Virgin Intacta ... somewhat ...
11 February 2017
Well, we got our watermaker parts from Reefco in Charlotte Amalie, main town of St Thomas and a cruise ship destination. The Reefco people were very helpful with tips and advice which saved us a lot of time and trouble with removal and replacement.
We had plenty of space to anchor in Charlotte Amalie and could watch the cruise ships and their “fun” tug zooming about the harbour, but once we had completed the repair on Tuesday 31st January, we headed back to Christmas Cove, where we had a very pleasant evening with fellow OCC members Alastair and Esther from ‘Cranstackie’, who came aboard for sundowners.
Then it was back to St John and Francis Bay where we met up with old friends Mike and Sue on ‘Infini’ and Tom and Barbara on ‘GOSI’, enjoying walks through the woods and quite mighty craic. We were all heading in different directions and so after two nights on a mooring we moved to Waterlemon Bay which is in the east of Leinster Bay (some pronunciation coaching had been required to get North Americans to say “Len” instead of “Line”).
There was allegedly good snorkelling on the reef around Waterlemon Cay but if it had not been for a few rays gliding about the viewing was a bit thin. Reef damage was much in evidence albeit we saw one sea cucumber which was a good sign … maybe …
We decided on a six miles round trip hike via Brown Bay to Coral Harbour for lunch at the renowned Skinny Legs restaurant – good hamburgers. The going was great but we were not aware of the near-vertical road on the return leg over the ridge. It was a tad tougher than expected and the second beer at lunch was probably an error. Anyway we got back and all was well.
There are ruins of old sugar plantations with derelict windmills and refining vats, along with ruins of a school where the children of plantation slaves were taught to be useful contributors – classes strictly divided by gender.
St John has very lovely bays with limited development and much effort to protect the natural environment as most of the island is a national park and offshore is declared a marine park. However as far as marine life is concerned, it seems a bit late. Moorings are required to be used and these have been installed with sensitivity to potential damage, although the price for non-US citizens is US$26 per night.