18:26.79N
64:31,65W
Trellis Bay, NE Tortola, BVIs – 24 April 2009
It was a relief to
have reached the BVIs, as all the distances we needed to cover now were no more
than a few miles, and we had five days before Paula was due to fly home. As mentioned in the last blog, we
started our mini cruise of the BVIs in North Sound at the top end of Virgin
Gorda. This was sheltered and
attractive, with a few luxury resorts and restaurants dotted round. We enjoyed a walk ashore – the resorts
were fairly quiet, and some of the restaurants were temporarily closed, but some
of the watersports available were being enjoyed by the residents. We were surprised that the islands were
not developed to a greater extent, and apart from the resorts, just consisted of
scrubby vegetation, an assortment of small trees and cacti, with lots of
lizards. This we found was pretty
typical of the BVIs and I suppose is one of the main attractions – they remain
relatively unspoilt.
On our second day we had a leisurely downwind sail
(genoa only) to St. Thomas Bay and Spanish Town, the capital of Virgin
Gorda. By the time we arrived at
the marina to fill with water, we were too late to clear in at customs, so we
went down to the Baths at the southern end of the island (a ‘must see’ of the
BVIs) to check them out. These are
huge granite boulders, interspersed with golden sand beaches – all very
attractive, and a bit like Dartmoor by the sea, or the coasts of Cornwall or
Brittany, but a lot warmer. The
National Park mooring buoys were for day stops only, the swell and the surf on
the beach didn’t make anchoring or going ashore attractive so we returned to the
anchorage south of Colison Point, near to the dock and the customs office. In the morning, clearing in through
customs and immigration went smoothly and wasn’t too expensive. Then we set off to check out the shops
at the marina and possibly walk to the Baths (1 to 2 miles). All pretty expensive, as expected, but
it’s a pleasant and clean place. It
was a long, hot walk to the Baths, only to find that, if entered by land, there
was an entry fee of $4 – we were too tight to pay it, and walked back to Spring
Bay only a few hundred metres along and viewed the area from there. Then it was back to town, stopping at
quite a good Cash & Carry to restock (two cases of beer, 6 bottles of wine
and 3 bottles of gin – the food wasn’t very attractive) and we even got them to
deliver the grog and us to the dock.
The next plan was to check out Trellis Bay on Tortola, which was
right next to the airport and only a short hop across from Virgin Gorda. It was pretty crowded and almost full of
mooring buoys that cost $25/night.
These buoys are professionally laid and maintained and are common in most
of the more popular bays in the BVIs, and of course are often taken up by all
the charter yachts, many of which are Catamarans. However, $25 is a bit steep for Sea
Gypsies like us, so we headed onto a nearby anchorage off Guana Island, which
had to ourselves. The following day
we returned to Trellis Bay, picked up one of the moorings and went ashore. A pleasant enough place, 3 or 4
restaurants/bars, a few art/craft/clothes shops and a very small supermarket –
not somewhere one would wish to provision a boat, but it is obviously a popular
spot, possibly because the airport is literally 3 minutes walk from the beach –
so this will be the place for Paula to depart and to wait for Dave and Pete to
arrive. We were actually offered a
private mooring by a resident Brit who ran the Cyber café and restaurant at a
much discounted rate – we agreed to check it out when we returned.
Later the
same day we cruised down the south coast of Tortola to capital, Road Harbour or
Road Town. This is a fairly large
natural harbour, not dissimilar to Plymouth or Falmouth, with several marinas
and a cruise ship dock – there were 3 cruise ships there when we arrived. It’s the Yacht Charter centre for the
BVIs. We anchored on the west side
N. of Burt Point and rowed the dinghy to the nearest marina to explore. The first supermarket, which was
recommended in our cruising guide, was not brilliant and I was not optimistic
that we would be able to provision the boat for a Trans-Atlantic crossing in the
BVIs – the choice and price of the usual food was grim.
The town itself was
fairly busy, lots of traffic and the usual touristy shops for the Cruise liner
clients. We found the famous
Pussers bar and enjoyed a ‘happy hour’ beer or two and some good food, which was
actually pretty good value overall.
Their happy hour lasts from 4 until 7pm and the drinks are half price
(beers $1.50 rather than 3, unlike many places which just knock off a dollar) –
now that’s my kind of happy hour!
They also have daily specials from the food menu – highly
recommended.
The following day
we discovered a couple of better, well-stocked supermarkets and I started to
feel better about the BVIs as a cruising ground and for stocking the boat for
the return trip. This was Paula’s
last full day – we returned upwind to Trellis Bay, by two long tacks out to Salt
Island and back – good sailing, if a little brisk. In Trellis Bay we found that the mooring
we had been offered was not only in pretty shallow water (echo sounder touched
zero as we circled it), but there was a big Moorings chartered catamaran
anchored right next to it – Americans, obviously – what a plonker. I pointed out that he had rendered two
private moorings unusable by anchoring there (you tosser), and moved further out
in the bay where luckily we found a tight, but adequate spot to anchor. Well that’s it – no more sailing for
Paula, and a few days rest for me, phew.
We spent the evening and following morning on the boat and left in
good time for the airport just in case of problems. It all went smoothly, I returned to the
boat and started preparing for some long awaited maintenance, but kept an eye on
the time for Paula’s flight. Her
LIAT plane flew out on time and passed over the boat, I waved – I didn’t envy
her the journey, but at least it’s a bit quicker than sailing home! Thanks for all your help, for the fourth
time on this Odyssey Paula – see you in June.
I returned to my chores –
winches and engine servicing.
Pics: Relaxation. Baby
mangroves.
Gorda (North) Sound. The Baths, Virging
Gorda.
Bon Voyage Paula, no need to look so happy!
Winch maintenance.

