Although it was tempting to have one last swim at Maho Beach, we had to make a trip back to St Thomas to sort out some pressing issues. After a quick breakfast, we motored out of this glorious bay and bid farewell to St John, although the plan was to return later to visit St Croix, the third of the USVI. It was a fast passage to St Thomas, passing through the passage between St John and St Thomas. We intended to stay in Crown Bay marina close to Frenchtown but the wind was blowing at 20 knots and the skipper felt it was too risky to berth Trilogy in the wind exposed marina. While hanging off the marina we spotted a cargo vessel with yachts loaded on deck for transport back to the Mediterranean! After some shore communications, we motored around to Yacht Haven Grande, where we had been less than a week before and which offered greater shelter and easier docking conditions.
As the aim was to minimise the time in port, after a quick lunch at our favourite cafe Fresh Bistro, the guys took off to sort out 'the issues', while the girls spent the afternoon getting the provisions topped up and stowed. The major issues were:
1. The generator could not be started until a part was found to repair the fuel leak. Not being able to start the generator meant that power was running low and the freezer was not effective. The guys had used all their ingenuity to make a temporary part, but in the meantime it had been ascertained that a new part could likely be obtained. Peter had spent a lot of time deep down in the starboard lazarette, and knew precisely what part was required. We had to wait until Monday to purchase the part, if available. Bingo...success!
2. The beloved cockpit table lamp was no longer working and required a new light bulb. This was a 'tragedy' as dinner without the romantic ambience of the light was sad indeed! The skipper had managed to rig up a torch light above the dodger, which sufficed, much to his credit. One of the things we have done this trip is to leave the table light on when going ashore in the evening, in addition to the usual masthead light. It has been very helpful to find Trilogy in a dark bay full of yachts. Yachts can look confusingly similar at night, unless of course you have trendy blue lights strung above or below the water line, or both. We've teased the skipper about getting blue lights, but somehow it hasn't happened yet! Bingo....success!
3. The visa problem had not gone away and we were feeling more keenly the uncertainty of no resolution. It transpires that the ETSA 90 day visa waiver for the USA was the wrong visa for yachties to use and we should have obtained a tourist visa for the USA before departing Australia. There has been a lot of misunderstanding about this throughout our current investigations and the skipper needed to speak to a customs officer. After discussions with the Customs Superintendent our position was clarified:
a) we must not overstay our current 90 days b) when we fly from Antigua to the USA on a commercial flight, our 90 days will be reset.
While to boys were away, Sue and Ros decided that the thawing freezer meat must be cooked up. Three meals were prepared and frozen down, thanks to the shore power getting the freezer back on track.
Next morning, with the new generator part installed, we prepared for departure. However, a problem arose when we realised that the heavy duty bag used for garbage storage had been taken away with the garbage collection on the dock. The system at this marina is to leave the yacht garbage for collection by staff, which is a wonderful service. Last time the bag was returned but not this time! Sue went to the office to check and before long there was a major search underway to hopefully locate the (expensive) bag. This involved security video tape investigation to see who the staff member was! Meanwhile, Sue had enlisted the services of Earle, one of the buggy riding staff, to take her to the compacter, to see if the garbage had been compressed. It turns out there are two compacters and Earle climbed inside and dug his way through until he found the bag. He'd given Sue instructions 'do not let anyone push that button while I'm in here'! Sue kept calling Earle to plead that he get out of the mountain of rubbish, but her Earle was determined to succeed!
One more thing was required before we sailed and that was a coffee at Bad Ass Coffee. This little cafe not only serves reasonable coffee but has good wifi, a rare find! Fortified with coffee, water tanks all topped up and all the issues addressed, it was time to head out, past the three new cruise ships in port and make a heading for the Spanish Virgin Islands, about 3 hours sail away.