Marigot Bay, St. Martin to Gorda Sound, Virgin Gorda - 2/4/20

On Monday, February 3, 2020, we took the dinghy over to the Dinghy Dock on the Dutch side of the Lagoon for lunch and Internet.  We stopped at Island Water World for gas for the dinghy and diesel fuel (in jerry jugs) for the boat and a few items at the store.  Back in Marigot Bay, Pia and I walked to the Super U while Bryan checked out of Customs.  We went back to the Dutch side for one last Happy Hour at Lagoonies and sat with Peter and Lance, Canadians from British Columbia. They have a Beneteau 42 named J. F. Lovely. 😄  We were in bed by 10:00 with our alarm clocks set for 4:00 am to get an early start for the British Virgin Islands.  Pia would be with us for the passage to the BVI’s and then stay a couple weeks to do some cruising.

We were up and at ‘em by 4:15 but it was way too dark to rig the mainsail so we drank our coffee and enjoyed the sky.  There was a nice, 10-knot breeze out of the northeast with partly cloudy skies.  We were under way by 6:20, on a comfortable broad reach going about 7 - 8 knots.  As the trip progressed, the wind backed a little and cycled between 4-5 knots and 8-10 knots; however, it was a beautiful day and we enjoyed being out on the ocean again after over 2 months in St. Maarten/St. Martin.  There was a waxing gibbous moon high in the sky in the afternoon and we caught a nice Mahi-mahi as we neared Virgin Gorda.  

Although there is a passage between Necker Island and Prickly Pear & Eustatia, we had decided to go north of Necker and then turn south towards the entrance to Gorda Sound.  We started the engine at 4:30 and were anchored at Prickly Pear in Gorda Sound by 6:30.  I am so excited to be back in the British Virgin Islands after 11 years since the last time we were here.  I’m anxious to see how the recovery from Hurricane Irma is going.

The next morning, we had several beautiful rainbows and when the rain was gone, we motored over to Leverick Bay to check in to customs.  The customs office in Gun Creek in Gorda Sound has not reopened since the hurricane, but you can taxi in to Spanish Town from Leverick Bay.  We had a spectacular ride with Cyril’s Taxi (a pickup truck with bench seats in the bed and a canopy over it) over the mountains with views at every hairpin turn.  We arrived at the customs office just in time for the immigration official to say, “I’M OFF TO LUNCH!! I WILL BE BACK IN AN HOUR!!!”  So we processed through customs and had a beer while we waited for the immigration lady to come back.  Oh well, no problem - we’re on Island Time!

Trip Statistics:  11 hours, 8 minutes; 79.1 NM; 7.1 knots average boat speed and 10.5 knots max boat speed