February 2016 (posted in March - oops)

"Life on this planet is not free."

                                  -Jim Day

   That’s my brother’s slightly smart-alec response when I told him how much our new boat part was going to cost.  Other people here just say “It’s a boat!”.  Some definitions of a boat are:

• A hole into which you pour money
• BOAT - Bring out another thousand

Anyway, we were happily floating around St. John for a week until Ray found 3 inches of water in the engine room.  Huh.  At first he thought it was the impeller but after investigation said “This is more serious than that and I can’t do it”.  We made the decision to go to Nanny Cay where we keep our boat and know the mechanics.  To avoid turning on the engine we sailed off the mooring ball headed for the BVI.  It was perfect sailing weather, lucky for us, but to go into the marina we would have to turn the motor on, which we didn’t want to do. Sooo, one of the dockhands came out in a big dinghy with a BIG outboard and lashed himself to the side of Megerin.  Then we steered, he powered and we were on the dock in no time.  One problem though, we had not cleared into the BVI yet and Nanny Cay is not a port of entry.  Naively, we thought the authorities would understand our predicament.  I hired a cab to take me to the West End of Tortola to check in while Ray took care of the boat.  When I walked in the the guilt must have wafted off of me.  Going into customs/immigration is frequently stressful.  They seem to enjoy watching the discomfort they cause and we have many stories from fellow cruisers who feel the same way.  I have even taken over the job since Ray doesn’t like dealing with them and most probably he is right that they take it easier on women.  Anyway, first (barked) question was “Where is your boat?”  Uh Oh - they never ask us that!  I did pause, then told the truth - “Nanny Cay”.  I proceeded to describe our “emergency”, etc. ( Much sweating)  I then received a very long lecture on what we should have done (called them), why they cannot tolerate this (who knows who/what we have on our boat), was shown the very large rule book to prove his point plus the $10,000 fine he could charge me.  Everyone knows you NEVER argue with the officials down here, so I didn’t point out that they never check our boat for anything or anyone when it is at the West End, that they never answer the VHF radio, etc.  Luckily, I got off with a warning, no fine, and escaped jail time.  However, never again!

Our mechanic came that same day but the heat exchanger part was not available on island, then it was coming on the ferry but didn’t, etc. etc.  After several days of having the boat totally torn up to get access to the engine it is finally done.  And while we were here we bought 225 feet of new anchor chain and put that on the boat.  

My brother Jim was arriving so he had to change his plans to come to St. John first and instead come directly to Tortola.  It was a little bit of a worry because if his plane was late he might not make the last ferry from St. Thomas.  Then he added to the stress by missing his flight out of BWI !  But he made to the ferry on time.  And the weather is beautiful!

Here are some of Jim's underwater pics from this year.

Can never resist another picture of the beautiful beach at Nanny Cay, Tortola.

Before Jim arrived we made sure to catch The Fiddler with his Sun Mountain band on St. John. He only performs here once a year and what a fun night - he is a great musician and song writer.  Since he is retiring after this year, so we really were glad to see him one last time in "the backyard" of Skinny Legs.

The Willie Thornton is an old, rusting schooner converted into a floating bar/restaurant in the Bight of Norman Island BVI.  Dinghies pull up, people climb aboard with the INTENT, frequently, of drinking as many Painkillers as they can.  Stories abound of wild partying on board, culminating with girls jumping naked off the top deck into the water for free tshirts.  However, when we were there, only a few guys jumped, and they had to sneak as it is now against the rules.  Jim did get some good pictures.

Christmas tree still up in February on the beach at White Bay, Jost van Dyke