Sail BVI – Final Info

Hello,
Just a couple days until we are basking in the glory of our island
paradise adventure voyage.

All you want to know about our BVI Adventure is in the posts on this page:
http://adventurevoyaging.com/category/av-voyages/12-sail-bvi/

I arrive Dec 3, Monday and am staying at Marias. I will check email
when I can. You can leave me a message at Maria’s or the base. On
our start day Wednesday, I will monitor ch69 on VHF.

Many of you will be coming in on Tuesday the 4th. We will be meeting
at 5pm at the bar at Maria’s by the Sea. First round on Adventure
Voyaging. I was not able to reserve space (island casual operation).
If for any reason we are not all in the bar when you get there, The
Dove Restaurant bar is our backup meeting spot. It is a short walk up
the street. Maria’s staff can point you in the right direction.

We will be meeting at the BVI Yacht Charter base in Port Purcell at
11am, Wednesday, Dec 5. When you get there find a skipper with an
Adventure Voyaging hat on and they will have the crew to boat diagram
and will point you to your skipper. Your skipper will know when it is
time to board your boat. Please do not bug the BVI YC staff as it
delays the prepping of our boats. Please be ready to board by noon.
Do not freak out if your boat does not leave the dock at noon. We
want the boats to be ready 😉

We will try to do a vhf net each morning ch69, 0800, with the days
plan, some wx info if we have it and a chance for boats to trade or
pass on any other info.

Some have asked about booze. You can grab some duty free in San Juan
or your last stop. Local Rum is not expensive in BVI if you want to
save yourself the trouble. Of course be careful with water use,
having to refill mid week can be challenging. No need for full open
taps usually and showering off the back sometimes can be fun;)

Each boat will go through the food differently. I encourage boats to
trade what they are not using with the other boats. I encourage you
to pick up extra items you may want at the big store up the street,
walking distance. It will be the only big store you will see all
week. We often rotate the cooking. And there will be local flavors
ashore at every stop for fun eating out.

The skipper is responsible for keeping the boat safe and fun and
making sure you learn what you came to learn. They make final
decisions onboard. And everyone helps as they are able. That first
day is busy, offer to help your skipper. I know at least for me, the
planning is fun but the bliss starts when we leave the dock.

See you very soon!

Yia sou Greece Adventurers,

Or, hello. Just one week until we board the boats at 5:00 on Saturday, May 11. Most of us will be there a day or three before that. We are very excited to experience Greece again after all these years – the people, the food, the mellow fishing culture of the islands, all that cool history.

ATM’s at the airport, downtown, and I suspect at the charter base, and a couple times on our Voyage. Call your credit card companies and list the countries you intend to visit. Otherwise they might block your card the first time you go to use it.

Most of you will want to take a taxi from the airport. There is a Airport to charter base bus (next door to Poseidon Hotel) that runs 24 hours, too, if you are up for some extra (and much cheaper) Adventure. That info is here:

http://adventurevoyaging.com/sail-greece-travel-info/

Very important Sounion Tour update: The motorcoach service has requested that we bump the Sounion tour up to 10am Saturday. I told them we are flexible (some of us do yoga). If you are signed up, we are meeting the bus/driver/guide outside the Poseidon hotel (across from the charter base) at 10am. I expect the hotel (or base) will allow storage of our gear while we are touring.

Ferrys go all over Greece. You can get to and from any island and the mainland many times a day.

We have sailing friends who live in Greece. They tell us that now is a great time to visit the country as it is less crowded and the people are very appreciative toward tourists choosing Greece for their vacation. As you may have heard, recession and austerity have increased unemployment. The occasional rally makes touring central Athens more difficult, and perhaps more exciting. Though safer than the bad parts of some US cities, you probably don’t want to spend a lot of time cruising certain areas late at night.

Lonely Planet guides has a nice overview of Athens and other parts of Greece … http://www.lonelyplanet.com/greece/athens

Jen Reviews has a great list of things to see while in Greece … https://www.jenreviews.com/best-things-to-do-in-greece/

Janeen will be in CA during our Adventuring and ready to help you with questions. Woody leaves Tuesday, Tania departs Wednesday. Both will check email as often as possible. Woody will pick up a Europe sim card for his phone (must be unlocked GSM phone) upon arrival. Janeen will have that number then. In the meantime, we will be staying at the Poseidon Athens Hotel, 72 Posidonos Avenue, Paleo Faliro, Athens

Tel.: +30 210 98 72 000