A Month in the Virgins

After seeing Bryan off to his new life in Miami, we turned to the maintenance tasks awaiting us. Fortunately, St. Thomas provides us the opportunity to engage competent marine technical experts, and the ability to locate supplies and parts that are sometimes difficult to find elsewhere in the Caribbean.

I should mention here that our laptop computer had become ill, and had to go into the Computer Hospital. We took it into a repair place in Charlotte Amalie, where it stayed for three weeks. Several hundred bucks later, it came back with a new motherboard. This should help explain why our email and blog updates have been running behind schedule.

The computer repair was especially critical to Susan, since she only had until the end of February to complete her coursework to renew her real estate license. As you may know, realtors must complete 24 hours of continuing education every two years to maintain their real estate license. Susan made it three days under the wire!

Also, our big 12KW Generator needed to have its fuel injection pump rebuilt. This is the generator which creates the power to run our watermaker and air conditioners when we are at anchor (away from shore power). We located a good diesel mechanic, who removed the pump, and sent it to a company in Texas that specializes in rebuilding them. That also took about three weeks.

The main power control panel also needed the attention of a marine electrician. The “Shore Power 2” system kept shutting off for no apparent reason. The electrician found that the GFI breaker had become defective. A new one was ordered from Miami and installed two weeks later.

Our hot water heater had begun showing signs of impending doom. While working on the generator, I noticed a small drip below the water heater. I traced it to a rusty spot on its bottom. Susan and I know what havoc can be created when a water heater ruptures, and you have VERY HOT water spraying under 40 pounds of pressure all over the place. An engine room full of sensitive equipment is no place to allow that to occur. So we found a marine plumber, bought a new water heater from the local ACE Hardware, and installed it the next day.

While re-supplying our paper goods, which are stored under the floorboards of the forward stateroom, I discovered more water present than should normally be in that area of the bilge. After a bit of investigation, I determined that two out of the three bilge pumps that service that section of the bilge had gone bad. Our friendly neighborhood marine plumber quickly remedied that situation with some high-quality re-wiring and two new pumps.

Once these repairs had been made, we decided to join some new friends for a week of cruising in the BVI’s. Jill and Dick are from Burlington N.C., and are our neighbors here in the marina. We met them our first day here. They are aboard a late-model 48’ Island Packet sailing yacht, which they sail down from the Chesapeake each December. They spend the season here, and return to the States in April. Their children, friends and relatives come to visit and sail with them at intervals each season. Since Dick and Jill have been coming here annually for at least 8 years, they know all the neat anchorages, beaches, and snorkeling spots around here.

We enjoyed our cruise with them, as we traded off dinners aboard and ashore, swimming and snorkeling together. Midway through the week, our big generator overheated and as designed, shut itself down (a very big safety feature). We spent a day at anchor in Gorda Sound, where I was able to replace the impeller in the raw water pump from my spare parts inventory. That resolved the problem. We visited the islands of Jost van Dyke, Virgin Gorda, Cooper Island, and two harbors on either side of St. John; Waterlemon Bay and Little Lamshure Bay . During my repair day, Dick and Jill took their friends on up to Anagada, and met us back at Cooper Island. It was a nice break, with a spectacular sunset sail aboard Changin’Tags under full sail which has Susan completely re-enchanted with sailing.

At the end of that week, Susan and I intended to find an anchorage within a dinghy ride of the amenities of Red Hook, but it was not to be. The weather deteriorated, and we spent a night rolling at anchor in Secret Harbor, Nazareth Bay. So we headed back to American Yacht Harbor Marina, in 30 knot winds, and 8’ seas.