Log of the sailboat "Magnolia".
Most recent entry is at end. This log file covers most recent weeks. Previous log file is here.		Please send any comments to me. My tentative cruising plans

3/14/2009 (Saturday) At anchor at Charlotte Amalie. Two big cruise-ships and one small one at the main docks. Big plans for today: start engine, raise anchor, motor around, to fuel dock to fuel up, then anchor in a better spot. So, of course, I loafed in the morning, playing with the computer. And by 10 the wind was blowing hard, and by 10:30 it was howling, with whitecaps coming past, the boat slewing around and rolling a bit. I'm not going to raise anchor in this mess. I need to scrub the chain as it comes up, I'm in 30+ feet of water, there's a boat behind me, and I don't know how my back will hold up. So I did little chores: tied fenders on, got dock-lines out, measured fuel level (6.0 inches at engine hour 4475), dumped 5 gallons of diesel from jug to fuel tank, checked engine and transmission fluids (bottom of transmission still a bit wet; tightened bolts and wiped it clean), cleaned up cockpit a little. In the afternoon, the wind and seas started easing a bit. At 3, started the engine. After checking for leaks and such in the engine compartment, started raising anchor. It was a struggle, in wind and wakes and with the anchor stuck very firmly in the bottom, and a 45-pound anchor with another 50 pounds of chain in 30-35 foot deep water. Tried using the anchor windlass, but it's extremely slow, and the handle has corroded to the point where it doesn't fit well. So I had to raise anchor manually. I managed to get the anchor free without hurting my back. Exhausted myself a bit, but by 3:15 I was able to motor clear of the boats around me, with the anchor dangling on 10-15 feet of chain off the bow. Rested briefly and then raised the anchor onto the bow. Motored back and forth a little, and everything seems good. So I headed for the fuel dock, hoping nothing would go "clunk" and force me to sail back to anchor. Got to the fuel dock okay, and needed to do a quick turn and a downwind docking, because the fillers are on the starboard side. Didn't time the turn quite right, ended up a little downwind of the pump on the dock, and the attendants struggled a little to get me into the right place. But got done around 3:30. Loaded 142 gallons of diesel, including 5 into a jug. That took 45 minutes or so; I can't pump too fast because the tank vent-line is only 1/4" diameter, and I'll get a geyser out of the filler if I pump too fast. And the builder ran a bulkhead right across the top of the fuel tank fittings, so I haven't been able to replace the vent line with a bigger one. At $2.20/gallon for diesel, total was $312. Gasoline is $2.19/gallon here today. Loaded 53 gallons of water; I had wanted 110 gallons, but the attendant left while I was pumping, I had no idea how much I'd loaded, and I stopped when one of the tanks seemed to be full. At 20 cents/gallon, $10.60 for water. Got off the dock around 4:35. Motored through the anchorage, and found a decent spot and got the anchor down by 4:50 at Charlotte Amalie. Nice to be in 15-foot water again; I hate anchoring in deepish water, where the scope is much less and raising anchor is so exhausting. So, that was a success ! Engine and transmission seem okay; will have to check transmission tomorrow morning for leaks and loose bolts and alignment. And then will have to snorkel under the boat and scrape the prop, before heading for Benner Bay some time in the next few days. But I'm feeling good ! Salad and salami-cheese-tomato sandwich for dinner. 3/15/2009 (Sunday) At anchor at Charlotte Amalie. One cruise-ship at the main docks. Still no free Wi-Fi from the boat. Dinghied ashore at 10 (wind starting to blow hard) and met Glen and Pam on the dinghy dock. They're here from Vancouver Canada to look at an Island Packet 38 to buy. In fact, they surveyed and sea-trialed it a couple of days ago, and decided not to buy it. They're disappointed; they were sort of counting on buying this boat, and even have a lot of stuff in their suitcases to move onto the boat. But now they're staying an extra week in a cheap hotel (I'm surprised how cheap: $200 or so for a week; I thought this island was a lot more expensive than that). They're fixed on Island Packet's, and still looking. Dinghied Glen and Pam out to my boat, gave them the nickel tour, and we sat and chatted for more than an hour. Very pleasant. Then we went back ashore, and they treated me to lunch. We went to an all-you-can-eat Filipino or Asian place, downstairs from the internet place I go to. The cash-register girls were impressively built and good-looking, and the food was good. More nice conversation. We parted, and I headed back to the boat. Fuel level 16.0 inches at engine hour 4476. Front end of engine has stayed in place, side-to-side; I was wondering if it would twist back to starboard under load. Engine and transmission fluid levels good, but bottom of transmission is wet again. I'm not sure the gasket in the middle is leaking; could the fluid be coming from the front end of the transmission ? Will have to monitor it. A little rain at 1:15. Dinghied ashore and to internet place ($3 for an hour). Glen and Pam were leaving as I arrived. Looks like weather is best (wind is lightest) for going to Benner Bay on Tuesday. After internet, got groceries at the supermarket and then back to the dinghy-dock. Just as I got off the dock, it started raining, and I was pretty wet by the time I got to the boat and got everything out of the dinghy. Salad and PB-sandwich for dinner. Rolly around sunset. Fairly heavy rain at 4:30 AM or so. 3/16/2009 (Monday) At anchor at Charlotte Amalie. One cruise-ship at the main docks. Checked engine and transmission fluids. Loosened coupling bolts and checked alignment again. Solid grey and cool and rainy from 11 onward. Put the bilge pumps back into the bilge. I need to snorkel under the boat and scrape the prop, but it's such uninviting weather. Finally gritted my teeth and did it at 2:30, in light rain. Scraped just the prop and got right back out. A little sun from 3 to 3:45, then grey and rainy again. Chili and a rum-and-coke for dinner. Sprayed a cockroach in the galley during the night. Pretty calm by midnight; looks good for leaving the harbor tomorrow. 