2026-03-29 Good visit, and on to St. Martin

We had a good visit with Lindsey and her boyfriend Zach.  Spent 2 days in Watermelon Bay on the north side of St. John, and then motored to the south side and spent 2 days on a mooring in Salt Pond.

Good times hiking and snorkeling in both places.

Dean, Zach and Lindsey -setting out on our hike

Sugar mill ruins near Watermelon Bay

Charm in Watermelon Bay

Some of the prickles along the trail

The flowers were in bloom, and the bees extra busy gathering pollen

Jack Spaniard wasp nest - small and easy to accidentally brush against when hiking

We met some other hikers on the trail, and they suggested the best ruins were just a bit further on.  Guess we all misunderstood the directions they gave, but after going about a mile out of the way, we did backtrack and find the ruins.

Brown Bay Plantation Ruins

Taking a break 

Salt Pond Bay on the south side of St. John is known for having sea turtles, and it did not disappoint.  

Saw many turtles surfacing to breathe, and Kris saw 8 on the bottom during a quick snorkel in the bay.  We also had a large Jewfish under the boat for a while, but could never get a photo of it.

Spent a lot of time snorkeling around Salt Pond Bay, and Dean also cleaned the props, and changed the zincs.

School of Blue Tangs

Queen Triggerfish

Schoolmasters

Stingray with remora

Green turtle surfacing with remora in pursuit

Turtle feeding

We went for a walk - all uphill to have some ice cream.  Found a couple of blue pool noodles in the road that must have blown out of someone's vehicle.   Carried them to ice cream and back to the beach, where we found a couple of kids we could give them to.

Ice cream - yummy treat

Dean carrying the pool noodles we found on the road.

On the nice trail back to the bay 

Of course, we had plenty of time to just relax as well, and also played games in the evening.

Mexican train dominos night

We left Salt Pond early Wednesday morning and headed back to St. Thomas to drop Lindsey and Zach at the airport.   Sorry to see them go, as they were easy company - relaxed, didn't overuse water, even helped do dishes - they are welcome to come back anytime.   

After dropping them off we headed into town, got groceries, had lunch and then back to the boat where we upped anchor and headed back to St. John to Francis Bay - whew - busy day.

Tried a new place in St. Thomas - The Tap and Still.   Very good veggie burger and fries.

Friday we went for a walk to the Annaberg Sugar Plantation Ruins near Francis Bay.  At one point there were up to 591 slaves at the plantation.  Amazing how they terraced the steep hills to grow sugar cane.  About 1 gallon of sugar cane juice made 1 lb of sugar.

Nice walk up to the plantation ruins

Info board

Old windmill ruins

Saturday morning we upped anchor and motored through the British Virgin Islands east to get in a position to sail to St. Martin.   Per the weather forecast we should be able to motor east for 15 miles or so past the BVI's in light winds, then turn to St. Martin on a tight reach.  That did not work out.   We did sail some, but the winds were lighter than forecast, and more east than forecast, so ended up sailing for only a couple of hours, then the motor came back on, and it was mostly a motor trip. Oh well, at least half the trip was also fairly calm seas.   Got in at 3:30 a.m.  - dropped the hook and went to bed.

2026-03-21 Moved on to St. Thomas, company arrives

We hung out in Culebra waiting on mail to arrive.   We had new credit cards, some miscellaneous parts for the engine, a new temperature gauge for the engine instrument panel, and most importantly our boat documentation which was set to expire next month.   All of these got shipped to our son Derek, and he packaged it all up and shipped it to the Culebra post office - general delivery.

Large mural in Culebra

Did some walking around town in Culebra

Of course, we had to have Zaco's Taco's one night

The United States Post Office in Culebra

Our mail came in on Monday, but winds were not favorable to move east, with 20 plus knot winds out of the east.   We moved from the town anchorage, up to the quieter and calmer anchorage Dakity for the next two days, before motor sailing to St. Thomas on Thursday.    

Approaching from the west we pass by one cruise ship dock

Another cruise ship dock in the main harbor in Charlotte Amalie

We got in early enough to head to town for lunch and to pick up groceries, then back to the boat in the lumpy anchorage, with winds from the SE, there was quite a roll coming into the anchorage, plus wind chop.   

Friday we took the bus up to the Cost U Less grocery store, and stocked up on food, then back to the boat. Did not do much, as the anchorage was still very lumpy.   

There are some very large private yachts here - always fun to look at.

Passed this yacht while going to the dinghy dock.  Yes, in the side of the yacht is an opening to store the "dinghy"   An inflatable that is probably close to 35' long.

Huge overhanging bow on the boat.   There is a helipad up top.

Saturday our niece Lindsey and her friend Zach came in the morning, and we immediately headed out to St. John, as the anchorage in Charlotte Amalie was ever lumpier than before.   

Had a nice sail to St. John, and got a mooring in Watermelon Bay.  Dean made goodies on the sail over

Homemade cinnamon rolls and bread

We will hang out in St. John until Lindsey and Zach have to fly out, then back to St. Thomas to take them to the airport.

2026-03-15 Another lumpy trip to Culebra

We stayed in Roosevelt Road a couple more days.   Roosevelt Roads was a navy base commissioned in 1943.  It would eventually become one of the largest naval facilities in the world, encompassing more than 100 miles of paved interior roads.   In 2004 the base was closed, and recently reopened again in 2025.   Lots of roads and buildings in disrepair.  

