Hello All!
Happy to say that we are on the move once again and it feels great!
Hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We were lucky enough to get invited to a friends house so Brian actually got to have some turkey! I had not planned a big dinner because Brian decided that the day after Thanksgiving was the day that he wanted to haul anchor and sail over to Saint Thomas so that we could prepare for Rachel and Drew’s arrival.
So now we are in Saint Thomas, anchored in beautiful Brewers Bay. I had almost forgotten how amazing it is here. We are anchored right off the beach in about 12 feet of crystal clear water. There are sea turtles everywhere. This beach is popular just for that reason. Tourists come here to swim with the wild turtles and the locals like it too because the water is so calm and shallow. Lots going on here. There are even food trucks that sell beer in the parking area!
When we first dropped anchor and Brian was settling things in down below I got a bit freaked out because all of a sudden there was some strange man swimming beside the boat…way too close for my comfort. I yelled down below to Brian and as I did the guys head popped up out of the water and wait a minute, I recognized this guy…it was our friend Bob Petersen! We had met Bob and his wife Sally years ago here in Saint Thomas, they used to have a Searunner Tri exactly like ours that was unfortunately lost with the two hurricanes, Maria and Irma. We invited Bob aboard to catch up. Come to find out Bob had recently bought himself a new to him boat and was anchored here in Brewers Bay too. This was an awesome surprise!
There is a beach around the corner from here that I remembered was good for beach-combing, one of my favorite things to do. So after catching up with Bob we headed over to Perseverance Bay. There was a wreck on the beach here that was sad to see. Bob had said that it was a 74-foot yacht, Summer Star, a Hatteras that was blown aground here when Hurricane Dorian formed here a few months ago. Dorian really caught everyone by surprise as it built up over night and came here instead of where it was for-casted to go which was further south and east. If you remember reading through our blog you might also remember that it caught us of guard as well in Culebra. Seeing the wreck on the beach is a reminder of how unpredictable mother nature can be.
On the way to the beach we came across a dolphin! It was jumping all over and having a grand time. By the time I got my camera out of my waterproof bag he all but disappeared but I got one fin shot before he swam away. It was so cool to see him. Silly because I see dolphins all of the time at home but we don’t see so many when we are sailing so this was a real treat!
It’s been nice enjoying the beach. I bring my hammock ashore and swing and watch the world go by. One day Brian rowed our dinghy ashore to join me and got in trouble though. The beach and land here belongs to the local college and there are security guards that patrol the area. A security officer pulled us to the side and told us that we could not row ashore. We purposely did not put our engine on the dinghy because we were in a swimming area but we have never had any issues with rowing through one. He said that because when you are rowing you can not see behind you and that we might row over a swimmer. This was a humorous surprise to us. I’ve never heard of a person getting run over by a row boat but it must of happened at some point! So now we take our kayaks ashore. This of course was approved by security. He said that because we are paddling facing forward that we can see the swimmers so that was OK.
The days are amazing here and the nights are beautiful too. We are lulled to sleep by the sing songs of the coqui frogs every evening. This Bay is quite like being in paradise!
The days are amazing here and the nights are beautiful too. We are lulled to sleep by the sing songs of the coqui frogs every evening. Anyhow, you can see that we are in our own little paradise right now. It’s nice because up until now it seems that all we’ve been doing is working on the boat so it’s nice to take a break. Soon Rachel and Drew will be here are we will really get to play tourist and have lots to share with you all.
Take care for now,
Jennifer and Brian
SV/Moon