Day 8 - Buck Island STT

We left leave salt river early in order to take advantage of high tide. We didn’t go far and moored just a bit from there at the reef wall where Dave and Alex dove.  Some of of us snorkeled a bit, but it was deep, choppy and not much to see. We then headed away from St. Croix and motor sailed to Buck Island off St. Thomas. There were a couple boats when we got there, but we were the only boat there for the evening. 

We snorkeled a shipwreck and very cool reef off the island with lots to see. It was a deep bay, but it was very clear and you could see so much - including a shark at the bottom. It was very calm which made the snorkeling enjoyable. The boys went lobster hunting again, but only found a slipper lobster which it seems might be rare and good eating, but we didn’t know that and threw it back. Alex and D-man wake boarded around bay. Burgers for dinner. Happy hour and euchre and everyone contributed to the music play list which was fun. We also had our final cherries and pits for the trip. A great way to wrap up the final evening. 

Sails! 

Pulling in the line - only seaweed 

Wakeboarding in the bay 

T-man cheering on his brother 

Off to hunt lobsters

Hunter #2 

#3 with the bag! 

Treasure! 

Slipper lobster 

Dinner! 

Playing the conch shell 

Setting sun 

Buck Island shadow with St. Thomas lit up in background 

Day 7 - Christiansted and Salt River

It was a leisurely start to our day at Buck Island. D-man and I paddle boarded into shore and did the “hike” - which was a bit more like a loose path with some tricky avoidance of plants, cactus and rat traps (the park service is working to the island of rats that have infested the island). We saw tons of crabs on the island and worked up a sweat before heading back to the boat. 

We then puttered to Christiansted and went ashore for lunch and to explore a bit. We had drinks and yummy pizza and I explored the historic area of the island while the boys did some shopping - T-man for a knife and D-man for a gift for Hadley. It is hard to believe when walking around Christiansted that you are in a US territory as there is so much Dutch history and influence. And a small, but memorable piece for me is that I tried to text the boys about their location and neither of them had their phones - a miracle of vacation. 

Back on the boat in the harbor, the kids killed time lobster hunting (they were all too small), but it killed time while the adults relaxed and drank Miami Vice drinks. 

We headed over to Salt River Bay and had a dance party while waiting for dinner. We took the dinghy over to a part of the bay that has Bioluminescence plankton and we were able to swim around and feel like a super hero as your action lit up the water around you. Definitely a unique and once in a life time experience. Some folks also saw bioluminescent jelly fish and a slug. We came back to sushi for dinner. What a truly memorable day. 

Pulling into Christiansted 

Checking out the fish from the pier 

Tarpon off the boardwalk 

Cool architecture 

Waiting for smoothies 

Staircase shape popular on these islands 

Cool courtyard 

Boozie milkshake for lunch 

Kid table 

Customs house 


Fort 

Mailing his postcard 

Lobster hunting 

Off again 

Miami vice 

Dance party 

D-man messing with the camera 

Still messing 

Da kids - embarrassed by our dance party 

Sushi! 

Day 6 - Buck Island off St. Croix

We were up early on Wednesday for a sail to St. Croix which is 40 miles from the islands of St. Thomas and St. John. Most of us took Dramamine the night before and everyone survived the long sail. Most folks were crashed out at one point or another and somehow Marshall survived the entire sail below deck! 

We got to Buck Island around noon and had the entire day to explore and relax. Some of us swam to shore for a bit of time on the beach and then two separate groups  went out snorkeling along the other side of Buck Island. There was another underwater snorkeling trail and the grottos we swam through were very cool. There was a menacing barracuda hanging around and a huge school of fish that was beautiful. There were also tons of jelly fish, but not ones we had to worry about apparently. The water was rough so it was not a relaxing snorkel, but definitely worth it. 

The second group went out and were gone a long time. The boys arrived back with huge smiles in their faces after a successful lobster hunt. They also brought back two conch shells. We successfully extracted the conch and enjoyed the fruits of the boys’ labor. Unfortunately, we didn’t plan well with the lobster (even after warnings from T-man and Alex) and we lost the lobster off the back of the boat. D-man was devastated and T-man felt badly for his brother and that they were able to “complete the end.” 

The One that Got Away

The night wrapped up with steak kabobs and lobster tails for dinner (just not the one we caught). I had a lovely conversation off the front of the boat with T-man and Marshall and D-man watched F1. We were the only ones moored here for the night - incredible. 

Leaving Lameshur Bay 

Sporting his new shirt 

Pulling up to Buck Island 

Gorgeous 

Only ones here 

The /me group coming back from snorkeling 

With their catch! 

Messing around 

Actually almost lost him here! 

Figuring out how to extract the conch 

Beautiful shells 

The conch 

Yup - that’s what we ate (after cutting off all the extras) 

Tarpon fish under the boat 

Marshall cooking up dinner as Daisy was not feeling well 

Conch fritters 

The closest we got to a picture of the lobby 

The guys hanging with captain Zach at the end of the evening