We have spent a few days anchored off Norman Island, another beautiful undeveloped island south of Tortola and a couple of miles to the south west of Peter Island. It has a large bay which is packed with charter boats on mooring buoys and a couple of beach bars , so we avoided this!  A couple of miles further down the north coast is Benures Bay, wow!  This is a stunning bay with a gravelly beach amongst the rocky shoreline, when we arrived there were about 5 other yachts all anchored with a stern line taken ashore so they were quite close to the shore facing out.  We did the same and picked a spot on the edge, taking our line to the rocky beach and tying to a large tree.  We anchored in sand, but Joy sat where the reef started.  The reef ran along the rocky shoreline and we had the most amazing snorkelling right from the boat along the reef.  There was a Hawksbill Turtle on the reef right by our steps, and we watched him as he munched away completely comfortable with the audience above.  Thousands of reef fish here and again some we haven’t seen before, I even saw a large Barracuda but luckily he wasn’t interested in me!  The water is crystal clear and the dozen or so pelicans dive continuously right behind the boat, I couldn’t wait to get up in the morning and sit on deck and watch them.  For me this is paradise, abundant wildlife and clear warm water. I even started diving down to the reef which is a first for me and a long way from the coughing and spluttering snorkeler from the Med last year.

The pelicans had fun sitting on our rope, although their balance wasn’t always great!

Sunset from Norman Island looking north, Pelican Island in view with ‘The Indians’ to the left of it, and Tortola in the far distance.

Pannikin joined us in the anchorage too, and together we took the dinghy 1.5 miles out to a group of rocks called ‘The Indians’ by Pelican Rock for a snorkel as it is supposed to be amazing, we weren’t disappointed.  Beautiful reef extends between The Indians and Pelican Rock and The Indians themselves are magnificent statues of rock which erupt out of the water. Under water on the far side the rocks drop down to a depth of about 10 or so metres in clear water and the whole area is just teaming with life in the swell.  It was well worth the slow dinghy ride and made a top afternoon snorkelling with amazing reef fish.