Joy of Shamrock Quay

My prayers had been answered, the Gods had granted me three wishes.  Light winds, flat calm seas, and my Mum and sister Sam for company!

Their first impression of the BVI’s was unfortunately marred by the very inhospitable Immigration Officers and after a thorough interrogation I was called in from the arrivals gate to verify their story! Finally, the dodgy looking pair were finally released into our care!

It is so wonderful to walk straight out of the small airport and on to the beach, and this time it really was ‘Welcome to Paradise’.  A lovely calm night enabled them both to recover from their long day of travel, and then we set off to our favourite spot at Benures Bay, Norman Island, where we knew that a couple of days of sunbathing and snorkeling would ease them into the ‘Joy’ of boating.

Mum and I snorkeled together, the coral is so beautiful here with purple fans swaying in the gentle swell and all the usual tropical fish.  One day when we had turned around and were heading back to the boat, Mum looked over at me and pointed to the other side of me with very wide eyes. I looked around and it took a few seconds to realise what it was. A huge Manta ray was elegantly gliding past me a couple of meters away, just underneath the surface of the water, with a Remora sucker fish attached to its belly.  The ray was enormous,  I have never seen anything like this or as big as this whilst snorkelling or diving for that matter.  With no camera on me we just had to watch and absorb the memory into our brains, it was a surreal and very special moment shared.  We were just getting over the amazing experience when a turtle swam underneath us.  Life certainly is good!

We had a wonderful walk across the Island, this time sticking to the correct track, and when we arrived at the next bay, The Bight, we had a lay on the beach and a swim in the wonderful warm waters then lunch at Pirates Bight Restaurant.

My beautiful Mum on Norman Island

Then it was just a mile sail north to Peter Island, where we tucked ourselves in to Little Harbour.  There is nothing here except idyllic calm waters and beautiful views, and the resident Pelican diving for fish. The snorkelling isn’t as good, there is not a huge amount of coral but we were treated to a Spotted Eagle Ray gliding around the boat several times just underneath the waterline which made good viewing from above.  I also got my first glimpse of a Belted Kingfisher, I had seen a small bird diving into the water from a tree but just couldn’t make out what it was, then I spotted it again landing on some cactus and managed to get a photo of it with my zoom lens. It really is a stunning little bird with bright blue markings.

A catamaran anchored next to us had a very novel way of walking his dog, he did a few circuits of the bay before going ashore to chase the poor goats (the dog that is!).

Unfortunately the meal at Pirates Bight the day before had given me food poisoning and as my body tried to fight it my temperature rose to 102.5 degrees, although I was shivering and felt cold.  I had their ‘Pulled Pork’ and now I was wondering where the hell it had been pulled from (and when).  I had given a mouthful to Jez to try and after a day or so he came down with the same thing.  We didn’t let it spoil our fun though and carried on regardless.

Virgin Gorda was now our next destination, we had a wonderful sail with flat seas and 10 knots of wind, and anchored off Spanish Town.  Upset tummies didn’t stop us going ashore for Happy Hour drinks at the marina, watching the sun go down whilst listening to some very good live music.

We hired a car the following day, and a little later than anticipated (we had trouble finding the car hire place) we arrived at The Baths along with several hundred others!  It was still a really unforgettable experience.  As we got close to the other end of the caves an American lady ahead slipped and cut her head open on a rock, a big gash on her scalp. Luckily a tour guide was close at hand and rushed to give her first aid. It was a reminder that this sort of nature trail just wouldn’t be allowed back home due to health and safety! We made it unscathed of course, and had a wonderful swim at Devil’s Bay the other side.

The views from ‘The Top of The Baths’ restaurant are absolutely stunning.

Back In the car we followed the road down to the Coppermine ruins on the south eastern tip of the island.  Wonderful views once again, and a sighting of a hummingbird in an old well.  Cornish miners had built their homes, the powerhouse, mine shafts and chimneys in the early 1800’s and following low market prices and escalating costs they abandoned the mine in 1862.

