Freedom of the Seas-Western--1100+ pictures/video-July 10, 2011 sailing

[ryansmom]

As I wait to sail the Allure of the Seas later this month I can only think that I might enjoy the type of sailing vacation you embarked on. It does look like alot of fun. I am curious as to what the cost was for the boat for the length of your vacation? I know that the small runabout boats are extra as is renting a captain if you are not an experienced sailor. Keep up the good work on this sailing vacation review. I am drooling for more! :)

 

Well...I would think if you enjoy the water and cruising, and can relax, sailing is for you (provided you aren't prone to seasickness, but there are things to help with that ;) )

 

Renting a boat fits all types of budgets. One thing to consider is the age of the boat. Newer = more $$$. One of the others is which kind of boat? A catamaran or a monohull? (we chose the cat because it was steadier for the teens...monohulls are much cheaper..by about half in some cases) Also...how many days do you want it for? We had ours from a Friday nite for the week and had to have it returned by 8am on Saturday. The more days you rent, the more $$$, but you can rent for as long as you want..unlike a cruise, you are not 'locked' into a certain number of nights. That said, a monohull that is a couple years old could rent for around $2-$3K for the week (bareboat). A newer boat will be more...a catamaran would be more. Unfortunately the catamaran we were trying to rent (it was a few years old), was unavailable, so we had to take the newer one (less than 1yr old). It was probably around $7K base price to rent for those 8 nights. You have to add on fuel, insurance, some small fees and it raises the price a bit (I think we paid $200 for fuel)...but, if you are a returning captain, you get that discount (which can come close to what they charge for insurance).

 

Other things to consider are airfare (other transportation like taxis), food and mooring fees. We flew into St. Thomas and took the fast ferry from St. Thomas to Road Town, Tortola because it was cheaper than flying into Tortola directly. The ferry was $55pp/rt. Mooring fees for the night are usually $25/night...some can be in the $40range. Food. Food can be expensive there, but the good news is booze is cheap. I think I remember we paid $9 for a pack of bacon? (One reason we froze our main meats and brought them with us in a cooler...then used the cooler to keep drinks cold out on back deck.) But food is one of those things you can be pretty basic about...and bring lots of your own if you feel like hauling it. (we had 2 teenage boys with us...that right there tells you how much we needed to get) But...there are places to go out to eat...and bars on beaches you'd need money for also (unless you are not big drinkers). With our group, we ate out only twice all week...Anegada and at Foxy's on Jost Van Dyke (2 "musts" if you ask me).

 

Sailing like we did is definitely a trip you'd want to take with other adults if you can. Say you rent a boat for $8,000. If it's just you, you are paying the full price. If you go with another couple, the cost is split. If you go with 3 other couples, you're each only paying 1/4 of it...which is the ideal way to do it. Obviously, you can't do it that way if anyone is bringing their kids...which, half of us were kids...so we split everything. BUT...if you rent a monohull for like $2500 with 1 or 2 other couples, the price suddenly becomes super cheap!

 

There are lots of places that rent boats out like this...and they are all over the world. Mediterranean, Austrailia, west coast (San Francisco), Belize, Bahamas, etc... We used Sunsail, brother has used the Moorings before. You can probably poke around on their websites to get a better idea of cost and places to go and things to do. We are hoping to do the Bahamas in 2014.

 

Hope this helps and hope you are able to try it. But, be forewarned, you'll be hooked! :eek: :D

[Eng23]

Well...I would think if you enjoy the water and cruising, and can relax, sailing is for you (provided you aren't prone to seasickness, but there are things to help with that ;) )

 

Renting a boat fits all types of budgets. One thing to consider is the age of the boat. Newer = more $$$. One of the others is which kind of boat? A catamaran or a monohull? (we chose the cat because it was steadier for the teens...monohulls are much cheaper..by about half in some cases) Also...how many days do you want it for? We had ours from a Friday nite for the week and had to have it returned by 8am on Saturday. The more days you rent, the more $$$, but you can rent for as long as you want..unlike a cruise, you are not 'locked' into a certain number of nights. That said, a monohull that is a couple years old could rent for around $2-$3K for the week (bareboat). A newer boat will be more...a catamaran would be more. Unfortunately the catamaran we were trying to rent (it was a few years old), was unavailable, so we had to take the newer one (less than 1yr old). It was probably around $7K base price to rent for those 8 nights. You have to add on fuel, insurance, some small fees and it raises the price a bit (I think we paid $200 for fuel)...but, if you are a returning captain, you get that discount (which can come close to what they charge for insurance).

 

Other things to consider are airfare (other transportation like taxis), food and mooring fees. We flew into St. Thomas and took the fast ferry from St. Thomas to Road Town, Tortola because it was cheaper than flying into Tortola directly. The ferry was $55pp/rt. Mooring fees for the night are usually $25/night...some can be in the $40range. Food. Food can be expensive there, but the good news is booze is cheap. I think I remember we paid $9 for a pack of bacon? (One reason we froze our main meats and brought them with us in a cooler...then used the cooler to keep drinks cold out on back deck.) But food is one of those things you can be pretty basic about...and bring lots of your own if you feel like hauling it. (we had 2 teenage boys with us...that right there tells you how much we needed to get) But...there are places to go out to eat...and bars on beaches you'd need money for also (unless you are not big drinkers). With our group, we ate out only twice all week...Anegada and at Foxy's on Jost Van Dyke (2 "musts" if you ask me).

 

Sailing like we did is definitely a trip you'd want to take with other adults if you can. Say you rent a boat for $8,000. If it's just you, you are paying the full price. If you go with another couple, the cost is split. If you go with 3 other couples, you're each only paying 1/4 of it...which is the ideal way to do it. Obviously, you can't do it that way if anyone is bringing their kids...which, half of us were kids...so we split everything. BUT...if you rent a monohull for like $2500 with 1 or 2 other couples, the price suddenly becomes super cheap!

