Our Grand Adventure

10th January 2026 | Odometer: 879nm | British Virgin Islands

South of Jost Van Dyke is Norman Island, which after a short passage through a tight channel, we picked up a mooring ball in the gorgeous Kelly Cove. With only four moorings in this little cove, it felt delightfully secluded even though the main anchorage of the bight was right around the corner.

The Indians

Even better, we were within dinghy distance of the famous “Indians”. This was, without doubt, the best snorkelling we have done on our trip. The Indians are a circular group of tall rocks, only half of which are visible above the surface, and the other half coming up to half a meter, or just below the surface. Within this ring of rocks, and around the outer perimeter, are protected pools of water between 2 and 4 meters deep. These pools are thriving with corals and fish life, and even though the formation is in the center of the channel, it’s an amazingly easy swim with no waves.

It’s hard to describe why this was such a perfect snorkel – the sheer amount of fish, of all ages, a large coral field, shallows, depths… All I can do is share some of the photos we took and hope it gives a good insight into the incredible beauty of this place.

Kelly Cove

Kelly Cove was a delightful spot to spend the night after snorkelling in the Indians. Well protected, calm and pretty, I enjoyed SUPing around in the evening, whilst Ryan snorkelled the cove itself.

For a rare change, the sunset was not blocked by islands, boats or clouds! And wow, what a show! We cracked the bubbly and sat on the roof to watch. Although we both hoped for a green flash, alas, it was not to be. The sunset was still absolutely spectacular though.

Ryan finally got to try out his new barbeque. The dinner entertainment was watching all the creatures attracted by the docklight we dropped in the water – lots of tarpon and needlefish circling, as well as a few jelly fish and one rather large turtle.

Norman Island

In the morning, I was feeling so stiff and sore from the extra long snorkel and SUPing, we decided to go for a walk up to a lookout on the island. We dinghyed over to the restaurant dock, and locked up. Heading up the dirt road, we huffed and puffed up a steep rise and across the some ridgelines. The landscape of the BVIs looks green and lush from a distant, but up close is full of cacti and is quite dry and scrubby.

We passed some of the wildlife, a little snake, a hermit crab or two, and four loud tourists on the way to the top. We had a little laugh when we realised the “lookout” we had walked to was actually a helipad! That is one thing the BVIs really is lacking – walking trails! There are almost none! I guess that’s because the bulk of the tourists are on charters and only stay one night max in each place, doing the main activity in that spot and then not really having time for extra activities like hiking the local hills.

We spotted an awesome little anchoring spot on the way back to the boat, and decided to bring Perspective right in close in the bight so we could stay a few nights in this incredible location. It’s nice having a boat with a really shallow draft! Perspective looks SO tiny in amongst the enormous charter catamarans!

The Caves

Around Norman Island there are some truly amazing snorkelling spots. In addition to the Indians, there are an incredible series of caves you can snorkel into. You can take your dinghy right up near the entrance where you tie off and then can head in by fin.

We were hailed by another group on a dinghy who demanded to know if we were liveaboard cruisers. We both sheepishly laughed and asked if they knew we were because our dinghy is all beaten up looking (all the charters have shiny new dinghys). They said “No, no! You are wearing sun protection!” Haha… we realised they were right, our two dinghys we all had long sleeve rashies, hats, long sleeves, whilst the charter boats were full of sunburnt partiers haha.

Swimming into the caves was a little bit more than I was brave for. Ryan swam all the way into the deepest one, after building a bit of courage I followed him but I only lasted about 10seconds in the darkness before I was outta there! We took some photos on the GoPro but honestly it all just came out black. There was a delightful variety of larger fish around the mouth also.

Getting Wild at the Willy T

One of the bars I was really keen to see was Willy T’s! It’s this old, two-storey boat, that’s floating in the bay that has been converted to a bar and junk food place. It has signs all over the top deck saying “No Jumping!” – accompanied by an awesome ledge for jumping off! It’s infamous for jumping off from, and has a bit of a reputation for partying, getting people sauced, then getting starkers and jumping off the top floor.

We obviously braved ourselves with a painkiller (cocktail); then after watching enough other folks have a go decided we had to do it! Wheew! what a rush! Everyone in the bar is hyped up and ready to party – and the crowd happily eggs on and cheers each group as they step up to jump. The most hilarious are when a full group lines up to go and all but one person jumps haha.

In addition to the entertainment of the upper deck, the dinghy dock to tie up on is busy! There are so many dinghies and day boats coming in and out constantly and it’s jam packed! When we came in we had to do some serious dinghy manoeuvring to pull up in a tight spot. While watching the chaos we saw a group in a dinghy circling but not quite sure how to get in. In our *ahem* enthusiasm, we were calling out all sorts of cheer squad advice to pep talk them into tying up at the back of our dinghy and climbing over it to get to the bar. Success! They made it! Obviously we were all instant friends after this and had a fantastic time together.

Leaving the bar that night was almost as much fun as being there. With the world tilting dangerously while standing still, getting across to our dinghy and back to our boat was quite a wild ride (it was about 50 meters hahahah). Ryan’s dinghy captaining skills were definitely challenged! On arriving to our boat, I confidently stood on the bow of the dinghy, put one foot onto the swim platform, then forgot to take the next step… In the slowest slow motion, I toppled over sideways for an unexpected dunking.

Ryan was so busy laughing I had to flail about a bit and drag myself up out the water onto the swim platform. Talk about graceful 🙄. After stumbling about for a bit we finally got the dinghy tied up for the night and wobbled our way to bed. What a fun spot! I definitely recommend it.