Enjoying St. John, USVI

Enjoying St. John, USVI

Tuesday 15th and Wednesday 16th, January 2025

Tuesday was a hard day.  I had a couple of naps in the morning and then struggled to stay awake until a respectable hour—failed miserably! I’m not sure I did anything more arduous than washing a few dishes.

Wednesday morning we woke up and found that our bow was quite near to a catamaran. That boat had arrived during the afternoon on Tuesday and anchored quite near to us on our starboard side.  Seemingly, a change in wind direction caused them to be lying off our bow.  Eventually they swiveled away and finally pulled up their anchor and departed.  

We had noticed a strange tear on the genoa while on passage from St. Kitts.  After studying the area with the binoculars, we convinced ourselves that the tear was on the sunshade that is sewn to one side of the sail.  Rather than leave it to rip further, we decided to unfurl and partially drop the genoa to work on a repair.  We decided to take advantage of the calm conditions and dropped the sail before breakfast.  After breakfast, we applied some sail repair tape to the area of the rip.  The sunshade is made of Sunbrella and there was no obvious reason why this one section was torn.  Mike hand stitched the “patch” onto the sunshade, hoping to make the repair more secure. Putting the sail back up was more challenging as the wind was stronger than it had been first thing.  Finally we got all the sail into the slot on the furler and rolled the sail back.  Probably this will need a more permanent fix when we get back to New England.

In the afternoon, we summoned up some ambition and got our snorkel gear together.  We stopped by the catamaran called Anomaly to ask what the snorkeling was like.  While chatting to them, we invited them over for a drink in the late afternoon.  Our snorkel trip covered two areas with a dinghy ride in between.  We may not have done justice to the second location as we GOT COLD!  I’m sure it was all about the dinghy ride….

Later that afternoon, Allison and James from S/V Anomaly came over with their two boys—Theo and Oliver (ages 8 and 7).  We had met James while trying to check out of St. Kitts.  Like us, he seemed quite frustrated by the complex system.  Anomaly left just before us on Monday morning and got to Rendezvous Bay by one AM. They certainly made a faster trip than we did!  We enjoyed talking to the boys and trading stories of boating adventures and mishaps.

This morning we motored eastward to Lameshure Bay, where we had originally hoped to pick up a mooring on our arrival in St John.  To our amazement there was a mooring free! We are so happy to be here.  After lunch we went to shore to pay our mooring fee (a reduced price with the National Park pass) and go for a walk.  We walked south on a dirt road behind the beach.  The road became paved and very steep.  At the second switchback we saw the sign for the path.  Naturally it led steeply uphill for a considerable distance.  Then to my dismay the path went down hill.  We came to a point where we could see where the path was headed—further down hill.  I waited for Mike to investigate the views further along.  We retraced our steps to the dock and returned to Cotinga.

As with State and National Park campsites in the USA, the National Park mooring fields here in St John have volunteers who help visitors understand the rules etc. We spent a few minutes chatting to Alastair, the resident volunteer here in Lameshure Bay, when he came by in his dinghy.

Gloria

18 18.880 N, 64 43.377 W

Mike hand-stitching the repair to the sun cover on our genoa

The area to the east of Lameshure Bay

Gloria on the trail over the headland east of Lameshure Bay

Agave plant

Agave plant - close up

Hermit crab

Passage to St John, USVI

Passage to St John, USVI

Monday 13th - Tuesday 14th January 2025

On Monday morning there was a steady stream of boats leaving the anchorage in Ballast Bay, St Kitts. We all look at similar weather forecasts and know that a prolonged period of strong trade-winds is on its way. We all needed to make a decision on whether to stay in St Kitts and wait for more benign conditions to return, or to move on before the seas became too gnarly. Some boats looked like they were heading north to St Martin or St Barts, A couple of boats, including ourselves, were headed to the Virgin Islands, and our friends Dean and Kris opted to stay put.

For our passage, the forecast turned out to be accurate. We needed to use the motor a little bit whilst in the shadow of St Kitts and St Eustatia, but once clear of the islands we had good wind. We had 10-15 knots more or less out of the north-east and our route was heading north-west so it was a good beam reach (occasionally a little forward of the beam, sometimes a little behind). Once we passed the island of Saba we opted to put a reef in the main and also in the Genoa. It wasn’t that we were so much overpowered, but we were going much faster than anticipated ( > 7 knots) and we didn’t want to arrive in the US Virgin Islands whilst it was still dark. Even with both sails reefed we were making great speed, and the seas, whilst a little bumpy, weren’t too bad. In the end it took us 22 hours to complete the 140 nautical mile passage. We slowed right down for the last 10 miles just so we didn’t arrive too early.

