The USVI
Arion's West Indian Adventure
Hermione & Douglas Pattison
Mon 4 Apr 2016 23:22
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!!