 

There are lots of places that rent boats out like this...and they are all over the world. Mediterranean, Austrailia, west coast (San Francisco), Belize, Bahamas, etc... We used Sunsail, brother has used the Moorings before. You can probably poke around on their websites to get a better idea of cost and places to go and things to do. We are hoping to do the Bahamas in 2014.

 

Hope this helps and hope you are able to try it. But, be forewarned, you'll be hooked! :eek: :D

Hi again. Thank you for all of that information. You can consider me forewarned now:D. It was easy to get hooked on cruising on the cruise ships and I can see how easy it would be to get hooked again on a sailing vacation like yours. Thanks again, Happy Sailing! :)

[ryansmom]

Day 12

 

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

 

Destination: Norman Island

 

Randy & I woke up about 1:45am to noise outside our cabin. Sounded like something was dragging on the floor and banging around. We got up to investigate (because I wasn't letting my husband out on deck....at night...all alone!) but couldn't find anything. We had no idea what it could be.... but, while we were up, we noticed the 'fresh water pump' light was on. For cryin' out loud, now what?!

 

So, my husband looked around and checked what he could to try and figure out why it was on. He couldn't explain it, and not wanting to run out of water all the way out here, he woke his brother up. With the two of them up, they didn't need me, so I went back to bed (where I still listened to whatever it was banging around).

 

Needless to say, we were up early in the morning. Couldn't sleep with the noise and once the sun was up, Randy went outside to see what the noise was and figured out what it was. At the back of the boat where you get in & out of the dinghy, there is a cable that goes across that area. Someone didn't hook the cable up to the boat...they just left it on the ground. Viola! That was the noise. Then we were ticked we didn't notice it in the middle of the night...but, it was dark out and we didn't have any lights there and to be honest, we didn't think to look there. You can be sure we checked it each night after that though!

 

Eventually the rest of the gang was up and eating breakfast. We got ice before we left and we were under way about 9am. Goodbye Anegada, I will miss you!

 

Turns out, we had a good wind today, so the skipper decided to put the sails up.

 

We sailed at about 8 knots, which was a great wind. However, we had rougher waters, and the teens weren't feeling all that well. They all ended up taking a motion sickness pill and laying down up top and Corinne down below. Casey started out sitting with her Dad, but eventually laid down (probably because the pill makes ya drowsy?) Ryan laid down on the bench in the back with me...I was just sleeping because I was tired from the lack of it from the night before! After awhile, the second mate took the helm while the skipper took a brief break.

 

Our destination today was Norman Island with a stop at Soper's Hole, Tortola for provisions, water and dinghy gas. Soper's Hole is a beautiful little marina area...very colorful. More pix of Soper's: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

 

The boys went ahead and dumped the trash and then the guys got the fuel and water. After two days at Anegada and no way to replenish the water, it took awhile to fill the tanks. When Ryan returned, he wanted to go ashore with the girls to get provisions and buy some souvenirs...and of course have a drink. His main reason for wanting to go was he could use Dad's videocamera.

 

Some pix from Soper's: 7, 8, that's Ryan up there, we were taking pictures and some nice lady offered to take a group picture for us.

 

We watched the guys move from the dock to a mooring ball and they assumed we were finished (without bags?) and sent Ricky over in the dinghy to pick us up. Guess they figured we weren't finished when Ricky returned alone. Ricky went back and told them we weren't finished and then they brought the other dinghy over because now there was all 8 of us on land. Now it was time to shop for more food...and restock the beverages. This little store was huge, it had an upstairs! Finally got what we needed and started making our way back to the dinghy dock. After everyone and everything was loaded up, back to the boat we went to continue on our travels....

 

After restocking the fridge & freezer, we headed out. Some scenes along the way: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and Ryan, still tired.

 

Wasn't too long till we arrived at The Bight, Norman Island. We had no trouble finding a ball and moored up.

 

After we were moored, we were heading over to the Willy T for drinks and jumping off the back of boat. Everyone was feeling better, but Ryan was REALLY tired. He decided he wasn't interested, he wanted to sleep instead. I knew it was the pill he took that made him tired, but it was his call. We weren't far and left him behind on the boat.

 

Everyone got a drink and in no time, jumping had begun. People must have thought it was closed, because as soon as our family started jumping off the Willy T, lots of other people arrived. There was much jumping, although I didn't jump...just not my thing. Don't worry...no regrets. My husband took a lot of video of the fun ...from all angles.

 

YOLO, right? Here are random family shots: 1, 2, 3 and 4 and backflippin.

 

As Michele put it: NGO. (never gets old)

 

After a bit, Michele & I took Corinne back to the boat and I checked in on Ry. I made sure he didn't want to come back, and he didn't. He just wanted to sleep. That was fine. We left the two of them there and headed back to the T. I undid the rope and we were on our way...so I thought. Slight problem, Michele couldn't get the dinghy started on the way out and we started to drift toward our neighbor. She was lookin' tired, so I gave it a try. She wasn't quick enough on the gas the first pull so I pulled a second time and I got it just as we were passing the neighbors (who I'm sure were laughing at us!). They looked like they were ready to jump in and climb aboard to help us! Little did we know, the guys were watching us from the T and laughing at us too!

 

After a little more jumping, we decided to call it a night and head back to the boat for dinner. Willy T was a fun time. More pix of the T: 1, 2, 3 and 4.

 

We came 'home' and those who were jumping, rinsed off. Then, Rick fired up the grills to start dinner. Feelin' no pain after drinking all afternoon, he did a lil dance while waiting on the grills. The sun was starting to set, so dinner would be cooking soon. Most were out watching the sunset....Ryan was swabbin' the ash off the deck. Another beautiful sunset (but not as beautiful as the ones in Anegada). I did catch a picture of Michele...apparently desperate for a hairclip? heehee....

 

Finally, the grills were going strong, and Rick started dinner. Tonight's menu was chicken wings, salad, baked beans and mac & cheese. Delicious dinner and Randy & I did dishes and cleaned up.

