Our sail from Culebra to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands was quite pleasant for a change - as was the one from St. Thomas to St. John - no seasickness, no motorsailing, no cursing the short choppy waves. We still had to make a number of tacks, but the sailing was actually enjoyable for the first time in a long time.
In St. Thomas our main objective was to visit the Yanmar dealer for engine replacement parts and the marine supply store. We accomplished both tasks on our first full day there and enjoyed riding the safari (a truck rigged with covered benches in the bed) to the other side of the island. Though we missed a lot of the Carnival events (the rowing dinghy can take most of the blame for that) each island in the Caribbean has Carnival at different times throughout the year, so by the end of the trip I think we'll have seen it all.
In St. John we headed straight for one of the few bays where boats are allowed to anchor and made it our home base for the week. We figured out the $1 bus, hiked to see ruins, did a little snorkeling, checked out the town in Cruz Bay, and of course did some work on the dinghy.
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| We're thinking this might be the way to go the next time we want to move our boat thousands of miles. |
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| St. Thomas |
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| Downtown Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas |
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| In St. Thomas, the safari cost $2 and you just hop on and off where you like. In St. John, they operate as taxis and cost around $9 to take you across the island. |
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| We got to St. Thomas in time for Carnival and though we heard the revelry all week, we only saw the Children's Parade. We stayed until the last night so we could watch fireworks from the boat! (That girl on the wrong side of the rope is so fierce.) |
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| Majorettes on stilts! |
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| Almost all of the stop signs on St John have a little extra something added. |
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| This goat knows it's time to "Stop! Hammertime." |
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| More Taino petroglyphs on St. John. |
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| Reef Bay Sugar Mill ruins. |
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| Oh what a lovely view of the boats in this anchorage in Coral Bay, including ours. |
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| As is becoming a pattern, Jon's using the beach to try to bring Bobbie back to her original splendor. |
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| Every morning this house motors across the water to another bay, then comes back in the afternoon. It's a bar. |
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| Kids sailing lessons in Coral Bay. |
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| Waterlemon Bay in St. John, looking across to the British Virgin Islands. We will be there soon! |
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| Thanking our lucky stars it was overcast to slightly cool down our hike to Waterlemon Bay. Look at the colors in the water! |
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