Passages: June 2014

Week 24 started in a very rolly and noisy mooring off Road Town, Tortola and finished off in a lovely and peaceful anchorage in Gorda Sound, just off Prickly Pear Island, Virgin Gorda, BVI’s

We decided that we desperately needed to get our land legs so we went into Road Town. After trying a few places we eventually found a place where we could tie up the dinghy and we headed for the main street of Road Town.

Nothing much was open since it was a Sunday and there were no cruise ships so we headed for the Botanical Gardens as I was desperate to immerse myself in a garden and greenery NOT in water for a change.

The Joseph Reynold O’Neal Botanic Gardens were dedicated in January 1987 and named after Joseph Reynold O’Neal O.B.E., Chairman of the National Parks Trust for the first thirty years. It had a large selection of tropical species in an area of 2.87acres.

Mel and I enjoyed walking around - we saw Calabash growing on the tree – see photo.

Afterwards we walked to the old Sugar and Cotton Mill dating back to 1780 then along the Waterfront which is normally a hive of activity when the cruise liners are around and all the colourful stalls selling their wares are open. But not today as many were closed.

We made our way down to the Pussers Pub where we had a nice pub lunch before heading back to the boat to plan our “where to next in the BVI’s”.

We decided that we would sail up to Virgin Gorda, to Gorda Sound and anchor off in Leverick Bay. This is where we would wait until there was a good weather window to sail to St Martin as Gorda Sound is as east as we can get in the BVI’s before St Martin.

Monday morning we left a rolly Road Town Harbour and headed ENE to Virgin Gorda.

Virgin Gorda was called the “Fat Virgin” by Christopher Columbus as he said it resembled a fat woman lying on her back. The island is approximately 10 miles long with high peaks at the north and central areas.

Spanish Town was once the capital of the BVI’s and is still the major settlement in Virgin Gorda - it is thought that Spanish Town got its name from the amount of Spanish settlers who came to mine copper at Copper Mine Point in the early 16^th century. This copper mine was still working up until 1867.

Gorda Sound is in the north of Virgin Gorda – we decided we would hire a car so we could see the amazing sites of Virgin Gorda.

We were anchored by 1.30pm and went to the Leverick Bay marina and resort where we organised a car for Tuesday.

Tuesday we collected our little jeep and started our journey around the many steep and winding roads of Virgin Gorda.

The most popular attraction on Virgin Gorda is “The Baths” – they are unusual formations of large granite boulders. Together with the sea, large pools are created and there are many snorkelling opportunities along the lovely sandy white beaches.

We had read that it can be a circus getting to see The Baths from the water – there are only a few mooring balls which are monitored by the parks board. You have to pay $6 per person when you take a mooring ball and you only have 90 minutes at the mooring ball. You can only dinghy as far as the dinghy line – to prevent the beaches being crowded with dinghies, a dinghy tie up rope is placed about 200m from the shore. You have to then, swim ashore.

We thought we didn’t want to be limited in our time at The Baths hence hiring the car and we were very grateful that we had the luxury of spending as long as we wanted to at The Baths.

Spanish Town and the rest of the BVI's

The drive from Leverick Bay to Spanish Town was absolutely beautiful as the scenery was amazing. The road winds up one side of Virgin Gorda, down to the other side and the views of the other BVI islands was incredible.

The Baths falls within the BVI’s National Parks and you pay $3 per person to enter. It was well worth it! Mel and I found a nice shady spot to leave our things and off we went snorkelling/swimming.

The temperature of the water is absolutely lovely. I can normally only stay in the water for a limited

The Baths

time as I usually get SO cold but not this time! We swam and snorkelled for over half an hour, seeing some lovely fish and coral.

After a little rest we followed the trail to Devils Beach. It was amazing as you crawled between boulders, climbed over others, walked in water pools and meandered your way to Devils Beach which was equally as beautiful as The Baths. When we were in one of these water pools, we were standing on the ledge of a rock when a little fish came and nipped at our toes as if to say “You are in my territory!” Apparently in some places in the world – I think in Singapore, you pay for fish to nip at your feet as it is considered a luxurious foot massage by some! Each to their own I suppose. We had another lovely and refreshing swim at Devils Beach before making our way back to The Baths where we stayed for about another hour.