3/17/2009 (Tuesday) At anchor at Charlotte Amalie. Up at dawn, getting ready to leave. Fairly grey weather with light wind (inside the harbor). Started engine at 6:30, and all looks good. Anchor up by 6:35, and motored out. Wasn't sure if I heard a slight thumping noise in the drive shaft, but it looked okay and I decided I was just being a bit nervous. Out of harbor and started east toward Benner Bay. A long, slow slog into wind and swells and current, as usual here. More anxious than usual because I kept wondering if something would go wrong with engine or transmission or whatever. But the boat kept chugging along, pitching and rolling and slowly making forward progress. A big sigh of relief when I finally turned the corner and the wind and swells now pointed me toward Benner Bay. Not many boats here this time; only 4 or so in False Bay, and only 1 anchored outside the inner bay. Was much more crowded last year. Into the inner bay around 8:35, and unfortunately it's still more-than-full and someone is occupying the nice little niche I anchored in last year, where I was aground 1/4 of the time and had to use a stern anchor to hold myself between two boats. Turned around and headed back out, seeing Woodie in his dinghy and saying hi on the way past. Got the anchor down outside the entrance by 8:45 at outside Benner Bay. Very exposed to swells here, but it's mainly pitching, which is okay, and I've anchored out here before. Still, I'd much rather be inside. No free Wi-Fi from the boat. I take it back: it's pretty uncomfortable here. The swells are making the boat corkscrew a bit, and that's irritating. Dinghied ashore, and found the old half-torn-down marina still in the same shape, with the same guys hanging out. And the Wi-Fi still working. Chatted with Gary and Gary and Gary and Woodie, and did internet for several hours. Not much has changed around here except that the DPNR finally chased just about everyone out of False Bay, as they'd been threatening to do. Didn't see Mario, but he's still around somewhere. Email'd my brother, asking him to send my mail to me. Used the book-exchange, and later went to the boatyard and used their book-exchange too. Back to the boat, where getting everything out of the dinghy while the boat was pitching strongly was quite an adventure. Salad and salami-and-cheese sandwich for dinner. Suddenly realized I have alot of welts on my back on the left side; got bitten while snorkeling under the boat yesterday. Uncomfortable night: very rolly all night, headachey, and didn't sleep well. The rolling didn't ease until almost dawn. 3/18/2009 (Wednesday) At anchor outside Benner Bay. Headachey. Did a bucket of laundry. Checked engine and transmission fluids, and the levels are fine, so nothing went wrong during yesterday's trip. Bottom of transmission is a little damp, but I think it's coming from the engine flywheel area. Loaded up the dinghy with a ton of stuff and headed ashore. Saw Glen and Pam on the dock at Compass Pointe and chatted with them for a little while. Then to the boatyard, where I disposed of garbage and left my rusty bike leaning against the dumpster; someone should recycle it. I hadn't used it in a year or two, and it was so rusty that I was afraid to try to use it. Over to Pirate's Cove and did Wi-Fi and chatted with the guys. Sounds like the scene here is getting bad. The authorities are chasing people into marinas (or moving them to abandon their junk boats), and word is that they're going to start checking holding tanks next year. But only three marinas on the island have pump-out stations, and they're probably a lot more eager to sell fuel than to pump a holding tank. Cornedbeef-onion-noodle for dinner. Headache pretty bad all night. 3/19/2009 (Thursday) At anchor outside Benner Bay. Headache still bad this morning. Removed the microwave from the galley and unscrewed all of the mounting hardware from the galley counter. I've been carrying the thing around unused for 7 years now; might as well get rid of it. Maybe someone ashore can use it. Dinghied ashore to Pirate's Cove at noon. Left the microwave ashore. Did Wi-Fi and chatted with the guys. Salad and PB-crackers for dinner. Still have bad headache. 3/20/2009 (Friday) At anchor outside Benner Bay. Head finally starting to feel better. In fact, headache's gone ! Good to feel human again. Changed secondary fuel filter on engine, and it went very smoothly. Caught almost all of the diesel out of it (a good trick, since it's mounted in the middle of a lot of bracketing and piping). Ran engine for a few minutes to test it. Cleaned up one of the dmaage battery terminals and managed to seat a Heli-Coil into it, so I guess I'll try putting it back in. Don't have the energy to do it this morning. Dinghied ashore to Pirate's Cove at noon, stopping first to leave a gallon of used oil and fluid and bilge-water at the oil disposal. Did Wi-Fi and chatted with the guys. Someone grabbed the microwave last night. Put an ad on Craigslist for Woody to sell his son's sailboat. Got 5 gallons of water ($1). Chicken-onion-cabbage-rice and a rum-and-coke for dinner. 3/21/2009 (Saturday) At anchor outside Benner Bay. Head hurting a bit again; took more pills. Hauled out the damaged battery from the engine compartment, put the newly-repaired one in, and the pair started charging. So I'm back up to 6 golf-carts batteries in use. Cleaned the damaged terminal on the removed battery and screwed a new Heli-Coil into it. Dinghied ashore to Pirate's Cove and did Wi-Fi. A quiet day there, since the marina isn't open on weekends. My brother says the IRS wants $1300 from me for some reason; a letter from the IRS is never good news. Across the street to the supermarket, where some of the prices were high ($3.89 for a 24-oz loaf of bread). Back out to the boat; on the way out, saw maybe the fastest and definitely the loudest dinghy in the harbor: pic. (A couple of readers told me you can get hang-glider wings for them, for flying, and Gary here said someone tried to start a tour business here using a couple of them a few years ago.) Salad and tuna-salad-sandwiches for dinner. Wind stalled out and circled after 2 AM, putting me sideways to some swells and causing some rolling. Fairly still after that, very light wind from N. 3/22/2009 (Sunday) At anchor outside Benner Bay. Very light E wind; nice, sunny day. Tightened bolts on transmission and coupler; looks good. The wetness on the bottom of the transmission definitely is not transmission fluid; it's rusty water coming from the back end of the engine somehow. Sawed the terminals off that shorted-cell battery; I might be able to use them to repair the other batteries. Dinghied ashore at noon, and took that shorted battery to the disposal. Then to Pirate's Cove for Wi-Fi. Skype-called Mom and talked to her for a while. Crap ! Hard disk in the laptop died. And of course I don't have extensive enough or recent enough backups; I've lost a bunch of stuff. Ordered a new drive through Amazon; will be off the air for a while. Salad and roast chicken for dinner. 3/23/2009 (Monday) At anchor outside Benner Bay. Rain at 9. Tried everything I could think of to revive the hard disk on the laptop, but there are loose parts jingling around inside it: it's toast. Dinghied ashore, but the marina was closed. Rain at 11:30. Replaced engine heat-exchanger zinc at engine hour 4478. Had to sculpt the new zinc a bit to make it fit. Dinghied ashore again at 2. Used Gary H's laptop to order a new hard disk from Amazon. Got rained on while heading back out to the boat. Weather stayed grey all day. Salad and chicken-onion-rice and a rum-and-coke for dinner. 3/24/2009 (Tuesday) At anchor outside Benner Bay. Dinghied ashore (saw interesting boat in the boatyard; also, out on the road, looks like someone lost their drive shaft and just kept on going) and walked over the hill to Red Hook. Exchanged 15 books in the marina office, bought a throwable PFD ($17) in the marine store, and walked back over the hill. Good exercise. Over to Pirate's Cove, checked email, bought 10 gallons of water ($1.50). Back on the boat, I dredged up 100 feet of old rusty anchor rode from the V-berth bilge, used the Dremel to cut off and save the good 15-20 feet off one end, and cleaned up all the rusty bits out of the bilge. Dinghied ashore, and gave away the remaining rusty chain to a guy. Mailman delivered a box for me: my new IR thermometer and a bunch of letters. To the supermarket for groceries. