All About Boats... So it goes...

We had planned to have lunch at Sharkey's Bait Shack last Thursday as it was $7.50 burger+side day. which is one of our favorite shoreside lunches. We were looking forward to our burgers until we opened their door and was hit by a cacophony of noise. The place was full of school children for some reason.

We quickly turned around and did a bit of shopping in Seaside Market next door with thoughts of getting a sandwich. This didn't happen because there was no place to sit at their outside tables. In fact, three of the tables had one employee per table just hanging out on their break.

Our next option was to try out the new Vietnamese place (Sai Gon Deli) just down the street by the laundry. We usually do our laundry on Sundays and they were closed each time we went, plus they didn't have a menu up so we had no idea on dishes and prices.

Glad we stopped by. Turns out they've been in business about 2 months and they are closed on Sundays & Mondays. I took a picture of the menu on the wall... sorry that I cut off the right side of the menu.

They are located at the little strip mall across from the Canegata Ball Park between the laundromat and the Mt Welcome Pharmacy. This is an easy walk from Christiansted Harbour and Gallows Bay.

We will be back soon for another lunch...


Enjoy!

Sea Side Market, the new grocery store in Christiansted, St Croix has finally opened. It has replaced Schooner Bay Market which closed several months ago.

It is basically across the street from the Canegata Ballpark, just down from the laundramat, short walk from ACE/Gallows Bay Hardware.

Prices vary. Many things are higher than Pueblo but a some are similar or lower. Even if we buy something that costs a bit more, we save on the time that it would have taken walking up to Pueblo in Golden Rock.

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BUDGET MARINE St Croix has relocated to a much more convenient location in Christiansted. They are located in Gallows Bay across the street from Customs & Immigration and the commercial dock with the small cargo ships (and the ferry when there is one).

We tie up our dinghy to the small fishing dock at Gallows Bay. You could also pull your dinghy up on the beach, walk from Christiansted, or drive if you have a car as they have a large parking lot out front.


This Saturday, June 8 2013, Budget will be having a Grand Opening Celebration beginning around 11:00am.  We've were told that there would be a simple BBQ with hot dogs, raffles, prizes, music, etc.

We have been in the shop a couple of times and the owners seem genuinely friendly, helpful, nice people (and Max the dog, too!)

They have a fridge stocked with ICE CREAM and drinks which is super cool... PLUS they now have a beer license and will be able to sell cold beer!  We are looking forward to seeing what they will have on offer.

They have a consignment table for recycling your unwanted bilge treasures and they might be having a book swap shelf in the near future.

More soon come!

Bareboaters... Here's a tip:  The term "picking up a mooring" does not apply when you are leaving.


I heard someone's anchor windlass going and I thought "oh, the catamaran must be leaving... but wait, they're tied to a mooring".

I looked outside and yes, they were still tied to their mooring but there was a person in the water diving between the cat and the mooring ball... The chain is going tick-a-tick-a-tick-a.

Why did they drop an anchor on top of the mooring they were tied to? What is the state of that mooring now? It's probably not that they don't care about the probable damage done, but they more than likely don't have a clue that they might have pulled out one of the two mooring screws and have made yet another one of these moorings unsafe.

This is why you should always dive and inspect the mooring you have just tied to... especially before leaving your boat unattended. 

So it goes...

Tonight will be the Christmas Boat Parade in Christiansted Harbor, St Croix. See more at StCroixTourism


Today is the kick-off for the Cruzan Christmas Festival. See the schedule of events at STXFestival

It looks like it should be a nice day for the festivities!

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This morning when I stood up through the forward hatch to put our wifi antenna outside, I asked Bob for my camera because it was such a beautiful day... at least, so far at 7:45 am :)



I took this "snapshot" video with my funky little pocket camera. The quality kinda sucks but it should give you an idea :) We've had so MUCH rain (and more again yesterday) that today's sunshine was inspiring...

Yesterday, since it was raining, I worked on a new Amazon aStore for nautical greeting cards. Be sure to check it out for Christmas cards (yes, it's getting to be that time), calendars, and tree ornaments... We have lots of nautical & tropical cards to choose from so you don't have an excuse this year.  A real seasons greeting card means so much more than something received by email.

I read a sailing-oriented newsletter this morning which mentioned the kidnapped British cruising couple, Paul and Rachel Chandler, who are being held by Somalian pirates. Tomorrow, October 22nd, will be ONE YEAR!  How horrible that must be. Haven't heard anything about them in such a long time.

