Its like St Patties but better

Nothing to do, nothing on the agendas.  So I get antsy and I talk Christine into exploring after bacon, egg, and home fries. Always wanted to explore the Rockefeller estate here in Columbier but always seemed off limits.  Today we found a way in without passing too many “no trespassing signs”. Oh my, what that place would have been if it was kept up to date. The structure has weathered the storms well, the grounds are awesome. The basic maintenance that hasn’t been done in decades would take at least another decade to put back together however.  Great hike, should have taken the camera the second time but forgot then too.

Main Rockefeller house, awesome stone work

While we were hiking we had left our dinghy on the beach.  Looked ok, just out of the surf. Dropped the dinghy anchor just to be sure and at every scenic over look we checked on Mrs. Sweet n Low.  Seemed she was doing fine, but when we returned either the tide had gone out ( no real tide here ) or she was moved.  As we got closer she was full of sand, some Good Samaritans had rescued her in our absence.  Thank you to them.  We learned later that the dinghy was bobbing and being thrashed on the beach in the surf so it took 9 folks to drag it up the beach farther and reset the anchor.

Went for a second hike, this time dragging our boat friends from Contrary Mary along and spent longer exploring, again forgetting the camera. Made it all the way out to the day house which had some serious teak work and huge beams still standing.

Weathered lots of storms, the teak work is amazing to this day

Afterwards I floated the idea of a beach BBQ, as we had 4 racks of ribs ready to go.  Game on.  5pm was the time it was 2:15, works out perfect. Started getting stuff in order. Using the newly learned recipes/secrets in the pressure cooker, I prepared ribs 2 styles for finishing on the beach and Christine had baked cookies earlier so we had dinner AND desert today. We were set.

At 5 pm we loaded up all the gear, just like the super yachts and headed to the beach to set up camp. We were going to take 2 dinghies but settled on one so it was a bit crowded but the captain made a perfect landing and what needed to stay dry did. We set up camp and enjoyed cold beverages and conversations. Then 2 nude guys walked by and quickly became the topic of conversation.  Another couple walked by and admired our set up, and wanted to be us.  Later while grilling some charterers on a 70 footer swam  ashore with their kids from Dallas Texas of all places.  Such a small world, I guessed it was spring break, and they were on their way back to St Martin with 4 days left on the Charter.

Ribs turned out decent, friends had brought appetizers and we were set. The only thing was that we had to run back to the boat once.  Propane ran out on the grill with mere minutes to go on the last batch of ribs. Ugh. Oh well John ran me back to the shack where I grabbed one of the other bottles and we landed and continued on.

We carted our stuff back to the boat, sand every where.  After enjoying a few more toddies we sent our friends off for the night. Just then our bag of trash fell overboard. I tried to retrieve it with the bucket I was using to rinse the sand off the boat but it was too far. A quick glance at the ladder, it was down. I jumped in and retrieved it and rinsed all the sand off of me in the process. Worked out perfectly, even if unexpected.

Awesome evening.  No green flash too many clouds during the day which ended up on the horizon. I was able to load music back on the iPod, apple needs to get the offline world sorted.

Tomorrow we chase race boats.

Gonna try in Ernest to share more, no promises.

Sometimes now that we are on the pseudo move the the internet will be less available, so be warned the self induced hiatus was purely voluntary.

We snuck into St Bart’s after clearing out of the Dutch side of St Maarten, and going up,the French side and stopping short of Gustavia, the place to clear in.  The western most Bay is a favorite, but lacks the modern conviencies, such as the internet or even a mobile tower, thus perfect for our new endeavor.

Spent the night on the hook in Columbier Bay, when we arrived all the balls were taken, and it was a Sunday crowd. No biggie, our hook works.

Our boat buddies, weird term for friends, arrived later and scored a moooring, sketchy as it was, but was a good time to be an illegal.   Most of the Sunday day boats cleared out.

Next day it was time to make the formalities formal and clear into St Bart’s.  After finishing the ceiling project we headed to the metropolis of Gustavia and sought out a piece of the waterfront to call home.  Oh my! Too many private moorings, and deep water. 4 attempts at dropping the hook with decent scope and were still uncomfortable. We like the 10 to 1 ratio, or at least 7 to 1 for a good nights sleep. The water in St Bart’s is about 10m (30 feet deep) so 10 to one means a football field of chain/distance in the water.  Trying that between moorings that go straight down was the reason we gave up and tucked into a tight corner that if the wind blew correct we would be out of the ship channel.

We survived the first night as we were NOT the worst offender in the ship channel.  The wind was of no help.  A container ship came in to deliver goods to the good people of St Bart’s. Christine asked if they had anything good on board and one crew member pointed at himself.  Yes, we were that close in the channel, when a container ship can carry on a conversation over the monster Diesel engines.

We checked in and made dinner in almost the exact spot where the New Years spectacle took place.

Jerk chicken wings for dinner. The Ogre is teaching me / broading my horizons. Pressure cook, then crisp up on the broiler or actual grill. His recipe for ribs turned out awesome, so I branched out and tried wings. Came out good, but would need a bit more time in the broiler, or finish on the grill for the normal crunch of a grilled wing.

Great eve, Christine finally was able to see the green flash. Unimpressed as she was, it was a milestone. She is not color blind after all.

Sleepless night for me, instead played on the internet and dropped some prose for the blog. Finally got some sleep, only to be awakened by the winds that said impending rain is coming.  Knowing we were anchored well, and rain storms bring odd wind direction. Where we were, anything but south winds and we’d be fine. I looked out the bedroom window and saw green, all good a north wind.

Still an early rise, so defrosted the fridge. And while it was defrosting, added some extra insulation as there seemed to be a warm air leak near the top center of the freezer door. We have had to defrost twice since December and its only March, last year I think it was once or twice in the 6 months we spent on board. Best part of defrosting?  The frosting can be used as ice to cool off a warm beer, and of course I used those warm beers to help start the defrosting process. A Win-Win all the way around.

The other two boats in the channel left leaving us the farthest out so it was a matter of time. While cooking breakfast time came, they almost stopped by when I was defrosting the fridge. But alas we were asked to move.  Tried 2 more anchor spots, nothing felt like home so we headed back to the west bay of Columier, no internet :(.  Grabbed a mooring and made a pizza for lunch and went for a snorkel to see the fishies.  And large titles of course. Found a molted lobster and several cute puffers, box and porcupine, lots of triggers and even a propellor off a DJI drone.   Got cold as we were in the water for a while so swam back to the boat to rinse off and used the dinghy to have beverages on the friends boat whom snorkeled with us too.

Interesting enough our neighbors boat say Austin, Texas on its stern too so we stopped over and said “Hi” and said we’d have a beer later. That might mean tomorrow or next week.  

Back on board for some brauts and some homemade bread for a light dinner before calling it a night.  Just around sailors midnight.

Today? Not sure what today holds maybe a swim, a hike or both.