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 3/25/2009 (Wednesday) At anchor outside Benner Bay. Did some work on my income taxes. Cut and drilled and sculpted a small piece of dowel, then epoxied it into the hole for the engine-mount bolt. For giggles, tried to open the laptop hard disk and see if I could dump out the bits flying around in there. But it's sealed closed with star-drive bolts, and I don't have the right tool to get them out. Pumped out the bilge a bit. Chili and a rum-and-coke for dinner. Rain from 6 to 8, then strong NE wind all night. 3/26/2009 (Thursday) At anchor outside Benner Bay. Drilled out the dowel a bit and then screwed in the lag screw for the engine mount. Seemed to grip fairly well; not as good as the other bolts. Dinghied ashore, checked email, bought 10 gallons of water ($1.50). New disk drive made it from CA to FL in a day and a half, but Gary H says it'll take quite a while to make it from FL to here. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. Strong NE wind eased during the night. 3/27/2009 (Friday) At anchor outside Benner Bay. Lots of sails out in the bay at 9:30; it's a race weekend. Bucketed out the bilge a bit. Salad and chicken-onion-rice and a rum-and-coke for dinner. 3/28/2009 (Saturday) At anchor outside Benner Bay. Wind now strong and from E; getting some pretty good swells onto my boat, causing a lot of pitching. At 9, a race buoy put down near the little cluster of boats I'm anchored with. Dinghied ashore and walked over the hill to Red Hook. Exchanged 12 books, bought an AC 1-3 plug, and walked back over the hill. Good exercise. Back to the boat by 10:30, and the race buoy is gone; guess they changed their minds. Bucketed out the bilge a bit. Saw a bit of the racing offshore; lots of colorful spinnakers. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 3/29/2009 (Sunday) At anchor outside Benner Bay. Strong E wind started suddenly at 10. Saw more racing offshore (pic). Did an engine oil change at engine hour 4479. But my Tempo pump isn't working any more; got only 1.5 quarts of oil out; should be able to get 8 or so. Spaghetti and a rum-and-coke for dinner. 3/30/2009 (Monday) At anchor outside Benner Bay. A grey morning. Fiddled with the damaged battery terminals and got continuity going again. But the current is eating the bolts. Bucketed out the bilge a bit. Dinghied ashore, and the Post Office says my disk drive is still sitting in FL. But an hour later, the mailman delivered it ! (And someone here promptly said "you could have bought for the same price in store X in the main harbor"). Got groceries and back out to the boat. Started reinstalling software, but now my CD drive is acting up, preventing me from booting from the OS re-install CD. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 3/31/2009 (Tuesday) At anchor outside Benner Bay. Grey, windy, rainy all morning. Boat still pitching heavily in big swells. Fiddled with the CD drive and got it working enough to boot the CD and re-install Windows onto the hard disk. Dinghied ashore at 2, connected to the Wi-Fi, and started loading software onto the laptop. Chili and a rum-and-coke for dinner. 4/1/2009 (Wednesday) At anchor outside Benner Bay. Engine start at 6:40, raised anchor, and moved about 200 feet closer in, hoping to get a little shelter from the swells. Probably not much use, and I ended up in uncomfortably shallow water, but I'll see how it works. Done by 6:55 at outside Benner Bay. Wind is supposed to go ENE for next few days, giving me some relief from the swells. Dinghied ashore. Did Wi-Fi, installing Windows SP2 and lots of other stuff. Got an email that my new mainsail is shipping today, from Hong Kong or wherever ! Back to the boat for lunch, and the tide has fallen to the point where the keel is bumping on the bottom, in swells. So raised anchor and moved halfway back out to where I was before. outside Benner Bay. Back ashore for more Wi-Fi, and loading Windows SP3. Wow: Fedex got the sail in Hong Kong today (or maybe yesterday; on other side of international date line) and says they will deliver it here tomorrow. Ordered a new (refurbished) CD drive for the laptop ($16 including shipping, through EBay). Watched Gary B working to fix a collapsed section of the dock. Wasn't able to get SP3 downloaded. Salad and PB-crackers for dinner. Rolly all night: the wind has gone light and ENE, and the swell is small but from the SE. 4/2/2009 (Thursday) At anchor outside Benner Bay. Tried to remove 3Com Wi-Fi card from my laptop, and the antenna part snapped off in my hand; will have to throw it away. Good thing I have another Wi-Fi card, and also my GSky USB Wi-Fi adapter. Dinghied ashore for more Wi-Fi. Michael flagged me down as I passed his boat, and I gave him a lift to Compass Point marina. Ordered a new oil-change pump ($57). Back to the boat for lunch, and it's rolling like crazy. If my sail arrives today, I'm going to head out to Christmas Cove for a few days. Back ashore for more Wi-Fi and more software-loading. Gary B is working on the sinking section of the dock, and as he started pulling up boards, he found that the sinking dock is built on top of an older sinking dock ! But this is the dinghy-dock section, so the water is only 6 inches deep there, and if worst comes to worst he can put down concrete or pilings or boards or something to make a base for the repairs. But it's just like a kitchen remodeling job: every time you take one thing off, you find the thing behind/under it needs fixing too. New mainsail arrived on the FedEx truck at 1:40; two days from Hong Kong ! Won't open the package until I get it out to the boat. Pic. Finally had enough Wi-Fi, and headed out to the boat, which is rolling and pitching as usual. Heaved the mainsail (shipping manifest says it weighs 19 KG) and everything else up into the boat, hoisted and lashed the dinghy, and started getting the boat ready to move. Engine start at 4:05, and watched for any oil gushing, since I'd done the filter change recently. A tiny ooze of oil, but acceptable. Anchor up a little after 4:10, and motored east into the usual wind and swells and chop. Monitored engine and transmission anxiously; need to rebuild my confidence after all of that down-time in the last few months. But no problems, and slogged to windward. 5 or 10 minutes after engine came up to temperature, I got out my new IR thermometer and took some quick readings. Engine block reads 180 (at least in a couple of spots), so I guess the temperature gauge at the helm is accurate. Intake water strainer reads 75, aft end of heat-exchanger reads 110, forward (fresh-water) end of heat-exchanger reads 140, and that all seems good. Transmission reads about 120, which is cooler than I expected, but it probably heats up a lot slower than the engine (and its fluid is being cooled in the oil-cooler, which is right after the intake strainer). Very top of the exhaust riser (a dry riser, and top is 6 inches before water-injection point on the downward-sloping part of the piping) reads 270, which seems reasonable. Will have to take measurements some more, on longer trips, to get a good sense of the baseline readings, but this all seems good. Up across the bay, and got into some nice clear water, seeing bottom-colors in water almost 30 feet deep. Eased into the anchorage, and anchor down by 4:55 in Christmas Cove. It's great to be here ! Water is calm (except for an occasional wake) and clear, and it feels great to be in a nice-cruising spot, instead of the rolly for-business harbors of the last few months. Pic, pic (taken Friday morning). Chicken-onion-rice and a rum-and-coke for dinner. Very still here during the night; slept soundly. 