Tuesday, December 1, 2009

St. John

After exploring the north side of St. John 3 years ago, we headed to the
south side. Thanks to Laurance Rockefeller, about half the island of St.
John is National Park. The waters are protected by a sea park. Most of the
anchorages have mooring balls are are $15/night. In one such anchorage, a
park boat came along presumablely to collect while Sabrina tried to catch
the sea life. No, they are just the welcome service and cannot accept
money. With no maps left and limited knowledge of the fishing rules and two
guys on a boat, maybe deficit reduction should start with their jobs. After
experiencing the disappointing underwater trail at Truck Bay, we were not
sure what to expect in Reef Bay. The snorkeling was vibrant and Marc even
caught a lobster.. By hand!

To beat the heat, Marc and I started at 6:30 a.m. for a hike to the pre-Columbian petro glyphs on the National Park maintained trail. The National Park obviously did not believe in chemical eradication of the bugs and the mosquitoes enjoyed feasting on Angie. From Reef Bay, we sailed to
Coral Harbour. The harbor was filled with derelict boats with new reefs
growing on their bottoms. The "town" was the same as it was 3 years ago, a small grocery store and a few stores including a post it. With 100's of
boats in the harbour there was no dock. We heard something about protecting
the sea bottom. Ironically, all the dingy anchors digging in were much
worse than a dock would be. Sabrina was excepting gifts at the post office
Cruz Bay, on the other side of the island. Unfortunately, that can't tell
you if your packages are there over the phone. They did say that items
sent regular mail can take 4-6 weeks to arrive on St. John. With a
disappointed daughter, we sailed the short distance to the BVIs.