One of the many benefits of belonging to a church is meeting some of the kindest people you will ever know. You become family.
One couple, John and Anne Hill, are the epitome of hospitality and kindness. I’ve only known them for a few weeks but have been invited on a day trip on their luxury catamaran, Soterion. This is quite an honor since to charter this boat for a week would cost $18,000-$21,000😙
I was curious about the name Soterion and it comes from the Greek word, soteria, meaning: salvation, enlightenment and peace.
The Hills own the 57’ cat sailboat and charter out of the BVI (British Virgin Islands) right next door to the USVI. There are two full-time crew members (conveniently, husband and wife who live on the boat), Ben and Rachel. They captain, maintain the boat , serve guests delicious gourmet meals and drinks and try to accommodate all their guests needs. The boat sleeps 8 and travels around all the BVI and USVI islands. It also has paddle boards , fishing rods and a hydrofoil for the adventurous!
I asked Anne why they charter out of the BVI and she explained a BVI flagged boat has a greater advantage for offering charters. The BVI are far superior sailing grounds—-more islands, more things to do, marine friendly with docks, anchorage and services for boaters than the USVI.
I and a few other invited friends board Soterion and are utterly impressed with the beauty of the boat and the friendly, knowledgeable crew. We are asked to take our sandals/shoes off to avoid getting sand and scuff marks on the teak floors and fiberglass (later I learned all boat captains will ask you to do this) Rachel gives us a tour of the boat and Ben gives us safety instructions before we launch.
It’s a beautiful, sunny warm day and the seas are calm yet enough wind to sail and not have to motor around on the water. We enjoy a nice tropical drink and conversation laying out on the trampolines while sailing to our first destination, Caneel Bay.
We grab a docking buoy and jump in the water for some snorkeling!
When we get back on board, we are famished and Rachel does not disappoint serving us a delicious meal!
After our meal, we boat over to Christmas Cove by Great St. James Island, the island owned by the notorious Jeffrey Epstein. It’s a favorite spot for boaters since it’s a calm mooring spot with great snorkeling.
The snorkeling is fantastic! We snorkel for an hour not realizing time is passing with such breathtaking underwater beauty of colorful tropical fish and coral. When we get back on board to rest , we see some very young kids on sunfish sailboats taking sailing lessons from the St. Thomas Yacht Club.
After all the sailing and snorkeling, we are hungry again. So another reason John and Anne took us to Christmas Cove is there is a floating pizza boat moored there called Pizza Pi. What??!!! A floating pizza restaurant? Cool!
They serve New York style pizza and change up their menu quarterly to offer some specialty pizzas. Other than pizza they have a delicious apple “pi” , sweetened dough filled with apple and baked to a golden brown with a spiced sugar topping. Yes, please!!!!😋
I was also told that on March 14 of every year, which is 3.14 (Pi), there is a party of many boaters in Christmas Cove with music and St. John Brewery providing their craft beers and sodas. These islanders take every chance to party!!! 🎉🎉
It’s finally time to end our day and make our way back to St John and then Anne hesitantly shows me a picture and tells me another reason they had taken us to Christmas Cove. She knows I am obsessed with wanting to see and swim with dolphins in the wild. She says that there was a time, not that long ago, when they were docked by Pizza Pi and then this happened:
Waaaaaaah! No dolphins sighted today. Well, tomorrow and many days to follow I will keep my eyes open and be ready to jump in the ocean, clothes and all if need be, to swim with my favorite ocean creature 🥰
***Happy New Year! May it be a healthy, blessed and joyful year free of any more Covid variants!!!!!!!!! See you next Tuesday!😘
Traveling Rose in St. John 