TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands North Sound / Oil Nut / Prickly Pear / Leverick

Dave just asked me the following...thought maybe it might be useful info for others chartering in the near future...

"I wanted to see if I could get more detail from you about your visit to the New Oil Nut Bay. We will be in BVI in June via Sunsail. Like you, I think we would prefer to avoid Leverick issues and anchor at Prickly Pear My questions are:

How is Prickly Pear? are they open? food?
Did you dingy over to Oil Nut? Any issues?
Did you go over to Oil Nut for just happy hour?"


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Hi Dave,

Earlier this week we anchored off Prickly Pear, in front of The Sandbox...slightly towards the entrance channel to North Sound. The holding was superb, anchor didn't move an inch. Beautifully flat there, we spent 2 nights...no mooring fees! Anchored in about 12ft of water.

We took dinghy right up to the furthest bit of Oil Nut (by their beach Club) and anchored on the sandbar just behind the reef. Snorkelled from the dinghy...saw 15 Green Turtles, rays...all sorts. Nobody from ONB came to try and chase us away, so all good!

We then backtracked in dinghy to their new Marina Village. Had some lunch, drinks, used their pool...an hour or so was long enough for us. It's really swish and they are super friendly.

Then took dinghy all the way down North Sound to Leverick...ordered takeout to collect later...then back to boat.

Just before sunset we took dinghy back down to Leverick, picked up dinner and returned to enjoy in the cockpit whilst watching the sunset.

We had 12-17 knots of wind during our stay and all of the above was easy, comfortable and a lot of fun.

So much fun...that we did it all again the next day!

Hope that helps! Shout if you had any other questions, happy to help!

Oh and Sandbox on Prickly is shut...half built...I really doubt it will be open in June, nobody was working on it.

That’s some serious dinghy riding it seems! There’s no way our little 9hp motor could have covered that kind of ground comfortably or quickly, are you working with an upgraded dinghy? I can’t imagine trying to convince my group to travel all over north sound on what we had with our charter boat lol

Great report...will have to try prickly

12ft AB RIB (fiberglass version) dinghy, 15hp Suzuki 2-stroke outboard. 2 people (slim...well...at the start of the holiday anyway!)

9hp, with 4 or more people...i agree our distances might be a bit unrealistic.

However...we saw a 51ft Sunsail monohull make it all the way to the Oil Nut Bay Marina village (Deep Bay). Sounds scary...must have come through Eustacia and Prickly. No way you'd get through between BEYC and Saba. But...clearly it is possible. You could come up to the marina for lunch...then head down to Prickly to anchor mid-afternoon.

Probably one of those attempt only with good light overhead, polarized sunglasses and person up the mast steps.

I did the saba bitter end passage last summer. It was not that difficult. Very slow progress. It's no doubt intimidating.

Interesting. Never ventured that way in the big'un. What's your draught? ...always fancied anchoring in Deep Bay, although I gather ONB are soon to put a stop to that...

Shallow draft. Lagoon 450F. Around 4.5'.

I left via the channel between prickly pear and stacia. No markings. More stressful from my pov

There's plenty of water between Saba and BEYC. Used to be marked. Dunno that it still is. Basically stay in the center of the cut, then bear right, giving VG a wide berth, until you hit the deep water of Deep Bay.

Its marked as of October '18...Navionics has markers. I did it backwards coming from Anegada on my buddies boat starting at Oil Nut

Enough water for a 48ft mono? 6ft and a bit...

Yup.

Thumbs up, will put it to the test (slowly) on Tuesday.

Thanks for the info.

This map may be helpful. Follow link and click on water depth map.

https://www.oilnutbay.com/marina/marina-services/

What about anchoring in Deep Bay or Eustatia Sound? From the map it looks like there is enough room away from the channel and ONB marina and protection from the reef?

As long as you insure your anchored in sand either is fine. I would however check with your charter company as most used to prohibit boats in Eustacia sound.

