Re-United Again on St John, Aboard Sadie Sea

On a Mooring Honey Moon Beach, Water Island, St Thomas USVI

Life is strange. Take the story of Tom & Amy Larson, me, their sailboat Sandpiper, and now their Charter business on St John, Sadie Sea Charters. I'm not even sure where to begin and fear I may not have the writing skills to make all the connections. But here it goes.

My memory can be a little fuzzy with dates and times, but what follows is the gist. Cica 1999, I had owned Christa for about a year and had just transferred from Lake Tahoe CA to the San Francisco Bay Area. I had just arrived to my new slip at the Travis Sailing Center in Sausalito Ca when I bumped into Tom who had berthed Sandpiper at the same marina. Tom and I were instant amigos yapping about boat stuff and sailing and what not. An abnormal period of time had gone by when we both discovered in a conversation that we both were in the Coast Guard and the same rate and rank. Simply never came up in conversation. That was wild. During this time Tom began wooing Amy Sherman (Now Mrs. Larson and First Mate Amy). Tom worked a phat job on the Pacific Strike Team and traveled all the time and I worked in a Command Center, so we didn't see each other all the time. That all changed  in 2003 when Tom transfered to the ship I was stationed on. Not only were we on the same ship, but still the same rate and rank and now Tom was to take over my division and I moved to the Chief of the Navigation division. Weird. Even weirder that we ended up sharing a two man stateroom. True amigos now.

All the while talk of sailing and retirement permeated. Tom & Amy retired in 2005 sailed west around the planet. I was released from active duty in Oct 2007 and retired February 1st 2008. So it was with great anticipation that Christa and Sandpiper shared the same anchorage in St Lucia in March 2009.

Rewind my life to January/February 2008 and you will find me in Luperon Dominican Republic, with low morale after a shelacking between Turks & Caicos and a blown rear seal on the Yanmar. It was both difficult and thrilling to be in the Dom Rep with all the other cruisers. But replacing the rear seal and ensuring it was done correctly was very stressful. Transmission fluid was still slaying after I had hired a Frenchman to replace the seal. Enter Casey from St John, a younger fellow who was delivering a big Cat to St John. What a champ this guy has turned out to be. I tell him my woes and one day he stops by and says lets pull the coupler apart and see what's going on. Within 15 minutes, with the shaft packing gushing water into the boat, while studying the exploded view in the Yanmar Service Manual, Casey says, "this piece is in backward." What? A couple of turns of the wrench later we were shipshape and testing everything out. He refused any form of payment and just said "pay it forward."

Then Casey says when you get to St John look me up and and I'll introduce you to Ben who owns the Sadie Sea, and needs a relief skipper. At the time I fully intended on getting to St John within a month or so, but that all changed when I plunked down the anchor in Salinas Puerto Rico. That is a whole other saga. So a year or so later I showed up in St John and Casey was true to his word. I ended up running the Sadie Sea for a month or so before that fell through. Again another set of sagas.

But while I was doing my Sadie thing, I had been briefing Tom & Amy on Sandpiper, who were in Gibralter waiting to cross the Atlantic. So they had a clue about the Sadie Sea, but not a big clue. They had plans to head to Charleston and seek some employment or buy a business. But then they fell into the St John orbit. It's strong. They had just arrived and were bar side when they bumped into Ben, owner of the Sadie Sea, not long after Casey came saundering in and the circle was rapidly closing. Tom and Amy bought Sadie Sea last July from Ben and now call St John home.

So yesterday, I took the inter island ferry over to St John and there was Tom & Amy waving on the dock, Sadie sitting on her mooring right next to Sandpiper. So Tom & Amy let me Co- Captain for a reef bay run to the south side of St John to pick up National Park Hikers. Back in the saddle, but not with Capt Ben, but now with Amy and Tom. Like I said life is strange.

Capt Chris

Rolled to St Thomas

Capt Chris
01/18/2009, Anchored Water Island St Thomas

Ahoy! I slipped the mooring line this morning from Maho Bay as the sun was rising. Check out the pic I snapped as I was leaving on a rare dead calm that had engulfed the entire island chain. As it was Sunday morning I seemed to be the only boat moving which added to the peacefulness. It was a three hours motor sail to Water Island. I had the anchor down in 30 feet of clear water right next to Wandering Dolphin. It is wonderful to be back next to my peeps! I'll have more to say later on.

