BBQ Heaven, Excess Stuff & Island Time
15 December 2009 | Red Hook, St. Thomas
kurt flock / breezy, cooler, mostly sunny
I'm waiting for Kate to get back to Red Hook with dinner. She went to St. John to do a yoga class this morning. Said she'd be back by 1:00 or so. She called and said she found a place that would do her hair, and did I mind. I was well into boat projects, so I said no. She called again and said she missed the 4:00 ferry, mentioning something about a pedicure. Oh well. She called again to let me know she was now waiting for the 5:00 ferry, and would I like some BBQ from my favorite BBQ stand on St. John. Since she didn't get back in time to polish any stainless or put a coat of varnish on the toe rails, I figure this was her way of buying me off! I sense the better part of valor tonight is to let it go and eat the BBQ. It is damned good.
We arrived in the islands with more "stuff" on the boat than we we really need, so we've shipped several boxes back home containing long underwear, sweaters, long pants, extra socks, extra under wear, etc. You don't really need ten pair of boxer shorts down here. In fact, I could get by without any, but Kate's not ready for us to "go native" yet.
At any rate, you find yourself calculating whether what you're sending home is worth the cost of shipping. I just paid $14 to have someone do a small bag of laundry at the laundromat. I'm not sure that's worth it either, but if it keeps the wife happy.... A bag of ice is $3.00 at the dock. A gallon of water is $0.14 (or about $16.00 to fill all our tanks). A good pain killer will run $6.00 to $9.00, so it's way cheaper to make our own aboard; that's why we bought a damn good blender. Rum is cheap, less than $8.00 a liter, so it ain't all bad.
Some things you gotta shop though. I went to buy a bilge pump switch on Tortolla in the BVI's and the switch along was over $80. I thought that was ludicrous, so I told them I'd double check to see if I really needed it. I found the same switch at a chandlery on St. Thomas for $32.00. Geesh! And if you order anything from anywhere, be prepared to play the waiting game. We mailed a post card home from the BVI's. It took three weeks to get home. We're still waiting for stuff from home that Jen sent priority mail to a week ago. I wonder whose priority our mail is?
It could be worse. One of the boats we sailed with in the 1500 is still waiting for their engine to be rebuilt. They blew out a valve and had to pull the whole engine out of their boat. After wrestling with surveyors, mechanics, and insurance adjusters, they opted to send part of their engine to Houston, TX and have it rebuilt. They're still in Nanny Cay, and our heart goes out to them. Good folks cruising with two kids. They're home schooling the kids. This month's module is likely diesel mechanics.
We've managed to stay in touch with a bunch of the folks through our daily 7:30 a.m. SSB chat. You get updates from buddies on where they are, what the weather's like, great places to snorkel, cheap places to provision, and we often arrange hook-ups for drinks, dinner, and what not. Our gypsy-like community will likely stay in touch as we wander hither down the island chain.
Kate just got back. Gotta go eat some BBQ!