We wanted to visit here last time, and at last managed to fit in a trip to an island not much visited by cruisers. Getting to the anchorage seemed difficult as neither one of us could actually understand the pilot guide instructions for entering the Christiansted anchorage and the paper chart looked horrendously complicated. All the guides agreed that a night entry was not advisable, partly due to the fact that some of the buoys are always missing lights, partly because the two channels are very close together and confusion could quickly arise. We used the schooner channel and once passed the R/R buoy (a mixed red and green buoy denoting the channel bifurcates into two that looks just green, but is in the wrong place to be a green buoy for the schooner channel) it was quite straightforward. But even after days at anchor here, the channel separation still looks unclear until you are in it. Just to add to the mix, the schooner channel also separates close in shore for another channel which acts as a short cut east to Buck Island. You can anchor anywhere exccept the seaplane landing area. Reefs and rocks abound and, having snorkelled the bay, there are several wrecks in the anchorage: yet another thing to avoid!

Christiansted is described in guide books as 'probably the prettiest town in the Caribbean', and we think it probably is.