Salt Pond Bay was a beautiful spot on the lightly trafficked south coast of St. John. Right off the boat was the Ram Head hike, easily our favorite on the island. Turks Head Cactus were a favorite topic of conversation all along the hike, with everyone seeing something different in … Read More
Waterlemon Cay
A day in Waterlemon Cay. This is a nice quiet spot with a handful of hikes and another beach all to ourselves. One last day hanging out with friends before they head south and we don’t cross paths again for a few months. This is Waterlemon Cay (no, it’s not … Read More
Double Grand Banks
This is the view from “our” mooring ball in Francis Bay, which has been one of our favorite spots in the USVIs. The turtles patrol the waters between us and shore, there are always birds hanging around fishing, and we’ve got our private beach spots that nobody else seems to … Read More
USVI Bay Hopping
Life here in the USVIs is about as chill as it gets. Every day revolves around the boat and the water and nothing else. We do a bit of boat working and learning in the mornings, spend the afternoons on the beach with friends, and are home cleaning up for … Read More
Protected Waters
We had no idea this hike was going to be as strenuous as it was, or that the heat would be as stifling. We were smiling, but only at the absurdity of how hard it was. The kids mostly look like they are dying, but they weren’t, they were chugging … Read More
Trespassers
It’s not every day that we run into another Grand Banks in the islands, and definitely not every day that it also has two kids onboard. We’ve been online friends following each other’s travels and while we spent the past couple of months in Puerto Rico lockdown they were spending … Read More
Francis Bay
For whatever reason nobody else seems to come to Francis Bay. We had the place to ourselves, and the turtles seemed especially happy to hang out here. So we just hung out, swimming, working, and playing. As far as cruising conditions go the bay is perfectly situated for the steady … Read More
Turtles
We’re still searching for some interesting coral, but in the meantime we are super happy to find turtles are everywhere. We visited one popular tourist beach that we had constantly heard had a snorkeling path. It was actually kind of sad to swim across the barren landscape reading signs like … Read More
St. John Bays
I don’t have much to say about the past few days. We’ve done very little other than just enjoy the string of bays along the coast of St. John. There are very few boats compared to normal times, thanks to COVID, and those that are around are charters that congregate … Read More
Caneel Bay
We spent a few days in Christmas Cove. There wasn’t anything particularly special about the spot, but we were all content to just hang out on the hook. The kids and I would snorkel around the small island in the middle of the bay each day, then tiptoe through the … Read More
Christmas Cove
We arrived in Brewers Bay, and because we hadn’t done much in the way of research we announced our arrival to USVIs Customs and Border Patrol on their app, expecting them to say, “Welcome, have fun.” Instead we got an automated message saying, “You’re not allowed to enter the U.S.” … Read More
Island Hopping
Finally ready to get moving for a while, we spent a week getting groceries and finishing up small projects around the boat. There wasn’t much to do. Just wait for a weather window to make the quick 90 mile jump over to St. Thomas. The kids watching a manatee eat … Read More