We entered the USVI at East End, St. John. The CBP Roam app allowed us to check into Customs and Immigration online rather than present ourselves in person at a port of call. We did have a little glitch as my Global Entry number needed to be updated, but immigration made a quick phone call to us, and we cleared it right up. They were super nice! Back in the USA!
We have spent the last week relaxing in Coral Bay, which was a live aboard haven in St. John, and in Round Bay which was across from Coral Bay. Round Bay was a beautiful bay and if you could find a good patch of sand to anchor, a lovely place to hang out and relax. The bay was peaceful, and the water was crystal clear. It was the first time I pulled anchor that I could actually see the anchor raise from the seabed.
SV Rhiannon Marie entered St. John at the same time. So we spent a few days exploring together . At Coral Bay harbor we tied up at the extremely crowded dinghy dock and walked to the Love City Market for provisioning. I believe it was safe to say that while the market had many things we needed, it was probably the most expensive store we had shopped in the islands. I hoped we didn’t need to use this store too much!
Our next excursion was to the swim-up taco bar, Lime Out. We didn’t realize when it said swim up, it literally meant swim up. Nothing you own would be dry! We dinghied over and jumped in the water. The pouch Ben was using for his phone and credit card was not as waterproof as we had thought. So he swam with it over his head. Once seated at the bar, we ended up buying a new dry bag as the one we had was many years old.
Most of the folks were seated in floating rings where little floating trays were scooted across the water to them with their drinks and food. We decided to sit at the bar by the main floating building as most of the rings were full. It was easier to eat on this platform too. The stools were attached underwater to the structure. We ate sitting in the water with fish swimming around our feet.
While the tacos were very good as well as the drinks, the cost of everything was a little exorbitant. So, we stuck with one of each, a drink and a taco. It was quite an experience and glad we did it, but not a place we’d often return to, especially if you were really hungry, unless you won the lottery. Haha!
The next day we moved over to Hansen Bay inside Round Bay and anchored. Finding a sandy spot took a little doing but when Ben swam on the anchor it seemed we were dug in sand under some rocks. The Bay was beautiful surrounded by rocky hillsides and nice houses.
The following morning Ben and Gary decided to swim in the sparkling clear water. This time, however, when Ben swam on the anchor, it appeared that the anchor was trying to reset—UG! Ben quickly swam back to the boat, we pulled anchor and moved to a much sandier location in Long Bay. The sun was high in the sky, which allowed us to see the sand in 20 feet of water easier. This time when we swam on the anchor, it was well dug into sand and there were not a lot of rock for our chain to drag over. This spot was much better.
SV Rhiannon headed out to St. Thomas for some boat work, but we decided to stay in the serene anchorage. We went over to Pelican Rocks and snorkeled where I finally snapped some pictures of the elusive clown fish. They rarely stayed in one place long enough to get a picture.
We also spent time cleaning the bottom of the boat removing the pesky barnacles and other hairy like growth. In addition, we caught up on some cleaning inside. Daggers Down was happy getting spiffed up.
It was nice we had cleaned her, as we had a surprise visit from SV Rhythm. They entered the bay after crossing over from St. Martin. It was great to see Jeff and Carrie again. They came over for some snapper fish tacos and we had a great visit.
The next night we had a second surprised visit from SY Sur L’eau who also had just crossed over from St. Martin. We were starting to believe we were the St. John welcoming committee!
Krissy and John invited us over for happy hour and dinner. We had a marvelous time visiting with them and their captain, Hector as we watched the beautiful moon rise in the sky.
We had gotten up at 0215 a couple of nights before to observe the lunar eclipse of the full Blood Worm Moon, but alas it was too rainy and cloudy. We couldn’t see the moon at all. Nevertheless, she was still on display several nights after. The full moon was always a welcome site at night as it lit everything up, and it was mesmerizing watching the moonbeams dance across the water.
The water and wind had become so calm that our boat was basically twirling with the current. We were now sitting right on top of our anchor with the chain going all which a ways. The visibility was so clear! It was weird to see exactly where the chain and anchor were without snorkeling in the water! We also could clearly see the large remora (sucker fish) and bigger barracuda under our boat.
Ben wanted to do a little more cleaning on the daggers but didn’t want to turn his back on the barracuda in what would become murky water. He didn’t want to be mistaken for a large fish! Ha! Thus, we decided to motor back over to Coral Bay so that we could take in some trash and have lunch at the infamous Skinny Legs.
After depositing the trash, we checked out Skinny Legs Bar and Grill. We had been told that the hamburgers were great. So, we had to give them a try. Of course I had to continue my taste test of Painkillers too. I think the consensus was that the hamburgers were grilled to perfection, the atmosphere had a fun local vibe and the Painkillers, were well, pretty dang good.
Celebration Day, March 16!
It was March 16, 2025, and we could barely believe that it had been five years, to the day, that we spent our first night on SV Daggers Down (aka Kilimandjaro, at the time—I know it wasn’t even spelled right) in Martinique. We woke up the following day to the COVID shut down across the Caribbean. Daggers Down Sailing Saga had begun. Check out Part 1: Daggers Down: Sailing Saga Choosing and Buying a Boat for the rest of the story.
We had agreed when we bought the boat that we would give the lifestyle at least 5 years! And here we were five years later! We can’t say how much longer we will continue this life, but for now it suits us. We were enjoying the traveling, meeting new people from all over the world, and learning about the many cultures that make up the Caribbean. We will continue on….
So, stay with us as we are only about halfway through the sailing season. Yes, more adventures to come!
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