Gerry finds a friend
30 March 2020 | 18 20'N:64 56'W, Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, US Virgin Islands
NC
30th March
18 20 N
64 56 W
Weather; sunny, wind n/a, waves n/a
We woke to a really quiet anchorage, it's quite bizarre to have so little movement going on around the harbor but I have to say it's also quite pleasant. We waited to hear from Dale as he was phoning the company that he has ordered his batteries from to find out when they will be delivering them to the dock. We got a message through from him saying that the batteries are on the ship in the dock but haven't cleared customs yet -that will happen today and they will be delivering them on Wednesday. We have a few things to do in the next few days so we made the decision to do some of the grocery shopping this morning, not that any of us really want to go ashore and do it but we all need to eat. Dale also wanted to check the post office to see if his forwarded mail and medications had arrived yet. We met up at 10am and dinghied to the cruise liner dock, it was the easiest to tie up that we have ever known it due to the very few boats that are still in the harbor. We walked up to Pueblo's supermarket, waved Dale off to the post office which is a further uphill walk and the three of us began searching the aisles for the grocery items we need. Gerry and I had elected to do the "heavy to carry" stuff today and loaded up with things like laundry liquid, canned stuff and the inevitable couple of bottles of rum, for once I had a list and we bought stuff that was actually on the list for a change! Lorie approached her shopping differently and filled a trolley with all sorts of stuff she needed. We know that we are going to have to do a fresh food shop in the next couple of days - something to look forward to, or not! In case you wonder why we didn't do it all today and save ourselves having to go to the shop again the answer is simple - we have to carry it all back to the dinghy dock, we don't have the luxury of a car to fill up and drive back with. Any how we were done long before Lorie and were just through the check out when Dale appeared after a successful mission with his mail and medications in hand, he waited for Lorie whilst Gerry and I headed back to the dinghy dock and then out to our boat where we did the usual unloading and stowing of the shopping. I went to sit out in the breeze of the cockpit and Gerry followed me out with screwdrivers, spanners and the electrical bits box in hand - he had talked about changing out the switch for the lights in the cockpit and now was the moment to tackle the job. In the end he changed the wires for the power socket over and sprayed the stern light switch to make sure the contact was good as we had sent he lights flicker on occasion. After testing the lights, deciding that they were Ok it was time to pack away the tools and have a quick lunch in the sun. Dale text us to ask if we wanted to go ashore for burgers at the Tap and Still (take away only), we thought he meant for dinner tonight and agreed then he came back with ready in 10 mins? We had to text him back and remind him that all businesses were government mandated to be closed today between midday and 1 o'clock for a prayer gathering so it was unlikely that Tap and Still would be open at lunch time and we suggested maybe we could do an early dinner - leaving our boats at 4.30pm to which he agreed. A little later Gerry got asked to go with Dale to the propane filling station as Gerry had been there before and knew where to go so we dinghied to Dales boat and I kept Lorie company, doing nothing, whilst the guys went off to fill the propane tank. The guys returned with a story of being greeted as they arrived at the dock to tie up, then they showed us the photo (see attached). Apparently it took a liking to Gerry and kept moving towards him until he legged it off the dock. We stayed long enough to have a cold drink and then headed back to our boat to turn off the water maker which we had left running and to close down all the hatches ( it was sure to rain otherwise) before it was time to head into shore once more to go to the Tap and Still for take out burgers. We walked to the place, it's not too far from the dock, but were disappointed to find that it wasn't open even though they had a sign to say they were operating on a take away basis only. A quick scratch of the head had us heading to Wendy's for burgers instead, again they are only allowed to offer take away food so we ordered our burgers and took our bags of food back across the road to the marina where we found a picnic table and no one around so we elected to sit in the sun and eat our meal at the table. It was a very pleasant half hour of being socially distant (no one around to interact with anyway) and enjoying the outdoors on land for a change. With dinner out of the way we discarded our trash into the bin and headed back out to the dinghies, inviting Dale and Lorie to have a sundowner drink on our boat which was on the way. We have made loose plans to do a hardware store and bulk shopping trip tomorrow using a taxi to carry the goods and us, but we will wait until the morning to see what surprises it brings, there is never a dull moment as everything changes from day to day at the moment. We do know that we are stuck here for the time being as all the other islands down the chain seem to be closed to boats arriving from foreign ports, how long this will last God only knows, we just hope its over before hurricane season hits the Caribbean and makes our insurance null and void! So it's time for bed now, the wind has picked up and is howling I'm sure the rain will follow and we will have to close down all the hatches for the night.