Monday, March 23, 2020

Charlotte Amalie, USVI
18.20.072N
64.55.483W

No Safari on Sunday

Well I guess the Corona virus is finally starting to have an effect on us.  Yesterday, we thought we’d take the “safari bus” to Home Depot and spend the day over in that direction but after standing for 30 minutes waiting for one, we finally gave up the effort. 

I have a weakness for sailors

Nicky and I tried to pick up a sailor we found loitering on the wharf.  We didn’t have much success.  He was the strong, silent type.  He wouldn’t even buy us a drink. 

Nicky likes sailors too!

We eventually walked over to a Chinese restaurant the guys found for lunch and were able to sit inside but several other restaurants were only open for take out.  We saw a bunch of cruisers setting up their own lawn chairs in the parking lot to wait.  Wonder how that works in the scheme of things. 

Today, all restaurant business is completely take out.  Dale and Gerry had taken a taxi over to the UPS store to return the faulty water maker (which Dale said was surprisingly easy,) finally made it to Home Depot before returning on the “safari bus” and walked over to McDonalds while Nicky and I were doing laundry but had to stand in the drive through lane to order.  This threw every order off as there was no way for them to order through the vehicle activated radio and instead just walked up to the pick up window.  They got their food but it showed that there were others trying to order take out that the restaurants weren’t addressing. 

As I mentioned, Nicky and I had gathered our laundry today and walked a couple of blocks to the launderette to complete the task.  Talk about taking a day to do one thing, this was another example.  We had first dinghied in to the sail loft to see if I could order the replacement foam for our sling seat.  We had no sooner opened the door when the woman sitting inside said “that’s about 6 foot,” she could have said “reach for the sky” in the tone she used.  Once it was determined that they didn’t have any in stock and she made it sound as if it would be a huge imposition and gamble to order some prepaid, we left. 

There happened to be a hair salon in the same complex, I called to Nicky as we walked out the door that I was going to see if I could get my bangs cut.  A woman at the other end of the hallway said that all businesses were closed.  So much for my (hairdresser) niece’s comment that women would still get their hair done regardless of what was going on in the world.  Maybe she meant that we would want to get our hair done. 

Dinghy Madness

Of course, all of this moving around required getting on and off at the dinghy dock.  Today must have been the day when every boat in the anchorage went stir crazy and had to get off their respective boats as dinghies were 2 and 3 deep at the dock.  At one point Nicky and I were trapped inside so I put the engine in reverse, revved up the engine a bit, and then the two of us pushed and shoved our way out.  Obviously, we made it but . . . dang!

Tonight, we’ve decided to shelter in place; or in other words, we have to use up our left overs. 

The plan now is to hoist anchor tomorrow, if we can get it out of the mud, and move over to Francis Bay so that the guys can clean the bottom of the boats.  We may or may not see Texas Crewed and Rum Truffel as they were going to move in the same direction yesterday or today.  Not really sure what kind of WiFi I’ll find, so it may be a couple of days before you hear from us again.  Don’t worry, none of us has a sniffle or cough and no one has been partying hard enough for anyone to be thrown in jail.