Went for a couple of walks, and explored some abandoned buildings that used to be part of the military base.  Did not come across the re-opened section.  Think that part is closer to the airport.

The marina where we leave our dinghy when heading ashore.  Don't know who owns it our its use, but no boats here at all.

Parked school bus at the nature center (that was never open)  Buses here got bling

Old bus stop near the old Sea Bees base

Building no longer in use

Iguana was making a home of the old naval base

Abandoned building on a scenic point of land

Looks like a bar and restaurant may have been here at one time

We left Roosevelt Roads on Wednesday for another lumpy motor over to Culebra.   The weather for the past couple of weeks has been just strong east winds with no breaks. 

In Culebra we walked to town and checked out the ice cream store.   

Friendly chickens hanging out at Rolls of Heaven Ice cream store

Enjoying a nice berry mix Gelato

More chickens in town, cute little chicks

Things are starting to flower around town

Also walked over to D's produce and got some fresh fruits and veggies.

All this for $25.00

More walking around

This is our plan for warm afternoons as well

We have been mostly just relaxing, doing some odd projects every morning, and afternoon being lay about slugs.

We have mail coming on Monday, so after we pick that up we will head out to somewhere new.

2026-03-08 Trip to San Juan, lumpy seas, and manatees

Sunday and Monday were boat days.  Kris did some more work on wood refinishing, and on Monday took an old temperature sender out of the port engine in prep for our shopping trip coming up.

Tuesday we picked a car up at the Marina at 9:00, and then headed north to Old San Juan.  Found parking after a bit of drive around in Old San Juan, and then enjoyed a few hours of walking the town, having a nice lunch out, looking at sites, and touring Castillo San Cristobal.  The Castillo is considered the largest fortress built in the Americas.  It has 3 levels and numerous tunnels.

Here are a few photos of the day.

Some street were jammed packed with cars and tourists, and others were quite peaceful

Inside Cathedral Basilica Menor de San Juan Bautista

A house burned down, and the land donated to make a small park

Many roads have these blue cobblestones

San Juan harbor

Castillo San Felipe del Morro

Capilla del Cementerio Santa María

One of the streets of Old San Juan

Floor tiles in the Castillo

Very thick walls and shuttered windows in the Castillo

View from upper level of Castillo San Cristobal

Tunnel in the Castillo

Just wandering around - one of the many streets

On our way back south we stopped in Caguas, at the Home Depot, and got some items, and next door to the Home Depot was a Cold Stone Creamery.   Haven’t had one of their ice creams in many years, so of course had to have some.  It was quite yummy.

Yummy Ice Cream

Finished the day at Advance Auto Parts, picking up a spare diesel jug - which we have never had, and 6 gallons of Rotella oil for the engine and sail drives.

Long day, but enjoyable.

Wednesday we headed back into town, and picked up our Amazon packages, then to another Home Depot, Walmart and grocery store.   The little rental car was packed.   Then we took two trips with the dinghy to the boat to unload it all.   Back on the boat it took a while to put everything away, and some relaxation was in order.

Thursday Dean started to make bread and pizza dough, and realized we had very little sugar.  So it was back to town, this time walking to the close by store to buy some sugar.   Stopped at Wendy's for lunch, and surprise, the tree now decorated for Easter.

They are really getting a lot of use out of this tree.

The weather has not been conducive to heading east at all, with strong east winds and short period steep waves for the last few days.  Looking at the weather, it was going to be another week at least before the waves and wind abated, so we decided to tough it out for one long night and motor east in unpleasant conditions.    And they were unpleasant.   We left at midnight giving the wind a chance to die down, and the first 3 hours were OK, with lighter winds around 10 knots.  We were able to motor at about 4 knots, which made the speed just right for riding up and down the swells, without crashing into them.  Then it got worse.  The seas became more confused and the seas steeper, so then we were at about 2.5 knots to keep the motion bearable, and minimize wave crashing and pounding on the boat.   We made it into Roosevelt Roads anchorage on the east coast of Puerto Rico on Friday around 2:00.  44 miles in 13.5 hours.  That's an average of 3.26 knots.   Not our best night ever.

Had one storm with 35 knots winds and dumping rain

After we got in, cleaned the salt off the deck and tidied up, we had an early pizza dinner, and went to bed early.

Saturday Kris got busy and decided to clean the over and stove top with some oven cleaner.  Also started laundry.   Heard a funny noise from the stern of the boat, and she went out to look, and thought a rubber fender was bouncing against the boat, then did a double take - that was not a fender.  

A large manatee was hanging onto the boat.

We think that it was eating the slime off the bottom of the boat.  We watched and enjoyed and talked to it for about the 15 minutes it continued to "graze" off the hull.

Enjoy the photos

At first, we were a bit nervous about damage to the boat, but since he was just resting mostly one flipper to hold position, no damage done.   Didn't seem bothered by us at all being close and talking and taking photos.  Quite a unique experience.

Later in the afternoon a local sailing club headed out for racing, and lessons on small Thistle sailboats.  Fun to watch.

Most the sailors were kids - maybe 12 to 15 years old.

The larger boats headed further out for racing, but the kids stayed closer to the anchorage area where the waves were milder.

We will stay here a few more days waiting on better weather to head east to Culebra.  Or we could run out of patience and do another lumpy night to get there as it is only 24 miles.   We will see.