The British Virgin Islands - Overview
The British Virgin Islands (BVI’s), a group of approximately fifty islands and named bits of land are an excellent sailing and cruising location. The islands are all within sight of one another and navigation can, in large part, be done by Dead Reckoning.
The Sir Francis Drake Channel, in the middle of these islands, is well protected for comfortable sailing. In fact, the Sir Francis Drake Channel is one of the most protected sailing locations in the Caribbean.
Tortola, in the center of the British Virgin Islands, is the largest island and is the most populated island. The international airport for the British Virgin Islands is on Beef Island which is connected to Tortola by a causeway. All flights for the BVI’s land here, making Tortola a natural starting location for a week long sailing crewed yacht charter to explore the British Virgin Islands.
Must Do Spot #1: The William Thorton Restaurant and Bar
 If boarding in Tortola, it is an easy sail over to The Bight at Norman Island. The Bight is home to a unique floating restaurant and bar, The William Thornton, also referred to as “The Willy T”.
In 1989, Mick and Annie Gardner launched the restaurant, mooring their original William Thornton in the Bight of Norman Island. As uninhabited then as it is today, it soon became a popular overnight anchorage for the yachting community. Many charterers and yacht crew recall dining aboard the Willy T, sitting at the large common table, with their feet dangling in the holds below.
The wooden Baltic trader was eventually replaced with the current William Thornton, a steel 100-foot schooner with more room in the galley and restaurant and the large bar area. The new “Willy T” also features a large aft bridge deck where daring souls can jump from the safety rails into the water below.
The restaurant was named after William Thorton, who was born on Jost Van Dyke in 1759, and died in 1823 in Washington DC. While trained in Scotland as a physician, Thorton initially worked as a planter and had a plantation in Tortola.
Eventually, Thorton found his way to Washington DC and there, as an avid amateur architect, his drawings were chosen from the competition and approved by President George Washington for the design of the US Capital Building in 1793. Besides the $500 prize for the winning design, Thorton also won a lot of land in the newly developing capitol of the United States, which is where he settled until his death.
“The Willy T” is reachable only by yacht or dinghy making this, rather than a swim up bar, a sail up bar. Those found on board will also, by default, be sailing and water enthusiasts generally happy to share sea tales.
Must Do Spot #2:  Peter Island
One big, private island, one small resort and one beautiful beach encapsulate the essence of Peter Island and Deadman’s Bay. Peter Island resort is classic Caribbean. Visitors will find a romantic island with no crowds, noise, and many activities.
Part of the allure of the setting is its history. Besides neighboring Norman Island, the supposed setting for Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island”, just off Peter Island's glorious Deadman's Beach is Deadman's Island, the supposed setting for the popular poem by Allison, inspired by Stevenson, and put to music for a 1901 play of “Treasure Island” now well known to any school child.
Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
These are Peter Island's neighbors, creating that sense of escaping to an (almost) deserted island once home to pirates.
Peter Island Resort's largest and most spectacular beach, Deadman’s Beach, boasts protected waters for excellent windsurfing, sailing, snorkeling, and other water sports. Little Deadman's Bay and Beach located close by is an extension of its senior and is a preferred spot for great snorkeling.
Must Do Spot #3: The Wreck of the RMS Rhone
 While on your crewed yacht charter, be sure to stop just before Salt Island, for the wreck for the RMS Rhone, lost in a hurricane in 1867. It is worth a stop for a snorkel or a dive for those certified to head down under.
The British Royal Mail Steamer, “Rhone” was wrecked off of the shores of Salt Island, in between Salt Island and Norman Island on October 29, 1867.
The Rhone, built in 1865, was considered by the Royal British Navy to be one of two unsinkable ships, the other being The Titanic, with both ships, unfortunately proving the Royal British Navy wrong.
Built at the Millwall Iron Works in Southampton, England, the Rhone was 310 feet long with a 40 foot beam. Sporting two masts, the Rhone was a favorite with passengers, as she sailed along at 14 knots, an almost unheard of speed at that time.
While built to carry cargo, the Rhone also had lavish passenger staterooms, with 253 first class staterooms, 30 second class cabins, and 30 third class cabins. Just prior to the sinking, the Rhone had come alongside RMS Conway to refuel in Great Harbor on Peter Island. As the skies darkened and the barometer dropped, the Captains of the two ships decided that all passengers should be transferred from the Conway to the unsinkable Rhone, and that the Conway would make way to Roadtown Harbor in Tortola to weather the storm and the Rhone would head out to weather the storm at sea.
 The Conway never made safety in Roadtown Harbor and was caught by the tail end of the storm, foundering off of the south side of Tortola with the loss of all hands.
With all passengers strapped to their beds, as was the norm at that time for safety under hurricane conditions, the Rhone attempted to head out to open seas. As the Rhone came around between Peter Island and Salt Island, the tail end of the storm caught the Rhone as well, and tossed it onto Black Rock Point.
The Rhone split in half, causing cold water to come into contact with the hot boilers. The boiler exploded sending the rest of the ship to the bottom. Sadly of the 143 passengers manifested on board, plus an unknown number of passengers transferred on board from the Conway, all passengers were lost, with only 23 of the crew surviving. Many of the dead were buried on nearby Salt Island.
As the waters were shallow, the mast of the Rhone was still to be seen sticking up from the water, until the 1950’s when the Royal British Navy deemed the mast and wreck to be a maritime hazard and sunk the ship further with explosives.
In 1967, the area was named a National Park and now is one of the best snorkel and dive sites available to explore a wreck in the Caribbean. As the wreck is still in relatively shallow waters from depths of 20 to 80 feet, quite a bit can be seen by snorkelers and the diving is considered relatively easy. The wreck itself allows a careful diver to swim right through the bowels of the ship.
Now the most popular and well known of all the BVI dive sites, the Royal Mail Steamer Rhone was used as the setting for the movie “The Deep” with Nick Nolte and Jacqueline Bissett. Today she is decorated by a wide variety of corals and is home to several resident barracuda, sea turtles, stingrays, angelfish, yellowtail snappers and other colorful, Caribbean sea life.
written by Missy Johnston
© 2009 Missy Johnston |