4/3/2009 (Friday) At anchor at Christmas Cove. Out on deck at 7:30, and started opening the new mainsail package. It does come in a sailbag; I told the guys yesterday that I specified "no sailbag" because the sail will live on the furler, and why pay for a bag, and they said "oh, you HAVE to have a sailbag, to carry your laundry !". Slid it out of the bag (pic). Attached the big swivel to the head of the sail (pic), and hoisted the sail 10 feet or so. Then straightened the luff, which contains a very thick-feeling 3/8" wire, found the tack, and attached it to the furling drum. Went aft and dealt with the aft end of the boom, which has been sitting unrigged on top of the pilothouse for ages. Untied all of the lashings. Rigged the topping-lift to lift the boom off the top of the pilothouse. Attached the mainsheet to the end of the boom. Lashed the boom lightly to keep it in place if the boat rolls. Sorted out the mainsail outhaul; it parted in the middle when the old sail shredded. Replaced it with an old jib sheet for now (I need to replace much of the running rigging). Ran that from mast to boom-end and then forward again. Went up to the mast again. Hoisted sail another 10 feet, then found the clew and attached the outhaul. Hoisted the sail some more, and it started flogging a bit, as I struggled to crank the winch and keep the sail from snagging on anything. Finally got it hoisted all the way, and I'm very relieved to see that it fits; I'd been having nightmares that I screwed up the measurements somehow and it would be a foot too tall, and I'd have to send it back to Hong Kong. Tightened the outhaul, and started admiring the sail. Looks good (pic), could have made the foot 6-9 inches longer, but it's fine. Triple-stitching on many of the seams (pic), nice workmanship at the corners (pic, pic). One biggish kink in the wire in the luff, about 3 feet above the tack, where it must have been folded for shipping, but that should straighten out. Went to furl the sail, and found I had the furling line onto the furling drum improperly; it's always confusing. Should line feed to port or starboard around the drum, should drum be full or empty when sail is furled or out ? Furled the sail by rotating the drum by hand, and that went well. I had been worried that 8.6 Dacron would be too stiff to roll, since 9 is used for storm sails, and the guys in the marina, who happen to be riggers and ex-riggers, had told me it would be extremely stiff. Now I'm wondering if I should have gone to 9.5 or something, for more durability. Maybe the stiffness of storm sails comes more from extra layers than from the heaviness of the fabric. Tied off the furling drum, figured it out, cut off a bad end of the furling line, and got it rigged. Rolled sail out and back in again, and it looks good. Wound a line across the furled sail to keep it from thumping against the mast while at anchor, added some lashings to the boom-end to keep it from swinging back and forth at anchor, added the jibe-preventer line to the end of the boom, and called it a morning ! Done a little before 9. Got a Wi-Fi connection from the boat; first time I've gotten that here. The GSky Wi-Fi adapter is great ! Loafed all day, doing a little Wi-Fi here and there. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. After 8, well after dark, trawler behind/next to me started raising anchor, with its engine running. Odd to be leaving after dark. But after pulling in most of their chain, and ending up a bit next to me, they didn't pull the rest and leave. I had noticed that their cabin lights were on, and dimming each time they ran the anchor windlass. And someone was working on something inside the cabin. After a while I figured they must be having problems. Then I looked over and the boat had gone completely dark, with the engine still running. A few minutes later, they had a few lights on, then went dark again for a while, engine still running. Eventually I gave up and went back to bed. They stayed all night, with almost no anchor chain out, but it was a very still night and we had no problems. 4/4/2009 (Saturday) At anchor at Christmas Cove. Loafed most of the day. Fiddled with the mainsail outhaul a bit; needed to move a block from the clew of the old sail to the new sail, and re-run the outhaul. Did a little Wi-Fi. Chili and a rum-and-coke for dinner. During the night, went out on deck, and saw something I noticed last night too: with very calm, clear water and a half-moon, in about 9 feet of water, I can see the bottom-colors and pattern by moonlight. Never saw that before. 4/5/2009 (Sunday) At anchor at Christmas Cove. On deck at 7 to mess with the mainsail some more, to make sure the sail and outhaul and topping-lift interact properly. Gave one outhaul block a half-twist to make the line run fairer, but I really need a swivel in the big multi-block at the aft end. Can't figure out how it worked right before; maybe it always had a chafe-spot there. Then tried to bring down the halyard carrying the line I wrap around the furled sail, to replace the line with webbing (pic) so the new sail doesn't get chafed. Had a devil of a time trying to get the winch brake to release properly; had to keep tapping it from various angles, getting only an inch or two of travel each time. The brakes on two of these three wire-winches are very sticky, and I took them apart a few years ago and couldn't solve the problem. But it looks like this winch is coming loose from the mast (pic), which is strange because there's really been no load on this winch for years; it's a spare halyard. Got the halyard 2/3 of the way off and ran out of energy. Rain at 12:30. In the afternoon, got the wire halyard off the winch, and the winch drum off (pic1, (pic2). Looks like the "gap" is not a problem; the winch was mounted that way, and I just must not have looked at the base of the winch in years. Cleaned off the old grease with WD-40, applied new grease, and put the winch back together. A struggle to get the wire inserted again, but finally got it through. Replaced the rope with the webbing, hoisted the halyard, and wound the webbing around the furled sail. Salad and tuna-salad-sandwich for dinner. 4/6/2009 (Monday) At anchor at Christmas Cove. Started filing my incomes tax return online. Always kind of a surreal experience, sitting on a boat in a lovely place and filing income taxes. Took apart the old broken disk drive from my laptop, under less-than-laboratory conditions (pic). Hoped to see what loose bits fell out, but couldn't find any. Threw it away. A couple of tall sloops here: 4-spreader sloop and 5-spreader sloop. The hulls aren't all that long or big, but the masts are tall. Had trouble with a power connector on the helm, so got out the voltmeter and started investigating. Narrowed it down to one connector, so cut it off and replaced and soldered a new connector on. That didn't fix it. Replaced the other half of the connection; that didn't fix it either. Now I'm really confused; maybe I have a wire hanging on by one strand, where voltage looks good but current won't flow ? Give up for today. Bummer: on top of the 3% charge Lee Sails added for paying with a credit card, my credit card company added their own 3% charge for a foreign payment transaction. Chicken-onion-cabbage-rice and a rum-and-coke for dinner. 