Doing the Virgins

Sunny Caribbee: 5-7 Jul 08

Bruce out for a spin

Bruce’s (our dingly – sorry Bruce – it’s such an Ocker name) outboard was playing up, so we had to order a new black box. “I’ll check out back,” the man said. Then later, “I'll have to order one in”. We decided to wait away from the swelter of A Dock and explore more of the BVI’s famous anchorages. First stop – Cane Garden Bay; but by sea rather than road roller coaster…  

The trip was effortless. We admired Soper’s Hole (yet another pirate lair) and by-passed Teach Island (named after Blackbeard) before rounding West End and into a sudden rain squall. It was the most rain we’d seen for weeks. Water is generally sourced by desalination (& is quite expensive!!), so we tossed up whether to get out our wet weather gear or a cake of soap!

Cane Gardens was relatively quiet, but Hollywood’s new found friends managed to track him down. It was the last we saw of him for the evening. He managed to bring back a few more friends the next morning….the beach was crowded. Finally the penny dropped – a cruise ship had docked in Road Town! Our idyll was shattered…

Hollywood hard at work

The next day we cruised past the top end islands spotting Windjammer IV at Marina Cay (as you do). Quite a romantic story attached to this small island but now it’s surrounded by concrete resort developments – quite a confronting contradiction. We cruised on to Virgin Gorda (Fat Virgin – and why not?). Our destination was the famous “Baths” but we chose to hang off on a swelly mooring near Spanish Town until better morning light. The Baths is a boulder strewn coastline supposedly perfect for snorkelling. Although a protected marine environment, the charter cats streamed in… Yep, time to move on.

Time to find out about our engine part; Cap’n S rang the mechanic. “I’ll check out back,” he said. Then later, “I'll have to order one in”. Sounded much too familiar so we decided NOT to wait…

From:  Tortola, Nanny Cay Lat/Long: 18 24N  64 38W  Date/Time: 5/7/08: 1200

To: Baths, Virgin Gourda    Lat/Long: 18 26N  64 27W  Date/Time: 7/7/08: 0900
Time Taken: 27nm (5.5hrs)** Distance (this year): 49nm (16.5hrs)
Distance Total (since 2008): 49nm (16.5hrs)  Weather: Fresh Trade Winds 12-15kts
Fastest Speed: (Nanny Cay to Cane Gardens 11nm; Cane Gardens to Virgin Gorda 16nm)
(** Damn that trip meter! And photos to come folks - when I work out how!)