US Virgin Islands, St Thomas, St John, St Croix, March 2018
US Virgin Islands, St.Thomas, St.John, St.Croix, March 2018 Saturday 3 March 2018, Culebra (Puerto Rico) to St.Thomas (USVI), 21 miles, 4hrs 20mins, 4.3 engine hrs, 4.88 knots average speed. Total Miles since leaving Falmouth in August 2016: 10341 Just as we were lifting anchor we spotted Thetis (Herman and Uta) coming in, a catamaran we’d met from the Barbados 50 Rally, crossing the Atlantic. We’d not seen them for months and were gutted to have missed them. We managed a 5 minute chat in passing and debated staying another day, however large swells were forecast the next day so it was time to move on. St Thomas, being part of the US meant we didn’t need to check in with customs and immigration as we’d checked in at US Puerto Rica. Our priority was to find wifi ashore in order to firstly call our parents and secondly watch the rugby! The capital, Charlotte Amelie, has some interesting buildings including the oldest, Fort Christian, built in the 1600s. Dronigens Gade is the main street full of duty free shops catering for the cruise ships that arrive daily. Luckily the wifi was reasonable as Ken was having issues with data on his phone. He spent literally hours on to their helpline without success and even the staff in the ‘phone shop’ couldn’t solve the problem. Most frustrating!
Christmas Cove was our next stop. A beautiful little anchorage on an island just off the East of St Thomas called Great St James! People go here not only for the scenery, but for the pizza boat!
We dinghied over to the yacht club in Cowpet Bay, back on St Thomas, where we’d arranged to collect some engine oil and a part for our autopilot. Unfortunately by the time we got back the pizza boat was closed. Coral Harbour on the island of St Johns was just 10 miles away. The beauty of the Virgin Islands are the short island hops. The anchorage was busy, mainly liveaboards, some cruisers, some abandoned boats and a lot of hurricane damaged vessels. Ashore we were shocked at the hurricane devastation. The worst we had seen to date. Piles of metal stacked up and roof less, if not destroyed, houses. Trees were flattened although regrowth was amazingly fast. The people were really friendly and welcoming, telling us what it was like to experience a hurricane – terrifying. We met up with Darin and Dawn, s/y Poets Lounge. They lost their first boat in the hurricane and we met them in Ile a Vache, sailing their new boat from the US to St John for their charter business.
It took an age to get the anchor up due to the thick, gloopy mud and equally as long to clean the mud off! Hansen Bay was just around the corner. We snorkelled a reef at the end of the bay but visibility was poor due to the recent high winds and large swells. Poets Lounge joined us in the anchorage, came aboard for sundowners and dinner and left very drunk a good while later. On the North shore we picked up a mooring buoy at Maho Beach, passing close to the British Virgin Island Tortolla. Anchoring is not permitted and mooring buoys free. Before the hurricane there were floating kiosks where you paid your fee. These were destroyed and have not been replaced which is surprising as with the devastation ‘one’ would expect the island to want to draw money in every way possible. In the rib we visited Francis, Maho, Cinnamon and Trunk beach. All absolutely beautiful, but all destroyed. Trees down, the beach bar, dive shop, gift shop and small grocery all smashed. Again we were surprised these had not been replaced, or at least with a small kiosk selling souvenirs, beer, swim stuff and essentials. There were certainly enough visiting yachts/motorboats/tourists willing to put money back into the community. We snorkelled and saw manta rays, turtles and a variety of fish although visibility was again poor. Sadly the coral was dead and would take years to grow back. It was a good opportunity to test out Ken’s new underwater camera that he bought duty free in St Thomas.
