The pleasure begins even before you set foot on the boat. You’ll discover the charm of chartering Aurora right from the start, probably before you put away your passport in ‘Natures Little Secret’ (as car license plates so rightly claim). Here at Beef Island airport on Tortola, instead of dealing with taxis, traffic jams and chickens running across the road, Captain Rich will meet you at arrivals. As you make the five minute walk to the beach and board the tender at the dinghy dock, you can chat about cold weather, poor service and bad food (none of which you will have until you board the plane again). A few minutes later, Sam will welcome you aboard Aurora resting at anchor in a cobalt blue sea, the ever present tradewinds drifting the fluffiest clouds across an equally blue sky. Literally within minutes of landing, your paradise vacation has started.
After lunch, we’ll weigh anchor, raise the sails and sail downwind in flat protected water to our first stop at Monkey Point on Guana Island. The snorkeling here is normally very good, with a resident school of Tarpon cruising along the rocky wall. Tarpon can grow to over 6 feet long, but even a 2 footer will give you a start as it suddenly materializes and passes you by. But don’t worry. Although they look menacing, the tarpon are completely harmless, as are everything else you see in these waters.
Because we are at anchor, we could well be the only boat spending the night at Monkey Point. The mooring balls are for day use only, so the bareboats move on before the sun sets behind Jost Van Dyke to the west.
After a gentle downwind start, we head into open water
In the morning after breakfast, we’ll have another downwind sail, out of the protection of the lee of Guana Island and into open ocean to the north (with Bermuda the next landfall 800 miles away). But Bermuda will have to wait for another time. We are only going six miles to Cane Garden Bay, a sleepy little place with a few bars and restaurants strung along a sandy crescent shaped beach – a perfect place to pause for Sam’s midday creation. During lunch, as you look out to sea, the large island you’ll see is Jost Van Dyke. In front of ‘Jost’ (and what you cannot make out from this distance) is our next stop, the quintessential Caribbean dream of Sandy Island.
Leaving Cane Garden Bay for Sandy Island has us on a beam reach, positively the best angle of sail for a sailboat. She does not heel too much and she does not loll from side to side. 15-18 knots of trade winds keep the sails solidly filled and we are at right angles to the ocean swell. Aurora rides up and over these seas like a thoroughbred and the power harnessed has to be felt to be believed. Take the helm. Go on, take it from me. Stand behind the wheel and take control of this powerful yet obedient beast and dream of sailing her beyond the horizon.
Wander Sandy Island in search of buried treasure
We’ll drop the sails as we come into the lee of the island and the deep blue of the Caribbean Sea becomes paler as it shelves up to the white sandy beach. Hemming this glittering shore at each end is a rocky reef, where last time Sam and I snorkeled here we saw a small nurse shark and two octopus. As always, once they see you they move away. After a snorkel in the warm clear water, you can bury your toes in the powder soft sand, dry off and then explore the interior of the island and its network of walking paths. Once inside, your mind will wander to pirates and hidden treasure…
Sandy Island is normally too rolly to spend the night, so we’ll move a short distance to Green Cay, a smaller version of Sandy Island connected to Little Jost Van Dyke by an almost drying reef. The reef gives protection from the ocean swell, but still allows the cooling trades to caress the decks.
Start your third day in a natural salt water spa
After breakfast on your third day, the ‘Bubbly Pools’ beckon. Best described as a natural salt water jacuzzi, they are reached by a gentle stroll along the shoreline and a mild climb up a rise affording spectacular views across the sheltered anchorage and the open ocean to the north. The winding trail ends at a small cove where waves crash over the rocks and into a protected pool. This is a popular spot and best done early.
