British Virgin Islands

Kids First Sailboat Trip, British Virgin Islands, 2020 : Overview

We are either really exciting, adventurous people or really stupid people based on the plan for this trip. While the rest of the travelers are cancelling their vacations to the British Virgin Islands due to all the barriers to get in, we just added four days! This means the first trip ever sailing with our three children- Annika-9, Alex-7, and Rory-2 will be twelve days on a sailboat- five of which we will be under quarantine! We have to take a puddle jumper plane from St. Thomas because the seaports are still closed, take three covid tests, wear a tracking bracelet, and fly the yellow quarantine flag on our boat until we get the third negative covid test. If at any point one of us test positive, we have to go to a “government quarantine” facility for 14 days. Either way it will be an adventure!

COVID test 1.0

There are very specific rules about when you need to have COVID testing before visiting the BVI now. Not before day -5 and not after day -2. We are at day -5 of departure. That means we have to take our first Covid test. It took a while to figure out how to get a rapid RT-PCR test with a short enough turn around time. We found a company in Colorado that allows us to mail the samples today, Saturday, and have results by Monday night at the latest. We have to have the results by day -2 at the latest in order to enter them into the BVI portal, where we need approval to enter the country. Johan and I did our own nasal swabs, but the kids were a little more challenging. It took a team effort with Alex but Annika gave in after a while. Both cried but survived. Rory doesn't have to be tested. Johan delivered the package to FedEx- so, now, we wait. Fingers crossed. All negative, YEH, and OH SH@%, we are doing this!!!!

Travel Day

We made it!! This is a late post, but still a great story. We woke up at 3:30 AM and headed to the airport on a cold morning. Our flights were all on time and we flew to Atlanta, then to St. Thomas. The airport at St. Thomas was crazy! Usually they have 3-4 planes deplaning at the same time but on 12/24, Christmas eve, there were 8, and everyone was going through a COVID screen. You had to have a negative test to get into St.Thomas but there was no social distancing in the line to get in, they didn’t have space for it. It was a bit overwhelming. They had military personnel checking the health screens. We got our bags and went through the masked crowd and made our way over to our tiny puddle jumper. The plane was so small they needed to know our weight as well as the weight of our bags. We got on the plane with two other couples, and were worried that Rory would throw a tantrum like he did on the big plane. But he did not.  They all LOVED it, me too! It was a 10 seater plane, including the captain and his co-pilot, a volunteer from the other family. We got to see the islands we would sail to from the sky!! When we landed, we were escorted to a health facility, where our temperature was taken and we got our second COVID tests! Following testing, we were escorted to our taxi and then a 20 min ride to our boat! We arrived to a fully provisioned boat, and spent some time unpacking (always knowing that a positive test could mean we have to unpack everything). We ordered food from the dock restaurant and unloaded everything then headed off to bed!

Sailing Day 1 - Road Town, Tortola to Great Harbor, Peter Island

Well, I guess you could say the kids have been on a sailboat before. For about 2 hours. In Michigan. The big kids anyway. So now we are heading out for a 13 day trip, of which 4 days will be in "boat quarantine". That means that alot was riding on today... and thank goodness, they loved it!! Heading out of Road Town, Tortolla, Rory was throwing a fit because he had to wear a lifejacket, but the big kids were hanging on tight to the net on the front of the boat as we plunged through waves and wind!! They rode there for a long time, until we realized the ride was getting a little too rough. The first time water came over the front of the boat, I made them join us in the back. We motored over to Great Harbor, Peter Island. Once we were moored, the kids were ready for some swimming, jumping off the back of the boat, and playing try-not-to-laugh. Rory learned to push daddy into the water (hours of entertainment). They got their first dinghy ride. We had plenty of fish visitors, including some crazy, freaky fish that had yellow eyes that glowed in the dark when we held the flashlight!! The kids had their first outdoor Caribbean shower. This is something we learned from our captain all those years ago when we took a live aboard sailing class. As one of the many ways to conserve water, we took sea baths, where we would wet our bodies in the Carribean sea, but soap and rinse with fresh water from the spigot at the back of the boat. We learned over the years that most people don’t do this, but we honestly enjoy the activity, so don’t be surprised if you see the Sund family bathing off the back of the boat. Overall, it was a great first day! We had pasta and shrimp with garlic and butter for dinner. We called the grandparents and the great grandparent. We were all pretty exhausted when it was time to go to bed.