The Ocean Cruising Club, of which we qualify as members having done the mileage, fly a specific burgee and it is custom to visit other yachts flying the same flag. We called by s/y Artemis, Alan and Sally, who invited us aboard. It is not only interesting but very useful to share information on other cruising destinations. Fees, customs, places worth a visit, anchor holding, clarity of water, quality of snorkelling/diving, facilities, yacht services, people, scenery, hire cars, crime, bars, restaurants and so the list goes on! Plus of course the many stories to be told and the inevitable conversations about engines, generators, solar power, water makers, general boat maintenance and improvements! We had received a message during a very rare and brief moment of wifi, from Howard and Sue, s/y Sundowner, whom we’d met on the Barbados 50 rally crossing the Atlantic. They had suffered engine issues and were delayed in Barbados so we’d not seem them since December 2016. They were currently in St Thomas, so we excitedly made our way to Red Hook, Muller Bay to meet them. We had a thoroughly enjoyable time with lots to talk about over the afternoon and evening. We are heading in opposite directions but hopefully will meet again in the future.
Our next island hop was to St Croix, 35 miles South. Lillian, who we met in Ile a Vache, brought up in St Croix, gave us her parents’ (Sal and Jeanine) contact details. We met up with them, and Hannah who works for Sal, and picked their brains re the island. They couldn’t have been more friendly, helpful and welcoming.
We’d arrived on ‘Art Thursday’ that occurs once a month; an evening the art, gift and jewellery shops serve wine and nibbles for free whilst customers browse their products. One shop had a large honeyed ham, fish curry, cookies and carrot cake on offer! The art and handmade jewellery was amazing. We actually felt a bit guilty not purchasing anything! St Croix was a great place to refresh our diving skills. Lillian’s friend Molly owned the dive shop! We both have ‘Advanced Open Water Diver’ qualifications but haven’t dived for 8 years. Our first dive was a refresher in the pool. We both enjoyed the session, without issues, so booked a couple of sea dives. The first was ‘West Wall’, a long reef that drops down vertically, the second ‘Sugar Beach’, a gentle sloping reef. Both dives were from a boat and our air lasted ¾ to 1 hour, maximum depth being 100 ft.
We took Lady Rebel to Buck Island, 4 miles away, to meet Sal and friends on his boat. A small island with a beautiful beach and interesting snorkel trail, with underwater signs. I was a bit wary of the dozen Barracuda that appeared to be following us and decided best to keep out of their way. They soon disappeared when they realised we weren’t spear fishing and catching easy meals for them to home in on! Having caught a couple of Barracuda whilst fishing from the boat, we’ve seen the size of their teeth so they still give me the creeps even though they are unlikely to attack …….. apparently!
Visiting the chandlery was interesting on two counts; the first being it had a beer tap! We’ve never seen that before. Second, we met an English couple Mark and Lisa, sailing yacht Wild Iris, who coincidentally are doing the same rally that we have signed up for in November, departing from the ABC’s up to Belize. We subsequently spent a few good evenings with them.
Another reason for being in St Croix on Saturday 17 March was they celebrate St Patrick’s Day in style. Carnival floats, dancers, a sea of green hats and clothes, street food, beer sellers, music, all combined with hundreds of jolly people making a fantastic atmosphere.
We took a bus to the Cruzan Rum Distillery – rude not to! Due to hurricane damage, although the distillery was up and running, tours had not yet re-started. We were given a talk on the rum production and the price included 2 rum drinks plus 4 taster shots. Ken had mine so was quite tiddly by the end! We met a couple there who kindly gave us a lift to Frederiksted, showed us round then took us back to Christiansted. Nothing was too much trouble.
The day before we departed, a boat we knew from the Barbados 50 rally, but had not seen for 12 months, anchored beside us. Rob and Cathy, sailing yacht B’n’G; we had so much to talk about! 😊 On our last day Hannah’s partner Ziraida kindly drove us to the airport to check out with customs and immigration. We weren’t sailing until 1700hrs so a tour of the island was included, taking in the rainforest, Monks Baths, some beautiful beaches and beer drinking pigs! We were very grateful as had not been able to hire a car due to the hurricane wiping out the majority and the relief services hiring the rest.
We departed St Croix heading for Anguilla with wonderful memories of the amazingly friendly and welcoming people, proud of their island they are slowly re-building. |
The church with most of its roof missing
Cruz Bay
