Monday April 4 -- Flying
from NYC to Paradise
Four a.m. alarm for an uneventful 7:30 a.m. flight out of Newark
on a less than half filled plane to St. Thomas. Complimentary shot of coconut
and pineapple flavored rums in the airport gets one in the mood. Our hosts,
Bennett and Harriet had rented a car to drop off Angelo, their guest of the
prior week, who had sailed on ILENE
on a Wednesday last summer, and to pick us up. A three minute drive to the CYOA
Marina (It stands for Caribbean Yacht Owners Assn, not Cover Your
Own Derrière, a chartering outfit) and short dink ride to On Eagles' Wings' mooring.
The dink is brand new -- an AB about the same size as ours, but heavier because it is fiberglass rather than aluminum, and with a 15 hp outboard that
starts with remarkable ease and runs quietly with lots of power
On Eagles Wings is somewhat changed. The owner who assigned
himself the job of scraping and varnishing the bright work, and she
has lots of exterior teak to be varnished, was ill and could not do the
job so the bright work was not as bright and gleaming as usual this year. There is a new propane powered four burner galley stove, and a
bottle of propane sits on deck, at the starboard side of the transom boarding
ladder. On the port side, the tank is balanced by a Honda 2000 portable generator,
but that noisemaker is temporary until the engine driven alternator can be
repaired. Meanwhile a crowded entry.
I came up with a suggested improvement for the stern mounting
ladder during the week. The weak link in this ladder is the two stainless tubes
that are attached midway down the lower half and have rubber tips to avoid
damaging the boat, though some damage is being done. When in use, they extend
forward to keep the ladder vertical and off the boat's stern, which slopes
inward. This provides a foothold for climbing the ladder. The problem is
that various hits by the dink's forward inflated tube cause those two tubes to
splay out to the sides, defeating their purpose. My suggestion is to add another
stainless tube, connecting the two existing ones, to prevent the splaying.
Also, once the point of contact of the rubber tips is made permanent in this manner,
small teak pads could be secured on the transom at the points of contact to prevent damage to the transom. In the following days I created a
temporary "proof of concept” with a piece of line. I think this
would be a very inexpensive improvement. Looking down with the ladder down, top rung of the ladder appearing at the bottom of the photo and boat's transom at top.
After unpacking and changing into shorts, tees, sandals and sunblock,
we walked to lunch at a friendly local sandwich spot and then took a half hour
drive to the swanky Ritz Carlton near Redhook at the eastern end of St Thomas for
a drink at their outdoor restaurant. Half an hour because on the steep curvy
mountainous roads cars never exceed 30 mph. We then provisioned with $300 of
food and beverages which should last us for our breakfasts, lunches and snacks
for the week, picked up the fresh laundry and returned to the marina. I
dinked Lene, Harriet and all the stuff from the dock to the boat while
Bennett returned the rental car.
Some wine and we returned to shore for the five minute walk to
a fine dining restaurant with a great view of the water, Oceana. Expensive but
worth it.
Tuesday April 5 --
Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas to Christiansted, St. Croix
After a good night's sleep, and coffee and banana bread, we got
underway at 8:15 a.m. through the relatively narrower and unmarked western passage
past Hassel Island out of Charlotte Amalie and headed almost due south, close
hauled on port tack for St. Croix, 37 miles away. Here are Lene, Bennett and Harriett,
We were headed for Fredericksted, on St. Croix' west side, with
plans to go to the bigger town, Christiansted, after a day or two. Our direct
course was 185 degrees magnetic, but the wind was SE, too close to our bow,
allowing us only 190 or 195. We planned to tack over to the starboard tack when
we got down to the correct latitude.
The 37 miles is the longest distance between islands in all of
the Virgins and I had expected the phenomena of being out of sight of land for
at least a portion of the passage. But these volcanic islands are so tall, with St
Croix's highest point over a thousand feet, that the island loomed into our
view only about three or four miles out
of Charlotte Amalie.
I had planned a triangular course for our week: south to
Fredericksted, a shorter leg east to Christainsted and then back north to Roadtown, Tortola.
Yesterday we learned that our final destination would be back at Charlotte
Amalie, so we will avoid the British Virgins entirely this year and skip the
consequent visit to Customs there and the ferry ride. Today we changed our
initial destination in mid passage after I read a cruising guide about St.
