The Virgin Islands - March 2004

We decided to start our cruise of the Virgin Islands by going West and working back. This was partly because if you go to the USVIs and then Puerto Rico you have to clear in twice, whereas the other way you only have to clear in once since the USVIs are a tax free zone.

Who owns what
The United States Virgin Islands comprise St. John, St. Thomas and St. Croix. These were originally colonised by the Danes, but they sold them to the US in 1917 and they became dependent territories.

Puerto Rico is well known as a US territory, but confusingly two islands which it embraces – Calebra and Vieques – are generally known as the Spanish Virgin Islands, even though they now have nothing to do with Spain.

That leaves us with the British Virgin Islands, which lie just a few miles away from St. Thomas and St. John and comprise Virgin Gorda, Tortola, Anegada and a whole lot of smaller islands.

Anguilla to Calebra
Anguilla to Calebra is a run of about 130 miles and too far to cover in daylight, so we set off early and overnighted at Virgin Gorda before going on 

On the way over we caught a lovely mahi mahi (or dolphin fish) which at 43” is our biggest haul yet, and took a bit of landing. This is one of our favourite eating fishes and we’ve had a lot of meals out of those 43 inches!

We’d hoped to spend a few days in Calebra but having arrived we were told that because our boat was Maltese flagged we could not clear in there and had to go to Fajardo on the East coast of Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico
The East coast of Puerto Rico has few sheltered anchorages and since we decided we wanted to hire a car to explore the interior we put into Puerto Del Ray by Fajardo. This 1,000 berth marina is the largest in the Caribbean and very safe and well organised. Once we got the car we went to the Customs in Fajardo who told us we should have cleared in at Calebra as we originally tried to do!

That sorted we spent the day in San Juan the capital city. Although surrounded by modern US-style grot old San Juan was a delightful surprise, for it is a very elegant and charming city, with lovely old town houses, a huge fort and many fine restaurants. For the first time since we left the Med we felt we were back in ‘café society’ as we enjoyed a fine meal at one of the local brasseries.

Puerto Rico also boasts “the only rainforest in US territory” at El Yunque. This has for many years been a national park and thanks to American money is beautifully looked after. There is a fine visitor centre and lots of hiking trails all of which are paved! We took a trail described as ‘challenging’ but it was hard to see why other than that it was a climb of several hundred feet (with steps where it got steep). Our destination was a stone watchtower and from the top were magnificent views to the South, East and North coasts as well as the interior to the West.

Vieques
We were keen to visit the island of Vieques as it was a bomb site. For years Vieques (or most of it anyway) was used by the US military for target practice, beach landing practice and war games of all kinds. But a few years ago the Pentagon relented under public pressure and pulled out, leaving a beautiful island which has seen very little development and has perfect white sand beaches and lovely bays.

Other than at the weekends when the Puerto Ricans power over, there are few yachts here and we had the place mostly to ourselves. A particular highlight was Mosquito Bay, billed as “the world’s most bioluminescent bay”. We anchored just in the mouth and dinghied in at night. The turbulence of the outboard was amazingly bright but it was best when I shut it off and we just paddled. The phosphorescence dripping off the paddles was extraordinary. You could also see the fish whizzing about because they left luminous trails. On one occasion quite a big fish came straight towards the boat and it was rather like watching those torpedo trails in old war movies. "Phew, lucky shave chaps, passed right under us" I thought as the trail streaked out the other side!

St. Croix
From Vieques we headed to St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands. St. Croix lies to the South of the rest of the US/British Virgins and so is a bit on its own and very laid back. We put in at Christiansted which does not see cruise ships and is a charming Danish colonial town faithfully preserved. The Danes and the Dutch seem to have built very pretty forts compared to the British and the French but evidently a posting here was not something to look forward to. In the fort museum an exhibition spoke of mutinies among the conscripts and a big story was made out of a soldier who had spent 13 years on the island “which shows that not everyone disliked their posting”.

St. Thomas
Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas could be very like Chrstiansted.. It too has the pretty houses and the fort. But today it is completely different entirely because it is full of cruise ships. We never saw less than five and it said to be able to take up to eleven. The problem with this is that the town is totally geared towards the ships and no longer has a real ‘living’ town centre. Instead the main street is choked with taxis touting for business from the passengers and the shops are an endless series of jewellers, clothes stores, wine merchants and restaurants.

St. John
Five miles away St. John is completely different again. It takes no cruise ships; any yachts over 120 feet are restricted to one anchorage only and two thirds of St. John is a national park with very strict building controls. The result is idyllic unspoiled beaches, beautifully clean clear water, great snorkelling – and you can pay US$1m if you want a building lot.

We liked St. John and planned to spend about ten days there but after just a few our generator packed up. The best place to get it fixed was St. Maarten where we were due in a couple of weeks anyway to pick up guests. With Easter coming up and stronger headwinds predicted we decided it was best to head down without delay, so we left early, but fully intending to come back another time.