After Antigua we chartered a sailboat in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) for two weeks. We had chartered sailboats in the San Francisco Bay before, however they were only day trips. We had been to the BVI before in 1996 and 2005 on crewed sailboats (with captain and cook), but had never sailed on our own. This trip was fun, we learned a lot, and we also felt that our classes through Modern Sailing had prepared us well. There was so much to explore that 2 weeks was not enough and we already know we need to go back!
What We Sailed
We rented our boat from Horizon Yacht Charters. We didn’t want it to be too big since there were only two of us onboard. The boat was a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 349 named Venturi 1 which had plenty of room for us. Unfortunately it was unseasonably hot in the BVI this June, and the boat did not come with AC. It got hot at night and when it rained and we had to close the hatches. Sleep was not easy, but the days were a lot of fun. We enjoyed sailing Venturi 1 and had some great experiences navigating around the islands.
Where We Sailed
We had planned an itinerary before we started, but we adjusted it over the two weeks due to weather and changes in what we wanted to do. This trip covered around 130 nautical miles. The two longest sails were between Virgin Gorda and Anegada (E -> F), and Anegada and Can Garden Bay, Tortola (F -> G).
Norman Island
After picking up the boat, Diane was at the helm as we headed over to Norman Island with a nice strong wind. We used the dingy to go snorkeling at the nearby Caves and Indians. The Caves were fun to explore and the amount of fish at the Indians was incredible. We relaxed in the warm water with chair floats we brought along.
Norman Island is also where the famous (or infamous) Willie T floating bar is anchored. We tied Venturi 1 to a mooring ball in the harbor and rode over in the dinghy. In the picture above you can see us at the bar with the bartenders wearing shirts that say “WARDEN” and “PATIENT.” Strong rum drinks are their specialty and people jump from the upper deck into the water.
Cooper Island
Next we visited Cooper island. It has a small resort with a mooring field. When we showed up it was happy hour. They have fun bar tables waist deep in the ocean. It was great to relax and wind down the day. We enjoyed sunset back on the boat and you can see Dave floating in a chair off the back of the boat.
Marina Cay
The next day we sailed over to Marina Cay and got pounded by an intense storm from around sunset to 11:00am the next day. There was flooding on the islands as well. We couldn’t do much besides stay on the boat so we decided to come back later in the trip to visit the island and snorkel nearby Diamond Point.
Virgin Gorda
We had great weather sailing over to Virgin Gorda. The Baths are an amazing group of rock formations on the south end of Virgin Gorda. We moored in Leverick Bay and rented a car to drive across the island to visit them. Even though the steering wheel was on the left we drove on the left. It was a bit odd but there weren’t many cars to make it stressful. The hike through the Baths is a lot of fun, and there are two great swimming beaches on each end. It was a quiet afternoon and we had some sections of the hike to ourselves.
On the way back we stopped at Hog Heaven for dinner. There are stunning views from the restaurant of the islands beyond the east end of Virgin Gorda, including Necker Island owned by Richard Branson.
Anegada
Anegada is a low lying, remote island about 25 nautical miles north of Virgin Gorda. When you leave Virgin Gorda it is over the horizon and you can’t see it until you are about halfway there. We felt like we were sailing out into the open ocean. The entrance to the harbor was a bit tricky with shallow reefs but it was marked well and we kept a close eye on the depth sensor (with only a few feet below the keel in spots) and made it. There were lots of turtles in the mooring field to keep us entertained.
The island has very few people so we rented some scooters to get around. We saw a few sites (a pond with a flamboyance of flamingos and massive conch shell mounds on the reef) then hung out at Cow Wreck Beach at Tipsy by Ann. (Cow Wreck Beach was named after a ship carrying a cargo of cow bones, used to make buttons and fertilizer, wrecked on the reef which resulted in bones washing ashore for years). It was beautiful and we had some sections of the beach completely to ourselves.
For Dave’s birthday we had the most amazing lobster dinner at the Anegada Reef Hotel. At the upper left you can see where the fisherman bring in the lobster and prepare it for grilling. The next picture below is the grill with bowls of butter. The picture on the right is the fresh tasty lobster. It was wonderful!!
Cane Garden Bay
Cane Garden Bay is a fun little beach on the north side of Tortola. Lots of small beach bars with chairs and umbrellas to relax and enjoy the afternoon. Dave enjoyed floating around at sunset.
At the end of the beach we went to the Callwood Rum Distillery and did some rum tasting. They were distilling rum in the kettle on the left while we were there! The only change we noticed from our last visit was the new roof that replaced the one destroyed by Hurricane Irma.
Sandy Spit and Sandy Cay
These two tiny islands near Jost Van Dyke are reminiscent of comic strips that poor cartoon characters are always stuck on. They were fun to visit and on both, for a bit, we had them all to ourselves. Luckily our boat was nearby so we weren’t stranded.
Jost Van Dyke
Jost Van Dyke is famous for the bar Foxy’s. Foxy is in his 80s and does not perform anymore, but we went and chatted with him for a bit and shared some pictures we had of him from our last trip 20 years ago. He also told us a few jokes and did a bit of his reggae. It was great to visit with him.
The other famous bar on Jost is the Soggy Dollar. It has this name because there is no dock in White Bay, so you have to swim from your boat to get to the bar. They have a little cloths line to dry off the money from the swimmers. The catamaran in the center of the picture brought a performer and the crowd in the water was having a blast listening to the music.
Journey’s End
This picture was from our last evening on Norman Island when we ate at Pirate’s Bight. We reminisced about the past couple weeks: fun, sailing, and learning. We had a wonderful adventure and are now starting to think about where we want to sail next.
PS: Double Take
We saw this building in Road Town on Tortola. It would be very unfortunate to walk out of the top three doors…
Awesome, awesome sailing vacation. Will be hard to beat this adventure. Great pictures, beautiful. Glad you only had on day of heavy rain and you were close to shore and not on open ocean. Living la vida loca! Keep it up.