The Washboard Laundromat

The Washboard Laundromat

Wednesday 29th and Thursday 30th January, 2025

On Wednesday morning, we left SaltPond Bay and started west toward Charlotte Amalie.  The winds were light and behind the beam.  We tried to sail, at times the wind would gust up a little and we’d be doing five knots.  Slowly the wind got lighter and lighter.  When our speed dropped below 3 knots, we gave up and motored.  On our way into the harbor we dropped the main, while going down wind.  There wasn’t much breeze!  We called the fuel dock and arranged to come in for diesel and water.  

Three giant cruise ships were tied up to the dock parallel to the fuel dock.  As they were stationary, those ships weren’t a problem.  However, there were rafts of tour boats, dive boats and large catamarans trying to come into the commercial dock next to the cruise ships to load or unload passengers.  It was chaotic.  We tied up at the fuel dock successfully and started with the water tanks.  The dock hand who was helping us jumped into his golf cart and vanished.  Once we had filled with water we hung around hoping for the guy to return.  Eventually, a different chap came along and unlocked the fuel pump. We filled our tank and some jerry cans.  Again we had to wait for the original dock hand who had the reading of the water meter that would allow us to pay our bill.  While it was hot on the dock, we were almost pleased to wait as it allowed some of the tour boat traffic to die down.  We managed to get off the dock, in reverse, and avoided hitting both the mega-yacht behind us and the large catamaran that had tied up in front of us.  A three point turn in the alleyway, got us motoring in forward.  There were still several tour boats waiting their turn to load up cruise ship passengers.  Anchoring was successful!

We went to shore and walked along to Customs and Immigration.  While we and the boat can depart without needing to check-out, it’s unclear if having two UK passport holders on board will change the situation.  Despite and early phone call and this in-person visit, no one seems to have a clue what we need to do.  I think the USVI may not care but who knows what the BVI will make of it all…. A spot of re-provisioning rounded out our afternoon.  We ate dinner at a fancy Spanish restaurant—delicious and pricey.  In my opinion, any restaurant where the wait staff are male is likely to be somewhat more expensive.

This morning we bundled up all the laundry and went to shore.  Returning to the Washboard Laundromat seemed like something of a homecoming.  It’s quite the spot.  There are many washers in different sizes.  The double and triple loaders are along one wall.  What’s interesting is that each has a round door to access the drum and  a small panel with instructions.  However, other than the instruction panel, there are no front panels to the washers.  You can see belts whizzing around behind the drum.  It’s like nothing I’ve seen elsewhere.  Luckily for us, the laundromat wasn’t nearly as busy as when we were there last.  The washing went fine but the drying was a protracted affair—no doubt we had WAY too much laundry in each dryer.  After four hours we were back on board for a late lunch.  After putting away the washing and doing the lunch dishes, we started on boat cleaning.  As you can see, it was a red-letter day of fun activities!  The pre-dinner shower was definitely the highlight.

Gloria   

18 20.148 N, 64 55.758 W

At anchor in Charlotte Amalie harbor

Ditto

Ditto in B&W for those who appreciate that style!

The view down our companionway ... with red and blue lights on inside for effect! If you look carefully you can see Gloria sitting in her favorite spot on the starboard settee with feet on the mast (until it starts lightening!)

Exploring New Places

Exploring New Places

Sunday 26th - Tuesday 28th January 2025

We’ve had a great week cruising St John. It’s been fun to re-visit places that we have been before, such as Christmas Cove and Francis Bay, but it’s also been fabulous to explore some new and lovely places. When we have visited the Annaberg Plantation previously we thought that Leinster Bay looked a little forbidding, with a lot of shallow water and swells rolling in from the northeast. What we hadn’t realized until we hiked further along the coast is that there is a beautiful, well protected cove on the east end of the Bay. The motor along the Francis Drake Channel from Francis Bay to Leinster Bay was only about 2 miles, but it was fierce with 20 knot winds and short steep waves on the nose. We were really happy to find a number of moorings free and after some dithering we settled on one close to both the shore and Waterlemon Key. Both of these features combine to provide protection against the swells, and although we twisted and turned on our mooring, it was pretty comfortable. 

