Peter, Norman and Cooper Island
are all small islands east of Tortola, not more than a couple of miles long,
they have little development, Peter has a posh resort, Cooper has a nice beach
club and Norman has a rickety bar and the they famous for
pirates! Norman Island
was supposed to have been the inspiration for Treasure
Island (Mark and I have both read whilst visiting here) and treasure has been found on the islands as recently
as the last 10 years! Unfortunately none
for us! The anchorages make idyllic
overnight stops and you never really feel like leaving one for the next but we
were keen to see a few of the islands.
Our stop on Peter
Island was at a place called Little Harbour,
where we had the fun of anchoring and then tying off to the rocks to avoid us
swinging around but the anchorage was full of huge Sport Fishing boats which
were all from Puerto Rico and they were all
tied off so we had to do the same. We
had a lovely sunset over looking St
Johns which is one of the US Virgin islands.
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| Blue Heron catching fish off the back of the boat |
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| Sun setting over St Johns |
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| Lines ashore, look how clear the water is! |
Next day it was quick swim and
then over to Benures Bay on Norman, lovely large anchorage surround by greenery,
good snorkelling for the rocks and only a handful of boats.
Next morning up early and over to
the Indians, which are a group of step rocks that provide a great place for
snorkelling, again being in the National park there are a handful of mooring
buoys so you must arrive early to get your spot and are limited to a 90 minute
stay – need to arrive by 8am or little chance of getting a buoy.
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| The Indians |
The coral was really beautiful, there were
lots of fish and a cool tunnel through the coral which Mark and I both had to
swim through! I am not sure I knew I had that much breath in me!
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| Mark the deepsea snorkeller |
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| Through the tunnel! |
We also had fun swimming over the
top of the divers and popping all their air bubbles, what children we are!
With people eagerly awaiting the
buoys we were soon off back to Norman but this
time to Privateers
Bay, with most boats of
buoys we searched for an anchoring spot and luckily found one. It was a stunning bay, with easy access to
“The Caves” which are allegedly pirates caves. With the anchorage reasonable
empty we had hoped for some nice snorkelling at the caves but day boats arrive
and there are people swimming in every direction which slightly spoils the
experience but saying that it is good to swim into the caves and be surrounded
by shoals of fish and there are lots and lots of fish to go round!
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| Fish everywhere |
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| Mark with his friends |
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| This really is a pirates cave! |
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