We remained anchored in Crown Bay (Use Google Earth "Fly to" to find 18 19'33"N 064 57'07"W) to welcome our third set of guests, Ken and Joan, arriving on Thursday, January 26^th, who would vacation with us for a week. During this time we went ashore to do laundry at Crown Bay marina and to do grocery shopping at the nearby Pueblo Grocery. Dave also arranged to purchase two new starting batteries for the diesel engines from Caribbean Battery, located nearby. The port battery was dead and since the starboard was the same original, he concluded it was likely soon to expire as well. He arranged with Caribbean Battery to deliver the new batteries to Crown Bay marina on the morning after Ken and Joan's arrival so Ken could assist him with installation.

Friends Ken and Joan from Pennsylvania had cruised with us some in the Eastern Caribbean last winter, most memorably at Antigua and Barbuda, but they did not bring their catamaran CatAway south this season as they had put it on the market for sale. Suspecting they missed the warm weather, we invited them to spend some time with us aboard Pas de Deux – and they eagerly accepted.

They arrived as scheduled and Dave met them ashore at the bar in Crown Bay Marina. It didn’t take long for these experienced cruisers to get back into the cruising groove and we were glad to have their eager assistance in managing the boat and sharing knowledge of the Virgin Islands. Four heads are better than two - and doubling the crew both lessens work and increases fun!

As forecasted throughout the week of their visit, the winds were strong and the showers frequent, but this didn’t dampen our resolve to stay active and enjoy their company. Because of the strong winds, we didn’t sail as much as we might have preferred so we shifted to some shore activities, found some protected snorkeling locations, and didn’t stray far from St. John. Our big picture plan was to head east along the south coast of St. Thomas and circumnavigate St. John clockwise, making short hops along the coast focusing on the ample National Park highlights – a sure bet. Then we’d return to St. Thomas by February 1 in time for their departure home the morning of February 2.

The very first morning after their arrival Dave took advantage of Ken’s presence to remove the old diesel starting batteries – weight 80 pounds each – and take them ashore in the dinghy to exchange them for new batteries. The new batteries were delivered to the marina dinghy dock as promised by Caribbean Battery and Ken and Dave had them back to the boat and installed shortly without any problems. New battery weight – 30 pounds each. Weight savings – 100 pounds. As Dave likes to say, “Speed increase – priceless.” 

We departed Crown Bay at 1100 for Caneel Bay, St. John, with both engines starting just fine. The wind was in the upper teens to low twenties, with rough seas, so we motor sailed upwind with first reefed main. We arrived at Caneel Bay at 1330 and picked up the same ball as we had with Mike and Jane the week before (18 20'39.5"N 064 47'21"W).

Ken and Joan treated us to drinks and dinner at the Caneel Bay Resort “Equator” restaurant built amidst the historic sugar mill "ruins" which were well maintained. It was fine dining, great company, and a terrific beginning to their week with us.

Departing Caneel Bay early on January 28, we motored the short distance to adjacent Henley Cay to share with Ken and Joan this fabulous snorkel spot we discovered last winter – a new spot for them. From our mooring in Caneel Bay, we could easily see the two day use mooring balls at Henley and wanted to get one early before other boats arrived. We were successful and arrived about 0930 – well before high sun light would make the snorkeling visibility optimum around 1100 hours (18 21'09"N 064 47'40"W). A few typical early morning rain showers with their dark shadows passed overhead as we waited. We entered the water before lunch and had a great swim. The snorkeling was still as good as we remembered.


At 1430 we departed Henley Cay for the Francis Bay anchorage, motoring the few miles upwind along the north coast of St. John. Ken and Joan were very familiar with this location – a new spot for us. The large National Park mooring field was well protected and we enjoyed a very calm setting despite the high winds (18 21'51"N 064 44'44"W). We explored the “eco friendly” Maho Camps facility ashore, hiked to the Annenberg Sugar Mill ruins, and had dinner at the Camp’s cafeteria style restaurant before departing on January 30. We met several of the camp visitors, speaking to some at length. We couldn’t resist encouraging people interested in eco-tourism to visit the island Saba, which is also known for the same, and which we think is absolutely delightful.

Leaving Francis Bay at 0830 on the 30^th, we continued clockwise around St. John, motor tacking with first reefed main up the Narrows into Drake channel where we deployed the genoa and got some real sailing in. The winds were still brisk, ENE 15-25, but the more protected water of Drake Channel made the high winds manageable. After refreshing our tacking skills, we sailed into Coral Bay on the east coast of St. John to visit the mangrove snorkeling spots in Hurricane Hole – a new spot for all of us - arriving around 1130 (18 20'44.8"N 064 41'30"W). And we weren’t at all disappointed……

Donna had learned of the Hurricane Hole snorkeling through a tourist office brochure highlighting the locations of the best diving and snorkeling in the US Virgin Islands. She had taken note of the location of the day use mooring balls during our exit from Coral Harbor back in November and—as Donna is always seeking out the next great snorkeling spot—had hoped back then to find an opportunity to return. The visit of Ken and Joan provided the perfect opportunity.   




