BVI – Day 3 – Cooper Island to Jost Van Dyke

Day 3, Tuesday, May 3

Our third day begins with fresh percolated coffee and a dip off the swim deck. Neil’s is also equipped with a fresh water hand held shower head next to the swim deck, so we rinse off the salt water , drop the mooring bridal and motor out of the bay.

We decide to follow Sam’s advice and sail to the island of Jost Van Dyke. We raise just the genny (Genoa jib) and ran down wind all morning. As we nip into the Thatch Island cut we see an odd sight. Approaching us from a distance we see what looked like a dull colored spinnaker on a very short mast. As the sailboat nears we see the mast is indeed short because it is snapped in half and lashed to the outside railing. The sail is also folded over, luffing in the wind. When we pass I feel badly taking photos but it looks like they have a boat escorting them to the nearest marina at Soper’s Hole on the west end of Tortola.

We raise the mainsail and sail on a beam reach from Thatch Island to White Bay, Jost Van Dyke. Bass thinks we will go faster with a reef in the main and the jib furled a bit. He’s correct and we enjoy another great day on the water sailing at about 6.5 knots (Bass: and reasonably flat, flatter than the day before for about the same speed).

White Bay is guarded by reefs allowing for only two entrances to the Bay. All of the mooring balls are taken so we decide to anchor, knowing the bottom is solid sand. After a few tries we finally feel the anchor set (Bass: five tries to be exact, the first few leaving us not in the right spot relative to other boats, the fourth seeming quite promising until a light “thud” on the keel lets me know I’m not in deep enough water… gulp! Fifth time was a charm as the anchor held even under full power in reverse, so we were power set). We put on snorkel gear and, following directions we received the first morning, we snorkel down and look at the anchor. White Bay is pretty with a few brightly painted pink and blue homes on the hillside and bars on the beach. We came to White Bay to visit the Soggy Dollar, a beach bar whose web cam we’ve been viewing all winter. But it’s been a long day in the sun and wind so we plan to have brunch and a painkiller the following day at the Soggy Dollar. From the cockpit we enjoy the sunset (Bass: and our first round of 12 volt blended piña coladas, very tasty!). Bass grills dinner and we turn in for the evening.

As expected we are up during the night; Bass many more times than I. It amazes me that I can hear Bass’ rhythmic breathing one minute and the next he is up on deck checking the anchor. I know Bass’s being a firefighter will treat him well tonight as he often springs out of bed and into action at the sound of his pager tones.

Bass: certainly a restless night for me; my “are we dragging” landmark disappears at dark leaving me to try to estimate from some lights on shore. Visions of dragging anchor and bouncing down the other boats and onto the reef keep me “sleeping” very lightly, and sitting up to look out the master port hole quite frequently. At dawn I can’t sleep anymore and sit on deck, very peacefully, watching the sun rise. A successful night’s anchoring, but I sure hope they become more restful as I get more comfortable with my technique.

Google Earth Tour:
Click the link below to download a Google Earth .kmz file that will take you on a fly-by tour of our sail from Cooper Island to Jost: