British Virgin Islands

Forget I said yesterday that we were looking pretty good for charter! There seems to be more things going ON the TO DO list then coming off the to do list. All the little things you don't think about when you don't have guests on board, like, do all the fans in the cabins work? (they don't), Do all the shower pump bilges work? (they don't) and where exactly is that holding tank odor coming from every time someone flushes? (yep, a line to the poo tank!)
You get the idea anyways, all the things that need fixing when we look at the boat as a guest instead of as our home. Bleach is my best friend at the moment!
I am amazed at the different things I see by moving to a different part of the island. On our mooring in Roadtown we have the squawking parrot up above and booby birds. Bazza called me out today to look at the Oyster Catchers that were sitting (one per pole) on each and every one.

He suggested that they were hanging around looking for food, so I dutifully brought out bread only to have them turn up their pretty little noses! Guess they wanted oysters!

I was feeling a bit of cabin fever so after lunch Bazza and I went to town. You know that list we have to redo in town every few days? Off we went....After 6 weeks I have succeeded in FINALLY having my credit card from First Caribbean closed, but only once I sat in customer service for a long time and then on hold to Barbados. Don't think though that they released the hold that was on one of my CD's though as it was paid off!! Not yet me boy! Don't you be getting ahead here! They could not do it from a verbal ok from Barbados that the credit card was paid (of course not!) we did get an email through acknowledging that the credit card was paid, and they would turn it over to support for them to issue an official authorization to release the hold....Go to come back again. Since it was such a small amount that was owing on the card, I wanted really to put the money in her hand to cover it and say they really did not need to hold my large CD any longer to cover that small amount.
Went to get prescription refills for both of us old folks! This usually entails going to about three pharmacies and still coming up short. This time was no different. They appear to have a real shortage of Crestor on island. It has been like an Easter Egg hunt since we came back in August trying to get some every month! Even when I come back in a couple weeks cuz they tell me they will have more in then, it appears every other person on the island is also easter egg hunting for crestor and they buy it out just before me. A couple thoughts, isn't it bad to stop and start taking this medications?. I know that i have taken Zoloft for many years and occasionally they don't have any of that on island and that is not good to stop and start cold turkey. Me being business minded would think, "well everyone on island seems to be on these medications, let me order in double, triple or whatever so I have enough and then when all the other pharmacies run out, I will get all the business!" Makes sense to me, but I am not a pharmacy owner here and apparently it does not make sense to them. Go to come back....
We went by our cinema. You know the one, that has been going up for many many years. I really think that cinemas will be passe by the time it is finally open. In fact, looking at it today, I thought a couple things
1) that they would have to repaint it before it opened as the paint was starting to fade...

And while they were still building up on top here, at the bottom level they had all the cement from the steps and around the entrance chipped out so they must be doing maintenance already!

Then we went to a few stores. And fell over at some of the prices! I usually don't notice prices, but there was a few outstanding ones.
1) A tube of toothpaste was $7.00
2) Tube lights (you know the strands you use for fairy lights that are often used at Xmas and are about $10 to $20.00 a strand? Well they were $40.00 here.
3) A tractor sealed beam light that we buy in Walmart for about $9.00 was $15.00 in one place which was not bad then, but in another one of the chandleries it was $48.00!!!!!!!!!
4) and let me not forget the flag! Once a year, about this time we buy a new flag for the aft of the yacht. Always at the same place. When we first started buying flags here, it was about $80.00 for a very large flag, then the price of that went up atrociously, so we stepped down a size which started at about $60.00 odd dollars. Every year that flag has increased in price.
In 2006 it was $101.96
In 2007 it was $120.90
In 2008 it is $176.95!!!
Pays to keep books sometimes. I know shipping costs cannot be that much more, after all, it must weigh all of what, 2 ounces?? I hesitated for a sec wondering if I really did want a shiny new flag even if it looks nice. I could not believe the price jump. I have visions of someone sitting in the back woods of Tortola weaving this material on a hand loom (after shearing the sheep and making the yarn of course!) and using roots and herbs for colorings and that is why it is so much money.
I went to all the main grocery stores, trying to give them a once over seeing who I was going to be using for provisions this year. In other words, what was my best bet of actually getting half decent looking fruits and veg and other items that are in date? I have to tell my guests coming on this weekend that it is not looking good! There was not one that I thought, "ok, this will do it, they have most everything" I picked up items that were out of date by two months!! We came back to the pretty sunset tonight at the boat and were going to try out the restaurant across the road, Emiles, but it is not open yet, so frozen pizza it was.

