Once again, sailing the BVIs was a great trip and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Trying to write a decent trip report is somewhat difficult, as everyone’s reports basically say, “We went here and then there, and then on to there…” And, of course, that’s what we did; We went here and then there, and then on to there…
However, since this was our first trip after Irma and Maria, we were very interested in the status of restaurants,
marinas,
provisioning locations, bays, etc. And yet we had a difficult time finding timely information before our departure. Therefore, I decided to end my report with the status of different. Hopefully for those planning a
charter in the BVIs and looking for status information, this information will help.
Additionally, while I’d like to post some of the photos I took of the rebuilding and devastation, alas that is not possible. While preparing to leave Leverick Bay, I dropped my
iPhone into the
water. It was only 12’ deep, so I recovered it easily. Unfortunately, though, it was dead and no
repair facility back home was able to resurrect it. Gone forever were some helpful photos for those planning a
BVI charter.
Getting Started
Because of timing, we scheduled our trip for 12/11 through 12/19, hoping to have at least one of our adult
children and their
family join us. When it became obvious that this was not going to happen, we placed a “Crew Wanted” ad on a cruiser forum and, after some
phone calls and emails, invited a couple (Mike and Anjie) that we did not know to join us. It worked out great, and I recommend that if you are looking for some company on a charter you shouldn’t be too afraid of doing something like this. Just do your homework in your interviews with prospects and don’t be in a hurry to select.
We selected the 2018
Dufour 412 GL Liberty “Walk on the Moon” from Dream Yacht Charters. This is a comfortable
boat for two couples, and included
shore power AC. We had no problems with the
boat and it sailed great, even with growth on the bottom. In 20
knot winds on a beam reach it would easily reach 8 to 8.5 knots of SOG. It was also easy to sail, although we had to be careful when raising the main. With the fully battened main and stack pack, it was not difficult to catch a batten in the lines of the stack pack. However, this is not a problem as you simply direct the boat so the
wind shifts the main slightly to allow the main to be raised.
The dingy was very acceptable, although we did have problems with the
motor. On the second day, it appeared to be running very rich. We stopped for the night at Virgin Gorda Yacht Club and DYC sent a
mechanic to take a look. After a bit of
work, the
mechanic said he wasn’t sure what exactly was happening, but that it was safe to use the
motor and if we had any other problems DYC would quickly assist us. We used it for another couple of days, but finally it gave out and DYC met us at Cane Garden and replaced the motor.
The Trip
Because we were arriving on the later American Airlines flight, we chose to take a
water taxi (Sea Horse Water Taxi) to Hodge Creek Marina, where DYC was based (during our charter DYC moved their base to Scrub Island). The water taxis aren’t
cheap, but it was nice to get there and get settled in. Sea Horse was very friendly, quick on their
email responses, on schedule and provided everything we expected.
When we arrived, DYC pointed out the boat to us and it was all prepared for our sleepover. We knew there were no restaurants at Hodge Creek, so we had placed an order from Riteway. They arrived that evening with most of what we ordered. Apparently they were out of stock on some things, substituting some items and not including anything for others. Yet, the order
price was the same(?). We weren’t sure why, but in the future we would order only the bare minimum and provision the next morning.
In the morning we received our boat briefing, had breakfast, checked the
forecast and left around 1230. The
wind was only 5kts, so we motor sailed to Spanish Town. Spent the night and then headed to The Baths.
After a nice time at the Baths, we headed down to
Cooper Island. We arrived at
Cooper at 1445 and grabbed the very last
mooring ball. We were surprised that all the balls were already taken so early at this time of the year. Several boats came in after us and probably had to
head to Peter Island.
That night was a rock-and-roll night. With the winds from one direction and the swells from another, every boat, including the catamarans, were rocking and rolling. It was quite uncomfortable and it’s doubtful we would spend another night there. We would opt to go to Great Harbor on Peter Island instead.
The next morning Mike and I were met for a
diving excursion on the Wreck of the Rhone. Unfortunately, the currents through the pass were running 9-10kts, so we moved to another couple of areas. After our morning dives, we packed up and headed to Leverick Bay. It was one of our favorite locations the last time we sailed the BVIs, so we were looking forward to spending the night there. With winds at 20-25kts, we had a nice brisk sail up to Leverick.
The next morning, we sailed from Leverick all the way to The Bight at Norman Island. Unfortunately, while leaving Leverick is when I dropped my
iPhone. Gone were my photos of Spanish Town, The Baths and Cooper. But our four hour sail to Norman was really good and fast. That night we had a wind storm (40kt winds). It was loud, but the ride was not a problem.
The next day we wanted to go to Road Town to spend the night and tour the city. This was our best sailing day with winds around 20kts and SOG of 8.5kts. But unfortunately, there was not a
single slip in any of the
marinas available for the night. So, we thought we’d go to Nanny Cay – same results. Off to Soper’s Hole to catch a
mooring ball. WOW! (see the last section for the description) We didn’t stay at Soper’s and heading to Cane Garden.
We spent two nights on a mooring ball at Cane Garden. During the day, we decided to do the zip lines. For four people it was $32 each way for the taxi and the zip lines were $85 each. We enjoyed the zip lines and the views are spectacular. They are still rebuilding from the hurricanes, but they were very friendly and safe.
Since we needed to check out the next day and we had heard great things about Scrub Island, we decided to spend the last night there. We had another good sail up. Since the sailing was good and we had the time, we took the long way around Guana Island, Great Camano and even Scrub Island, coming in from the south side.
