Leave for BVI in five days.
A 10 day bareboat trip on a 50 foot Beneteau.
I can't work. All I do is watch sailing videos on YouTube.
BVI
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CaptainScott
- Site Admin
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- Location: Washington State
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2nd generation
- Posts: 140
- Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 6:50 am
- Location: Stevensville, MI
I know that count down feeling to BVI. Bareboat chartered thru the Moorings in Tortola 3 times. If you have the time make the crossing to Anegada it is worth the trip. If you do take a taxi to Loblolly Bay and spend the day on the beach and eat at the restaurant there. One of my favorite places is the beach bar on Cooper island very laid back and relaxing
Have a great trip!!!!!!!!!!!!
A few pictures to keep you dreaming.
This is a Beneteau 50.
Have a great trip!!!!!!!!!!!!
A few pictures to keep you dreaming.
This is a Beneteau 50.
Mike
(former owner of) 1975 C-22 "Mel-O"
(former owner of) 1975 C-22 "Mel-O"
This makes our 5th trip to BVI. Did Anegada last time - had a blast.
We keep talking about trying another location, but we have such a great time at BVI we always go back.
This year we may go to St. John's. I guess my favorite place is snorkeling the Indians and drinking at Marina Cay, but it's all good.
We keep talking about trying another location, but we have such a great time at BVI we always go back.
This year we may go to St. John's. I guess my favorite place is snorkeling the Indians and drinking at Marina Cay, but it's all good.
I was in the BVI just this last March (and last July, and have been there a few Decembers too). Great place to sail with many destinations, all within a days sail.
If you go to Anagada on that 50 footer, DON'T pick up a mooring in the second mooring field!! It's way shallow, trust me... I speak from experience:
Well, it was the second time I sailed from Virgin Gorda to Anagada, and it was an easy beam reach the whole way, winds were 15-20kts, with 4ft seas. Not a problem on the Jeaneau 42 we chartered through Conch Charters (11 days for $2200 awesome deal). Best to make sure you have good binoculars, as it is surrounded by the third largest reef in the world, there is only one way in and you have to spot those channel markers. There was only one outside channel marker (red), so we kept it close on our starboard side, farther down the channel was a green, so we made a hard left around that mark. If you get too close to shore, you'll hit the unmarked reef. Seems that the hurricanes keep taking the channel markers away, and they are in no hurry to replace them.
Having done this before on a Jeaneau 36, with a shallower draft I might add, we headed straight through the first mooring field and through a small channel to the second mooring field. All was fine, though our depth finder said we had 4.8ft. Now if that was true, we should have been hard aground having that 6ft keel under us, so I figured that it must be wrong. We were kicking up some sand as we maneuvered our way around and picked up the mooring, but we did not touch bottom. . . at least not yet. As we had lunch, I felt the first "bump", and then a couple of times later. I figured with the almost non-exitent tides in the area, this should not be a problem, so we went to shore and left the boat for a couple of hours.
Well, I guess there was more tide than I thought, and when we first came in, it must have been high. (They don't give you tide charts at the charter company, becuase with tides at less than a foot, what difference would it make?) We had bought some ice ashore, and I decided that it would be faster to go back to our boat by myself, as I can get the dinghy on a plane with one person. As I approached, I noticed that the boat was listing a bit. Once I stepped aboard, I could feel the boat rock back and forth on the keel.
That night was going to be uncomfortable, unless we moved to deeper water. I returned to the dock to pick up my three companions, and told them that we needed to move.
There was a mooring that we passed by on the way in that I recalled was a few inches deeper than the one were were on, so I figured we could just slide on over to that. Not as easy as it sounds. The boat was definately aground. I ran the motor in reverse for a bit, hoping that I could blast some of that sand away in front of the keel, but she just would not budge. We were still tied to the mooring, so the next thing to try was to use it to kedge off. We put the rope around the windless and put tension on it as I motored forward. Hah! we moved. But only about a foot, and the dock line we were using was looking a little stressed.
I suddenly had an idea, so I shouted up to the foredeck to slack off of the mooring line as much as possible, so the bow could move freely. I throttled up and began turning the helm hard to port, and then hard to starbourd. Back and forth, back and forth, we began to wriggle our way forward like an eel in the mud. First a foot, then three more, there were cheers from the foredeck and I gave the order to let go the mooring line. We suddenly came to a stop again, but this time I just kept wriggleling and we got through it.
We tied up at the next mooring over, in "5.2ft" of water, and had a restful night without another problem. I thought the whole experience was educational and fun, but none of the others on board wanted to try it again.
