Captain's Logbook - British Virgin Isles - July 2024
Just before the beginning of the hurricane season, July is a great time to visit the BVIs to avoid the crowds. While charter captains and sailing passengers alike enjoy a great deal of exclusivity from the main islands of the BVIs, this is an especially good time to enjoy the smaller islands and cays that make up the jewels of this “necklace” archipelago. One of our very favorite trips, it offers something for every sailor – steady prevailing winds, hospitable ports of call, gorgeous water for snorkeling or paddleboarding, and plenty of good food and drink. It’s truly a sailor’s paradise and a great time of year to go adventuring in the British Virgin Islands.
DAY THREE - SAILING TO VIRGIN GORDA and THE BATHS
We had a very calm and relaxing sleep at Marina Cay, moored gently in Low Bay, under the protection of Mother Turtle Reef. After a hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, and jam, the crew discussed the day’s sail to Spanish Town on Virgin Gorda. For the most proficient sail, we would raise sails immediately to thread the narrow passage between Great Camanoe and Scrub Island. To keep our targeted speed of 5.5 to 6.5 knots, we would need to use a single reef so that we could better control the boat in the steady and favorable winds of the BVIs. The crew was excited and performed well as I walked them through raising the jib and main sail. It’s not easy to put up sail in such tight quarters of the passage, but it makes for a really exciting beginning to the adventure.
Once we were underway, I began to instruct our two youngest crew members on the finer points of sailing, such as how to find their bearings, both on their compass as well as visually. To get the heading to Virgin Gorda, we needed to maneuver around the northeastern corner of Scrub Island by tacking back and forth from Kitto Ghut on Great Camanoe, back towards Scrub, and again to open Atlantic with the Dog Islands on our starboard side.
Our heading of 155 degrees Southeast would take us straight into Spanish Town harbor, about 4 nautical miles away from our last tack. Letting the young sailors take turns at the helm, I held a knot tying class to get the crew acquainted with some of the most important nautical knots for a sailing vessel. We were nicely making way at about 6.5 knots across the Sir Francis Drake Channel to Virgin Gorda, and arrived in just a few hours from setting sail.
As we arrived in St. Thomas Bay at Virgin Gorda, we realized that many of the mooring balls left were either too shallow for comfort with our 6 foot draft, or too close to other boats. We decided to drop anchor in the bay away from the other boats and dinghy into Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor, where we could grab an open air island taxi to The Baths. The Baths National Park is an astounding collection of massive granite boulders, reaching as large as 40 feet in diameter, that are scattered and piled along the rocky shoreline on the Southwestern tip of Virgin Gorda. The shoreline and the boulders create white sand beaches, crystal clear water, and secret rock pools that are truly one of the most beautiful spots in the British Virgin Isles. Trails, walks, and wooden steps take you to such wonders as Devil’s Bay, beautiful hidden pools riddled with rays of sunlight and amazing rock formations that evoke feelings of Pirates and cursed treasure. After a hike and swim, we enjoyed delicious island cuisine and drinks at The Top of the Baths restaurant, shops, and wading pool.
Once refreshed and relaxed, the crew headed back to the Calypso and our next destination for the night, Saba Rock. Saba Rock is a small islet set in the middle of a reef protected inlet to the Gorda Sound at the Northeastern end of Virgin Gorda. It used to be a ramshackle bar and restaurant favored by locals and sailors alike, featuring a single bathroom at the top of a set of questionable stairs. Today, it is a high-end resort and restaurant offering a beautiful view of the water on both sides. The mooring field is located in Eustatia Sound, just yards from Saba Rock, but the rest of the crew decided instead to take the short dinghy ride over to the legendary Bitter End Yacht Club, while I and First Mate Anne prepared a hamburger dinner on the boat. The Bitter End Yacht Club has been an institution on Virgin Gorda for over 50 years, has just been newly rebuilt after Hurricane Irma. They have done a great job with the restaurant, bar, and small bodega there. The others enjoyed the waterside view of the Sound, the warmth and outgoing spirit of the locals, and good island rum drinks. Upon their return we sat down to our first of four dinners on board, which we enjoyed outside on the cockpit table with the beautiful sounds of the sea and the magnificent underwater lights of the other moored yachts, glowing in the clear water in blues and greens.