On passage we ate pate, cheese, crackers and vegetables for lunch, then African chicken and peanut stew for dinner. We pre-made the stew the day before, which was a smart move, and it was really delicious. Once the sun set Gloria and I alternated 2 hour watches, whilst the other person was resting / sleeping on bench in the cockpit. Everything went well, but it’s still an exhausting experience because you really don’t get much sleep.

Once we arrived at St John we found that all the National Park moorings in Great Lameshur Bay were already taken, so we moved a couple of miles eastwards (just to the west of the park) and anchored in Rendezvous Bay. I have to say that it is quite lovely here. We used the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP Roam) App for the first time, to check-in. Initially, it was a little cumbersome to figure out, partly because we needed to set up a purchasing account on the US government website in order to buy a “decal” for the boat. This is like a fee for taking your boat, plane or car across the border and we have never heard of it before. However, once that was sorted and the forms filled in on CBP-Roam, it was just a click of a button to submit our arrival application. We got an immediate response to say it had been received and evaluation was pending, then 30 minutes later a second message (and email) to confirm our entry had been approved. This is a great system that will allow us to tour the Spanish Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and return to the USA without having to show up in person at an official port of entry.

So now we have some time to explore the USVI before our friends arrive on February 1st.

Mike

18 18.939 N, 64 46.103 W

The marina buildings atChristophe Harbor, St Kitts

On Sunday, our final day in St Kitts, we took a short walk over to the east side of the island and walked around this lovely bay and out to the headland on the right hand side

We were stunned to see a troop of monkeys - clearly wild, but presumably not native originally

Saba from our closest point of approach (5 miles). This is wild and weird looking place. There appears to be no well protected harbor or all-weather dock, and yet people live on the precipitous slopes of the island

The sun sets as we make our way north-west and St John.

The view across the deckas we sail through the night. It was a full moon, so incredibly bright. Nonetheless this and photo below are ~ 60 second exposures. Just holding the tripod steady in the bouncy conditions was a challenge

The cockpit at night - you can see Gloria trying to get some rest on the port side bench. The chart plotter (left) and autopilot control (right) are both lit up on the pedestal and you can see the reef in the main sail

The moon reflecting on the water was beautiful. You can really only capture these abstract stryle shots because the exposures are long and even though the camera is on a tripod there is so much boat motion.

!

Sunset the evening before the passage ... "orange" sky at night, sailors delight

Passages and Planning

Passages and Planning

Friday 10th - Sunday 12th January, 2025

The planning for our brief trip to Montserrat could not have gone better. We got the calm weather we needed to anchor safely and comfortably at Little Bay for two nights, and we had enough time on Friday to get to Nevis and St Kitts before the northerly winds and swells returned. We have been fortunate over the past year to have had some fantastic sails between islands. Our passage from Montserrat to Nevis was not one of them! In fact it wasn’t a sail at all. We raised our main sail whilst still at anchor and had the hook up by 6.40am. We knew there wouldn’t be much wind, but the main sail can help reduce the roll even in light winds. As it turned out there was no wind …none. For five hours, traveling thirty nautical miles, the true wind never reached 5 knots. The seas were like glass and in fact it was a really magical experience. We saw lots of masked boobies and brown boobies, that we suspect nest on the island of Redonda. The highlight was when we were joined by a pod of dolphins, swimming alongside the bow of Cotinga for a few minutes. Redonda itself looked stark, dramatic and isolated, rising out of the sea with swells crashing all around. Behind us we could see the entire island of Montserrat with smoke / steam drifting from the top of the volcano. We did hook a fish, possibly a mahi-mahi, but sadly we didn’t land it. As I was hauling in the line Gloria saw it jump and then it was gone. Bummer! At one point, a squall passed close by, dousing us with a little rain, but doing nothing in terms of wind.

As we rounded the south west shore of Nevis, the predicted winds started to fill in from the north, right on the nose. We were fortunate not to have to beat against those all the way from Montserrat. We opted to head up to Ballast Bay on the south west shore of St Kitts where we hoped to have decent protection from building northerly swells, as well as dinghy access to the super-yacht marina at Christophe Harbor where we could check in. Interestingly, Nevis and St Kitts has the most complicated immigration process of any of the Caribbean nations. You need to fill in three separate sets of forms on-line, or to be more precise, for one of the forms (eAPIS) you need to download an excel spreadsheet template, fill-that in and upload the completed document. The last part turned out to be impossible with a Mac laptop, even when I exported an excel format file from ‘numbers’. Thankfully, the marina office were very helpful and filled-in that form for us.

