Pictures can be found here, and a much shorter version here.
A couple of high-level comments before details of the trip:
Despite our difficulty in getting a reservation for a boat, the mooring fields were largely underpopulated. In prior years we would have to arrive before 3 or 4 pm in order to be assured of finding a mooring. This time, except of Friday night in the Bight, there were more than half the moorings unused each night. And Even Friday, there were open moorings. I am concerned about what this says of the BVI economy. Are there really that many fewer boats in service?
The winds were significantly higher, the swells larger, the air and water temperatures cooler than on any previous trip that we remember. Not sure whether this is a climate change thing, or just statistical variation, but it was noticeable. One consequence of the higher winds and seas was that the snorkeling was significantly worse than before due to extra silt in the water. You can see the difference between the underwater photos from this trip and our last one in 2020, when we had probably the best conditions we’d seen.
On to the more detailed report.
Despite our sad adventures with poor Artie the evening before, we left for San Juan, PR, as scheduled. Once there we found our connection to Tortola was delayed, then delayed again, and finally cancelled. So we spent the night at a nearby Marriott and were booked on the next flight, leaving at 7:45am. When we got up, that flight said it was delayed, as well, but we decided to head over to the airport anyway, and a good thing, too, since they undid the delay and we left roughly on time. We did discover that the SJU airport that we remembered from many years ago – small and open-air – was indeed a thing of the past. The new one has super long walks between gates and no services in the terminal that the island hopper airlines use.
Once we got to Tortola the sailing was wonderful. The overnight had delayed our departure, but it didn’t work out too badly – we were able to provision pretty efficiently at One Mart (even though their selection was a little weak, may try the RIte Way next time) and got over to Norman Island with plenty of time to get our first snorkel in at Water Point (not great) before grabbing an overnight mooring in the Bight.
The winds were way up all week (as high as 25 knots much of the time) and outside the channel both North and South the swells were quite impressive. Sailing up to Marina Cay after a second night at Norman we shipped a good deal of spray over the bow, and when we went below after mooring we found that the forward hatch had leaked over the berth, soaking the pillows, linens and mattress. Kathy put in a call to Moorings and they sent out a boat with new linens. Amusingly, the guys hadn’t been told that the real problem was the hatch. They worked on it for an hour or so, trying to re-seat the gasket and adding a couple of extra closing clamps, but the hatch was still clearly not going to hold (Kathy could stick a finger out the side when it was dogged), so we taped over the edges with duct tape. Fortunately the temperatures were lower than we normally see, so we were not super hot with only the fans running.
The next day we headed up to the Dogs hoping for a snorkel at George. We were carrying the main with a single reef and full jib, and were seriously overpowered, so we doused sail and motored the rest of the way up to George, but it was clearly untenable for snorkeling, so we motored the rest of the way to Gorda North Sound, where we went ashore at Bitter End for showers.
Next day we headed back to Norman, with a pass by the Baths and going on the Atlantic side of Ginger Island where the swells were again enormous. We were sailing on jib alone by this point (and for the rest of the trip), still plenty of speed. Then back into the channel, stopping for a brief snorkel on the West side of the Indians (too choppy for the East side). A night in the Bight with a snorkel expedition to the caves, next night in Soldier Bay as the only boat there. Snorkeling was pretty good there, but we had to abbreviate the excursion when Barry, the medium-large barracuda we encountered, began following us, which is not normal behavior for them in any previous encounters (and we’ve had a lot). He followed Gitte initially, then the three of us back out to the boat, and was still or again under our dinghy the next morning.
Last night was in Buttonwood Bay on the West end of Great Harbour. We had our only restaurant dinner at Oceans 7 on Superbowl Sunday. Food was quite good, though the menu was missing a number of items and there were not a lot of people. Concerned whether the place can survive.
Back to Road Town in the morning, thinking we had plenty of time for showers and maybe a leisurely lunch before the ferry. We learned just in time that ferry service between Road Town and Charlotte Amalie has been seriously curtailed compared to prior visits. So we got the last four seats on the Bomba Charger with seconds to spare, and then had the privilege of sitting around the St Thomas airport for hours. And our Charlotte, NC to Boston flight was delayed, so more airport sitting and a return ungodly early the morning of Valentine’s day.