Another week……. full with endless possibilities……….Sunday
morning the weather looked good for a sail to Isla Culebrita which was only 7nm
from Ensenada Honda and it would be a good place to “stage” our next “big” sail
across to the BVI’s on Monday.
We knew it was best to get boat clearance from Puerto Rico
as there are quite a few places that insist on you having clearance from your previous
ports of call before you are given clearance into their country. Mel and I went
off to the airport which was just a short walk from the dinghy dock and got
clearance out of Puerto Rico. You are given 24 hours to clear in and out of a
country. We knew that we would be on our way to the BVI’s the following morning
bright and early.
We had a good sail to Isla Culebrita arriving just before
12.00. We took one of the free mooring balls that were available as we knew
that there was a possibility of some swell.
Isla Culebrita is a very popular day spot for the locals and
one could see why. It is quite beautiful! Smaller than Playa Flamenco but even
more beautiful if that is possible.
We walked to the Jacuzzi, which is a lovely pool of water in
amongst the rocks that face out to the sea but it is obviously very sheltered.
We had a quick refreshing swim. (Camera battery was flat – not very good
planning)
We attempted to walk to the Lighthouse but didn’t know which
path to choose – we tried both but none seemed to go towards the Lighthouse,
only away from it. We saw some hermit crabs along the way.
Mel snorkelled to the reef that was “close” to our boat,
while I sat on deck and admired the lovely scenery – I saw two turtles.
After a rolly but bearable night we were up and away by
6.00am heading for the BVI’s.
Once again everything started off well and we were making
good progress, tacking along but then as we were passing the USVI’s, there was
a north ocean swell, with a SE wind driven chop which started making things
quite uncomfortable. We are so sick of this easting and are looking forward to
some good sailing days!
After about 4 hours of sailing we motor sailed as we were
getting nowhere – when we got caught between the north ocean swell and the SE
wind driven chop, our speed just disappeared and we seemed to come to a total
standstill.
We were heading for Jost Van Dyke, Great Habour - is an
entry port for the BVI’s.
A bit of history about the BVI’s…” in 1493 on Christopher
Columbus’s second voyage to the New World, he came across dozens of untouched
islands which he named “Las Once Mil Virgenes” after the legendary St Ursula
and the 11,000 virgins.
When Christopher Columbus arrived, he did not encounter the
first inhabitants who were believed to be Amerindian tribes from Venezuela
several hundred years earlier. This perhaps was due to the fact that they all
died out or moved on.” (Information taken from ‘The Welcome – Guide to the
British Virgin Islands)
The BVI’s are officially called the Virgin Islands but are
referred to as the BVI’s to distinguish themselves from the USVI’s
The BVI’s are a territory of Britain but they are largely
autonomous.
It is 59 square miles and has over 50 islands, islets and
cays – many are uninhabited. There are four main islands – Tortola – Road Town
is the capital city, Virgin Gorda, Anegada and Jost Van Dyke.
As for Jost Van Dyke …… Legend has it that the island was
named after a Dutch pirate but it was probably named after one of the planters
from Holland who owned and settled on the island in the late 1600’s.
Information taken from a “Yachtsman’s Guide to the Virgin
Islands” pg131 edition no 13
“In the 1700’s, Dutch settlers were followed by Englishmen
who built sugar and cotton plantations. A community of Quakers also established
itself by the mid 1700’s. One of the members of the Quaker congregation was
John Coakley Lettsom. His family owned sugar plantations on Little Jost Van
Dyke (one of the other smaller islands close by) and near Cane Garden Bay which
is on Tortola. He went back to England to learn medicine and returned to Jost
Van Dyke in 1767 after the death of his father. He took over the family’s land,
freed all of the slaves of the estate. He later returned to England where he
became the foremost physician of the times and founder of the Medical Society
of London. He was a popular and well known persona and he would often write
this poem:
I John Lettsom
Blisters bleeds
and sweats ‘em
If in spite of
this they die
I John Lettsom
When the plantations failed and their owners left the
island, the people who remained turned to fishing, charcoal production or
smuggling. At one time Jost Van Dyke served as a bootlegging station during
Prohibition due to its close proximity to St Thomas, USVI.”
Back to the present…….We arrived at Great Harbour, Jost Van
Dyke by 3.30pm. In the BVI’s, there are very few places to anchor as many great
anchoring places have been taken up with mooring balls. The BVI’s like the
USVI’s is a very popular boat chartering destination. It is a bone of
contention for many as the price of a mooring ball is US$30 a day!!
