When planning to have guests on your boat, cruisers often recommend allowing visitors to choose either a place for their arrival, or a date, but not both. That’s because it is very difficult to guarantee you’ll be in a certain place by a certain date. Unless, of course, you plan way in advance and leave plenty of room for the unknowns. That’s what we did to prepare for my aunt and uncle’s visit.
Our discussions about their visit began months in advance. We knew in January that we would be making our way from The Bahamas to Puerto Rico, then to the Virgin Islands. My aunt and uncle (Trudi and Jim) were going to be staying in southern Florida during the month of March and that gave them a wide open window to fly out from Miami any day during the month that worked for us. We determined that within two months, we would have plenty of time to leave The Bahamas, sail to Puerto Rico, and then be in the US Virgin Islands by mid-March to pick up our new crew. So we made it official! Trudi and Jim booked a flight from Miami to St. Croix from March 14-26, and it was Kory’s and my goal to sail to Saint Croix by that date — 2-1/2 months was ample time to do so.
We arrived in St. Croix more than a week before Trudi and Jim’s arrival to make sure we found a good anchorage, stocked up on groceries, and prepared for their big outing. This also gave us time to scout out the area and come up with somewhat of an agenda during their stay based on the forecasted weather.
Trudi and Jim had to drive several hours in the early morning to catch their flight from Miami to St. Croix. Their actual flight from Miami wasn’t long, but it sure was a chore getting a taxi at the St. Croix airport to Frederick Pier (lots of waiting, with many bags, in hot humid weather). But they made it, and Kory and I were waiting for them at the pier when the taxi dropped them off. Let the adventures begin!
After the taxi fiasco, Trudi and Jim had another challenge to face, getting into the dinghy, four feet below the dock, with the only access being the footholds down the side of the pier wall. We had Trudi climb down first while Kory helped her. It was a bit scary at first, but she mastered it like a pro! Kory then came back to get Jim and me while Trudi sat on the sugar scoop waiting for our arrival. What an introduction to boat life right from the start! We enjoyed a nice salmon dinner with sautéed zucchini, rice pilaf, and freshly baked French bread. It was a wonderful reunion!
Trudi and Jim both have had sailing experience in their past, Trudi on monohulls, and Jim on small catamarans. However, it had been many years since they had been out on the water. Jim said it was a 40-year dream of his to go sailing again on a catamaran. That melted Kory’s and my hearts, and we were blessed to be a part of a dream fulfilled.
We spent an afternoon strolling around Frederiksted. The cruise ships were not in port, so the town was almost deserted. Most of the shops were closed, and there wasn’t a lot to see. However, we did enjoy a good walk along the waterfront and ate at a tasty Mexican restaurant overlooking the Caribbean Sea. The following day, we snorkeled near the pier and enjoyed the beautiful turquoise waters and abundant sea life that Frederiksted has to offer.
After having spent two days in Frederiksted, we found a fairly good weather window to make the 6-1/2 hour sail from St. Croix to St. Thomas. This was our only opportunity to make this trip for several days. As is often the case in sailing, if we didn’t leave now, we’d have to wait out the weather for a while. And, since we had seen all there was to see in Frederiksted, we opted for the sail north to St. Thomas, even though we knew it was going to be a little rolly with three-foot swells coming from the east. Sadly, we had to motor most of the whole trip. It turned out to be a rocky ride as we swayed back and forth, but Trudi, Jim, and I had our Scopolamine patches on and we all avoided getting seasick.
We arrived safely in St. Thomas and anchored near the capital city of Charlotte Amelie where we were hoping to get off the boat and enjoy a nice dinner on land. However, the waters in the anchorage were so choppy that it was too difficult to get everyone in the dinghy to go to shore. We rocked and rolled all night, and the waters were still stirred up when we awoke the next morning. So, we all voted to sail to St. John where we knew we would get better protection from the southeast winds. This proved to be a good choice, and we all enjoyed the two-hour sail to Maho Bay anchorage in St. John.
We spent several days in St. John, which has turned out to be one of our favorite islands in the USVI’s. The Maho Bay mooring field on the northern side of the island is a treasure cove. It is surrounded on three sides by lush green mountains and beautiful beaches. The water is clean, clear, and refreshing. We spent plenty of time swimming and lounging in the water during our stay. One morning we beached the dinghy and took a walk through the Francis Bay National Forest. It was a pretty walk, but poor Trudi got bit by noseeums, so we made a b-line back to the dinghy to escape the vicious critters.
On another day at St. John, we rented a car so we could explore the island. We were able to pick up the car in a parking lot across the street from Maho Beach, so it was quite convenient. However, in order to get to the parking lot, we had to drive the dinghy to the beach and then hoist it high enough on the sand so that the tide wouldn’t pull it back out. The guys did the bulk of the heavy lifting. We were all hoping the dinghy would be on the beach when we returned at the end of the day. If not, we would have no way to get to the boat, other than swim in the dark (and no one was up for that).
