HMS Bounty visits St. Thomas

The HMS Bounty (a replica) was built in 1962, for the movie "Mutiny on the Bounty", starring Marlon Brando. Later, it was in the remake of "Treasure Island" (1990) starring Charlton Heston. More recently, it was featured in "Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest" as the Edinburgh Trader. It is the ship that "Elizabeth Swan" acted as a male stow-away on. It was later attacked and sank, courtesy of the Kraken.

Just so you know, we've never actually seen a Kraken ourselves, nor heard of any recent sightings, so I'm guessing that the one in the movie was a sad casualty, just like it shows. Global warming has probably killed off all of the remaining members of the species, as well. A moment of silence, please.

Anyway, we just happened to be in St. Thomas, near Crown Bay, when we saw the ship anchored near us. Our google search turned up quite a history of the ship. Here are some links to find out more about this ship and the original:

http://www.tallshipbounty.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Bounty

It had recently arrived in the Caribbean from Europe and was on its way to Puerto Rico. While in St. Thomas, the owners had it dry docked right next to where we were anchored. The work crews, including some of the ship's crew, cleaned and painted the hull. It probably needed repairs for some of the damage from the Kraken.

Port side of "Bounty", Hassle Island in background

Close up of figurehead on bow

There's a tad bit more rigging and such compared to our sailboat!

View of the stern

The sun is setting behind "HMS Bounty", with
the western end of St. Thomas behind

"HMS Bounty" in drydock at the Sub Base, St. Thomas

I'm standing inside the floating drydock, looking aft.
The ship dwarfs the people working on it.

Happy Christmas and Merry 2012

Howdy folks, from St. Thomas and Tortola...and belated holiday wishes for health and happiness to all of you!

There's no room at our "inn" for Christmas trees, but we did have some decorations. Clutter isn't our thing... Keep it simple and romantic, I say. A nice, quiet evening with a wonderful dinner shared with your loved one. Of course, there's a lot of phone calls to relatives and friends. Yes, we know...you all miss us and wish we could be there with you...and we would've liked to be with you also...down here.

We know what December is like in the US north of Florida. Don't think we aren't glad to be where it's warm and dry.

The only ornament brought down from Billings

Given to us by John and Heather in the BVI

Christmasy fish!

 We had a very Merry New Year celebration, complete with all of the trimmings, friends, libations (of course) and snow. Yes, snow! Lori brought it all of the way down from Minneapolis in a can. What a gal! She had to figure out some real strategies and explanations getting it through the TSA at the various airports. Is it a gel or liquid? 

Here's the recipe for making a Caribbean snowman:

Gather your crew...

Select a couple of cheerleaders...

Make snow...

Roll the snow into balls...

Set it up with traditional eyes and party horn...did I say party?

Ken wants to tell everyone happy new year!

Lori and Karen want to tell you the same...

Toddy, calling Sue in the UK...collect...to tell her
Happy New Year!

The happy couple!
(notice how well the tans show when wearing white)

Cheers to all of you for a great 2012!

The Ruby Princess delivers, again

It appears that the same cruise ships are seen in the islands over and over again...the Ruby Princess is one of them. We've seen as many as 7 in St. Thomas at one time. Considering how small the island is, you can probably imagine how congested the roads and gift shops are when this happens. It's also hard to imagine the number of passengers the cruise ships bring down here in a season, especially given the size of some of them, but let's try it. Doing a simpleton's math, 2,000+ people per ship times 50 cruise ships in St. Thomas each year = 100,000 tourists all trying to haggle over t-shirts and sun dresses. I'm not going to even try to include the fly-in types of tourists, or the ones that sneak in illegally.

Ken and Sue. Their room is right above Ken's
head. Yep, that one!

We arrived in Crown Bay, St. Thomas to meet brother Ken and sister-in-law Sue (on Karen's side) as they arrived on the Ruby Princess. This was the same ship that Aunt Louise arrived on last year. Karen and I walked over from the marina where we docked our boat and waited for them. Ken and Sue waved from their balcony...they could see us sitting on the park bench. We didn't see them. They tried swinging their white towels around. We finally did notice them. Later, they told us they planned on lowering their cabin steward out on a bed sheet if we didn't see them using the towels.

They had a great trip so far...but we hadn't yet spent any time with them yet. Nor introduced them to driving on the left hand side of the road.

Coki Beach has sergeant majors everywhere
(that's those stripey looking fish)

Hi, Sue! Sure looks like you're having fun!

 A car was rented and we all headed around St.Thomas to see the island. Many of the areas Karen and I hadn't seen yet, so it was a real treat for all of us! We drove along the upper ridge road and the views were spectacular. One of our stops was at Coki Beach, where we went snorkling. As usual, the water was clear and warm with a lot of fish...I think the fish are used to being "chummed." What a great time!

We made an attempt to get lunch at one of the nice places in Havensight, near St. Thomas' other cruise ship dock...but decided to head back to Tickles Restaurant in Crown Bay instead. After a nice lunch we headed to our boat in the marina to try out some beer from Aruba.

