Tag Archives: Charlotte Amalie

Friends from Savannah; BVI & USVI — Jan. 14-21, 2014

Friends from Savannah, Beth Logan and Steve Ellis, arrived at Charlotte Amalie late on the afternoon of Jan. 14.  We got them settled in and oriented and had dinner aboard.  Steve was heavily medicated for his cold – an affliction that nearly caused the cancellation of their visit – and was much quieter than usual, but as the week wore on he became more and more his usual voluble self.   Next morning we departed Crown Bay Marina and motored up to Jost Van Dyke, where we checked in to the BVIs and had lunch at Foxy’s.  Later that day we caught a taxi over to the Soggy Dollar, where our guests did some swimming and we all did some sunning and some drinking of Pain Killers, the libation which became the drink of choice during their visit, with those served at Soggy Dollar clearly the best.

On Jan. 16 we moved around the corner to the east end of the island, where Beth and Steve got in some serious beachifying on Sandy Spit.  When they were suitably browned and toasted, we moved over to the mooring field just off Foxy’s Taboo.  We took the dinghy in and hiked the short distance to the Bubbly Pool, where Beth and Steve enjoyed being thrashed about by the breakers that occasionally came crashing in.  Next morning I returned alone and photographed the White-cheeked Pintail ducks (and several other birds) that populated a path-side pond.

When I returned to the boat we headed for the Indians, but found all of the moorings occupied.  So we went in to Pirate’s Bight on Norman Island and took a mooring and dinghied over to the Caves and snorkeled there instead.   Then, a visit to the restaurant/bar/beach at the east end of the Bight, for more Pain Killer sampling.  And then a trip to the famous Willy T’s, for, um, a Pain Killer.   We were on the upper deck when a couple of young things decided to honor the Willy T tradition and bare their upper torsos and jump over the edge.  I had only Barb’s camera, which suffers from the usual point-and-shoot malady of a long delay between pressing the shutter button and actual image capture.  #$*@!!!!

Next morning (Jan. 18 – are you keeping up with this chronology?) we moved over to the Indians and were the first to take a mooring.  Great snorkel, after which we took the boat all the way back to Caneel Bay, St. John, USVI, so we could dinghy in to Cruz Bay in order to check in to the good ol’ USA.  After some shopping and some lunch at the Beach Bar, we returned to TT2 and motored over to Cinnamon Bay, where we took our guests ashore so Beth could do some reconnoitering for a possible site for a family reunion.  Later that day we had prime rib at the campground restaurant.  Next morning we moved to Waterlemon Bay, where Barb took a break and the rest of us snorkeled.   Then we took the dinghy to shore and walked up to the ruins at Annaberg Sugar Plantation.   We were back on the boat when a dinghy approached our stern and its lone occupant asked about our boat name.   Turned out he was on the boat Viking Spirit and is from Kristiansand, Norway, where our friends Lars Helge and Tove Brunborg live.  Not only did Arild Anderson know the Brunborgs, he is a former colleague of Tove!  Lite verden! (Small world!) 

Waterlemon is such a popular place for snorkeling that we felt guilty about continuing to occupy a mooring after having already snorkeled there, so we moved over to Francis Bay, where Barb and our guests did some snorkeling along the point separating Francis and Maho Bay. 

On Jan. 20 our guests did more snorkeling (along the north shore of Francis Bay) and then we moved to Christmas Cove in order to stage for our return to St. Thomas.  Next day — you guessed it – Beth and Steve did one last snorkel before we moved to Charlotte Amalie.  We had lunch at the Green Garden and our guests did some window-shopping before we sent them off to the airport in a taxi.

It was a great visit; we hope they enjoyed it as much as we did.

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”.

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.

 

US Virgin Islands – Dec. 19-30, 2012

Shortly after our arrival in Francis Bay, St. John, USVI, we had an extended period of high swells sweeping into the northeast Caribbean. We were well protected from the weather, but we paid a price for our location: we could not get a useable connection on the unprotected wifi that we had used the year before. So we hitched into Cruz Bay and purchased a Choice 3G/4G cell modem/router that we hoped would solve our problem. Alas, no joy.  Friends Devi and Hunter (Arctic Tern) had acceptable reception on their 3G AT&T router, but our vendor’s signal was not visible in Francis Bay – at least from our extreme NE corner.  We were not totally isolated, however, since our iPads could receive AT&T 3G signals.  Marvelous instruments those iPads, but there are certain functions that cannot be performed on them, or that are awkward.

Nevertheless, we enjoyed our stay in Francis Bay.  We got down the kayaks from the upper deck and did some paddling in the bay.  We went for walks on the island.  We had a number of sessions of Spades with the Terns, during which the women unaccountably mostly won.  There was a repeat of last year’s dinghy float on Christmas Eve, and a large contingent of cruisers attended dinner at Maho Resort on Christmas Day. On Boxing Day there was a cruiser-initiated ugly T-shirt contest on the beach.  Barb attended (getting ashore via kayak), but I stayed on board and completed the nth rebuild of our water maker “energy transfer device”, known to Sea Recovery owners as the ETD, of course.  How did that go?  Well, the rebuild improved considerably the production rate, but there is still evidence of malfunction.  My guess is that there is a seal that looks ok but that is really not working properly.  I think Sea Recovery is a fine water maker, but I must repeat something I have said before:  if one is considering purchasing a water maker, do install a modular unit; DO NOT install a “compact” unit that is totally encased in a frame, at least not if the frame is then tucked away into an inaccessible location.  Pickling should be easy, but the attachment points are not accessible if the water maker is inside a “compact” frame.  Removing the ETD should be easy, but it is not easy if the water maker is inside a “compact” frame.   Attaching/unattaching the power and control wires should be easy, but it is not if the water maker is inside a “compact” frame.  Go modular; eschew “compact”.

On Dec. 28 we moved from Francis Bay to Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas.  Our 4G modem could see a signal, but kept going blank.  We took it in to the local Choice shop, expecting to be told that there was a problem with the power connection. Nope.  The young clerk took the unit to a back room, and returned in about ten minutes with same, but with a firmware update.  Did that help?  Yes!  Hurray!   We now have super-fast wifi on our boat!

As we were returning toward our dinghy from our visit to Choice, we ran into a large group of cruisers heading over to Shipwreck Tavern to take advantage of “hamburger night”. We reversed direction and joined them.  Huge burgers at reduced price.  Barb, ever faithful to her almost-totally vegan diet, had a veggie burger.  I didn’t.  (Her diet has been a tremendous success, by the way.  She has lost a bunch of weight and has reduced her cholesterol by 100 points to a now-acceptable level.  She is pleased and proud, and so am I.)

Next day (Dec. 29) we caught a bus and saw a movie at Caribbean Theatres.  Django Unchained.  Afterward, Barb asked me to remind her next time to never see another Tarantino movie.  The movie was done well, but extremely violent and bloody.  Is it any wonder that the USA is so plagued by massacres.