We had a terrific 8 - 9 knot sail over to St. Croix and found our friends on Magic and Offline anchored in the harbor at Christiansted upon our arrival. We wasted no time in planning an on shore rendezvous as it was Super Bowl Sunday. We met that night at a local pub, which had big screen TVs, and cold beer and we had a fun night reconnecting and watching the game.
St.Croix was what we had been told: very laid back and friendly to us. As one of the American Virgin Islands, it has had a bad reputation for some time since an unfortunate confrontation about 20 years ago between some locals and some cruise ship people. Evidently, the cruise ship people were rather belligerent and the locals didn’t want any part of it, so there was some serious fighting including someone getting shot. Since this time, St. Croix was unfortunately labeled as “unsafe”. We, however, found the exact opposite to be true. Most everyone we encountered went out of his or her way to make us feel welcome. A good example of this was the night four of us ventured across the island to the other major city on the island, Fredricksted, to see a local parade.
We hopped a local $2.50 bus and arrived in good time to see the late afternoon parade and were told the busses would run late into the night for our return trip so we decided to have a sundowner at a neat bar which overlooked the main harbor and provided a spectacular view of the bay. Finishing up our drinks and appetizers around 6, we returned to the bus stop a few blocks away to catch the return bus. It happened to be across the street from another local pub, which was frequented by the real local trade and although not frightening, looked a bit on the shady side. Jake had been to this place on an earlier trip and pronounced it safe so we wandered in and bought a couple of beers to enjoy while waiting for the bus across the street at the bus stop. We waited and waited and no bus came by. Before long, we had made some conversation with some of the friendly locals who were hanging around the bar and they voiced a concern about the likelihood of a bus coming after 6. Our only other option was to get a taxi, none of which were sighted as well. So we sat outside the bar, finishing beer after beer, all the while hopefully waiting for the taxi or bus, which would take us back across the island to our boats. Eventually, one older gent whom we’d chatted with showed enough concern that he went back into the bar and tried to connect with a taxi driver to come get us. In the meanwhile, he seemed to serve as a guardian angle to our little group of “whities” in this sea of dark faces. Anytime anyone approached us, he seemed to step between them and us and shoo them away as if to say, “leave them alone.” Although we never felt threatened, it was interesting how this fellow seemed to take us under his wing as somewhat of a protector. At one point, several of the bar patrons we engaged in trying to get us a ride back to the other side by calling all of their taxi contacts. Eventually, a taxi arrived, and returned us to the boat harbor and we had gathered yet another tale to tell.
We stayed in St. Croix for only a few days but found it much to our liking. One day we were about to board the dingy to head ashore and another dingy came toward us. Once he approached us, and was grabbing onto the side to steady himself, he said, “I saw you are from Steamboat Springs. I lived there for 9 years.” Just about that time Suz cam out of the boat and they recognized each other as he, and a former wife, had been one of Suz cleaning clients. Another small world incident.
When we left St. Croix, we knew we were not only heading back to the USVI’s to deliver the boat to the new owners, we were leaving some very good friends for perhaps the last time. It was a bittersweet parting as we all feel we will be able to reconnect someday, somewhere, but sometimes those connections go unfulfilled. We hope this will not be the case with these folks.
Once back in St Thomas, we busied ourselves with any necessary last minute repairs and touchups as we prepped the boat for delivery the following Tuesday. Since we needed to get a short batten for the jib, which had jumped overboard a week or so earlier, we knew we needed to go back into the BVIs to our friendly sail maker shop. We got this done without problem and, while there, were able to find a replacement shower pump which had decided to die just the day before. We got these items installed and decided to spend our final few nights aboard near St. John, one of our favorite islands.
The night before we were to meet up with the buyers, we anchored in Christmas Cove, just off of St. Thomas and enjoyed one more spectacular sunset from the big back seat of the cockpit. We treated ourselves to a final boat-made “Cheeseburger in Pardise” and enjoyed lying on the trampoline viewing the myriad of stars, just one more time.
