TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands New Red Line Map for Moorings

Rather than find the old thread(s) where this has been mentioned, I figure I'd make a new post.

I looked at the latest E-Guide from The Moorings and noticed that it looks to be updated. One of the things that was always very strange is that Anegada was red-lined despite being a suggested stop on their itineraries.

Well, it now looks like it is an "amber" area - use extra caution - and no longer red.

Yes, I just got back and noted the improved wording. Something I have been advocating for for years.

Wasn't the issue that you could go there, but they wouldn't send a chase boat if you had boat trouble?

That's still the case, separate from the "go/nogo" issue.

That’s good news! Thanks for posting. We are looking forward to a week in the islands, including Anegada, at the end of May.

I'm surprised to see Brewer's Bay as use caution vs red-lined. Has it always been that way with the Moorings?

Brewer's Bay has underwater cables.

Thanks for posting this. We are chartering from Moorings in early June. I see that the cut through between Great and Little Camanoe is red lined. We are planning on motoring from Great Harbour, JVD to the Baths. Is there a preference of heading towards Guana Island and going around Great Camanoe or heading towards Soper's Hole and around Tortola? The distance seems to be about the same. I am inclined to head towards Gauna but there may be reasons, like currents, choppiness, etc... to head towards Soper's Hole. Thanks for any advice.

It used to be the passage between Little Caminoe and Beef was redlined and the only passage was between the Caminoes but I guess they reversed this.

The caution on the little Caminoe/Beef passage is make sure you know where the cardinal marker is that marks the reef

https://bvipirate.com/BeefIslandPassage.html

Many trips ago we were motoring out of Marina Cay heading towards Jost van Dyke. I was behind the helm, busy with who knows what, when all of a sudden I realized I had missed the turn between the Camanoes and was in the middle of what was redlined Little Camanoe ./ Beef passage. Slowed to a crawl, put someone on the bow and made it through fine but that was a white knuckle experience I don't care to relive.

We saw a boat hit the reef by the airport and roll over one year. However, they must have a reason for this change.

Regarding traveling east in June, we do this a few times each year (in June), and you have to watch the weather to decide which course is best. Typically, with an east to southeast wave action and wind in the narrows between Tortola and St. John, it is calmer to take the passage to the north of Tortola toward Guana. However, if you are forced to take the south route with a head sea, we typically hug the coast of either Tortola or St. John, depending on the wind/waves. With a little more northeast wind/wave action, the route south of Tortola can be the calmer ride. Hope this helps!

Thanks for the replies. If I am reading the map correctly, the Beef Island/Little Camanoe is red lined as well. So that is not an option from what I see.

Last year we were at Scrub on a boat and the tower called in a Mayday for a boat that hit the reef hard...caught up wiht the captain later and it was his 2nd trip on a boat and his 40th and he said he was drinking...

as I read the names under caution it lists Beef/Little Caminoe so dont think it is redlined but you definately want to know where that cardinal marker is and stay north

Hopefully this goes through…

Charter company and type of boat that went aground?

Moorings is in the process of redoing their chart briefings. As owners, when we got the new chart that redlined the passage between Big and Little Camanoe and "amber lined" the passage between Beef and Little Camanoe, I reached out to upper management. Here is the response I received...


There are areas around Beef Island that are restricted due to the airport. Below is the chart we show during the in-person chart briefing to show the path to take: They've added a new marker just below the red zone, so you'd come up to the marker, clear it on your port side, then straight through Little C and Beef. This path clears all restricted airport areas around Beef and avoids the cut between Little C and Great C. We've seen a number of incidences in that cut. The previous slide is the Trellis Bay slide showing the red areas around the airport. I heard they just added yellow buoys to the east and west side of the airport runway too.