April 6th: Deadman's Bay (Peter Island) to Kelly's Cove (Norman Island)

From Screen Captures

We started the morning bright and early and went to look for the mooring buoys at Coral Garden. Steve was pushing for the dive on the other side of dead chest, since he and Shauna had done Coral Garden twice as part of their certification dives. However, the south swells were still going strong as we neared Deadchest, so Arturo nix'd the idea in favor of Coral Gardens. To our dismay, the mooring buoy in the protected area was taken, and clearly taken by someone who had used it as an overnight stay illegally. The only other buoy was a yellow commercial dive boat operation buoy, but we snagged it anyway since it was early in the day and we would likely be gone before any commercial dive boats showed up.

From Escape Catamaran 2012

Coral Garden was a beautiful, if shallow dive. As the name described, it truly encompassed coral upon coral. The shallowness of the dive actually helped, as it meant we could stay down for almost a full hour on one tank of air.

From Escape Catamaran 2012

After the dive was over, we went over to Sprat Bay on Peter Island in order to refill our dive tanks. We reasoned that it was unlikely that we would do more than one more dive in the trip, so we filled up just 6 tanks. Peter Island is way more expensive than every other tank refill place, charging us $10/tank. Cooper Island was $6/tank. The dive instructor tried to talk us into Angelfish Reef as our second dive, but we noted that there was no snorkeling there, so that wouldn't be fair to the non-divers in the group. Arturo noted that there was a BVI Dive Guide that had detailed descriptions of all the dive sites in the area, including dives that were in neither of the books we had brought with us. "Something to remember for next time."

From Escape Catamaran 2012

We settled on Rainbow Canyons as our second dive. We had abandoned it just a few days ago because of the race for mooring buoys on Cooper Island, but because it had both snorkeling and diving and was relatively close to the Bight, we made a beeline for it. We got to the other side of Pelican Island and found that all the buoys were taken. However, one of them was not taken by a sailboat, but rather, a motorboat with a swimming ladder. Swimmers were in the water with noodles, a swimming aid that indicated that the folks would probably not stay that long. So I used the opportunity to back and fill the catamaran. The waited lasted about 20 minutes and we were on the buoy. Right after we were moor'd, we received a hail over the VHF which sounded like someone calling the Escape, but when I returned the hail I did not receive any reply, so we proceeded with the dive. It being our last dive, there was a lot of fooling around and taking pictures.

From Escape Catamaran 2012

After the dive, I had my heart set on getting a moor or an anchor position at Kelly's Cove. I remembered the cove from my previous trip, but as we steamed into viewing distance of the cove I saw to my dismay that all the buoys were taken, and there wasn't very much space at all in which to anchor without the boat swinging into another one that's already on a moor. The mooring buoys were not there when I last saw Kelly's Cove, so no doubt it was a new addition.

From Escape Catamaran 2012

We had no choice but to enter the Bight and search for a mooring ball as far away from the Willy T's as we could get. There were plenty available, so we picked one and settled down for lunch. Arturo and I still wanted to snorkel Kelly's Cove, but nobody else did, so the two of us jumped into the dinghy with our equipment and then motor'd over to Kelly's Cove. When we got there, our jaws dropped: one of the buoys was available! Arturo quickly detailed a plan: he would drop me off back at the Escape, and immediately motor over to the moor to reserve it. "Give me 10 minutes, and if I'm not back, it means it's ours!"

From Escape Catamaran 2012

I was dropped off in a hurry, and when 10 minutes were up, we dropped the mooring buoy we were on and picked up an idyllic spot at Kelly's Cove. It was as beautiful as we had hoped, granting us clear views of the channel, but far away from the crowds. I could not believe our luck in happening on the buoy at just the right time with no one else competing for it. Arturo, Steve, and Amy wanted to do a night dive, but by the time they had taken tanks to the air refill it was closed. The tanks were checked and there was about 4 tanks that were usable with air ranging from 850psi to 1500psi, so Arturo, John, Amy, and Steve went for it. We snorkeled around the cove int he afternoon, and I found a notch where it looked like Escape was the only boat in the cove, and Arturo and I snapped pictures there.

