TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY BILL HARRIGAN
If you list the things you want most in a live-aboard and I list the things I like best about Cuan Law, I bat they'll match. Let's give it a try: I like Cuan Law's large, air-conditioned staterooms; full sized showers; peaceful anchorages every night; bountiful gourmet meals; easy to use dive boats; watertoys such as Hobie Cats and kayaks; spacious salon with comfortable couches; and effervescent crew. Of course, the beautiful islands and excellent diving in the British Virgin Islands are also high on my list. The water is warm, visibility is good and there is a huge variety of dive sites, from the historic wreck of the Rhone to caverns and reefs. Sounds like a great place to spend a week, doesn't it? That's the secret to Cuan Laws success - no matter who makes the list, this luxury live-aboard always rates highly.
TRIMARAN STABILITY AND SPACE
Owners Duncan and Annie Muirhead designed Cuan Law to be the ultimate combination of diving convenience, creature comfort and sailing capability. The result is an aluminum trimaran 105 feet in length, with a beam of 44 feet. Two masts capable of spreading 5,000 square feet of sail tower over what seems like acres of deck space. The ten guest staterooms are arranged in a U-shape around a spacious salon, providing each with an outside view and overhead hatches for ventilation and light. All staterooms have a private bathroom with shower and plenty of walking around space as well as closets, drawers and shelves for storage. Separate air-conditioning controls for each cabin let you set the temperature precisely to your preference.
Meals are served alfresco on the teak aft deck, which is like having a table on the terrace of a moving waterfront restaurant. The view is always splendid and the food is superb. That's not just hyperbole - dining is an experience worth savoring.
CUAN LAW DIVING
The dive deck on Cuan Law is a model of efficiency. Each diver has a storage bin for fins, mask and weightbelt; two racks with hangers are provided for wetsuits.
The tanks are stored and filled on the waist high aft deck, always rigged with BCs and regulators. When you are ready to dive, one of the divermasters positions your tank on the edge of the aft deck. You just step over and put on your tank as easily as slipping into a coat - no lifting or struggling involved.
Most of the dives are made from custom rigid hull inflatable boats, which slide into parking slots on either side of Cuan Laws center hull. Boarding is not awkward at all, thanks to the wide stairway with sturdy handrails that leads right down to each dive boat. And the Cuan Law is almost always anchored in flat, protected water, which also makes the boardIng process easy. Fins, masks and cameras are handed down separately to avoid any slips. Backrolls are easy from the normal sitting position and specially built ladders on the stern of each boat make re-entries a piece of cake. The tanks are all stacked in the bow for the short return trip to Cuan Law and the crew takes care of stowing and filling them for the next dive. Three dives are planned each day, a morning dive after breakfast, an afternoon dive and a night dive.
Traveling light on a dive trip is a real luxury and Cuan Law makes it possible with high quality rental dive equipment that is exchanged for new every year. All the standard equipment is available, as well as Sherwood Source dive computers. Photo and video services have been expanded on Cuan Law recently, including Nikonos and Sea & Sea camera rentals, daily E-6 processing and custom videos.
DIVING THE BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS
All of the waters of the British Virgin Islands are protected under the National Parks Trust and several special areas, such as the wreck of the Rhone, receive extra protection as marine parks. The effect of these measures is that divers enjoy healthy reefs with an enormous variety of fish. The water temperature stays between 80 and 84'F most of the year, dropping to perhaps 77F in the winter. Visibility is normally in the 60 to 100 foot range, with occasional days of 120 feet. Most of the dive profiles are between 15 and 70 feet. There are literally scores of dive sites in the British Virgin Islands, many only visited by Cuan Law.
