St Croix is a little out of the way when traveling the island chain of the Caribbean so when cruisers come here they tend to stay awhile. That means the marinas are full, the mooring fields are full and there isn’t a huge choice about anchorages.
With no room at any marina on the island we were forced to anchor at Christiansted in Gallows Bay which was rolly with a capital R. We lasted one night and moved the following morning where we had seen a large wooden sailboat moored closer to the boardwalk area. No problem, drop anchor, good set and calm! Just as we were congratulating ourselves on a wise move the Captain of the sailboat (that had moved) dropped by in a dinghy to let us know they would be bringing the boat back to their private mooring and needed 180+ feet to clear our boat. So up anchor again and move back about 200 feet to re-drop just outside the no anchoring area. Whew.
Next morning the local dive shop picked us up and we set out for a choppy boat ride to the reef and one of the best dives ever. (More on that in a minute.) After two dives we returned to our boat and were visited by DNR who said we could not anchor where we were, even tho the charts said we could, and if we didn’t move we’d receive a citation. So up anchor again and head back to Gallows Bay but a bit further east as close as we can get to the shoreline. Was it rolly? Yes. But not as bad as in our original spot. That lasted one night. Even before breakfast the next day we had the boat moving outside the bay and further east inside the reef with no land protection from the wind. Surprisingly it was much calmer as the wind was keeping us oriented to the waves so we were not getting broadsided and rolling. Added bonus is we got to watch the seaplane take off and land off our aft deck. If you’re keeping track that’s five anchor drops in 60 hours. We usually do one drop every four or five days.
Now the really good part. We hooked up with Dive Experience for a two tank dive outing. Sam and Jay picked us up at our boat and we were the only divers! Yes the water was choppy and the boat ride out would have been uncomfortable for a lot of people but it was worth it.
The first dive was Turquoise Bay and within sixty seconds of dropping in the water a 6-8 foot manta ray decided to visit us. He was just swimming thru and was nice enough to hang around long enough for some pictures. Congratulating ourselves on a very special sighting we turned around to a turtle, and another turtle, and another turtle, and then a reef shark! Our entire dive consisted of turtles and our personal shark escort who just kept circling and watching. The turtles were totally unconcerned with us. Whether it was the two circling around a small coral head, batting at each other, or the one with his front feet wrapped around the coral taking a break or the various ones we found sleeping under ledges, they all just watched us swim by. Probably one of the most entertaining dives we’ve ever experienced.
Gary decided to continue his fast food trend and we walked 1 ½ miles to a McDonalds for lunch one day. He started out saying it was only 6/10ths of a mile but guess what? GPS lies like a rug. The Big Macs tasted great as did the fries but they only had water and apple juice to drink so no chocolate shakes. Bummer! On the way we passed a grocery store so walked back to it, got some staples and then a cab ride back to the harbor. Found a cigar store, a jewelry store, a liquor store. This place has it all.