UPDATE: OCTOBER 24th. The BBC has a story about the Chandlers.

We had another bee come in and try our "killer" coffee.  They really go for this stuff.  Unfortunately, it was almost a full cup as I was waiting for it to cool down a bit... So It Goes...

Speaking of "It's a Beautiful Day" here are two songs I've listened to this morning...

• White Bird by It's a Beauiful Day, and
• Beautiful Day by U2

Willow was playing on the bed tunneling under the blanket somewhat like a ferret.  Good thing we don't have a chainsaw! (and Bob is prudent and always removes the battery from the DeWalt circular saw).

Did you notice that yesterday was 2010-10-20 ??? I love bizarre numbers like that.

Hope we all have a beautiful day!

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Check out our Nautical Greeting Cards and More store We only make a few pennies on purchases but everything helps and we appreciate it!

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This morning while still in bed, I looked up at the hatch above my head and saw GRAY. It looked like it was going to snow but there wasn't that crisp, chilly feeling to the air. This is what it looks like now.


It's good for doing internet work.  I can't believe it is only 10:30am and that I've accomplished so much.  Maybe because it is such a HO-HUM day.

Bob just poured the third cup of espresso, so after we drink that, we'll try to make plans for the day.


It was raining a few minutes ago, so I put a plastic storage box on the bed to catch drips.  Buffy is looking at it because she has really taken a liking to it.  I place it on the salon table at night so she can sleep in it.  It has been very comfortable for her as it has been very rolly the past few nights. Willow, on the other hand, is hiding under the bed.  Nowadays, since Hurricane Omar, she runs for cover when it starts to rain hard.

We have given up on watching the TV series 24, season 5, (which we have only viewed once) because we have more bad discs. I don't understand why though. They have problems with accessing the 3rd and 4th shows on the discs. They are the large 7GB discs so maybe they have a glitch with doing the second side.

We are now watching the 2nd season of LEVERAGE instead.

Hi, me again... I forgot about another little rant... I went outside to take my "wintry" photo this morning and my camera wouldn't work as it was demanding that I feed it new batteries. OK, I gave it two brand new fresh AA Energizers that I've bought within the last 2 months.  I take about a dozen photos and already the battery warning icon is flashing at me. We have a couple of nice DSLRs but I like having this little Canon digital pocket camera because it is easy to carry and fast to point and shoot. But, if it doesn't work due to battery issues, it is not worth carrying about as it's not doing its job of being there when a good photo opportunity presents itself.

Vivitar has a "cheap" underwater camera, but it only has a digital zoom. It claims to be waterproof to 10 meters (about 33 feet).  Fujifilm has a waterPROOF digital camera with a 3x optical zoom. It is supposed to be waterproof to 10 feet (careful, not 10 Meters as camera above). But, that's OK as I'd only use it for snorkelling and more important when in the dinghy getting a bit of spray or when it is raining. Oh well, not going to waste time looking at cameras today... many other things to do :)

Yesterday we received our new battery charger. We hooked it up late yesterday afternoon and it works just fine!  We have completely charged up our 12V system in a few hours. This charger has more oomph so we won't have to run the generator as long which is cool.

This afternoon we went and did a load of laundry over at the very nice laundromat near the ballpark. Tie up your dinghy at St Croix Marine.


The machines are larger than what I remembered from when we were first there.  It's very clean, bright, and new. There is a coin changer to the right of the office counter. We used the $5.50 machine (all of the $3.50 machines were in use) and had room left over which is better than overloading.  We found a shortcut to it today from the parking lot near Ace hardware.

It's #8 on my map MAP FOR CRUISER'S of Christiansted St Croix USVI. It's probably best to download the map to your computer so you can enlarge it for details. (Here's another link for STX info)

It takes about 25-30 minutes to wash which is enough time for us to do a quick shop at the Schooner Bay supermarket just up the street.  The washers spin the clothes fairly dry which helps when humping the clothes back to the dinghy and they dry rather quickly on the lifelines.

I must make another observation... The Coke machine outside of St Croix Marine has to have the coldest cans on the island!  75 cents, too.

Oh yes, their price for gasoline went down today to $3.10/gallon. I think diesel was $3.19.

Just went outside and took some photos of Christiansted Harbor, St Croix



When will this let up? Can't glass the mast in this weather... So It Goes

I'm very disappointed with the way this morning has started.  Last night we had bouts of heavy rain and some strong winds that I hoped would dry the clothes I washed yesterday and hung on the lifelines. This morning the cycle has continued. Rain, Rain GO AWAY!

