Jost to Dogs to BEYC

...Radeen and our BVI permit...

With our mission completed of acquiring boat permits from the National Trust of the British Virgin Islands, over in Road Town, it was now time to move into the BVIs and snorkel. After a very very rolling night and very little sleep off Sandy Spit due to the North Swell wrapping around and rocking our boat from gunwale to gunwale, we headed east for Guana Island and Monkey Point. Our $150 permit allows us to use the many mooring balls placed through out the BVIs at all the key snorkeling and diving locations. You are allowed to take a RED mooring ball and secure your yacht to this for 90 minutes while you jump in the water and check out the beautiful fish and coral reefs. Our first mooring we used was at Monkey Point and our stern was only about one boat length off the rock with the waves breaking on the rocks. The swell was rolling us back and forth here as well and we were at first concerned about being so close to the rocks. But we lowered the dinghy, our diving platform and we jumped into the water. What a great feeling snorkeling right off your boat onto a beautiful coral reef in crystal clear water, and it is only 10 am in the morning. Sooooooo many reefs and so little time. Radeen and I love to snorkel. Check out these GoPro photos...

After some fantastic snorkeling at Monkey Point and after a bit of boat emergency repair of clearing the seawater intake hose and seacock from some plugged up seaweed we moved onto our second snorkeling point, at the Dogs where we picked up another mooring off Great Dog. Dropping into 30+ feet of water always give me a feeling of height and it makes me feel like I am looking off the roof edge of a very tall building. After this shock of the clarity and the depth is over, we headed over to the reef and enjoyed some large stag-horn coral formations and beautiful reefs. After this second snorkeling stop for the morning, it was time to continue on EAST, again, and move to North Sound where we all would take a break from moving our boats. Destination, the Bitter End Yacht Club....BEYC,

Team Island Spirit has been to the Bitter End Yacht Club 9 times and we have taken land based Christmas vacations here. We have sailed here on bareboat charters and on captained crewed yachts. We met good friends here on IP40 RELATIONSHIP in 1996 to crew with Chuck and Jeannie to cross the Anagada Passage to St. Martin . In 2006, we chartered a catamaran with Jeff, Sharon, Dan and Claire to celebrate "When Two Boys Turn 50." Then just two years,ago we were here with our AZ family, Mark, Tammy, Taelor and Tanner on a Mooring 49 foot power cat. We spent two days sailing and playing here with the Hobie Cats and we discovered Taelor is a great sailor!. This place, to us, is one of our happy places and we always love to stop here. It is the end of the BVI chain of islands and from here, you can sail back to all the other great islands or you can use this as a jumping off point to head down island. We will do that next season, for now, it is time to enjoy the BEYC and the BVIs. Here are some photos of the grounds and this area....

We have some high winds and high north swells (9-10 feet) forecasted for tomorrow so that is why we moved up to North Sound. We actually took a mooring ball with the Bitter End, thinking it would give us some access to services, but everything is an up charge: the pool, the showers, trash, etc, The only thing you get for your $35/night is the right to tie up to their mooring ball. So it is....we are still very happy to be right here one boat row off the shore and a very short dinghy ride to the beach and reefs. Matter of fact, this small dock with the pointed thatched roof was the location Radeen and I planned Mick and Dr. Deb's weeding in 2001. Then the next day, I nearly killed Mick sailing him on the Hobie Cat which we flipped and Mick could NOT swim! OMG that was scary. I did not know....

So, welcome to the Bitter End Yacht Club, we will try to do a photo essay on this location as you can see, it is very special to us and we really love it here. Here is our happy Champagne and OJ toast "selfie" with the BEYC over our sholders.

For all you chart and map lovers, here is the current lay of the land and where we ran today.

The BVIs are only 35 miles long from end to end, so you can cover this area in a day.

Our first sunset as seen from the Bitter End

The Bitter End Logo, I have many stickers and T-shirts of this over the years

Our first visit here was in 1986!