nice. There are mooring balls there. We strongly suggest you do not try to anchor at Cooper. The holdings are not good at all and it can become a dangerous anchorage. Marina Cay, a pretty anchorage off Scrub Island. From Peter Island, it’s about 10NM. From Cooper, it’s about 5.5NM. If you left from Peter, Cooper will be an excellent lunch/snorkeling stop. Grab a mooring ball, they are free if you not staying overnight.
keling, but slightly tricky anchoring. So check your charts. Whatever course you’re following, if you are becalmed south of the Dogs, you will often find more wind if hugging the west coast of V.G., all the way from the Baths to Mountain Point. Just watch for a barely emerging rock breaking out due west of Colison Point, north of Spanish Town. When entering the North Gorda Sound, you have to be very careful. Do not attempt to pass between Mosquito Island and V.G., and do not shoot straight for the Sound after rounding Mosquito: You would be going straight to the reefs! Enter only between the green and red buoys (remember, Red-Right-Returning?) between Prickly Pear and Colauhoun Reef as there are big treacherous reefs at the entrance and all around. If I enter under sail, I also turn on my engine at this point and keep the main up, as a routine matter of safety to navigate between those reefs.
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Marina Cay is a lovely little island, with plenty of mooring balls, a nice open restaurant and a tiny beach. Just watch the approach around the marker showing the large reef surrounding the island. If you have to anchor, do so either along the inside of the south part of the reef, or behind the north part of it. It’s not deep and holdings are good. You can get water and fuel there too. The snorkeling is nice along the reef of Great Camanoe, slightly west of Marina Cay. If moorings are full, go across to Trellis Bay, a very protected anchorage with moorings balls. Virgin Gorda North Sound
Total distance: about 13NM to Mosquito Island. Here, you will be beating all the way no matter what, so this one is a fairly long leg. Leave early to make the Sound by 1500 and make sure to get a mooring ball. If it is the high season or a holiday, that ETA is the latest we recommend. On your way up there, you have 2 possible stops:
- The famous Baths at the southern point of VG with the mysterious boulder rocks, fabulous snorkeling, and intriguing caves. - Mountain Point, the NW tip of VG, with great snor-
After passing the last buoy though, you can reward yourself with a couple of exhilarating tacks inside the Sound, where it is always windy with flat waters. Grab a ball either off Vixen Point at Prickly Pear, or in front of the Bitter End resort. The south part of the anchorage, along with Biras Creek is pretty hot as it gets no air. If you want a cooler temperature, moor on the north side of the anchorage (left side when facing the resort) or even off Saba Rock. If you have to anchor, try to find room along Prickley Pear’s south side or off Saba Rock, where the depth can be manageable. Other areas are too deep unless you have 200 feet of chain. There is plenty to do in the Sound.
Visiting yachts must obtain a fishing permit if they wish to fish in BVI waters. Catching lobster, spearfishing and collecting live shells is prohibited. No jet-skis are allowed to be used in BVI waters.