TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Wheels up on Sunday and North Swell question

Looking forward to 8 days in the USVI and BVI onboard a Sunsail 444 from November 8-16. Would love to chat with and TTOLers who may also be down for the week.

We are planning on mooring in Francis Bay in St. John on Monday night and noticed they are predicting a North swell up to 4 foot. Anyone experienced any problems on an over night there with a North swell in the past? Should we consider Leinster instead?

Thanks for any help.

From Active Captain: Francis Bay

"Well protected anchorage with National Park Service moorings. Well protected unless wind/swell from N or W. Controlled access to beach for dinghies."

"Beautiful and protected in N swell. Dinghy trip to shore can be rough with the N. swell. Great snorkeling next to the hill. Perfect view and lovely atmosphere."

"Mooring balls well mantained. Great location - can be rolly in some conditions. Be sure to visit the maho bay campground restaurant while you're in the area."

Looks like Leinster might be a better option if swell is up.

cruzdoc - we'll be down Nov 12-19 on Orion, a cat out of TMM. Holler if you see us! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

The Maho Bay Campground/restaurant is long gone - the Eastern most moorings are usually out of the rolling action unless the swell is large or has a Westerly component.

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/show_plot.php?s...;time_label=GMT

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/show_plot.php?s...;time_label=GMT

http://www.swellinfo.com/surf-forecast/cinnamon-bay-st-john
Cinnamon is very close by Francis.

Leinster Bay is always a better option if there is any prediction of long period N.swell.

I am heading down on Saturday. We have planned this as a mostly dive trip. The N swell takes out many of the better dive sites. Forecast for swell has actually gotten worse the last two days. Looks like at least Sunday through Tuesday now. Looks like a need to shift to plan B!
G

Are you considering wreck alley?

Yes, we will do a dive or two there but the dogs and all the North side dives will be a no go. Looks like by Wednesday might improve however that only leaves us two days for diving the better sites. Perhaps we will go hang out on the beach at Anegada!
G

The whole north shore of St John is rolly in a north swell.
With a large swell you can have breakers in Maho, Cinnamon Trunk and Hawksnest bays add a little of a west wind and Francis also

We were going to pick up some crew with the dinghy in Maho Bay but a swell seems like it could make that difficult. We may alter plans as well like GeorgeC1. Caneel Bay looks like it might be slightly better protected but not much. Anyone stayed there during a swell?

Hopefully we will see you CottageGirl. You too GeorgeC1. Not sure the name of our vessel yet but we will likely be flying a UK flag from the back.

I have had difficulty finding the wrecks of wreck alley on 2 different attempts when we took the dinghy around. Which mooring ball do you use?

We will be on a Moorings 4800 named TwoGhosts.
G

There are two balls near the shore. The ball nearest the anchorage is the best one of those two. Generally I surface swim out to the drop off.
The best ball for the wrecks however is the solo ball about 200 yards offshore toward the point. From the ball it's about 100 feet to the drop off. The two small tugboats are at the bottom of the drop by the ball. If you swim North along the drop toward the anchorage you will find the big tugboat. It's a great photo op. Just past that is the motor barge. There has been a medium sized Goliath grouper hanging out there. I stay high along the drop off until moving out to the chosen wreck to save air. It is possible to see all the wrecks on one dive but you need to be good with air.
G

First suggestion is to get the local dive briefing book. It's very helpful to locate and navigate dive sites.

To find wreck alley first find the 3 or 4 balls at blue chromed reef. That the easy part. Wreck alley mooring ball is approx 100 meters south and a little further offshore all by itself.

Good luck.

Yeah, we need to surface swim farther I think. I had a guide book but we wasted too much air and ended up turning around before the wrecks is what likely happened. Looking forward to some good dives this week. Maybe we will cross paths.

It's a short swim west from the bottom of the morning. Within moments of heading west and deeper you will see the wreck. you can't miss the wrecks if you descend on the correct ball.

Looks like a N swell through Wednesday. That is the bad news. Good news is it's predicted to stay under 1 meter. In those conditions a cat can be reasonable in a N facing anchorage. Once it climbs above a meter it gets more uncomfortable. Above 1.5 meters best to hide. When the swell reaches 2 meters the surfboards start showing up at the airport in force!