The centerpiece of BVI diving is the wreck of the Royal Mail Steamer Rhone, which met with disaster during a hurricane in 1867. One of the first commercial ships to be driven by a propeller, the Rhone broke up on Black Rock off Salt Island, while trying to run for the open sea as the eye of the hurricane passed over. The ship lies on the bottom now in two sections. The bow section is deepest and mostly intact, with the long, graceful bowsprit over the sand in about 75 feet of water. The stern section is more broken up, but the structure of the ship can be easily traced by following the drive train starting at the shallow propeller. Cuan Law devotes an entire day to diving this magnificent wreck, including an early morning dive and a spectacular night dive.
On their first visit to the Indians, most divers do the whole scenic circuit. Starting at one of the mooring buoys, you can swim along a reef about 40 feet deep, hug the steep side of the island, ascend through the slot past the caverns and into the shallow center "pond," then exit through a narrow swim-through near your starting point. The whole trip can be done on a single tank without pushing too hard, but it will leave you wishing for more time because there is so much to see. For instance, keep an eye out for Hawksbill Turtles on the deeper sections, Copper Sweepers in the caverns and nudibranchs in the pond.
One of the more unusual dives in the BVI is a tunnel called Grand Central Station. Originally discovered by Duncan, this dive enters a fairly broad tunnel at about 55 feet. From that point, the tunnel climbs, turns and descends again as it cuts through a point of the island.
Painted Walls is one of the most popular dives in the British Virgin Islands, owing in part to the unusual underwater landscape but also because the coral and fish are so plentiful. The site takes its name from the walls of three mini canyons that are liberally coated with orange, red, purple and green swatches of encrusting corals and sponges. If you don't see a Hawksbill Turtle, Nurse Shark or Green Moray Eel here, you must have been looking the wrong way.
The wreck of the Chikuzen rests in 75 feet of water far from any reef, attracting all kinds of life like an oasis in the desert. Eight miles north of Great Camanoe island, this 250 foot refrigerator ship is on its port side with the starboard rail reaching up to about 50 feet. Except for the pilothouse, most of the ship is intact, with three large cargo holds that can be entered through open hatches. The Chikuzen is not always divable owing to its exposed position, but when the conditions are right it is a fascinating dive. The hull is well covered with coral and sponge growth. The possibility of encountering big pelagics such as sharks and rays is always high. In fact, one of the few Whale Shark encounters in the British Virgin Islands occurred here during a Cuan Law dive.
Alice's Wonderland is an extensive reef system off the coast of Ginger Island. The reef is made up primarily of large Star and Brain Coral heads that are growing in long fingers extending from shallow water into 60 or 70 feet of water farther offshore. Sea life at Alice's Wonderland includes everything from tiny Yellowhead Gobies in the shallows to Nurse Sharks beneath the deeper ledges. The sand channels between the coral fingers are like roadways for many of the reefs inhabitants. Divers are likely to see Spotted Eagle Rays, Southern Stingrays, Hawksbill Turtles and Crevalle Jacks.
BEYOND DIVING
Although there is plenty of diving for everyone, you don't have to be a diving fanatic to enjoy a trip on Cuan Law. There are a number of opportunities to go ashore and the British Virgin Islands have some of the best beaches and shops anywhere in the world. One afternoon is dedicated to a barbecue and beach party at the famous Baths of Virgin Gorda, where spectacular granite boulders spill across the soft sand. Then there are the watertoys, including a 13 foot Hobie Cat, a clutch of ocean kayaks and a set of waterskis. Snorkeling is a popular option, too, with lots of shallow reefs and the intriguing caves that inspired Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island. If you just don't feel like getting wet, each stateroom comes equipped with a pair of foam pads for sunning on deck.
TRAVEL INFORMATION
The most popular route to the British Virgin Islands is via San Juan, Puerto Rico, on American Airlines, with a short connector flight to Tortola. You can also fly to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands and take the ferry to Tortola. U.S. citizens may enter with either a passport or a certified birth certificate and photo ID. The official currency, both monetary and electrical, is the same as in the U.S.
For reservations or more information about Cuan Law, call Trimarine in the U.S. and Canada at (800) 648-3393. From other locations, call (809) 494-2490 or fax (809) 494-5774.