West End, Tortola, British Virgin Islands, to Jost Van Dyke, BVI

A fabulous day --- we all were up early. While Karen and Kerry took a morning dinghy ride, Ron and I were hiking up the extremely steep mountainside, checking out the resident goats  scrambling about on the hillside fields, and taking in the amazing water views of Jost Van Dyke on the horizon. Just a gorgeous morning in the sunshine! 

Going up!

Views of Jost Van Dyke on the horizon from Tortola's West End

Equinox amid all the sail boats in Soper's Hole, West End

Mother goat with her twins on the hillside

We left West End before the winds picked up too much, and popped over to Jost Van Dyke for some beachside fun. We tried to anchor off the western side of the anchorage in Great Harbor, but the holding was negligible at best. The anchor was bouncing along on hard rocky shale, and after some discussion of depths and winds, we hauled up the anchor and made our way among the numerous charter boats to pick up a mooring. Throughout the day, we watched several boats all attempt to anchor in the same area, with the same results....clearly it's just an area of the anchorage that has poor holding. We were grateful to be on the mooring!

Self -explanatory!

Part of the mural on the side of Foxy's

We dinghied ashore at Jost Van Dyke and took a leisurely walk along the shore from the west end over to Foxy’s. It was quiet at that time of day! We then took a dinghy ride over to White Bay to enjoy the beach for the rest of the day. Lots of folks were there, with tenders and boats of all sizes anchored out off the shore, everyone enjoying the island ambience and blazing sunshine -- so fun! 

View of the beach at White Bay near the Soggy Dollar Bar

Ron at the Ocean Sea

View of the turquoise waters of White Bay from Ocean Sea

After a fabulous lunch of homemade pizza and some rum drinks at the Ocean Sea, we walked down the beach to have the requisite drink at The Soggy Dollar Bar. We people-watched, relaxed, chatted and had a great afternoon before we returned for an early night aboard with a dinner and a movie. Yep -- nine o'clock is the cruisers’ midnight!

The original! Dollars are still soggy after all these years!

USVI to Soper's Hole, West End, Tortola!

Friday morning we cruised over to the British Virgin Islands in 3’-5’ seas, light easterly winds under sunny skies -- what is not to like? We vacillated between anchoring at St. John’s in Cinnamon Bay or going over to the BVI, before deciding to clear in at Soper’s Hole in West End, Tortola. It was another fun decision....and what boat should we see as we made our way to a mooring in Soper’s Hole? Blue Guitar, Eric Clapton’s former vessel!! We'd heard it was about, and it is a classic, gorgeous boat! It was a small treat, but a fun one for us, as I’ve been a fan of Clapton for as long as I can remember! 

The hailing port is still London, of course!

Soper’s Hole was packed; we were lucky to arrive when we did, since the moorings were quickly filled and many other boats were on anchor. Karen, Kerry and I washed down Equinox while Captain Ron took care of clearance with Customs and Immigration. Timing is everything, as clearance procedures here were definitely more complicated and took quite a bit of time. We three had not only washed and rinsed Equinox, but were wiping her dry by the time Ron returned!


With the formalities accomplished, the original Pusser’s Landing was calling!! We dinghied up and each relaxed with a different rum drink to celebrate landfall in the BVI -- who knew that a drink called "Nelson's Blood" could be so tasty? We enjoyed the day in leisurely fashion, and walked along the waterfront shops before returning to Equinox. A glorious sunset and dinner aboard completed our evening -- too beautiful for words!

The original Pusser's Landing, Tortola, BVI as seen from the dinghy dock

The gorgeous view of Little Thatch Island, BVI as seen from Equinox as we
dined on the aft deck. Living the dream! 

Touring Charlotte Amalie with Friends Aboard

Equinox on anchor with all the sailboats in Charlotte Amalie Harbour, St. Thomas, USVI

Ron and I now have our friends Karen and Kerry from Concrete Idea aboard with us! They arrived late Wednesday evening, and we spent Thursday walking about St. Thomas, first sightseeing in the morning and provisioning at the Pueblo in the afternoon. It was fun showing them a little of St. Thomas -- Karen had been here as a child, but Kerry had never seen the island before, so it was all new territory. The Virgins are so mountainous and visually different from the familiar flat islands of the Bahamas, and the historic Danish architecture of the downtown area so interesting. 

