Sue and I got up at about 4:00 AM - that’s right 4:00 AM! We had decided that in order to get to the airport with plenty of time we needed to leave at about 5:00 AM. We had already packed up but of course there were those last minute things to do. The phone rang at about 4:55 AM. It was the limo (yeah, a limo!) driver wanting to make sure he had the right house. Sue didn’t know about the limo until then - it was the only part of the anniversary trip she didn’t know about. When we opened the door we saw a huge white stretch limo out front and the driver coming up to get our bags. It was really nice to not have to drive that early - and besides we wouldn’t have to pay for a week’s worth of airport parking.

The flights all left on time and the transfers went without a hitch too. We and our luggage all arrived in St. Thomas together and we got a taxi to the ferry dock. We expected to have a few hours wait but when we got there the 2:45 PM ferry to West End, Tortola was just getting ready to leave. We and some others hopped on just before it left the dock. Of course we wanted the ferry to Roadtown but it wasn’t going to leave for about an hour or so. The boat ride to West End was pleasant enough. It was a nice sunny day so we rode the whole way on the top deck of the ferry. It took about 70 minutes to get to West End. Once there we had to go through British customs. It took about 30-40 minutes because there was only one customs officer and we were at the end of the line.

After clearing customs we took a taxi to Roadtown. As we approached the harbor we could see the Legacy and the Flying Cloud - really pretty ships! We pulled up to the Roadtown ferry dock just as the first launch to the Flying Cloud was loading up. Our timing this day had been great. As we boarded the Flying Cloud, Allison, the programs mate, and Kris, the purser, greeted us and helped us check in. The first order of business for check in was to get some rum swizzles then take care of the paperwork! We were assigned cabin #9, a standard cabin on the lower deck. There was a bottle of champagne and a note wishing us a happy anniversary, and Sue a happy birthday, waiting for us - nice touch. The cabin was small but we knew to expect that. As it turns out, we never spent much time in the cabin so it was more than adequate.

We had arranged for the "Stowaway" night so we had dinner on board and mingled with the other passengers who had arrived a little early. We met Mike, Tigre and Sherry from California and members of a family party of sixteen people who had come from as far away as Japan. We met Fred and Cindy from Canada and found out that we shared an anniversary date (it’s their 25th). We also met Carol from Connecticut (she used to teach at Frostburg Sate). We also got to meet some of the crew. There were stewards, Paul and Randy, and chief steward Sam. It was pretty obvious from that first night that everyone was looking for a relaxed and informal trip. Later that night there was a steel drum band to provide some live music for our first night on board. This, of course included a limbo party. The winner was one of the teenagers from the large family group. By this time we had also met the bartenders Brian and Dexter.

When we turned in Sue decided to take the top bunk and I got the bottom (hmmm, this has got to change).

This morning we woke up at about 6:00 AM to see the sunrise and to get coffee, juice pastry and to try one of the Bloody Mary’s that were in pitchers every morning. The coffee was fresh as were the pastries and the Bloody Mary was really spicy! At about 7:30 breakfast was served in the saloon or dining area. This morning breakfast was omelets although you also could have had cold or hot cereals if you wanted. There were no assigned seats. You sat where and with whomever you wanted. Because of the number of folks the meals were usually done in two seatings.

Since the ship wasn’t sailing till about 1:00 PM we took a tour of Tortola after breakfast. The tour included about a one hour stop at Cane Garden Bay for swimming. What a beautiful beach! While we were there we bought several bottles of spiced rum from the Tortola rum distillery. The tour group arrived back at the dock in time to catch the last launch back to the ship. At 1:00 PM we set sail for Peter Island, just across the channel from Roadtown. While the sails were being raised a bagpipe version of Amazing Grace was played. This, we learned, was a tradition on the Windjammer ships whenever the sails were raised. It was definitely a moving moment the first time we saw those sails raised and the ship get underway to the tune of Amazing Grace.

We anchored just off of Peter Island at about 3:00 PM. Just after anchoring we had a safety drill followed by the first story time. Story time was the captain’s opportunity to tell us about the island we were visiting, suggest some activities we might be interested and give us the launch schedule for the day. This was when we all officially met Captain Max who was the vacation relief for Captain Adrian. We were also introduced at that time to Captain Max’s British accent and dry wit. Today, swimming was off the side of the ship.

After swimming we went topsides for snacks and rum swizzles at about 5:30 PM. We mingled with more of the passengers and began to get to know some of them better. It was very relaxing - something, I’m sure that was aided by the rum swizzles! The dinner bell was rung at about 6:30. The menu for this night was a choice of roast pork or grilled mahi-mahi. Sue and I opted for the fish. The food was good and certainly plentiful.

