US Virgin Islands
17 April 2017
Photo: Turtle, Christmas Cove
After clearing out of the BVI’s we motored to Lind Point, just outside Cruz Bay, St John, US Virgin Islands and picked up a mooring buoy. There is a 3hr anchor area inside Cruz Bay for boats checking in but it is usually very busy. We jumped in the dinghy and headed into Cruz Bay to clear in. After filling in the appropriate forms we were called forward to see the officials. His main concern was the type of visa we had for entering the US. As we had an ESTA and were arriving in a private boat, the ESTA had to be activated by first arriving in the US via commercial transport, luckily for us as we had returned from NZ via Houston and were OK, many boats are refused entry and have to return to the BVI’s, leave their boat and get a ferry across to clear in, activate the ESTA, return to the BVI’s, before returning and clearing the boat in. That all seems ridiculous but they are the rules.
All sorted, we headed off to the supermarket for groceries, went to National Park office for the rules and regulations when anchoring or picking up a mooring, then returned to the Dol, dropped the mooring buoy and went to the fuel dock to refuel. It was then back to the boat for lunch and finally motored 2nm and anchored in Christmas Cove, St James Island for the night, with drinks on Lurata.
Sitting on the boat in Christmas Cove we saw lots of large turtles surfacing next to us, great to see. In the bay was Pizza Pi, a small yacht that served pizza and snacks between 11:00 and 18:00 each day. The pizzas were 16 inch and although not cheap, were very nice. Lurata left Christmas Cove on Saturday and headed for St Thomas, hopefully we will catch up with them before they leave for Panama. We decided to go for a snorkel around the small island in the bay, again the coral was OK, plenty of brain coral and some fan coral, plenty of fish but we did not see the eagle ray that John and Kerry had seen the previous day. Back to the boat and time to change anchorage.
We motored down St John’s and picked up a National Park mooring buoy in Francis Bay, looking forward to some walks ashore in the coming days. The moorings are US$26per night and free during the day, you pay at a floating pay station in the bay. Motoring down we again experienced choppy seas in the passages between the islands and negotiated our way through a set of yellow buoys marking a reef.
Sunday we were up early and off ashore for a walk. We walked around to the Annaberg Sugar Plantation ruins, along the beach at Leinster Bay and around the Francis Bay Trail through the mangroves and back to the beach, great to do some walking. The next day was a quiet day, the first day of rain and clouds we have seen for a while.
Tuesday we took the garbage ashore, paid the mooring fee and motored 2nm around to Leinster Bay. Watermelon Cay was crowded with day boats and snorkelers, which calmed down around lunch time. We took the opportunity, grabbed our snorkel gear and headed over. We would have to say it was pretty ordinary, we saw one large turtle, an eagle ray and some fish, not a lot of coral. Talking to someone who visits often, we must have picked the wrong day, they reckoned it is normally like an aquarium. There was another Kiwi boat in the bay, turned out to be a couple of guys who had bought the boat in Spain and were sailing it home, heading for the Panama next week. Wednesday we decided to walk the John Hora Trail over to Coral Bay. The trail was steep in some places, got the heart rate going, stopping for a look at Murphy’s Great house ruins on the way. Coral Bay was a quiet village, we had morning tea, visited the local market and then walked back across the hill to Leinster Bay. Time for a swim and a quiet afternoon and evening.
With Easter Friday the following day, we left Leinster Bay early and motored over to Grand Harbour, Joost Van Dyke, BVI’s too clear in. We really enjoyed our week in the US Virgin Islands, it is a good cruising area.