Trash Pick Up and Other Questions

Howdy!
We are heading down mid December for our first USVI charter. We are renting through CYOA and they have been top notch. Their online portal is fantastic and Sarah has been extremely responsive. Also just had a look at their online boat briefing and I am impressed.

Okay. A few USVI questions...
- what are the trash disposal options on St John? Do you pay per bag? Where do you take it? We cook quite a bit and will have a smelly baby with smelly diapers on board.
- Lunch at Lime Out - enough room to Anchor? Secure enough to spend the night?
- Easiest Marina to pull in and out of on St Thomas?
- How crowded is Water Island / Druif Bay? I’m a bit nervous about all of the anchorages being packed given the height of the season and the restrictions in the BVI.

Thanks in advance!
Maggie

Answers to questions
-limited trash pick up, almost no options. Maybe someone else can give some input
-yes, generally plenty of room to anchor if you are comfortable anchoring. Can be a big swell if coming from the south.
-both crown bay and yacht haven grande are easy to pull in and out of. Coming from the east probably stop at yacht haven grande. Coming from west then probably stop at Crown Bay.
-water and Druif are generally very crowded. You might find a spot to anchor at honeymoon further out. Another close option is Lindbergh bay. Tons of room to anchor.

Have fun

(Just my opinions and observations)

We just got back from a CYOA charter last week. We did Lime Out and Skinny Legs by grabbing a mooring at Hurricane Hole and taking the dinghy in. Was about a 20 minute ride. For the night we headed around the corner to Lameshur. We also tried to spend our last night at Druif but it was packed so we ended up grabbing one of the balls at CYOA and taking the dinghy to Druif to spend the day. It worked out great. Crown Bay was super easy in and out for fuel.

Here are the St John NPS rules regarding trash disposal:

66. Trash being disposed from vessels may not exceed two 10-gallon bags and must fit inside NPS trash containers identified for vessel trash in Francis Bay, Leinster Bay, Salt Pond, Great Lameshur Dock, and Little Lameshur Bay.

Here's the link to the NPS regs: https://www.nps.gov/viis/learn/management/index.htm

Maho Bay has trash cans again. If you want to drop trash at Coral Bay, you need to walk about 1/2 mile from the dinghy dock; you can take the trail to the left of the dinghy dock past the picnic tables or walk up to the fire station and go left, then left at the intersection. Love City Mini Market is right there too.

We are liveaboard in Coral Bay. There is plenty of room to anchor for Lime Out to port just as you enter the channel markers. I recommend hitting Lime Out early (you can grab a lilly pad at 11AM and there will be people waiting) or around 3PM. Holding is good in mud and clay and you can spend the night. Skinny Legs, Rhumb Lines, Coral Bay Caribbean Oasis, and Salty Mongoose pizza are walkable. Nearby Hansen Bay / Round Bay near Pelican Rock is a wonderful anchorage and has great snorkeling / diving around Pelican Rock. Busy Bee runs their night dives there.

We hit Water Island / Druif Bay every couple of weeks for Sunday Funday. It is easy to anchor in the back of the anchorage; make sure you have a good anchor set as it is rocky back there. If the wind / waves has a Southerly component it will wrap around and things get rolly; you can anchor around the point outside the channel towards Elephant Bay for a bit less roll. Trash disposal on Water Island is off of Flamingo Bay to starboard at about the third dock. You can see the dumpsters on Google Maps with the satellite layer.

Cheers, RickG