Back to St. Thomas

We spent the last week back at home in Loveland so we could attend my dad's memorial.  It's heartbreaking knowing I won't be able to just pick up the phone and talk to my dad any longer.  It was nice being home though because I was able to visit with people that I hadn't seen in years.  It's sad that  it takes a funeral to get everyone together.  But we are back in St. Thomas in Red Hook.  Wes asked me if it felt like we were back home or if Loveland still feels like home and I have to say that Loveland still feels like home.  I guess after 52 years in Colorado it is hard to think of anything other than Colorado as my home. But the dogs were sure glad that we were back.  I think they missed us a bit.  The gentleman that we had watch them who we met at the veterinarian office did a great job taking care of them-he even gave them a bath-yay.  I've spent the last couple of hours though running back and forth to the veterinarian's office to try and get all of the paperwork taken care of so we can go back and fourth to the British Virgin Islands without so much hassle.  It's kind of funny that we took them through the Bahama's, Turks and Caicos, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico and didn't have any trouble at all but once we get to the BVI's, they give us so much trouble. But I have the number of the head Veterinarian there and I am going to give him a call to see if we can make this any easier because we plan on going over there several times over the next few months.
We decided to stay in the marina for a couple of extra days here in Red Hook so Wes can work on the engines and try to get everything working good before we head out again.  He pulled the toilet out and sawed a hole in the fiberglass (which made me a little nervous) but this made it possible for him to reach the screws that came out that were holding the engine stable.  Hopefully everything will go back together nicely and then he can start on hooking up the water maker.  It will be so nice once everything gets working correctly.  BUT every cruiser we talk to said that there is always something breaking and you always have something that you need to fix.  I guess it's just life on a boat.

Megan's Bay

We spent a couple of days at Megan's bay, which is on the North side of St. Thomas and has to be one of my favorite spots that we have been to.  They have a really nice beach and some great snorkeling. I especially like that they have an over abundance of sand dollars and Wes collected some for me.
Then on Friday we headed back over to red hook so Wes could start working on replacing the transmission on the starboard side which really needs to be taken care of since we're having trouble putting that side into forward.  He spent pretty much all of Saturday working on getting the old one out and Sunday he will work on putting the new one in. This is another first for him and I have to say he is doing one heck of a job but it isn't without a lot, and I mean a lot, of four letter words. But this will be good practice for when he has to do the port side, which will be very soon.
Then Tuesday we head back to Colorado for a week.  We will be leaving the boat in a slip at the marina here in red hook and the guy who picked up Lexie and Max last time we had them boarded is actually going to watch them at his house while were gone.

Over at St. John

We took a couple of days and went to St. John in a bay called Francis bay. It’s a very well protected cove and it was good to have the protection. We had a couple of days where the wind was really howling. In the bay we only caught a little of that.  Every once in a while we would get a gust and it would be around 25 kts., but for the most part we were protected.

We took the dogs on a three mile walk to the old sugar factory on the other side of the cove. 

They had a good time and we saw one of the best preserved Sugar Factories in the Caribbean.

It seemed to function from the early 1800's to around 1880. Everything is grown up around it and it hard to image all that being cleared for sugar cane. 

We have three or four couples here in Francis bay that we met and it's nice knowing some people. We are going over to one of their boats tonight to listen to the Dallas/Detroit game.

I think we will be in Redhook next. Then maybe Megan’s bay.

Happy New Year

We had New Years Eve on the boat last night. We went to bed about 9:30 but they had fireworks in the bay at 11:45 so we got up for them. The fireworks were great but after it sounded like there was a war going on. People in St Thomas seem to think it’s all right to fire there AK-47’s on New Years Eve. These things are fully auto too. I stayed under cover for the hour and a half they were doing it. I figure anything that goes up must come down and they probably shoot near the bay. 

Today we are going over to St. John. We were going to go to St. Croix but we have the Christmas winds coming in for the next two weeks. They blow around 25 kts and the seas are around 10 ft. So I don’t think I need to be out on the open ocean for that. The trip to St. John is easy. It’s only about 3 miles of open ocean and we are right next to land during that part. After that it’s all surrounded by land so even if the winds are high they don't get the seas up.

There is a nice bay over there and I think we will go for a week or more.

I’ve mostly finished the repairs on my boat. I put a new starter and alternator on the port side and I had to fix two brackets on the starboard side. But now both engines are running and charging, so life is good. I still have a little wiring to do but I can do that over at St. John.

Karen also painted our bathroom.

That’s all for now, have a very merry new year.