Day 2- Peter Island to .... Peter Island

Johan woke up before me and went up to the kitchen. Shortly after, Annika came up and Johan said she was smiling ear to ear. Happy to be here. We had breakfast and set out. I forgot one thing about the first night... there were a ton of fish!! Including 3 fish that we fed who were large and had eyes that glowed yellow when we shined the flashlight on them. They were kind of creepy. One of the locals told us they were called boss fish. Anyway, we were expecting about a 2.5 hour ride from Peter Island to a quarantine anchorage just north of Marina Cay on Great Camanoe. We got there and it was beautiful but a little too windy for our taste, especially because we have never anchored over night before. Soooo, there was another quarantine anchorage on the north end of Guana Island (Muskmelon Bay). We went to check that out and it was really deep, so we turned around again and headed back toward Marina Cay. On the way down we saw dolphins and the kids, especially Annika, were ecstatic! On the way through the channel, the second engine overheated again (oh yeah, I forgot to mention that happened on the first day when we were headed over to Peter Island but we thought it was just the waves or a fluke). So, we made our way to the west end of Cooper to Hullover Bay. It was extremely rocky and beautiful with a nearby marine area. The kids were tired after 6 hours of sailing and the rolling waves were a bit much for them so we ultimately ended up back at Peter Island. The beautiful thing was that we were the only boat moored at Peter island and we arrived at fishy feeding time. It sounded like rain as the tiny fish jumped across the water and then the big fish chased them with a plop. It was so cool!! We spent about 6 hours motor sailing around, but we got the sails up!! The kids went for a swim and completely shocked me by jumping off the top of the boat. They both went up with me to look around. I was standing talking to Alex about how to jump when Annika JUMPED!! She told me later that she was starting to get scared so she just had to do it- and she did! You go girl! Once she did it Alex, of course, had to go too. I am so impressed by them!

That night, we decided to grill, something we do often while sailing. I get alot of questions about cooking on a bareboat, so this is as good of an opportunity as any to show a little bit about what that looks like. The kitchen is tiny with a great view!! You have a sink, though it often doubles as storage when you are under way as anything loose is likely to end up on the floor. You also have a small gas-based oven and stove. The most we have ever brought on a boat is 7, and the small cooking appliances worked just fine for that size. For every single trip EXCEPT ONE, we have had a charcoal grill on the back of the boat. On our most recent charter, we bought charcoal, but when we got to the boat we found out it had a gas grill. It is THE ONLY TIME we ever had a grill that didn’t work and it is something we will ask about on future bareboats. One small word of advice - hold tight to those grill grates!! We have lost more than one!! As for the family, everyone was exhausted by the end of the day. We told the kids we would boat less and swim more on day 3.

Day 3 - Peter Island to Soldiers Bay, Norman Island

After 6 hours of sailing/boating yesterday, we promised the kids that we would have a shorter ride today and would focus the day on swimming and riding the dinghy. We started the day with a visit from the chase boat. Our second engine had overheated twice in two days so they came out and fixed a broken impeller. We were pretty impressed that the chase boat made it to us in 30 min, but then again there are very few boats out here. The impeller is an important part of the engine cooling system. The engine relies on a closed system of ocean water to keep it from overheating. The impeller is part of the pumping system to pull raw ocean water on board to cool the engine. If it breaks, you cant cool the engine and it overheats. You can learn more about it here.

After they fixed the impeller, we swam a bit at Peter and had lunch on the hour trek over to Norman. We aren’t sure if the 10 mooring balls in Soldiers bay are new or if they are just usually unavailable because it is a popular spot, but we had never noticed them before. This is typically high season for the BVI but bc the borders just opened and the requirements are so strict, we never saw more than 4 boats in a mooring field. A once in a lifetime opportunity for us but sad for the local economy. At this site we saw our first sea turtle and could see “the Indians”, a famous snorkel/dive site, in the distance. We also chose this spot because we had to get up early the next morning and make our way to Nanny Cay for our third COVID test.

Day 4 - Soldier Bay, Norman Island -> Nanny Cay, Tortola -> Hullover Bay, Cooper Island -> Benures Bay, Norman Island

Today was the day that determines our fate for the rest of the trip! We woke up early for a short sail to Nanny Cay Marina to get picked up for the FINAL COVID TEST. We were picked up in a taxi and driven 10 minutes away to a health center at Sea Cow’s Bay. Along the drive, we saw several sunken boats from Hurricane Irma. The testing center made you think more of an Ebola outbreak, but with good reason. Even if COVID isn’t as deadly as Ebola, an outbreak on the island would spread very quickly and there are few resources to care for a large number of sick islanders. The healthcare providers were wearing hazmat suits that covered them head to toe. All the paperwork was done manually with pen and paper.  For this final test, they really tickled our brains to get the sample. For those who have never been tested or don’t remember, the same is obtained through deep nostril swabs. The big kids were able to get a throat swab and the littlest kid did not have to be tested.  The whole thing took 30 minutes. On our way out to the boat, we refreshed water and ice and then we headed out and got the sails up.

