Caribbean Vacation to unwind and relax

July 12, 2021July 12, 2021

Exploring Caneel Beach by Dinghy

Scott and I decided to rent a dinghy for the day and explore the northern beaches of St. John, including Caneel Beach. The dinghy rentals were very affordable and you had the freedom to go where ever you chose (following their guidelines of course).

We started the morning having breakfast at The Landing, which was very busy. They also have a deli counter, so we purchased sandwiches for our journey.

Wharfside Watersports Dinghy Rentals

Surprisingly, we went on-line to Wharfside Watersports the night before and were able to book a 12′ dinghy for $249/full day. They also offered larger Zodiak inflatables, but they were around $750/day. If you want anything extra, like a cooler or snorkel gear, you can rent that too.

Once you arrive, they have you do an online registration about yourself and experience, which takes about 5 min.

From there they give you a map and recommended beaches. Since the beaches we could visit were on the northern end of the island, they did have a few cautions for us. We were allowed to go all the way to Maho Beach (where the turtles were abundant), but they warned us that the northern winds could easily make for rough seas and landing at the beach. More on that later.

Their shop also offers lots of gift items and beach accessories.

The staff was super helpful at the beach. They give you a quick rundown on the motor and then they push you off.

Scott and I left Cruz Bay and headed to what we thought was Hawksnest Beach. We pulled up and it was just a nice quiet sandy beach, with no one around.

The first beach we landed, was gorgeous, but it was ALL sand, so we knew the snorkeling wouldn’t have any marine life.

After checking things out, we decided to hop back into the dinghy and head east towards Maho. As we entered the channel, the seas were getting a bit rough and I was sitting on the bow. Within a few minutes cruising fast, the dinghy caught some air and we slammed down hard. This wreaked havoc on my already bad back. Great. I told Scott I didn’t feel comfortable cruising into large waves in a 12′ dinghy, so we headed to Caneel Beach instead.

Wharfide had recommended Caneel Beach, but now looking at Google, I wonder if we were at the wrong beach, yet again? Either way, we loved where we ended up for the day.

Caneel Beach

As we pulled up to the beach, we immediately saw the abandoned Caneel Bay Resort. Sadly the resort was destroyed by Hurricanes Maria and Irma in 2017. The owners only have two years left on their lease, so they are waiting until then to find out if they will renew their lease before they invest money into rebuilding it. The restaurant (ZoZo’s) did survive and they only serve lunch. You can only access it by dinghy or small boat.

Walking around the property, it was pretty sad to see all of the abandoned buildings. It had to be an amazing resort. They did still have a security guard on the property, watching our every move.

Scott would normally have gotten some drone footage, but this resort was located inside the National Park, where drones are prohibited. I was amazed to how clear and blue the water was everywhere we went.

There was a good size anchorage in Caneel Bay with about twenty boats anchored. Notice the power cat below – that’s what we are chartering next February in the BVIs.

We had a small picnic lunch, then did some snorkeling (be sure to check out our YouTube video below) and then headed back to Cruz Bay after about four hours.

One thing I noticed during our entire trip, was this long line of clouds. It was really cool.

Finishing the Day

Before we returned the dinghy, we decided to head towards our resort at Gallows Bay and check out the Lagoon 77 that was anchored outside our room. It was gorgeous. It’s available for rent by Chillaxinaxin’ Charters.

For dinner, we decided to head into town towards Mongoose Junction. This is a small retail complex, about 4 blocks from the center of Cruz Bay. It was built of stone and surrounded by trees, so it reminded us of a treehouse.

Inside, there were a number of great restaurants and shops. After checking everything out, we had dinner at 1864, which was outstanding.

We did make dinner reservations the day we arrived, so we recommend doing that when you visit. Mongoose Junction offers so many cool places, so be sure to check it out when you visit St. John.

Tomorrow we tour St. John by land

Tune in next week, as we hire a taxi for the day (and that is a story!) and tour the island by safari-like taxi. As always, thank you for following our journey. Be sure to subscribe to our blog and vlog to stay updated on our adventures. Follow us on social @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney. Until next time!

Cheers, Scott and Ally

June 28, 2021June 28, 2021

Arriving to St John by Ferry

After five days on St Croix, Scott and I said goodbye to Ben and Maria and headed to St John for a few days. We arrived very early at the airport terminal, to ensure our bags would make it on the plane (see our previous blog about weight). While we waited for our flight, we walked along the boardwalk in Christiansted and enjoyed the views.

We flew back to St Thomas on Seaborne Air and we had a great view of St Croix and sail boats cruising along the way.

I was shocked when we came into Charlotte Amalie, as the plane did not fly directly into the bay. Instead, it flew OVER the CITY and then into the bay, it scared the living daylights out of me.

St John Ferry Terminal

Before we left St Thomas, we made arrangements with a taxi driver for a pickup upon our return. Interestingly, he drove along the shoreline to Red Hook, which was the first time we had ever gone that way. We’re still not sure why the navigation kept sending us up and over the island during our previous trips?

Scott and I didn’t know what to expect when we arrived at the ferry terminal. Would it be like the Washington State ferries, or more like a charter boat? Turns out it was pretty straight forward. Reminded me a little bit of a train terminal.

The St John Ferry Terminal is decently sized and you don’t need to make reservations in advance. Simply walk up to the ticket window and buy your one way ticket. You can buy them three days in advance, but we chose to buy our return on our departure day.

