Return to the BVI

This is my fourth time sailing in the BVI, and I have to say, it’s still a top destination for a reason. Yes, it’s crowded with charter boats, and most of the best bays are $50/night at a mooring ball, but for us as committed free anchorers, it’s largely been no problem. We did pay for 3 nights at Norman Island as there was a strong Northerly and few options. That and we REALLY wanted to snorkel the Indians and the caves around the corner, which were both fantastic.

We almost didn’t make it here. We debated heading South to get in a 300 nm sail, in order to qualify for the ARC Rally to Europe in May, a bucket list item for us. But after some soul searching, we decided it was too ambitious. We only just completed the Thorny Path and are in a position to enjoy the Caribbean islands and summer in Grenada & Trinidad. Although an ocean crossing is still a goal for us, we haven’t yet done more than 1 night at sea at a time. We'll do a bigger passage and save the big crossing for a future trip.

So having made that decision, we were free to take our time through the Virgin Islands and get to St. Martin in mid-March to meet our friends from Vancouver who will come visit for a week.

Our Route Through the BVI in 2026

Jost Van Dyke

I went ashore and checked us in. It was very straight forward and efficient and we paid about $150 for 30 days. White Bay was 60% full, and 90% cats. A gorgeous 65ft purple and gold monohull had overtaken us on the way over from St. John and the crew were checking her in at the same time. We were now rubbing shoulders with the upper end of sailors.

We motored around the corner to a favorite spot near Sandy Spit, the most picturesque desert island, and anchored beside a boat full of Norwegian 20 somethings in 'Mega Fun'. I got out the photos from our previous trips and we all watched the slide shows from 1992, 2012, and 2014 when we were last here. It’s these trips with my parents that gave us the taste for cruising! A full circle moment.

We spent a few days here and did a shore excursion to the bubbly pool, where the ocean crashes over some large rocks creating bubbles before it sucks back out again. We hit it at high tide and it was awesome - the kids loved it and didn’t want to leave! I kept telling them not to get sucked out to the ocean – or we would lose them, which added to the danger? Or just my fears as a mom showing up.

The Bite - Norman Island

We sailed over to Norman Island to dodge a strong North Westerly that was coming in. We tried to anchor off the caves on the outside, but it was much too rough, so we had to bite the bullet and pay the $50USD/ night mooring ball fee. Michael made me pay the man collecting fees, he just couldn't stomach it. We even had to race for one of the last balls, beating out an older couple in a cat who were gunning for our ball! They cheekily said they thought we were leaving. Despite the rough weather we snorkeled ‘the Indians’ and ‘The Caves’ which were both exceptional, with underwater passages to swim through and awesome coral formations, like swiming in an underwater fairy land.

As we approached the caves, we saw that they had the swell directly entering them. Initially Flo and I weren’t too keen to enter, but the boys went for it and after that we just had to do it. It was tricky, you had to time your entry and movements through the cave with the rhythm of the waves,  but we navigated our way through to the little beach at the end.

That night, we treated ourselves to dinner at the floating restaurant Willie T's, and snuck in our own fire water to save a bit of cash - the Roti was surprisingly good!

Road Town

We spent a few days anchored in front of the cruise ship terminal with a handful of other cruisers, near Ray & Kathleen. Florence made us her deluxe French Toast with homemade bread, chocolate chips, maple syrup and greek yogurt - wow! We explored town and found a fabulous chandlery and an absolutely huge Riteway grocers to reprovision at, both across from The Moorings charter fleet base. At the chandlery, I found the bucket I have been searching high and low for - its perfect for throwing overboard to wash the decks down. I was very happy with my new bucket!

The town was so-so, not very charming but functional.

As we pulled up the anchor we had a surprise, our chain had wrapped around a piece of sheet metal as big as our boat! Michael jumped into the water and was able to get it loose thankfully. Phew!

Cooper Island

We sailed up the channel towards Cooper Island; a lovely spot we had spent Christmas at on previous trips. It was chock-a-block with Chartered Catamarans, so we anchored in a smaller, less protected spot just south of it. We spent a few days in this lovely spot, snorkeling and hanging out. Michael and I paddle boarded over to the main anchorage and walked the beach. It’s a beautiful boutique high end resort where a burger is $38USD ($60 CAD!!!). Too rich for our blood (like most of the BVI really).

A few nights in there were a number of charter boats joining our anchorage as the main bay was full. We had a visit from our neighbour letting us know they would be staying up all night on ‘anchor watch’ to make sure they didnt slip, and that they would let us know if there was a problem. OK!

Maya Cove, Tortola

We scooted across Sir Francis Drake Channel and anchored in an off-the-charter-boat-path bay that suited us well. Here, Michael & Christian took a 2 day kite surfing lesson and Flo and I explored on land and then had a cooking day on the boat - baking bread, carrot cake and homemade samosas - yum. A pretty spot away from the crowds.

Its been now 1 year on the boat for Michael. We had to reenact this photo of when he flew back to meet us after he quit his job, sold our car and joined us in Brunswick. Its been quite a year!

Anegada

We really wanted to return to Anegada, a special place for us. In the past, the 15 mile passage seemed like quite an undertaking - it shows how far our experience level has come so that this is easy peasy now! We anchored west of the main mooring field and spent 2 very rolly nights - but it was worth it to have an adventure-filled Anegada experience!