Capt Chris

Outboard Woes

Capt Chris, 80's, winds East 15 to 20 knots
01/10/2009, Coral Bay St John

Pictured is my new Yamaha 4 horse four stroke outboard purchased today in St Thomas. The passed 3 days have swirled around outboard troubles. I've been trying to shake off the troubles with the Honda 2 horse which was less than five years old. I had a fuel leak deriving from a rusted carb bowl which was masking the fact that I had an oil leak as well. So after spending nearly 100 boat dollars to have the carb fixed, the very next day much larger problems developed. Oil was leaking into the exhaust somewhere which killed it. It likely can be fixed but at great expense. I just bought a new engine. I had been thinking about upgrading anyway as the two horse was not cutting it.

For the folks back home having an outboard go out is tantamount to having car trouble but worse. You see, if your car breaks well you just drift on over to the side of the road. If the outboard craps out your really in a bind. Most dinks are terrrible for rowing and your generally left adrift which is just what happened to Janina and I. I had to swim a very long way back to Christa while Janina nursed her fresh bee sting. Why a bee is out on the ocean still is a mystery. But I got back to Christa and got her fired up and slipped the mooring to go rescue Janina in the dink. Since we now had no way ashore I decided to anchor down in Coral Bay which is less isolated than Johnsons Bay.

So with this trauma I flew into action and made my way to St Thomas and Offshore Marine. I am so thankful for Wandering Dolphin as they were their to help me with the whole thing. I picked up the new motor and spent the night aboard Wandering Dolphin after they bought me a big juicy steak at a nice hotel overlooking the harbor. Next day we shared a breakfast and Christopher dropped me and the new motor at the ferry dock. All in all the mission was complete in less than 24 hours which is amazing to me. But I am now shy $1380 dollars.

So I spent sometime breaking new motor in today. Ran like a champ. So tomorrow, weather pending Janina and I are going to make the sail over to the north shore and grab a mooring at Maho Bay.

More later

Capt Chris

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

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!

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

St John on Saturday

I took this photo from the road as I walked into Coral Bay proper. It is the picture of Johnson's Bay and Johnson's reef where Christa's currently swings on her mooring. In the distance you can see the east end of St John and further out you can gander at Norman's Island part of the British Virgin Islands which is on Christa itinerary someday. It is starting to sink in about how nice it will be to have the next destination just a few miles away or just over the horizon.

I have been sleeping like a rock and usually lights out just after 9pm. The moon is now going into its darker phase so I'm just starting to experience the Johnson's Bay in total darkness. With no backscatter of any sort the stars are a true delight, right in your face. Since the Virgin Islands are small and scattered the concept of a night lee doesn't really wash here. So the trades have been blowing, even at night keeping air flowing down the hatches and the wind generator producing electricity. Good thing as I have been having to run the water maker for three hours or so per day. Since leaving Salinas I've found no shower facilities to speak of ashore so I've had to shower aboard which adds to the consumption matrix. For the curious, Christa really doesn't have a decent shower per say. But I did buy one of those solar shower deals which has been working great. It is a black plastic bag that holds 4 gallons of water that heats up in the sun nicely. In the evening I hoist it from the main halyard and take a shower out on deck. Since I am surrounded by clear clean ocean sometimes I rinse in the 84 degree ocean and then rinse again with the fresh water. It can be a real scene when the boat starts rolling which gets the bag swing which complicates this picture I've painted. It would be best to have a shower partner.

