Friday, June 12 2020

Hansen Bay/Round Bay, St. John, USVI
18.20.109 N
64.40.620 W

What should you do if you don’t understand a coronavirus joke?  Be patient. 

We were up at 6 am this morning so that Dale could listen to our weather guru, Chris Parker.  Although there might be some passing showers, it still looks good.  We hoisted our anchor about 5 feet at a time to give it a scrub before letting the chain slide back inside the anchor well.  The last 20’ or so of our stainless steel chain now has a golden hue to it.  Not sure what has made our silver turn to gold but I think its rather pretty. 

We were the second in line for fuel at Yacht Harbor Grand and easily came in and tied up at the fuel pier.  We took on 5 gallons of diesel, 92 gallons of water and 1 bag of ice.  We obviously seriously misjudged how much water we’ve been using.   

While at the dock, I took the opportunity to run our last bag of trash in and also to swing by the Customs and Border Protection office to ask about our Global Entry cards.  They had sent us an e-mail telling us that our Entry cards were due to expire but that they were moving to another system.  They provided a website but when you go to the website, it says that it won’t be usable until 1 July.  This seemed a little odd, so I thought the local CBP office might have some information about it.  Nope, they directed me to the airport office.  Calling the airport office, I got into one of those circle conversations where I explained everything to the lady that answered but she kept telling me that the office was closed for interviews until 1 July due to Covid 19.  I kept trying to tell her I was going to be out of the country in July and asked if there was a way to renew the card via the internet.  Nope, you have to be in the country.  So once our cards expire, we’re out of luck and will have to wait in the long line to return from a foreign country.

So back to the boat I went.  By this time, Opal had arrived with Gerry and Nicky aboard going through the same procedures as we were.  Gerry was also waiting for the refrigeration guys to bring him his 2^nd compressor (that was the agreement they made for not being able to fix the rattling his new one was making).  After we had filled our tanks and used a few extra gallons of water to wash off the anchor and chain, we were hurried along as there was a line forming to come in to get fuel. 

We slowly made our way away from the fuel dock and inched our way through the anchorage doing 2 kts. waiting for Opal to pull away as well.  Unfortunately, the refrigeration guys still hadn’t shown up.  A telephone call indicated that they were on their way but we can imagine Gerry’s demeanor after making arrangements for an 8 am delivery and having to wait until almost 10 to receive it.  In any event, they eventually showed up and they were able to pull away.  By this time, we had already hoisted our main sail and had crept out of the harbor channel and out into the sea.  Heading directly into the wind it was easy to keep our speed slow.  We had just turned east when Opal radioed that they were on their way. 

Teddy (his name is classified)

piloting

We picked up our speed and headed to St. John.  We had a few sprinkles but other than that, it was a very pleasant motor/sail. 

We arrived in Hansen Bay which is actually one of 3 smaller bays within what is called Round Bay; the majority of which is a national underwater park.  It took us 2 attempts to set the anchor and it never did give us the solid pull that we like to feel, so Dale dove the anchor just to make sure.  You can imagine his surprise when he started off in the direction we thought we had dropped it, only to find it directly behind us.  Some pretty fluky winds in here for sure.  Since its just an overnight stay with no substantial winds forecast, we’ll make do. 

Opal anchored at what first appeared to be a reasonable distance from us but with the shifting winds, ended up pretty close on a couple of occasions with our two sterns passing by each other, so they decided to move.  I had suggested that if we got close enough, they should just tie up to us and not worry about it.  Guess they wanted their privacy.  They’re now anchored directly behind us.  At least that’s where it looks like they are. 

Within 15 minutes of dropping the hook, Savannah had her bathing suit on and was begging to go in.  She swam for about 30 minutes before we decided that she had had enough.  It was still pretty early in the day and we didn’t want her to get burned. 

So here we sit in a beautiful anchorage with crystal clear water trying not to get anxious about our next leg.  We’ve coordinated a departure time of 9am to head offshore to Saba, a small island just southwest of St. Marteen.  It will most likely be another motor sail as we are heading more east than south but once we reach our waypoint, we will turn almost directly south and be able to sail the remainder of the trip.  It’s a bit farther off the islands but a more direct route.  With any kind of luck, we’ll be approaching Grenada on Wednesday morning.  Funny thing, I just calculated out a couple of scenarios and it looks like we’ll be arriving on Tuesday.  Think I better go talk with the guys. 

Again, wish us luck.

What’s the difference between COVID-19 and Romeo and Juliet? One’s the coronavirus and the other is a Verona crisis.