Chapter 100: We Love It!

Yep. We do. Specifically, I’m referring to St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. When we dreamed about voyaging on a sailboat, St. John is exactly what we were picturing in our minds. It is absolutely gorgeous. Each anchorage is beautiful. The water is a beautiful azure blue, the wildlife is abundant, the weather is perfect, the beaches are a beautiful white sand, it’s not crowded, and there is great hiking ashore. Yes, I know it won’t last. But I’m soaking it in while I can. We’ve been here for a week now after spending 2 days in the Charlotte Amalie Harbor on St. Thomas. We are gradually circumnavigating the island, which is pretty easy because each hop to the next anchorage takes about 20 minutes (it’s a small island). We’ve been able to do several hikes on shore, which are really HARD because it is very mountainous. Because most of the island is a U.S. National Park, it is well-maintained and not over-crowded. Once we pick up some packages we are having delivered in a couple of days, we’ll then jump across to the British Virgin Islands, all of which we can see from St. John-they’re also about 20-40 minutes away. It will be interesting to see how it compares to here. The BVIs are probably the most-sailed area of the Caribbean. There are several large charter fleets there so we expect a LOT of boats there.

Of course, life wouldn’t be complete without boat problems, but I’ll save that for the next post.

I am going to close with a caution/lecture. Now that we are out here, on the ocean, we are really, really CLOSE to nature. Folks, climate change is REAL. When we lived on land, I knew that, but I didn’t really FEEL it. Now I do. Over 80% of the coral in the Caribbean has died out in the last couple of decades because of the rise in global temperatures. We can see it. When we snorkel, the areas of live, vibrant coral are dwarfed by acres and acres of bleached, dead coral. It’s sad. And it’s scary. It’s scary to think that our kids may not have any of this to enjoy in a few years. Already, there is so much less to experience. So I ask you: what can you do? Can you turn up your thermostat in the summer or down in the winter by a couple of degrees? Can your next vehicle be more efficient? Can you not leave your car running while you go into the store just so it’s cool when you come out (yes, HEB shoppers, I’m looking at you.)? What can you do? It’s real. We’re stealing our kids’ futures. Sorry for the lecture, but not really.