Later in the evening Allison gathered players for a trivia game. There were four eight player teams and we joined a team with Mike, Tigre, and Ray (all from California), Fred and Cindy from Canada (their 25th anniversary is the same as ours) and Carol from Connecticut. Like most trivia questions these dealt with some little known and relatively useless information but we won! Our prize was a bottle of champagne. The consolation prize for the other three teams was...a bottle of champagne (do you see a theme starting here?!). While we were relaxing near the rail we saw an octopus swimming by the side of the ship. Perhaps he was attracted by the lights. We also saw a huge motor yacht that anchored nearby. It had a garage door on the side for a motor boat (not a dingy) and what looked like room for a helicopter on top. Some people have entirely too much money! We turned in and this time Sue took the bottom bunk and I got the top (not exactly the change I was looking for).

This morning we were up at about 6:00 AM again (there’s something wrong with this picture!). This time it was too cloudy for much of a sunrise but the coffee, pastries (fresh baked every morning) and the Bloody Mary were good. We sailed for the north end of Virgin Gorda for some swimming and snorkeling. Breakfast this morning was banana pancakes. On the sail to Virgin Gorda there was some rocking and rolling and quite a bit of heeling. A few of the passengers didn’t feel well but they didn’t get sick and it seemed to pass quickly. Along the way there were a few sprinkles but they were brief and not much to speak of.

We anchored at about 10:00 AM off of the northern end of Virgin Gorda at Mountain Point. At story time we learned what a wet landing was and that lunch - and the ship’s bar - would join us on the beach. The swimming and snorkeling were great. We saw a ray right near the beach skimming along the bottom. Lunch was served on the beach. There were subs and a selection of salads. Having the bar (a really big cooler with sodas and beer) on the beach was nice too. Shortly after lunch Allison organized the "Wacky Olympics." These were games between two teams of eight that included passing an orange from neck to neck, passing a banana from knees to knees, two other games and finally a tug of war. We took the 2:00 PM launch back to the ship. The last launch was at 4:00 PM so we could get a good mooring at Spanishtown. After showering up we were back on deck for the snacks and rum swizzles.

Dinner this night was served buffet style on the top deck. A choice of roasted beef, turkey or ham and a selection of salads and veggies we on the menu. A little after dinner was the famous (???) PPP&P party. The rules were that you had to dress up as something that began with a "P" - for instance a pirate, prostitute, pimp or priest. Participation was, of course optional, but the more you got into it the more fun it was. I chose to go as a priest while Sue dressed all in green and called herself a pickle. There was a lot of laughter below decks and as people began to come up it was obvious why. There were more than a few of the men dressed as prostitutes. It was hilarious. The captain couldn’t make it...but his sister Maxine did! A written description just doesn’t do it justice so you’ll have to see the pictures. Suffice it to say that some of the men dressed as women seemed to be having too much fun and the later it got the better they looked! During the party Fred and Cindy were recognized for this being their 25th anniversary and Sue and I were recognized for our 20th anniversary. As this was our anniversary night it was time to go below and shed the costume as I wasn’t feeling too priestly at the time!

There seemed to be a lot of rocking and rolling last night (and not all of it of our own making!) but we were up at 6:00 AM again. This morning’s breakfast was bacon and eggs. At story time we had an option of taking an island tour or just going right to the Baths. We also learned that the name the Baths came from the word "Batholics" Greek for deep rocks. The theory is that the huge granite boulders were forced up from deep within the earth by volcanic action when the islands were formed. We were also given a mission. The captain would send ashore for wheels of French cheeses, pate and fresh bread if each couple would each bring back a bottle of wine. Then later that day we would have a great wine and cheese party. We chose to skip the tour and spend all day swimming and snorkeling at the Baths and Devil’s Bay right next to it.

When we got to the Baths it was really crowded. There were about three tour buses of folks - mostly Italian - there. We went through the caves to Devil’s Bay and went out snorkeling. It was fantastic! The best snorkeling we’ve ever done. We saw hundreds of brightly colored fish and even a sea turtle. When we went in for a sun tan break we found that nearly all of the tourists were gone. We went back out for more snorkeling and this time, while we were out a storm hit. By the time we got back in it had stopped but everything was soaked. We figured there wasn’t anything to do about it then so we went back out to snorkel some more. After we had snorkeled all we wanted we walked (crawled) back through the rocks to the Baths and got a few burgers at "Poor Man’s Bar."

