Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Merry Christmas everyone! I had a Christmas cookie baking party with a girl friend yesterday to get into the spirit and we had a blast! We made a ton of cookies so I brought some to work today to share, even though there's like four people here lol but it's the thought that counts ;-)

No trip home this year since Jay and I both have to work today but lots of activities planned. Tonight we're going to Betsy's annual Christmas party with cookies, steel pan and coquito And Tomorrow we're having afternoon dinner with the Frenchtown family. So lots of Christmas spirit here in de islands :-)

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Long Weekend of Boating and Diving

So with my cousin Frank in we chartered a boat from CYOA and did some sailing and diving. This video was shot with a Go Pro camera on The Pirates Purchase at Jost.

Happy Birthday Deb

Sorry folks for not posting much lately. We have been way to busy with life and sometimes it's just easier to post a little something on Facebook than it is to take time to write a post. Today is Deb's birthday and we have company coming from the states. Having dinner at the Twisted Cork tonight then we are planning to take a few days off and do a little boating and diving. Deb also has left UVI and started at a new job which has also taken up more of her time but she is loving the new job and the new opportunities and challenges. I will try to put some fun stuff up this weekend while we are out and about and looking forward to trying out the new dive housing for the go pro camera.

RIP Norm

RIP Norm, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Sorry for the lack of posts. It's been a little sad and we haven't felt like posting. Jays dad passed away last week so Jay went back to WV for a little while to be with family. I wasn't able to go since I've started a new job and haven't accumulated any time yet. But he's back and doing fine. Still helping his mom to get things straightened out. My family went to the service and said it was nice. Friends, family, old coworkers, got up and told funny stories which helped to lift the spirits. Norm had a great sense of humor so he would have enjoyed all the stories. RIP Norm.

The Twisted Cork Cafe

 

The Twisted Cork is now open in the former Craig and Sally's location in Frenchtown. They have a similar menu with small plates and large plates. Daily specials based on available fresh ingredients and several members of the former staff now own and operate the restaurant.

The interior has been totally remodeled. The space has been opened up, freshened up and is more upbeat. While the decibel level is a little higher with the new floor plan the energy level is higher as well.

The phone number is still a well guarded secret, as Innovative hasn't bothered to list it yet so here it is. 340-775-2675 or 340-775-CORK. Call Eric for reservations

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Happy Halloween from St. Thomas. Looney Bien is having a little pumpkin carving contest so of course the pumpkin we picked was totally rotten inside and it smelled soooo bad we had to carve the poison face lol. I guess the pumpkins had to travel from distance lands and rotted somewhere along the way.

Friday Pic

Friday Pic, originally uploaded by captainjay.

TGIF! Wow, what a crazy week. Sooooo glad it's Friday. We haven't been to the beach for quite awhile so I'm sharing a pic of my favorite little island and our beautiful view.

This weekend weather is not looking so good. There's a little storm out there brewing that may pass by here this weekend sometime. It may not become an actual TS by the time it reaches here but it's supposed to drop lots of rain, which the island needs. So we'll probably be hanging out at the house on Sunday. The Family Resource Center is supposed to be having a Sunday Beach at Magen's bay this Sunday 14th from 11am to 6pm. I was thinking about going but not if the weather is going to be that bad. So we'll see.

The boat is still out of the water. We pulled it before going on vacation and had the bottom pressure sprayed. Then last weekend Jay and another guy prepped and bottom painted it and Jay buffed the sides. It looks good and ready to go back in the water. We were hoping maybe this weekend but that doesn't look like that's going to happen. The water has been so flat out, perfect power boat conditions. So hopefully we'll get back out on the water soon.

Also want to say Happy Birthday to my sister. She's turning the big "4-0" so I just had to throw that out there! Lol Have fun at the beach sis :-)

Getting caught up

Getting caught up, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Well after our fun vacay off the rock, we're finally getting back into the routine of work, sleep, and island fun. The weather has been awesome and the water is flat calm out right now. The boat has been out of the water for the "season" or we would be out on it right now. Jay and Squeeks just finished buffing and bottom painting so it should go back in the water this week.

I can't wait for the Christmas winds to start because it's been so hot at the house and WAPA is killing us. It's getting ready to go up 19% so that'll be fun paying that bill. But as soon as the winds are back then it's time to open the windows and turn off the a/c.

The boats start coming back next week to CYOA so lots of activity will be going on in Frenchtown. Lots of projects at UVI as well. Busy busy.