Originally built as an earthen fort by the Dutch in either the late 16th or early 17th century. It was known by the Spanish Authorities in Puerto Rico as the Dojon, (which is where the english version called the "dungeon" comes from.)

It was in and out of disrepair in the 1600's and subsequently was named Fort Purcel after the Purcel Brothers who owned plantations there. Private money often had to rebuild the forts for protection apparently.
You can see ancient graffiti carved in the walls, dating from around the mid 1700's it is believed from the style of dress. Accurate details on the history of this fort/dungeon, including whether it was really ever used for holding prisoners is sketchy.

It is very overgrown, with a lot of garbage strewn around, but we found it a fascinating look back in time. You can certainly see different periods of building styles, and the entire flat area back in the bush there has many old foundations (perhaps 50 to 60) so at one time it was very substantial as a plantation. When we were there a couple of weeks ago (October of 2008) there were many survey markers throughout the bush.

I was very good at getting my allotted work done today though, and you can see more photos on the (correct link I hope!) slideshow I built

Just since I am putting this up, and I received some pictures from my mother, I will wander into the family theme here. It was my sisters 39th birthday again, I am always sad to not see her on her birthday as we are quite close. I first opened the pictures and thought "what is that pink thing my sister is wearing on her head?" as believe me, my sister does not wear pink things on her head! Lisa may, being a princess and all, but not Syd!

Then I saw this picture and if I was my sister I would probably shoot my mother for sending me this picture so it could go straight on the blog. I don't know whether my family has had way too much to drink or it is very late at night, but it is a BAD BAD picture (which of course I shared! What else do you think I would do with it!!)

This one at least, is presentable. I had cake and ice cream here in sympathy with you Syd for reaching 39!


One other silly thing that has crossed my mind today pertains to being on dock. When we first bought Promenade, it had been on dock in between at Hodges Creek. There were many rat traps in the pantry bins just waiting to be used. I wondered how in the world we could possibly need that many rat traps! And of course, I was not that thrilled about needing that many rat traps either!!!!
Fast forward 6 months, to our very first ever boat show, as we had bought the yacht at the end of May. The night before it started, we were finally finished cleaning and nervous as hell. Would we make a good impression? How would we stack up to the other boats? We had put all our money into this venture, and were quite anxious (Kerry even suggested that we should get shirts with epaulettes and was booed down. Anyone who has seen me in my nightgown most of the time would know that it never would have lasted!)
We were sitting up in the cockpit, firmly tied onto the end of B dock but what should jump on the boat and run over our feet and disappear into the port ama? yep, you guessed it...a big old rat! After we had finished screaming horrified, we got out every god damn one of those large traps and placed them all over the boat. Then could not sleep all night as I was worried that we would not find this rat and it would run over one of the mega brokers shoes or some thing, ruining our charter career before it even started!
The next morning. No rat in the traps. We reluctantly put them away, knowing that ruin was shortly facing us, BUT the rat was never seen again. He must have climbed off again at some time. Probably about the time we stopped screaming. I have never seen a rat since on the boat and the traps were thrown out many years ago! I have been wondering if being on dock again means that we could get these fine creatures again? There is a reason they call them rat lines! Maybe East End does not have any!!!

Now I have definitely blogged and worked enough and I have about a dozen games of SCRABBLE going on with Lisa on line that I must get to!

After being fairly unsuccessful with our shopping in St thomas and spending a lot of time in traffic we managed to escape this morning:)
We took off from underneath the wall of steel that are the cruise ships.