4/7/2009 (Tuesday) At anchor at Christmas Cove. Someone's up the mast of that 5-spreader sloop here: pic. Just got email from one of my bank accounts: tax info has changed ! Talk about last-minute changes. Added water to the batteries. Worked some more on the helm power connector, and got it fixed. Nice-looking woman on one of the big snorkeling boats. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 4/8/2009 (Wednesday) At anchor at Christmas Cove. Anchor up at 7:25. Motored out of the anchorage and then shut off the engine and sailed with just the mainsail up. Making about 1.5 knots, since the wind is light (8-10 knots) and I'm trying to sail straight downwind with only the main up. But it's nice to use the new mainsail. Gave up at 7:50. Started the engine and made 4 knots straight toward my destination instead of 1 knot at 45 degrees off my destination. Into the inner harbor and wedged my boat into the spot I was in last year. Tighter now, since an additional boat has been wedged in. So it's really tight now; about 20 feet between me and the boats on each side. I put a stern anchor out; done by 8:35 at Benner Bay. This spot could be dicey if we get strong wind from the north, but the wind is supposed to be fairly light and east for the next week or so. And it's wonderfully calm in here, as opposed to all the rolling and pitching I'd be doing if I anchored just outside the harbor. Lowered the dinghy and pumped up the bow-tube. Dinghied ashore, stopping to chat briefly with Michael on a nearby boat. The dinghy-dock-section is still under construction; as Gary feared, every piece removed revealed another problem further down. Did Wi-Fi. Received mail: an IRS letter wanting money, new CD drive for my laptop, and new oil-change pump. E-filed and e-paid my federal income taxes, e-filed my state taxes and need more info to e-pay them. To the supermarket and got groceries. Back at the marina, starting to pack up to go back out to the boat for lunch, feeling a bit headachey, and Woody says "I'm going shopping; want a ride ?". I'd love a ride to the big low-cost stores in the middle of the island, but not right now. Too bad, one-time offer. Back to the boat for lunch. Got a bit of Wi-Fi from the boat: several signals working intermittently. Installed new CD-ROM drive in laptop, and it doesn't work (door pops open only about 1/8" and won't go any further). And I really wanted a CD-RW drive; ordered the wrong thing. Back ashore for more Wi-Fi. Took my 960 GB external disk with me, and found it had some backups I'd forgotten. So I didn't lose quite as much as I thought in my disk crash. E-paid my state income taxes. So, not a bad process: was able to file and pay both federal and state taxes over the internet for a total charge of $10. If it all works. Chili and a rum-and-coke for dinner. Feeling headachey. Very still night here, almost too still. Rain at 2:30. 4/9/2009 (Thursday) At anchor at Benner Bay. Dinghied ashore. Threw the old mainsail into the dumpster. Did Wi-Fi. Woody sold the boat I helped him advertise on Craigslist, and I towed it over to the boatyard for him and the new owner. Little green sloop with very short stanchions, new/used engine sitting inside (not mounted), rudder "doesn't work", etc. But it floats and the mast is up. Too bad I didn't have my camera with me. Wonder how much he got for it ? Mailed a check to the IRS to pay the extra money they're demanding for my 2007 income taxes. Reminded me of a joke from "Shoe": - The IRS is demanding $X from me; what can I do ? - Well, you have a choice. You can pay them what they want, or you can hire a lawyer. - You call that a choice ?!?!?!?! Salad and PB-sandwiches for dinner. 4/10/2009 (Friday) At anchor at Benner Bay. Did a bucket of laundry. Dinghied ashore to do Wi-Fi. Got 10 gallons of water ($1.50). Spaghetti and a rum-and-coke for dinner. 4/11/2009 (Saturday) At anchor at Benner Bay. Smeared lithium grease on the dinghy-tube valves, in hopes that the slow leak I'm seeing is coming through the valves. Changed the outboard's engine oil. Spilled a bit into the water, when the old oil came out faster than my funnel could handle. Fortunately no police going past at the time. Dinghied ashore to do Wi-Fi. After a while, dinghied over to the boatyard to see if any interesting boats were there. That big wood boat I saw a couple of weeks ago is being sheathed in an additional layer of wood, it looks like (pic). Found Woody and the boat he sold (a 1967 Westerly Nomad 23 with twin-keel), and the new owner and a third person working on the boat (pics). Woody said something about how he used 5200 to glue the wooden rub-rail on years ago, and now he regrets it: the rub-rail is rotting in places and has to come off. Saw an odd-looking tubby boat (pic). Also found a sister-ship of my boat, "Western Star"; don't know if it's the same year, and the propeller and strut and rudder are different from mine. No pilothouse, and they have modern roller-furlers on the main and jib. Ran into my friend Mark, and gave him a dinghy-lift over to Compass Point marina to find Brett. As I left the Compass Point dinghy-dock, found that the fuel-truck guy fueling up the ferry had spilled a bunch of fuel on the dock and into the water, making a good-sized slick, and lost the fuel cap for the boat too. Guess I shouldn't have worried too much about the little bit of oil I spilled from my outboard. Back to Pirate's Cove for more Wi-Fi. Back to the boat for lunch and Car Talk and loafing. Back ashore for more Wi-Fi. Exchanged a couple of books. Salad and tuna-salad-sandwich for dinner. I was thinking that I haven't seen anyone run aground in that big shallow patch on the other side of the channel, where as you come in and the harbor opens up, it looks like you could turn left, but you can't. When I was here last year, there was a whole spate of groundings there. But then at 5:30 or so, a ketch came out, towed by a skiff and accompanied by a couple of dinghies, and they ran solidly aground right in the middle of the channel, well inside the open area of the harbor, nowhere near the shallow patch. They just have too much draft for this place. Fortunately it looks like low tide, but the tidal range isn't much this month. They were stuck there for at least an hour. [A few hours later, they were gone.] 4/12/2009 (Sunday; Easter) At anchor at Benner Bay. Did one of my less-favorite chores: changed the gear oil in the outboard lower unit. Lowered the dinghy, hoisted the motor (pic; nice to have a 55-pound motor instead of the old 112-pound one). Loosened the lower (drain) bolt and caught most of the oil using a funnel into a jug. Of course, various dinghies and boats started coming by, making small wakes. Smelly oil dripped various places in the the dinghy. Then found that my oil-pump bottle doesn't fit my new motor; the old motor used a bigger bolt size. And even my smallest funnel is too big to fit into the upper