their way back to Houston.  On Abe’s dock at Little Harbor, Jost Van Dyek the crews of Karen Anne and P’Tits Loups 2 enjoyed a lobster dinner under the stars.  All week long, Joanne and Vernon spotted satellites.[4]  Falling stars were not uncommon. After dinner we all crammed into an island bus with island spiders (no charge for the spiders) for a ride to the legendary Foxy’s. We spent an hour or two dancing while some other (not WYC) cruisers performed belly flops on tables lubricated with ice water.  

Design by Aragorn