BVI Day 6 – 25/02 Marina Cay to Virgin Gorda

The weather forecast indicated that today would be the last day of relatively calm winds before they start to pick up again and stay that way until after the weekend. What we have learned since sailing in the BVI’s is that the weather forecast is overall indicating lower winds than the actual winds during the day. Especially the gusts can be of much higher (sometimes double) the wind speed than given in the forecast.

With stronger winds on the horizon again, we decided to make our way further East (into the wind) today and head to Virgin Gorda. (this translates into “Fat Virgin”). So we slipped our mooring lines at 10:00, went around the reef of Marina Cay and set sail. The winds were already at a steady 18 knots so we decided to start with the first reef in the main + full genua again.

Within a few minutes we were in a sort of race with a couple of boats also trying to tack out of the Marina Cay / Beef Island area into the channel and then head East. We were the only charter boat of that pack and probably the smallest in size but we quickly left them behind us. (and we were not even really trying…..)

Once in the Sir Francis Drake channel the true winds were mostly above 20 knots, sometimes giving apparent winds of far over 30 knots.

So we were glad that we had made the right decision to start with a reef in the main. Our “988” actually handles very well in these conditions, will do speeds well over 8 knots and is perfectly balanced on the rudder. Not bad at all for a charter.

Not that things could not have been better – the mast can definitely be tuned better than what we have on “988”. The lower and intermediate shrouds seem to be very slack. Maybe next time we have to take our friends from Rake Rigging Medemblik (www.rakerigging.nl) along to get the boat to perform even better!

What we have noticed that not many sailors in this area are very good in sailing close hauled or a close reach. Most tend to constantly end up in irons, then bear off to almost a beam reach or completely give up and just motor into the wind. I am assuming that these are not the locals but just many charterers who have little sailing experience.

After tacking around the Dog islands we followed the mid channel up the coast of Virgin Gorda and reached the entrance of Gorda Sound.

In the distance to the North we could see Necker Island – one of the islands owned by Richard Branson. I believe you can stay there as a couple for about 28.000 Euro a week. (no not for the whole island, just for a nice room – of course food and drinks inclusive). Picture of Necker Island below.

When you enter into Gorda Sound, you approach it from the North around Mosquito Rock and then into a channel around Colquhoun Reef. After the channel you are in deep water again and you have very navigational hazards left. We picked up a mooring at the Bitter End Yacht Club (http://www.beyc.com/). Again a very nice day of sailing with 2.5 hours time from mooring to mooring. Not bad!

Gorda Sound is a large protected area with many different marina’s, mooring areas and interesting places to anchor. We just might stay here for two nights – so much to see and do.

For today we used the dinghy to head over to the QuarterDeck and pay our mooring fee. Once we had left our $35 fee, we started to check out the BEYC and hotel. They certainly have a very nice piece of the shoreline here and it is all maintained very well and clean.

After a few drinks at the beach bar at BEYC we picked up the dinghy again to head over to Saba Rock (http://www.sabarock.com/). This is a very small island between BEYC and Prickly Pear Island and it is a very nice location right in the middle of the connection between Gorda Sound and Eustatia Sound. Great views from here and a very nice and trendy bar. This is the first place in the BVI’s where they offered Mojito’s with fresh mint, so we could not resist.

Then a dingy ride back to “988” for some relaxation and a shower before we went to the Clubhouse Steak and Seafood Grille at BEYC for dinner. Nice food and good service but it comes at a price. Definitely not cheap here but that was to be expected as they rent out rooms at $1000/night. We were thankful that we only had to pay for dinner and then could go back to our floating hotel room “988” which was waiting for our return.

A few more hours of relaxation in the cockpit and then to bed. We will see what we will do tomorrow…….stay another day, or go……….