Adventure Travel Blog

Intro by Terry

What a pleasure it was to have Ben and Chris Schnelle as guest for seven days of sailing, snorkeling, hiking and just plain having fun. Ben and Chris are All-American red blooded brothers who love to rough each other up but have that special bond on which no one else should tread. With Chris 26 just finishing 8 years of college and getting his license as an Eye Doctor older brother Ben 31 gave him as a graduation present a sailing vacation in the Virgin islands sailing with Terry. Ben and Chris raised by a fireman dad and office manger Mom represent the value system that makes us all proud to be living in America. I felt a little guilty I had as much fun as they did!

Ben’s Write-Up:

Sailing BVI
Chris and I really had a great time and would definitely recommend Terry’s services for future trips!  Caribbean Sailing Vacation With Captain Terry. We got to see a wide variety of islands, beaches, hiking areas, snorkeling places, marine life, and cocktails over the 7 days and had some nice winds for sailing from place to place!  I think the most interesting part was that every island and snorkeling area was different from the others and the flexibility of being on our own boat and being able to do things at our own pace, really made a big difference in what we were able to see and understand about each area.  Plus, when we were sailing, Terry did a nice job of letting us do as much or as little as we wanted and for Chris and I, we definitely took advantage when the winds were strong and by the end of the trip, Terry didn’t need to do much sailing at all!

For Chris and I it was especially enjoyable as he moved to Boston the day after we got back, so it was a great way for us to get some quality time together before the move and get to do something that we both had on our lifetime goals list!

Here’s a day-by-day breakdown of our sailing adventure:

June 10th, was mainly a travel day as we left my house in Sheboygan around 4:00am to catch the flight out of Chicago.  From there we connected in Charlotte and then got to Charlotte Amalie (St Thomas) around 3:30pm and had to catch a cab over to the Road Town Tortola Ferry Dock and got over there finally around 4:40pm.  Luckily the last ferry (4:30pm) was late, so we still got on and were able to get over to Road Town on Tortola around 6:00pm.  Once there, it was a very short cab ride to Ft. Burt Marina and we found Terry and the “Liberte” right away.  The Liberte is a bareboat 40’ Beneteau which I’m guessing was built in the late 90’s and has two full size bed areas and two bathrooms and a center console for sailing.  We ate at “the Pub” right next to the Marina and then went to the grocery store to get all our food for the week. After that, we got back to the boat, unpacked, and were exhausted enough to immediately go to bed.

June 11th we got up and took our last normal shower for a week and then headed out early for an easy, relaxed sail across Sir Francis Drake Channel and over to Pelican Island and the Indians for some amazing snorkeling.  I have no idea how many different types of fish we saw, but the colors were fantastic and while every spot (during the whole trip) had some fish the same, every snorkeling spot also had it’s own unique fish as well!  Chris and I were so impressed after our first snorkel around the Indians we went around again just to check it out some more and practice our free diving.  Terry showed off his skills at free diving and it was incredible watching him drop down to 60+ feet with ease and stay under for 2+ minutes.  Meanwhile Chris and I were proud of ourselves for getting to about 15ft the first day and being able to swim through a short 6ft tunnel about 10ft down!  After the Indians, we sailed to Normal Island, got our moor at the Bight, and headed for the island for a nice hike and some great views of both the Oceanside and the Bayside.  We got pretty warm hiking, so then Chris, Terry and I headed off for some more snorkeling at Treasure Point and the Caves.  At Treasure Point we saw a number of larger fish (like tarpon), turtles, and some barracuda and then at the caves, it was really interesting as it got darker and darker and the noises made it seem like something was about to jump out at us.  Scary, but fun!  After all the snorkeling, we headed back to the boat and grilled out burgers and veggies and then went to Pirates and Willy T’s for a few beverages and some games.  Pirates had super-sized versions of Jenga (with 2×4’s) and Connect 4 and Willy T’s was a big floating pirate ship/bar where the spring break parties must be completely wild!  I even made it onto the dance floor at Willy T’s for a few minutes to give Terry, Doug, and especially Chris some good laughing time!

