18:21.796N 064:44.847W

We left our isolated bay on Boxing Day having been joined by two other yachts late on Christmas Day so felt pretty pleased with ourselves.  We could hear others on the radio having a very social time of it and every so often wondered if our 'Billy No Mates' strategy was the right one but it certainly was.  Watching turtles and pelicans go about their business completely undisturbed and snorkel on a reef when we were the only two people there was a delight. 

Our tropical Christmas Pudding (the one with all the fun taken out) was delicious, lashings of rum making an excellent substitute for gluten and suet.  The ready basted, in a net, turkey breast complete with gravy in a plastic packet was in fact delicious, no doubt assisted by the smoked streaky bacon layered over the top.  That is smoked as in 'maple syrup smoked flavour' so it probably hasn't actually been near anything remotely smoky.  We found a decent bottle of wine in the bilges and proved to ourselves once again that the chardonnay in a box is OK but the real stuff is a whole lot better.

On Boxing Day we set off for the north of the island and 3 hours later arrived in Leinster Bay.  Highly recommended by Michael and Diane in Oriental and Rob and Dee on Ventana, therefore two lots of pencil marks in the pilot guide.  Snorkelling round Watermelon (or is it Waterlemon – the chart and pilot guide say the former, the National Park publications all say the latter) Cay was a real delight.  Fantastic gold coloured cushion star fish anything up to 1ft across all with slightly different markings and patterns on them.  Rays, barracuda, purple coral fans and thousands of fishes of all sizes and colours.  The water is shallow so everything is clearly lit and up close.

So close that we found two small sharks making use of the shade under the dingy.  Nurse sharks apparently.  Harmless.  Still, there is something about that shape that makes you wary so it was only one hand that went in with the underwater camera to try and catch a shot while they were still under the boat.

There is a ruined sugar mill complete with windmill overlooking the bay however it wasn’t possible to land the dingy on the beach so we delayed our visit.

On the 27^th, Mike having opened his presents, we moved into Francis Bay next door and picked up another buoy.  This has an eco-resort hidden in the trees and more houses on the hillside but somehow we prefer it to Waterlemon/melon.  We took the dingy ashore and walked to the Annaberg Sugar Mill which was well worth the visit.  Although ruined it was still very clear what each of the buildings was for and although picturesque now it can only have been grim for the thousands of slaves that worked there and in the plantations on the steep hills behind.  The views were great although we doubt the slaves were able to enjoy it much.

And we saw a mongoose up close:

Today we are heading back to the beach where we will pick up a ‘taxi’ and go to Cruz Bay the main town.  The taxis are similar to the Jeepneys last seen in the Philippines in that they are open sided and very brightly painted so that will be a fun ride through the countryside and mean we see a bit more of the island.  The purpose of the journey is to check out from the USVI’s and therefore the United States, before our trip over to the British Virgin Islands (Jost Van Dyke Island) tomorrow.  In addition we will be “looking for Elvis”.  That’s Elvis the man who runs the BBQ stand on the left as you go up towards the supermarket from the ferry.  Elvis is the only man on the island who fills gas cylinders.

P.S – our Jeepney ride the following day was a great success.