Bought a new laptop while we were stateside and rebuilt the old laptop to use with the new Neat desk scanner I got at Office Max. The old laptop was dying so jay did a system restore and wiped it clean. It's much better and I'm glad to have a dedicated machine to the scanner so hopefully I can get more organized. That's one thing that's been lacking since moving here, island time got me I guess lol.

The questions that were most frequently asked while we were in the states: are you really as happy as you seem, is it really as beautiful as your pics are, are you staying long term, don't you miss your friends and family, do you love it... And the answer was always YES :-)

Fund raiser for Breast Cancer

Fund raiser for Breast Cancer, originally uploaded by captainjay.

It's breast cancer awareness month so it's time for Betsy's Bar annual fund raiser for Breast Cancer. Every year the Red Hat society teams up with Betsy's bar for a fun fund raiser. They decorate bras for display and everyone donates a dollar to their favorite design. All proceeds go to the Cancer Support VI. Of course my vote went to the disco bra! It's a great cause so if you're on island make sure to stop by and vote and support this local charity.

Internet Speed test

Internet Speed test, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Did a little internet speed test while I was in WV. The pic on the left is the wifi at my sisters house in WV and the pic on the right is the wifi speed at our place in STT. Absolutely nutz! And we pay top dollar for that stupid speed. Thanks Choice. Oh well, the price we pay for paradise :-)

Winfield Locks and Dam

Winfield Locks and Dam, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Great river day today for the trip back from Pomeroy Riverfest in Ohio. So much fun seeing all our boating peeps and then having a great river trip back to WV. Makes the 18 hour travel day worth it ;-)

Friday Beach Pic

Friday Beach Pic, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Heading to WV to visit with the fam but we have a 6 hour layover in Puerto Rico. So instead of hanging out at the airport, we decided to grab a cab and head to the El San Juan Resort. It's on the Isla Verde beach which is only a 5 min cab ride. It's going to be a very long travel day so this is a nice little break from the airport craziness.

Happy Labor Day weekend

Happy Labor Day weekend, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Having a nice relaxing Labor Day weekend. We both have three days off together and it feels so nice to not have any plans :-) We spent the afternoon over on Water Island, Honeymoon Beach, with our Frenchtown friends. TS Leslie is hanging out several hundred miles north east of us so no effect as far as winds but it caused a little bit of a swell so we just took an easy slow ride over to Honeymoon. Friends, sun, sand, good music, and cold beverages, priceless. Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend as much as we are :-)

How Things Get Fixed in De Islands

 

One of the things I learned early on here was if you want something fixed figure out how to do it yourself. There simply aren't a lot of skilled repair people of any kind on the rock.

So we have a very expensive convection combination microwave at the condo. It had stopped working a while back. So I did a little Googling, got out a screwdriver and a multi meter and dug in. Originally thought it was the magnetron tube, an expensive part. It turned out to be a safety switch on the door.

So where do you get parts in De Islands? I checked a few web sights and I was having trouble finding anyone to ship here. Believe it or not Sears parts express ships here. It's a little tricky as the VI isn't in their drop down list but their chat feature or a good old phone call will get it done. So thirty dollars for parts, another thirty for shipping. The one glitch in their system is they consider the VI international shipping, UPS only. That makes it quick just not inexpensive. So the microwave works now for a lot less than the $1100.00 that Home Depot wants for a new one.
Jay

Friday beach pic

Friday beach pic, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Well, thankfully, TS Isaac ended up being a nothing storm. We had some 20-30 mph winds with some 40 mph gusts and some rain, but that was it. WAPA was out from Wed night around 8pm until noon the next day because a pole went down in Mandahl and took out just our area of Mahogany, it figures. But the Honda did a great job. Just wish I could have ran it overnight so that I had a fan. It was hot as heck with the doors closed due to the impending wind and rain, so we had no air flow at all. But overall, everything is fine, some lingering rains and light wind and grey skies. Hopefully FL and AL fair as well as we did. But it's not looking very good at the moment.

The pic was taken by our friend Ann. Great shot, had to borrow it :-)

Red Skies This >orning

 

 

So last night was hot and sticky with some heavy rain and winds gusting into the thirty plus mile per hour range. It doesn't look like much damage from here. I will check the boat when I get back to French Town for work but I had it lashed down pretty goood. We haven't had power since the first heavy rain came through last night around 8:00 pm but the Honda is keeping the fridge cool so everything will be alright. Hopefully WAPA will dry out what ever got wet last night and get the power back on. This one has left us alone. I think god has other plans for Isaac, thinking he might drop a message on the Republican National Convention in Tampa Bay next week. Just saying.