If you have a large suit case, you leave it on the dock and the staff will place it on the ferry at the stern. No, you don’t get any kind of claim ticket for it! We hopped on and Scott went to sit down inside and I said, “don’t you want to be upstairs and enjoy the ride?” He didn’t realize they had an outdoor upper deck.

I was surprised to see so many boats moored in the bay. With the ferries coming and going, it had to be a very rolly bay.

That was a quick trip!

The entire trip from Red Hook to Cruz Bay took only about 13 minutes. We were guessing we were traveling about 25 knots.

Arriving in Cruz Bay there were a lot of boats. Sadly, a few had seen better days. On our starboard side, we got a great view of the Gallows Point Resort, where we were staying.

Disembarking the ferry took about five minutes and our luggage was waiting for us on the dock. Outside the terminal, it was a bit hectic with taxis and lots of cars. We called the hotel for pickup and within 10 minutes we were checking in!

Just like the ferries, all of the hotels we stayed at in the USVI didn’t really have luggage storage. Since our room wasn’t ready, they simply left it at the end of this hall, next to the plant. That would never happen here on mainland!

Time to check out Cruz Bay

Our hotel was literally a 5 minute walk to “town”. Along the way are two cemeteries, one on either side of the road. Word of CAUTION: if you are susceptible to bug bites, be sure to slather yourself in bug spray. I got eaten alive from the minute we started walking and the entire time I was having lunch!

Scott and I walked into the first bar we saw and ironically it was called “The Beach Bar”. The food was great, including the Reuben Egg Rolls!

After lunch, we headed to the center of town where a farmer’s market was set up. We chatted with a couple of the locals and bought a few gift items. Everyone was so incredibly friendly and happy!

The streets were lined with lots of cute stores and we were told to find the Lime Inn bar and inside we would find a really cool gift shop called the Pink Papaya. It’s a definite must see when you are in St John.

Gallows Point Resort

Just a few minutes by foot to the center of town, Gallows Point Resort is the ideal location. Scott and I were pleasantly surprised when we checked in and saw what an awesome room we had. We were in 7A, on the bottom floor, right in the middle of the resort. Each building has four units- two upstairs and two downstairs.

From our room, we could walk right out onto the lawn, down the stairs to the beach and then over to the pool! Just watch out for large reptiles!

There were lots of small lizards and I loved them as they were really cute!

Our room was actually a condo owned by a couple in Michigan and they have owned it for the past fourteen years. It was nicely appointed and the a/c was nice and cold. It was definitely the best room we stayed in during our vacation! For a full tour, be sure to watch the YouTube episode below.

Off of the bedroom, was a sunroom with a sky light where you could relax and unwind.

The shower was huge AND it had this shelf (sitting area?) adorned with shells.

Another cool feature of the resort, was they had a water purification station. I never drink the water in the hotels we stay at, so this was comforting to see. In fact each condo had pitchers in the fridge for the water.

The weather was nice and hot the entire time we were in St John and we were glad to be near the pool. We managed to grab a chair every time, but not necessarily an umbrella. From our room, you can take the stairs down to the beach or you can walk out on the dock and go snorkeling (they call this the “outdoor pool”. Since we didn’t have snorkel gear, we didn’t get the chance to do that.

Our first night in St John

Traveling by plane, taxi and ferry Scott and I were exhausted by the end of the day. We enjoyed the sunset and then headed into Cruz Bay for dinner. We didn’t have reservations and we hoped we wouldn’t run into the same problem we had on St Croix.

Luckily we were able to get a table at the High Tide restaurant, which is themed around “Livin the Dream”.

The food was good, but unfortunately the service was super slow. We talked to a number of restaurants and they currently have a shortage of labor, due to the pandemic. Now that things are back in full swing, they just don’t have enough people.

After dinner, we made our way back to the hotel. The restaurants and bars were packed with people (nice to see, but we’re not quite used to that yet).

The following day we rented a dinghy and spent the day exploring around St John. Be sure to tune in next week and see what we discovered. As always, thank you for following our journey! Be sure to subscribe for future blogs and follow us on social @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney. Check out the latest episode below. Please also subscribe to our channel and leave any comments below.

Cheers, Ally & Scott

June 20, 2021June 20, 2021

Sunset Cruise around St. Croix

The four of us had so much fun sailing to Buck Island and we couldn’t wait for our sunset cruise the following day. I had booked the sunset cruise before we left with Lyric Sails, as they offered a sunset cruise with a live band. What a perfect way to soak up the Caribbean vibe!

The day started by relaxing by the pool and enjoying some time to read another great book. (all of the books I’ve read can be found on our book page). I finished “Off the Grid” during the trip and it is a must read! The author is hysterical and very down to earth.

Be careful around the beach

The Buccaneer Resort has two beaches and we were staying near the west beach. There is a section that is rocky and thank God it was low tide, as we could not only see the rocks but the sea urchins! Trust me, you do not want to step on these.

Looks like rain might ruin our sunset cruise

As the day went on, I couldn’t help but notice the skies were getting darker and gloomier. This wasn’t looking good for our sunset cruise.

We had reserved a driver to take us into Frederiksted that afternoon, so we headed in and hoped the weather would turn nice. Once we got into the van, it began to pour down rain – great, this is not looking good.

Dining in Frederiksted

Our captain the day before highly recommended that we grab a sandwich at the Turtle’s Deli. These were the best sandwiches we have had. It is a take out joint, but you can take your sandwich upstairs to Louie & Nacho’s Beach Bar. Just order a drink and grab a seat.