Rejuvenated after your salt water spa, we’ll take off on another beam reach to the western end of Tortola, where we will go through Thatch Island Cut and come out on the other side in the Sir Frances Drake Channel. It will now be an upwind beat to our lunchtime stop, and we’ll cross borders a few times as we tack between St John in the US Virgins and Tortola in the British Virgins. Our destination, The Bight on the western end of Norman Island, is an extremely popular place but uncrowded at lunchtime. The Bight is a lure for many boats because it’s protected and calm, with plenty of mooring balls and the Willy T at night. The Willy T is a renowned floating bar, and like Vegas, “what happens on the Willy T stays on the Willy T.” We only intend to stop for lunch, but if you like…
Incomparable snorkeling…day after day
After lunch, we’ll move the short distance across to The Indians, one of the premier snorkeling spots in the BVI. One side is relatively shallow, with schools of Blue Tang feeding off the rocky formations, and the odd Barracuda sheltering in the shade of an overhang. On the other side, rocky pinnacles rise straight up from 50 feet and Yellow Snapper, Hawksbill Turtles and Bar Jacks cruise along the wall. Do a circuit and marvel at the array of fish as you round the southern end. With the mid afternoon sun lighting up the water, Blue Chromis and Juvenile Damsel Fish sparkle like sapphires, Sergeant Majors come right up and look into your mask, and little Yellowtail Hamlets bravely guard their territory. Bring your underwater camera for some fabulous shots. For the night, we’ll move to Spot X, seemingly a world away from The Bight (which by now is a parking lot for bareboats) and the first ‘body shot’ across the bar at the Willy T.
Spot X also has some great snorkeling, so you may want to work off your Day Four breakfast drifting over the coral garden on the south side of the bay. Then we’ll raise the sails again and get underway to our lunchtime stop, assuming we’re still alive after navigating ‘Dead Chest’ and ‘Deadmans Bay.’ After lunch, you’ll have another great snorkeling opportunity to see magnificent examples of Elkhorn Coral, plus the now obligatory Parrot Fish and all manner of Grunts. A beat to windward will take us to our overnight anchorage, but we hope to get there well in advance of sunset to enjoy a spectacular walk to a vantage point where you can watch the sun melt down into St. John in a bruised kaleidoscope of colour. When we return, it may well be just Aurora and a couple of other boats to share the stars this night.
No trip to BVI is complete without a visit to The Baths
Day Five will have us out in open ocean again with a couple of long tacks to get to Cooper Island for lunch. There is a good snorkeling spot that you can get to by dinghy, or if you wish to stay dry you can keep an eye out for turtles as they come up for air after feeding on the seagrass. After lunch, and depending on time and wind direction, we’ll sail/motorsail up to The Baths, a fairytale natural grotto that connects two beautiful sandy beaches. This is a busy, rolly location, so for the night we’ll make our way up to the calm protection of North Sound, where we have a choice of spots to drop anchor for the night. At the Bitter End Yacht Club, the Pussers Rum store offers one of the few shopping experiences in the islands - and your credit card could finally make a showing.
Our last full day will have us sailing downwind to The Dogs, a cluster of small islands with crystal clear water and good snorkeling. To reach our evening spot, we’ll sail downwind over the top of Great Camanoe Island and down to the protected western shore of Lee Bay. This is another anchorage normally shared with only one or two other boats, and no shore lights to cast glare onto the night sky. From here, it’s not too far back to the airport, so depending on time and weather we’ll have three different route options for your journey back.
Sadly, all good things must come to an end.
Yet when your plane takes off, rises and banks over the islands, you can look down over Nature’s Little Secret, but now it will not be so secret. Get your bearings, imagine the wind in your hair, and remember…“I was anchored there…..and snorkled there…and there…and there….
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The above itinerary is only a suggestion and based on normal weather patterns. Adverse winds and/or above average swell can cause certain spots to be untenable and alternative anchorages will be used accordingly. Fluffy white clouds may also be dark and foreboding sometimes – but we have a treasure chest of ways to entertain you, both on and off the yacht.
Click here for our Grenadines Itinerary - the "Jewels" of the Caribbean | 