 

There was talk of playing a family game, but somehow everyone ended up going their separate ways. I know they couldn't have gone too far on a small catamaran like ours...but, we didn't play a game tonight.

 

Michele decided she wanted to fish off the back of the boat and see if she could catch anything. After dinner, when Casey had tossed some scraps from her plate overboard, she noticed a really BIG fish! We tossed some more mac & cheese in to chum up the waters. We think they were wahoos and they were happy to have our scraps. Well, we didn't have a fishing rod, so she had to improvise. Rick helped her rig her up a fishing pole. She used a piece of leftover hotdog attached to a safety pin and dental floss and attached that to the drum line (for a 'pole'). She could sit out there all night..even though she was getting annoyed they didn't want hotdog. It wasn't too long till she switched to a piece of leftover steak. After a while, she was convinced these fish were vegatarians because they were just not biting at her meat.

 

We were all getting tired at this point and she was getting nowhere fast... OR slow. We convinced her to give it up for the night and she reluctantly did.

 

We are supposed to be up early tomorrow....places to go.

[Daghis]

Pardon me for interrupting your updated review, but I have a question about the photos for your Freedom of the Seas review. I'd like to make a photo scavenger hunt for my friends who are sailing on Freedom of the Seas next month with me, and I'd like to ask your permission to use your photos to create the hunt. What I'd like to do is take a photo, crop out some small portion of it, and have my friends try to figure out where on the ship that piece of the picture came from.

 

Would that be okay if I were to do this?

[ryansmom]

Pardon me for interrupting your updated review, but I have a question about the photos for your Freedom of the Seas review. I'd like to make a photo scavenger hunt for my friends who are sailing on Freedom of the Seas next month with me, and I'd like to ask your permission to use your photos to create the hunt. What I'd like to do is take a photo, crop out some small portion of it, and have my friends try to figure out where on the ship that piece of the picture came from.

 

Would that be okay if I were to do this?

 

heehee...by all means...go right ahead! there's certainly plenty of pix to choose from! (I did the same thing w/ a group of friends that knew Universal Orlando...we took pictures, cropped out a portion and the first one to guess what it was (and where), was the winna...it was fun!)

 

have fun!

[Daghis]

Thank you very much! This is going to be so much fun! I can't wait ... just 24 more days!

[ryansmom]

Thank you very much! This is going to be so much fun! I can't wait ... just 24 more days!

 

No problem...toss in the one of the bathroom in the casino! That should be a REAL stumper!! lol

[micro yaya]

i was wondering if the freedom still had a latin band onboard. they used to have one in a abar by the casino. would you know thanks:

[ryansmom]

i was wondering if the freedom still had a latin band onboard. they used to have one in a abar by the casino. would you know thanks:

 

I personally don't know...sorry...we took this trip on Freedom July of 2011.

 

Maybe someone else who was just on it would know?

 

I'm updating the end of this trip with our sailing trip from this summer... :)

[ryansmom]

Day 13

 

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

 

Destination: Jost Van Dyke

 

Nobody was up super early, but still around 9am or so. The water is just so beautiful everywhere we go down here....

 

We had a leisurly morning (except for cleaning the decks) before packing up heading out to our next destination: White Bay, Jost Van Dyke. And, of course, a quick run ashore for ice before leaving Norman Island. We did find out that the fish we saw last night were wahoos. Saw them at the shore dock too! Just another picture of our cat.

 

On our way out, we were going to stop and snorkel at the Indians, but the closer we got, we could see all the balls were already taken, so we skipped it. We'll just have to go back and try to do it again some day.

 

We had a good wind, so Rick put the jib up and we enjoyed a nice sail. Water wasn't too rough and we were moving right along.

 

Along the way were beautiful sites to be seen. (Who'm I kiddin'? Beautiful sites everywhere down here to be seen!) I took a picture of this monohull just because he looked like he enjoyed flying his flags. Some other sites along the way: 1, 2 and I just barely caught this turtle as he dove down for the final time. We had to stop by Soper's Hole for some water and ice on the way to JVD. 3, 4, mooring, hello...we're baaaack, 5 and ready to go. Super quick stop!

 

We [/url]arrived at , JVD early afternoon...probably not long before 3pm. We cruised in looking, but we . So, the decided to and moor at . Pulling in to Great Harbor: , , and .

 

The plan was to have and take the dinghys around to White Bay to the Soggy Dollar Bar. Picture of .

 

Lunch was hotdogs, beans, nachos, etc....starting to put out leftovers too at this point. After we all had , we took the two around to White Bay. When we , we saw a mooring ball open! Yay! So, one of the dinghys stayed at the ball, while the guys in the other dinghy went back to get the boat and bring her around.

 

This was actually kind of funny because we sorta "stole" that mooring ball. We could see boats approaching White Bay as if they were looking for a mooring ball. Most balls have a bright orange float on the rope to help make it float so it's easier to grab. We had drifted away from and I told Michele to pull the rope in so we could the orange floaty thing in our dinghy. She did and we kept real close to that ball while waiting for to bring the boat back around. So, you see, it was sorta like hiding and stealing it

 

The guys and while Michele did donuts . Of our two dinghys, in the slower one (for obvious reasons) and I told her they were going to make fun of us because they left, got , moored, and STILL to the beach! She didn't care...her excuse was she was having fun doing donuts!

 

We 'parked' our and Soggy Bar .

 

Up till now, we haven't really been with any . is for . Much more , but a lot of . We hung out , swam, took & video and had a couple of the .

 

We had more than a couple actually...courtesy of our new buddy... . When you have like Art, you can and only spend about $20...heehee...

 

Random pix: Ryan , SDB from , , , , at the SDB, our boat is waaaay down there...the , feelin' , havin' fun , just a , , , Michele and (that's what he said his name was), my drunk sister-in-law who kept calling her , Ryan getting smart about , and . Close ...almost ! It was a whole 'chair underwater ordeal'. A goofy, , and yes...I know my is on crooked!

