Twilight. Christmas morning.

The fans are blowing. One in the salon. One in our berth.

All the ports are closed because of the rains during the night. Without the fans, it would be unbearably hot and humid below deck. I can barely see the stars as the sky lightens. The transition from black with a canopy of sparkles where the stars shimmer to gray begins to hide them as the veil of the sun approaches the horizon. Time for a walk.  I put on my rubber clogs and notice they’re still filled with sand and gravel from the trek through the boatyard in the dark. Not seeing the mud puddles, I think we hit every one which filled our shoes with gravel and mud.  Down the ladder and through the boatyard I hear a cacophony of roosters crowing.  Between 6-6:30am they’re awake and their vocal cords resound through the quiet streets. Every rooster in Virgin Gorda must be programed to go off that this time. It seems strange but I heard not singing all night long. Last year the churches across the street  seemed to reverberate with the sound of singing for 48 hours straight. Such devotion. I have to wonder as I approach fuel dock if they canceled Christmas this year. Other than the roosters and dogs, I don’t hear a sound. One lone car drives by, the bass and drums thumping out rap beats but for that… it’s silent. Back at the boat I open the galley port and make coffee. It sounds like a bananaquit outside, but I’ve never seen one here. The coffee is strong and good. Mmmmm…. Happy Birthday Jesus and Merry Christmas to the world. I wonder when Jesus’ birthday really was…

     We went down to the Bath and Turtle for breakfast. As we were finishing up, Morgan Freeman and his group 10 came in and sat at the table in front of us.  Guess they wanted breakfast at the same spot. We’ve seen his boat on the dock but it’s the first time we’ve seen him here this season.  Love his movies but kept my distance and left the man alone. I must confess that I tried to get a picture of him but since his back was to us where we were sitting, it was very difficult.  It was neat to see him though. He looks the same in person as he does on the screen.

     Wayne scraped part of the hull and I didn’t do much of anything but sit in front of the fan and sleep most of the day. After the storms yesterday/last night the air has been still. We must be sitting under a high pressure system. It was hot and sticky. I just didn’t want to move. I stuck Mortal Combat into the DVD player, turned the fan onto the computer and me and vegetated. Interesting movie…

     Showers then dinner at the Bath & Turtle. They put out a wonderful buffet with ribs, chicken, grouper, ham, and various mac/cheese, peas & rice, salads and fruit and a free rum punch and 2 for 1 painkillers… I was stuffed and feeling no pain by the time we got back to the boat!

Guess who I found wandering the docks!

     Our stay in St Thomas was lovely and the night view from the hotel spectacular.

I'm glad we spent a couple days there. The trip from St. Thomas via Speedy's Ferry was uneventful and yes we managed to be greeted by rodent fecal pellets upon opening the hatchway of Kolibrie. Two years in a row now! They looked like they were having fun in the underwear drawer while we were gone. What's with these rodents! We've never had a problem with them or bugs! Now twice in a row we've had Mickey Mouse's relatives come to visit and party.
     I bought poison and sticky traps for the little guy. He did manage to get stuck on the trap but then escaped from it before I could catch him. He never hit it again but did make off with a poison pellet. I discovered him in my clothes closet when I kept smelling something most foul everytime I went to lay down to read. The smell tracked him down and he is no more...  We're in the same place in the boatyard as last time - sheltered by a building where there was very little breeze while we were working or sleeping. So we figured the 4 legged critter must have remembered us and came to investigate again. It sounds like several other boats we've talked to have also been visited too.
     Azaya (friends we met along the way from Alaska) is a boat away from us. It looks like the boatyard had a boat between us that has since been put in the water and it's nice to see her yellow hull when I look out the portal. She's in the breeze, but we're in the protection of the building so no breeze for us while we work!

Someone left a yanmar box (not ours) that makes a handy table while we work on the boat.

  
     

Back to St. Thomas

Dec. 17^th, 2013 Greetings from St. Thomas, USVI

 

View from room



We got into St. Thomas via Spirit Airlines without a hitch. Our bags that weighed less than 40 lbs at home seemed to weigh 43 and 47 lbs here… Can’t much argue with them and paid the $25 over weight fee… It was interesting considering nothing changed between home and here except the humidity… and the humidity is something. Time to adjust after coming down from zero humidity in the Midwest to a pleasant humidity in Florida… 



     We’re staying at the Mafolie Hotel


tonight and tomorrow night before catching the Ferry from St. Thomas to Virgin Gorda. It’s quite a drive from the airport to here and we were treated to spectacular views to get here as we wound up and around the hairpin turns. Our room overlooks the pool and the main Harbor at Charlotte Amalie. I can pick out where we anchored last spring with Celtic Rover and Alibi! The room definitely has a view but the room itself reminds me of Stone town in Zanzibar – it has a canopied bed with mosquito netting and no-see-ums that I would bet will manage to penetrate the canopy over the bed. I’m itching all over where my skin is exposed to the critters. Now if we have a call to prayer at 5am I’ll really feel like we’re back in Africa!



Ahhhhh a nice bed!







     The Mafolie restaurant/bar has a spectacular view of the harbor so we went there for drinks and dinner. The drinks were strong and food was good. I was pretty timid about getting a drink and got a Shirley Temple while Wayne got a Presidente Beer. At dinner I thought what the heck and ordered a gin/tonic heavy on the tonic with a titch of gin. I should have known better… what I got was tall gin and a titch of tonic. But it was delicious – the gin they used was Tanqueray. It went down smooth… yep. Wayne got the Pineapple Mahi that came with Provencal and Island Rice and I got the Danish ribs that came with fungee and breadfruit mash. Provencal is a dish made with pumpkin and christophine (a root like vegi grown on the island). I forgot to taste it until later after dinner when it was too late. Fungi (pronounced fun-gee) is a main staple of the Virgin Islands diet that consists of cornmeal boiled and cooked to a thick consistency with okra. I found it bland but not bad. The Breadfruit Mash had a potato-like flavor and a pasty texture that reminded me of the last Yukon gold mashed potatoes I had at Thanksgiving. Interesting texture but tasty! The ribs were tender, spicy and delicious. Wayne said the Mahi was okay and wouldn’t go out of his way for it (especially for the price). It’s been a long day and needless to say, I’m ready for some shuteye… if the no-see-ums continue to bite me tonight I don’t think I’ll feel a thing…

Dec. 18^th, 2013 Mafolie Hotel, St. Thomas, USVI

Wonderful sleep last night – don’t know if it was the gin or change in weather but I was wiped out.  I scouted out the restaurant and grabbed a couple cups of coffee – one to take to Wayne in our room and one for me as I mill about the place. I’m sitting in the restaurant enjoying the warm humid air with a fruit smoothie that Ella made and a Caribbean rendition of a banana (plantain?) blueberry muffin. I have a 3 legged black cat at my feet watching me to see if I have anything interesting to share with it (nothing it would be interested in at the moment). It should have been here earlier when a fellow showed me how to use an egg/muffin machine to make an egg/swiss/ham/muffin sandwich. What an awesome little machine! Need one of these at home! Wayne’s here now so time to try my new found skill at making a sandwich for him!  More later…