St. John, St. Thomas, St. Patrick's

We left St. Martin for the overnight sail to St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands on March 4th.  Our friends Craig & Amy Bush and their nephew, Scott were chartering for a week and we were excited to meet up with them.  We first met Craig & Amy in St. Augustine, FL at Christmas in 2006.  We were in the early months of our adventure and they were spending the winter months cruising south on the ICW on their sailboat "Ptarmigan".  We spent time together in anchorages throughout Florida before we headed to the Bahamas and they turned north to return to their homeport of Mistic, CT.

Amy and Scott on the bow and Craig at the helm as they sail into Leinster Bay, St. John.

Our first night together and we are treated to dinner aboard their boat.  Here's Craig cooking up scallops to be served with Amy's wildrice, green beans and salad.  Fabulous! 

Craig, Amy and Scott heading over to the BVI's to pick up friends who will be joining them for the rest of the week.

Here's the whole crew as they pass us on the way to Water Island, St. Thomas.  No fair, they're 45 ft and we're a 27 ft, heavily loaded cruising boat.  We can't keep up!

Here's the whole crew enjoying Happy Hour in Salt Pond Bay, St. John.

We say it all the time, the best part of cruising is the people we meet.  Craig & Amy are 2 of those people.  It was so great seeing them again.  We'd love to go sailing with them someday in their cruising grounds around Block Island, Martha's Vineyard and points north. 

St. Patrick's Day and we are in St. Thomas.  I'll bet there will be a party at Molly Malone's in Red Hook! 

Guiness, rueben sandwiches, Irish music, we haven't had a St. Paddy's like this since we left the states.

St. Patrick's Day is just not celebrated on most islands.  I remember asking a waitress in the Bahamas if anything special was planned for St. Patrick's and she looked like she had no idea what I was talking about.  But now we are back in a U.S. island and Molly Malone's is as fine an Irish Pub as you'll find anywhere.  Their slogan is "Same Ireland, Different Island." 

A shot called Leprechaun Juice....

... and the lovely serving wench who sells them.

Men is kilts playing traditional Irish music and step dancers.  They were even brodcasting the parade from New York City on the TV's over the bar.

Red Hook's St. Patrick's Day parade consists of a grand marshall, a bagpipper, drummer, fiddler, a few flag wavers and anyone else who wants to jump in.  The parade took about 45 seconds to watch, 2 minutes if you stayed for the second lap around the parking lot.  It was great!

Hope you all had a Happy St. Patrick's Day!