What’s It Like? SV ‘Cetacea’ in the West Indies
Pacific Northwest sailors James Lane and Dena Hawkins have been cruising for over a decade. Here’s their latest update.
So, we’ve been cruising the Caribbean now for eight months, and I gotta say, it’s not Hawaii, Bermuda, or anything like the Azores, not Cabo Verde; it’s not the Canary Islands, Madeira, no, and it’s totally not anything like the West Coast of the US, or the East Coast, for that matter. It’s its own thing! It’s a world of sapphire-blue water you can swim in without worrying about it killing you from the chill.
No doubt it’s a beautiful place, but at the same time, like most of the US and its territories, it’s politically tumultuous. Don’t get me wrong: It’s paradise, so “We The People” get along on a completely different level than in the States, but we are still very much a part of what’s going on in the political sphere of the world around us.-
The sailing has been spectacular! Martinique, Dominica, St. Thomas, St. John, the BVI, and Puerto Rico have been amazing cruising grounds so far, and for the most part the weather has been consistently warm and windy since we made landfall on St. Thomas from Martinique this past December.
We have become very much attached to our local cruising grounds, Red Hook Harbor, Great St. James and St. John, all within a few hours’ sail from our mooring in Vessup Bay off the island of St. Thomas.
There’s a pizza boat in Christmas Cove off Great St. James, where you can see leaping manta rays and finning sharks while wolfing down a New York-style pie and a cold brew at anchor. In Caneel Bay off the island of St. John, the angelfish greet you in the hundreds and nibble at your skin like a giant living scrub brush.
In Red Hook Harbor off St. Thomas, there are a dozen or so shipwrecks lorded over by hundreds of stingrays, like jealous sentinels protecting their hoard.
The Caribbean is very much still alive and we, the crew of SV SN-E Cetacea, are alive within her waters …
Fair winds, my friends.
Here’s a tale of James and Dena’s experience of the US Virgin Islands.