After a wonderful three weeks visiting the grandkids at the Jersey Shore we returned to Puerto del Rey Marina on June 14th. We had guests arriving in the BVI in a few days. Patti on June 18th and Zanda & Travis on the 19th. So we stocked up on essentials and headed east for the British VIrgin Islands!

On this trip we bypassed Palomino and made our fist overnight stop in Culebra. Followed the next day with a 34 NM run past St Thomas to Maho Bay on St John. From Maho Bay on the north side of St John is less than 10 NM across the Narrows to Road Harbour, Tortola, BVI. The Narrows has a strong current and again we were heading into the trade winds. But what should have been a 2-3 hour trip turned into a 5 hour ordeal when the starboard engine alternator belt broke. We limped into Road Harbour on one engine, making less than 2 knots headway. We secured the boat to a mooring ball just off the ferry dock and I replaced the broken belt.

Patti was arriving by ferry from St Thomas in the afternoon, so Karrie and I visited customs and immigration to clear into this British country. The clearing in process turned into another ordeal as the officials gave priority to all the ferry passengers first. We had to wait until several boat loads of incoming passengers cleared in. Only then would they process us. By the time we finished, Patti had arrived and cleared thru. She had to wait for us to finish even tho we had started hours before!

By the time we completed clearing in it was too late to go anywhere so we spend the night in Road Harbour. The next morning we took a quick trip south to the Indians, a great snorkeling spot. The Indians are a group of large “tee pee” shaped rocks with a shear drop off on the west side and a shallow reef on the east side that has abundant tropic marine life. The coral, and fish are vibrant in the crystal clear water.

After lunch we returned to Road Harbour to pick up Zanda and Travis who also were arriving by ferry. With the benefit our our coaching, they breezed thru customs inspite of the surly officials. Not wanting to spend another night in Road Harbour we took off for Peter Island only 4 NM south and were on a mooring ball in Great Harbour before sunset. We had dinner on the Willy T, the floating restaurant and bar that resembles a pirate ship with a notorious reputation for late night bawdy behavior. A good start for everyone’s island vacation!

For the next week we hit all the popular tourist destinations; The iconic giant boulders and caves at the Baths on Virgin Gorda, the low lying Bahamian like island of Anegada famous for its abundant coral reefs and lobster, Jost van Dyke home of world famous beach bars Foxy’s and Soggy Dollar, Cane Garden Bay, the Indians (again) and the Caves on Norman Island.


The Indians


The Baths


Foxy’s

Patti had to leave us on June 22nd, catching a ferry from Great Harbour on Jost van Dyke, while Zanda & Travis stayed until June 26 when we dropped them at the ferry dock back in Road Town. We cleared out of BVI Customs at the same time as we were headed back to the USVI. Once their ferry left we cruised to Druif Bay (Honeymoon Bay) at Water Island off the main harbor in St Thomas.

And then, sadly, we had to return to Puerto del Rey Marina to put the boat up for hurricane season. We had a scheduled haul out date of July 10th with a lot of hurricane prep work to do. We secured a slip on June 30th and set about removing sails, canvas, BBQ grill, etc from the boat. Anything that might blow off had to be removed and stored inside the boat.

A conflicting factor was we had promised Kate Carter that we would be back to the Jersey Shore by July 10th. So I hired a captain to move Cay de Cay from her slip to the haul out along with help from our boat’s caretaker and we made last minute reservations to fly to Florida on July 9th. So we finished prepping the boat and with a lot of anxiety on my part left her for the next four months of summer and storm season.

We would spend those next four months visiting friends, family, reuniting with cousins, National Parks, and sights around our great country. We logged over 10,000 miles on the car and our behinds before the summer was over. It was another amazing journey.

So ended our Fifth Season of cruising aboard Cay de Cay. We finally made it all the way from Florida to the British Virgin Islands, had some incredible adventures along the way, and saw a lot of memorable sights. We will return in the fall to start a new adventure and to make new memories!