Marina Cay to Anegada

One of our favorite spots is Anegada – there are fewer people and its not your typical BVI island. The rest of the BVI are of volcanic origin and are “mountainous”. Anegada is the only island in the BVI to be made from coral and limestone. It is really flat (28ft above sea level at its highest point) and without good charts would wreck many boats. Anegada is 11 miles long and has beautiful white sandy beeches.

We headed directly east from Marina Cay then as we rounded Scrub Island we got out the sails and had a perfect sail up to Anegada. We set out early but because of fantastic winds, and reaching at 6-7knots we made great time and had managed to tie up to one of the last mooring balls by noon. Don’t worry, if you get there and cant find a ball there is plenty of space to anchor.

The Moorings charter company gives the captain an Anegada cheat sheet to help with the trip. Since the island is surrounded by coral reefs and there is only one narrow channel into the mooring field, this fact filed sheet was helpful to the skipper. The information tells you to look for the red buoy – that wasn’t a problem. However, the paper charts, and the GPS chart all disagreed with one another and with what was actually there. If you take the trip follow the buoys and you will be fine. The cheat sheet also tells you that the first sign of Anegada will be a gray line which we refer to as the Palm tree skyscrapers given that they are the highest point of the island.

Both on this trip and our previous trip one of our trusty crew members was charged with reading out the depth periodically. As we entered the channel the depth came to 16 feet, 11 feet, 10 feet, 8 feet. We had a draft of 6 feet. The guide book says that the mooring field is between 5 and 9 feet deep. As you can imagine we motored slowly – 7 feet, 6.5 feet. Fortunately we didn’t get a reading less than 6.5feet and there was no crunch. As we were coming along through the channel we were going slowly in case we grounded. However Catamarans, with their shallower draft, were going at high speed – they wanted to get mooring balls, and we had them overtake us. They probably wondered what our problem was – 6 inches between the bottom of the keel and the seabed.

Once we tied up at the mooring ball Brian came over to us in his motor boat to collect our mooring fee ($30 – the norm for the area) and to sing to us about the restaurant that he is from. Brian is a celebrity in BVI and is on the cover of one of the guide books.

We went to shore, had a lovely walk along sandy beeches for a couple of hours and returned to the restaurant area for Anegada lobster dinner. We learned last time that these are big lobsters so this time we split a lobster between 2 people. Perfect portion size.

January 21st Norman Island to Marina Cay via the Caves at Treasure Point, the Baths, and Spanish Town

One of our favorite features of Norman Island is the accessibility to good reef snorkeling either at the Caves (Treasure Point) or at The Indians (Pelican Island). In the morning we set off bright and early and were the first to pick up a National Park mooring ball at The Caves.

The National Park mooring balls are designed to allow accessibility to the reefs and to dissuade anchoring that destroys reefs in seconds. Daytime mooring is only permitted, but these national park mooring balls are scattered at good locations throughout the BVI.

On entering the water at the Caves the water came to life with numerous species of fish. We also realized that a new coat of bottom paint was needed on our boat because fish congregated around our hull eating the sea life that was growing underneath. Maybe that’s why we lost the race the day before!

After finishing at the Caves we headed northeast along Sir Francis Drake Channel, leaving snorkeling at the Indians for another day, to The Baths at Virgin Gorda. On our last trip to the BVI one our crew members had to stay on our boat finishing a grant proposal and was unable to see The Baths, so a stop was definitely needed. The Baths are a collection of large granite boulders through which the waves wash. Pools of water collect and exploration between the boulders is really quite intriguing. It is difficult to directly access The Baths because the waves can crash onto the adjacent beech. Thus mooring balls have been installed a little out to sea for dinghies. From there one must swim in to the beech.

After stopping at The Baths, we headed further northeast to Spanish town. Unfortunately, we didn’t arrive until after 4pm and all mooring balls were taken. We could have anchored but the area was exposed and very choppy. Our plan B was to head west to Marina Cay, a large reef which provides good protection for mooring and anchoring. We pushed as fast as possible to get over there because it was likely that many had already tied up to the balls. We were following another boat into the mooring field unsure whether any balls were available. Rather than following them through the field, we cut 45 degrees to port through the middle of the field on the assumption that to follow them would be frustrating because we would merely watch them pick up the last ball. Our strategy paid off as we quickly found what we think was the last ball, tied up and opened a cold one (or two….) and relaxed for the evening.