We really liked the anchorage site we visited briefly on day 2 at Hullover Bay, Cooper Island, so we headed over there for lunch and snorkeling. Alex and I snorkeled together- it was beautiful coral but we didnt see a ton of fish. We were still required to stay at a quarantine site until we got our COVID results, so we headed back to Norman Island but this time we went to a different mooring field, at Benures Bay. The kids got to ride and drive the dinghy. We played Yahtzee that night and Annika rolled two Yahtzee’s in a row (note her excitement in the picture). The kids also came up with great entertainment for Rory by creating a whack-a-mole game through the portholes. This is possibly one of my favorite videos of the kids, so I am putting it on the website twice. We slept good hoping for negative results and freedom tomorrow.

Day 5- FREEDOM!?! Benure's Bay to Trellis Bay

We spent the morning checking our email inbox every five min to see if this family trip was a good or really bad decision. If anyone tested positive, we would be forced to quarantine in government facilities for 14 days. Almost exactly 24 hours after testing, we received our negative results one .at. a. time. We received the freedom certificate!!! We had a ceremony on the boat to cut down the quarantine flag and then we headed to a nearby iconic reef with large rocks known as “the Indians” for some snorkeling. Annika and I saw some beautiful coral and fish; we also saw a beautiful jellyfish so we knew they were around.

Afterwards we headed over to Marina Cay. We have moored at this location overnight several times in the past when Pusser's was open. We heard that Pussers closed but wanted to have lunch, snorkel and hang on the beach. When we arrived the wind had picked up and it was not clear whether anyone was maintaining the mooring balls. Johan found a sign at the dock that stated no one could come to the island, that it was now private. (UPDATE: The island has since reopened to the public but we have not been back to check it out). We ultimately decided to spend the night in Trellis Bay, a ten minute motor away. We have never been before but we have have heard about their full moon parties. As luck would have it, it was a full moon! However, due to the COVID pandemic, the upcoming New Years Eve party and the full moon party were combined on a different night. With our new found freedom, we headed in to shore for our first BVI drink of the trip at the Loose Mongoose. The kids played on the beach but it smelled like fuel from the airport and the water was not that great. We visited a grocery store and the highlight was the store kitty cat. Of course, the kids wanted to bring the kitty on the boat. We spent alot of time talking about where we could go with the Christmas winds moving in. We really wanted to go to Leverick Bay but the winds were making that a bad option. We also considered Spanish Town. We went to bed with a plan to decide in the morning. We went from freedom straight into the infamous Christmas winds!!!

Days 6,7,8- Freedom? not so much! Trellis Bay to Scrub Island

In the morning, with a quick glance at the weather, we knew we had to wait out the Christmas winds somewhere close. It has been the topic of conversation for days; we had considered multiple spots to weather the “storm”. At the end of the day, the wind came earlier and stronger than expected- 40 mph winds and 10 foot swells. With the kids we felt we needed to dock the boat. It literally took twenty minutes of motoring across the bay to get to Scrub Island. As BVI was relatively deserted, they gave us the slip closest in to the island. This will never happen again! Johan had to dock with a three point turn in a very tight space. I was very impressed with him! Scrub island is a high end Marriot property that we had never visited but it’s proximity and protection from the weather made it ideal for our situation.

Also, with our docking fee we got to use the facilities- the restaurants, the beaches, a path over the beautiful island. We celebrated New Year’s Eve in a restaurant- but only about four other tables were occupied. Two of those tables were occupied by people from other boats who were also docking for protection. There was an infinity pool overlooking the matching colored Caribbean waters, a pool slide the kids couldn’t get enough of, and a swim up bar where the kids started their trend of ordering pina coladas. It was not ideal to be docked/on land for a sailing trip but beautiful nonetheless. As a bonus, we found a coconut on the beach and I got some advice on how to shuck it without a machete. I spent an hour of my life working it open then dropped half of it in the water when I used the boat cleat to try to break it open. I have a whole new respect for coconuts and any animal that eats them- and I don’t see how anyone who is stranded on a deserted island could ever get one open for the water. UPDATE: On a future trip, we learned about some good tools to open coconuts more efficiently. You can read more about it in the section on Tahiti!

