Finding our cruising groove

Between Hans’s work trips, the boat work we did in Grenada, and another multi-day passage from the southern Caribbean to the Virgin Islands, it seemed like our long anticipated Caribbean cruising days were never going to materialize. From before we started sailing on Positive Waves, we had dreamed of (and hyped to the kids) the ease, fun, and comfort of sailing in the Caribbean. So far it seemed like all we were doing was boat work, school, chores, and juggling travel and work schedules. We had definitely not found our cruising groove. Our solution was to shrink our cruising ground to a small geographic area so we could spend more time having fun and living the dream.

We’ve been in the Virgin Islands for almost a month now and we’re definitely feeling more relaxed and that we have time to do the things we love: snorkeling, reading, meeting other cruisers, and short sails from island to island.

St. Croix

We spent a week in St. Croix, anchored off Christiansted, while Hans was at work. It was crazy windy the whole time we were there. True Caribbean trade winds, blowing 20-25 knots the entire time. It’s not a great anchorage since there is a pretty wide channel open to the northerly swells and it’s a big harbor so the wind fetch builds quickly. Thankfully we weren’t rolling, but we were bouncing up and down quite a bit. The town has done a great job developing their waterfront so we were happy to dinghy ashore in the chop every day to walk along the boardwalk, stop for a drink, ice cream, or pretzels, visit the gift shops, and hang out under the shade of the big trees at the fort. Since we were back on US soil and the US is vaccinating kids against Covid, my first priority was to get our kids vaccinated. We had to walk almost three miles to the vaccine site, but we’re used to walking and the complaints were minimal. The kids got their jabs and will get round two on St. Thomas. By far the biggest highlight of our time in St. Croix was the time spent with friends. We met up with friends, kids and adults, nearly every day. Beach trips, the Leatherback Brewery where the kids run like crazy in the big field at sunset, a sail to Buck Island, etc. In our nomad lifestyle where we meet new friends frequently, it’s special to spend time with old friends.

Matilda and her St. Croix bestie, Sylvia, hanging out at the Leatherback Brewery on Sunday night.

Same photo, one year apart.

we found an amazing used bookstore in Christiansted in the back of fabric store of all places.
Two of my favorite things: fabric and books!

Matilda visited the puppies waiting for adoption.

the crews of s/v Jacumba and s/v Whisper reunited on the water again!

At the fort in Christiansted.

Sailing with our St. Croix friends.

In what seems to be our trend, less than 12 hours after Hans arrived in St. Croix, we weighed anchor and sailed around 30 miles north to St. Thomas. It was a very fast sail, close hauled and sporty. The kids didn’t love it, but Hans and I had a good time!

Hans had a wave encounter!

A few days in the USVI + Meme!

We dropped anchor in Red Hook on the east end of St. Thomas and the kids and I jumped in a Safari (St. Thomas’s version of busses, basically big pick-up trucks with open air bench seating in the back) and rode all the way to the other end of the island to meet Meme at the airport. We hadn’t seen Meme for almost a year so there was lots of excitement and hugs in the airport terminal. Meme was going to be aboard for two weeks, perfectly timed with the kids’ birthdays.

Welcome aboard Meme!

Before we could start spring break, the kids each had a presentation to give. They had been working on individual projects for six weeks; Freja taught us about rocks and Matilda gave us many details and information about all her stuffed animals. The presentations were very thorough, filled with detail, and multi-faceted.

Happy birthday to our 11 year old!

Birthday plans included the north shore of St. John for Freja and the Baths in the BVI for Matilda. We had quite a few miles of easting to do, plus entry into a new country and all the bureaucracy and covid protocols which are the new normal. After covid testing in Red Hook and stocking up on groceries, we motorsailed due east to the national parks on the north coast of St. John. Freja’s top choice anchorage was rather choppy as we pulled in, but as we were deciding if we should stay or move somewhere calmer, a dad and kid around Freja’s age dinghied over to help with the mooring which was missing a pennant. It turns out the family has seven kids. Freja suddenly had an instant birthday party.

After early morning presents, a French toast and fruit salad breakfast, we went ashore for the day to start Freja’s birthday activities of choice: Olympic level challenges. She had a swimming race, relay race, ninja course, limbo, sand castle building contest, and more. By sheer luck, a family with two kids walked down the beach and asked to join in the festivities. They were camping for two weeks at the national park and the kids were so excited to see other kids their age. When the events were over and the score was tallied, the boys took the trophy home. Everyone was good sports and root beer floats on the beach were enjoyed by all.

Ninja course

relay race

the crowd favorite: Limbo!

Next stop: BVI

The next day we motored a whopping five miles over to West End in the BVI to check in and start our BVI cruising time. Check in was easy, just a little more onerous with the covid testing requirements, and we had another “sporty” sail over to Norman’s Island. I raised the centerboard as we entered the bight, making our draft a mere 1 meter, and we motored past all the mooring balls and dropped the anchor right off the beach. Time to begin two weeks of sailing in the BVI with Meme!