In the guide book a restaurant is advertised at the top of Marina Cay. However, it has been damaged by a storm and is not yet re-opened. Instead we went to the beech bar and restaurant where we drank Pussers painkillers and ate Carribean food.

January 20th – Cane Garden Bay to Norman Island via The Soggy Dollar Bar.

The Soggy Dollar bar is an institution at the BVI. It is alleged that the painkiller was developed here. So this sounded like a challenge that we should respond to. After being woken early by Roosters in Cane Garden Bay, and reprovisioning some minor items, we set off across to Jost Van Dyke and the Soggy Dollar Bar.

You may ask why is it called the Soggy Dollar Bar? There is no dingy dock so one is supposed to swim in, drink and swim out. Of course this means that the available cash in your pocket gets wet and you have to hand over soggy dollars to get your painkiller. The painkiller recipe is a guarded secret – although at another island we were able to purchase mugs which included the recipe – Mr Goolge can also help in this area.

All sorts of people arrive at the bar – most over 18. The bar tender – Mic – estimated that 6,000 painkillers would be made the day that we were there (not all for us). At $6 each drink that’s pretty good revenue given the limited overhead.

After ‘relaxing’ on the beach, and having a drink or two, we headed back to Up Next and then sailed between the British and US Virgin Islands over to Norman Island. It was a great sail and we raced a bigger boat than ours that was from New Zealand. Of course we lost and we had many excuses why – bigger boats sail faster, their boat was private ours was from a charter fleet and not ideal for speed, and of course there is always the possibility that the crew was not up to tip-top performance given their earlier activities.

In our previous arrival (2012) at Norman Island all of the mooring balls within the channel called “the Bight” were occupied and we needed to anchor in a tight space. Consequently, we pushed hard to the mooring field to try to get one of the last balls. We saw one in the distance in a prime spot near to the beech. As we headed to it we approached at a 90 degree angle compared to another boat – a boat from New Zealand! They shouted to us “Its ours given than we beat you in the race”. So we gave way and circled. However, they had approached the ball from the wrong angle and had to pass it by. So after a quick 360 degree turn on our part, we took the ball and claimed this as the ultimate victory.

We headed into the beech for dinner. Although dinner was fine, we were a little disappointed because the facilities have been fully renovated including a gift shop (oh no I hate shopping – although others in our crew enjoyed this feature) since 2012. Previously the restaurant was very rustic and more authentic. As we were eating, speed boats full of too many people were arriving at the dock for dinner. In my opinion it’s a bad change, although for the island, business will, I am sure, increase.

After dinner we dropped some of the crew back at Up Next, while four of us decided to head off to a floating restaurant named “William Thornton”. This is an experience that we have enjoyed previously. The William Thornton is a metal ship with food and a bar. Casual is an understatement of the atmosphere with youngsters jumping off the deck into the water, climbing back on board and drinking again. Its quite a sight. The guide book states “The ambience is casual and often riotous fun!” Based on our previous visits this is not an overstatement. Unfortunately, as we arrived we were unable to find any space for our dingy so we headed back to Up Next where we had our own riotous fun. However, no wet T-shirts on our crew this night – that was to come later in the week.

January 19th – Leverick Bay to Cane Garden Bay via The Dogs

Our first night on a mooring ball was very noisy and windy. A strong wind came through for many hours and the boat was rocking and halyards were slapping against the mast and the boat was groaning. It was nothing to worry about, but with the wind and rain we decided to leave things alone. In the morning when we awoke it was a great day – typical for the BVI – so we went an collected a couple of bags of ice, walked with Pelicans and set sail for our first snorkeling location.

To the west of Virgin Gorda are a series of small islands called “The Dogs” where we moored on a National Park mooring ball for a couple of hours to view the wild life and to eat lunch. I think that everyday the snorkeling was excellent with 30+ feet of visibility and abundant sea life there was little to complain about. I will show movies of snorkeling later in the blog posts.

