Day 8 Jost to Tortola
Our last day on the boat. After breakfast we untied our mooring lines. Heather played Kenny Chesney's song " Adios to Jost" as we pulled away. Everyone waved good bye. The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed our sail back to Tortola, taking turns on the helm. At some point, we noticed that our pirate flag was missing. Heather said she heard a noise around 3a.m. and we all wondered if someone boarded our boat and took our flag. Real pirates?!!
We called the Moorings base on the VHF as we entered the channel for our slip assignment and docking instructions. We were all set for a starboard side tie, but they moved us to a different slip, so we had to move the lines and fenders to port. It was a tightly packed Marina full of power cats, sailing cats and monohulls. When asked if we would like assistance docking, we agreed. Someone came out to the boat, came aboard and backed us into a tight spot. Whew! I have no doubt that Heather could do it, but I was glad we didn't have to. As soon as we were tied up, a dock hand was there with a dock cart and loaded our luggage. We followed him to the reception area where we would wait for a taxi to the ferry. Heather and I returned to the boat to wait for a debriefing. We checked off the list, told the rep about the issues we'd had with the boat and then we were free to go. We found everyone at the bar enjoying a complimentary drink. We missed the 11:30 ferry and decided to take the 3:15 ferry to Red Hook, to put us closer to our condo in St. Thomas. We took a taxi to the ferry. The ferry stopped in St John and we all disembarked to go through customs and then got back on the ferry to St. Thomas. Ross met us at the ferry in Heather's car. Heather's 4Runner seats 8, but with all of our luggage it took two trips. We checked into our VRBO at Sapphire Beach. We had two condos next door to each other. They were super cute! After settling in, taking "real showers" and dressing for dinner, we walked down to Sudi's restaurant by the pool just below us. We made a toast to a great charter and I toasted the crew! We all ordered Wahoo tacos and burgers. We made our way back up the hill to our condos and turned in for the night.