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One of the great advantages of the
stringent US immigration regulations is
that no foreign yachties can visit
the US or Spanish Virgin Islands without
a US visa, and that must be
obtained in advance. We have met only 2 yachts
from the UK and there
are very few bare boat charters and the masses of
charter yachts in the
BVIs seem to be resticted to the BVIs. We now think the
endless rigmarole of obtaining our US visas in London was well worthwhile
and keeps the US islands very select.
Tortola, Anegada & Virgin Gorda - UK.
St Thomas & St John - US
Vieques, Culebra, Culebrita ("Spanish Virgins") - US
There are some really lovely and
uncrowded anchorages in the Spanish Virgin
Islands and although we
restricted ourselves to Culebra and Culebrita for a
quick taster we are very
tempted to come back for a longer period. The
downside is that the
weather fronts coming off the southern US tend to bring
less settled weather
to this area, but it is not exactly survival stuff - yet!
Chris on the beach on Culebrita
Monday and Tuesday saw us anchored behind a reef protecting
us from the sea
but with the trade winds blowing over us and we then visited
little
uninhabited Culebrita where the anchorage must be one of the
prettiest ever.
There were lots of turtles in the bay and great snorkling
and the view from
the illegally climbed lighthouse was
spectacular.
The
North Bay on Culebrita (Oriole on the left)
We threaded our way out through the reefs and sailed back to
St Thomas on
Friday satisfyingly outsailing the other two boats in our
vicinity by a wide
margin. It does not happen very often but we
wallowed in disgraceful self
congratulation. That night we were
anchored in solitary splendour in an
anchorage on the north side of St
Thomas before returning to more civilised
parts for much needed laundry and
restocking of the larder. For the weekend
we will be under the
jurisdiction of the senior prefect in Water Melon Bay,
St John and are
planning some walking to reactivate our sealegs.
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