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