Saving Joe

Some people just work too hard. Joe is one of them, Thank God, So, we’ve conspired with his lady, Heather to get him to take a couple days of R&R and of course “A Turkey Dinner”. We’re off and sailing to do a little snorkeling, turkey feasting and taking Captain Morgan along for the ride.


Could life get any better? A genny that runs, good food, good fun and great new friends

Save the Turkey

All boats love those quiet, peaceful anchorages. We were enjoying just such a bay when we heard a sound that cruisers everywhere dread. Rattle, clank, clank, rattle, rattle and then smoke. The Generator! We’re still quick on our feet for old guys and had her shut down almost before we could gasp “ Oh No” We’ve been working on all the self sufficiency stuff and so have 2 great new solar panels which will keep all our house batteries topped up. BUT… the refrigeration runs strictly off the genny. What were the original owners thinking, a great 140 Hp Yanmar turbo main engine and it doesn’t charge anything but it’s own start battery.


Back to that fridge/freezer problem, Ice, let’s load her up, pile the top of the fridge and freezer with pillows and head back to Crown Bay Marina and find Joe and Chris.

We were just cruising into the channel when we spotted Joe and said “Save our Turkey”

Good news (the Genny) wasn’t dead, just sick. A slow salt water drip at a clamp on the non service side had caused major corrosion and totally blew the manifold. Joe’s amazing and five days later we’re up and running again.

Yeah!!! Way down in the bottom of the freezer the steak, chicken and The Turkey are still frozen solid. Joe has saved the day.

The Race is On

With all these beautiful Bays, you’d think there’d be lots of spots to drop an anchor. Not so. First, there’s only so much room for boats to swing around in the wind and clear everyone on a 360 degree radius. Then there’s the mooring ball problem. In most of the popular bays, mooring balls have been anchored to the ocean floor, with a float attached, so a boat can come along, grab the float, tie a line and be instantly secure, needing a little less room than is needed to swing on an anchor. Sounds ideal, right? Except that the owner of the balls wants to collect $25.00 per night per ball in the British side of the islands; when anchoring is free. If there are 50 balls taking up the whole bay, leaving no room to anchor, then that owner is making a cool $1,250.00 per night x 7 days a week. Not bad when the ocean is free.


The National Park services on the US side, have also jumped on this as a means to protect some of the coral in the bays from the damage of anchor chains, but at least their cost is just to cover installation and maintenance, at $15.00 per night, or only $7.50 for Golden Ager old farts like us!

And So, The Race is On. The channels are filled with boats under sail, throughout the early part of the day, but come 2:30- 3 pm the question is where to spend the night…. Which bay would be tonight’s choice?

After an afternoon out sailing, we chose Leinster Bay, on St John, for its low cost park ball, calm waters and great snorkeling.

Caught

Fishing’s a wonderful pastime aboard a boat, after all, the water with the fish in it is right there underneath you. So Gord thru the line out. Next thing we know 2 of those little shark-looking fish are giving his lure a hard time. He fights, he loses and it gets away. With the fishing rod propped in the flag-pole holder, we go off to bed. About 5 am there’s a bit of commotion -- Oh no, someone’s on our boat! Pirates, Dinghy thieves, What??


Nope, that fish that thought he’d got away, came back for a second look-see and wasn’t so lucky the second time around. Gord heard the commotion and went au-naturel to investigate. I myself slept right thru it all.

When I awoke, he announced the prize he had caught for dinner that night. What do you mean shark? That terrible menacing looking one we saw several times stalking us directly beneath the boat!.

Turns out it’s called a Remora, or shark-sucker.

The weird suction cups on its head are used for attaching itself to sharks, turtles, large fish, skin divers (Oh Gross) and boat bottoms, where it feasts off the leftover scraps of its host fish. I guess it hopes the skin diver will drop a twinkie or something. I hate to think what he’s getting from the bottom of our boat -- Yuck!

Anyway, he’s about 3 ft long and very ugly! Gord ate him, for supper, \I refused.

Chillin in Francis Bay

Well I just turned 60 while sitting here in Francis Bay which is part of a National Park. Had a great day just enjoying the caribbean beaches and a lovely dinner at hilltop overlooking the Bay.
It's O so beautiful here and there is a wonderful eco campsite in the connecting   Maho Bay , rising from the beach there sre hundred of steps going up in a miriad of directions to eco friendly campsites.  They are canvas sided cabins built on platforms and accessed by  wooden walkways and of course staircases.  There is a great restaurant run by the campsite situated in an open pavillion at the top of the hill overlooking the ocean.  We just had a fabulous regular friday night prime rib dinner and we're using their internet connection to chat with home and post this blog.  We dinghy'd  over to Trunk Bay  ( one of the most photographed beaches in the world)  yesterday and did the underwater snorkel trail  around Trunk Cay.  Now that was facinating and beaching the dinghy was a challenge as the surf was pretty wild.  There is always a 20 - 30 min discussion , and I mean discussion on the best way to accomplish this task as every beach is different and so is our opinions on the matter of beaching  It was so wild yesterday that we ate our picnic lunch in the dinghy while the " discussion " took place.  However mission was accomplished and we enjoyed the snorkel, the beach and a nice fresh shower before heading back to the boat.
The Caribbean Rain Dance continues as we have had showers just about every night.  We're grateful for the water alarm that wakes us for the start of the dance.

The Caribbean Rain Dance

Last night Gord and I went dancing.
This is a well know activity of all boaters in the Caribbean.  It requires a clear starry night without a hint of rain, best to have a couple of painkillers throughout the evening. Open all the hatches so a great breeze flows thru the boat while you get a terrific nights sleep rocking to the gentle motion of the waves.
The rain drops hitting your face thru the open hatch are the start to the dance.  Then its leap out of bed, probably naked then dance from hatch to hatch, leaping up on beds, furniture or toilets ( whichever is handy) shutting  8 hatches, 3 side ports and zipping the bimini windows . This MUST be done in record time to avoid soggy beds, cushions. It's a quick dance over before you know it , so you get the most fun if you can aim for at least one dance every night.
After your nightly dance just tuck your wet body back into your hopefully dry bed and let yourself rock to sleep again.
Ah!!! boating. Don't we love it.

Honeymoon Drive In

Or maybe it should be Honeymoon Dinghy In. That was to be our evenings entertainment.  A huge sheet stretched between the Palms, beach chairs in rows  and Heidi's open for Beer, hotdogs and popcorn.

That was the plan, dinghy over from Lindeburgh Bay to Honeymoon Bay, Beach the dinghy, watch the movie, dinghy back.

Beaching a Dinghy is NOT always a piece of cake.
 What with the waves and the shifting sand and faster than you can say  "incoming Wave"  I was on my butt in the surf.

The movie was funny and I was wet.   Now ANOTHER SHOWER