We woke up today to a beautiful morning in Maho Bay, St John after a forecast “breezy with a 70% chance of showers” day yesterday. Actually gusts from Invest92 blowing in the mid to high 30’s with several inches of rain to wash the salt off MG as well as her crew. A very sporty dinghy ride to town brought us back to the boat in Caneel Bay soaked and tired and happy and fulfilled.
Big (not really) plans of getting off the mooring early, buzzing into Cruz Bay for a much needed fueling and then bugger off east to Coral Bay, St John just the other side to anchor for a longer term stay so Kelly can work, kids can school, and MG can continue to require and get more attention than any of us.
Fueled up, no worries mon. They don’t answer the radio at the fuel dock even though while there we could hear quite clearly other people calling. The island pigeon was flying between dock hands with cold shoulders my way from all of them. When my credit card was processed our friendly attendant used it to wordlessly poke me in the back to let me know our transaction was completed. Funny change from Puerto Rico where everyone was friendlier than I am to USVI where the locals seem to be very be grudgingly excepting our commerce if not our presence so far at least.
Eastbound through the Windward passage over top of St. John headed to coral Bay for a long (contemplating several week) stay in the protected Anchorage so we could really dig in, explore the interior, the hiking trails, reefs and generally some of the reasons we are reminding ourselves why we might have taken this trip in the first place.
Annnnd, the engine on the dinghy fell off. A narrow pass between large rocks strong eastbound current countering strong Eastery winds kicked up large waves quickly. The #€*>?!’ outboard I have fought with since Maine last year didn’t have the courtesy to fall off and sink to the bottom. Only to slip off and drag by the fuel line! The screw pegs that hold it on to the dinghy or the bracket at the back of our boat have been seized from salt so I lubricated them. And they were lubricated. So well that 5 foot short wave chop manage to slowly unwind them and flip them off of the boat.
I told Kelly as a net neutral solution to my potential polluting of the Caribbean I would have gladly cleaned tons of trash from all of the beaches if only that engine had had the courtesy to sink. No such luck. We pulled the 115 pound engine from a pitching choppy see and flopping its lifeless body on the swim platform and motored to Redhook, Saint Thomas only a couple miles down wind and in sight. My bad luck continued when the man I called to pronounce the motor DOA said “Das a Noo Puppy you drop, Mon!”.
Yeah, it’s relatively new, I know.
“I cun fix em- $150”
Dammittt!!! OK
Motor in the dock cart Mr. Robinson on his way. I told Kelly I didn’t get any contact information from him and if this was an elaborate scam to steal the engine I would be so happy if he pulled one over on us but my suspicion is that he is an honest talented man and will fix this horrible machine and bring it back to us tomorrow in perfect working condition for a very inexpensive price.
So a recurring theme with us is: make a plan and then do what happens. We had great hamburgers for lunch, kids did school, Kelly got work done, boat is clean. Maybe we’ll go to coral Bay tomorrow or not. I told some guys on the dock I was joking around with that on our cruise we have broken everything that can be broken. Awkward silence followed. I quickly amended that to say we have fixed everything that’s broken thus far.Much love. Stay tuned.
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Hilarious!