St John's National Park
08 April 2010 | St John, US Virgin Islands
Nancy
The sail from Charlotte Amalie Harbor to Maho Bay, St John took us a little over 3 hours. It was a short sail but had its challenges because we had the wind at our nose and it became stronger once we rounded the point of St Thomas and dealing with a strong mixed current between the islands. We were able to sail through the Windward Passage (appropriately named!) but at one point needed to motor sail due to the strong mixed current coming through the passage and to keep us from hitting any reefs.
Since St John is considered a National Park on three quarters of the island, there are a lot of rules and regulations. Too many for us! Moments after you secure your boat to a mooring ball, an elderly couple (well, more like old...they were well into their 90s or they have had too much sun!) up to your boat in their dinghy to hand you a rules and regulation brochure and tell you where you have to pay the daily mooring fee. Most anchorages now have moorings (@ $25.00 US/night) for all boats that are 60 ft or under, to help protect the reef. Understandable. I am all for protecting the marine life and reefs. But what doesn't make sense is if you are a boat over 60 ft you are allowed to anchor within the marine park. Ummm... I guess the bigger boats just won't damage the reef as much?? Ok so you might be thinking that there are not as many bigger boats....nah that isn't it. There were quite a few larger boats ( incl. couple of mega-yachts) anchored when we arrived. One thing that I thought was funny was the way it (mooring fee paid) was regulated there was that same old couple comes around in their dinghy every night with their list to check to see if you paid your fee to the box. They did not seem to bother the mega-yachts.
One of the days we took the dinghy ashore to one of the most beautiful beaches and took a long hike. We enjoyed hiking around the island, visiting some of the ruins and hiking over to the other side of the island for a beer and lunch. We only stayed a couple of nights at Maho Bay before heading back to St Thomas.