We motored away from Christmas Cove in the weather that we would see for the rest of the week: alternating sunshine and sudden heavy rain. We made a quick stop in Cruz Bay to pick up some provisions.
It looks like a nice little town to visit, but we were city-ed out from Charlotte Amalie and in the mood for some nature. So we motored around the corner to pick up a mooring ball in Hawksnest Bay, and took the cat in for a walk on the beach.
Captain does not like beaches. He does not like sand. He very much does not like the sound of crashing water. We are working on these things, but in the meantime, he was very happy to be back on the boat.
Hawksnest is a very pretty spot, but it was also very rolly. So after a night of being rocked to sleep a bit more aggressively than we’d have preferred, we continued on to Maho bay, passing by Trunk Bay and some other pretty beaches.
We took some of the morning to run the watermaker and do an inventory, and with some sadness, threw away some sour patch kids that had not survived the Luperon summer. Captain made sure to help with both of these tasks.
Maho is adjacent to Francis Bay, which is the only place where megayachts are allowed to anchor, so we consistently had some large neighbors, along with the many charter catamarans coming and going from the adjacent moorings.
We had a nice trip around the bay via paddleboard (sans Captain), and were treated to a lovely sunset.
The next day, we took the boards into Francis beach for a walk – again without the reluctant Captain.
And we went snorkeling, because we’d seen too many turtles from the boards to miss swimming with them. The first stop? A curious barracuda skulking in the shade under the boat.
And then we swam in towards the shore, and did we see some turtles! And some stingrays, and some other little fishes too. But mostly, the impressive thing was the turtles, which were happy to munch on the grass and completely ignore the humans. Even in just a couple feet of water, it’s evident that we need to spring for a red filter for the GoPro. Added to the list for Sint Maartin…
The next morning, we took one last walk on the beach, and then got back to the boat just before it started to pour. You can see Villa in the background, she’s the tiny-looking boat.
Same weather, all week. So we waited about half an hour for the sun to come back out, and then turned north to sail to our first stop in the BVIs.
Endlessly beautiful, per usual!