Day 1
Welcome to the BVIs
Flew into Tortola from San Juan – a quick 30 minute hop.
Who do we meet at San Juan airport – our first sailing companions Mick & Barb Muller.
We are all so excited to be here and to start this adventure. I think its extra exciting as Mick and Barb have never sailed before. They have just finished a US adventure so this is their final leg before heading home. We have known each other for a long time so we are so looking forward to sharing this with them. Originally they were joining us for a week but realised that was going to go way too fast so signed up for 2.
Taxi to Manuel Reef Sea Cow Bay and there was Orion waiting for us. First impression – boy she’s big, looks wider than I thought . A little supermarket, laundry and rest rooms at the harbour.
We’re all very excited to be here and for this adventure to start!
Dave the boat man took us all, well alright Anthony and Mick , through all the basics and not so basics of Orion. Anthony and I had taken 35 hours to get here and I truly admire how Anthony can concentrate on soooo much instruction but, he’s a man on a mission and it’s his passion!
We all settled in, did some shopping and, of course, a celebratory drinkie.
Dinner at ‘The Pub’ in Road Town – no taxis so walked home about 2kms and I for one was very thankful to crawl into bed with the Caribbean breeze wafting through the hatches.
Day 2
Today we’re leaving the harbour – YAY!!
A substantial shop in Road Town for food and drink. This is an important shop as it sets us up for the next 5 weeks with fresh buying along the way. I am paying for everything using an empty credit card – this will include everything – water, mooring fees, fuel, customs and food buying along the way. Once home I’ll be able to calculate $$ per person per day. A final chat with Dave and we’re off! Just a motor today to get our bearings and confidence in the boat.
Woody observed and critiqued our first mooring in Great Harbour – great job crew!
The bliss of our first BVIs trip came flooding back as we watched boats come in to get a mooring, gorgeous hills, warm breeze, warm water. It’s just gorgeous.
Barb is cooking up a seafood pasta for tea, icy cold beer and white wine – the sun is setting ……….. We finish the day with lying on the tramp star gazing – we still had the saucepan with us !! A perfect start.