If the truth be told, we had mixed feelings about going to the British Virgin Islands. On the one hand we were excited at the prospect of spending two weeks with Dave's daughters and their partners and had heard just how beautiful the area was. On the other hand we had been told horror stories of crowds of charter boats (The Moorings/Sunsail alone have over 1,000 boats in the BVI's), and the lack of places to anchor as every bay was full of mooring buoys for which you had to pay $25 per night. Fortunately the reality was very different and the BVI's have become one of our favourite stops so far.
On March 12th we left Waterlemon Bay and drifted (the winds were so light we couldn't really say 'sailed') northwards towards Jost Van Dyke. By midday we were anchored and cleared in to the BVI's. Our main mission for the next couple of days, before everyone arrived on the 16th, was to find somewhere to base ourselves and Magic for the next two weeks, to find out about scuba diving in the area and to hire a car so that we could all get around! By the time we met 'the four musketeers' at the airport on Sunday evening we had decided to base ourselves in Sopers Hole where we were able to negotiate a reasonable rate on a mooring, had organized a car and had gathered together some information on diving. For the time being, we were set!
The only possible issue was weather. Some vicious storms were being forecast for the Atlantic several hundred miles north of us, but these storms were predicted to produce very large swells, up to 17ft in the Virgin Islands, which would crash on to the northern coasts of the islands and result in large seas elsewhere. One of the main reasons we had chosen Sopers Hole as our base for Magic was the great protection this bay offered. After the gang arrived we only had a couple of days before the swells were forecast to make themselves felt, so it was with a certain amount of trepidation that we announced shortly after meeting them at the airport that everyone would need to be up by 7.30am the following morning to get underway. Surprisingly everyone took the news in good humour (probably the jet-lag) and sure enough the following morning Magic, with 6 people now on board, was heading back to Jost Van Dyke and our first snorkel.
It has to be said that the snorkelling in the BVI's was wonderful. On most occasions you could tick off every species on the 'Caribbean Reef Fishes' card and were also rewarded with sightings of turtles, rays, octopus, and nurse sharks. We snorkelled Sandy Spit, the caves on Norman Island, Key Cay on Peter Island, The Indians and Benures Bay. We were even starting to become complacent - "Yep, saw another turtle", "the school of Tangs wasn't as big as the one yesterday", but we certainly had no complaints. There were occasions when Dave & I didn't get in the water, for instance the afternoon that the heavens opened, although Dave still got soaked covering the snorkellers in the dinghy, but at least that wasn't the day that the dinghy ran out of fuel and they had to paddle back to the boat! All in all the scenery below the water, as Daniel pointed out, was wonderful and we had great hopes for the diving.
OK, for some of us it was great hopes mixed in with a certain amount of trepidation. Although Dave & I had been scuba diving for more years than we care to remember (Dave more so, he's older!!) it was 10 years since we had last dived and we were certainly giving the whole deal some thought. OK, so Dave had borrowed scuba gear a couple of weeks before from Shannon when they spent two hours cleaning the keels of Magic and Some Day Came, but it was my opinion that a 6ft 'dive' didn't really count! Lorna and Daniel had learned to dive shortly before their wedding 4 years ago, Scott already dived and Amy had recently learned. And we were thrilled that they wanted to dive with Dad. We had all splashed out on a private dive boat for the day (which came with 2 dive guides), so there would be no pressure on us at all. We'd somehow managed to muddle through the 'so when did you last dive?' question at the dive shop, and the equipment was rented so we were all ready to go. Even so ...........................!
