SINT MARTIN TO ST JOHN, USVI

SINT MARTIN TO ST JOHN, USVI

MAY 2-3, 2017

St John May 3-13, 2017

We departed Simpson Bay, Sint Maartin at 1545 hrs for Caneel Bay, St John:  103 nm.  The wind was out of the E at 15 kts so it was broad reach.  Initially, we started with a poled out jib and mainsail but, as the wind veered to the ESE, we dropped the mainsail and poled out another jib so we were running downwind with two poled out jibs. This balances out the helm very nicely.  It was a pleasant voyage, a  little more wind would have made it perfect.  On May 3^rd we picked up a National Park Mooring in Caneel Bay, St John:  18-20.572’ N; 064-47.428’ W.  Fatty Goodlander from S/V Ganesh had recommended this anchorage as an ideal place to check into the US Customs and Border Patrol.  We were back in USA territory after 43,000 miles sailing in just under 6 years!

Caneel Bay is about 1 nm to the East of Cruz Bay which is the main city on St John and the check in point for US Customs and Border Protection(CBP).  There is very little room to anchor in St John so, most yachts, pick up a National Park Mooring in Caneel Bay and dinghy over to Cruz for the check in process.  It’s all quick and easy with no boarding by any of the officials.  A good portion (60%) of St John is National Park land.  In 1956,  Laurence Rockefeller donated his extensive land holdings to the National Park Service under the condition that the lands had to be protected from future development.  St John does not have an airport but is serviced by several ferries coming from St Thomas.  It is a beautiful island with many lovely anchorages.  The National Park Service has established mooring buoys in all of the available anchorages.  These moorings are free during the day but a $24 fee is charged, on an honor system, for overnight stays.  A National Park Service Senior’s Pass reduces this to $12.

Our daughter, Samantha, arrived at St Thomas on May 4^th.  We met her at the airport and took a ferry back to Cruz Bay, St John.  From there, a 15 minute dinghy ride put us back on our yacht.  On May 12^th at 1112 hrs, we departed our mooring for Grand Harbor on Jost Van Dyke Is, BVI.  We arrived at 1300 hrs and dropped anchor in 46’ water depth on sand with 190’ anchor chain out. This island is famous for Foxxy’s Restaurant and Bar.  It has some beautiful beaches and scenery.  Tourists arrive by boat and plane.  There is a lively scene in the evenings with rum flowing in every direction.

Four days is not a lot of time so the following day, May 6^th, we sailed over to Cane Garden Bay (18-25.608’ N; 064-39.851’ W) on the island of Tortola and picked up a mooring.  Supposedly, Cane Garden Bay has one of the most beautiful setting to be found in the BVI’s: the sunset was beautiful.

At 0912 hrs on May 7^th, we departed Cane Garden Bay for Salt Pond on St John: 18-18.485’ N; 064-42.406’ W.  This is a stunningly beautiful place with an large shallow inland pond that produces salt through evaporation.  It has a brownish red appearance with clumps of sea salt forming near the banks.  The beach is snowy white and the reef snorkeling is good.  Samantha had a brief snorkeling  around the reefs.  WE departed our mooring for Caneel Bay at 1536 hrs and picked up a mooring in Caneel Bay at 1736 hour.  We went over to the Caneel Bay Resort for a great meal.

On May 8^th, we accompanied Samantha to the ST Thomas airport via ferry to Charlotte Amalie. We left her at the airport and took the ferry back to St John.

On May 10, we motored over to Francis Bay and picked up a National Park mooring: 18-21.686’ N; 064-44.795’ W.  We had some good sailing friends from the yachts “Adina” and “Antares 2” there.  We organized a picnic on a beach in this beautiful bay.  We ended up labeling this “bug beach”; it was infested with sand flies.  We stayed here until May 12^th and then motored back over to Caneel Bay.  All provisioning was done in Cruz Bay, at Dolphins Supermarket, for the trip to Ft Lauderdale, USA: 1055 nm.