TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Oil Nut Bay

Anyone spend the night at the Oil Nut Bay Marina yet?
Looks like 2.00 a foot plus electric.
If not the night anyone tie up at the Marina for the day ? If so did they charge?
I know you can go there for lunch and most take the Water taxi from Gun creek.
Dingy ride is too far.

Any other feedback?

We spent a night there in March. Great staff, launch service from the marina to the beach Club was nice.
Would recommend to others and we will go back in July.

We tied up at the marina for the day in April for no charge. Got free launch service to the beach club too for lunch. Don't know how much longer that price will last. Suggest you contact them directly.

What day in July are you targeting... we are June 30 - July 10 this time.

June 29-July 7.

I know your question was about the marina, but thought some might be interested:

We plan to dinghy from Leverick ~ June 20th to Gun Creek and catch the shuttle which (according to an email they sent me) runs at 10:30am and 11:30am with reservation from info@oilnutbay.com or 1-284-393-1000.

We were there two weeks ago and contacted them the day before we arrived to make a lunch reservation. They supplied us with a chart of the channel between Saba and Bitter End and we had no trouble navigating through. We were told to tie up at the marina at the end of the T-dock, staff was there to assist with the lines. We were given a quick water taxi ride around to the arrival dock and then a golf cart ride to the resort. All of the water toys were made available for use at no charge. There was no charge for the day at their marina. I don't know how much longer this will last but this little bit of heaven is fabulous while it lasts.

awesome info..thanks so much.

I have yet to navigate between Saba and Bitter End. How was the transition? Depth etc. Thanks for any info.
Neil

Could you post that chart? Thanks!

Me too please

Not sure if this link will work:

https://dochub.com/dstumpe2/BL1Kw3/onb-water-depth-map-dec-2017

It indicates I don't have permission to access the file.

It should be public now

thanks!

We made the trip in a 44 power cat and never saw anything less than 6 ft. Not sure how we would fare in a monohull.

Is it possible to dinghy over from a mooring in front of Saba or is that unrealistic?

Our draft is 5’9....I wouldn’t think of risking it....

It would be a long ride, but no longer than going around from Great Harbor around to white Bay. You could also take a water taxi from Gun Creek.

Winterstale - we did this 5 times in January. Two people, 15hp, standard Sunsail AB RIB. No issues at all. Max wind we had was around 22 knots. We stayed dry.

It takes a little while, but the ride home is with wind & waves so a lot quicker and smoother!

Just watch where you tie your RIB at the beach club...if you're not careful the swell will lump it under the dock and give it bit of a munching.

From that chart it looks like the route is pretty well marked and the shallowest depth is about 8'.

)I have sailed Eustacia sound quite often, long before but ]not since a buoyed channel existed. I used the passage through the reef to head off across the Anegada Passage above Pajaro Point.
Never had any depth problems ,just eyeball navigation and a lead line the 1st few trips.
If the channel is marked as indicated on the chart posted above there should be no difficulty.

Christo - so were all of the channel markers in place?

Agrimsrud - I hadn't seen the chart produced by ONB (which somebody posted on this thread) at the time we were there. So I couldn't say 100% that all the markers were on station. But certainly the channel from North Sound, between Saba and BEYC all the way up to the Beach Club main arrival dock was very well marked.

Whilst we were there we saw several large (c. 50ft) cats make the same journey to drop people off. They seemed to have no issues.

There is a similar chart on page 236 of the 2017-18 Cruising Guide. Worked for us.

In mid-March, the first pair of red & green markers were missing just east of Saba Rock. This is the narrowest and shallowest part of the channel to ONB. I draw 4'2" and have measured 2'6" under my keel with a calibrated depthsounder so there are at least some coral heads at 6-7'. Take it slow and don't stray too close to BEYC shoreline in this area. Once past BEYC the channel widens and you have plenty of depth.

If you're returning from ONB to North Sound in late afternoon you'll have the sun in your eyes. The tedency is to take a straight course towards the passage between Saba Rock and BEYC but this will put you on the reef just north of BEYC where the markers are missing. Stay a bit to port to veer around this reef.

If you're returning from ONB to North Sound in late afternoon you'll have the sun in your eyes. The tedency is to take a straight course towards the passage between Saba Rock and BEYC but this will put you on the reef just north of BEYC where the markers are missing. Stay a bit to port to veer around this reef.[/quote]

Looking at the chart if I stay port when returning I would hit the reef off BEYC and too starboard I would be on the reef off Saba Rock. Did you mean stay slight starboard from BEYC?

My bad. Stay to starboard / north of the reef.