Just started raining again.  Darn! Stop it!

Yesterday I did two loads of laundry at the Prince Street Laudromat. This is the laundromat over by the Seaplane.  It is very easy to get to and I have never seen it crowded. I probably could have put all my clothes in the large triple-load machine for $5 rather than use the two double-load machines for $3.50, but I didn't realize this until it was too late... next time :)


You can read directions of how to get there in a previous posting... CLICK HERE for STX info.

When I was walking back to the worksite with the laundry (about two blocks), I ran into Bob who was coming to help carry the wet clothes back.  Wasn't that wonderful?  So nice...

I was surprised to see that he had popped the mast out of the mold.  Oooh, how cool!


The extra glass we had applied on Sunday was just fine as it didn't rain until two hours after we had left for the day.

Today will be another one of those "play it by ear" type of days... So It Goes...

Time is flying by...

This week we received 5 sheets of plywood. Not the quality that we are used to, but you take what you can get :)


We made a dinghy kit... unfortunately, elves are not included...

We'd like to thank the nice folks over at Island Flight Adventure for allowing us to use one of their trailers as a table.  It is a BIG help and we really appreciate it. As a cruiser, we normally don't care for jet skis, but this outfit is different. They do not buzz about the boats at anchor.  How cool is that! You can rent a jet ski and go out with one of their guides on a fantastic tour, or perhaps you'd rather go out on their boat and do some fishing, take a harbor tour, or maybe waterski or tubing.  They are conveniently located on the Christiansted Boardwalk near Styxx. If you don't see them, just ask! Island Flight Adventure's phone number is 340-778-7541 or CLICK for their website.

Seems like it will be a nice day.  We could hear the announcer from the Ironman Triathalon so they must have been doing the swimming portion.

Looking forward to going over and start work on the mast.

Have a great day!

I haven't listened to the radio today to hear the weather, but it really doesn't matter because it is raining.  Didn't they say it would be dry Saturday, Sunday, AND Monday???


I just looked at WeatherUnderground and they say scattered showers and 40% chance of rain through Monday... So It Goes...

We went over to Gallows Bay and filled up some jerry cans of water. We also went to Schooner Bay Market for a couple of things (splurged on a couple of ice cream sandwiches... mmmm!). Noticed in the Virgin Islands Daily News that they had an article concerning new moorings having been installed in the north part of the Christmas Cove anchorage. Should have bought the paper but I thought it would have been online and I could have referred my dear readers to the link, sorry.  Anyway, as I recall there are 12 moorings for boats under 65 feet with a maximum stay of 10 days. No anchoring is allowed within this mooring field and there is supposed to be good clearance so the boats won't bang into each other regardless of wind direction, they say.  There's supposed to be a pamphlet, plus they gave phone numbers for Fish & Wildlife and probably DPNR (340-774-3320). No fees were mentioned.

Here's a website for the National Parks Service for the US Virgin Islands:
http://www.nps.gov/viis/index.htm

Anyway, it doesn't look like we'll be doing any epoxy work this afternoon, but I have plenty of other things to do though... maybe take a pre-lunch nap :)

I'm a happy camper this morning.  We were invited out for breakfast and had Eggs Benedict at the Golden Rail next to St Croix Marine.  Quite nice. I really liked their home fries.


We then went over to where St Croix Marine is having their tent sale and bought some stuff at good prices.... Sperry sandals, electrical panel, solar panel mounting brackets for the stern rail, and a couple of other things.  Gave a $1 to the animal shelter and got a free snorkel.  Entered the drawing for a waterproof handheld VHF.  Must be present at 3pm for the drawing to win, so I should set an alarm.

We then went over to Gallows Bay Ace Hardware's tent sail. Lo and behold, they had a "manual" stove-top waffle maker for only $10, normally $44.95 which is a silly price! We've been looking for one for a long time... HURRAY... SCORE! So then, I went inside the store and bought the cats a treat... a 12-foot roll of brown wrapping paper.  They love this stuff. Cut it in half and we have two cat toys for under $3. Such a deal!

Back to the dinghy, but swing by the tent again to see if there's anything new. Bought an assortment of 4 courtesy flags for $2 each, and a pair of "previously owned" opening ports which look OK for $20/pair.

Ms Cheapseats is a very happy camper indeed :)

Oh yes.... Happy first day of Spring!