Virgin Gorda is one of my favourite islands, the people are friendly and the views are outstanding.  We drove around the coast road, passing Savannah Beach where a few boats had picked their way through the reef to anchor.

Arriving at the north of the island, we could see the North Sound where we had anchored last year.  There is a bar on the hillside called ‘Hogs Heaven’ with a balcony overlooking the Sound, we sat speechless looking out just taking it all in.

Following the road back down to Spanish Town gave us a great view of the strange narrow shape of the southern end of this island.

From Virgin Gorda we had a fantastic sailing angle for Anegada, arriving after just 3 hours in glorious conditions.  The small bay was packed with charter boats, there was some regatta gathering going on, quite entertaining especially when a dinghy overloaded with people grounded themselves on the very visible reef!  However, once ashore it was deserted and quiet, and after a lovely walk along the beach we booked our table at Neptune’s Treasure for Mum’s (early) 70^th birthday meal.

Mum, Sam and Jez all had lobsters for main,  I had coconut conch fritters which were a little on the chewy side but very tasty.  I had been put off lobster when I saw them all in cages in the water hanging off the pontoons, each restaurant have their own supply on their dock. They are just too beautiful to eat!!  Neptune’s Treasure has such a lovely position on the waters’ edge.

We hired a car to get to the north beaches, Loblolli Bay being one of our favourites and we took a picnic with us for lunch.

DRINK DADDY!! (A special message to PANNIKIN, well done for reaching the Marquesas in the Pacific xxx)

After lunch and a bit of beach combing we drove along the sandy track which meanders between the north coast and the salt lakes.

There are a hundred or so breeding pairs of Flamingos on the salt lakes, having been re-introduced to the island in the 90’s.  Unfortunately they keep their distance and the only sighting we got was from the small bridge on the south of the island.  They were too far away for a photo, so we had to make do with the painted one on the bridge!

The wind picked up the following day which made the shallow anchorage rather choppy, so we decided to head back to a small island just north of Tortola called Great Camanoe. Another great fast sail and we were anchored up on the west coast in a small pretty bay called Lee Bay.   We watched the pelicans diving and a baby turtle surfaced for air right by the side of the boat so we had a great view of him. Then we spotted something not so pleasant – a young lady on a very small sailing boat in front of us hung her bum over the back of the boat to go to the toilet then threw the toilet paper in the water!  Nice!!

On the east coast of Great Camanoe is a small cut between the island and two others, Marina Cay and Scrub Island, and the following day we found a spot just on the inside of the mooring buoys by Marina Cay. It’s a small island with a bar, restaurant and shop, we spent a lazy afternoon in the bar playing dominos before returning to Joy for supper.

Mum and Sam’s last full day was spent snorkeling and feeding a pair of large Remora fish who had rather taken a fancy to Joy and were quite happy to eat our leftovers. They kept us amused for hours!  The coral along the edge of Great Camanoe is beautiful and it made great snorkelling, when we returned to the boat not only were the Remoras still peeking out from behind the hull but we had a dozen or so large Barracuda underneath us!

Scrub Island has a very smart marina complex with some gift shops and a small deli.  The deli does takeaways and has tables and chairs outside so we ordered ourselves one of their pizzas and returned in the evening along with our own salad and drinks!  A much cheaper way to eat out,  meals and drinks are very expensive everywhere around the BVI’s. We had 4 rum punches and 4 beers at Marina Cay the day before that cost $64, ouch!!

On the morning of their departure, we had a ten minute motor over to Trellis Bay, Beef Island ready for their mid-day flights.  It was a very sad and tearful farewell to them both, we have had so much fun and laughter over the last 10 days, sharing the joys of exploring, snorkelling, dominos and sailing!  It has been so nice to catch up with Sam too, who I hadn’t seen since leaving the UK 2 years ago.  Now Joy will seem so empty and quiet!

We collected Jez’s parents from the airport at Beef Island after anchoring just outside Trellis Bay, unfortunately bad timing with the Full Moon party ashore and gusty rainy weather, all the moorings were full and many boats anchored outside the protection of the bay had been moved by the Coastguard as they were too close to the runway.   Luckily they had left us alone.