 

Jay



Batten down the hatches

Batten down the hatches, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Boats are secured, Frenchie boats are pulled out of the water, everything pulled off the deck at the condo, gas for the generator, food, water, cash, batteries, Jenny food in the freezer, whew. Hopefully this thing just passes by without incident. But in the meantime, having a pre-storm party at Betsy's ;-)

Here we go

Well, it's that time of the year and we have our first storm coming our way. Right now it's just a tropical depression, but soon it will be TS Isaac. Everyone is keeping a close eye on things, but hopefully it will go south of here and just pass on by. We went shopping last weekend and got all of our supplies (water, batteries, food, gas for the grill, etc.). The only thing left is fresh gas for the generator, which we plan to get tonight. We'll keep you posted on how things are going, but all is well for now.

Here are a few weather sites that we check often this time of year:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
http://www.stormcarib.com/
http://www.crownweather.com/?page_id=4557

Here are the links for our weather station at the condo:
http://www.weatherlink.com/user/mahoganyrun/
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=00801&sp=MD8627

Chili cookoff on Sunday

Chili cookoff on Sunday, originally uploaded by captainjay.

TGIF! It's the weekend! And it's time for the annual Texas Society Chili Cookoff! It's always a fun event, even with the crazy weather we usually have that particular weekend lol. But this year is looking pretty good, so keep your fingers crossed. I've heard thru the coconut telegraph that this year has more entries than ever before so it's going to be a tough competition, which means great eatin' for us! All the proceeds go to charity so come with your dollars to buy tickets for lots of chili and beer :-). This year since the forecast is decent, we are going to bring the boat and anchor right off the beach. Makes for a cooler afternoon after eating hot chili in the sun on a beach with no breeze :-)

If you're on island come by Brewers Bay beach (UVI) on Sunday from noon to 6 pm. Fun times!!

Btw- pic is from last year chili cookoff when we had TS Irene come thru. Say goodnight Irene!

SeaTow Vessel Removal

SeaTow Virgin Islands has been working hard to remove all the damaged, sunk, abandoned boats left in the wake of Hurricane Earl. It took awhile to get the funding between FEMA and the local government, but it's finally happening. They are pulling up all the boats in the area and bringing them to Water Island, where they are cutting up and then removing the debris. They have been posting all the pics to their Facebook page, but the page is open to the public (you don't have to be a Facebook user to access the pics) so check them out. It's pretty wild.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.488178241211497.126628.133207160041942&type=1

Friday Pic

Friday Pic, originally uploaded by captainjay.

TGIF! Another week come and gone. Jay worked all last weekend (7 days straight) but has this weekend off so we'll hopefully get out on the boat. We, and the Frenchtown crew, escaped Frenchtown tonight and headed to Island View Guesthouse. The view is awesome, the food is very good and going with friends is priceless ;-)

Saturday Beach Pic

Saturday Beach Pic, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Sorry I missed the Friday post. It's been rainy and yucky for the past week or so. But today was finally nice out. I have a couple friends visiting right now and they haven't been to the beach at all due to the weather. But today is definitely making up for it. One of my friends are friends with the GM at Caneel Bay so we're hanging out at Scott Beach and being treated like royalty. This is such a beautiful property. It's sad that we've been here as long as we have and not visited it. You are allowed to use the Caneel beaches without being a guest, but you can't use the chairs. We usually are on the boat and just pass by or maybe anchor and swim in for just a few min. But today the girls are taking in all the amenities :-) Caneel Bay ferry from Red Hook, lunch, drinks, towels, chairs, beach, ahhhhh so nice....

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Friday, I mean Saturday Beach Picture

So sorry for forgetting to post yesterday. This shot was taken last Sunday from Jost. We went over on a boat with some friends. Since T was in town we had to get a painkiller fix. We have had lots of company this year its been allot of fun but can be work as well. We are off today and haven't figured out if we are going to do anything or nothing . Alena will be here on Tuesday so the next week will be another interesting week.

Jay

Friday beach pic

Friday beach pic, originally uploaded by captainjay.

It's Friday and almost end of the work day. My friend Theresa is on her way down from WV for a quick weekend trip. Silvia, my friend from Croatia that used to live here, is also arriving this weekend. So you know what that means, another wild and crazy weekend lol.

We had a nice 4th of July on Water Island. No fireworks and a little afternoon storm, but we're used to that. There was a pretty good turn out at Joes Beach Bar and it was Debbie (the bartender) last day working before taking off on a sailing adventure down island. We wish her lots of luck.

Have a great weekend!

Friday Pic

Friday Pic, originally uploaded by captainjay.