I have found and others have confirmed that the U.S. Virgin Islands are really not cruiser friendly. Word on the street is that the BVI's are much more geared toward people like me. Just take Coral Bay as an example, you cannot obtain or purchase water from anywhere unless you have a car. Just this fact alone would chase off a substantial number of cruisers. Surely you could not have a congregation of cruisers in the vain of a Luperon DR. Even though Coral Bay has a substantial number of boats on the hook, all of them are based out of St John. Cruisers need to have at least some things that are close to being easily gathered. St John has no marina facility and very limited anchoring. Now there are very good reasons for this, but the net result is USVI's are not cruiser friendly. The bays along the north coast are truly breath taking and to protect the reefs no anchoring is aloud. The National Park Service has put in a number of moorings which are great. But at $15 dollars a night the majority of takers are the charter boat crowd that comes over from BVI's. Most cruisers can't afford $15 a night for any length of time and again getting back and forth to the store could cost twice as much as the mooring itself. It is what it is.

However St John may be just fine without us cruisers. Not every island should be cruiser friendly. I have noticed that the people who do come to St John on vacation and then simply never leave are very hard working for the most part. Many hold three or four jobs and are constantly manuvering to make ends meet, but they love their island home. They also love their booze and bars. Just because it is not cruiser friendly doesn't mean a cruiser can't make it here, you can, just depends on your physical condition. Most cruisers are older and simply could not sustain the demands it takes to make things work here. I have been walking 3 to 5 miles a day, sometimes with groceries and a backpack on in the heat. I like the exercise especially since it is to dangerous to run on the roads. As I get to know people I am getting more and more rides. I also use the bus, but the bus has its own issues that maybe I'll write about some other day. In the end, I do love it here whether it caters to my needs or not.


Capt Chris

Hiking St John

I did some serious hiking yesterday on the Jonny Horn Trail. I lit out from the old church built during the slave trading days of 1753 which also serves as the start of the Jonny Horn Trail. Dodging the numerous wild donkeys I hiked nearly straight up for the first half mile. One thing I have bummed about since my arrival on St. John is my running routine has halted. To dangerous to run on these skinny roads. However if I can keep up the amount of walking I have doing to should be able to stave off an early demise. So the first section of the trail was tough but invigorating. The trail pretty much hugged a ridge line in dry forest scrub land and every now and again a beautiful view north toward Tortola BVI's came into view. At the end of the tail on was rewarded with Watermelon Bay and Watermelon Cay. Pretty much what you would expect on the north coast of St. John. Calm, clear beautiful water. It also is a turtle nesting area and I could see all kinds of turtles poking about as turtles tend to do. I was also able to skulk around some old ruins left over from the sugar plantations in the 1700's. All in all a great day other than the massive blister on my heal!

Capt Chris

Free Flu Shot

Things have slowed down to such a crawl that the big news is I lined up with the locals at the Fire Station in Coral Bay to get my influenza shot. It was a real community event. I came equipped with my thick health record that the Coast Guard kept for me for 20 years. It was supposed to be sent to the VA and I was told that if I wanted a copy I was more than welcome to make one myself! Oh joy what fun making copies of chest xray's at the office copy machine. Just another one of those irritating issues from my military days. The kind of irritant one tends to forget as time passes. They surely failed to show that scene in "The Guardian." So I swiped my record before it could be shipped off to the VA. When I was standing in line with all the hippies I clearly looked very squared away. It pains me that no one including me had a clue where to log the shot in my phat record, but I did log it in Google's snazzy online health record.

I have now been in St John for a week and still getting a routine down. The wind has really picked up to Christmas trade velocity. For the next three days wind is easterly at 25 knots and with the squall activity, at times the wind hits 35 knots. The mooring field that I am in has developed a small ground swell. So things aboard have become a little bumpy. In fact I have surprised that all of Coral Bay is pretty much exposed to the east and therefore the anchorage is not smooth when the wind is up. I suspect that I am spoiled from my time in Puerto Rico. Salinas really is a top notch place in terms of protection. It is fine though. The mooring that Jeff and Susan have loaned me are on three sand screws. To explain as I just learned what sand screws are. They are three to six feet long and resemble a large drill bit with about a 1 inch shank. It is threaded only at the tip. They are then simply twisted into the sand to the hilt. So Christa is riding on three of them via one line that has been nicely spliced in a seaman like fashion to all three screws. I believe it to be a pretty powerful set up.