bolt hole. Found some tubing and spliced it to the oil-pump. So, as usual, I ended up filling the unit from the top bolt hole instead of the (proper) bottom bolt hole. And spilled more smelly oil in the process. I don't know why they design these units this way. You're supposed to open top and bottom holes, screw the oil-pump into the bottom hole, and pump the oil in until you see the top hole filled. Then fasten the top bolt, unscrew the pump from the bottom hole, and desperately try to thread the bottom bolt in and tighten it before all the oil can escape out of the bottom hole. I'm sure it's designed to avoid air-bubbles inside the unit, but it's a lousy design. How about some extra "reservoir" space at the top instead, and fill it from the top as you do with engine oil ? I always end up doing it that way anyway. Got it done and the motor back onto the dinghy transom, and spent a while cleaning up and trying to wash the oil smell out of my hands. Why does the gear oil have to be so smelly ? Is it because it's "heavy" (80-90 weight) ? Does "heavy" have to mean "high-sulphur" ? [A reader says "It is because of the sulphur chlorine and phosphorous that are used as EP (extreme pressure) additives." I believe him, but I find it hard to believe there's "extreme pressure" in my outboard lower unit.] Ate lunch, loafed a little, then headed ashore. Stopped to chat with Michael, my nearest neighbor, for 5 minutes or so. Got ashore and started doing Wi-Fi, and then a guy named Jean showed up with money for Michael. I offered to dinghy him out to Michael's boat, but he was in a hurry, and gave me $100 to give to Michael. He left, and five minutes later Michael had come in and I gave him the cash. Skype-called my Mom. To the supermarket and got a few groceries. Chicken-onion-rice and a rum-and-coke for dinner. 4/13/2009 (Monday) At anchor at Benner Bay. Loafed all morning. Then put together the new oil-change pump, ran the engine for 10 minutes, then pumped about 6 quarts of old oil out of the engine. Probably could have gotten one more quart out, plus the one in the filter, but good enough for now (I replaced the filter a couple of weeks ago). So the new Jabsco pump works fairly well (certainly better than the old Tempo pump). Added 6 quarts of new oil to the engine. Dinghied ashore to do Wi-Fi. Installed firewall and virus-checker on Gary H's laptop. Got 10 gallons of water ($1.50). The seagulls have come back to the harbor. Gary B says they arrive around April 1 each year, and leave around Labor Day. A picture of me in my natural habitat: pic. Forgot to smile for the camera; I was busy telling Gary H how to work the camera. Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 4/14/2009 (Tuesday) At anchor at Benner Bay. Did a small bucket of laundry. Took off the engine oil filter and got a little less than a quart of old oil out of it. There's been a drip from the bottom of the bolt through it (it's not a screw-on filter), and I want to fix that drip. Finally figured out what's going on: the washer is old and has been compressed, and now when I tighten the bolt, the metal around the washer hits the metal of the filter housing before the washer has been compressed enough to seal. But I can't get the washer off or get a new one on: the bolt has a filter base attached to the other end, and I don't want to mess with that and maybe break it. So I carved an additional washer, with a cut through it so I can slip it onto the bolt from the side. Put that on below the existing washer, so the existing (uncut) washer is the one to seal against the housing. Put it on, tightened it up, added a quart of oil to the engine, and ran it for 15 seconds. Looks good. Added another quart of oil, ran the engine for 5 minutes, and it looks fine. Dinghied ashore to do Wi-Fi. Hoping to get a ride to the big warehouse store today or tomorrow. I've been thinking of getting new bow navigation lights. My old ones are down low, on the sides of the toerail, where an errant anchor chain can tear into them, and the green one keeps getting water in it; I can never keep that one going for more than a week. And I think mine were legal when the boat was built, but aren't now (I think they're 1-NM lights). So I'm thinking of an LED red/green combo to mount on the front of the bow pulpit. I'd take the old lights off, and run the wire from further back (so I'd have to drill a new hole through the side of the toerail), and run the wire up onto the bow rail as quickly as possible to keep it out of the water as much as possible. I'm thinking of making the fixture detachable, so it's on the bow only when I'm actually using it (not sure if that's legal, but the Navigation Rules just say "carry", "show" and "exhibit", and don't say anything about "permanent" or "removable"). Found the best price for Attwood 3540-7 is $40, at Amazon, of all places. Waterproof connectors are expensive; will have to look around for a source for cheap ones. To the supermarket for a few groceries, and then out to the boat for lunch. Arrived at the boat to find a small gaff-rigged schooner anchored right smack in the middle of the channel, with a kayak tethered to the stern to increase the size of the obstacle (pic). What the heck is going on with that ? A few minutes later, a guy living on a nearby grounded powerboat paddled out to the anchored sailboat, took a couple of boxes off it, and paddled back to his powerboat. Then he was in no hurry to get back to the sailboat; he left it there in the channel for at least another half hour. A couple of big charter catamarans came in, and were able to get past it, although they churned up some mud in the process. Finally the guy went out and sailed the boat away. Weird. When I removed the microwave, I got better access to the filler necks for my water tanks, and found a busted hose-clamp on one of them (not that the hose is loose; it's been on there for 36 years and will take a nuclear weapon to pry it off). Replaced the hose-clamp. Sure looks like the old one needed replacement: pic. Back ashore in the afternoon. Ordered the new bow light from Amazon ($46 with shipping), but for some reason (and for the first time), they won't ship to the USVI. So I had it shipped to my brother in NJ. Michael is hurting today: he was getting up off a boat onto a dock, and the board he was grabbing broke off from the dock, and somehow he hit or twisted his arm or shoulder, and now his right arm is mostly numb. I think he has a little feeling in his fingertips. Scary. And Michael drew me aside for a private conversation; he said "hey, man, are you looking for some ... work ?". It sounded like a drug deal or something. I said no, he must have me confused with someone else, I'm happily retired. I supposed I could have asked what kind of work, but I'm sure it was some nasty boat-work stuff. Spaghetti and a rum-and-coke for dinner. 4/15/2009 (Wednesday) At anchor at Benner Bay. Dinghied ashore. Did Wi-Fi, chatted with the guys, the usual. Back to the boat for lunch, then back ashore again. Another guy showed up, he's running a business out of the marina "motel" here, and his name is Gary too. That makes five Gary's here so far. I told them it seemed everyone in Marathon was named Dave, and we had to give them adjectives to keep them straight: Big Dave, Little Dave, Diver Dave, Political Dave, Crazy Dave, etc. Salad and PB-crackers for dinner. 