Virgin Gorda BVIs

Easter weekend, Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor.  There was some rain, but at least it produced a lovely rainbow.  I think I have seen more rainbows this trip than ever before.  I like to think they are put there to remind everyone on boats how lucky we are to be alive and sailing around.  First things first though was the throttle cable needed to be replaced as there was no going anywhere without it.  With the holiday weekend looming the first thing needed was to contact someone to come and make the repair.  Luckily, the marina had a boatyard associated with it and the repair guy was free to come over.  He checked everything and then left to get the needed cable from the parts place.  I had my fingers crossed that they would have one in stock, which they did.  Whew!  Within a short time the repairman had arrived with the necessary part and had it installed.  Glad to have that taken care of!!

Good Friday found the marina full and I was surprised at how many power boats there were.  My past experiences in the BVIs had been that it was a place for sailboats with few power boats around. Evidently this has changed.  There were many boats from Puerto Rico full of families and extended families.  Children abounded and the partying during the evenings seemed to go on full blast.  It was so noisy one night, a fellow cruiser down the dock from us came out of her boat to ask that the folks on the power boat across the way to keep it down as people were trying to sleep.  I quietly applauded her as the raucuness was getting out of hand.  I was thrilled to be able to fall asleep to some quiet after the group had turned down the party but was rudely awakened at 4:00 AM by people talking and revving up engines on fishing boats at dock all around us.  What the heck???? So much for relaxing in the BVIs.

It was only later that I found out that during Easter weekend, Virgin Gorda sponsors a fishing tournament. So in addition to the night time partying, each morning brought the noise of fishermen going out at the crack of dawn, well just before dawn actually.  I did get to see them come back and deposit large Wahoo on the dock that they had caught, however, the cleaning and gutting done right on the dock was a little disheartening as I really didn't feel like seeing blood and guts all over the place right behind our boat.

The marina did have a small grocery store on site and I was able to get some groceries while there. Grocery shopping is always an adventure as I never know when I will find a store or what they will have. Makes for some interesting meals on board.

Fortunately, we do get out to eat whenever we can and we had a really nice dinner one evening at The Rock Cafe.  The restaurant is built into the boulders near The Baths and there are tables set up on a deck constructed around the rocks. The food was very good and atmosphere well worth the walk from the marina. Here is a link:

http://www.bvidining.com/Rock_Cafe/index.php


Saturday before Easter, the local area sponsored a "Family Day" event at the park near the marina so we were bombarded with VERY loud music for the better part of the day.  I kept thinking that the music would stop eventually as "Family Day" had to end at some point.  Unfortunately, I was wrong and the music went on until quite late at night.  Once again, I was thrilled to finally lay down for some quiet sleep thinking that Easter morning would be nice and quiet with people going to church or hunting Easter eggs.  NOT!!  At 5:00 am the loudest music of all work me up. It seems that there is a daylight 'parade' through Spanish town and the surrounding area.  The parade basically consisted of flatbed trucks with VERY large speakers and music producing paraphrenalia which drove slowly down the street followed by a mass of people bopping along behind.  Not much like any Easter celebration I have ever seen, I must admit; not an egg or bunny in sight.

 With all the noise, partying and crowds we were ready to leave Virgin Gorda for something more peaceful, so we slipped the lines first thing Easter Monday and headed out toward Tortola.