Now again I can't claim to be the photographer of this here photo. But it was taken from one of the numerous hiking trails on St. John. I was intending to do some hiking this weekend but the weather is a bit sketchy so I wait it out. But the first trail will be the one that overlooks Coral Bay from a ridge line and then meanders down to the north shore to Haulover Bay. I really haven't had a chance yet to do much exploring but hope to do some soon. Mean while I have been working on my communications program. My cellphone is being relayed from towers in The British Virgin Islands at a rate of 3 dollars a minute. But I can get back on to the Sprint tower in Cruz Bay but have to take the 45 minute bus ride and even then I'm on my day time minutes as the bus runs only during the day. I have found a couple of free wi-fi signals that I can use with my iTouch but it is not feasable to sit on the side of the road with said laptop and Skype. But The Donkey Diner does have very good wi-fi that I can use to skype with but 30 days cost $60 big ones.

That is the way it goes in paradise. This in St John are very expensive and the local people have to work pretty hard to make ends meet. I had a philly cheese steak the other day at a cost of $13 bucks and your average breakfast will set you back 10 to 12 beans. On a positive note the bus is only a buck into Cruz Bay and you get free wi-fi in the park. So that is that.

More later from the Donkey Diner.

Capt Chris

St John To Port

Well it seems I have really arrived in a paradise like place. But let me explain this mornings sailing. Christa and I continue to beat to windward which as you all know I just can't stand. The conditions could always be worse, but earlier in the week the weather folk were predicting some pretty light wind. That really has not materialized and in fact later on this week the wind is supposed to pick up to 15 to 22 knots for the foreseeable future. So instead of being stuck in the large metropolis of Charlotte Amalie for weeks on end I decided to head to St. John. Anchor was up about 4:15am and I peeled my way out of the harbor with great caution as it is a busy place. The forecast called for 12 knots out the ESE and that is pretty much what I had. Between St. Thomas and St. John is a sound called Pilsbury Sound. The seas were lumpy and chaotic due to a lot of current. However Christa was running strong with a full main and the Yanmar cranking along at 2500rmp.

Now awhile back in Salinas I had met a very nice couple on SV Free Spirit and they had offered the use of their mooring in Coral Bay. Of course I am all over it! So I had been in touch with Free Spirits neighbor on St. John, Bill from SV Marlat who coincidentally had left a comment on this blog saying to keep an eye open for Jeff and Susan on Free Spirit. Another great small world story. Any who as I pulled behind johnsons reef there was Bill on Marlat who directed me to said mooring. Beautiful. The beauty of the place is shocking to the senses. More later.


Capt Chris

New Town New Culture

I departed Ensenada Dakity and sadly waved to Wandering Dolphin as I made my way out of the cut. I finally left Puerto Rico astern yesterday morning. I slipped the mooring at sunrise on a southeast 5-10 knot forecast and light seas for the 20 mile trip to windward. The conditions were a little more lumpy than I had anticipated and it was the first time I've had to contend with any kind of current. Nothing to get sweaty about though, but it did cause the sea to be a bit bumpy. Once I arrived it was a bit of a to do to find a spot. I had intended on anchoring on the west side of Water Island where the guide indicated it was nice and protected. However the water was very deep and where the water depth was manageable private moorings existed. After nearly two hours of trying to get things worked out I started locking up. So I headed straight to the hustle and busl of the Charlotte Amalie main harbor where I am anchored right off the cruise ship dock. It is a little crowded but not nearly as much as I thought and also a couple of boats I recognize from my travels are here as well. Really looking forward to having Wandering Dolphin make the 20 mile jump....so hurry up!

I am anchored right off the newly built Yacht Haven complex that caters to the mega yacht industry. The area has beautiful facilities with shops. I have already located my core needs of coffee shop (of which I sit currently) a bookstore and a marine store. So today, my first full day here in St. Thomas will be spent checking out some sights. I have a small fuel leak and need to find a Yanmar dealer to discuss and buy some fuel hose. Yesterday it rained buckets with some thunderstorms late in the afternoon and evening. Hopefully it will be a little nicer today.

So future plans include me heading to St. Johns likely on Sunday. I have been focused on St. Johns for quiet awhile and look forward to spending at least a month or more on said island.

Capt Chris