2025-03-09 More hikes on St. John, and over to St. Thomas

Our friends on Neil and Jenny on Lorikeet came into St. John, so we went on another hike up the Maria Hope trail with them.

Kris, Dean, Neil and Jenny

 

The next day we moved over to Cinnamon Bay, and hiked a new trail with Lorikeet around the Danish Sugar factory ruins - which was very interesting and had a fair number of informational signs.

Extensive ruins, nice paths and informational signs

                                             

Impressive rock work in the chimney

Puerto Rican crested anole (I think)

   
After the short educational hike, we headed up American Hill to the Great House ruins.   Fun hike with good views. 

Nicely maintained trail, lots of work making these stairs

House ruins on top of the hill

View of Francis bay and the island of Tortola from the top of the hill

Tuesday we set sail for St. Thomas, as it was the only day with winds for a while, and our refrigerator was looking pretty bare.  

In St. Thomas, it was a five cruise ship day on Wednesday - which meant long waits for buses, so we opted to do only shopping we could walk to.   Went to town and got groceries at the Pueblo market close to the dinghy dock, and then when we left the grocery store, it was dumping rain.  We hung out under the eaves for a while until the rain went to a drizzle, then started back. It started raining harder, so we ducked into Wendy's and shared a chocolate frosty until the rain stopped.

If you look close, you can see the rain pouring off the gutter

 

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

One small and two large cruise ships

                                                
Wednesday night was rough, with a very lumpy anchorage all night.  Thursday was only a one cruise ship day, so we took the bus to the large grocery store in Titu Park mall, and then back to Cost U Less for more stuff.  We were back on the boat by 11:00, upped anchor and motored over to the anchorage on the west side by the airport to get out of the lumpy seas.  It worked, even though a swell was coming in, we were facing it so no issues. We went for a nice snorkel in the afternoon, just exploring the shore near the boat.  Our dream of a calm night was not to be as after dark, we turned sideways into the swell and had a very lumpy night again.  Oh well, a nice nap on Friday, followed by a nice snorkel and pizza for dinner made everything better.

Kris cleaned the waterline and props on Friday, and Dean enjoyed a nice swim as well.  The water is very clear here, with a sandy bottom.  Quite a few turtles and rays in the bay.    

Sunday Kris went for a kayak, as winds were light, and Dean went for another swim.   All in all, a very relaxing week with not a lot going on.

Found a lot of small brain corals during the snorkel, close to 20 of them in a small area

Trying out a selfie on the Kayak trip

Motor of large powerboat stuck on rocks in the water, the rest of the boat is on shore.

We will be here a couple more days, then head over to Culebra

 

2025-03-01 Back to St. John

Sunday we moved out of the ferry wake zone so had flat-ish water, decided to do a boat project.  Our salon table was getting worn, and the varathane was gone in a couple of places.   We picked up some epoxy at the Home Depot, so decided to give it a try.  If we like how it works, then we will probably redo the table again, maybe with a new map

Table all shiny and coated again.  

On Monday, the swell wrap was coming in stronger, so we decided to move.   We knew we did not want to head west yet, as we had time to kill before heading back to the states, so we sailed upwind, tacking many times back to Ensenada Dakity in Culebra.  Hung out a couple of days until the winds went a bit more southerly, then did another upwind sail to St. John, to Watermelon Bay.

We took a nice short hike at Watermelon Bay, saw some ruins and watched some goats.

Charm, on mooring ball in center of photo in Maho bay

Old ruins from 1600s

Why do goats like to climb on rocks and ruins?

Goat found a nice hole in the ruins to crawl into for a nap

Watermelon Bay

After the walk and relaxing lunch, we jumped in and snorkeled around Watermelon Cay.  Snorkeling, not great, but saw some of the biggest parrotfish we had seen for a long time.

Odd to see this many parrotfish, this big, with not a lot of coral around

After the snorkel, Dean did a quick clean, checking things out on the boat.  A rather large and toothy barracuda was hanging out under the boat, and did not want to move, so a section of the hull was not done.  Looking at those teeth, who can blame him.

Friday, we spent an hour or so dumping out our anchor chain and de-twisting it.  We are having issues with our chain jumping on the chain wheel when we bring it up.  Hopefully de-twisting will help, but after spending time carefully watching de-twisted chain come in, we are not pretty sure we need a new chain wheel.  

After our chain work, we moved over to Maho Bay on Friday.  Relaxed and had pizza dinner - Friday is pizza day.  Saturday we took a hike in the morning up the Maria Hope trail.  Only 1.5 miles long, but up 780'.  Nice hike to get some exercise.

