When the seas won't stop moving...the rocking, pitching boat won't stop doing it's own thing...and looking at the shifting, tilting horizon only makes it worse...there's only one thing left for you to do...barf! Poor Karen! I would've been dead meat if there were photos to accompany the above, so let it suffice that she was not a happy camper after the first 7 hours of sailing back from Puerto Rico to Culebra. Needless to say, she was better off once the boat was anchored and stopped moving. The sail wasn't really that bad, but we were headed into the light winds and moderate waves, as well as the Gulf Stream current...and we had to tack back and forth across the usually semi-rough Vieques Sound. This required twice the time required to go the other way. Ahhh...the life of a sailor.
Anyway, we made it to Culebra, spending two days of recovery there. Being a smart man, I elected to continue using the "iron sail" to motor to St. Thomas. We anchored in Brewer's Bay right next to the St. Thomas airport, enjoying the B757's, B737's and misc. other aircraft land and takeoff. We decided to only spend the one night there and moved over to the harbor in Charlotte Amalie the next day. Once there we enjoyed an unusually quiet and smooth anchorage. I'm sure it's due to more experience on our part...we are much less indecisive of our anchorage location. Now, we just make a decision of where, drop the anchor, set it and be done with it. No messin' around.
Some of the mega yachts in Yacht Haven Grande Marina
We spent some time at the local boat yard, Kmart, and other places we've missed (including McDonald's). I even had time to take out the engine's injectors and had them overhauled. The marina here, Yacht Haven Grande, is right next to the cruise ship dock in the main harbor. This is a different cruise ship dock than the one mentioned a few weeks ago. It appears that on a busy cruise ship day, St. Thomas can harbor at least 7 cruise ships between the different docks and anchorages.
"Kismet" a very expensive charter yacht
We (I, actually) thought it would be fun to play a nautical version of "slap the bull" like in the movie " Wild Hogs". The owner/crew of Kismet didn't see me that evening, so no foul, right?
Our evenings seem to always end with a spectacular sunset of some kind. This one Karen took overlooking the marina office at Yacht Haven Grande, from our boat anchored just off of the cruise ship dock and marina. She seems to always catch just the right moment or scene on our camera.
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