Outside of hurricane season, Easterly winds in the 10-15 knot range are a pleasant constant in the USVI. Of course, there are exceptions and one is the “Christmas winds” that tend to arrive in December and January when a high-pressure area to the northeast of the islands produces winds in the 20 – 30 knot range. Lucky us — these wind conditions have jumped for us in February! While our boat is made to sail in these conditions, high winds make for unsettled seas that can cause lots of rocking and rolling in a mooring field or anchorage unless you find a protected area not vulnerable to strong easterly winds. As a result, these wind conditions really impact our itinerary as we think about leaving the relative safety and comfort of our marina.
It was with these winds in mind that we decided to take yet another whirl around St. John. This time we were joined (for part of our journey) by our daughter visiting from the northeast. After discussing the available options given wind direction and speed we decided on a visit to Maho Bay and Caneel Bay and, if the winds moderated a bit by the end of our voyage (fingers crossed), Lameshur Bay.
Maho Bay is a wonderful place to visit when you have guests because it offers a two for one deal. Two great beaches — Francis Bay Beach and Maho Bay Beach — in one beautiful mooring field. This spot is home to a plethora of turtles, guaranteeing a sighting. In addition to beautiful beaches and good snorkeling (particularly if turtles are your thing), Maho Bay Beach is home to a pop up village offering food, drinks and plenty of places to lounge among the palms while Francis Bay Beach offers a lovely hiking trail that you can extend with a walk down the road to the Annaberg Plantation. We figured that for a couple of days we’d enjoy a great combination of swimming, snorkeling, playing tourist, hiking, gorgeous views and learning more about the history of the islands. So it was decided: Day 1 would be our water day snorkeling at Maho Bay (with a bite to eat at the pop-up village) and day 2 would be our hiking day, getting back to the boat by 2 PM for a late lunch and so Zack could watch Michigan basketball. (Just because we are sailing in the USVI doesn’t mean that Zack has to give up all of the vestiges of our former land-based life!)
Day 1 went as planned and Maho Bay Beach did not disappoint. We had a lovely day on the beach and in the water, seeing turtles, a number of huge starfish and stingrays galore. We ended the day tired (it was a good long swim against the current from our boat to shore) but very content and looking forward to the activities planned for Day 2.
Day 2 started as per our planned itinerary. We got up and took a dinghy ride to Francis Bay Beach where we could pick up the Francis Bay trail and, ultimately, on to the Annaberg Plantation. We loved the walk. In addition to giving us more spectacular views of the ocean with the British Virgin Islands as a backdrop, our visit to the Annaberg Plantation caused us to take pause and learn more about the island’s dark past.
Using slave labor, construction on the Annaberg plantation began in 1779 and by 1780 it was one of 25 active sugar producing factories on St. John. Unfortunately, slave labor from Africa was what fueled the operations of all the plantations on St John. In fact, by 1733 the population of African slaves on St. John was more than five times as large as that of the European inhabitants: 1087 slaves and 206 whites. Many of these plantations were owned by people residing on St. Thomas who hired overseers to manage their St. John plantations and slaves. These conditions allowed overseer cruelty to flourish, giving rise to a slave rebellion on November 23, 1733 which lasted until August 25, 1734, making it one of the earliest and longest slave rebellions in the Americas. Denmark ended the African slave trade in the Danish West Indies in 1803 but slavery continued on St. John until 1848 when slaves were declared emancipated by the then Governor-General of the Danish West Indies. Over the last 3 months we have enjoyed the beauty of the USVI but also feel it is important to learn about the culture and acknowledge the history that is part of its past.
We arrive back at Che Figata at 2 PM — just in time for Michigan basketball. At that point our three person unit separated to enjoy individual pursuits. For Zack that was clearly the basketball game, for our daughter that was reading and for Jill that was tidying up and organizing for dinner: It was Pasta Primavera night on Che Figata. By 4 PM, the Michigan basketball game was still on, our daughter was engrossed in her book and Jill had finished her chores and was ready to enjoy some more downtime. With the late afternoon sun still strong and bright she decided to put on the snorkel gear and enjoy a quiet moment of underwater sea life. What a perfect way to end the day.
We have a rule on Che Figata that if you are snorkeling alone in a busy mooring field (like Maho Bay) you stay near the boat. There’s a lot of boat traffic in mooring fields and, as a single snorkeler, it wouldn’t be hard for speeding boat to fail to see you. So we draw an imaginary oblong circle around our boat and try to stay within the perimeter. Fortunately, you don’t have to go far to see some great things. There was a large school of Bar Jacks right under our boat, many marine hermit crabs slowly moving across the sandy bottom and, particularly catching Jill’s eye, a small coral head teaming with life including several tropical fish and sea urchins. Jill dove under, anxious to get a better look, and was surprised when a mature Triggerfish came towards her while still keeping a little bit of a distance. What a lovely, curious, fish Jill thought to herself as she swam back up to the surface to tell Zack about the encounter and encourage him to jump in. Of course, the Michigan basketball game was not yet over so Zack still had his headphones in his ears. The upshot is that Zack did not hear a word of what Jill said so, eventually, Jill dove back down by herself thinking how sorry Zack was going to be to miss seeing this inquisitive Triggerfish up close.