Unfortunately in many places we have NO choice. Anyway after taking up a
mooring ball, Mel went straight to the Customs and Immigrations. By 4.30pm we
were all “legal” and we went for a walk along the beach at Great Harbour.
Jost Van Dyke has a few very popular restaurants where
people in their chartered boats will just sail to Jost Van Dyke just to have a
drink or meal at one of these places.
In Great Harbour, Foxy’s is one of these extremely popular
destinations while just round the corner in White Bay is the Soggy Dollar Bar.
The bakery at Great Harbour – Christine’s,
is also very popular and of course Mel and I had to buy some nice fresh
muffins from there for our afternoon tea (rather late tea).
Tuesday was a day of exploring these places/restaurants of
interest – just to see why the “credit card captains” as the chartered boat
people are referred to, just sail in, take a mooring ball for a while then sail
out again.
We had breakfast at Ali Baba’s, walked around “town” – this
is just one street along the beach, then went back to the boat before heading
to White Bay in the dinghy.
It took us just under 10 mins to get to White Bay and what a
sight! Boats anchored literally on top of each other just so they can get as
close to the Soggy Dollar Bar as possible! It seemed like organised chaos!
Boats came rushing in from the USVI, off loaded their cargo
of people onto the beach. The people
then rushed to the Soggy Dollar Bar to
have its well known drink called “the Painkiller”.
Callwood Rum Distillery is the oldest distillery in the
Caribbean. It was originally built by and Englishman and bought by the Callwood
family over 200 years ago. It is still in continuous use. The original rum
making process still takes place – the sugar cane is grown by the members of
the Callwood family, it is pressed and fermented, distilled and bottled all on
the premises.
Of course Mel had to have one – I had a taste of it and I
hate to think of what one would feel like after having a few of them. It was
interesting to see who had had a few too many Painkillers as they were not
looking too good and they had to get back onto their boats. I would hate to be
in their shoes.
White Bay is a beautiful beach despite the chaos. We spent
about 2 hours there enjoying the surroundings before heading back to the boat
as we had made reservations for dinner at Foxy’s.
We actually meet Foxy himself who is quite a legend in his
own right. A very astute business man who now enjoys his success and makes an
appearance most afternoons, to play his guitar.
Our meal at Foxy’s was equally as enjoyable and very tasty!
Wednesday morning we thought we would head across to Cane
Garden Bay which is on the northern side of Tortola.
Tortola is the largest of the four main islands and is the
centre of the territory’s trade, commerce and government. It has the highest
point in the BVI’s – Sage Mountain (1,710 ft)
On our way to Cane Garden Bay, we passed Sandy Cay which is
the BVI’s newest National Park and was donated to the National Parks Trust of
the Virgin Islands by the estate of the late Laurance Rockefeller who in the
1950’s bought large tracts of land in St John, Tortola and Virgin Gorda. He was
committed to nature conservation and in 1956, donated 5,000 acres to help form
the Virgin Islands National Park – a bit of useless information that I read in
the Welcome magazine.
Cane Garden Bay is also known for its boutique hotels, many
beach bars and restaurants, Callwood’s Distillery and of course its lovely
white sandy beach.
Once again, we had to take a mooring ball – what has
happened - the places to anchor have been reduced or disappeared completely and
have been replaced with mooring balls. Some would argue that it is to help save
the coral reefs from being destroyed due to reckless anchoring from boat
owners, while others would say it is a money making racket to put as many
yachts/boats in an area and then charge $30 a day for a mooring ball! The
methods of anchoring is a hot topic of debate between yachties. Some people are
blissfully unaware of the requirements for anchoring successfully.
The BVI’s rely on tourism and boat chartering is a huge part
of this. I have read that it has reached saturation point and I can see why AND
we are NOT in the peak season. In fact we are in the off season. I thought the
Bahamas were busy but WOW there are yachts and boats EVERYWHERE!!!
There appears to be a bit of animosity between the boat
chartering captains who are often referred to as “Credit card captains” and
cruisers/ salty sailors – Mel and I would fall into this category as we own our
own boat therefore – generally speaking – tend to take a little more care when
it comes to anchoring, etc.
We use an app called Active Captain – it gives us details
and other people’s opinions on places to anchor, moor, visit – it is just a
good, reliable and up to date point of reference. On Active Captain, you get
the impression that there is animosity out there between the various “Captains”.
Back to Cane Garden Bay - after we had tied up onto the
mooring ball, we went for a walk along Cane Garden Bay.
The beach became
extremely busy – we found out that a cruise ship had just come in. One of the
day excursions for the people on the cruise ship was to visit Cane Garden Bay.