From there we headed to the infamous “The Fred” resort and lounge. Ben had wanted to stay there, so we had to check it out. It has a very 1950’s vibe and was pretty cool. Right as we were headed to the dock, we got a call cancelling the cruise and they moved it to the next day.

Unfortunately, we had no luck finding anything available for dinner in Frederiksted (be sure to call ahead and make your dinner reservations before you arrive to St. Croix).

Our only option for dinner was to head to the grocery store to pick up some wine, cheese and crackers and call it a night. The sunset was amazing though.

Point Udall

The next morning, we drove east to check out Point Udall, which was about a 20 minute drive.

Along the way, we came upon a huge Satellite! Turns out this is a Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) which is is a system of ten radio telescopes which are operated remotely from their Array Operations Center located in Socorro, New Mexico, as a part of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). (per Wikipedia).

Point Udall is the eastern most point in the US which is marked by a giant sundial that was installed in January 2000 for the millennium. The views were stunning, but you definitely would not want to boat ashore to these beaches.

We were saddened to see so much litter thrown over the hillside and that the monument itself had graffiti on it. It makes no sense why people do this!

Shopping and Lunch in Christiansted

Originally we thought about visiting the infamous light house on St Croix and go for a hike. But we only had flip flops on, so we opted to head back into Christiansted to do some shopping. Christiansted is where everything is happening and you’ll find plenty of gift shops and restaurants along the boardwalk.

After a few hours of walking around we grabbed lunch at Rum Runners right on the boardwalk. Our server was fantastic and super friendly. The wall even has a Pike Brewing sign on it!

It’s a great spot to sit and soak up the scenery. I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw this dinghy!

Exploring a bit of Frederiksted

Later that afternoon, we headed into Frederiksted a few hours before our sunset cruise to do some shopping and explore. Along the boardwalk there is a beautiful military memorial park.

Five massive, eight-foot-tall black marble obelisks stand on the Frederiksted waterfront in the Verne I. Richards Veterans Memorial Park, representing the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Marines and Air Force, and graven with the names of St. Croix soldiers who died serving their country.

We found a few shops that were open including a fun gift shop called Franklin’s.

Time for our sunset cruise around St. Croix

Finally it was time for us to head to the Anne Abramson Marine Facility for our much anticipated sunset cruise.

The sun was shining and our crew was so excited to get back on the water!

As we waited for the crew to set up, I couldn’t help notice more bad weather coming our way.

Seriously, this can’t be happening to us again!

I decided to check the radar and it didn’t look pretty.

Here comes the rain

Within a few minutes, the rain showed up in full force and all of the guests ran to under a porch for shelter. Here the crew made us some rum punches, while we waited out the squall.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be and our sunset cruise was cancelled again. The crew was so gracious and in fact, refunded us that night! We’ll definitely rebook this tour when we visit St. Croix next time.

The rain continued to pour that we had to make a decision to make a run for it. We were absolutely soaked as we made our way to the Tap Deck Bar & Grill for some good food and fun drinks. The Aviator was awesome!

Guess that’s part of sailing life. The weather can change on you in a quick minute and you need to be able to adjust your plans. In the end, we had no complaints – I mean, we were in the Caribbean! Everything’s better in the Caribbean.

Next week, we fly back to St. Thomas and take a ferry ride over to St. John for a few days of fun.

As always, thank you for following our journey! Be sure to subscribe to our blog and our YouTube channel (see video episode below) for future updates. You can also follow us on social @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney. See you next week!

Cheers,

Scott and Ally

June 13, 2021June 13, 2021

Fort Christiansvaern & Sailing to Buck Island

With five days on St. Croix, our group had plenty of time to explore Fort Christiansvaern and get in some sailing around Buck Island. After we grabbed lunch in Christiansted, we headed over to Fort Christiansvaern to check it out.

This fort is part of a national historical site, founded in 1952 in order to preserve the history and story of the Danish heritage and culture. It is made up of numerous buildings including Fort Christiansvaern (1738), the Danish West India & Guinea Company Warehouse (1749), the Steeple Building (1753), Danish Custom House (1844), and the Scale House (1856).

St Croix has done a great job of adding legends for each of the buildings and telling the story of what happened in the 17th & 18th centuries at Fort Christiansvaern.

Fort Christiansvaern

It was really hot and humid the day we toured the Fort, so it was nice to get out of the sun for a bit. There is a visitor’s center as you approach the Fort, then you are free to roam the grounds.

The first thing you come upon, are the prison cells. Perhaps these were temporary holding cells, as there were more in the dungeon, but I wouldn’t want to be in one. These prison cells can’t be taller than four feet! Could you imagine?

The Officers’ Quarters were rather nice and they certainly couldn’t beat the view they had!

The Arsenal was right around the corner from the officer quarters.

The view from the upper deck was gorgeous and with the trade winds, you stayed nice and cool.

The four of us decided to explore the dungeon and I can’t believe how cruel and horrific this must have been for the slaves and prisoners! Not only was it pitch dark with no light, but again it was only four feet tall.

As you come around the other side of the Fort, you enter into the latrines and the officers sleeping quarters.

In the visitor’s center, you can stamp your passport with the official National Park stamp, which we did! It was a very cool tour and really put perspective into how things were back then. For more detailed information, be sure to visit their website.

