Sunday, February 3, 2013

In case anyone’s wondering….we’ve been having a ball.

Farhaven came into the bay, and we had a lovely happy hour with Tom & Leslie Wednesday night. After kayaking, swimming and snorkeling in the shallow, warm waters of Maho Bay, we moved to another mooring, with even shallower…and therefore clearer water. This was to accommodate the National Park maintainence crew who has been in Maho the past several days checking and repairing the moorings. This is a practice we are HIGHLY in favor of, as it allows us to sleep VERY well, so when we saw the guys checking off moorings, one by one, we volunteered to get out of their way. And just as we are moving…here comes Ocean Jedi to take the mooring just behind us..Hurray! They are off this week, and can play with us for several days before getting back into the swing.

One of the guarentees on cruising is this…’once you put up your water catcher…there will be no more rain’. Since our water tanks are nearly empty, and we still are trying to finesse the placement of our water catcher, we have had it up…guaranteeing beautiful, sunny, dry days. We took it down when we moved moorings, and didn’t put it back up Thursday night before going to bed. Sure enough, overnight it poured…so loud and frequently, that it woke me up 3 times with teeth gnashing …. First thing on Friday I put the catcher back up…and true to form…it hasn’t rained a drop since! Our bows are riding much higher in the water….good thing we are off to Crown Bay on Monday!

We met a lovely young family on charter who moored next to us for a few days and had their 3 kids (3, 5 & 7 Jenni!) out swimming, snorkeling, boogie-boarding, hiking, and truly enjoying beautiful St. John. And, as it turns out they were a day from the end of their charter, with lots and lots of food and liquor on board they wouldn’t need – too bad. They sorted it out and brought over 8+ pounds of frozen meat, 10 bottles of wine, tequila & rum, plus 6-7 more bags of foodstuffs…that they wouldn’t take anything for, except some chocolate for the kids. Denise and I took some and we passed some along to Sharon who also came into the harbor earlier ~there was PLENTY to go around. Then, Denise whipped up some delicious Fajitas for dinner, with some of the supplies. Later, they turned on OJ’s stern lights and we were captivated by the dozen LARGE Tarpon feeding off the back of the boat. We actually saw one off the back of our boat last night while Jim was adjusting the canvas…but since we couldn’t see it very clearly, we were certain it was a shark!...well, OK…not….just a very large Tarpon attracted by our little solar lights.

Friday night…big night around here. The Maho Bay Eco-Resort, where we had Christmas dinner, has Prime Rib on Fridays…and so everyone comes in for it. While kayaking, we met Cary & Tom on Dragons Toy, who are moored ahead of us and they mentioned they were headed UP (the campground is set in the hillside, and there is a long set of stairs, 282, to climb to get to the restaurant) to dinner as well…so in true cruiser fashion we commandeered a long-ish table and kept adding tables and chairs until everyone was accommodated. 8 couples, some of which never met before tonight, were all together sharing a meal, stories, information, boat cards, and laughter…a fun night. We picked up Frank and Denise, who took OJ in and out of Tortola for some business today, and rushed back to share in the red meat extravaganza. It was very easy to beach the dingy with Frank & Jim handling all the weight and Denise and I simply directing where it should go on the beach. On our way down the stairs we were followed by some people who turns out wanted to watch us launch the dingy from the beach. Oooooh, spectators….I hope we do this ok. The swell was very low, we had two big strong guys to do the heavy lifting and we launched the dingy like professionals. Whew!

Saturday….Busy, Busy, Busy…Denise cooked a beautiful Fritatta for breakfast, and we decided to join them for a sail out and down to Cruz Bay so they could attend to some important business. This was the first time we actually sailed on OJ, and I must say she performed very well. After we took care of things in Cruz Bay, we headed back to Maho Bay, then moved both boats back over to Francis Bay to take advantage of the better internet signal, and discovered their was a beach party planned this afternoon. After fabulous burgers Denise whipped up and Frank grilled for lunch, it was off to the beach where the ladies visited, and snorkeled, while the boys played a game on the beach and swam. It was determined that a Catamaran was needed for Happy Hour this evening…and shortly after 5pm, we had 6 dingies tied off of Regenero and were enjoying Denise’s yummy and beautiful Chicken Stacks, Charles & Leslie’s Salmon dip, Crab dip, Hummus, cheese, chips and salsa, meatballs and more. As expected… appetizers became dinner, and it was after 8 when the last guests left… Jim and I cleaned up, and by 9pm…we were off to bed. Busy, Busy, Busy….

So today, Sunday, Denise joined us for breakfast while Frank slept in in the hopes of shaking the cold that is plagueing him, and we are looking forward to a relaxing day…maybe some snorkeling…but all in all just hanging out and enjoying a beautiful summer day in the Caribbean. We need to rest up for the neighbors!