TGIF! Finally getting over this cold, been over a week of coughing like crazy. Maybe the Sahara dust had something to do with it. Who knows. But the haze is clearing out, I'm feeling better and it's going to be a nice weekend so that's all that matters! Hope everyone enjoys their weekend as well! :-)

Relay for Life

Relay for Life, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Looney Walkers are set up and ready to walk. The girls did a great job decorating the tent. So far it's a pretty low turnout but will hopefully pick up later in the day. We've collected over $1700 so far and still going. Our raffle is really going well. Lots of great gift certificates from local companies (Admiralty Dive center, Sea Tow, Eco tours, Epernay, Beachcomber, Caribbean Surf, Underwater Safaris, Frenchtown Deli). Pretty happy with how everything turned out. :-)

Hazy Friday

Hazy Friday, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Well it's been hazy all week which pretty much sums up how I'm feeling. Dumb cold. Not good timing since Relay for Life is tomorrow. But I'll be there with bells on lol. Things are really coming together for our team. We've almost reached our goal which I think we will by tomorrow. We also have put together a really great raffle and hope to sell a bunch of tickets at the walk. Hats off to Val (Looney Bien) and Linda for getting all the donations. They have done an outstanding job. Our top prize is a Journey Gym donation from the local rep (www.journeygym.com) and we have several great gift certificates from local businesses. We are going to demo the equipment at the health and wellness tent at Relay, should be lots of fun. We are also putting a design together for the newspaper fashion show and decorating our tent. Lots of work but it'll all be worth it. Just keep your fingers crossed I don't pass out from too much cold meds :-)

Friday beach pic

Friday beach pic, originally uploaded by captainjay.

TGIF!! It's a birthday weekend for Jay. And our friend Billy is visiting from St. Croix so it's going to be a fun weekend.

We went to St. John last weekend and went to Salt Pond Bay and Drunk Bay for the first time. Absolutely beautiful! Drunk Bay is so different than any other bay I've ever seen in the VI. Everyone does a little rock sculpture which is so cool. I took lots of pics so I need to do a post of all the different creations.

So I hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

Friday Beach Picture

So here is an oldy but goody, this shot was taken at Anegada a bunch of years ago. Might be time for a return trip. Lobster on the beach never sucks, just saying. Have a great weekend everyone.
Jay

Relay for Life - coming soon!

On the final countdown to the big Relay for Life event. Meetings, updating Facebook, updating the American Cancer Society page, building the Looney Bien team, whew! Lots of work. But it's worth it, it's a great event, and it's going to be bigger this year than ever before. So, if you're on island June 23-24, come to Charlotte Amalie High School and check things out. And, if you can, please donate :-)

Here's a couple videos for PSAs for the event. Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/wFPCNeHeSPY

http://youtu.be/sDaM6H4uTSE

Friday Beach Pic

It's the weekend! Had a nice short week this week but still ready to get some rest and relaxation going on this weekend.

We had a great time with the family and I think they had a great time as well. Staying on Water Island is a little different than staying on St. Thomas or St. John, so it takes a little getting used to. Not a lot going on in the evenings so you have to either be prepared to cook your own meals or use the ferry or private boat to go over to St. Thomas. If using the ferry, you have to pay close attention to the schedule because there's not a lot of evening runs, so that makes going to dinner a little more challenging. But the fact that Jay's cousin wanted to do a lot of diving/boating during the day and they're not big on going out to dinner, we thought Water Island would fit their needs.

Our days were filled with boating, snorkeling, diving, sailing, tour of St. Thomas, beaching, you get the idea.

The house they stayed in was pretty and very convienient location with beautiful view of Honeymoon Beach and southside of St. Thomas. New construction, infinity edge pool, decorated and furnished very nicely. But I don't think I would recommend it to anyone again unless they know ahead of time all the "quirks". Like an outdoor kitchen, no grill, dark interior (darkwall color and lack of light), smelly septic system, huge mosquito issue with no screened in area to get away from them, to name a few.  But as far as location, it was perfect. Easy walk to the ferry dock and easy walk to the beach. The house came with the use of a vehicle, 4 door suv standard transmission. It would have been better if they could have used the golf cart, then maybe the kids could have gotten out and explored more. But the owners didn't want them to use it. Not a lot of things for teenage kids to do so I really thought drivng around the island in the golf cart exploring would have been fun for them.

Overall I think everyone had a great time and I hope they come back again real soon! :-)

Have a great weekend!

Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! Take a moment today to thank our veterans and current service men and women. Freedom is not free.