What was interesting, is these two sail boats remain under water and abandoned in the port. You would think this would be a hazard to the marine life.

Time to go sailing to Buck Island!

I had booked our snorkeling excursion before we left Seattle. With a little research on Tripadvisor.com, I felt confident with Caribbean Sea Adventures. Somehow, I didn’t realize how small the boat actually was, until the night before when we saw it at the boardwalk!

Our excursion was the full day 9am to 4pm sailing trip for about 12 people. We checked in 15 minutes early and waited for the rest of the guests to arrive.

Our captain Kendall and his first mate Bethany were fantastic and you couldn’t have asked for a better crew. We had light winds at about 8 knots, so we raised the sails and headed to Buck Island.

The sail took about 40 minutes. We had squalls all around us and Kendall was trying to avoid them. When you arrive to the island, it’s important to stay inside the reef. Once inside, we headed to the underwater trail for some snorkeling.

The underwater trail is pretty cool and very well marked. I’m a “struggling snorkeler” and it takes me a bit to get calm. Once my mask felt good, I followed our group along the trail.

As you go around the trail, you come upon a sign that says “Enter Grotto Here” on your left. We didn’t go into the grotto, but instead headed towards the boat. The current is pretty fast on the far east of the island, so they recommend that you stay clear of there. Be sure to check out our YouTube episode for all of the footage from our DJI Action. As I was following a beautiful blue fish, a lemon shark decided to surprise me and swim by. Not expecting him, I freaked out and swam to the surface screaming “SHARK!!”. LOL

Exploring Buck Island

The group snorkeled for about an hour and then we headed over to the beach for some fun in the sun. There the sand is so white and the surf is crystal clear; it’s magical.

The island is part of the National Park and there are many rules you must follow when visiting the island. Overnight anchoring is not allowed inside the lagoon, you must pack out all of your trash and you cannot take anything from the island off (shells, sand, etc). For all of the rules, visit here. In addition, their turtles were laying eggs near the shrubbery, so we were told that the trails were off-limits. Instead, the four of us walked along the sandy beach exploring.

Along our walk we came upon trees that had shells in them. Not sure why, so if you know, please leave your comment down below.

There are restrooms which are “out-houses” on the island. We didn’t use them, so we don’t know what condition they were in.

As you approach the northwest corner of the island, it’s solid rock and is a bit dangerous if you are in the surf.

Time to head back

Scott and I jumped back onboard to sit down with Captain Kendall and get some insight from him on sailing here in the USVI and how he got here. Be sure to watch our interview on our channel for all of the scoop. This was not a party cruise, but they did offer rum punches. There were no snacks, so bring your own if you want any.

We had squalls all around us, we were ready to head back (we had no Bimini top, so if it rained, we would be soaked!) And yes, it rained on us!

A big thank you to the crew of Caribbean Sea Adventures, Kendall and Bethany for an awesome day sailing around Buck Island! We had such a great time and you guys made it all worth it.

Another day in paradise

We had just enough time to rinse off and relax before getting ready for dinner when we got back. On our end of the resort, our beach was a bit rocky and had lots of sea urchins, so you have to be very careful!

Not to mention our scaly four legged friends that roamed the property!

Make sure if you are visiting St. Croix that you make dinner reservations in advance, as they fill up fast. The four of us were lucky enough to get into Too Chez! The food, service and wine were amazing and I highly recommend them for dinner. They don’t have a website, but they do have a Facebook Page.

As always, thank you for following our journey! Be sure to subscribe to our blog and our channel for future stories. You can follow us on social media @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney.

Tune in next week, as we explore the island a bit more and take a sunset sailing cruise!

Cheers, Scott and Ally

June 6, 2021June 6, 2021

Arriving on St. Croix

In our last blog we took a flight on Seabourne Air from St Thomas to St Croix. This was not a large float plane and if you have followed our blog for awhile, you know how I hate seaplanes. (See my first trip to Roche Harbor).

One thing to note about seaplanes is weight (of your bags) determines if they make it or not. Once the plane reaches its maximum weight (bags and passengers), then it’s done taking on any more luggage (and yes, they ask you for your weight!). So our group checked in at the airport, two hours early, to ensure we got our bags on. They did weigh more than they allowed, so we had to pay an extra $60 for the two bags. Keep that in mind if you are flying on Seaborne Air. The airport is literally one hallway with a few benches.

Since we had a few hours to kill, we walked next door to the Petite Pump Room Bar and Restaurant for some bloody mary’s before our flight.

Flying over turquoise waters

While I was extremely nervous, our pilot was very friendly and our flight only took about 15 minutes. Remember, St. Croix is about 42 nautical miles south of St. Thomas, so it’s a quick trip. I kept looking for boats cruising below us, but I didn’t see any. You are required to wear your mask during the flight.

Interestingly enough, we only flew at about 2500 ft. This seemed to make the flight to St. Croix a little better for me (less of a distance to fall into the water!)

Within a few minutes, I spotted St. Croix and before you knew it, we taxi’d into the port! I couldn’t believe how clear the water was below us!

Arriving in St. Croix

The airport in St. Croix, is basically a small metal building. We called for a taxi and waited for it’s arrival, as we needed a ride to the Int’l Airport to pick up our Hertz Rental Car.

What we didn’t know at the time, is the boardwalk that is next to the airport, continues into the heart of Christiansted!

Why that is ironic is because we ended up back at the Christiansted boardwalk after picking up our car, which was located on the other side of the island at the main airport. In hindsight, we would have rented a car closer to the Seaplane base.

