TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Safe harbors to escape monster north swell and NW winds?

For future reference - Those that were out on the water this past weekend, where did you overnight to try to escape the monster north swell combined with the unusual west-northwest winds? And how successful were you?

Salt Pond Bay, St John was very secure with no wrap around surge. Lots of boats went to Little Lameshur and Great Lameshur and I imagine they were pretty comfortable once the wind went from South on Saturday to W/NW by Sunday. I'm guessing that the usually well-protected north shore harbors such as Francis Bay and Leinster Bay were very rough.


Places in the BVI that come to mind where I might have tried to seek refuge include:

JVD - Great Harbour, Little Harbour, or Diamond Cay (probably a lot of swell energy made it over the reef)
Tortola - Fat Hog's Bay
Gorda Sound - Leverick Bay (which seems to get very lumpy with a large n. swell), Biras Creek (though long fetch open to the NW), or SE shore of Prickly Pear
Norman Island - The Bight (tucked in close to Pirates) or Money Bay
Peter Island - Key Bay, White Bay or Little Harbour (though all three exposed to the W/NW), Great Harbour (near the west shore though possibly still exposed to swell?)

How did these locations actually fare?


Thanks!

We were at Anegada. Quite rolly but we were on a cat so not too bad. The monohulls really got tossed about though! The north side of the island was amazing (definitely no snorkelling but very impressive breakers on the reef). The locals said they hadn't seen it like that for 35 years!

Thanks for your report Nobbie. I guess I'm not surprised some monos headed there despite the forecast.

Trellis Bay has been one of our storm shelters in the past. We would go way inside. Not a trendy anchorage, we know, but usually pretty calm. Seeing all of the boats on the beach now makes me wonder about underwater hazards. Has anyone moored there recently? We will be there in May.

Thanks. Hadn't thought of Trellis Bay. We motored thru the mooring field in late November. It was a windless day so we had a clear view of the bottom. Saw lots of debris on the bottom such as a nice coil of anchor line, a boom, and plenty of junk that looked like it was there pre-Irma. The only hazard I saw was a bimini frame.

@TrueBlue.
Out of curiosity what’s the definition of a Trendy Anchorage in the BVI?

Probably the ones we avoid ;-)