St. John's, U.S.V.I

The crossing to St Johns took all of 20 minutes from anchor up to anchor down. The hillside developments were ostentatious displays of wealth. With home prices from $1 million-$10 million, the coexistence of less affluent locals and second homers is sometimes tense. The National Seashore Visitors’ Center provided interactive and interpretive displays about Rockefeller’s donation and creation of nearly half the island as a National Park.

While back in the U.S., we mailed to the IRS and friends/family at domestic rates making our day. We also realized we could make toll free calls. With one of our credit cards expiring and being miles from our mailbox, Angie made called Capital One customer service to “clear things up.” 20 minutes and a half dozen department transfers into the exercise, our beloved Sabrina, for no fathomable reason, walked up to the pay phone and just went “click” on the receiver handle. With a flick of her hand she had us back at square one….because…. “I don’t know why!?” The mother daughter exchange of eternal love was one for the annals of family history.

St. Johns was absolutely gorgeous with its steep lush mountains, emerald green bays, and palm lined beaches. The park service has buoyed off the eco-sensitive parts of most of its bays. Anchoring is discouraged in favor of honor-system park moorings. We delighted in the constant sightings of Hawksbill turtles as they searched out a suitable beach to lay their eggs.

As we left the beach having snorkeling the highly overrated “underwater trail”, we saw a family struggling to paddle their overloaded kayak back to their boat. They gladly accepted our offer for a tow to their boat, which we assumed as the other sailboat in the harbor.

“No, ours is the blue one,” they declared.
Oh, the 160’ mega-yacht, Shalimar. Wow, they must be doing an executive charter, I thought
“Do you want to come aboard OUR boat while the kids swing off the crane boom?”
“Sure!!!!!”
The kids eyes were the size of saucers with Sabrina most interested in finding a hot tub.
“It’s right up on the bow, one of the crew will take you up there.”

The crane was used to lift the 30’ “tender”, jet skis, a smaller tender, etc. It also was used to swing everyone over the water prior to dropping 25 feet to the water below. The company, conversation and crane swinging were lively. Over several glasses of champagne, the adults discussed St. Croix tax incentives. The couples lived in St. Croix after moving there from the U.S. They confirmed that you can run a business under the US flag, make millions and pay a total tax bill (including property tax) of only 5%!!! Hhhmmm.

We retired to our humble abode and had leftovers as they motored off during a sit down gourmet dinner served by a crew of 7. They had to be to work the next morning and I had to just wake up. Well I guess everything is a trade off. What a great experience, perhaps our paths may again cross. Funny, today we saw the boat here in Puerto La Cruz, VZ.