Soggy Dollar

We had a great time on Jost Van Dyke at the Soggy Dollar Bar yesterday. We picked up Brenda and Gary at the ferry dock and headed over to Sandy Cay for a swim. We ran into Captain John Brandi with Palm Tree Charters. His group was celebrating a birthday so they were having a great time.

Then we headed back over to Jost to partake of a few painkillers and lunch. The weather was perfect, the food and drinks were great and so was the company. Thanks Brenda and Gary. (BTW thats Brenda and I sitting at the table in the lower left hand corner of the pic above.)

But then it was time to head home. Customs was crazy since we got there the same time as several day boats and a ferry. We didn't have any of our paperwork filled out so that was even funner. One of the customs officers helped us fill out our local boaters app so that should make it easier the next time we head to the BVI. We had a great weekend and can't wait to do it again. My birthday is coming up soon so that sounds like a good reason for a weekend boat trip. We have some more forum friends coming in that same weekend for a sailing trip so keep your fingers crossed that Jay can get another weekend off. :-)

 

 

Sandy Cay

Sandy Cay, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Hanging out at Sandy Cay before going over to Jost Van Dyke. Picked up some friends and having a couple cold ones enjoying the sun. Definitely enjoying our Time On The Water. :-)

Cane Garden Bay

Cane Garden Bay, originally uploaded by captainjay.

We decided to check out Cane Garden Bay on Tortolla yesterday. It was so flat out and usually this area is rockin' and rollin' so we figured this was our chance. There are several beach bars and Inns/Cottages right on the beach, very cool. We chose Myett's since a friend of ours was just playing there the previous night and said it was a fun place. He was right. They had a guy playing reggae and calypso, which was very good and they're food was really good! Jay had their famous barbeque ribs and I had the fresh catch which was mahi. Both came with red beans and rice, grilled vegetables, plantains. Sooooo good, best mahi ever. :-)

After staying our first night on the boat, we realize we'll have to add a couple things to the list. Top two items, more foam and a fan. Once we cut the foam to actually fit the space and get it covered, it will make it easier to make up for the night and take apart to use the head. I'll just leave it at that. :-)

Today we're heading over to Jost Van Dyke to the soggy dollar bar. We're going to meet some friends over there and they're going to ride back with us. Should be another excellent day.

Stay tuned. :-)

Flat Calm

Flat Calm, originally uploaded by captainjay.

The conditions today couldn't be more perfect. The water is flat calm, light breeze, blue skies, just beautiful. We're checking into customs at Soper's Hole, Tortolla, BVI. Still haven't decided our next destination, so many choices, we'll let you know when we get there.

Too much stuff

Too much stuff, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Wow, it takes a lot of stuff to just go boating for a weekend. Well, actually a lot of the stuff we're loading on the boat today are things that will permanently stay on the boat....bedding, safety gear, storage totes, sun block, bug spray, etc. But everyone that walks by the cart is teasing us about how long we're actually going out for. :-)

Boat Weekend Soon Come

Boat Weekend Soon Come, originally uploaded by captainjay.

So I am off for the next couple of days. Currently at Tickles listening to Hudson and the Hoo Doo cats. We are heading out on the boat in the morning for a couple days. Woo Hoo
Jay

Black Friday Island Style

Black Friday Island Style, originally uploaded by captainjay.

I never go out on Black Friday but this year I had to since we need stuff for our weekend boat trip. It is crazy! There are only a couple stores on island to shop, so everyone on island is packed in. I was waiting in a huge line that wasn't moving at all. Then some young girl walked by and said follow me, the line is much shorter over there and she took off... So I followed. She was right! So now I'm I'm a much shorter line but still moving. Lol oh well. Hopefully I'll be out within the hour. Happy Holidays! :-)

Great T Day

Great T Day, originally uploaded by captainjay.

We had a very nice Thanksgiving, great meal, great weather and great people to share it with. I hope everyone enjoyed their day with friends and family.

