USVI – Chuck’s Mom and Sis visit, Mar 12-19, 2013

Mom (94) and sister Zona (mumble) were the latest guests to join us on Tusen Takk II.  We “received” them on Mar 12 at Crown Bay Marina, where we reasoned it would be easiest to get Mom on board.  Next day, we engaged a taxi for a “tour” of St. Thomas.  Charlotte Amalie was packed to the overflowing with passengers from the scheduled seven (!) cruise ships in the vicinity.  Turned out a fair percentage of them were also on tours, and that on such days a “tour” consists of a drive up to several vantage points above the city, including the incredibly crowded Mountain Top, home of the “world famous” banana daiquiri.   In order to get to the balcony overlooking Magen Bay to the north, one must pass through a gargantuan store filled with schlock.  But the view from the balcony, when one could finally elbow one’s way to the rail, was indeed impressive.  And Zack, our driver, originally from Palestine, was gracious and solicitous of Mom.

The waves hitting our slip, and the diesel fumes blowing our way from the nearby Tropical Shipping dock persuaded us to leave Crown Bay on Mar 14, or “pi” day.  We hoped to stop at Christmas Cove, but when there was no room at the inn proceeded to Francis Bay.  There, Barb and Zona did some swimming, but the water was murky and Zona decided she wasn’t a snorkeler, if that is a word.  Left-over rollers from the NW made the mooring field moderately uncomfortable, so we moved the next day to Leinster Bay, where, tucked deeply in to Waterlemon Bay, we spent two lovely days.   Zona and I went ashore and walked up to Annaberg, where we obtained the obligatory picture of guest-in-front-of-windmill.

On Mar 17 we moved to Great Lameshur, where the quiet waters and beckoning dock finally convinced Mom that she could get ashore.  Pleasant walk to VIERS and the Tektite museum.  See the photos below of the re-entry of Mom to the dinghy at the conclusion of the short excursion.

On Mar 18 we moved back to Charlotte Amalie, where we hosted temporarily-batching Hunter (Arctic Tern) to dinner and cards.

Speaking of cards, Mom suffers from macular degeneration, but with her boundless will and optimistic spirit continues to play Free Cell and Spider on the computer, and Progressive Rummy at the card table.  When we weren’t playing cards with Mom, Barb and Zona and I did a lot of reading.  It was a very relaxing visit, and both Barb and I feel grateful for having had the time with Mom and Zona.

Early morning on Mar 19, we all boarded the dinghy – Mom now more confident that she could manage the entry and exit – and traversed the short distance to the dinghy dock at Yacht Haven.  No sooner had we gotten underway than we were hit by a downpour which lasted just long enough to thoroughly drench us all.  Maybe we should have a) waited five minutes or b) covered the luggage with plastic before departing.

PS:  When we returned to the boat, we had breakfast and then schlepped ten tons of laundry in to shore.  Barb finally got a picture of Jerry, the pleasant man who insists on folding sheets for customers.  Gratis.

 

British Virgin Islands — Vi får besøk av fire nordmenn, 10. mars, 2013

On March 9 we checked in at West End, BVI, and spent the night at a mooring in Soper’s Hole.   Early on March 10, we moved to Road Harbour, where we anchored briefly outside of Wickhams Cay.  We were there to pick up four guests for the day: Rasmus and Kari Morvik and Terje and Kirsten Seim, all from the Kristiansand area of southern Norway.  They had flown in to San Juan, Puerto Rico for several days of visiting that island before boarding “Brilliance of the Seas” to the Virgin Islands. Their cruise ship arrived at Road Harbour just about the same time we did, but there would be a short delay while they had breakfast aboard and then found their way off the huge ship.

While we waited for the appointed time, we were surprised by a dinghy visit from a sailboat anchored nearby.  Paul, aboard Distant Shores II, had recognized our vessel and came to say hello and present us with a gift.  Paul and his wife Sheryl are videographers that produce a television series entitled, naturally enough, Distant Shores.  We had appeared in one of their programs, an episode that featured a rum-tasting party aboard Seaman’s Elixir hosted by Linda and Steve Kraskey in Culebra way back in March, 2007.  Anyway, Paul presented us with a copy of the rum-tasting episode!  How gracious!

Barb stayed on board while I took the dinghy in at 9:30 to Village Cay Marina, in order to fetch the four Norwegians for a short visit. They had but one day in the BVIs, so we had to pack a lot into a little time.  We crossed over to the Indians for some snorkeling and then in to the Bight for some lunch on board and then watched the rum-tasting episode. Then, a brief visit to the always-raucous Willy T’s for an introduction to “pain killers”.  And then a hustle back to Road Harbour in order to get our friends back on board the cruise ship by 4:15, so that they could continue on to Guadeloupe and Barbados and back to Puerto Rico.