Blackbeard's Watchtower, dating from the 1600s

We hiked up "The 99 Steps" -- one of several Danish-built “step-streets” that were constructed to deal with the problem of St. Thomas’s steep hills -- all the way up to Blackbeard’s Castle, a watchtower built in the 1600s, where we enjoyed a fabulous view of the harbor, islands and anchored yachts -- you get a glimpse of what it must have been like 300 years ago! Ron and I have really enjoyed meandering through the quaint old sections of town, where the long Danish warehouse buildings once housed goods like cotton and indigo, used for trading to colonial New England or to Europe. We’ve also been on the lookout for more of the off-the-beaten-track places, trying to avoid the obvious tourist traps that spoil the charming local flavor. There are a few hidden gems: there is the Seven Artches Museum, which was once a Danish craftsman’s residence built during the 19th century, with a stairacse supported by seven arches. Ron discovered there is a synagogue here, one of the oldest in the U.S. and its territories, having been formally established in 1796 by Sephardic Jews. An interesting architectural note is that is has a sand floor, a reminder of when Portuguese and Spanish Jews had to worship in secret and used sand on their floors to muffle the sounds. There is also one of the oldest Lutheran churches here, established in 1666, the same year that the Danish West India Company took possession of St. Thomas. Very cool history indeed!

Frederick Lutheran Church, established in 1666, and the present building
rebuilt in 1826.

We were disappointed a bit with Blackbeard’s watchtower -- the tower itself is no longer adjacent to an open-access restaurant as it was long ago, but is now cordoned off, fenced off and hawked as a museum and rum factory tour. Rather disappointing on that score, but the views from the hillside are just as stunning, and we had a great walk up and down the stair-streets of the upper parts of the city. 

Looking out towards Crown Bay from the base of Blackbeard's tower

Landfall: St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands!

A mere three hours from the Spanish Virgins, we arrived in Charlotte Amalie Harbour, St. Thomas on Sunday morning. We’d left early yet again, and enjoyed an easy passage once again. But what a difference an anchorage makes!! After the glorious solitude and quiet of Luis Pena, the busy harbor here felt like Grand Central Station! Huge cruise ships line the docks on the eastern flank of the harbor, ferries and water taxis  are in full motion, plying the waters between the islands and a plethora of cruising boats (mostly sail) fill the waterfront anchorage areas. Nestled below the steep hills rising above the waterfront downtown buildings, the anchorage is a spectacular setting. 

View of St. Thomas downtown waterfront from the Charlotte Amalie Harbor

Ron, Ally and I had been here 7 years ago, when we chartered a boat for a fun summer cruise here and through the BVI. How things have changed! Charlotte Amalie is much busier now, in part due to the completion of a new mega-yacht marina complex next door to the cruise ship terminal. Filled with ships 100- 300’ long, it has changed the  atmosphere of the harbor with its high-end stores and focus on shopping. There are couple of waterfront restaurants as well, for those who don’t want a crowded jitney taxi ride to the historic Danish buildings of the old downtown area. Besides a small vendors’ plaza of island crafts, t-shirts and souvenirs, the main thoroughfares of the downtown are also dedicated to duty-free shopping by the cruise ship masses: watches and jewelry abound in every store, with merchants hawking their wares insistently.

Ron and I walked the historic streets, finding a few interesting spots among the relentless duty-free frenzy: we ate at Glady’s Cafe, a great little Caribbean eatery tucked in an old warehouse along one of the narrow Danish cobblestone streets, and spent some time in SOS Antiques, purveyors of old maps, books and authentic nautical items salvaged and recovered from the sea. The curried goat stew at Gladys’s was fabulous, and I really was fascinated by many of the unique items on display at SOS. From antique coins and bits of recovered pottery set in bezeled necklaces, to old bronze divers helmets, ships wheels and  glass floats, there is plenty to investigate. There are also small museums tucked here and there, amid the old Danish buildings, and it's a lovely place to explore on foot. We plan to do more tomorrow!

