More Celebrations

How does this sea grass make these regular shapes?

Leslie fits the new cockpit flooring

It came out pretty good!

Both our boys and their families were coming soon so a few little projects needed to be done. We put a new ceiling with lights under the hardtop, added new deck covering in the cockpit and now we really have an outside room. We had already put up some shelves in the forward staterooms and we were ready for the family!

The material I drug from the lumber
yard for the new cockpit overhead

The overhead up with lights in it

We bought an inflatable with an 18 HP Tohatsu so we would have 2 "cars" while the kids were here. The idea was to use it, keep the engine as a spare, and sell the dinghy when the kids left. So I made another engine holder, but I decided I didn't want to maintain another engine. So we sold it for the purchase price when they were gone.

I polished a piece of brush finish tubing
to a mirror finish for the new outboard
engine storage mount

The new engine mount

The second "car"

Madison, what is Aron pointing to
that is so funny?

Katie remains calm and happy to be here

Aron arrived first with his wife Katie and the kids Madison and Cole. I picked them up at the airport with our rented car and brought them to Grandma’s Camp at Brewers Bay Beach. 

The pack is heavy, and Cole is tired, but he trudges on! 

Cloe is excited! Tali is not far behind

The parents make a plan 

Eric and his wife Kelly and girls Tali and Cloe were only an hour behind so I no sooner dropped one group of them, then I went for the other. 

Camp Grandma at Brewers Bay

Relaxing in the Bay

We spent the first afternoon on the beach relaxing after their long trip and dinner was burgers and fries from the food truck.

Eric and Aron work the lobster into the bag

We got a lobster for appetizers It was a group effort with
Aron finding and snagging it and Eric getting it in the bag

Set sail!

Aye Captain!

While they were here we had some wonderful sails, snorkels and dives. Madison had just got Scuba certified so she joined us on our dives, while the rest were really good at snorkeling and swimming. The kids also got to steer the dinghies. Too bad I forgot to get pictures of them at the helm of the dinghies! However, they did well and we had a hard time keeping Cole from steering all the time.

Kelly is very comfortable diving

Madison keeps up no problem

Who says you can't dive and drink?

Tali was at home in the water

The Kids cabin

Cloe helps Pop

With only 4 cabins and 2 heads, but with 10 people the accommodations are tight. The parents took the 2 forward cabins, and the kids took the port aft cabin, however Cloe slept with her parents,  while we kept our aft starboard cabin. I was pleased that even with 10 people on the boat there was no tension or arguments or problems with everyone so close.

4th of July and we are prepared

The Kids!

Cole loves the tramp

 

Leslie and I answer questions about our living together

The boy's families surprised us with an anniversary party and a game that was to see how well we really knew each other….. We did pretty darn good-41 years is a long time.

Cole is a great snorkeler

The week at Shipwreck Bay

We visited Honeymoon Beach on Water Island as well as the one on St John. On the way to St. John we stopped at Shipwreck bay on Buck Is. and dove a shipwreck   Of course no trip would be complete without a couple of nights at Maho before they had to leave. It was an all too short a visit!

We swam through tons of fish

The candle fish are hard to catch
as them come out of their hole

Madison loved the clear water

Eric played with an Arrow Crab

We celebrate our being together

Pastor is a year older

When they all left we met with our cruising friends for a dinner at our favorite restaurant, Island View. That week was also our pastor’s, L B Tatum, birthday and we celebrated it with him at the bible study class.


Next we go the the BVI and prepare to haul the boat for the year.

Fun, Fun, Fun

The high society booth

They were Hot!

After getting a spot on the Hurricane Chain in St. John at 10 AM we headed to Magan’s Bay for the King of Wings contest and arrived at noon just after it started. It had about 40 contestants so there were wings abounding. Again we bought tickets at $1 per wing and started tasting! The day was gray and cool and it affected the crowd as they were more subdued than last year.

They loved their wings

Captain VI was there

It was still a good sized crowd and we had a blast! The wings were good and the people fun. We missed the crowning of the King as we had gone for a swim to cool off and clean our hands and got to meeting some people.

A fun booth

 

It was a good sized crowd

Everyone was having fun

ARHHHH!

The trophies!

The contestants mix

and mix some more

The next day we headed back to St. John for the Iron  Bartender Contest. We were told it started at 2PM so we arrived at about 3PM only to find it had started at noon! All was not lost as they had just finished the first round. There were 12 contestants from bars on St. John, mostly, St. Thomas, and one from St. Croix.

Where is that bottle?

The bartenders face off, in a friendly
way

They were told a drink to make and what ingredients it had to contain and they could add others. It was fun to watch as the judging was based on taste, presentation and showmanship. There were only about 100 spectators, but they were enthusiastic!

The judges. They changed judges every
round

The Winner!

In the end it boiled down to the bartender from St. Croix and a woman bartender, who was one of only 4. She won and it was a good celebration.

The birthday girl!

The anniversary couple
Bruce and Connie

The next day we headed back to St. Thomas and arranged a dinner at the Island View, one of our favorite dinner places, for Leslie’s birthday. As we invited guest we discovered our friends Bruce and Connie were celebrating their anniversary the same day at the same place! So we combined our forces, as most of all the people were both our friends. We had a great time and fantastic dinner. Bruce and Connie were presented with an inflated nude female, but Leslie said that could not make the blog.

 

A good time

The dinner party

Next we prepared for the arrival of our kids. We prepared the boat for 10, 6 adults and 4 children. That will be our next blog!