Last night in NYC

Last night in NYC, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Tonight is my last night in NYC. I got to see several sights while I was here. Wish Jay could have seen them with me. It's an early night tonight since I have to be in a cab at 4 am to JFK! There is a severe thunderstorm warning tonight so hopefully it's gone by 4am so that I'm not delayed!

Friday Beach Picture

Friday Beach Picture, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Another "borrowed" picture from a Virgin Islands Online poster. This
one is on St John.

Live from New York City

Live from New York City, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Well, I've been off island since last week and it doesn't look like Jay is keeping up with the blog posts so thought I'd do one from NYC. I've had a nice time so far (except for the whole lost luggage thing) and I've got three more days to go. The training class is going well and I already have lots of ideas on how to put it to use. Last night I met up with a friend from St. Thomas who just happened to be in NYC and we ate dinner on the rooftop of her friends apt in the upper east
side. What a view!! I have several things I want to do while I'm here so hopefully the weather cooperates so that I get a chace to do everything. For those of you that know the city, if you had just two evenings to see the sites, what would you pick? Statute of Liberty, Empire State Bldg, ground zero, museums, etc. Give me your thoughts.

Clear Evening

Clear Evening, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Well I have just been hanging out at the house today watching a little
TV. We had a short shower earlier but it has cleared out this
afternoon and the view is great.

WV Capitol Bldg

WV Capitol Bldg, originally uploaded by captainjay.

I'm out on the Kanawha River for the American Lung Assoc poker run and
just past the WV Capitol building and thought I'd share. It feels so
great being out on a boat on the river with friends. Just wish jay was
here with us.

Friday Beach Picture

Well, I'm doing the Friday beach pic from WV this morning. Made it safely last night but just a really long day. Lots going on today and tomorrow so hope to get some good posts out of it.

This pic is Hull Bay on the north side of STT. Cool little beach. Has a different vibe than some of the other STT beaches. And Has a cool little bar and restaurant.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Pie Whole

Pie Whole, originally uploaded by captainjay.

So Deb is on her way to the states for a visit and a training class,
so I am having a Pizza at the Pie Whole in French Town. Brick oven Pizza
is a good ting.
Jay

Close call with CBS

I panicked for a moment when I heard we no longer had a CBS affiliation in the VI!! A lot of my favorite shows are CBS and I was pretty bummed that I would no longer be able to watch them. We noticed the first week of July that we no longer had CBS morning news and started checking around.

Then we found this article in the newspaper (St. Thomas Source):


Innovative Cable TV Announces Temporary CBS Affiliation
By Source Staff
July 2, 2009 — Innovative Cable TV officials are notifying subscribers that the cable system will broadcast a temporary CBS signal, WSEE-TV out of Eerie, Pennsylvania, from July 1 through 12. This WSEE feed will substitute for WVXF-TV CBS, which goes off the air on June 30. WSEE-TV CBS will be positioned on channel 58 on both St. Croix and St. Thomas-St. John systems.
Negotiations are ongoing to secure a CBS affiliate for the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is Innovative’s understanding that negotiations with CBS are going very well and the affiliation should be in place by July 13. Innovative Cable TV will inform our customers of the final outcome as soon as negotiations are completed.

But no worries. TV2 picked up the affiliation so CBS is saved!!! Yea!!

Hazy Lazy Day

So I am off again today. I didn't even keep the car. I just paid some bills and cashed in some reward points from our credit card towards our September plane tickets. The weather is definately in a summer pattern. It's back to work tommorow then Deb flies out Thursday
Jay

Tropical Wave

THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY HAS INCREASED THIS MORNING IN ASSOCIATION WITHA TROPICAL WAVE OVER THE EASTERN CARIBBEAN SEA. HOWEVER...UPPER-LEVEL WINDS REMAIN UNFAVORABLE FOR DEVELOPMENT OF THIS SYSTEM ATTHIS TIME. REGARDLESS OF DEVELOPMENT...LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL ANDGUSTY WINDS WILL AFFECT PORTIONS OF THE LESSER ANTILLES...THEVIRGIN ISLANDS...AND PUERTO RICO TODAY AS THE WAVE MOVES WEST-NORTHWESTWARD AT 15 TO 20 MPH. THERE IS A LOW CHANCE...LESS THAN30 PERCENT...OF THIS SYSTEM BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THENEXT 48 HOURS.

