It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

Photos:
1. Abandoned Sugar Mill at Reef Bay on St. John's.
2. Bats in the Sugar Mill.
3. Large hermit crab from Reef Bay.
4. Starfish from Little Lameshure Bay.
5. The REAL backup bilge pump!

After leaving Charlotte Amalie, we set sail for the south coast of St. Johns. We headed to Reef Bay, which is a small bay protected by reefs on both sides with only two mooring balls (no anchoring allowed). After the grounding incident, we feverishly consulted and re-consulted the charts before sailing in! Along the way, Jim finally caught a fish to eat! It was a smallish Kingfish and he was filleted in short order and put in marinade for dinner.

The snorkeling at Reef Bay was fun with us finding a lot of Queen Conch (living) and a huge hermit crab! Next we went ashore to hike around the deserted sugar plantation and the ruins. Lara and the girls especially liked the scores of bats hanging on the ceiling of the deserted sugar mill.

Next we hiked up the hill to find the Caribbean petroglyphs. Along the way we saw many more hermit crabs and Jim found some Caribbean Quail (to which he remarked, “The things you see when you don’t have a dog and a gun!”).

From there, we headed to Little Lameshur Bay for the night and picked up a National Park mooring ball and did some more snorkeling. As we were preparing to eat dinner, Jim heard a sloshing sound and noticed a LOT of water in the bilge (under the cabin floorboards). So he turned on the bilge pump…nothing. Then he started pumping the manual bilge pump…nothing (except a LOT of sweat and sore arms). Hmmm. After tearing the boat apart and examining all the thru-hull fittings, we discovered the leak under the rear stateroom bed around the drive shaft gland. The leak was about 10 gallons per hour and we knew we were going to have to do SOMETHING before morning!

We once again reviewed the abandon ship drill. Emily did yell all sorts of suggestions that required the use of an official Coast Guard Maintenance Unit…none seemed handy however. Then we discovered that our cell phones didn’t work on this remote part of the island and the satellite phone decided to stop working as well. Hmmm.

The Captain decided that we needed to wake up every several hours to bail out the bilge. The Crew decided that the Captain had such a great idea that he should get to implement it. Hmmm. Jim and Lara ended up taking shifts through the night. Isn’t it great being the parents? Naps have been added to tomorrow’s schedule of events.

In the morning (at 6am), we got underway for a high-speed run (5.5 kts into the wind) back to Maya Cove for urgent repairs (with Lara and Emily bailing periodically as we went). I was finally able to raise Sunsail on the VHF and they wanted to know if the vessel was “threatened.” I replied “No, but the Captain is feeling nervous and the First Mate is a basket case!” When we finally arrived, the Sunsail crew showed their usual efficiency and fixed everything in about and hour and a half (including replacing the drive shaft gland!).

Then we were off on a long downwind run back to the USVI to our planned mooring in Caneel Bay.

We are visiting the famous Caneel Bay Resort (formerly owned by the Rockefeller family) and enjoying their amenities to rest up for tomorrow’s adventures.