12/22/25-Privateer Cove, Norman Island, BVI
We slept late because of the rough weather overnight. We are
loving this cove, great protection and plenty of great snorkeling. The boats
come and go on a daily base, generally departing by 1000 and the new crowd
fills in by 1600.
We enjoyed a long Snorkel all around the cove. We saw a
small Sting Ray and lots of tropical fish. The fish and coral book I had for
the Med was the size of a dime store paperback. For the Caribbean I have two
thick books, one for coral and one for fish.
It was time for some provisions and a couple odd items at
the hardware store. In particular I needed a dowel rod to secure my wind
reflector. We packed up and headed out in the afternoon to Road Town, Tortola,
the biggest town in the islands. We anchored outside of the main harbor off of
a little beach on the east side of the bay. The access to shore looked good
even if the anchorage was a little dicey. We were just on the shoreside of a
series of huge mooring balls for a small ship, with a rock wall and dredge to
the south and a rock jetty to the north. A pilot boat came by, and I figured he
was going to tell us to leave. Instead, he asked if we were OK? We said yes and
asked if it was OK to anchor here, he said yes. I will say that the local
people we interacted with have been super helpful and friendly.
It was 1700 and the stores close around 1800 so we decided to do a little recon and find a place to park the dinghy and locate the stores. We found a dock that looked a bit rough but serviceable and locked up the dinghy. The general recommendation in the Islands is to keep things locked up though I have not heard of any firsthand accounts of theft. On shore we asked about the stores, and they said that OneMart was the place to go, a couple blocks dat way on the right. This turned out to be the holy grail of groceries stores. We walked the store and picked up a couple items but decided to come back tomorrow with our wagon.
The sun was setting by the time we got back to the dinghy.
We heard some thrashing in the water and Suzette screamed, “There’s a dog that
fell in the water”. I look to see a bulldog, still on his leash attached to the
dock thrashing to stay afloat. I move to go pull him out but a man on shore said
he is ok leave him alone. Now I am rattled, its getting dark and I decided that
we should leave quickly. Now I am a bit out of control trying to avoid a line
in the water on one side, an old board sticking out of the water and the props
on an out-board engine parked at the dock. I managed to hit the prop on the
outboard and it was like a serrated knife with a point. Yes, I holed the
dinghy! Suzette was quick to put a hand on the hole and said let’s get back to
the boat. We went as fast as we could and made it to the boat. We off loaded
the dinghy and got it up on the davits for an inspection, a ½” slit right next
to a seem in the forward chamber, guess what I will be doing tomorrow?
Having calmed down a bit I wanted to work on fixing it immediately,but
it turned out that the PVC adhesive I had was old and there was not enough to
do the repair. I will be at the chandlery in the morning. Oh yea, how am I
going to get there? The way this dinghy is configured it has a vee shaped
bottom that inflates like the inflatable SUPs. This gives a hull almost like a
rib. A little duct tape on the hole and we can limp in.
Despite not being very hungry I managed a little dinner then
off to bed. I do not know what time it was but a ferry, I am guessing, came
roaring past us and rearranged the boat contents. I won’t be giving this
anchorage high marks. We know better than to leave things out on the counters
when out at anchor, I guess I was a bit preoccupied.
12/23/25- Baughers Bay, Road Town, Tortola, BVI
I thought the roosters crow at sunrise, but they seem to
start at about 0400 and so did I. I located two chandleries within walking
distance of our grocery store. I rousted Suzette at about 0700 for coffee and
then we were off to the stores. We parked the dinghy at the same dock, the
devil you know. This is when I could see the serrated daggers for a prop that
this outboard had. The duct tape patch served its purpose.
I walked Suzette to the grocery store and left her there
with the wagon to start shopping. I walked to the chandlery, and they had what
I needed and at surprisingly reasonable prices. I met Suzette at the grocery
store and we filled our wagon. On the way back we noticed a store that looked
like the Chinese stores in Europe, a little bit of everything. It might sound
derogatory to say Chinese store but that is what they were called in Europe.
