Virgin Islands National Park (#48)

 Friday, June 18, 2021

Today would have been my parent’s 55^th wedding anniversary.

Last night around 11:30 we lost power (which also meant we lost water).  This morning still nothing.  No power is one thing but no water is a big deal.  We had to get ready to go on our sailing trip.  Luckily with a gas stove that we were able to light, we could fry some eggs and cook some oatmeal.

We were supposed to meet Captain Mike at 10:30 but they called and asked if they could push it back by one hour because the power outage threw everything off.  We hung around the house and read (still no power) then drove back to our trusty parking spot and got a drink at this cool spot.

With drinks in hand, we found four beach chairs on the beach directly below High Tide (where we at earlier) and relaxed, waiting for Captain Mike. 

The next five hours were amazing.  He picked us up in a dingy and took us to his 40-foot sail boat.  Grant sailed us out of the bay and most of the way to our first snorkeling spot and Ryan sailed us the rest of the way.  Mike taught them both a lot about sailing.  We saw baby pelicans nesting up in the rocks. 

Then we stopped to snorkel.  I can’t remember where we were but looking at a map, it was possibly Lovango Cay.  There were beautiful fish – like thousands of tiny fish everywhere.  And other than one couple, we were the only people there.

I think we ate sandwiches after that then went over to Caneel Bay and snorkeled with sting ray.  There had been a big resort in the bay, owned by the Rockefellers and it was destroyed in Hurricane Irma in 2017.  So far, it still hasn’t been rebuilt.  And Kenny Chesney lives in a giant house at the top of the hill!

We got back to our beach around 5 and drove back to the house and yay, we have power.  Nick crashed so the kids and I ate pizza again – still no running water until Nick wakes up.  We started season 3 of Stranger Things then all went to bed, this time, much more comfortably than the night before.

Today was awesome.  Very expensive sailing trip but totally worth it.