Bitter End Yacht Club

After a windy night in Savannah Bay we were quick to get underway and take advantage of the strong breezes to finish our upwind sail to the North Sound of Virgin Gorda. We picked up a mooring ball at the Bitter End Yacht Club, where the girls enjoyed an afternoon of swimming in the pool, shopping, and hiking.

The girls enjoying lunch
Snorkeling

We enjoyed fresh catch dinner on the dock and the Fat Virgin followed by a movie at the outdoor movie theater at Bitter End and some dancing with DJ Heavy Beats. We plan to depart for Anegada in the morning...if the girls can pry themselves away from the Bitter End Yacht Club.

The Baths - Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbour - Savanah Bay

We began the day with an early morning sail from Cooper Island to Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbour. We stopped in for to provision some fresh fruit and local bread from the bakery on Virgin Gorda. The girls explored Spanish Town and picked up some post cards to send home.

The Girls in Spanish Town

After our stop in Spanish Town we sailed downwind to the Baths for an afternoon of snorkeling. We capped off our afternoon with a cookout in our secret Lundy Charters cookout spot nestled amongst the rocks.

The girls at the Baths
Snorkeling at the Baths

After the Baths we sailed upwind to Savannah Bay to anchor for the night. We are enjoying having Savannah Bay all to ourselves for the evening!

Sailing to Savannah Bay

Notes from the Girls:

"Having so much fun, love you lots." -Rachel

"Hey, the weather is amazing and the wind is great! Having the time of my life, can't stop smiling." -Sarah B.

"Mama te extrano mucho, manana es tu cumple y no dse si te ha llegado mi carta asi que mil felicides, me la estoy pasando de pelos! este lugar esta incrieble, muchisimas gracias por esta oportunidad, estoy feliz! te quier much" - Mar

"Hey guys, can't wait to see you all in St. Thomas on the 9th!" - Captain Jim

Cooper Island

With the girls at the helm, we set out for our for their first sail this morning to Cooper Island. Diving right into the curriculum, we learned about basic navigation, rigging, and furling. After arriving safely at Cooper Island, the girls took time to snorkel around Cistern Rock before heading into Cooper Island for some beach time.

The Girls at The Cooper Island Beach Club

Getting Ready to Snorkel Cistern Point

SAIL II BVI Girls Arrive in the British Virgin Islands

The girls from the Sail II BVI program have arrived in the British Virgin Islands and are safely aboard the boats in Trellis Bay. The girls spend the evening orienting themselves to their homes for the next 10 days, a matching pair of 50ft Benateau Yachts. Captain Jim and Captain Chris have divided the crew amungst the two identical boats and are ready to head out on our first sail in the morning. Our destination is Cooper Island, just across the Sir Francis Drake Channel from Beef Island.

Lundy Charters Crew Arrives in the BVI

The Lundy Charters Crew, Captain Jim Baker and Captain Chris Davis, arrived safely in the British Virgin Islands and have begun preparations for the arrival of the Sail II BVI Program. We are provisioning, fueling, and sailing the boats to Trellis Bay on Beef Island where we will meet the girls. Calm seas and a clear forecast await the girls arrival.

Captain Jim Baker heads to the Pamilico Sound on the YMCA Sail On Program

Captain Jim Baker joins Captain Lee Sutton on the YMCA Sail On Program this week for an overnight cruise with campers from Camp Seagull and Camp Seafarer.

Fraser Island

We took a two day one night trip over to Fraser Island from Hervey Bay. The island is accessible by 4X4 and only by ferry. When we arrived it was raining and we headed through the Central Station (an old logging station) out to the main beach. We drove up the beach and as we did the showers stopped and the sun came out for the first time in a week. We had good timing. We saw the wreck of the Maheno, an old passenger vessel that washed ashore on Fraser Island and drove up the 75 mile long beach to the north end. There were very few people there and we spend the majority of our time out of sight of any other people.

At the north end of the island we waded in the champaign pools and relaxed on the beach for the afternoon. For the evening we drove back down the beach and camped out for the night. We cooked dinner and camped right on the beach with no one in sight as far as you could see in both directions. The stars were the most stunning I have seen anywhere...including out at sea.

We spend the next day exploring the rain forests and inland lakes on the islands interior trails. The inland lakes boasted white sand beaches and clear blue water. It looked more like a beach in the caribbean than an inland lake. We relaxed at the lakes and went on nearly every trail on the island before leaving on the last ferry.

We are back in Hervey Bay now for the day...catching the overnight train to the Whitsundays for a couple days of sailing.....

Byron Bay

We arrived in Byron Bay around 8pm during a heavy downpour only to find that there was no room left in the inn so to speak at the hostel we had booked. After a brief canvas of the lodging options we were able to secure a two bedroom apartment from a surly Frenchman named Gerard. We took advantage of the full size kitchen and fixed a proper hot dinner and followed that with some much needed ice cream. The winds and rain picked up overnight and by morning the weather had blown out.

