British Virgin Islands exit

Still in the British Virgin Islands, we checked out Peter Island as we sailed past and seeing no inviting anchorages continued a bit farther to Norman at Privateer Bay. This island, and the caves we snorkelled, was what some believe was the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island novel. The treasure we found was the glassy clear waters and numerous fish.

Cave entrance

A bit of red sponge on cave walls

3-foot barracuda cruising by

Snorkelling in the Caribbean so far has been in pretty clear waters, sometimes up to 15-m (50-ft) visibility. From our experiences though, we were disenchanted in the lack of sea life beneath the surface. The coral was pallid and paltry and equally disappointing was the lack of abundant and varied fish life. The other surprise was, for us, the inexplicable absence of dolphins. What was encouraging to see however were plenty of sea turtles!

An unexpected visitor swimming beneath Sea Turtle, a sleek sting ray carousing with fish friends, was spotted by Jordan.

A ray and his buddy

Our last BVI stop was at Road Harbour on the main Island of Tortola, anchoring in a tight cove of small marinas and numerous shipwrecked yachts left from Irma. The photo below shows salvage efforts to raise this Irma casualty...

Water being pumped out

We pulled into the fuel dock just as Sir Richard Branson was doing the same in his runabout. He offered a pleasant greeting and a brief chat about his development on Mosquito Island.

After fuel fill-up, was an overnight moorage without going ashore at Saint John of the US Virgin Islands where we would depart for Puerto Rico the next morning.

Anchorages:
N18°18.659' W064°37.615' Mar 18 BVI Norman (Privateer Bay)
N18°25.518' W064°36.973' Mar 20 BVI Tortola (Road Harbour)
N18°21.268' W064°45.535' Mar 21 USVI Saint John (Cinnamon Bay)