Devils Beach

After leaving The Baths we had lunch at the restaurant called “On top of the Baths” – a great salad -before we made our way back to Leverick Bay via the secondary road – this was a different road that we had been on, on our way to The Baths.

Once again the scenery was amazing especially when we could see Passages, way down in the bay below overlooking the whole of the Gorda Sound.

Wednesday it was back to chores on the boat – there is always cleaning to do on a boat. One has to watch for rust – obviously as the salt water and air are constantly making their mark. The cabin/living area also gets pretty dusty so I am having to dust and sweep every second day at least to keep things looking respectable. The dust, would you believe, can come from as far as the Saharan desert in Africa as the prevailing winds blow the sand from the desert across the ocean towards the Caribbean.

Chafing is another constant source of work on a boat as there is continual movement and things chafe pretty badly and quickly.

After doing our chores we went to the marina and had a sundowner at the Happy Hour. Mel has become addicted to the Painkiller and he was swaying much better after a couple. He blamed it on the boat and not having his land legs – yeah!!!

Thursday morning we were going to explore around Gorda Sound as there are many snorkelling spots but we received an email concerning Mel’s Dad. He hasn’t been well for a while now which has been extremely worrying for us being so far away. We were planning on going to Cape Town, South Africa in the first week of July once we were in Trinidad and the boat was safe and secure in a hurricane hole. It looks as if we have to go sooner rather than later so we spent most of Thursday searching the net for places to put the boat in, in St Martin and in Antigua as those are our next two ports of call. We looked for accommodation in Cape Town as we will be there for about a month and flights from St Martin and Antigua to Cape Town. Unfortunately having the yacht is not like owning a car where you can just drive up to the airport, put it into a garage and leave it for a while. Anyway that is the way it is so that is what we have to deal with.

Friday morning we thought we would move to another part of the Gorda Sound, one that was closer to the Bitter End Yacht Club ( Mel has mentioned this yacht club to me quite a few times in the past and was determined to pay it a visit) and Saba Rock. Off we went and 15mins later our anchor was down in an area referred to as Cruiser’s Anchorage, just off Prickly Pear Island.

The weather on Friday turned out to be wet, cloudy and windy so we spent most of the day on the yacht. Mel researching the best paint to use on the hull as we need to have it done ASAP and will probably have it done while we are in South Africa. I finished the courtesy flag for Antigua – it was not easy. While we were on the boat, we had the generator going as we needed to make water as our water tank was a bit on the low side. When the weather cleared up a bit and we needed to stretch our legs we went to Prickly Pear Island, to the Sandbox Bar and Grill – which was closed by the way. While we were walking along the beach we saw two huge stingrays and a small black tip reef shark swimming along at the end of the water. While on the beach…….

I have a bee in my bonnet about all the litter and plastic – especially plastic water bottles, you find floating out at sea and washed up on the shore. It is disgusting!!! What are we doing as a human race to our beautiful planet??? Every time we do a passage, the amount of plastic we see floating past the boat is quite unbelievable and when we go for lovely walks along the beach, what do we see? More plastic and rubbish! Okay…… I have got that off my chest! Thank you!

The Bitter End Yacht Club

Saturday morning we went for a ride to the Bitter End Yacht Club and Resort. It is in a lovely setting and looks a great place to have a wonderful relaxing, away from it all holiday. We had a drink at the “Pub Crawl” and walked around the resort.

We went back to the boat for a while then made our way to Saba Rock, where there is another Hotel and Resort, for Happy Hour. During Happy Hour, at 5.00pm, they feed the tarpon. It was interesting to see – the guy who feeds them also showed us and gave some ,the opportunity to “tease” the tarpon with a piece of skin from a Mahi Mahi.

Well that was week 24… next week (week 25) - on Monday to be exact we will be leaving for St Martin. It will involve an overnighter as we will be leaving the beautiful and amazing BVI’s on Monday morning at about 8.00am and will hopefully be in St Martin, on the Dutch side, by Tuesday lunchtime. We have to sail north then tack to go south, pass St Martin, then tack up NE. Sailing does not involve sailing “as the crow flies” or in a straight line – as I have said many times, ”it has to do with the direction of the wind”.

Keep well.

Sending lots of love

Captain Mel and Admiral Caryn/xx