We woke up early the next day and dinghied into the town dock. We were able to rent a Moke, an open-air jalopy with a manual shifter and questionable brakes. We toured the island in style, visiting the lookouts for flamingos, the conch piles, and the stunning beaches on the north side. In the afternoon, on the way to Cow Wreck Beach, on the biggest stretch of dirt road, we let Christian get behind the wheel and learn to drive a manual transmission. He was starting to get the hang of the clutch when the engine died. Ok kids, we will now teach you how to jumpstart a car! After more than 5 attempts, we had to admit defeat and start walking, in the blazing heat, down a dirt road, away from our only mode of transportation. It wasn’t long though, before 2 guys in a pickup truck drove by and we were able to get a ride back into town. I used my limited Spanish and learned they were from Guatemala and there for work. We gave them some beer money that they didn’t want to take (I ended up throwing it at them into the cab of the car lol), and got into a better Moke to complete our tour of the island, including a reservation for dinner at the restaurant on the beach across from where we anchored.

We enjoyed a wonderful evening meal out on a gorgeous beachfront candlelit patio. The owner came by to say hello, and we chatted with an elderly couple who returned to the island each year for the past 30 years. It’s a really magical spot.

After dinner we returned to where we had beached our dinghy and pushed it out into the surf to get it, when a massive wave hit us, flipping the dinghy over and we we were all the water!!! The boat was swamped. We pulled it high up in the shore and realized our oars were broken, but we hadn’t lost any gear, including our shoes. We regrouped on the beach. We then removed the gas tank and fuel line in order to tip over the boat to get the water out. Next, we carefully watched the waves and saw there were points where they calmed, and if we could time our entry for that we could get out past the breaking waves. We got Christian in first to quickly start the engine, then Flo got in and Michael and I swam and pushed the boat out to get us past the breakers. The 2 of us then climbed onboard. We made it back to the boat shaken and thankful to have averted disaster. Again.

The next morning’s sail heading south from Anegada was a glorious broad reach. A huge pod of dolphins joined us from all directions for an hour, playing on our bow, and we whooped and waved joining in the fun with them.

Lee Bay, Great Camano Island

Another little gem we found was Lee Bay, on the West side of Great Camano. We sheltered here for a week, during strong Easterlies and we had a few charter boats and a few cruisers come and go each day. The shore had a great pebble/ sand beach, good snorkeling and a really cool dive spot with large boulders and islets to jump off of. There is also a path to walk across the island to a great sandy beach on the other side. It was the perfect spot to spend a quiet few days.

Christian found a great program that lego offers where you can build your own creations digitally. He has been building replicas of our boat and our cabin, they look fantastic!

Virgin Gorda

This Island captured our hearts. It was our first time in Spanish Town and we spent about a week here. From here we were able to take advantage of the new dock they built after hurricane Irma to easily walk into the grocery store, fill our propane tank and do laundry. We were also walking distance to the utterly amazing Baths National Park, which we visited multiple times, in the afternoon to avoid the cruise ship crowds. We walked the trails among the massive boulders, swam in hidden pools, and jumped off the sides of the rocks. So much fun and unreal beauty.

After completing our customs check out, we sailed to the Gorda Sound in the north to await a good weather window to cross Anegada passage to St. Martin. We were fortunate to anchor next to a boat with a long-term liveaboard couple and their 9 year old daughter, and 2 dogs. Flo was invited to go dog walking the next morning and she and Arya became fast friends. Heather generously gave us many tips and invited us to join them at the Leverick Bay restaurant and pool, to hang out with another cruising family, who had an 11 year old daughter and a 14 year old son - a rare buddy for Christian! The next day he spent the afternoon on our boat with his new friend playing videogames, and Heather took all the girls and mums on a trip to the Baths. Driving across the Island was really eye opening. It has mountains, gorgeous beaches and is peppered with impressive villas and colourful shacks, with ocean views in every direction. We played in the Baths and enjoyed a cocktail and a pool swim overlooking the islands.  

We returned to the boat and I made the boys chicken curry, Flo stayed for a sleepover and the other kids came back at 9, as they were heading out the next day.

After such a wonderful day touring the island with Heather, I lined up a car rental to do it again with Michael and Christian. We stopped at every lookout and did the great hike to the peak. We drove through some smaller neighborhoods and had some ribs at a local place with spectacular views to the North. They were also blown away by the beauty of the Island.

The time came to move across the bay to stage for our crossing. We grabbed a mooring ball at Bitter End to attempt to unravel our chain on the deck to resolve the twisted links we keep getting. We met our neighbors on a 60 foot Hallberg Rassey (a dream boat of ours) and wandered around grounds of the chi-chi yacht club and hotel. It’s a landmark in the BVIs and truly fabulous. Our neighbors were all doctors from England and split the boat with 3 family members which sounds like a great way to do it! They were wrapping up their 6-week stint with friends aboard.

It was time to go. We moved the boat to Prickly Bay and had 1 more pool hangout with Heather and Aria. They will be in Grenada for August so we look forward to reuniting with them. Overall, we spent 6 weeks in the BVI and reconfirmed why it’s a top destination! We just love it there.

Anegada Passage to St. Martin

We left just before noon from Prickly Bay in Gorda Sound to make the 100 mile passage east. Chris Parker called it the 'least bad window', with 13-18 gusting 23 from ESE/ENE, waves and swell 3-5 @7-9 seconds. This meant we were close hauled, bashing into the waves the whole way. We had our main and staysail out and hugged the wind angle as best we could through the night. It was busy - big cruise ships and some other smaller vessels like us we were able to track on AIS. There is always some magic moments on a night passage. Being curled up in the dark, watching the stars is so special. I usually have a podcast going and Flo likes to be curled up on the bench sleeping on deck. The night passed with Michael and I taking shifts. We arrived in Marigot Bay at noon, excited to be France, land of croissants and baguettes, ready for a nap and in plenty of time to prepare for our friend's visit.