Next morning we hoisted the sails again and had an hour-long sail down wind to the big harbor at Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas. We kept busy all week boxing up all of our things which we needed to mail home once we got to the USVIs and the US Postsal Service. We had arranged for a slip at the big marina so upon our arrival, we grabbed a cart and as Rick went to the Post Office, Suz did the final clean up on the boat. It was a rainy morning which made us feel even more melancholy, but we knew we needed to bust through this transfer and move forward. The new owners, John and Sandy appeared shortly on the dock, and we welcomed them aboard their new boat. Since the paperwork had gone through that morning, the ownership had silently been transferred while we were arriving too meet them. They came aboard and we spent the next several hours going over system operations and giving them as much insight as we could about the boat. Suz and I later realized how much we had learned in the last two years since our purchase had taken place and felt quite proud and knowledgeable. About 4 pm we said our goodbyes, loaded our luggage into a marina golf cart and excused ourselves. We drove away feeling sad but grateful for this unbelievable experience. We thank the Big Guy daily for allowing us to enjoy this adventure and for keeping us safe while we learned the ropes.
We don’t know what our next land-based step will be but we can honestly say, we hope we have the chance to return to the seas for more of this lifestyle. We feel “bitten” and long for more. Hopefully, that opportunity will present itself to us and we will still be able to take advantage of it.
I hope to make one more entry in this blog before moving on so check back later for what we will call our most memorable moments and some “best of” pictures form the trip which somehow escaped insertion into previous blog entries. We hope these entries have been somehow inspiring and will allow those of you unable to “jump up and run” into an adventure like this, to at least enjoy it through our eyes and hearts. We have enjoyed feedback on these entries and welcome anything comments you’d wish to add, be sent to us via our regular emails at rick@allergictocities.com.
Until next time, we’d like to leave you with the words of songwriter Jesse Winchester:
“We waive bye-bye, we pray Godspeed, we wish for lovely weather, more luck than you need. We only sail in circles, so there’s no need to cry. No, we’ll see you, again one day, and then we’ll waive bye-bye.”
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Repairs, Inspections, and a Special Guest
Last blog entry mentioned our need to get the boat ready for the Buyer’s inspector. This process, in the nautical real estate business is called a survey. Differing for the type of land survey, which involves transit sights and property corner location pins, this survey is more the equivalent of a home inspection. We prepped the boat by thoroughly cleaning the inside and out, and minded to all of the minor “fixes” which always need attention after putting her on a slip at a local marina where water would be abundant and repair supplies would be close at hand. The morning of the survey arrived and we felt the boat was ship shape, all around.
That morning, the surveyor came aboard, along with the prospective buyer and his wife, and the buyer’s broker. The surveyor wasted no time scurrying up the mast to inspect fittings and riggings above, while the rest of us got to know each other a bit down in the salon. The buyer and his wife, John and Sandi, come from near the Palm Springs, California area, yet have a lengthy sailing resume, having owned boats before. The are very nice folks and Suz and I privately remarked that we were happy the boat was being taken over by people we liked and felt would treat her well. After about two hours of poking and prodding all over the boat, the surveyor completed his internal inspections and was ready for us to proceed to what is called a sea trial.
A sea trial is basically a test drive. It should give the buyers and inspector a chance to see how the boat handles generally, both under motored power and under sail. We cast off from the slip and motored out into the Sir Francis Drake Channel around 9AM under partially cloudy skies. Part way out the entry channel, it began to rain, as it often does in the early morning. The rain was short-lived so it was good to have the sun reappear as we finally were able to hoist the sails and cut the engines. The wind proved to be favoritable that morning and before long we were sailing along around 8kts. As expected, once I asked the buyer if he’d like to take over, he quickly assumed the helm station. We sailed partially across the Channel and did a few tacking and gybbing maneuvers, all under his command. The boat responded appropriately and performed as if she were a well-behaved child performing at the school pageant.