Raining But No Water For the Cistern

So The land lord has some guys cleaning and resealing the gutter area on the roof and touching up the paint on the soffit and fascia. Should be all good right. Well they took the weekend off after using a lot of water to pressure wash the soffit, fascia, and gutters and left out the drain plugs for the gutters. Well we have a tropical wave coming through which means we have had a lot of rain the last couple of days. All of which is running out on the ground instead of into the cistern were it belongs. If I could find the plugs I would put them back in myself but apparently they have them with them. Here is a little video that Deb shot on her new 3GS iPhone. Mine doesn't do that.

Jay

Friday Beach Pic

It's Friday!!! Yea!!!! Todays pic has two reasons. For one, it's a beautiful beach pic on Lindberg Bay. But secondly, the fence area is protecting a leatherback turtle nest. It's pretty cool. The Leatherback turtle is an endangered species so any time they nest, they need to be protected. Nesting on St. Thomas is not real common so we're pretty excited about it. Here is an article in the St Thomas Source about it.

American Lung Assoc.

Next weekend is the American Lung Association's Annual Poker Run in WV and I'm going to be there!! WooHoo! I'm making a quick stop in WV on my way to NYC for a training class. The poker run is by river and by land through Charleston, WV and surrounding area. I'll be riding on a friends boat so I can't wait. I have really missed river boating. This is the third year for the event and Debbie Qualls is doing a terrific job putting it together, I'm so glad I'm going to be a part of it this year. Its for a great cause and a great time. Can't wait!

Mail Miracle

I ordered the new iPhone 3GS last Friday and I received it on Wednesday! It was shipped on Tuesday with FedEx and was here the next day. I don't think that has ever happened. So far I really like the new phone, it's soooo much faster than my old phone (original iPhone 2G). The plan is to give Jay my old phone but the AT&T office here could not activate the older phones so I have to go through AT&T customer support to set it up. Not sure what that is all about. But we called last night and they started the set up process and their "system" was down so she could not complete the process. She's supposed to call me back today to finish. When I was standing in line at the ATT store and was telling the associate what the plan was, a customer that was standing next to me (buying two new iPhones, btw) made a comment about how sad it was that my husband was getting the hand-me-down phone. I started laughing. But this was Jay's idea! I swear! :-)

I need to learn all the new features of the 3GS. It has video, which is cool. But still doesn't have zoom on the camera. You have to download an application for $.99 to get a digital zoom, so I guess I'll do that.

Fall Boating in WV aka Visit to the States

Well we have been trying to plan a trip to the States to see the Friends and Family so sitting around this morning I found some pretty good rates on US Scareways so it looks like ten days in September. We managed to book it during the time of the Pomeroy Ohio Regatta so we are going to bum a ride on a friends boat and spend a few days boating during the Fall boating season, which by the way will feel allot like winter to us. It will be great to see everyone and Pomeroy has always been a favorite of ours. I really can't explain the little town, once a year this sleepy little farm town on the banks of the Ohio River throws a party. Every business in town goes all out for it. Also this place has more bars per square mile than White Bay on Jost so that ain't all bad either, from Jimmy's sports bar with one big screen two pool tables and a hand full of other TVs, to the Court Street grill with live music, like Teddy Morgan and way to many people in what you could only call a Honky Tonk, to Shooting Pool at the Eagle's Club or having a nice dinner at the Wild Horse Cafe, everyone is glad to see you. I guess the best way to describe the whole ting would be a good old red neck "Carnival" with some power boats and stern wheelers thrown in for good measure.

By the way here is a little slide show of the Pomeroy Festival a few years ago.

Jay

Summer Time Day Off

Well it has been quiet since the Jost trip. I am off today and just hanging out at the house. Watching a little TV and reading a book. Deb is heading to the states next week for a training class in New York and she is making a pit stop in West Virginia for a couple of days to see the family and friends. We are still boat shopping when we have time. The charter season will be winding down in a few short weeks. August 15 is the end of the last charters so I will have a little more free time for a few months after that. I am sure Deb will be posting from her trip to the Continent next week so that should liven up the blog a bit. She does have plan to do a charity poker run by boat with some of our friends while she is in town.
Jay

PS Hopefully her new iPhone 3GS will be in soon so I can have the old one.