Croix's to my boat mates, I knew that Fredericksted was a site of historic
interest where we would anchor in the sea, protected by the lee created by the
island itself, rather than in a port. I looked to see specifically where
the suggested anchorage was. The cruising guide mentioned that it can get
"rolly" and said that few cruisers go there and that Fredericksted was used primarily by cruise ships, which do not fit into Christiansted. Their
passengers debouch there and take buses from there to Christiansted.
"Let's skip Fredericksted by boat and visit it by bus, from Christiansted!"
And so we altered course to port, toward Christiansted, the wind cooperating
by shifting more east than southeast, so we could steer 150 magnetic. The wind
also strengthened a bit such that we enjoyed an hour without the engine, making over
five knots.
The curving channel into Christiansted is well marked by buoys
and we anchored near the marine dock, which has a dinghy dock, in about ten feet of water
with fifty feet of chain at about 4 pm, after less than eight hours underway. ILENE's windlass has the nasty habit of
jamming when the chain piles up in the anchor locker. On Eagles' Wings'
windlass is of an older, sturdier, slower design and has a different nasty
habit: the links of chain can get jammed in its jaws. It's nothing that a stout
screwdriver can't remedy. Bennett runs his snubber line over the same roller
that the chain lays over, an innovation (to me) that I will try. View to the city which is a longer dinghy ride to a very easy dinghy dock
It had been a long hot day and a swim in the crystal clear water,
a discussion with the captain of "Carpe Ventum" (Seize the Wind), a
2011 Élan, a
wash with salt water soap, and a G and T set us up for dinner. Unlike our dinner
our first night, which was expensive but worth it, tonight's was expensive but
the food was only good, not exquisite and the server was near surly -- The
Waves at Cane Bay. And we learned that it was a long cab ride away, $48 each
way! Nice sunset though.
Wednesday April 6 -- Lay Day in Christiansted
One of the big deals here is snorkeling on a small island about
six miles NE of here which is a U.S. National Parks Service "land and
water preserve" -- Buck Island. But Carpe Ventum told us we needed a permit
which the park service issues, at the fort, for free. So we went there early and
applied for it. Very nice people, but awfully cumbersome rules. They took
photocopies of Bennett's ship's papers and driver’s license and he filled out their forms,
but they said there is a four day waiting period, which would keep most
charterers out; but "The
Ranger" would be in at ten and might be able to approve us sooner. They
said they would call us when he came in but we checked back two times and he
had not come in. There is a less desirable and more costly alternative, thanks to private
enterprise. Yes, for only $105 per person, they will take you there for the
day, but not overnight, with a huge burger and fish fry lunch included. So if our permit did not
come through in time for us to go on Saturday, we could take their boat.
There are two places to keep one's boat at Buck Island. One is
inside the lagoon, which you enter from the island’s south
side through a cut that is too shallow for most keelboats, and then traverse a body of rather shallow water to free moorings provided
by the government at the SE corner. No anchoring because that would destroy the
corals. The other alternative is an anchorage area off the SW corner of the
island.
We spent the day in town, including a light lunch at Rumrunners. I did not have my camera today. The girls went shopping, and managed to enrich the local economy. Bennett and I
toured the fort, which was built by the Danes in the 1600's, has cannon posted
on its outer walls which would make it a rough ride for would-be invaders who
would, like us, have to come in under its guns through the channel. It is made
of yellow Danish brick as are the other public buildings, and somehow looks a
bit Danish, like Copenhagen. It has all the things that other forts have,
latrines, dungeons, armory, magazine -- but also a room dedicated to Alexander
Hamilton's mom, Rachel, who was imprisoned therein for a spell at her husband's
request, for having the temerity to leave him.
It was on this island that Alexander grew up and where his
extraordinary intelligence and ability caught the eye of his employer who gave
him a scholarship to what is now Columbia University in NY. He never came
back. Maps show the locations of his mother's places as well as his employer's.
He first came to fame for a letter to the editor he wrote, at age 17, pleading
in eloquent terms for the generosity of the world to come to St. Croix's aid at
her hour of dire need following a hurricane. Interestingly, in last week's New
York Times, Lin Manuel-Miranda, composer and star of Hamilton, the biggest musical hit on
Broadway, had an op-ed piece. He is an immigrant from nearby Puerto Rico, and referred to
Hamilton's letter in pleading for leniency toward his island which
has no money to pay its debt but is barred by current U.S. law from declaring
bankruptcy.
