Bubbly Pool | Tusen Takk II

In the time since our last guests (Jon & Cathy) departed, we have bounced around the Virgins, spending time with a variety of friends. We have hosted sundowners and joined others for sundowners on their boats. We have hosted dinners and joined others for dinner on their boats. We spent some time in Charlotte Amalie, where we saw the incredible yacht Rising Sun, built in 2004 by Larry Ellison (of Oracle), and now owned by David Geffen. 453 feet long, with 82 rooms on five levels. We later learned Paul McCartney was on board.

We happened upon Cruz Bay’s St. Pat’s parade, and posted a bunch of pictures on Facebook.

I repaired a leak in the bottom of our dinghy, and I rewired the speaker for our Single Side Band radio.

I dug out my underwater housing and did some underwater photography in the Caves of Norman Island, where my goal was to finally get a picture of Glassy Sweepers. I also dove Hurricane Hole in St. John, and became convinced that I need to expand from my usual macro pictures to include some wide-angle stuff. Barb and I also did non-photo dives on Johnson Reef and Tektite Reef. The viz was lousy at Johnson, but nice at Tektite, where we saw gazillions of fish.

As this is written we are making final plans to leave the Virgins and begin our trek southward; first stop: St. Martin.

: Massive yacht w/ Paul McCartney aboard

: Chris & Yani celebrating their wedding anniversary at Turtles in Caneel Resort

: Ruins on the grounds of Caneel resort

: More Caneel ruins

: Sign on road inside Caneel resort

: On a trail in Caneel resort

: Just a few of the guests at a cocktail party on Regenero

: More pics aboard Regenero

: More Regenero pics

: Rainbow near Jost Van Dyke (Tortola in background)

: John (Out of Africa) at Bubbly Pool

: Chuck, Jo, Janice and Richard at Bubbly Pool

: Richard & Lavinia (Partners) play in the pool

: Lavinia, John & Chuck on hike on Jost Van Dyke

: Barb captured this pic of the hikers

: Lavinia (Partners) & Janice (Sailacious) on the hike

: Jim Grant (Catsy) stopped by to say hi

: On the point between the Lameshurs

: On the grounds of VIERS center in Lameshur Bay

: In the VIERS museum, which is being enhanced

: St. Pat’s parade

: Cruz Bay St. Pat’s parade

: Sole bagpipe of the parade

: Barb got a T-shirt!

: Glassy Sweepers

: Baby Tang

: Hamlet

: Young Four-eye Butterfly

: Starfish (dark with light spots)

: Starfish (light w/ dark spots)

: Glass Goby (<1")

Chuck’s niece Cathy and her husband Jon arrived in St. Thomas late in the afternoon of Monday, Feb. 24. We barely had time to drop off their luggage on Tusen Takk II, anchored in Elephant Bay, before jumping back into the dinghy to proceed to the ferry dock on Water Island, from which we walked over the hill to Honeymoon Bay. Yup, we were there to watch the movie shown on a screen fashioned out of two sheets strung between two palm trees. The movie? Rush. The meal? Chicken sandwiches and/or cheeseburgers, washed down with beer and followed with popcorn. (Except for yours truly, embarked on a month-long experiment of total avoidance of all things gluten, in the hopes of a further lessening of arthritis symptoms. So no beer or buns for me. I miss the beer more than the buns.)

That “quick start” set the pattern for their entire stay; we visited, in order: Great Harbour and Diamond Cay on Jost Van Dyke, Pirates Bight, the Indians, Soper Hole, Cruz Bay, Cinnamon Bay, Francis Bay, Waterlemon Bay, Hurricane Hole, Great Lameshur Bay, Salt Pond, and Drunk Bay before returning to Charlotte Amalie after a week of fun in the sun in order to send our guests off to the frozen north of Bismarck, North Dakota.

We did a lot of snorkeling during their stay, but also played some cards and watched a movie on-board and did some boat projects, including installing new gas struts under the master bed and fashioning a new dinghy seat when the original finally gave up the ghost. Jon felt responsible for the seat breakage, but the truth of the matter is that the seats provided by AB are notoriously vulnerable to breakage; a number of years ago we had one break from the weight of a slight pre-teen girl who was sitting in the middle when the dinghy hit a wave. (Of course, Jon is no slight pre-teen girl 🙂 , but the breakage really wasn’t his fault.)

Jon and Cathy make lovely guests. Easy to get along with, easy to please, and always helpful. Watching Cathy help Barb thread our yoke through a mooring pennant eye is a joy: Barb uses a long boat hook to grab the mooring painter. She pulls the painter up to the high Krogen bow and hands the boat hook off to Cathy, who sets it out of the way and then immediately grabs the other yoke line, feeds it around and under the bow roller, and then hands it to Barb, who by this time has secured the first line through the eye and up snuggly to the bow so as to keep the eye within reach for the second line. Barb feeds the second line through the eye and lets out some of the first line while Cathy adjusts the length of the second line. Pure poetry in motion.

Meanwhile, Jon is pinning the stabilizers while I am closing down the electronics.

What a team!

Thanks for coming, Jon and Cathy. See you next year.