April 28th, 2011 ~ St. Thomas VI

Well we are starting to get settled in. Ed has made many repairs which were necessary due to very rough weather we endured for about 4 days during our crossing. He still has a list of projects which he is determined to get completed if at all possible before Emma arrives on May 10th.

I have been cleaning, cleaning, cleaning now that we are in a slip and have adequate water and little movement.

We've met some very nice people here - Ruth and Koni aboard SV "Bora Bora". They hail from Switzerland and have made three cross Atlantic sails. They are retired, middle 60's and have 2 children and 5 grandchildren. On the other side of us is a Captain, Michael Tetelbaum who takes care of SV "Papa Goose". The owner is not here.

The gal who works in the marina office, Brianne used to work at the Tiki Hut at Marina Jacks and knows Sam and all the crew there. She and her husband live on a sailboat here and have for about 7 years.

There's a very nice market here at the Marina but it's very expensive. A NY Times newspaper cost $15.00! I wouldn't buy it anyway but geewhiz!

We had an interesting conversations with Ruth and Koni about life on boats as well as the joys of grandparenting as well as politics. They asked us if we liked our President - to which we quickly replied, NEGATIVE! They don't like him either. They said they don't trust him.

Then our taxi driver, Yogi is from Jerusalum. He says he would like to go home but he cannot. He sadly talks of the unrest in the Middle East and how "one man can sit on his fat ass and take so much from the hard working people and make life miserable". He says he's very happy to be in America and thinks we have a great country but has hopes that Obama doesn't screw it up like what has happened in the Middle East.

The people who work on boats here seem very responsible, unlike what I've heard of the "island time workers". A tall dutchman, Herman van der Heide has worked on our electronics and is very bright and decisive. Then, Byron came to estimate making some hanging screens to shield the bright sun/heat from coming in the salon windows but he says he just is too busy and can't get to us in our timeframe; as we depart around May 12.

We met a gal, Summer who works on a large sailing charter vessel with her boyfriend, Ash. They are both from Austrailia. She's a delight and is grateful for our DVD library from which she can borrow movies to watch until such time they leave to take the boat to New York where the owner and his family lives.

We are the "odd duck" here as we are the only Trawler. The rest of the boats are either single hull or dual hull sail boats.

This morning during breakfast we watched a big transport vessel pull out. It was loaded with a large ferry boat, "Tatoo" and a few 100' + yachts and severl sail boats. I don't know where they were being taken. Our friends, Ruth and Koni are having their sailboat transported to the south of France where they have a summer home. They said it will cost them about 17 euros which is about $30,000 US.

I have many great pictures that I've taken during our crossing and while here but I need to figure out how to get them posted so our followers can view them. Maybe Herman can tell me next time he comes by.

Oh, just today, the largest sailing vessel in the world just pulled in. She is nearly 300 feet. So beautiful. The mast is right around 200 feet. I hope my pictures do it justice.

All for now. God's blessings and peace,

Lisa