The walk to the airport terminal is less than 5 minutes from the dinghy dock, but unfortunately it wasn’t ‘Welcome to Paradise’ for them as we donned them in wet weather gear and covered their luggage with tarpaulin! As usual they came laden with spare parts and bits that are impossible to buy over here (thank you), but not waterproofs!  Their first night aboard was a choppy one made worse by the wake of the late night ferries careering past from Virgin Gorda.

The weather improved slightly over the next few days, lots of lovely anchorages and plenty of snorkelling.  We anchored and took an aft line ashore at Benures Bay on Norman Island to hold us close to the reef where we snorkelled with turtles and even saw a baby shark (he was more scared of us, thank god!)  We followed the narrow trail across the uninhabited island to the next bay, The Bight, where there is a restaurant at the beach.  After taking a wrong turn we ended up looking down over the bay with no footpath other than a very steep track running down from a communications tower, luckily it had a rope secured at the top of the hill so, reluctant to retrace our footsteps, we abseiled down the hill using the rope. Not easy in flip flops!  When we arrived, rather red faced, at the restaurant on the beach and looked back at the hill, the waitress was speechless when we pointed it out!  We asked her for a better way back and she said ‘by boat’!  We did manage to find the right track back, leading from behind the restaurant – no climbing gear required. The island is narrow so you get wonderful views of both the south and north shores.

Joy anchored in Benures Bay, with aft line tied to a tree ashore

We sailed around the west end of Tortola and up to Jos Van Dyke and headed to a bay called Little Harbour.  The holding here is poor with a rocky bottom and so getting a bite with the anchor does prove difficult. Mooring buoys have been placed around the edge of the bay, most were taken and the few that were left either had no pickup line or were in too shallow water for us.  So we attempted to anchor using both our bower anchors set at 45 degrees from each other.  The wind, which had been blowing a swift 20-25 knots all week, came shrieking down the hill side at 30knots+ sending boats all over the place.   Happy that we weren’t dragging the anchors for now, we went ashore to Sydney’s for dinner.   A strange chilled out establishment where you serve yourself behind the bar and write down your drinks on your tab. Luckily we weren’t expected to cook our own dinner as well!  When we returned to Joy the gusts had got stronger, we watched our position closely and decided that we had dragged a little and with a boat on a mooring behind us, and on a lee shore, we would be safer to up anchors and move despite it being late in the evening.

So we motored out of the bay, heading for a spot off Sandy Spit just a couple of miles away, we had a marker on the chart plotter where we had anchored last year, so we knew it was safe and good sand to get a hold.  At least we had a good night’s sleep!

The wind and rain continued for a couple of days (thank god for dominos!), we spent a whole afternoon tacking east to get a better angle to sail to Anegada, and ended up giving in at Guana Island (not far enough east as we had wanted) where we took a mooring buoy for the night as the bottom was rock and coral.  The following day we had a rather tough sail getting to Anegada, the sea was still a short chop but now the lack of  wind was not kind to us and Joy struggled going to windward.  It was however well worth the struggle, the Island is very different from the others as it is flat and sandy surrounded by a huge coral reef.  The waters are very shallow for miles out to sea, and there is a long buoyed channel to get in to the bay. We gingerly crept in as the depth meter went down to 2.4m in places (the same as our draft), a close shave!  There are numerous mooring buoys closer in to the shore, mainly used by charter boats, so we anchored in 3 metres just outside the mooring field.

When we went ashore it was like arriving in paradise.

Anegada really reminds me of southern Bonaire, but with only 250 residents it is much quieter and remote. The beach at the anchorage is dotted with restaurants so there are lots of places to choose from.  Anegada Reef Hotel (pictured above) has a stunning outlook and friendly staff so we had lunch there which was superb.  The birds also agreed, as they helped me out with my fries.

To sample the islands famous lobster, we had dinner at Neptune’s Treasure which was so good we went back again the following night after a day exploring the island by hire car.  We saw plenty of birdlife here, including my favourite American Kestrel who landed on a church roof after catching a lizard.

