British Virgin Islands, Part II

One of the advantages of paying for a mooring ball at $30 per night at Saba Rock is you get up to 100 gallons of free water and a free bag of ice.  After we received our “freebies”, we dropped anchor just west of the Saba Rock mooring field in 50 feet of water.  Thank goodness it was calm as we barely have enough scope for this deep water.  We stayed two nights, exploring the east end of the North Sound in Virgin Gorda before departing to the west end at Leverick Bay.  We anchored near the mooring field in 18 feet of water, much better!  Leverick Bay Resort and Marina is quite popular among the cruisers with shopping, laundry, dive shop, Pusser’s Store, pool, restaurants, bars, Jumbies, and entertainment by Michael Bean, a native of Grand Haven, Michigan.  He is a great family entertainer, engaging everyone in the fun as you can see.  We talked with him after the show, and had a picture with him.  The weather wasn’t cooperating, rain and clouds and high seas, so we decided to stay here a while and do some work on the boat.  Yes, we do work!  We repaired, cleaned, varnished, fixed, laundry, and provisioned and ended up staying here nine days.  We have recently figured out how to catch rain water into our water tanks, which eliminates the need (if it rains), to go to shore with five gallon jerry cans and buy water.  We departed Leverick Bay and arrived at Marina Cay and anchored in 30 feet of water.  Marina Cay is home to another Pusser’s store and live entertainment at the Robb White Bar with happy hour Painkillers!  Only stayed one night and sailed across the channel to Trellis Bay where we took a mooring ball.  Trellis Bay is home to the Full Moon Parties, Aragorn’s Art Studio, De Loose Mongoose, Trellis Bay Market and a few other stores.  The airport here on Beef Island is a five minute walk from Trellis Bay.  Small bay, but a fun place to visit and should not be missed!

British Virgin Islands, Part I

We sailed from St. John to Tortola, British Virgin Islands on April 11, 2016, only 10.5 nautical miles.  We checked in to customs and immigration in Road Town and was able to procure a dock for a night at BVI Yacht Charters, where we had chartered a boat four years ago.  Our first task, after filling the water tanks, was a trip to Pusser’s for Painkillers!  Internet service has been a challenge since leaving the U.S. and we have a collection of SIM cards, and now we have another one for the BVI’s called LIME.  We waited for our cruising friends on Tulum III to join us in Tortola before we sailed to Norman Island and The Bight.  There is some great snorkeling at the Caves just around the point from The Bight and we took some great pictures with our new underwater camera.  The Willy T’s is one of those must go to places for cruisers, a good time with our friends on Tulum III.  A very short distance away are three rocks called The Indians, where we experienced the best snorkeling so far in the BVI’s.  The next day we took a mooring ball and snorkeled from our boat to The Baths, a very unique formation of large granite boulders.  After crawling and swimming through them you end up on Devil’s Bay, a gorgeous white sand beach.  We walked the trails up to the Top of The Baths where we enjoyed a champagne breakfast and a dip in the fresh water pool.  Our next stop was Saba Rock in the North Sound of Virgin Gorda.  Here we said goodbye to our cruising friends, Rudolph and Elisa, on Tulum III as they head south to the Windward Islands.