MAHO BAY

0830 hours January 3, 2015, White Bay Guana Island BVI: Headed west toward Great Harbour, Jost Van Dyke Island. The Christmas Winds were now blowing between 25 and 30 nm per hour. Seas had increased from 6 to 8 foot. One of the great features of Buoy Weather is that it allows you to pick any spot and it will give you a seven day forecast for the spot. I had checked Buoy Weather before leaving, the seas between Guana and Jost Van Dyke, north of Tortola were from the ENE, and between Jost Van Dyke and Tortola they were from the ESE. I thought there must be something wrong with the formulas that drive Buoy Weather's predictions. There is over 3 miles between Jost Van Dyke and Tortola at the closes point. How could the seas turn 45 degrees in this relatively short distance? Great Harbour on Jost Van Dyke opens to the south with steep hills on its three Island sides. We had picked this location, as surely it would give us protection from the ENE Christmas Winds and seas. Buoy Weather was right and our assumptions were wrong. As we arrived at Great Harbour the Seas and the Wind were from the ESE blowing into the Harbour. As this was Saturday of New Years Week the Harbour was full, not withstanding the strong winds and a 3 foot swell rolling directly into it. We turned and headed south to West End on Tortola. We went through Thatch Island Cut, between Great Thatch Island and the east end of Tortola, and turned east to Sopers Hole in West End Tortola. The Harbour was packed and the wind was funneling between Frenchmans Cay and Tortola at 30 mn per hour as we entered the Harbour. We turned again and headed first south and then west through the Narrows to Francis and Maho Bays on St Johns island in the USVI. As we turned into Fungi Passage we could see the first relatively smooth water we had seen since leaving White Bay. Francis and Maho Bays combined comprise a large anchorage area with nearly 60 moorings. This is the only bay on St Johns that allows super yachts to anchor, and were several. The anchorage is protected from all but north and west swells. Although it was windy at the north end of this anchorage we only felt occasional gusts above 15 nm per hour at the Maho Bay end where we anchored. The beaches in both Francis and Maho Bays are part of the National Park Service. Maho is particularly beautiful with its bent palms and mangroves overhanging the beach. There are no dingy docks. The Park Service has designated where you can bring dingies ashore with red and green buoys marking the channel. No anchoring of dingies is allowed. For the super yachts with crew this is not a problem. The crew drops them off and picks them up. Smaller boats have a smaller dingy they can drag ashore. Our primary dingy, which has a significant range, weights 1200 lbs which is too much to drag ashore. As we don't have crew we have a second beach dingy for this purpose with wheels and an air cooled engine allowing us to start and stop the engine onshore (which particularly helps if there is a surf). Island hopping we carry this second dingy on removable stern davits. We carry it on deck making ocean passages. Others solve this problem with kayaks an or paddle boards.