November 30, Virgin Gorda
Still here. Sorry for
not updating. Here’s what’s been going on: Christine stayed
another two weeks back home (six weeks total), and I roamed around the
islands myself
,
doing lots of projects and repairs on the boat. Then got “stuck” in a
muddy mangrove boatyard marina in St. Thomas, on an engine repair for two
weeks. Why two weeks? It took the repair shop a full week to
ship the part out (fuel injector pump) to the states for a rebuild.
Island time, you know.
Then, Christine arrived back a week and a half ago, and we have been working on the boat while waiting for weather for our next passage south. Gypsy Cat is looking great – freshly scrubbed, waxed, etc. So, that’s the main reason for the lack of updates. Didn’t want to bore anyone with boring posts. Hurricane season is officially over and we are ready to sail onward. I REALLY want to get “down-island.”
In lieu of new adventures, I’ll share some oddities about the islands. Of course I love them, but here’s the scoop on some things:
First, now this is weird and many will not believe me, but it is true (not just in the islands, but at sea): If your life is in danger and you are going to die, call the Coast Guard, as they will come rescue you and go all out to save you, putting their life on the line if need be. Amazing guys (and girls) and heroic. BUT, if you need assistance because you are in a jam, like a motor problem or something not life threatening, DO NOT call them. Why?, because you will lose your boat. What??? It is true. If you have a beautiful yacht or boat that needs assistance such as a motor problem, bad leak, etc. they will help and you lose your boat. Let me explain: They will not come out to you if it is not life-threatening, but they try and get you, the captain, to agree to let a SALVAGE company steal/rip-off/jack your boat in the meantime. I have heard this radio traffic many times and it is the truth. Common sense says that if you need help, you get a hold of a company that can bring a mechanic or tow your boat. Sure you will pay thousands of dollars for it, but then you are done and safe. Maritime law says (I believe, but am not a Maritime Atty.) that if someone renders assistance and the captain gets off the boat, the person or agency that helps actually gets to KEEP aka JACK the boat!!!!! The Coast Guard works with or insists upon a salvage company. The incredulous captains on the radio are flabbergasted at the thought of losing the boat due to a bad fuel pump or something. But the Coast Guard tries hard to get the salvage company out to relieve you of your boat. Like I said, I heard it many times on the VHF radio. What a racket. Can you imagine how many boats have been stolen/jacked in this manner? What if the captain is very sick, or does not speak good English, or there is a misunderstanding/misrepresentation or something? Well, you lose your boat. Whatever attorney figured out how to put that scam on the books, gets an extra 10 lbs of cement added to the bucket around their feet. It is even worse, sometimes, in other countries, too.
Prices: Yes, it is expensive in the islands, but understandable due to shipping as most things are imported. I have no problem paying twice or three times what it is in the states, as we are not in the states. It is what it is. No problem. BUT, here is the thing: First, most things at stores are not marked making it difficult to comparison shop, and then the marked items are OFTEN priced higher at the register due to a “mistake”. If you are not on your toes at the register you will be paying a LOT more. I once came to the register with about a dozen items. The first FIVE items were all overpriced from what was marked (about an extra $20). Of course, it is was a lot of "honest mistakes".
Then, you find the prices randomly priced, I swear to you. The small item – same brand, same product – is marked higher than the large item, often. Even looking at the same product on the shelves they often have different prices marked – same expiration date, etc. At the last store we were at, the Miller Lite and Bud cost more than Heineken! Although a better quality beer that needs to be shipped from Holland, it was priced less. I’ll take Heineken, thank you.
If you want a boat item, you could pay $14 at one store and $85 at another one down the road (actual example).
If you go for happy hour, and it says, “All drinks are ˝ price” AND you verify that with the server, look at your bill. It may show some ˝ off and some full price. Explanation: “except that one and that one”.