Back on the ship we cleaned up (fresh tee shirt) for the wine and cheese party. Boy was this a great idea! There were about a half a dozen cheeses, two pates and a whole lot of different wines. Then we had dinner (!). The choices tonight were parmesan chicken or flank steak. Following dinner the launch was running to shore for the folks that wanted to go to the local "Jump Up" to party. The deal was, though, that they’d be back on board by 11:00 PM for our own New Year’s party. Although quite a few went ashore all were back early. It seems that the band wasn’t that good and there were so many people there that you couldn’t get a drink. The party on board however was just heating up. Allison was busy passing out hats, noise makers and streamers. The crew was getting the champagne chilled - cases of it! -And the bartender had some good party music going. By midnight everyone was dancing - even the crew. Some of the stewards had lined up for a seven bottle salute to the new year. The all tried to pop their corks right at midnight. What a party!

This morning the Captain weighed anchor and set sail at about 5:30 AM as he was planning to sail around the north side of Tortola to get to Jost Van Dyke. We were going to meet up with the Legacy and the Amazing Grace and anchor at White Bay. When we got to White Bay the Legacy and the Amazing Grace had just arrived. Captain Max was concerned about the heavy swells at White Bay so he moved the Flying Cloud to and anchorage at Great Bay. We later found out that the Legacy couldn’t land their launches on the beach so they anchored about fifty yards off of the beach and shuttled folks in to that moored launch for a really wet landing (they had to swim in to the beach!). The Grace tried to land their launch on the beach but after they had gotten their passengers out a big swell hit the launch and crashed it onto the beach. They smashed their landing ladder and got sand into the launch’s intake. All in all it seemed that Captain Max made the right decision.

From our anchorage at Great Bay we took the launch to the dock near Rudy’s. Lunch wasn’t ready yet so we walked down the main drag - not much more than a goat path - to the world renowned Foxy’s Bar. Sure enough Foxy himself was there and he serenaded us with his special brand of song. I spoke with one of the locals at Foxy’s and he told me that the night before there were thousands of people on shore for the New Year’s eve party. So many that you literally couldn’t move - glad we weren’t there last night. By then the crew had set up a buffet lunch right in front of Rudy’s. After lunch a good number of us decided to hike over the hill to get to the beach at White Bay. What a hike! It was a beautiful day but when we got to the beach the swells were pretty rough (by Caribbean standards anyway). Down the beach was the famous Soggy Dollar Bar. We didn’t go there but some of the passengers did. I’m not sure it was worth the extra hike. After swimming we made the hike back over the hill and caught the launch to the ship to get cleaned up (another clean tee shirt) for the lobster dinner at Rudy’s.

For those that chose to stay abroad the Cloud for dinner the menu selections were roast duck or shrimp - a tough choice but we went for the lobster. The captain and Allison got wind of the Legacy’s plans to get folks ashore so they moved the launch schedule up a little so we could get ashore before them and get a good seat at Rudy’s. When we got there Rudy’s was all lit up for the big party. We sat with Mike, Tigre, Ray, Jeff & Betty (the newlyweds) and a couple who were Cuban (she) and Japanese-Alaskan (he). We bought a few bottles of wine and had the bartender chill them before dinner. The lobsters were great. They were really big and were served with veggies and salads. There was a live band there so we partied a bit then went back to the ship.

We awoke on our last day out at about 5:30 AM to the sound of the anchor being weighed. Sue and I went topsides at about 6:15 AM to find that we had gotten underway for the long trip around Tortola to Cooper Island, our destination for the day. The Legacy, which had been anchored nearby, had weighed anchor and gotten underway at about the same time. They were heading for Norman Island. As a result of a combination of strong head winds and a very fouled bottom the going was very slow. Part way to Cooper Island we ducked into Great Harbor at Peter Island to transfer the divers to the dive boat. Today, the divers from the Cloud and the Legacy were going to dive the Rhone - perhaps the most popular dive site in the BVI’s. Once the divers had transferred to the dive boat we got underway again to complete our trip to Cooper Island. We finally arrived and dropped anchor in Machioneel Bay at 1:30 PM.

At the Captain’s story time we were told about the owner of the Cooper Island Beach Club, who after being supported by the Windjammer trade for quite a few years, tried to make the island a private club. British law apparently prohibits anyone from actually owning the beach so we could still go ashore in the launch - we just couldn’t use his pier or facilities. This was when Captain Max told us about the special Flying Cloud salute, designed to both commemorate the former name of the Cloud, Bird of the Islands, and express Windjammers feelings towards the beach club owner (this special salute must be demonstrated rather than described - sorry!).