June 12th started off with us sailing to Cooper Island with some great southeast winds and Chris at the helm for some tacking practice.  He did a nice job and was even able to pull off a few all by himself, which is pretty tough to do without losing to much speed.  After a few hours we headed for Manchioneel Bay (at Cooper Island) for some snorkeling and then we took the dingy over to Salt Island for an interesting hike around two salt ponds and got some great ocean side views of how the ocean waves can carve up the islands over time as well as some incredible sounds as the waves crashed into the both the rocks and the pebbles below.  The pebbles in particular made almost a bubbling sound that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget or describe properly.  When we got back over to Cooper Island, we decided to go snorkeling one more time just because of the neat area, but this time the tides were coming in and it made the swim much harder.  Chris and I still went around the little island, but had to work really hard to get through one 20ft section where we had to give it our all to move forward.  Luckily we both knew what we were doing, so we weren’t exhausting ourselves, just trying to swim all out to see if we could make it and we got through without having to turn around and go back around the little island!

June 13th we sailed over to the Baths and Devils Bay at the southwestern end of Virgin Gorda and got in nice and early before the tourist boats and busses started to file in.  It was great to be there early and to be able to take our time going through the large boulders and then goof around in Devils Bay by climbing some of the boulders, jumping into the bay off others, and just relaxing in the water.  While we took our time, we saw tour group after tour group get rushed through the beautiful area and instructed on where to take pictures and what every rock was supposed to look like, which made us take our time even more to enjoy it.  Once we finished up, it was my turn at the helm to sail North around The Dogs and then over to North Sound which is at the Northeastern tip of Virgin Gorda.  It was great to have the wind blowing from the southeast so I could get a feel for trying to hold the right course while still searching for more speed.  A few times the wind gusts blew really strong and pushed us up close to 8 knots, putting the rail and Chris in the water, and then pushing us off course.  I wish I could explain that exhilarating feeling, but all I can say is you need to try it!  Once up to North Sound, we moored at Saba Rock for some desired land time and I think all of us were walking on sea legs on land.  I quickly found a cocktail and a hammock and Chris, Doug, and Terry went off to explore other areas.  A few hours later they came back for me (still in my hammock) and then we all went off to dinner at the Fat Virgin Café which is part of Biras Creek (a very fancy resort).  After a nice dinner, we headed over to the Bitter End Yacht Club for a drink and watched a great sunset over Saba Rock and Prickly Pear Island.  Finally, we headed back to Saba Rock for one more drink and to watch the barracudas (and other fish) swim past the under water lights they had set-up. This day alone made the trip worth it for me!

June 14th we had a nice, relaxed sail up to Anegada and took turns sailing with the easy wind and roughly 3 hour sail.  Once there, we moored at Setting Point and immediately headed for the island to grab a taxi to Loblolly Bay for some beach time and snorkeling.  Once again, we were surprised by how different this island is from all the others.  Anegada’s highest elevation point is probably about 10ft, so it’s as flat as can be, but yet a pretty good size island compared to all the others.  When sailing up to it, the only elevation you even notice is the tops of palm trees!  The whole island is just one big reef with great snorkeling all around the ocean side where the reef is still underwater.  Once on the beach at Loblolly Bay, we stopped at a restaurant where we placed our order at about 1:00pm so the lady’s husband could go out and catch our lobster and tilapia for dinner at 5:00pm!  Prior to eating, Chris, Terry, and I had a really exciting snorkel through the reefs and again saw a number of sting rays, leopard rays, and very colorful fish as we had to time our snorkeling with the strong currents over the reefs.  There were times when you couldn’t move as the waves pulled you back towards them, times you were zipping through areas as the waves crashed and pushed you forward, and plenty of times where your whole goal was to get skinny in order to avoid the reefs just below!  It was really exciting and took a lot of effort getting through! After the hard work, Chris and I went for a nice walk down the beach and found several conchs (seashells) and just had fun talking.  When we got back, Terry was back swimming the reefs, so Chris and I went out for a short snorkel and joined him.  By the time we got back, we were definitely ready for dinner and our fresh caught fish could not have been better!  The lobster was excellent, but the tilapia was just amazing, and Doug thoroughly enjoyed his ribs!!!  Finally done, we headed back on the taxi and just spent the evening relaxing.  Terry and I found a great spot as we enjoyed a cold beer while floating on noodles.

