No bad surprise for this one night sail as the wind decide to join us until the end. The only fright I had was because of the depth sounder which indicated 0,60m under the hull as it was 1500 m deep! This for sure, had a better effect than a strong coffee and managed to keep me awake for good! .
March 30th, 2003
At dawn, the British Virgin Islands appear right in front of us. With a still wind, we reach Tortola and Road Harbour. A cruise ship on one side, sailing boats all over the place. My last trip in the BVI was during Hurricane Floyd in september 99, and I do not remember having seen so many sailing boats around... hurricane, maybe! Tortola is a bare boat base, so you have plenty marina with plenty sailing boats and at this time of the year it seems they are all out in the sea!! But there are not only bare boats of course!!
Cristopher Colombus discovered the BVI in 1493, and they are as desolated and dried as St Martin but more british indeed! Cost of life here is pretty high, tourism is one of the main resource of the BVI with charter boats which probably bring over the islands a great number of people, as well as resorts and cruise ships activities. Oh, by the way the main difference with St Martin is that one drive left over here... Far away from England but England anyway!.
Once our clearance done we reach Pelican Island to enjoy a few free dives at the Indians and then move to Norman Island and anchor in Privateer bay. Norman Island is considered in the BVI as the Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. Unfortunately there is no treasure or nothing which could tell there was once a treasure. Someone probably got there before us! The only thing we find is a boat restaurant serving hamburgers, in a way the big Mac Donald of the Sea!!
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Privateer bay is a quiet place and we drop the anchor. The BVI have quite a lot of buoys to moor on but they are not free. In entering the BVI you are entering the kingdom of the well organised boating! so every single nice place you'd enjoy anchoring in is marked with the big buoys where you can read on each of them : " Pay to Billy Bones"! and in case you woud think Billy Bones would not show up, be advised that he comes along every evening !!!
At the end of the day we leave to Sopper's Hole, where we decide to spend the night. Lost at the deepest end of the bay Sopper's hole is a very protected village, which offers a comfortable marina, an unforgettable Pusser's bar, as well as a dive shop, and a few expensive shops for yachties on vacation. There is a grocery but the prices are even more expensive than in St Martin which is for us, unbearable! but the must is the Camembert in a tin! Thank you Angie for letting me taste that with a glass of wine in Grand Case, once ! I am an adept of that Camembert although I am french!
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March 31st, 2003
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Bye bye Sopper's Hole and let's go to Sandy Spit. Sailing along Sandy Cays, who is supposed to belong to L. Rockfeller and which is just a sandy beach. We went there to try to be offered a drink but no gardenner to take care of this small islet (what would a gardenner do anyway on such a place as there is not even a coconut to pick up from a tree!!).
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We decide to go diving but visibility is not too good and there is a heavy swell so we just free dive. The vis is terrible so we play to whom would go the deeppest! As the bottom lies at 9,50m this will be the end of it! Never mind ! Before the night we arrive in Cane Gardens Bay, located on the north coast of Tortola. This is a quiet bay to anchor, and regarding the number of long chairs on the beach it must be a touristic spot! We enjoy watching at the sunset overlooking Jost Van Dyke and listening to a nice reggae music coming from the beach.
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April 2nd, 2003
What a wake up! The Charming Cane Gardens Bay reveals a strange side of its personality! In the evening as we got there we anchored in the bay not too close to the paying buoys and in the morning the sound of the waves surfing very close to us end up our sleep earlier than we thought! In less time we need to say we move the boat to a shallower and more protected place. Soon the swell became more important and everyone of us in the bay sail away. Outside the Wind is blowing 25 knots and the swell is 2.50m. We decid to sail to Beef Island where anchorage is told to be calmer!
April 3rd, 2003
British Virgin Island, british weather! The weather keeps changing and rain comes and go all day long! A good way to refill the water tanks without sweating; plenty of time to read, listen to music; work on the computer, or cook cakes for tea time! British weather, British way of life, isn't it? Anyway we'll check the weather fax tonight!
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April 4th, 2003
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While Jean-Luc works on the computer at the cyber cafe, I do some sewing with my sewing machine. A bright intervall in between two showers make us decide to move to Anegada, where we want to dive. Because of the very protected Beef Island mooring we nearly forgot the wind was blowing 15-20 knots. While sailing we see a big eagle ray flying quietly right under the surface. We get to Anegada pretty fast after a very tricky sail throughout the coral reef. We have maps on the computer, buoys in the water, nevertheless the map is not so correct, and if we refer to the GPS... we are more beached than anchored!!!
