Charlotte Amalie

It’s bittersweet to be back.  Four months ago we made landfall after our offshore run just on the other side of the island.  I’m happy to report that they’ve made huge progress on storm recovery and the general mood of the people is much better than our first visit.

Shaving before company arrives

Though a little noisy during the day, the anchorage right off Charlotte Amalie is rather nice.  There’s a dinghy dock at the Coast Guard station, and two marinas readily available for fuel, water, trash disposal, and good restaurants.  Of course only one (Yacht Haven Grande) hosts mega yachts and has a Gucci store right at the docks).  We also had a chance to wander around Frenchtown, just around the bend from customs with great little bistros and a bit of French history that I had never known about the island of St Thomas.

Always something to fix (waste basket in this case)

And then our company arrived!  Trip’s niece Madeleine flew in with two girlfriends, Michelle & Alissa, for a couple of days in the sun before back to dreary NY/NJ.   They were excited to get on board, and we headed over to Christmas Cove off Great Saint James Island.  We had been there in November, but with one major difference – the Pizza Pi boat had not yet returned.  This is a small sailboat that’s been refitted as a takeaway pizza joint.  You place your order by VHF radio and dinghy over to pick it up.  We found out later they were hosting an underwater easter egg hunt, but our company had already gone for a loooooooong swim and were too tired.   So instead we sat in the cockpit and scarfed down two huge pizzas while the sun set.  Between long flights, long overnight layovers, lots of sun and swimming, everyone on board was in bed by 10, with three 20-something bodies piled on top of each other with blankets & pillows in the cockpit.

 

Looking for my next painkiller at the Soggy Dollar

Scurvy crew

The next day we sailed up to Jost Van Dyke for a final taste of the British Virgin Islands this trip.  Again, the recovery they’re making post hurricane makes me happy – new bars and restaurants are popping up again and people look so much happier.

Christine’s Bakery at the dock is back – killer cinnamon bread to keep on board for toast every morning. But Foxys was our main destination.  Trip got everyone dancing (“Uncle Trippy dances??????”) to some good music and we hung out for a long time before finding out that Club Spice, at the other end of the beach, had karaoke going on.  Trip performed his legendary (and only) karaoke song “Chantilly Lace” and then we made our escape before we could get roped into anything else.  Though before we left Trip was smart enough to sweet talk the owner (I mean place an order) for pates (similar to empanadas, filled with chicken and curry – fabulous breakfast treat).

Pizza Pi boat pickup window

Allison, Michelle & Madeleine

The next day we piled into a taxi and headed over the hill to White Bay (we would normally have dinghied over but 5 people would have been a little bit too much in our little dink.)  There we made our way into the infamous Soggy Dollar Bar for painkillers which we took down to the beach and into the water for a little soaking and drinking time.  We took a bit of a break for lunch and then Trip and I wandered down the beach to Coco Loco and some of the other local bars, where we ran into Leon, one of the former bartenders from Foxys.

Madeleine at the helm

After our bodies had gotten all pruny from the water and a little pink from the sun, we cabbed it back to Great Harbor.  Though we had planned a final night of drinks at Foxys, Trip couldn’t get the outboard started on the dinghy, so we put on our pajamas, had another cocktail and some appetizers on board and then crashed.

We got up the next day and sailed back to St Thomas (the ladies rocked and took over the boat including the helm).  This time in Red Hook, at the eastern end of the island.  We got a slip at the same marina as we did in November so everyone could enjoy showers, we could top off our water tanks, and the NY/NJ crew could have an easy early exit to the airport their final morning.  First was a stop at the Tap & Still for some good Jack Daniels, beer, wings, grilled cheese, and hot dogs.  Once we were scrubbed clean it was upstairs to the Island Time Pub, where we sucked down drinks and devoured a chicken alfredo pizza at one of our favorite places in the USVI (interesting how pizza has become such a trend for us – completely unintentional).

Uncle Trippy and new dance partners

Our crew left this morning, I did laundry and reorganized the boat, and as I type we’re getting the final piece of the autohelm replaced.  Fingers crossed, if all goes well we’ll be able to test it out with a day sail to St John tomorrow!

 

We’ll miss you guys!