Our sailing blog. A little of this and that as we are cruising the Caribbean islands aboard our CAL 34 sail boat. Comments on various subjects on the liveaboard cruising lifestyle such as destinations, anchorages, pets, wifi and internet access, sailing / boating tips, restaurants, marine services, business services, yacht charters, general day to day life...
I was happy to read this morning in the St Croix Source that an additional 1,762 customers have had power restored since January 1st. Restoration levels now stand at 92 percent on St. Croix, 99 percent on St. John, and 91 percent on St. Thomas.
This year the three street parades of the St. Croix Crucian Christmas Carnival were combined into one. Saturday's parade honored recovery teams that worked in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. It saluted visiting linemen, WAPA (Water And Power Authority) workers, and the Red Cross, incorporating blue tarps, neon vest colors, and hard hats into their schemes.
We had planned to have lunch at Sharkey's Bait Shack last Thursday as it was $7.50 burger+side day. which is one of our favorite shoreside lunches. We were looking forward to our burgers until we opened their door and was hit by a cacophony of noise. The place was full of school children for some reason.
We quickly turned around and did a bit of shopping in Seaside Market next door with thoughts of getting a sandwich. This didn't happen because there was no place to sit at their outside tables. In fact, three of the tables had one employee per table just hanging out on their break.
Our next option was to try out the new Vietnamese place (Sai Gon Deli) just down the street by the laundry. We usually do our laundry on Sundays and they were closed each time we went, plus they didn't have a menu up so we had no idea on dishes and prices.
Glad we stopped by. Turns out they've been in business about 2 months and they are closed on Sundays & Mondays. I took a picture of the menu on the wall... sorry that I cut off the right side of the menu.
They are located at the little strip mall across from the Canegata Ball Park between the laundromat and the Mt Welcome Pharmacy. This is an easy walk from Christiansted Harbour and Gallows Bay.
Sea Side Market, the new grocery store in Christiansted, St Croix has finally opened. It has replaced Schooner Bay Market which closed several months ago.
It is basically across the street from the Canegata Ballpark, just down from the laundramat, short walk from ACE/Gallows Bay Hardware.
Prices vary. Many things are higher than Pueblo but a some are similar or lower. Even if we buy something that costs a bit more, we save on the time that it would have taken walking up to Pueblo in Golden Rock.
Yesterday when we were having a cup of coffee outside around noon, we saw a couple of big splashes offshore. Could that have been a giant ray? No... It kept happening and then we saw TAILS.
HOW COOL
Sorry, but no pictures. I wasn't going to miss out on the action while going to fetch my camera. Besides, it would probably have been too small to see anything.
BUDGET MARINE St Croix has relocated to a much more convenient location in Christiansted. They are located in Gallows Bay across the street from Customs & Immigration and the commercial dock with the small cargo ships (and the ferry when there is one).
We tie up our dinghy to the small fishing dock at Gallows Bay. You could also pull your dinghy up on the beach, walk from Christiansted, or drive if you have a car as they have a large parking lot out front.
This Saturday, June 8 2013, Budget will be having a Grand Opening Celebration beginning around 11:00am. We've were told that there would be a simple BBQ with hot dogs, raffles, prizes, music, etc.
We have been in the shop a couple of times and the owners seem genuinely friendly, helpful, nice people (and Max the dog, too!)
They have a fridge stocked with ICE CREAM and drinks which is super cool... PLUS they now have a beer license and will be able to sell cold beer! We are looking forward to seeing what they will have on offer.
They have a consignment table for recycling your unwanted bilge treasures and they might be having a book swap shelf in the near future.
Bareboaters... Here's a tip: The term "picking up a mooring" does not apply when you are leaving.
Gallows Bay Moorings, Christiansted, St Croix, US Virgin Islands (Click photo to enlarge)
I
heard someone's anchor windlass going and I thought "oh, the catamaran
must be leaving... but wait, they're tied to a mooring".
I looked outside and yes, they were still tied to their mooring but there was a person in the water diving between the cat and the mooring ball... The chain is going tick-a-tick-a-tick-a.
Why
did they drop an anchor on top of the mooring they were tied to? What
is the state of that mooring now? It's probably not that they don't care
about the probable damage done, but they more than likely don't have a
clue that they might have pulled out one of the two mooring screws and
have made yet another one of these moorings unsafe.