From Escape Catamaran 2012

Our choice of location was further affirmed when the buoy collectors showed up: a Chinese couple from Hong Kong. They were thrilled to meet Mandarin and Cantonese speakers as they told us in their year of working here, they had not many anyone who spoke those languages. Even the Asian people were mostly born in America and didn't speak either languages. They gave us some basic statistics about the area: it had 70+ mooring balls, and nearly fills up every night during the high season. The ROI on those mooring balls must be amazing. They also told us (with a hint of secrecy), that we were on their favorite mooring ball location.

From Escape Catamaran 2012

Sure enough, the sunset was glorious that night. So much so that the garbage collecting vessel "Deliverance" parked right in front of us, also watching the sunset. One of the perks of this job is probably a large collection of sunsets every night. We watched the twilight turn pink, yellow, orange and finally a deep midnight blue. It was almost a chore getting food, as everyone was so fascinated by the deepening sky.

From Escape Catamaran 2012

The moon rose as the sun went down, but was hidden behind the cliffs near us until at 8:00pm, it popped out from behind the island and lit up our little cozy cove. We played music, but no one wanted to visit the Willy T, perhaps after being informed that it would be partying until 1:00am tonight.

Arturo, John, Steve, and Amy decided to go for a night dive. At 15 feet maximum depth in Kelly's Cove, it was more like a long safety stop than a dive, so despite the low tanks, folks came back after 30 minutes of diving with air in the tanks.

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April 5th: Leverick Bay (Virgin Gorda) to Deadman's Bay (Peter Island)

From Screen Captures

Our original plans for making it all the way up to Leverick Bay was to do some of the dives in the northern part of the British Virgin Islands, and maybe stay another night in the North Sound at the Bitter End Yacht Club or anchor near Marina Cay. The north swell crushed all of those plans. Many of the sites on the north end of the BVI become impossible to dive in these conditions. We scrapped all the plans in favor of heading back south into protected waters so we could do more diving and have a good night's sleep.

From Escape Catamaran 2012

The morning started with Arturo and I getting the boat ready to get to the fuel dock. The mooring lines were once again a little tangled, but this time we recovered it without having to get into the water. The swells were no worse than the night before, and the docking went relatively smoothly, especially after a gentleman from a nearby boat picked up a line and pulled us in.

Once we filled up with water, the dockmaster looked impatiently at us while the folks who hadn't had a land shower took one. We left at 8:30am and motor'd out for another look at Necker Island before heading down south, jibing one way or another to plot a course south. Our plan was to look for a southern anchoring spot, but as we approached salt island, we saw that we had swells coming from the south as well, so that nix'd that plan also. As we emerged into sheltered waters, I noticed a sailboat that looked familiar. As we drew closer, to my excitement I realized that it was the Rya Jen, the same boat I first sailed these waters in. We hailed the Rya Jen over the VHF but nobody replied. I would later find out from a fellow traveler that the folks who chartered that boat were not very good about monitoring the VHF. It struck me then just how fast catamarans were compared to monohull boats. The Rya Jen looked like it was standing still in the water, compared to us.

Coming around Salt Island, however, we noticed that the Rhone site seemed to have plenty of mooring buoys open, and the water wasn't bad. We picked up a mooring and discovered that there was a stiff current flowing against us from the Rhone Reef direction. The entry into the water and the first 15 minutes of swimming against the current was tough. There was always a feeling of not knowing whether we were going to make it to the dive site before we ran out of air.

From Escape Catamaran 2012

Once on the Reef itself, however, the current all but went away, and we were able to explore freely. Shauna had an equalization problem and had to return early with Steve, but Arturo was game to keep going, and had no problem finding all the locations the dive guides had shown us previously, including a good view of a shark that was apparently sleeping the day away.

From Escape Catamaran 2012

Though it was cloudy, occasionally the sun would come through and we would get beautiful views of the Reef, taking our breath away.

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After the dive, we did not have a lot of time left, and decided to start looking for a place to anchor. I made the decision to head towards Peter Island, where there were multiple harbors on the north side of the island which ought to be well protected. On the way there, however, we had a pleasant surprise: 4 dolphins had decided to come play with us, swimming ahead of our hulls!

From Escape Catamaran 2012

As we approached Peter Island the dolphins fell away but we swept into Deadman's Bay, which looked gorgeous and as we approached seemed to have an empty hole in the middle where we could drop anchor and not swing into other boats.

