Saturday, September 27. 2008
An epic weekend blog entry from the British Virgin Islands
For those who follow this, it should keep you reading for about 4 days if you take it in little bites! For my family, it is all the news I have. Now I don't have to send any emails!
This may be the epic blog entry for the weekend. My perky self has reasserted itself. Friday we left St John and checked back into the BVI. We had a (drum roll please...) dreaded town day!!
This is a picture of all the Voyage Yachts, that are still all out of the water, I think there was about 2 boats in the marina down at west end when we came in.
I have to give credit where credit is due though, I had to go to three banks, and I WAS DONE IN AN HOUR! Ok, so I could use the ATM's at two of them (Banco Popular was in spanish and they did not like my pass code either so we had to go into there, but the commercial line was dead) AND just like the performance Lisa went through a couple weeks ago I had decided to close one of my credit cards that we have with First Caribbean that we secured. Why, because the damn thing is never accepted anywhere. Mostly not even on island! We have been in over the years to ask why, and they don't know. They agree that it has happened that we cannot use it and they tell us to get the store to call them. Yeah, right, the store in Puerto Rico has a lot of interest in calling Barbados to authorize my $5.00 purchase! Anyways, since we seem to have credit cards from every bank, we decided we might as well save ourselves the hassle and the fee every year on that one and cancel it. You probably think that this is easy don't you? You would be wrong!
You go into first Caribbean, sure that there is nothing owing on your card, and if there was, well, they could just transfer couldn't they?? No, not that easy. I sit in customer service ten days ago for an hour, while they try and work this out. They finally tell me that they have to send a message to Barbados and when they get an OK back to close the account, they will call. This is not a same day thing! When she calls me back, apparently there is a bit owing on the card, and we are now in the USVI and Puerto Rico, but she says to call her and let her know when I have paid it off. No transfer.
I think, well, I am pretty sure I can just pay that off online, so off I go to do that. Once in my account, though, I cannot get the amount owing my only option is to pay an amount on "BVI credit card" on line (and hope it is the right one!) I asked the system to get me my bill, but it said "not available"
Now, silly me who has lived in the Caribbean for how long did not write down the amount that she told me I owed on the phone. I know, I should really know better, so I guess! I thought I over guessed. Ha! Nope, short by $9.00. Ok, go through procedure again and on Friday go into see customer service rep to tell her it is paid so she can email Barbados again to get an ok to close the account. (Remember, this is a secured already card, and we have our business banking there, with believe me, more then $9.00 in the account)
At First Caribbean we are not dealing with the bank manager, no, we probably have the most junior customer service rep (and I am sure she should know how to do it as Lisa just went through this with the same girl and it took a month!) Panic sets in! No junior customer rep at here desk!! No quick "yeah it is paid" (and yes, I did try calling the bank earlier, but it just rang and rang and rang) So I wait. For another customer service rep. When I get up to her (and believe me, she is uninterested and I am really imposing) she tells me that the customer service rep who was dealing with it IS ON VACATION FOR TWO WEEKS! Apparently, the only one in the bank who can deal with this complex problem. They take my phone number, after consultation with our service reps and I am not certain whether that meant that they would call me when it was done, or if they would give it to the junior rep when she came back in two weeks, but I fear the latter...Sigh, Funny how I managed to make a long story out of my gloating that it only took me an hour at the banks!
The other bank, who had somehow "lost" a $5000.00 deposit in between St Thomas and the BVI of the companies in July, took 5 days to tell me they just could not find it and I should get the original one cancelled and have it reissued. I had figured that out by the day I called them, and I don't even work for the bank, but it took them all week to get there.
Now, this is something that is a bit of a shock to us...This is a set of keys..on a key ring! Most of you may go "so what" BUT I have not owned one of these for about 12-13 years. Now I do.
After over a decade on this island, being perfectly content (mostly) without a vehicle, for some odd reason we decided that this was the year we have to give in and get one. Just to join the other billion SUV's on this island fighting over the same three parking spots in Roadtown! Smart hey??? It is nice. I especially like the picture of it under the palm tree! I wonder if this means we have decided we are staying here??? With owning a boat only, you always have in the back of your head that you can just pick up and go at anytime....