We drove up steep forested hills to get to the east end of the island and stopped at a few scenic overlooks along the way. It was a cloudy and hazy morning, and the anchorage on the windward side was breezy and rolly, which made us glad we were in such a calm bay at Maho. We turned around and made our way west on Highway 10 and stumbled upon Emmaus Moravian Church in Coral Bay, founded in 1782.
The Moravians were the first Protestants to send missionaries to the West Indies and were in the Danish Islands as early as 1732. They were the only church allowed to minister to the slaves, and were instrumental in establishing Dutch Creole as the language spoken between planters and the enslaved Africans. The church on St. John is no longer open. It has been hit hard by age and ravaged by hurricanes. However, its master masonry still stands, and reminds us of religious freedom and the courage of our missionary brothers and sisters in Christ.
Continuing on Highway 10 west, we followed the signs to the ruins of an old sugar mill. The Catherineberg Plantation Ruins in the Virgin Islands National Park are said to be among the best-preserved on all of St. John. We agreed! These ruins were quite spectacular. They date back to the 18th century and are a superb display of the Danish colonial period. At one time, this plantation had the largest mill in the Virgin Islands, producing both sugar and rum. The sad part of Catherinesberg’s story is the abundance of enslaved forced labor used to produce the sugar for market. We are glad that this part of history is behind us.
When we got out of the car to tour the ruins we heard a saxophone echoing through the caverns of the mill’s walls. There was one other car in the parking lot, so we assumed it was someone playing music in this acoustic natural wonder. We found the musician on the upper level of the mill and marveled at both his talent and the rich vegetation growing in the crevices of the ruins.
Driving in the Virgin Islands National Park was beautiful. We were surrounded by a mix of pine trees, cactus, and palms. We stopped at a produce stand on the highway and greeted donkeys on the side of the road as well!
We ate lunch in Cruz Bay, the main city on St. John, and then went to the store to stock up on a few groceries. Since we had already been gone for hours and were hot and tired, we decided to head back to the boat, put away our groceries, take a swim, and cool off. The plan was to head back to Cruz Bay for a nice dinner before turning in our rental car for the day.
After a couple of hours of relaxation back at the boat, it was a 20 minute drive to Cruz Bay where Trudi and Jim treated us to a wonderful sunset dinner overlooking the bay. It was a busy day of sight-seeing, but the ambiance at dinner and the cool evening breeze made it a real treat.
Kory had to drive back to the Maho Beach parking lot to drop off the car after dinner. He wound his way uphill in the dark, and we were glad to make it back safely. We used flashlights on our phones to find our way to the beach, and thankfully our dinghy was still there. We were grateful for such an action-packed day. We rested well that night with brilliant stars and the Milky Way shining overhead!
After spending several days at St. John, we enjoyed a leisurely sail around the island to St. James where we anchored at Christmas Cove, one of the favored anchorages of the trip.
Our intention on one of the days was to leave Christmas Cove for a couple-hour sail, then return that afternoon to swim and anchor for the night. It stated out as a smooth sail. Kory and Jim raised the mainsail and unfurled the Screecher, and the 12-15 knot winds got us flying between 8-9 knots. It was exciting! But then, the unexpected happened. Stay tuned for our Screecher setback in the next post.
The end result is that we had to divert to Megan’s Bay on the north side of St. Thomas to bring down the Screecher, and that’s where we ended up anchoring for the night. The waters were calm with a beautiful aqua color, but it was quite mirky. Kory and I went snorkeling, but we couldn’t even see the bottom. The beach was crowded with tourists and the beach bars were noisy until sunset. Then when everyone left, it felt like we had the entire bay and crescent beach to ourselves.
We had a peaceful night’s sleep and made our way back to Christmas Cove the following day. Trudi and Jim’s time in the Virgin Islands was coming to an end, and we wanted to get back to their favorite anchorage so they could swim and enjoy the clear blue waters. Jim took Trudi to the beach that afternoon and went snorkeling. It was much easier for Trudi to snorkel starting from shore than it was hopping into the deep like we did in Frederiksted. She saw a Turtle and other sea life and they had a great time!
The next day we sailed two hours to St. Thomas and anchored near Charlotte Amelie. It was windy and rolly where we first anchored, so we picked up anchor and moved across the bay closer to shore where the waters were more still. By late afternoon, the winds had calmed down quite a bit and we were able to dingy downtown to walk around. Since it was a Sunday, most of the shops were closed, but we were able to enjoy a nice dinner at The Greenhouse restaurant on Trudi and Jim’s last night with us on Hope.
