st johns to culebra

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St John


I am very pleased to write st John and not St John’s as I have been prone to before, but was corrected by a very correct official in the BVIslands.
As usual the American Immigration officers in St John were extremely helpful, polite and very charming. We brought the boat alongside in the morning, and within half an hour were legally in the US. As I said to Alan , we are not redbacks,or is it wetbacks, one of those things anyway!! He tried to catch some bait fish off the dock in Cruz bay with no success. We went round to Caneel bay and tied on to a mooring ball, we were off the boat and in the dinghy in a few minutes, heading back to Cruz Bay for shopping. The dingy played up on the way to the port and we were frantically pumping it, but got there.

We went ashore to do our shopping, tried to internet in the square, but there was a gully cleaning operation going on and really could hear nothing. So quite a long hot walk up to the shopping mall and the super market. We had a great lunch in the bakery there and a good shop up. All back to the dinghy in a taxi only to leave the dock and become broken down in the middle of the moorings, we hung onto a quite flashy type of motor boat when a passing man on a boat called Sadie Charters, came over to help us. Amazingly he had just completed a circumnavigation in his sailing yacht and was now working here running snorkelling and swimming trips. He was so helpful. He said he had a bit for a dinghy that would suit us, and not only did he go and fetch it, it worked perfectly, and he would not take anything for it. Must be karma, what a kind person, we would probably not have got that bit except in a big chandlers.
We were glad to get back to boat and then carried on up to Francis Bay.

It is beautiful here. The hills are green and lush and fall into the sapphire blue sea. The anchorage is quiet and tranquil, the boat is so still. The beach is a strip of silver sand. There is no wind, just a few fluffy clouds passing by. But as usual all is not perfect. We went ashore last night for a walk and as soon as we got to the beautiful beach Alan started jumping up and down like a maniac, he was being eaten alive by ‘no see’ums’ or sand flies, for some reason they never bite me.. I must taste bad!! He was getting really agitated so we literally just jumped back in the dinghy. He was bitten 30 times, I had one bite…..

We went for a dive this morning. It was easy to tie the dinghy on the mooring ball and soon we were on the bottom swimming out across the sand. Alan soon spotted a lobster, he was just the right size for us for one meal so we put him in the bag. We soon saw a much bigger one, but really there is no point for the two of us. So we caught him for fun and let him go. The coral was lovely, fan corals with electric blue veins and lots of snapper swimming around, I was holding the bag, helping him to catch the lobster etc !!! Anyway we had a nice time diving. It has become easier to dive from the dinghy, and the good news is my wet suit is a bit looser than last year….amazing what illness does!
We got back , had lunch and then decided to walk up to the Annaberg deserted sugar plantation. It was a very pleasant walk in the shade mostly, past mangrove roots, and termite nests. Up into the lush green forest, the birds singing and we even heard a cuckoo! The sugar plantation was interesting, how hot it must have been for the people working there. Or should I say slaves. It must have been dreadful for them.

We saw a little shy deer in the forest going up. It ran away when it saw us.

I think it has taken us this long to relax into boat life. Of course we were both ill at the start, and a bit stressed but now we really feel quite relaxed and happy. The boat becomes home instead of an endurance test, and of course we are fitter now, so we don’t wake up with every bone in our bodies aching. The weather has been amazing as well. So calm, not so good for sailing but great for anchoring. Now I am down below and the boat is laying in tranquility,. With just a few bats whizzing by, Alan is having one last cast.. He has enjoyed his evening’s fishing. He caught loads of red snapper, the biggest about 5 lb, a jack about 10lb and has had a great time. Unfortunately the camera has run out of steam!!

There is something about this island, that is very calming and spiritual. I really like it here, but we must carry on up towards Culebra and Puerto Rico, we are going to explore some other anchorages and we are looking forward to seeing some new places, they sound really interesting.


St Thomas

We stopped for a night at Magens Bay St Thomas, a great huge inlet, 1.6 miles deep, but very open to the swells. We met a fisherman on the beach who was telling us about his fishing, and as we were talking to him we were all slapping at our arms and legs, it iwas 5.30pm, time for the sandflies to start attacking. Luckily we had a can of ‘off’ in the dinghy and we were spraying our legs as we were talking! In the night when the tide cbanged the boat rolled for about an hour. Not the most comfortable anchorage in the world but truly one of the most spectacular.

OMG!!
We were having a very peaceful sail, here to Culebra, one of the Spanish Virgin Islands when I just happened to look out and see what appeared to be a rock approaching rapidly…in 20 metres of water? I shouted out to Alan and as I did, the rock moved and missed us by about a foot. It was a massive whale and I am not joking if I say it was a foot from the bow, it swam quickly to the surface making strange deep noises. It was huge, and if that had hit us….Funnily enough Alan had just seen a strange lot of water off the bow, and was wondering what it was, now it makes perfect sense, the whale was blowing, and the jet of water in the air was the Whale..
The creature was encrusted with barnacles, I could have reached out and touched him…
Now anchored safely in Ensenada Honda at the little laid back town of Dewey on Culebra.

We have had a really good time here. First we went over to Culebrita a very pretty island, off this one, there were quite few boats there, we tied onto a mooring ball by the white sand beach, put our diving gear on and jumped over into the crystal clear blue water. The boat was suspended above a beautiful lump of coral, it was like an aquarium..
We headed out towards the drop off and down to about 17 metres, it was very clear, great big colourful angel fish, blue iridescent tiny fish, moray eels, and finally a lobster. We caught one to have as a nibble in the evening. We snorkelled under the boat and there was the telltale scratches from the barnacles on the whales back, obviously we did hit him, poor thing, and a very lucky escape for us.

Back to dewey, such a still calm night, and some friends round for drinks. It was very good and we all decided to hire a golf cart the next day to explore the island. We were up and down the hills, bumping over the holes in the road. It was very swampy around the island, and lots of mangroves. Spectactular views from the hills over to the other island of Vieques and the mainland. Finally ending the day at Flamenco beach eating fried fish, ground plaintain tostada, and swimming, snorkelling on the beautiful bay, a curved sweep of sand as big as Weymouth beach, but with about 50 people on it…..
After the rum punches at Mammacitas it was the end of a perfect day.

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