What a blast! What on earth we were worried about? Everything just came back as if it were only yesterday that we were donning tanks, regulators and BCD's. We dived the RMS Rhone, a Royal Mail steamer sunk by a hurricane in 1867 which is effectively in 2 halves, the bow section in about 70ft of water and the stern section in about 40ft. It was a perfect dive for us. There is also a good deal still to see on the wreck so we were in heaven. After about 45 minutes (and the perfect 'Kodak Moment') we were back on the dive boat and heading for a lovely lunch at the Cooper Island Resort. The afternoon's dive was a scenic one on Vanishing Rock, but the Rhone really made the day. Which turned out to be bad news for Dave & me. After so many years of not diving we hadn't thought that we would really be bothered again. We still had our equipment, but that was in our storage unit in Annapolis and not on the boat. However, now we'd again been bitten by the 'diving bug' and we wanted to carry on diving. This would mean keeping equipment on Magic. We had some decisions to make!
In the meantime we had been hit by some nasty weather. Heading out of Sopers Hole one day we saw squalls, 32kts of wind and 7ft seas. We turned back. On another day we were driven out of an anchorage at Diamond Cay, Jost Van Dyke by more vicious squalls and were finally able to anchor in Great Harbour only after the weather had gone through. Lorna, Daniel, Amy & Scott were renting a villa on the north side of Tortola, and spent the morning after the worst night of the storms driving around dinghies and other debris that had been deposited onto the roads by the monstrous seas. We spent a few days relaxing at the villa and seeing more of Tortola.
Two weeks passed too quickly. Before we had even blinked we were planning where we would go for our 'last night' dinner. We finally chose 'Bananakeets' situated on an outcrop of rock overlooking both Carrot and Cane Garden Bays. It was a good choice. The food was excellent, the views wonderful and the ambience just right for our last celebration meal in the BVI's. Many, many thanks again to Amy and Lorna for footing the bill!!
All too soon we were saying 'good-bye' to the girls, Daniel and Scott as they were preparing to head to the airport and home. We were left with some wonderful memories, especially those in the form of some fantastic photos taken by Daniel. We had finally been able to meet soon to be son-in -law no. 2, Scott and had taken to him immediately and we had 'enjoyed' some innocent entertainment from the charter boats.
It's true to say that there were a significant number of charter boats around the islands of the BVI's. Most were extremely proficient, but we had empathized with many who, trying to enjoy a brief one weeks' vacation, had displayed such stress when attempting to anchor their boats. And yes, occasionally we had enjoyed a chuckle at their expense. As on the occasion we were anchored in Great Harbour, Jost Van Dyke. A large catamaran was trying to anchor next to us, but could not get a hold. For no less than an hour they lowered the anchor, tried to set it, failed, raised the anchor and circled around again. We watched. Finally they approached for the final try. The young man on the bow whose job it was to drop the anchor called back to the 'skipper' at the helm - "25ft of chain down". The skipper put the boat into reverse. "It's still not holding!" At this point we finally heard what was going on and had no option but to intervene - "Excuse us, but you're actually in 35ft of water there. You really need the anchor to be at least on the bottom if you expect it to hold!" We then discreetly went below while they sorted out a little more anchor chain.
If we experienced some bad weather during the girls' visit, then worse was yet to come. We moved Magic for a change of scenery after our guests left, and anchored in 'The Bight, Norman Island, just off of the famous Willy T's bar. We stayed there for almost a week. The winds were blowing 25kts+ and often over 30kts. The seas were up and we saw no reason at all to subject ourselves to that. Jim and Amanda on Adventure Bound were anchored close by so we had the opportunity to catch up with them and also to finish a few chores that we had neglected during the previous two weeks. When the weather finally settled down again we had a wonderful sail to Virgin Gorda and anchored ourselves in Gorda Sound. We had really wanted to get to Virgin Gorda with 'the guys' but the weather had been against us and we just couldn't make it. We had all taken the ferry from Tortola across to The Baths, but missed the Sound and were very disappointed that they hadn't seen it. It is a beautiful spot and we spent a couple of wonderful days there.
But it was time to move on again and St. Martin beckoned. On April 9th we reluctantly moved from Gorda Sound to Spanish Town, checked ourselves out of the BVI's and made preparations for our crossing of the Anegada Passage. By the following morning we should be in St. Martin.