Andrew drew the short straw in multiple ways when he joined us to explore the BVI for 9 days. The weather was crazy windy, and tariffs were implemented making us go into overdrive to figure out a way to get True North home, as I've previously blogged about. As crew on our previous boats, Andrew had not yet experienced large ocean seas and swells but he was game to get a taste of ocean sailing. But after a couple hours of tacking back and forth as the winds increased, we turned on the engine and entered a cut through two small islands to get into more sheltered waters behind the island of St John. We found an open mooring in Francis Bay, our go-to place, and decided to stay a couple nights.

A plan was hatched to hike to the Annaberg Sugar Plantation ruins, a National Park site the next morning. It was an easy walk down a road, and we spied a mongoose, iguana, lizards and many huge termite nests scattered in the trees. The view was stunning and we pointed out to Andrew the short sail we would have the next day to the BVI across the very windy channel. There was good information available on the signage around the grounds, explaining that this particular plantation had been one of the last built on the island and was owned by George Francis who had been enslaved on the Annaberg Plantation. The previous owner granted Mr. Francis nearby land in his will, and he was able to build on that ownership to acquire more property, becoming one of the largest land owners on the island by the time he died. The buildings were fairly well preserved and we were impressed how large cornerstones of old coral seemed untouched by time.

We planned to head to Sopers Hole, BVI the next morning but only if we were able to reserve a mooring through the Boaty Ball App. Using the App is a sport, as a certain number of reservable balls become available to "claim" at 7:00 AM. And on windy days, by 7:00:03 AM most the moorings usually are claimed. Sopers Hole is a small deep harbor so anchoring is only an option for larger boats. We lucked out though, and having secured a reserved mooring, we motored the short distance across the channel. Checking in took lots of patience as many small commercial day boat captains jumped ahead of Mike to quickly clear in their clients, taking advantage of their familiarity with the customs agents. After inspecting the small grocery, we wandered down the road to get a look at the Drake Channel where we would sail the next day towards Peter Island, and saw building choppy waves.

The winds grew in strength and howled through the harbor making us quite nervous to even get safely off our mooring ball in the very tight area. Our path to Peter Island, unfortunately, was directly into the wind so we motored 8 miles there. We had reserved a mooring ball beforehand but discovered that the reserved field was pretty exposed to the winds, so we settled into Great Harbor on a first come first serve ball. Peter Island is privately owned and is the home for a swanky resort. A small path from our harbor led to the main resort grounds and we were met by a pleasant worker who handed us 3 blue papers bracelets to wear, signifying our status while on the island. We had made reservations at an open air restaurant for dinner so we walked around to get our bearings. On the return trip to the boat, we met a friendly British couple who told us about the 8km hiking trail, called the Sunset Loop.

Winds grew overnight, gusting towards 30 which made us hesitant to leave the boat, but we found our courage (and hoped for trust in the mooring) by mid-morning and set off to walk the loop and perhaps swim at the White Bay beach. The trail we followed was a road that led up and up in the hot sun with pretty views,then followed a dirt road down to a large lovely beach. But the waves and wind were so strong at that point that Mike and I got worried about the boat. So we headed back to stay onboard while Andrew continued his exploration. Winds howled from the rigging, rattling our bimini and solar panels so much that Mike worked to strap them down.

The second day was spent on the boat, considering whether we proceed to another island, chancing that a mooring ball would be open, or stay where we were, which we opted to do. We cooled off swimming, reading, napping and pondered our options. And we were in high gear, contacting people as we learned about the tariff plan. We ended up staying yet another 2 nights, with Andrew taking another hike around the island to get off the noisy boat. Early on the last morning we removed our solar panels and wrestled the bimini down as winds were gusting towards 40 with the frame rattling so severely we thought it might pull through the deck.

Knowing that Francis Bay was very protected and with winds not relenting, we opted to sail there for protection and hopefully a good nights sleep. Surprisingly we had a nice downwind sail without too much rolling and happily cleared back into the US Virgins online. The following day, Andrew went on a 9 mile hike over the steep hills of St John, exploring more secluded bays, discovering more ruins and stunning vistas.

As we would be leaving St John the following day, and eventually on to the Bahamas, I swam to shore to snorkel one last time, hoping to see the large angelfish often in the area. But I didn't enter the water until the 4 foot long and several inches thick Barracuda swam away. He was closely watching Mike who was scrubbing the bottom of the boat and even made a fairly aggressive move towards Mike, suddenly swimming at him and swooping underneath.

We had a sporty sail back to Crown Bay marina in big seas and winds, making us nervous for docking maneuvers in tight quarters with concrete docks. It was so busy in the marina as we monitored channel 11, it's ops channel, that we instead anchored nearby to eat lunch and let the winds settle a bit. All too soon, we said goodbye to Andrew, who remarked that his sailing adventure in such windy conditions had made flying in rough conditions more tolerable.