November 4 - With the swells still pretty high from the North to NE, we decided to skip Culebrita as originally planned and instead had a nice beam reach towards the eastern tip of Vieques averaging close to 8 knots in a 17 knot wind. Seas became confused as we reached the tip due to a thunderstorm and we dropped the sails in the lee of Vieques and fired up the iron jib to complete the trek to Sun Bay near Esperanza. Almost had to break out the rain gear on this 24 nm trip but the helm station was well protected. Anchored in the NE corner where a monohull had spent the night and a large yacht was also anchored.
We did find the term Sun Bay to be a misnomer on this day but the beach was a beautiful arc-style beach with good sand and we enjoyed walking the beach and some snorkeling. Managed to meet up with a tour guide here who agreed to pick us up on the beach and take us to Mosquito Bay to see the “world’s brightest bioluminescent bay” for ourselves at $40/person.
We were very near a new moon and moonrise was not til 0330 making this a very dark night with some cloud cover. We did the tour in four person shifts as we had read some reports of dinghy theft in the area at times, but feel that would’ve been unlikely in hindsight on this given night. The Bio Bay did not disappoint and was exactly what we had expected based on reading and watching videos. Definitely a bucket list type of experience we thought and worth the trip. This video is a very accurate representation of our experience although you cannot capture this with a regular camera or cell phone.
https://youtu.be/VwfG9s1A8pINovember 5 – Would’ve stayed a second day here to explore Vieques more but limited duew to having to get two crew members back to STT on the 7th so decided to head back to Culebrita as swells had calmed down. Arrived about noon to Culebrita after making the reverse trip from the day before. We motored in the lee of Vieques again before a close hauled sail back towards Culebra after rounding the eastern tip of Vieques. This crew did excellent at water conservation and we therefore did not have to make a pit stop in Puerto del Rey in Puerto Rico for water. There are no good options in the SVI for water short of using Jerry cans in Culebra at an expensive price so plan accordingly.
Culebrita was a beautiful anchorage as is well documented but the NPS moorings (save one) are a little close to shore and would recommend anchoring in the well holding sand here unless you really trust the moorings. We had a pleasant walk to the natural “jacuzzis” at the northern most tip of Culebrita and the swells did give us quite a show. There seem to be three main sections of the jacuzzis. We stayed in the southern most section as the swells were reaching here periodically and strong enough you had to hold on. The middle section would have been interesting and likely safe in these conditions but the northernmost section would have been asking to get sucked out into the cut. This had the feel of the bubbly pool only bigger and better and definitely worth a visit.
A storm cloud again prevented us from our plan to hike up to the lighthouse ruins which we were told by others was a 20 minute hike or so. We waited toil the storm passed and decided the anchorage would be pretty rolly that night and opted to head to Bahia de Almodovar on the east side of Culebra to anchor for the night. Pay close attention to charts in these areas as there are shallow reefs and shoals everywhere.
November 6 – We got up early and took a NPS mooring on the south side of Culebrita. Beautiful snorkeling and a nice wall dive here. We had planned on more diving but sea conditions and visibility did not allow on several days. We left here around 1030 and headed around the north side of Culebrita into the Virgin Passage to begin our tack back towards St. Thomas. Fortunately, the seas had calmed to 3 feet and 12 knot winds allowed us to motor sail towards the south side of St. Thomas where we eventually dropped the sails in the lee of St. Thomas. We made our way through Water Point and to American Yacht Harbour in Red Hook where we docked for water and a few supplies.
We then motored across the channel to Honeymoon Beach near Caneel Bay for the night and picked up a mooring ball for $26. Spent the evening with some fellow bare boaters at Bikinis Bar and tossed some football and Frisbee on the beach.
November 7 – Breakfast and dropped 2 crew members at Cruz Bay to ferry back for flight from STT. Motored to west End Tortola and cleared in at the customs office without difficulty before heading to Cooper Island for the day to relax before heading home the next morning. My buddy and I had just enough time to get in a Wreck Alley dive ahead of our 24 hour mark before flying. Always a favorite dive of mine. Dinner at CIBC that night which was our first meal off the boat since eating at Hendo’s Hideout the first night. Best weather day and sunset we had by far from what ended up being one of the rainiest weeks I have ever had in the Virgin Islands. We dropped the boat off the next morning in RT before heading to the ferry.
All in all we had a great adventure and would recommend this trip for those who want a break from a typical BVI or USVI adventure. The Bio Bay is definitely worth the time and trouble to get to Vieques in any manner you choose (many use the ferry from Fajardo and stay the night while on vacation in PR). We did have opportunities to have dinners in Dewey, Culebra and Esperanza, Vieques but had great cooks on board and planned meals accordingly to save time given the longer than normal sails. Also, was very nice having many anchorages to ourselves or just one or two other vessels at most.
We did use the guides recommended on other posts from this site including the one from
www.freecruisingguides.com which were very helpful. Hopefully this will provide some help in planning what I feel is not necessarily a trip I would recommend for newbies to sailing, but a worthwhile and exciting new adventure for those interested in such excursions. Will try to keep tabs on replies if there are any questions I can help with.
Cheers and happy cruising!
Brett
