St Thomas USVIs

Anchored close to the Soggy Dollar Bar, White Bay, Jost Van Dyke Island

Saturday 21 April turned out to be a much busier day than we had expected.  Starting out from White Bay, on Jost Van Dyke Island, we planned to say goodbye to the BVIs and sail about 10 miles across to the US Virgin Islands to check in at Red Hook Bay on St Thomas.  Thinking that it would be such a short passage, we went for a leisurely 0930 departure which would leave us loads of time for sailing to the USVIs and then completing the immigration paperwork for arriving into the USA.

Pilsbury Sound ahead between St John (L) and Lovango Cay (R)

With a lovely wind on our beam we raced off towards the Windward Passage and Pilsbury Sound on the northwestern tip of St John.  St John was actually the closest USVI to us but, post Hurricane Irma, the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) office in Cruz Bay, St John had been closed and a new one opened temporarily in Red Hook Bay, St Thomas.

Tortola, BVIs (L) and St John, USVIs (R)

Looking out to port we could see the islands of Tortola and St John….

…. in what was pretty idyllic sailing conditions.

We weren’t alone out there either. There were lots of other yachts enjoying the fantastic sailing conditions and we found that we were part of a line of yachts making their way to (and from) St Thomas.

Red Hook Bay has an anchorage, mooring buoys and a marina, with the CBP office having been set up temporarily in one of the marina’s buildings.  Not wishing to spend the night in the marina [Ed: or even at anchor in the bay as the prevailing wind was blowing straight in pretty briskly!] we dropped our anchor in the bay at 1130hrs and took the dinghy ashore.  Before we had left home we had visited the US Embassy in London for interviews to get a 10-year multiple entry visa and so we already had that in place. We just needed to formally check in. Everything was looking good at the immigration office as we took our turn after the crew of a US flagged yacht which had arrived ahead of us.  Sadly, however, when it came to our turn we were told that we couldn’t be checked in because of a computer problem.  The officer could check in US citizens but not foreign nationals.  The suggestion was that we spent a small fortune on taxi fares to get us to and back from the immigration office in Charlotte Amalie.  Instead we decided that we had time to sail BV around there and that it might make a more interesting place to visit.

Continued below

Red Hook, St Thomas, USVIs

We had been pretty efficient and so we actually raised our anchor in Red Hook Bay exactly one hour after we had dropped it.  Charlotte Amalie is the main harbour on St Thomas situated in the middle of the island on the southern side. With it being quite windy we went for the lazy option and sailed the 10 miles there using just the genoa.

Approaching Charlotte Amalie harbour

Charlotte Amalie is quite a big bay and as we approached the entrance at 1400hrs we started to try to work out where would be the best place for us to anchor.  The main anchorage seemed to be at the eastern side of the bay but that would put us a long way from the immigration office.  So, instead, we anchored in the lee of Hassel Island and took the dinghy to the area of the marina next to the ferry terminal, inside which is the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) office.  The marina had big signs up saying that we would be charged $10 for parking our dinghy there, which seemed a bit like daylight robbery, but unfortunately it seemed to be our only option for getting ashore.

Just before we tied up our dinghy I spotted a RIB drifting down the harbour with the engine up and its cover off. The 2 occupants were trying unsuccessfully to paddle it with their hands and it looked like they would be swept out of the harbour through the gap between St Thomas and Hassel Island.  We went and gave them a tow and it turned out that their mooring was on a jetty next to the marina.  Good deed for the day done we were invited to leave our dinghy on their jetty for as long as we needed to go ashore - $10 dinghy mooring fee saved and put into the beer kitty!

As with all immigration processes, there is a lot of paperwork to do.  The officer dealing with us grumbled that we could have been processed at Red Hook Bay and that we had been sent unnecessarily to Charlotte Amalie.  However, he did manage to get everything organised so that we could be processed just before the next ferry arrived.  Paperwork completed, the last step was to move through to the ferry arrivals area where another officer checked everything, took our fingerprints to confirm a match with the ones they have on record, and then stamped our passports. We had formally arrived in the USA!

We got back on board BV at 1600hrs to find that the wind had changed slightly and that our current anchorage was no longer a great place to stay. So, for our final move of the day, we motored BV a mile further on to find better shelter behind the next island, Water Island. Opposite the RoRo terminal and container port it was not the most attractive spot but it had good shelter. Our enthusiasm for exploring ashore waned and instead, sipping a rum cocktail, we discussed our plan to move on quickly to sail to St Croix.  The weather forecast looked to be very favourable with a good wind angle and so we ate dinner and turned in ready for an early departure.  A proper exploration of St Thomas would have to wait for our next visit there.

Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, USVIs