Movie Night Set Up!

Capt Chris
01/03/2009, Coral Bay ST John

Here is a picture of the movie night set up on Water Island. Enjoy!

Capt Chris

Good Times In the VI!

Capt Chris, weather is beautiful
12/31/2008, Honey Moon Bay, ST Thomas

Janina took this shot the other day while we were over on St Thomas। From left is Christopher Burton from Wandering Dolphin, the sea maiden RJ then the kid followed by Lynne and Nick from Wakefield RI.

My worlds all kind of collided recently. Now Lynn and Nick have a place on Water Island which sits right off of St Thomas. It just so happens it is the same spot that Wandering Dolphin is based out of. Even funnier is that Janina met a new friend RJ on Christmas. So Janina took a day to visit RJ in St Thomas while I took a day to head on over to see Lynn and Nick on Water Island. So RJ planned on taking Janina to see a movie on the beach which just so happens to be playing on Water Island pretty much in the exact spot I was already planning on going to. Reunited again. So for good measure we got in touch with Wandering Dolphin and took this shot. I am in the twilight zone. Movie night on Honey Moon Beach is something special. Every Monday the local residents stretch a piece of canvas between two palms and project a movie up on the screen. It really is wonderful to sit on the beach and take in a movie with great friends.

Now Lynne and Nick are just the greatest. I've now known them for 17 years. They own a boat yard/marina in Rhode Island near where I was stationed at Point Judith Coast Guard Station. I took a job with the them on my days off from CG duty to paint bottoms or pretty much do whatever. I have since kept in touch with them. In fact when I had Christa trucked from California to the east coast I had the boat delivered to Silver Springs Marine in Wakefield. Lynne, Nick and Dave Olsen took care of me and Christa during all the upheavel.

It All Happens On the Bus

Capt Chris, 80, NE 25 KNOTS GUSTING INTO THE 30'S
12/27/2008, St John, USVI

The St John Bus Service really is the first time in my life I've used public transportation for any period of time. I certainly hope that public transport back in the states is a little more squared away than down here.

Case in the point. The Pic. Janina snapped this gem right after about a gallon of water created by the bus's malfunctioning AC system dumped over my head and down my back. I was picking about two years worth of rust chips out of my scalp. Of course the bus driver was fully aware of this fact but could care less to warn anyone. I have found some of the locals to be less than nice and in fact dislike every bus driver with the exception of one older guy. Most need a serious attitude adjustment.

One day the driver stopped a full 20 minutes with a bus load of people while she went a got something to eat. Another day the bus whipped around a corner at flank speed sending a 300 pound women tumbling into the doors head first. I watched the doors straining under the load and thought for sure those doors were going to let loose. Of course the driver was texting when this incident occured. On Janina's first day the bus broke down and we had to transfer bus's which really is par. But a new bus experience ensued when the driver passed the town dumpsters, otherwise known as Coral Bay K-Mart, only to slam to a halt and throw the bus in reverse. A full dumpster diving operation took place with the passengers looking on. He popped out with an antique radio. He's all smiles and kept saying "it's an antique it's an antique" and I chimed in "just like our bus."

Like I said it all happens on the bus.

Capt Chris

Ahoy!

Capt Chris, Christmas winds are blowin
12/26/2008, Coral Bay ST John

Janina took this picture of myself and our neighbor Gramm who lives in Johnson Bay. It was taken yesterday on Hawksnest Beach north shore of St John. Due to Gramm we really had a special day yesterday on Christmas. It is a little weird because to me it did not feel anything like Christmas. But it was a great day none the less.

I first meet Gramm the day I arrived in Johnson Bay. He is very interesting and a very very nice person. But the day I arrived he hooted at me from his boat to anchor no where near him. Not exactly the welcome wagon. But he soon came on over and introduced himself and apoligized and simply explained that he really really values his solitude. I totally get it and is the reason many people arrange themselves on the east end of St John.