I seem to have been following Hamilton around. We visited his
birthplace in Nevis, Columbia University, Morristown NJ, Yorktown VA, Washington DC, Hoboken NJ, and Hamilton Heights, in Harlem in
Manhattan where he made his home.
We also learned that the Danes had purchased each of the USVIs from
other European nations in the 1600s or 1700s and sold them to the U.S. in 1917.
I think this may have been due to WWI; that the Danes feared the islands being
captured by the Germans. The turnover ceremony to the US took place at the fort and
Christianstadt was the capital is the USVIs until the 1960's when the seat of
government shifted to Charlotte Amalie.
In the afternoon we split up: Bennett went on a dive boat, shopping continued and I
toured the other government buildings in the downtown area, all elegant and of
yellow brick: the customs house, the nearby weighing station, the governor's
mansion, with an elegant ballroom, the commercial building, in the courtyard of
which cars are now parked, but slaves were sold under the keen accounting
supervision of young Mr. Hamilton.
I swam to a nearby 70 foot ketch
with its main mast missing. Lene had said it might be a derelict boat, but far
from it. Built in Scandinavia in 1898, she lost her mast two weeks ago when a
turnbuckle gave way. Her owner, Judd, who lives aboard with his girlfriend and
their two cats, had taken second place in a regatta in Trinidad a few weeks
before that. His job is manager of the local Marina so when his shipment of
lumber arrives he will fabricate and install a new mast.
Dinner at Strand 40, a rather excellent
and innovative but less pretentious and pricey place. Example; grilled Caesar
salad.
Thursday. April 7 -- Another lay day in Christiansted
Last night's sleep was not as good as the two prior ones. The
boat rolled a bit, but it was my fear, proved unfounded after a search in the
morning, that I had left my cell phone somewhere on Tuesday, that kept me
turning.
Our Buck Island anchoring permit was still not approved, despite
several more calls during the day, until by email at 4:50 this afternoon. So we
rented a jeep and made a clockwise tour of St. Croix, the largest Virgin.
We stayed close to its coast much of the way, with lovely vistas. We stopped at the lookout above Udall Point, with its monument, the easternmost point in the U.S., considerably east of Eastport Maine, the easternmost point in the continental U.S. (where we sailed with Bennett on ILENE in 2013). St Croix is well east of Maine.
At the far westerly end of this island lies Fredericksted, a smaller town than Christiansted,
where we stopped for lunch at Sunset Beach, just north of town. Then back to town for coffee, because the beach place doesn't serve it. I mailed my granddaughter's postcard and took a look at where we would have landed by dink if we had sailed to Fredericksted. Pretty slim pickings, between the beach, where the risk of getting wet is high, and a low section of the cruse ship pier but with a big step up from dink to that dock. There was no cruise ship in town; only about two call per week, as compared to as many as three per day in Charlotte Amalie. We had planned to visit the tropical rain forest next but the man
who sold us coffee put us off of it as underwhelming and suggested The
Washington Estate, a former sugar plantation, up a dirt road. Very peaceful,
serene and spiritual, with a maze made of small rocks placed on the ground.
Actually St. Croix is so much more laid back than St. Thomas. It is quite serene
and lovely. More Americans may visit in the future. It is a treasure.
If they put in moorings, Christiansted can accomodate a lot more cruisers.
Then Bennett and I swam on an unmarked bay on the west coast -- room for three cars to park, before heading back toward Christainsted. We
chose a very narrow hilly curvy road through a heavily wooded area, with the sky
blotted out by the branches overhead and thin tropical roots hanging down that
brushed against the jeep. A unique mysterious and enjoyable drive, though quite
slow, through the western third of the island.
Gas for the jeep, groceries, the return of the Jeep, G and Ts aboard
and we returned to town for dinner at Galgamel, rated number one in this town
by Trip Advisor, a Thai place. Beautifully appointed but not spicy enough and
our servers were aloof. Not excessively expensive but disappointing due to all
the hype. And at about 1:30 this morning it rained, not very heavily, for about
ten minutes, our first rain of this cruise.