The beach was shaded by coconut palms and offered some shade from the afternoon sun. Sue and I and a lot of others went snorkeling off to the right side of the beach. The water was pretty shallow but the snorkeling was still great. We saw a lot of brightly colored fish and some small crabs. It was about this time, while snorkeling along, that I saw the first barracuda. I was a little startled at first but he was just floating there watching the swimmers go by (yeah, lunch!). As I was taking his picture Sue came swimming by. She hadn’t noticed the barracuda so I tugged on her leg and pointed him out. Boy was she surprised! Sue sort of freaked out at first, kind of thrashing about and trying to scream through her snorkel. To be fair, that reaction only lasted a few seconds and was prompted by a close up view of the barracuda’s teeth as he floated there with his mouth partly open (yes, you can see the teeth in the picture!). We swam past this one and came across a couple more barracudas as we went. We swam back to our stretch of the beach to relax a bit before going back to the ship and do a little souvenir shopping at the local tourist shop. While we were waiting for the launch to come ashore I had a chance to talk with Uncle Henry, one of the locals who claimed to be building another beach bar right there. This guy is what people mean when they use the expression "local color." He had quite a few stories to tell including the one about President Clinton visiting the BVI’s that very day. Turns out that one wasn’t too far off!

When we got back aboard the Flying Cloud the Amazing Grace was still tied up along side. They had finished resupplying the Legacy earlier and were just now finishing resupplying the Flying Cloud. There were boxes and supplies everywhere. As the Grace pulled away to anchor just off our starboard side and the crew was beginning to stow the provisions a storm hit. Most of the boxes got moved under the cover of the canopies. Some of the boxes, however, got soaked making the crew’s job just a little trickier. Prior to dinner we all cleared our cabin accounts with Allison.

Tonight’s dinner was the Captain’s dinner. The menu was prime rib or mahi-mahi with bottles of champagne - at least that was the Captain’s dinner. As for the rest of us... Just prior to dinner Captain Max did a really hilarious stand up comic routine about his pet raccoon. It had us all rolling! The dinner opened with chief steward Sam making quite a show of preparing Sam’s Special Caesar Salad. He did a great job and the salad tasted great too. Randy, one of our stewards (and a great looker in a black evening gown!) presented the youngest passenger with a gift - a small stuffed animal. After dinner Sue went below to take a nap while I went topsides to wait for the dessert - Bananas Flambee. Just as Sam was getting set up it began to rain again so the crew moved the dessert preparation back to the saloon area. Sam, of course, prepared the dessert with a flair and flourish only he could do. The flambee’d bananas were served over vanilla ice cream and were very good. Allison had planned to hold crab races on the top deck but they were canceled because of the rain. I guess we’ll have to take another Windjammer cruise to see what the crab races are all about. We finally turned in at about 11:00 PM.

We heard the anchors being weighed at about 3:00 AM but didn’t go topsides this time. The captain wanted to get a real early start across the channel to Roadtown so the passengers with early flights out could make it out in time. We docked at the working dock in Roadtown harbor at about 5:00 AM. After breakfast we had our gear brought up to be loaded on the launch for the trip to the ferry dock. The captain ran the launch over to the ferry dock twice to save us the cost of a cab ride. We all got hugs from Allison and said our good-byes and left the ship for the last time. Just as we got to the ferry dock the ferry to Charlotte Amalie was preparing to leave - great timing. After a bit of a rough ride we got to Charlotte Amalie at about 10:00 AM. Since we had some time to kill before going to the airport we left our bags at the ferry dock and walked into town and the shopping district. It was so crowded! There were several large cruise ships in port and all of the stores seemed to have doormen trying to entice you into their shops. Boy did we begin to miss the relative peace and quiet of the BVI’s!

Sue wasn’t in a shopping mood (what a relief!) so we went to the airport a little early. We breezed through customs and went to the gate to check in. Turns out old uncle Henry wasn’t too far off with his story about President Clinton. The smaller version of Air Force One was sitting at the end of the runway. It seems that Bill and family were visiting St. Thomas for a few days. When we got to the gate we found it was a good thing we were early. The flights were seriously overbooked and it wasn’t certain that some of the folks arriving at the gate later would get on. The airlines were tempting folks with vouchers worth hundreds of dollars but they couldn’t guarantee a flight out earlier than two days away! We met up with quite a few shipmates who were also trying to get to Miami. Fortunately, all of us got on board the flight to Miami on schedule.

The flight to Miami was pretty uneventful but the Miami airport was an absolute zoo! Half of the people in the western hemisphere must have been passing through the airport at the same time. The flight home was also badly overbooked and got off the ground 30 minutes late. The pilots made up most of that time and we arrived in Baltimore at about 10:10 PM - only about 5 minutes late. As we waited for our bags someone noticed my Windjammer shirt and asked if we were just returning from a Windjammer trip. As it turns out she had been on the Legacy this past week and had arrived in Baltimore a few hours ahead of her luggage - small world. We got our bags amazingly fast and found the limo waiting for us as we exited the terminal. We finally got home at 11:30 PM and were happy to find that the kids hadn’t killed each other or burned the house down while we were gone! It was nice to be home (yeah, right!).

All in all both Sue and I agreed that this was one of our best vacations ever - one that we’ll definately do again!