Gramm and I share one thing in common and that is sobriety. I think when he found this out about me he breathed a sigh of relief as he knew he would not have to hear any drunken 3 am epiphanes in the anchorage. So a few weeks back he invited me up to Hawksnest Beach for a potluck get together on Christmas day. So at 930 am we jumped in Gramms truck and drove along the beautiful north shore road to the beach. Their we met a bunch of other sober folks who live both on St John and St Thomas and some of them are snow birds. An AA meeting took place right on the edge of the ocean and then we ate some good home cooking. It was very mellow and relaxing. No one fell off the wagon as far as I could tell.

Then Gramm took us to many overlooks on the north coast with spectacular views of Jost Van Dyke and the rest of the BVI's. We even went to the very sparsely populated east end of the island. Just beautiful. A great day!

Thanks Gramm

Capt Chris

No Longer A Solo Sailor

Capt Chris, sunny, 80's, light northwind
12/19/2008, Cruz Bay St John, USVI

With a buzz of activity Janina arrived in St Thomas the other day where I met her at the airport. She had a very long day of flight delays and missed connections but arrived in the evening. I did a charter the same day and barely made my ferry connection from St John to St Thomas.

Once I arrived in St Thomas I made my way through the main town of Charlotte Amalie to the Bunker Hill Hotel located in the hills to check in as I had some breathing room time wise. Top priority to was to use as much hot water as I desired and lounge in the AC and watch some TV. So that's what I did.

I bugged out from the hotel in search/knowledge of the taxi situation here on St. Thomas. Pretty much the tourists are treated.....well as tourist's....using tourist type fee schedules. I needed to figure out which is the Safri versus the Taxi as the Safari is a buck and the taxi is god knows what. The issue being the Safari and Taxi are identical and both say Taxi on them. I quickly figured out that the vehicle crammed with West Indians was the Safari and so that is what I flagged down. I made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. During the wait I befriended a fellow who was reading a USAA statement and knew he'd be a federal employee. Well turns out he had been a Foreign Service Officer for 30 years with all kinds of good stories. He worked mostly in Central America and was an agricultural guy. With funding from the American Government he would seek out poor farmers and guide them to plant crops that had a market demand instead of planting the same old thing. This lead to better economic conditions for the farmer and had the added benefit of crop rotation preserving the soil. Really fascinating guy and even funnier was the fact he worked in the Embassy for several years in Ecuador and this is where Janina draws her roots.

Time flew and before I knew Janina's tired self came off the little aircraft from San Juan. After just missing a large deluge of rain we made it safely back to the Bunker Hill Hotel and pretty much went right to sleep.

Seeing that we would have strained ourselves to accomplish necessary tasks we decided to stay another night on St Thomas. In the morning we dashed down the Bad Ass Coffee shop for some good Hawaiian coffee and the free wi-fi. We then made contact with Team Wandering Dolphin who are anchored in Honey Moon Cove on Water Island. We journey via Safari to Tickles Restaurant and Bar at a local Marina, that Rebecca just so happens to work at. Rebecca met us at the dock in a borrowed dink and off we went to Wandering Dolphin.

We had such a nice visit. It was great to see the gang, especially in such a beautiful cove. The Cove is a white sand beach with palm trees and a burger joint and everything you'd pretty much expect in the Virgin Islands. So Janina and I hung out on the beach with the Burton Family, swing with the kids on the rope swings and enjoying the great weather and senenery. It was a brief visit to Team WD, but we had to shuffle back from Water Island back to St Thomas and on to our hotel again. With a sinful pit stop at Pizza Hut under our belts, once again we were tired and went to bed just about immediately.

As an aside.....I've had an ongoing medical issue that finally got to the point where I needed to see a doctor. In short I have a fungus that has gotten under my nail and has infected my left hand index finger. It started swelling and really looks knarly. So I went to a clinic in Charlotte Amalie and here is what I have. Onychia and Paronychia of the Finger and Dermatophytosis of the body. So I need to get a prescription filled and put some goop on it twice a day. So uncool as I am left handed and trying to keep my hands clean and dry appear to be near impossible. But this incident will be my first attempt at navigating my Tricare Insurance that I get as a retired military guy. Should be a real hoot. Also for other cruisers and would be cruisers the cost of the visit was $185 big ones.