Generally they were run by Chinese, and they had a myriad of items for sale,
all from China. It was a great place for hard to find odds and ends. They had
the watch battery I needed for my digital caliper and some wooden dowels that
we could make work for our wind reflector. We loaded up the dinghy and
carefully extricated ourselves.
We were underway by 1030 sailing west through the Sir
Francis Drake Channel around the West End of Tortola to Great Harbor on Jost
Van Dyke. It was a great sail winding our way through the islands scattered at
the West End and across the channel. The wind was 10-20 knots east and the sea
was choppy but no big swell. In Great Harbor we decided to pick up a mooring
rather than anchor in 40’ of water near the open end of the harbor. Suzette at
the helm she nailed the mooring buoy and I easily picked it up and secured the
line. This was our first mooring buoy experience in the Caribbean and we did
well.
We jumped in for a swim and discovered what looked like two sharks hanging out on my keel. They had shark bodies, fins and mouth but the tail was more like a regular fish tail than a shark tail. I looked in the fish book and found an Atlantic Sharpnose Shark that looked similar. Later in the dive shop they said it was probably a Tarpon.
Once the sun was getting low, I worked on patching the
dinghy. With the slit close to the seem it was tricky. It was a quiet night
except for the mooring ball bouncing against my hull when the wind went slack. Fortunately,
the mooring ball is plastic so no harm but it is loud.
12/24/25
I woke up to lots shuffling in the salon, it was Suzette who
is never up before me. When I came out, she had wrapped the huge tin of peanuts,
that we bought at OneMart, in Christmas ribbon. It was placed next to the
Christmas tree on the dining table. It made me smile, such a sweet gesture. It
was Christmas Eve, a good day to read and relax. When the mooring field cleared
out we moved to a different mooring, furthest from shore in hopes of less bugs
and more breeze, though the bugs have not been a problem. The moorings are
close together and we are the longest boat in the mooring field, we were
looking for more room.
We walk the town, Foxy’s to check our reservation for
dinner, dive shop to find out about our shark…Tarpon, the bakery for some fresh
bread, the tiny market for some lettuce and Foxy’s gift shop for some new flip
flops. We had been here before with our friends Kevin and Miriam back in 2002
on Kevin’s Outbound 46. I recalled that with them we were walking the beach
when we came across a guy stringing extension cords together and running them
out to a pump to pump out his mostly sunken boat. I hope no one got
electrocuted.
We arrived at Foxy’s at about 1900 for dinner and the tables were beginning to fill. Lots of salty sailors, crew and guests filled the restaurant. We lingered over cocktails, appetizers and a delicious fresh fish dinner. The band was playing a Caribbean infused eighties sound so we hit the dance floor to work off dinner. In an open area outside people were playing Jingo so we watched them play and they were good. We challenged the winners and managed to win. Though I have to admit that the last successful piece was pulled by a local just passing by and he pulled from the bottom!
We became fast friends with our Jingo competitors, Peter, Masako, Scott, Susie and their 20 something kids. Scott and Susie own a moorings catamaran here in the BVI so they can use it or trade for boats in other places. Peter and Masako were on a chartered monohull and were good friends with Scott and Suzie. Together we closed down the bar, it was officially Christmas Day when we went home!
12/25/25-Great, Harbor, Jost Van Dyke, BVI
At 0530 the mooring ball was banging on the hull. I had
dressed it in one of my old sweatshirts, so it was more of a thud. It turned
out that in the light shifting breeze we were pinned up against the mooring
line that led to the sea floor. It was wrapped on my keel. When the sun came up,
I jumped in to see that the line was clear of my prop and rudder. The water was
warm, so this was no great feat of heroism. We fired up the engine and used the
bow thruster to untangle ourselves from the mooring line.