Friday, April 8 --Christiansted to Buck Island
Our first stop was nearby St. Croix Marine for diesel, gas, water
and ice. Then the six or seven mile passage, mostly directly into the wind, so
we motored. We anchored west of Buck Island, in its lee, in the approved area,
in about 12 feet of water with sixty feet of chain. I commenced putting whipping
on the ends of lines, including dock lines. We actually forgot to eat
breakfast, other than coffee, but not to worry, we made up for it at lunch and
dinner. After lunch we dinked over to the south side of the island and entered
the "lagoon" a crescent shaped body of water, inside the reef, that
girds the island's SE quadrant. There is a cut in the reef, well marked by a
red and green, visible in this photo, which also shows the shallowness of the lagoon and St. Croix in the background, with Udall Point at the left and the white round dot is a huge astronomical radio tower.
On the return dinghy ride, always difficult off a beach, Harriet
saw my glasses fall into the sea but the water was so clear that I was able to
dive and retrieve them.
There were only two other boats out here with us overnight, one local
and the other from Canada. This is an idyllic spot.
Pasta for dinner tonight. Home cooked meals are just better.
Saturday, April 9 -- Lay Day at Buck Island
Our second rain, three minutes, at 8:30 a.m., ended before we even finished dogging down all the
hatches and ports. But Monday, the day we leave, a significant possibility of
rain is forecast -- for the next week. Are we ever blessed! We decided to go to Christmas Cove on Great
St. James Island tomorrow, just off the SE corner of St Thomas. We have been
there before, with its free moorings, both on On Eagles' Wings and ILENE. It is only about eight miles from
our mooring in Charlotte Amalie, so with a 1:40 pm flight, we will be able to
pick up anchor early on flight day.
Harriet and Bennett went snorkeling again in the lagoon and
dropped us off at the island's pier, on its south side,
where we hiked uphill
on the trail the north side to the observation deck with a view of St. Thomas and St. John on a clear day, and back down to the beach on the west side. There
we removed our long pants and footwear, packed them into the bag into the bag
and
went for a swim. We met some folks in a small open powerboat and helped
them anchor, fore and aft, just off
the beach. They gave me a root beer. Here is On Eagle's Wings from the beach with western St. Croix as a backdrop.
Our
snorkeling friends picked us up and we returned to the boat for lunch. They had met the couple, Gavin and Catherine, from Toronto, Canada, anchored next to us
two night on "Jump" a 1976 46 foot Formosa Peterson cutter. Our hosts
invited them over for a beer and we spent a lovely hour with them. They
subsequently emailed us a list of their three favorite places in Nova Scotia.
Lene and I stayed aboard while Bennett and Harriet explored the reefs on the
north side of the island in the dink, below the picture from the observation platform. I worried that they would get stuck on
the reef and if so, how we could get there to rescue them, but it was needless. They just
lifted the outboard and rowed over the shallow spots. I completed the whipping project
-- all the lines on this boat, approximately 50 whippings. I had done almost as
many in 2014, and now the boat is done!
Home cooking again, this time featuring steak.
Sunday, April 10. -- Buck Island to Christmas Cove; Nope, to
Charlotte Amalie
7:30 to 1:30, a fast passage heading about 340 magnetic, plus or
minus ten, with a very heavy helm in about 20 knots of wind from just aft of
our starboard beam with all three sails drawing. Christmas Cove got nixed early
in the passage because of the need to pack up in the morning and lack of a
restaurant there. We exceeded eight knots over the ground for periods of
seconds.
In the afternoon, after dumping a lot
of stinky garbage in the Marina's dumpsters, all except Harriet dinked around
to the east side of Hassel Island, landed at the dock and climbed the steep
hill to its summit where a battery had been built in the Napoleonic period
which was later used to signal the arrival of merchant ships to stevedoring companies.
Not a nature hike, like at Buck Island, especially without Harriett's eagle eye
for flora and fauna.
Then showers and for me a shave, the first of each,
except for salt water baths, since New York, a week ago, a stop to chat with
Tom and Jane of Bravo, a 44 foot J-boat out of Camden, ME.
Monday,
April 11 -- Flight to NY
A
big breakfast, trying to eat up what was left in the reefer. Packing and a bit more rain. A big freighter
came into the western harbor, was met by a tug and went west -- not through the
narrow passage we used. And an easy cab ride to the airport and flight back
home.
The
end of the first eight sailing days of 2016. Thanks, Bennett and Harriett!
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