All too brief.  Vi gleder oss til å se dem igjen i sommer.

March 31 addendum:  the pictures marked below with (TS) were provided by Terje Seim.

Virgin Islands – Visit by Erik and Cindy, Feb 28-Mar 8, 2013

Chuck’s nephew Erik and Erik’s wife Cindy flew in to Charlotte Amalie on Feb 28.   While anchored in the Bay awaiting their arrival, we saw an interesting sight.  Two helicopters circled the Bay and then one of them hovered over the dock at the Coast Guard Station.   It was difficult to see what was happening, but later examination of my telephoto pictures revealed that a superstructure suitable for mounting navigation aids was being tied to the helicopter.  When that was secured, the helicopter flew off, presumably to deposit the structure on some hazardous rocky outcrop.

We had a grand time with Erik and Cindy.  We snorkeled at Waterlemon and Christmas Cove, and after checking in to the BVIs in order to pick up an injector pump for our generator, visited the Bight area of Norman Island, where we snorkeled the Caves and the Indians, and of course we stopped in at Willy T’s in order that Erik and Cindy could experience that particular bit of tourist-madness.

While in Francis Bay, Barb took our guests on a walk to the Annaberg Ruins, where they were fortunate to arrive during an expo day.  On Friday night we again partook of the gluttonous meal at Maho Resort, and afterwards watched in fascination as a guest glass blower created a gnarled tree complete with green foliage.  On another day we all joined Hunter and Devi (Arctic Tern) and their guests Craig and Sharon on a hike over the Johnny Horn trail from Waterlemon to Coral Bay and back.   While in Coral Bay we had breakfast at the Donkey Diner, and then walked down to the little grocery store “Love City Mini Market”, which “has everything”.

Erik and Cindy:  great guests, welcome anytime.

Post Script:  On the day after Erik and Cindy’s departure, Mar 8, Barb took some amazing photos while dinghy-ing in to do some laundry.  See the last two photos in the album, below, of a daring rider on a “St Thomas JetRider”.  Barb later found literature which described the setup.  A 33 ft hose from the small boat to the two barrels on the jetpack unit.  Water is pumped at over 1,000 gallons per minute.

PPS:  Today, Mar 20, I am updating the photo gallery, below, to include three photos taken by Erik while he was with us.  I just got them through email a few days ago — hence the delay in their inclusion.

Jeff’s Visit – USVI, Feb 17–26, 2013

As we mentioned in a previous post, son Jeff timed his arrival so as to overlap granddaughters Kristen and Abigail’s visit by a few days. After the girls’ departure, we retraced the circuit of bays and anchorages that we have found to be guest-friendly. Francis Bay, Christmas Cove, Charlotte Amalie, Great Lameshur, Salt Pond, Drunk Bay, Caneel and Elephant Bay were all visited one or more times. We did some diving at Tektite Reef and Johnson Reef and “Cow and Calf” and Whistling Cay. We went to Heidi’s Monday night movie (where we saw “Skyfall”) at Honeymoon Beach. We got chased out of Elephant Bay early one morning by the Port Authority who was clearing the way for the arrival of the world’s largest cruise ship. We had prime rib at Maho Resort, and sushi at the Beni Iguana restaurant in Charlotte Amalie. We watched a few movies on board, and Jeff watched a gazillion episodes of Breaking Bad on his computer. He works hard when he is home in Las Vegas; we think he enjoyed his leisurely visit with us. We sure did.

 

Repair Reminiscence – Feb 21, 2013

Faithful readers know that our typical cruising “season” runs from early November, when we put TT2 back into the water, until the next September, when we put the boat on the hard and fly back to the States (or elsewhere) to impose on friends and relatives.  Last season we began having an increased number of mechanical “issues”, including replacing the position sensor on one of the stabilizers and the hydraulic arm on the other – both done in Trinidad — and having the external seals replaced on both – done in Puerto Rico.  We had continual problems with the water maker. I had to rebuild the Maxwell anchor winch.  I replaced the alternator on the John Deer propulsion engine.  We replaced eight Trojan L16H-AC 6-volt batteries (the house bank), the 12-volt Group 8D start battery for the John Deere, and the 12-volt Group 4D start battery for the genset.  I replaced the impeller and a broken throttle cable on the 25 hp 2-stroke Yamaha dinghy engine.  I replaced the VHF radio in the flybridge, and a GPS in the pilothouse.