We woke up to a beautiful sunny day and headed out to the beach to enjoy the beautiful weather. We lounged on the beach, enjoyed pints at the cafe, and explored town until it was time to catch our bus up to Brisbane at 8pm.

Byron Bay is full of surfers and young travelers, needless to say..the place is quite full on a Valentines Day weekend.

Sydney

After an early morning flight from Melbourne, we arrived in Sydney around 8am. We headed over to the hostel to drop off our bags and begin exploring the city. We headed down to the
Harbor and caught the first train over to the Taronga Zoo. We spend several hours at the Zoo and even caught a seal show at the end. After the Zoo we took the ferry back over and took a tour of the Sydney Opera House. The project began with a budget of 7 million and ended up costing around 109 million to complete.

After the Opera House we headed back to the Hostel to get settled and moved into our room. We were able to make it back up town in time to catch the sunset from the Sky Tower. We enjoyed dinner afterwords in the rotating restaurant on the top floor.

The next day we got an early start heading to the Australian National Maritime Museum and Wildlife World before lunch. We spend the afternoon taking a cruise around the harbor and exploring the Sydney Aquarium.

We spent our last rainy day in Sydney getting caught up on rest and visiting a few last sights. We revisited the Australian National Maritime Museum and caught an afternoon film at the IMAX about the Wild Coast of Africa.

We have now begun our treck up the East Coast. We caught a 7am train out of Sydney bound for Byron Bay.

Great Ocean Road

The Great Ocean Road...hard to believe there is more to the tour than standing on the very beach that Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze stood on at the end of the film "Point Break''....Bells Beach... This was actually our first stop on the tour...couldn't save the best for last.

We actually begun the tour from Melbourne, amongst the worst bush fires in Australian history. The fires affected suburban areas of the city itself so the effect was easily felt among everyone we encountered on our tour.We passed through Geelong (Second largest city in Victoria) and stopped in at an Aboriginal Cultural Center there. It was our first encounter with Aboriginal people that we were able to interact with. The Aboriginal people experienced a history similar to that of Native Americans in the United States ( I am starting to think it was worse). Needless to say they is a large amount of the population that is understandably self-separated from western society. It was good to have a chance to actually speak with an Aboriginal person, as it seems that every Australian (White - European decent) has a different opinion about the "situation".

We drove up the coast to the "Twelve Apostles" where we hopped into a helicopter for a birds eye view of this natural wonder. The video and photos of our flight are amazing and will be posted to this page...see above...

We also visited an arch just up the coast called "London Bridge" and were surprised to learn that a second arch existed before 1995 and had fallen while people were out on the section that is now separated from the land. Fortunately no one was hurt during the collapse...but they did just finish filming a BMW commercial on the arch and had 12 BMW's parked on the part that collapsed the week before. Good thing for Bavarian Motor Werks that they didn't film the commercial one week later.

Kangaroo Island

Up and out the door early to catch the first ferry to Kangaroo Island our of Port Jarvis. You may remember Port Jarvis made the news a few years back when a dead whale was devoured by great white sharks off its coast for several days a few years ago. There are some famous pictures of a local standing on top of the whale while the sharks were slowly eating there way through it. We had the privilege of riding with the very man who captained the reporter out to take that famous picture. (See Below)

Kangaroo Island is the 3rd largest Island in Australia with a population of about 4000 people. We headed out to Pennington Bay for a bit of a swim before getting our tour of the island started. We headed out to a few rocks named the "Remarkable Rocks". They resemble "The Baths" in the British Virgin Islands, but these rocks are perched high atop a cliff and have a fantastic view of the southern ocean. We visited several beaches that hold a few of the remaining Australian and New Zealand Seals. You can get very close to the seals and we were able to get some amazing pictures of them. We finished up our visit with a sand boarding in a place called the "Little Sahara".

Adelaide

After arriving on the Ghan from Alice springs, we didn't have very long in Adelaide....an afternoon and evening on the front end of our trip to Kangaroo Island and an evening on the back end. We spend our afternoon looking through the city market in Adelaide. It is the Australian version of a farmers market. We stocked up on some fresh fruit for our trip to Kangaroo Island and headed down to the beach. We found the only Mexican restaurant in town and enjoyed Sangria and a great view of the beach. We needed a chance to cool down from our days spent in the scorching outback heat.

