A Magical Day: Power Boating in the BVI
For visiting sailors, the BVI is in many ways, more magical than ever. For visiting yachtsmen, sailing through the British Virgin Islands’ pristine waters is as delightful as ever.
BVI waters are clear and inviting, yet the anchorages are nearly empty. At this moment in time, it feels as if the BVI is your own private fiefdom.
The tranquility reminds me of the time my son Brandon and his girlfriend came to visit a few years ago. September is a time when most restaurants close down for the off-season – to perform maintenance for the upcoming season and recharge the staff’s batteries. We rented a power boat for a day, and went out to explore the BVI as it looked in the decades before it became the epicenter of Caribbean sailing.
Dotted with numerous islands just a few miles apart, one can zip around much of the BVI and visit several truly amazing destinations in less than a day. We set off from Nanny Cay and headed up the Sir Francis Drake Channel. Brandon slowed the boat as we neared Salt Island. Swimming ashore, we walked along the shoreline and marveled at the extensive salt ponds. This now uninhabited island once was the home of several hundred self-sufficient islanders who reaped salt from the ponds and sold it to passing ships from the 19th to mid 20th centuries; they herded goats, fished and grew root vegetables and other local crops. Today, the descendants of these hardy souls, who now live throughout the BVI and across the globe, have an annual reunion on Salt Island to celebrate their families’ heritage.
Devil’s Bay on Virgin Gorda was our next destination. This is a sister beach to The Baths, and along with Spring Bay further to the east, it is a Virgin Islands National Park. And while Devil’s Bay is dotted with the same spectacular boulders as The Baths, it boasts a larger stretch of white sand and little else, which was perfect for us. Most day trippers head to the much more popular Baths where there’s a beach bar and restrooms, so Devil’s Bay can seem blissfully uncrowded.
We swam ashore, soaked in the warm shallow water on the beach’s edge and walked along the sand. At the eastern end, there is a narrow entrance through the rocks that leads into The Baths’ labyrinth of granite grottoes and clear sea pools, a back entrance of sorts. When my kids were growing up, they had billy-goat style abilities and climbing these large boulders was a challenge they couldn’t resist. But climbing wasn’t on our itinerary that day; we instead donned masks and fins and snorkeled along the rocks where small fish darted by and various creatures peeked out from underwater crevices.
From Devil’s Bay we passed Spring Bay and I wished that we had time to stop at this idyllic beach with its many great memories of picnics, and watching my boys jump from the top of the boulders into the sea below. But there was no time to stop if we were to get to North Sound, Located on the northeastern corner of Virgin Gorda, North Sound is often referred to as the “playground of the rich and famous.” And with good reason. Necker Island, owned by Virgin Group tycoon, Richard Branson, is located here, as are some of the Caribbean’s top luxury resorts including Oil Nut Bay, Mosquito Island, Saba Rock and Biras Creek (currently under reconstruction following damage incurred during Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017).
At another time, the Sound would have been filled with luxury sailboats and mega yachts owned by the likes of Jimmy Buffet and Larry Page. But today we were struck by how quiet this normally bustling anchorage was. We literally had it to ourselves and reveled in its beauty. We ate a picnic lunch on Prickly Pear, a pristine island surrounded by white sand that is one of the Virgin Islands many glorious national parks.
Going back down the Channel, we stopped at Fallen Jerusalem, one of the BVI’s many delightful national parks. Comprised of a jumble of granite boulders, Fallen Jerusalem, as its name implies, could easily have been a Biblical city fallen into ruins. Interspersed with small patches of silky sand, Fallen Jerusalem is indeed exceptional. We swam ashore, and while I lounged on a pocket-sized patch of beach, the others scrambled up the rocks for a better view.
Before heading back to Nanny Cay, we had a snorkel at the Norman Island Caves. Carved by wind and water from the craggy rock face, these semi-submerged cavities are reputed to be where pirates once hid their treasure. Soft orange corals line the inside of the caves and small fish dart in and out. On our way back to Nanny Cay we passed the nearby Indians, a succession of jagged rocks poking up from the sea like an Indian headdress; below the water the coral encrusted rocks and a myriad of sea life makes this a favorite dive and snorkeling spot.
It was a fitting end, to a beautiful day trip. There was so much more that we would have liked to have done. But happily, we can look forward to many more magical days out on the water.
– Claudia Colli
A note: Although not every beach bar is open for business, many favorites are. Pirates on Norman Island, The Willy T at The Bight, Foxy’s on Jost Van Dyke, Cooper Island and Prickly Pear National Park on North Sound are among those welcoming boaters. Some of the waterfront restaurants with moorings and docks open for business on Tortola and Beef Island are: Cane Garden Bay’s many beach bars, Pusser’s, Omar’s and Olly’s at Sopers Hole; the Nanny Cay Beach Bar, Red Rock at East End and the beachfront restaurants at Trellis Bay.
