TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Little Dix Bay

Not posted here in a while, but have been sailing this week enjoying some new (to us) spots around the islands. Savannah Bay was just awesome, Lee Bay on Great Camanoe equally great... both good holding for anchors.

We also anchored for the morning one day in Little Dix Bay, tucked inside the reef to the left of the entrance. That was an interesting experience. Within 5 minutes we were approached by a boat with a resort employee from the Rosewood ashore claiming that we weren't allowed to anchor inside the reef in 'their' bay. I pointed out that it was a little pointless to anchor outside the reef, and also questioned the right of the shore resort to control who anchors in the bay and who doesn't. We weren't obstructing any resort ferry traffic, we were a decent distance off the beach - I would say 2 or 300 yards - so we weren't getting in the way of swimming resort guests. So - we stayed... we were planning to have breakfast there and think about what to do next after that.

An hour passed and another resort employee approached by boat and asked more 'politely' when we were planning to leave. It was clear we weren't welcome there so a short while later, once we finished breakfast, we pulled up the pick and moved to Savannah Bay instead, which was equally pleasant or better!

Anyone else experienced this type of welcome from the Rosewood Resort in Little Dix? It would seem to me that allowing a few sailing boats to anchor in their bay would be good for the income ashore, restaurants/bars/gift shops etc - but they seem to be very keen to dissuade that type of behavior.

Good to reconnect here!

Sounds like total BS to me..nobody owns the bay or the beaches up to the high tide mark in the BVI's..I hope TTOLers pay attention to this kind of bullying..

I agree... they were brandishing some BS document on 'Govt of the BVI' paper that didn't seem to back up their claim, other than saying that they should encourage visiting boats to stay away if they weren't welcome in the resort... either way, we took our time, enjoyed our breakfast and a swim, and then took our $$ elsewhere.

BS but not worth the trouble of trying to stay. They used to just circle the boat in monohull days rocking you to death. I guess with cats that is not as effective.

Maybe not worth the trouble, and we didn't stay, but I am interested in why they think that they have the right to control this?

I suspect they know they have no legal right to control this, but feel entitled to do it anyway and know they would never be held to account. Have heard stories of similar harassment at Necker. Doesn't sound like my idea of fun.

Are you on your own boat? Many charter companies (including ours) redline Little Dix and Savannah. Not surprised at Little Dix’s actions - they really aren’t very welcoming there in general.

Own boat... yes.

LDB's actions are outrageous, and in my view, clearly illegal. Full disclosure, I purchased a home in Mahoe Bay precisely because its coral field prevents boats from getting too close the beach. I wanted such a property because while I want to emphasize that the vast majority of boaters respect the rules about not flushing their tanks close to shore, and maintain their vessels so that oil, fuel, and waste leaks don't occur, there are a very few that don't care and I want no part of that. However, I paid plenty for that spot precisely for that reason - but more to the point, I don't own the bay, and thus if a boat does anchor just outside of the coral field, while I'm not wild about it, I still have to live with it.

With regard to the facts of your encounter ("we were approached by a boat with a resort employee from the Rosewood ashore claiming that we weren't allowed to anchor inside the reef in 'their' bay."), I realize that you likely don't want to take the time, but perhaps a letter to the Tourism board, with a cc to editor of the BVI Beacon, the police on Virgin Gorda that asks if this is criminal mischief or harassment, or even piracy (yes, it arguably is), and including as another cc recipient the manager of LDB might quell such practices in the future.

Yes, it's scorched earth, but bullies tend to only respond to that level of pushback.