Now we have a car AND a storage locker here! Roots or what! One of the few requests I had from Bazza was good air conditioning. When he bought this in St Thomas, it was not working, but part of the deal was they would fix the A/C before shipping it over to the BVI. I am sure you know what I am going to say. They didn't. After all, what are we going to do?? Export it back to St Thomas and reimport it again to get the A/C working??? I think not, it is a procedure that rivals going to the banks importing a vehicle here! I let Bazza deal with it... I do now know though that IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT YOU PAID FOR IT WHEN YOU ARE PAYING DUTY. Apparently there is only one person on island, who "decides" what it is worth and charges you accordingly (no, we don't know where that it is based on, at least if it was based on the blue book or something we could understand!) This person interrogates you with questions like asking if you are related to the person you bought it from (nope, no relatives at Caribbean Auto Mart in St Thomas, otherwise the air conditioning would have been fixed I believe!). Each place Bazza went to, from Insurance to Registration to the Import Broker had about the same bad word to call this one person on island qualified to figure out what duty you are going to pay! (20% of what HE thinks it is worth!!) At least Bazza has something else to work on now, he was getting pretty bored just keeping up with the boat, RV, dinghy and mom and dads house!
We oohed, we aahed, we took pictures...and then what is the first thing we promptly did??? Yep, lock both sets of keys in the car! Bet you have seen these types of pictures before!
The second thing we did was take the extra tinting off the front windows as we KNEW it would never pass registration here with those on it! Too bad, it keeps it cooler!!!
While I was waiting for Bazza to break into our new car, I snapped this picture of Joma Marina, where BVI Yacht Charters is, it is looking pretty empty as well!
Sometime next week, I may get a ride in it (after it is plated and has the A/C fixed!) NO more carrying cases of whatever back to the dinghy when we run out. Hell, we can even wander at will to the grocery stores to pick up everything they forget to send us now every week! I then stamped my foot this afternoon and demanded to be FINALLY taken to Salt Island.
This is my home! I never feel at peace anywhere else as I do here on this silly little bay! Of course, I had to try out the new snorkeling camera and in I jumped straight away...The camera is a newer model than my older one, and take pretty good pictures...I was happy. I had had a big morning cleaning ovens and galleys etc so thought that I would not take a long snorkel, but I ended up being in the water for three hours one way or another! Lots of conch here right now...I saw three octopuses...
And the reef was in pretty good shape with some interesting effects..
Little schools of fish peaking at me.
More reef, sand rays, turtles, eels, tulip shell eating soft coral, it was wonderful! Fat girls (and boys I suppose) should swim. It is so wonderful being weightless and stretching without having to lay down because you are out of breath!
I had spied a bottle in the water that was too deep down for me to get so I had Bazza throw my gear in the water and I was pretty exciting when I had a PERFECT OLD MALLET!!!! I probably have not found one of these for a couple years, and they are hundreds of years old! By the time we got out of the water, I was perfectly content...
AND it was sunset. A pretty sunset as well... this is my artsy shot with my mallet bottle in the foreground
and this is just the sunset.
Another reason for being perky is MY GALLEY is DONE! And clean and put back together. The new countertops look nice and the new mac tack brightens up the shelves a lot. Here are the two views of the galley... Stove, oven,
and the sinks and fridges. Good Job Bazza! Apparently I am getting a garburator tomorrow as well! What more could a girl want? More cameras perhaps!!
I got a new explorer and apparently my father got a new car as well! His is only a couple inches tall and came from China via EBAY. A replica of a Volkswagon 411 that we had in Europe decades ago. Probably did not charge him as much duty to import it now did they??
Mom had a pretty cobweb on here clothes line she sent me as well.
I had a couple guests ask me for a picture of Simeon, our Scottish First Mate/Instructor who will be showing up all perky like in a few weeks (I bet it will be getting cold in Scotland!) This is the only picture I could find of him from the last time he was on here. Back in 2002/2003. Gosh we look younger! (and skinnier) That is Bazza and I on the left in case you don't recognize us in our much skinnier years! With us is Cait, who was a stewardess that year from Western Canada. She was quite young then, but I also heard from her a couple days ago as well and she is still enjoying the boating life off and on, looking for her next assignment on the water.