4/16/2009 (Thursday) At anchor at Benner Bay. Dinghied ashore. One of the guys (Gary something) was talking about his twin-diesel sportfisher boat; he says it burns about 6 gallons/hour at 10 knots, and more like 40 gallons/hour at 16-18 knots. Top speed is 22 knots. [Later, I read in a book that aircraft carriers get about 17 feet/gallon, which at 20 knots would work out to about 6200 gallons/hour. The book is from 1992; don't know how to measure the mileage of a modern gas-turbine aircraft carrier. Found another source that says "USS Independence, at its top speed of 25 knots per hour, consumed close to 5600 gallons/hour".] Another guy was talking about his new $500K catamaran (he got it new a year ago), which has lots of problems with the interior. Apparently just before his boat was built, the factory redesigned the interior and then fired all the workers and replaced them with cheap foreign workers. The cabinets were fastened to wood pads that were hot-glued (not fiberglassed) onto the hull. So everything's coming loose. Lots of other problems too. [Found out the next day: he asked for $35K back from the builder because of the problems, they compromised on $17K, then the builder sold the business to someone who looted it and liquidated it, and then the builder died of cancer, so the owner didn't get any money back.] This all came up in the course of a discussion where we all agreed that you should never buy a brand-new boat; let someone else deal with all of the problems and then buy the boat from them (used). Ashore for lunch, loafed for a while, then back ashore. I'm looking for Gary M to show up and offer me a ride to the food store, but no idea when he'll show up. Gary M did show up briefly, but he looked tired and was eating lunch, then left quickly. So I didn't bring up the subject of a ride. Chili and a rum-and-coke for dinner. 4/17/2009 (Friday) At anchor at Benner Bay. Dinghied ashore and caught a safari bus ($1) to TuTu Mall. Looked in Office Max, but they didn't have a USB CD-RW drive. To the Post Office and sent the CD-ROM drive back to the vendor for a refund. Into KMart, but no swimsuits for sale, and no shorts at a decent price, and no USB CD-RW drives. To Western Auto, where I bought a switch for the auto-pilot project, a trailer power-connector for the bow light, and 3 gallons of engine oil at a good price ($13.39/gallon). Caught another safari bus ($1) home. Out to the boat, had lunch, and loafed. Dinghied ashore to do Wi-Fi. Chatted with the lady who bought the boat from Woody; the boat is still in the yard, planning to splash on Monday, had a few misadventures and wrong priorities, but not too bad for a first-boatyard experience. Biggest surprises: the unmounted engine sitting in the boat doesn't actually fit onto the engine beds, and the rudder post was severely corroded. Bit of a misadventure later. A guy appeared and asked me to tow him in his dinghy, out to his boat. Started doing that, then Gary B saw us and called us back in. Turned out the dinghy had been abandoned in the marina, and Gary B is the dockmaster, so he considered it his dinghy. So he was very mad at the other guy, and fortunately not really mad at me. Turns out a somewhat-flaky woman in the harbor had sold it to the guy, so now Gary B is going to tee off on her, too. So I kept my head down for the rest of the afternoon, while Gary cooled down. Salad and PBJ sandwiches for dinner. 4/18/2009 (Saturday) At anchor at Benner Bay. Put batteries in the old backup GPS (pic) and tested it; may use it today to record a mooring spot for the lady who bought the boat from Woody; she needs the GPS coordinates for a mooring permit. Dinghied ashore. Disposed of garbage, exchanged books, did Wi-Fi. Over to the boatyard, and admired the new look of the boat Alicia bought from Woody. Woody got sucked into doing a lot of the fix-up work on it, which is only fair since I think it had a few more problems than he advertised. Looks quite different now: before pics, after pics. Then Alicia and I took Woody's handheld GPS and my backup GPS and went in my dinghy out to the spot where she'll anchor. Woody marked it with an anchored milk jug; we grabbed onto that and took several lat/long readings with both GPS's. My old GPS wandered a bit more than his newer GPS, and they disagreed by a few hundredths of a minute (I think that's the right terminology: in a display like NNN.NN.NNN, only the last digit differed and wandered a little). [Reminds me of that joke: "If you have a watch, you'll always know what time it is. If you have three watches, you'll never know what time it is !"] Out to the boat for lunch, Car Talk, loafing. Messed with the broken battery terminal, put a wooden peg down into the hole and drove a wood-screw in, and got good continuity. Hope it doesn't start a fire. Dinghied ashore for more Wi-Fi. Chicken-corn-cabbage-rice and a rum-and-coke for dinner. 4/19/2009 (Sunday) At anchor at Benner Bay. At noon, dinghied ashore to do Wi-Fi. Unusually, marina office is open today, and so the place is hopping, with people drinking and yakking away. Brisk wind from the north in late afternoon, blowing the boat sideways and putting a lot of pressure on my stern anchor. Had trouble hoisting the dinghy, since the taut stern line was running right through where the dinghy needed to be. Waited until the wind eased a bit, later in the evening. Salad and PBJ-sandwiches for dinner. 4/20/2009 (Monday) At anchor at Benner Bay. Finally got the development tools for my auto-pilot project all working again on my laptop. I've lost the program I was writing for it, but still have the test programs, and the work I'd done on top of them is easy to re-create. Had to pump up the dinghy bow tube again; definitely have a leak somewhere. A couple of days ago, I tried to find it, squirting soapy water over the valve and tube, but no luck. Will have to try again. Dinghied ashore. Woody says Alicia got someone else to help her move her boat from the boatyard out to the mooring, so I don't have to do it with my dinghy. Went to the boatyard to check with her, but she wasn't there. Got a few groceries at the supermarket, then out to the boat for lunch and loafing. Then back ashore. Found I don't have to tow Alicia's boat out. Jennifer stopped by with her basket of three kittens, about a week old; they just opened their eyes today. Pics. Headed back out tot he boat around 4, and found a local guy, Willy, and Alicia towing her boat out from the yard into the anchorage. So I tagged along, in case they needed help making a turn or something. They didn't need help, but they went to a totally different mooring than the one for which we carefully took the GPS coordinates. And for some reason they tied the boat bow and stern, leaving it partly sideways to the prevailing wind, for no good reason I could see. I didn't say anything about it. [The next day, Woody was a bit exercised about it, but it's not his boat any more.] Chili and a rum-and-coke for dinner. 