Thanksgiving

Roger here.
Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday with its ecumenical religious feeling of gratitude and gathering of family and friends and without the extent of commercialism and gift giving that mars other holidays. This year (but in all years) I have so much to be thankful for: good health, living on my boat in paradise on an adventure, wonderful friends and family, a sense that someone out there is looking after me -- protecting me from my own stupidity and this year, the safe arrival, on Turkey day eve, of Ilene and the two cats -- making my nuclear family complete.

On Tuesday evening I had "cast my bread upon the waters", as it were, by inviting Dave and Rorie Craig of Aurora to dinner aboard - to help eat me the food we brought down. Their boat is a Stevens 47 of Sparkman and Stevens fame, but the molds are now in use by Hylas to build luxury boats in the far east under that luxury brand name. The Craigs live in New Hope PA but sail in the Chesapeake. David and one friend sailed down in the rally and Rorie, like Ilene, had flown down to meet him. The two men had a rough passage because the autopilot gave out, requiring constant demanding hand steering by the two of them in tough conditions for eight days. Rorie, after whom Aurora is named, had met Lene in Hampton and asked about her.

Wednesday was a busy day and one that touches on Island time. I dropped off two weeks of laundry and the lady said, contrary to what she had said the day before, that she did not know whether she could get to it today. I know how much my beloved one likes clean sheets so I asked her to try and at 3 pm the loads were washed, dried, neatly folded and stacked in the basket I had brought them in. On the other hand, Lincoln, of Aqua Doc, to whom I had been referred by Spectra, the manufacturer of our watermaker, was much harder to get and it took contacts over three days to get the work done, though I think it has been done well. Lincoln's training in electronics was in Guyana. The same intruding salt water that damaged the SSB also affected the watermaker's electrical contacts behind the panel of circuit breakers. Lincoln cleaned that up and also prevailed upon me to permit him to install a separate breaker near the bow of the boat, replacing a relay located there. This is safer, uses less electricity and permits the current to be always on. At least that is what he told me. Those who know more about the mysteries of electronics than I will say either that this was a great improvement or that I wasted a few hundred dollars. When this was done, I was able to reinstall and screw down the plywood panel that covers the watermaker and serves as the platform for our mattress, make the bed and scrub the interior of our boat intensely. It's cleanliness, I'm pleased to report, met the satisfaction of my beautiful wife.

Then I walked to Roadtown, the capital of Tortola, where Lene's ferry was to arrive, a four mile walk, marred by a blister on the back of my ankle raised by the sandal I was wearing. Walking permits one to see views missed when driving: the three beautiful untethered horses grazing on jungle growth at the side of the road, Sea Cow Bay with its marina, several schools with all the girls or boys looking pretty in their uniforms, several local very rustic watering holes, etc. I stopped in at Conch Charters where the guys from the Harlem Yacht Club will be in ten days, had a Carib in The Pub, its adjacent restaurant, and thanked the waitress who brought me my wallet which I had left at the bar (another protective act against my own stupidity -- sending me an honest waitress for which I am thankful), read a bit of my book, bought a few small items and eventually waited at the ferry dock for the ferry, that arrived an hour late.

Lene looked great, as always, and the two cats had been in their small padded carrying case for 14 hours without eliminating any waste in it. I met and chatted with the local government vet while Lene waited to clear customs and immigration. He approved the immigration of the cats. Lene had been ripped of by the taxi drivers in St Thomas who have a posted sign that the fare from the airport to the ferry dock (about ten minutes) is $55 if you have even a small animal carry bag. Lene also had a huge box of cat food, estimated its value at $100 and paid the $16 import duty to the BVIs. Our cab ride to Nanny Cay was easy, we found a cart to wheel Lene's stuff to the boat and then my little organizer insisted on putting all of her stuff away (and feeding the cats of course) before we could go to dinner.

Thanksgiving day was marketing day, but not before we met the Craigs who were talking with Jim and Jean Jacobs. The Jacobs' had sailed a magnificent Taswell 49 centercockpit sloop, Windsong, with one other couple in the rally. It is so big, heavy, slow and comfortable, that it smoothed the big waves for them. They were discussing Thanksgiving; the Craigs were baking a turkey breast, stuffing and a pumpkin pie. Jim Jacobs, a retired patent attorney from New York, said he had a great cranberry sauce recipe if cranberries could be found, and we were invited to join them for dinner at four. Our contribution was bread, salad and a veggie (and wine, but they had enough wine for everyone). Bobbies Supermarket in Roadtown sends a van to pick you up and to bring you back if you shop there. But such van arrangements take time. Also, we stopped at a local pharmacy and at a cell phone store (where we purchased an unlocked phone and card and minutes so calls to the US will be 30 cents rather than two dollars per minute), and a small bedside rug for Lene's feet. We called for the ride at 10 am and got back before 2 pm, dropped off the cranberries, bought blocks of ice, prepared the baked asparagus and salad, showered and went to the Jacobs' boat. It was built in 1989, they have had it two year, and it looks like brand new. Jim has 1100 cd's of music, mostly from the 60's and entertained us with trying to guess the artist, while we methodically ate everything in sight. Jean, a gourmet cook, made a sweet potato and clam soup (somehow delicious) and parboiled grilled brussel sprouts.

Our plan is to leave Nanny Cay today, clear out of the BVIs tomorrow, spend the next nine days in various bays on St. John (USVI) after clearing in at customs in St. Cruz, before returning to join the Harlem group. During this period, access to the internet will be much more problematic, which may impede our ability to blog.