Mid-morning the wind picked up and a gust flipped my dinghy
over with the electric motor on it but no battery. I flipped it back, rinsed
the motor and saw that my patch was making bubbles. Guess what I am doing today?
And this is Christmas in the Caribbean. There is no question that when you live
on a boat it dictates what you need to do at any given time. More dinghy repair
and fingers crossed the patch will hold. The electric motor was fine.
We invited our new friends over for cocktails and appetizers.
They have been cruising here in the BVIs numerous times, they had some good
recommendations. This was their last day in the BVIs. They were flying to the
Dominican to get on a charter there for a week and then back here for another
week. Hopefully we will see them again in our travels.
For dinner Suzette made a fabulous banana rice dinner, sort
of Thai Caribbean fusion. A deliscious Christmas dinner.
12/26/35-Great Harbor, Lost Van Dyke, BVI
It was a great night of sleep, only a little banging from
the mooring ball. It was sunny with a nice breeze and a bit cooler, or maybe I
am getting acclimated to the heat. We went ashore to pay our mooring bill,
$40/night. We were underway by 0930 in search of our next adventure.
With a 10-15 knot breeze from the east, we enjoyed a great
sail. Crossing the
channel southeast toward Tortola, then tacking back to Little Jost Van
Dyke. We anchored near the south shore in an area identified on the chart for snorkeling.
Dropping the hook in 35’ of water with 3 huge, 65’ cats, we enjoyed lunch and
our new view of the island. After lunch I jumped in to check the anchor but was
concerned that we may be in a position to disrupt the coral with our anchor
chain. On top of that there was no visibility for snorkling.
We relocated to Diamond Cay off of the east end of Jost Van
Dyke and close to Little Jost. The water was not any clearer, but we had a
sandy spot for the anchor in 24’ of water and good protection. After a
refreshing swim we went for a dinghy ride to scope out Long Bay and Diamond Cay. You could see at
the head of the bay that the Atlantic swell was crashing through the isthmus
between Jost and Little Jost. This may be what is messing up the visibility but
in the Cay the water was calm. There are two restaurants here, Foxy’s Taboo and
Bee Line, both open but still rebuilding from hurricane damage.
We enjoyed dinner in the cockpit, cleaning up the leftovers, and enjoying the solitude of being the only boat in the Cay. It seems that the crowds have not arrived yet here in the BVIs.
12/27/28-Diamond Cay, Jost Van Dyke, BVI
It was calm and cool making sleeping in easy. I spent the
morning catching up on paperwork, paying the bills, year end financial stuff
and computer updates. It is hard to believe that 2025 is just about in the
books.
We went for a long snorkel in the cay, but the visibility
was very poor. I did spot a good sized Sea Turtle trolling the bottom, maybe a
30” long shell. The water may have been murky, but the sky was clear and the
breeze had moved to the NE. We went exploring a couple of little islands that
were scattered about on the east end of Jost. Sandy Cay was the first stop, but
the swell was creating a sizable wave so landing the dinghy did not look like a
good option. Next was Green Cay and Sandy Spit but again the swell and waves
prevented a landing. There were a few people walking the sandy island, they had
come by SUP. Last was a drift past Little Jost, the shore is a tangle of
mangroves and rock. When we returned to Diamond Cay we had two new neighbors, a
German flagged boat and a charter, both monohulls.
Despite planning to avoid mooring in the future I did customize my mooring ball cover, draw string at the bottom, reinforcement at the neck, a loop to grab it with, cut off the sleeves and sew the sleeve openings closed.
I have suspected for a while that my house batteries were in
need of replacement. I brought a battery analyzer on this trip and today was
the day. I isolated and check all the batteries, 5 out of 6 said replace. I
will start shopping, but I know these will not fit in my suitcase.
Dinner was grilled vegis over pasta. We are happy that
squash is a local vegetable, it is one of our favorites for this meal, along
with cherry tomatoes and onion. With very little wind the boat wandered on its
anchor occasionally putting the small swell on our beam gently rocking the
boat.
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