From Escape Catamaran 2012

The cruising guide describe Deadman's Bay as being a tricky anchorage, occasionally difficult to set anchor because of the grass mixed in with the sand. It took me two tries and re-reading the user manual on the boat to figure out how to do it. It turned out that I had always ramped up the engine to about 3000rpm to set the anchor. Well, a catamaran has two engines, so revving them to 1500rpm is what would do the trick. Do any more, and the anchor might not hold. Third time was the charm, but not trusting ourselves, Arturo and I snorkeled to the anchor just to check it out, and reassured ourselves by checking some nearby boats as well, seeing that they actually didn't do as good a job as we did. We spotted many star fish around at the bottom, but the snorkeling actually wasn't that good.

From Escape Catamaran 2012

After waiting for the boat to settle and making sure that the anchor didn't drift, XiaoQin, Arturo and I swam ashore to look at the beautiful beach and walk along it. Being a privately owned island (though as with the entire BVI, the beaches are always public), the beach was nearly deserted, with most guests in their rooms or at dinner. There was a dinner table set up outside, but we never saw guests show up.

From Escape Catamaran 2012

On the swim back, XiaoQin demonstrated how much a difference the fins made: try as we might, neither Arturo nor I could keep up with her or even come close. When I asked XiaoQin about it afterwards, she said she wasn't even kicking hard or at maximum speed. We settled back to eat dinner and watch the sun set in the gorgeous area that we had found ourselves in.

From Escape Catamaran 2012

After the glorious sunset, we were treated to an even more impressive show: the moon rose and the lights in Tortola went on, granting us an absolutely glorious, ethereal night. I didn't plan the trip this way, but today was nearly a full moon, and tomorrow would be a full moon. Until you've sat on a sailboat you've anchor'd under a full moon and the stars, listening to the waves lap and feeling the boat move beneath you, it would be difficult to understand how romantic sailing really is. There are no sounds you didn't make yourself, and there's a sense of satisfaction that's difficult to share as the moonlight permeates the landscape around you, giving everything a beautiful, mysterious glow. It was dream-like in its lucidity. We stayed up as late as we could, enchanted by the experience. But we had early morning the next day, so turned in and slept like logs.

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April 3rd: The Wreck of the Rhone & Cistern Point

We woke up in the morning and immediately got to work loading up the dinghy with dive tanks. Tony was not very clear as to how we were going to dive today, and had mentioned that we might want to refill our dive tanks ourselves since he might show up and use our own boat to take us diving. Shauna had failed to get DAN's dive insurance the night before, and so she wanted to make that happen as well.

At 8:00am, folks were already ashore but the dive shop was not opened, so I called the shop and the employee said she was on the way. Horizon also called me to say that they had not received the WiFi unit, so I ended up on the phone making calls to Tony's wife and Horizon to ensure that everything would come together.

It took until nearly 10:00am for Tony to show up, but when he did, it was on the sailing catamaran/dive boat, the Braveheart. The Braveheart was a luxury dive catamaran that made The Escape looked like a toy (though at charter rates of $19500/week for 8 people, it had better be). It had two compressors on board, a big dive platform, a water maker, and ample room: even the heads had transparent bottoms so you could look down at the fish while taking a shower.

From Escape Catamaran 2012

The wreck of the Rhone is a world class dive, and even though this was my second time, I still enjoyed it thoroughly. It's an old wreck, so it's encrusted with wildlife, and lots of pretty things to see. It was so good that after snorkeling above us for a bit, XiaoQin decided to try diving one more time.

From BVI 2012

During the surface interval, a false alarm led us to believe there would be whales for us to see, and we all got into the dinghy to look for it, but it didn't happen. So we were taken to Salt Island to have a look at the salt pond instead. It was warm once out of the water, but it was interesting to look at the island. The best thing about the Braveheart is that with 2 tenders, surface intervals will never be boring.

From BVI 2012

The second dive was even more fun, since we were all pretty good about using relatively little air, it was agreed that we could do the Rhone and the Rhone Reef.

From BVI 2012

I'd forgotten how pretty it was, and XiaoQin had a great time as well. We even saw a shark but I didn't have my camera ready for it so it went. I did, however, get a decent video of a turtle swimming.

From BVI 2012

We found a specimen of a Lion fish, an invasive species in the Caribbean, and our guide speared it, bringing it back to the Braveheart for a decapitation.

