We had a super calm anchorage at Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas. Noisy, but the water was so still.

We walked around Charlotte Amalie to get cash from an ATM, gasoline, and some produce.

After making it back to the boat, we weighed anchor and moved over to St John. We cannot say enough good about Little Lamesure Bay. We were lucky enough to catch a mooring ball on our second pass by (it’s in the national park system and no anchoring is allowed). Just wow. The bioluminescence! So many fish. Ruins. Goats. Pelicans. Bananaquits. Turtles. In the water we saw a goldspotted eel, squirrelfish, needlefish, parrotfish, powder blue tangs, and a juvenile queen angelfish. On land we saw a bridled quail dove, common ground doves, white tailed deer, a mongoose, and even a bat flying in the understory! The brown pelicans that roost in the trees at the beach and constantly dive into the water fishing were a big source of entertainment.

We did a nice long hike from Little Lamesure all the way to some petroglyphs. So cool to see! And by nice, you recognize I really mean it was super hot and steep and maybe not the most complaining-free measure of time, but we saw some really awesome stuff and had a delightful rain shower that cooled us down. And we got some exercise in.

After several nights at Little Lamesure, we decided to head to the BVIs, looking forward to being in one country for a good chunk of time. We had to make an appointment to check in in advance due to having Lily on board and her needing a health check at customs before being allowed in the BVIs. Otherwise the USVIs would have gotten more of our time. We would love to come back in the future. We rented a boatyball in Soper’s Hole for check in, and we’re thrilled to be so close to our buddy Helen. Remember Helen? The lovely lady who lent Two Fish her life raft? Yup – the life raft is almost home! It seemed like that would never happen. We met her and her family for pizza and drinks and the kids had a wonderful time playing.

As there isn’t much going on in Sopers Hole but our buddy Helen and her family, we loved the boat to Norman Island to snorkel the caves and have some fun at Willy T’s. Then up to the north harbour on Virgin Gorda with some time at the Bitter End Yacht Club in a search for kids. The following day we attempted to go to The Baths but it was red-flagged – no using the mooring balls or swimming in the water (it would be this way for the next 3-4 days due to the north swell). Since we couldn’t explore the baths we thought we would snorkel at Great Dog, but it was also full, and after waiting for what seemed like forever for someone to leave a ball we got frustrated and left, heading to Trellis Bay to grab a ball and sleep for the night. Despite Trellis being right at the airport, we had a calm night! We jumped in the water and cleaned the hull (it’s amazing how quickly things grow down there). The following morning Helen, her husband Tim, and their kids met us on the beach for more play. Woohoo!

From Trellis we went to Banuers, a bay on Norman. We had a lovely evening at Banuers. It was so relaxing to hear the birds and frogs and feel a part of nature again after several nights of hearing music from land. Then we popped back to the bight at Norman for some more beach time with Helen and her family. We did a snorkel from the boat and saw a super cool yellow line arrow crab. There was also an impromptu dinghy concert from the back of a neighboring monohull.