Maho Bay

St. John Sunday Swim
Chelsea O’Brien and I have re instituted  our “St. John Sunday Morning Long Distance Swim.” Next week we’ll be at Maho Bay at 8:30 AM and the course will be from the Green Building on the west end of the beach along the Maho Bay shoreline to the end, then around the point to Little Maho and on to the northern extreme of Francis Bay and back. We believe the course is about a mile and half or maybe a little more. Today we were joined by Sam from Pond Bay. Anyone who wants to join us is welcome and can do as little or as much of the course as they want.

Sea Turtle

Maho Bay: The Place to Find Sea Turtles
On the first leg of the swim along the Maho Bay shoreline, we saw turtles, just like last week and the week before. And I mean lots of turtles, I counted twelve today. There are several small ones some medium sized and one big mama turtle. I believe she’s a mama because she has two little ones following after her most of the time. They are Green Sea Turtles and are most commonly are around the grassy areas just about ten yards off shore.

Anyway, I know a lot of visitors like to see turtles. If you do, Maho Bay is the place to find them know. You can’t miss. Just snorkel around the grassy areas around the middle of the beach and look around.

The Rocky Point Between Big and Little Maho
The large rocks around the point between the two Mahos are a good place to see fish, especially these large schools of bright yellow French Grunts. There’s also some nice sponges, sea fans and some coral.

Francis Bay

Francis Bay: An Active Hunting Ground
At the northern end of Francis Bay we are seeing a lot of activity. Fry of different sizes, some rather tiny, some sardine size and some larger sprat sized ones abound and all the usual suspects are ready for the feast. Lurking on the outskirts of the schools of fry are the predators, jacks, Spanish mackerel, barracudas and tarpons darting into the masses of fry while from the air pelicans swoop down grabbing mouthfuls of fish. None of these guys seem to pay any attention at all to the two big fish, Chelsea and I, swimming in the middle of all of this commotion.

Back to Maho
We return to Maho Bay good and tired after the swim. Feels good!

Strange Maho Bay Fauna
Sunday morning Maho Bay fauna almost always includes a sub species of human beings called physical fitness fanatics. Today, of course there were Sam, Chelsea and I and we saw Miles Stair taking a swim after his morning run. Last Saturday we bumbed into Hank Sloddin who does a cross country Sunday run starting at Maho, on to the Leinster Bay Trail, the Johnny Horn Trail over to Coral Bay and then up Kings Hill Road and back down to Maho. Talk about eight tough miles! Also last week we say Pat Mahoney, who was finishing up a twelve mile run. There’s always someone we know. Something about Maho Bay Sundays.

Little Cinnamon, a beach for small boats

On St. John, we have a lot of options when it comes to going to the beach. Some have facilities and some don’t. Some attract tourists in taxi-vans and some are rarely visited except by locals. Some can be reached by walking just a few yards from your vehicle and some can only be reached by walking trail.

That is, if you’re coming by land, but what about those that arrive by sea?.

In order to protect the undersea grasslands that have been decimated by anchors over the years, the National Park has instituted rules concerning anchoring at National Park park beaches. Generally speaking, anchoring is prohibited within the boundaries marked off by the white swim swim buoys that can be found at almost all the beaches. Small craft may enter these bays through the channel marked by the red and green buoys to pick up or discharge passengers, but cannot anchor within that area. Boats must either be hauled up onto the beach or moored or anchored outside the protected area, in which case you’ll either have to swim in or catch a ride. (leaving the dinghy operator with no other choice but to swim or stay aboard)

But hauling a boat up on the beach is problematic for all but the smallest dinghies. Most dinghies are simply too heavy to pull up to a safe distance on the beach where waves and tides will not threaten to take the craft back out to sea, minus captain and crew.

It used to be so convenient. If you had a small boat you could anchor in sand near the beach and have easy safe access. But boaters who would lay their anchors in the seagrass beds, ruined it for the rest and now no one can anchor right off the beach.

One Exception
A little known fact is that there is one National Park beach where you can still anchor close in. And its a beautiful coral sand, north shore, palm tree lined beach to boot. That beach is Little Cinnamon and it’s the only one of its kind on the north shore. Pull right up to beach and set your anchor, but be sure to watch out for patches of reef lying near the shore.

Click for more information about Little Cinnamon Beach

St. John now has resident fire dancers, Brenda Sylvia, the Silver Raven from “Flights of Fire” and Chris Bailey and Corey White, from “C-Squared”

Brenda is from Washington DC and Chris and Corey are from upstate New York.

To get in touch with them call Brenda at 626 1542 or Chris at 626 1520. E-mail is barefootbailey42@yahoo.com

On Monday I went to Trunk Bay to shoot a video of their performance. Luck was with me, expert videographer, Bill Steltzer, showed up and he took the videos. It was lucky for true, because the ones I shot didn’t come out.

Brenda Sylvia	Chris	Corey
Bill Shooting Video of Chris and Corey	Chris	Brenda
Fire Dance	Fire Circle	See Videos of Chris fire dancing at Trunk Bay.

The Virgin Islands Department of Tourism has launched a brand new website – It looks good!!!

Check it out: http://www.usvitourism.vi/