I took the opportunity to take (steal of the web) this picture of her to show you what she looks like now! Cait, you are a knockout!!
This may be the epic blog entry for the weekend. My perky self has reasserted itself. Friday we left St John and checked back into the BVI. We had a (drum roll please...) dreaded town day!!
This is a picture of all the Voyage Yachts, that are still all out of the water, I think there was about 2 boats in the marina down at west end when we came in.
I have to give credit where credit is due though, I had to go to three banks, and I WAS DONE IN AN HOUR! Ok, so I could use the ATM's at two of them (Banco Popular was in spanish and they did not like my pass code either so we had to go into there, but the commercial line was dead) AND just like the performance Lisa went through a couple weeks ago I had decided to close one of my credit cards that we have with First Caribbean that we secured. Why, because the damn thing is never accepted anywhere. Mostly not even on island! We have been in over the years to ask why, and they don't know. They agree that it has happened that we cannot use it and they tell us to get the store to call them. Yeah, right, the store in Puerto Rico has a lot of interest in calling Barbados to authorize my $5.00 purchase! Anyways, since we seem to have credit cards from every bank, we decided we might as well save ourselves the hassle and the fee every year on that one and cancel it. You probably think that this is easy don't you? You would be wrong!
You go into first Caribbean, sure that there is nothing owing on your card, and if there was, well, they could just transfer couldn't they?? No, not that easy. I sit in customer service ten days ago for an hour, while they try and work this out. They finally tell me that they have to send a message to Barbados and when they get an OK back to close the account, they will call. This is not a same day thing! When she calls me back, apparently there is a bit owing on the card, and we are now in the USVI and Puerto Rico, but she says to call her and let her know when I have paid it off. No transfer.
I think, well, I am pretty sure I can just pay that off online, so off I go to do that. Once in my account, though, I cannot get the amount owing my only option is to pay an amount on "BVI credit card" on line (and hope it is the right one!) I asked the system to get me my bill, but it said "not available"
Now, silly me who has lived in the Caribbean for how long did not write down the amount that she told me I owed on the phone. I know, I should really know better, so I guess! I thought I over guessed. Ha! Nope, short by $9.00. Ok, go through procedure again and on Friday go into see customer service rep to tell her it is paid so she can email Barbados again to get an ok to close the account. (Remember, this is a secured already card, and we have our business banking there, with believe me, more then $9.00 in the account)
At First Caribbean we are not dealing with the bank manager, no, we probably have the most junior customer service rep (and I am sure she should know how to do it as Lisa just went through this with the same girl and it took a month!) Panic sets in! No junior customer rep at here desk!! No quick "yeah it is paid" (and yes, I did try calling the bank earlier, but it just rang and rang and rang) So I wait. For another customer service rep. When I get up to her (and believe me, she is uninterested and I am really imposing) she tells me that the customer service rep who was dealing with it IS ON VACATION FOR TWO WEEKS! Apparently, the only one in the bank who can deal with this complex problem. They take my phone number, after consultation with our service reps and I am not certain whether that meant that they would call me when it was done, or if they would give it to the junior rep when she came back in two weeks, but I fear the latter...Sigh, Funny how I managed to make a long story out of my gloating that it only took me an hour at the banks!
The other bank, who had somehow "lost" a $5000.00 deposit in between St Thomas and the BVI of the companies in July, took 5 days to tell me they just could not find it and I should get the original one cancelled and have it reissued. I had figured that out by the day I called them, and I don't even work for the bank, but it took them all week to get there.
Now, this is something that is a bit of a shock to us...This is a set of keys..on a key ring! Most of you may go "so what" BUT I have not owned one of these for about 12-13 years. Now I do.
After over a decade on this island, being perfectly content (mostly) without a vehicle, for some odd reason we decided that this was the year we have to give in and get one. Just to join the other billion SUV's on this island fighting over the same three parking spots in Roadtown! Smart hey??? It is nice. I especially like the picture of it under the palm tree! I wonder if this means we have decided we are staying here??? With owning a boat only, you always have in the back of your head that you can just pick up and go at anytime....
