18:30.00N 64:23.45W

Well that was a lovely sail from Sint Maarten to Virgin Gorda.  Off into the sunset alongside Sturdeee, with a well-reefed mainsail to avoid getting there before dawn. 

Nothing to be said for the entry port, Spanish Town, so we anchored with Sturdeee in a Savannah Bay just to the north and liked it so much we stayed for a while.  No mooring balls, no charter boats, lovely snorkelling and drinks on the beach.  Ian very kindly gave me a spin on his foiling board, towed behind his dinghy.  My gymnastic dismounts went from strength to strength, while my foiling slowly progressed to the point where I could stay up for short stretches.  Clearly plenty more air time is required!

With the wind in the right direction, we took the opportunity to visit Anegada, the sandy island to the north-east of the rest of the BVI.  We were “cruising in company” with Sturdeee but as the saying goes, when there are two boats in the same stretch of water, it’s a race!  As it was a light airs reach, we deployed Deeg’s reacher, a tremendous weapon in a beam reach in up to 10 knots of wind.  Trying not to look like we were racing, we gradually overhauled them.  Cruising is so much more fun when you win!

Things had undoubtedly changed in Anegada since we were last there in 2015.  There are two places to anchor or moor.  The main harbour has now has mooring balls packed together like parking spaces at Sainsbury’s and it’s full of charter catamarans making a lot of noise and illuminated like a pre-Christmas high street.  We called it the Caravan Park.  Yachts drawing more than about seven feet (that includes us!) can’t safely get in there and instead have to anchor to the west in a lovely quiet bay. 

The holding wasn’t ideal but good enough to allow us a couple of runs ashore, once for a night sampling the restaurants and bars around the Caravan Park and once for a tour of the island in a hire car.  Anegada is really a sand dune, so it has miles of sandy beaches and some inland brackish lakes with flocks of very pink flamingos. 

Short of fuel, we headed to Gorda Sound after two nights, to fill up.  We anchored there for the night before meeting up with Sturdeee, Galatea and Adastrina in Long Bay, another beautiful anchorage away from the crowds where the snorkelling was superb.  A nurse shark and an eagle ray were spotted there.

Many of us gathered to celebrate Ian’s birthday at the monthly Full Moon Party in Trellis Bay.  Jane booked a table for twenty five of us and Ian was in a mood to party.  Plenty of rum, dancing, entertainment from fire jugglers and stilt dancers. 

Next, we went to Road Town on Tortola to provision and to pick up Paul and Sarah.  Paul was a work colleague who used to take me skiing on my many business trips to Colorado.  Now it was our turn to entertain them for a week in the BVI.  They love snorkelling and were not disappointed with our anchorages in Key Bay and South Sound.  The latter was quite a challenge to get into but our confidence is growing.  The satellite view on Apple Maps is excellent at identifying where the reefs and sand are and it’s positioning seems to be very accurate.  We were the only yacht in the whole bay until our new friends on Mojito joined us.  Lovely, apart from the gospel music.  I suppose it was Good Friday.

On then to Leverick Bay, where Paul & Sarah treated us to a delightful meal ashore.  A swell rolled in overnight and although we were well sheltered where we were, we had to change our plans for the following day.  Taking advice from locals, we stopped for lunch on the south side of Great Dog Island.  I snorkelled over to what the chart showed as a “wreck” and after passing a three foot long shark I stumbled across three light aircraft arranged on the seabed as a dive site.  Aha, that’s what the wreck was!  With Adastrina, we then motored in the dying breeze to Haulover Bay on Ginger Island for the night.  Dodgy holding with thin sand over rock but I trust my anchor alarm and there was forty miles of sea room between us and Saint Croix to leeward, so as usual, I slept well.

Giles