The Virgins
MALARKEY
Jo & Trevor Bush
Mon 28 Apr 2008 23:18
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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.
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