Worthington Photography Blog

Sailing the BVI: February 13th -24th

Its taken awhile to gather together both our vacation pics and my thoughts for this post... The first two days we were back on land, the computer monitor swayed as I typed. While fortunately I am not prone towards sea sickness, the monitor moving as I gained my land legs almost did me in. Or perhaps it was a desperate attempt by my subconscious to avoid work for just a couple more days.

Our trip was a fabulous adventure. Along with two other couples, we charted a 41 foot catamaran appropriately named "No Worries" from a fantastic company called Pro Valor. Meet the crew:

This is Sam's sister Michela, our fearless captain, and her husband Brian. This is our second such trip with Mike and Brian and we hope to keep it as part of a family tradition.


Meet Tom and Tracy, who we greeted as Mr. and Mrs. Haines for the first time as we boarded the boat. Tom and Tracy, our neighbors across the street, were married in St. Thomas the day before we boarded and had already spent a few days on the US side of the Virgin Islands, preparing and pre-honeymooning. We got to scarf down the remains of their wedding cake on the boat, it was the best of the boat provisions IMO.


We took off from Tortola and spent 10 days sailing through various islands, stopping at day spots to snorkel and swim and mooring in some of our favorite harbors in time to dingy to our favorite bars. I kept a full journal of our daily destinations and discoveries (and realized, in the process, that all this blogging has made my handwriting pathetically illegible). While its not accurate, our travels looked something like this:


I believe I have fallen in love with sailing and am determined to take lessons. I am undeniably a digital girl living in a digital world and this must be why I find myself drawn to so many Old World activities in all their ancient, analog glory. In short, I live to unplug. I am a happy spinner, an even happier camper, an insatiable knitter, and a mystical Pisanki (batik egg) crafter... among other things. We were given glorious winds on this trip, enabling us to cut the engines and raise the sheets to harness all that natural power, just like our ancestors. Like sailors of old, we had quite a bit of rum aboard to facilitate navigation.


Compared to our last trip, I was unable to get many action shots due to both a hard top bimoney obstructing my view and a legitimate fear of tumbling into the drink with a computerized camera in hand. We sailed in great winds, moving at about 8-10 knots each day, which is pretty fast. This was our first time chartering a cat instead of a monohull and the sailing was surprisingly fun, the mast and main sail remain upright so the wind takes you fast. We were definitely lovin' the luxury of the bigger boat, we had a lot more living space for this trip. A net joining the two hulls at the bow of the boat became a hammock and Tracy began referring to the bow as "the front yard". We spent a lot of time in the front yard while moving and moored alike.

Yet we couldn't help but harbor a bit of monohull envy each time we sailed through a racing regatta. They are just so sleek as they move across the water, these are photos from a Swan boat race that began in the North Sound and went around the island of Virgin Gorda, my personal fav of the islands.





This trip included some interesting encounters with sea creatures. We ran into (almost literally) an eagle spotted ray in White Bay with a wing span of 5 feet. At Monkey Point we swam through millions of silver sides, able to see only 3 feet in front of us due to the density of small fish, only to come face to face with a couple 5-6 foot tarpons (screaming underwater sounds pretty silly, btw). Swimming around the Indians is a beautiful workout and I saw much more coral, parrot fish and other amazing reef life than I did the last time. All trips to the aquarium, no matter how cool that aquarium is, pale in comparison once you have snorkled the BVI. You look at every display and say, "yep, I swam with that... but it was bigger..."

Joanne, my sister in law (once removed?) who reads our blog regularly, says that we don't include enough pictures of ourselves here. So we made a point to take a few photos of ourselves on this trip, no matter how incriminating they may be. This is Sam doing the Captain:


Pirate Mel, aka the Pale Piratess, is a scary, scary Mel:


Even scarier: Mel at the helm:


Sam and his Alter Ego, Poppin Fresh. Tacking is easy, Hm-Hmmmm!


And a few more...




I know this was a long post, thanks for reading through it so far. I sat at the front of the boat our second day at sea and gazed out to our destination, a seemingly tiny lump of an island dead ahead. There are no roads on the water, no traffic signals. As I rose up with the bow to meet each wave only to crash down a moment later, soaked with salt water, I was reminded of a simple truth that I tend to forget: I am the master of my own destiny. Spending time on a boat is a salient reminder that the world is wide open. If you ever feel like you need to reconnect with this fact, take a few days off and get on a boat, any boat. May the wind be at your back.

Here are more favs and a slideshow.

Our boat, "No Worries":


Tracy and Tom swimming to the most perfect island I have ever seen, Sandy Cay


Tom. Make. Fire.


Michela raises a flag of dubious ownership. We are now a rum boat.


Color play between the reefing lines and Pusser's at Marina Cay. Nice, eh?


My favorite picture of Sam from this trip


How to draw a chicken.


The caption that goes with this photo... Michela: Its amazing how clean you can get with just a 4 minute shower. Tracy: Its amazing how dirty you get all over again in just a 4 minute dingy ride.


White Bay, Jost Van Dyke (home of the Soggy Dollar, the bar that invented the Painkiller)


My favorite sunset pic from the trip, love just the tips of the mast on the right (nice one, Sam)


This rainbow appeared as we were returning the boat. I took it to mean, "come back soon".

posted by Mel @ 2:47 PM