Yeah pretty sure they still red line Eustatia Sound, I am just curious what the anchoring areas in Deep Bay and Eustatia are like. I have heard good things about anchoring in the Eustatia Sound but haven't heard anything about Deep Bay?

Redlined at Moorings...

Simply go to the Navionics chart viewer web application. https://webapp.navionics.com/#boating@11&key=%7Dx%7DoBjhvgK

It's called Deep Bay for a reason. You need to get fairly far into the bay to get to 15'-16' depth. They still had swim zone buoys off the beach as of a couple months ago so tough to get into water less than 13 feet deep.

Even moderate NE to E winds funnel into the bay so it can be lumpy at anchor. Some swell can also make its way in (which can also make the T-docks at ONB a bit bouncy). Frankly I don't find it that scenic as the beach has not been cleaned up since Irma and the surrounding hills block the sunrise/sunset plus you have several boats ferrying workers to/from the ONB marina with the associated construction. Stargazing can be good though.

If it's a calm night (<10 kts), I do like anchoring my boat in Eustacia Sound. You see on the chart that most of the anchoring spots in sand away from the coral heads are also in pretty deep (25'+) water. I put out a 88 lb Rocna with 200'+ of chain to sleep soundly.

As noted, I suspect Eustacia Sound is redlined for bareboaters by most, if not all, charter companies.

Most of the markers are still in place though not all are represented accurately on the Navionics chart -https://webapp.navionics.com/#boating@11&key=%7Dx%7DoBjhvgK.

The one tricky area coming thru the BEYC-Saba Rock Passage is as you approach the 2nd red buoy just north of the BEYC barge dock on the north tip of VG. There is a patch of coral heads that I've measured a few times at ~6.5 ft deep (and I don't know what the tide level was). Perhaps they are sometimes shallower. It's difficult to see this patch when entering the passage from North Sound in the AM or exiting to North Sound in the PM.

So for 6 people on a 40' cat who want to spend some time on the beach or next to a pool with bar service, and then have a nice meal ashore, the low season daily cost in a slip at Oil Nut is $530 and on a ball (when they install the balls) will be $780, while the cost at Leverick is $60 in a slip and $30 on a ball? And the trash disposal cost at ON is $10 a bag versus $2.50 a bag at LBM? Oil Nut clearly doesn't need or want my business.

We stayed at the new Oil Nut marina a couple of weeks ago and the costs are much more reasonable. 1.50 per foot in Off Season or approximately $70 for our boat. Trash and ice were reasonable as well. Our costs were about a wash compared to night we spent at Leverick Bay. No additional costs unless you want a day pass to the beach club. Restaurant was very good.

Compare that to the cost of staying at ONB.

It's even more expensive.

Pricing has changed. Several weeks ago, you could eat at the restaurant if you moored. No longer. Now, only if you buy the day pass. Check the link in TC42's 8:05 am post yesterday. The costs I totaled are from the ON website. Far from reasonable for my pocketbook!

I think you are looking at the wrong side of the page from the email that you mentioned. Here are the marina rates which are on the left side of the link.

We enjoyed the free day use of the other facilities when they offered that option but now marina guests have to pay $75 per person for that. The marina facilities including the marina restaurant and marina pool are free for day usage. Overnight rates are listed below.

DOCKAGE
HIGH SEASON: DEC 10 – APRIL 28
Nightly: $3.00 per foot per night
Weekly: $2.50 per foot per night
Monthly: $2.00 per foot per night

LOW SEASON: APRIL 29 – DEC 9
Nightly: $2.00 per foot per night
Weekly: $1.75 per foot per night
Monthly: $1.50 per foot per night

MOORING
Up to 60 feet: $30.00 per night
Up to 120 feet: $120.00 per night
Includes a bag of ice if paid at the Market

GARBAGE
$10.00/night will be added to dockage fees for garbage service
$5.00 per bag

UTILITIES
Electricity: $30 per day for 30 amp / $50 per day for 50 amp / $100 per day for 100 amp
Water: $0.20/gallon
Ice: $5.00/bag

*Rates are subject to change.

