Wednesday morning came and we were ready to depart the Yacht Haven Grande Marina after the guys took a taxi to get two gas bottles filled. They met with rudeness in their investigations and when they finally tracked down the right place, the guy managed to only half fill one of the bottles! The girls checked out a fashion shop called White House Black Market. Due to the number of cruise ships visiting Charlotte Amalie, there was every kind of high end retail shop present in the marina complex.
By late morning we were casting off and headed for the fuel dock, visible from where we'd been at the marina. This little trip required us to come in close to the stern of the Disney Cruise ship Fantasy that had arrived that morning. The four Disney ships are the first in the industry to be designed and built with the family in mind. Unlike most ships of their kind, they do no have casinos. Disney ships also feature ship's horns that play the seven note opening theme When You Wish Upon A Star from Pinocchio, as well as the traditional ship's horn. We had our own Disney moment when we awoke to a startling rendition of When you wish upon a star!
With the refuel completed, Trilogy set sail for Honeymoon Beach, a favourite anchorage with local sailors because of its beautiful white sandy beach. It is situated on the eastern side of Water Island, which gets its name from the fact that it is one of the few places in the Caribbean with fresh water ponds. Both pirate and merchantmen were accustomed to coming to the island for water. Water Island, along with Hassel Island are part of the scenic waterways of St Thomas Harbour. From our anchorage we could see the other cruise ship dock on the eastern side of Frenchtown. The Allure of the Seas, part of the Caribbean cruise line fleet, with a 6000 guest capacity and the largest cruise ship in the world was in port! Honeymoon beach was out of reach of all these visitors and so we very much enjoyed the white sandy beach and turquoise water. Around 19:00 the Allure of the Seas squeezed out of port through the narrow passage between the islands and filled our vision with the sparkle of its lights.
After another morning swim, we motored to Magens Bay on the north coast of St Thomas, which offers a mile long beautiful beach and is a favourite beach photographed for ,travel publications. The beach sits at the top of a long deep inlet, which has thickly wooded steep sloping sides right down to water level. There are a number of large houses, which occupy part of the foreshore, but they are far enough from the beach not to intrude. We swam ashore in the late afternoon, walked the beach and swam back. We only had the company of one other yacht overnight and there was a real sense of peace, with just a gentle breeze wafting through.
Next day was Peter's birthday and to celebrate we prepared a cooked breakfast and sipped on Prosecco. Peter chose to repeat our excellent swim ashore, with a walk along the beach. In honour of his birthday, Peter was made skipper for the day, an opportunity which he relished. By early afternoon we were on the move again, heading for Trunk Bay, on the island of St John. This was a distance of 9NM and we motor sailed with one reef in the main. The passage was quite scenic, travelling along the north west coast of St Thomas and past several cays before entering Trunk Bay, on the north coast of St John Island.
St John's tobacco and sugar cane plantations collapsed in the early 19th century with the end of slavery and the island returned to its natural state. In 1954 LS Rockefeller bought the island and gave it to the nation so that it could be a National Park. St John has few people living on it, but big ferries bring hordes of tourists daily. The National Park covers three quarters of the island. Ecologists call it the 'Pearl of the Virgins' as there is no large scale real estate development to destroy the natural tropical vegetation or the shoreline. Green iguanas, geckos, hawksbill turtles, wild donkeys and an assortment of other feral animals, roam the landscape, not to mention the pristine reefs that are fully protected.
Johnson Reef, is a large reef about half a mile to the north of Trunk Bay. Although it is well marked, it continues to claim its share of wrecks due to negligence. With Peter at the helm and a new navigator on duty, Trilogy made her way safely through the yellow marker buoys, which denote the hazard area. Trunk Bay is the site of an underwater snorkel trail around Trunk Cay, a small islet about 48 feet tall. Once safely secured to a National Park mooring, those on board who had the energy swam ashore to check out the coral. They returned somewhat disappointed, mostly because of the murky water conditions. As Peter's birthday required a special dinner, the girls put their best foot forward and cooked Lamb Shanks in Red Wine, accompanied by sweet potato mash and green beans. The secret to our delicious meals is the pressure cooker, which not only reduces significantly the cooking time, but intensifies the flavours, as no evaporation occurs.
Next morning the wind had settled and we all headed to shore for another snorkel. The water was a lot clearer and although the coral was not as spectacular as some we have previously seen, it had its own unique beauty, with some coral types we'd not previously encountered. The fish were abundant and were all colours and sizes. We learnt from the underwater signage that the parrot fish feeds on the dead coral and with its hard beak crushes the coral, which produces sand particles. We had a spotted stingray 'fly' past us, which is a spectacular sight....its stinging tail seeming to go forever. The signage suggested just floating and calmly observing the natural aquarium to allow the fish to come to you.....and they did! It is quite humbling to have these creatures trust you implicitly as an intruder to their world.
Once back on board, we lunched al fresco and then some repairs to the generator got underway, due to a leak of diesel from the hose. It was some time later that the guys downed tools and we motored around to our next stop at Maho Bay.