Fall 2013 on the Grand Crew new blog moved

For those of you who like to follow the crazy antics of a couple of upper middle aged teenagers...follow us at www.fracasw42.com and go to the myblog button or look to the recent posts.
We will start the blog related to this trip in the morning.
It also has covered the first two weeks of my outing in the atlantic.
Cheers
Greg

Saturday March 23rd

Friday March 22

Toronto March 24th

Toronto

Jeni and Mikey picked us up at the airport at about 1:00 a.m. Today we will drive home to the island. I will fill in the blog blanks when we get home. Pictures are not cooperating this morning.
Wearing trousers and socks today...

Thursday March 21st

St. John USVI

This morning I was surprised to find the Captain was up and was doing my work. He had light the fire under the coffee and T pot and I had been replaced. Apparently there were repercussions to my revolt of the previous morning...

We find ourselves moored for the duration of our vacation here in Francis Bay, the only thing better would be a life sentence.

St. John was found by the Europeans in the 1700's and was developed for sugar cane and refineries. It was held by Denmark until 1917 when it was purchased by the United States. It wasn't until the 1930s that tourism began to develop here.

Laurence Rockefeller donated 5000 acres of the island to become a National Park and it remains so to this day. Since then other donations have been made and presently the Virgin Islands National Park includes 7200 acres of land and 5600 acres of underwater lands.

Above the bay there are tourists living in platforms in the trees. They call them tents and they pay a large number of dollars to have this privilege. 

Wednesday March 20

Morning rituals

It is morning again and I have completed my morning chores. I had to chastise the Captain last night for failing to prepare the coffee pot and tea kettle. They are normally all loaded and all I have to do is light the fire and deal with outcomes. Yesterday everything was in chaos, I had to find things. Notwithstanding that we recently spent the day sharing the cockpit with Louise's granny panties and flimsies and the like but I had to search through the cupboards for coffee and the other stuff. My morning routine was upset and I never recovered until Euchre and we kicked their ass. All is good again.

Exit Plans

Because I am OCD about flying we may have to leave the ship on Friday and get a hotel in Charlotte Amalie. The right thing to do would be to take a ferry from here on Saturday morning and taxi to the airport just in time for our flight. Too many variables out of my control for that to happen without a meltdown.

I don't know how this has happened to me but I have to be early and at the front of the lines. I even moo on occasion. I will knock over old (older) people and children and wheel chairs to get to the front. So, I have one flaw

Yesterday's sail

Captain Rick

 Those of you who sail will know of what I am about to speak. When you get a boat on a point of sail that she likes and you accidentally or by your knowledge happen to get the boat set in her sweet spot she starts to hum.
The picture at left shows the results of getting the boat to hum on the face of the skipper. At this moment we were just off a beam reach and we were solid 7s bouncing to 8 and baby this old girl started to perform. We should have left her in her groove and kept on going perhaps to Venezuela or where ever.  Mary Lynn on the other hand prefers to be seated well aft on the aft cabin top. I think that she has an escape plan and she takes very seriously the woman and children first garbage. She was thrilled with the sail and when we occasionally were studying the electronic gadgetry she was quick to suggest that someone should steer the course.
This day ended with some rain showers and some blustery stuff but just in time for sunset things cleared away and the elements conspired and shared a spectacular sunset with us.

Well, for the rest of the day we took the women to shore and sent them off on their one hour walk. We were unable to replace them in one hour so we had to pick them back up. Apparently picking up chicks is way different when you are near 60 and with an older guy. The chicks are no longer chicks. Are they hens? Not overtly trying to be sexist, just an observation.
We have in fact booked the hotel for Friday night in Charlotte Amalie so Mary Lynn has the morning to shop for some diamonds for me. Ya right.
We were able to fix the alternator and I finished my chores in the cockpit. Nothing left on my list other than try to shake off this sense of worthlessness and or Caribbean calm that has wafted over and enveloped me. F**k thats sounds worse than the foodie stuff.
The beach here is very nice, they taxi over tourists from St. Thomas to spend the day at the beach.

 

Tuesday March 19th

Go home day minus 5

Our remaining days are down to one hand. This trip is different for me, Mary Lynn is already starting to think about work I go back to my retirement. For me retirement is still a work in progress though. I hate leaving here thinking about going home and starting to work on the boat...but mother nature slaps me upside my head when I get back...ground hog be damned there are still 6 weeks til boat work.

Departure from Jost Van Dyke

 The weather for today is typically Caribbean except for the rain. There will be a few showers but the space between showers is beautiful. Nice breeze for our run across to the US Virgins and St. John.
We fly out of St. Thomas on Saturday and will likely ferry to Charlotte Amalie from Cruz Bay Saturday morning.
We will anchor in Caneel Bay and go by dinghy into Cruz Bay to check into the U.S. then for the night perhaps Lameshure Bay or Francis Bay.
We love to snorkel in Leinster Bay on the north side. I don't think we have time to go to Coral Bay at the other end of St. John. I like the food at Skinny Legs best burger I've had since the 70's. Any of you remember a place in Toronto called the Night Spot??? OMG my arteries started hardening that day in Toronto.
It is now 08:05 coffee and tea made, Mary Lynn awake but not up. No sounds from upper management in the aft...perhaps this day will unfold slowly.

The Sail

We left around 10:30 this morning with the wind generally easterly at around 13 to 15 knots. Beam reach across to the US virgins. The boat ran 7's and touched 8 on many occasions.
We did in fact get a mooring at Caneel Bay and all went by dinghy in to the US customs and managed to get the forms filled out eventually and was allowed to enter the US. We shopped at the Dolphin market and they are well stocked. Managed to get what we needed and didn't even spend 200 bucks. My rum is 15 bucks for a 1 liter bottle. I am used to .750 and 1.14 size bottles so this has in fact been a challenge to manage dispensing and maintenance dose.
It was extremely hot ashore out of the wind and there were hills to climb.
We got back to the boat and motored around the corner to Francis Bay and had a fairly large number of mooring balls to choose from. They are only 15 per night and are managed by the US park system.
Dinner is underway now and it is not safe to be below or near the galley. All of the alphas are battling for space.

Final notes

We had a nice dinner with recently boned chicken with cranberries, mandarins in a tangy sauce WTF sounded like a foodie there for a bit.
We have a little problem with the alternator. The wind is down which means output from wind generator is low. Hopefully we get sun to make up some amps that way. I think the problem is related to the belt that got changed the other day. Likely loosened a connection.
We will dig into that in the morning.