Virgin Islands Trip Report

It will be another two years before we return to the Virgin Islands, and though our visit seemed so short this winter, it certainly was sweet!

The first charter was just after Christmas with a group from California on a 9-day trip for New Years. The crew and passengers spent over a week exploring the dives around St. Thomas, including the WIT Shoal,WIT Concrete and Miss Opportunity and some of the beautiful reefs on the surrounding islands. The wrecks around St. Thomas are mostly artificial reefs sunk in 90-100 feet of water very close to Charlotte Amalie. They have been underwater for 20 years or more and are teaming with life!

The British Virgin Islands boast some beautiful reefs and wrecks, as well as some hopping night spots for boaters. We dove some of the beautiful walls on the surrounding islands like Spyglass wall and Ginger Island, as well as the famous wreck of the Rhone! The group spent New Years Eve at Foxy’s on Jost Van Dyke, famous for it’s rum drinks and everything that follows them. What happens on Juliet, stays on Juliet! That applies to Foxy’s as well…

Three more charters in January followed, the first a mix of individuals from all over, the second a group of Juliet disciples from Richmond and surrounding areas (yes, even Minnesota is included in that!) one celebrating her 10th trip on board, and one admittedly having lost track (we estimated at almost 20!). And the last St. Thomas charter was a group from PA that has been coming on board since the beginning, the group leaders even were married on Juliet by John himself a few years ago.

Our favorite diving was probably around St Croix, where the walls on the north side of the Island in Cane Bay are rivaled only by Turks and Caicos in their dramatic drop offs and diversity – we were hearing whale song on every dive which made them that much more memorable. And the critter watching is incredible, especially on the famed Fredericksted Pier on the west end of St. Croix. A few divers were down for almost 2 hours spotting everything from frogfish, seahorses, octopus, juvenile trunkfish, and tons of tiny baloonfish! Kat claims she saw 3 octopi on one dive, two even chasing each other around a piling on the pier, but unfortunately had no witnesses…

Juliet, crew and passengers are now on their way to Turks and Caicos, for 2 more charters before the final repositioning trip back to Miami to start the 6 month hiatus so John can have some fun traveling around the Caribbean with his friends and family. Reports are already in that the boat has seen whales off the coast of Puerto Rico so who knows what Turks and Caicos has in store in the coming weeks!

Stay tuned for more updates in February!