Pirates of the Caribbean?

Days before the Thanksgiving holiday, and after a little less than three months of job searching, I accepted the State of Alaska's offer of employment as an assistant attorney general on January 8, 2013.  I was elated that I had landed the job and with a January start-date, I would have one more traveling opportunity before my now more-than-one-year off!  I  promptly got to work searching websites and reviewing the past travel newsletters that regularly fill my email in-box.

In my search I stumbled upon a sailing newsletter in my in-box from June that advertised a flotilla in the British Virgin Islands in mid-December.  The trip was scheduled to start in less than a week, but I emailed the contact anyway to see if she had any spaces left.  I got a call back within five minutes and the ball was rolling.

After 19 hours of traveling, Karl and I arrived at Tortola, BVI, the land of the famous pirates of the Caribbean.  We arrived a few days early to get used to the five hour time change and to read up on the study materials for our Bareboat Chartering and Multihull sailing classes that we planned to take while serving as "crew" on a 50-foot sailing catamaran for eight days (well, to be honest, I was just dying to get out of the dark and sub-zero temperatures in Anchorage as soon as possible).

After a couple of really nice days of relaxing, the sailing adventure started a little rough.  The generator on our catamaran was deemed unfixable after more than 8 hours of tinkering by what appeared to be the entire staff of the charter company.  Then, within the first hour of sailing, our skipper managed to foul the digny line in the port engine.  The skipper then handed the helm to me to power sail with one engine...an interesting time for a novice to man a 50-foot catamaran for the first time!  We limped into Norman Island after a few hours and one of our fellow vacationers was able to unfoul the line without cutting it.  All was well again in paradise and the crew piled into the dingy and hit the beach bar before sunset.

Our group numbered 10 total on the 50-foot catamaran and 38 total in the entire flotilla, spread out between 6 different boats.  There were 2 catamarans including ours and the remainder of the boats were varying sized monohulls.  As a whole, we were quite the group of characters!  There were folks from all over the U.S. and Canada with sailing backgrounds ranging from first-timers to old salts.  After a few nights of socializing, I met a couple from my home town of Breckenridge...It truly is a small world.

Because our boat had gotten a late start and then moored at an unscheduled stop the first night, we did a little extra sailing the second day.  We sailed from Norman Island to Jost Van Dyke for lunch and returned to Norman in the late afternoon to join the rest of the flotilla.  The winds were strong that day but not as wicked as the days following.  Hence, that second day was my favorite day of sailing.  That night I experienced my first signature drink of the Virgin Islands, the "Painkiller," and danced on a partially sunken ship at a "classy" establishment, Willy T's.

We sailed to our next stop at Cooper Island in pretty whipping winds.  When it was my turn to take the helm, the winds were 25-30 knots with gusts up to 35 knots.  It was exhilarating and scary all at the same time.  We were rewarded after a long day of sailing upwind with the most incredible food and amazing atmosphere at Cooper Island...not to mention the beautiful beach and incredible sunset.


We sailed on to Virgin Gorda in strong winds again.  We received a call from one of the boats in our flotilla en route that they had torn their sails.  However, everyone made it safe and sound in to the very protected bay at the Bitter End on Virgin Gorda that night.

Virgin Gorda was my favorite island.  I lucked out and we ended up spending an extra night there due to the fierce winds.  We parked next to some of the most beautiful sailboats I have ever seen - the Red Sky and Blackbird - worth around $16 million each (my brother did let me know, however, that there will be at least one yacht worth $100 million parked at Atlantis for the New Year's holiday...la te da).

Virgin Gorda is full of trails.  Karl and I went and explored a couple of routes and I was still finding new trails on my last morning run before we sailed to Marina Cay, our last stop before returning to Tortola.  Virgin Gorda is also the location of the famous "Baths."  The rock formations, coral and white sand beaches we found while wandering on the 3/4 mile winding trail through the Baths were fantastic.

After cleaning up our stinky laundry and getting used to walking on land again, Karl and I hopped on a plane to San Juan, Puerto Rico.  We arrived fairly late that night, but grabbed a cab, headed for Old Town San Juan and found the apartment we had rented on AirBnB without a hitch.  The air was thick with humidity and the sounds of bands playing at the bars near the apartment.  We walked around a bit and took it all in.

After being out on the sea and in the sun for awhile, Karl and I decided to take a few days off from the beaches and instead explored El Morro and the other historic sites and museums of Old Town San Juan.  In the Museo de San Juan, the guide adopted us.  He gave us a very thorough personal tour of the museum and a detailed history of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.  He was fascinating.  That night we went for sangria and tapas at Hotel El Convento and I felt like I was back in Buenos Aires!

I had one last morning after Karl left to explore the streets of Old Town alone before heading to Fort Lauderdale to visit my brother and Dad for the Christmas holiday.  I enjoyed each hot and humid moment.