This is why you should always dive and inspect the mooring you have just tied to... especially before leaving your boat unattended.
We've been having some Saharan dust over the past few weeks. It's nothing like the red dust we used to get in the Canary Islands but we were much closer to the source then. I remember one day when visibility was extremely limited and we couldn't even see the shore.
I like the grayness of this...
The next night, the sky and water were very red... Too bad I couldn't capture the intensity of it in this picture... Photoshopping would be cheating :)
<rant>Our wifi service in St Croix, while never very good, has again been really crappy for the past week. There was a bit of OK time on Monday though which goes to show that THEY are having problems (nothing has changed with us or our equipment and land-based users are having issues, too). Of course, if I called to let them know that something might be amiss, they would just say that everything is hunky-dory on their end... Right...
Sort of reminds me many years ago (1997-ish) when Dave was showing us how fast you could receive internet service from Cobex on St Thomas, while actually everything he was showing us was residing on his hard drive... Duh! I pointed this out to him and he admitted that was the case :)
Anyway, our Intermittent Service Provider is doing a good job of living up to that moniker today. We are on for 2 minutes then off... on for 30 seconds and off... on... off... off... off... off... on WOW... Nope off again... VERY FRUSTRATING and "I only have this one little thing and then I'll shut down and get started on a boat project". Then you realize that ANOTHER hour has gone by... sigh
This is another reason we want to leave St Croix.
A few months ago I called Choice and asked them if I could do a trial day on their service (they have one hotspot in this area) and if I like it to then put that day as credit towards a month (it is something like $10/day & $60/month). But they just didn't seem to understand. And, since we (and many other people we know) had such a bad experience with Choice in Charlotte Amalie two years ago, I just don't want to waste another ten bucks for nothing but more frustration... but maybe it will be good... maybe...
But, what if I hit Choice on one of their good days (because Broadband_VI does admittedly have the occasional good day) and I sign up for a month and get typical lousy service?
The last time I called Broadband VI about their lack of service the technician suggested I use AT&T or Sprint! What does that tell you???
So, I guess we'll stay with the one whose "reliability" we can count on until we can blow this pop shop and get out of Dodge.</rant>
Jet Blue airlines announces that starting December 12, 2011 it is launching twice daily service between San Juan, PR and St Thomas, USVI and daily flights between San Juan and St Croix, USVI.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Sept. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ --
JetBlue Airways (Nasdaq: JBLU), Puerto Rico's largest carrier, today announced that it will launch San Juan Luis Munoz Marin International Airport's (SJU) twice daily service to St. Thomas (STT) and daily service to St. Croix (STX) International Airports - the airline's 69th and 70th destinations - on Monday, December 12, 2011, three days earlier than originally scheduled. Customers seeking a jumpstart on a vacation to the U.S. Virgin Islands can also save money on flights today through 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday, September 23, 2011 at www.jetblue.com/new, where trips are selling for as low as $39 each way for travel through February 15, 2012.
JetBlue's schedule between San Juan and St. Thomas, effective December 12, 2011:
JetBlue's inaugural service between Boston's Logan International Airport (BOS) and St. Thomas will operate for the winter season with five weekly departures beginning December 15, 2011 and will operate nonstop on the southbound flight and direct via San Juan on the northbound flight to Boston.
JetBlue's schedule between Boston and St. Thomas, effective December 15, 2011:
Every time we walk up to Pueblo Supermarket we stop by the thrift shop which benefits the St Croix Animal Shelter.
A couple of weeks ago we came across a sextant and navigational tools that you can read about in Bob's Boat Bits.
This weekend we found an almost pristine Jimmy Buffett hat which will replace the one pictured below that we bought at the 2007 Tunes on the Dunes concert in Anguilla for $20. Our new treasure cost only 40 cents!
Definitely a well loved hat!
That was such an excellent day. Can't believe it was over 4 years ago! Fortunately the event is documented in a DVD/CD set. If you don't have it, you can order it from Amazon. We are in it if you know where to look :)
Jimmy Buffett - Live in Anguilla - DVD & CD Combo
A double CD and an 82-minute DVD were recorded LIVE at the Dune Preserve, Rendezvous Bay in Anguilla, in Bankie Banx's backyard and the site of famous Moonsplash Festivals. The CDs include 30 songs, all of your favorites, plus some special in-concert rarities like Domino College, Waiting In Vain, When Salome Plays the Drum, King of Somewhere Hot, Treat Her Like A Lady, and Distantly In Love.
Well, TS Maria was certainly a challenge for those weather folks and quite frustrating for those of us in her projected path.
At various times they had her going below us, just to the west, over to the east by St Martin, even more so to the east missing all of the islands... and, of course, right on top of us passing over St Croix. Prediction of windspeeds up to 70MPH with it becoming a hurricane on the other side of Puerto Rico and, my favorite, the forecast where she was to fizzle out and possibly be downgraded to a lowly tropical WAVE... not even a TD :)
This didn't happen. She stayed a tropical storm but we were pretty much unaffected. We've had a few non-TS days like this over the summer where you have some swell and a bit of wind. My type of storm... a non-event! We appreciate it, Maria.
From Wunderground.com Sunday, 11 September 2011, 09:14am AST
We made our storm preparations and don't mind that it was "for nothing". Not so... We got provisions, water, fuel, charged up the 48V battery bank, straightened up the boat, threw things away, etc... Not a bad thing at all.
The bad part about preparing for a storm is seeing that your neighboring boats are once again doing nothing. One guy, who we'll call "Homer" called us at 5pm the evening before the storm is to hit to say he'll be out at about 6pm to sort out his mooring and can we give him a ride to his boat. Leaving it a bit late, aren't you? He said he didn't come out the day before because he didn't feel like it. We told him that we were busy laying out another anchor for OUR boat but we'd help him tomorrow after we finished our preparations. He laughed and implied that that was too late (is that MY fault or PROBLEM???). I just said we're busy, bye, and hung up.
I could rant on about this but I will refrain. Bob has a bit about it in yesterday's Boat Bits. I will add that the second anchor that was deployed for his boat (Homer stood on deck while Bob did the work) was a lightweight Bruce that Homer only paid out a total of about 35 feet of chain (15 foot depth + 4 feet to bow roller = how much chain on the bottom?). Chain does no good on the boat, as we thought everyone knows, but...
Fortunately the storm gave us a pass. Bob has definitely earned some good Karma points helping this guy, even though his real motive was that it was helping us.
No more ranting...
Bob has made some lovely Sunday morning blueberry waffles. It is a nice day. Life is good :)
Well, I could really go on a rant about this but I'm not going to... My brand of contact lenses has been discontinued so I needed a new prescription for a new brand. OK, seems sort of silly but it's been a few years since my last exam so I went to Sterling Optical in Golden Rock shopping center near Pueblo for a new Rx. Let's just say that I am EXTREMELY disappointed in their "service" and skill set. I would NOT recommend.
Today, July 21st, is Junk Food Day! You can find some interesting recipes at Serious Eats.
It's Caturday today. It is a beautiful sunny morning in St Croix. Seems like a good time to do a spot more work on the mast, but we really must walk up to the grocery store first. So It Goes...
By the way, we bought gasoline for our dinghy yesterday. Last time we filled our 6-gallon tank for our 5HP Tohatsu was April 7th... That's 72 days on less than 6 gallons. See why we prefer our 5HP to our previous 15HP? It might not go as fast but what's the hurry? We can still move So It Goes with it, if necessary, too.
Gas is still $4.55/gallon (I heard that gas prices have fallen in the USA) but at least it hasn't gone up. I don't understand why we have to sign a "Fuel Tax Exemption" form as you can buy gas cheaper at a service station. You'd think that if I bought tax-exempt fuel, it would be less expensive. Oh yes, this is St. Croix Marine.
Here's a new Simon's Cat. I enjoyed it and hope you will, too.
Yesterday we bought 4.5 gallons of gasoline at St Croix Marine in Christiansted, US Virgin Islands and surprise... the price has gone up yet again!
Fortunately, we don't use much. We have a 5HP two-stroke outboard motor and we only use it 2 or 3 times a week. Our new Honeywell generator doesn't seem to take as much fuel as the Honda. We've had many cloudy days so it has been necessary to run it more to keep up with computer consumption.
