We got to watch the 468' sailing yacht A anchor off the coast in April 2019, followed by a small army of crew setting up on the beach in advance of billionaire owner Andrey Melnichenko and wife arriving on a similarly sleek, silver landing craft.
I believe that I recognize the rock (off Moskito Island, marks the outside of the North Sound entrance). The only uninhabited island that I can think of with a lighthouse is Sombrero Island. I've sailed past her twice - the first land you see when heading to St. Martin from Virginia. But I never went close to shore.
Addendum: I Just looked at the first picture and saw houses in the distance. So my guess can't be correct... oh well...
With the two languages clue and uninhabited I'm guessing it is one of the small islands between St Martin and St Barts. Ile Forchue is the only one I can think of that has an anchorage but I would have thought that was part of St Barts so only one official language.
It's Culebrita in the Spanish Virgin Islands (formerly known as the Passage Islands) and is part of Puerto Rico. It's only a 2.5 hour downwind sail from Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas. If you avoid the weekends when the local boaters show up (and even then it tends to be very family friendly with multiple generations onboard the boats), you will usually have the island pretty much to yourself. The main anchorage is Bahia de Tortuga (Turtle Bay) - you can expect to count a dozen or more sea turtles rising near you boat. We've experienced some amazing full moons here. Only challenge is that this bay is exposed to northerly ground swells.
From Bahia de Tortuga, it's a relatively easy 20 minute hike to the lighthouse that was built by the Spanish from 1882-1886. It was destroyed in 1932 by a hurricane, rebuilt, then extinguished during much of WWII for security measures, returned to service in 1944, automated in 1948, then the building was finally closed in 1959. There has been some attempt to stabilize the crumbling lighthouse walls, but be cautious if you explore the rooms. The spiral iron staircase looks ready to collapse. I haven't tried to climb up the steps since Hurricane Irma.
The nearby populated island of Culebra has several very good restaurants in the small town of Dewey. There is a Spanish Puerto Rican vibe to the island that is completely different from the nearby USVI and BVI. I've found the residents to be extremely friendly.
Okay - here is an easy one. But I just took this photo 5 minutes ago so I can't resist!
You should be barred for life for posting that Swifty . If I was to post what I can see now it would be river that is 16 ft above it's normal level and steadily approaching my parked car! Oh and there's snow on the hills in the distance! And I should be at my house in Spain but I'm not because we Brit's aren't allowed out of the UK or into Spain. Apart from that life is not too bad
Mike--Hang in there! This too shall pass, hopefully....
I know Carol. According to the Vaccine Date calculator here in the UK I am only a month away from get the jab. Unfortunately my much younger wife is a further month away. Ferry to Spain booked second week of April.
Hey Mike, be happy with a "much younger wife". : OK, for the record, I wouldn't change my Karyl for anything in this world and I'm not against 'older women'.
Last edited by Fran; 01/23/202101:54 PM.
[color:"red"]FRAN[/color] "Yes I am a pirate, 200 years too late"
Mike--Gee, I wish I had some kind of calculator! We have NO idea when we might get it. We are planning on going to SXM in June and I will be DECIMATED if we don't have it by then.
After being spectacularly useless at limiting infections, our government seems to have got it right and pre-ordered a large number of different vaccines before knowing what, if anything, would work. So far they've got 3 right, Pfizer, Moderna and Oxford and are now rapidly working through the priority groups with 432,000 administered on Friday. I'm in the fifth group, over 65 and Jean is two groups down. At 400,000 plus a day, all priority groups (50 and over and people with underlying health issues) should have had one jab within the next two to three months.
The clue about calanques has reminded me. I was in the place I think it is for two days a bit less than two years ago. In fact I think I posted a photo in a very early edition of the game... Marseilles?
![[Linked Image]](https://www.tickerfactory.com/ezt/d/4;10765;128/st/20231102/e/BVI+Bareboating/dt/-1/k/28ad/event.png)
![[Linked Image]](https://zanshin-sailing.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/zanshin-transparent-black-logo-350x100-1-150x43.png){kind=logo}
![[Linked Image]](www.sailbvi.net/images/gb_red_ensign.gif)
. If I was to post what I can see now it would be river that is 16 ft above it's normal level and steadily approaching my parked car! Oh and there's snow on the hills in the distance! And I should be at my house in Spain but I'm not because we Brit's aren't allowed out of the UK or into Spain. Apart from that life is not too bad
: OK, for the record, I wouldn't change my Karyl for anything in this world and I'm not against 'older women'.![[Linked Image]](http://thumb2.webshots.net/t/72/172/7/93/1/2088793010044477402hQCsDE_th.jpg)