Benures Bay

We finally got a good weather window and sailed north again, this time to the British Virgin Islands. It was a lovely run with only one other boat that we crossed paths with as they headed south. Since we were arriving at the end of the day and it’s not advised to go into major harbors in the dark, we opted to hoist the quarantine flag off Norman Island and not go ashore. Benures Bay is a beautiful little anchorage. There were two boats there but we found a solid spot in between them and settled in for the night. The next day we sailed into Road Town to clear in. The devastation from the storm was still evident everywhere – blue tarps on buildings, rubble, boats sunk or salvaged but floating beyond any repair. I was a bit nervous to even bring the dinghy in to shore, but we watched others and found a safe path.

View from the top!

Kayaking in Benures Bay

Then began the run around. We went to the government house and they told us customs and immigration had moved to the cable tv building (none of the government offices are located where they originally were due to storm damage). We headed over to the cable tv building only to be pointed to yet another building. At that office they told us we were supposed to be back at the pier – turns out we had not seen the makeshift tent set up to process customs. This was within sight of the government house – where they had originally sent us across town. Ugh, bureaucracy. Of course the officials at the tent were not pleasant either. Apparently they have a reputation of being very uncooperative and unwelcoming, which is amazing since this series of islands is very much dependent on tourism – you’d think they didn’t want people coming in to spend money. I asked about the park permits (needed to take moorings at dive and snorkel spots) and were informed we’d have to go back across town. I was developing a new respect for the charter companies that process all of this for you when you bareboat down here. We decided to scrap the parks office & try to find them another day to pay for the permit. We got back on the boat and sailed back to Benures Bay, only to find it all to ourselves.

Snorkeling the indians

The next day I broke out the kayak that Marcia Hogan had lent us and pumped it up – much easier on deck than assembling the folding kayak I had used earlier. Trip went for a row while I went for a paddle and we eventually left the boats on shore to do some snorkeling.

The next day we headed over to the Indians. With a slightly guilty feeling as we picked up a park mooring, we jumped overboard and swam off to explore. This is one of the most famous spots to snorkel and dive in the BVI. Though damage was evident it was still a fun spot to explore for the afternoon. We had thought about heading to Sopers Hole for the night (on our way to Jost Van Dyke), but suddenly decided to head back to Norman Island, to the Bight.

Pirate’s Bight

The Bight is a famous anchorage known for the Willie T – a reproduction boat turned into a bar that was famous for drunk folks climbing the mast and jumping into the water. Unfortunately the Willie T didn’t survive the storm – she’s washed up on shore looking really really pathetic. We picked up a mooring and went ashore to Pirate’s Bight. I’m happy to report that they had already started building a new beach bar and were able to fix things up pretty quickly post storm, so they were open for drinks and dinner.

Sunset

Later when we were back on board a father/daughter pair came by in a dinghy, admiring the boat. We had seen each other earlier at the Indians and invited them aboard the next morning to tour our little floating home. Yet another dinghy went by complimenting us on the boat as well – it was rather nice to get all the attention!