Thursday Island
Ile Jeudi
Bob and Lin Griffiths
Thu 26 Mar 2015 15:35
Thursday 26 March 2015
It’s just over a mile to Sandy Cay where we anchored behind the charter
boats tied to mooring buoys. There was quite a ground swell and we had an
anxious moment when a catamaran came in and anchored quite close ahead of
us. His anchor was dragging and they were falling back on to us and the
skipper wasn’t looking behind him. It was only when his wife pointed us
out to him that he raised anchor and started again. The second time was
more successful and his anchor held although they were still far too close to us
for comfort. We certainly weren’t going to be able to leave until he does
as his boat was floating over our anchor.
Once everything was settled we ventured ashore in the dinghy leaping out
quickly as soon as we touched sand before the waves washed us aside. After
dragging the dinghy up the lovely sandy beach we took a stroll around this small
island. It was bought by one of the Rockefellers years ago to ensure that
nothing was built on it. He gave it to the BVI National Trust a few years
ago and hopefully it will be maintained as it is.
The view from the beach to the anchorage:-
To the south looking towards Tortola:-
and to the north with Jost van Dyke and Little Jost van Dyke in the
background:-
The island is bigger than we thought, about 13 acres according to a sign in
the undergrowth. There is a pathway in the bushy centre and a few
palms. It doesn’t take long to go around the whole thing but it’s very
peaceful.
Looking out to the boats at anchor, we are lying beyond and between two
catamarans:-
The swim in the turquoise sea was lovely although Lin wasn’t entirely
impressed with it’s temperature. Back to the boat for lunch and as the sea
was very rolly we left soon afterwards to go 3 miles to Cane Garden Bay, one the
the few viable anchorages on the north side of Tortola.
It’s a shame we don’t have the sea conditions to stay a little longer but
we are so pleased to be back here in our own boat, 22 years after our first
visit on the last Thursday of our honeymoon.
As we raised anchor we saw that the bow roller over which the anchor chain
runs had been damaged. White gelcoat was showing on this and the nearby
bowsprit so something has given us a wack and pulled the stainless steel jaw to
one side whilst we were ashore.
The steel plate off to the right should be parallel with the rest of the
structure and moving this will have taken quite some force. The colour of
the sea is good though :-
Cane Garden Bay is accessed through a pass in the reef and is much as we
remembered it. A similar number of mooring buoys and plenty of room to
anchor clear of them.
The hills around Cane Garden Bay:-
We will go ashore tomorrow to see what’s changed.
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