Dinghy Adventure, Rain and Sun

Monday, January 9, 2017

We walked to the Starfish Market in Cruz Bay, found most of our stuff, and then hopped on an open air taxi for the ride back with all of our bags.  I had taken a large soft cooler bag with us, so I was able to pack all of the meat around a bag of ice to keep it cool for the ride back. Worked great.  We stowed all of the provisions, picked up anchor, and motored over to Christmas Cove where we anchored for the night.

After we had been fed, watered, showered, and were relaxing with our books, our bilge pump started to whine.  It wasn't draining properly and we suspected that water was getting past the one-way valve in the hose.  At 9:30 pm, Carey started taking it apart.  We drained the water out of the hose and then ran some clean water through it, hoping that if something was lodged in the valve, we could dislodge it.  It seemed to work after several tests, so Carey reconnected everything, we cleaned up the mess, and went to bed...with fingers crossed.


Tuesday, January 10, 2017

We motored over to Red Hook today to buy a few things and to get organized for Norma's arrival.  We bought a back up bilge pump (just in case the old one keeps acting up), went to lunch at the Bar & Still (best burgers around), and picked up a few provisions from Moe's Fresh Market (items that the Starfish Market in Cruz Bay were out of).  Then, we dinghied back to the boat to get our propane tank.  We dropped it off at Neptune Fishing and we'll have to pick it up after 5:00 tomorrow.  They're the only place around that refills propane tanks, so we were happy to find them.  Back to the boat and then on to Christmas Cove for the night.

We are going to radio Pizza Pi (a boat permanently moored in this Cove) to order a pizza for supper tonight.  Kind of a cool business--pizzeria on their boat.


Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Today, we are setting up for Norma's arrival.  We cleaned the vee berth and head, made the bed, and generally cleaned and straightened the rest of the boat.  Sparkling clean!

Our biggest challenge is finding places to store the stuff that we usually store in the vee berth.  We have guests from now until the middle of March, so we found permanent spots for everything.  It looks so nice and open now!  Perfect for our guests.

Carey is working on cleaning the sensor on the bilge pump, as well.  We are hoping that this fixes it up and we can keep the new one as a back up.  We poured water in several times and it worked brilliantly. Crisis averted...for today.

It's been raining off and on all day. Usually, there's a light rain every day and then it's over, but today it's been raining heavier and more often. Only short breaks between rain bursts.  Lots of wind, too. We are hoping that it stops before we have to go to the marina.

The plan is to go to the fuel dock at the American Yacht Harbor at 4:20, get diesel and water, pick up the propane tank at 5:00, and wait for Norma to arrive.  We can't pick up our propane until after 5:00, because Neptune's delivery truck isn't back until then (they send the propane tanks out to refill).  Neptune's is only open until 5:30, so we have a narrow window to pick up our propane tank.

I will meet Norma at the front doors of the American Yacht Harbor building, then take her through the C Dock gates.  All of the other gates are locked, and there is a guard at C dock, so only boaters staying in the marina are allowed in.  We will rejoin Carey at the fuel dock and be on our way. Fingers crossed.

Well, it turned out that Norma's taxi driver had a mind of her own.  She disregarded where Norma said she was going and assured her that she meant the USVI Yacht Club.  It took a while, but Norma finally arrived at the American Yacht Harbor.

We loaded her up and motored off to the Great Bay at the Ritz.

Thursday, January 12, 2017

We lost the dinghy!

Well, Norma's visit started off with a bang.  After a rolly night at the Ritz's Great Bay, we lifted anchor and motored to St. John Island.  The wind was howling and the swells were big, but Norm handled it like an old salty.

We finally made it to Mahoe Bay and we were about to pick up a mooring ball when Norma said, 'Where's the dinghy?'  I looked around to where we had tied it to the stern of the boat, then looked around again. What?  No dinghy.  Carey's knot had held beautifully, but the line was snapped right off.  I called Carey from the bow and we turned around to scour the coastline from here to Hawksnest Bay.  Norma and Carey used the binoculars to see the shoreline better, while I navigated us around the reefs and rocks.  We had just given up when Norma and I both heard a comment on the VHF radio to the Coast Guard about a 'found dinghy.'  I called in to contact the speaker and told him what kind of dinghy we had lost.  Miracles of miracles, he said I had described accurately the dinghy he had found.

