We spent several days exploring St. John USVI and found it to be a wonderful cruising area with several beautiful beaches and plenty of great snorkeling. Much of the island is National Park which has served to protect the land and sea from too much development. We visited several spots and did a great deal of snorkeling as well as a few great hikes. The vibe here is very different than St. Thomas where things are much busier and built up.
Raising the BVI courtesy flag.
On December 30th we entered Great Harbor, Jost Van Dyke to clear into the British Virgin Islands. We had to work hard to find an acceptable spot to drop anchor since it was so crowded, Jeff was so hyper focused on maneuvering the boat that he missed seeing all the topless women on the boats. Apparently Foxy’s Bar in Great Harbor and is the spot to ring in the new year – touted to be on par with Times and Trafalgar Squares. We were looking for something a bit quieter so moved over to Diamond Cay once cleared. We thought it would be far enough from the fray, however, just before sunset the harbor was besieged by 40 to 50 charter boats racing in, throwing off anchors and getting the music started. Those of us already situated just stood in awe as anchors were dropped atop ours, we hoped not to get hit and wishing there was enough daylight to get to another anchorage. The music blared all through the night even though those playing it had long since passed out. Sleep for us would have been difficult in any case since the potential for boats dragging anchor was great, Jeff kept an eye out for trouble. Turns out this is an annual New Year’s rally. The next morning we asked for their itinerary to be sure not to cross paths with them again!
It is a different group of people touring this area, there are those who charter bare boats, those who are land based on a particular island, and those who are cruising like us. As is always a highlight in our journeys, we have met so many great people who are just out exploring; Matt & Sierra were staying at an Eco Lodge on the island and came aboard to visit one afternoon while we were in Leinster Bay; we anchored next to TC, Emma and Joe from Pensylvania at Little Harbor on Peter Island. They were on the last night of their charter not looking forward to heading back to the snow. They helped us get situated with a shore line and shared their extra provisions.
Happy New Year!
New Years Eve we met Judy from Ontario, she was spending a few days in Cane Garden Bay on Tortola before picking up her charter with a group of friends and was kind enough to share her table with us for a fun New Year’s Eve celebration. We also reconnected with Clair and Andy from Eye Candy who we originally met while awaiting “Sandy” in Portsmouth Virginia. We then met Mel and Mitch on Private Dancer, turns out that we had several mutual cruising friends. We have also connected with some of the boats we met while in Puerto Rico over the summer, Capt’n Tom offers days trips aboard the historic HB Welch and Amy and Leo who offer a charter service aboard their beautiful catamaran Hypnautic. The islands are also peppered with mega yachts and we may have had a sighting or two of “Lovey and Thurston Howell”. Wish we were better with taking pictures of the people we met but did get one of Judy.
Charlotte Amalie Harbor
These islands are also a popular cruise ship destination and an island’s population can increase by the thousands if there are a few cruise ships in the harbor. We found that while Magens Bay on St. Thomas is in fact a beautiful beach you can’t see the beach if there are 6 cruise ships in Charlotte Amalie – it’s completely covered with people!
Magens Bay St. Thomas
All in all these islands are heavily traveled but the crowds can be avoided if you work at it and it is well the effort!
Your old neighbors from Jefferson Beach, Pat and Tricia, are moored in the Bight tonight and Soper’s hole tomorrow. Olsonpatrick@comcast .net. If you’d like to share a drink somewhere!!!
Kathy and I spent a week on St. Thomas several years ago. It turned into a scuba diving vacation and was wonderful. Did spend a day on St. Johns, a beautiful island. The way you and Jeff are doing it sounds even better.