Nazareth Bay turned out to be a bit too rolly for us, particularly with significant wakes from a seemingly constant stream of ferries and other traffic to Charlotte Amalie, so we moved the very short distance to Christmas Cove (Use Google Earth "Fly to" to find 18 18'28"N 064 49'59"W) the next morning, January 17, where we remained three additional nights. On the morning of January 20 we motored the short distance upwind to Caneel Bay, St. John (18-20.67N; 064-47.42W) to meet the first of three sets of visitors we were expecting to have in the next two weeks.

The first visitors would be Mike and Jane who live just a couple of miles from our home in Arlington, VA. They were to arrive January 20^th for a long weekend ashore at Caneel Bay Resort on St. John. We planned to meet them there and take them out for a day sail and snorkeling on Saturday, the 21^st around the island. The second visiting couple was Tim and Joan, from Maryland, arriving on a cruise ship for a day in St. Thomas on January 23^rd. We would take them as well for a day sail and try to fit in a snorkeling stop if possible during their short day with us.
 





To meet Mike and Jane we arrived at Caneel Bay on January 20^th and picked up the closest (required) mooring ball to the resort dock to make the dinghy ride to and from the resort as short as possible (18 20'39.5"N 064 47'21"W). They arrived on time via ferry from St. Thomas in late afternoon and we went ashore to meet them for drinks and dinner after they got settled. The next morning we brought them aboard Pas de Deux at 0830, gave them a full introduction to the boat, then set sail at 1000 with full main and genoa for a trip around St. John with a lunch stop at Salt Pond Bay, at the south east corner of the island. Wind was ENE at 15-20 knots and both Mike and Jane got plenty of time at the helm and plenty of practice tacking.  

At Salt Pond Bay we enjoyed nice snorkeling. We departed Salt Pond Bay around 1445 for a pleasant downwind sail along the south coast of St. John and returned to the same mooring ball at Caneel Bay. We relaxed with some snacks and drinks before taking Mike and Jane ashore at dusk. It was a great day! Thanks Mike and Jane for visiting!

The following morning, January 22^nd, we departed Caneel Bay at 0915 to relocate to Crown Bay, St. Thomas for the arrival of Tim and Joan's cruise ship early the next morning. We sailed downwind with genoa alone in ENE 10-15, arriving at 1115. We anchored in our usual Crown Bay spot right across the channel from the cruise ship dock (18 19'33"N 064 57'07"W). We’d certainly know when their ship was in!

Tim and Joan’s ship, Caribbean Princess, arrived on time at 0700 January 23^rd and Dave went ashore in the dinghy to meet them at the bar at Crown Bay marina as pre-arranged. They we aboard Pas de Deux by 0800 and we were under way by 0915 with first reefed main and full genoa given the forecast strong winds. We planned to sail SE on the NE winds out into deep water for fishing, passing St. Thomas’s Buck Island on the way to see if it looked like a good place for a lunch stop on the way back. The wind was stronger than forecast to be in the high teens to low twenties, and we were soon into rougher seas than expected as we passed Buck Island. The rough conditions prompted us to reef the genoa as well and finally to cancel the fishing plans as we would be in no position to reel in a fish in these conditions.

After about two hours sailing, we turned around to Buck Island to have an extended lunch stop and snorkel. Day use mooring balls are available in the anchorage and this spot seems to be a favorite of day charters for cruise ship passengers originating in St. Thomas, as it is not too distant from the cruise dock (18 16'34"N 064 53'49.5"W). Several day charters were already moored on their morning run when we arrived and it was a challenge to maneuver into the mooring field with all the snorkelers in the water who seemed oblivious to an arriving boat aiming toward them.   

We diverted to the available mooring with the least number of swimmers around, and Dave and Tim took up a position at the bow to snatch the mooring with a boat hook. Donna took the helm and “inched” the boat forward mindful of the oblivious swimmers in her path that forced very slow progress. It was apparent to her that whatever captains were responsible for the charter boats had failed to warn their customers about the possibility of additional boats approaching the moorings where they could be snorkeling. These people weren’t even poking their heads out of the water in the full span of what could have easily been some 15 minutes we consumed in our obvious approach into the bay—astonishing!  

We finally got settled without running over any swimmers and within minutes the morning day charters began leaving. By the end of our lunch we had the whole place to just ourselves and one other recreational boater; we went snorkeling with Tim as Joan watched for the arrival of the afternoon shift that Donna anticipated would begin around 1330. We had a nice swim, but the snorkeling was quite barren – there just wasn’t much to see other than a wreck in the middle of the anchorage and a school of “pet” fish that were obviously routinely hand fed by visiting charterers and were “swarming” us looking for the expected handout.

After our swim we started back as the afternoon day charters were arriving (right on schedule) and we had a more relaxing sail back to Crown Bay on the genoa alone. On the way we put out two fishing lines—Dave really wanted to give Tim a chance to reel in the inevitable shallow-water barracuda, which played out as expected. We arrived back at our Crown Bay anchor spot by 1445 and relaxed with drinks and snacks before getting Tim and Joan ashore at 1600 in plenty of time to re-board their cruise ship. Another great day!