USVIs to BVIs
Oriole
Sun 19 Feb 2006 19:10
On Sunday we walked over the hills to Coral Harbour
which might be thought
of as the Essex of St John where cruising yachts and yachties see out their
last days. There are a number of sunk yachts with their masts at crazy
angles in the bay and a good number of resident yachties who scratch a
living in local restaurants and diners and touristy boutiques. We partook
of breakfast served from 0900-1300 in the Donkey Diner and after a long and
entertaining wait were served a wonderful American breakfast with pancakes,
eggs sunny side up, bacon, sausage links etc etc and of course maple syrup
(declined) to pour over the whole shooting match.
of as the Essex of St John where cruising yachts and yachties see out their
last days. There are a number of sunk yachts with their masts at crazy
angles in the bay and a good number of resident yachties who scratch a
living in local restaurants and diners and touristy boutiques. We partook
of breakfast served from 0900-1300 in the Donkey Diner and after a long and
entertaining wait were served a wonderful American breakfast with pancakes,
eggs sunny side up, bacon, sausage links etc etc and of course maple syrup
(declined) to pour over the whole shooting match.
Goodbye
to the USVIs
While walking along the beaches and over the hills we had been intrigued by
the small piles of clothes strewn around the bush. In one place it looked
as though the Oxfam Shop had dumped its stock beside the path and left a few
French books - bibles and dictionaries as well. Our enquiries of this
phenomenon have confirmed that these have been left by illegally landing
Haitians who swim ashore from boats bringing them from Haiti, dump their wet
clothes in the bush, change into dry ones brought ashores in plastic bags
and disappear into the black economy here and elsewhere. We understand
there is a similar problem in Dominica which has become a route to the UK -
so watch out because it looks as though nobody else is.
One of the many sad little piles of clothes
We checked into the BVIs (Customs and Immigration) in Road Town, Tortola on
Tuesday where the facilities for visiting cruising yachts is absolutely
awful. The anchorage which yachts checking in MUST use is very exposed and
the dinghy landing - well you take your life in your hands. The officials
are not at all welcoming and it is quite clear that they have little
interest here in anything other than the gigantic bareboat charter operation
and the enormous visiting cruise liners.
Marina Cay where
Cathie and Charles arrive this evening.
However once you have checked in there are some wonderful
anchorages and
the charter yachts are generally safely on moorings so they
cannot drag their
anchors in the middle of the night or anchor too close which
tends to happen
in the Grenadines. The sailing condition have been superb,
so we hope that
Cathie and Charles who join us this evening will be able to
share some of the
idyllic cruising
ground.