Our big crossing of nearly 15 miles brought us to St. Thomas, USVI. Our first stop, Charlotte Amalie, cruise ship dock and tourist mecca. In Puerto Rico we were issued local boater cards at the customs office that would theoretically allow us to call a number and report our presence when arriving in US waters. However when the internet bites, skype calls can’t be made, with no cell phone, calling is not possible. Really starting to miss that cell phone. So off to find the customs office we go, well tomorrow anyway. We have managed to arrive on Easter Sunday, a few restaurants are open but most of the town is closed up. The next morning when we get to the customs office we find that since we just came from a US waters we don’t actually need to check in at all, even though we were told in Puerto Rico we would need to, but what does Puerto Rico know about St. Thomas anyway.
We have almost a week here before my mom flies down for a visit. That’s just enough time to see town, grocery shop, scout out a few anchorages, and find some good snorkeling sites.
When Mom arrives we walk to the airport to collect her and our packages she brought along. I had a little trouble convincing her she wanted to come down and visit, and eventually ordered enough stuff that was sent to her house she had to deliver it!
The first night stay in Charlotte Amalie, walk around town and go out for dinner. The next morning we pull up the anchor and head to St. John. We pick up a mooring in Francis Bay, get into swim suits tell mom to jump overboard and take off for mom’s first snorkel. And of course we made her swim to the snorkeling, I did hold onto her though, and it’s a good thing as she kept trying to swim out to sea. She had a great time and by the end of the trip got quite comfortable in the water. From Francis Bay, we hopped around the corner to Waterlemon Cay for more snorkeling and a short hike to the Annaberg Sugar Mill Ruins. The mill ruins were in one direction and the ruins of the master’s house in another. The master’s house is on top of the hill with a great view of the anchorage, surrounding islands and the sugar mill.
We contemplated circumnavigating St. John, but decided since mom came prepared, like a good girl scout with her passport, we would visit the BVI’s at Jost Van Dyke. Anchoring at Great Harbor was a bit of a challenge, after the 8th attempt the anchor finally caught on something on the rocky bottom. After the captain went to shore and checked us in we headed to shore to see town and visit Foxy’s for a painkiller. We had the pleasure of meeting Foxy who never lacked for a story to tell. As soon as he heard we were from WV, he told us of his friend from WV, Joe Manchin, the governor.
We moved around the corner to Long Bay the following day and passed the time snorkeling, swimming and took a short hike to “the bubbles”, a small pool surrounded by boulders. The waves would crash in through the boulders and… well.. bubble.
With the week nearing the end we headed back toward Charlotte Amalie. Mom had one more first before flying home, parasailing. So the day before she left, we put her on a boat, strapped her to a parachute and hauled her (and me with her) up into the air 600ft. She loved it. But alas that put an end to the week and we had to send her to the airport and back home.
While we were in Charlotte Amalie, we looked up some friends of friends, after all friends of friends are basically already friends right? We found Kris and Carroll downtown at their store Fishface. They came out to the boat one evening for cocktail hour and some music playing.
With a quick stop at Coral Bay on St. John, we headed over to Roadtown on Tortola. Of course we arrive on a weekend, so most of the town is closed. We did managed to have someone come out and look at our refrigerator that is acting up a bit, that is after we finally managed to locate the compressor that was hidden under the floorboards, in the rear cockpit locker. We’ve been looking around for a year trying to find that, although I don’t think that locker has ever been completely emptied. Turns out our problem was just a failing fan, since the freezer compressor is identical we just swapped them out and were working again. We’ll need to get another fan but for now we don’t need to use the freezer.
The rest of the time in the BVI’s was a brief whirlwind trip, so we could make use of a weather window to make our last overnight jump east into the trade winds. We stopped by Marina Cay, Virgin Gorda, and visited the Baths; before heading out to sea.
