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...
In response to yesterday's post with the Japanese cat and his love for boxes video ("Many to small boxes and Maru") my brother sent me this picture of one of his Ragdoll cats.
Edgar seems to prefer baskets to boxes. Looks like a cozy place to be when it is 28°F outside.
It might be a bit warmer than that down here in St Croix, but guess what??? It's RAINING...
But, looking on the bright side of this gray, dismal and gloomy day, Bob has just made waffles.
Here's some real good news... After being held captive by Somali pirates for over a year, the Chandlers are free. See the BBC report.
They say that St Croix has been hit worse than St Thomas or St John with the amount of rainfall we've had over the past few days. The schools on St Croix are closed today while the other islands of the USVI are open.
This video was posted to YouTube on Wednesday, November 10, 2010. I wonder what it looks like now.
Yesterday we planned to walk up to the Pueblo supermarket at Golden Rock Shopping Center. When we got to the Christiansted dinghy dock we realized that the rain was coming towards us, so we high-tailled it (well, putt-putted) over to St Croix Marine and walked over to Schooner Bay Market while it was raining lightly.
It was really coming down while we were in the store and when we left, the streets were flowing with water. It let up for a bit, rained for a while in the afternoon, and then it rained all night. We have a couple of inches in the washtub I left outside, so I suppose the roads are even worse now.
From the St Croix Source (Yesterday's news... I hope they update soon):
ST. THOMAS — The new smoking ban goes into effect today, but the V.I. Health Department and the V.I. Licensing and Consumer Affairs Department will not enforce the new law for another three months.
The Smoke-Free Act prohibits smoking in any public place including restaurants, bars and all places of employment. Smoking still will be allowed on beaches, but not within 20 feet of concession stands, restaurants and other businesses located on the beach.
Environmental Health officers will not issue citations until Feb. 10 so businesses will have more time to come into compliance with the new law, Health Commissioner Julia Sheen said in a statement issued Tuesday. Read more...
Buffy & Willow are outside taking advantage of this break in the rain to be outdoors. Willow loves lapping up rain drops once it stops raining.
Yesterday it had a yellow blob over our area. We had lots of rain and even managed to collect a bit. Willow didn't like the thunder. Last night we had an almost simultaneous flash & crash. I jumped up and looked through the deluge and saw that our neighbor's boat still had a mast and was floating... Sometimes it feels good not to have a mast sticking up like a lightning rod.
On the radio this morning they said that quite a few roads were closed on St Croix due to flooding. Seems like a good day to stay on the boat.
The weather forecast for today was intermittent sun and probably lots more rain. Of course it will rain some more... today is the last day of the St Thomas Charter Yacht Show. The cats are running in and out, up and down, taking advantage of this morning's dry spell.
Sorry, no Friday Cat Blogging today except to say that Buffy and Willow are such good girls. We went shopping up at Kmart & CostULess and waited for a bus forever and didn't get back to the boat until almost 4 hours late for their lunch and they didn't give us a bad time... Wonderful puss cats :)
But, I'd like to remind you that this weekend is EMS (Eastern Mountain Sports) BIG SALE!! Don't you hate it when a friend tells you about an event like this on Tuesday after the fact? Bummer....
No excuses... You've been told !!!
-The sale is over. Hope you got some good deals-
For their online sale, they are having "power deals" every three hours. For example, right now they are taking an extra 10% off of EMS tents between 6-9pm EST. (Is it Standard Time now? Doesn't it change on Sunday at 2am? Living in the Caribbean makes it easy... there is only Island Time... no daylight time... just AST.)
So check out the EMS sale... Maybe there's a Christmas present there for YOU or a loved one :)
They handle just about everything: Clothing & Footwear for men, women, and kids; Camping; Hiking; Bikes, Climbing; Kayaking, Water sports; Snow sports; Travel bags, packs, luggage; Yoga; Cookware; etc. They've got lots of helpful advice on their site such as "How to Choose Socks" and "Winter Cycling Tips".
My friend Kerry, owner-operator of the sailing-diving charter yacht Promenade, has some of her family aboard this week for her first yacht charter of the season.
Here's a couple of interesting photos they have taken this week...
Here's a video of the Charter Yacht Promenade 'cuz you might like to see who I talking about from time to time...
If you are interested in chartering Promenade contact Paradise Connections Yacht Charters. Promenade has 2 cabins available on their cabin week (beginning February 13 for either 6 or 10 nights), plus they are having a special all-inclusive deal for the summer and take groups of up to ten guests...
This morning I was happy to see that it is a fine day. The center of Hurricane Tomas is 230 miles to the south of us and we right now have sun and blue sky.
