Leave of Stay

In the morning of Wednesday, we realised we’d have to head to Customs and Immigration as James noticed that we were about to overstay our welcome in the BVIs. First we got to snorkel and dive on The Indians – four spectacular rock pinnacles rising from the sea bed and conveniently equipped with mooring buoys.

We then headed dead downwind to Soper’s Hole at West End – a port of clearance. This protected anchorage is home to dead tugs and yachts, wall-to-wall moorings, a cheap and extensively stocked supermarket and a hoard of brightly painted expensive designer boutiques, including a Pusser’s Rum store and restaurant. Unfortunately, local immigration couldn’t help us – we have a 24hr window to go to HQ in Road Town if we wish to stay – so we left and battled back upwind.

We dropped anchor in The Bight on Norman Island. At the entrance lies Treasure Point with its enticing natural caves. Spanish gold was found here and this allegedly was the inspiration for the novel “Treasure Island”. Both children loved snorkelling from the rib past large schools of large jacks and schoolmasters up to the caves. One was particularly deep, ending in a small beach in the gloom. This was where the treasure had been stashed but both children were too scared to go too far in.

Back on board, we visited the local pub – a two-master schooner, the Willy T with it’s reputation for cheap rum and wild partying. The music did indeed continue into the night which was just as well as we had dragged our anchor. By morning, we had drifted a good 100m and could see our anchor on the sea bed, scouring along sitting perfectly inverted and failing to dig into anything. The wind was light so we moved it a bit and continued a leisurely morning snorkelling with starfish and stingrays. Every minute Matthew would pop up filled with bubbling over enthusiasm at some new critter he’d seen.

We then reached back to Road Town where James met up with Jade and Nichole in Immigration, also trying to extend their stays. We were then able to return some of the hospitality of the Royal BVI Yacht Club by offering them a burgee of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron and the Royal Harwich for their bar.

Still in the BVIs

The wreck of the RMS Rhone is supposedly one of the best dives in the entire Caribbean. The Rhone was a postal ship caught in a hurricane in late October 1869. She and another ship had been anchored off the southern islands in fine weather and noticed ‘the glass fall rapidly’. As the hurricane season was over, they only suspected ‘a norther’ – the very weather that’s preventing us from moving on. One ran for Road Town and the other stayed put. The weather was in fact a strong hurricane. One ship was lost before she reached Road Town and the RMS Rhone snapped her anchor hawse in Great Bay. She tried to run out to clear water to ride out the storm but was smashed on rocks off Salt Cay. She split in two and was lost with all hands.

Her stern lies close inshore and the family were able to snorkel over her immense rudder and propeller.  The prop shaft runs out to her steam engine. The bow section complete with main mast still attached lies in deeper was and is surprisingly intact for such an old wreck. The site is hugely popular but highly protected and is now home for a thriving reef community.

We then headed to Road Town to visit the Royal BVI Yacht Club who had kindly agreed to collect some mail for us. The ensign was waiting but the cruising guides were stuck at DHL. Sue from the office brilliantly offered to drive round to DHL to collect our delivery for us whilst we enjoyed the club bar and even gave us a complimentary Royal BVI ensign. The view from their bar was stunning, looking over low mangrove reef to Sir Francis Drake Channel and Peter Island.

Road Town was too uncomfortable to spend a night so we sailed over to Little Harbour, Peter Island. The pilot says this anchorage is only large enough for six or seven boats, but all the visitors were neatly arranged around the cove with stern lines ashore so we became boat number seventeen. We were again next to a superyacht, which encouraged James to adhere to formal flag etiquette. We lowered our ensign at sunset and were closely followed by the superyacht, acknowledging that we were the Senior Club (we are still flying the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron burgee and red ensign).

Moving On?

We've now been in the wonderful BVIs for three weeks and it is time to move on. Our plan is to sail to Road Town, Tortola, via a couple of the best dive sites around the Salt Cay marine reserve. In the capital, we need to buy fuel, visit DHL and the Royal BVI yacht club to collect our new purchases and clear out. Unfortunately, one of the purchases trapped in customs is our cruising guide for Turks & Caicos to the Bahamas. The whole of this area is massively shallow, with hundreds of square miles of banks less than 1m deep so we will have to plan our route somewhat carefully with an up to date guide.

Contrary winds over northern Caribbean

The other issue is the weather. After our last unforecast journey, we;ve decided to get porper forecasts bafore longer passages. Instead of the strong winds we battled last time, the forecast suggests rather too little wind in the next few days. The trades are blocked by a run of strong northerlies down over Florida and the Bahamas. Even if we meander across to Grand Turk, we may well find ourselves trapped there for a while.

We shall move to Road Town as planned and think about it.

Full Moon

Croix des Gardes "Full moon party"

The highlight of the BVI calendar is the Full Moon Party at Trellis Bay. Locals and visitors alike descend on the beach outside Aragorn’s studio to celebrate the lunar event with food, drinks and fire.

Not stars, but anchor lights - hundreds of them

The crowded bay became even more congested and we were glad to have arrived a day early. As new arrivals tried to find a space, tensions grew - “you’re too close” or “you’re over my anchor” were commonly heard. Some charter boats even had their fenders out whilst at anchor and a large cat at anchor was already gently bumping a resident small yacht on her mooring, whilst another ran aground on the island in the centre of the bay. James even was compelled to collect a neighbour’s insurance details when we could almost step across onto their transom, but eventually they sensibly moved.