 

If you look closely, you can make out a ...which was odd, because it wasn't raining?

 

Little story about .... We heard a 'horn' of sorts blow...like a conch shell horn. Turns out, this guy's and they were 'calling' for him. So, with his souvenir bag in his mouth, he used his noodle and kicked out to get on his boat before they left. It was pretty funny.

 

Everyone had , including the kids. After a while, the and so we decided to . The girls came with us, while Randy, Rick & Ricky staying behind for a little longer (to score more drinks out of Art, I'm sure). I'm not sure what happened when we got back to our boat, but next thing I knew, Ryan was jumping off the top of our boat! I was shocked, yet happy, because he normally has a fear of heights. I'm wondering if climbing the rock wall on the cruise last year has helped cure some of that fear? He jumped in just in time for his Dad, Uncle and cousin to be near us in their dinghy and see him do it. He only jumped one more time and he was cold again...time to be out of the water and dry off. Of course, Ricky decided to jump off the top and before I knew it, everyone was jumping in and swimming.

 

NOT as impressive as the ones in Anegada.

 

After was dried off, we got cleaned up and to Great Harbor for at . No shoes, no problem. Foxy's is one of those 'interestingly' decorated places:, , , , and .

 

ordered and for appetizers. There were ordered, pasta, pasta and for dinner. Everyone was too full for dessert as they were generously portioned sized meals!

 

The boys were and .

 

Michele talked Randy and Rick into doing a song for . They were going to do "Red Solo Cup", but they said it was too new and they didn't have it. So, they settled for "Takin' Care of Business" instead. They did great and, from what they say, doing it. , this with a and showed us how his claws could cut a plastic cup. Not sure if he was expecting a tip or what?

 

We paid our bill and headed 'home' at about 9:30. Michele was ready to again and with a piece of again. "Sharkbait! Ooh ha ha!" My boys decided on a while we sat outside with her. We were out there awhile again and I know you aren't going to believe this, but she did have a fish! It took her bait and I saw it jump out of the water. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it. But, I am her witness. You CAN with a hotdog, . ?

 

It wasn't too long after she 'caught' her fish that we decided to call it a night and get ready for bed. What a great day!

[ryansmom]

Day 14

 

Thursday, July 12, 2012

 

Destination: Cane Garden Bay, Tortola. I found a good ariel picture of Cane Garden.

 

For the first time the entire week, it actually rained this morning. One of my first thoughts was "oh well, guess what's out on the line drying, isn't dry anymore". It didn't rain long...maybe 5 minutes IF that? It was just after 9am and I peeked out our window and I saw a rainbow. I hopped out of bed and grabbed our cameras and went out to take pictures. (It was actually a double rainbow, but you can't see the second one because it was hazy and the rainbow was so faint.) Good morning Jost van Dyke...what a beautiful morning (even if it did rain)!

 

It was another leisurly morning. Michele figured out she needed weight on her fishing line and used some of Corinne's coral. She'd get the chance tonight to try it out.

 

After breakfast, Randy and I went ashore to gather some sand (to bring home) and we took a short walk up this path to see what we could see from up higher. Turns out, not much because of all the trees. No matter, it was still a beautiful view. The views we saw on our short walk: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, since we were parked on the end, good shots of our boat and 7. On our way back down to the beach, I spotted some shells on some old, dead-looking coral. And next to it on the ground, I saw a tiny shell move on the ground. Must be another critter.

 

As we headed back to the boat, Ricky was jumping off the top of the boat...again.

 

While we were ashore for that small time, Rick took Ricky & Ryan out snorkeling. They went along the shoreline near the rocks. When they noticed us coming back, they came back in our direction. Randy & I got our snorkel gear on and headed out to join them. We were the only 5, as the girls stayed behind.

 

It was some of the best snorkeling we've ever done! We even saw a school of squid! Just cruising on by.... Beautiful fish and reef. Snorkeling sites: right off our boat were tons of silver bait fish and these, Ryan in clear water, Rickyand this pretty coral. This picture is blurry, but it's a bigger tropical fish swimming with the squid, at 4:00 & 6:00 there are fish, bottom right corner are the fish I was trying to get, a picture of my husband's hand and the fish (at the bottom) I was trying to get, this guy was buzzing out of my shot on the left, reef and tons of fish: 1, 2, 3 and 4, 5, 6 and 7. They were just so amazingly beautiful, I've never seen anything like that before!

 

These fish were everywhere! Some coral, more of those fish (toldja they were everywhere), beautiful fish and here. Some more fish (altho, not as pretty), 1 and 2. These fish seemed to be on a mission to be going somewhere? 1, this fish is at the top of the picture, at the top here too, and here, 2, there were a few of these pretty fish, 3, this is a great close up, actually saw more of this kind of fish the next day, 4, 5, 6, 7, needlefish at the top and yet more of these fish again.

 

My pictures, unfortunately, do not do the snorkeling here justice, so I had Randy post

(which is SO much better). It starts with the boys on the boat first, and takes about a minute to get to the underwater part. Sound on is good idea, as the song is quite appropriate.

 

We were out pretty far and for quite a bit before Ryan started to get tired and was ready to head in. I went back with him and we were 3/4 of the way in and we both popped our heads up and looked at each other. Really? It's raining? Not hard or for long...but still...rain.

 

He got onboard and I took some pictures of the boat from water view. Here's what underneath looked like, the back and here.

 

Once back onboard, there was lunch being made. Hotdogs and leftover stuff again. When everyone had made their way in, they were appreciative of something to eat. Snorkeling can work up quite the appetite.

 

Once I was dried off, I took some more pictures: you can't see Randy & Rick, but they're out at the point, the path Randy & I walked up earlier, water so clear, you can see the shadow of the dinghy and the rocks at the bottom, this picture is through my sunglasses, still moored (you know, on the ball we STOLE!), still full here at White Bay, here's the brothers coming back in, you can see how clear the water is with Rick's shadow, my husband just didn't want to get out of that beautiful water. I don't think he would have minded if we had left him there! Here's him and Michele hanging out, I was glad she got some time to relax; especially since she did some 'laundry' that morning while we were all busy doing other stuff. Oh, and unsure what our 'bait' was doing in the water?

