22 March – 13 April 2010
Our first port of call after the Atlantic crossing was Point a Pitre in Guadeloupe (a department of France, so still in the EU and using the Euro) where we stayed in the marina for a few days to rest, catch up with emails, fill up with water, do a lot of laundry and buy fresh food. We were pleased that after 27 days at sea we still had plenty of dry and tinned food, six 5-litre containers and a quarter tank of water remaining.
We had an email from some friends we had made in Las Palmas, Manu & Michelle on Teepee, who had crossed a few weeks before us. They were in Les Saintes (part of Guadeloupe), a small group of islands nearby, so we sailed down there for a brief reunion with them and met one of their friends who gave us useful recommendations for the USVI.
We stayed just the one night then set off on the 27 March for a 2-day crossing to the US Virgin Islands as Jim’s son and his wife, Rob & Chris, were flying out to meet us for Easter. We had a good wind for most of the crossing and arrived at Charlotte Amalie in St Thomas on 29 March and anchored in St Thomas Harbour.
We found that Charlotte Amalie is a major cruise ship destination and full of ‘duty free’ shopping malls. Although downtown has some attractive old buildings, they are full of jewellers and souvenir shops. It is not somewhere we would recommend for a holiday.
A couple of days later we noticed that some of our rigging holding up the mast (which had all been replaced in Las Palmas) had broken strands. This was a major problem and we would be unable to sail at all until the defective wires were replaced. We immediately contacted a local rigger and arranged for the work to be carried out in a few days time. We also emailed the rigger, Alisios Sailing Center in Las Palmas, with photographs; he has admitted liability and promised a partial refund, but so far has not refunded the credit card. We are now taking this up with the credit card company.
In the meantime, Rob and Chris arrived; we stayed in the harbour for a couple of days so they could have a look around Charlotte Amalie, then we motored to Christmas Cove, a bay we had been recommended at Great St James Island about 10 miles away. It is the most beautiful place with wonderfully clear turquoise water, very popular with yachts and day trip boats. We stayed a couple of days enjoying the swimming and snorkelling on the reefs. Rob taught us both to snorkel – we were amazed by the tropical fish and coral, and we even saw Stingray and Eagle Rays swimming across the bottom of the bay.
We then motored back to Charlotte Amalie to spend a night in a marina to have the defective rigging replaced, fill up with water and buy provisions.
Once everything had been sorted out we made the short 20 mile passage to the next main island, St John, USVI and anchored off Cruz Bay. Rob & Chris wanted to spend a couple of nights ashore, so they found a guest house and we went round to a better anchorage in Great Cruz Bay where we could easily pick up a bus to the main town, Cruz Bay. This is much more ‘Caribbean’ and a nice place to spend a couple of days.
Rob & Chris joined us on the boat again in Maho Bay on the north side of St John. This is in the National Park (much of St John is National Park) and is a very beautiful area. We spent a couple of nights here on a mooring buoy – these are provided to protect the coral from anchors. We had a marvellous time in Maho Bay, Francis Bay and a walk through to Leinster Bay, again with great swimming and snorkelling surrounded by magnificent scenery.
Rob & Chris’s time had passed too quickly and we had to return to Charlotte Amalie, with a lunch stop in Christmas Cove for a last swim, for their flight back to England. A couple of days later the wind came from the west and north - unusual for the Caribbean but perfect for a passage east to St Martin – so we departed the USVI after a three week stay.
For more photos please click here
