Sopers Hole, Tortola, BVI
Seaduced
John & Jane Craven
Mon 23 Jan 2012 20:37
| Having decided that we didn't like the last place long enough to stay more than 1 night, we set off for the next stop on our 'schedule', Jost Van Dyke. There are 3 main anchorages along the southern coast, White Bay, Great Harbour & Little Harbour. From where we were in Cane Garden Bay, we could see a cruise ship in Great Harbour, so that left us with 2 options! Crossing the 2 mile channel between the islands proved to be something of a challenge, despite the forecast of 2m swells, the ones we had were easily 4m and the winds were around 20-25 knots, direction unpredictable! We stopped in at Diamond Cay which is exactly the kind of place we have been looking for, a gorgeous cove with white sand beaches and beautiful turquoise water, however the bay was not quite protected enough and would have made a very uncomfortable anchorage despite it's beauty. Little Harbour was the same. By this time we were getting a bit short of options and didn't' want to return to last night's mooring so we decided that one spot that would definitely be sheltered was Soper's Hole on the western side of Tortola so we headed there. The problem was everyone else had the same idea and we had to hang around for a while waiting for someone to leave their mooring so we could grab it - getting a ball here was a bit like trying to park at the Trafford Centre the week before Christmas!! The nice thing about being here, apart from the shelter, is that we can clear out of customs here on Tuesday and the head out towards the Spanish Virgin Islands on Wednesday morning as we had planned. The place is a bit sterile being a purpose built yacht marina with moorings, shops and a supermarket but at least they didn't destroy a perfectly nice beach area to make it popular!! |