The Ghan

This morning Jim and Maria rode on the legendary Ghan - a train that travels from the southern part of the continent in Adelaide all the way up to the farthest point of the Northern Territory of Darwin (many of you may have heard of this from the movie Australia) and back. We started the journey from Alice Springs yesterday at noon and will arrive back in Adelaide today around 1pm. The train is the way to go...this is now Maria's 3rd excursion on a train in Australia and it is a great way to see the land as I am learning how vast and expansive the Australian is. The Northern Territory where we just left has only 1% of Australia's population. It's hard to comprehend until you actually drive 9 hours on a paved highway with much or less the same scenery and look on a map to find that you have gone about 1 inch. This was our experience for the last 2 days when we took a tour of Ayers Rock (Uluru), Kings Canyon, and Kata Kjuta from Alice Springs.

Maria and Jim Explore the Outback

The first day we drove 6 hours starting at 5am out to Kings Canyon, stopping on the way to get my first glimpse of some kangaroos and a camel. The temperature for the day was 41degrees C, so about 100-110 F, so needless to say we only did a 1 hr. hike of the Canyon before returning to the van to enjoy some refreshing AC. From there we made a 4 hour drive to our camp site outside of Ayers Rock. That night we enjoyed a traditional Australian BBQ with kangaroo steaks - a great way to spend the night in the outback after a memorable sunset over Kata Kjuta (huge clumps of rocks rising over 500m in height in the middle of the desert). The next day was filled with the sunrise over Ayers Rock, a 2 hr. base walk of the rock, another 1 hr. hike of Kata Kjuta, and a million curse words at the billions of flies that flocked to piss off all the tourists. If Jim and I had not each invested in a fly net the day before, we would have been absolutely more miserable - at one time you could have 75-100 flies all over your back, arms, and face. That fly net was undoubtely the best $9 I have ever spent - for my emotional, physical, and mental safety! ha. Upon arrival at our hostel, our first priority was icing down a 6 pack and ordering a pizza to celebrate our accomplishment of seeing, exploring, and surviving the harsh outback

Jim Baker and Maria Powell meet up in Alice Springs, Australia

Today Maria Powell and Jim Baker met up in Alice Springs, Australia for a month long trek across the country.

We will be postings update, photos, and using the SPOT messenger to track our travels across Australia by satellite. Our travels will take us to Adelaide, Kangaroo Island, Melbourne, Sydney, Bryon Bay, Brisbane, Maryborough, Hervy Bay, Fraser Island, Properpine, Airlie Beach, Sailing around the Whitsundays, and Cairns. If any of you have any suggestions for us or know anyone we should meet, please drop us an email

More to come after a visit to Ayers Rock tomorrow.....

After a final night at The Last Resort Guests Depart.......

After we sailed over from the baths to Trellis Bay. We went ashore on Bellamy Cay to enjoy dinner at the Last Resort.

After dinner the band came on and several of our guests made use of the "guest mic" on stage.

After breakfast our guests departed Trellis Bay by cab for the ferry dock and back to the states......

Afternoon Cookout at the Baths

We spent the afternoon cooking out at our favorite spot at the Baths. We set sail for Trellis Bay. We dodged a few squalls on our way over. We pulled into Trellis Bay and headed into the Last Resort to confirm out dinner reservations and have a few drinks.

Chris warming up the rock grill at the Baths

Florence and Jim

Relaxing at the Baths

Departing Cooper Island for the Baths

At 0700 we dropped the mooring and headed for Virgin Gorda. We are going to make a quick stop at VGYH to pickup a few items for our cookout and then head over to the baths.

Photos from the sail to Cooper Island

Departing Soper's Hole for Cooper Island

After a quick provisioning stop at the Harbor Market in Soper's Hole, we have departed for Cooper Island. We plan to snorkel cistern point and relax on the beach at the Cooper Island Beach Club.

Departing Jost Van Dyke

After enjoying homemade Caribbean Roti made by Chef/Mate Chris Davis the crew went ashore to relax at Sydney's House of Peace and Love.

After enjoying the honor system bar they walked over to Harris's Place for some dessert.

We are heading over to Soper's Hole for a quick provisioning stop.

Relaxing at the Soggy Dollar Bar

After a quick sail around Sandy Spit, we realized that there was no better place to ride out 30 knot winds and heavy seas than the tranquility of White Bay. We pulled in early this afternoon for a few painkillers and lunch aboard. We plan to spend the afternoon relaxing on the beach and then head up to Sydney's House of Peace and Love for the evening.

Relaxing on the Beach at the Soggy Dollar Bar, enjoying the famous Painkillers

Set Sail for Jost Van Dyke

This morning we enjoyed breakfast anchored off the Anegada Reef Hotel and then set sail for Jost Van Dyke. We are making a quick stop at the airport to aquire some delayed baggage, but our destination for the evening is Foxy's.