We had scheduled the haulout at another marina, a bit further down the island so we headed that way to make our 11AM appointment. Once in the haul out slip, we were quickly prepared to be picked up out of the water for the final stage of the inspection: the hull review. Hanging from huge straps, just slightly above the marina pavement, our boat looked great. The fresh bottom paint done this past November in Grenada was still in great shape with only a few barnacles present. The surveyor spent the better part of an hour and a half looking all around the bottom of the boat inspecting fittings, and general hull condition. When he finished, we all walked a few steps to the marina restaurant for a lunch and review of the survey findings. Basically, the boat, as we expected, was in incredibly good shape. The surveyor’s hidden agenda, as the buyer hires him, often includes attempting to find things, which the buyer might wish to use as financially negotiable “problems”. Fortunately for us, the surveyor could find nothing of significance to present. There were a few minor things which we needed to take care of, such, as the fire extinguishers were not current, the air conditioning needed fresh Freon, and the like. Only one “major” concern was raised which needed negotiation. Our life raft, which has fortunately never been deployed, had not had a recent inspection. This inspection is done by a certified facility and takes about a week and costs nearly $2000. We quickly drew a “line in the sand”, referred to this provision as a potential deal breaker and were relieved that they understood our reasoning and withdrew it as a pre-sale condition.
Once lunch was concluded, we all said our goodbyes and, as the buyer party boarded a taxi, we motored away from the marina, grateful for a successful survey and sea trial. Now, we only needed to resolve the items of agreed concern and the deal was all but consummated. Since we had only a few days prior to our daughter Nancy’s arrival, we set about engaging in the fixes as soon as possible. We found a refrigeration guy to fix the air conditioning and resolved the other minor issues in short order. Now we were ready to relax a bit and prepare to enjoy our final boat guest’s visit.
We arrived at Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, after a beautiful sail around the bottom of St. John, and tied up to the courtesy dock at the Yacht Haven Grande Marina. This marina caters to many huge motor yachts and our “little” sailboat seemed dwarfed amongst these big vessels. We, coincidentally, were assigned a slip directly across the dock from the largest, privately owned yacht in the world, M/V The Rising Sun. It is owned by someone from Oracle (the founder?) and is nearly the size of the smaller cruise liners coming to and from these islands on a daily basis. We had an hour to scurry to the grocery and get back before Nancy was to arrive so we dashed across the marina to the public supermarket nearby for a few last minute provisions.
Upon our return we spotted Nancy walking toward us, having just been dropped off by her taxi. However, she did have just enough time to find a large brimmed straw sun hat. Exchanging quick kisses and hugs we headed to the boat and before long got underway, heading out of the marina and into the open waters of the Caribbean for her first taste of big water boating. Since her time with us was only a week, we knew we needed to get busy, if we intended to visit many of the places and do many of the things we had planned for her visit. By the time we arrived at our first stopover location, Maho Bay, St. John, the sun was getting low and time for her first sundowner boat drinks had arrived. We prepared a favorite island concoction for us all that night, Dark and Stormys. These drinks are made with a dark rum mixed with ginger beer (a strong, non-alcohol ginger ale type beverage) and a wedge of lime. She found them much to her liking and we quickly established she might just like this island lifestyle.
The next morning as we dropped the mooring ball, we raised the sails, and sailed off around Thatch Cay and up into the Sir Francis Drake Channel heading north. While raising the sails that morning, I noticed, for the first time, a small tear along the forward edge of the mainsail, which surely would cause massive failure, if not attended to. This unfortunately would require another trip to the sail maker, whom had recently repaired the same sail’s failed clew. It was Sunday, so we decided to adjust our itinerary to accommodate that new need on Monday morning. We anchored that Sunday night at Peter Island, entirely owned by the founders of the Amway Company, and enjoyed the music of a local steel drum band on the beach as we arrived. We also did a bit of swimming, snorkeling, and just plain sunning and relaxing on the boat. Nancy was starting now to release her New York City stresses and embrace the laid back feeling of what is locally referred to as “island time”.
