Position 18° 27.099’ N
64° 42.560’ W
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Our journey to get our new generator installed took us to
both familiar and unfamiliar anchorages through our route from Fajardo, PR to
Nanny Cay, BVI. The first was Culebra, a familiar anchorage. We love Culebra,
the anchorage at Dakity, the general environment, people and the town of Dewey
with its facilities. After a two night stay, a visit from our cruising friend
John and a few beers we were off the next morning to Megan's Bay, St. Thomas
USVI. We arrived after a mixed sea condition passage, some rough confused
conditions in the Virgin Passage which left both of us feeling a little
nauseous and neither of us suffers from sea sickness! As we approached the lee
of St. Thomas the conditions gave way to calmer seas, sunshine and the cruising
we like. By 11:30 we were anchored in Megans Bay a large bay with one of the
'best' beaches in the world. The bay is spectacular with pristine water and
plenty of room to choose an anchoring spot. We are now into May and the
cruising season on the northern Caribbean is winding down to its close. There
was only one other anchored sailing boat in the bay and we had to use our
binoculars to see him, the bay is huge!
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| The daily dinghy procession at the Moorings charter company marina in Road Town, Tortola. |
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| We were anchored amoungst good company at White Bay, Guana Island |
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| The sunsets never lose their fascination. |
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| Let there be light! |
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| A pretty hillside home |
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| Tusen Takk II with Chuck and Barb Shipley onboard |
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| Barb with a wave for the camera. |
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| Fourty feet of water and the anchor chain visible to the bottom! |
Tomorrow we will explore, there are a few boat chores to
do in the early morning, a teak deck plug to replace and the stainless steel to
polish. After this we will launch the dinghy (Junior Partner, JP for short) and
take a trip into the beach.
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| The huge expanse of Magens Bay. |
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| Magens Bay Beach, three quarters of a mile long. |
After a hearty 'English' breakfast we launched JP and off
we went towards what we thought would be the dinghy beaching area...we were
wrong! We pulled the dinghy up on the beach alongside several other local
boats, no other inflatable RIB's though. We began walking along the beach and
had intended walking to the end and back, we'll over a mile. After a few
hundred yards we were met by one of the lifeguards who politely explained that
no dinghy's were allowed on the beach and that we would either have to anchor
it off or drive it to a small patch of sand along the east side if the bay and
wade back in to the main beach. We chose this option. I did ask, with my arm
around his shoulder in a friendly manner, what all the other half dozen boats
were doing on the beach...he smiled and said "they have special
permission"; I retorted "how do we get special permission"? He
smiled and we parted company cordially. The beach is run by the Magens Bay
Authority and an admission fee of a few dollars is charged to all except
boaters.
Once we had the dinghy up on what became our own private
beach we waded back to the main beach and walk its whole length, on our return
we deserved refreshment so stopped at the really nice bar. We met Jeremy who
took very good care of us during this and our several subsequent visits. The
following day we hiked the marked trail which was fun, although we could have
done without the mosquitoes!
Our stay in Magens Bay was wonderful, we enjoyed the
beach, the water and the spectacular vistas of this massive little used bay (by
boaters) as we relaxed on our back porch (deck) at cocktail hour...
From Magens we cruised to Caneel Bay on St. John and
dinghies in to Cruz Bay where we visited the National Parks building and then
proceeded to one of our favourite venues, The Waterside Bistro, for lunch.
Sitting at the bar one has a view of the whole bay, we love this spot.
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| Looking out from The Waterside Bistro into Cruz Bay... |
Later in the day we cruised from Caneel to Francis Bay
where we spent several days swimming, dinghy exploring and beach walking. From
Francis after spending one day in Leinster Bay where we snorkeled around the
reef at Waterlemon Cay, we motored across to Jost van Dyke where we cleared in
to the British Virgin Islands. The date is now Friday 23rd May and after
spending our first night anchored in Great Harbour and sampling again, of
course, the Friday night inclusive all you can eat BBQ buffet at Foxy's, we
moved around to Manchaneel Bay on Little Jost van Dyke. Here the water is gin
clear; we anchored on 12 feet of water 50 yards from a small white sand beach.
Before we left to go cruising we dreamt of places like this, the quintessential
deserted tropical island. The only habitation on the island is, yes, believe it
or not, a beach bar! Jim the owner of B-Line Beach Bar has just, in January,
taken over and has made considerable improvements. The have a well stocked bar
and serve great food. The Mahi sandwich was one of the best I've ever had. We
whiled away our last afternoon (Sunday 30th) on Little Jost van Dyke before
cruising to Nanny Cay for the generator install.
Monday June 2nd. Finally the day we make our
way to Nanny Cay Tortola for the installation of our new generator. We upped
the anchor at 9:55 and were underway on schedule at 10:00. Tim Dabbs from
Marina Maintenance had arranged our slip reservation and all we had to do was
arrive by 12 noon call on the VHF announcing our arrival and Tim would take
care of everything else. We arrived safely and backed into our slip B17 without
ado. I called Tim as requested and he advised he would be onboard within two
hours with his team to assess the job…
Awesome pictures, thanks for sharing. Hoping all goes well with the new Genny!
ReplyDeleteHi Tony, Thanks for reading and the good wishes.
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