8 May 2011

I arrived in St. Thomas today, but my cargo bag did not. Fortunately, I had packed everything I would need for the next few days in my carry on. I visited the baggage claim office and gave them my e-mail address to notify me when it arrived. I knew my skipper, Barry, wasn't planning on leaving for another week or so so I had plenty of time.

I decided to try to make it over to St. John and meet up with Barry. First I had to take a $2.00 taxi ride over to Red Hook, on the other side of the island. Then I had to take the 45 minute ferry ride across the channel to Cruz Bay, St. John.

As I got off the ferry, I saw a short bearded man with a cane holding up a sign saying "Tom Smith". This was my new skipper.

First order of business was to find a place to have a nice cool beer. It wasn't far, just off the ferry landing and right on the beach. That first beer sure tasted good!

After we ate lunch at the bar, and had a few drinks, we found the bus to cross the island to Coral Bay. This was one of the most tortous rides I have ever taken. Hair-pin turns, steep upgrades followed by steep downgrades. I was actually getting nauseaus.

We finally arrived at a place called Skinny Legs. This place seemed to sprout right out of the jungle. There were a few other buildings around but nothing you would mistake for a town. We entered the open bar area and I couldn't even see the water but later on I found it was just a stone's throw away.

We drank and visited with the locals, had dinner and finally went out to the Carina-of-York, Barry's boat. It was a 36 foot Westerly, Conway, built in the 70's. It was nothing great to look at, but this was to be my home for the next couple of months.

One good thing! Since I was the first aboard, I got the large aft cabin and private bath. I had to bend over about double to get to my berth, but once inside, it was quite spatious. There was a large hatch just over head that opened to the aft deck and one good size port-hole on either side. There was a small fan which I was very thankful for and plenty of drawers and storage area.

I was exhausted and didn't even unpack. It was hot, even with the ports all open. Even so, it didn't take long for me to fall asleep.