St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands

We stayed in St. Thomas a little longer than planned, about six weeks, but during that time we enjoyed the company of friends and relatives, worked on the boat, toured the island, and even had some dental work done!  On April 5, 2016 we set sail for St. John and sailed most of the way for the first time since May of 2015.  Since that time, we have been going east against the trade winds which means no sailing or a very long one if we tacked.  Over half of St. John is designated as a US National Park to preserve the natural resources and wildlife.  On the north side of the island are many beautiful anchorages and bays, one more gorgeous than the other.  To preserve the marine life, there are many mooring buoys installed in the bays by the National Park.  I hate to say this, but because of our age, we qualified for a Senior Pass for the National Parks, which meant that we only paid $13 per night for the mooring buoy instead of $26!  We wish we could have visited and stayed at all the anchorages, but time permitting, we were in Caneel Bay, Hawksnest Bay, and Francis Bay.  We only stayed six days in St. John as we were anxious to get to the British Virgin Islands.