POSITION: 18:27.755N 64:31.596W Marina Cay
Aurelia
Shirley and Michael Webb-Speight
Sun 11 Mar 2007 03:09
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St Croix. Well we changed our minds again on
the car versus snorkeling and took a tour of the island with Elca and
Andrew. The eastern coast of St Croix is the Eastern most part of the USA
(just in case you were wondering). St C also has the largest oil refinery
in the western hemisphere. They hid that little establishment on the
southern side of the island, and no doubt it is responsible for the very cheap
fuel on St C. We found ourselves on the western side of the island and had
a quick look at Fredericksted and stopped for a drink in a nice place near the
waterfront. St C is all set up for large numbers of tourists who just
aren't there. The cruise ships have stopped going there, and there aren't
many cruisers or tourists around and we felt that the islanders are
struggling because of it. Christiansted is a really lovely town, with a
great board walk and neat shops and cafes. Certainly a LOT nicer than St
Thomas (where all the cruise ships do go).
We also stopped off on the northern side of the
island (close to Christiansted) where Columbus landed. It was the only
place in the US that he did land (and we didn't know that before did we?
And come to think of it, neither did Christopher Columbus!). Where he went
in, Columbus Cove, is a hurricane hole, glassy calm river type area
surrounded by palm trees, mangroves and bush. We stopped there for
dinner at a lovely little restaurant by the water. There were several
yachts tied up on the rivers edge. Close to this area is a rain forest in
amongst some hills. Very nice.
We arrived back to the boats quite late but very
pleased we had made the effort to have a look at the island. The next
morning we packed up and had a brilliant sail from St Croix down to St
John. Aurelia performed much better in the race stakes since her bottom
had been scrubbed and freshly painted. Michael was very pleased with
her! That morning was the 9th March and I found the crew jumping into bed
with me at 8am (!) singing Happy Birthday and laden down with gifts.
Michael made eggs Benedict for breakfast and it was all a great start to an
excellent birthday! When we arrived at St John we anchored at Coral Bay
and went ashore for a Tex Mex type dinner with a live country band.
Today, Saturday, Aurelia turned into the Cream trip
(aka Bay of Islands). We farewelled Hark and hope to see them in NZ
sometime. Our first stop for the day was over on St Thomas at Redhook (I
like to call it Redneck but it's not). We double parked at a marina (and
got told off for it) to let Priscila off the boat. She and I found a taxi
to the airport and a sad good bye to the crew as she speed off on her way home
to Panama. Incredible how quickly a week can go, just can't believe she
left so soon. We quickly cast off from Redhook and motored at speed for Cruz Bay
on St John to check out of the US Virgins. We tied alongside the customs
place and Mike went in for an unusually quick send off from the Yanks.
NEXT we had to check into the BVIs and we made our final touch down at Sopers
Hole (we know the place VERY well). While there we grabbed some food, more
souvenirs and ran into a Norwegian family that we had last seen in Las
Palmas. They came across from there to Bequia with FOUR kids, the youngest
was 11 months old. Personally I think the mother deserved a metal! They
arrived on the 31st Dec, the day before us. Funny where you run into
people, and they were off to US Virgins as we head East and South. From
Soper's Hole we had a deadline for Road Harbour to collect our rigging for the
new Cutter Rig. Mike made it into the shop with 5 minutes to spare
while I stayed on board with the kids. Then the deadlines were all done,
and some of us were feeling a little exhausted! We settled on Marina Cay
(a very small island) for the night, opposite Trellis Bay (Tortola). We
found a mooring buoy right next to Double Feature, a catamaran that we spent
some time with at Village Cay. Bob and Sharon run a charter style business
on board and having an extremely good wifi that they are happy for little
cruisers like us to hook into!
And that, was today (and yesterday). Not
surprisingly Michael is looking like a stunned mullet and it is time for
bed!
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