Jay got his check list of items done on the boat so now it's up to me to find something to put in the cabin to sleep on so that we can do an overnight on the boat this weekend. Kmart carries a memory foam mattress so I guess I'll head there in the morning to see if I can find one. It's black Friday so wish me luck. :-)

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'm busy cooking up my side dish and appetizer to take to a friends house for dinner while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on CBS. It's these kinds of days that makes you miss family and friends back home, but knowing we're going to be around a great bunch of people tonight for dinner helps. You don't even want to know what I paid for the ingredients for these two dishes. Crazy. But totally worth it!

Jay is out working on the boat, finishing up a few things needed for our weekend trip. He was able to get Saturday and Sunday off so the plan is to run over to Jost Van Dyke! WooHoo! That is if the north swell that moved in today is over by Saturday morning. Wish us luck.

Enjoy!!

Much deserved Time on the Water

Jay was off yesterday so of course we loaded up the boat and hit the water. It was a great day! We started by going to Great St. James, Christmas Cove. The south side of St. Thomas was a little rough but not too bad. We will dufinitely have to pick our days to venture out.

Then over to Hawksnest on St. John.

Then we picked up some friends in Red Hook that brought us food and beverages. We took on some fuel and water and headed back over to Christmas Cove for a swim and lunch. The water was soooo clear, I
should have had my snorkel gear but no luck. I will probably buy a set that I can just leave on the boat so I don't have to transport back and forth.

Then we headed over to Water Island, Honeymoon Beach. The trip back along the south side of STT was much nicer than the earlier trip. The water was a lot flatter and plus we were going with the seas versus
against it.

It was finally time to end the day and everyone was sad. But it was a great day and looking forward to many more to come.

At the car wash ...

At the car wash ..., originally uploaded by captainjay.

I got the car washed today (man did it need it) at the Fire Station in
Tutu (across from Tillet Gardens). For $20, they wash, chamois,
vacuum, armorall inside and out, windows inside and out, clean tire
wells, air freshner, and all with a smile. It's a fund raiser for the
station so the money goes to a good cause. They do it pretty regularly
so I will definitely be keeping an eye out for the next one. If you're
on island you should do the same. :-)

Pie Whole

Well, if you don't already know, Pie Whole in Frenchtown is our favorite place to eat. It's a pizza place, but not your typical pizza joint. They have gourmet brick oven pizzas with a well stocked bar as well as a nice wine and beer selection. They recently added a whole list of Belgium beers that are excellent. It's not a very big place, only like maybe four or five booths and 10 or so bar stools. So, sometimes it's packed and you can't get a seat (cuz it's sooo good). But, that's only happened a couple times. We're constantly posting pics on Facebook so I thought I would share some of them here. I also found their menu, courtesy of St. Thomas Source, that I will post at the end.

Pie Whole ~ Dinner

Business hours: Lunch Monday-Friday 11-3pm

Dinner Monday-Thursday 5-11pm, Fri & Sat 5-1am

Call for take out (340) 642-5074

$1 per box will be added on to go orders


~ Starter’s ~

Caprese salad $10

Buffalo mozzarella, locally grown organic tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil

Italian sub salad $9

Salami, banana peppers, onions, black olives, topped with our four cheese blend, and house made Italian dressing on the side

Hail twisted Caesar $9

Romaine lettuce, house made Caesar dressing, served on freshly baked flat bread, topped with crispy pancetta, Italian cheese blend, and a balsamic reduction.

Freschetta $9

Fresh baked flat bread served with marinated locally grown organic tomatoes, red onion, basil, and mozzarella



~ Our Pasta ~

All our pasta is made fresh daily

Chip $12

House made sausage, fresh spinach, and Chipotle tomato cream sauce tossed with penne

Spicy SDT $12

Sun dried tomato, crushed red pepper, garlic, onions, & pine nuts, tossed with cappellini and finished with Italian cheese blend.