June 15th started off with a long morning sail and four very tired sailors.  The trip from Anegada to Monkey Point on Guana Island was steady at about 6 knots for 3 hours with basically one set course.  The autopilot was quickly turned on and all four of us spent the morning napping on the easy sail.  I honestly think if someone would have been sailing past us, they’d have thought we were all dead the way we were spread out all over!  As we got closer to Guana Island, we all started to wake up and had an excellent snorkel at Monkey Point.  Here we saw many different types of fish and Chris and I found two huge turtles!  Also, there were birds all over above us and every once in awhile a pelican would plop down right by you and scare us!  After Monkey Point, we motor sailed over to Sandy Cay, which is also known as Treasure Island.  There we spent about an hour going for a hike around the island and checking out many of the plants and birds, which once again were different from any of the other islands.  After our little tour around the island, we headed off to moor at Diamond Cay on the East end of Jost Van Dyke where Chris and I went snorkeling and Doug went for a hike to check out the Bubbling Ponds area.  Doug got the advantage here as the water was pretty murky for Chris and I to see much and Doug came back with some great pictures and had a nice hike!  That night, Chris prepared our chicken in a mustard marinade, Terry grilled it, and I added the lime on top for a delicious meal and some fun conversations after some potent rum drinks!

June 16th we started off early and headed straight to Green Cay and Little Jost Van Dyke for some snorkeling.  The area around Green Cay turned out to be a great spot and here we even saw a baby shark and plenty of larger fish.  However, Chris and I got adventurous (thanks to Chris) and we ended up snorkeling about ¾ of the way around Little Jost Van Dyke before Terry came and picked us up in the dingy.  By the time he did, we were both getting tired and realized we had just snorkeled about 1 mile and would have had another ½ mile to go to get back to the boat.  It was pretty interesting though, as the water on the ocean side grew deep very quickly, but we were still able to see the bottom very clearly at around 60ft!  Once back on the boat, we headed over to Great Harbour on Jost Van Dyke and I brought Doug onto the Island via the dingy while Chris and Terry kept sailing.  Doug then walked, I brought the dingy back to the boat, and we all met up at White Bay to check out another popular spring break stop.  The beach area had a few bars on it, as well as some resorts and a camping area close by.  We stuck around for a little while so we could say we had a drink at the Soggy Dollar bar and then headed back to the boat.  From Jost Van Dyke, we motor sailed over to the West End area of Tortola and were finally able to pick up the wind again for some great sailing.  This time it was Chris at the helm and he did a great job tacking a few times and bringing us up to some nice speeds.  Again, being at the helm as Chris was, or sitting on the rail as I was, are just incredible feelings!  It was these moments where we learned not only about sailing, but about so many other aspects of life, ourselves, and our relationships with our surroundings that made the trip so memorable.  Just seeing the look on Chris’s face and knowing exactly what it meant and being able to feel that same thing!  I wish I could put that into words’ maybe someday I will and it’ll be a best seller!  Our sailing trip almost over, we moored at Peter Island and did a little snorkeling, which by this time, Chris and I were really getting the hang of free diving and having no trouble dropping to 40ft and taking our time underwater!  After snorkeling and dinner, Terry, Doug, and I headed off for a short stop at the Ocean 7 Beach Club for a few cocktails. 

June 17th we sailed over to Road Town to drop off Terry and the boat and start our journey home.  Another ferry ride, two flights, and a drive back to Sheboygan, and it felt great to be home and sleeping in our own beds, even after such a great time!

Ben Schnelle

Tags: Caribbean Sailing, Virgin Islands

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