One of
Valentine's old sailing buddies, Fred, came over from Switzerland to
spend some days with us. And as we were ready for a little testing
after our long working stop on St Martin, a week sailing in the BVIs
sounded like a good idea.
This
writing is conducted from a relaxed position in our cabin as we motor
directly towards the weather back to St Martin. The guest is at the
helm, I study the waterdrops in front of me. Both the window and the
mosquito mesh frame on the inside have drops on them. The outside
ones are sea spray, the latter remains from last night's rain. We
always sail with closed hatches, so you would expect the inside
environment to be on the humid side. But the slight air movement
induced by the small fan next to the bed, and the perfect temperature
in this area make this a pleasant spot to stretch the corpus right
now.
Under me
a happy Yanmar, humming peacefully at 2400 RPM, newly treated with
QMI teflon in fresh oil, and receiving it's modest 2 liter pr hour
diesel request through very clean Racor filter / water separator.
Life is
supposed to be good for everybody on Yum-Yum.
Traveling
in the opposite direction last Friday we had an easy going gennaker
day from 6 in the morning to anchor drop just as the daylight left us
a few minutes before 7 at the North Sound of Virgin Gorda.
After a
slow start we checked in and spent the following day in Spanish Town.
The
Baths on the southwest of the island is an interesting constellation
of huge rocks and white sand. The marked trail inside the formation's
caves has a lot of sidetracks that is fun to explore for the visitor
who respect the surge of the waves.
The next stop was the wreck of British Mail steamer Rhone at Salt Island.
Being
the most spoken about sunken boat in the Caribbean, we had to give it
a try.
And
behold: this is a spot where anyone able to open their eyes in a
diving mask can experience by self sight the wreck dive images we
know from the adventure documentaries.
The
mooring system in the BVIs is really something that should be copied
on every frequently visited seabed around the world. Paid for at
customs clearance. Simple, clever color coded, well laid out and
maintained, with a limited 90 minutes max visiting time, this both
saves the bottom from devastating anchor damages, and secure a good
circulation of visitors. Bravo!
With the proximity to US Virgin Islands, and the huge Moorings charter boat base on Tortola, this is really a crowded area. We were pleased to find out that there still exists quiet hideaway anchorages all around, and that even in Road Town there is the free anchoring spot for the low-bud cruisers at the mangroves in the inner harbor.
Pussers
still serve a selection of Painkillers to cure three levels of
discomfort, but still not quite strong enough to compensate for the
wallet-ache induced by their pricing.
It's a
been-there-done -that kind of place, but the maritime interior
reminds us of Peter's in Horta, Fajal, Azores, and that is good for
Valentine and me.
Road
Town was the starting point of the Moonlight Serenade Atlantic
crossing in 2010 with skipper Pål, plumber Hallvard and me, a trip
on which we encountered many adventures. Under our boarding of the
Lagoon 57 Soleil in Horta harbor I came across a lady named Valentine
with a big laughter and a cabin with big mirrors.
Since
our respective captains and the turn of events at that time were
pushing us in different directions, it took some months before we
were able to meet again. Now we meet quite frequently... wellwell.
Back to the Virgins.
Fred
wanted to offer us a meal in Road Town, and our random choice of
not-fancy-at-all dockside restaurant resulted in a surprisingly
pleasant dining experience. Normally we end up having winners and
losers around the table when food arrives in this class of
facilities, but this time all three; the tuna, the rib-eye and the
jambalaya had to share the gold medal. Even the house red wine was
fine. Another Bravo!
From
Tortola we sailed to Peter Island, a crossing where we had
exceptionally many opportunities to practice the “traffic rules”
that applies when sailing vessels are on collision course.
On Peter's we had this anchor drop. Not much worry about dragging that night.
I have
mentioned before the three levels of boat “parking” that applies
in our kind of cruising: dockside marinas, moorings with a daily fee,
and the free anchorages. We usually end up using the latter, as we
dislike crowds and love to jump directly from Yum-Yum into clear,
turquoise Caribbean water.
At the
Dogs, the small islands west of Vigin Gorda, there are some good
diving spots / day anchorages with the unique Virgin Islands mooring
system. The best spot was fully occupied. But the 90 minutes
circulation worked this time, so after a little waiting the most
attractive inner mooring became available for us.
The Chimney is a dive between sandbeds and impressive coral and stone formations. Underwater life here is influenced by the proximity to open Atlantic waters. We see bigger and slightly different fishes, and less of the brown algae that seems to cover more and more of the used-to-be colorful Caribbean corals these days.
This was
yesterday. Last night we dropped the hook in Nelson's Anchorage in
the North Sound, and early this morning we set off back to St Martin.
