18 20.193AlCharlotte Amalie, St Thomas
Pipedream
Thu 23 Feb 2012 12:42
delivered more than I expected. Mary and I had been here maybe 25 or 30
years ago when we chartered a boat, the Alion, with John and Jenny Burwell.
Those were the days before cruise liners really took off and the marina was
a couple of wooden piers. Big time concrete marina now with dockage for
maybe 6 to 10 big cruise boats. You figure each boat brings in 3000
passengers and changes out every other day. That's a lot of tee shirts,
funny hats and diamond earring being sold.
There is no duty or sales tax in St. Thomas, so I went shopping for a new
Nikon lens for my camera. Walked into each of the camera stores and had to
walk past half a block of jewelry cases and was greeted by 4 slick sales
guys. Only one store had the lens but it was only about $100 less than I
could have gotten it in the states. Picture a street maybe three city
blocks long... full of jewelry stores.
The real story started when Matt saw someone wearing a Lehigh Valley tee
shirt... his old high school. He met three folks from home here. Peter
one of the guys was an unemployed engineer living here with this nurse girl
friend. After a night of raucous shore leave starting at a little joint
that served great Chicago style hot dogs and Mexican Peter took us all under
wing the next day to two of his favorite beaches. We were the only people
there at each one.
The second one featured a coconut grove where Peter selected two choice
specimens and proceeded to show us how to open one of these wonders. After
much splashing on a sharply pointed rock we were drinking coconut milk and
eating fresh coconut. Peter drove us all over the island including to
several boat parts stores, culminating in a 'state dinner' on the mountain
with a view hour shift after his girl friend got off of a ten hour shift at
the hospital. After a slab of fresh tuna and several bottles of wine we
called it a day.
Comings and goings... we stayed in the marina so we could make the meets
with Joann, George's new wife of only a year and then today Jesse, my
nephew from Colorado. He met us as I was trying to get us through US
customs. Tomorrow we are all sailing to St. John's the next island over and
a nation park... should be a major change from diamond stores and
restaurants.
Repairs are also moving... I took the alternator and charge controller off
the generator and to a generator shop. Alternator was fine the controller
was shot. Second Balmar $300 controller in a year.. note to self 'no more
Balmar'. The do everything whiten your teeth when the work... but they are
impossible to fix out here. I asked the gen guy kidding if he could sell
me one from a Ford tractor not likely to break for many years and he sent me
to the Napa store about a block away to buy one that fits a 1963 F150 pickup
that after a little creative wiring seems to work great. He wouldn't charge
me for the diagnostics and I spent about $50 at NAPA.
Matt was able to find a new lug for the main sail and had it sewn in about
an hour... he sews too! We worked on the whisker pole but couldn't find any
parts... special order from the US. Joann and George spent the day
reprovisioning for our little snorkel trip to St. John's. I've written too
much to read in one sit but the boat isn't bouncing and I can't get to
sleep. More later