You will probably see a sign out front of a restaurant or pub that says, “Happy Hour – All appetizers half price.” Then they give you a “special” happy hour menu with a slightly discounted selection. Honestly, it is like being in a lot of third world countries. It’s not the prices, but the widespread “errors, accidents, and bad math” that I am talking about. When you find an honest place that does math well, they are like gold, and you stick with them and give them all your business.
"Island time" - Yes, things move REALLY slow and it is nice, a lot of times. But sometimes things move sssllloooooooooowwwwww. Like in retarded-slow. And, like many third-world countries, inefficiency rules the day. Example: my propane excursions. In the states, it is a simple trip to Home Depot, Wal-mart, wherever, and you swap propane tanks, and you're done. Here, your choices are: A) drop off your tank to be filled and pick it up in a few days. Been there, done that. You keep coming back and you get excuses, but no propane. B) You call a middleman who has to come see your tank (although it is your basic tank, easily explained volume and weight) to give you an "estimate". Been there, done that. C) Find a truck or place that fills it. Found a place, but you need a rental car to get there and who knows if they are going to be open - so many siestas and holidays and break times, and such. Found a propane truck at a fuel station. Trouble is, you can't get them to fill it as, "not on Sunday", "the guy's not here right now", "I don't know if there is any propane today", "propane? you mean gas? is that the tank? I don't know what kind of tank that is." You get the idea. D) You find a place that does propane exchanges. Problem is, is that they have cages that hold, maybe, 30 tanks, but they order, maybe, two. So, you have to make a few trips to have them hold one for you, and try and time the day of the week, etc. Even then, the propane, often, does not come. Even Home Depot on St. Thomas suffers from the same malady. I went the late afternoon of the day of the morning delivery (dragging my large propane tank around on the "safari bus"). Yet, they had no propane. The day that they got their propane, I noticed that they too, like to order, like 5 bottles, when they can hold a couple cages of 30 each. This propane process can take days to accomplish.
Some of the things I’ve done in the last week are: bottom-scrubbed and re-glued several pieces back on “POC” – our dinghy - (stands for Piece Of Crap) and worked on her carburetor, on Gypsy Cat adjusted the rigging, fixed the backstay (a connection had broke), freed up a rudder on it’s up/down movement (it had a jammed line in it), changed the criss-cross stabilizing lines on the dingy davit, greased all points on the outdrive, re-glued the entry door rubber strip, did several bottom scrubs on the hulls, removed a tough dingy scum-line all around the water line and underneath the deck, shined up all the stainless on deck, freed up a clogged vent for the head, took off any and all rust spots on the stainless or fiberglass, scrubbed everything topsides, cleaned up excess silicon around deck fittings, took off any glue, grease, or mark I could find – inside and out, and Christine and I put on two coats of wax topsides. Today, I am going to clean up the engine compartment and finish up the shining of all the stainless, clean all the windows, and Christine and I will put on another coat of wax in the cockpit area. Gypsy Cat is glowing white and shiny!!!
So, at this exact moment, it is morning for us in North Sound/Virgin Gorda Sound (depending on which chart you are looking at), we are protected from 8’ swells that are coming in from the north, the wind is blowing a gusty 15-25 knots from the east, there are four charter catamarans anchored nearby, a fisherman is pulling up traps next to us, two little goats are grazing near shore about 40’ away from us, Christine is sleeping, and I am finishing up my chi about to get to work.
We have been waiting for weather for our next crossing. Due to a couple back to back systems, the islands here have had over a week of big seas offshore – up to 12’ swells. We have made the best use of our down-time as you can see in our protected coves and lee shores, but are anxious to be on our way. I am waiting for, maybe, 3-4’ seas with a NE wind in which case we will likely go to Saba next (a rarely visited “Shangri La”) or if we get a “norther”, then Anguilla or St. Martin. Either way, we are going to all of the islands – it’s the wind direction that will dictate the order of some of them.
Next update will be from the Leeward Islands! And I am now on camera number 3, so I'll have more pictures next time.