Sunday 10 July - USVI

Sunday 10 July - USVI
Sunday caught me by surprize. I honestly thought that it was Saturday. I even found the church, planning to go tomorrow. Transportation here is by safari car, which are pick-up trucks with seats in back and a sun cover. There are typically three rows of seats with access "doors" cut in the side of the truck bed. Cost is $1 or $2 and I don't know how to know which. The license plates say "USVI, America's Caribbean". That describes it. The look and the feel is US. The stores are Office Depot, Subway, Home Depot, K-Mart. The people consider themselves a state of the US. The cars are what you would typically find in the US. The only thing that is surprising is that they drive on the left, as in the UK! Odd that. And all the cars have left hand steering. Odd that.
The best sailing in the world is in the Caribbean. The prevailing winds are from the east and the islands are north-south, so sailing it is a reach between them, and they are close enough together that you can anchor every night. On the other hand the Virgin Islands are a sailing theme park. The islands are less than 1/2 day apart and there are good places to anchor at all the islands. I have wondered what people do when they come to the Virgins? My impression is that it is all about sailing. You and some friends charter a boat, it is ready when you get here, and you sail off to an anchorage for swimming, snorkeling, scuba, have fun fixing a good meal aboard, or dinghy ashore for a good restaurant and shopping. The anchorages vary from upscale (Bitter End), to secluded (Mountain Point), remote (Anegada), to very popular (crowded). I went to Jost van Dyke because there is a Costoms & Immigration office there and I was checking out to go to USVI. The anchorage is open to the prevailing wind so it is somewhat choppy, but "everybody" was there. I counted 56 sailboats anchored. Three were cruising sailboats and fifty three were vacationers, and probably 2/3 of them were 45-55 foot chartered catamarans with 6 to 10 people aboard, celebrating their six days in the tropics. There is a third group, usually a couple on a 36-40 foot charter monohull who would make a point to say hello or wave, who are sailors back home and came here to sail. What I discovered on this trip is the land side. What I regret not doing is spending days shore exploring the islands. My impression is that of the lush tropics. The other Caribbean islands are arid, rocky and brown. Here, as Woody says it rains every night, sometimes in torrents. Several mornings I have had to bail 4" of water out of the dinghy and the deck bucket will have several inches in it. This results in a tropical garden ashore, really exotic and beautiful, dirt or single lane paved roads, picturesque homes and communities and nice friendly people. I went to find the Post Office at a place called Cane Garden Bay, Tortola. This resulted in me talking with more than a few people, all nice and seemed to welcome me to their community.
BVI is a vacation destination. I really like St Thomas, USVI. I do not feel out of place here, I can communicate with people, I know what I am buying, everything I need is a dinghy ride away, and the water is a measured 84 degrees. Every afternoon a swim. This is the only place where there was no chop, not in an enclosed, close anchorage, and with warm water. I love it.
Reef Early
Bill Doar
s/v Advenr II