News

Thursday, 05 November 2026
Anchorage Position: 18° 20.032’N  x  064° 42.265’ W
Log: 2695 nm
Location: Moved from anchorage in Francis Bay, St. John, USVI, to anchorage in Coral Bay, St. John, USVI

After a night of more or less good sleep, which I spent sleeping outside on the quarterdeck, rather than in my hot bunk, B-Watch got woken up at 06:30, to get ready for a day in town.

After Breakfast, Chores, and a quick meeting of the plan for the day, we were shuttled to Maho Bay beach by the pro Crew in the Rescue boats. After we were all mustered on the beach we walked to the taxi stop, and got into taxis that would bring us to Cruz Bay. Those taxis, as well as the driving skills of the driver were quite an experience. Driving at a fast clip on narrow roads up and down hills in serpentine loops with cliffs down to the right was quite something.  After we all survived that roller coaster ride, we got dropped off in Cruz Bay, in front of a visitor welcoming area, where we would spend the first hour and a half of our town trip walking through clothing stores, jewelry stores, and “krimskrams” stores, looking at various items.  Later, we assembled once again to move towards the center of town with more stores, and near a beach. The architecture of many buildings is quite unique, since it seems as if all possible materials have just been mixed together, so looking at a wall, you can find all colors of bricks, petrified corals or shells, lining the house walls. After a short walk, we arrived at the second spot, and split off into smaller groups again, visiting different stores and talking to locals. Molly and I spent a lot of time, walking through stores trying to find gifts for our family members, and for ourselves. One store we walked into was a store that sold all kinds of things, not necessarily being related to each other. This store sold various kinds of tea-, coffee-, and spice blends, (giving it a unique smell), as well as clothes, small souvenirs, and chocolate. Looking at the different coffee blends, with the hopes of finding a Caribbean espresso blend as a Christmas gift for my mom, (they only had Austrian espresso, which I chose not to get.  Sorry mom, no espresso for you), I got into a conversation with the cashier. As it turns out, she is half German, so I had a nice conversation with her about her growing up in the States and moving to St. John.

After some time in this part of town, part of our group returned to our starting point, hoping to shop some more in those stores, while the others stayed behind. Back at our starting point, I spent most of the time in the jewelry store, looking at different necklaces and charms, I got into a conversation with one of the cashiers there. Earlier that day, I realized she had a vaguely familiar accent, asking her about it revealed that she too, is from Regensburg (Bavaria, Germany). Having two conversations in German in one day was a lot of fun, since I didn’t get to do that a lot during the past three months.

At 1600 we got picked up by the small boats, bringing us back to the Cramer, which the pro crew had moved closer to us during the day. My watch (B-Watch) went back first, since we would be the watch steering the ship to our new anchorage. With Shuggy as a JWO (Junior watch officer) we moved along quite well, setting the tops’l, and trimming it as well as the mainstays. At around 1730 we successfully anchored, and enjoyed a good dinner in Coral Bay.  Now, as the evening turns into night, I will go to bed, to hopefully get at least a little bit of good sleep, before getting back up at 2045 for my Anchor watch from 2300 to 0230.

Silja, B – Watch:

PS Hi to all my friends, wherever you all are. I miss you guys, and I can’t wait to hear what was going on while I was away.

Hi Mama, Papa, Caya, Jan, und Omas, ich vermisse euch alle, und kann es kaum erwarten mit euch mehr als 20 minuten zu telefonieren, und fotos zu zeigen. Alles, alles liebe zum geburtstag! Habt einen tollen tag, und geniesst Leonhardie! Alles gute an alle! Ich vermisse euch!