The party contiues into the sea

One of Aragorn's fire sculptures

The bustle was worth it. As the sun set and the moon rose, Aragorn lit his fire sculptures on the sand and in the sea, the bands played and a thousand yachties drank and chatted. The kids played on he ropes, trees and hammocks with a myriad of other children and our new acquaintances performed their aerialist display from an orb suspended over the crowd from a crane.

Aerialists above the crowd

Jade and Nichole perform

Elizabeth is inspired by the aerialists

Cooler Climates

Returning to Gorda Sound, the children spotted a familiar super yacht on the AIS - Panthalassa had arrived after they last lusted after her in Antigua. They pestered us for a closer look so we ventured ashore. It may have been cheaper to buy time on the yacht as the trip resulted in drinks, ice-cream, conch fritters and a movie shore before we staggered back to Croix des Gardes.

It's definitely feeling a little cooler now. We wanted long sleeved tops when we went ashore. Nighttime temperatures are now falling to a pleasant 24C but still rising to 29C during the day. The sea temperature has dropped to 25C which follows with more coral and fewer sponges.

Teeming reef off George Dog, BVIs

The BVIs consist of a few large inhabited islands and lines of smaller rocky cays. These latter hold the region’s best dive sites and I got to explore The Visibles. This is part of a group of islands called The Dogs – Great Dog, West Dog, Seal Dogs and George Dog. The underwater landscape was as dramatic as the jagged granite rocks above the surface and in the strong surge and current, every surface was colonised by hard and soft corals, with fish teeming everywhere. It demonstrates what a difference lack of habitation makes to an underwater ecosystem.
















It is decidedly cooler now. We awake to a mere 24C which is chilly in the fresh trade winds. It still warm up to 29C during the day, but again the sea temperature has also dropped to 24 making us feel the chill when we emerge after a swim. Despite this, the children spent the whole afternoon in the gentle shores of Trellis Bay where they played and hunted (successfully) for conches.

Necker Island

Croix des Gardes anchroed next to the Necker Belle in Necker Island

Necker Island lies just north of Virgin Gorda and is owned by Richard Branson. There is a tight and shallow anchorage between the coral heads and James skilfully nudged Croix des Gardes in beside Branson’s massive catamaran. The reef around this island is a blessed relief after all the destruction we’ve seen recently. The waters are clear and quick-flowing, and the coral undisturbed. Every fixed surface has a coral growing from it. The lack of sponges was also evident, implying cooler and cleaner waters than we’ve seen elsewhere. The number of coral species was also impressive with large elks horn, stags horn and fan corals as well as the more prevalent brain, flower and star corals.

The whole family admiring life underwater

We landed on a sandy islet bedecked with three plastic palm trees where the children buried each other and swam in the warm waters. We then returned to Gorda Sound for the night where we saw large numbers of small conches in the shallows – all is not yet lost for these tasty molluscs.

Plastic palm trees off Necker Island

Anegada

Anegada was so named for the number of ships it wrecked on its shores. Croix des Gardes did indeed follow tradition and skip the bottom, but only gently in an area of sand and sea grass. We found a deep spot to anchor in with at least six inches of water under the keel.

Sailing in Anegada

 The snorkelling near the anchorage was disappointing as the area south of Anegada is predominantly sea grass and sand with a handful of bommies. The renowned reef is to the north and east and not accessible by any sensible yacht. However, the white sand beaches and blue waters were a draw, and the sea front was lined with restaurants, each with their own lobster pots at the ends of their jetties.

Beachside dinner on Anegada

Triggerfish gets its come-uppance

Despite the animals difficulties, all restaurants proclaimed lobster and conch on their menus. I chose something a little more ethical – triggerfish. These blighters have caused me enough injuries whilst diving that it was about time I got my revenge. It was surprisingly meaty and tasty. I then had an apprehensive night as our guide suggests that these are “dangerous” to eat in this region due to the risks of cigatuera. The alcohol seems to have staved off the neurotoxin.

Inland, the fabled “Flamingo Pond” where greater flamingos were reintroduced drew a blank. We heard the flock had migrated to Virgin Gorda.

Flamingo Pond, Anegada, minus any flamingos

Bitter End

Croix des Gardes is anchored off the Saba Rock resort in Gorda Sound. The channel is so steep to that we are just 30m from the shore of Prickly Pear Island. We awake to hear the birds in the scrub and can even see the crabs scuttling along the shore. The sea bed is sand and sea grass and both the children and I were delighted to find that the area still supports good numbers of conch, despite the reef of discards further downstream. Elizabeth found a large adult and then we spotted several smaller animals foraging in the shallows, as well as some other species of mollusc.

Croix des Gardes close to the shore in Gorda Sound

The Bitter End Yacht Club is also a haven for wildlife, if more of a resort than a yacht club. They feed the bananaquits raw cane sugar from makeshift bird feeders fashioned from coconut husks, whilst large iguanas lounge in the sun beside the trails.

Rare visit to an east-facing shore

As for other comedy names, we were sorry to miss Saba as their capital is named "Bottom", and similarly we missed out on anchoring next to "Witches Tit" when we passed by St. Martin. Now we shall head north for Anegada.