The British Virgin Islands - 12th April to 30th April

THE BVI’s otherwise known as the British Virgin Islands. 12^th April to 30^th April

Not sure why they are called the British Virgin Islands as there does not seem to be much British about them. Most of the people here seem to be Americans chartering big catamarans. The currency is the American Dollar.

The BVI’s are made up of lots of small islands and for some reason the back drop reminds me of Scotland. Our Scottish friends on Chewsey said the same. The weather is somewhat warmer.

We arrived in Spanish Town, on Virgin Gorda, at around 5pm on Friday 12^th April, after an 80 mile sail from Anguilla, which was quite eventful. Whilst hoisting the kite something went wrong which resulted in the end of one of my fingers being cut quite badly. It really was like in the movies, blood spurting everywhere. Luckily it stopped bleeding with some tight bandaging. In all the mayhem the Kite ripped and was deemed a write off. My finger fared better and amazingly after 3 weeks it is nearly fully recovered.

 

 

We will have spent 3 weeks in the BVI and it has just flown by. We had not heard the most favourable things about here from others. The main critism being that it is busy, difficult to anchor (because of the $30 a night mooring buoys) and expensive. As with most negatives, if you are prepared to put in a little effort you can overcome them. We have not once picked up a mooring buoy and managed to anchor everywhere we have wanted to. Our provisioning in St Marttin paid off and therefore we only had to buy a few bits of fresh food, which were not too cost prohibitive. We didn’t need the Key Lime Pie at $30 at the Bitter End Yacht Club shop, so that was ok. If you drink at the Happy Hours then it is affordable to enjoy a sundowner ashore.

We have enjoyed 2 birthday parties. Mia who was 4 and her Mum Freddie, who I will not embarrass by saying her age. With us all heading back different ways it was a good excuse to have a lovely meal out at the Lobster Trap in Anegada. We enjoyed a lovely meal of Lobster and we were allowed to bring our own wine. The Lobster was USD$ 50, but you actually got one and a half, so pretty good value.

We hired a pickup truck with bench seats in the back and set off exploring. It cost USD$80 for the day and we shared this between 5 boats. It was eventful as we got lost and ended up on a very rough track. How you can get lost on such a small island I don’t know! It all added to the fun. We enjoyed the beach and snorkelling at Loblolly Bay and lunch at Cow Wreck Bay, so named because a ship carrying cow bones to be made into fertiliser was wrecked on the reef and the bones washed ashore. Anegada is very raw, it is home to very few people and you really do feel you are in the middle of nowhere. The beaches are stunning. It is definitely worth a visit.

Anegada Pictures

 

This is a road.

 

Larry the lama had one too many carib.

 

Ethan hanging on for dear life in the truck.

 

 

We spent our first week in Gorda Sound mainly anchored off the Fat Virgin in Biras Creek. We enjoyed sundowners at Saba Rock, where they served painkillers and rum punch for $3 during happy hour. Painkiller is the rum based cocktail apparently originating in the BVI. They also feed the fish at 5pm. The huge tarpon come and eat out of people’s hand. I think one may have tried to eat someone’s hand. I think they are like giant mullet, so would gum, rather than bite you to death. The boys were a bit shocked and not so keen to hand feed.

 

Ethan, Oli, Mia and Alisia (from Open Blue)

 

 

 

 

Russell and I were treated to a night out just the 2 of us at the Bitter end yacht Club. Not the cheapest place to have dinner, but the food was good. I enjoyed a bottle of Prosceco (I did share it with Russell) as it was the same price as a bottle of Chardonnay.

With my finger meaning I couldn’t swim, I was more than happy to look after Mia and her sister Alicia whilst Freddie and Tim tried to master kite surfing. I was really pleased when they came back after one session grinning as they had managed to get up. I wonder if they will keep it up in the cold UK.

We spent a very enjoyable day making a birthday cake for Freddie. Alicia wanted a rainbow cake so we made lots of different colour icing. It was really nice to have 2 attentive little girls for a change.

We went to Leverick Bay marina for a night. It is $1 per foot and includes 100 gallons of water and a bag of free ice. It does not include electric which is $20 per day. We therefore ran the generator. The main attraction is the Michael Bean pirate show that is at 5pm on Sunday to Thursday. It is well worth a visit and make sure you book a table. You don’t have to eat. Happy hour finishes at 5pm, so get there a little early. The show is free. The kids enjoyed the conch blowing and Russell won the men’s competition with 51 seconds. It is quite exposed and therefore our night was quite bumpy and we headed off the next day back to our hidey hole in Biras Creek.

 

Gorda Sound Photos

 

What's the first letter of the pirate alphabet AARRR

 

 

 

The beach at the Bitter End Yacht Club.

 

 

Boys chilling, Saba Rock in the back ground.

 

Not something you see every day - a sea plane tied to a mooring bouy.

 

One of the 3 toucans at Saba rock.

 

James, Ethan, Oli, Alisia, Emily and Mia

 

The best bit of cake making.

 

 

 

Other things we did…

We visited the famous Baths. Big rock boulders that create caves.

 

 

We celebrated Chewsys 30^th Birthday in Savannah Bay with a BBQ. This was a really nice anchorage behind a reef. The reef was a little tricky to navigate through, but once inside we had the bay pretty much to ourselves. There are no mooring buoys so the charter boats don’t tend to visit.

 

 

We enjoyed a morning snorkelling on Great Dog. Get there early to pick up a red national park bouy. They were all taken by 9am. This was probably the best snorkelling that we did. We also snorkelled at the Caves on Norman island and also the Indians off Pelican Island.

We spent a night in white’s bay on Peter Island. This is where we got our conch shells. I struggled to get the conch out alive and had to resort to boiling first to successfully remove the meat. Unfortunately this made it tough to eat and my recipe then told me to boil for several hours. There is not much meat so not worth the effort. I therefore feel bad that I killed the conch and then did not eat it. We had to dispose of Colin the conch after a few days as he smelled so bad, but we have 3 other beautiful shells. The snorkelling here was also good. We saw turtles, a massive ray and the biggest barracuda I have ever seen. There are no mooring buoys, so again charter free night.

We stocked up with fuel, water (typically 15 cents a gallon) and some fresh supplies in Spanish town on Virgin Gorda. This is also the only place to get cash out on the island too.

We visited Road Town at Tortola to get my finger and the kite looked at. We anchored and it was quite bumpy. Not somewhere you really want to stay.

We enjoyed a visit to Jost Van Dyke and went to the bubbly pool. This was tricky to find as the directions given at the bar were not too clear. At the end of the beach you need to find the tree with an arrow painted on it. The coconut tree trail is a complete red herring which will have you trying to find a path that does not exist for half an hour. The pool creates bubbles by big crashing waves being forced through a small gap in the rocks. The water then foams, so looks like a bubble bath. We enjoyed a swim and making a picture out of stones. The bear was already there, and reminded us of our friends on Intrepid Bear. We added a couple of fishes.

 

When we first arrived it was not very bubbly.

 

 

So Russell thought he would go and sit in the gap that led to the ocean.

Then a wave came....

 

 

The bubbles are caused by foam from the waves breaking through the small rock entrance.

 

There were lots of stone pictures. Someone had made a stone bear. This reminded us of Intrepid Bear and we therefore added some fishes. ethan made the one on the left and Oli on the right.

 

Just lazing in the pool. A view from the top of the cliff.

 

It was now time to head to the luxury of Nanny Cay Marina to get ready for the start of ARC Europe and head home… slowly… it will be 4 months before we plan to be back in Marchwood.