And then WHAM! Out of nowhere, Jill gets hit in the forehead. It felt like someone had thrown a small rock with all their might at her head. Though she did not see what hit her, she knew immediately that it must have been that Triggerfish and, beyond being curious about her, it clearly did not want Jill anywhere near its territory. It didn’t take a second hit for Jill to quickly swim back up to the surface whereupon a quick touch to her head confirmed what she suspected — this strike broke her skin. Not wanting to give Zack a fright by entering the cockpit with blood flowing from her forehead, Jill waited a few minutes on the transom for the bleeding to subside before entering the boat laughing about her close encounter with the Triggerfish. You just can’t make this stuff up. Fortunately, Che Figata has a well equipped medicine cabinet complete with both antibiotic ointment and oral antibiotics should those be needed. She cleaned the wound, applied the topical antibiotic and covered the evidence with a bandaid.
Of course, following this incident, we all wanted to learn more about Triggerfish to understand whether this was unusual or common behavior. To our surprise a quick Google search revealed that a Triggerfish bite is a little known marine hazard. While Triggerfish are ordinarily harmless and shy, females guarding a nest can become extremely aggressive. Divers are advised to discontinue swimming toward a large Triggerfish that does not move away upon approach. (Very important safety tip!) Further research revealed that Triggerfish breeding season in the Caribbean is supposed to be in March and April. We guess this Triggerfish got a head start or just wanted to pick a fight with a scrappy girl from Queens. In either event, the moral of the story is that if a fish appears to approach you don’t think to yourself “how cute, a curious fish.” Assume malintent and back-off!
Following Maho Bay we headed to Caneel Bay as planned. It was a great place to give our daughter more opportunities to hike and snorkel while also enjoying one of our favorite restaurants in Cruz Bay, Longboard. The added bonus is that she could take the ferry from there to Red Hook (St. Thomas) and then catch a taxi to the airport and we could continue on our journey. Our daughter took full advantage of the variety available in Caneel Bay and was very sorry when she had to leave after her brief stay.
Though sad to see her go, we were happy to see that the winds had died down slightly and we could sail over to Lameshur Bay. We still had not hiked the Petroglyph trail and the trail is accessible from Little Lameshur. Besides, Little Lameshur Bay is one of our favorite spots. The bay, on the South side of St. John, is surrounded by National Park land. Look towards shore and all you see is a small white sandy beach leading to a beautiful verdant hillside; turn around and you are looking at the expanse of open sea with a hint of St. Croix on a really clear day. So we got going in the morning to make sure we could get a mooring in Little Lameshur, hoping for good mooring karma. We struck gold and got a great spot.
After enjoying the morning, we took the dinghy to shore and headed off for the Petroglyph trail. It was a robust hike — 4.4 up and down miles round trip. St. John’s hills are part of its beauty but they definitely make for some challenging hikes. The effort was worth it. We walked though lush forest, were treated to some great views of Lameshur Bay and Reef Bay and finally reached an oasis: the petroglyphs are located at the base of one of St. John’s highest waterfalls (water not flowing during our visit), surrounded by dense tropical vegetation and right above a spring fed pool. It is believed that the petroglyphs were carved between 800 AD and 1500 AD by the pre-Columbian inhabitants of St. John known as the Taino. Before the arrival of Christopher Columbus, the Tainos inhabited many islands in the Caribbean Sea with a major settlement on St. John. The carvings were designed to communicated with their ancestors in the supernatural world though it s also believed the petroglyphs supported their sociopolitical system that created and maintained an elite class. As you stand there marveling at the carvings, looking up at the massive rock behind the falls, you can see why the Tainos considered this as a sacred place worthy of these special carvings.
After enjoying Lameshur Bay for 3 days (more snorkeling and hiking), we regrettably returned to Sapphire Beach Marina on February 23. After 11 days away it was time to re-provision, pick up mail, etc. By popular demand, we have provided more detail about this trip away from the marina than usual. The only detail left out was the unfortunate incident when Jill sacrificed her iPhone to the sea gods — clearly in penance for provoking that Triggerfish. The full details are too embarrassing (at least to Jill) to be shared here. Being the senior writer/editor of this blog does give Jill some advantages. And for those of you concerned about Jill’s forehead, we will close by letting you know that by the time we returned to Sapphire Beach Marina her wound had healed well with only the tiniest of scabs to hint of the brutal attack. Confident that she will be left with a small scar, Jill is looking forward to embellishing her fish tale, reminiscent of that scene from Jaws where Quint, Hooper and Brody compare theirs.
We are already dreaming of our next venture. A friend from Connecticut arrives on March 2 so we will definitely depart the marina on March 3 to share our new life with her.
Captain’s Zack’s Postscript: The description of “robust hikes” sells the hiking experience a bit short—or at least fails to capture the nature of the contours on St. John in the National Park. The volcanic nature of the islands, as noted above, are dramatic in their beauty—cliffs springing up from the water and tall peaks surrounding the bays. They also dictate the nature of the hiking—up, dramatically up, rough stone and stone strewn trails that then drop off in a sharpish fashion just as dramatically and with the same hard stone and loose stone and gravel materials. Hiking up is tough, but going down is a constant battle to avoid twisting your ankle and falling or sliding down the trail and falling. All the while in hot, dry conditions. An experience in paradise not to be missed. Oh, and I would be remiss if I did not mention that every bush, tree and vine along the routs are replete with very nasty thorns—don’t even get me started on cacti!
