USVI 4-11

Its time to head back to St. Thomas to drop off the See’s. We have had a great week with them, that went by way too quickly. With their flight at around 3, we are shooting to arrive in Red Hook at 11, to give them plenty of time to get a cab and get checked in. We leave at 8:30, and with just the head sail out, head down the southern side of St. Johns. Its all downwind and we are making good time. The swells are running strong out of the East, and soon we are surfing down them. Unfortunately, the dinghy surfs a little faster and crashes into the back of the boat, making a pretty good dent in the fiberglass. Oops.

Other than the one crash, its a quiet sail. We pull in to Red Hook right at 11. I had called in to get a slip, but they are running a fishing tournament today, and they won’t make reservations or allow boats in until after 2pm. We plan to just drop them off at the gas dock, but when turning around see that the end of C dock, where we were last week is wide open. We swing alongside and Tim jumps to the dock and quickly ties us up. We start tossing bags off on to the dock. The dock guy comes down to see why we are there, but when he sees that we are just unloading says ‘no problem’. I check at the office again, but get the same line. We can’t stay and they won’t make any overnight reservations until after 2pm. Their cab arrives in minutes, and Tim comes down to help us cast off. We are motoring out of the harbor waving to the taxi as it drives past.

With our plan to tie up for a couple of hours to get groceries and supplies shot due to the fishing tournament, we try to come up with a back-up.    We find no good anchorages listed at this end of St. Thomas, and with the wind still blowing 20 knots from the east, right into the anchorage at Red Hook it doesn’t look good for staying there. We decide that we have enough food for another day, so we  start heading toward St. Johns and the nice anchorages around Cinnamon Bay. Its a bit slow going into the wind and waves, and then even slower with the current near St. Johns, but we make it in about an hour. The best protection from the wind is tucked into Maho Bay, and we find a ball up near the beach in about 7 feet of water. The water here is crystal clear and amazing shades of turquoise. The downside, is that tucked in to the corner I have no phone service, and can’t get Master’s radio. We have a nice swim behind the boat, and then the Kids and I set out in the dinghy, in search of better phone signal. We head down towards Cinnamon Bay, and see the campsites, but no signal. It started to rain, so we head back towards Maho Bay. On the way, I get a strong signal and see that Freddie is now only 2 shots out of the lead. It looks like if we move down to the far end of Francis Bay I can get full 3G signal, so after a nice walk on the Maho Beach, we move the boat over. I get a full signal and even get the video streaming on the Iphone. (just in time to watch Couples go bogey, double bogey and fall out of contention) The streaming video is pretty choppy, but at least I can keep track of the scores throughout the rest of the tournament.  

It our anniversary today.  I had hoped for going in for a nice dinner somewhere, but there is absolutely nothing on shore.  18 years ago I don’t think either of us expected to be retired, on a boat in the Caribbean, or having hot dogs and beans for our anniversary dinner!