Awesome STJ video

A forum friend, Lesley LMG, made an awesome video of her vacation while on St. John. The pictures and music are just perfect, it definitely captures the beauty of the Virgin Islands. The music is "Learn To Be Still" by The Eagles and "Live High" by Jason Mraz. The video is about 8:30 minutes, so go fix an island cocktail and kick back and watch this video. Thanks Lesley!

http://vimeo.com/5465159

VI Eco Tours

I did a kayak/snorkel trip with VI Eco Tours this past weekend and they did an excellent job! If you are looking for something to do while on St. Thomas this is definitely something you should check out. It's kid friendly as well as enjoyable for adults. The guide was very entertaining while he educates you on the importance of the mangroves and points out all the inhabitants.

The tour takes you on a kayak trip through the mangroves for about a mile and a half. Then you come to a protected lagoon that is bordered by a reef that faces the southern most tip of St. Thomas, Long Point. You disembark from the kayaks and start off on your snorkel. The best places were along the boarders of the mangroves where the fish hang for cover. The guide snorkels along side pointing out sea life that I would have missed had he not pointed it out. ie. upside down jelly fish on the bottom. After the snorkel, you get back in the kayaks and head back to the Eco Tours headquarters. The whole tour took about 2 1/2 hours which includes a 1/2 hour discussion at the beginning to overview the tour and give any instruction for newbies.

They provide plenty of water and encourage you to keep hydrated. And, if it's sunny out, definitely where sunblock and maybe a hat. Definitely bring a camera! I didn't bring mine so I don't have very many pics.

Fresh Mangos

Fresh Mangos, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Our mango tree is dropping mangos like crazy so I stopped this morning
and picked a bunch up. Most of them were pretty soft so I puréed them
but some feel firm enough to slice. Anyone got any good recipes for
fresh mango and mango purée ??

Friday Beach Picture

This is Smith Bay AKA Linquist Beach on St Thomas. This beach is being run by the Magens Bay Authority now. It is a clean safe beach with limited facilities.
Also sorry the posts have been a little light this week. After spending last weekend on Jost there hasn't been much going on this week besides work.
Jay

Half Price Sailing

Well the company just put up a heck of deal for anyone thinking about a last minute trip. All of our unsold dates between now and August 15 are half off. Check the web page for details.

Also for those of you on Facebook you can become a fan of CYOA here.

Jay

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Sunday Bloody Sunday, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Last day on Jost. We're sitting in front of Soggy Dollar having a
couple bloody mary's listening to the surf and watching all the
charter boats pull out. What a great weekend!!

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Hanging on the beach in front of Ivans waiting for signs of life on
Cats Eye so that we can swim out to their boat and invade their
refrigerator for some breakfast. Nothing on Jost is open early or
serves breakfast so you're pretty much on your own for that meal.

My AT&T coverage is perfect at White Bay but when we went over to
Great Harbor last night I had spotty coverage and none at all in front
of Foxeys.

Some more friends are coming over this morning so today should be
larger than yesterday. Scary.

Well, happy independence day! Enjoy!

TTOL Party at Corsairs

TTOL Party at Corsairs, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Great Harbour will never be the same.

Sailing To Jost

Sailing To Jost, originally uploaded by captainjay.

We just came through Current Cut at Great St James. Sails up, 10 kts
of wind 60 degrees off the starboard.
Jay

Sailing....sailing

Sailing....sailing, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Well, we got an added bonus to our Jost trip. Friends of ours who were
also going to Jost was going to leave Thursday night and we were going
to meet up with them Friday after we came over on the ferry. Well, as
fate would have it, they ended up staying the night at CYOA dock, so
now we get to sail over with them!!!! WooHoo!!

Thanks Kirsten and Dave!!!!

Early Friday Beach Pic

Well, today isn't Friday but it feels like it since I'm off the rest of the week! Tomorrow is VI Emancipation Day and then Friday, is the observed Independence Day. So it's a four day weekend for me! Jay is off starting Friday, so he has a three day weekend. We haven't had that much time off together since February so I'm really looking forward to it.

I'm so excited about going to Jost for the weekend. We've never stayed on the island before so this will be a first. We've stayed over night several times on a boat but never on land and never for three days! Several friends are also coming over, a couple via boat, and others staying on land like us, so it should be a lot of fun. Also, Travel Talk Online, one of the forums that Jay posts on, is having a big party Friday night at Corsairs. It's a Hawaiian luau with live music. So, lots going on.

BTW - the above pic is Jost Van Dyke taken by Joshie from Virgin-Islands-Online forum. That will be our view over the weekend! WooHoo!!