Yesterday we replaced the weatherstripping on the two hatches above our bed. We had a couple of light rain showers last night and NO LEAKS! Hurray!!! I suppose that over the next couple of days we will have plenty of rain to test the new seals.
Here is a treat that I WANT!
It is the Hoodman Cinema Kit Pro. It is an accessory for a DSLR camera so you can properly view the LCD monitor through a cinema-type eyepiece.
It has a very simple and sensible mounting bracket system and has a reasonable price of about $209.
You can buy it on Amazon.com: Cinema Kit Pro
(HoodLoupe 3.0, HoodMAG 3.0, & HoodCrane)
No velcro or glue required as on other systems, including more expensive ones. This product is clean and easily adjusted to fit your specific camera.
We bought something last year that was a big disappointment. It was a soft mount and just didn't work. At the time I thought "why don't they do something like this?" and Hoodman has!
Hoodman adds a smart hot shoe mount for using the HoodLoupe 3.0 during DSLR Video Capture. The new mount is called HoodCrane. HoodCrane is available with the Cinema Kit Pro which includes:
HoodLoupe 3.0, diopter adjusts to your vision
HoodMAG, 3X magnifying eyecup for HoodLoupe 3.0
HoodCrane, Universal Hot Shoe Mount for LCD Accessories
If you already have the HoodLoupe 3.0 you can pick up the HoodCrane and HoodMAG separately.
We went for a bit of a swim this afternoon and when we turned on the computers afterwards, Bob said "Tropical Storm Tomas"
This morning it was just a tropical disturbance way down there skirting South America. They sent the hurricane hunters in at 2pm to check it out.
It's still early but we are certainly going to be watching every update. Stormpulse shows that if it stays on its current forecasted track that the center of Tomas will be 270 miles south-ish of St Croix at 2pm Halloween and a category 1.
UPDATE: Dr. Jeff Masters of Wunderground.com is certainly working late tonight. He just published this blog post at 9:30pm. Waiting for the NOAA/National Hurricane Center 11pm update...
I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to Amazon.com. I'm really impressed with their service.
We've been reviewing previous episodes of The Shield in preparation to watching our new DVDs of the final series of The Shield, Season 7.
Well, about 3 minutes into the first show we get an error message "Skipping over damaged area". It never recovers from this error and we have to Force Quit DVD Player. I pop the DVD back in and try to run it forward and it starts churning away... not good. Crash the program again and put in Disc 2. Problems right off the bat with "Skipping over damaged area".
Oh my gosh... is my computer having problems? Put in a DVD of a movie and that worked fine. This morning I examined the DVD set and all four discs are defective with marks on them right out of the box.
I wrote to Amazon and explained that even though we purchased them in June 2009, we just opened the box last night and they are defective. Can we exchange them?
Within 5 minutes I had a reply. During this time they had ordered the series for me for free (total=$0.00), prepared an RMA form, and mailing label. Also, the replacement series is being sent before they receive my dead DVDs back.
UPDATE: When I looked at my email yesterday evening, I was again surprised to see that the order had been sent. This all happened within 12 hours of my inquiry!
Wow, did the kittens react to that blood curdling scream! Willow came out from her "condo" looking for another hiding place, and even Buffy was freaked...
You've been warned :)
If you don't know his work with Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, or Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes, perhaps you know him as Silvio Dante on the Sopranos...
A British, nuclear-powered, stealth submarine went aground in shallow waters off the Isle of Skye... (see BBC story)
Dude... how embarrasing that must have been!
Here's a great quote on the subject:
"Only two sailors, in my experience, never ran aground. One never left port and the other was an atrocious liar." - Don Bamford
I went aground on my first trip aboard So It Goes. We were moving in to Saga Haven Marina in the Benner Bay Lagoon on St Thomas, USVI and we came to an unexpected stop. I was used to Loose Moose 2's 16-inch draft and wasn't watching So It Goes depth sounder. Oops, we draw 4-ish feet...
Loose Moose heading to the slipway to be launched in Meaux, France (notice the bottom shape & only 1-foot draft)
With our first Loose Moose (26-foot Jessie Cooper) we touched bottom several times in the Saint-Valery-Sur-Somme estuary when the tide was going out. We had people watching us from the road on the shore wondering how we could possibly make way in such a drying stream... When Loose Moose ran into a hump, I went as far aft as possible then went and stood on the bow so we slid over it. The marina accused us of delaying our check in because no boat could enter at that state of tide...
This morning when I stood up through the forward hatch to put our wifi antenna outside, I asked Bob for my camera because it was such a beautiful day... at least, so far at 7:45 am :)
I took this "snapshot" video with my funky little pocket camera. The quality kinda sucks but it should give you an idea :) We've had so MUCH rain (and more again yesterday) that today's sunshine was inspiring...
