03/09/11 We have beautiful weather forecasted for a nice sail to St. Thomas so we are finally leaving the lovely Spanish Virgin Islands which have been so wonderful. We got an early start and guess what? The weather forecast was correct! Wind speed, wind direction, swell, all as predicted. We sailed the entire 20 miles and anchored off Honeymoon Beach for the first night. Wow…lots of boats here around Charlotte Amalie. I guess we are in the Virgin Islands during the height of cruising season so we had better brace ourselves for the scrambling to get to a good anchorage before the other boats!
The next day we moved to Lindberg Bay which was just a mile or so away to get out of the channel, swell and general mayhem surrounding the Honeymoon Bay area. This was a fantastic decision as there is a beautiful beach and a resort with only a handful of boats here. We relaxed, did a few boat projects, laundry, grocery shopping and of course we picked up the duty-free Cruzan rum which is a delicious bargain (be sure to pick up the Blackstrap when the opportunity presents itself). A tour of the island is very easy, simply stick out your index finger and flag down a bus. The word bus is somewhat generous, as the ride is a heavy duty pickup with the bed replaced by an open air flatbed with several benches bolted on. For a few bucks one can ride around the entire island jumping on and off whenever you wish.
Downtown Charlotte Amalie is mainly geared to the cruise ship crowd with many jewelry stores, sunglass shops and of course Cuban cigars! The shops are all in restored buildings which makes the meandering a visual delight. After browsing (only t
he architecture!) we took the 99 steps up from the plaza to the Hotel 1829 for a mid-afternoon pick-me-up….that is to say a ‘rum drink’! Yes, Ed counted every step! The bartender mixes his specialty drink called Black Beard’s Revenge but it is mainly 5 different rums with little if any mix! 
We sipped our drinks on the 19th century terrace with a spectacular view of the harbor and a view of the bar that is made from ships’ ballast and a floor crafted from 200 year-old Moroccan tiles. 
From here we made our way further up the hillside to Blackbeard’s Castle…that was closed! The view was fantastic and we saw the most beautiful green Iguana that we have seen so far. 03/14/11 The weather was perfect for a sail down to St. Croix. Again we sailed almost the entire way! Granted it was a SE sail instead of heading directly into the east trade winds but we started getting excited at the prospect of making headway without our engine as we start nearing the Leeward Islands! As days in the Caribbean go this is definitely in our top ten.
Croix has two larger cities, Christiansted and Frederiksted. Anchoring at either can be ‘swelly’ at this time of the year so we decided to anchor in Christiansted. For you Scandinavians out there, ya, the island has Danish roots (as well as St. Thomas).
You can take the local bus for a reasonable fare to Frederiksted but we decided it was too bumpy to leave Chula on the boat alone so we opted to rent a car and tour the island in grand style! That morning we stopped by the waterfront for a hearty breakfast…and they had RYE bread! It isn’t easy finding anything other than wheat or white bread so it was a big treat!
As we began our tour of the north coast we stopped by a small marina and dive shop. We have a dive belt but need the weights so we keep checking to see if we can pick some up. They are hard to come by because the shipping costs are prohibitive to getting them to the islands. No luck here but Chula got to romp and play with Raul, a 3 month old puppy.
As we began our tour of the north coast we stopped by a small marina and dive shop. We have a dive belt but need the weights so we keep checking to see if we can pick some up. They are hard to come by because the shipping costs are prohibitive to getting them to the islands. No luck here but Chula got to romp and play with Raul, a 3 month old puppy.
We really wanted to see the lighthouse on the NW corner of the island. We had it in sight and with a sketchy map we continued following the coast. It was a good thing that we had a 4 wheel SUV because the paved road on the map wasn’t paved. Next it started to fork into other roads. We kept bearing right to stay along the coast figuring we couldn’t go wrong. Well, we saw a lot of beautiful countryside but we came out on a road on the west coast instead! OK…it looks like you can get to the lighthouse from this road by 
going north. We finally asked a local how to get to the lighthouse and we were told there is no longer a road up to it! No lighthouse this trip but we saw a lot of sugar plantation ruins along the way which were spectacular! Frederiksted was our next stop. This is where the cruise ships come in and it has some nicely restored buildings along the waterfront with a fairly new promenade so we enjoyed a stroll through town. On our way out of town we cruised by the
Cruzan Rum Distillery, thinking score. However, the freebies we had heard of were not to be had and the price of a bottle fresh from the still was as much or more than in the duty free, so back to town for us.
We meandered through the countryside back to Christiansted where we took in sights at the end of the day. Really, St. Croix probably has the most restored historical buildings of any of the islands that we have visited. Many of the shops are in restored buildings which is fantastic. We are so use to seeing the ‘cruise ship’ new buildings along the waterfront that try to look like they fit in the islands but usually they just don’t! Happy hour at the waterfront was a nice way to end the day.
Cruzan Rum Distillery, thinking score. However, the freebies we had heard of were not to be had and the price of a bottle fresh from the still was as much or more than in the duty free, so back to town for us.
We meandered through the countryside back to Christiansted where we took in sights at the end of the day. Really, St. Croix probably has the most restored historical buildings of any of the islands that we have visited. Many of the shops are in restored buildings which is fantastic. We are so use to seeing the ‘cruise ship’ new buildings along the waterfront that try to look like they fit in the islands but usually they just don’t! Happy hour at the waterfront was a nice way to end the day.We were tired after two very rolly nights so we weighed anchor the following morning to set off to St. John. Our friend, Jim Ricksecker (Stan’s brother) and his family will be there on vacation the week of 3/18 and we want to meet up with them. It has been years since I have seen them and we want to take them for a sail!
03/16/11 We arrived at St. John’s (USVI) and took a mooring ball just north of Cruz Bay. The really neat thing about all of this traveling is that we haven’t had to check in since Puerto Rico since it is all part of the USA. A short dinghy ride brought us to Cruz Bay which is the main ferry entrance from St. Thomas. Most visitors fly to St. Thomas and ferry over to Cruz Bay so there are a lot of shops for the tourist crowd. Tomorrow the Rickseckers will be arriving in the late afternoon so for tonight we will rest up from the last two bumpy nights in St. Croix.
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