This is HUGE, fairly new Marina and we are on the farthest corner. Being closely associated with the Americans the answer is a golf buggy to transport you to and from the shore. The marina staff are very courteous , helpful and friendly and give us well needed advice as to book swaps (in the laundry), supplies– in the deli and boat stuff in the chandlery.
Malcolm did manage to service the water pump on the Westerbeake but has not found the leak in the cooling system. We manage to track down an engineer who spends two days checking, testing and scratching his head but no joy so he doesn’t charge us ! I promised to send an email when we rectified the problem as he couldn’t think where the problem could be.
28th April we sail back to Dewey, Culebra, did I say this is the quietist anchorage in the Caribbean ? Overnight the wind picked up to 25 knots, we were snug and held well in clean sand.
1st May headed back to Charlotte Amelie, St Thomas, where there was only one cruise boat in. It was a dull day so we went by bus to K Mart and did some shopping. I finally found the right sized containers for the oven dishes! Julian will be pleased when I tell him.
3rd May Sailed for Great Lamsure Bay, St John but the weather was pooh! Rain, wind against us, (thunder over St Thomas!) and finally becalmed. So a good job that it was only a short sail (4 hours) with a tasty lunch on arrival.
We had the bay to ourselves the first night.
Very good snorkelling here with Turtles, Barracuda, squid and Tarpon to name only a few species. Malcolm also hiked two of the trails right to the top of a mountain close by. Pictures on Picasa.
5th May motored round to (the next) Saltpond Bay, St John. I should say that all these little Bays are in the National Marine Park so I’m getting quite good at picking up a mooring! More snorkelling here by far the best yet. Plus it’s no wonder the turtles like the area, yes you guessed , it is so calm you can see the baby Jelly fish pulsing along. They don’t seem to sting here which is a bonus!
6th May, Motored & Sailed through intermittent rain and light wind to Francis Bay, probably named by Sir Francis Drake since ’Francis Drake Passage is close by.
7th (Monday) went ashore at the Campground resort– which isn’t tents but chalets with all mod cons) then walked to the old sugar mill. Sad to say it rained quite heavily but at least I had worn shoes instead of flip flops so easy walking!. It was only about 2 miles up and down but not having walked for so long I soon had blisters. A quick 20 minute walk turned into a 4 hour hike. After a coffee and lunch (the largest avocado I have seen) we toured the inlet/Bay and did a snorkel trail. I swear the same fish followed us around it was so tame. No doubt it was expecting food? Malcolm snapped his goggle band so next stop will be a dive shop for new goggles and who knows maybe I’ll get a dive in too!
Straight from the press : yes we did a re-orientation dive yesterday and really enjoyed it (well I did) of course I'm rusty but all I need to do is get plenty more practice and wow what a place to do it!
