A Nice Passage To Anegada

May 24th, 2016.  Setting Point, Anegada, British Virgin Islands

After dealing with the whole ear infection thing, Janet and I set out for Anegada, the most northerly island in the British Virgins.  Anegada, or as it is sometimes known "The Drowned Island" is very different from the rest of the BVI's, in that it is essentially a large barrier reef with a sandy island that has formed behind the reef.  The reef itself is the 4th largest barrier reef in the world measuring 18 miles in length.  The highest point on the island is 28 feet above sea level.

Sailing to Anegada is, to novice sailors, the most difficult of passages in the BVI since the island is not visible from Virgin Gorda, due to the low-lying nature of the island.  Indeed, the difficulty in seeing the island and reef system has resulted in hundreds of shipwrecks.

Janet and Iris having a great time on the passage to Anegada

Eric's suggested route to Anegada

When I first began chartering in 2001, there was limited availability of GPS to help guide a boat to Anegada, and most of the charter companies made the island strictly off-limits, unless you could demonstrate a familiarity with the area.  As GPS became more available the charter companies relaxed their rules a bit and started to organize flotillas to the island.  A lead boat with an experienced captain would gather large groups of boaters at the entrance to Gorda Sound, and would lead them to the entrance of the harbor at Setting Point, Anegada.  These days, with GPS on my phone, my iPad, and a chartplotter on the boat, the crossing is a piece of cake.

Janet, Iris and I set out Tuesday morning around 10:00 AM following some suggestions from a sailing friend, Eric. We had a nice ESE breeze at between 10 and 15 knots, which put us on a delightful beam reach.  We put up the main with one reef, just in case we ran into any higher winds, and the jib.   Once out of the lee of Necker island, we were able to get the boat up to an average of 6.5 knots on just sails, no motor.  The waves were less than 2 foot with no perceivable swell.  An absolutely delightful sail.  We arrived around 12:30, just a 2 1/2 hour sail.  So much for a stressful passage.  And the GPS put us within 1/2 mile of the entrance to the harbor, which is clearly marked with bouyage.  Things are different these days.

Once we made it to the anchorage at Setting Point, we were greeted with a very different scene than what I remember from 15 years ago!  The number of mooring balls has exploded in the last few years, with hardly any good anchor spaces to be had near the ferry dock.   Since most of the deep water area of the harbor is taken up by the mooring field, we decided we would take a mooring ball for the first night and do some exploring with the dinghy before we decided where we would anchor for the next few days.

While our day was without drama, for at least one boater the same wasn't true.  While I was doing some stuff on the internet, I heard a bunch of shouting and went outside to see what was happening.  Off our starboard beam, about 1/2 a mile away a 40' monohull had run hard aground presumably in sand and grass.  What they were thinking being in such a shallow area with a deep draft boat (I'm guessing they draw at least 6 feet), I'm not sure.  And it's not like there aren't good charts for this area.

Luckily for the boat that ran aground there was a couple of savvy sailors on boats nearby.  The good samaritans on the nearby boats immediately jumped in their dinghies and went to the aid of the grounded vessel.  The technique they used to free the boat was one I've seen in books but never in practice.  The dinghies (actually large center-console RIBs with 40 HP motors) took the main halyard from the grounded boat and pulled it hard to the lee, inducing significant heal to the boat.  This freed the keel from the bottom and the boat was able to make it's way (after several tries) out of the shallow area they were stuck in.  Interestingly, they didn't stay the night after getting free, they took off for Virgin Gorda.  While they were leaving Janet pointed out that they were flying a Texas flag.  Not to read too much into that, just sayin'.

Tomorrow we will do some exploring.  Want this morning to make reservations for both a car rental for Thursday, and a lobster dinner for Wednesday night.