Although my day has been normally been beginning rather early while on the boat, today’s episode starts even earlier than usual. At about 04:00 in the morning I awoke to a very light crunching sound very much like what a boot makes in loose gravel. I immediately knew what was happening and climbed topsides. The rain had died and the wind was down, but it had shifted 90° and I was no longer parallel to the shoreline of Prickly Pear but my stern was pointed right at it, and quite close. The noise had been the rudder touching the sand while the boat swung around and I fired up the engine and motored away from shore for a couple of seconds and put the engine in neutral while I decided what I was going to do. I had a lot of chain out and could easily pull some in, but I wasn’t sure how it was lying on the bottom and that perhaps pulling in 20 feet might not be sufficient. So I opted for discretion rather than valour and put on the instruments, switched them to night mode, and lifted up the anchor. As it was dark with clouds and no moon, I chose to relocate to the other side of Prickly Pear island rather than re-anchor slightly further out as there was a mooring ball somewhere in the area and it is difficult to judge distances in the dark so I didn’t trust myself to not anchor too close to a neighbouring boat.
Soon I was in the shallow area behind the Sandbox bar on Prickly Pear and re-anchored there. With this wind direction the fetch of the North Sound gave me some chop, but not enough to rock the boat and I was soon firmly attached to the bottom. I turned off the instruments and engine and within minutes was asleep again, sort of – it was a fitful sleep despite being securely and safely anchored in a new spot.
In the afternoon I decided to sail to The Bight on Norman Island so that I could do the short hop across to Nanny Cay early the following morning. The sail was done under cloud cover with winds shifting from following to a beam reach with light winds. I was about to turn the corner at Peter Island for the home stretch to the Bight and my customary anchoring position when it occurred to me that today is Sunday and that means it is “locals night” at the Willie T’s bar and that means loud rap music and plenty of go-fast powerboats with no mufflers zipping around at speed after dark so I changed course and entered Great Harbour on Peter Island instead. This was my first time in here and, like many of the BVI anchorage, the best spots for anchoring are blocked by large mooring ball fields. I looked around for a suitable spot to anchor and since the drop off is very steep I would have been in 20 feet of water but very close to shore, and any wind change (remember last night?) would have put me on the shoreline. So I ended up anchoring in about 50 feet and I’ve got over 200 feet of chain out right and should have no problem at all staying put, despite the dark clouds to windward that are getting closer and darker as I write these words.
I’m anchored next to (but far enough away from) a big catamaran called Tranquility. Despite the name, they have a generator running 24×7 from which I can just hear and see the exhaust coming out.
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