U.S. Virgin Islands

My apologies to everyone for taking so long to update the Blog. After leaving the British Virgin Islands and the next stop was the U.S. Virgin Islands. We cleared in at Cruz Bay, St. John and spent our first night at a wonderful place called Hawkesnest Bay. The highlight in this bay was discovered when I was preparing to go snorkeling. Under our boat were three large creatures that resembled sharks. After a few deep breathes and Alex deciding she needed to be able to tell her friends that she swam with sharks we jumped into the water, though not straying far from the ladder in case we needed a quick exit. What we discovered was a type of Remora; creatures that resembled sharks but with slits on the top of their heads for attaching onto larger creatures. Theses guys were about 2 ½ feet long and stayed circling under our boat and occasionally attached themselves to one of the hulls. Alex ditched me when we decided they weren’t sharks and I went off to explore the shoreline on my own. St. John’s has an extensive marine park and I am sure this contributed greatly to the volume of sea life. We rarely ventured out onto the deck without spotting one or more turtles. In addition to the Remoras we were also visited by a larger specimen of the same type. It was approximately 3 ½ feet and we believed it to be a Cobia.

Our next stop in the US Virgin Islands was Charlotte Amelie on St. Thomas. Now if you have ever been on a Caribbean cruise you would most likely of stopped here. It is cruise ship central and the waterfront shopping is definitely geared to the cruise ships. It was amazing to watch the cruise ships come and go, and watching them parallel park while avoiding the yachts parked too close. One day in this place was enough for us though I am sure the girls could have spent more time and money shopping.