Also, tomorrow (Sunday) there will be a fund raiser for someone we don't know, but we believe in helping out the cruising community.  What I understand from hearing about it on the radio is that he was a sailmaker and had his shop across from Jones Maritime in Christiansted. He had some misfortune with his back down island and has had back surgery in Panama(?). So, tomorrow we'll attend the fund raiser which starts at 4pm across from Jones Maritime. It is a $5 donation.  There will be BBQ, potluck, raffles, prizes and good times for a good cause.

Yesterday and today are quite unusual weatherwise. Time to break out the cocoa and SOCKS!  According to the weather service on the internet it was 67.6°F / 19.8°C last night. Brrrrrrrrrrrrr...


Perhaps it is my fault... I did a small load of laundry on Saturday afternoon. I hung it up on the lifelines and before they were quite dry, it started to lightly rain.  We had light rain all day yesterday, too.  Today is gray but it hasn't rained for a couple of hours so I think I'll hang up the clothes to finish them off in this strong breeze we are having.

About the laundry... This time I went to the laundramat near the Seaplane dock. Tie up your dinghy at Styxx though because it is really shallow over by the seaplane portion of the boardwalk and no place to lock onto, although I have seen dinghies just tie up with no locks there. The laundry wasn't as new and pristine as the one in Gallows Bay, but it is closer and nice enough. There were plenty of machines and the warm normal cycle only took 30 minutes. It had lots of water sloshing about, too.  The whole round trip took an hour at the most.

You can look at our PREVIOUS POST about Christiansted and read the section about laundry and check their location on our map.

Time for cup of coffee #3...

Well, last week we were without wifi for THREE DAYS! That really makes life difficult for us. We went to our mail service who is also an internet cafe, Surf the Net. I'm not sure of the name of the little street, but tie up your dinghy at the boardwalk in front of Styxx (they're closed now, by the way) and walk straight through there. There's a couple of steps and a ramp. Go up and Surf the Net is on your left.  Say hello to Sandy and her little dog Paula for us.

Surf the Net is also a great place for those people arriving in St Croix by cruiseship. We are told that Surf the Net is less expensive than the internet cafes at the cruise ship dock in Frederiksted, and you are probably coming to Christiansted anyway so take advantage.  See our previous post HERE about Christiansted.

We found an open network amongst the back alleyways and it was soooooooo sloooooooow, but free. It's much better to pay a couple of bucks rather than take an hour just to download your email, and that says a lot coming from Ms CheapSeats.

Anyway, as I was saying, we now have wifi service on the boat again in Christiansted Harbor. I called BroadbandVI last Thursday that we couldn't connect to any of their hotspots since noon Tuesday. The tech said that all their networks are up and running and perhaps I should dump my cache. They always try to blame it on the user.  I called back on Friday and told them that we can't access any of their hotspots' login page, plus other people are having the same problem.  He gave me to another technician who appeared interested in the situation and didn't try to blame it to user error.  Gold stars for that! He came out to Christiansted and had to replace some bits and pieces, and now it is working finest kind :)

So, to make a long story shorter, if you need to subscribe to a service while in Christiansted Harbor the correct hotspot to select out of that long list is BroadbandVI_Harbor (and NOT Harbor_v).

Bareboats and anchoring... Boy, can I rant about that, but I'll try and spare you... a bit :)

Yesterday, while dinghying back to the boat, we passed by two bareboats in the crowded mooring field in Christiansted Harbor, St Croix USVI.


The monohull and catamaran are rafted together and they have tied up to two moorings off the starboard side of the monohull so they are tethered fore and aft.  Bob says they had an anchor off the bow, and I don't know about the port side... But, this makes them unmoveable and there are many boats moored around them which WILL move.  I know WE were pointing every which way last night!

It is always a bit nervous making when we don't have much wind and the boats swing around willy nilly and not necessarily in concert with those about them, due to different scope, hull characteristics, windage, currents...  Hopefully these Sunsail boats played well with others, but I'm glad they were not in our neighborhood.

We just came back from doing a bit of shopping and stopped by the vet (Progressive Veterinary Hospital) in the Gallows Bay Marketplace to get their business card.  Always a good thing to have, and hope we won't have to use it.



Kasey Canton, DVM
Gallows Bay : 340-719-7387
La Grande Princess : 340-718-1256
Emergency : 340-332-2056

See our previous post (Cruisers Map for Christiansted St Croix USVI) which has a map of the Christiansted area. The vet is marked #7.