Ok so after all business had been taken care of we hopped aboard the ferry back to St John. Since Janina plans on staying long term she had a bit of luggage which I feared would impact our bus trip back to Coral Bay. Thankfully the big bus was running instead of the short bus. But as is always the case the bus turned in some notable adventure. Halfway up the mountain a flurry of activity and confusion erupts from the cockpit as we ground to a halt. Well wouldn't you know it we had to transfer to the short bus. We packed in barely and just when I though we were home free some more activity could be heard from the front of the bus. The driver spied an item in the dumpster as we drove by. He screeched to a halt, threw it in reverse and proceeded to do some dumpster diving. He emerged all smiles with an antique radio. He repeated over and over about how the radio was an antique. I observed that our bus also was an antique and I believe he readily agreed.

We made it back to Christa.

Janina came to work with me yesterday for a charter trip to pick up the hikers. The weather was beautiful with light north winds. Very unusual to have north winds and could have been a wonderful window to get further down island. Oh well. We did have some more trauma aboard Saddie Sea, but that is another story for another time.

I've very busy as of late and struggling to find time to update the blog and answer email. It looks like I'll be doing at least 3 to 5 days a week aboard Sadie.

More later


Capt Chris

Blam! Adamo Appears Out of Nowhere!

Capt Chris, winds ENE 15 KTS, occasional showers but in the 80's
12/13/2008, Coral Bay St. John USVI

It was a dark evening. The moon had not made its evening appearance. I had my headphones on, listening to iTunes and working on some new playlists when for some reason I removed my headphones. A clamor outside could be heard....a rap on Christa's hull and their stood Team Adamo. What marvelous people! I was in complete and total shock. That very same day I had been skulking on their website and sure enough they were in Dominica with SV Loon having a grand time. So when they appeared along side Christa I think I said "your in Dominica" and they said well no "were in Coral Bay"! I was very confused for quiet sometime. So we immediately went to Skinny Legs for some eats and treats to get caught up.

I wished I had snapped a shot of Adamo, a beautiful Mason 48 with the whole gang aboard but I failed. I did snap this shot of Mike and Philip doing some hunting on the reef at Johnson's Bay. Team Adamo really are the Jacques Cousteau of the cruising world. Each day they light out for some reef where a lobster is just clucking away with his reef buddies and before you know it Phil's pierced his abdomen with a Hawaiian sling. Good eatin!

But Sue, Mike and Phil have pulled chocks and headed for St Thomas and then onto Puerto Rico where their two other boys are flying in. Adamo moves rapidly. They do the town and then head out. Nothing wrong with that. Since I last saw them in Luperon they have been up and down the island chain a couple of times, did an epic journey up the Orinoco River in Venezuela and are now enroute South Carolina. I am thrilled I got to see them again. If history is any indicator they may have to turn around and come back down this way sooner rather than later. That's how they roll.

Thanks for stopping in Coral Bay Sue, Mike and Phil!


Capt Chris

Day Sailing Arond the Virgin Islands

First Day Aboard the Sadie Sea

I haven't had the chance to take a pictures while aboard Sadie Sea, but I'll try and work on that next week. Monday was my first day operating SS without the owner Ben aboard. It is an easy boat to handle, 40ft Linsey Trawler with a single screw and a big ole Detroit Diesel. So it was the normal 40 minute run from Cruz Bay to Reef Bay to pick up the hikers that the National Parks Service leads and sponsors. Of course day one, the winds were NE at 25 knots, so the seas were crappy. Once we got Saddie on the mooring I hop into the inflatable to head to the beach and pluck the hikers off. With the weather, a swell was running on the beach which makes the extraction that much more difficult. I usually run 6 folks at a time back to Saddie. I have to give constant task direction to the people and repeat things over and over again and still people end up splayed into the bottom of the inflatable. With a good natured smile I let them work things out. Dropping them off on the swim platform of SS is equally as exciting as again people don't listen or they just prefer to do things their own way. So I always say just prior to the approach, "always stand clear of the ladder boss." No one thus far has gotten that joke, but I find it highly amusing especially seeing that day by day I look more and more like Cap'n Ron.

