Sandy Cay, B.V.I.

Owned by Laurance Rockefeller, Sandy Cay is a lovely botanical garden with a path that encircles the 1/4 mile long island.
Along with an array of unique and interesting plants and trees we sighted many beautiful birds - yellow warblers, bananaquits and hummingbirds.
We discovered many excellent multi-coloured fish while snorkelling off Sandy Cay but sadly most of the coral was dead, undoubtedly due to the great number of yachts that anchor there to enjoy the beach, which without question is spectacularly beautiful.
This tiny island places very high on our list of favorites for its palm lined white-sand beach, gorgeous water colour, rugged east-shore cliffs, diverse plants and trees, and colourful birds.
We found it to be a picture-perfect tropical isle.

Barry's birthday in the B.V.I.

After 7 interesting days on St. John we returned to Culebra, once again, for Barry's dental appointment.
Dental work done; we set sail for the British Virgin Islands where Barry celebrated his birthday amidst the beautiful white-sand beaches and turquoise seas of Jost Van Dyke, Sandy Cay and Sandy Spit.
On Barry's special day we enjoyed a delicious dinner of mahi-mahi at the world famous "Foxy's" restaurant, Great Harbour, Jost Van Dyke.
Before dinner we conducted taste-tests of the island's speciality drink, "painkillers", between Foxy's bar and the Soggy Dollar Bar. (S.D. winner)
Even though the mountainous island of Jost Van Dyke is only 4 square miles in size with a population of just 150 there are several dining options available as it is a popular stop for the yachting crowd and smaller cruise ships.

Reef Bay Sugar Mill - St. John

We visited the Reef Bay sugar mill, one of many ruins on the island of St. John. We learned how the sugar industry died twice at this mill.
In plantation days slaves brought bundles of cane to the horse mill.
In l861, after Denmark abolished slavery and St. John's other mills began to collapse, Reef Bay's new owners attempted to revive the dying industry by installing steam power to crush the cane.
Exhausted soil and mainland sugar beets halted St. John's sugar production.
Reef Bay was the last operating sugar mill on St. John.
It closed in the early 1900s, leaving only the bats behind.

The Petroglytphs - (text from park sign at the site)- St. John

Archeological discoveries at Cinnamon Bay confirm that these petroglyphs were carved around 900-1500 AD by the pre-Columbian Taino and their ancestors. The carvings exemplify the designs found on ceremonial Taino pottery. The pool and symbols were sacred dwelling places and ritualistic sites for the spirits of their ancestors. This spring-fed pool stays at nearly the same level despite rainfall, causing an interesting and perhaps intended mirror effect of the petroglyphs - a duality of the spiritual and living worlds often reflected in Taino art.

Lucky Sightings while bird watching - St. John

During our time in St. John we attended 3 ranger-guided interpretive programs through the Virgin Islands National Park.
On one, a bird watching walk around Francis Bay pond we had two excellent, up-close sightings of a "mangrove cuckoo". The ranger told us people come from all over the world in hopes of sighting this rare bird.
An "antillean crested hummingbird" otherwise locally known as the "green flash" followed us along the trail almost begging to have his picture taken, his neon green patch flashing away.
We viewed alot of interesting bird legs walking through the shallow salt pond water -long pink ones on the "black-necked stiff" and shorter yellow ones on the "lesser yellowlegs".
We loved the "yellow warblers" bright colour and pretty song.
We saw birds that have come to be common sights for us, but are surely no less beautiful such as "brown boobies", "brown pelicans", "thrushes", "magnificent frigatebirds", "royal terns", "spotted sand-pipers" and the official bird of the Virgin Islands the "bananaquit".
The next day, while hiking the reef bay trail, we sighted yet another rare bird - the "smooth billed ani" (a black, parrot like bird).
We could turn into avid birders after so much excitement.
There are 144 species of birds found on St. John; 30 of these breed here while the others fly south to winter on the island.

St. John - Virgin Islands National Park

Just over half of the small, rugged volcanic island of St. John is protected land within the Virgin Islands National Park (5,650 acres) adjacent to which is the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument where 13,000 acres of off-shore waters are protected.
The Park operates a very informative visitor center in Cruz Bay where the rangers will happily assist in planning outings to explore the island.
One interpretive program we took part in was a "Sky Watch" at the Cinnamon Bay campground, where we made star sightings through a telescope on the beach.
A 3 mile hike from an elevation of 850 feet in the centre of the island down to reef bay allowed us to explore historical Danish sugar plantation ruins along with interesting flora and fauna as we travelled through both dry and moist tropical forest. On this hike we visited the petroglyphs, sighted 3 mongoose and 1 deer and luckily didn't encounter the 400 pound wild boar that supposedly frequent the area.

