Back in US Territory

We picked up a mooring in Little Harbor, Jost Van Dyke, BVI in a very pretty spot.  We picked this anchorage because it was less crowded, and there was no noise from establishments on shore.  We had a great dinner at Abe's Restaurant - very small, and you have to place your order when you make your reservation. There was a lot of wind howling through, though - wind whistling through the rigging makes for an unsettled night.  The next morning, we hiked on a road over to Great Harbor, where the main settlement is located.  There we first went to customs and immigration, to check out for our departure the next day.  This was a more-than-usually lengthy procedure because it was a holiday, and there was only one Customs and only one Immigration officer on duty. 

Next stop was the famous Foxy's beach bar for lunch.  Foxy has built this business from four poles and a thatch roof on the beach into a very significant business.  It shows up on all of the "Top Ten places in the world to spend New Year's Eve" lists and does an incredible business.  We weren't there on New Year's, but we did get to meet Foxy himself and chat for a while!  He had visited Zürich in the company of a Swiss Marathoner, new the city and its river.  He told us of cruising on a sailboat with this woman through many cities in Croatia.  I didn't think to ask how long ago this had been.  In any case, from the chat it was clear that Foxy is extremely well traveled.

Next morning we sailed the short distance to Cruz Bay on St. John.  This is a US Virgin Island, so we were back in US territory once more.  We moored off the shore of Honeymoon Beach, again to avoid a crowded anchorage, and then walked on a fairly rugged trail a mile or more to Cruz Bay. We had to check in with Customs and Immigration, but this was the shortest line we have ever experienced in all our travels.  Lunch in a restaurant overlooking the harbor, and then the walk back to our dinghy.

We motored around St. John to one of our favorite anchorages, Great Lamesure Bay.  This is part of the St. John National Park.  Here we had a very quiet night, well protected from the wind.

On Wednesday morning, we got up very early (6:00 am) to start our sail to St. Croix by 7:00 am.  This is one of the longer sails of our planned trip, nearly forty miles.  The weather was gray and gloomy, but we were happy that we had no rain.  The wind was perfect, and we spend a fun 5 hours under single reefed main and solent jib, making 7.5 and 8 knots.

We went into Green Cay Marina on St. Croix, where we plan to stay until Monday.  Esther has a flight out of St. Croix on Monday.  Our intention is to leave from here for St. Martin, which is more than 100 miles.  We will leave during the day on Monday, and sailing all night to arrive around noon on Tuesday.