"stuck" in St. Croix
28 February 2017
We arrived here last Thursday evening and went into Customs the next morning to check into the US Virgin Islands. Karen and Jason on their catamaran Yolo, who are from Michigan and whom we first met in Vanuatu, are here. We had stayed in touch and knew we might cross paths here.
At customs we picked up the Visitors' magazine and found numerous fun things to do. Friday night we went to a Jazz concert on the lawn outside the fort (very close - just across Gallows Bay from us) and went out for pizza afterwards at a restaurant called "You Are Here" with Karen and Jason. There was some drama while we were there as one of the two chefs on duty just walked out in a huff. The waitress looked exhausted as she apologized for the delays. But we were fine, enjoying catching up with our friends.
Saturday we took the bus to the shopping center to buy an internet card and some groceries. Then rushed back to the boat in the dinghy to stow those provisions and return to shore to the group taxi (large van) that was waiting to take a group over to Mardi Croix at Cane Beach. There was a small parade, lots of folks dressed up in colorful Carnaval/Mardi Gras type garb and lots of bead necklaces being thrown from the floats. It was a small town affair, but very fun. We watched the parade in the shade of a tree, bought various food items at the stands that lined the roadway for lunch, sat on the beach for awhile enjoying the view and reading our kindle books, then hopped on the return van a little after 4:00pm. We were in a safari-type open truck on the way back and were in the front seat of a very full truck, so it was hard for us to turn around and be a part of all the conversation going on. But we enjoyed listening to them give one guy a bad time because he was from Cleveland, then his brother came to his rescue saying there were some lovely parts and nice seasons - that brother lives in St. Croix and was encouraging everyone to come to his restaurant "You are Here" and especially trying his pizza. Then two other couples talked about being from California, Bay area, and moving to St. Croix 2 years ago. Then they all started ragging on Trump - one woman was particularly vocal. After a few of the folks had been dropped off and there was more room to move around, they got us into the conversation and asked us about ourselves. We started out by saying that Virginia was born in Cleveland and had fond memories of it; that we lived in California and loved it; that we actually had been to You are Here the previous night and ordered the pizza. At that point the owner jumped in and asked us what time we had been there and he hoped it was early, but we assured him we didn't miss out on the fun of the chef quitting at the peak of the evening. They marveled at all the connections we had among us and said they assumed we weren't trump supporters as we hadn't jumped on them during the discussions. It was really a fun end to an enjoyable day.
Sunday we took Libertad over to Buck Island, just about four miles northeast of Gallows Bay to do some snorkeling. It is a National Park preserve and the designated anchoring area is on the west end of the island. Jason joined us and he and Dennis snorkeled in the grassy area behind the boat while Virginia prepared lunch. After lunch we loaded ourselves and our snorkeling gear into the dinghy and headed for the east side of the island. The wind had piped up to 17-20 knots, coming in from the east, so Virginia decided to stay in the dinghy and enjoy the scenery from that viewpoint while Dennis and Jason snorkeled the "underwater trail" that is set up on the east side of the island. There are placards underwater identifying the path and pointing out the types of coral and fish you might see in that particular area. Although the water was a bit rough on top, they had great clarity below. Very nice snorkeling spot. When we finished our circle around the island and returned to the more protected waters of the anchorage, Virginia jumped in for a quick swim before we headed back to Gallows Bay. Upon our return to the Bay, Karen had dinner waiting for us, nice relaxing end to the day.
We had been unable to get our AT&T internet to work so we hopped on the bus Monday morning to sort that out. On the way Dennis' sandals fell apart. It is amazing how many items we have lost this year, apparently from the 6+ years of tropical marine environment. Rubber items harden and then just disintegrate. We each lost a pair of shoes, but the most painful loss was our waterproof computer bag from Darren and Carrie that we used so much to protect our laptops when going ashore in the dinghy. It served us well. Just more signs that it is time to get home.
We had planned to be here just a few days and then go back north to the other US Virginia Islands and get on our westward track. But the weather looks like it will keep us here until the end of this week. We feel quite secure here in the anchorage. We aren't that far from shore that we still can get back and forth in the dinghy to do things without getting too wet. And Yolo is anchored right next to us, so we have company.
We are enjoying this island.