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Log 43Q To the US Virgin
Islands
Great Harbour, Jost Van Dyke, British Virgin Islands
June 2, 2007
May 7 we slipped our mooring from Culebrita and headed the 19 miles over to St.
Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Unfortunately we motored all the way, into an
easterly wind. There are many bays and listed anchorages around St. Thomas, and
we eyeballed some of them as we made our way across the Southwest Roadstead,
past Brewers Bay and Lindbergh Bay flanking the airport runway, up West Gregerie
Channel past Water Island and Hassel Island, to anchor just southwest of Kings
Wharf off downtown Charlotte Amalie(18 20.37N, 064 55.69W). It is a wide open
anchorage, choppy and periodically subject to rolling from passing ferries.
Actually, we found no anchorages we visited that were not subject to swells
created by ferries running at speed around the east, south and west of the
island. We were not happy with any of the anchorages over the next week or so as
we awaited the arrival of Michael and Sarah. (We did not go on the north coast
where there is a deep bay called Magens Bay.)
We tried to check in with Customs and Immigration, only to be told such was not
necessary when coming from Culebra, a U.S. territory. The two days we spent at
Charlotte Amalie allowed us to resupply at the Pueblo Grocery store, rent a few
videos, buy some electronics from a local Radio Shack, and get some new bedding
from a large K-Mart. We had a couple of small world department meetings. One was
with Dream Time, a boat we met in Grenada last fall, and another was when at a
mall we bumped into Bob from Good Time Charlie, the boat we went into the Manamo
River of the Orinoco Delta last summer. There were always at least two large
cruise ships in harbour each day, leaving in the evening and others arriving
each morning. Yacht Haven Grande beside the cruise ship docks is a
megadevelopment (with only two small {44 foot} sailboats) for megayachts, and
has a large adjacent shopping plaza being developed, including many restaurants,
boutiques, yacht and real estate dealerships, dive centres and other underwater
excursions, banks and bank machines, and a new Island Water World chandlery that
has just opened. One specialty yacht charter setup was for people who wanted the
experience of crewing on an America's Cup 12 metre yacht, as the outfit had
three or four former America's Cup yachts available. All this was linked to an
adjoining mall and tourist area known as Havensight.
There is a dinghy dock conveniently located more centrally, around the Coast
Guard pier at Vendors' Plaza, a tourist flea market under brightly coloured
umbrellas for sarongs, T-shirts, handbags, beads, earrings, necklaces,
sunglasses, handcrafts, and other souvenirs. Behind the open plaza is a large
taxi and bus depot, in front of Emancipation Garden, a pleasant park with a
community gazebo, dedicated to the freeing of the slaves in this Danish
controlled island in 1848. The renovated warehouses have maintained their Danish
design, now housing dozens of jewelery stores, diamond, gold, silver, and
precious stone merchants, and other high end shops and boutiques, including such
names a Rolex and Tiffanys. Unfortunately the few museums and the fort were
closed, as was the main market, now replaced by a couple of fishmongers selling
from the back of their trucks.
When we left Charlotte Amalie, we thought it would be an easy 12 mile sail or
motor around to the west end, - Ha! We found ourselves pounding into 25 knot
winds and five foot seas, causing us to consider returning to Charlotte Amalie
or tucking in behind Water or Hassel Island. We plowed on. I cursed a dive boat
which cut astern of us at full speed, not only causing an uncomfortable wake,
but also overrunning my fishing line, cutting off my favourite lure, a blue
cedar plug which I had just replaced a couple of days ago at Island Water World.
Aaaarrgghhh!
We went around the east end of St. Thomas to Red Hook Bay where we anchored just
outside in Muller Bay, hopefully away from the ferry wash. Ha! This bay off Red
Hook still rolled with every ferry that entered and left. However, American
Yacht Harbour Marina has good facilities as does the community around the marina
and ferry docks. There are frequent open buses and taxis that go about the
island. The marina and surrounding plazas have all the facilities necessary, and
conveniently located within easy walking distances, including a chandlery, an
Ace Hardware, a Burrito and a Barbecue take out, a video rental, a post office
and secretarial service, a free WiFi hotspot, a laundromat, a family medical
practice, several banks with ATM's, yacht brokers, real estate offices, a
pharmacy, several fishing charters, a well equipped dive shop, a couple of book
exchanges, boutiques, plus several bars and restaurants overlooking the harbour.
There is a dedicated dinghy dock for transients, near a garbage dumpster, handy
for boat's garbage. Anchoring in Red Hook Bay is not possible due to the mass of
marina and private moorings. Interestingly, the shoreline of both Red Hook and
Muller Bay were lined with a dozen wrecked and stranded boats, all of course
stripped of their deck fittings, engines, etc. The moorings seemed to be OK as
they were in the inner harbour, not affected by the ferry wash from outside. All
in all, we liked the place better than Charlotte Amalie or any other area of St.
Thomas.
We spent a night in the marina as we had some work done on our roller furling
system. It was nice to have fresh water showers. We were waiting in the area of
the U.S. Virgin Islands for Michael and Sarah to join us, as they would be
arriving later at the airport on the west end of the island. Rather than stay on
St. Thomas for the few days, we went over to St. John, the other U.S. Virgin
Island only four miles away, to enjoy the large national park area of that
island.
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