Last week, I promised you something fun. Here it is.
The William Thornton Floating Bar & Restaurant has been an attraction in the BVIs since 1989, reachable only by boat. It is anchored in The Bight of Norman Island and serves lunch and dinner daily. It’s reputed to be quite the party spot at night, where many a cruiser and charterer jumps into the water from the top deck and drinks (sometimes simultaneously) until they peter out. The original “Willy T,” as it is affectionately known, was a wooden schooner named for the Jost Van Dyke-born architect, William Thornton, who designed the original U.S. Capitol. Sadly, it sank on its mooring sometime in 1996 when it sprung a leak in the night. An attempt was made to move it to become a reef, but the currents tore it apart. Its steel-hulled replacement, the Willy T2, was a decommissioned tanker that the owners fitted out for their needs. Alas, Willy T 2 was destroyed by hurricane Irma in 2017. The owners purchased a replacement in 2018 and had it renovated to look much like the Willie T2, and after a brief stint anchored in Great Harbor at Peter Island next door to Norman, it returned to its home in The Bight. Yes, we had lunch there with my folks one day, but that’s not the fun part. Keep reading.
What does one do with the wreck of a floating restaurant that is languishing on the shores of Norman Island? If you’re the non-profit organization Beyond the Reef, you dress it up with some pirates, sink it, and install dive moorings so people can tie up their boats and enjoy a dive on this piece of art. (Dave says that now makes it a Wet Willy 😁.) Beyond the Reef successfully sank the Willy T2 in August of 2019 between two reef heads in Key Bay on the south side of Peter Island. All they ask is a $5 donation/person (honor system), which they donate to a local children’s swim program. You can learn more about Beyond the Reef and its other underwater artistic installations here.
We anchored in the lovely Key Bay anchorage area, donned our dive gear, and towed our hookah out by dinghy to one of the dive moorings. In the water we went, about 55’-60’ down, the extent of our hoses. Due to our hose limitations, we could only enjoy the exterior of the vessel and the surrounding seabed, but enjoy it we did. It was a hoot! If you have the time, check out Beyond the Reef’s photos of the Willy T 2 build and sinking so you can compare those to the pictures I took for the slide show below. Which is where I am leaving you today.
Enjoy the slides of the Wreck of the Willy TB2. Until next time, stay safe, and take care of each other!
- Slide 2: The Willy-T (Norman Island, BVI) by Dornfeld; https://www.flickr.com/photos/dornfeld/2645208698
- Slide 3 (post-Irma): by Dave Gendell; https://www.spinsheet.com/caribbean/new-willy-t-report-bvi
Life on Lady 
Very entertaining. 😀
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Linda has a t-shirt from the original Willy-T. You may remember what was required to obtain one!
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