Soper’s Hole, Tortola

Soper’s Hole, Tortola

Friday 7th - Sunday 9th February 2025

I first visited Soper’s Hole / Frenchman’s Cay on 26th November 2017. The area was completely devastated by Hurricane Irma and there was speculation that tornados in the eye-wall of the hurricane generated winds in excess of 200 mph. (If you want to see some photos from that time then take a look at our blog posting from that date.) Almost 8 years later and there really is no remaining evidence of the damage. I recognize individual buildings that have now been repaired, and the small breakfast cafe that had re-opened on our last visit in 2017 is still running and looks great. We will have to check it out! The whole area is is bright, colorful and charming.

We arrived at Soper’s Hole Marina early on Friday afternoon, and following a final lunch with Louise and Hugh, we said our goodbyes. They will spend a few days at a hotel on Tortola before flying back. We will miss them. We have spent the weekend working on a list of boat projects and planning the next stage of our journey - west to Culebra and Vieques (Spanish Virgin Islands), then along the south coast of Puerto Rico and across the Mona Passage to the Dominican Republic.

Highlights (!) of the boat work include dismantling and rebuilding the toilet in the forward bathroom, replacing a broken hose connector and various gaskets / washers, all in an attempt to solve the small, but persistent leak we have been enduring for the past few weeks. We also set out to figure out why our boat-instruments (wind, depth, speed etc) kept losing their data, although the instruments remained on. This is a recent problem and we finally tracked it down to a loose connection in the “Simnet” data cables … or at least we hope this is the cause and that it’s now fixed. We also did some laundry by hand and filled up our water tanks. We plan to top up diesel and check oil levels in the engine before we depart. 

The most exciting moments were undoubtedly moving Cotinga from one dock to another. When we arrived there had been a mix up on planning and the slip the marina wanted us in was not yet vacant - so they put us in the adjacent bay where a double slip was open. However, the arrival of a catamaran on Saturday morning meant they needed that double space and wanted us to move along to the now vacant space. It was an extremely tight maneuver, requiring us to move forward ~ 100 feet, then back around a catamaran on a short dock opposite and then reverse into the new slip, adjacent to a monohull that was already parked there. This ‘dogleg’ course brought us very close to the catamaran and then required numerous forward / reverse thrusts to pivot us and allow us to back into the slip. This was the most challenging docking exercise we have undertaken. Thankfully, the dock master was there to offer advice and catch our lines. Reactions from observers was mixed: Gloria was literally audibly gasping, possibly at the point of hyper-ventilating; the dock master and two other sailors who witnessed this ‘thriller’ congratulated us on an excellent maneuver. However, Gloria also overheard one couple from the restaurant saying that they saw a sailboat came out of a slip and crash into the catamaran. (Absolutely not true - I hasten to add !) Needless to say, we were very relieved to be tied up safely.

I do want to mention that just before going to bed last night, our marine weather provider (Chris Parker) reached out with an email warning of an earthquake near the Cayman Islands and a possible Tsunami. Thankfully, whatever tsunami developed was very small and we felt nothing.

Tonight is the Super Bowl - and Pussers Restaurant, a 30 second walk from our dock, should be showing it. Whether we can manage to stay up until the end is a different question.

Mike

I'm a sucker for abstract pillars ... but purple pillars ... how cool is that! This is the entry to the supermarket at the end of our dock!

I don't take many people pictures, but as I was setting up for the 'pillars' photo (above) this young man came out of the alleyway and naturally posed for a picture

On a roll with people pictures, I took this shot of a lovely guy hanging out in the coffee shop.

I stopped to photograph the flowers but ended up shooting the bees

On the dock at Soper's hole Marina

Ditto

Looking across from our dock to the catamarans opposite. (FYI it's $27,000 a week to rent a 52 foot catamaran (no crew) from here. Gloria and I could have one each!)

Abstract dinghy action in the marina

The waterfront with Pussers bar and restaurant all lit up

Pussers bar and restaurant