Friday beach pic on Saturday

Happy Memorial Day weekend. So we are on a long weekend. My cousin Frank and his family are here visiting. Since they rented a Villa on Water Island, and we never tire of Honeymoon Beach, here is a shot from the Joe's Beach bar end of the beach.
We have been doing some boating and diving and plan to do some more. Went sailing yesterday with captain Gary on Sunshine. Had a great time as usual and it was great to spend another day with them before they head down island. We also got to introduce the Snyder gang to sailing. here is Blake at the helm of Sunshine, looks just a little bit like his dad.

Don't forget to give thanks this weekend to our veterans that have protected our rights and freedoms, allowing us to live the way we do.
Jay

Relay for Life Team

Finally got on a team for Relay for Life and got the online donation page set up. I was going to be on the Zumba team but I couldn't get any information from the team captain so I talked Val at the Looney Bien to start a team. We called our team the Looney Walkers lol. I'm still getting all the people that said they would walk on team to get signed up online. The event is a little over 4 weeks away so hopefully I'll get everyone moving here pretty quickly. :-)  In the meantime, if you would like to make a donation to Relay for Life and support our team click the link below. It really is a worthy cause and I'm glad to be back involved again.

American Cancer Society, Relay for Life

Beach Pic

Beach Pic, originally uploaded by captainjay.

A little late for the Friday beach pic, but better late than never. We took the boat over to water island to do a little cleaning and maintenance. Jay has done a bunch of work on the boat so now it's time to do a little cleaning before Jay's cousin gets here tomorrow. They're staying at a house on water island so it should be a fun week. They plan to do a lot of diving so the boat needs to be ready.

After the work is done Joes Beach Bar is having one more Sunday beach BBQ potluck. Entertainment, food and fun. Sounds good to me :-)

Relay for Life on Facebook

Finally got access to the Facebook page for the Relay for Life event. I'm the online chair so I'm supposed to be updating content, but no one could remember the password so "no access for you" lol. But we finally got it resolved, so tomorrow I'll be uploading some pics and information about the event. If you're on Facebook check out the page and click Like. I'm trying to get the number of Fans up, so help us out! :-)

https://www.facebook.com/RelayForLifeStThomasVI

Working on the Boat

So I have been putting off a big project on our boat for some time. Finally bit the bullet and got going on it. I hope to finish it up today. I am redoing the entire dashboard. Fiber glassing in the existing holes, remounting everything and organizing it a little better. Not to mention fixing about a billion water leaks.

This with everything dry fit back in the dash. Plan to spray the gelcoat today.

Friday Beach Picture

In honor of Billy's birthday I borrowed one of his beach pictures from St Croix. Happy Friday everyone. Jay

Cow and calf

Cow and calf, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Had a very nice relaxing sailing (well actually motoring) weekend. The weather was perfect Saturday day with a little shower Saturday night. Today it's been overcast with a shower or two but the sailboat has nice canvas so it's nice and dry. Not much wind so we motored most the time. But just being on the water is all that matters.

We did a couple snorkels and a couple dives. It's been awhile since I dove so it was nice to get back in the water. On Saturday we snorkeled the Cow and Calf. It was a nice snorkel and the water was flat so the vis was really good. (above pic) Thanks to captain Gary and Allison for a wonderful weekend :-)

Friday beach pic

Friday beach pic, originally uploaded by captainjay.

A little late, but it's still Friday :-). Thought I'd post a pic of Jost Van Dyke in honor of our trip tomorrow! We're taking off for a much deserved break to Jost on a friends sailboat. Going to do a little sailing, a little diving, a little partying, you know the drill. We're going with Captain Gary. He's getting ready to take Sunshine down island for the storm season so this is kinda the last hoorah. Should be a fun weekend :-)

Relay for Life

Well, now that Carnival is over, it's time to start concentrating on the next event, Relay for Life. I've decided to get back involved with this great cause. I'm on the committee for online services (facebook, website, online registration/donations, etc.) I'm going this Friday to get my access set up and then you'll start seeing more information. The walk is June 23/24 at the Charlotte Amalie High School. If you remember, I got involved with the UVI team when I first moved here and had a pretty bad experience with the money I collected not getting turned in, so I stepped away from being involved with this event. But after a few years and several friends urging me to get back involved, I've decided it's time. I am really going to push the online donations part (which they didn't have the last time I was involved) so that the money is collected and turned over to the proper people in a timely manner. So stay tuned for more information and hopefully you'll feel compelled to donate to this worthy cause :-)

Topsy Turvy update

Topsy Turvy update, originally uploaded by captainjay.

A little over two weeks and the tomato plant is still hanging in there. We haven't put any fertilizer on it yet, but probably will soon. It also isn't getting much direct sun so I don't know how that is going to effect it in the long run. I guess time will tell.