The Last Spanish Virgin, Thomas and John

What the heck is this?

Finally, our new oven!

After installing our new oven and scraping the garden off the bottom, we left Salinas the evening of May 19, taking advantage of the nighttime calms. Winds on our nose, we knew we would be motoring.  After 17 hours we dropped the hook behind Pirate Cay in Culebra, the Last Spanish Virgin island.  Surrounded by mountains, the anchorage was fairly well protected and the holding was good.  Dinghied Opti over to the town Dinghy dock after visiting Double Trouble, whom we met in Salinas.  Dropped Opti back on the boat, then visited the other Dinghy Dock; this one the  local cruisers bar and restaurant. 

Our stop to change the alternator belt

Spent the next two days exploring this wonderful Puerto Rican outpost.  Walked and dinghied around the compact town, then rented a golf cart to see the rest of the island.  Water, beaches and views were spectacular.  Saturday, May 24, we raised the hook about 0925 to move on to St. Thomas, 20 miles away. Noticed the engine temperature rising right as we were going through the reef so did a quick u-turn, grabbed a mooring provided free in this outer anchorage and found a broken alternator belt.  No problem as we had a spare and quickly continued on our way, arriving well before1600 and anchoring of Water Island in Charlotte Amalie.   

Hook, Line and Sinker in Frenchtown

Haulover Cut, Charlotte Amailie

Dinghied in to Crown Harbor Marina the next day to explore the downtown area.  After a fairly long walk and one refreshment stop at Hook, Line and Sinker and checked out the historic Avery's Boathouse docks.  However, Charlotte Amalie was a ghost town. No cruise ships in port means nothing is open.  Hiked back to French-town to find a bite to eat and then took a Safari bus back to our dinghy.  Decided to head further east the next morning. Against my better judgement, Jon decided to chance Haulover Cut and we were able to track our walking path from yesterday, getting a view of the downtown harbor, complete with a cruise boat.  Decided to move on anyway!

STYC

It was beautiful motoring along the coast.  We passed sites I remembered from my senior high school trip.  This time it was a bit more built up! We had called St. Thomas Yacht Club ahead of time to find out about reciprocity and grabbed a mooring there for $5.  Bruce and Al made us feel very welcome and opened all their facilities to us. Reminded us of the Upper Keys Sailing Club.  The next day way caught a cab to Red Hook to try to find a back up alternator belt and to explore another side of the island.  Although  there is an excellent chandlery there, we had to hop on a Safari bus to take us to NAPA in Charlotte Amalie.  So, for $2 we were able to see the whole island and get the belt!   Tuesday's and Friday's the STYC serves dinner and we were lucky enough to make it back for a great meal.

After another rolly night on the mooring we decided to head to the smallest Virgin, St.

Caneel Bay
Opti is NOT on the beach

John.  The crossing, although short, was a bit rough so we opted to head in to Cruz Bay.  Lots of private moorings and no room to anchor led us around the corner to Caneel Bay in the USVI National Park. With Jon's senior discount we were able to moor in a beautiful  cove surrounded by white beaches for $7.50 a night.  The only down side-- no dogs on the beach. 

Safari bus in St. Thomas

The next day we dinghied around the corner to explore Cruz Bay.  Cute, Carbbean town. Reminded me a bit of a miniature Key West, without a lot of the tacky tourist stuff.  Walked to the National Park Service office to find out more about the island and pay for the mooring.  The helpful volunteers at the office suggested we take the bus out to Coral Harbor to see more of the island. Great idea for $1.  Met Ray and Sandy who guided us along the way.  Got out at Skinny Legs, an island landmark, and had lunch.  Then hiked around the bay, following the goats.  Ran into Ray and Sandy again on the bus ride back and ended up sharing the sunset with them at High Tides.  They tried to convince us to stay another day and head to another of St. John's harbors but we were anxious to head to the British  Virgin Islands.

The next morning, after sneaking Opti ashore, dinghying to the floating pay station and heading over to Megerin to say goodbye to our new friends, we pointed our bow towards Jost Van Dyke and our next adventure.