We had planned to spend up to a week in Nevis and St Kitts before making a long (120 nm) passage to St Croix, but re-evaluation of the marine forecast changed our plans. The current northerly winds and large swells are expected to settle down by Monday, but starting on Tuesday, very strong north-easterly winds and waves are likely to develop and continue for at least a week or ten days. Chris Parker (marine weather forecaster that we subscribe to) described these as being the strongest yet this winter and advised sailors looking for moderate conditions to complete passages ahead of their arrival. Although the sailing would be off the wind (20 - 25 knots, 90 - 135 degrees to our direction of travel), we do not relish the prospect of short period 9-foot seas. Upon closer inspection we don’t think either of the St Croix harbors would be safe (Christiansted on the north coast) or comfortable (Frederiksted - open anchorage on the west coast) for an extended period of strong north-easterly winds. Consequently we have decided to leave early and take the opportunity of a narrow milder weather window and sail overnight Monday through Tuesday directly for St Johns or St Thomas in the USVI. We plan to check-out today (Sunday) and leave tomorrow morning. If all goes well, our next blog post will be from there. 

(We do still want to visit St Croix and If the weather cooperates, we may try and make a side trip back there once conditions moderate, assuming we have time before our friends Louise and Hugh arrive in St Thomas on Feb 1st.)

Mike

17 14.443 N, 62 39.599 W

Dead calm on route to Nevis - the uninhabited island of Redonda up ahead

A nearby squall ... it was incredibly atmospheric out on the ocean under these conditions

Dolphins off the bow

Dolphin under water, off the side of Cotinga (split-tone B&W)

Both of us were up at the bow watching the dolphins whilst the autopilot steered the boat. Gloria (and I) were so happy to see these amazing animals

Our closest point of approach to Redonda

Looking back to Montserrat with a trail of smoke / steam coming off the volcano on the right of the picture

The super-yacht marina at Christophe Harbor. It is situated in the great salt pond behind the beach, with access via a channel that was blasted through. We are anchored outside of the beach

Montserrat - part 2: The Volcanic Crisis

Montserrat - part 2: The Volcanic Crisis

Wednesday 8th - Thursday 9th January, 2025

Our friends arrived a little after us and we arranged to meet for an island tour at 9am on Thursday.

Our driver, Leslie met us outside the dock area and we piled into his car. We made our way through various little settlements that had been established after the eruption of 1995.  Our first objective was the Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO).  Here we got our first really good view of the Soufriere Hills Volcano.  Small plumes of smoke or steam could be seen issuing from the side of the mountain. These emissions, coupled with some cloud, meant that the summit was actually hidden at this point, but you get get a sense of the size of the volcano and it’s dominance over the surrounding area. Inside the observatory, we watched a short film about the volcanic activity which has been a major factor on life on this island since the mid 1990s. The local people refer to it as the ‘volcanic crisis’. Footage from daylight hours showed large plumes of ash and gasses moving rapidly down the slopes of the mountain.  Similar footage taken at night revealed the presence of super heated lava and rocks traveling along with the ash plumes.  Also shown were before and after footage of the city of Plymouth.  

Our guide drove us into the restricted zone around Plymouth. This involved pre-planning on his part - seeking an application form the local police. We were met at the entrance to the zone 5 exclusion area by a lady who checked us in and provided our driver with a VHF radio. He called the MVO for authorization to enter, confirming the number of people and time of entry.  While much of the ash has been covered with vegetation in the almost 30 years since the town was abandoned, you could detect that the soil level was near the roof on many of the abandoned buildings that we walked past.  As we drove out toward the large dock, Leslie pointed out the port office building several hundred feet back from the portion of the dock that was still visible.  The coastline now extends much further into the ocean than it did before the recent eruptions. It was amazing to see the devastation but also to look up at the mountain from different sides and see areas where the ash flows are still obvious. 

The cone has grown and been blasted away several times in the past three decades. At its peak, the volcano was generating more than 30 cubic meters of new material (ash and rock) per second! 19 people have died during the ‘volcanic crisis’, but our guide stated that they were all in areas that had been declared unsafe and evacuated. A large part of the population has since moved away from the island and now fewer than 5,000 people remain, perhaps a third of the number prior to the eruptions. The volcano is still visibly active, constantly spewing out steam and ash, but what to expect in terms of future eruptions is not known. There is constant monitoring and evaluation, but it seems extremely unlikely that the southern part of the island, including the former capital Plymouth, will be re-settled in our lifetime.