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Very low on sea level, Anegada let appears only few houses, a little dock, paying buoys and bareboats! Under that very dark sky only lightened with a myriade of stars with no visual disturbance to interfere you can stay hours watching the stars! Such a quiet place to be! Far away the lights of Virgin Gorda and Tortola can be seen, while in Tortola nothing of Anegada can be seen.
April 5th, 2003
The sea is milky today, the sky grey! This is not to be the right day for sunburns and sunglasses. After listening to the news on the radio, an important dark cloud forms over Virgin Gorda moving toward...us ! And as days follows and look alike, heavy showers come too which completing the few gallons of water used since the last rain. It is a shame because tonight is suppose to be the meeting of the Pleiades with the moon! And instead of having a nice sky situation to observe what really happened is, a heavy dark sky, rain and wind. That's all we get!.
The morning look better with a calm sea and a clear sky. We jump in the dinghy to get to an unreachable part of the island, protected with a long and impressive reef. While we swim to the reef the waves surf over our heads. The reef is so washed up there is really nothing to observe. But the good point is that this part of the island is so abandoned, the beach is totally deserted and we swim in a very warm blue water and appreciate to lay down on this very thin white sand. Back to the boat we decide to go ashore and have a drink. There is a small gift shop, a resort, a couple of restaurants, and a very expensive cyberzone! In the evening a splendid flight of flamingos fly over the island but too far away to get a picture of the pink birds which probably leave on the inner lagoon of Anegada.
April 7th - 8th, 2003
We want to get to another part of the island, more deserted and closer to the reef . We leave Anegada West End to the Horse ShoeReef. Here we are in the middle or nowhere, anchored in between a couple of coral spot, just a few strokes away from the reef. It is beautiful, a sandy bottom right under the boat and the waves breaking on the reef, it really looks like some of the Tuamotu I know. We go snorkeling, not deep enough to go diving and the reef is totally dead.. We stay there all night, the only boat miles away. In the morning, the reef looks completely sleepy, everything is flat, no breaking waves. This could have been a nice trap if not aware of the reef. After an hour, everything come back to life and the foam starts showing up at the top of the waves. We have to leave that paradisiac spot to go to Saba Rock. After a while Jean-Luc decides to catch something for lunch, and while we are sailing at a very fast speed : 3 knots! some fool fish get trapped in the line. So on we go!, trying to bring back what seemed to be a heavy fish, the line was folding, folding and folding so much and at the end the supposedly welcome lunch managed to escape its tragic end and we had to say good bye to it without even having the slightest idea of what the menu could have be! We manage to arrive to Saba Rock on Virgin Gorda. It is beautiful there, the bottom is covered with enormous cushion starfishs (Oreaster reticulatus). We set up everything and as the wind is not too important we go for a dive. We notice a dive site close to the reef we could reach with the dinghy called the Invisibles. There is a slight courant, visibility is ok, just the swell on the surface remains uncomfortable. The dive is pretty nice and enjoyable up to 20 metres, two bwommies where a lot of fishes stands, a turtle and lobsters. A nice Barracuda welcome us as if it is its kingdom, french angelfishes swim around us as well as queen angelfish, quite a lot of caranx of several species, parrot fishes, snappers, etc... The lobsters are very tempting but we just have a look at them, I sware! We just took pictures!
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After checking our dive gear and passing through another heavy shower, Jean Luc decides the two remoras stuck onto the centerboard would look much better in his plate and he free dives to catch them, but that is without thinking of the fast agility of the animal! We arrive at Spanishtown the major town of Virgin Gorda sail to sail with another sailing boat. The anchorage is awfully unstable, and after a little while we move to The Baths one of the highest spot of Virgin Gorda, very famous for the huge rocks which protect the sandy beaches, and the blue turquoise waters. The anchorage is however so so, but the water so clear and warm. At around 4pm we decide to go back to BeefIsland with a nice wind and sun. This evening the wind reinforces with pretty impressive gusts on this usually quiet anchorage! We are suppose to clear out on the next day here as we have been told Beef Island is a port of call too. In fact, it is not a port of call and we move to Sopper's hole to clear out.
Our trip in the BVI was a lot of fun, a lot of rain, and not totally in a deserted sea! It seems to be a wonderful paradise for boating, where a lot of islands are easy to reach, all different, and sailing throughout the BVI is not too difficult as long as you keep refering to your charts! and depth sounder! On my opinion everything is a little too much organized but "business is business" believe me one can always try to avoid all the Billy Bones traps! Otherwise the cost of life is high and it is not the place for supplies before a long crossing, the fishes do not get trapped easily and as you can not spear gun fishing you 'd better not stay too long in a place almost as expensive as the FWI! Except if you go hunting in the USVI where it is allowed!!
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