June 29. St. John, US Virgin Island

The waiting game continues as well as the pounding into the weather. This seems like a never ending slug heading east as we're running out of time with hurricane season on the move. One tropical wave after another is underway leaving us just one to two days to travel. We stayed longer in the Crown Bay Marina as we had planned. Another tropical wave went by, Welsh Rover was waiting for mail, the girls did a lot of shopping in town and we rented a car and played tourists. We had a good time and it felt good to wash the boat down, but Sid and I enjoy it more to be in an anchorage. St. Thomas is a very pretty island but it only takes about 20 minutes to drive around. Toni was doing the driving again, as a Brit he knows how to drive on the wrong side, although we had to remind him now and then. As we waited for the mail we missed a couple very good weather windows and as we finally hit the road again, we had just about a 24 hour window left. The sail to St. John was again rough and the closer we got to Round Bay on the east side of St. John Island the wilder got the ride with 8 foot swells and very choppy seas. The Bay is fairly big and has several small bays within, all surrounded by steep lush hills. We headed into the national park and then realized that anchoring in the whole park was prohibited. They have some daytime moorings though but only allow you three hours of use. Just around the corner, some 2 miles lays Coral Harbor, which has a little convenient store, three restaurant a few souvenir huts and a small marina. The anchorage unfortunately is very crowded with derelict boats and private moorings and leaves just little swinging room for cruisers. Besides it is open to the weather and a bit rolly. It was such a bummer not to be able to anchor in the beautiful national park and having to be in such an ugly anchorage, so I went ashore to find out where else in this bay we could anchor. The southeastern most bay with a little bite into it is half park and half not, so we anchored in the not park area the next day. It's the kind of anchorage you dream about, the first pretty anchorage since we left the Bahamas. With it's rocky shores, cactus and shrubs it reminds us a bit of Catalina Island, except that it is more lush here. We took the dinghy ashore as there is a very steep road (45 degrees) with the most spectacular view of our anchorage and the other side of the island with Tortolla in the background. Later on in the afternoon we enjoyed snorkeling in the pristine and crystal clear water. And to finish off a perfect day we had Welsh Rover over for dinner, Ceaser Salad, Ossobucco with Polenta and for dessert Tiramisu. Another strong tropical wave is approaching and will keep us here for a few days, then we hope to have a long enough window to head straight to Dominica or even Martinique. But in the mean time we'll enjoy this most beautiful anchorage and spend a lot of time in the water snorkeling.