 

While we had been out snorkeling, there was another catamaran with a family of teens onboard looking for a mooring ball at White Bay. Apparently Michele had told them we'd only be there for a couple more hours, we could call them when we were ready to head out. And, that's what we did. We called them on the radio and told them to start coming in and around. It worked out great and they got our mooring ball after we had pulled away. Glad we could help them out. It really is a busy/popular place.

 

We headed out and cruised by Little JVD and Green Cay and Sandy Spit, but we didn't stop and moor. This was a relaxin' trip. Even the Skipper took a break. Guess he felt comfortable with the younger ones at the helm? Not sure how confident I feel! Especially when we hit a few raindrops...you can't 'duck' from the rain AND steer!

 

Along the way, the sites are so pretty..again. Check out this road on this hill! We weren't going far, so we didn't put our sails up like this guy did. You can see the good wind! Skipper driving...with his feet! Don't know that I'd want to live here!? Here is something rare here in the islands: palm trees. You'd think they'd be everywhere, but we actually saw more cactus than palm trees. Because of the islands being volcanic rock, the cactus grows better on the rock than palm trees...that grow in sand.

 

We were headed over to the other side of Tortola to Cane Garden Bay.

 

This is a beautiful, colorful area. Randy asked Ryan if HE wanted a chance to try and catch the mooring ball and he did. He actually did a great job, but the rope was SO short, he grabbed it but Randy couldn't get it from him to moor and he had to give it another try (it was actually the shortest rope of the whole trip). Ryan was upset with himself at first because he thought he had missed, but he didn't and we explained what had happened. After we were moored up, most of us decided to rest and/or take a half hour nap (remember, snorkeling is tiring!).

 

Some of us relaxed. Some napped. Some sunbathed. A lazy afternoon for sure.

 

Mid afternoon, we all went ashore to explore. This was even the first time visiting here for the veterans. It was a quaint little town. Lots of chickens and roosters running all over the place. The big joke was the chickens that were running FROM Michele....who happens to LOVE chicken and chicken wings. I'd see a chicken and her babies and tell them to "run...Michele is here"... And I'll be darned, they did run! Random pix from wandering around onshore: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

 

We walked along the beach and then cut across and walked the road back. We got seperated from Rick's crew, so it was just us 3. Some pictures from our walk along the beach: my guys with our boat in the background, my son & I, our boat out there, leaving an impression, no 'hands' picture here, but a family one instead, the annual pic from behind, and our son. They were waitin' for me because I was taking pictures of this palm tree...since they are so rare in the islands. A few more scenes from our beach walk: this net is right in the water, this tree was being trimmed...it was pretty and we ended the beach walk at this restaurant/bar. We took a path from the beach to the street side and started walking back that way to see what was along the road.

 

Turns out, not much: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

 

We caught up with them on the walk back and decided to stop for drinks before heading back to our boat. We got some drinks and watched pelicans dive bomb fish. They seemed to like hanging out in this particular spot. It was actually amazing and funny at the same time because they were so predictable. They'd fly around and come right back and dive bomb at the same spot each time. You'd think that'd make it easy to get a picture of it, wouldn't you? No it wasn't...not really. Don't ask me what these kids were hoping to catch by dragging their net, because they weren't deep enough and I didn't see them get anything.

 

Before we left, we took some family pictures.

Ours finally came out decent, after being photobombed by my brother-in-law!

 

We picked up some ice on the way out and when we got back to the boat, we relaxed and watched the beautiful sunset that was beginning. A view of the beach from our boat.

 

Okay, tonight's sunset is beautiful and I have like 50 pictures of it. I'll do my best to whittle it down and not bore you: not sure why you can see a faint rainbow in this picture because it wasn't raining? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. Whew! That was hard to trim that down, but I hope you liked what I chose.

 

After sunset, we started getting ready to make dinner. Tonight's menu was chicken, corn, beans, mac & cheese, salad and whatever other leftovers we could find. Another good dinner and we had cleaned up and did dishes again.

 

The great fisherwoman decided to give it another try (with her weight) after dinner again tonight, but we didn't let her stay out long. Since there was so much napping throughout the day, everyone was up for a game of Uno (with 2 decks of regular playing cards) and we also ended up playing 2 rounds of the game Headbandz when Casey suggested we switch games. What a fun time playing that game. Ryan won the first round and Ricky won the second round. We had lost Corinne for Headbandz, she went to bed after Uno. She was always first to bed. A couple of funny pictures from Headbands (I'm sure you're familiar with the game...if not, you have to guess 'what you are' by asking others questions): Ricky, Randy & Ryan, good luck guessing that Ricky, Rick & Michele, you can't read what I was, but I was a beaver and Casey was sitting next to me.

 

Tonight was a late night. We didn't call it a night until almost 11:30! The latest we've been up all week! Tomorrow is our last full day here in the islands.

[RickyG]

Great review of your Bareboat trip!!

[ryansmom]

Great review of your Bareboat trip!!

 

Thanks! It was a fabulous trip! Our favorite stops were Jost van Dyke, Anegada & Virgin Gorda...probably in that order too!

 

Trip is almost over....1 day left and then time to come home :(

[ryansmom]

Day 15

 

Friday, July 13, 2012

 

Destination: Marina Cay & Roadtown marina.

 

Up around 9am this morning. Came upstairs to see our captain plotting his next move. Little by little the teens got up, with our son being the last. He decided to sleep in today.