We had a much better sail back to Virgin Gorda, a lovely beam reach with 10 knots of wind and glorious sunshine. At last the weather had improved for Jane and Geoff’s stay.  We sailed around Necker Island to show them Richard Branson’s residence, and then anchored close to ‘The Baths’ just south of Spanish Town.  The Baths are a natural collection of massive granite boulders which form pools and caves along the shoreline.  The National Trust maintain a track leading down to the beach where you can enter the caves.  The sign at the entrance warns that you need to be able to crawl & climb ladders and they are not joking. They have installed ropes and ladders to help you climb through the boulders and caves, sometimes squeezing through narrow gaps whilst almost on your knees and then jumping down into natural pools.  It is a totally amazing place, despite the hundreds of cruise ship tourists all doing the same thing – and some coming the other way so there was often a jam up!  We had originally attempted to get there by dinghy as there is a line you can tie up to and swim ashore, but with a huge northerly swell pounding onto the beach surrounded by boulders there were a few people struggling to get back to their dinghies.  We wisely turned away and went to Spanish Town where we caught a taxi!

That afternoon we headed back across to Beef Island and into Trellis Bay in readiness for our swap over of guests.  Trellis Bay was a different kettle of fish this time, half empty of boats and flat calm conditions so we took up a mooring buoy for the night. We couldn’t believe how quickly the last two weeks had gone. Despite the poor conditions early on we still had bags of fun and saw so much. The BVI’s are a fair way to come but such a great place for guests, from secluded anchorages to lovely restaurants and the very busy ‘Baths’, we had done it all!  Jane and Geoff caught their flights back to Gatwick the following lunch time, Jez and I hired a car from the airport to go and do some provisioning as my Mum and Sister were arriving that evening at the same airport.  What a turnaround!

Our hydraulic motors finally came back (5 days turned into nearly 4 weeks) with new seals and a rather poor paint job.  We hadn’t asked for them to be painted, just seals replaced, and when we arrived to collect them Jez commented that it was rather kind of them to give them a lick of paint.  ‘All part of the service’ came the reply.  A bus ride home and back on board, we discovered that most of the paint had not made the journey.  On scrutinising the bill we found that the lick of paint, materials and labour, had been charged to us.  At US$85 an hour we were rather cross as we could have done a much better job for nothing.  Anyway, we were glad to get them back and refitted, tested and working….but after lifting one of our anchors just before leaving we discovered that they were both still leaking!  So we will have to return after we have met family in the BVI’s as we have run out of time.

The weather in the last couple of weeks of February became rather strange, with two complete wind reversals making the beautiful calm Brewers Bay rather uncomfortable for a couple of days.  It didn’t stop Polly the Pelican spending some time on the bow although she did have rather a job balancing.

The same day we had a visit from three dolphins, one was a little baby being shown around by its mother.  They came right up to the boat and surfaced by the steps making me jump.

Then the rain came, it started at 5pm and continued until late morning the following day.  When we woke, the crystal clear water had become a mud bath with all the run off from the land.  The airport recorded 8.6 inches in 5 hours.  When we went ashore, a huge section of the sandy beach had been washed away leaving a deep hole!

After a full day of cleaning Joys bottom, by snorkel and two dive tanks, we were ready to head off to the BVI’s to meet family for a few weeks. She had grown a rather untidy beard, home to zillions of tiny critters including baby lobsters and crabs. As we prepared the boat that evening to leave next morning,  I spotted a large bird heading our way, I rushed up into the cockpit with the binoculars but it had gone. I couldn’t understand where, looking all around it was nowhere in sight, then I looked up and there it was.  Sitting on the top of our mizzen mast was an Osprey!  He kept looking down at us almost asking for a titbit, unfortunately for him we were clean out of tinned sardines.  We walked around the deck taking photos and he just watched us, quite confident and totally unafraid.  He stayed until after dark, we heard him chattering away whilst we were playing dominoes and then suddenly he disappeared into the blackness.  Joy really does pull the birds!