Ben rented a Jeep Wrangler and it turns out there are a lot of them on St. Croix! I still can’t get over how well he drove around the islands on the left side of the road AND had the steering on the left side of the vehicle.

Staying at the Buccaneer Resort

The four us went back and forth, as to where to stay on St. Croix. At the top of the list was the Buccaneer and the Fred which was located in Frederiksted. Turns out we picked the right location, as most of the “action” was happening in Christiansted, not Frederiksted. We were just 10 minutes from town and we stopped at the local grocery store to grab a few things on our way to the hotel.

The Buccaneer Resort is gorgeous and very welcoming. The resort also has a large golf course with beautiful ocean views and an old sugar mill on the property.

The golf course was toally brown when we arrived, but after a few days of rain, it turned green!

Everything in the lobby was open air, including the restaurant we ate breakfast in each day.

Getting settled into our room on St Croix

If you recall from the beginning of this trip, our room on St Thomas was not very nice. We were pleasantly surprised at The Buccaneer to get upgraded to a larger suite with a view. I will say, however, that upon close inspection, the room was pretty run down. For the price we paid ($407/night), it should have been in better shape.

Our veranda was awesome and so was the view. Unfortunately, we didn’t really use it.

Checking out Christiansted

After getting unpacked, we headed back into Christiansted to grab a bite to eat, as we were all starving. We parked at Fort Christiansvaern (you can park there from 8:30am to 4:30pm for free) and walked along the boardwalk to find food. There, we also stumbled upon our Caribbean Sea Adventure catamaran we had scheduled for later that week. You will find lots of cute shops and great restaurants along the boardwalk.

You’ll also find plenty of chickens running around here too!

The town is very cute with lots of historical buildings and legends to guide you along the way.

We did check out Fort Christiansvaern which we’ll cover in our next blog as it was a pretty cool tour! Scott and I wish we had visited a few more during our trip, as we love this kind of history!

Long day of travel to St. Croix

Scott and I finished the day, by enjoying an amazing sunset with a cocktail and took in the views.

Since we had all been traveling all day, we had decided to stay at the resort for dinner and we ate at their beach side restaurant called the Mermaid. If we had to do it again, we would have passed on this. While they did have a fire dancer, the atmosphere was a bit bright and the food and service were mediocre for the price.

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel (video below) for the full tour and to our blog for other updates. Next week, we’ll take you on a tour of the Fort and a few other sites! As always, thank you for following our journey! Be sure to follow us on social @BoatingJourney and use #boatingjourney.

Cheers, Scott and Ally

May 28, 2021May 29, 2021

Saddened By So Much Trash at Coki Beach

Scott and I had one full day left to relax and enjoy St. Thomas and our group decided to check out Coki Beach, which was a 5 minute walk from our hotel. We headed out early in the morning around 9am and already the sun was heating up and we were breaking a sweat. Along the beach in front of the hotel, workers were working hard to remove a seasonal algae called Sargassum. From the air, we could see miles of the algae, which is a major nuisance to Caribbean beaches and is threatening tourism.

Located on the other side of the peninsula, Coki Beach is well known for snorkeling. It is generally considered the best shore snorkel on the island, so we couldn’t wait to check it out.

As you approach the Coki Beach entrance, you’ll find a cemetery and many wild chickens running around. At first, I wasn’t sure if we had entered at the right location, but there was a very large sign at the entrance.

What made me question this? To be honest, it was a dirt lot and trash was everywhere.

Is this really the famous beach?

As Maria and I walked towards the beach, we passed so much garbage plus some extremely gross items that I can’t even mention publicly. We were both horrified to say the least. The blue water caught my eye immediately, but then so did all of the trash along the beach. The beach was filthy and unsafe. With bottle caps, broken bottles and other sharp objects, this was not a place to hang out for the day.

The four of us looked pretty defeated and sad, as this was not what we expected at all. We made the decision to head back to the hotel and spend the day there.

I’ve thought about that day a lot, because it wasn’t the only place we came upon so much trash. There was garbage on all three islands we visited.

I have to ask, what is the answer and how can we help? Being 6000 miles away, we can’t jump in our car and do a beach clean-up. However, there has to be something we CAN do. If you have suggestions or know of ways, please leave your comments for us. We know there are organizations like 4ocean and ocean conservancy who are working hard every day to help clean our planet, but is there a specific organization that is concentrating on the Virgin Islands? I found a Facebook Clean up page, but there was not much action on it. Please let us know – we want to help!

What a beautiful spot to relax

Our friends were staying on the opposite end of the resort, next to the hilltop infinity pool. After our trek back from Coki Beach, we headed up that way to spend the day by the pool. Instead of taking the golf cart, we opted to climb over 200 steps to get to the pool! Be sure to watch the video of Scott climbing!

The pool overlooked Water Bay and Thatch Cay (pronounced “key”) island. From the pool deck, the views of Water Bay are gorgeous and in the distance you can see Thatch Cay, which is an uninhabited 230 acre private island that is actually for sale. For information, click here.

Due to covid, you still had to wear your mask when you ordered drinks from the patio side, but if you swam up to the bar, you didn’t need to wear one. Needless to say, we spent a huge amount of our time in the water. Even with plenty of sunscreen, I got a bit sunburned, so don’t let being in the water fool you.

