The Virgins

MALARKEY
Jo & Trevor Bush
Mon 28 Apr 2008 23:18
Anagada, British Virgin Islands, 18:43.58N 64:24.36W
 
Having been booted out of Vieques by the US Army, we figured we'd show 'em. We'd stick the old two fingers up at the Yanks and sail right past the US Virgin Islands. With true British grit and bloody mindedness, we would go straight to the British Virgin Islands instead. Ha, ha, we would deprive them of our quaint British customs and our hard earned dollars and they would be the worse for it, be jeepers. But after having 2 hours of the crew moaning about the unpleasant conditions, I begrudgingly relented and we sailed to St Thomas USVI's, with my tail stuck firmly between my legs. I figured it was better to swallow my pride rather than put up with another 2 hours of Jo's complaining, besides it was an easy entrance at night and I would get my revenge somehow, ha ha.
 
It didnt take us long to figure out how we would get our revenge. We would do 'The Cherbourg Runner' gig. For those who are not in the know, 'The Cherbourg Runner' is a well practised British sailing tradition of not paying the Frogs your marina fees when visiting Cherbourg, France. We would apply the same dastardly plan here and we would avoid paying for mooring balls right throughout the USVI's. Not an easy task bearing in mind the Virgins are generally thought of as being set up for ripping off the charter yachtsman, who probably dont care too much about donating $25/night to the harbour masters Christmas beer fund. But us liveabaords, particularly us aggrieved liveaboards, well thats a different matter.
 
We had a chat with other fellow cruisers and found out when the pirates would come out in their dinghies and steal the $25/night mooring fee. It appeared that between 8.00 and 10.00 am and 3.00 to 5.00 pm were the dodgy times and if we were to avoid biting the bullet, then we would have to do a bit of 'stealing' ourselves. We would turn up at a mooring after 5.00 pm and 'steal-away' before 8.00 am in the morning. A deviously fiedish plan, tee hee....Dick Dastardly would be proud!
 
Well the plan worked to perfection. We spent many a night on a safe and secure mooring in a delightful setting at the expense of the US Authorities. We would sail to a dedicated dive mooring the following day, which was free to us while diving, then go to a secluded spot for lunch and a nap, before returning to another mooring. Funny how ill gotten gains are more fun, 'cos we loved our time in the Virgins....and who said it was expensive and is full of charter boats.....well it cost us didly squat and we found lots of secluded anchorages.
 
 
 
We figured we best not push our luck too much and moved on to the BVI,s. By the way, we did feel alittle sheepish when we learned that the US Military used Vieques as a bombing range in the past and there are known to be unexploded bombs in the bay we were booted out of.....so perhaps it was for our own good and we were best advised to leave. Did we, as a result, feel alittle shamed at not paying for the moorings?.....NO, of course not, they should have properly marked the little map they gave us and the whole affair would have been avoided, so there.  
 
Anyway, the BVI's turned out to be a real treat. Gorda and Anagada were gorgeous, free to anchor too, splendid.
 
 
 
The above pictures in Anagada just about sum us up......Jo is a beach babe and I am a 'Cow Wreck'.
 
Anyway a big thumbs up for the Virgins. And like anything else, they are what you make them.