This season our problems began early; while leaving Crews Inn Marina in Trinidad the bow thruster apparently sucked up a piece of debris and jammed, breaking off a tooth of a gear in the lower unit.  That is still not resolved, since MAX Power has just emerged from a bankruptcy that resulted in a change of ownership, and has only just recently begun replenishing its stocks.  We are told that we will need to replace the entire drive foot, and have one on order.

Other problems and solutions this season included replacing the raw water pumps on the John Deere and the Northern Lights genset; replacing a broken knuckle on the end of a stabilizer hydraulic arm; replacing the garden-hose spigot in the cockpit; replacing the hose on the Scandvik transom shower; and the repairs mentioned in our most recent posts:  another rebuild of the water maker Energy Transfer Device, this time more successful after finally getting the right seal kit, but made more complicated by needing to replace a broken elbow, which required retapping two new threads; getting the scale flushed out of the Yamaha cooling system; replacing the electric horns on the flybridge; replacing the solenoids on the davit; and replacing the stop-solenoid on the genset.

For the land-lubbers among our readers who picture our life as one endless lounge with drinks on a beach, perhaps the description recounted above can the lend some credence to the oft-quoted definition among cruisers of “cruising”:  boat repair in exotic places.

I’ll drink to that!

USVI — Grandkids’ visit, Feb 12-18, 2013

As we mentioned in the previous post, Granddaughters Kristen (18) and Abigail (9) arrived on Feb 12.  They almost didn’t come, because in the days before their departure, Kristen developed a sore throat.  Several trips to several doctors later, the initial diagnosis of strep had been eliminated and replaced by tonsillitis and mononucleosis.  At least three different antibiotics had been tried.  At the last minute, a final doctor’s visit led to the conclusion that she could come but should avoid strenuous activities.  (Scratch the planned lengthy hikes on St. John.)

Since it was blowing stink when they arrived, we decided to give them on their first night a relatively non-rocking boat, so we delayed departure from Crown Bay Marina until about noon on the 13th.  We then moved the short distance to Charlotte Amalie, where we did some last-minute shopping, including purchasing a pair of fins for the Abby, and a trip to a doctor for Kristen, who had developed an alarming rash.  Turned out one of the idiot doctors back home had prescribed amoxicillin.  The doctor at Charlotte Amalie was horrified; amoxicillin is well known to cause a rash in patients with mono.   (The prednisone he prescribed has subsequently worked wonders.)

Next morning, Valentines Day, since the wind was still howling, we decided to put the dinghy up on the deck for the trip over to Christmas Cove.  Oh-oh.  The powered davit would not work.  First just a click or two, and then nothing.  So I cranked the dinghy up by hand, using the hand winch that we had installed in Grenada way back in 2007 for just such an eventuality. Very slow process, since we only installed one winch.  Both the height of the end of the boom and the length of the line down to the dinghy must be alternately adjusted several times to get the dinghy up over the deck rail and then down into the proper position to the dinghy stand on the deck.  The problem is that the boom arm must be relatively low to reach out over the rail, but must be raised very high in order to position the dinghy over its stands.  Raising the boom raises the dinghy up so high that it cannot be controlled, so the dinghy must be periodically lowered some before the boom can be additionally raised.  Unforgettable memories of the first time in ’07 we tried that process:  removing the boom-raising line (say) from the winch so that the dinghy-lifting/lowering line could be wrapped around the winch.  And vice versa.  Many scary moments, and lots of peeled skin, pinched fingers and cursing.  Our next trip to the chandlery was to purchase line clutches for the two lines!

So by the time this latest crises raised its head, we had the routine down pat, albeit a very tedious and slow process it is. But with the admiral and the grandkids helping to stabilize the dinghy, we eventually got it onto its stands. When we arrived at Christmas Cove I dug out the spare solenoids and installed same, although that short phrase doesn’t do justice to the inevitable complications that arose due to frozen and/or inaccessible nuts.   While I struggled with the repair, Hunter (Arctic Tern) and Barb took Abigail ashore for her very first snorkel experience, during which she very reluctantly and briefly put her head into the water.  Hunter made a game for her to find things under the water and she eventually got more comfortable. Kristen stayed on board, for at that point she was still very much under the weather.

The Terns joined us for dinner that night, and we all (even Kristen) enjoyed a rousing game of Mexican Train.