We had a new "whipping boy" as Captain Jay said who apparently tied up in Crown bay as we were getting off the fuel dock the other day after the fun tasks of shuffling boats back from Puerto Rico without a bimini on them. We read each others blogs, (see theirs here on life in the USVI) but I never even recognized him on the boat. I did like the fact he told me that now I could go back to the important jobs of mixing drinks and diving though!!! Simeon did not think this standing still for pictures was a great idea though!

Up we merrily chugged to Road Harbor and now we are back in our comfort zone. Time for a quick sweep of the harbor here to see what boats are in. They have moved the "potential new dive site wreck" off the dock and it is now anchored by us. Maybe it is a fixer upper home?

The old SCUBA BOB boat or whatever it used to be called (where you put on those silly looked like exercise bicylces with an round aquarium on top your head and went 6 feet under the water) is now anchored behind us now. Don't know who is doing what with it....

We had a cruise ship in quite late this evening.

and surprisingly, the diesel/gas ship was in and I say surprisingly since it was just a couple days ago in BVI News I read a spokesmen for a gas importer here saying the island would get new fuel in a few weeks and then we would hopefully see a bit of relief from the prices, but if we have new gas now shouldn't we see relief this week??? (Dream on Kerry!)

A lot of people St John way were interested in the bit I had put up on using the secured docks on St John for SOLAS boats yesterday. I should clarify that I copied an email that came around from one of the boats, and that is there take on it. I don't know enough about their regulations over their to complain too much about them, but if I did, you can be sure i would!!
Found this picture on my computer, thought it was cute. This was the day after the hurricane when the awning was still down and I made very good use of all my extra clothes lines!!! Came in quite handy. Not often I put a picture of our underwear up on the blog (I know, most are saying, please, can they go back on charter so we get some interesting pictures....I agree!)

promenade has a new home!

Well, we have our city "home" with our moorings in Baughers Bay at Roadtown, we have our country "home" over at my favorite place in the world "Salt Island" and now we have a brand new marina "home" for ease of turning around the yacht for charters!
We have moved onto the T head at Harborview Marina in the East End of Tortola. Harbourview Marina is in Fat Hogs Bay and you can see their website here. This has many advantages for us, especially for us old folks turning around the boat! (Did I just say that?) Bazza has a large workshop and storage at the end of the dock, so we do not have to hump everything up stairs to the lockers. We will have a spot to leave guest luggage. We will have a dock that we can get indoor and outdoor cleaners to clean the boat on turnaround (as noone would get in a dinghy to come out to a mooring to clean the boat! Scared of the water!!) We can get all our provisions dropped off right at our side. No more trying to coordinate a time to meet the provisioners (that never show up at the appointed time anyways). We have fuel right there, water, high speed internet, eventually cable (once we put it in!) a chinese restaurant, a pizza restaurant, washing machines, a little swimming pool, and reasonable priced accommodations right there as well. We will be able to keep our credit card machine plugged in at the dock side office (we need a land line for it, so everytime I had to run a credit card I would have to take it to shore the whole kit and find a place to plug in. Not very convenient!
The marina is close to the airport and we now have a vehicle for trips into town. I am sure I have more reasons but I am tired tonight so that will have to cover it!

Since we have picked up in Roadtown for so many years, many of our guests have already made arrangements to stay over at Village Cay, and that is fine, we will pick up the groups there that like, but those who have not booked hotel rooms yet, or prefer to just step on the boat from the dock will be able to meet us at East End! We are quite excited about trying this out this winter and seeing how it works out! My favorite part may be being under a good chinese restaurant (as there is a few on island that I would not go near!) The worse part of it was my sentence "Bazza has a workshop" I don't really need to get him any more things that MIGHT encourage more work, be it for the boat or his projects!
2 other bits before I sign off tonight, found this PDF somewhere, it is a report on Anegada from Caribbean Archaeology in 2003.
Also here is a pamphlet I picked up somewhere recently on Recreational Fishing in the BVI. I would not take it as gospel though as I know that one of the areas that is "supposed" to be protected there is talk of dredging and filling in....here is the link for that.

It is just us and the baby black tip sharks here left in South Sound now...Everyone left today. Well, there is also our bait balls that were going into interesting shapes today.

Between the baby sharks, barracuda, tarpon and pelicans the poor things did not quite know which way to go!