From BVI 2012

Soon enough, the dive was over, and we were delivered back to Escape with 2 fresh tanks replacing tanks that were previously known to be low but which we had not bothered to refill because they weren't low enough to justify the money.

We then proceeded to dive Cistern Point, which turned out to be more interesting as a dive than a snorkel. Once the coral was up close, we could see plenty of life in the area. Arturo even found a souvenir: a ring with a cork tied to it via a ribbon.

From BVI 2012

The nice thing about shallow dives is that they are quite long. We got 60 minutes out of our tanks. Unfortunately, John hurt himself while getting into a dinghy, rendering his hand out of action.

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Escape BVI 2012

From April 1st to April 8th, 2012, Arturo Crespo (first mate), Cindy Zhou (purser), Shauna Eggers (chef), John Feiler, Amy Platt and Steve Moran joined XiaoQin (admiral) and I (skipper) for a cruise around the British Virgin Islands upon the Horizon Charter Catamaran Escape, a Leopard 40.

This is the index for the trip, which will include a day by day report with embedded photos.

You can Download the GPS Tracks for Escape

BVI 2012

Trip Report

• Prologue: March 29-31st
  
• Day 1: April 1st: Nanny Cay Marina to The Bight
  
• Day 2: The Bight to Manchioneel Bay
  
• Day 3: The Wreck of the Rhone and Cistern Point
• Day 4: Manchioneel Bay to Leverick Bay
• Day 5: Leverick Bay to Deadman's Bay
• Day 6: Deadman's Bay to Kelly's Cove
• Day 7: Kelly's Cove to White Bay
• Day 8: White Bay to Nanny Cay Marina
• Epilogue: April 8th & 9th
  
• Conclusions and Thoughts

Review: Dive Shops in the Virgin Islands

If there's anything I learned on this trip, it is that it is nearly impossible to get a good gauge of dive shops over the internet. We went with three dive outfits on this trip, and while only one was really really bad, two of them had what I consider substandard equipment --- leaking tanks or BCDs. The thing is that the prices don't vary much between dive shops --- you pay pretty much the same amount per dive, whether you're using top of the line premium gear, or junky old crap, so you might as well go with the best. In order of best to worst, here is a brief review of each shop:

DiveBVI: Hands down the best shop we tried. Their gear is brand new, and looks it. There were no leaks in the BCDs or the tanks. Everything fit. The weight belts are labeled and marked with the weights. Best of all, their guides (the one we interacted with was a gentleman from the UK named Andy) are competent, effective, communicate well, friendly, and intelligent. They'll double check your stuff and notice if you've got the wrong gear on. The energy is palpable, and they aim to give you the best experience. Their shop staff is also incredibly accommodating --- we showed up on a Wednesday afternoon to confirm our reservation to dive the Rhone. Due to some sort of error, it turned out that they didn't do the Rhone on Thursday from the location we were at. The shop staff (Casey)literally moved heaven and earth so we could do the Rhone on Thursday. Highly highly recommended. If I were to return to the British Virgin Islands for a dive trip there is no question in my mind that I will sign with these guys.

Dive Experience: Their instructors are great. They have a fast boat with a wide range, and very competent staff --- I saw them moor to a buoy, discover that the buoy was not tied down with divers in the water, and then recover the divers and connect to another buoy without a hitch. Their prices are very good, and they work hard, even when other shops are closed. Their recommendations for the hotel are spot on. There are other shops where the diving is closer (so you can do your surface interval on shore), but I had no regrets about choosing Dive Experience. The equipment however, is a bit old, and their tanks leak and are the heavy kind, which means that your weight settings won't be as dialed in after working with them. Not a big deal, but I suspect that this sort of thing doesn't happen with DiveBVI.

Killbrides Sunchaser Scuba: Avoid at all costs! The equipment is so old and worn you can see fraying on the BCDs. Everything leaked. Worse, the guide we had was a moron --- he clearly didn't know the terrain, but didn't tell us. If he had, we would have opted to guide ourselves and would not have gotten lost and would have seen more. I will definitely not go with these guys for any trip, no matter how desperate I am. My time, energy, and life is worth too much.

All these places and more are listed in Diving British Virgin Islands. When I asked people for recommendations, frequently they tell me that things change frequently in the BVIs, so recommendations can change year over year. But I suspect that the relative rankings here should be stable for at least a couple of years.