Day 2 – Thursday November 8,  2001

 After a nice room service breakfast, (I always do that as a time saver) we departed for the much looked forward to hop to Tortola.  We grabbed a taxi to head to the airport for a Cape Air flight that would have us arrive at Beef Island at 9:20. We were on our way! 

The Moorings had a van waiting for us after we cleared customs and traveled with several other couples from New Jersey who were on a return trip.  On the way to the base they exchanged a few tidbits and we were sorry we hadn’t found out what boat they were on so we could contact them later and possibly connect during the trip to share a drink or two.  They had some travel issues on their way there and were meeting up with yet another couple to share their reserved cat. 

The Moorings Tortola Base

The check-in at the Moorings was a bit disorganized in that they had forgotten that I had cleared a late chart briefing since we would not arrive for the scheduled 9AM.  We wound up being assigned the Johnny J and proceeded with our boat briefing first. 

In my excitement, I of course did not pay enough attention to how to operate the windlass (duh!  It would bite me later) and I went through the boat checking our provisions to make sure everything was there.  I also checked the list for what was supposed to be included with the charter.  We found the GPS and cell phone were not onboard and had to request these items which seemed to take a slight bit of scrambling to acquire. 

Following the boat briefing we did our chart briefing which was insightful and great given we were the only two in the room.  We were given three options and warned about the swells that would impact several locations we had on our ‘have to see’ list.  We were told that visiting the Baths was not recommended given the current conditions, but attempting it later in the charter might be possible it the seas cooperated.

After hitting the small grocery at the base, (I had a difficult time selecting a decent wine there!) we were ready to get moving.  As we were leaving the dock, one of the Moorings dock staff jumped aboard to assist because I must have looked pretty inept in helping us get out of the slip   He was onboard as soon as I had lifted fenders and released the dock lines.  He took the Helm after we clearly informed him that we felt a problem with the rudder, it wouldn’t turn!  To this we received a grunt, which sounded like he thought it was alright and he made way for a clear dock to jump off at.  After this uninformed assessment we proceeded and made way out of Road Town toward Norman Island. 

The Day was clear and the winds were steady and we made it in plenty of time to secure a mooring.  Jim dinked over to Billy Bones to pay for the Mooring and make dinner reservations after which he did recognize that there was indeed a problem with the rudder.  We called this into the base after we confirmed this at 4PM and were told that a chase boat would be out at approximately 8:30AM to do the necessary repair.  Oh well, we were in for the evening anyway so it didn’t matter. 

After a swim and a nap we headed over to Billy Bones at the prescribed time for our dinner.  I was unwinding and it felt wonderful to finally have an ‘adult’ vacation after so many years of camping with my two boys.  This was a VACATION!  For dinner I had the Jerk Chicken while Jim had the Chicken Roti and we sipped our first cocktails.  Jim scored a few cigars and checked out the t-shirts and other Billy Bones wares.  We decided to head over to the much talked about Willy-T’s so we headed for the dinghy and after figuring out what lines were ours in the dark we made way across the harbor.  When we arrived at Willy-T’s it was difficult at best to get near the dock and I found myself standing on the bow of the dinghy feet spread apart looking like an absurd maidenhead* gone completely awry. I somehow managed to jump over the nearly 2 feet of water between us and the dock from this position to the disappointment of the onlookers (they fully expected me to fall on my butt or at the very least in the water) and I secured the dock line. 

We found that it was not worth all the effort to get there, had a drink or two as we watched two body shots take place and wondered what all the hype was about.  We wanted some excitement!  We decided to bag it and head back to the boat after mulling over a possible return to Billy Bones.  On board we had some more cocktails and listened to the music coming from Billy Bones (which sounded like there was a much better party going on over there!) and wound up conking out.  I think the Pringles did us in.  

(*BTW that's FIGUREHEAD not MAIDENHEAD which I lost a long time ago!)