Now we have a car AND a storage locker here! Roots or what! One of the few requests I had from Bazza was good air conditioning. When he bought this in St Thomas, it was not working, but part of the deal was they would fix the A/C before shipping it over to the BVI. I am sure you know what I am going to say. They didn't. After all, what are we going to do?? Export it back to St Thomas and reimport it again to get the A/C working??? I think not, it is a procedure that rivals going to the banks importing a vehicle here! I let Bazza deal with it... I do now know though that IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT YOU PAID FOR IT WHEN YOU ARE PAYING DUTY. Apparently there is only one person on island, who "decides" what it is worth and charges you accordingly (no, we don't know where that it is based on, at least if it was based on the blue book or something we could understand!) This person interrogates you with questions like asking if you are related to the person you bought it from (nope, no relatives at Caribbean Auto Mart in St Thomas, otherwise the air conditioning would have been fixed I believe!). Each place Bazza went to, from Insurance to Registration to the Import Broker had about the same bad word to call this one person on island qualified to figure out what duty you are going to pay! (20% of what HE thinks it is worth!!) At least Bazza has something else to work on now, he was getting pretty bored just keeping up with the boat, RV, dinghy and mom and dads house!
We oohed, we aahed, we took pictures...and then what is the first thing we promptly did??? Yep, lock both sets of keys in the car! Bet you have seen these types of pictures before!
The second thing we did was take the extra tinting off the front windows as we KNEW it would never pass registration here with those on it! Too bad, it keeps it cooler!!!
While I was waiting for Bazza to break into our new car, I snapped this picture of Joma Marina, where BVI Yacht Charters is, it is looking pretty empty as well!
Sometime next week, I may get a ride in it (after it is plated and has the A/C fixed!) NO more carrying cases of whatever back to the dinghy when we run out. Hell, we can even wander at will to the grocery stores to pick up everything they forget to send us now every week! I then stamped my foot this afternoon and demanded to be FINALLY taken to Salt Island.
This is my home! I never feel at peace anywhere else as I do here on this silly little bay! Of course, I had to try out the new snorkeling camera and in I jumped straight away...The camera is a newer model than my older one, and take pretty good pictures...I was happy. I had had a big morning cleaning ovens and galleys etc so thought that I would not take a long snorkel, but I ended up being in the water for three hours one way or another! Lots of conch here right now...I saw three octopuses...
And the reef was in pretty good shape with some interesting effects..
Little schools of fish peaking at me.
More reef, sand rays, turtles, eels, tulip shell eating soft coral, it was wonderful! Fat girls (and boys I suppose) should swim. It is so wonderful being weightless and stretching without having to lay down because you are out of breath!
I had spied a bottle in the water that was too deep down for me to get so I had Bazza throw my gear in the water and I was pretty exciting when I had a PERFECT OLD MALLET!!!! I probably have not found one of these for a couple years, and they are hundreds of years old! By the time we got out of the water, I was perfectly content...
AND it was sunset. A pretty sunset as well... this is my artsy shot with my mallet bottle in the foreground
and this is just the sunset.
Another reason for being perky is MY GALLEY is DONE! And clean and put back together. The new countertops look nice and the new mac tack brightens up the shelves a lot. Here are the two views of the galley... Stove, oven,
and the sinks and fridges. Good Job Bazza! Apparently I am getting a garburator tomorrow as well! What more could a girl want? More cameras perhaps!!
I got a new explorer and apparently my father got a new car as well! His is only a couple inches tall and came from China via EBAY. A replica of a Volkswagon 411 that we had in Europe decades ago. Probably did not charge him as much duty to import it now did they??
Mom had a pretty cobweb on here clothes line she sent me as well.
I had a couple guests ask me for a picture of Simeon, our Scottish First Mate/Instructor who will be showing up all perky like in a few weeks (I bet it will be getting cold in Scotland!) This is the only picture I could find of him from the last time he was on here. Back in 2002/2003. Gosh we look younger! (and skinnier) That is Bazza and I on the left in case you don't recognize us in our much skinnier years! With us is Cait, who was a stewardess that year from Western Canada. She was quite young then, but I also heard from her a couple days ago as well and she is still enjoying the boating life off and on, looking for her next assignment on the water.
I took the opportunity to take (steal of the web) this picture of her to show you what she looks like now! Cait, you are a knockout!!
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