Our position is 17:45.561N 64:40.127W
The following day we set off early to sail to St Croix (pronounced
St Croy which is a bit tricky for a French speaker like me!) some 35Nm to the
South. St Croix is not much visited by cruising yachts as it can be hard to get
back upwind from, but as we are heading westwards we thought it would be worth a
look. All the USVI were Danish
before the USA bought them in 1917, for a large amount of money, to give them a
base nearer to Panama and to stop them falling into German hands (I think the
Danes were a bit hard up and looking for the highest bidder). The books reckon
the USVI all have very different characters – St John is green and unspoiled; St
Thomas is modern and touristy (which is why we chose not to go there) and St
Croix is living in its colonial past. As its history is mainly all Danish, Danes
do go to St Croix and there is a Danish travel agency on the island but the
mainstay of its economy is a huge oil refinery on the south coast. I read that
it was the largest in the Western Hemisphere but that felt hard to believe.
However a couple of weeks before we got there, the company responsible (a joint
US/Venezuelan venture) announced the plant was closing in February and 1,200
people were losing their jobs. The knock on from this will, of course, be huge
as the supply chain is hit and the 1200 stop spending money and many of them
will leave the island in search of other, similar work. Apparently the capital
cost of bringing the plant up to modern, environmental requirements was
uneconomic and, in any case, oil refineries are all losing money and closing the
world over. We couldn’t help feeling for the rest of the people living there as
the general feeling was that the US government would not be providing any
assistance, particularly in the current economic climate.
We arrived in the capital, Christiansted, after a brisk broad reach
lasting about 6 hours. We then had to negotiate the tricky passage through the
reefs to St Croix marina, near the town. This proved to be a very bad choice as
the amount of surge and roll in the marina was unbelievable. We tied up in such
a way that the boat was held off the pontoon but that made getting ashore tricky
as the gap widened and narrowed and the warps creaked and groaned. We went for a walk into town to top up
supplies and see some sights, which included a sea plane taking off ( an
inter-island service operates this way) and then back to the boat for a restless
night. The next day we moved along the coast to Green Cay Marina (we should have
gone there in the first place), which although slightly costlier had better
showers, washing machines and a resort hotel with tennis courts, a pool and
beach equipment which we had use of. The marina mostly seemed to be used by
local boats as there didn’t seem to be many boats with people on and the showers
seemed to be hardly used. Some people living on their boats seemed to be earning
free mooring by working for the marina – in the office or cleaning – so the
atmosphere was very friendly and intimate.
One of the other visiting boats we made contact with was
Honningpupp II, the smallest boat in the 2010 ARC. The young Norwegian couple
and their 5 month old baby were supposedly sailing it back to Norway for the
owner and trying to spend some time in the Caribbean first. They had picked the
boat up in the Dominican Republic, where it was waiting for a new engine. The
owner had paid the fitter but he, unbeknownst to Kristian and Helene had used
the money to buy a car and no engine was forthcoming. Eventually the marina
owner took pity on them and got the car impounded and sold to provide the money
for the engine, which was duly but somewhat belatedly fitted. This had disrupted
their Christmas plans to meet up with family in St Lucia but they had gone there
and chartered instead. The owner had also had some rigging work done in DR.
Suffice to say that was the bigger mistake as no sooner had they set sail
eastwards, after the engine was completed, than the mast fell down. They had
managed to get to St Croix and were hoping the replacement mast would be fitted
the following week. They both seemed remarkably philosophical about this
catalogue of disasters and seemed to be enjoying life on St
Croix.
We hired a car for a day and took advantage of it to stock up with
heavy supplies – beer, wine, chocolate – and also see if we could get the gas
bottle refilled. This proved impossible as the fitting on the bottle we had
bought in Barbados proved incompatible with the American system. The gas company
directed us to a hardware store to purchase a new bottle and, lo and behold, it
was B&Q, Caribbean style right down to the elderly assistants strategically
placed to advise the helpless customer. After that we could get down to a hard
afternoon’s sightseeing. This proved slightly harder than expected due to lack
of signage and poor navigation caused by misunderstanding of the road numbering,
but we eventually managed to find the botanical gardens housed in the grounds of
an old sugar plantation. These proved pleasant if unexciting and not extensive
and insufficiently well attended to warrant a cafe. We failed to locate yet
another rum distillery and also missed going to the alleged site of Christopher
Columbus’s landing, however we did make it to the St Croix Yacht Club (a mainly
dinghy sailing club, restricted by the off-lying reef which makes access for
yachts difficult, but with the feel of an active and thriving group) and the
easternmost point of the USA, where a millennium sculpture had been erected.
By this time it was dark so we went back to the boat with the
intention of having a nice cup of tea and then later eating in the beach
restaurant attached to the marina hotel.
First though Ted tried to install the new gas cylinder and its regulator
so we could boil the kettle. You can imagine his frustration when no gas could
be made to leave the cooker, or indeed the cylinder. The fault was isolated to
the new regulator but nothing could be done until morning so we set off for our
evening meal. The screaming could be heard emanating from the restaurant before
we had hardly left the boat and when we arrived, it transpired that the special
activity that evening was hermit crab racing and there were loads of small
children cheering for their favourites.
This was all too much for Ted after his disappointment over the gas so we
went back to the boat and he reinstalled the Camping Gaz so we could cook on
board.
We were up bright and early the next day so we could revisit
B&Q before the car needed to be returned. Our desire to be brisk was
slightly thwarted by coming across some sort of sponsored walk in aid of a
diabetes charity, which was taking up all the road , but we managed to negotiate
the successfully. First stop was at the gas supplier where it was confirmed that
the regulator was the wrong sort. He also advised that if we were unable to
exchange it then the plumbers’ merchant down the road would probably have the
right one. Needless to say B&Q only had the sort they’d sold us but the
plumbers’ merchant came up trumps when they opened at 8am and we still had time
to get the car back by 8.45am. The rest of the day was taken up with laundry and
boat jobs, including successfully fitting the gas cylinder with its new
regulator and another unsuccessful session with the water maker. We also managed
to have lunch in the beach restaurant we had rejected on crab racing night, but
although the food was good the service was appallingly slow.
We had intended to leave on Sunday but apathy and strongish winds
defeated us so it was Monday before we set sail again.
First views of
St
Croix
The uncomfortable berth at St Croix marina - I couldn't photograph the
surge!
We were lost in
a trading estate while looking for the shop when we came across these
2!
The forst at
Christiansted. Ted is reading the information board - it never saw action. The
Danes were far too sensible to fight!
Not everything
is well cared for like the
fort
But a nice boardwalk along the seafront at Christiansted
You wonder if
it'll get in the air.................................but it manages
it
Churches abound
as they do on all the islands and the Danish flag flies everywhere including the
Government offices
Green Cay from
the marina
entrance
Green Cay Marina entrance looking back
Snug inside
Green Cay
Marina
Moorglade looking smaller than everything else as usual
B&Q
Caribbean
style and
where to get the cylinder filled
Is this really
the largest oil refinery in the western hemishpere??
The botanical
gardens
At the top of a hill known
as The Beast. The Ironman triathletes cycle up it
Salt River
Marina. I wanted to kayak into the mangroves Salt River Bay -
obviously not as sheltered as people thought
but there
wasn't time
Columbus's
landing was apparently at the seaward end of Salt River Bay
St Croix Yacht
Club
V.L. Baseline array telescope - not quite sure what it's for but it featured on
the map!
The Millenium
monument at Point Udall
Point Udall -
the easternmost point of the
USA
Sponsored walk for diabetes charity