Mel and I walked along the main street and came across the
Green VI Glass Studio where we saw glass blowing (in this heat!!!). The pieces
are made from locally recycled glass. We also passed the Callwood Rum
Distillery.
Callwood Rum Distillery is the oldest distillery in the
Caribbean. It was originally built by and Englishman and bought by the Callwood
family over 200 years ago. It is still in continuous use. The original rum
making process still takes place – the sugar cane is grown by the members of
the Callwood family, it is pressed and fermented, distilled and bottled all on
the premises.
We went into the Distillery to have a look and a taste. I
didn’t enjoy the tasting but Mel certainly did.
That afternoon we potted around on the yacht.
Thursday, we decided to sail – yes sail to Soper’s Hole at
West End – Tortola. The distances in the BVI’s are not great as our sail to Soper’s
Hole was only 5nm. It was a good and enjoyable sail.
Soper’s Hole was the first settlement on Tortola and was
used in the 1600’s by pirates to repair vessels and to stock up on water and
food.
Soper’s Hole has no beach but is one of those places in the
BVI’s where you have to stop and enjoy Harbour Town, Pusser’s and the many
other places to have a drink or a bite to eat.
Many of the houses/buildings in the BVI’s are painted in
bright colours – it is lovely to see. They
even paint their rooves and pink is
quite a popular colour.
One thing Mel and I have noticed is in the BVI’s, other than
the sailing, it is all about eating out and places to have a drink. It is very
sociable (and expensive) especially if you are on a cruising budget like most
cruisers are.
Friday morning we had a great breakfast at “D’ Best Coffee”
– they had free WiFI but it was so slow! We couldn’t do much!! It can be so
frustrating (I know the photos from last week’s update – Week 22 - didn’t all
appear – I will sort that out as soon as we have reliable internet)
Later that morning we thought we would sail to Norman Island
as we had been told it was lovely so off we went. We couldn’t sail as Norman
Island was SE and the wind was blowing from the SE so we had to motor directly
into the wind (we could have zig-zagged our way by sail, but with the Caribbean
2-step, it’s not worth the trouble) . It took us forever but we eventually got
there and once again we had to take a mooring ball.
Norman Island is often referred to by the locals as
“Treasure Island” as there are many stories of buried treasure by pirates around
and on the island. It is said that Robert Lewis Stevenson based his book
“Treasure Island” on Norman Island although the island apparently is named
after a pirate.
The main mooring area is in The Bight where you can find
Willy T – renowned for many a wild night had by lots of people who have payed
Willy T a visit. Willy T (William Thorton) is a floating restaurant/bar.
We dinghied around the Bight, Mel went snorkelling while I
enjoyed just bobbing on the dinghy and watching the bird life.
We visited the Billy Bones Beach Bar and the Pirates Bight –
both restaurants/bars.
A very popular snorkelling sight called the Indians, is
located just outside The Bight off Norman
Island. There are only 10 free mooring
balls available for a limited time, so we thought on our way out of Norman
Island we would stop off at the Indians.
Sending lots of love
Saturday morning (Happy 75th Birthday to my dear
Dad!!) we had a late start to the day as we knew we would be sailing across Sir
Francis Drake Channel back to Tortola to Road Town and the wind was good for
sailing the 7nm.
We sailed past the Indians and was lucky to get a mooring
ball so off we went snorkelling.
It was absolutely beautiful!!! So many fish and different
types of coral from brain coral to plate corals, staghorn corals, organ pipe
corals and several soft corals plus some beautiful fans. We saw parrot fish -
the blue rainbow coloured ones and one I hadn’t seen before which Mel told me
was called the pineapple fish – also from the parrot fish family.
We stayed at the Indians for about an hour as that is really
all the time you are allowed to spend and off we went to Road Town, the capital
of the BVI’s on Tortola.
It is the main harbour were all the cruise liners come and
it is obviously a very busy harbour. Once again there was very limited space to
anchor but we found a space although later that evening we tried to re-anchor
but eventually took a mooring ball as the wind shifted and we were pretty close
to another boat.
Here we are at the end of Week 23, in Road Town, Tortola, in
the BVI’s on a rather rolly and noisy mooring. We intend staying here for two
nights as I am keen to visit the Botanical Gardens in Road Town. We are not
sure where we are heading to next although all we know is we will be heading
further east up the BVI chain towards Virgin Gorda to the Bitter End or
Leverick Bay. This is where we will exit the BVI’s before crossing over to St
Martins where hopefully all our easting will be over and we will be heading
down the Leeward Islands.
Captain Mel and Admiral Caryn/xx
