I made into St Thomas on Friday afternoon after taking 3 flights with layovers in Ft Lauderdale and San Juan. I left at 10:50 AM Thursday night, arriving at Charlotte Amalie about 12:15 PM the next day. Needless to say I didn’t get a lot of sleep and with the time change, I was kinda tired. The air temperature was about 85 degrees with light trade winds blowing, just another beautiful day in paradise. Tom picked me up at the airport and I will be staying with him while on St Thomas. We stopped at the “Hook and Sinker” a small restaurant on the harbor for lunch. After unloading my gear at his boat and taking a moment to enjoy some “refreshments” we staggered over to “Bottoms Up” for some cocktails. It was great hooking up with many of the people I have made friends with in my time down here and had a great time. We crawled back along the dock, keeping low to avoid the 12 foot long iguanas, lurking all around us, waiting for their chance to spring out of the mangroves and attack us. I leave for Puerto Rico in a couple of weeks, where I plan to spend a couple of days inspecting the repairs to the boat. Tom has been the perfect host, he even brought out his humidor full of good Cuban cigars that he keeps for special occasions. He even went so far as to brew up some Cappuccino for us Sunday morning, complete with steam frothed milk. Last night we enjoyed PBS television as that is the only station he can get aboard his boat. Colonel Bob , who is the dock master here at Independent Boatyard told me I was at the top of their list when I was ready to bring my boat back this next Fall, after hurricane season. I have been eating some great meals. Monday night I prepared a salmon romalade stuffed with lobster, accompanied with a white wine sauce made with roasted garlic and portabella mushrooms. On the side I fixed baby potatoes. Tom seemed to enjoy the meal and afterwards we drank snifters of cognac. Yes it is a sailor’s life for me. We had a lot of rain Monday night. Unfortunately we left the forward hatch open and my suitcase was right under it. I now have clothes hanging in the main cabin drying out. The dinghy was also full of water so I bailed that out this morning and used it to “drive” Tom to his shop across the lagoon.
I spoke to the shipwright who is doing the repairs on my boat yesterday. He informed me he hadn’t started on the rudder yet. They were getting ready to drop the keel (6000 lbs) so they can re-bed it and replace the bolts. While at the boat I will be off-loading some things and shipping them back up to the States. During my planning stages of moving on a boat I included things that I never used and decided to put them in storage as space is limited .
On Thursday, Tom and I worked on an auto helm into a Beneteau Idlyllic 35. It is going to be a very difficult job and we have finally come upon a way of installing it. Our work was cut short by the heavy rains that fell today. This of course required the bailing of Tom’s dinghy which had filled with rainwater to the gunwales (pronounced gunnels). We had to go back to his shop where the rain really started coming down. We spent the afternoon at “Bottoms Up” while it rained very hard. The bar is open to the lagoon and it was really noisy with lightening all around us. We are hoping to be able to return to the boat tomorrow and continue with the installation. Of course Tom’s boat is not as watertight as it could be and once again I have my clothes hanging around the main cabin drying. I noticed Tina, who owns “Bottoms Up”, was out in the lagoon trying to get the plug to her dinghy out so that it would drain. I waded out into the lagoon with an umbrella and covered her with it while I worked the stuck plug loose. I then waded back ashore under the umbrella with her. It was at this point that I informed her that her dress was somewhat soaked and the air chilly and she should keep that in mind when she transited the bar. She informed me as she walked away not to look at her ass. I swear to God I didn’t watch her ass as she walked away. I am really glad that I invested the money to be able to more easily get on line. I am writing this e-mail from my laptop sitting in the main saloon as it rains outside. I can attach my laptop to my cell phone and go on line. It is really cool being in a lagoon, on a boat, accessing the internet.
I finally finished installing the auto helm, giving Tom time to catch up with his work. His mother is very ill and he must fly back to the States, which requires him to finish up any pending jobs so he can leave. The days I spent working on the boat were somewhat uncomfortable. The boat is on a mooring in the lagoon meaning she could only be reached by dinghy. The days were very hot, little breeze with rain developing into high humidity. The air was so thick you could see bubbles in it. Most of the time was spent in very tight quarters below decks, or working at some very odd angles topsides in the cockpit. What made it worse was all the food I ate while in the States, but it is finally completed and works great. On Friday I went with Tom up on the North shore to a home high above Megan’s Bay. The road is one which twists back and forth following the steep hillside’s contours. It is owned by a lady from Ireland who lives in Connecticut and works in New York. Megan’s Bay located about a quarter mile below fills the lower horizon. I watched a sailboat passing over a white sandy bottom, clearly visible from our heights. Casting a shadow onto the white sandy bottom, coupled with the incredible clarity of the water gave the boat the illusion it was slowly floating above the ground. From the back deck, surrounded by rain forest is a view of the Windward Passage with the British Virgins in the distance. While watching the weather develop with rain over the Atlantic I spotted a waterspout in the distance with a dark funnel cloud disappearing into the base of an enormous thunderhead. I pointed it out to the other guys that were working on the rear deck. From the way the surface of the ocean was being ripped apart my thoughts naturally began to try imagining what it would be like aboard a boat in that. The houses location and view would be a great place to do a painting, very quiet. and of course, nothing being perfect, infested with mosquitoes which are a result of all the rain that has been falling the past week.
I have am now in Florida having a great time with my daughters. We all had dinner last night at Chrissy’s restaurant in Orlando and I will be driving back up tomorrow for a visit before flying back out to California on Tuesday. At least that is the plan at this point, but like most plans in my life subject to change and revision.
I must say I was very impressed with the workmanship that was used on my boat’s repairs. The boat looks great, maybe even better than before. The boatyard has been very helpful in making arrangements for the boats storage while on the hard this Summer. In addition to the repairs needed from the grounding I also had a thru-hull for the forward head’s discharge replaced. It seems the bronze valve was couple to the hose using a galvanized pipe fitting, normally used in houses. This fitting, couple to the bronze with exposure to saltwater caused the whole valve to corrode due to electrolysis. In addition I had the cutlass bearing replaced (this attaches the propeller shaft to the transmission. It is best to get all this done now as eventually they could cause some major problems. For those of you that have been aboard, you cannot believe how much the main saloon has been opened up with the removal of the table. It is big enough to dance in and is something I should have done long ago.
My best to you all, I will call when I get to California,
Marv
