After cleaning and re-provisioning the boat in St. Martin with ….. you guessed right: good Bordeaux wines, French cheeses and bread and all the other culinary delights available….. we started out with a new crew – Monika, Thomas and Anja, Jutta, Timmo and left over from the last leg, Susanne.
To ease the crew in we began the next day with a short 8 miles trip across to Anguilla. Compared to mountainous St. Martin it looked a bit like a pancake on the horizon, but in fact it is known for its long white beaches. We anchored in Road Bay and again visited customs and immigration to clear in. The bay had been subjected to a hurricane storm in the late 90’s and the results are still clearly visible.
Then it got a bit more serious and the next leg was a 70 miles overnight sail to the British Virgin Islands. We decided to use Dog Island as a jumping board. 10 miles away from Anguilla directly to north-west we stopped there for the day and what a place ….
After a grounding dinner we headed off just before dusk and for all the new crewmembers it was a first time experience to sail overnight. The watch teams were set up and we set forth to conquer the night. The stars were a bit shy and hard to navigate to, but the helms women were still successful and we arrived safely in Virgin Gorda
After clearing in at Spanish Town we sailed to the Bitter End resort located at top end of the island. The North Sound is a bay surrounded by numerous larger and smaller islets and extensive reefs and is home to a number of exclusive resorts and marinas. It is a paradise for the uninitiated snorkelers to make their first safe Caribbean underwater experiences. We docked at the Bitter End Yacht Club for re-provisioning, shopping, internet and of course ‘Happy Hour/s’ at the Crawl Pub
Then we turned south again along the Sir Francis Drake Channel and the chain of island making up the southern fringe of the channel. First stop were The Bath, a garden of massive granite boulders piled up randomly, surrounded by wonderful snorkeling grounds. On land you can discover the cave walk, which leads you through and under the boulders to Devil’s beach.
The next few days we stopped at all the little isles like Cooper Island, Salt Island and last Norman island. On Salt Island we found 'our' Robinson Crusoe set up: an empty island with some houses belonging to a local family and a deserted beach. We snorkeled to the beach and discovered an abundance of conch shells laying on the sea floor. With the permission of one of the family members, a fisherman who happened to be on the island collecting hermit crabs for bait we dived for enough conch shells to make a meal. We collected some tools from the boat and on the beach proceeded with extracting the meat from the shells, cleaning and tenderizing it coral rocks. Then we turned it into a wonderful meal for the evening - fresher it ain't be possible .....
Next on the itinerary was Susanne’s birthday. We celebrated with cake and champagne, followed by a rustic meal on the party schooner called William Thornton, which is permanently anchored [what a great idea !!!] in 'The Bight' on Norman Island. After the meal we had a dance before leaving the party boat, but were invited to listen on during most of the night.
We crossed the Channel to Tortola, the main island of the British Virgins and made a day stop in Smuggler’s Cove to extent our snorkeling experiences. Then we were headed for Cane Garden Bay. Up to now we experienced the Virgin Islands as a sailing paradise, but what we were missing was the true Caribbean spirit and presence of their people. Cane Garden Bay made up for it. Great beach bars and the Callwood Family rum distillery were proof that the British Virgin Islands were still Caribbean.
Last stop but certainly not least was a little dream atoll called Sandy Spit, located off Jost Van Dyke island. Shall we let the pictures do the talking …..
Soper’s Hole was our final destination for this leg – a British Virgin Island special
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