Finally!

Anegada and the North Sound on Virgin Gorda

Last week we went up to Anegada, a 12 mile trip north of Virgin Gorda's North Sound. We weren't alone. Seven boats left ahead of us and there were at least 10 behind. This is common as it is best to leave by mid-morning to have the least amount of swells to deal with.

If you have ever been to the Bahamas then you know what to expect when landing on Anegada. It is a coral island, maybe a generous 3 feet above sea level, with lovely white sand beaches and protective reefs. It has a reputation as the place to eat Caribbean lobsters and the various restaurants post signs advertising their lobster bakes. We did enjoy ours at the Anegada Reef Hotel, sitting outside with 20 or so other tourist under twinkling lights, both man-made and Nature's own. It was a lovely time.

We rented a motorbike the next day for a visit to a spectacular beach at Hobholly Bay where we snorkeled around in the area protected by the reefs. Since we are not sunlovers we lasted about an hour then biked around a bit before heading back to our boat. I was riding pillion but there was no support for my right leg which I had to hold outward so as not to be burned by the nearby muffler. This was followed by a few days in which that hip complained about how I had treated it.

Then it was back to the North Sound in preparation for our approaching weather window and the passage to St. Martin. Leverick Bay let us do our laundry and we did some hiking there and at the Bitter End which, literally, is the last civilized area before you leave the BVI. Since there are lobster buoys outside the Sound, in the midst of our track, we delayed departure until we could actually see them among the 8 foot swells. You'll notice in the photo gallery that we were sent off with a beautiful sunrise.

Presently we're in Jolly Harbor in Antigua after a brief stop in St. Martin, and we'll move over to English Harbor in about 3 days in anticipation of our kids joining us for the holidays.

Now that business is concluded I can get to the second tale of some intrepid sailors and the risks/rewards they have to balance to order to accomplish their goals.

Let's start with two women, about 30 years of age. One is a skilled sailor and the other is a risk-taker by her own admission but has limited experience of any kind of boating. They have buddied up to start a business ferrying tourists in an open power boat out to hopefully sheltered fishing grounds from a harbor in the USVI. Their boat is 24 feet long and needs to get from Key West, FL to the USVI. You see where this is going, right?

They load it up with what they expect are sufficient provisions, including fuel and water, and take off. Given a normal rate of speed of their boat they are thinking that they'll cross over to the Dominican Republic - the first landfall from Key West that, as Americans, they are allowed to land in - in 7 or 8 days. They have no satellite or Iridium phone and consequently no means of communicating once they are out of VHF radio range. The weather forecasts they hear are good for 3 or 4 days and, without a communication method, they can't tell that they are heading near a very unstable weather area.

The first part of the passage went smoothly enough with just a small amount of water shipping over the sides in the swells. They plowed on, night and day. The winds and waves gradually increased. Tarps were strung over the open boat and lashed down to provide a "cover" of sorts against Mother Nature's onslaught. The boat itself behaved well, riding down the wave crests and not letting its bow be buried too deeply. The twin outboards dug in as best as they could but progress was severely limited because of the sea height. The desired course quickly became the one which gave the women the least discomfort, adding many, many miles to their trip.

The storm passed after a few days but they had lost a lot of the ground they had already covered. Some people might have turned back to Key West to forget the whole ordeal, others might have turned around to get more provisions, but not these two. Of all the provisions they had put aboard at least they had sufficient fuel to bring them safely to Luperon in the DR after 14 days of what was supposed to be an 8 day trip.

We met up with the risk-taker and talked to her about her adventure. We asked her if she would have done anything differently, and, confidently, she replied in the negative, adding that it was "one hell of trip" with a huge grin on her face.