In the brochure, Hurricane Hole was described as protected as part of the US National Parks of St. John—“the mangrove diving in this area is some of the best in the world. The water clarity, calmness and diversity of the marine life are amazing.”  As we had not yet snorkeled in any mangroves, there was no question that we were motivated to find out what they had to offer after reading this introduction.


Within the area known as “Hurricane Hole”, there are multiple “fingers” of water leading to mangrove-lined shores. The National Park Service has placed mooring balls for boaters at several locations in these “fingers”. We picked up the first mooring in the first finger we arrived at, figuring this would give us a sampling of what the snorkeling would be like. It was a nice-sized inlet that would be easy to swim the entire perimeter of mangroves. Most of the area was well sunlit, although a shadow was cast over a portion of the shoreline where sight would be dimmer.

We swam the entire length and, although the water was extremely shallow the closer you swam to the mangrove roots, this proved to be most rewarding as this was where we found beautiful and colorful corals and anemones teeming with swarms of newly hatched fish in these natural “nurseries”. Donna even spotted her first lobster! It was a first for Ken and Joan as well.   There was a range of life here that we had not seen paralleled elsewhere. We were hooked…we knew we would need to return here to snorkel all of the available shoreline—it was simply that spectacular! This could take several days, but we figured we could hang out here while we waited for the weather window we would need for our trip to St Martin by mid-February.

As the Hurricane Hole moorings are day use only, we had to move on to an overnight stop and selected one of our favorites – Salt Pond Bay – on the south east tip of St. John (18 18'27"N 064 42'28"W). Ken and Joan had visited here before, but they had not snorkeled in some of the areas we were suggesting nor hiked the trail to Ram’s Head – the rock outcroppings at the very tip of the island. We sailed out of Hurricane Hole on first reefed main and genoa for the fast reach to Ram’s Head and jibed into Salt Pond Bay, arriving at 1345 and picking up the remaining (and our favorite) available mooring ball.

We relaxed the rest of the afternoon and marveled about our snorkeling adventure. Ken couldn’t stay still though and insisted on polishing the “bright work” on Pas de Deux, setting out to clean surface rust from the shroud turnbuckles and Norseman fittings. Dave had been putting this off himself, but Ken had experience with some cleaner/polisher we had aboard and wanted to make still more contributions to the care and feeding of the boat. As an ex-Navy man, you can take the man out of the Navy, but you can’t take the Navy out of the man…. The pictures show his excellent results. Thanks, Ken!! Future guests, take note….☺

After a windy and squally night, we would take the dinghy ashore early the following morning to hike Ram’s Head Trail.  But before doing so, Ken was motivated to bake raisin scones from an old family recipe. When he couldn’t find the recipe in his computer, he recalled the ingredients and measurements as best he could and Joan helped him with the mix. They turned out delicious and would give us all the energy we would need for our upcoming hike!

The Ram’s Head Trail is a pretty easy hike to the very south east tip of St. John, along the way traversing a stone beach and hills with a variety of tropical vegetation. The still persistent high winds produced some wind tunnel-like overlooks and Dave had to chase his hat off the trail through some scrub…. Enjoyable and good exercise! Snorkeling right off the boat filled the afternoon.

We stayed in place another night. The following late morning, we swam from the boat across the bay and, despite the strong winds, were able to snorkel the shoreline that would lead to an adjacent bay. There was no current to interfere with our enjoyment sighting rays, squid, turtles, several filefish and lots of other interesting life.

We had to depart around 1300 hours for the downwind run back to Crown Bay in St. Thomas for Ken and Joan’s departure the next morning. Finally we had a sail that was more relaxing and less work. The winds were still up, but even in high winds, downwind on genoa alone is very stress free. We arrived in Crown Bay at 1445 and anchored almost in exactly the same spot we had departed from five days before (18 19'33"N 064 57'07"W). We chilled the rest of the day – except for Ken who just had to finish a little more bright work! Thanks again, Ken!!

We enjoyed our final dinner meal together on Pas de Deux and followed it up with a viewing of the “Shallow Seas” episode of the Planet Earth DVD. Sadly, Ken & Joan departed the next morning, February 2, with both of us, and Pas de Deux, in brighter spirits than when they arrived.