Anchorages not moorings

Good day all, advice sought:

We're heading back to the BVI for our 5th trip. We've always used mooring balls for peace of mind and benefit of coral. This time, since we're going in early summer for the first time instead of winter, with calmer conditions anticipated, I'd like to anchor some of the nights - how about a top 5 list of anchorages with good holding, safe for coral, protected waters? I am perusing my old copy of the Scott cruising guide but many places have been crowded out by new moorings...we're going to go all over the place so location is not important

Cheers!🏝

ps: <50' monohull approximately 5 1/2' draft

there is room to anchor with good holding in front of the Wonky Dog, 50' cats always anchor there,nice and protected.

Sleepychef-

Is anegada still quietest on the weekend?...was working on itinerary and targeting fri to sun there in June

it's quiet everywhere all the time now.

Cane Garden Bay's busiest night of the season was last night with 8 boats. About the same as a quiet night during a normal season.

Anegada last weekend was quiet for Anegada. 2 or 3 tables for dinner at both places we went.

FYI - the tuna poke appetizer and ribeye at Wonky Dog were great! As always....

Sigh.....I am so jealous.

Assuming we are all negative on Day 0 test then you may be jealous...absent that I am certain of quarantine mutiny my brother. with 8 people on boat for 14 days...

A little unnerving seeing yesterdays Covid test results...this is very stressful high stakes cat herding but very mindful of my little 1st world problems relatively speaking

still hoping to hang out with you and M on land based Anegada trip one day

I am interested in this question also since I hope we will be in the BVI later in May and will charter a Moorings 38-2 monohull. One advantage of the Covid restrictions (I know, now loosened a bit) is that the map of quarantine anchorages suggests new places for us to visit! There is an interesting graphic on TMMs website concerning the "safe" overnight anchorages on the quarantine chart (see TMM graphic). Two places look really nice:

1) Long Bay on the northwest corner of Virgin Gorda. My maps are very vague about this anchorage (but see BareBoatsBVI comment). Does anyone have any helpful hints about getting in here and what to avoid (besides the obvious :-)?

2) Lee Bay on Great Camanoe: there is a bit more online about this one (again BareBoatsBVI) and the Navionics map does mark it as an anchorage. Again any comments/gotchas would be great.

Tha anchorage near Sandy Spit also looks really nice.

We anchor often at home (Chessie) but have not anchored overnight in the BVI so are nervous!

Manchioneel Bay off Little Jost is more exposed and can be rough depending on wind and water conditions. Note that you can not go to Sandy Spit when you are in quarantine. I do hear that BLine is delivering to boats in quarantine.

Hi Nibj - Lots of good open anchoring all over BVI. Look for the sandy spots....easy to see in good light. My Navionics charts are accurate in terms of marked anchorages in my experience. Maybe you need a chart update. Lee Bay is marked as one. Its a little rocky there but we held well our last night. Room for several boats. Have never overnighted at Long Bay but read good things. Pick up a BVI guide book for more info. Have a great trip.

I like the graphic you shared from TMM!
We'll be down May 17-30 on a Sunsail 41.0 mono. What are your dates? We may see you.

We are arriving later on the 25th. Have a great trip.

I love lee bay. Pull up closer to the east shore and you have plenty of sand to drop anchor Great sunset views

I love anchoring at Key Bay, on the south side of Peter Island. The shells ashore are really nice.

I've spent a night or two at Benure's Bay on Norman

Little Harbour on the west end of Peter is nice. I did not anchor well when I was there. It looked like the private charters hit that between gigs. There were a bunch of them. It was almost like they were medmoored with a line around a tree ashore.

Second the tuna poke appetizer at Wonky.... Just wow

Long Bay on Virgin Gorda is really easy to get to and you can come straight in, I will caution you that there is some coral there and you have to look for sandy bottom for your anchor to hold good. We saw some boats well into the cove and anchor, one cat was so far in they actually had a stern line attached to shore. The snorkling on the north side of this place is very nice. Have fun!

Drat it sounds like our favorite spot has gotten too busy....

Sorry @MIDiver - we will keep it secret and not play our music too loud.

BTW when anchoring in the BVI is 5:1 length of anchor chain OK? I have read 7:1 but that seems very long...

This will be our first time anchoring in the BVI (other than day stops).

It really depends on the holding and weather forecast. 5 to 1 is fine for normal night. 7 to 1 if you might have high winds and/or rain squalls. At Anegada 3 to 1 is probably fine as the bottom is a Sandy muck that holds like glue!
G

So, we anchored in Lee Bay on the west side of Great Camanoe. When you enter the bay, the depth goes from the mid 40s to 12 pretty quickly. This tends to make you want to set, which we did in a small sandy spot surrounded by rocks. I snorkled over the anchor and kept going. The ground levels off and very gradually goes to 10 and you get out of the rocks and into beautiful sand, then it continues to very gradually go to 8'. I mean, this is over about 150'. By now, you feel like you're a couple of boat lengths from the beach (which is pebbly, weirdly enough). We reset and backed off with plenty of scope in good holding, all sand. The breeze funnels through a natural cut in the island but the water is flat and the anchorage is quiet. We spent 2 nights there while waiting for our day 4 test results. A skiff came by, the same one as we saw at Great Harbor, Peter Island, in the morning with ice and to pick up trash.