Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Getting ready for a visit home

We are thinking about our trip home for the holidays.  We have a new grandchild to meet - due next week - and old ones to play with - if you can call 3 and 0.5 old.

We cleared in from the BVI to wonderful, friendly, efficient and polite Customs and Immigration officials in the good old USVI.  There must be an international protocol on how to greet law-abiding folks as they try to legally cross a border.

We spent a couple of days in Francis Bay on the north side of St. John and then after a rolly night with bad internet (bad combination) we gave up the internet and spent two quiet nights on the south of the island in Lameshur Bay.  It is very popular during the day for snorkellers but very quiet and private in the evenings.  Pam is pretty sure there was a 6 or 7 foot beast parked under the boat.  We took a quick peak but couldn't locate him.  We have really enjoyed the south side of St. John, escaping from the northern swell.

Our own private anchorage

Exploring an old sugar mill


Looking for the Beast
We arrived at Honeymoon Bay, near the airport in St. Thomas - somewhat prematurely - getting ready to ship Pam off to Vancouver to be a "Gran-in-waiting."  Glen will follow in a few days.  We are doing mindless boat jobs, playing cards, reading, swimming, snoozing and generally lounging around.

6000 passengers, 2000 crew
Today, we watched the Allure of the Seas arrive in the west St. Thomas harbour.  It is, according to Pam and Wikipedia, the largest passenger ship ever built.  It is a full two inches longer than her sistership, Oasis of the Seas.  They each carry more than 6000 passengers and 2300 crew.

There were 4 other cruise ships in town today - a good day not to be in town with thousands of tourists searching for treasure.

Pretty isn't it... rain on fresh varnish (cetol)
Glen chose a perfect time to sand and varnish a piece of teak in the cockpit today.  While banging the lid back on the varnish it started to rain.  So much rain that Pam set up her apparatus to collect rainwater into our tanks.  So, later in the afternoon, Glen looked at the perfectly blue skies and put on another coat of varnish.  Half an hour later the skies opened up and there were beads of rain on the second coat.  Half an hour might have been enough drying time because the rain beaded up but dried away without leaving marks.  Cross your fingers!


2 comments:

  1. If you want rain...just varnish! That is so frustrating. As for cud a, they love the shade sometimes under the boat. That's the bad aspect to clear water....you can see them! Enjoy the home visit and new grandchild.
    Hayden

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  2. Glen:

    We plan to move North to Carriacou this morning and will be making our way up probably as far as Antigua again this winter. Will be looking forward to meeting you folks finally.

    Have a safe trip home and see you next year!

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