Day 9- Scrub Island to Great Harbor, Jost van Dyke

We finally decided to brave the winds and waves and leave the comfort of our dock. Whether or not it was a good decision? Well... we made it, anyway. We had our yummy lunch sandwiches at Scrub then headed out. This path north of Tortola is usually one of my favorite paths to sail but there was to be no sailing today. At first we were protected by a couple of northern islands but eventually we were met with some 25-30 mph winds and 6-8 foot waves. It was enough. The next day my lower arms were sore from holding on as I sat next to Johan at the helm. It was one of those moments where I knew I would be fine if it was just us, but bringing your kids gives you a whole new perspective! The kids somehow managed to go down in their smelly, warm rooms and hang out. Rory even fell asleep. Their brain doesn’t slosh the same way in kids as us old fogies. Anyway, we were headed to one of our favorite islands, and we made it there in one peice. We found a Boaty ball but we were having some internet problems and couldn’t book it so we dinghied into Foxys for a drink. Then we figured out that we picked the only mooring ball that had already been reserved. So we had to drink our pain killers and head back out to the boat to move it (good thing too bc someone else took it- and a boat showed up later to try to claim their territory). Then we dinghied in to provision and headed out to the boat to make dinner and play Connect Four!!

Day 10- Great Harbor to Diamond Cay, Jost van Dyke

Alex and I started the day by paddling into the beach and hiking to one of the island mountain peaks!! I always want to do this but I can never recruit Johan to come along. It was awesome! Straight up the side of a hill- the steepness and the cliffs made me a little nervous and I held on tight to Alex. It was such wonderful together time!! As the middle child with an adorable baby brother he doesn’t always get the attention he deserves but he got my full attention during the hike. We went to one peak and saw the ocean and an island to the west, then Aex still wanted to climb a grass route to another peak where we were looking straight out to the island (Great Tobago). We saw goats and goat poop and plenty of cool plants. We met two local boys about Alex’s age on the way down. After we paddled back out to the boat and got the rest of the family, we all had lunch at a local restaurant- I finally got my roti. Then we went back to the boat and motored over to my favorite mooring field, Diamond Cay. We moored there with one other boat which left by night time. We dinghied over to the B-line since Foxys taboo was closed (we love them both). We tried the dinghy dock at the B-line but none of us had shoes and Alex stepped on a cactus (!!). The kids who cries at almost everything didn’t cry when he stepped on a cactus (!!). We got back in the dinghy and beached it at the bar instead! We had some rum punch and headed back to the boat to have dinner.

Day 11- Navigating the Exclusion Zone: Diamond Cay, Jost van Dyke to The Bight, Norman Island

We woke up on a beautiful morning and decided to dinghy out to Sandy Spit but the waves were still pretty big and Johan was afraid we might flip the dinghy- so we skipped it. Instead we went in and hiked into the area formerly known as the bubbly pool, an area of huge rocks where you used to be able to swim and when the waves hit the water would bubble up and fizz. It was broken up by hurricane Irma but still a nice hike and a view. We had to leave at noon because we had received special permission to go through the “exclusion zone” to the west of Tortola. This area has been closed to normal water traffic to prevent people from entering the BVI illegally and bringing in COVID. It was fairly simple to get permission to go through and it saved us a lot of time but it felt like we were living on the edge as we passed Sopers Hole. I was just waiting for a boat to come after us but it didn’t happen! We headed in to the Bight- usually a party place for us but not with the kids. We went into the Bight restaurant had a great lunch and Alex and I swam out to the boat. I forgot to mention- when we were in JVD we got some fishing line and a hook and we caught a couple fish the night before and this night! Also forgot to mention the creepy large fish that hung out after dark around our boat many nights.

Day 12- The Bight, Norman Island => the Baths, Virgin Gorda => Leverick Bay, Virgin Gorda

We set out pretty early the next morning to try to make to the Baths. Before we came we told the kids about different places we could visit and Alex narrowed in on the Baths- with the wind disruption we weren’t sure we were going to be able to make it but we did! I have been twice before but I don’t think I have ever made it to the coolest parts that I got to explore with the kids. Annika almost didn’t come but I am glad she changed her mind. The kids and I paddled in and used ropes and makeshift step ladders to work our way through gigantic boulders with beautiful turquoise water swimming through them. The paddle was a little challenging but totally worth it. I had enough cash to buy them Virgin pina coladas at the Poor Man’s Bar before we headed to the boat.

I love how comfortable these kids are getting on a boat!

A twist of fate on this day meant we had to extend our trip by a few more days, but we managed to figure things out and make it work. We decided to head to Leverick Bay with hopes that we would be able to take our first venture out to Anegada the following morning. We provisioned and headed out to the boat only to figure out we forgot something. Annika and I took our first girls only dinghy ride in to get it and later I took both big kids in to go swimming at the pool by the bar. That night we had a bird sized bug visit our boat in Leverick Bay. Not just saw, it came into our boat- Annika lost it- she was terrified. So of course it flew right into her room. Johan caught it and released it- only to have it fly right back inside leading to an even more terrified Annika. We looked at stars that night- amazing clear stars and Alex and I fell asleep outside.

