Sunday, March 21, 2010

Sailing the British Virgin Islands

Starting a sailing blog in the midst of winter always has its challenges. Like, how can you focus on sailing when there are a dozen ice fishing huts on the bay ice? So, the answer is to read magazines. Take another course. Dream about sailing trips. And, once and a while, even book a trip.

That's right. We've just booked our first ever sailing charter. In May, we will be heading down to the British Virgin Islands, where we've chartered a Bavaria 36 through Horizon Yacht Charters for 10 nights. The month of May is the start of the shoulder season down there, so the charter is a little less expensive than normal, and the charter companies are a little less busy.


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We will be going with another sailing couple, Ian and Julie, from Georgetown. This whole little adventure started about a week ago when they came over for dinner. They love to travel as much as we do, so of course we started talking about places we would like to visit, and places we would like to sail. A couple of days later, they call us back to say they have done some research and would we like to go to the BVI? So, off we go.

Getting there and back is the most challenging aspect. Although it is possible to get from PEI to BVI in a day, it was quite expensive, and we wanted to use some of the aeroplan points we've accumulated over the years. So, to get there, we will be flying from Charlottetown through Montreal to Boston. The next day, we go through New York to the US Virgin Islands. The following morning (our third day of travel), we take a ferry to the British Virgin Islands. Two weeks later, we take the same route in reverse. We could have taken a somewhat shorter trip, but this way we get to add on a day in the US Virgin Islands on each end for some more exploring. Hey, if we're going all the way down there, we might as well try and maximize our experiences.

I can pretty much guarantee that we'll be putting up more posts in the future on this trip - both the planning and the experience.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Jay and Michelle,
    Your blog is very good and I'm delighted that Obsession is in the care of two enthusiastic sailors.
    I now look forward to cruising the Montague - Souris region.
    Have a great time in the BVI's!

    Brian Scales

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  2. If anyone is going for sailing then one should always have sailing gear Australia so that if there is any kind of difficulty then they can use those gear.

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