St. Thomas

We are now in the USVI.  We left St. Martin at 3:00 pm with our new friends, Pam and Nick from Tennessee aboard Not Yet.  It was a good downwind sail although our jib could not decide on which side to stay so flopped a bit.  The seas were about five feet but aft of our beam so gently pushed us along as we rode up and down on the swells.  Right before sunset, Dave caught and cleaned a not too big but chubby black fin tuna.  Several cruise ships and freighters and a couple of sailboats and luxury yachts passed by us in the night.  I radioed one freighter captain just to be sure he saw us, which he did.  I thanked him and told him to have a nice night.  He closed by saying, “OK.  Ciao.” 
 


Beautiful Great Lameshur Bay

Around 8:00 in the morning we arrived in Great Lameshur Bay on the south side of St. John, my favorite in the USVI so far.  What’s so great about Great Lameshur Bay and its surroundings?  Nothing.  That’s right, other than a small environmental station and dinghy dock and some hillside ruins, there is no evidence of humans within sight – just lush green hills, rocky shores, small beaches and reefs.  And the only sounds you hear are the waves lapping against the shore and the frogs chirping -- yes, chirping -- at night.  The bay has about a dozen mooring balls with only six occupied at most.  After we settled in, we napped and then had Pam and Nick over for a sundowner and  to share our stories.  The nice thing about this spot is that you can actually watch the sun go down over the Caribbean Sea.  Beautiful. 



Hi Turtle!

Pam and Nick left the next morning to continue to Puerto Rico.  We stayed three more nights in part to wait for weather but mostly because it is so peaceful there.  I read Dreams of My Father by Barack Obama, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  Such an interesting look at someone of Kenyan and American descent who was born and grew up in Hawaii.  Not easy to find an identity.  It made me respect his quest for insight and admire him more.  Anyway Great Lameshur was the perfect place to read such a work. 



Little Lameshur Bay, just over the point from Great Lameshur Bay

 

On Monday morning we telephoned Customs from the boat, but they would not allow us to check in by phone (as they had when we entered Puerto Rico) and insisted that we come in.  We thought about going around in WW to Cruz Bay on the other side of the island, but I really wanted to stay longer in this restful retreat.  I asked the Customs woman if there was a bus from this side of the island to which she said yes.  So off we set, walking about a mile over the dirt road to the paved road.  We happened to meet a young American guy walking from his driveway to work at the nearby eco-resort where he is a chef.  He showed us the bus stop, labeled “The Last Chance” where we could wait for the bus.  He also said we could continue walking and point our finger in the direction we were going as people are friendly and are happy to give a ride.  We chose to walk farther.  The road, however, became really narrow and windy, not conducive for a bus to stop.  We passed a café that was closed, but saw the owner in back who said that the buses weren’t running because it was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  Uh oh.  We decided to continue walking and try out the finger pointing hitching technique.  We ended up getting three different rides to a camping resort where we caught a taxi bus to Cruz Bay.  We cleared customs but, as it was a holiday, had to pay $35 for overtime fees.  Grrr.

The town of Cruz Bay is a compact and funky tourist town but easy to negotiate on foot.  We walked over to the beautiful National Park Center, which I rhapsodized in a previous post, and bought Dave a Golden Age Passport.  Yep, the old man is 62, which means half price on the National Park moorings and other discounts.  One very cute thing we saw at the center was a soft puppet of an iguana made by Folkmanis of Emeryville where my friend Colleen’s brother works. 

Virgin Islands National Park Visitor Center

Feeling hungry, we spotted a Mexican restaurant but nixed the idea of paying $17 for a burrito.  Instead we ate $8 sandwiches at the only reasonably priced restaurant, a deli.  I may be repeating myself, but somewhere I saw a poster that said, “Paradise isn’t cheap.”  True here.  Speaking of which, as it was getting late, we decided to take a taxi truck along with another couple back to the southeast side of the island to the tune of $25 each.  It was about a thirty minute trip over the twisty high backbone of the island so had great views.  I told Dave to think of it as a tour.  I also reminded him that we were saving $7.50 a night on the mooring.  Mr. Thrifty had a hard time swallowing this day’s expenses, but by the next morning, he was over it.

The other couple was dropped off at the eco-resort called Concordia.  It looked pretty nice and had beautiful views.

For the next two days, we hung out on the boat, went swimming, did some maintenance, read, and did a little hiking.  We enjoyed the tuna for several meals.  It was a wonderfully relaxing respite.

Hello Bird!

On our last morning, a friendly neighbor visited our boat for a very long time.  He or she didn’t seem to mind when we walked around the cockpit.  We considered it a good omen.


Beautiful Bird