British Virgin Islands

Christopher Columbus, Sir Francis Drake and other privateers and pirates must have had the same view of these islands as we had. Columbus, seeing so many islands, named them after St Ursula and the 11,000 virgins slaughtered by the Hun. The others could hardly believe their luck in finding so many sheltered bays and caves in which to stash their booty. Sal Darago entered Salt Island Sound, crossed the Sir Francis Drake Channel and anchored in Road Harbour, Tortola on 1^st May.

Emily had posted 3 asthma inhalers on 11^th April. They had not arrived at the Post Office. Jeremy went up the mast in the bumpy harbour and found two broken wires at the base of the masthead tricolour. It was no easy task to reconnect the wires while standing on canvas ladders 42 feet up from the deck, needing to hold on but also needing 2 hands to do the job. His legs were like jelly when he finally descended, job done.

Kathy has a bath in the dinghy with rain water

 Blessed rain, as they say here, fell the next day. We collected 6 gallons. Jeremy measured the lazy jacks. These are strings slung from the mast to several places along the boom forming a cradle to collect the mainsail when it is lowered. Our old ones had gone rotten due to the effects of sun and salt water. We had a wet dinghy ride across Road Harbour to Golden Hind Chandlery, where we bought lengths of 3-ply line needed for the new lazy jacks. There was much splicing practice back at Sal Darago and then horror at finding a mistake in the measurements and joy that the new lazy jacks fitted – just!

Jeremy complete with waterproof torch prepares to enter a cave

We planned 3 days away from Tortola to visit some of the other islands. There was a fabulous, hidden anchorage called The Bight, on Norman Island. To our dismay it was filled with moorings that cost 30USD per night, leaving little space to anchor. Robert Louis Stephenson based “Treasure Island” on Norman Island, after hearing all the tales of pirate hideouts and hidden treasure from his sailor uncle. We found a place to anchor in Soldier Bay on the north side.

Under water at the Indians

The National Parks Authority had put down daytime moorings at many snorkelling and diving sites. The cost for a week was 50USD (or 150USD for a year) which entitled you to spend up to 90 minutes on any of their moorings. The next morning, quite early, we picked up a mooring at the Indians, almost vertical rocks that rise up from the seabed. The snorkelling was fabulous – lots of reef fish and a variety of colourful, soft corals. Soon afterwards, we picked up a mooring at Kelly’s Cove on Norman Island. We took a waterproof torch and snorkelled into 2 caves. One was so deep it was pitch black at the end. It was quite scary. I couldn’t see the fish. What was that touching my leg? There was an amazing cavern at the end with a high ceiling – a perfect hiding place for treasure.

Back on SD, we motored round Norman Island in calm conditions and anchored in Money Bay on the south side. There was no-one there except a lone, large bonefish, which I named Norman.

Calm anchorage at Key Cay

The next day we left Norman Island and snorkelled in calmish seas at Carrot Bay and Shark Point on Peter Island. We anchored in Key Bay for the night, south of Key Cay. Swell came in overnight and it was rolly by morning. We went ashore looking for pirate treasure amongst old, twisted trees, some with as many as 10 trunks, on a strip of land between the bay and a dry salt pond or mangrove swamp. We had thunder and lightning at night – all very dramatic. Jeremy was up at midnight collecting rain water. He filled our tanks.

Tete Anglais at Norman Island

We returned to Tortola on 8^th May. We were supposed to be leaving for Bermuda today. There were still no meds for me at the Post Office. So, we sailed off for a few more days. En route to Virgin Gorda we picked up an NPA mooring off Ginger Island and snorkelled in Alice in Wonderland. The name conjures up something more exciting than it was, but it was still an interesting place to be, close to cliffs, in clear water with lots of coral fans waving beneath us. Next stop was Fallen Jerusalem, an amazing island of giant boulders of the sort we saw at Belitung, Indonesia. 

We snorkelled around, between and, in Jeremy’s case, under the boulders, even landing on a secret beach where the surf filled our swimming costumes with sand. It was sticky sand too! Quite late in the afternoon, we picked up another NPA mooring at The Baths on Virgin Gourda. Most of the tour boats had gone. Dinghies are not allowed to stay on the beach so Jeremy took me ashore, put the dinghy on a mooring and swam ashore. We walked to Devil’s Bay through giant boulders, sometimes finding ourselves in vast caves, sometimes squeezing along narrow passages and sometimes clambering over the huge boulders assisted by wooden steps or ropes. It was fascinating. We managed to get lost twice (in spite of signs and markers) gratefully arriving at the deserted and beautiful Devil’s Bay. It was almost dark when we anchored at St Thomas Bay off Spanish Town and rain was threatening.

Night approaches as we enter the fabulous Baths' formation

The cooking gas ran out that night just as the rain began and supper was half cooked. Jeremy changed the bottle. We stayed on board the following day. It rained all day. More water was collected and the day spent cleaning and doing jobs. The next day we went ashore for supplies at Spanish Town, weighed anchor on our return and motored a few miles to Savannah Bay, where we snorkelled the edge of a reef. It would have been secluded but there was a beach resort nearby. Thankfully, being the end of the season, it was quiet.

Duck or grouse?

On our way back to Tortola, we stopped off at The Baths and snorkelled from Devil’s Bay to The Baths. It was superb snorkelling, the underwater world mirroring the walk we’d done a few days earlier. There was no parcel for me at the Post Office back in Road Town. We went to the hospital and were directed to a pharmacy. They had budesonide inhalers combined with other ingredients under the brand name, Symbicort. I would have to take twice as many doses but it was the best I could do. We had to leave the next day.

We had a pre-birthday meal for me on 13^th May, cleared Customs and Immigration, had our gas bottle filled and topped up on fresh fruit, veg and meat. The next day we motored to Savannah Bay for one night and left the British Virgin Islands on 15^th May for an 8 day passage north to Bermuda.