Christmas in March

A couple of things about this particular blog as well as the others, in general. I left these pics in the small format to add a bit of interest to the layout. Remember, though, all you have to do is click on the picture and it will open up into a larger format. Click the "back" button to go back to the blog and continue on as before.

Now, on to a Christmas present we'll share with you.

We left the anchorage in Charlotte Amalie harbor and decided to break up the trip back to the BVI into 2 legs. In doing so, we decided to anchor in Christmas Cove, on the West side of Great St. James Island. The island is not that large...almost 1 1/2 miles in length and 1/2 mile wide. Christmas Cove is a favorite anchorage for many of the sailors we've met. Now, we see why! The water was really clear, the undersea life was spectacular and the anchorage was quite calm.

 

Here we are, with the island of St. Thomas in the background

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These pics are of some of the shoreline along Great St. James...we could see down to 30' in most areas without much cloudiness in the water.

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The green sea turtle on the left had a large remora attached to it's back. The one on the right was a much younger and smaller one...about 2' long.

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The coral formations below were so nice, with lots of varieties of fish, sea urchins, coral and anemones.

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The upper 2 pics are of a spotted ray, about 3' wing tip to wing tip, with a tail over 5' long. The middle pics are of 2 stingrays caught in the act of being stingrays. They were smaller than the spotted ray. The lower left is of some starfish, each of which is about 9" across. The area where they were at had over 100 of them in an oval area of sand about 60' across. The lower right is of a school of ballyhoo, a small fish (about 10") that has a long needle-like snout. It is a favorite baitfish for fishermen to rig up their trolling lines with.

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To add some special wrap to our Christmas present, a section of the Rolex Regatta was in action right outside the mouth of the cove, with 2 of the corner markers close by us. We watched scores of boats turn around the markers and then sail down wind with their spinnakers flying. We even saw a couple of close encounters of some boats right near the turn of one of the markers. As a side note, the BVI Spring Regatta takes place soon, and I will be "rail meat" for the boat Toddy is racing. If I'm lucky, maybe I will get to crank a winch or something.