Snorkeling off Waterlemon Key was beautiful. However, the best area is on the north-west side of the island and the currents were really strong. It took some effort to swim back to where we came from and I found it a bit frightening. On Monday morning we took the dinghy into shore and hiked up to the ruins above the Bay. It wasn’t a long hike, but what an amazing view! Later in the afternoon we took the dinghy part way down the Bay and snorkeled the transition from shallow to deeper water. The visibility was incredible and again we saw lots of fish, including several Nassau grouper, a Tiger grouper (maybe!) and a large stingray. We certainly haven’t seen every species of fish in our guide books, but we feel that we have now seen the majority. We struggle somewhat with the identification of some types (e.g. grouper), but I think that’s partly that we are surface snorkelers, rather than diving down to see the deeper fish from their side.

This morning we headed back out into the Francis Drake Channel and motor-sailed our way eastwards around the tip of St John, again in steep waves with much spray and the occasional “slamming”, but soon enough we were able to turn south and sail the remaining way to Saltpond Bay on the south east coast. You have to be careful to avoid some rocks but once inside we were delighted to find a free mooring ball. In fact there are now only two balls remaining from the original six, so we got lucky. The water is a pristine cobalt blue and it’s a fabulous location. We took the dinghy into the beach and hiked the trail up to Rams Head. This was another excellent trail with fantastic views in all directions. It’s a little bit rolly here in the Bay, but we think it’s comfortable enough for the night. The other boat left and now we are in splendid isolation. We had a swim off the boat (for me au naturelle of course!), showered off in the cockpit, and are looking forward to a peaceful night.

I should mention that no anchoring is allowed in the National Park. All the moorings are first come - first served and cost $26 per night … BUT … if you have a Golden Age Pass, which Gloria does ($80 for a lifetime - the best deal EVER), the moorings are half price, or $13 for those of you who are too lazy to access the calculators on your phones! (Seriously, after teaching at FSU, it seems like mental arithmetic may be a thing of the past.)

That’s it for now, beers and dinner await.

Mike

18 18.475 N, 64 42.437 W

Ruins halfway up the hill overlooking Leinster Bay (note Cotinga left of the arch)

View through the arch

Gloria - overlooking Leinster Bay with Watermelon Key clearly visible to her side

What an astonishing view from the top - Watermelon Key provides additional protection from swells from the northeast. (Note the ring of white markers all the way around Watermelon Key that designate a boat-free swim area)

A lizard hanging out on a termite nest 

The same lizard - I think he (she) must be capable of changing color to adapt to the environment, because the face looks so different from this angle. Maybe he (she) was molting ??

Cotinga on a mooring in Saltpond Bay - pristine, blue water but a little rolly

Looking back on the Rams Head trail - we sailed south west across the water in the right hand side of the photo, before turning north around Rams Head into Saltpond Bay

The walk was reminiscent of Antigua with lots of cacti on the hills above the ocean

St. John revisited

St. John revisited

Thursday 23rd and Friday 24th January, 2025

We departed Christmas Cove at nine AM and motored through the choppy Current Cut.  We continued toward St. John and eventually rounded the point north of Hawks Nest Cove.  The first mooring we picked up seemed a bit turbulent, so we dropped that one and picked up another closer in to shore.  We hung around reading our books.  After a while, we found that there was more motion at the second mooring than we could really imagine enjoying overnight and we decided to bail on Hawks Nest Bay. We dropped the mooring and motored further east to Francis Bay.  Our worries over finding an open mooring were soon dispelled, picking one was something of a tough choice.  No sooner had we secured Cotinga to the mooring, then the rain began. Multiple squalls passed through during the afternoon.  Mike became restless, so we put the engine on the dinghy and he set off to scope out the area (and pay our mooring fee).  

Upon his return, we decided to go snorkeling off Maho Point (which separates Maho and Francis Bays).  A light rain was falling as we got into the water.  We swam around the point as the rain intensified.  We were rewarded with several turtle sightings.  The largest turtle we saw had a remora on its shell.  That was not something I had expected.  The more I thought about it, the more it seemed that the turtle must be suffering dragging this quite sizable fish on its back.  We also saw several large French Angel fish and Gray Angel fish.  It seemed to me that many of the fish were quite a bit larger than we’d seen at other sites.  As always, there were a few things that we couldn’t ID. It was still drizzling and a bit windy when we got back to Cotinga.  The al fresco showers cooled us even further than the snorkeling had!  We were both glad to get below and dry off.

On Friday, we decided to take a walk.  Our boat neighbors suggested that there was a good hike from Maho Bay.  When we got the dinghy ashore on the beach at Maho, we checked the Alltrails App for the recommended walk— too uphill for my liking! Maybe another day when we have some lunch and extra water with us.  We set off along the road toward Francis Bay and the Annaberg Sugar Plantation ruins.  At the entrance to Annaberg, we found ourselves in the middle of a school trip of kids (maybe six or seven year olds).  We chose to walk on a path to Leinster Bay.  That’s a spot we are thinking of visiting in the boat, it looks gorgeous with possibilities for snorkeling.  We walked around Annaberg Plantation on the way back, and by the time we walked back to Maho Bay, we were hungry and tired.  We had heard that the south end of Maho Bay had some bars and restaurants, so we carried on walking and had some lunch.  I was feeling full and sleepy on the walk back to the dinghy.  Re-launching the dinghy is always a bit exciting, thankfully the engine started up well, despite having been tipped up for several hours. Now we need to decide what to do about dinner (maybe not much) and whether to stay another day in Francis Bay.   

18 21.929 N, 64 44.806 W

Gloria

Postscript: We made French crepes for supper - totally excellent!

Leinster Bay

The mooring field at Leinster Bay

The west end of Leinster Bay

Annaberg Plantation Mill

Rooster at Maho Beach cafe

Charlotte Amalie and Christmas Cove

Charlotte Amalie and Christmas Cove

Tuesday 21st - Wednesday 22nd January 2025

... and now for something a little more uplifting ! ...

Charlotte Amalie is a colorful and bustling city. We were mostly there to replenish our stores but we also tried to make the most of being in town. 

The food shopping was better than we remembered from our previous visits. The ‘Fruit Bowl’ has an excellent range of produce at reasonable prices. “Pueblo’ has a decent range of meat and staples, and ‘Moes Fresh Market’ has all sorts of fantastic things, mostly at an exorbitant price! We are now well stocked in good shape for the week ahead. 

We also took the opportunity to eat out and had an excellent meal at the ‘French Quarter Bistro’, a hearty barbecue lunch at the ‘Smoking Rooster’ and some fine tacos at ‘Agave’. Anyone who says we are all about food is understating the situation! 

The other particularly memorable thing we did was take a bus from Charlotte Amalie over to Red Hook and back. The buses are more like safari trucks than what you might typically imagine. You clamber on board these open sided vehicles, say good morning / afternoon to everyone on board and get your butt down on the bench quickly before the driver takes off at breakneck speed. There are no signs as to where the bus is headed - in our case we just hopped on board and followed along on Google maps. It was quite the adventure.

For most of our on-shore activities we took the ‘Dainty Dog’ into the dinghy docks at the super-yacht marina. This worked out great, most of the time, but it is so jammed with dinghies that on one occasion it took us twenty minutes of re-tying lines and pushing and shoving to be able to get off the dock. The harbor itself is enormous, and on paper, it looks like it should be well protected from all directions except the south. However, for some reason there is quite a lot of roll and it isn’t always the most comfortable place to be. This morning we went into the super-yacht marina and topped up our water tanks and then left for Christmas Cove, about five miles to the east. We accomplished this by motoring hard into the wind and 5 foot swells. After our previous experience with the dinghy on the davits (nearly getting swamped), we opted to put the outboard up on the rail and tow the dinghy behind us. This worked out better.

Christmas Cove is a magical place. It seems so peaceful after the hectic and noisy city. We couldn’t find a free mooring, but were easily able to anchor. The water is super-clear and this afternoon we had an outstanding snorkel trip around the small island that separates the two halves of the bay. On previous occasions we may not have found the best snorkeling locations, but today we hit the jackpot. We saw so many fish, including several that we haven’t seen previously (e.g. Grey angelfish and scrawled filefish), as well as a large octopus and several Caribbean squid. The highlight was when a large Spotted Eagle Ray swam right past - it was breathtaking.

We plan to spend the next several days cruising the National Park in St John, before returning to pick up our friends from the UK.

Mike

18 18.459N, 64 50.050 W

The colors of Charlotte Amalie

Public toilets at the Yacht Haven Grande marina

Quite the backdrop to a fire hydrant

Cool building, alleyway, steps and shutters 

There are a lot of building like this with crumbling walls, rotting woodwork and colorful paint!

I think the floor of the balcony is missing!

Yellow wall and white shutters

Purple wall and black shutters

The side of a liquor distribution truck

The boats are back in town ... practicing life-raft drill. note the first of these behemoths carries 2600+ people and 1000+ crew!

Another morning, another set of massive cruise liners, a $20 million super-yacht and Cotinga filling up with water. We didn't come close to hitting any of these other vessels!

