Road Town Tortola BVIs

Whilst we had been anchored in Leverick Bay we had spotted that we had sprung a leak.  We had noticed that we were getting a little bit of water into our bilge and finally tracked the source down to the galley fresh water foot pump.  Stripping the pump down, it was quickly clear that we needed a servicing kit for it to replace the rubber innards that had just worn out from regular use.  Nicky’s mobile phone had also died.  Add in the concerning factor of a rather empty looking beer locker and it was clear that we needed to visit a slightly larger centre of habitation than we had been to recently.  The capital of the BVIs, Road Town on Tortola, was close and we hadn’t been there before so that became our next destination.

Leaving Leverick Bay

We set sail from Leverick Bay at 1220hrs on Tuesday 17 April for the 3½hr passage.  It was a good sail with the wind on our beam for most of it and, with one reef in the main to make things more comfortable, it was a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon.  Once we had made our way into the outer part of Road Harbour we decided that we would tuck ourselves into a shallow corner there close to Government House and the Hospital.  The anchor was all secure by 1600hrs and then we set about getting the dinghy sorted for going ashore.  By the time we had done that it was too late for most shops but we though that a recce trip ashore would be a good use of our time because it is really quite a large harbour.

The devastation from the hurricane was much in evidence and was still quite shocking.  The harbour was functioning and the 2 big charter companies based here, Sunsail and Moorings, were filling the BVIs with chartering holiday makers on their yachts. But we knew that the numbers were significantly down on previous years.  One look at Road Town Harbour and it was obvious why.  The hurricane had stacked yachts one on top of the other, everywhere seemed to have been severely battered, and the harbour was still full sunken boats.  That, unfortunately, was far from good for the water quality and taking the dinghy through the chocolate brown water in the inner harbour, we were very glad that we had anchored outside rather than taking a mooring on the quay.

We left our dinghy at the Village Cay Marina on the western side of the harbour and started hunting down chandleries, phone shops and food shops.  The Digicell phone shop could provide a data Sim card but it needed a 4G phone to work and we didn’t want to by one that was locked into that company.  Across the way we found a shop that had what we thought that we wanted and so Nicky became the proud new owner of her first smartphone. Sadly, and too late because it was after we’d left Tortola, we discovered that it was actually only a 3G phone but it does work with her UK Sim so that number was functional again. We clocked where there was a chandlery and also a supermarket (irritatingly with no prices on the goods) and then retreated to BV.

The yard hard at work repairing the damaged charter yachts

Wednesday 18 April became a mega pit stop day.  We shot out early from BV in our dinghy, taking the short cut right underneath the cruise ship dock which was fun.  We visited the chandlery we’d seen the previous day and got the foot pump servicing kit that we needed before taking the dinghy right over to the eastern side of the harbour.  This was where the charter yachts operated from and their yard was incredibly busy repairing the damaged yachts.  Here we found a much better supermarket, a wine and beer merchant and a French deli.  The supermarkets we saw were both US style and a big step up on what we had become used to; expensive though and hardly any prices marked, so it was frustrating to shop for food.  The wine merchant supplied us with beer and the French deli was a good source of baguettes.  We looked in at another chandlery which was operating out of a temporary building having been completely washed out by the hurricane.  Their new building, whose construction had also been set back by the hurricane, was nearly ready to be inhabited and so in the temporary accommodation their stock was hard to work though.  However, we did get the courtesy ensigns and spare fuel filter for the outboard that we were after.

Returning to BV we filled up the fridge with our food acquisitions and, along with the few technical bits we had bought, we were all set to go again.  Sadly, with all of the damage from the hurricane still in evidence and seeing nothing that had caught our eye that we wanted to visit, Road Town seemed to offer little charm to keep us there.  We raised our anchor at 1540hrs and headed west along the south side of Tortola aiming for Sopers Hole at the western end of the island.

Road Town, Tortola, BVIs