BVIs

Posted by Dave on May 19, 2015

As always you can check our position by clicking on the Position Report tab at the top of the page. Click on the pictures for a full size view.

Back to St Thomas, figuratively.

We did get out and see the capitol of the USVIs, Charlotte Amalie (Amalyah). We ran around the harbor in the dinghy checking out the water front and Water Island, it’s a busy place full of traffic, ferries, ships, and seaplanes.

Pirate ship, Blackbeard’s Revenge, which was quite active when the cruise ships pulled in:

…dog:

St Thomas is a tourist town, there were at least 200 jewelry shops on this street:

St Thomas is a seasonal place and it’s past the high season therefore very much “closed”. Even Senior Frogs at the end of the cruise ship dock was closed. So we did walk around town but almost everything was…closed. Bank of St Thomas:

Church:

Old steps, built in the 1700s:

Nice BnB overlooking the harbor, closed:

1829 Hotel, closed:

What do you do when you see a sign that says 99 steps?

Walk up them, especially when Blackbeard’s Castle is at the top, and it’s for sale for $18,000,000. Yup three acres of land overlooking the harbor, several historic buildings, a hotel and B-B’s castle for 18 biguns. Google it!

Steps

View from the “steps”:

Blackbeard’s Castle, or what you can see of it because it’s closed for the season:

So we walked back to town, past the Governor’s Office…or guv-nah’s office:

Fort on the waterfront, closed:

Fire station in the base of the fort, not closed:

We found a marching drum band and a charity run going on at the waterfront. The band was quite good, very intense:

…and of course…

The Shipwreck Tavern:

…and what do you do after spending a few hours at a tavern? Take the dinghy around the harbor to see the lights. Lights from mega yacht Attessa 4 and a 171 foot sailboat:

As mentioned in our previous post, here are the pics of the only cruise ship that came into port while we were anchored there. This ship came in, pivoted and backed into place alongside the pier with no assistance, it was quite amazing to watch:

We took the dinghy in for a closer look. The guy at the top started waving to us:

We had a blast in St Thomas, it’s a crime that we have to rush through this area so fast. Hurricane season looms so we had to move on. Departing Charlotte Amalie:

And wouldn’t you know it, cruise ship on the horizon:

We headed east, through this cut and figured the current wrong. We fought almost three knots of current but we were able to make it through the worst fairly quick: