We are sitting in Charlotte Amalie Bay observing our surroundings. Tomorrow we are leaving here, after 4 or 5 days to venture off to the Virgin Islands. This is an interesting place.
First of all, the St. Thomas emergency services are way too keen to use their sirens. We hear them blaring up and down the main promenade day and night, and during the day at least 3 times per hour, madly trying to spur vehicles out of their way. It would seem so frequent that unless there is an over abundance of calamity here, they use the siren for jaywalkers and cruise ship shoplifters, etc.
Secondly, the radio was crackling with alerts from the (what the hell do they do, anyway?) coastguard about an overturned catamaran with three persons in the water – how do they know that without going to their aid? – and was saddened tonight to read on the internet that the boat was found adrift 20 miles off Vieques after leaving the BVIs two days ago with no sign of the occupants. Sobering and scary stuff. That could easily be us.
Our new electric toilet is acting up. Not doing the job as well as it used to. This is nothing to be sneezed at because we will soon be holding our noses (and using a bucket!!!!) if this continues. A preliminary inspection (and believe me, this was a ghastly task) revealed nothing out of the ordinary, which is disgusting enough in and of itself. My fingers are crossed that this situation resolves itself without further ado. Other body parts are also optimistic.
Our new, overpriced and highly anticipated barbeque has so far been beyond our capabilities. It gets hotter than a firecracker - the portable oven thermometer recorded temperatures upward from 550; it melted my spatula when I tried to flip a foil packet of potatoes. It took some scrubbing to remove all the fused on melted plastic. With all the f-bombs Bill used, you’d think it was a Microsoft product.
The cruising life is not sitting as well with me this year as in past. Maybe its just my knees, but I’m having trouble working up the energy for routine cleaning tasks and find myself putting things off more than should be. I have less enthusiasm for turning out something gourmet from a kitchen the size of a public bathroom stall. While the sunsets and skies tend to be magnificent, I find myself yearning for some favorite TV shows, the luxury of endless hot water showers and the accessibility of goods and services, like fresh bread, meats, fruits and vegetables and reliable internet. Also my lovely, convenient washer and dryer. I have less patience for the challenges of living on a boat and worry more about the cost of this behemoth. It is endless work, tough on our aging bodies, and more expensive than anyone who is not a boater can imagine. And most of all, I miss my friends, family and the sense of belonging to something greater than myself; not just my ‘place in the universe’ but a sense of purpose. I think I’m a bit lonely and I think that a partial consolation of the lifestyle is to befriend the people on the next boat so that you have someone and something to talk about at happy hour.
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