 |
| Blue Horizon at Yacht Haven Grande (far right) |
Monday, April 23, 2012
While checking out at St. Martin, we saw Stan Nicholas, who years ago was in the slip next to us at Charleston Harbor Marina before moving to the Virgin Islands. He now lives on St .John and has built two villas on St. Thomas. He and wife Kathy have sold their boat but he captains and manages a motor yacht out of St. Thomas. He gave us a contact for our refrigerator compressor repair. We called the company, Reefer Co, just after 8a.m. and they had a very competent person out at our boat by 9:15. The problem ended up being a burned up wire connection which she replaced. She checked our freon levels and said everything else was fine. We fired up the refrigerator/freezer to bring the temperatures back where they needed to be. The freezer actually was only up to +2 degrees so it had been doing very well. The refrigerator was up to 60 degrees.
Unfortunately less than an hour later the power at the dock went off. Evidently St. Thomas has a huge problem with rolling brownouts. The power was out until sometime late at night. The marina has a large generator for much of the dock but not for the area where we are docked. We used our small generator to cool down the refrigerator/freezer.
Charlie and I took a taxi to Crown Bay Marina area to buy some supplies from their Chandlery. The one at the Yacht Haven Marina was a joke...very few marine items. The handle for the lid to the freezer had broken off and we needed some shackles to fix the jib. We had lunch there at Tickles, their restaurant. We finally found a taxi to take us back to Yacht Haven. while Charlie went back to the boat to fix the jib and freezer handle, I spent the rest of the day finding out about the grocery stores. There is a large Pueblo grocery within walking distance. There is also another smaller store which caters to vegetarian customers. I finally found out where the laundramat was behind some nearby buildings. We were expecting our daughter Beth from Oregon to arrive the next evening.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Electricity on the dock came on overnight but was off again at 7:32 a.m. Charlie finished fixing items on the boat while I spent most of the day doing laundry. I did 4 loads of sheets, towels, clothing in the morning. After lunch with Charlie at one of the restaurants at the marina I took our rugs to the laundramat to wash. It is a hot and humid day. The electricity evidently goes off and on in different places throughout the city. The laundramat had it's own generator. Last Christmas, St Thomas was without water for two weeks. It sounds more like Iraq than an part of the US. We made up the V berth for Beth to sleep in. She arrived via taxi about 9:45p.m.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Beth slept late. She and I went to the two grocery stores to buy groceries for us and her. She is a vegan so she has different needs than we do. The small speciality food store had many items she could use. We ate a pizza at the Fat Turtle restaurant at the Marina area. This Marina caters to very large boats and has a cruise ship dock as well. The cruise ship dock can hold three ships. There is a shopping mall adjacent to it and the Marina area. The Marina area has upscale shops and several restaurants. and a coffeeshop. Charlie worked on the shower sump pump which is not working. He discovered that hose was kinked.
 |
| Three Carnival Band Trucks at Charlotte Amalie |
 |
| Charlotte Amalie Waterfront walk |
Thursday, April 26, 2012
 |
| 99 Steps |
Friday, April, 27, 2012
Charlie, Beth and I took a Safari Taxi to the Charlotte Amalie ferry dock to catch the ferry to St. John's. Unfortunately, the taxi took us to the wrong ferry dock so we had to walk back almost half the distance to the St. John's Ferry area. It was not running today because one of the boats had broken down and the person who fixes it was in Tortola, BVI. A taxi driver told us this and then drove us to Red Hook where another ferry goes to St. John. The first taxi cost us $2.00 each and the second cost us $10 each. The Safari taxis have a yellow taxi sign and only go on the main roads. They are open air taxis seating about 15--20 passengers. They look like they are a converted pick-up truck with seats added. Usually the locals ride them and they cost either $1 -2 depending on how far you ride.
