This morning we moved from Flamingo Bay to Charlotte Amalie, the capital city of St Thomas. It wasn't very far, it only took a half an hour. Flamingo Bay was a nice calm anchorage, Charlotte Amalie was not. We were not entirely sure we would be spending the night there. There were no cruise ships in port. We saw one leave the evening before but none came in. It turns out that Charlotte Amalie is pretty much closed on Sunday, at least on Sunday morning. There were some little outdoor shops open but almost all of the storefronts were closed. We did manage to get rid of our trash, and there was a McDonalds with an American breakfast menu within easy walking distance of town. These two things made our morning in Charlotte Amalie a success. We managed to see some of the sights in town, including the 99 Steps, which are really 103 steps, you can see some of them in the picture above. The steps go up to the Blackbeard Castle, which was closed.

One of the things that made our morning not a success is that a pigeon decided to poop on top of me as I stupidly walked underneath him. It was especially upsetting because I had on my best clothes and they were actually clean that morning, as was I. Both of those things are rare these days. If you have ever wondered, fresh pigeon poop is surprisingly warm. Too bad I have never wondered because now I know.

When we got back to the boat it was still early. We had had enough of Charlotte Amalie so Bill pulled up the electronic charts and looked for some place that wasn't too far away and was facing the right direction so the wind and waves wouldn't affect us. Lucky for us he found Christmas Cove where we are now moored. It's a very beautiful anchorage, relatively calm and it has free moorings. It was a relatively rough ride here, lots of waves, but it wasn't too bad.

We were out in the cockpit and saw a couple of dolphins swimming by. Right behind them was a snorkeler that was following them with a video camera - what an experience. He told us the snorkeling was really good so we decided to try it out. We snorkeled right off the boat and checked a couple of the areas he told us about. Again, it wasn't as good as the Exumas, but it was still really nice. We saw some stingrays and a barracuda and a trunkfish. Tomorrow we are off to St John and hope to get some more snorkeling in.