Persephone... Cruiser/Racer - THE BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS : MARCH TO APRIL

THE BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS : MARCH TO APRIL

Persephone... Cruiser/Racer

Nigel & Karen Goodhew...

Mon 1 Apr 2013 22:11

After a pleasant overnight sail from St Martin (our first overnighter since Christmas!) we approached the BVIs early morning and gentle eased our way to Virgin Gorda to complete all the necessary paperwork

needed to enter this delightful archipelago. Paperwork out the way, we settled down at anchor close by Spanish Town. Whilst sailing into the BVIs we had marvelled at just how blue and clear the water was here and we were certainly looking forward to spending a month here.

The BVIs is like a theme park for sailors, everything is close to hand, there are no passages longer than about 25 miles and the sailing conditions seem to be close to ideal. We had been told to expect it to be crowded but this hasn't been the case, despite being here over the Easter period. The more popular destinations and anchorages are well managed by the marine authorities with colour coded mooring buoys and in our month spent here we have managed to visit almost all of the best anchorages.

Highlights of the month;

The Baths on Virgin Gorda. A fantastic geological anomaly - with a lovely beach surrounded by huge boulders creating pools of clear water. This is probably the destination which really kicked off Karen's snorkelling career.
The Caves on Norman Island were we enjoyed more fantastic snorkelling - to quote Karen "it's like snorkelling in an aquarium!!!" We had an enjoyable morning there with Colin and Phil from Sir Battical who once again we caught up with the first few days we were in the Islands.
The spectacular sandy beaches on the north side of Prickly Pear Island opposite Neckar Island. We also managed to see our first flamingo here!
The anchorage at Diamond Cay on the north east tip of Joss Van Dyke.

Within our first couple of days in the BVIs we hooked up with Colin and Phil and decided to cruise in company around the various sights, which of course, would include visiting great beach side bars. One of the more memorable was the 'laid back' bar ' Wendells' on Joss Van Dyke were we made extremely welcome buy a completely chilled out barman! We had sailed from The Bight, on Norman Island, to Joss Van Dyke with Sir Battical and had intended to visit White Bay and the famous 'Soggy Dollar Bar' but Persephone quite quickly got into her stride and arrived at White Bay more than 40 minutes ahead of Sir Battical - long enough to down sails and sample the anchorage before deciding it was far too rolly to spend an evening there. We quickly moved on to the nearby bay - Great Harbour, redirected Sir Battical by VHF and tried Foxy's for a couple of sundowners and eventually moved on to the quieter (fewer Americans) Wendells Bar.

The only downside to Joss Van Dyke was Nigel's disappointment at watching Arsenal getting knocked out of the Champions League in the famous Foxy's Bar. The following day we had a great walk over the hills to check out the north bay anchorages to see if it was likely to be a good spot for P and Sir B. We reckoned it would be and that is how we came upon the Diamond Cay anchorage. At Diamond Cay there is a short coastal walk to see the 'Bubbling Pool'. This is a very small beach protected by a very rocky barrier so that when the waves pound ashore they foam up and shower the bay with spray and the residual water runs forward to create a tranquil pool on the beach. Very dramatic to watch, especially on a rising tide and a north easterly wind.

After a couple of nights at Diamond Cay both boats returned to Tortolla and anchored at Sopers Hole. The sporting drinking theme continued as we settled into Pussers Bar to watch the final game of the Six Nations Ruby where we watched Wales defeat England! At this point Persephone and Sir Battical's paths parted as SB headed on west to the Dominican Republic - We headed north back to Road Harbour where we explored the town a little more.

We then to decided to move on Peter Island to White Bay and then eventually on to a lovely anchorage for the evening on Norman Island called Benures Bay. Here we anchored really close to the shore in 5 metres of really clear water. So clear you could see the anchor and Nigel spent a morning cleaning the hull of the boat.

We were planning a longer sail the next day up to Gorda Sound on the north east side of Virgin Gorda and planned to visit Bitter End and Saba Rock. Great treats were in store!