Wed Jan 28th 8:30 am AST St Thomas. Well we are back in St Thomas after a busy 10 days for Joyce. She passed her IDC Padi course and is now getting ready for the final IE in Ft Lauderdale this weekend. When she gets back on Monday she will be a Dive Instructor. We have been down here in the Islands for 2 months tomorrow, most of Joyce's waking moments have had her nose in 1 PADI book or another. It will be nice to see her relax next week.
We had a great sail over from St Croix in 20 to 30 knot winds, averaging 8 knots. We caught up with Phil and Joanna. They have been to the BVI's for the last 2 weeks. Dinner and "Snake" (Dominos) tonight.
For the last 5 days we ave not had any internet. Seems most of Christiansted is served by 1 provider and he has been down since last Thursday. Aren't the Islands wonderful..... We went in yesterday to get some important stuff done, but are going back this AM to finish up. Joyce's computer and my SSB radio are here, but the watermaker pump is not. We had a failure of the booster pump.Being French there were no specs on the old pump. I have tried using all my spare pumps to fix this but the only one that works is our fresh water pump....which means I plumb it to the salt water intake and then into the watermaker. After 2 days down in the engine room swapping out 4 different pumps... I have figured out that I need high pressure and a moderate flow. The A/C pump is high flow low pressure, the backup fresh water has the pressure but not the flow....and so on...where is Dennis when you need a plumber. So today back on line to find something.
The batteries are doing fine....but as they should, they take the charge very slowly once they get closer to 90%. When the amps going in are 18, and the amps going out with the generator off is 11, it does not make sense to burn $2.70 a gallon for a net gain of 7 amps. I will have to equalize in a few weeks to keep them in shape.
You will not hear from Joyce till next week when she gets back from Ft Lauderdale...her nose will be in the PADI books. I might get some pics up this weekend....more later
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Back on the Soapbox
Wed 3:49 PM ASTPS to the last post: We have been down here in the USVI for the last few weeks, I have been coming down here for 40 years. Is what we see down here what the US will be like after a few years of far left government??Paridise is now a slum. The Islanders have trashed the place. If one wants to see the US Government at its worst, come to the USVI. Racism at it's worst (reverse racism ), a high percentage of the population on welfare, food stamps, public housing and wasting of the taxpayer dollars. In the last few years they have built(with taxpayer money) a huge Mega Yacht marina complex ; with dozens of high end stores selling jewelry and clothes others only seen on the pages of magazines. I don't even know the name of. Only problem is that there are few boats in the Marina.. They expect the Cruise ship people to go here....well they have all the other stores to go to that are supposed to be duty free....BS...all the islands say this. The stores have 70% off sales or are closed. Other than the cheap gin (last yr $8.29 a big bottle, now $9.59) and Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream for Joyce..(now closed).why come here???? Lets give them St Thomas and let them see if they can make a go of it without US dollars. We bought the VI from Denmark in the 20's for 25 million dollars....want to bet ...25 mill is a splash in the bucket to keep these suck holes above water. Let them go it on their own....will be like the rest of the Caribbean Islands that cannot rule themselves...too much corruption among the government people....hell...lets go sail some place else!!!!!!!!!!!! But..as a note we can only blame ourselves.... I can remember when the boat boy said...hey mon ...want to buy limes mon.....you said how much....he said 2 dollar EC...I said 1 dollar.EC.....he proceeded to row 1/2 mile to get 12 limes for $ ,38 ...now the going rate is 2$ us...and they now have outboards.....We as Americans have destroyed the economy of these islands by throwing dollars at them. We find no problem buying a dozen limes off a boat boy for 2-3 dollars US while on vacation. He is so cute>>>>These boat boys make more money liming (selling limes)than their fathers who might work construction. In the Tobago Cays the boat boys have been organized by the adults. Once you have the hook down, you will be visited by the fruit boat boy, followed by the t-shirt, bread, ice and lobster boat boys. The prices are no longer a deal, but approach US prices. As I said before...time to sail someplace else. Just finished listening to the Inauguration..real downer...time for some rum :):)
Lazy Days while Joyce Works
Monday Jan 19th 7:06 pm AST St Croix Well we have been here for 3 days..While Joyce is ashore slaving on her Dive Instructor Course the Capt has been lying low. Recovery from the Battery Olympics has been slow. For the last 2 days ...complete slug...have done nothing physical.. pain levels have been down except in the AM..Made a pot of gumbo yesterday,,,,not bad...even better today. Today I started the day with 1/2 percocet....was a nice day; except got nothing done...internet was pissy...had to refresh the wireless interface anytime I wanted something to happen. Bummer living on free internet. Joyce left me with a pot of hot tea....(still have a little Kidney stone thing if I don't drink enough fluids...and the reminder in the early AM ..I could go on to why the am...screw it...but followed instructions to go heavy on the water. ) Decided to get a month of low level Graboid to get current with out TV favorites. Due to internet speed....simple things take an hour. By noon I wanted to listen to Rush...very spotty...5 min on ....2 off unless I refreshed the connection.....Just think..we took Matt to Bushes inaugural 8 yrs ago. Too cool...last I was at was Kennedy's back in 1960. Now I would rather watch cartoons than this fisasio. When the country is hurting money wise this clown spends 2x as Bush on his party......and the Balls...they ride high wile the country tightens its belt. Heard today that he plans to increase jobs with his 800 billion to 1 trillion stimulus package. He was going to increase jobs by x million....someone put the numbers together....each job was going to cost the taxpayer $ 171,000. Now that is change!!We are going to pay some Mexican illegal to fix our roads, give his family free health care, put them in government housing, educate his children, enroll them in our failing Social Security system at the taxpayers expense: so he can get reelected in 4 yrs. And now you wonder why I plan to be out of the country for the next few yrs. Sorry..OFF THE SOAPBOX .Joyce will get some pics and other news when she gets time...in 8 days...
