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BVI - July 26 - August 5, 2025


Our closest neighbor at Cooper woke up earlier than me! They were off the ball by 0530, never heard them leave. I really was enjoying the early light at this longitude, at home I'm making coffee in the dark!


Our plan today, was to leisurely work our way into the North Sound. We were chasing some seasonal closures and we really wanted to see how the Bitter End had come along since last we visited. After topping off the water we sat down to a nice bacon and pancake breakfast and discussed where we wanted to go today, Trellis, Dogs, Baths?











Around mid morning we said let's just sail and decide later! But first our daughter wanted to grab the bucket and brush to wash the boat down, great crew!! Clean boat is a happy boat!
We raised the sails and enjoyed the smooth roll of maybe 2-3 foot seas. I did have a little trouble seeing the main through the foggy vinyl bimini window, crew gave great hand signals, UP, STOP, DOWN and we didn't have any lazy jack issues.








After a couple hours we decided to stop at the Baths. No fish were caught this morning and with the trolling line in we took down the sails. My wife was near the top lounger as I brought down the main, she crawls over and picks something up that she actually saw fall....holds up a shackle bolt?? with the main in the sail bag she says she sees where it came from. I took a look and the main halyard was wrapped around the topping lift ugh! As we hovered around the Baths mooring field I made a call to TMM, they were great and said grab a ball, have a good time at the Baths and they'll contact their Virgin Gorda contractor. Via whatsapp I sent a couple pics to show them the shackle was there and ok, but the halyard would need to be retrieved. They said it would be an easy fix and could be done in the North Sound later in the afternoon. I actually felt a little lazy not retrieving that line myself, but it's probably best to have them look things over.















On with the show...we dinged over to the dinghy line and tied up. I noticed my overboard dry bag had a seam thread getting loose, probably wouldn't leak but 3 of us just got new phones. We decided without a smaller bag to insure no leaks we kept the phones on the dinghy. We have lots of pics from previous trips!










The swim in was relatively easy because we brought our fins. I've read where people ask how difficult this swim is, if you're a good swimmer fine, with fins a good swimmer is a great swimmer and if you are not a good swimmer or a little out of shape maybe catch a cab. Remember you also need to get back in the dinghy, crew dragged me up and in ha!! TMM included a dingy ladder but we didn't think to use it, duh!


We hiked up the rocky path to the Top of the Baths, barefoot I might add. It's such a beautiful spot with gorgeous views. There were several groups here, but you could tell it was late in the season. After a nice relaxed lunch we stopped at the small gift shop just down the hill. The lady on the porch there said we couldn't walk back down to our boat in the same direction we came? I said we didn't want to walk through the boulders, doesn't matter. We didn't mind paying the $3 each, we just wanted to get back to the boat to coordinate the repairs. Oh well, we paid our fees and started our walk on the one way trail, then we scampered...then the awkward sprints began!!! OH MY GOD!! that trail is so hot on bare feet!!! we would dash for any shady spots, drop the fins to cool our feet on all the way down!! Once we got to the refreshing turquoise water, which seemed like an absolute eternity, we all just cussed, laughed and sighed! After literally checking our feet for blisters we hiked through the boulders, a few groups were ahead of us and it took about 30 minutes to get through. I didn't want to be the rude tourist and break the rules, but next time I will if I don't have shoes!!






Back on the boat we discovered that the TMM crew found Noble Shadow and made the repairs while we were on shore! Way to go TMM! With tender feet we decided to hug the coast line of Virgin Gorda and see what we could see, Little Dix Resort was looking amazing and Savannah Bay was empty and calling our name, but we stayed the course.












Entering between the North Sound channel markers it felt like coming home, we do love it here. Boat traffic was pretty nonexistent and we didn't see any boats in the Leverick mooring field. Bitter End had several boats in the field, but plenty of vacant balls. We searched their mooring field and really got confused about what balls are available? several had small floats on them, some marked private or something else written on them. We tried for 3 questionable balls then got further out in the field near Biras....let's try Saba! We found an obvious FCFS ball there and took that. Some Saba balls also had small floats on the pennants, help me understand what that means if you know? I saw a Moorings Captain take the ball behind us with black float that we ignored.











We settled in, put out the Sunchill and simply relaxed . Drake the dog cruised by offering frozen drinks, sorry next time Drake! We had a little sargassum floating through but not terrible and no jellies that I remember. We all continued to look at the bottoms of our feet wondering if they'd permanently stay that bright shade of pink lol! It was about time for the tarpon feeding, so we all put on our "nice clothes" and hopped in the dinghy. Oh SH*! I couldn't get the outboard to pull, then jiggling the gear selector it would grind, EVERYONE OFF! Contacted TMM again via whatsapp and they promptly replied, said it sounds like it's stuck in gear, I said I'd play with it. It was apparently getting stuck in gear, I would push full reverse then full forward and jiggle jiggle in neutral and it fired up ok. I would have to find the sweet spot from here on out, disaster avoided! After that little inconvenience the crew says "let's just stay on the boat and make drinks!" Awesome Crew!! I put the nice clothes back on the hanger ha!!!





We were moored near the cut on the north side and the breeze was awesome. Sitting around the trampolines I would say "sounds like a good time at Saba and someone would say "well. you probably just saved $300 lol" I do the majority of the cooking at home and I do like cooking meals on the boat. For me it's all part of the experience, even though it takes a little coordination in the limited space! We each took turns preparing stuff and I think my daughter and I made hearty chicken fajitas and black bean rice this evening, perfect!






A couple minor hiccups along the way, but what a great day! To be continued, Cheers!......

Last time we were at the Baths, I did not want to go thru. I wanted to take a book and relax as the guys did the full tour. The ladies in the hut did not want me walking down the "wrong way". After explaining to them I wasn't doing the loop, I walked down. No one chased me so I guess I got away with it!

I am curious to hear your thoughts on Bitter End. Our friend is in the professional design business and he raves about the Bitter End's hard product. (I think it is very attractive)

Cleobeach, I wish we had just walked down and not stopped on that porch LOL! BEYC,,,,will be in next report, but the rebuild blew away my expectations!!

I was very polite about it when I was defying their wishes. Also, there were no crowds that day so I wasn’t inciting a rebellion.

We have been to BEYC several times for lunch and it’s been great each time. Our birthday girl wants to return again in February for her birthday lunch.