 

This morning, when Rick had gone outside, he turned around and came right back in to get us. Lookit what he found next to Ryan's shell! Yep, he was dead and yep he shot dye before he died. That would explain why the shell was smelling bad (and the reason we left it outside all week). Michele was excited to finally have some bait for fishing . We decided to try it out and see what we'd get. In NO time flat, there were all these fish around! Unfortunately, the captain wouldn't let her keep it in a baggie in the fridge or freezer for later, so we had to let squidward go.

 

It was a leisurly morning again after breakfast and while some relaxed and played cards, I decided to get a jump on packing. I didn't want to leave it all to tonight, so I got started. View of JVD this morning: 1, 2 and 3. I believe this is St. Thomas in the distance?

 

Sometime after noon, we headed out for our next destination: Marina Cay. It was a beautiful ride and we passed right by Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport on Beef Island, Tortola. I think they were having some flying lessons because we kept seeing a plane fly around and very few take off. I don't recall seeing any planes landing? Just like any other island, if you run out of runway, you're going swimming!

 

Sites along the way from Cane Garden to Marina Cay: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, getting closer to 6 our destination, my son recouping from his big card game, 7, 8, the actual tiny island itself and 9, 10, 11, the girls, 12 and Ricky.

 

Pulling into Marina Cay was beautiful. My husband enjoys taking pictures of the "you are here"...gives some perspective to where you are!

 

Although we saw a whole bunch of boats leaving as we were getting there, we were beginning to wonder if it was something we said? Didn't matter, it was a beautiful place and we were heading ashore after some lunch. "Mustgo" was on the menu for lunch, but we had to switch over the gas tank to heat it up (no microwave). Last day and we run outta gas for the stove! Oh well...at least it wasn't water we ran out of! Once we had gas for the stove, lunch was up.

 

Our views from the boat at Marina Cay: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

 

While lunch was in the fixins, a relaxing game of cards broke out. I had heard my son was kicking butt...I think they said he won 4 hands? Talk about beginners luck!

 

After everyone ate and relaxed and lunch was cleaned up, we were going to head ashore.

 

We went through a little gift shop (took this picture before going in tho)...and headed out the other side. There was a little path from the store to the beach, so we took pictures along the way because it was just so pretty here, 1 and 2.

 

There was a beachside restaurant and bar at which we got drinks at. Note the footwash at the foot of the steps. Very common in the islands. Since most don't wear shoes most places, before you enter a store or restaurant, they like you to wash the sand off your feet. And, we took some pictures. The beach here was part coral, so if you were looking for any, you had plenty to pick from! We took family pictures here because it was so beautiful and the tables on the beach.

 

We sat at a table down on the beach in front of the restaurant and just admired the beautiful views and took pictures (of course!) Those views: 1, 2, a 'handsome' view, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and a sneaky pic of Michele.

 

After drinks and pictures, we headed back to our boat to get our snorkel gear. We took the dinghys and moored them while we went snorkeling. There wasn't much at the first place we stopped, so we loaded up and headed over toward where we had drinks earlier. This was a much better spot as we saw a lot of neat things here. Lots of fish, sea urchins, coral, a fan, a stingray (and a fish) just cruising along the bottom minding their own business and a closer picture of that same ray, we also saw a longhorn cowfish. If not for the blue on him, Randy would've never seen him!

 

Random pix from snorkeling: 1, 2, 3, 4, bunch of reddish fish at the bottom-center of this picture, Randy going down to annoy the fish, a closer shot of those reddish fish, that longhorn cowfish blended in well with his surroundings and more shots of those urchins, here and here.

 

We were out for a little while before heading back in. I wish we could've snorkeled here longer. I think my husband and his brother could have stayed out there a lot longer, but they realized it was getting late and we wanted to make it back to the marina tonight yet. We had to have the boat back by 8am tomorrow, and with our long travel day home, we were not interested in getting up that early and you cannot sail at night. So, all aboard about 5:30pm, we started to haul butt back to Roadtown.

 

Beautiful scenery along the way. We couldn't decide if we'd hit rain or not (we didn't), but we had to keep going. With our destination in sight and the sun beginning to set, we were still pretty far away, an alarm started going off! Rick had left the helm to Randy and went up front to relax with his wife. Poor guy wasn't there 5 minutes and we had an issue! Not knowing what the problem was, believe it or not, I was actually the one who looked at the control panel inside and realized we left the generator on! Oopsie! That's a big no-no! We overheated our starboard engine. So Rick shut her down and we were just cruising on the port engine.

 

Not long after cruising along on only one engine, the alarm went off again. The port engine was now overheating trying to compensate for the other engine being shut down.

 

So, we shut both engines down and just floated for a bit. (Of course, I am still snapping pictures during this 'emergency'. Someone needs to document the memory...) We didn't have both engines off for long because we weren't far from the coastline. You don't want to drift too close to land! Capt'n put our starboard engine back on, but not on the high speed he had had it on. After a bit, he fired up the port engine and we were back on our way; at a slower pace, but nonetheless, on our way.

 

Not too long we were at the marina and radioed ahead to let them know we were back. They told us someone would be waiting for us at 'B' dock. Sure enough, he was there, jumped aboard and 'parked' us. Actually parallel parked us right up front near the bar, restuarant and pool. You think it's difficult in a car? Try a 44' catamaran! But, of course he made it look easy!

 

When we arrived and hooked up to shore power, Rick & Michele went to the office to check back in. They were staying another week and some friends were coming down to meet them. They had a monohull rented, but they knew they didn't have airconditioning on it and (after a week of having AC) were going to check into upgrading to a bigger boat with AC. They came back and had checked in for the next trip with no luck for an upgrade that night (that was affordable). We all went to see the boat they'd be taking out next week.

 

Some pix of the monohull: 1, 2, master bedroom, master shower and bathroom, 3, 4, 5, aft bedroom and it's bathroom and here. Here is Michele standing on her bed, and here too.

 

After we saw their boat, we went back to our boat (closer shot of the front). The sun was beginning to set, but it wasn't as pretty because Tortola was in the way! Randy & his brother one last night together.