Next morning, bright and early we sailed across the channel, into Road Harbour, Tortola, and connected with the sailmaker to arrange for the necessary mainsail repair. The shop, fortunately, could get our sail in immediately and we set about removing it from the mast. Since we had done this just a week or so prior, we felt like pros getting it prepped for removal. Suz and Nancy headed off toward the tourist shops of Road Town while Rick stayed aboard awaiting the return of the fixed sail. Within 2 hours, the sail was back on the boat and once the girls returned from shopping, we were once again, underway.
Nancy got plenty of time at the helm, only with early instructions and direct supervision, and quickly assimilated into the role of skipper du jour, when assigned. She was a quick study and, in short order, was able to manage the boats wheel and soon began requesting sail trimming adjustments be made. All-in-all, we feel she was “bitten” and will likely need to feed this “habit” again before too long.
The remainder of her week went by too fast, yet included visits to the beautiful Baths on Virgin Gorda, the pirate music night at Marina Cay, a musical happy hour at Cane Garden Bay, a soak in the Bubbly Pool, a stroll on the beach at the Soggy Dollar, snorkeling at the Dogs, a visit to Cooper Island, and a personal chat with the owner of the most famous bar in these islands, Foxy’s. Although we kept her busy, hopefully not TOO busy, we also tried to make sure there was time each day for kicking back. I think she had a good first-time sailing experience and I know we enjoyed having her find out what our lives have been like out here for all these months.
We dropped Nancy off at the same marina she arrived at, and we spent the rest of that day anchored in the harbor off Charlortte Amalie. We dingied ashore and did some Internet and enjoyed window shopping in the huge tourist harbor town. Next morning we decided to do laundry and we pulled anchor and headed to the Red Hook Marina at the end of the island. While waiting for our laundry to finish, we sat at the local restaurant enjoying an iced tea, when in walked Eric Clapton. He sat at a table near us and tried very hard not to look like the most famous rock guitarist of all time.
Since we had only ten days left in our boat ownership, we decided to make one final passage to St. Croix, about 35 miles away. The weather window was good so we headed off Sunday on a beautiful 5 hour sail from St. John to St. Croix, the other US Virgin Island we had not yet visited. Our friends, Offline, and Magic had come to St. Croix directly from St. Martin and had been there for nearly a month when we surprised them with our arrival on Super Bowl Sunday. A great reunion party ensued and we all repaired to a local bar to watch the Super Bowl and catch up on our various activities since we’d seen each other.
Both sets of these cruising couples have found this island to be quite enticing and are making noise about staying on for an extended stay here. Dave, from Magic, has actually already secured a job with a local construction guy. He tells me there is lots of construction work available and that much of it is tax-free, or paid “under the table”. So we will spend the next few days enjoying this new island to us and seeing what is captivating them so strongly. We will need to return our boat to St. Thomas by Feb. 9th to deliver her to the new owners on the 10th. From there we are scheduled to fly to Colorado on the 11th. Our plans from there are uncertain, as our home in Steamboat Springs is rented through May. We have applied to a few music festivals to see if we could do well selling the Allergic to Cities goods on the road. If we get accepted to these shows, we will likely be engaged in traveling and visiting family and friends along the way until we can reemerge in Colorado for the summer. Beyond that?????????
Stay tuned, because, who knows, we too may find St. Croix all too captivating.
That morning, the surveyor came aboard, along with the prospective buyer and his wife, and the buyer’s broker. The surveyor wasted no time scurrying up the mast to inspect fittings and riggings above, while the rest of us got to know each other a bit down in the salon. The buyer and his wife, John and Sandi, come from near the Palm Springs, California area, yet have a lengthy sailing resume, having owned boats before. The are very nice folks and Suz and I privately remarked that we were happy the boat was being taken over by people we liked and felt would treat her well. After about two hours of poking and prodding all over the boat, the surveyor completed his internal inspections and was ready for us to proceed to what is called a sea trial.
