The first anchorage we visited in St. John was in Salomon Bay, between Cruz Bay and Caneel Bay. We picked up a National Park Service mooring when we first arrived flying our yellow flag. Friends had provided Charlie with the phone numbers of the Cruz Bay Customs and Immigration, and Charlie phoned them, requested Local Boater Option ("LBO") and provided them with the BR numbers that we had registered for a year ago in Florida before we left for the Bahamas. We were amazed to find out that once you are in Customs and Border Patrol's ("CBP") database, the BR numbers seem to work at places other than south Florida. Not having to attend CBP's office gave us time to go swimming, and the snorkeling along the shore near Honeymoon Bay was quite good - lots of schools of fish. We launched the dinghy and headed into the town of Cruz Bay. We visited the National Parks Service headquarters for the Virgin Island National Park, where we picked up information, registered Charlie for a "Golden Ager" pass, paid the half-price for Golden Ager's fee for the mooring (only $7.50 per night - in the BVI's we had to pay $25 a night for a mooring) got some exercise walking up and down hills, and enjoyed a drink ashore before heading back to Lady for dinner.
After a couple of days in St. Thomas (expensive, traffic, loud), we returned to St. John. There were swells from the north that might have made for rolly anchorages in Hawksnest, Trunk and Cinnamon Bays, so we passed them by, and found a park service mooring in Maho Bay - a truly gorgeous place. The Bay is accessible by road, as well, so being Saturday there were quite a few people on the beach. We dingied ashore, looking for a mooring pay point, but did not find one. So, we enjoyed snorkeling around Maho Point, where we saw brilliant Queen Angelfish with bright blue lips, a juvenile French Angelfishwith curved yellow stripes on a black body, and best of all, two octopi having a tussle! We discovered the mooring pay-point on an old Park Service boat, and saw a pink Caribbean 1500 flag on a yacht in Francis Bay. Summer Love, with Donna and Steve Constantine aboard we equally as pleased to see us as we were to see them. We made plans to get together for dinner the next day.
Sunday, (December 13th) we first went ashore and check out Maho Bay Camp, an eco-resort where the campers are paying about $150 a night to sleep in single beds in semi-permanent tents. We talked to one gentleman who informed us that this was his seventh visit over 15 years, that the resort's lease expired next year and that it is for sale for $22 million. We had to climb about 200 steps to get up to the dining room, where we found out that they welcome cruisers to join them for dinner, they do not need reservations for dinner, dinners are about $20, and they give you a 20% discount if you are over 60! Sounded great, except that the line opened at 5:30. Took the dinghy and snorkeled over by the gap between Mary Point and Whistling Cay, where we saw a Hawksbill Turtlefeeding on the grass. There is an old customs house on Whistling Cay - can you imagine being posted there? Lonely but lovely. That evening we joined Donna and Steve and dinghied ashore for a meal. It was about 6:30 by the time we got there, but they did still have some spicy chicken breast left, with steamed vegetables and a good salad bar.
The next day we moved on to the next bay, Leinster Bay, and took a mooring behind Watermelon Cay.
We had seen the ruins of the Annaberg Mill as we entered the bay, so after we were situated we went ashore and took the trail around the bay and up to the mill. There were magnificent views. The volunteer docent told us a great deal of the history of the mill, a sugar-factory that became un-economic after slavery was outlawed. The steep hills would have made growing any crop difficult. The construction was interesting in that all sorts of bricks stones and even coral were used to build the
mill, boiling house and rum still. There were also a few remains of the slaves' quarters. After the mill was no longer functioning, and the estate had passed to different hands, a frame house was built on the old horse mill, that blew away one night while the family took refuge in the old
wind-mill. Our docent pointed out other ruins that we could see, and told us of some of the other trails around the bay.
Back aboard, we snorkeled around Waterlemon Cay, and saw lots of quite good coral.
Next morning, we decided to get some exercise before we shoved off, so we took the Johnny Horn Trail that the Annaberg docent had told us about.
About half-way up the hill, we came to the first set of ruins. Don't know what this used to be, but it was sheltered from the wind, so might have been quite warm.
The trail was not as well used as the one to Annaberg Mill, probably because we were a lot further from a road. Once we got up to the top, again the view was magnificent.
These ruins were the "great house", the residence for the owners of the Annaberg Mill. There were no rangers here, and it was not nearly as kempt as the sugar mill's ruins. Even though it may have been unoccupied since the early twentieth century, bougainvillea was blooming, so there must have been a lovely garden here at one time.
We had heard some animal noises as we trekked back down to the beach, and guessed that they were goats. We were wrong. This sweet little donkey came walking down the beach as we launched the dinghy.
During our swim before we left found another turtle, lots of the puffy Caribbean sea stars - I counted over sixty of them in the sandy area between the moorings and the beach - an octopus, a barracuda, and a small ray.
We departed Waterlemon about 1100, and sailed around the eastern end of St John, into Coral Harbor. The harbor seems to be residence for many cruisers that have got stuck there. We saw at least three boats without masts, others that needed to have their bottom cleaned years ago.
We explored ashore and wound up at Skinny Legsfor a burger dinner. Other cruisers had recommended a stop at that particular bar and grill.
The following day we picked up the anchor about 1000, and decided to motor around Hurricane Hole. The Park Service does not allow overnight mooring, but they do have a few moorings available for day use. We picked on up and went for a swim. We had not swam around a mangrove shore before, and were surprised that the mangrove roots hanging in the water are growing corals on them. The cove was deserted, so we had a naked lunch before spending the afternoon sailing around the south shore of Saint John and completing a circumnavigation of the island by picking up a mooring in Maho Bay once more. We saw a nurse shark as we swam that afternoon.
We spent the next few days in Francis Bay, moving from Maho because of some swells. Summer Love had returned there after dropping their primary dinghy motor at St. Thomas for repairs, and Beckoningcame back from the USA and the USVIs and we had a jolly dinner party one night with Donna and Steve and Yvonne and Jim. One day was cloudy and rainy and we didn't swim once.
Saturday we moved back to the BVIs, checking in at the customs office at Great Harbor on Jost Van Dyke. Beckoning was already there, and we went to their boat for a wonderful italian dinner that night.
Sunday we came back to Nanny Cay. Repair to the wind-speed was done Monday, and today it looks like the new backing plate will not be done my noon, so we will be here another night. Laundry, provisioning and other kind of boring stuff are why there are no pictures!
If I don't get another post done before Christmas, Charlie and I want to wish all our friends the best of holidays. Don't know what we will be doing particularly yet, but I bet in will involve food, friends, a beach, sunshine and turquoise water.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