Staying in for dinner

Since we were flying out the next morning, we opted to hang around the hotel for dinner and take it easy. The hotel has one bar/restaurant, Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville which sits right on the beach. The food was good and the drinks were perfect. Our only complaint was everything shut down at 9pm, including the bar. Strange. So we called it an early night and headed back to our rooms to pack.

Be sure to tune in to our next blog and episode, as we take a sea plane to St. Croix, which is about 42 nautical miles south of St. Thomas.

As always, thank you for following our journey! Please be sure to subscribe to our blog and our YouTube channel, and follow us on social @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney

Cheers, Scott and Ally

May 23, 2021May 23, 2021

Exploring St Thomas

Our group stayed at the Wyndham Margaritaville Vacation Club on the east end of St Thomas, near Red Hook. There isn’t much around where we stayed, so the four of us headed into Charlotte Amalie (the capital) to check things out and do a bit of shopping.

Before I get too detailed about touring St Thomas, I do want to address some comments we have gotten on YouTube and social media. Some people have asked us “what does a trip to St. Thomas have to do with boating?” Great question! Our channel and blog were created so that Scott and I could document our journey on how we learned to boat, buy a boat and eventually liveaboard a boat in the Caribbean.

With the pandemic and high demand for boats, it is near impossible to find a liveaboard right now. We have to be patient and wait for the market to settle down. In the meantime, we’re doing everything we can to spend our time on the water. For this trip, remember it was supposed to be a bareboat charter that got transformed to land due to the pandemic. Hopefully that answers everyone’s questions.

Once you arrive in Charlotte Amalie, you’ll notice that parking is very limited. We finally found a parking lot with a 2 hour limit, which was free. In hind site, I wish we would have researched Charlotte Amalie a bit more, as we completely missed out on a tour of Fort Christian!

Jewelry stores galore

Walking down Dronningens Gade we came upon jewelry store after jewelry store. It was Saturday around 10:30am and some stores were not open yet or at all. Everyone was practicing safe covid protocols and they were very friendly. One jewelry shop owner, also owned the Belgium Chocolate store!

The morning we headed out, I realized I could not find my watch anywhere. Now I was on the hunt for a new one, but really did not want to spend money on one. (Luckily, I found it a few days later).

Surprisingly, there were chickens running around loose everywhere in the USVI.

Heading up to the Mountain Top – Literally

When we were done shopping, we headed up to the world famous lookout spot The Mountain Top. This is not a road to take lightly! Google navigated us, while Ben stayed “Left” and got us to the top safely!

This infamous souvenir store is HUGE and also sells the world famous banana daquiri! You can read the history here. This has to be one of the largest gift shops we have ever visited. Be sure to watch the YouTube episode for the full tour!

Scott and I shared a banana daiquiri and headed out to the lookout patio and the views were absolutely stunning of Magens Bay Beach.

It was wild to see Jost Van Dyke and Tortola and be so close (yet far away). At least now, we have some perspective on the distance for our charter next February.

I was surprised to see so many fruit trees growing everywhere too. At the top of the mountain there was a mango tree right in front of our car.

Relaxing on St. Thomas

We had only been on St. Thomas less than a day, yet we had already done so much. After traveling 16 hours to get there, I needed some time to relax and soak up some sun. Our resort had two pools, one of which had great views of Water Bay.

The four of us wrapped up the day on St Thomas with a delicious meal at XO Bistro in Red Hook. I highly recommend this restaurant, but be sure to make reservations.

The next day, we head to Cokie Beach for a fun day. Tune in next week for a tour of the beach! As always, thank you for following our journey. You can follow us on social media @BoatingJourney #boatingjourney and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel for future episodes. (video link below)

Cheers, Scott and Ally

March 27, 2020March 29, 2020

Our Catamaran Charter to the BVIs is Cancelled

In our last blog, we were somewhat confident that our bareboat charter trip to the BVIs next month would still happen. Who knew then, how drastically things would change over the next seven days as we dealt with the COVID-19 virus. While it has been the topic of the world, Seattle was not shut down yet. In fact, my office was still open and working as normal.

Then we got the notice from The Moorings, that the trip was officially cancelled. The four of us were definitely sad and disappointed, but it is the only solution to keep the islands safe. Being down and out about the cancelled trip, Scott and I decided to spend it on the boat and enjoy the sunny weekend.

Once again the sunset was amazing. Watching it and enjoying our cocktails, our worries seem to disappear, if only for a moment. We called Ben and Maria to talk about the cancelled trip and figure out what’s next. That’s when we decided that the four of us should head out of town on the boat for Saturday night to get away from it all.

Scott and I made a nice dinner on the boat and relaxed the rest of the evening (again, who knew then that there will be plenty of relaxing coming up?!)

Off to Port Orchard

I called Port Orchard and they had plenty of space. We left Seattle about 11am and I navigated us the entire way (until it came time to make the narrow entrance into the marina).

When we approached the narrow opening, another boat was leaving!

It was a perfect trip through Rich Passage and as we arrived, the fog lifted, blue skies appeared and sun came out to greet us! The marina wasn’t kidding about dock space – it was just us and two other boats.

We’re here, now what do we do?

The four of us headed into town and decided to get some take out at The Brickhouse to support them. This is normally a bustling restaurant and bar with live music. It was a bit surreal to have no one in there. I love this sign that hangs outside the bathroom door – it’s perfect for what’s going on right now.

We headed to the north end of town and walked along the shoreline. There we discovered a memorial dedicated to the US Navy and an actual torpedo!