We had a lot of butterflies again today, including lots of Monarch butterflies, which I never seem to see much out on the water. Many more pelicans sitting in the trees. 2 straight days of work, putting the boat back into pre hurricane shape (what came down the masts must go up the masts...)

and not only do we have a boat that looks pre hurricane, IT ALSO LOOKS LIKE A CHARTER BOAT ON THE OUTSIDE... The one thing that the hurricane probably helped us do by coming up here is to get a lot of cleaning and things done. It is perfect sitting in here as it is so calm, no wind at all and no distractions (beside the fish) that we can really power through the tasks. Anyone who knows Bazza knows that we spend long days working!

I had forgotten how much I actually enjoy cleaning the outside of the boat when you have lots of time and no distractions. Have not done it for many years, but believe me, it is much more interesting then cleaning the inside of the boat! I have spent the last couple days cleaning every inch of this deck I think. At least I have used up all my poor little hands and have many sunburns as well!

We would like to get a coat of varnish or two on before charter starts, but I am not sure if it will happen. (Just like Richard and Lisa said they had wanted to get a coat on before they left, it seems to be one of the things we put off)
Some of you probably don't know, but long before I met Bazza and he came to the Caribbean from Australia to be an Engineer on a large catamaran, he said in his interviews that there were two things he did not do. Paint (he hates it but it very good at it, I have never known anyone who can spray a boat so well!) and varnish. He hates varnishing (also something he is very good at). So what did the silly man do??? He met a girl who had a boat with TONS of varnish and paint on it!!! No gelcoat here!!!!
I think every time he varnishes one more piece on the exterior of the boat gets turned over to paint, as I think he has decided that painting is better then varnishing... We need to varnish so often here on the exterior, 3 times a year at least optimally. The inside is much better, it has so many coats on it from the last thirty years that it only needs it every few years.
I think tonight I will try and get to answering some of the emails I have received this week, mostly from friends wishing us well over the path of Omar! Nice to know that so many of our friends read our blog even though we don't hear from them often enough!
Our friends and guests, the Cape Cod Pirates, keep in good touch with us and we have heard many stories over the years of this old black zodiac that they have had for decades (it may be even older then Promenade) Do they replace it or not??? It finally had floating gas tanks and split seams, so off it went to the boat doctor, and as Maureen says "We want a Bazza Boat with steering wheel and electric start etc" . I would go one step up on the Bazza boat guys, and get one with hydraulic steering! I have complained to Bazza every time I have driven this dinghy of ours as it is so hard to steer. He says it is not, it is me. Who are you going to believe?

So to close off this entry i have put up a Cape Cod Pirate Sunset which is much prettier then the ones we have (NOT) been having in here this week! We have a mountain in the way for the sunset!

Butterflies everywhere! I have never seen so many and this is what it looks like now in the Hole, and it is HOT!

I think I used the excuse that i said I would put up pictures to take a break from coiling lines and now, removing them from the mangroves...

this is what it looks like on the reef out on the South Side. We have seen worse conditions just any old day of the week!

Still some swell breaking but overall, pretty decent.

Thorsten wanted pictures put up of his villa so here they are, afterwards. All is fine. One curtain hanging out of the window on the upper left and a couple windows open on the top right.

Water is still splashing over the dock, but there is not even a leaf down really...

Lots of plastic in the water and it is stirred up pretty brown.

I remember in the big storms of November 2003 we saw dead cows and fridges floating in the water, I wonder what we will see this time.

OK, back to doing lines....

I shall go out of the hole this morning once Bazza wakes up and unties the dinghy to take pictures outside, but from the our sail bag this is what we see this morning. I swear it looked worse yesterday afternoon!



We have 2 mangrove leaves on the back deck, you cannot even see a one here! The ones on the back deck we might have drug on ourselves yesterday! The silver lining is it is a great opportunity to clean the boat well for charters with everything being off of it!

I had a ditch bags ready to go, with passports, phones etc, but this was the most important one to me. My MAC laptop and back up drive wrapped in about 20 plastic bags before it would have gone into a dry bag!! I have my priorities!!