Large termite next in a tree over the trail

Kris's toe is doing better, so the hike was not too bad on it.

Decent views near the top

Back to boat, nice relaxing lunch.   

Not much planned for the next couple of days.

2025-02-23 Derek Visit, El Yunque

We went for a nice snorkel off of Punta Tamarindo Grande in Culebra.   Nice reef structures, lots of soft corals, sponges and structures.  Not a ton of fish.  Unfortunately, forgot the camera again.

Back to boat where we had anchored at the north side of Cayo de Luis Pena and jumped in for another small snorkel and enjoy the beach.   Derek grabbed the camera for this snorkel, and got some great close up photos, as he is good at going down around 12' deep for extended periods.

Derek is still a great snorkeler

After snorkeling decided that the reef was too close for overnight comfort, and a small swell had come in so we went back to Culebra and anchored in Ensenada Dakity.   In the morning, we worked on our water maker - replacing the pressure gauge and regulator.

Working on the water maker

Water maker seems to be working well now, although at a higher pressure than before, but don't know how accurate the gauge or water flow meter actually are.  After Derek was done with work for the day, we explored the bay via dingy, and walked the barrier reef a bit at low tide.     

Derek wishes we had the new dingy and engine when he was on the boat

Walking the small exposed reef area at low tide

Weird red balls on dead coral.  Any idea what it is?

Some wading involved.  Charm is anchored to the left of Derek 

Tuesday had a nice but lumpy sail over to mainland Puerto Rico, where we had a reservation at the Safe Harbor Puerto Del Rey marina.   Huge marina, but well-kept up and friendly people.   The marina is so large, they offer free golf cart rides to all tenants and guests of the marina to get from the parking and office to the docks.  We were reasonably close to the office, so we walked, until we had groceries to bring back, then we took the cart.   They don't let you drive the carts, so you are chauffeured, as the finger docks are barely wide enough for the cart, lined by power stands.  Too much risk to let anyone drive.

Golf cart pick up area, small carts for luggage and stuff they attach to the carts

View of marina.  

Dean and Derek gave the boat a nice scrub down with the $5 a day water.  Had a nice dinner from the local restaurant, which we ate back on the boat.

Enjoying another good meal.

Wednesday morning we headed up to the El Yunque Rain forest.   The only tropical rain forest in the United States.  Luckily we had a nice sunny day, with no rain, and clear of clouds.   Stopped at the visitor center first

Checking out the park map

Nice large visitor center

Short trails around the visitor center

Puerto Rico parrot - native to Puerto Rico but almost extinct

Then went up to the end of the road to hike the Mt. Britton Trail to the tower.  Good hike, went slow due to Kris's toe, but it was good to go slow on the way up.  Nice trail, but narrow, so always had to step to the side when passing or meeting people coming down.

Single file walkway

View from top of tower looking North-ish

View looking south-ish

Narrow stairs in the tower

Tower is not that tall, but on top of the peak

Did a couple more stops in El Yunque, seeing the tourist spots. But lots of people around.

El Bano Grande dam

Working on better selfies

Very pretty small creeks throughout the rain forest

Coco Falls

Very mossy tree trunks

Late lunch at McDonald's on the way back to the boat, where we indulged in long showers at the marina.

Derek flew out Thursday afternoon, so we went out for a nice lunch at Board riders Surf bar and grill just off of the beach at San Miguel.   

Beautiful tiled wall and walkway down to beach

Beach is very orange, but soft sand

Had some time before Derek needed to be at the airport, so went to Home Depot and got some stuff for boat projects, then took him to the airport.     

Had a great visit with Derek, really enjoyed the time with him.  After dropping him at the airport, we went to the Walmart Supercenter to do a big grocery stocking up, followed by a stop at a large Ralph's grocery.  We were tired, and it was late, so grabbed Subway on the way back for a late dinner.  Kris started a load of laundry, which we hung up before bed.

Friday we did not have to leave until 11, so took advantage of the water and power to do a couple more loads of laundry.  With the wind blowing from the stern, we hung them up in the cockpit, and they only took a couple of hours to dry.

We left the marina just before 11, and stopped and filled the diesel tanks at the fuel dock on the way out, then motored the 3 miles to Isla Pineros anchorage.  Saturday morning we explored the mangrove river - unexciting then decided to move, as lots of powerboats use the passage between Isla Pineros and the mainland, and we were getting quite a few large wakes, plus a slight swell was coming in.

Pretty mangrove river, but murky water and not many birds

Moved to Roosevelt Roads harbor and anchored near the entrance.  It was a mistake as the ferries come in and out, and every hour and a half or so, we get a rather large wake.  We will up anchor and move further in today to get out of the wake zone.