A sea trial is basically a test drive. It should give the buyers and inspector a chance to see how the boat handles generally, both under motored power and under sail. We cast off from the slip and motored out into the Sir Francis Drake Channel around 9AM under partially cloudy skies. Part way out the entry channel, it began to rain, as it often does in the early morning. The rain was short-lived so it was good to have the sun reappear as we finally were able to hoist the sails and cut the engines. The wind proved to be favoritable that morning and before long we were sailing along around 8kts. As expected, once I asked the buyer if he’d like to take over, he quickly assumed the helm station. We sailed partially across the Channel and did a few tacking and gybbing maneuvers, all under his command. The boat responded appropriately and performed as if she were a well-behaved child performing at the school pageant.
We had scheduled the haulout at another marina, a bit further down the island so we headed that way to make our 11AM appointment. Once in the haul out slip, we were quickly prepared to be picked up out of the water for the final stage of the inspection: the hull review. Hanging from huge straps, just slightly above the marina pavement, our boat looked great. The fresh bottom paint done this past November in Grenada was still in great shape with only a few barnacles present. The surveyor spent the better part of an hour and a half looking all around the bottom of the boat inspecting fittings, and general hull condition. When he finished, we all walked a few steps to the marina restaurant for a lunch and review of the survey findings. Basically, the boat, as we expected, was in incredibly good shape. The surveyor’s hidden agenda, as the buyer hires him, often includes attempting to find things, which the buyer might wish to use as financially negotiable “problems”. Fortunately for us, the surveyor could find nothing of significance to present. There were a few minor things which we needed to take care of, such, as the fire extinguishers were not current, the air conditioning needed fresh Freon, and the like. Only one “major” concern was raised which needed negotiation. Our life raft, which has fortunately never been deployed, had not had a recent inspection. This inspection is done by a certified facility and takes about a week and costs nearly $2000. We quickly drew a “line in the sand”, referred to this provision as a potential deal breaker and were relieved that they understood our reasoning and withdrew it as a pre-sale condition.
Once lunch was concluded, we all said our goodbyes and, as the buyer party boarded a taxi, we motored away from the marina, grateful for a successful survey and sea trial. Now, we only needed to resolve the items of agreed concern and the deal was all but consummated. Since we had only a few days prior to our daughter Nancy’s arrival, we set about engaging in the fixes as soon as possible. We found a refrigeration guy to fix the air conditioning and resolved the other minor issues in short order. Now we were ready to relax a bit and prepare to enjoy our final boat guest’s visit.
We arrived at Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, after a beautiful sail around the bottom of St. John, and tied up to the courtesy dock at the Yacht Haven Grande Marina. This marina caters to many huge motor yachts and our “little” sailboat seemed dwarfed amongst these big vessels. We, coincidentally, were assigned a slip directly across the dock from the largest, privately owned yacht in the world, M/V The Rising Sun. It is owned by someone from Oracle (the founder?) and is nearly the size of the smaller cruise liners coming to and from these islands on a daily basis. We had an hour to scurry to the grocery and get back before Nancy was to arrive so we dashed across the marina to the public supermarket nearby for a few last minute provisions.
Upon our return we spotted Nancy walking toward us, having just been dropped off by her taxi. However, she did have just enough time to find a large brimmed straw sun hat. Exchanging quick kisses and hugs we headed to the boat and before long got underway, heading out of the marina and into the open waters of the Caribbean for her first taste of big water boating. Since her time with us was only a week, we knew we needed to get busy, if we intended to visit many of the places and do many of the things we had planned for her visit. By the time we arrived at our first stopover location, Maho Bay, St. John, the sun was getting low and time for her first sundowner boat drinks had arrived. We prepared a favorite island concoction for us all that night, Dark and Stormys. These drinks are made with a dark rum mixed with ginger beer (a strong, non-alcohol ginger ale type beverage) and a wedge of lime. She found them much to her liking and we quickly established she might just like this island lifestyle.
