Photo shows us enjoying an early sundowner at Pusser's Landing, Soper's Hole, Tortola

Position: 18 23.19'N, 64 42.11'W

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British Virgin Islands; Virgin Gorda - Gorda Sound;

All stocked up with duty free fuel and French goodies we set off in late afternoon from Sint Maarten for an overnight sail to The BVI's; a passage of around 80 miles. As soon as we left the shelter of the island we picked up fair winds and a favourable current and spent the rest of the trip trying to slow down so we didn't arrive in darkness. It was a crystal clear night so we had a wonderful display of stars - at this latitude and time of year we can see both the Southern Cross and the North Star, Polaris on opposite horizons - magic!

Madeline & Roy on 'Mithril' were crossing at the same time but leaving from Marigot Bay, St Martin although we didn't spot them until morning. We passed Necker Island and Branson's Mansion, to the north of Virgin Gorda, in daylight at 0645, which was just as well since the area is full of reefs and shoals.
Checking in at Gun Creek in Gorda Sound cost us $1 per foot boat length plus the entry fee - ouch!

We motored the short hop over to Prickly Pear Island where we dropped the hook in beautiful blue water over white sand. Wow, it is quite stunning here with the green hills surrounding the Sound and little or no development as it's a National Park. The Bitter End Yacht Club (for yacht club read 'resort') lies at the east end of the Sound; it's fair to say that because it is all low buildings and designed to blend in with the landscape to a certain extent, the resort does not 'blot' the landscape.

We went ashore to have a wander around and look in the one and only provisions shop; all we did was to look because the prices were phenomenal! We stopped for a lovely fresh juice at one of the bars, lovely but expensive! Wow, they know how to charge here! Still it was a nice beach bar in a fabulous setting and we found out that the nearby 'Crawl' pub, also on the resort, has a happy hour - result - so later we enjoyed drinks in the Crawl with Roy & Madeline.

Virgin Gorda - Spanish Town;

After a few days relaxing and swimming we headed around to Spanish Town, the capital of Virgin Gorda. This is a rolly anchorage due to the wash from the numerous ferries that ply their way between the islands. Ashore the supermarket goods are more reasonably priced and we bought a local Sim card for internet data. Swimming off the boat one morning I spotted a shark moving over the seabed 7 metres below me; It didn't look too threatening and I was just wondering if I should be worried when it turned tail and glided off into the distance. I finished my swim but doing breaststroke instead of crawl to reduce splashing - just in case!

The Baths, Virgin Gorda:

A BVI National Park since 1990 and the most popular attraction on the island; giant granite boulders, thrown up by ancient volcanic eruptions and weathered to a smooth finish, are scattered along the beach area forming tunnels, arches, beautiful grottos and tranquil pools.

There are no buses on Virgin Gorda so we packed our swimmers and snorkels and took a taxi with Mad & Roy to visit this famous site. Descending a long track down through the trees and scrub we emerged onto a brilliant white beach with azure blue waves rolling in. Some yachts were anchored off but they were rolling like billy-o and it's forbidden to land a dinghy ashore so it would have been a swim through the breakers if we'd visited by sea. It was fairly crowded so after a cooling drink we set off through the 'tunnels'; a sliding, scrambling, paddling route that threads through the boulders and pools. Fewer people ventured through here and it's easy to see why - despite occasional ropes and a few wooden steps it is difficult going. In places we had to crouch down low to squeeze through. However it was definitely worth the effort to see the cool, calm, blue tidal pools formed between colourfully striated boulders (see Picasa pics 'On to the BVI's').

Tortola; Road Harbour

Moving on to Tortola we anchored in Road Town Harbour; a busy port and the capital of the BVI's. We had to negotiate our way in between two Cruise Ships and a cargo vessel that were anchored off. Another rolly anchorage mostly due to the number of 'butty' boats to-ing and fro-ing between the cruise ships and the shore; happily it calmed down at night when the ships sailed away and peace was restored.
We took our fire extinguishers to be serviced - another regulation for sailing in US waters.

After a long hot walk to find the right place, 'servicing' consisted of a guy looking at the gauge on the extinguisher and saying OK, that'll be $12 per extinguisher! - Something we can do if only we could self-certify! Mind you, one needed to be refilled as Kit had accidentally set it off during our Atlantic crossing - with amusing results!

We rewarded ourselves with a cool beer in Pusser's Pub; For years Pusser's supplied the British Navy with rum for the rum ration. With the end of the rum ration, Pusser's branched out and in addition to producing rum on Tortola they have a few pubs and upmarket souvenir stores in the Virgin Islands. It's a cool place in more ways than one!

Tortola; Sopers Hole:

This is a narrow inlet on the west end of Tortola. It's very popular with yachties as it's sheltered from the prevailing winds and swell. The seabed drops off steeply from the shore so the best anchoring space is around the periphery. Unfortunately there are fields of mooring buoys laid here so we were more of less forced to take a buoy - at $30 per night!

The BVI's are very beautiful but very crowded with yachts and motor vessels. More of a concern for us is that in the most sheltered anchorages everywhere appear to be full of these mooring buoys. No doubt they're great for people holidaying on the vast number of charter boats based in the islands, but this pushes those of us on a budget who prefer to anchor, to the edges of the moorings and into deeper water and less shelter.

Still, seeing places for $30 per night is better than paying for an expensive holiday to see them, plus in Soper's Hole it is only a short dinghy ride to shore and less choppy than most places so we don't keep getting wet bums. ...AND the dinghy dock is called Pusser's Landing - no prizes for guessing why