Arriving in the BVI
06 February 2018 | Tortola British Virgin Islands
Sally windy and warm
We were up early to hit the hotel’s breakfast buffet before taking the shuttle to the airport. Lord knows we won’t get anything decent to eat on our flight from Miami to St. Thomas. Our flight arrives at approximately 2:00 PM and we hope to make the 3:30 ferry to Road Town. Scott had called Rudy who we met through Paul and who is a taxi driver there to meet us at the airport and take us to the ferry terminal. The shuttle to the airport was surprisingly crowded as it picked up folks from 3 hotels. We both had PSA pre-check for boarding and were traveling with only carry on. Passing thru security wasn’t an issue for me but Scott got delayed by a nickel in his pocket. After putting himself back together we made our way to the gate and waited for our flight. Thankfully the flight was uneventful and even a bit ahead of schedule touching down in STT. Rudy was nowhere in sight so Scott called him, oops he had the wrong day but was quickly on his way to pick us up. Turns out we would find out later that his primary income is not in running a cab since the hurricane. He has found better paying employment in construction. He pointed out the damage that the hurricane had wrought on our short trip to the ferry terminal. The island was definitely showing signs of re construction amid evidence of massive destruction.
Our first encounter with the slowness of recovery came at the ferry terminal which could only take cash for our fares. The credit card system is not up and running everywhere and iffy at best. We bought round trip tickets and filled out the BVI customs and immigration forms while waiting for the ferry.
I had been looking on PassageMaker at the weather in the islands for the past couple of weeks. The forecast was for pretty high winds in excess of 25 knots out of the east with some good seas to match. The ride to Tortola matched the websites predictions. The water was crashing over the bow and we pounded into the waves on the trip to Road Town. Rather exhilarating in an I’m going to be happy to get off this ferry way. Our clearance through customs and immigration was delayed a bit by my failing to turn the form over and fill out the back (DUH) but after paying our 20 dollar entrance fee we were granted entrance and found a cab to take us to the marina.
The charter company had included a sleep over night in the charter so we were able to board and get settled before our scheduled departure day on Wednesday. As we walked down the dock we were pointed in the direction of “That Way” where Paul was in the cockpit and Janet down below surrounded by provisions. The boat was beamy compared to Light Reach and has two cabins. Scott and I will be in the aft cabin for the week. Nicely appointed with a large berth and locker. I helped Janet store the massive amount of provisions, ( 4 people, 10 days that’s a lot) and then got our things settled in our cabin. Scott checked out the boat with Paul and gave her a thourough going over to familiarize himself with her systems.
We were all pretty tired after days of travel and when Janet volunteered to cook us a dinner of Hot Dogs as opposed to going out we responded with a resounding yes. They had to be some of the best hot dogs ever. We ate, drank and got a bit caught up with each other. Sometime during our talks a young couple arrived on the boat a couple of slips down. They had gotten in quite late from the U.K. Paul invited them aboard and Janet graciously offered them dinner. We had a lovely time getting acquainted with Emily and Nick. One of the joys of cruising, meeting new friends. Happy and tired we all headed to our respective berths.
The picture is of Janet relaxing in the cockpit of That Way