The stonewall of an old Danish warehouse

One of many narrow cobblestone passages 

Climbing the 99 (actually 103) steps

Ron about to start climbing!

Spanish Virgins: Cayo de Luis Pena!

We left just before dawn on the overcast morning of January 20th, to take advantage of the light winds and calmer seas as we headed east. It was spectacular to slip out of the harbor beneath the looming promontory of El Morro, then head east along the shoreline to view Old Town San Juan from the sea. We enjoyed the sense of the history behind the waterfront area and the gated city as we passed. It really was an interesting port, and one we really enjoyed!

Old Town San Juan from the Atlantic

The forecast was true to form, and the seas were lovely, just 3-4’ in a fairly gentle ESE swell, with none of the nasty, short, bouncing chop of our previous passage. We cruised a solid 6 hours under increasingly sunny skies, making our way through the eastern islands and cays of  Puerto Rico until we reached the small National Wildlife Refuge of Cayo de Luis Pena, just to the west of the Spanish Virgin island of Culebra. There we found a beautiful protected anchorage on the northwest corner of the island, in the lee of the stiff SE trade winds, where we dropped anchor in a good 25’ of water. We found that we could have anchored in much closer to shore than we did, as these islands are not the shallow waters of the Bahamas, the Caicos Bank or even the Chesapeake! There is deep water -- 30’ - 40’ -- until quite close to the shoreline of these spectacularly rugged islands. But, not being familiar with the depths of these waters, we were cautious in our anchoring, and stayed offshore a bit. We had no idea that Puerto Rico’s Spanish Virgin Islands were so mountainous and serene: wild goats roamed the hillsides above our anchorage, with  stunning bits of beach tucked in between rocky crags and cliffs. The beach itself is a protected sea turtle nesting area. It was isolated, remote and starkly beautiful, to say the least! 

Craggy rocky shoreline of Cayo de Luis Pena

Pristine and remote, the colors glowed along this shoreline

We stayed on anchor there a couple of days, first giving the boat a thorough loving wash-down, rinse and dry after its salty passages of the past week. While we had the boat washed in San Juan, Ron and I put in a good 4 hours of time between us to really do the boat with care. It looked gleaming and gorgeous in the beauty of the anchorage! We enjoyed the solitude, swimming, snorkeling and walking along the beach before moving on. A couple other sailboats shared the anchorage with us before we left, but it was a cruising anchorage to remember. Gorgeous!

Boat maintenance in exotic locations, once again!

Well, after our excursion through the Old Town of San Juan, we returned to the boat and did a lot of needed chores. Ron did an oil change on the mains, put in fresh pencil zincs in the engines and hydraulic tank reservoir, while I did a major cleaning of the cabins and heads, and handled a few loads of laundry before documenting all the engine room work in the maintenance log. We also post the information on bits of tape in the engine room with date completed, engine hours and the next due date in the cycle. We put the next maintenance due date at the helm as well, so we know at a glance how close we are to needing another routine oil change. Granted, not very high-tech, but it helps quite a bit! 

Then, just to make the day interesting, the master shower sump pump died, and when we went to pull out the spare, we found that the unit that we had on board was the wrong pump! Great...clearly we should have double-checked, but we assumed we were given the correct model. Ugh! Oh well....anyone need a 12V DC water pump? We immediately went to work, scouting out the internet for replacements (should we need to ship one in) and then calling the two different chandleries here in San Juan for possible availability. Thankfully, CEA Industrial Supply is a Jabsco dealer, and not only had the correct 24V pump in stock, but said they had 40 of them in stock!! (How amazing is that, to find a 24V general purpose shower pump on island when we can't even find fresh vegetables here??) Seriously, the IGA in Provo was positively gourmet in its vegetable stocks compared to the Pueblo we found near the marina where we went to re-provision a bit. Amazing! Nevertheless...we were more than happy to find the pump, as we can always make do for a bit on the vegetable front! Even more happily, Ron took out the old pump and installed the new one without any issue. 

The correct 24V DC pump for our shower sump

After all our work, we treated ourselves to another bicycle ride to Old Town San Juan in the afternoon for a leisurely ride along its avenidas and calles, stopping for lunch at a little tapas place. It's such a cool part of the city here; as we said, it has a very European atmosphere in the midst of the Caribbean. 

