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”.