Where's the Vet?  This is one of the first things we try to "suss out" when we arrive someplace new. Tie up at St Croix Marine (#1) in Gallows Bay, follow their driveway up to the main road then turn right (Mt. Welcome Road). You will soon come to the next cross street (Garden Street) and take a left onto it. Walk along this road past the St Croix Bank and US Post Office (#3) on your left and the Gallows Bay Marketplace on your right.  When you see Undercover Books (#6) at the back corner of the second building on your right, take a right into the parking lot behind the bookstore. There will be a long building on your left and that is where the veterinary hospital (#7) is located.

When we were picking up our mail yesterday at Surf The Net ($12/month to have a local mailing address which is very handy!) we picked up a flyer for the 2nd Annual Beard & Moustache Contest, which is part of the Mardi Croix festivities.

The theme for this year is "Krewe de Croix Blasts into Outer Space!" 

This is something new to me.  Seems like it started in 2002. Here's their website:
http://www.mardicroix.com/

The theme for the dog parade is MOONDOGGIES.  Sounds like fun... Wonder if they have other animals besides dogs...

Here are some of their scheduled happenings:

• Jan 16: Beard Team USA Contest - Christiansted Boardwalk @ 2pm
  
• Jan 23: Mardi Croix Season Kick-Off Party - Off The Wall beach bar, Cane Bay @ 7pm
• Jan 30: Krewe de Barkus Dog Parade - Christiansted Boardwalk @ 3pm
• Feb 13: Mardi Croix Parade - Northshore, Cane Bay @ noon

Mardi Gras is Tuesday, February 16 this year.

Yesterday, Sunday, we decided to get in the dinghy and go for a snorkel away from the boat.  We chose a shallow area with grass and sand.


There were quite a few conch, and it appears to be mating season (didn't take any photos of that :)

I found the trails that the conch leave very interesting. I wonder how fast they move?


Bob picked up one conch shell and it had a hermit crab squatting in it.


I enjoyed our swim... (today we got a phone call from a client in Boston and it was 9F degrees... It's 80-something here).


Today, we took the bus up to Sunny Isle to visit the big hardware store so we could check out their lumberyard. Didn't see anything of interest.

We went to Cost-U-Less and bought a couple of things, but we have found that it's just as good, if not better, to go shopping at Pueblo and Schooner Bay Market.

Looks like the sun is almost over the yardarm (we don't have a mast but there must be a boat with a yard somewhere... Yes, the Schooner Roseway!) so we'll pour ourselves a wee tot of Cruzan Blackstrap Rum and have some quality time with the cats. Mmmmmmmm, nice stuff!

VITRAN BUS SCHEDULE for Christiansted - Frederiksted route

Trying to get some info out to those of you who might visit St Croix, US Virgin Islands.

We like using the VITran buses because they are only $1.00 per trip, regardless of distance.

There are also taxi buses which charge a flat fee of $2.50. We haven't used these because they aren't marked any differently from a "normal" taxi.  We've been told to flag down a taxi (vans with a taxi dome) and ask if they're a 250 taxi. I guess if you see a taxi van with some people staying aboard while some are getting off, that that is a pretty safe bet.

There are also normal taxis which are more expensive. For example, Christiansted to Golden Rock Shopping Center is $8 one way for up to 2 people.

This morning, for example, we are going to walk up to Pueblo supermarket at Golden Rock and then take the $1 Vitran bus back (10 minute ride) with our shopping.  It is a bit of a hike, but we need the exercise. Today, we are going to take a different walking route there. We'll leave our dinghy in front of Styxx and then walk along the boardwalk until it ends at the seaplane dock and then turn right on the road and follow it up to the main street, then take a right on it and continue until we run into the shopping center.  Before, we have tied up at Styxx, walked through (Caravelle Arcade) and take a right onto Strand Street and then take a left on a side street to King Street (runs parallel to Strand). Take a right, and follow this road and Golden Rock will be the second traffic light. Warning: the traffic lights are far apart :) You will pass the police station and the main post office.

I have typed out the bus schedule for the Christiansted-Frederiksted route from the copy I received from the lady at the National Parks Service. This morning I called Vitran to verify the time of the last bus for the weekend schedule and I was surprised that they quit so early. On weekend and holidays, there is only one bus running on this route (normally two) and Vitran works from 7am-4pm, so be careful... you have been warned :)  Although, you can probably take a $2.50 taxibus if you're too late for the bus.



It's another beautiful, sock-less day in St Croix.