St. John with the Rickseckers

It is St. Patrick’s Day and the Rickseckers (Irish by the way!) are due to arrive today in St. John. They will be camping on the north side of the island in Cinnamon Bay. Usually the north swell would keep you from anchoring there this time of year but we are in luck…little to no swell for the next 3-4 days! We went to meet the ferry but found out later that they took an earlier shuttle so just missed them. So, tomorrow we will make the 5 mile trip around to the north side of the island.

We decided to anchor in Maho Bay which is just next to Cinnamon Bay which really doesn’t have a good anchorage. In the afternoon, while on the beach with Chula, we saw a motley crew hiking down the road and I quickly recognized Jim. We met the rest of the family, Molly (Jim’s wife), Maureen (daughter), Dan (son), Melissa (daughter) and her friend Casey. While we were talking, we heard Chula yelp and start chasing her behind. Ed quickly threw her in the water thinking she sat in some ants until he saw a large furry thing floating in the water. It was a spider so he recovered it with a cup so we could ask the locals the type of spider. The campsite office is open late so we Ed took the spider, now deceased and stored in alcohol (rubbing, not drinking) up to see if anyone could identify. For the record, there are 187 steps from the beach to the office, WHEW. Anyway, no one in the office could identify it, however they suggested Ed talk with George. After looking at the spider and some minor translation issues George identified the spider as a tarantula, a baby and that we had no worries. Back on Boto Ed informed Vicky that George said, “No worries, mon your puppy be ok”. Asking who is George, Ed replied, the bus driver man, no worries. Per George’s insights Chula was fine, however we now keep an eye out for ‘hairy legs’.

The next day the Rickseckers plan to go to the St. Patrick’s Day parade (belated) in Cruz Bay. We were told it is all of 5-10 minutes long so not to be late. That was indeed the case but the Rickseckers made it a bit longer by dancing in the parade. Maureen had danced for years with The River Dance company and the rest of the family has taken lessons and danced in local Wisconsin events so we know they were great entertainment. We missed the parade as we decided to snorkel the underwater trail in Trunk Bay.

Following a long day and even longer night, the Rickseckers showed up on the beach and we shuttled them to the boat for a day of sailing. The kids had gone to a Jazz concert that night and didn’t get home until the wee hours so a couple of the crew weren’t quite up to the task. Even so, all declined the Dramamine! We had some pretty good wind with some chop between St. Johns and Yost Van Dyke. We quickly realized it was time to make it to Watermelon Bay for some calm weather and snorkeling when we saw the ‘blue bucket’ at the stern being used by Molly and Melissa.

We took a day mooring ball at Watermelon where we were just 30 feet from shore, the bow was in 26 feet of water and the stern was just off a wall that rose up to 6 feet. The reef, across the bay is where everyone snorkels but all agreed the scenery just behind the boat was the best. After some beers and Ed’s special rum punch we headed back to Maho Bay. Once on the mooring it was time to bid adieu to the gang and get them ashore before dark. It took two dinghy trips and the north swell was beginning to set in again.

Thinking that the youngsters could hop out just before the beach Ed had them all jump out and things were looking good until a nice roller came in and soaked everyone, oops. Taking a lesson from that Ed told Jim and Molly to wait in the dink as he turned the bow into the swell so that they would get wet, all was looking good until the double set came rolling in and swamped the dink, they were soaked. A soggy walk back to camp was the order of the day. At least everyone was laughing.

Tomorrow we head back to St. Thomas to update a few of Chula’s shots and then we are headed for the BVIs (British Virgin Islands). We arrived at our anchorage 03/21 (Lindbergh Bay) and who should hail us while coming in right on our tail but Willow (Jenny and Nancy). Yeah, we will get to see them one last time before we head south and they go back to California.

The next day was our vet appointment in Red Hook, St. Thomas. The most economical way to get there would be by bus vs taxi however we aren’t sure if Chula will be allowed to ride. So, we packed her portable crate, picked up Jenny and Nancy, and then headed to the bus stand. It turns out she is allowed on the bus in a crate even though the taxi drivers aren’t too keen on the time it takes to get this accomplished!

We walked around a bit, visited the vet and then went with Jenny and Nancy to scope out a marina where they are considering hauling out Willow for the season. We started to walk but quickly took another bus to the marina. It is nicely nestled in the mangroves with a cute outdoor restaurant so we stopped for lunch. Then it was the bus ride home which was actually a lot of fun and the scenery along the way was great.

After a full day of work, we decided to take a day off to play a bit at the beach and Jenny took out her windsurfer, Vicky gave it a try but true to form she can only go one way and can’t get it turned around. Luckily Nancy noticed the dilemma and brought the dinghy

around for a tow back to Boto! That afternoon “Loose Change” came into Lindbergh Bay as well so an impromptu happy hour was had on Boto that evening. Based on the evenings events Vicky believes Ed and Nancy will not be allowed to play together without proper adult supervision.