The forbidded island!
28 April 2012 | Leverick Bay, Virgin Gorda, BVI
David
The Forbidden Island! – Sounds foreboding doesn’t it! During our first charter to the BVIs in 1985, we were told the island of Anegada was forbidden to charterers. Four other charter trips over the next 10 or so years resulted in the same thing. Anegada was too dangerous for the common charterer and was a forbidden destination. So, after 27 years, we finally get to visit Anegada. But first we have to get there because we are on the west end of the BVIs and it is way on the north east end.
As of our last blog, we were in West End, Tortola (again) and clearing immigration (again). The transmission was purring along and doing all the things a transmission is supposed to do. Mainly go forward and neutral and then reverse and back to neutral. Easy peasy. So it was decided that we were good to go!
We scooted across the Sir Francis Drake Channel and back to Norman Island and the bight. Gail picked a new dive site out of the dive guide off the southwest corner of the island called Angelfish Reef which was easy to stop at on the way. It turned out to be a pretty good dive site with lots of canyons and neat rock formations. Then we went on into the bight for the night! That sounds cool.
Next morning we were off early to Salt Island and the Wreck of the Rhone. This is considered one of the top dive sites in the world and we had been here on each of our previous trips. In fact, my first open water dive after getting my certification at Squaw Creek in Texas was on the Rhone during our trip in 1985. Now almost 275 dives later we were back! And she did not disappoint. The site is well preserved for having so many people dive there.
As we finished and were heading back across the Channel, we decided to make a quick stop on Salt Island itself. We had never done this in our other trips and we were curious to see the salt ponds. It was (or still is) owned by the British crown and story goes that every year the queen gets her pound of salt from the island in tribute and tradition. Check the gallery pictures as the island and bay are very interesting.
Finally we pulled into Trellis Bay off the end of the runway for the BVI airport on Beef Island. We had been there before and wanted to have a good place for the night to leave from for Anegada and to check out Dick’s Last Resort again. Well, things have changed in 15 years and it is now only The Last Resort and the donkey (actually the second donkey) had passed away and was not replaced. So it was a little bit disappointing. To pass the time, we walked on the beach and looked into the little artist shops before retiring back to WD for the night. Tomorrow we were going to Anegada!
We were off early again for the 18 mile trip to Setting Point on Anegada. The sail over was a real treat. We were not sailing into the wind but had a perfect beam reach in 15 kts of wind. WD did her thing and got up over 8 kts several times. It only took about 2 ½ hours to cross. One unique thing about Anegada is that she is flat. The highest point is only 28 ft above sea level. She is dubbed the “Drowned Island” because of that. Even about three miles away we could barely see the trees on shore.
Another feature and the reason to keep the charterers away is that the island is surrounded by reefs that have claimed over 300 wrecks! So we too were nervous about entering, but the channel was well marked and we picked up a mooring easily. It seemed a perfect time to get out the bikes again because the terrain was really conducive for a ride. The roads were (at first) well paved cement but as we got close to the north shore, the pavement went away and we were on a sandy, rocky unpaved stretch. We persevered until we reached the north shore at Loblolly Point, a beautiful curving beach with reefs. It was worth the trip and we got some exercise at the same time. Back at the anchorage, we had a great lobster and grouper dinner at one of the beach restaurants and had a pleasant evening to relax after the ride.
But after all the waiting, it was a little underwhelming. The anchorage was rocky with the east wind and the water in the anchorage was a murky blue that was not inviting at all. We are glad we went and we met some new people there and I got the T-shirt! So, we can mark that off the list.
We crossed back to the North Sound of Virgin Gorda with plans to clear out of the BVI’s (after three trips and almost two months) and cross the next 70 miles or so to Anquilla. But the winds are back to over 20 kts and the seas are forecasted to be over 8 feet for the next 3-5 days. So here we are waiting again. Darn. Stuck in the islands!