The next morning as we dropped the mooring ball, we raised the sails, and sailed off around Thatch Cay and up into the Sir Francis Drake Channel heading north. While raising the sails that morning, I noticed, for the first time, a small tear along the forward edge of the mainsail, which surely would cause massive failure, if not attended to. This unfortunately would require another trip to the sail maker, whom had recently repaired the same sail’s failed clew. It was Sunday, so we decided to adjust our itinerary to accommodate that new need on Monday morning. We anchored that Sunday night at Peter Island, entirely owned by the founders of the Amway Company, and enjoyed the music of a local steel drum band on the beach as we arrived. We also did a bit of swimming, snorkeling, and just plain sunning and relaxing on the boat. Nancy was starting now to release her New York City stresses and embrace the laid back feeling of what is locally referred to as “island time”.
Next morning, bright and early we sailed across the channel, into Road Harbour, Tortola, and connected with the sailmaker to arrange for the necessary mainsail repair. The shop, fortunately, could get our sail in immediately and we set about removing it from the mast. Since we had done this just a week or so prior, we felt like pros getting it prepped for removal. Suz and Nancy headed off toward the tourist shops of Road Town while Rick stayed aboard awaiting the return of the fixed sail. Within 2 hours, the sail was back on the boat and once the girls returned from shopping, we were once again, underway.
Nancy got plenty of time at the helm, only with early instructions and direct supervision, and quickly assimilated into the role of skipper du jour, when assigned. She was a quick study and, in short order, was able to manage the boats wheel and soon began requesting sail trimming adjustments be made. All-in-all, we feel she was “bitten” and will likely need to feed this “habit” again before too long.
The remainder of her week went by too fast, yet included visits to the beautiful Baths on Virgin Gorda, the pirate music night at Marina Cay, a musical happy hour at Cane Garden Bay, a soak in the Bubbly Pool, a stroll on the beach at the Soggy Dollar, snorkeling at the Dogs, a visit to Cooper Island, and a personal chat with the owner of the most famous bar in these islands, Foxy’s. Although we kept her busy, hopefully not TOO busy, we also tried to make sure there was time each day for kicking back. I think she had a good first-time sailing experience and I know we enjoyed having her find out what our lives have been like out here for all these months.
We dropped Nancy off at the same marina she arrived at, and we spent the rest of that day anchored in the harbor off Charlortte Amalie. We dingied ashore and did some Internet and enjoyed window shopping in the huge tourist harbor town. Next morning we decided to do laundry and we pulled anchor and headed to the Red Hook Marina at the end of the island. While waiting for our laundry to finish, we sat at the local restaurant enjoying an iced tea, when in walked Eric Clapton. He sat at a table near us and tried very hard not to look like the most famous rock guitarist of all time.
Since we had only ten days left in our boat ownership, we decided to make one final passage to St. Croix, about 35 miles away. The weather window was good so we headed off Sunday on a beautiful 5 hour sail from St. John to St. Croix, the other US Virgin Island we had not yet visited. Our friends, Offline, and Magic had come to St. Croix directly from St. Martin and had been there for nearly a month when we surprised them with our arrival on Super Bowl Sunday. A great reunion party ensued and we all repaired to a local bar to watch the Super Bowl and catch up on our various activities since we’d seen each other.
Both sets of these cruising couples have found this island to be quite enticing and are making noise about staying on for an extended stay here. Dave, from Magic, has actually already secured a job with a local construction guy. He tells me there is lots of construction work available and that much of it is tax-free, or paid “under the table”. So we will spend the next few days enjoying this new island to us and seeing what is captivating them so strongly. We will need to return our boat to St. Thomas by Feb. 9th to deliver her to the new owners on the 10th. From there we are scheduled to fly to Colorado on the 11th. Our plans from there are uncertain, as our home in Steamboat Springs is rented through May. We have applied to a few music festivals to see if we could do well selling the Allergic to Cities goods on the road. If we get accepted to these shows, we will likely be engaged in traveling and visiting family and friends along the way until we can reemerge in Colorado for the summer. Beyond that?????????
Stay tuned, because, who knows, we too may find St. Croix all too captivating.
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