Next day (Feb 15) we all (the Terns and Takks and both girls) snorkeled at the point between Maho and Francis beach.  By the end of her second training session with Hunter, Abigail had become an enthusiastic snorkeler, well on the way to becoming an obsessive one.  Thanks to Hunter for his invaluable help.

On Feb 16 Barb’s son Jeff flew in to Charlotte Amalie, where he took a taxi to Red Hook where he took a ferry to Cruz Bay, St John, where he took another taxi to Maho Beach, where Barb and the girls were snorkeling. I got a call on the cell phone and took the dinghy in to get them all. While awaiting that call, I attempted to solve the problem of the generator not starting.  I replaced the glow plugs, since the symptoms seemed to indicate that one or more was faulty.  No joy.  Next day we stopped in at Waterlemon Cay so everyone (else) could snorkel while I poured over the generator manual.  Rather than swap out the injectors, I decided to seek professional help.  When the gang arrived back at the boat, Abigail was ecstatic.  They had all snorkeled all the way around Waterlemon Island, and Abigail had seen a sting ray and a spotted eagle ray.  Tremendous progress in just a few days!  We decided to move on over to Christmas Cove, with the thought in mind of snorkeling there as well.  But when we got settled in to our spot, we all felt too comfortable to reenter the water. Shortly after we arrived, friends we had met and spent time with in Grenada and Trinidad, Roger and Pat (Iriana), pulled up beside us in their Nordhavn.

Next day we moved back to Charlotte Amalie, where Barb would take the girls to the airport while I put in a call to Tracy at All Points Marine.  We attempted to solve the problem by telephone, but after a few calls and tests had pointed to the problem being electrical, he decided he had better come to the boat.  After several blind alleys he finally tested the stop-solenoid.  Bingo!  I had a spare; we installed same and soon had the genset generating like a good generator should.

We had a great time with the girls and hope they will join us again next year as “Chuck and Barb go cruising”.

United States Virgin Islands — Feb 5-12, 2013

On the afternoon of the Feb 4 we moved from Salt Pond back to Great Lameshur.  There we hatched the plan of hiking out to the Cabritte Horn Point the next morning.  To do that, the Terns and the Takks took the dinghy in to the dock and walked east along the road until we were at the top of the first steep hill.  There we left the road and entered the Tektite Trail, which climbs southeasterly until reaching the ridge top and then zig-zags south along the ridgeline.  Eventually, the trail forks with the right branch heading west down to Bee Hive Cove while the left branch continues along the ridge on the Cabritte Horn Point Trail to the Point.  There are some spectacular views along this trail.  When we reached the Point, Barb commandeered my camera and took some portraits.  That evening, Barb stayed back at the boat while the Terns and I did a night dive on Tektite Reef.  On the dive we saw a lobster out in the open, which surprisingly made it  more difficult to snare, since it would not sit still.  Each time a snare would touch its tail, it would zoom off, but then stop in the open.  Again and again.  Our actions reminded me of my childhood, when I was assigned the task of catching a rooster for slaughter.

Finally, Hunter caught it with his snare.  Quick as a wink, the lobster was deposited tail first into the Tern’s lobster bag.  I immediately resumed my journey back toward the boat.  When I looked back, Hunter and Devi were again “chasing a rooster”.  Another lobster?  Nope, when I rejoined them I could see that the bag was empty!  (Learned later that the Tern’s bag has a velcro bottom, and that the bottom was not closed!  So the lobster went into one end of the bag and out the other.)  After many more minutes of futile pursuit, the lobster backed into a small hole and Hunter, frustrated with his lack of success with the snare, grabbed the “rooster” with his gloved hands!  This time, it was put into my bag, which has only one exit/entrance.   It was late when we returned to our vessels, so we decided to suspend the bag in the water until morning.

Next morning, a big surprise.  When the lobster was removed from the bag, the “rooster” was seen to be a “hen”!   Oops!  (We set the female free so she could go off and deposit the eggs that graced her underside.)

On Feb 6 the Takks and the Terns moved over to Hurricane Hole, where we snorkeled along the mangroves.  Since mooring overnight is not permitted there, we then moved to Round Bay where we anchored for the night.

Next day, we moved back to Francis Bay, where we got our scuba tanks refilled and made plans to dive Johnson Reef.  Early in the afternoon of Feb 8, despite the high waves washing over the reef, the Takks set out in our dinghy and the Terns in theirs.  As we approached the reef, our dinghy sputtered and stopped, clearly overheated.  Since we were so close to our destination, we decided to dive anyway before returning to Francis.  The Terns towed us into position and we had an uneventful dive, punctuated by the discovery of a lobster so well ensconced that it could not be snared.