We had a wonderful trip and once again Virgin Island Sailing was supreme in their
advice and guidance. We’re already working on booking another trip in October 2019.
Marina/Fuel/Provisioning Statuses
At this point, I’ll go through my opinion of the status of different locations.
Tortola/Hodge Creek Marina: This was the base of DYC when we arrived. It is quite derelict and we did not see any serious rebuilding occurring. There is a smaller grocery store about 15-20 minute walk to the right when you leave the marina. The staff at DYC were very excited about moving to Scrub Island Marina, which is where we ended our charter. RECOMMENDATION: There is no reason to go here.
Virgin Gorda Yacht Club/Spanish Town: There is a lot of rebuilding activity going on here. It appeared there was only one pier with
power (the first one) and they do have ice. The
fuel dock was open and I assume they had water (we did not need either). The old Riteway at the marina is gone and there is no rebuilding happening at this location. However, about a 15 minute walk to the right when exiting the marina is a new, large Riteway. There are taxis available, but we opted to stretch our legs. There is no
wifi at the marina. The showers and restrooms, which were in the old Riteway building, are now behind the marina office on the back side of the white roof building. These are not for the faint of heart. They’re usable and clean enough with good water pressure, but I wouldn’t define them as “nice”. As far as we could tell, there was only one – not one for
men and one for
women.
We had dinner at “The Baths & Turtle”. This is about a five minute walk to the left as you leave the marina. On Wednesday night an all-you-can-eat buffet is available (we chose to eat off the menu) and there was live
music from a
steel drum player. The
food,
service and
price were all good.
The Baths: The biggest change we saw here was the no-access to the beach with a dingy even just to drop people off. This means everyone must swim to the beach. There is a buoy line available to pull yourself along, but there’s still a 50 yard swim. I wish they could figure out a solution to this (or maybe we just didn’t see the solution). RECOMMENDATION: Instead of going to the beach at The Baths, dingy around the south side to Devil’s Bay. While you still do not have access to the beach, the required swim distance is significantly less.
Cooper Island/Manchioneel Bay: They had about 40 mooring balls. The Cooper Island Beach Club is very nice. They have a nice restaurant where we had an excellent dinner, a nice coffee bar, ice cream bar,
rum bar and souvenir shop. All of the staff on the island were great. A non-affiliated boat came by in the morning that offered trash pickup and ice. There is no other
fuel, water, ice or
provisioning available here.
North Virgin Gorda/Leverick Bay Marina: As with our last visit, we enjoyed our stay here, although I missed visiting with Nick. They have about 20 mooring balls, but we chose one of the few slips for
shore power. They have everything available here: fuel, water, ice, very decent provisioning store,
laundry, decent
shower and restroom facilities, a couple of souvenir shops and good restaurants. That night was the all-you-can-eat BBQ, which was great and they had a handful of guys and girls come out on stilts in colorful outfits dancing for entertainment. This is still one of our favorite locations.
Norman Island/The Bight: I estimated they have about 75 mooring balls. It’s kind of strange to come back here because it’s not very crowded. Since the Willy T moved to Great Harbor at Peter Island, the crowds are much less. The restaurant was good, but be aware that in the morning nothing is open, including restrooms. There is no provisioning, ice, water or fuel.
Tortola/Road Town: The only thing you need to know is that you should call ahead and reserve a slip if you want to stay here. Many of the old slips are still destroyed, but are being rebuilt. Since we were unable to get a slip, I don’t personally know the status of the fuel, ice and water, but I suspect these are all available.
Tortola/Soper’s Hole: Sad place. There’s very little rebuilding occurring from what we could see. There is a small café that only serves breakfast, but they do have drinks during the day. It seems like there’s a fuel
dock run by Voyage Charters. We were there on Sunday afternoon, so everything but the little café was closed (and the café closed at 1430). RECOMMENDATION: There’s really no reason to go here.
Tortola/Cane Garden Bay: I estimate about 25 mooring balls. This was one of our favorite bays on our previous trip and it still is. There are several restaurants open along the beach and several others are being rebuilt. We chose to eat at Rhymers one night and Pusser’s Myett’s the other. Both were good. There is a Bobby’s Market down the street to the right from the dingy dock (stay on the road, not the beach) and a smaller market attached to Ryhmers for provisioning. At the north end of the bay there is a fuel, water and ice dock.
PILOTING: Even the 2017/2018 VI Chart Guide says there are two red and two green buoys marking the entrance. However, we only saw one green, which appears to be the inner green buoy. It’s not a treacherous bay to enter, so it’s not a major issue.
Marina Cay Fuel Dock: Although no one answered the
radio calls (not at all uncommon when trying to hail a marina in the BVIs), we pulled up to the dock and it was open. We did not need ice or water, so I don’t know if they have that. There are about 20 mooring balls available.
Scrub Island/Scrub Island Marina: This is a gorgeous, high-end place. With the DYC base now at Scrub Island, I’m not sure if they have transient slips available. It looked very crowded, so you’ll want to contact them before you get there to see if you can reserve a slip. If they don’t have slips available, you can catch a mooring ball at Marina Cay and dingy over to Scrub Island. They do not have fuel (hence the need to go to Marina Cay). They do have water and ice. There is a small place to provision inside the Deli. The showers and restrooms are top-notch – best in the BVIs as far as I’ve seen. The restaurant is outstanding, although not
cheap (since we were celebrating our 37 anniversary and Mike and Anjie were celebrating their 25 anniversary, this was our anniversary dinner).