FUEL
Gasoline and Diesel Available
Prices subject to change

CLEANING SERVICES
Exterior: $45/hour + supplies
Interior: $40/hour + supplies

[quote=CDavis2]I think you are looking at the wrong side of the page from the email that you mentioned.

I think not. (I referenced no e-mail, but a link to the ON website.) I used the same low season mooring ($30 when they get balls in) and slip ($2 per foot) rates as you stated. For a 40' cat, that is $80 a night. As for the Beach Club, here is the quote from the same ON page on which the rates are stated on the left side:


"RESORT & BEACH CLUB ACCESS FOR OVERNIGHT MARINA GUESTS

Marina, mooring and outside guests will be encouraged to join us at the Marina Village and Nova Restaurant.

Overnight marina guests can purchase a Resort Day Pass to gain access to the Oil Nut Bay resort amenities including the Beach Club and Restaurant (reservations are required), Wellness Studio, Tennis & Pickle Ball Courts, Kids Club Nut House and Hiking Trails. The Resort Day Pass is $75 per person.

Outside and mooring guests interested in visiting the Beach Club or enjoying lunch at the Beach Club Restaurant can purchase a Beach Club Day Pass for $125 per person. This allows access to the Beach Club along with complimentary use of watersports equipment. Please note that Hobie Cats are available at an additional hourly rate. Outside and mooring guests will not have access to other resort facilities.


For 6 people on a ball, the Resort Day Pass at $125 per person totals $750, plus the $30 ball fee equals $780.
For 6 people in a slip, the Resort Day Pass at $75 per person totals $450, plus the $80 slip fee equals $530.

The math is the math. Moreover, if you stay overnight on the yet-to-be-installed mooring balls and buy a day pass, you can eat lunch at the Beach Club restaurant but not dinner, even though you are paying $50 a day more than a marina slip renter who apparently is under no such restriction.

Compare this to Scrub Island. On our last trip, in June 2017 with a crew of 11 on a 52' cat, we stayed in slip for two nights at a cost of $3 per foot per night. (The weather was a little rainy, so with 4 grandkids, we opted for the second night. The swim-up bars also may have contributed to the decision!) For $14 per person per day we got dockage and free run of the entire resort, including the pools and two restaurants (for any meal). Oil Nut is more than 5 times that amount.

ps I was mistaken on the ON garbage disposal. It's $10 a day for 2 bags, not $10 a bag. But that is still twice the LBM cost for 2 bags.

I think I was off on my calculation on the actual rate so it would be around 80 for a night at the marina village. My point is that you don't have to pay the resort day pass if you use the marina village which also has a pool and a restaurant. The marina village does not require a day pass to the rest of the resort.

$125/pp to have the honor of spending MORE $$ to dine there? No Thanks. Restaurant @ Leverick, Coco Maya, Chez Bamboo, Hog Heaven, etc. will get our money.

avoid eating at ONB and everywhere else will appear free

I have yet to see that happen.

Or, the money you save covers the rest of your ashore meals?

Peter Islands Saturday night buffets was$75 pp. it was outstanding.

I think on New Years, they wanted $275 pp. a little steep.

If you get to St John try Extra Virgin Bistro...I would put it on par with Coco Maya

In my view coco maya is better. To be objective, we have to go try both together.

Warren... where did you overnight Scuba Doo when you went to Coco Maya? Spanish Town?

Deal...maybe Oct?

Perhaps

We usually rent a car from Mahogany car rental, they deliver to Leverick. We get the car 8 am, Goto the baths, pick up take away lunch at mad dogs, picknick at Savannah bay, back down to coco maya for dinner

Is Deep Bay off limits/redlined by the Moorings? I'm thinking about visiting Oil Nut Bay next week.