More British Virgin Islands

Continuing in the British Virgin Islands, we headed to the northeast end of Virgin Gorda Island, sailing past two islands that are owned by the famous billionaire Sir Richard Branson known for his Virgin Group empire (records, airline, cell phones, space); he was knighted for his entrepreneurship.

His islands are Necker and the most recently acquired and undergoing development of Mosquito, the latter almost connected to Virgin Gorda.

Branson's Necker Island

We found a quiet beachfront spot to anchor in the lee of Prickly Pear Island in the large well-protected sound. Every time we anchor, small fish find shade and protection under our hull but here we were surprised to see a large remora, at least a metre long, in the school. We coaxed him out with crackers for a snapshot. Note the flat suction section on top of its head that he uses to attach himself for free rides on boats or larger fish.

Remora

We dinghied around the bay to see how Irma affected these parts. Apparently they took a direct hit and it showed. However the BVIs seemed to have responded quickly and new buildings are going up, some already completed and in business, such was the case when we stopped at Leverick Bay on the Virgin Gorda side of the bay where we enjoyed rum punches.

Leverick Bay

Another perfect evening was spent alone when we picnicked on the beach at Prickly Pear where, by the lambent flames of our campfire, we watched the sun set and barbecued our veggie burgers. We took Chanty along, to her objection, however as the daylight faded she felt more secure and at ease.

Beach barbecue

On the move again, we sailed a few miles in the warm trade winds to the southwest end of Virgin Gorda with a frisson of excitement to see the Baths, a most popular and unusual natural setting. The Baths are granite boulders stacked along the sandy shore, as though some fairy tale giant placed them perfectly to allow passageways in, around, and under them and where the emerald waters washed through creating sea pools. You are not allowed to take your dinghy ashore so this required securing it to a buoy line about 100 meters out and swimming to shore.

Lost in the Baths

We left in the afternoon for the next, Cooper Island. The only anchorage there is very deep and filled with mooring balls which were all either occupied or reserved. We picked a spot to anchor on the perimeter and ran a stern line ashore to try to hold us in place and avoid the catamaran moored close by.

Cooper Island sunset

But returning to Sea Turtle at sunset, we discovered a line was led from the catamaran to Sea Turtle with a few dinghies around it. The convolution of winds and tides had made it a less than ideal situation putting us dangerously close to rocks on shore and the catamaran was endeavouring to prevent that.

We quickly boarded, thanking them as we moved to a more secure, yet deep anchorage at the other end of the pack. This had not been our defining moment of anchoring. It was payback time for the times Jordan had rescued inexperienced boaters in the Med that yielded us bottles of wine for our help. So later, we delivered a bottle of gratitude to the catamaran.

More BVI anchorages:
N18°30.278' W064°22.318' Mar 15 Prickly Pear
N18°26.345' W064°26.690' Mar 17 Virgin Gorda (Big Trunk Bay)
N18°22.932' W064°30.983' Mar 17 Cooper (Manchioneel Bay)