The Crowning of a Turd

The Crowning of a Turd

Monday 20th January 2025

This is a sad day for America and the world as a whole. Not only are we inaugurating Donald the Digital Rapist, but in the cruelest of ironies, we chose to do it on the day we celebrate Martin Luther King. The contrast could not be more stark: Martin Luther King sacrificed his life in the pursuit of civil rights and a better America, whereas Donald Trump tried to sacrifice American democracy in the pursuit of his personal gain. 

At this point I think it is beyond question that Donald Trump is a pathological liar and bully; he is a cheat and a criminal; a sexual predator and a man who puts his own interest above the well being of any other person. Given the chance he would be a dictator, and we are close to fulfilling that aspiration. America was built on a system of checks and balances, but that system failed. Congress was too cowardly to hold him accountable for the January 6th insurrection and failed to impeach him; the courts were too slow and too easily deflected by political influence to complete the legal process. When you fail to stand up to a bully it only bolsters their ego and makes them more of a threat. It is scary to think about what happens now.

I hate Donald Trump with a passion, but I really despise the people who voted for him. How can a country be great if it’s people tell the world that lying, bullying, stealing, sexual assault, disregard for the law and trying to overthrow democracy don’t matter? Do Trump voters tell their children that it’s important not to lie, bully and steal? I imagine they do, which just makes them hypocrites, because clearly these principles weren’t important enough to change their vote. If their mother/sister/daughter was digitally raped would they look them in the eye and say “it doesn’t matter” - so why was this irrelevant when it wasn’t their relative? 

It has been many months now since the election and I have tried to distance myself from the situation. As far as possible I avoid reading any news articles relating to the incoming administration. We will see if the system of government, the designed balance of power, can step up and limit the excesses of this would-be dictator. He too will pass, but I am struggling to come to terms with the fact that in my chosen home country, the majority of the voting public thought that it was acceptable to discount the principles that I thought we all stood for, and elect this piece of shit. We no longer fly our American flag on Cotinga - we are too ashamed.

Mike

Return to Charlotte Amalie

Return to Charlotte Amalie

Friday 17 - Saturday 18 January 2025

It’s been really relaxing hanging out in Lameshure Bay. When we first tried to find a mooring there in the early hours of Tuesday morning it was completely full, but since then it has emptied out, and half the moorings are free. We think this location was particularly popular earlier in the week because it has great protection from the northerly swells that were prevalent at that time.

Yesterday we took the dinghy along the coast for half a mile or so and tied up to a dive buoy. (There is no anchoring within the National Park - even for dinghies). We had a fantastic snorkel along the rocky shore, with excellent visibility and a good number of fish. I get cold easily in the water and for the first time this season I wore a double wet suit, which kept me much warmer. Later in the afternoon we went to shore for a short walk. Our timing could have been better - it poured down and we hadn’t closed up the windows on Cotinga!

We have two weeks until our friends arrive and we are keen to continue cruising the marine waters of the St John National Park. However, it has been almost two weeks since we last did any shopping back in Antigua and our supplies are running short and we need to make a trip to Charlotte Amalie. On the other hand we hate to give up our hard-gained eastings, knowing that we will have to beat our way back into the trade winds to return to St John from St Thomas. Nonetheless, this morning we decided that we would drop the mooring and sail downwind to Charlotte Amalie and spend a few days there. As predicted, the already stiff trade winds intensified today and we had a wild and rolly ride down-wind with only the Genoa deployed and running the engine gently to charge the batteries and fridge. We had put the outboard motor back on the rail of Cotinga and hauled the dinghy up on to the davits. This is something we wouldn’t normally do offshore (we would put the dinghy on the foredeck), but we only had 12 miles or so to go. About half way through the journey we saw gusts up to 32 knots, and our top speed was 9.3 knots surfing down the waves. Unfortunately, the swells were bad enough that the dinghy ended up scooping up a load of seawater from a large wave from behind. There was no harm done, but it was a salutary lesson not to sail offshore with the dinghy on the davits, and when we do use the davits to try and raise the dinghy higher off the water.

Whilst the anchorage is very busy, we found a good open spot in about 30 feet of water, and anchored easily. We expect to be here a few days, stock up on provisions and then take advantage in a slight dip in the winds, predicted for midweek, to sail back eastwards to St John.

Mike

18 20.072 N, 64 55.637 W

A cactus on a point of land north of Lameshure Bay. The squalls that left us pretty damp have now passed to the west

The same cactus from above

...and from the side

Foil boarding in the harbor at Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas