Early this morning we released our mooring lines and motored out of the lovely Salt Pond Bay. We were off to St. Croix which was about 35 nm directly south of us. Normally, such a heading would put the winds on our beam and it would be an ideal sail. Unfortunately, there were virtually no winds and if a little puff formed, it came at us from the south. Sigh! Thus, we had to motor the whole way, making the passage in 6 hours. The positive side of a windless day was that the seas were glassy, the sun was out and it was a spectacular day.

We had read and heard that entering the lagoon that Christiansted is located on is very tricky. First you enter through a break in the fringing reef that circles St. Croix and then, once through the break, you have to squeeze by another reef that blocks the head of the lagoon. We have heard of horror stories of boats running aground on this second reef which is called Round Reef. It is because of these reefs that most cruisers avoid coming to St. Croix.

As we approached St Croix we could see that the island was covered by thick black clouds and that the western end of the island was being belted by heavy rain. Christiansted is more toward the northeast center of the island but since the rain was moving from west to east we watched as the rain got closer and closer to Christiansted. We did not want to enter the lagoon, passing close by the reefs in the rain.

When we were just a couple miles shy of the island the rain was right over Christiansted and we were getting some of it, being right on its very edge. Fortunately, within minutes it stopped and the lagoon and its entrances began to become visible.

Our concerns about transiting through and around the reefs were not well founded as the opening and the passage around Round Reef was very well marked with lots of buoys. Plus, the passage marked by the buoys was nice and wide and the channel was plenty deep. It was easy-peasy. However, as we passed by Round Reef, Steve saw the hull of a boat pass under us. It had washed up on Round Reef, meeting a fate that we all dread.

We anchored right in front of Fort Christiansted in 15 feet of water, next to two other sailboats. Our location is 17° 44.853'N: 64° 42.040'W

We made contact with Rick, our friend here in St. Croix and he will be joining Steve on a dive of the reefs in front of us tomorrow afternoon. They will be taking a boat run by a friend of Ricks out to a couple of dive spots.

This evening we took the dinghy to shore and strolled around the historic buildings that make up Christiansted. It is a very charming and quiet place. We dropped in on a gathering for a few minutes to listen to a speaker taking about his investigation into sunken slave ships around St. Croix. It was sponsored by the National Park Service.

We ended up at a nice little restaurant/bar that specialized in allowing you to design the burger you want. It was fun and very good. Tomorrow night we will be taking Portia and Steve to Rick and Bret’s favorite Thai restaurant here in Christiansted. Yum!