Earth lover $12

Spinach, artichoke, sun dried tomato, garlic, fresh herbs, tossed with truffle oil and served with fettuccine

Aruga-nut $14

Fresh arugula, sautéed with pine nuts, garlic, toasted bread crumbs, lemon zest, & extra virgin olive oil, tossed with cappellini

Meat head $14

Crazy uncle Earl’s insane secret meat sauce tossed with spaghetti, & topped with our Italian cheese blend



Our signature PIE

All pies are 13 inch fresh hand stretched dough offering your choice of white or wheat crust.

$12 for cheese plus $2 per addition for build your own:

Pepperoni, sausage, Virginia baked ham, pancetta, riccotta, mozzarella, sliced tomato, roast bell pepper, black olive, banana pepper, spinach, onion, mushrooms, sun dried tomato, artichokes, anchovies, & roast garlic

Holy trinity $16

Buffalo mozzarella, locally grown organic tomatoes, fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil, & course ground sea salt

Cheese-lover $14

Mozzarella, romano pecorino, parmesan reggiano, provolone, asiago San Marzano tomato sauce, & extra virgin olive oil

Peppy-fungo $15

Italian cheese blend, pepperoni, fresh mushroom, fresh herbs, San Marzano tomato sauce, & extra virgin olive oil

Spin Ricky $14

Fresh spinach, riccotta cheese, fresh herbs, San Marzano tomato sauce, & extra virgin olive oil

Chi-town favorite $15

House made Italian sausage, chopped onion, San Marzano tomato sauce, & our Italian cheese blend

Veg-head $16

Onions, roasted bell peppers, black olives, mushrooms, artichokes, extra virgin olive oil, San Marzano tomato sauce, topped with our Italian cheese blend

Pollo-pesto $16

Beer braised chicken, house made pesto, onions, and fresh tomato, & our Italian cheese blend

Formaggio-bianco $14

Mozzarella, riccotta, roasted garlic, crushed red pepper & extra virgin olive oil

No red sauce on this one!

?-zone $13

Calzone stuffed with Virginia baked ham and fresh ricotta, served with fresh house made marinara for dipping!

Friday Beach Pic

It's Friday!! It's been raining a bunch this week which is good for the plants and cisterns, but hopefully it clears up for the weekend. We don't have anything specific planned, but if Jay can get any time off, we plan on doin some boatin' !! Need some Time on the Water.

Have a great weekend!

Btw-this pic is from last Sunday at Lindbergh. Nice!

Time on the Water

Went on a sunset cruise around Hassel Island tonight. Jay had the day off and got a lot done on the boat. He filled out all the paperwork for registration and mooring permit so he had to come up with the name, and we hadn't really decided yet so he went with his gut.....Time on the Water.

Rain Rain Every Where

Rain Rain Every Where, originally uploaded by captainjay.

So it's been raining heavy all morning. This is a shot of the main
road in front of Banco Popular this morning. I am off and supposed to
be working on the boat. That's not looking good at this point. Back up
plan was to go to DPNR and do the boat registration. Well their office
is at the airport, the airport is flooded so the office is closed. New
backup plan breakfast and a bloody Mary at Tickle's to see what the
weather is going to do.

New Home

New Home, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Well, got up early this morning and moved our boat to it's new home. I liked having it at the marina. Much easier to get on it whenever we wanted But that was just temporary since the marina is full. The last few boats come in today and probably tomorrow so no room for us :-(. We checked with Crown Bay marina and they wanted crazy money for our little boat, so that's out. We may check around with some of the other marinas but for now it's good where it's at. Nice view huh? :-)

Lost Puppy

Friends of our found this puppy and is looking for it's owner. If you live on island and know this puppy or it's owners, please let me know. Thanks.

Nice View

Found some time between errands to go hang out on the boat for a little while. Poor Jay is working so I'm just hanging out by myself.