Yesterday, since it was raining, I worked on a new Amazon aStore for nautical greeting cards. Be sure to check it out for Christmas cards (yes, it's getting to be that time), calendars, and tree ornaments... We have lots of nautical & tropical cards to choose from so you don't have an excuse this year. A real seasons greeting card means so much more than something received by email.
I read a sailing-oriented newsletter this morning which mentioned the kidnapped British cruising couple, Paul and Rachel Chandler, who are being held by Somalian pirates. Tomorrow, October 22nd, will be ONE YEAR! How horrible that must be. Haven't heard anything about them in such a long time.
We had another bee come in and try our "killer" coffee. They really go for this stuff. Unfortunately, it was almost a full cup as I was waiting for it to cool down a bit... So It Goes...
Speaking of "It's a Beautiful Day" here are two songs I've listened to this morning...
Willow was playing on the bed tunneling under the blanket somewhat like a ferret. Good thing we don't have a chainsaw! (and Bob is prudent and always removes the battery from the DeWalt circular saw).
Did you notice that yesterday was 2010-10-20 ??? I love bizarre numbers like that.
What a great song and a fun dance for the Halloween season.
Forty-eight years ago, on this day in 1962 (the year of the Seattle's World Fair with Elvis!) the Monster Mash, by Bobby 'Boris' Picket and the Crypt Kickers, reached number one in the music charts and stayed at #1 for 2 weeks.
See Bob's BoatBits post about Monster Mash Day and be sure to watch the video as the introduction is funny.
We haven't been in St Maarten for almost a year now, but people have been complaining a long time about the boat fees for the Dutch bridge and being in Simpson Bay & Dutch-side Lagoon.
Here's a post that Gary Brown had on his blog, Ocean Media. Gary has the radio show YachtBlast and he has recently become the editor of All At Sea (you can download it here for free).
The Winds of Change
St. Maarten Bridge and Mooring fees after 10-10-10
The winds of change are blowing in Dutch Sint Maarten. On October 10 St. Maarten became a country within the Dutch Kingdom. As we woke on October 11, it seemed little had changed. The new government gave themselves a day off while the rest of the population went about their normal business.
Before the change to country status it was announced that there would be a reduction in bridge and mooring fees for yachts visiting the island beginning January 1. This has been long in coming, it doesn’t go far enough, but at least it’s a start. According to the St. Maarten Marine Trades Association, high fees, introduced without prior notice two years ago, caused a devastating decline in arrivals and a major drop in business activities.
St. Maarten’s marine economy was built on the backs of the smaller cruising boats, reports say that this is where the largest decline occurred, with a sixty-five to seventy-five per cent drop over the last 24 months.
Much can be blamed on ‘mega yacht’ madness. From government and right down the food chain, the mega yacht was seen as the Golden Goose. Legislators appear to be doing something to put that right but, to be fair; many businesses are not without blame, they cranked up prices to shake as much cash out of the mega yachts as they could. “They can pay, they can pay, money’s no object,” was the cry. I heard it first hand, time and again.
Small boats were caught up in the madness and came up with their own answer. Instead of taking out a mortgage to pay for an hour of a service professionals’ time, they took their boats elsewhere and broadcast it to the world through social media.
Let’s hope that what started before country status will continue. That St. Maarten will lower all bridge and mooring fees, businesses will understand the threat posed by burgeoning competition elsewhere, and the island will regain its rightful place as the Yachting Capital of the Caribbean.
Effective January 1, 2011, fees for vessels in the categories eight to eighteen meters will change as follows: A thirty per cent reduction in bridge fee rates; and a rebate of two free weeks out of every eight consecutive weeks spent in St. Maarten.
Thanks for the info, Gary!
Gary has also written a book, titled Caribbean High. It is available in paperback on Amazon.com and also as a Kindle version.
I was surprised when looking through Amazon's Halloween Store that there are costumes for FERRETS!
I then Googled "songs about ferrets" because I'm sure I've heard something about keeping ferrets down your trousers, and found Budweiser commercials with a ferret. Yes, we are out of touch. We haven't had a TV in years (we do buy DVD's though). but have always loved Bud ads.
Here's one you might remember:
So, if you have a ferret you might want to check out these costumes for the upcoming festivities of Halloween.
We don't recommend a Chainsaw Massacre costume for your Trick & Treating ferret but, if you must, don't give the wee tyke a real chainsaw... We warned you!
One more treat for you. Here is a series of 18 Budweiser commercials with the frogs, lizards, and ferret (almost 8 minutes). It is sooooo funny. It's Friday... have a laugh!
too...
