Buck Island Reef National Monument

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Thu 6 Mar 2014 01:51

17:47.2N 64:37.6W

 

Tues & Wed – 4th & 5th March

 

We forgot to mention that on Sunday morning we were awoken by the sound of a horse snorting, which seemed unlikely as we were anchored at least 100 yards from the nearest land!  This was because a guy was swimming his horse around the anchorage....  (photo on the website)

 

On Tuesday we got going early to pick up the hire car, leaving the dinghy at the marina and lugging a huge bag of rubbish with us to dump in a handy skip (it would have half filled their tiny ‘dumpster’) which has arisen from us emptying all sorts of hidden spaces in the bilges where we stored water bottles (now empty) for the Atlantic/Pacific crossing.  We had hired a Ford Fiesta - which looks nothing like a Fiesta of old - from Denise at  Centerline Cars who was welcoming, entertaining and cheap in direct contrast of all the other hire companies.

 

We set off east to Point Udall (see photos at http://www.rhbell.com  ) the most easterly point in the whole of the USA!  As ever we had not invested in a decent road map (not sure it exists here) but were relying on a tiny map covering part of an A4 sheet and detailing only the main, numbered roads.  We discovered that it detailed pretty much every road but many of these could become un-tarmacked along with huge potholes!  We also had our TomTom but it was equally vague about the roads here!

 

I (sarah) had trawled through Lonely Planet and every bit of touristy paperwork to decide what we might do and see, so after Point Udall we headed along the south coast to find a recommended cafe for coffee and a cake in lieu of breakfast, but it didn’t appear.  By this time we had already ‘done’ quarter of the island and the coffee need was great, so we cut our losses and headed across the narrow island into Christiansted to the Twin Towns Coffee Shop which we have decided is a cut above the rest in the Caribbean - and were there by 0915 hours!

 

We then set off again using the tiddly map which also shows the various districts of the island with names such as Caledonia, Oxford, Wheel of Fortune, Whim, Sally’s Fancy,  Rust Up Twist and Slob!  We worked our way along the south coast finding that some of the beaches we would have liked to visit were shut as it is turtle egg laying season, commendable but annoying.  Arriving at Frederiksted by late morning which was rather earlier than anticipated.

 

Frederiksted is about a third of the size of Christiansted, along the lines of a one-horse town particularly as we had purposely chosen a non-cruise ship day, the downside of which is that many of the shops and restaurants were shut, including the island’s museum.  But the town has lovely old architecture from the Danish occupation which Rob was hoping to photograph, so we repaired for another coffee to let the heavy rain subside.  We couldn’t really justify an early lunch so eventually drove off into the so called rainforest (it receives only 40% of rainfall that a real rainforest is identified by), lurching through the potholes. 

 

Along the way we visited Vincent at his woodwork studio, a vast barn full of old, semi-derelict woodworking machinery and a roof-full of bats, oh joy.  Settling for lunch at the Domino Club, the highlight of which is being allowed to feed the enormous pigs a can of beer (non-alcoholic - piglets were born with withdrawal symptoms previously) which they catch in their mouths, crunch and swig back the drink!  We carried on to the Botanic Gardens which were a severe let-down, an exercise in justifying extortionate entrance fees by marching you round uncultivated perimeters!

 

After that we shopped at what we subsequently discovered where the two high-spots of grocery provisioning (Plaza Extra) arriving back at the dinghy by late afternoon.  It wasn’t quite what the tourist information had led us to expect:  Christiansted is definitely the highlight of the island but it was interesting to see the rest of it, leaving us with the impression of a very laid back country, full of schools and churches.

 

Early on Wednesday morning Rob zipped in to return the car and we set off to Buck Island, arriving amidst the toing and froing of trip boats, we anchored just off the west beach and set off for a quick snorkel around the anchorage.  It was very cloudy visibility, so much so that I wasn’t sure if I was going to scratch my legs on the coral.  But here there are much bigger brothers of all the fish types we have seen elsewhere, nonchalantly cruising around.

 

After lunch we took the dinghy for the slow buzz upwind and against the current to the lagoon on the east side, where Serafina being a boat longer than 42ft is not permitted to go.  We picked up a buoy, tied the dinghy to it and slipped into the water to be surrounded by even bigger fish (and amongst them were some very large, sinister Barracuda just hanging below the water surface watching us) in crystal clear water.  This was spectacular snorkelling but unfortunately the vast reef is made up of largely dead, monochrome coral with new growth still only just beginning to establish itself - it is hard to imagine just how it must have looked before the destruction.

 

By the time we returned to the anchorage the trip boats and the two other yachts had departed and we had the whole island to ourselves!