We did a short dive at \”The Indians\” and then took a quick tour of Road Town and a buzz by Nanny Cay before coming here to the \”west end\”.
Every mooring was taken and finally one opened up. The harbor is 55-70 feet deep (which we could anchor in – it\’s so calm), but I prefer the mooring
in such deep water. Might go ashore, we\’ll soon head to Jost Van Dyke (Island) by way of (maybe) Cane Garden Bay on Tortola\’s north side?
KIT,
Scott and Nikki
YOTREPS: YES
TIME: 2014/04/10 12:27
LATITUDE: 18-19.98N
LONGITUDE: 064-37.74W
MARINE: NO
WIND_SPEED: 15
WIND_DIR: ESE
CLOUDS: 65%
VISIBILITY: 20
BARO: 1018.1
AIR_TEMP: 27.8C
COMMENT: Beach House – MOORED – The Indians – Pelican Island (BVI)
We got here at 8 am and just in time to get one of the last three moorings. (No anchoring allowed here).
It\’s a dive spot I did 18 years ago with Cindy. We called it the \”Bumblebee Dive\” (I\’ll explain in the blog!..:-)
After diving, we\’ll be off the entire 5 miles to Road Harbour, Tortola as Nikki wants to see \”the big town\”…
KIT,
Scott and Nikki
YOTREPS: YES
TIME: 2014/04/09 17:14
LATITUDE: 18-19.00N
LONGITUDE: 064-36.95W
MARINE: NO
WIND_SPEED: 18
WIND_DIR: ESE
CLOUDS: 50%
VISIBILITY: 25
BARO: 1017.3
AIR_TEMP: 30.0C
COMMENT: Beach House – MOORED – The Bight, Norman Island (BVI)
Cooper Island is essentially a resort with a mooring field. As such, we decided to take a look at Peter Island (pretty much the same)
en route to where we are at Norman Island. We actually BRIEFLY sailed into US territorial waters just east of \”The Indians\”. It\’s a rock formation with
moorings and a fair dive site. I went there with Cindy in 1996. There is a funny story with that – that I will post in the blog!
Relax here today, dive the Indians (?) tomorrow and maybe then off to Tortola\’s \”Road Harbour\” which Nikki wants to see.
KIT,
Scott and Nikki
YOTREPS: YES
TIME: 2014/04/09 13:48
LATITUDE: 18-23.14N
LONGITUDE: 064-30.85W
MARINE: NO
WIND_SPEED: 18
WIND_DIR: E
CLOUDS: 65%
VISIBILITY: 20
BARO: 1018.1
AIR_TEMP: 28.9C
COMMENT: Beach House – MOORED – Manchioneel Bay, Cooper Island, BVI
Trellis Bay wasn\’t much and dangerously packed in with moorings too close. No where to anchor or we would have.
We came the 5 miles to Cooper and the mooring field is still a bit tight. There is a resort here and nice scenery/beaches…we think?
YOTREPS: YES
TIME: 2014/04/08 19:09
LATITUDE: 18-26.78N
LONGITUDE: 064-31.92W
MARINE: NO
WIND_SPEED: 15
WIND_DIR: E
CLOUDS: 50%
VISIBILITY: 20
BARO: 1015.6
AIR_TEMP: 30.6C
COMMENT: Beach House – MOORED – Trellis Bay, Beef Island (BVI)
We had a very enjoyable day at \”The Baths of Virgin Gorda\”. Lovely snorkel and swim, nice onshore too…:-)
Came across the Sir Francis Drake Channel to overnight at Trellis Bay. May zig back over across the channel tomorrow
or go down to Road Town (main town in the BVI)… Not sure yet.
Stay tuned,
Scott and Nikki
YOTREPS: YES
TIME: 2014/04/08 12:02
LATITUDE: 18-26.17N
LONGITUDE: 064-26.75W
MARINE: NO
WIND_SPEED: 12
WIND_DIR: E
CLOUDS: 70%
VISIBILITY: 20
BARO: 1016.7
AIR_TEMP: 26.7C
COMMENT: Beach House – MOORED – Baths of Virgin Gorda
A lovely night off Spanish Town Marina inside a sweet little protected reef. We moved VERY early this morning to
the famous \”Baths of Virgin Gorda\”. Beautiful sand and boulder beach with lots of clear warm water to swim in,
For those of you who did not get the \”St. Barts Bucket Regatta\” video shot by a drone!… see: http://vimeo.com/9072453
Nikki just made lovely buckwheat pancakes and shortly we\’ll explore the beach before the 6 mile sail to the east end of Tortola.
KIT,
Scott and Nikki
YOTREPS: YES
TIME: 2014/04/07 18:36
LATITUDE: 18-26.82N
LONGITUDE: 064-26.40W
MARINE: NO
WIND_SPEED: 17
WIND_DIR: E
CLOUDS: 65%
VISIBILITY: 15
BARO: 1016.1
AIR_TEMP: 31.1C
COMMENT: Beach House – ANCHORED – Virgin Gorda, Spanish Town Harbor Anchorage, BVI
We were told of a little secret spot right outside Spanish Harbor. We have the anchorage to ourself and there are 50 boats
all packed together gazing \”with interest\”….We\’re inside a small reef with a narrow opening and a 9 foot deep entrance. Sandy, clear…
We\’re 1/2 mile north of the famous Baths of Virgin Gorda.. a most interesting beach and boulder rock formations. There are 50 boats anchored off it now.