Feb 9, we both moved over to Charlotte Amalie.  Devi was turning 60, so we all went ashore and walked up to the restaurant “Room With a View” for a celebratory dinner.

Anticipating the arrival of grandchildren Kristen and Abigail on Tuesday, and needing access to shore in order to complete provisioning, we took a slip at Crown Bay Marina on Feb 10.  Early on the morning of Feb 11, Hunter gave me a tow over to the Yamaha Dealer at Substation.  I spent the day rebuilding two leaky raw water pumps:  one for the genset and one for the John Deere propulsion engine.  Late that afternoon we walked over to the dealership and retrieved our oh-so-vital and ever-so-beloved dinghy, which vehicle now purrs and cools nicely after an acid bath for its sinuses.  (Dinghy engines almost never get flushed with fresh water if they are owned by full-time cruisers that almost never visit docks.)

On Feb 12 I replaced the non-functioning horns on the flybridge while Barb went to the airport to gather up Danielle’s daughters Krissy (18) and Abber-dabber (9).  I was just finishing the installation when we had a surprise visit.  Roberto and Maria Rosa stopped in to say “hi”.  Passengers on a nearby cruise ship, they had been surprised to look out and see a Krogen.  They recognized the shape immediately, since they are themselves owners of a 2010 Kadey-Krogen 48 named “Gratitude”.  One can read about their experiences as relatively new owners by going to www.kadeykrogen.com/newsletters and clicking on “Winter 2013”.  See page 6.  Faithful readers of this blog may also be interested in the contents of page 16, where the winners of Krogen’s Seventh Annual Photo Contest are announced.

But I have digressed.   Our granddaughters are indeed with us.  To learn about their visit, the gentle reader must tune in to the next exciting episode of “Chuck and Barb go cruising”.

L’Esperance Trail and Saltpond Bay, St. John, USVI — Feb. 3-4, 2013

On Feb. 3 the Terns and the Takks got up early and took a dinghy in to the shore at Salt Pond, from where we walked nearly to Coral Bay, and then got a ride to the trailhead for L’Esperance up on the Centerline Road.   The Terns and the Takks had separated in an effort to maximize our chances of being successful at hitch-hiking, but the Sunday morning traffic was too light for that strategy to work for either couple.  When Hunter and Devi, who were far ahead of us, of course, passed a house with a parked taxi, Hunter stopped to inquire about  the possibility of commissioning a ride to the trailhead.  The owner was just about to head off to church, but said that his son could take us as soon as he had finished his shower.  By the time we caught up, the young man was ready.  Pleasant man with an accent that took some getting used to.  We learned that he worked for the Police Force in Cruz Bay, which made his morning beverage somewhat surprising.  (See the photo Barb snapped in the taxi, below.)

While looking up the spelling of “L’Esperance”, I learned some interesting facts about the trail.  Until the 1780’s the Centerline Road (formerly called Konge Vey) did not connect Coral Bay to Cruz Bay because of a deep fissure at the saddle where Reef Bay Trail is now located.  During the 1780’s work began on a bridge over the fissure.  Until that time, the L’Esperance Road was the only way to get from the fissure down to the estates of L’Esperance, Sieben and Mollendahl, and also provided a means for the plantations along the route to ship their products via ox carts to Reef Bay where they could be loaded onto sailing vessels for export.  After the construction of the bridge, the road was still used as it was the only road to the estates, and it remained passable by four-wheel vehicles until the 1950’s, when it started to grow over.  The road was bulldozed at the behest of private landowners in the 1970’s, and remained in good condition until 1995, when Hurricane Marilyn closed it off with fallen trees.  Through the efforts of Trail Bandits and local hikers, the trail was cleared again and made passable all the way to Reef Bay.

Indeed, we took that trail down to Reef Bay, where we had lunch at the old sugar mill site.  We learned from the placards that the mill had had two incarnations; the first powered by a horse-drawn press during slave days, and the second, after the abolition of slavery, powered by a steam engine.  After lunch and a short break, we walked up to the “petroglyph trail” and continued to Great Lameshur, where we were lucky enough to catch a ride back to Salt Pond.   Over seven miles of walking, all told.   Not bad for an arthritic cripple!   That night we hiked up to Concordia Resort, where we had pizza and watched the first half of the super bowl, leaving too early to catch the boredom of the 35-minute delay in the game and the excitement of the nearly-successful comeback of San Francisco.

