Things to do BVI January 2010

The Bitter End and Saba Rock are great places. I anchor off Prickly Pear and try to stay just in range of the Saba Rock WiFi (plus it makes for a quick dinghy trip to/from the bar). My boat is on the hard in Antigua right now, but it is just a quick sail back to the BVI and I love the islands. This season I'll not spend too much time there, as I intend on heading out through the Panama canal somewhere around March 2010. I looked at the cruising routes last night and thought about checking out the northern Caribbean (Cuba, Jamaica) and then doing the 500 mile hop down to Panama straight from Jamaica instead of the usual route down the windwards and then to the ABCs then Panama. Luckiliy I'm not an American nor is my boat US registered so Cuba isn't a problematical destination; although I gather that the embargo restrictions are slowly being removed.


North Sound

Cane Garden Bay is a place that you will need to be careful in the January time frame. It is open to the Northern Swells and can be very rollie but the biggest danger is going into the dingy dock. It is very poorly designed and I've seen several dinks pinned under it punchered and sunk or flipped. You can get swells that will wash the dink dock at times. Often better to visit CGB by taxi from one of the Southern anchorages of Tortola or Trellis or even West End. It is worth half a day and you can walk to the old rum distillery that is still in operation and buy a small sample. Would not recommend getting a big supply... it is a bit rough!! Not a lot of Temp range control of the process which introduces baddie into the product.

If you have been before and your group likes to hike, several trails are available on Norman Island that provide great views and a few secluded beaches.

If your willing to go through the Customs in's and outs' a hope over to St John will provide you with more hiking trails than you could cover in your time. Waterlemon is a great place to swim with turtles and an easy snorkel along the reef. It also has several easy hiking trails, one to the old Danish Sugar Mill and Rum factory and one up to the old Travelers lodge ruins with a Killer view and one longer and a bit harder one over to Coral Bay. Only problem with going to St. John in USVI is you will have to pass out of BVI check into USVI then check back into BVI.... assuming you are all American Citizens. Not a hard process and it would give you the opportunity to visit Cruze Bay for customs check in and a short visit of the town and National Park Service Offices. You will need to have your charter company provide you the documentation and info to do the check in and outs.

While each mooring provider typically has their own rules the most frequent one I have seen is they "Warn/Require" you to leave the mooring if winds exceed 40 MPH. They are tested to a load limit and they feel that is about when they will take no liability for the moorings.

I've been in The Bight at Norman Island at night when a squall hit with winds in the 30MPH area for a few minutes. It felt as though the aft of the boat was being lifted out of the water by the bimini. Being a pitch black night I can't think of a worst time for 80 or so boats to all cut loose and head for the Sir Francis Drake Channel.

As it was and is typical, you can get some people who will anchor In Side a Mooring field. To keep from banging into other moored boats they have very short scope and they blew away in a few minutes.... saw a few hair raising near misses and I'm sure a few sets of shorts were soiled before it was over.

Don't think running engine to attempt to hold your ground would be effective as the wind changes quickly and you have no effective helm control unless you have water moving by your rudder which in mooring situation you do not have..... just winds slamming you. Probably not a bad idea to have it ready but your going to get blasted by the storm and will have limited if any view at off of what is going on around you.

Most stay below decks and batten down all hatches but prepare for what ever may come and hope it does not. Probably the safest thing to do most of the time. With very few boats in charter set up for center life line use with a harness, going forward to release or even to pick up the lines if they broke away would be dangerous on a heaving wind blown deck with out the safety harness and center life lines in place for attachment.

Winter months are when most fast moving squalls hit the VI's but they can and do happen year around so keep alert by monitoring the weather reports several times a day and always before you bed down for the night,

Most of the time you will have great sailing and very smooth moorings and anchorages.

Fair Winds and calm moorings