British Virgin Islands
Zarafina
Melvyn Brown
Wed 30 Mar 2011 13:13
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18: 26.5 N 64: 45.0 W Melv arrived at the Port of Entry in the British Virgin Islands on 20th March but only had time to skype with confirmation of his safe arrival before he set sail for the marina nearest the international airport in order to meet up with his sailing friends arriving from the UK on the 22nd. Richard and John arrived for a week's sailing and - from all accounts - everyone had a very good time. They made short hops to quiet anchorages off Tortola and Peter Island, shared sometimes with only 1 or 2 other boats. The swimming was good, the temperature in the 80's. Melv did comment the BVI were expensive - $25 for a buoy and about $30 for a restaurant meal (one-for-one with US $). He says that this marina is very busy - he compared it with the Solent (though with sun!) - with hundreds of yachts, but mostly short-term charter. He thinks those with their own boats take one look at the congestion and go somewhere else. Tomorrow he intends sailing back to Providenciales on the Turks & Caicos Islands where he will be obliged to occupy himself for a few weeks before setting sail across The Atlantic in early May. He estimates it will take four week to reach The Azores and the trip from there back to the UK is best undertaken in June. He freely admits he is not all that happy at the prospect of such a long trip, single-handed, and we talked about whether there was an alternative. He says the only other way is to have Zarafina shipped back on a container ship but the cost would be in the region of £5,000. He is optimistic of finding Wi-Fi on the Turks & Caicos and will be able to let us know when he departs. It will seem a long four weeks for those of us waiting for news of his arrival in The Azores. The Scribe |