So after safely herding all hands aboard I gave my safety spiel peppered with witisisms and I headed below to fire up the engine. The engine announced it didn't have enough power to turn the engine over. Wuups. So I emerge from the engine room to face 30 pasty faced tourists and announce it's my first day on the job. Not the smartest things I have ever done. So with a quick phone call to Ben, we did some things over the phone, but in the end, Ben in true Cap'n Ron style removed the battery from his ailing jeep, camendeered a boat and came out to save the day. Of course we still had to roll in the 7 foot swell back to Cruz Bay. I do have to say the passengers were good sports really, but their confidence had been shaken. I redeemed myself by expertly putting SS starboard side too the National Parks Pier. Little did they know that any chuckle head can put boat to the dock, but for once I kept my yap shut.

Capt Chris

PS: As an admin item please take the time to sign my guest book. Link to the right!

Hurricane 2008 Season Has Ended

As of yesterday the official hurricane season ended. Christa and I made it through thankfully but not without significant stress and worry. As I mentioned before, I just don't think I possess the type of personality that belongs in the belt during the season. In the graphic you can see a pretty fair number of storms. But what you don't see are all the disturbed weather that popped up everywhere that never really developed but are wear on you mentally nearly as much as a named storm.

It was one for the record books. The 10th busiest ever recorded. First time ever a major hurricane was recorded in five separate months. Hurricane Paloma was the second strongest hurricane ever recorded in November at 145 MPH. And of course we had Omar which went the opposite direction of the vast majority of hurricanes. So all in all I am lucky, but not feeling stoked about it.

Wonder where I'll be next season?

Capt Chris

View From the Spreader on Thanksgiving

On this Thanksgiving I have much to be thankful for. Take yesterday, the day I snapped this picture from Christa's spreader. It was such a beautiful day. The wind has eased up allowing the water to be less stirred and even clearer. During normal easterly trades a ground swell can develop but over the last days the wind has been northeast preventing any kind of ground swell. I arise with the sun, crack on a pot of coffee and watch the sun rise. As the temperature warms into the low 80's I take the dingy ashore and make the 5-minute stroll along the beach and round up onto the path and catch the bus, which is on time. I step off a few minutes later to dine at the Donkey Diner and check the weather and email. I quickly gather the local news from the staff, power was out.......came back on.......could be off later.......T-Day fiesta at Skinny Legs....blah blah blah. I love it. I hitch a ride back to the beach and retrace my path back to Christa. But wait, a new boat anchored off Christa quarter? It's Lori aboard Sill who I met in Culebra who knows Jeff and Susan the owners of the mooring I'm swing on. Lori pilots a 25 foot Hunter with no engine, a hardy sailor no doubt. She is in town for the Coral Bay Regatta. After polite chit chat I take a long snorkel trip out to the reef and spend a few moments scrubbing Christa's bottom. I spent the rest of the day reading and eating Spanish rice from Trader Joe's.

But really what Thanksgiving is all about is gratitude toward the folks aboard the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria whose arduous trip across the Atlantic started the whole shooting match. We owe an awful lot to those settlers. Unfortunately many contempory historians like to sling mud at those folks for shortcomings in community relations. The way I see it is Dutch and English settlers got together with a bunch of Indians to give thanks. A ground breaking ceremony of multiculturalism. Lets not forget that just prior to the revolution Britain passed a law stipulating that British Soldiers would be housed in the colonist's homes and the colonists would have to pick up the tab! Think about that! So I feel fortunate I won't have to share Christa with any Redcoats.

Thanksgiving is also about gratitude in general. So I am pretty grateful. Although I do have to say that just because I'm living what could be seen as this dreamy type life and it is great, don't be confused. But everyone has a happiness set point and as long as the basics in life are covered one's over all disposition doesn't change much. I find myself pretty much the same guy I was yesterday and the day before and the year before and on we go. Happiness is a top priority for me. I study the topic and try with all my might to make decision with this goal in mind. When I tack poorly life usually lets me know straight away and I try not to repeat. I'm not successful all the time, but a least I have a plan.

I am bummed I'm not with the family this Thanksgiving, but these are the rigors of my life style. I hope to improve on that aspect of my life. In any event happy Thanksgiving to all hands.

Capt Chris