XMas winds plus swell

Looks like 20 to 25 knot XMas winds along with a 4-7 foot N swell. Could make the limited number of decent covid anchorages interesting. N side of St John will be unusable for boats in the USVI.

it looks like Peter Island might be the only suitable anchorages.

A friend was in Key Bay last night. He sent me a nice video sitting on the boat having a cocktail. I viewed it 38 degree rainy weather. I hate him!

North Shore of St John is lumpy, but not unusable. Leinster, Francis, Maho, and Salomon Bay moorings nearly full.

Swell is 4 feet currently. May increase to 7. 4 is doable in a cat but not fun. 7 gets to be a real handful!
G

So far, CGB is pretty tame. A single cat in the anchorage and she's not moving around much.

Personally - for 4 days of doing nothing - I would make the run up to North Sound - Malone Bay. I would think that would be as protected as you can get. It's a bit of a run as compared to other sites - but, 4 days it would be worth it to me.

My .02 on sale today for .01

(Also agree that Peter would be good as well)

On the north side of St John the only mooring in a strong north wind would be at Lind point or Honeymoon beach on the east end it would be Leinster bay
A four foot swell coming into the Maho, Cinnamon Hawksnest would be very rolly even on a cat

Looks like some serious North Swell to this local

https://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/show_plot...uom=E&time_diff=0&time_label=GMT

And some wind in Pillsbury Sound
https://ww.sailflow.com/windandwhere.iws?regionID=260&siteID=3876

We arrived on Wednesday and sailed out of CYOA yesterday morning. Of corse, we had our eye on the weather and were a bit leery about wind and swells. Spent last night at Francis (No open moorings in Maho for the first time in my adult life). Breezy, but very comfortable in our 42 foot cat. Tonight we are in Leinster. As I write this, we are heading to bunks in a very serene bay. Perfect breeze, zero rolling. Thinking of heading to Magen’s Bay tomorrow.

p.s. The USVI is rocking! More boats than I’ve ever seen and there is some competition for balls. But it is fantastic! Ashore, just about everyone is purposeful and respectful in honoring mask requirements and distancing measures. From our perspective, they’re doing it exactly right here and reaping the benefits.

Shifty

Leinster is a good anchorage when a north swell is running. It’s well protected by great and little thatch island.