The walking pathway runs along the main shoreline of Port Orchard, offering plenty to see along the way. We lucked out enjoying warm sunny weather.

All alone in Port Orchard

We pretty much had the marina all to ourselves.

The boat in front of us, appeared to be vacant and had an eviction notice on it. We weren’t sure what it was? Half sail, half power. Part metal, part wood. Strange.

The tall ship was beautiful and the crew were all busy working on the mast. Be sure to watch our upcoming video for the up close drone footage.

While it was only a short getaway, it was nice to be away from it all. Just a week later, the state issued a 14 day shelter order. Here in Washington, many of our boating friends and followers, actually headed out of town during the order. The question now remains, is that considered a quarantine? Can they go to the marinas? Cruisers around the world are also in limbo or stuck and can’t get into countries they’ve traveled to. No one knows the answer or what the future holds; all we can do is take this day by day.

I am now temporarily laid off and working on projects around the house, while Scott is working from home. Let’s just pray that this will end soon and life can go back to normal. The four of us hope to reschedule our cancelled trip before the end of this year. We have a lot of things going on with us, but with the current pandemic nothing is happening yet. Until then, stay tuned.

As always, thank you for following us! Be sure to follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram @BoatingJourney, so you can see our stories and get current updates on our progress. Also, check out our YouTube channel at @BoatingJourney and subscribe for future episodes. Cheers, Ally & Scott

March 17, 2020March 18, 2020

Trying to stay positive amidst the chaos of the world

Everywhere you turn these days, you run into “the virus.” It follows you and you can’t escape it. How do we stay positive and not get stressed or depressed? That’s the question for all of us. We’re all worried about getting sick, about the economy and what the future holds. My solution is to try not to play into it as best as possible.

A year ago this month, Scott and I took an amazing trip through the Leeward Islands aboard the Star Flyer with our close friends Ben and Maria. It was on that trip that we decided to book a bare boat charter and visit the British Virgin Islands. None of us had ever done such a trip, nor visited the Virgin Islands. To say we’ve been planning this trip for a year, is an understatement. But it’s very possible, for health and safety reasons, it might be cancelled.

When the four of us met last month to talk about the trip, we had no idea what lie ahead for us. I was busy training for the Big Climb, Maria was learning to pack so she can carry on and we were trying to figure out how to provision our groceries. How ironic that we can’t even find toilet paper, hand sanitizer or paper towels here in Seattle right now.

I remember hearing about some guy coming from China who might have the Covid-19 virus a few weeks ago – but I didn’t think too much about it. That was, until the news broke that the virus was killing people here in our own backyard. Scott and I are not the type to panic or freak out. We understand the severity of the situation and seeing how fast it spreads, it makes sense to shut things down.

Feeling hopeful

All we can do is stay positive amidst this chaos and look for the light at the end of the tunnel. I do believe that our trip will happen and it will be epic. It’s unproductive to worry about what we can’t control; we can only do our best to stay healthy and follow the CDC protocol. It can be difficult to not worry every day, when all you see on the news, social media, in your in-box, television, etc. is “Coronavirus UPDATE”.

The Moorings has kept us updated regularly and so far, the trip is still on. I’m a believer that everything happens for a reason, so if it gets postponed, then it was to keep us safe. The question still remains, “how do you stay positive and not let this virus news get you down?” I will admit, it’s difficult and some days it’s hard to shake it. Then I go back and reminisce about past Caribbean trips and I feel better! Scott and I live for trips like this and we’d move to the Caribbean in a heart beat if we could!

Positive Vibes

I’ve always loved the term “positive vibes” and it has more power than you realize. It actually means the feeling that someone or something gives you. So, positive vibes means the positive feelings that you get from someone or something. A person should be always concerned about the positive vibes of something , while the negative side gives you nothing in return (per quora.com).

Imagining the four of us on our catamaran, in turquoise blue waters, cocktail in hand and Caribbean music playing makes my worries disappear. So I keep envisioning this as often as I can. It’s one of the ways I stay positive these days.

Don’t get caught up in the media

That’s my motto today and one of the reasons I decided to write this blog. We’ve all been inundated with emails from every company talking about the virus. I really am not worried about catching it from Wayfair, so I’m not sure the reason for sending me three emails this week? LOL! Instead, what did resonate with me, was a beautiful email I received from Star Clippers yesterday. As a professional marketer, they are doing things right. Looking at this inspiring email, makes me want to explore the world, not sit in fear.

What are you doing to stay inspired and not feel depressed about the world today? We’d love to hear from you!

If you look back on history, we’ve tackled other serious medical situations (Zirka, SARS, H1 N1) and we came out okay. Yes, this one is much worse. But with all of the precautions in place, I feel comfortable that this will soon pass. I keep envisioning the four of us cruising the beautiful blue waters around Tortola soon!

In the meantime, stay positive and share your inspirations with others. You never know how many people you can lift up by doing so!

#BoatingJourney

March 11, 2020March 11, 2020

Finally boating after two months at dock!

Scott and I spent last weekend on the boat, so we could go boating after being landlocked for two months at the dock. Seattle has been experiencing some crazy, wild weather and Friday was one of those days. Not in the mood to deal with another wind storm, we opted to wait until Saturday to head to the boat. We had plans to go out and practice anchoring with our friends (who we’re chartering a bareboat with in BVIs) Ben and Maria on Sunday.