We took the Red Hook Ferry to Cruz Bay on St. John's From Red Hook, it only takes about 20 minutes and cost $6.00 one way. We ate lunch once we got to St. John's. then we caught one of the Taxi Tours of St. John's. These are in the open air pick-up truck taxis and cost $25 each. The tour takes from 1 1/2 -2 hours and makes numerous stops and even allows passengers to walk down to the beaches or to the sugar mill ruins. Due to Charlie's recent back operation, he cannot walk miles so this was a way we could all take an overview of St. John. Once back to Red Hook, we caught one of the Safari taxis back to the marina which cost us only $2 each. The Safari taxi cannot be in the ferry parking lot but you can find them just outside. We also looked at the other IGY marina at Red Hook to decide if we wanted to move the boat there. We decided it would take our guests another 30 minutes from the airport and cost more in a regular taxi to get to the boat. There are more interesting restaurants in the Red Hook area. We ate dinner on the boat.
 |
| Annaberg Sugar Mill Ruins |
 |
| Tour Taxi |
 |
| Charlie and daughter Beth Barnett at Cinnamon Bay |
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Charlie stayed at the boat where he changed the oil and the oil filter in the boat's diesel engine. Beth and I caught a Safari taxi back to Red Hook to catch the St. John ferry. We went back to go to Trunk Bay to snorkel. We caught one of the St. John's taxi's to Trunk Bay. We had been able to take the 9a.m. ferry so the beach was not very crowded. This week has been the National Park Week so entry into the park has been free. We rented a locker and a mask and fins for Beth. I had trouble with my mask leaking, so I could not snorkel with her. Beth was able to find another person going on the snorkel trail so she wouldn't have to do it alone. She snorkeled for about an hour. Then she enjoyed walking along this beautiful beach. We caught the taxi back to Cruz Bay where we explored the shops in the Mongoose Junction. We shopped too long so just bought a smoothie for lunch before catching the 3 p.m. ferry back to Red Hook. We caught another Safari Taxi back to the Marina. We met Charlie for a drink at the Fat Turtle.
This was the last night for Carnival and they had fireworks over the harbor a 9:30 p.m. We had a perfect seat on our boat to watch them. The traffic was backed up forever going downtown. The music trucks kept going until early in the morning!
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Charlie and I stayed at the boat doing various tasks. Beth walked back into town and then further west to French Town where she met a man who told her a bit about the history of it. We later enjoyed sitting at the pool in the Marina. Beth and I saw one of the huge Cruise ships depart. There were two which departed about the same time. It was an interesting operation to watch. We had walked through the shopping area adjacent to the cruise ships. Most of the shops were closed or were closing.
Monday, April 30, 2012.
This was Beth's last day with us. She debated going back to St. John or visiting Megens Beach on St. John. She decided to go to Megens Beach. She caught a taxi in the cruise ship area as they take passengers from the cruise ships to that beach. She arrived about 11a.m. and spent several hours exploring the more vacant and secluded areas of this beach. She also enjoyed about an hours swim there before returning to the Marina.
Charlie and I stayed at the boat. There was quite a bit of wind; 15-20 knots. We waited until a lull occurred so we could move the dinghy off the boat to the dock. We deflated the dinghy, then folded it up, and put lines around it. Using the halyards we moved it back onto the boat placing it in front of the mast and lashing it securely.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
This is departure day for Beth going back to Oregon and for Charlie going to Chattanootga to visit with his mother. After a nice breakfast, everyone was packing. Beth ate her leftovers for lunch. We saw her off at the taxi stand in the Marina about 12:30. Charlie and I are lunch at Grand Cru which is the only upscale restaurant at the marina, but we were disappointed with the quality considering the higher prices. I saw him off to the airport about 2p.m. I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening doing our finances: balancing the checkbook, paying bills online, justifying our charge card statements and entering all our receipts. It threatened rain overnight so I closed the cockpit up. It did rain later in the evening. I had a call from Bob Kelly who is coming to help get the boat back to Charleston. Charlie called to say he made it to Chattanooga.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Charlie is in Chattanooga visiting his mother. I remain with the boat in St. Thomas. I did the laundry this morning. I got back to the boat just before heavy rain began. It must have rained 3 inches in 3 hours. Our mast sometimes leaks and it was leaking today, so I was trying to use containers to collect the water. I measured 3 inches of water. I even heard thunder. The rain continues off and on probably due to a trough or small front nearby. I have spent the afternoon and early evening updating our blog.
Tomorrow I will welcome crew members, Carl Beckman and Bob Kelly who will help us get the boat back to Charleston. They will arrive after 4p.m. tomorrow. Charlie will arrive Friday after 2p.m. I will take Carl and Bob to the grocery to help select our provisions on Friday morning. We may leave St. Thomas on Sat or Sunday depending on weather.
No comments:
Post a Comment