Dick Dawson, a sailing instructor on Keremeos, and his crew practised their 'Man Over Board' drills by retrieving our overturned dinghy, and then had to fish out our seats and storage bag that were floating separately.  He took it all back to Mahoe Bay, so we returned there and he dinghied over with our dinghy in tow.

Phew!  Crisis averted.  His reward was a case of Bud Light for him and a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon for his wife.  Cheap price for returning our dinghy.  Thanks, Dick!

Next, we thought we'd go snorkelling.  We changed into our swimsuits and started getting everything out, but the boat was listing side to side so badly from the swells on our beam, that we decided to move out. There was really no ideal spot with the wave and wind direction, but we moved to the best spot we could find, at Caneel Bay.  We picked up a mooring ball at 4:45 and settled in for the night.


Friday, January 13, 2017

Wow, what a rolly night!  This was probably the toughest, windiest, rolliest night we've had so far.  Really difficult to find a protected anchorage right now, especially on the north side of St. John.  The wind was howling all night, making the waves that much bigger.

We dropped our mooring ball just after 10:30 and headed for Lameshur Bay on the south side of St. John.  Our original plan was to cross to the island of Jost Van Dyke, but it's just too rough today.
 is fabulous.  Very calm.

After lunch, we dinghied over to the dock where we paid for our mooring ball and walked to Yawzi Point, where we enjoyed a beautiful view of our boat in the bay.  We sang, 'Raindrops keep falling on my head,' and 'Here comes the sun,' because it would rain for about five minutes, then stop, dry up, then rain again.  Repeat.

When we returned to the boat, Norma and I went snorkelling.  Who cares if it rains while you're snorkelling?  Norma saw two stingrays, one small and one large, and lots of colourful fish and coral, as usual.

Later, we had dinner, chatted, and read our books before bed.


Saturday, January 14, 2017

We spent the day in Lameshur Bay.  We decided to stay put because the wind gusts are incredibly strong today (even though we have protection from the hills surrounding us), so we're pretty sure there will be big swells and winds outside of this bay.  We enjoyed a relaxing day.  Norma and I actually sat down to read (while Carey worked at trying to obliterate our rust) and we did a bit of maintenance work.  Every time we'd get a huge gust of wind, we would look at the sky because it usually meant that we'd get a rain shower.  Then, we'd quickly throw the cockpit cushions down below and close all of the hatches.  Once the shower went over, we'd go back out and reverse the process.  Lately, that's how we get our exercise every day.

While watching the water, we spotted a porcupinefish swimming under our boat.  He had a very large flat head and a spotted, boxy body, with a small tail.  He was about 18 inches long.  By the time I grabbed my camera, he was gone, of course.

Here's a photo from our marine life book.

Later, I went for a swim and saw a large tarpon near our boat.  They are not friendly looking fish,   Kind of grouchy looking, but he didn't bother with me at all.  I guess I'm too big to eat.

After lunch, we all dinghied over to the dock to pay our fees and to drop off our garbage. Anyplace we find a garbage receptacle we take advantage of it.  While over there, we went for a walk to the Tectite Museum which featured an 'aquanaut' environment that NASA had created in the 60s and 70s to see how people would react to being underwater for long periods of time (like the astronauts would have to be in space). It was quite interesting to read all about it.  The old Tectite site is nearby and scuba divers can check it out.

When we arrived back at the boat we had dinner and just relaxed for the evening.


Sunday, January 15, 2017

We had a delicious breakfast of homemade bread and made plans for the day.  Although the wind was still howling, we decided to take an excursion to a nearby harbor.  We headed out to Coral Harbor on the southeast side of St. John around 10:00. We pounded through the big swells, head on into the winds.  Good thing Norma is an intrepid sailor!

An hour later, we arrived at Coral Harbor and found a place to anchor.  This is one of the few areas on St. John that allows anchoring.

We had lunch at Skinny Legs. Yummy burger.