The British , with their tumbledown- boulder beaches and innumerable islands, are a cruiser’s paradise.

TreasuredA luxury catamaran charter in the Islands doesn’t just promise an of-the-grid week of exploring secret beaches, diving wild coral reefs and hunting for . It also ofers a chance to discover your inner sailor.

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAD DAVENPORT THE PEARL-WHITE BOW of the cata- ship. But every time I saw a canvas triangle maran Alegria swings gently toward the cutting the horizon, I yearned to belong to islands on the horizon like a compass that mystical tribe of sailors. needle settling on a bearing. Magnus Our first afternoon onboard I learn that Lewin, a 40-something Swede with a deep much of the joy of a charter boat is found sailor’s tan and a mane of tangled blond in the freedom it provides. While first mate hair, glances up at the mainsail ballooning and chef Penny uncorks a chilled bottle of over us. We’re in the heart of the British Bollinger Champagne, her partner, Captain Virgin Islands, an archipelago of reef-lined, Nathan, gathers his passengers — a pair emerald-green islands. It’s early afternoon; of Canadian businesswomen, a New York the sun is high and the wind is up. The photographer and me — around a nautical 59-foot Alegria cuts through rolling seas at chart of the islands. almost nine knots. “The BVIs are famous for sailing,” Magnus lets the wheel spin lightly Nathan explains. “There are more than 50 through his grip and ticks of a roll call of islands with some of the most beautiful romantic maritime names like Soldier Bay, beaches and protected anchorages in the

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Treasure Point and Bay. “That world. We’re fortunate on the Alegria that Day sailors launch of one is Norman Island,” he says, pointing we can chart our own course. I have some one of the BVIs’ many to a low, green ridge. Magnus’ familiarity suggestions of where we might want to beaches. Every evening sailboats converge with the location and the boat goes beyond explore, but it’s really up to all of you, and on marinas or moor training: He is the co-founder and owner the wind, where we want to go.” ofshore. A personal chef of TradeWinds, the charter yacht company Nathan hoists the sails a few minutes cooks up fresh-caught tuna on the Alegria. The that operates the Alegria and other luxury later and we are underway. I head to the Bitter End Yacht Club catamarans around the world. bow and sit in the netting suspended be- of attracts “They say there’s millions in pirate gold tween the two hulls. The green sea rushes many visitors. T stashed away in the sea caves,” Magnus beneath me, and the white mainsail soars says, turning the attention back toward overhead. Norman Island. “We’ll get you snorkeling “I grew up sailing with my uncles in out there later this week and maybe you can Sweden, but it was scuba diving that really find some.” turned me into a sailor,” Magnus says of Hunting for lost treasure wasn’t on his overlapping personal and professional my wish list when I boarded the Alegria lives as he joins me on the bow. “I just love a few days ago from the island of . the freedom of being able to move around Although I grew up in the Colorado Rock- the world and explore by sailboat.” As I am ies, about as far from the ocean as you can an avid diver myself, we wind up discussing get, the sea is in my blood. Robert Louis the best dive sites of Tortola. Stevenson’s inspired me Later that evening, we drop anchor of to hop freighters around the South Pacific an uninhabited island. Nathan grills book- and later explore the Caribbean by cruise thick steaks of the stern and Penny pours

september/october 2016 • CELEBRATED LIVING 67 “THEY SAY THERE’S South African wine. We gather around the very interesting and really enjoy meeting table enjoying sundowners and swapping new people. And sailors cross all economic MILLIONS IN travel tales. Magnus tells us about building and social lines. I can count on one hand his first boat and sailing from Africa to the number of times guests haven’t clicked PIRATE GOLD Brazil. “We did something right,” he laughs. on the boat. It just doesn’t happen.” “She’s still in the fleet.” I stay up on deck until the moonrise STASHED When Penny delivers plates of warm fades out the stars. Down in my cabin, I chocolate torte and vanilla ice cream, one leave the curtains on the picture-window AWAY IN THE of the Canadians marvels at how big the portal open. The moonlight reflects of the boat feels, even though it’s barely 60 feet water and I fall asleep to a tropical version SEA CAVES.” long and has six cabins. “I wasn’t expect- of the Northern Lights dancing on my ing that,” she says. “It seems like you can white ceiling. always find a private place to hide away and Over the next few days, I begin to ap- read or just spend time with your partner.” preciate the all-inclusiveness of a charter. With the per-cabin charter, I wonder It goes beyond the leather and wood-trim if there’s ever friction between guests. cabin, the gin-and-tonics, the steak and Magnus shakes his head. “The kind of lobster. We pull into quiet bays for snorkel- people who are drawn to this way of travel ing and paddleboarding. We explore small — sailing between islands — are social and harbors by kayak. And every afternoon, Penny opens the “noodle bar” by tossing a few floats of the stern and passing out nutmeg-sprinkled Painkiller cocktails. Within minutes, most of the passengers have dived into the ultimate swim-up bar. As we cruise among the islands, I realize it’s not just that Nathan and Penny THIS PAGE: the Alegria know where to go, they also know when. and her sea kayak at an Their nautical timing is spot-on, as we evening mooring are always onshore long before any tour OPPOSITE PAGE: floating in the quiet calm of a boats reach our destination. Today, we’re grotto in Devil’s Day the sole sailboat mooring of Trunk Bay, a National Park pristine, loamy beach against a backdrop of coconut trees and a couple of monolithic boulders. One of the businesswomen laughs as Nathan readies the kayak for her. “It’s so prehistoric-looking I’m half expecting a dinosaur to emerge from the jungle and wander down the beach,” she says. Not surprisingly, given Magnus’ passion for the underwater world, TradeWinds’ charters also include scuba diving. When Magnus learned I’d been certified for the last 15 years and had racked up more than 1,000 dives, he spoke to Nathan about add- ing an afternoon stop. An hour later, Nathan, a dive master, kits up Magnus and me. We’ve moored just of , a cluster of craggy seamounts said to resemble the feathers in a Cheyenne headdress. We step of the stern platform and, when the bubbles clear, free-fall like aquatic skydivers toward a field of purple sea fans. A hawksbill turtle the size of a cofee table glides past us, and a school of hunting trevally whirl like a disco ball.

