Saturday, March 28, 2020

Francis Bay, St. John, USVI
18.21.859N
64.44.875W

I’d say that today was a lazy day as we never lowered the dinghy into the water but that wouldn’t be true. 

Our morning started about the same time but at a much slower pace.  Gerry popped by to pick up some seizing wire, as he’s been having a problem with his shackle pin trying to back out of his anchor.  As he lost an anchor during our original cruise back in 2006, he’s pretty cautious about making sure his anchor stays where it’s supposed to be.  Dale had a larger size seizing wire that he was going to try.  As he was here and his dinghy was already in the water, I asked for a quick ride to the opposite side of the harbor to take a photo (that I used in yesterday’s blog) of the little house. 

Dale spent the better part of the morning trying to figure out why the float switch he had just replaced had suddenly stopped working.  He eventually found that the source wires that run from the electrical panel in the salon to the bilge were corroding and he had to strip the wires back to find “clean” wire before wiring the replacement switch back in.  Once done, it worked perfectly.  Now, we wonder if that might have been the problem with the original switch that he threw away as he doesn’t remember testing it separately once he took it off. 

We made water for a couple of hours.  I got a lesson on how to run the water maker in case I ever need to and Dale’s not around. 

Dale dug out the tax information again.  I had to download his Navy retirement info but in doing so, had to put in a new password.  Of course, you put in the information you think is accurate a couple of times until you finally give up; create a new password, only to find that it expires in a few months.  At least now I know that I didn’t forget the password, it just expired.  Then, once again, I excused myself to read below until he yelled down for bank information (which is a cue that he’s finally ready to file them).  Wahoo!  We get a refund this year.  Not enough to even pay off the credit card but every little bit helps. 

In preparation for tomorrow’s departure back to St. Thomas, we rolled up and secured the sun shades we had extended around the cockpit to keep it cool in the sun and Dale did his usual precheck on the engines.

Then this evening, we all gathered on Texas Crewed for sundowners and nibbles.  Gerry and Nicky picked us up as their dinghy was still in the water and we wouldn’t have to deploy ours.  Renee made a delicious home made pizza (she really has a talent for bread making).  They will be staying here and moving around to Leinster Bay in a day or two where we’ll meet up with them a in few days.  Opal has elected to return to St. Thomas with us for one last shopping trip (we hope).  Rum Truffle, who we thought would join us, was having starter problems and never left St. Thomas, so we’re not sure when they’ll be able to join us but we’ll follow up with them when we get back. 

So, as I started, not really a lazy day but then it was at a much slower pace.  Tomorrow, we’ll hoist sails and head back.