 

And here are Randy's many pictures of "you are here": 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

 

The menu tonight was spaghetti & meatballs, salad and garlic bread. Along with cleaning up and doing the dishes, it was also toss the leftovers we didn't eat.

 

Most hung out to chat and play cards. I had my guys get showers so I could finish packing as much as I could. I'm not big on playing cards, so I was okay with getting cleaned up and finishing up the packing. From what I could hear, they were having a good time.

 

It was probably around midnight when we called it a night. Super long day ahead of us tomorrow.

[macrc]

Thanks for posting another great review. I read your Freedom review several times before our Freedom cruise in Feb. It was a great help in planning our cruise. Thanks again for all the great pictures and review.

[loeytalldog]

I'm still following! Sad your trip is ending, I've had fun travelling with you and you have given me a trip to consider! Will look forward to hearing your travel day home.

 

Lois

[ryansmom]

Day 16

 

Saturday, July 14, 2012

 

Today is the big, long travel day home

 

Of course, we didn't sleep well last night. Don't know if it was the squeaking against the dock or just wanted to be sure to be up early enough...whatever it was, it was going to be a long day.

 

Some pictures from around the marina this morning: 1, 2 and 3. A very quiet, peaceful morning...except for the rooster (still) crowing on land.

 

We got dressed and ate what we could find was left for breakfast. I finished packing everything up and we were ready rather early. Rick had his walk-through on the monohull this morning (I was out taking pictures and saw him) but when he came back, he said he couldn't live without air conditioning next week, so he DID get a bigger boat with AC. He totally upgraded. I hope his friends would see things his way.....

 

With most everything packed, we went outside and took our flag down. Ryan on standby in case Rick needed help; but he didn't. The trip was officially over now. We left our boat and the marina with our nieces and nephew just before 9am. We got the shuttle to the ferry.

 

We were super early for our 10am fast ferry to St. Thomas, but we got seats in the air conditioning to wait. The ferry finally arrived and we saw Rick & Michele's friends that were coming. We said a brief 'hello' and 'you'll have a great time' before they disappeared through customs and we were ready to board.

 

We had a nice, air conditioned ferry for the ride back to St. Thomas. Comfortable seats made it a nice ride. Too bad we didn't have this ferry on the way IN! Once we arrived in St. Thomas, we hailed a taxi to the airport ($10/pp). It's a quick ride to the airport...probably no more than 15 minutes or so. We got to the airport at 11:30am. And I hope I never have to fly out of 'there' again! What a mess!

 

St. Thomas is a small airport with a lot of people going through it. It's open aired and only a couple of agents at each airline's desk. And when you check luggage, there's no belt for them to toss it on behind them, you take it around yourself! After we had checked the nieces 2 bags and got our boarding passes, we found out our flight was delayed until 2:30 instead of our original 1:55 departure time. Sigh....long day just got longer.

 

It took forever and a day to get through customs and TSA. Corinne didn't know there was a bottle of water in her bag, so they had to hand check that and then run it through the x-ray again. And, they flagged my two bags that had sand in them. I had a really nice TSA man and I explained I was redoing my bathroom in a caribbean theme. When he found out the sand was "all the way" from Anegada, he let me through with it saying I should've put it in my checked baggage. I told him I didn't have any checked baggage. Oh, and the huge conch shell Ryan found on Anegada that had the dead squid fall out of it yesterday on the boat? Yeah...that got thru TSA no problem. It was in his backpack. Wrapped in 3 two gallon ziploc bags and his beachtowel. Go figure?

 

So, we FINALLY arrive at our gate at 1:00! It took 1.5 hours to get from the entrance of the airport to our gate. Crazy! Most of the troops hadn't eaten anything yet today, so Randy took them all to get lunch while I sat and waited with all the bags. A couple hotdogs, burgers and chicken cost him about $70! That is some expensive fast food!

 

Our plane finally arrived and they turned it around pretty quickly. It didn't take too long for them to start boarding us. Since we were the cheap seats in the rear of the plane, we boarded in the back.

 

We stowed our bags (none taken from us this time) and settled into our seats with the other 3 kids in front of us. An older gentleman ended up getting his panties in a bunch because he claimed we were in his seat. He looked at his ticket again and claimed we were in his seats. Then he shouted for someone to get the 'stewardess' (that right there tells ya how old this guy is) and mumbled something about having his ticket for 4 months. Hmph. We had our tickets for 8 months but that wouldn't matter anyway. For some reason, this gentleman and his wife each had an aisle seat...across from each other. He then started to complain to the lady in the aisle seat across from us that she had his wife's seat. Luckily, this lady pointed out to him that HE had the wrong row...he was actually 2 rows ahead.

 

So everyone was finally seated and we took off. Beautiful sites from above. Leaving St. Thomas, 1, 2, 3 and approaching Miami.

 

They were playing some weird movie I'd never heard of (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) and after giving it a chance, we checked out of it and we decided to finish watching "Puss in Boots"...which we started to watch on the way down. Liked it. It was a cute movie that gave a lot of insight into Puss' past. Since we just had to watch the end of that movie, we decided to start watching another...Unstoppable. This was another good movie...passed the flight time quickly.

 

Not quite to the end of the movie, and we were told to prepare to land. So, off everything went and we arrived uneventfully at Miami International. I like this airport...it's big, but well laid out. They announced the departure gate for connections and the kids were departing just across the walkway at the next gate. They had just enough time to visit the restroom, check in with their friends, pose for one last picture with their cousin and grab something to eat before they boarded for Orlando. Bye guys!!

 

After we knew they were on their flight, I went to get changed (into more comfortable, warmer clothes) and then we went in search of some dinner....since we had a few hours to kill before our 10pm flight to PHL. I think Miami airport is decorated so nice! I mean, it's theme fits perfectly and I loved all the fish hanging around! It was pretty and clean...and busy!