4/21/2009 (Tuesday) At anchor at Benner Bay. Loafed all morning. Wind blowing fairly hard from the east today. Messed with the broken battery terminal a bit; it's getting battery acid up into the socket for the screw, so I'm fighting a rearguard action that will fail at some point. Dinghied ashore after lunch to do Wi-Fi. Bought 10 gallons of water ($1.50) and ferried it out to the boat. A couple of nice-looking women in the marina today; they're working on that big catamaran. One of them told a bit of a story: the boat was built in USA for about $1.5 million, then the delivery crew abandoned it at sea in the middle of the delivery, the jibsail flogged so badly that it "melted", someone put a grapnel through the roof trying to salvage it, an anchor chewed a hole in a hull, someone boarded and stole EPIRB and other instruments, eventually it got back to USA, there's a lawsuit or two going on, now it's down here a year late and they're scrambling to get it into charter service. [Unfortunately, she was too busy to give us any more details.] One touch: phosphorescent paint mixed into the non-skid, so the deck glows at night, and by putting out cardboard during the day you can make it glow with words or drawings at night. Woody lent me a bottle of refrigerant-leak-finder (looks like thick soapy stuff) to use on my dinghy tube. But I tried it right at the dinghy dock, and couldn't find any leaks. Gary B suggested the Hypalon is just thinning with age, and maybe I could paint the tubes with special paint for Hypalon. Got a ride from Gary M, to a couple of stops on the island, and then the Cost-U-Less warehouse store. Bought $213 of groceries (pic), but they were missing some staples such as cans of beans. So I'll have to make another grocery trip to fill the gaps. And I didn't buy any perishable stuff today, such as meat and cheese, so I need to get those too. The four bottles of rum were $4 per liter. Salad and PBJ-sandwiches for dinner. 4/22/2009 (Wednesday) At anchor at Benner Bay. Defrosted the refrigerator. Dinghied ashore, pausing to avoid being in the vicinity of a hovering Customs boat. Did some Wi-Fi. Back to the boat for lunch and loafing, then back ashore again. Big spill of diesel in the harbor. Chicken-onion-rice and a rum-and-coke for dinner. 4/23/2009 (Thursday) At anchor at Benner Bay. Had planned to go to the big supermarket this morning and buy a lot of food, but never got started, loafed all morning, and decided to do it tomorrow. Wind blowing hard from NE and NNE by noon. Put out a second stern anchor, because the line on the other one creaks alarmingly under the strain every now and then. If it let go, I might run aground before hitting the boat close on my starboard quarter, but I might hit the boat instead. In fact, I'm aground right now; it's low tide. Dinghied ashore to do Wi-Fi. Received my Customs decal in the mail. The other day, I mentioned to Gary M that I'd finally ordered one, after going a couple of years without it, and he didn't even know what a decal was: he's been here for years without one. So I probably wasted my money ($28). Maybe I won't bother to renew it next year. One of the guys says there's some kind of big algae bloom or something going on, turning the seawater pea-soup green near the NE end of St Thomas, and in Charlotte Amelie harbor, and around St John. Weird. I guess all things come to those who loaf: Woody offered to give me a ride to and from the big supermarket tomorrow. Fueled by lots of beer, the guys and Kim had a really raucous session in the marina this afternoon. I told someone that I heard a radio segment about how polar bears might be extinct by 2030 or 2040, Kim said polar bears covered their faces with their paw so prey couldn't see them, and that set the guys off. They made bear jokes and "can't see me because I can't see you" jokes and various others until they were all helpless with laughter. Then I looked it up on the internet and found she was right. Saw "Bel Ami" leaving the harbor at 4:30; I think that's the boat that Chris Parker broadcasts the weather forecasts from. I haven't been able to receive that, or tried to, for quite a while now. Salad and tuna-salad-sandwich for dinner. 4/24/2009 (Friday) At anchor at Benner Bay. Dinghied ashore before 9, and 20 minutes later, Woody and I went to TuTu Mall in his truck. Bought 4 quarts of transmission fluid ($12) in Western Auto. Bought $38 of stuff in KMart. Bought $95 of food (including about 75 cans of various beans) in the big Plaza Extra supermarket (could have bought more, but Woody wasn't buying much, so I hurried). A stop at a refrigeration parts place (Woody is a refrigeration guy), back to the marina, and hauled it all out to the boat. After a quick lunch, dinghied ashore again. Grey sky by 2:30, and some decent rain at 3:15; people here have been saying this is supposed to be the rainy season, April and May, but there hasn't been any rain. And they say that presages a bad hurricane season. Wind fairly strong from the NE or N, putting a lot of strain on the stern anchors. Chili and a rum-and-coke for dinner. 4/25/2009 (Saturday) At anchor at Benner Bay. Grey morning, sprinkling rain early. Ran engine for 15 minutes to exercise it and charge batteries a little. Dinghied ashore after an early lunch. Skies still grey and threatening. Stopped by Alicia's boat for 5 minutes to capture the new GPS coordinates for her. Woody told me the "Limnos" fast ferry had an engine problem and crashed into the dock yesterday evening; they snapped off a thick pole (with a security camera on top), which sounded bad until he said the pole turned out to be 2/3 rotted away. "Carnival" is happening downtown this weekend and week. I saw some of it last year, and don't think I'll bother this year. Gary B (who lives here) says the last time he went to Carnival was about 15 years ago. I've been thinking lately that it's been 3 solid years since I hauled out and painted the bottom. But I think I'll let it go until next year. I have epoxy paint, and stuff is growing on it, and I'm losing speed to that, but I don't have much speed even with a clean bottom. And I've started thinking of buying a propane stove/oven to install inside the boat: a "Camp Chef Outdoor Camp Oven". But shipping it to here is problematic: it weighs 35 pounds, which is too much for normal Post Office, and any other shipper is expensive. Maybe I could convince a vendor to ship it Parcel Post ? Or ship normal to my brother and then Parcel Post to me ? Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner. 4/26/2009 (Sunday) At anchor at Benner Bay. Dinghied ashore, disposed of used engine and bilge oil, and went to marina to do Wi-Fi. I'd like to get out of here in a couple of days, and start heading for the BVI's, but the weather will be staying too strong until at least Friday. The big-catamaran people are back, doing Wi-Fi. Had a nice chat with the cute blond girl, Shauna, talking about the various islands and such. She's young and blond and easy on the eyes, and I really enoyed chatting with her. Back to the boat for lunch. Wind really blowing hard today; lots of large whitecaps out in open water. Back ashore for more Wi-Fi in the afternoon. Skype-called Mom but got her answering machine. Bummer: measured the existing (AC) stove/oven in my boat, and it looks like the "Camp Chef Outdoor Camp Oven" is too wide to fit in the space. So I'll have to find some other propane stove/oven. Maybe I could go with a simple and cheap "on top of propane grill" thing, such as a Coleman Camping Oven. I just want to be able to make a lasagna, a homemade pizza, a casserole, etc.

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