september/october 2016 • CELEBRATED LIVING 69 “IT SEEMS LIKE YOU CAN ALWAYS FIND A PRIVATE PLACE TO HIDE AWAY AND READ OR JUST SPEND TIME WITH YOUR PARTNER.”

From 40 feet down, I look up at the sheer shelter from a storm inside a cave, maybe sea clifs where the surf is thundering. The this one,” Nathan says. “And the action of bubbles and seafoam look like storm clouds the surf had uncovered treasure.” over some dark peak. The water is so clear I I sweep the flashlight beam over the wet can see the twin hulls of the Alegria floating beach and rake my fingers in the sand. My on the underwater sky. only reward is some delicate shells. I linger I sleep in the next morning and only in the cave after Nathan swims out, admiring wake when Nathan blows the conch for the white silhouette of the Alegria caught in breakfast. I’m halfway through my eggs the cave’s mouth. I wish I had a shovel. Benedict when it hits me: Today’s the day. Treasure Island’s secret eludes me. We’re sailing to the island locals claim But later that day, as we make one of our THIS PAGE FROM TOP: was the inspiration for Robert Louis last crossings in the cobalt blue of the guests paddling Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Drake Passage, I discover something just the Alegria’s sea kayak along the wild The sea caves of Norman Island are tall, as precious sitting in the cockpit beside shore of Trunk Bay; yawning crevices. “Watch the sea surge Magnus. “I’m always happiest when I’m out the islands’ hidden as you swim into the caves so you don’t sailing,” he says. “On a long passage, it takes beaches bang around,” Nathan says as I slip on my a few days to leave the land behind you and OPPOSITE PAGE FROM TOP: fins and mask. He hands me a waterproof lose those connections. But when it finally TradeWinds flashlight and jumps into the water beside happens it’s an amazing feeling. Suddenly Co-Founder and CEO Magnus Lewin at the me. We’re instantly swarmed by a friendly you’re just living in the now.” helm of one of his school of yellow, black-striped sergeant Learning to sail isn’t part of the formal luxury catamarans; an major fish. “They’re used to being fed,” he charter, but it’s easy to get involved on a overwater palapa at the Bitter End Yacht chuckles as he puts his snorkel in his mouth sailboat the size of the Alegria. Over the TradeWinds (Trade-winds. Club; beautiful and starts to swim. past few days, Magnus, Nathan and Penny com) ofers individu- soft corals It’s a short snorkel over the reef before have all taught me a glossary of nautical al cabins and private we spot the caves. The sandy bottom terms, shown me how to tie knots, hoist charters in three classes shallows out and we swim through clouds sails and read the instrument panels. of sailboats. The 50 and 52 foot Cruising Class of silverside minnows that sparkle in the But there’s one thing they haven’t taught and the 59 and 60 foot flashlight beams. The cave walls are red me to do yet. Luxury Class catamarans and orange and pulsing with delicate coral. “Take the wheel,” Magnus says, sliding like the Alegria accom- “This is it,” Nathan says when we finally out of the captain’s seat. He points to a modate up to 10 guests. reach the dark beach and haul out. The lap distant island. “That’s where we’re going.” CL TradeWinds’ Flagship of the waves echoes in the chamber like a Class, featuring the JAD DAVENPORT IS A WRITER AND A PHOTOGRAPHER. TradeWinds 70, have six heartbeat. The air is dense with humidity. HE HAS TRAVELED TO MORE THAN 150 COUNTRIES ON cabins. “The story is that a local fisherman sought ALL SEVEN CONTINENTS.

70 CELEBRATED LIVING • september/october 2016 september/october 2016 • CELEBRATED LIVING 71