The crew of Los Escapados
Our 2012 British Virgin Islands sailing adventure was a perfect relief from those winter blues and the high paced lives back home for all of our wonderful busy professional guests joining us from Chicago, Indiana, Philidelphia, and New York. Most of the crew arrived in Tortola through St. Thomas where a beautiful Saturday ferry ride to Tortola set the stage for the week’s adventure. Once aboard the roomy and provisioned Los Escapados, we were greeted by beautiful breezes and temperatures in the mid 80s. We ventured out andLos Escapados proved itself to be a thrilling, comfortable and safe way to sail the islands.
On Sunday, morning we awoke bright and early to check the boat out and get a couple last provisions with the goal of making Bitter End that afternoon. With the winds reading 15-25kts and forecasted to be steady all week, we were treated in making all of our destinations early. Once the sails were set, we maneuvered our way up to the Bitter End. Despite a brief squall, which the boat easily handled through with little effort, we sailed smoothly through the Dog Islands and onto the Bitter End by 1:30pm—plenty of time for swimming, relaxing, napping and having a tasty BBC cocktail at Saba Rock.
Los Escapados sailing at 8.5 kts bound for Anegada
On Monday, we were off to destination Anegada with a glorious and fast sail averaging almost 9 kts. Wow, this boat is quick! We entered the channel very cautiously like we did the previous year because the channel is quite shallow. Once the mooring was secured and our lunch aboard was complete, we ventured via dinghy into place our orders for Anegada Lobster for dinner that evening. Unconventionally, you are required to order by 3:30pm each day so that they can retrieve and prepare the lobsters fresh for your delicious meal later on. After our selections were made, we hired a cab to Cow Wreck Beach for an afternoon of snorkeling and relaxing on this incredible coral based island.
On Tuesday, we set sail for Spanish Town to check out the largest town Virgin Gorda has to offer. We enjoyed another calm Beautiful sail heading down in the direction of the wind. Taking a moment out of my captaining duties, I became the resident painter and worked on a painting series that I began in 2010 called Moment of Sailing, which utilizes the motion of the boat helps create a colorful abstract piece. Once the sailing and painting was over, we engaged Spanish Town. For being such a ‘large’ town, we found that it was actually quite small and it’s best asset was Wi-Fi, which allowed us to touch base with loved ones, email and get in a little Facebook.
The Baths, Virgin Gorda
After a very windy night with with a few mild challenges, Wednesday was a new and very bright day that we spent enjoying the stunningly beautiful Baths of Virgin Gorda and another gorgeous sail to Cooper Island. Once in, we luckily scored the perfect mooring close in to the beach and restaurant. It was a ideal situation with a 50ft swim to the shore. That night we chose to cook dinner aboard despite a little wind on our grill supplied to the boat. This was a lucky move, as we sat and watched the Restaurant on the beach “black out” most likely ruining a few food preparations for the evening.
Moored at Cooper Island
Thursday morning was diving morning, where the company Dive BVI picked me up in their boat based on my location (called rendezvous diving). I met other divers and dive instructors and we had two top notch dives in “Wreck Alley” and “Thumb Rock.” I saw a whole sunken tugboat with an intact bathroom, a 5ft wide Stingray, Barracuda, Lion Fish, and many other enchanting creatures of the sea. While none of the Los Escapados crew was certified to dive, they were certified to drink and apparently exercised their rights at the beachside bar. I’m told that the Bloody Mary’s were the best of their lives. I’m not sure I got the better end of the deal having left them to see a sunken toilette.
Later that afternoon, we sailed to Peter Island with a destination anchorage of Dead Man Bay. Being so close and having such abundant winds, we were able to maneuver back & forth across the Sir Francis Drake Channel and circumnavigate Dead Chest Island before settling in for the evening. That night was another night of grilling out in the wind. There was some fun and banter each time we found a “LULL” in the wind to try and light the charcoal quickly. Fortunately, once prepared, the steak dinner was a fantastic cap to the day.
The Indians
We decided to make a stop back at the charter base in Wickham’s Cay on Friday to completely refill our water tanks. Once we were refreshed and everyone took showers, Lose Escapados was off again to conquer a fantastic group of monument like islands called “the Indians” and the famous floating bar that an institution known as the “Willy T.“ Truly, Friday was another spectacular day as the Indians provided some amazing snorkeling and the Willy T lived up to it’s reputation.
Sailing in Sir Francis Drake Chanel
We awoke Saturday morning to yet another perfect sailing day that got us to the entrance of the base way too early to justify going in. Although coming in from a fantastic week, the crew was unanimous to play around with another hour of sailing before finally returning the boat to home port. I could tell that, as crew got along famously, we were all a bit sad to disembark Los Escapados.
Looking back at it I can honestly say that wind-wise, this was the best single week of sailing of my life and am already anxious to plan the next Caribbean sailing trip with Out on the Water Sailing! We are thankful for this fantastic crew for venturing out with us and know everyone had a great time.
Next time, won’t you join us? For input on our next adventure sailing destination, please email info@out-sailing.com and please request perfect wind.
-Capt. Chris Bartick