We are always looking for people to join us when we charter. It seems that most of our friends are either not sailors, or don't have the money. If anyone is interested, let me know.
--Richard
If you go to Anagada on that 50 footer, DON'T pick up a mooring in the second mooring field!! It's way shallow, trust me... I speak from experience:
Well, it was the second time I sailed from Virgin Gorda to Anagada, and it was an easy beam reach the whole way, winds were 15-20kts, with 4ft seas. Not a problem on the Jeaneau 42 we chartered through Conch Charters (11 days for $2200 awesome deal). Best to make sure you have good binoculars, as it is surrounded by the third largest reef in the world, there is only one way in and you have to spot those channel markers. There was only one outside channel marker (red), so we kept it close on our starboard side, farther down the channel was a green, so we made a hard left around that mark. If you get too close to shore, you'll hit the unmarked reef. Seems that the hurricanes keep taking the channel markers away, and they are in no hurry to replace them.
Having done this before on a Jeaneau 36, with a shallower draft I might add, we headed straight through the first mooring field and through a small channel to the second mooring field. All was fine, though our depth finder said we had 4.8ft. Now if that was true, we should have been hard aground having that 6ft keel under us, so I figured that it must be wrong. We were kicking up some sand as we maneuvered our way around and picked up the mooring, but we did not touch bottom. . . at least not yet. As we had lunch, I felt the first "bump", and then a couple of times later. I figured with the almost non-exitent tides in the area, this should not be a problem, so we went to shore and left the boat for a couple of hours.
Well, I guess there was more tide than I thought, and when we first came in, it must have been high. (They don't give you tide charts at the charter company, becuase with tides at less than a foot, what difference would it make?) We had bought some ice ashore, and I decided that it would be faster to go back to our boat by myself, as I can get the dinghy on a plane with one person. As I approached, I noticed that the boat was listing a bit. Once I stepped aboard, I could feel the boat rock back and forth on the keel.
That night was going to be uncomfortable, unless we moved to deeper water. I returned to the dock to pick up my three companions, and told them that we needed to move.
There was a mooring that we passed by on the way in that I recalled was a few inches deeper than the one were were on, so I figured we could just slide on over to that. Not as easy as it sounds. The boat was definately aground. I ran the motor in reverse for a bit, hoping that I could blast some of that sand away in front of the keel, but she just would not budge. We were still tied to the mooring, so the next thing to try was to use it to kedge off. We put the rope around the windless and put tension on it as I motored forward. Hah! we moved. But only about a foot, and the dock line we were using was looking a little stressed.
I suddenly had an idea, so I shouted up to the foredeck to slack off of the mooring line as much as possible, so the bow could move freely. I throttled up and began turning the helm hard to port, and then hard to starbourd. Back and forth, back and forth, we began to wriggle our way forward like an eel in the mud. First a foot, then three more, there were cheers from the foredeck and I gave the order to let go the mooring line. We suddenly came to a stop again, but this time I just kept wriggleling and we got through it.
We tied up at the next mooring over, in "5.2ft" of water, and had a restful night without another problem. I thought the whole experience was educational and fun, but none of the others on board wanted to try it again.
We are always looking for people to join us when we charter. It seems that most of our friends are either not sailors, or don't have the money. If anyone is interested, let me know.
--Richard
--Richard
'77 Chrysler C26 "Imori"
'77 Chrysler C26 "Imori"
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clair hofmann
- Posts: 221
- Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2005 6:20 pm
- Location: S.E.Pa / Inner banks NC
Any of you ever chartered a catamaran? We had a 36' Fountain Pageot out of British Tortola about 15 years ago. We were out for 13 days. Cats are much more comfortabale than monos. The galley and salon are on the main deck where you can enjoy the veiw. The speed is amazing while sailing flat and the dingy hangs in davits .
You can sit up foward on the tramp and watch the water rush by below. Leaving and boarding the boat are done by the steps at the back of each hull. Easier after a long night at the beach bar than climbing a ladder.
They're a little more forgiving regarding water depth. Many places, for short stays, lunch, snorkeling you can drop your anchor right on the beach.
Clair
You can sit up foward on the tramp and watch the water rush by below. Leaving and boarding the boat are done by the steps at the back of each hull. Easier after a long night at the beach bar than climbing a ladder.
They're a little more forgiving regarding water depth. Many places, for short stays, lunch, snorkeling you can drop your anchor right on the beach.
Clair
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Mario G