Catching up with Gypsy Palace
18 March 2020 | 18 20'N:64 56'W, Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, US Virgin Islands
NC
17 March
18 20 N
64 56 W
Weather sunny, wind n/a, waves n/a
HAPPY GREEN DAY TO ALL THE LEPRECAUNS
We made it through another gusty night at anchor with no problems and were glad to see that Gypsy Palace (Dale and Lorie's boat) was still firmly in place next to us. We had no particular plans for the day but we knew that Dale had a million little jobs to do so after we had breakfast we jumped in our dinghy and putt, putted across to their boat. The tweaker and tinker began discussing the jobs that need doing and came to some sort of order of work, starting with phoning around to chase batteries as Dale needs to replace his. Lorie and I took things a bit more slowly and caught up with the gossip and our thoughts on how we go forward with our trip around the Corona Virus madness, concluding that everything is set in jello and we need to be prepared for every obstacle under the sun. The guys decided that they needed to go to the chandlery and also to the telecommunication store as Dale needed to buy some lines and a phone card so they took off in the dinghy leaving Lorie and I to try and find us a marina in Trinidad for the hurricane season - no mean task! Lorie made several phone calls which had us scratching our heads and wondering if we are even going to get to Trinidad by June. Eventually one of the marinas took our details and said to email them - sounds easy doesn't it? Gerry has already emailed them twice and got no reply so we aren't terribly hopeful but we are giving them the benefit of the doubt and Lorie has emailed them on both our behalves - we now wait and see! A sudden shout out from outside had us thinking the guys were back but when Lorie went to help them tie up she found that it wasn't the guys but the friends that they had made on their way to here, Jean and Renee who we discovered were in the next bay round from us, closer to the place we had filled up with fuel yesterday. We sat chatting until the guys arrived back with the new lines and some other bits plus a new phone card - a pretty successful trip, they had also managed to contact the battery place and needed to get some further information to the sales man about the batteries that Dale needs so they went back and forth with text messages for a while and then had to wait for a final reply ( it came at about 2pm). By now it was getting towards lunch time and Dale was hanging out for a roti so we decided to go ashore, inviting Jean and Renee to join us for this lunchtime treat. 3 dinghies raced to the town dock and tied up, we had to lead the others to the roti shop - whilst Dale and Lorie have been there before it was about 10 years ago and we were more familiar with the route than they were at this point. We were very happy to see that the place was open and doing its normal roaring business, we ordered our favourites and sat in house until it was all gone. The guys were all for having a beer to follow so Gerry suggested we go across the road to the Tea Garden which none of the others knew about, we went in and ordered beers for the guys and each of us ladies (!) ordered different types of tea which happily the others enjoyed - I knew what I was getting as we have tried it before. So now we were all fed and watered and it was time to return to boat, Jean and Renee headed off round the other side of the harbor and the 4 of us returned to Gypsy Palace as there was stuff to fix. The guys ran one of the new lines but were having difficulty with the second one as it needs to go inside the boom and after puzzling about it for a while dale ended up calling Schaffer and the riggers for technical support - they would get back to him - no indication of when so we might be waiting for a while! With all the quick jobs done and nothing else to be done right away Dale suggested that everyone have an afternoon nap and we meet up at about 5.30 for dinner - I'm sure Dale and Lorie still have sleep to catch up on after their trip from Puerto Rico. Gerry had noticed that there was a bit of rope hanging down from the back of the port side hull on Gypsy Palace and pointed it out to Dale. As we dinghied back to our boat Dale jumped in the water to investigate and remove what turned out to be some filament line wrapped around the prop shaft but hadn't totally fouled it - just in time maintenance! The text message about the batteries came through to Gerry when we were back on board our boat and he relayed them to Dale who then put in his order for the new batteries, the price was cringy worthy but there is no way he can do without the batteries. We spent the afternoon reading until 5.30pm when, of course, it began to rain - we were going to get wet going for dinner! Between the showers we jumped in our dinghies and made our way in to the (empty)cruise liner dock and from there we made our way to the Tap and Still bar where they were celebrating St Patrick's day in a very low key manner. We had to forgo the green beer for a couple of cocktails and burgers. Whilst we were there a police woman walked into the place in full uniform and began counting the people in the bar, there weren't many, then she asked to see the manager. Nothing else happened following this but we think the limitations are coming our way! After eating we headed back to Gypsy Palace for a nightcap before heading back to our boat for the night.