The Frolicers: Not Where We Thought We Would Be

Oh! We have been bad! It has been a long time since we blogged! This may have to be two blogs. The year has not gone as planned or expected. The boat has been wonderful! Very few boat projects or repairs, knock on wood. However, we still haven’t gone very far, or taken the trips we had expected to as we have been busy helping others with some of their problems. That is not bad! We have enjoyed all of it, but it isn’t as exciting to read about as visiting new places and having new experiences. However, it is a part of life, and a wonderful part of life it is.

Ahh St Patrick's Day

Ohh! He's happy!

St Patrick’s Day was a blast at St John! As usual we got there early and the green drinks were flowing on the street! The parade is 1 block long and lasted 20 minute, but a eye popping 20 min. it is. There were maybe 4 floats, but they distributed all kinds of trinkets and balls. We anchored in Caneel Bay and met lots of our friends from BVI over to celebrate with the Irish. What a great Time!

Maybe old majorettes

The kids even had fun

Ahh! Mermaids!

A fun float

The Irish Toast

A true Irish Lass

One of the majorettes

The end of the parade

Carl splicing a line for the mooring

Carl with a sand screw

sand screw started to be drilled in

With us spending a lot of time in the USVI, Carl decided to put in a mooring. After a week anchored at the spot to watch the winds and movement of the other boats around, we went around and took GPS positions of all the nearby moorings and plotted them out. We then found the midpoint of the other moorings and put down a marker. It was 165’ from the nearest mooring, but we watched it and talked to our neighbors about being moored there. Everyone said it looked good so Carl and our friend and diving buddy Jane dove down and put in 3 sand screws. Jane then had to leave to go to the states, so Carl finished it up by laying down the chain and connecting screws to make the mooring.

Our second night at the mooring Carl awoke to the sound of a bilge pump going. He checked and found water in the port bilge, but the pump was not pumping it out. He emptied the bilge using the hand pump and the next day took the pump out and replaced the diaphragm. We tested it and it worked fine. Problem solved! However, the next month we did our normal testing and the pump didn’t work again. It actually popped the breaker. The pump came out again and we found it was frozen. So off to the chandlery for a new pump and installed it. All is good again.

The El Galleon

She is all rope rigged and has cannons!

you had to walk out there to furl the sail

We went to town one day and saw a Spanish Galleon at dock! An investigation found it is a reproduction and open for visiting. It is neat! It has cannons and all rope rigging and is constructed just like the old Galleons which plied the oceans for over 300 years!

The captains cabin

The wheel and it uses rope to the rudder

The boat is nestled on the ship and the supports welded on

Another new experience was helping a friend put a friend’s boat on a boat carrier! Of course the time we were told to be there was postponed for 2 hours, but it was interesting getting the boat hooked up to be hauled out and then going on board to put away all the fenders and lines and reattaching the backstay while they welded the boat supports to the hull.

The bride and Groom

The head table all set up

The father daughter dance

We were invited to a wedding and reception on Honeymoon Beach at Water Island. It is a wonderful place for a wedding with the ocean in the background and driftwood arch. The wedding cake was cupcakes with palm trees, mermaids, and boats as decoration. Carl liked all the flavors, had to try one of each!

The floor is open

The wedding cupcakes

Noah and Catlin were working on their apartment to get it ready to rent so as a wedding gift Carl spent some time giving electrical help spending 3 days putting up boxes and conduit on a concrete wall and running wires through them. It was a challenge to find power and get it to the receptacles. Later they called to say there was no power at the plugs, then there was power. Carl met with Catlin’s father, Scott, still latter and they talked about it and Carl suggested there was a switch that went to the power line he used, shades of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Scott checked and sure enough he found a switch that was controlling the power to the outlets. Someone would switch it and he would lose power, then someone would switch it again and he had power back.

Carl spent some time helping friends with boat problems. He helped install and seal an exhaust elbow and a heating hose adaptor on one friend’s boat and tighten the shaft seal on an Island Packet. You have to use a crowbar and hammer to hit the corner of the packing nut as there is no room for a wrench or anything in the narrow keel where it goes through. We helped a friend haul up their dinghy and patch a hole in its keel. Then there was a dive to clear a friend’s anchor line from an old abandoned sand screw, and wiring up some bow lights on a boat was another payback Carl did. I say payback because all these people, and more, had helped us with things in the past. They had paid forward.

The Danmark

The poop deck

The crew called to quarters

As we went by Crown Bay one day we saw the Danmark at the dock. It is a tall ship from Denmark here for the 100^th anniversary of the transfer of the Virgin Islands from Denmark control to the US. It is a beautiful ship and it is used to train young people how to sail.