March 10th-18th a wonderful week spent exploring and sailing around the British Virgin Islands
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| Trellis Bay with Makoko moored in the background |
We have just returned to Trellis Bay after a week enjoying what we came to the Caribbean for; sunny weather, warm azure blue water, great snorkelling, sandy beaches fringed with palm trees, colourful beach bars playing reggae music. It was great to have time to rest and relax after a hectic week sorting and fixing things after the big crossing.
The British Virgin Islands is an archipelago of 60 plus islands of which 21 are uninhabited with a total population of around 28,000. Of course this would double with tourists and yacht charterers. The BVI’s are very popular as a charter destination as the islands provide sheltered sailing waters and lots of beautiful anchorages
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| Feather coral (blue, purple, green and yellow) |
We have just returned to Trellis Bay after a week enjoying what
we came to the Caribbean for; sunny weather, warm azure blue water, great snorkelling,
sandy beaches fringed with palm trees, colourful beach bars playing reggae
music. It was great to have time to rest and relax after a hectic week sorting
and fixing things after the big crossing.
The British Virgin Islands is an archipelago of 60 plus islands
of which 21 are uninhabited with a total population of around 28,000. Of course
this would double with tourists and yacht charterers. The BVI’s are very
popular as a charter destination as the islands provide sheltered sailing
waters and lots of beautiful anchorages.
From Tortola we headed to north to North Sound in Virgin Gorda.
We sailed past Necker, Richard Branson’s Island surrounded by reefs. We were
dismayed to watch a charter boat that went too close and ran aground on a coral
reef; the 4 crew had to swim across the reef to a rescue boat. The yacht was
pulled off the reef a few hours later. We anchored near Mosquito Island
recently bought by Branson to build an eco resort and luxury villa development. Even though there were signs saying visitors
prohibited due to building excavations we went ashore and walked around the
coast to an idyllic tropical beach where I found some beautiful conch shells.
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| Micheal Bean a friend of Tinks entertaining us with his pirate act |
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| Dave, Glenys and John enjoying a conch shell blowing competition |
After 3 days in North Sound we headed south to Peter Island where we enjoyed some
great snorkelling particularly around Indian Rocks where sheer rock cliffs plunged
into the sea.
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| How the super rich cruise: fortunately jet skies are banned in the BVI's |
We whiled away the days happily swimming, snorkelling reading
and sleeping and enjoying sun downers in the cockpit in calm anchorages as the
winds had finally died down.
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| Dave doing a big duck dive |
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| Sea cave full of fish and brightly coloured coral |
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Having a rest inside a sea cave
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| A lion fish toxic to humans, fish and coral: a newly arrived pest from the Pacific |
A
pleasant day sail took us around the bottom of Tortola and across to Sandy Cay
a beautiful tropical coral island near Jost Van Dyke. We negotiated the reef
and went ashore to explore the island and enjoy a swim in the azure blue water |
At Norman island we anchored in Kelly’s cove along with numerous charter boats mainly catamarans. We dinghied across the bay to some sea caves where the colourful coral and fish were quite amazing
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| Cynthia in her bar |
Late afternoon we sailed across to Little Harbour where we were met by the flamboyant Cynthia offering us a free buoy if we ate at her restaurant. Needless to say it was a too good an offer and her restaurant Harris Place was right on the beach; the camaraderie, atmosphere and food made it a very memorable occasion. Cynthia’s father had been murdered when the son of the competing restaurant next door shot him with a spear gun when they were arguing over cray pot rights!
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Harris Place beach bar and restaurant |
Next morning Dave and I decided to climb the mountain behind the bay as we were told the views were stunning. We ended up doing a 2 hour marathon running and walking 15 kms. Dave was quite impressed that I made it!
To recuperate John sailed Makoko across to
Brewers Bay on Tortola which is Tinks favourite place. Steep hillsides dotted with colourful houses
nestled in the tropical rain forest; the water was sparking and the feather
coral and schools of blue fish most spectacular. An idyllic place to spend our
last night before returning to Tortola.
ST Martin, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands
It was quite an amazing feeling to put your feet on land
again after 16 days at sea; surprisingly I didn’t feel as wobbly as I thought I
would. We celebrated our arrival at the St Martin yacht club with a few
beers and a big steak! We all collapsed into bed at 8 o’clock and slept for 12
hours. The bridge into the huge lagoon behind Simpsons Bay opened 3 times a day
and costs 60 euros to take your boat in and out. The lagoon is full of posh
marinas and huge fancy super yachts and power boats. Makoko wasn’t quite in the
class so we decided to stay outside on anchor with the other cruising yachts
and put up with the rolly polly motion. We dinghied in and out to shop and sight see.
The island which is half Dutch, half French is supposed to be the St Tropez of
the Caribbean but frankly there is no comparison.
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John blowing up the dinghy after 16 days on the deck
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The bridge from Simpsons Bay into the lagoon opened 3
times a day and cost 60 euros ! |
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| George guiding us into the Simpson Bay lagoon |
Four days was enough however before we left we had to see Atkiki the raft made of plastic bottles that Tinks husband Dave had sailed with 3 other men across the Atlantic; the skipper was 85 years old and it took them 60 days to get to St Martin.
We all yearned for some real Caribbean beach style relaxation. We had a great afternoon sail 2 to Anguilla
where we anchored in Road Bay which had a beautiful long
sandy beach fringed with palm trees and little wooden bars and restaurants. That evening we tied up our dinghy beside a fishing boat that had just come ub with a huge catch of conch shells; we dined in a restaurant on the beach and tried the local speciality conch soup which was delicious.
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| Conch shell meat |
The next morning we all went ashore to exercise and relax.relaxed on the beach. I went for a run, then cooled off in the azure blue water; this was followed by a long awaited yoga workout under a palm tree on the beach
We were very sad to say goodbye to George who only had 4 days with us before he embarked on a 48 trip back to Tassie. We will miss him so much as he was such fun to have on board and such a great crew member.
Tonight there is a full moon party; they light fires in the metal sculptures in the water. It is quite a famous event with Carib style music, entertainment and food. The charter boats are flocking in so it will be fun and games as it is still windy. Tinks advised us to stay on board to look after our boat as most of the charters don't know how to anchor properly
Next morning Dad went to check in and it took 2 hours with multiple form filling. To recover we motored across to a national park called the Baths, a beautiful little bay with huge boulders reminiscent of Coles Bay. George, John and I swam to shore while Dave brought the dinghy in as it was a bit too far for me to swim back to the boat. Between the boulders were passageways that led to caves and ponds which were quite spectacular.
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