11th June

18 20 N
64 56 W

Weather; changeable, wind n/a, waves n/a

MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY TO OUR NEIGHBOUR COLLY, HOPE THAT YOU ARE SPOILT ROTTEN.

RIP. SUE (16/8/1933 - 11/6/2020), WE WILL MISS YOU TERRIBLY.

What a week this has been, it's really been a case of hurry up and wait a while longer, the end is in sight for our stay in USVIs so we have spent this week checking on everything and making sure that we are as ready as we can possibly be to take off for Grenada.
I told you in the last blog about the boat called Rising Sun that had docked in the marina, after a week in the marina at a cost of close to $1800 per day, they snuck out of the marina with the assistance of a pilot only to drop anchor on the far side of the harbor from us.
Gerry was up at dawn the next morning and took a photo in a million for those of you that appreciate our take on stuff - the photo is of the Rising Sun in the West as the moon is about to set, well it amused us!
To prepare us for the coming transit Gerry has changed out the blocks for the running back stay with the headsail furling block - best not to ask why. Put the reefing line in place for the main sail - its possibly still not right but only time will tell.
We had a small issue with the gen set being sluggish to start under certain conditions so with the help of the tinker (Dale), the tweaker twins altered the original wiring which ran from the main engine starter motor to the gen set starter motor. They disconnected the wiring that ran from the main engine starter to the gen set starter and shortened the cable to run directly from the changeover switch to the gen set starter motor, leaving the original cable to main engine untouched. After much fiddling, boat yoga and sailor speak it was time to test out the new arrangement. Happily the gen set started first time with no issues, phew!
He has since re done the earth on the gen set to make sure that the earth was making a good connection - all looking good for the time being!
The single side band radio has been tried out to make sure that we can be heard and that we can hear people on it. A guy called Carl Stevenson who is currently in Grenada on his boat, SV Escape Pod, has set up an SSB radio check in which he operates twice each day for anyone who is transiting to Grenada to be able to check in and let him know where you are and how you are travelling and to report any issues that you may be having. Gerry checked in and let him know our travel plans and to check out how well our SSB works. Given that Grenada is 415 miles away from where we are currently sitting the reception and transmission were really quite good and should only get better as we get closer. Dale has also checked in with him so we know that both of our SSB radios are working.
Over 2 days the tweaker twins have scrubbed first the bottom of Gypsy Palace then the bottom of Opal using the hooker and lots of elbow grease. So with clean, weed and barnacle free hulls we should glide through the water with ease as long as we can get the anchor free from the sea bed! The dive gear and swim wear is covered in sea lice which stink to high heaven as they dry and drop off of everything into the cockpit even though the guys have hosed everything down there is still a terrible stink of dead sea life, fingers crossed it has gone by the morning.
We hired a car for the day on Tuesday and between the 2 boats managed to spend a small fortune in stocking up on enough food and essential parts, bits and pieces to last us for the next 3 weeks at least - that's a transit time of 5 days followed by 14 days in quarantine (or according to Gene on Texas Crewed - China Jail). I hope that we haven't forgotten anything as its now a case of do without! At least we have plenty of rum to see us through - might need to go to rehab after quarantine!
Lorie and I struggled to the laundry and filled the machines with just about everything we could find on our respective boats that needs a last minute wash, we are at least starting out clean, heaven only knows how things will be after almost 3 weeks!
Dale, Gerry and I have done our final early morning walk around the marina and had our last coffee at the Bad Ass coffee house - we highly recommend the place, they make awesome coffee and apple strudels. We have also fed the chickens and their chicks in the marina grounds for the final time - hope that someone else is kind enough to spare them a few bread crumbs in the mornings ahead.
We had our farewell to St Thomas dinner on Wednesday night at the Green House, with social distancing procedures in place. We made a visit to the customs and border patrol office this afternoon to clear ourselves out of the USVIs and get the appropriate paper work so that we can present it at our next port of call - Grenada here we come! I was a little leery about going to the office after the last visit when the officer was more than a bit rude but I'm happy to say it was different staff in the office today and they were pleasant and helpful, even wishing us a pleasant onward journey, so thank you to those 2 officers for restoring my faith in CBP today. Tonight it was a case of eating on our boat as we have put the dinghy in the davits ready for tomorrow morning's leaving. We have also stashed away most things that might move, fall or become flying objects if we hit any rough weather - I think we are just about ready now.
I have cooked up a storm over the past 2 days, making a few easy meals which we can just quickly microwave whist we are underway, mostly they have turned out as expected, just had a bit of trouble trying to fit them all in the fridge or freezer as it is chock a block full with provisions.
As we sat in the cockpit tonight we were treated to a final beautiful sunset over St Thomas, the sky was a mix of blue, pink, violet, grey and yellow which reflected on the water as a bright orange - truly magnificent, of course there was no green flash as the sun went down, we hope that we might get to see it as we watch the sun setting over the water on route to Grenada - will have the camera at the ready and fingers crossed!
Tomorrow will see us hauling up the anchor (hopefully!) heading into the marina to top up with fuel and water before heading off. I'm not sure when the next blog will be, it will depend on internet in Grenada but I'll be back as soon as possible with tales of our transit so watch this space and keep well.