2011 (price per US Gallon):
May 17: $4.55 (a 21+% increase in 5 weeks)
April 23: $4.25
April 7: $3.75
Feb 4: $3.65
Jan 6: $3.35
Diesel is currently (May 17 2011) 10 cents cheaper than gas at $4.45/gallon
At least their water has been a bit cleaner lately :)
Today we bought 4.5 gallons of gasoline from St Croix Marine in Gallows Bay, Christiansted, St Croix, US Virgin Islands... The price has gone UP...
On April 7, 2011, the price for gasoline at the gas dock was $3.75/gallon
On April 23 (today), the price has gone up 50 cents to $4.25/gallon
Wow!!! St Croix is supposed to have "cheap" gas because of Hovensa fuel refinery. It is less expensive at the gas stations. We have to sign a piece of paper each time we get gas at the marina because it is supposed to be a special price, thus you'd think cheaper...
According to our weather forecast this morning, it will be another breezy day. I think they should have another category above that called blustery, with a toupee warning :)
This is a holiday week in St Croix due to the Crucian Christmas Festival, although the other islands also get to cash in... especially if one is a government employee! The schools in STX are out this week and most government officials appear to have the week off... or, they at least have the days off for the Jouvert Jump Up and the Food Fair. Enjoy!
Have you clicked the purple button today? This year, try to do it every day... They'll even send you an email reminder, if you ask. For those of you who don't know the purple button, it is to support The Animal Rescue Site and it doesn't cost you anything, although I have scored some nice stuff from their store. Also, if you have time (it only takes a minute), click on the other tabs along the top (Hunger, Breast Cancer, Child Health, Literacy, Rainforest) and press their buttons, too!
OH... MY... GOSH... I mentioned the BBC Radio Show "The Archers" in my previous post. I just looked at the BBC News Feed and the writers have killed off Nigel Pargetter in their 60th Anniversary Show. I'm shocked! He's been a character for 30 years (since 1980, can you believe that's 30 years).
I just realized last night that today would be 1111... put the dashes or slashes according to your personal favorite date format as it really doesn't matter today.
This morning I went and read a few pages of my book and when I woke up it was 11:11 on 1-1-11... how cool is THAT! (Can hardly wait until Veteran's Day!)
Yesterday, we walked up to Pueblo to try and find some fixings for our New Year's celebration. Couldn't find the packets of smoked salmon that we are used to having, so no blinis. We miss French St Martin where we have such a fine selection of cheese, charcuterie, pastries, and whatnots. Three Kings Day is a big event in St Croix as it falls during the Crucian Christmas Festival but I bet we won't be able to find a Galette des Rois anywhere. So It Goes...
Anyway, on our way home from shopping, I looked down the street and there were two wandering horses with herons (or are they egrets?) flying onto their backs for a very comfortable perch. The horses didn't mind.
I took this 4 second video by mistake as I didn't realize my pocket camera was set to "movie".
Here are a couple of photos...
We were surprised that it was quiet last night (New Year's Eve). Festivities were held on the West end of the island in Fredriksted, but I still expected to hear car and boat horns, gunshots, the odd rocket, some doofus shooting off a flare... but, thank Goodness, nothing out here in our neck of the woods :)
Being the holiday season, I miss the BBC. We used to listen to the BBC daily when we lived in France and around Christmas time they would always play classic Round the Horne and other comedy radio shows.
I went to the BBC website this morning and discovered that this is The Archers 60th Anniversary... Of course, no British sailor will admit to tuning into the Archers. They only listen to it accidentally because it comes on after the Shipping Forecast, but they can always let you know what is happening if you've gotten behind... strange that :) Here's a link that Archer fans will enjoy.
We're sort of taking the day off, I'd like to watch the DVD Love Actually... I've been especially wanting to see Bill Nighy as the aging rock star, as well as the bit where Hugh Grant, as the Prime Minister, dances to the Pointer Sisters' Jump for My Love. Good stuff.
Wishing you a healthy, happy, prosperous, fun, and all the other good stuff for 2011...
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Thank you to the person who bought an Amazon Gift Certificate today. We appreciate it!
