We just returned from our 7th trip through the SVI in the past 2-1/2 years, after spending a week in the BVIs and several days in St John. Needless to say, I love it there, and it provides a wonderful contrast to St John and the BVIs. In some ways, it even makes Anegada feel fast paced (especially when I see 50 boats anchored at Setting Point on a Monday in mid-January with Potter's and Anegada Reef Hotel having 'dueling' DJs blasting music til late). We were fortunate to have several days of absolutely dry, blue sky weather. We spent 2 days & nights at Bahia Tortuga, Culebrita with very little swell. Saturday brought in 25 power boats tying up close to the beach, but unlike White Bay, Peter Island, there was no mayhem or blasting music. Just families enjoying the day. Only 1 or 2 other boats spent the night.
We had a tremendous beam reach to Vieques. The seas at Punta Esta, the eastern point of Vieques, can get very steep as they pile up in the shallow water especially if the tide is setting against the prevalent E-W current, so it's best to stand off at least a half-mile to one mile from the point as you round it (depending on tide direction).
In 2 days along the south shore of Vieques from the eastern point to Bahia de La Chiva, we saw only 2 other sailboats. We spent 1 night anchored alone at Bahia de la Chiva - one of my favorite anchorages in the BVI/USVI/SVI. At 83 deg-F in the anchorage, it was the warmest water by at least 1 deg-F that we experienced during our 2 week trip (surprisingly the very shallow Setting Point anchorage at Anegada was a 'chilly' 79.5 deg-F). There has been a significant cleanup of the beach debris and repair of the hurricane damaged pavilions since we visited last March.
We saw one boat anchored at Bahia Salina del Sur, which is still being cleared of ordnance, and we saw a 2nd boat enter the bay just as we were passing south of it. Just then a police patrol boat came along the coast, entered the bay, and approached both boats. I could see the 2nd boat start to turn so I'm guessing they were asked to leave, but I passed the bay entrance headlands so I can't confirm if they were forced to leave.
Returning to Culebra, we attempted to day anchor in Playa Flamenco for the first time, but the 4 foot north swell was stacking up waves at the entrance with a significant riptide at the beach keeping most beachgoers out of the water. We hovered at the anchorage for a few minutes to plan a future return visit, then headed for flat water at the southwest shore of the island. I counted 18 free moorings on the SW coast - 2 at the bay just north of Punta del Soldado, 5 at Bahia Linda (near the ferry dock in Bahia de Sardinas), 2 in the small bay just NW of Punta Melones, 1 at Bahia Tarja, 1 at Bahia Tamarindo, and 7 at Playa Tamarindo. There are ~12 balls along the west shore of Culebra, from Playa Carlos Rosario northwards. Only 7 of these 18 moorings were occupied at dawn.
Spent the day at Playa Tamarindo where we were only 1 other boat made a short snorkel stop. We had an unobstructed view of the sun setting over the distant southeast shore of Puerto Rico. There was excellent snorkeling in the bay with sea turtles, nice variety of fish life, literally hundreds of conch in the seagrass, and healthy soft corals.
We'll be back in March!