We finished up the day with a visit to the botanical garden and lunch at shore side restaurant overlooking Little Bay.

Gloria

Soufriere Hills Volcano from the Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO)

Dramatic but difficult to photograph looking into the sun with steam and cloud

Our taxi on the road in the former capital Plymouth

The volcano looms behind destroyed building

The former town of Plymouth, now substantially overgrown, on the slopes below Soufrierre Hills Volcano. Photo taken from the former cruise ship dock.

The MVO

A building in Plymouth - possibly a former school

The front wall held up, but the outside was buried in ash

A former set of shops in Plymouth

The colorful paint is still visible on the woodwork and pieces of volcanic rock lie round about

An old church (it wa snot allowed to wander around the grounds)

The lady checking people in / out of the exclusion zone around Plymouth

Our tour guide Leslie - a lovely man

Dean, Kris and Gloria at lunch after the tour

Montserrat - part1: The Little Bay Experience

Montserrat - part 1: The Little Bay Experience

Wednesday 8th - Thursday 9th January, 2025

We have quite a few photos from our trip to Montserrat and therefore have decided to split the blog into two parts - the experience of staying in Little Bay and the day trip to the volcano.

Montserrat has an active volcano.  In 1995, the volcano erupted.  Further activity and a major eruption in 1997 led to the evacuation and eventual destruction of the capital, Plymouth.  Several more eruptions occurred  in 2003, 2006 and a very large event in 2010. The government has created exclusion zones and moved the residents to the northern portion of the island. Seeing the volcano and it’s effects on life in Montserrat was one of the prime reasons for visiting the island.

However, having seen a documentary about a volcano disaster in New Zealand, I had some reservations about our proposed trip to Montserrat.  Added to the anxiety over volcanic eruptions, was the worry about the anchorage.  There is only a portion of the island that is “open” and Little Bay (that has Customs and Immigration) has a reputation of being “untenable” in certain conditions, particularly when there is a northerly swell.  The days leading up to the passage, the forecasts were all about the northerly swells!  This turns out to be the normal situation for this time of year, as Atlantic storms dip south, impacting the northern Caribbean. However, the marine forecast was for two days of light winds and small, long period northerly swells, before picking up again later on Friday. It seemed there might be a window of opportunity. On Wednesday morning as we were getting ready to hoist the anchor, our friends Kris and Dean from S/V Charm motored over to say that they also thought that conditions would be okay in Little Bay.  This encouraged me somewhat.  

We set off in very light winds, expecting to motor all the way.  After a bit the breeze filled in at about 10-13 knots. We enjoyed a lovely sail until nearing the north of Montserrat, when, much to our surprise, we caught a fish!  We rolled up the genoa to slow the boat and hauled in the line.  It was a 3 foot barracuda.  While we have eaten barracuda we always worry about cigueterra poisoning. Having hauled it onto the side deck we were able to get the hook out easily and so we threw it back.  As we rounded the northern headland of Montserrat we were dismayed by the surf crashing into the coast. This didn’t seem altogether promising. We motored the rest of the way and anchored in Little Bay.  There were sizable swells rolling in and crashing on the beach and nearby cliffs, but on the whole we are not being subjected to the metronome-like rolling that is really uncomfortable. Mike did the check in, while I stayed onboard.  During this process Mike was informed that we need to move our anchoring spot as we were blocking access to the pier for larger vessels. Shortly after he returned, a cargo ship pulled into the Bay and successfully turned around and tied up to the pier - all before we moved Cotinga (which was never close to being in the way)! Nonetheless, we did pull up the hook and re-anchor a little further down the coast. The depth was ~32 feet so we had out 125 feet of chain. Thankfully the holding seemed fine and we never drifted far during our stay. 

Both nights we stayed in Little Bay were somewhat rolly, but by no means the worst anchorage we have stayed at. Having said that, the forecast were correct and the seas looked like a mirror by Thursday morning. It was a pretty atmospheric place to stay, but nowhere I would like to be in any sort of bad weather.

Gloria

Sailing from Antigua to Montserrat on a broad reach under lovely conditions

Little Bay, Montserrat from Cotinga

Long period swells crash as surf on the nearby cliffs

Cotinga at anchor in Little Bay under perfect conditions

Little Bay, Montserrat from the hills above

The view towards Redonda and Nevis (our next destination) at dusk

Fishing vessel after sunset

Sunset on Cotinga, taken on a tripod, the roll blurs the background

Two shots combined in Photoshop (using 'darker color' overlay) creates this abstract image