Spending Christmas Day on Anegada

After arriving at Anegada, we headed over to Cow Wreck Bay to snorkel and relax. We watched the storms roll past Anegada and enjoyed a spectacular rainbow that stretched across the length of the beach. We headed back to the boat for a quick shower before meeting Sam at Whistling Pines for dinner. Whistling Pines was made famous when it was featured on Feasting on Waves with Alton Brown as the best place in the Caribbean for Lobster. As usual, Sam did not dissapoint and presented us with a spread of BBQ and Lobster.Tereasa and Jim at Cow Wreck Bay

Guests Arrive at Bitter End Yacht Club for Christmas Eve

After a short delay on the ferry, we picked up our guests in Roadtown and headed to the Bitter End just in time for Christmas Eve Dinner. They enjoyed the Christmas buffet and made a short stop over at the pub before singing Christmas carols aboard. After a good nights sleep, a great breakfast, we set sail for Anegada.

Lundy Charters Crew Waiting at BEYC for guests

The Lundy Charters Crew is enjoying Christmas Eve on docks at BEYC, we just checked our guests flights and they are on time. We plan to go pick them up using one of Bitter Ends boats this afternoon when they arrive in Roadtown on the 5:00 pm ferry. In the meantime, we are finishing our provisioning and enjoying catching up with our old friends at the Bitter End.

Sunset at the Bitter End Yacht Club

On the way to the Bitter End...

After a busy day in Road Town provisioning the boat, we are now underway to the Bitter End Yacht club to await our guests' arrival tomorrow.

Lundy Charters Crew Arrives in the Virgin Islands

At 1400, the Lundy Charters crew arrived in St. Thomas. We are heading out on the 1615 ferry to Tortola. Our guest arrive on Christmas Eve.

We plan to pickup the boat in the morning, provision, and head to the Bitter End Yacht club where we will await our guests.

Oyster Catcher in New York Harbor at Night

The lights of New York City at night from the bridge of the M.V. Oyster Catcher

Halloween Charter Aboard M.V. Oyster Catcher

Captain Jim Baker arrived in New York to serve as a Relief Captain aboard the M.V. Oyster Catcher. Captain Geoff Werner and Captain Jim Baker sailed the M.V. Oyster Catcher around New York Harbor on Halloween. Glorious Catering and mates Chloe Douglas and Fred Brehm helped entertain family and friends aboard while we left from the World Financial Center, went around the Statue of Liberty and up the East River and Hudson River.

Sunset during the M.V. Oyster Catcher Charter in New York Harbor

George Washington Bridge

M.V. Oyster Catcher on docks near the World Financial Center

Statue of Liberty from the bow of the M.V. Oyster Catcer during our Halloween Charter

Lundy Charters founder Captain Jim Baker races at Belhaven Yacht Club

After finishing the delivery of the M.V. Oyster Catcher, Captain Jim Baker and Captain Geoff Werner took an afternoon off to race at the Belhaven Yacht Club. We raced with some of our friends from the Bitter End Yacht Club and finished second overall.


Captain Jim Baker before onboard before the race

Captain Jim Baker at the Belhaven Yacht Club before the race

Video from the Race

Important reminder, bring cold beer to a race.

Lundy Charters Runs Long Island Sound Charter on M.V. Oyster Catcher

Captain Jim Baker stayed in Darien after the delivery of the M.V. Oyster Catcher to help Captain Geoff Werner run its first charter of the season. The charter was out of the Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich, CT. After a squall blew through, we were able to get out on the water and run a great charter.

Captain Jim Baker at the helm of the M.V. Oyster Catcher

The squall from the bridge of the M.V. Oyster Catcher

The Indian Harbor Yacht Club

The Charter Guests Celebrating a Graduation
Captain Geoff Werner sharing some local knowledge with the guests

More Photos From South Andros Remote Fly Fishing Trip

Kurt and Justi show off their bonefish

Dinner.....

Haircut onboard

Making some conch salad....

Departing Marsh Harbour....despite the brush fires

Despite brush fires near the airport, our flight to Miami was still able to depart from Marsh Harbour.

Special Thanks

We would like to thank the Captain and crew of the Chicora from Charleston, SC for lending us the use of their tender yesterday. Thanks guys!

The end of one adventure, the beginning of many more...

Last night Chris and Jim relaxed and enjoyed a good night's rest at the Abaco Beach Resort in Marsh Harbor, and will be returning to North Carolina today. Lundy Charters would like to thank all of our guests from last week: Brian, Kevin, Jim, Peter, Justi and Kurt for making our adventure one to remember. Here are some pictures from the week:


Sunset over the Tongue of the Ocean



Dinner in Fresh Creek



In search of bonefish



South Andros



Fishing a Blue Hole



Enjoying a Lobster dinner aboard the boat



Anchored off an uncharted island




Sunset in Hope Town

Lundy Charters Staff Enjoys a Day Off in the Bahamas