The weather was nice and dry at the marina when we arrived. But if you look closely at the photo above, you see a huge squall right in front of Scott. Wanting to catch the sunset, we quickly unloaded our gear and made a sunset cocktail. We were not sure if we would be able to see anything, because of the high tide, but we lucked out!

Crazy wild weather in Seattle

As we watched the amazing sunset, we couldn’t help but notice the darkness that was coming over West Seattle into DT Seattle.

Yet, it remained perfectly dry at the marina the entire time.

They had so much hail in West Seattle, it was still there the next day. My co-worker sent me this photo while we were watching the sunset!

Keto on a boat?

Since Scott and I both need to lose weight, we decided to try the Keto diet and we’ve been on it for a whopping week. Surprisingly, we’ve done pretty good eliminating carbs (with the exception of wine…LOL). I wanted to make something easy to cook on the boat, but also Keto friendly and I came up with Zucchini Lasagna. I used jarred marinara (look for one with low carbs and sugar) and then it just had a few ingredients. Slicing the zucchini was easy – be sure to follow my recipe and try to dry out the zucchini before you bake it.

We’ve only used the oven twice before and every time it FREAKS me out. The fact that you have to turn on the gas on the propane tank, then turn on the LPG in two places, then light a burner to bleed gas into the solenoid to the oven so that you can then use a lighter to light the oven, IS CRAZY. Obviously, I didn’t do it. LOL! This is a dumb question for cruisers – but do you actually use your oven when you are out crossing the ocean?

The lasagna tasted great. The only issue I had was it was a bit watery. Zucchini is mostly water, so you really have to be patient to release any moisture before cooking.

Good morning Elliott Bay Marina!

The weather forecast for Sunday was perfect. Winds were SSW 5mph, sunny and dry. We planned on leaving the marina around 11am and head to Port Madison to practice anchoring. While waiting for Ben and Maria to arrive, we decided to check on our anodes using our waterproof OSMO Action camera. We’ll have to go back and try again to get better footage, as we weren’t sure where we were under the boat. But by the quick check, all looks good.

Props still look shiny thanks to Prop Speed

While we were down there, we also got some close ups of the kelp crab hanging out on the piling.

After we played around with the OSMO Action camera, we then decided to fly the drone over the marina. The first flight didn’t record, so we sent it back up again. This was only our 2nd time flying it, so I think we did pretty good. Scott said, he was getting some disturbance from either airlines or another drone and was having some difficulty controlling the direction. At one point, it spins too fast in circles. LOL We’ll include the footage in our next YouTube episode, or you can check it out on our Facebook page.

Heading out to anchor on our own!

Since we have never anchored overnight and only anchored once last Fall, we needed to head out to practice anchoring with Ben and Maria. We’ll be completely on the hook in the BVI’s, but we haven’t ever moored or anchor, so we need all the practice we can get. In some ways, anchoring in the PNW can be harder (I think), because we can’t see to the bottom of the sea bed, it is muddy and full of kelp. At least in the BVI’s we can dive down and check the anchor if we have to.

Scott and I were trying to decided where to go and he suggested Blake Island so we can practice mooring and anchoring.

Then I reminded Scott that we don’t have a mooring line, nor do we have any idea how to catch a mooring ball. Better brush up on that on YouTube. So we headed off to Port Madison again for lunch.

The weather was perfect and we cruised over in about 40 minutes going about 9.8 knots. When we arrived, we headed north of the barge buoy which had about fifteen sea lions on it. The last thing we needed was for them to come over for lunch!

We anchored in about 30′ of water, which was actually tricky where we were. There’s a slight shelf off of Port Madison and as you approach the shore, it gets very shallow, then suddenly deep again. So you have to find the right spot to anchor. We noticed right away that the winds were blowing us towards shore and into deeper waters.

Ben and I were on the bow and using the foot windlass I started to lower the anchor, giving Scott arm signals as to the direction of the chain. Once it caught, we could tell right away, because the chain went taught. We then let out about a total of 120′ – we were the only ones in the bay, so we didn’t need to let out our full 5 to 1 or 7 to 1. Another successful anchor!

Time for lunch!

Once we knew the anchor was holding and secure, we headed down to the salon for lunch. You would have thought we had another party joining us with all of the food we brought!

The entire time we were eating, I kept looking behind us to the transom to see if one of the sea lions had jumped aboard. A guy in Olympia had his small sail boat destroyed by them!

The hardest thing I think I will need to get used to, is the swinging and swaying. I’m constantly looking around the entire time. Perhaps when we’re surrounded by crystal blue turquoise waters and not a bunch of noisy sea lions, I’ll be okay with it!

After a nice lunch, we headed back. We could see the weather was starting to turn over Seattle and we didn’t want to get stuck in it. So we kicked the engines into full (almost) throttle and headed back at over 18 knots!

The four of us still have a few things left to tackle for our trip to the BVIs including provisioning on-line with The Moorings. Hard to believe we only have 51 days until we leave! This has been a year in the making and we couldn’t be more lucky to being doing this epic trip with such great friends. We’re hoping to get together for one more review before we leave – stay tuned!

Be sure to follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram @BoatingJourney, so you can see our stories and get current updates on our progress. Also, check out our YouTube channel at @BoatingJourney and subscribe for future episodes.

As always, thank you for following us! We have some exciting things planned for this summer, so stay tuned! Cheers, Scott and Ally (Watch our full episode on YouTube – see below)

#BoatingJourney #BoatingLife