There are some major thunder boomers in the background so hopefully it doesn't start raining. Today is the last day that the boat will be in Frenchtown marina; there is a big boat coming in tomorrow that will be doing in the spot we've been hanging out in. So we have to find a new place.

PS - this post was from yesterday but never showed up so I had to manually add it. Not sure what happened.

Friday Beach Pic

Friday Beach Pic, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Yea! It's Friday. It's been a strange week with having Wednesday off. I couldn't keep up with what day of the week it was! :-)

Jay has to work this weekend so no boating. :-(. We still haven't decided on a name. But we will by the time the repairs are done and everything is official. He came up with another possible, Time on the Water.

The pic is another from Mermaids Chair at Botany Bay.

Botany Bay

 

Made it to Botany Bay today. We went to Mermaids Chair. It's a really cool beach and we had it to ourselves most of the day. The down side is you have to park at the guard shack at the entrance of Botany Bay and walk about 2 miles down to the beach.

The walk down is not bad, nice paved roads...

but the walk up.....OMG. Thankfully a guy in a truck leaving one of the building sites stopped and gave us a ride up. The views were spectacular, especially with the north swells, the waves were wild!

A big storm looked like it was going to move in, but it blew over and all was well.

I like the beach and the remoteness, so I'd like to go again. But I think I'll wait until the boat is ready and go by water instead of walking that hill!! :-)

Happy Veterans Day

Happy Veterans Day, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Give thanks to all our men and women in uniform today and every day!

The north swell is up again and it's creating some wild waves on the
north shore. This pic doesn't do it justice. It's normally flat out
there, so seeing all the wave action from our view point is pretty cool.

Boat update: Jay has been checking off items on the list, bilge pump,
nav lights, through hull valves, cooler seat, etc. Had our survey done
yesterday and that went well. No suprises, some safety gear, head
issues, things we already knew. The surveyor agreed we got a good deal
on the boat!

Since today is a holiday and I'm off work (Jay has to work), Silvia
and I are going to the beach. We are going to attempt to find Botany
Bay. Jay and I was there several weeks back on a friends boat and it
was beautiful. Getting to it by road is a little different. So this
should be interesting. So stay tuned for some good pics.

Enjoy!!

Maiden Voyage

Maiden Voyage, originally uploaded by captainjay.

We took the boat out today on it's maiden voyage. We only made it as far as water island to honeymoon beach. But It ran great!! Still trying to decide on a name. So keep the suggestions coming. So far the suggestions are:
Live De Life
De Life
De Boat
De Weekend
Deja Vu
Deja View
Jade
Any Suggestions?
Debbie Does ... Port of St. Thomas
Jay Dreaming
Happy Hour
Floatie Toy

Still thinking........

New Boat

New Boat, originally uploaded by captainjay.

I have to say the boat has so far exceeded our expectations. We had some repairs done in Peurto Rico and we were fully prepared to tow it back. That wasn't even close to necessary. The boat ran great all the
way back.

Friday boat pic

Friday boat pic, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Well, sorry we forgot about the Friday beach pic today. It was an early morning going to Puerto Rico to go pick up the new boat. Kudos to Jorge Cintron, the mechanic in PR that did the work on the motor. It ran great.

St. John Recap

I just realized I posted a bunch of pics from our St. John trip on Facebook but forgot about the blog. oops. sorry. So here is a little recap. Breakfast, beach, drink, eat, repeat! We had a great time hanging out with all our forum friends and can't wait to see them again. More are coming down later this month, so we'll get to hang out with them also. Here are a few pics of the beaches we visited:

Gibney Beach

Maho Beach

Lamesure Beach

I love the beaches on St. John! Enjoy!

Sea Tow membership

Well, the boat deal is getting closer and closer. Signed up for the SeaTow membership this morning so it's starting to become more real. The new prop arrived yesterday and the mechanic started on the repairs. If all goes well, the boat should be in STT by this weekend. WooHoo!!!