West End, Tortola

With a long Christmas weekend approaching, we decided to explore the BVI further and departed Virgin Gorda. Friday evening we anchored in Great Harbour off Peter Island for a quiet night. The next day we sailed to the West End of Tortola where we settled into Sopers Hole, a picturesque harbour with great amenities. We had spent little time ashore since Bermuda so the first action item was to go for a hike. We found a dirt road and pondered, is it a driveway or a road? We took a chance and started to climb the steep hill. The hot sunshine made us question our route but we continued on. After what seemed like a long distance we rounded the hill to find welcomed shade in our path. We trekked on and were rewarded with a view of Jost Van Dyke Island to our left. Parched beyond belief we encountered a fellow walker who assured us that there was a beach ahead with liquid refreshments, so we carried on. As we headed down the other side of the mountain, now on the north side of Tortola, we caught a breath taking view of a beach in the distance. Our pace increased. Hot, muddy and fearing hallucination from thirst we found paradise. Smugglers Cove. We had stumbled upon what many claim is the best beach in BVI.

Walking backwards in awe of the view, we approached a beach bar for fruit smoothies. It would turn out to be one of many tasty concoctions created for us from a blender connected to a car battery for power. As surprising as our surroundings we also met fellow sailors huddled around the make-shift bar, who for some reason or another had also found there way to Patricias Beach Bar on this hot Christmas Eve afternoon.