TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Cooper Mooring

I hear a lot about how quickly the mooring field at Cooper fills up because of the no anchoring policy. If we are sailing from Peter, and we stop to do 2 dives at the Rhone ending at 1:30 pm,will we get there early enough in June? What would be plan B? Thanks everyone <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

I have never had a problem getting a mooring at Cooper during the off season. Even arriving after 3 pm.

We were there a few days ago & there were 2 empty balls all night, I wouldn't think you'd have any trouble in June.

Plan B for me is Marina Cay. Just a hop, skip and jump across the Drake.

June is a bit of a mini high season. The Moorings is basically fully booked all of June on the bigger boats. Cooper is the worst Fri-Mon. Boats are starting and returning from charter. You can head over to Marina Cay, Fat Hogs Bay, a Trellis or I would just head over to Peter if Cooper is full.
G

Thanks for all your info, its greatly appreciated.

Anytime we plan on going to Cooper, we always just have a backup in mind.

We have found, that trying to drop anchor in the seagrass is a futile effort that WILL NOT be "enforced" by the Cooper staff...no mater who.

They will laugh at attempts to do it, but they will NOT take the time to tell you not to do it.

pathetic

We were there on a ball at the southern end of Manchioneel Bay a few weeks back, and a 40ft mono dragged their anchor about half the length of the bay while the crew was snorkeling at Cistern Point... they raced back to their boat when they realized what was going on, but she moved pretty fast! Fortunately the drifting yacht didn't collide with anyone else - but the anchor must have made a mess of the grass on the sea bed!

I've seen the resort staff dinghy out and politely tell late comers to desist their anchoring efforts.

I have only noted the staff to do that for boats that tried to anchor within the Mooring field. It's very bad form to do that anywhere.

We anchored there on Monday night - south side by Cistern Point. Anchor was in sand and there were at least 4 other boats nearby also at anchor. We read this suggestion in the cruising guide. Is there really a no anchor policy???

There is not a no anchor policy. It's just difficult to find a spot where you can be clear of any coral, not interfere with moorings and sufficient swing room to stay off the shore in the event of a squall or wind shift overnight. The cruising guide was written before they added a bunch of the current mooring balls.

Kryssa, are you talking about Haulover? Most of Cooper is covered in sea grass and very difficult to get a hook to stick.

I understand that you can be fined for damaging the sea grass at cooper

We were there in February with a captain with 30 years experience in the BVI. He dropped anchor at the southern most part of the anchorage next to a few other boats who appeared to be experienced and were also anchored. We didn't drift an inch and had a good evening.

Nope - Machineel Bay - between CIBC and Cistern Point. Like someone else just said, there were probably a half dozen other boats - anchored there with us. We held really well all night in the sand there.

It is my understanding that many charter companies prohibit anchoring at manchioneel point.

Where is manchioneel point?

Probably mean Cistern Point. Besides the grass bottom the geographic relationship between Cistern Point and the gap at Haulover Bay presents a rather unique problem. At night as the land cools and the trades drop into the gap and deflect off Cistern Point it sets up a series of vortices that roll over the anchorage. This is why it is common to see boats in Manchaneel Bay laying in all sorts of directions. That is minor for boats on a ball but boats at anchor can be twisted out of the bottom. The closer you get to Cistern Point the faster the rotation. Attempting a Bahamain mooring makes it even worse. The two rodes turn into a Spanish windlass pulling both anchors out and leaving you with a tangled mess.