USVIs – St.Thomas and St.John – We have company coming again!

Well I am excited!  I have more company coming.  More people to play with.

First I need to go get them from the airport.  I heard you could pick people up from the anchorage in Lindbergh Bay.  So we headed over there to check the place out.

LINDBERGH BAY, ST.THOMAS

Turned out you can anchor right off the beach in the NW corner and be only a 5 minute walk to the terminal.

In fact you were so close we could see our companies plane arrive!

If you have a WiFi boaster on your boat there is free internet available, so you can even check if their flight is delayed.

Unfortunately the bay is open to the south and a ground swell made it rolly, especially for company that had not gotten their ‘sea legs’ yet.  So we got everyone and their bags aboard and made a short hope over to Druif Bay.

DRUIF BAY, WATER ISLAND, ST.THOMAS

We thought they would enjoy a classic Caribbean touristy beach.

And here is the jet lagged crew suffering a little culture shock.

From left to right:

The ‘female human’ (you all know her), my Auntie Kim, Cousin Connor, Uncle Andy and Cousin Shannon.  All the way from Vancouver, B.C., Canada to see me.

We thought we would ease them into Caribbean life slowly, starting with the traditional beach game of Dominos.

We all had fun watching ‘day trippers’ being dumped onto the beach from the near by capital.

With a southerly ground swell still running we moved the boat further north up Water Island to Elephant Bay.

ELEPHANT BAY, WATER ISLAND, ST.THOMAS

Here in Elephant Bay we were well protected and the water was flat calm.

There is no nice beach here, but you are right next to one of the capitols cruise ship docks.

This means you can watch these giant floating cities coming and going.

They come right by the boats anchored here.

No sooner does one leave then another comes in.

The size of these things is OVERWELMING!

St.Thomas is lovely, but what we all really wanted to get to the National Park in St.John.  So off we went.

FRANCIS BAY, ST.JOHN

To get from St.Thomas to the north coast of St.John meant a couple of hours sailing.

So up went the sails and off we went.

Unfortunately it was a ‘bash’ upwind to get there, and a little rough for the first leg.

But they were troopers and suffered through it with smiles.

Thankfully the seas calmed down once we got to St.John.

We anchored up in the well protected NE corner of Francis Bay.

The great thing about this spot is you can snorkel straight from the boat.

So off everyone went to try their first snorkel in the Caribbean.

They also got to try their new underwater camera as well.

Francis Bay also has a great beach.

Great for stretching your legs after a long sail.

And a great place for me to have a play.

Also a great place for seeing the sunset.

Francis Bay is also close enough to the other northern bays that you can use it as a protected anchorage at night while day visiting the other bays.

 

CINNAMON BAY, ST.JOHN

Cinnamon Bay and its surrounding reefs are well worth a visit.

Only a short distance from the calm anchorage of Francis Bay you get some great swimming and snorkelling.

Although the reef around Cinnamon Cay are most popular.

If you get a chance to go there we found the rocks off the NE end of the beach stunning.

They are getting better at underwater photography too.

But if you really want to visit the best snorkelling in the USVIs we were told to go to Leinster Bay.

 

LEINSTER BAY (WATERLEMON BAY), ST.JOHN

So we moved the boat around Mary Point to Waterlemon Cay.

Another well protected bay with a lovely beach and our favourite birds….

But best of all it has great snorkelling!

 

The humans got out their underwater cameras and went crazy snorkelling Waterlemon Cay and south coast of the bay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see they were getting very good at the underwater photography.

They were going to need it as they happened upon some more elusive creatures of the sea.

 

 

 

JOHNNY HORN TRAIL FROM WATERLEMON BAY TO CORAL BAY, ST.JOHN

The humans decided that we all needed to ‘dry out’ and took us instead on a 2 mile hike across the island to Coral Bay.

Like most of the hikes they drag me on, it starts off well and then goes down hill from there.

This time they dragged more than just me along on one of their adventures.

The ruins up on the point were good.

What the humans did not plan for was the fact that the hike was straight up to get to the other side.

Going up does give you great views though.

Coral Bay is a typical Caribbean town.

Nothing a quick dip could not solve.

 

LEINSTER BAY AND ANNABERG SUGAR PLANTATION RUINS

On the south shores of Leinster Bay is the ruins of an old sugar mill.

I thought a little look at some island history was in order.

 

BACK TO FRANCIS BAY WITH A STOP AT TRUNK BAY ALONG THE WAY

We decided to sail back to Francis Bay anchorage, but decided to stop at Trunk Bay for a quick snorkel first.

There is a sign posted snorkelling path, but after Waterlemon Bay, nothing was going to be as good.

The place is not helped by NAZI lifeguards with megaphones shouting at everyone.

 

From here we snorkelled again off Cinnamon Bay and with the turtles in Maho Bay.  We were also able to do a bit more foraging when we came across a field of Queen conch.

 

 

CANEEL BAY (SALOMON BAY) AND CRUZ BAY, ST.JOHN

The gangs were ‘itching’ for a little ‘retail therapy’ so we took them to the largest town on the island, Cruz.

Unfortunately the Cruz Bay is packed with local boats so you need to take a mooring just outside in Caneel Bay.

I am not ‘into’ crowds so we took a mooring off the small but beautiful beach in Salomen Bay.

 

But first I loaded all the humans up in the dingy and sent them off to town.

Anyone visiting St.John for the first time should definitely stop at the National Parks office, right beside the dingy dock, for lots of free maps and information on the mooring, hikes, snorkelling spots and fees.

 

We also hit the post office, to send some postcards, and the grocery store for ‘a few bits’.  Then we hit the Caribbean bars for Happy Hour.

 

 

 

Heads ‘a little heavy’ the next day we hit our little beach.

BACK TO WATER ISLAND AND ST.THOMAS

We anchored up a Druif Bay again to have one more day on the beach at Water Island.  Then it was packing everyone up and getting to Lindbergh Bay and the airport.

It was very hard to say goodbye to everyone!

 

SIX PEOPLE AND A DOG ON A 44′ BOAT

You would think my life, as a dog, would be a little rough on a boat with six humans, but they all worked well together and had a good time.

They all adjusted well to life aboard.

 

 

 

We can only hope they come back and visit us again soon.