The USVI

Arion's West Indian Adventure
Hermione & Douglas Pattison
Mon 4 Apr 2016 23:22
From Norman Island we decided it was time to ‘check out’ and head over to the US! Checking in at Cruz Bay, St John, took a long time, but we had a chance for a quick wander around. Suddenly you are in America!! Big A-Team vans everywhere, baseball pitches and play parks. As soon as we left Cruz bay though, we sailed around the corner to Trunk bay which is within the National Park (most of St John is part of a National Park) and spent the night with only one other boat in this picture postcard bay. The next morning (my 32nd Birthday!!) we went ashore. They are very strict about no anchoring, and dinghies are only allowed ashore in a special channel. This particular beach had lots of facilities such as picnic/ BBQ areas, showers, loos etc but they are all hidden behind the beach. The result is that everything is totally unspoilt and very clean. There is a little ‘snorkelling trail’ which was fun to do, although much busier than we are used to, as plenty of people flock here during the day. They had a lifeguard hut, but unfortunately Mitch Buchanan was not there that day- nor was C-J. Our lifeguard was a little portly and enjoyed using his loud hailer which we found quite amusing!! In this bay, they have experimented with transplanting coral back onto the rocks and it seems to be working as the variety and colours of coral and therefore fish was incredible. We moved around the corner to another more sheltered bay (Hawksbill) for the night. Again, there was only one other boat in the anchorage. After birthday tea onboard we spent the late afternoon on another beach. We would have had the beach to ourselves, but an enormous stingray decided to join us…… I was wading into the water, about to snorkel and as I put my face into the water, the stingray was about 1 foot away. I would have been more scared at the time had I known he was one which can kill a man!!- eek! We had great fun watching him from Ladybird and following him. We called him Shady Ray- he measured about 1m in diameter.

It was then over to St Thomas, Red Hook during an entire day of rain!! Arion is perfect for us, but on days like these she becomes very small indeed. Douglas and I spent the whole day drawing, reading, playing games with the children and they seemed not to mind at all. There was so much rain it was leaking and dripping in all over the place so we were feeling really rather miserable… until……. Douglas spotted AYACANORA which is the boat that uncle Michael built many years ago. We went over to explain who we were and they kindly invited us onboard to look around this fabulous yacht. She really is beautiful!! This really made our day and we hope to see them again in a week or two when we have Uncle Michael with us.

Further West, is the main town of St Thomas, Charlotte-Amalia. When Ermentrude (our outboard) would not start, we were very sweetly rescued by a kind fellow cruiser and got ourselves to the local mechanic who has fixed her! horay!! While Douglas went to sort out Ermentrude I found this lovely little cafe with a lawn and trees, plus an enormous pile of giant lego AND some sort of mothers meeting going on- so we spent the whole morning playing with children and I met some lovely local mums, who thought I was a head case. They were all so sweet and full of advice as to which supermarket / bus / etc to use. One even gave me her card and told me to call if we had any sort of problem. This is a theme we have found throughout our travels- people are so kind, helpful and friendly. It restores ones faith in humans!!

Leaving Charlotte Amalia in the morning, we had a great sail to windward round the Eastern end of St John, and decided to have an evening snorkel at Treasure point, just off Norman Island. We seem to keep wanting to come back to The Bight (Norman Island) as it has a perfect beach, and a great atmosphere. As we were dropping our anchor, the Fox family came whizzing by in their dinghy!! It was such a chance that we had decided to go there that day. We had a lovely evening ashore with them catching up on everyone’s news. The children had the most marvellous time running up and down the beach in a little pack of their own. It created quite a stir with some young girls from America who could not resist their ‘cute British accents’. V funny!! Christopher and Kate very kindly donated the leftovers from their galley which has greatly increased our kitchen repertoire for the time being! Baked beans (amongst many other goodies)!!- we never thought we would miss them so much!! Thank you!!!!

Stopping off at the Indians for an 8am snorkel was fab as we were the only ones in the water. We saw turtles, and so many amazing fish. We now find ourselves back in the USVI in Waterlemon bay. The morning was spent snorkelling (again!) and the afternoon was filled with a lovely walk to some ruins of a sugar mill.

We plan to head back to Joss Van Dyke tomorrow. The USVI are very beautiful and well worth a visit. They are quiet and well protected. It has made the dreadful day in London many months ago to get our VISA well worth it!!