We had originally intended to head north to the island “Anegada” but time was creeping on so we decided to go to a favorite spot from our previous trip – Cane Garden Bay.

Given that the tradewinds are typically from the northeast we sailed on a broad reach or on a direct run. Then one of the brief squalls came through – winds rose and we got soaked for about 5 minutes. However, we drip dried and with a little liquid refreshment were able to continue to our destination.

Something impressive about the squalls is that you can see them coming for a long time in advance. You see the clouds and the vertical rain in the distance and can anticipate the arrival.

We entered into Cane Garden Bay, and after attaching to a mooring ball another squall came through which treated us to a beautiful rainbow – not the first that we would see on this trip.

In the evening we ate good Caribbean food at a local restaurant. Cane Garden Bay is a favorite spot of ours since it is more authentic than many. Its great to walk along the streets with the roosters, hens and their chicks and to mix with the locals.

Trip to the British Virgin Islands - Leverick Bay

On January 17th we departed on Jet Blue to Puerto Rico and on to Tortola for our winter getaway in the British Virgin Islands. We met up with our sailing friends in San Juan and started to sample some of the local beverages to prepare for the following week. When we arrived at the Moorings in Road Town, Tortola we were greeted and taken to our floating home – Up Next – upon which we would sail the BVI for the next week. Up Next is a Moorings 43.3 with three cabins and three heads allowing each of the couples independent living space.

We all flew together on Air Sunshine - affectionately known as Rooster Air - into Beef Island Tortola. Here is a view down to Road Town, Tortola as we were heading to the airport

Just prior to landing at Beef Island

Here is Up Next, our home for a week

On the morning of January 18th we split up to perform the various functions necessary before the trip. Phil went along and got briefed on the boat and checked out any new hazards in the area as well as renting an emergency phone in case we had problems. At the same time the crew went to a local store Rite-way to provision for the week. We all met back at Up Next and began our adventure.

Having sailed twice before in the BVI we now managed to perfect the provisioning. We chose beverages through an online system that were delivered to the boat for our arrival (thank goodness that we didn’t have to carry all of those liquids) and then walked to the store for the fresh produce. This is the ideal manner for us since we have found that when food is fully provisioned online and delivered to the boat one doesn’t necessarily get the correct food.

Prior to making the trip we planned our first day and had found that there was a location for a beach bbq with stilt dancers. Therefore we set sail as soon as we could and headed up to the island of Virgin Gorda and to Leverick Bay. Here is our route

We had great sailing and as we were heading up the Sir Frances Drake channel we were close hauled in about 20kts of wind and clocking up to 8.1kts of boat speed. On arrival in Leverick Bay we tied up to a mooring and enjoyed checking the contents of our liquid refreshments.

Some of the crew went ashore to walk and explore, while others checked out the painkillers. We joined up for a wonderful beach bbq dinner, a reggae band and dancing followed by the stilt dancers.

Now that we have internet connection again and are starting to head home, we will post on consecutive days about our adventure in the BVI. Stay tuned.

Cleaning the waterline

It may be only January 13th 2013, but its 48F outside so we can start preparations for the new season that is only 3.5 months away. One of the first steps is to clean the waterline of biological discoloration. There are several approaches - hard ones and easy ones. I have found that "On/Off hull bottom cleaner" works extremely well. I paint it on over a length of about 10 feet, then follow with a wet cloth to wash away the cleaner and the dirt. The biggest problem is that because one is at the waterline its easy to get bottom paint smudging up to the fiberglass. However, I use a second dry cloth and remove all remnants. I took last season's stains off the waterline in 45 minutes all around a 36foot sailboat. I highly recommend this cleaner. However, it is caustic - wear gloves and eye protection - and don't breath in the fumes. Apply in a well ventilated area and wash away excess cleaner.

Boat supplies

We went to Prairie Gold today to pick up a few supplies to take with us to the Caribbean on Thursday. Prairie Gold is well and it was quite surprising how sitting with her lifts the spirits. Almost half of the way through the off season.