TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Cooper Island

Hi Friends,

What are your thoughts on Cooper Island? Worth a stop? In all the years we have sailed in the BVI, we never made it there. How is the snorkeling? Also, I hear there is a great restaurant. Thank you!

Reina

It is my wife's favorite stop. The snorkeling by Cistern Pt is good and there are turtles to see right in the mooring field. On a monohull during certain conditions it can be very rolly. Most cats are more better able to handle a swell. The food is excellent and happy hour at 4PM is not to be missed! There is decent wifi and a fun little separate rum bar too.

One of our favorite places -- do check the conditions because YES, it can be rolly.

We love stopping there. We usually try to take a mooring ball nearest cistern point and snorkel from the boat to cistern point - we almost always see turtles there and the fish life is good too once you get the point.

Restaurant is great too as are the drinks, be sure to go in for happy hour.

There are dinghy mooring lines at Cistern Point. Sometime a bit of current is running, so we snorkel against the current and float back. Nice place. And, besides sea turtles in the mooring field, you will also get spotted eagle rays. Go for it... <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Groovin.gif" alt="" />

We always try to make it our last stop before returning to Roadtown always nice there restaurant is very good and the snorkeling and fishing while on the ball is really good. In May while snorkeling at Cistern Point we saw plenty of fish and a 4 to 5 foot nurse shark. It's one of our favorite stops.

We made the mistake of staying there overnight in a north swell. My wife got seasick from the pitching and rolling. Not fun. Watch the weather reports.

We had. Good stop there this week. We've been there three times this year and each time the food was under seasoned and too sweet, but beautiful. Dinner last. Igbo at CocoMaya last night was great. Still, a good time.

Cheers, RickG

Great spot and deservedly popular.

So when don't you want to stop there? When the wind is closer to the North?

Cooper can be very rolly for a mono on any north swell. Cats tolerate the roll much better.

Check windguru Bvi for swell info. It's terrible on a mono in any swell that can wrap around.

Just to be perfectly clear, it is the direction of the swells, not the wind which can make the anchorage uncomfortable. We sail a monohull, and have to check to be sure that the northerly swells are not coming in before we head over to Cooper. It is by far our favorite spot for all the reasons stated above.

The wind direction controls the direction of the swells in most cases.
N to NE winds produces a swell in Cooper island.

I attached this to another post, but with the subject line it's timely.

FYI, I shot Cooper Island Beach Club an email and Samantha replied quickly with the following.....

"Thank you for your message. Our last day of Lunch & Dinner service will be Sunday 16th August and then the resort is closed from 17th Aug for 60 days annual maintenance."

Maybe the Professor (Yo Glenn) can chime in here.
The Bermuda Hi and a Front off the US coast might have a bearing on them also. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

I am sure Glenn will confirm but the N swell is generated off the Eastern US coast. That is why it is so well forecast. The various wx buoys pick it up as it moves south toward the Carribean. Wind generated chop is small but with a shorter interval and steeper face. The interesting thing is even a large N swell is very comfortable to sail in. It's a nice smooth motion unlike the pounding wind chop gives. The N swell becomes nasty when it reaches shallow water unless you are a surfer then it's fantastic!

That is basically true. A longer fetch from a storm in the north Atlantic results in a longer wave length swell near the BVI. Longer wave length also means deeper effect. If you are in deep enough water that the wave can't feel the bottom it can be comfortable. As the wave reachges shallower water and feels bottom it starts to slow down and wave length shortens. That enegy has to go somewhere so it goes up and gets nasty.

Cooper is an interesting case. Cistern Point pretty well protects it from anything from the east but from the north it gets hit by both the source swell and reflections off Salt. BUT there is also a trade wind effect to be aware of. Even in the best of conditions updraft of the heat from the island's surface keeps the trades high during the day. As the land cools at night the trades descend and are squeezed through the gap at Haulover Bay. Cistern Rock turns this flow into a train of vortices that roll over the anchorage and, with the lack of current, wind controls a boat's orientation. One minute a boat might be bow on to the swell and the next broadside.

A north swell coming in from the east coast of the U.S. Doesn't effect Cooper as much as a North wind because it's protected by Tortola.

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />Cooper is a beautiful stop. Great food. Nice snorkeling at Cistern Point.

Also very nice snorkeling close to shore from the mooring field north to the dock.

We stayed on Cooper Island several years ago. We loved it. The best and only place to snorkel is Cistern Rock. It was great and I took a sea kayak and tied up to one of the balls. Great snorkel.

One thing I enjoyed was drifting on an air mattress from the south of cooper Island to the north. It was awesome. always stayed along the resort area and never went past the resort as it was a little rough past the resort.

I beg to differ. The snorkeling to the north along the shore is often better than cistern. I have seen lots of turtles and Rays here. The coral is also interesting. I have been to both areas numerous times. You are entitled to your opinion, but shooting down mine is highly offensive. You may have been there several years ago, I have been there several times per year for several years.

How far North do you snorkel? Where do you start? We will check it out in December. Cistern can get crowded at times

I have gone as far north as the dock for a small boat with big pilings not far from the point and usually out of any swell. Explore swimming over the grass and very close to shore. The coral is in shallow water close to shore. I have no idea what is north of the dock, but you start getting close to the point.

Unlike cistern point, there is usually little boat traffic or current. Like everyone, you never know what you will find.

In regards to cistern, One time on the north side of the point, in the shallows we saw hundreds of star fish. Unfortunately that happened only once.

Looking forward to going there next week. Hopefully Oct. 17 is still their opening date. Anyone confirm?

Their web site still shows that opening date. Good luck.

We'll be at Cooper to check out their new brewery in November. With any luck they'll be pouring.

Cheers, RickG

Have yet to put together an itinerary yet but hoping that Cooper is our first stop in November!

If you are on a mono, be sure to check on the swell forecast first. Cooper can be very rolly.

When are you down in November?

We're on a 40' cat Nov 11-19. Last spring we got shut out of Cooper by Noon. Had to anchor in Haulover. It was pretty but we were nervous about the anchor so we stayed on board and didn't eat or drink on shore.

haul over has lots of coral and it could be difficult to get a good set of your anchor. Arriving at noon at cooper sounds alright. I bet some boats left after you arrived.

We are down nov 13-22. Mono hull Aria. Maybe we will cross paths.

Yeah, I'm sure boats left after lunch. Noon can be busier than 1 or 2 as some boats will just stop for lunch and move on.

We'll be on Orion - a new cat out of TMM. (we're her 3rd charter I think!)
We'll be flying an Ohio State flag - holler if you see us!

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> Cooper is a unique stop, for reasons mentioned above, thus a most everyone's itinerary.

We saw turtles *and* dolphins in the mooring field last time we were there.

We also enjoyed the bushwackers and appetizers at the bar.

Cottagegirl,
We saw you guys at Norman last night when we were in our dinghy going to Pirates for dinner. We are on TMM Lagoon 450 - Cool Change. We have a Texas flag. Hopefully we will see you later in the week.

Lcrich - I WISH you had seen us last night at Norman! We're not down till Nov 11th. Good to know that whoever is chartering Orion this week that they're flying the buckeye pride! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Oops, didn't notice the dates. And I can't really remember the flags but there were a lot of them. Too many rum and cokes I guess.