The BVI is a wonderful place to sail with lots of things
to do. With repairs made to Frolic we made a quick little sail to Cooper Island
for the night. Cooper is a little island in the middle of the Francis Drake Passage.
It has a little resort with a bar and restaurant and great snorkeling at
Cistern rock. The anchorage is protected, but it has a current, so often you
are running over your mooring buoy. It is also a quick run from there to dive
the wreck of the Rhone, so we often find ourselves at Cooper Island. We have
new friends coming to visit for 10 days, Markus and Annette. We had met them at
Nevis and they were interested to have a little experience of what it is like
to cruise, so we invited them to come with us some time and they accepted. When
we told them we would be in the BVI in the end of May and June they make
tickets.
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| Markus and Annette arrive! |
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| The Loose Mongoose Bar in Trellis Bay |
So after a resting night at Coopers Island we headed to
Trellis Bay to meet Markus and Annette. Trellis Bay is literally at the end of
Beef Island airport so it’s a 300 yd. walk from the dock at Trellis Bay to the
terminal. It also has some resident artists as well as a little store, some
bars and restaurants. With our cruising companions aboard we enjoyed catching
up and showing off our “home”. Monday we
went to Bobby’s Market to provision as they wanted the experience so we are
doing it all! Bobby’s is great because they will send a taxi to pick you up and
take you back to the boat. If you are coming to charter you can go online and
shop at Bobby’s and he will deliver it to your boat when you arrive. It’s very
convenient. With provisioning done, we motored over to Copper Island with a
light wind in our face. Markus had his first of many experiences at the wheel.
After mooring at Cooper Island we went snorkeling at Cistern Rock and it was
really good with lots of fish and colorful corals.
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| Fish at Cestern Rock |
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| Turtle we saw on the way back to the boat |
The next day Markus and I
rented Scuba gear and we all went to the Rhone. Leslie and Annette snorkeled
the aft section while Markus and I did a circumnavigation of the entire wreck.
The Rhone is broke in half with the
stern in 20 – 40’ of water then there is a gap with some wreckage and the bow
is laying 90 degrees from the stern in 60 – 80’ of water. We saw a big eagle
ray gliding over the bow, a 10’ Nurse Shark under the stern, and a monster
Moray Eel that had to be 10” in diameter at the end of the stern section!
Unfortunately Markus unknowingly knocked his Go Pro video camera off his head
and into the boat when we dropped into the water so he didn’t get any shots of
the dive.
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| Markus on the Rhone |
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| Aft section ribs of the Rhone |
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| Eagle Ray on the Rhone |
During their stay we went to the Baths, where we hiked
among the rocks and then snorkeled through them back to the beach. For lunch we
hike up past Phantom’s Skull Rock to the restaurant Top of the Baths and had a
swim in their pool while we enjoyed the view and drinks.
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| snorkeling into the Baths |
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| In the Baths |
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| Markus rock leaping at the Baths |
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| Phantom's Skull Rock at the Baths |
Then it was to
Leverick Bay, where we had to help a couple on a monohull get their dinghy line
out of their prop, tie up to a mooring, and retrieve their anchor which was
jammed under a mooring block. We also took Markus and Annette hiking to the top
of Virgin Gorda, the highest peak in the BVI, the view was awesome down the
Drake Chanel and over North Sound. We
had lunch of famous PB&J sandwiches and beer (what better combo) on the top
of the observation deck before heading back to the beach.
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| Lookout at the top of Virgin Gorda |
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| Back at Leverick Bay |
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