KIT,
Scott and Nikki
YOTREPS: YES
TIME: 2014/04/06 21:20
LATITUDE: 18-29.89N
LONGITUDE: 064-21.66W
MARINE: NO
WIND_SPEED: 17
WIND_DIR: E
CLOUDS: 40%
VISIBILITY: 25
BARO: 1015.2
AIR_TEMP: 30.0C
COMMENT: Beach House – MOORED – Virgin Gorda Sound – Saba Rock, British Virgin Islands (BVI)
Fabulous sail, almost straight downwind all day. Passed Richard Branson\’s Private Island (Necker Island) on the way in.
We said hi for all of you. We\’ll dart in for a meal and happy hour at Saba Rock!
KIT,
Scott and Nikki
We\’re having a brilliant sail and 1/2 way to Virgin Gorda. We\’ve about 5 hours to go, wind on the stern, spinnaker pole with
genoa out \”wing and wing\”. A truly lovely sail! We\’ll report when we\’re anchored. KIT!
Scott and Nikki
****NOTE: The posting of our last blog didn\’t work as it was a bit too long for a remote post from the boat. I\’ve been able to re-post it via the internet and now it\’s ready for viewing. It\’s the post under \”Ship\’s Blog\” at the top of the home page just before this one. I WAS ABLE TO UPLOAD SEVERAL PHOTOS including the one of \”Plane Spotting\” in St. Maarten. If the internet holds up okay, I\’ll add a few photos to this post as well…Enjoy!
Dear F&F,
Anguilla would be our last stop in the Leeward Island group. Only 6 miles from St. Martin (French side) it would seem light years away upon our arrival. It\’s atmosphere is very laid back! The people very friendly. And to think, we were only 6 miles from St. Maarten/St. Martin!
Despite the very laid back nature of the locals, in 1967 there was a \”revolt\” as the Anguillan\’s wanted to be a separate entity from St. Kitt\’s and Nevis which they were then a direct part of. The British after a few strong complaints separated Anguilla some years later into it\’s own overseas territory status. It\’s history is British and was colonized by them in 1650. The soil turned out to be a bust and eventually all agriculture was abandoned. The island remained pretty sleepy (and still is) till the tourism industry grabbed a hold of it.
It was so short a distance, despite the favorable winds we motored. We had to charge the batteries anyway and we could run the washing machine with a battery charging source. En route, we were gobsmacked (as the British say), by being passed by sister ship s/v \”Simoust\” (Switch 51 #5) now in charter out of St. Martin. We tried to hail the charter group aboard, but alas, they were not listening on the VHF radio. I doubt they even realized we were the same type of boat. \”Beach House\” is Switch #11 of the 15 that were made.
\”Simoust\” (Switch 51 #5) En route to Anguilla. \”Beach House\” (Switch 51 #11) looks like this under sail.
Upon landing at Road Bay, Anguilla we anchored with mostly local boats. Road Bay is one of two overnight anchorages on the island. Much of the island is a National Park and off limits to overnight anchoring. This island has three mega resorts, one of which, \’The Viceroy\’ is very exclusive. Road Bay however was about as \”Jimmy Buffet goes to the Caribbean\” as you can imagine. We went to \”Elvis\’s Bar\” which is an old Anguilla racing sloop in the sand on the beach!.
Scott at \’Elvi\’s Bar\’. The bar is literally the hull of an old Anguillan racing sloop. The islanders still build these as a local artisan craft.
Indeed, we discovered that Elvis had left the building and we kibitzed with the ex-pat bar maid and bar man. We were the only patrons except for another US ex-pat who owned a restaurant there. We walked up and down the beach which took all of 20 minutes having stopped by customs who was happy to check us in and out at the same time. Apparently, the charter crowd and most of the private boats don\’t stay more than 72 hours, so they allow this. There are some nice off shore reefs and small islands to the north of the main island. The diving is reported to be very nice. As we were anxious to get on to the British Virgin Islands, we would only stay day and night before a very early morning departure. We thought about staying a day for a dive, but after talking with Matthew (the local dive operator) the weather was predicted to be a bit rough and we didn\’t want to wait. Good for the sail, but bad for a dive. If you wanted to really get off the grid and be remote, yet be able to go to a 5 star resort, this might be the place. Except….there are probably many more places just like it scattered around the Caribbean that are a bit easier to get to.
The sail to the British Virgin Islands would be about 75 miles and we could easily make it in one day if we left early. I don\’t like arriving after 3:30 pm due to low light and not being able to see reefs. The British Virgin Islands would be the first place I\’d actually sailed in back in 1996. Cindy and I came here and did a charter and went diving on our own in preparation to deciding if the cruising life might be for us. Lots of water under the keel since then.
We got up early and in a lovely 20+ knot breeze ran downwind to the BVI. The sail was great and our first landfall would be between Virgin Gorda and Necker Island, the \”Virgin\” owned by \”Virgin Group\” CEO, Richard Branson.