Phosphorescent Vieques - Chasing Starlight

In Vieques, we anchored in one of the best locations in the world to view the phosphorescence; meaning the water glows in the dark thanks to little microorganisms known as dynoflagellates.
When any movement disturbs these creatures a chemical reaction takes place in their bodies to make them flash (not unlike fireworks sparklers, but underwater).
Puerto Rico's enclosed mangrove bays with their narrow canals limiting the exchange of water with the open sea allow the dynoflagellates to breed in brillant concentration.
A paddle dipped in the still water reveals a path of light as if dipping in molten lava.
What a strange sight it was to see fish, totally illuminated, swimming through the dark water.
We paddled our dinghy through the bay's pitch black still waters, surrounded by mangroves, under a clear moonless sky. As millions of stars from above reflected in the still water an amazingly brillant glow illuminated from the black water below.
Using the paddle to throw a splash out onto the water was like throwing a handful of glowing stars into the night.
As children, we used fireworks sparklers to draw our name in the dark; here we used a paddle to draw a stream of light through the water.
As we sat alone in the still quiet amidst this amazing natural phenomenon we were in awe of the breath-taking beauty that we continue to discover in nature.

Turtles, turtles - um-m-m.....I love turtles

Our sightings of dolphins have lessened lately, however, we now see turtles very regularly.
"Chasing" turtles as we paddle our dinghy is a past-time we greatly enjoy.
We also delight in swimming with them when possible, though a small (12" diameter) hawksbill can easily out-swim me, even with my swim-fins on.
The 3 turtles found in the area are: green (feeds on sea grass), hawksbill (feeds on sponges) and leatherback (feeds on jelly-fish).

St. Thomas - Pirate Tales

While in Charlotte Amalie we climbed the 99 steps to get a closer look at Blackbeard's Castle tower. The steps were built in the mid l700s with bricks brought from Denmark, used as ballast on incoming ships.
The watch tower was built in the l7th century as part of the pirate "Blackbeard's" castle.
Pirate tales abound in St. Thomas and the lore has been marketed extensively. The local brewery is bottling under the label of "Blackbeard's Ale", many of the shops offer a full range of pirate regalia and doubloons (replicas) can be purchased. Many flags of piracy fly over the area, our favourite being "the beatings will continue until morale improves". Tales are in the air of ruthless scoundrels such as Blackbeard (Edward Teach), Capt. William Kidd, Gustav Wilmerding, Anne Bonny and Calico Jack Ratham, and Bluebeard (Eduard de Barbe - Bleue).

St. Thomas, Charlotte Amalie

During one of our visits to St. Thomas we travelled along the south coast and edged through Haulover Cut to anchor in Charlotte Amalie's harbour just off Fort Christian.
We joined the thousands of tourists already bustling around this duty-free port. St. Thomas is the busiest cruise ship destination in the West Indies. Charlotte Amalie is the capital of the U.S. Virgin Islands and the shopping hub of the Caribbean.
We "caught up" and enjoyed the company, over sun-downers, of our friends, also on anchor here, on Bellagio, High States and Summer Wind.
It was unusual for us to anchor in such a congested area as our former anchorage locations in St. Thomas found us with only one or two other boats (Lindbergh Bay) or by ourselves in our favourite location (Brewer Bay) just west of the airport (Virgin Islands University campus).

Passages - Culebra to Vieques, to St. Thomas, to St. John

Culebra to Puerto Ferro, Vieques - anchor to anchor - 2l miles - 6 hours - March 29, 2008.
As we approached Puerto Ferro, Vieques, the bottom was clearly visible below us through 50 feet of crystal clear water, however, once through the channel and into the bio-luminesent bay the greenish/brown water was very murky, shallow and still.
While here we explored along the beaches and mangroves to view the many orange and yellow with orange accent cushion stars that lay in the shallows. As well, the shell collecting was quite rewarding.
On our departure along Vieques' south coast our trolling line caught a great barracuda which we happily returned to the sea.

Vieques to St. Thomas - anchor to anchor - 33 miles - 13 hours - March 3l, 2008.
In an attempt to reach St. John we ended up tucking in, at sunset, to Lindbergh Bay on St. Thomas' south coast after beating into the weather that had developed to 25 to30 plus knot NE winds during the day.
We became intimately acquainted with sail rock as we tacked repeatedly around it in an attempt to travel eastward.

St. Thomas to St. John - anchor to anchor - 6 hours - ll miles - April 1, 2008.
Today's passage had to be an April fool's joke. In a desperate effort to finally make St. John, even though the wind was NE-E 30 plus knots, sea swell 14 feet (9 second interval) and forecasted to remain the same, we set out at dawn, under power, with a reefed main up. Our plan was to tack and edge along St. Thomas' shoreline, hugging the lee shelter, and hopefully "easting" our way forward.
As we passed Charlotte Amalie our friends (out of Sarnia) Jack and Peg (4l' Hunter - Free Spirit) joined us; they just under power. Our sail "tac-tics" had us ahead of them most of the way as we jockeyed around the inter-island ferry traffic in the high winds and sea.
We made Cruz Bay, St. John only to find the anchorage full, moved to the next bay north (Caneel) and picked up a mooring ball ($l5.00 U.S. a night) as anchoring within the National Park limits is not allowed.
Thankful to be in St. John at last!