February 18-22 United States Virgin Islands

On February 18th we left Village Key Marina and sailed from Tortola, BVI over to St Thomas, USVI. On the way across the water, we saw a Morgan that looked strangely familiar. We pulled up alongside and it was S/V SoulFish. Augie and his wife lived on their boat down the dock from us in Marathon, Florida. They committed to a life change and are now stationed at Sapphire Bay Resort in St Thomas where he is the sous chef and she is the manager for Office Max. They were on their way to the BVIs for a few days and it was fun to spend a few minutes catching up with them.
We had decided to blow off St John and instead try to catch up with Chris and Kelly on S/V Verna Breeze, friends we met in Grenada. They are now situated in Charlotte Amalie and are taking on charter guests. Check them out at: www.mydreamcharter.com. And if you are in need of a way too fabulous for words to adequately describe boat/island vacation with crazy fun people, book your week on their boat TODAY. We were able to contact them and they were spending an evening in Christmas Cove before heading to the BVIs themselves. We headed for Christmas Cove which is on Great St James Island, off the coast of St Thomas proper. This was a wonderful anchorage with plenty of sea life. Two sting rays were engaged in a turf battle right under our boat. We spent the evening on Verna Breeze and had a great time catching up. The next morning we went scuba diving with Chris. Someone had apparently found Chris’ secret lobster hole but Craig was able to score a huge crab. Feeling magnanimous, we only relieved him of a claw (instead of his life) that was the size of my hand (they grow back). Later that morning, said claw became egg, cheese and crab omelette with toasted bagels.
We went over to Charlotte Amalie Harbour that afternoon to check in but it was too late once we got the anchor set to make it into customs. We walked about town a bit and found a Pizza Hut. There are not too many fast food joints in this part of the world and it has been our experience that none of them can duplicate the flavor, quality and especially the truly exceptional nutritional value of those in the USA. However, temptation got the best of us and we decided to give Pizza Hut a go. Oh my. Maybe it is because it had been over a year since I have had one, but let me tell you that supreme pan pizza was a mighty fine feed. Back to the boat with happy tummies, leftovers and my personal favorite, a surprise cook’s night off.
We checked into the USVI the following morning. We did not need provisions and decided to head out to a new spot. We went over to Red Hook but as a front was moving through, it was bad rainy and windy. Boats were bouncing so hard on their anchors that we could see bow thrusters coming out of the water. Not good. We’re outta here. Where to go? We want to hit Christmas Cove again when the weather clears up but today is definitely not the day. Chart and cruising guide book consultations ensued. What do you know? We headed over to St John and tucked up in Great Cruz Bay. It was covered up with private mooring balls but we were able to find a good spot with plenty of room.
We spent a few days there as the weather moved through and decided to try Red Hook again and are there at anchor tonight. The anchorage is much calmer except for the occasional ferry boat that blasts by, leaving us and everyone else rocking in their wake. Jackasses could wait 100 more feet before throttling up, but nooooo. In the afternoon we went into the marina for a few supplies. We saw Chris again who, having dropped off last week’s guests, had traveled all the way across from Christmas Cove in his ultra-sexy new 15 foot dinghy with 75 horsepower engine. A seriously nice ride awaits you when you charter with them!!

S/V SoulFish underway to BVIs. The headland of St Thomas and Christmas Cove:

A seaplane landing in Charlotte Amalie Harbour, St Thomas. Chris, Kelly and bad kitty whose name I can't remember of S/V Verna Breeze:

Shack construction in Great Cruz Bay, St John (not alot here except The Westin St John and shacks). I imagine the owners of the white house are probably kicking themselves for not buying the next lot over...why choke on the cost at this point???

Red Hook, St Thomas entrance and anchorage:

Every one who knows Chris has dinghy-envy...

We are planning to hang around here for another couple of days and then head on to one of our favorite places we have seen on this trip, the Spanish Virgin Islands off the coast of Puerto Rico.