So far the Instructor Course has been a killer....she gets back to the boat about 5pm...whooped..and then has to put in 3-4 hrs of bookwork....me I get to have a few cold ones and watch the tube...you guys will have to wait for her update
So far the Instructor Course has been a killer....she gets back to the boat about 5pm...whooped..and then has to put in 3-4 hrs of bookwork....me I get to have a few cold ones and watch the tube...you guys will have to wait for her update
Saturday, January 17, 2009
The Bowthruster Story
Sat Jan 17 7:55 am AS
ST Almost forgot to tell this story. Dennis...it happens to us all at one time or another....remember...throttle... Last Saturday as we were leaving the marina in PR our bow thruster went south on us. As I motored slowly out of the slip with the wind at 15 knots pushing us to port, I pressed the thruster button to swing the bow into the wind and screech, I get nothing. As our friend Dennis will tell you, turning a sailboat in a little more than its own length is a bitch, compounded with the wind....damn. To do this you hard right the rudder, hammer down on the engine...then as the boat starts to swing , you put the boat in reverse, hammer down so you don't hit the boats off your bow. The trick is to keep the boats swing momentum going while not hitting the boats in front or behind. We were maybe 10 - 12 slips from the concrete T that connects the docks. The wind neutralized the swing moment em and I would get stuck half way around before i had to reverse to keep the bow off the other boats. I made 7 or 8 tries...each time getting closer to the concrete pier. It was all concrete...about rail high. By this time we were the afternoon entertainment. 10 or so boat owners were on the concrete dock...each with their own solution to our problem. Joyce was doing a great job getting the fenders in the right places to prevent damage. We were finally pinned to the dock. Our first try was to back down on the fenders then power the bow into the wind....no go wind was too strong and not enough room to make the swing. We then tried to back off with the bow secure to the dock. We got off the dock but now we needed even more swing to get turned around. I was able to get our stern into a vacant slip, I pushed the throttle to the stops....the bow started to swing, but the boats forward were close....I had to center the rudder to keep the stern from smashing into the forward boats. Once we has enough speed I was able to get into the center of the fairway....with a cheer form the other boaters we we on our way. No harm...no foul...except to the Captains ego...
ST Almost forgot to tell this story. Dennis...it happens to us all at one time or another....remember...throttle... Last Saturday as we were leaving the marina in PR our bow thruster went south on us. As I motored slowly out of the slip with the wind at 15 knots pushing us to port, I pressed the thruster button to swing the bow into the wind and screech, I get nothing. As our friend Dennis will tell you, turning a sailboat in a little more than its own length is a bitch, compounded with the wind....damn. To do this you hard right the rudder, hammer down on the engine...then as the boat starts to swing , you put the boat in reverse, hammer down so you don't hit the boats off your bow. The trick is to keep the boats swing momentum going while not hitting the boats in front or behind. We were maybe 10 - 12 slips from the concrete T that connects the docks. The wind neutralized the swing moment em and I would get stuck half way around before i had to reverse to keep the bow off the other boats. I made 7 or 8 tries...each time getting closer to the concrete pier. It was all concrete...about rail high. By this time we were the afternoon entertainment. 10 or so boat owners were on the concrete dock...each with their own solution to our problem. Joyce was doing a great job getting the fenders in the right places to prevent damage. We were finally pinned to the dock. Our first try was to back down on the fenders then power the bow into the wind....no go wind was too strong and not enough room to make the swing. We then tried to back off with the bow secure to the dock. We got off the dock but now we needed even more swing to get turned around. I was able to get our stern into a vacant slip, I pushed the throttle to the stops....the bow started to swing, but the boats forward were close....I had to center the rudder to keep the stern from smashing into the forward boats. Once we has enough speed I was able to get into the center of the fairway....with a cheer form the other boaters we we on our way. No harm...no foul...except to the Captains ego...
Back in St Croix
Saturday Jan 17th 2009 7:33 am AST Joyce just left for the start of her Padi Dive Instructor course. For the next 10 days she will be putting in 10 + hr days to pass the course. She has been studying hard for the last few weeks. There is enough course material onboard to bring the waterline down a few inches. For the next few days I am going to rest up and see if I can get my back hips and shoulders happy after the Battery Olympics last week. I might have saved some $$$$ over the years, but it has taken a toll on the old body. I have a list of boat chores, but they will be lost for a few days.
We had dinner over at Phil's boat Thur night, We planned out the next 4-5 months. We will be buddy boating down the islands to Grenada, where Phil will sail over to Trinidad while we get hauled in Grenada. We will then meet in Margarita. Joyce plans on using Joanna and I as her 1st students. We both need a refresher course before diving on a regular basis. We will meet up with Joanna and Phil in the VI's right before Joyce flys back to Ft Lauderdale for her final exams. That is all for now,,,back to doing nothing...Capt Paul
We had dinner over at Phil's boat Thur night, We planned out the next 4-5 months. We will be buddy boating down the islands to Grenada, where Phil will sail over to Trinidad while we get hauled in Grenada. We will then meet in Margarita. Joyce plans on using Joanna and I as her 1st students. We both need a refresher course before diving on a regular basis. We will meet up with Joanna and Phil in the VI's right before Joyce flys back to Ft Lauderdale for her final exams. That is all for now,,,back to doing nothing...Capt Paul
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