Narrow one-way streets, with elegant buildings

Intricate detail on railings and cornices

Ornate mosaic tiled storefronts

The blue glazed cobblestone of the Old Town Streets

Some of the colorful buildings

Our luncheon spot on the left, where we feasted on ceviche and tostones

After a warm sunny afternoon of bicycling,we stopped for lunch and enjoyed the local cuisine. Mixed ceviche (octopus, shrimp and mahi mahi) with tostones (twice fried green plantains) were delicious! We returned to the boat in time for sunset, and to enjoy a quiet night aboard, watching as the full moon rose in the eastern sky. It's been a great stop here; one we certainly didn't anticipate, so we're valuing the experience all the more. We will be heading out in the morning; hopefully the weather will be as predicted with light winds and relatively calm seas! 

Castillo de San Felipe del Morro!

The rugged Puerto Rico coastline on the way to Old Town San Juan

We hopped on our bikes this morning and went over to the Old Town of San Juan, built on the point of land overlooking the east entrance to San Juan Bay. Inside its walls, there are over 400 restored buildings, museums and churches from the 16th- and 17th-century Spanish Colonial period. It's only a three miles away from the marina, and perfect for bicycling! The area is steeped in history, with a fascinating mix of ornate architecture and colorful storefronts sitting along narrow blue-glazed tile cobbelstone streets with a charming, old-world atmosphere. The first settlement in Puerto Rico was founded by Leon Ponce de Leon in 1508, and San Juan was settled shortly thereafter. Such history! Very cool.

Part of the wall of Castillo de San Cristóbal that surrounds
the old city of San Juan

There are actually two forts over in the Old Town, one being the Castillo de San Cristóbal, and the other, Castillo de San Felipe del Morro. Castillo de San Cristóbal is the largest fortification built by the Spanish in the New World. (Shades of Martin Harvey here, from Captain Ron!) Finished in 1783 as a defense against land-based attacks, the fort covered about 27 acres, with walls that wrapped around the city of San Juan. Double gates ensured control of entry or exit for hundreds of years. This was the first fort we encountered as we cycled out along the shoreline road, and its walls were immense!

The other castle, "El Morro" is Puerto Rico's best known fortress, built as a defense against sea-based attacks. Spanish troops fortified this 'morro' (promontory) starting in 1539, with further construction and fortification going on for the next couple of centuries. It was primarily built to keep seaborne enemies out of San Juan, and served its purpose well! Sir Francis Drake unsuccessfully attacked El Morro in 1595, getting a cannonball shot through the cabin of his flagship for his efforts. The Dutch attacked, the British attacked repeatedly, and even the U.S. Navy attacked in a day-long bombardment in May of 1898, during the Spanish-American War. 

As we biked towards El Morro, we went past the Cementerio de
Santa Maria Magdelena de Pazzis on the right, resplendent with its
many white tombs overlooking the Atlantic 

The place was fabulous to explore; it was uncrowded and open, and the history was staggering. We only saw a small part of it and we were there for a good couple of hours, climbing around the ramparts and looking over the breakwater below. The sentry look-out towers called garitas, are on the corners of the walls of El Morro. They are unique and distinctive; so much so that they are landmarks of Puerto Rico, even pictured on their license plates. The lighthouse atop the fort is still in use; we saw the large Fresnel lens rotating away inside. So much history, both Ron and I sat back and imagined how it must have been back in three hundred years ago. To imagine what it was like to sail in under its ramparts...mind-boggling!  

View through one of the gunnery posts

The coat of arms overlooking the entrance to Castillo Del Morro 

A view through one of the lookout points

The lighthouse -- still in use today

Checking out the view to the east, from under the lighthouse

This was an unexpected stop, but one we are really enjoying! It feels so Spanish and European after all the small islands we've been on...even Provo, with all its amenities, is not on this scale, and we are enjoying being in a cosmopolitan city in a Caribbean setting. Being aboard, we are getting more of the local flavor -- no fancy resorts, our home for the moment is just a working marina on the water. What cruising is all about!