Sue and Ken, before Aruban beer

 It must've been pretty potent stuff, because Ken was sure he saw miniature dragons on their way back to the cruise ship.

Ken was seeing things...there are no dragons in St. Thomas

How slow is our internet?

Our internet is sooo slow you could watch the alcohol in our rum drinks evaporate before this sentence could be uploaded. But, we've never actually allowed the alcohol to evaporate, though...it would just waste the ice.

More on slow internet in a few minutes...

Well, we made it to the islands on October 30 and spent the 1st three nights in the marina hotel while prepping the boat for launch. Just prior to our arrival, the marina workforce was contracted to paint the hull bottom with anti-fouling paint...Karen wanted red this year. I have to say that it looks "simply mauvelous, my dear."

It looks fast just sitting there

It was really nice to be able to launch the boat without any significant problems, like leaking through-hull fittings, engines that won't start, sails that are worn out and baggy, etc. As soon as it was launched, we took it to one of Antilles Yacht's slips and finished assembling the boat and getting it ready for our 1st sail of the season.

Of course, we were still in the marina whilst Halloween was still a big thing in the US...but I think we actually got to have our fun waaayy before the little kiddies in Montana, Washington, Idaho and Oregon got to...our time zone is 3 hours ahead until daylight savings time ends. Friends Lori and Ken, Priscilla and Peter were there with us and Sue and Toddy were able to get there shortly after the party started.

Ohh...it's time for another joke...so, how slow is our internet? If I sent this blog, typed, to each of you via "snail-mail"...it would get there before this page finishes uploading.

Ayyye! What a fun bunch of mateys, do ya think?
Rasta Man, Caribbean Pirate and First Wench, an
Arabian Princess, The Fairy Bumblebee and King Neptune

The spirit of the evening was alive and well...uhh,
actually, dead and dismembered

Argh, me thinks all would make good pirate wenches

Who would've thought She-devil would be so ticklish



She-devil got her wine, but the waitress
hasn't got to The Devil yet



The Devil and Rasta Man, after receiving their libations

The Arabian Princess decided she needed to show
King Neptune where to put his trident

Ahhh, here comes the bar maiden...the night is
still young and our mugs are dry as a desert

One last slow internet joke...Do you know how slow our internet is?

By the time you get this, the internet will probably be obsolete.

Lastly, but not leastly...our time in US is done for the summer

BRRRRR.....We never dress this way in the islands!
We're sitting next to the Yellowstone River, near Big Timber, MT

So much happened while we finished up our time in the US, and I will touch on some of it briefly before heading the blog back to island time. Yes, I know we left for the islands in November....and it's now January. SOOORRRRYYY!

Prior to leaving the US for the islands, we stopped in Las Vegas, NV to visit with some friends of ours. Ken and Lori flew in from Florida, while Toddy and Sue came over the "little pond" from England

We're all spiffied up for an evening in Las Vegas

Toddy, in front of a 3-wheeled 1934 Morgan Super Sport
at Harrah's Auto Museum. He owns a similar one in the UK

Where else can you visit New York, Venice, Rome, Cairo, Paris and the
 Old West in one evening

Daytime at the fountain of Ceasar's Palace

 We went to the Grand Canyon next...stopping at Hoover Dam. There are tours offered here, taking you into the bowels of the dam, where the turbines are. That's what we were told, anyway. We didn't stop long enough...there were other places to go and things to see.

Lake Mead starts here at Hoover Dam...or does it end here?  Anybody know?

The overflow for Hoover Dam goes waaaayyy down that hole

Looking over the edge at Hoover Dam...I wonder what it would look like
if you dropped a bowling ball

Next, we headed over to the Hualapi Indian Reservation to see the famous "Skywalk". We had heard that the natives built an attraction on their reservation that allowed visitors to venture out over the Grand Canyon on a glass balcony extended out from the cliff edge. I figured it was another great place to investigate dropping objects off of high places. It was a truly fun time, and we couldn't believe how close to the edge you could get. Just outside the entrance to the Skywalk building, you could approach the canyon edge...no ropes, no fences, no guards...just one small step and a reaaally long scream to the bottom. The Skywalk was quite an experience, also...it extends out, cantilever-like, over the canyon edge about 65'. The walkway is shaped in a half-circle with the inner/outer edges being concrete and the center...just 5' wide plate glass panels about 6" thick. In other words, you can look right below your feet and see nothing but air for over 800'. The staff makes you wear socks or booties over your shoes, so you are quiet and can hear the wind blow through your hair.
Or maybe so the glass doesn't get scratched by dirty shoes.
Or maybe because they got a good deal at the local hospital supply store.

Lori and Ken at the edge

Toddy and Sue, not quite at the edge

Our close friends,
Ruthie and Stanley Parkenfarker, foolishly
horsing around near the edge

The "Skywalk" on the Hualapi Indian Reservation.
The outer edge (right-hand side of the picture) is about
800' above the sloping canyon floor.

I always seem to find the really interesting stuff:
An abandoned trolley system, used to harvest bat guano from a
nearby cave system