Next day, Feb. 4, the Terns moved to Cruz Bay to do some shopping and laundry. We stayed in Salt Pond, and once again had a successful gathering of conch — two per person.  Barb prepared a  mess of “cracked conch”, which violated all of our vows of eschewing fried foods but tasted ever so good.

Virgin Islands, Jan 17 – Feb 2, 2013

On Jan 19 we left Charlotte Amalie and traversed over to Salt Pond, St. John, where we snorkeled, harvested some lambi (conch; later prepared by Devi and served to the appreciative crews of Tusen Takk II, Awakening, and Arctic Tern) and attended Sunday brunch at Concordia Resort.  On Jan 21, back over to Great Lameshur where we dove Tektite Reef and I caught a lobster.  Next day, back over to Francis Bay to refill our scuba tanks and dive Johnson Reef and Whistling Cay, where I again caught a lobster.  Our stay included a Friday evening, so of course we hiked up the stairs to Maho Bay Resort where most of us (Liahona and guests, Nirvana and guest, Persephone and guest, Arctic Tern and Tusen Takk II) ordered their world-famous prime rib.  We also attended several sundowners on Nirvana. On one such the moonrise was spectacular; Morgan’s guest (Lindsey, on Nirvana) let me use her camera to catch the moment and later emailed the pictures.  Thanks, Lindsey!

Our water maker ceased production yet again.  Hunter (Arctic Tern) and I removed it from TT2’s Holy Place and disassembled the beast up in the cockpit.  We managed to break an elbow, but were told that a repair facility was available at Nanny Cay, BVI.  Three trips: the first to pick up the wrong seals, the second to get the correct seals, and the third to deal with the broken elbow, which required retapping the threads.  Since we were already in the shop for the retapping, I let the tech put the ETD back together while I watched and was gratified to see that he didn’t do anything that I would not have done.  Back at the boat, the ETD was installed back into its frame and the whole unit reinstalled back into the Holy Place.  Yippee!  It worked (and is working)!  Not only working, but working at the advertised full capacity of the unit!

While in the BVIs, we spent a night at The Bight on Norman Cay, where we snorkeled the caves, and two nights at Cane Garden Bay, where we had never been before.  Nice quiet little bay, with a number of beach bars/restaurants, and a very old and small rum factory whose entire annual production is consumed on the island of Tortola.

Then, on Jan 31, back to Cruz Bay to check back in to the USA and to get our mail and then double back to Francis Bay, where we got an email from Arctic Tern suggesting that we get together for a dive on Tektite Reef.   So next day we swung around the island to Great Lameshur, where we had a very nice dive.   Saw lots of fish and each couple snagged a lobster, some of which Barb turned into two delicious pizzas.   On Feb 2 we moved over to Salt Pond, where we hiked out to Ram Head and then harvested five conch, some of which Devi turned into delicious curried lambi.

For more news of more hikes, tune in to the next exciting episode of “Barb and Chuck go cruising”.

USVI, Dec 31, 2012 – Jan 16, 2013 – Visit by the Ringens

Jon and Cathie Ringen recently spent some time with us aboard Tusen Takk II in the USVI.  Jon and I have been friends since we were undergraduates at the University of North Dakota.

Cathie arrived first at St. Thomas, and joined a bunch of us cruisers for dinner at the Green House in Charlotte Amalie on New Years Eve.  By the time Jon arrived shortly before midnight, Cathie had retired to the Galleon B&B, and we had returned to our boat.  The next morning they took the ferry over to St. John, where they had reservations at the campground at Cinnamon Bay.  After several days of camping, they were ready to join us but the seas were large and the wind blowing hard, so we couldn’t land our dinghy on the beach to pick them up.  They took a taxi in to Cruz Bay where we picked them up at the dock. They spent the remainder of their vacation with us on the boat.  We had a grand time, with days spent snorkeling and/or hiking and/or exploring and nights spent playing cards, playing Mexican train and watching “Downton Abbey”, which we all found to be addictive.  We all also got in a fair amount of reading.  We visited Francis, Cinnamon, Waterlemon, Greater Lameshur, Saltpond and Drunk Bays in St. John, and Christmas Cove and Honeymoon and Elephant and Charlotte Amalie Bays in St. Thomas.

Alas, Jon and Cathie have not yet retired from their  university professorships, so when they left us they were returning to teaching and scholarship duties — Jon as a philosopher of science and Cathie as a linguist.  Let us bow our heads for a moment of silent sympathy.