Day 13- Leverick bay, Virgin Gorda to Anegada (finally!)

Folks, it took us five trips to the BVI but we finally made it to Anegada! Our first captain when we were learning was afraid of everything so we couldn’t even go to Bitter End much less Anegada. He put the fear of God in is about the shallow water and rocks on the way to Anegada. Well, on one trip we decided to go anyway, partially swayed by a trip to Hog Heaven on Virgin Gorda where we could see Anegada in the distance. The early wind on this trip made it look doubtful but we finally got our break. It took about 4.5 hours to get to the island. To be fair, going through the channel was a little nerve racking, but we made it! We moored the boat with about a “foot” (plus any adjustments made to the depth meter by the charter company) to spare under the boat. The water was beautiful as we had heard. We had a cranky kid so we only made it to one beach by taxi, but we got to see the flamingos in the distance. We also got to see a gorgeous sunset straight over the Carribbean Sea. We need to go back and spend more time but just getting here was a cause for celebration!!

Day 14: Anegada to Machioneel Bay, Cooper Island

Anegada was beautiful but we headed out to sail south in the morning. Sailed nearly the whole way with a stop at Marina Cay for lunch. We didn’t have much internet in Anegada so when we finally got a signal we were very surprised to hear what was happening at the capitol back home. We sailed down to Cooper and worried for a minute when we saw thick black smoke coming from the island that we were going to have to call for help- but it turned out to be a controlled burn. Cooper is usually one of our favorite places to stop but the tiny island resort is closed due to covid and rennovations. It is still a beautiful spot so we decide to stay there for the night. Probably my favorite sunset yet.

Day 15: Cooper Island to the Bight, Norman Island

It was a bit rainy in the morning but things got interesting when a random boat showed up to our otherwise empty mooring field and several snorkelers jumped off. We eventually learned that they were tracking sea turtles, more specifically they were looking for known sea turtles with cancer so they could treat them. It is good to be a turtle in the BVI! Seriously though, I wish I would have asked more questions about what they were doing. I have been inspired more recently to join my love of science and genetics with my love of sailing. Once I get caught up on content, I am going to try to include some fascinating content about genetics of the people and animals we encounter on our sailing journeys. We watched them over coffee then headed out for our last full day. We had enough wind to sail a little. Johan will never forgive me for making him tack so he couldn’t sail between the island and the freight boat. He said he had been planning it for an hour. We had lunch at the Pirate’s Bight Restaurant.

When we got back to the boat I took the kids to introduce them to Willie T’s, a classic stopping point for most trips but not a priority for a trip with kids. I jumped off the top, a Willie T’s tradition, and we staged some pictures so that grandma and grandpa would think they also jumped off. I then took Alex out to the caves!! I haven’t been there since our first trip- it is really tremendous- I need to go with someone who knows them better than me- it is hard to know what to do with your feet when there are rocks below! We saw all kinds of fish though!!

Day 16 - Up and Out - Norman Island => Road Town =>Puerto Rico => Atlanta => Landlocked Cincinnati

And this is where that first magical family sailing trip comes to an end. We were incredibly lucky to stay healthy and see the BVI at a time where there were so few visitors. We were sometimes alone in a mooring field, and occasionally there with couple of other boats in a mooring field for a hundred boats. This is something we will never experience again as the BVI has gotten so crowded. We are so grateful.

There will be future content on the individual attractions in the BVI, and you better believe there will be video of that octopus I saw at the caves one time. But that was not the point of this entry. Although we had been to the BVI several times before and have been several times since, this visit will always be special, because this is the first time we took our kids on a sailing adventure. If you have ever had the interest but blew it off as something that would never happen with small kids, please reconsider. Kids are such great travelers! we only get more particular and more opinionated as we get older. And while sailing is not for everyone, we now have this special hobby we developed as a couple that we now share with our family. Sure, it is mundane sometimes (see photo of homework on the boat) but it felt amazing to have our family in our own little bubble at such a weird time in history and we cannot wait to do it again.

The kids learned some things on the boat and became interested enough to learn more in a sailing camp in Landlocked Ohio! We started dreaming of a life on a boat, and as I reflect five years later, that would have been the best time to make the decision to make that move because the kids were small and easy to sway. Now that they are bigger, they have opinions about where we live, like they want to go to high school in person, how dare they! Seriously though, we have a lifetime of adventure waiting for us and I cannot wait to see where it takes us!