 

We checked the terminal 'map' and decided on TGIFridays for dinner. We walked right in to my surprise...no wait. We ordered drinks and toasted to a memorable trip! The best we've ever taken. We were pretty hungry. Randy ordered a burger and Ryan had a full rack of ribs...while I only ordered a half rack. I knew Ryan was hungry, because he was the first one finished!

 

After dinner, we went back to our departure gate area and plugged in my laptop to charge it up for the flight home. We still had PLENTY of time till our flight, so we finished watching Unstoppable. After that was over, the guys decided to run and get some snacks for the flight home.

They were only gone about 15 minutes and it was about time to start boarding for our flight home.

 

On the flight home, we watched Final Destination 5. Even as tired as we all were, we were still laughing at parts of this movie. We have all the Final Destination movies and love them all! This one was no different. Even Ryan enjoyed it! It lasted pretty much the entire flight home. We finished the movie with maybe about 20-30 minutes left in our flight. Ryan couldn't keep his eyes open anymore, and laid down on my lap. We both rested our heads and eyes...knowing we still had just a little over an hour car ride home once we landed.

 

We eventually landed and as I was walking off the plane, I called for our car. Since we didn't have any checked luggage, I was hoping the wait wouldn't be as long if I called right away. Unfortunately, we walked pretty fast and we still ended up with a bit of a wait on our car...even after stopping by the restrooms on the way out.

 

Our car came and we jumped in and headed home. (We pay extra to leave right from the airport.) It was just around 1:00 am. We pulled in our driveway at 2:04am and I was the last one to bed and my head hit the pillow at 2:11am. Just think... I woke up in Roadtown, Tortola, and now I'm sleeping in my own bed. (almost 24 hours later!)

 

It was an awesome trip and we can't wait to go back and do it again!! We might try the Bahamas in a couple of years...snorkeling will probably be SO much better! But...we loved the BVI and anxiously look forward to going back. Once home, we realized there was SO much we didn't see and do...must go back!! We are even thinking of buying our own boat when Randy decides he's ready for (early) retirement and just spend our days sailing.

 

Next summer we have a southern caribbean cruise booked after our week at Dad's. Stay tuned.... Thanks for reading!

[macrc]

Thanks for posting such a great review. Loved both this and the Freedom review. Looking forward to your next one. The pictures and details were just great. Almost like we were there with you. So until next time we wish you and your family the best. Have a great winter.

[EllaDuChien]

Ryansmom - Is it weird that I got a little teary eyed that your vacation came to an end?? :p Your experience has me thinking that I really need to look into this as a vacation option! Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful family with all of us! Happy sailing! :D

[ryansmom]

Thanks for posting such a great review. Loved both this and the Freedom review. Looking forward to your next one. The pictures and details were just great. Almost like we were there with you. So until next time we wish you and your family the best. Have a great winter.

 

Have a good winter yourself! Thanks again for reading along!

 

Ryansmom - Is it weird that I got a little teary eyed that your vacation came to an end?? :p Your experience has me thinking that I really need to look into this as a vacation option! Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful family with all of us! Happy sailing! :D

 

If you were a little teary eyed for MY vacation to end, maybe it IS a trip for you to consider? It's not something I would've even thought of doing had my brother-in-law not done it before. He TOTALLY hooked us :cool:

 

 

That said... Randy just finished whittling down about 10-12 hours of video into a beautiful 2 hour dvd. While I'm not posting that, I can post the ending (summary) that he just uploaded to youtube.

 

I recommend your sound on to

!

 

Thanks for reading along...cya next year!

[Eng23]

Have a good winter yourself! Thanks again for reading along!

 

 

 

If you were a little teary eyed for MY vacation to end, maybe it IS a trip for you to consider? It's not something I would've even thought of doing had my brother-in-law not done it before. He TOTALLY hooked us :cool:

 

 

That said... Randy just finished whittling down about 10-12 hours of video into a beautiful 2 hour dvd. While I'm not posting that, I can post the ending (summary) that he just uploaded to youtube.

 

I recommend your sound on to

!

 

Thanks for reading along...cya next year!

Hi! I'm still following along on your travels. Nice little video of your BVI catamaran trip. I have enjoyed all of your travel adventures and found your info to very valuable. Although I am still doing mainline cruising next year I am planning on putting together the right group of friends to do a catamaran vacation like yours. Thanks for sharing with all of us! :D

[RickyG]

Great review and outstanding video!!

It's a dream of mine to be able to do that kind of trip one of these days. I know it was already said, but thanks for sharing!

[gunkelj]

Can you tell me if there is shampoo, bath soap and creme rinse in the shower on the Freedom?

[ryansmom]

Can you tell me if there is shampoo, bath soap and creme rinse in the shower on the Freedom?

 

According to this picture in my review, there is something in the shower.

 

I can't remember what (since this was taken in 2011) and we always take our own soap, shampoo & conditioner.

 

I'd assume since it's IN the shower, it's shampoo, but I honestly can't remember.

 

Sorry not much help.

[ryansmom]

Hi! I'm still following along on your travels. Nice little video of your BVI catamaran trip. I have enjoyed all of your travel adventures and found your info to very valuable. Although I am still doing mainline cruising next year I am planning on putting together the right group of friends to do a catamaran vacation like yours. Thanks for sharing with all of us! :D

 

With the right people/friends, this sort of trip is great. We are planning on a regular cruise next summer and having a hard time with the 'structured' excursions. We enjoy snorkeling and instead of having a 'planned' excursion, when we felt like snorkeling, we just jumped off the back of the catamaran and did it! It was so great!! You don't want to go with a bunch of party poopers on something like this! ;)

 

Great review and outstanding video!!

It's a dream of mine to be able to do that kind of trip one of these days. I know it was already said, but thanks for sharing!

 

Ahhh...you're welcome! I hope someday you are able to take that dream trip. As wonderful as they are, unfortunately they are quite expensive AND addiciting! Now we are trying to decide on the Abacos or Belize for 2014! Decisions, decisions.....

 

Thanks again everyone for reading along and your kind words!