Red Hook, St. Thomas
"Caribbean Soul, Caribbean Soul, Adventure Bound!"
calls a familiar voice on the VHF. It's Jim and Amanda, owners
of a Tayana 37 we met in Lake Worth, Florida. We've only communicated
with them on SSB or through e-mail since December, so it's
a thrill to hear them calling on the close-range VHF. It's
Tuesday and we left Culebra this morning and made the 20-mile
trip to St. Thomas. We're now motoring through the West Gregory
Channel trying to find a good anchorage for the unusual southwest
winds that are blowing this week. Jim suggests we meet them
in Red Hook on the east side of St. Thomas. We alter course
and arrive at the anchorage at exactly the same time. Soon
we're all drinking $1.25 Red Stripes at Duffy's Love Shack
and catching up on our adventures since leaving Florida.
Red Hook is a convenient place to get some things done, but
the anchorage is pure torture. Starting around sunrise and
until past 10:00 P.M., the ferries go back and forth past
the anchorage creating wakes that roll the boat violently
from side to side. The first morning, a wake hits the boat
that sends dishes flying into the floor and dumps the coffee
pot over into the food locker. I look out the port light and
see four furry legs skidding across the deck. "Hold on,
Dakota, I'm coming!" I find a quivering doggy on the
bow and carry him back to the safety of the cockpit. Dakota
hates the rolling and starts sleeping under the navigation
table where he can wedge himself in tight.
It's raining on Saturday morning, but we hope to escape this
rolly place today. No such luck. While running the generator,
it suddenly shuts off. It's over-heated because water isn't
flowing through the exhaust. Nick quickly finds the trouble:
shells are blocking the elbow at the through-hull. He decides
to go ahead and clean the strainer and replace the zinc in
the heat exchanger. When everything is put back together,
I stand at the back of the boat and cheerily report water
flowing out the exhaust. Unfortunately, water is also flowing
out of the heat exchanger into the engine room. The end cap
on the heat exchanger did not seal when reassembled. Nick
tries making a new gasket and various other tricks, but to
no avail. He finally resorts to making a liquid gasket, which
requires 24 hours to cure.
By now it's late afternoon and we're left to run our 110-volt
refrigerator using the main engine and the inverter (remember,
our engine-drive refrigeration is still broken). However,
the 110 system shuts off almost immediately. Now this is a
disturbing turn of events. Our refrigerator and freezer are
full of food that will soon spoil. After several tense minutes,
Nick finds the problem and gets the system going. It's now
dark and the captain orders a well-deserved rum and coke.
He's just taken his first sip when a squall hits with strong
wind and rain. We scurry around the boat closing hatches and
then monitor our anchor position on the chartplotter for the
next few hours. What a stressful day!
Francis Bay, St. John
On Sunday, we gladly leave Red Hook and take a mooring just
two miles across Pillsbury Sound in Caneel Bay, St. John.
We dinghy into town and have lunch at Woody's, one of Kenny
Chesney's favorite places. Kenny's not here today, but his
picture is on the wall. After lunch we drop the mooring ball
and sail around the corner to Francis Bay on the north side
of St. John. Once again, a familiar voice comes across the
VHF. "Caribbean Soul, Caribbean Soul, Shian!"
It's Paul and Jane, our Scottish friends whom we haven't seen
since Puerto Rico. A few hours later we're all relaxing on
the beach in Francis Bay. When we return to the boat, Nick
starts the generator and...it's still leaking. @#$%!
Monday brings more squally weather and we're getting cabin
fever, so we take a truck taxi back to Cruz Bay. While sipping
Virgin Pale Ale at the local brew pub, Nick makes some Skype
calls and finds a place in St. Thomas that claims to have
the generator part we need. Around sunset, the taxi drops
us off at the restaurant overlooking the anchorage. About
this time the heavens let loose a torrential downpour. Paul
and Jane are supposed to meet us here for dinner, but we're
certain they won't brave this weather. We look around and
are surprised to see two soaked figures in foul weather gear.
Those Scots are saltier than we are! The restaurant is in
an outdoor pavilion and the rain is leaking through the roof
and flowing over the walkways. Nonetheless, we find a dry
spot and have a lovely, if not soggy, evening.
Jersey Bay, St. Thomas
On Tuesday, we go back to St. Thomas where we hope to get
our generator part. The water in the anchorage is a murky
combat-fatigue green, an uncharacteristically ugly spot for
the Virgin islands. Furthermore, the bottom is grass and it
takes four frustrating tries before we find some sand that
will hold our anchor. Nick dinghies into town and soon returns
with a $17 part that fixes our generator. Yeehaw! If only
all repairs were so cheap and easy.
Great St. James Island
On Wednesday, we travel just two miles to the Christmas Cove
anchorage at Great St. James Island. We haven't been scuba
diving in almost five years, and we need to do a checkout
dive to test our gear. I'm pretty nervous since I was just
a beginner five years ago when I last blew bubbles. We make
a shallow dive and discover that my regulator is seeping and
Nick's compass doesn't work. We'll need to take our gear back
for service at the Chris Sawyer dive shop in Red Hook.
Caneel Bay, St. John
During a break in rain squalls Thursday, we move the boat
to Caneel Bay. We take Dakota ashore and have a pleasant sunset
walk on the beach. Tomorrow, we'll catch a ferry to Red Hook
to get our gear serviced and then, we hope, cross to the British
Virgin Islands.
Stormy skies over Francis Bay, St. John
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Sunset at Caneel Bay, St. John
"Please make this boat stop rolling!"
Nick and Bill Howell at Duffy's Love Shack.
We took a Power Squadron piloting class with Bill in San Antonio.
Pretty amazing that we ended up here together again!
Ferry dock at Cruz Bay, St. John
Nick at Woody's. Kenny was a no-show.
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