US Virgin Islands: January 27-February 4, 2012
Click on the above thumbnail for a map during this time period
Cathy and Jon's Visit
On the same day as son Jeff left, Jon and Cathy arrived.
Cathy is Chuck's sister Zona's daughter, and Jon is Cathy's husband. The
flight from Puerto Rico to St. Thomas was on a very small puddle jumper, and
consequently there wasn't room on the flight for their luggage. There were
some anxious moments, but the luggage was found and finally arrived the next
morning.
We spent most of our time in Francis Bay, St. John, where Cathy
and Jon swam and snorkeled and hiked with Barb to the Annaberg ruins. On
our way back to St. Thomas I dropped them off at Caneel Bay and they hiked up
over the mountain to Cruz Bay, where I joined them (by dinghy) for lunch at the
Beach Bar. Everyone also got in a snorkel at Christmas Cove off St. James.
They left us all too soon, since they had made plans to join Minneapolis friends
Lou and Chris at a rental house in Redhook, St. Thomas.
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On their hike to Annaberg
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Oft-photographed windwill stand at Annaberg
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Swimming at Francis Bay
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On the beach at Francis Bay for a "sundowner" cocktail party
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Jon and Cathy at the sundowner
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"Cruiseteers" and their guests at the sundowner
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Huge sailboat at anchor in Francis Bay -- note the person at the top of the mast!
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Jon and Cathy at an overlook on the hike across to Cruz Bay
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On Feb. 1st we dinghied in from Christmas Cove to the dock of the St. Thomas
Yacht Club in Cowpet Bay, where we picked up Jon and Cathy and Chris and Lou (JCCL)
and took them back to the boat for a day of sun and water on Tusen Takk II.
When we took them back to their car that evening, we all had pizza at the
eastern end of the beach, at Robert's American Grill, joined by Don and Heather
(Asseance). Next day, we took TT2 in to Crown Bay
Marina. JCCL drove from Redhook to Crown Bay, and stopped along the way to
pick up 6 Trojan L16H-AC batteries which we had shipped in from Miami via
Tropical Shipping. Meanwhile, St. Thomas Batteries delivered an 8D
starting battery for the John Deere and a 4D starting battery for the genset.
Then, ex-jocks Jon and Chris removed the old batteries from the engine room and
wrestled the new batteries into place, a sentence which does not do justice to
the amount of sweat and toil the task required.
Late that afternoon Barb and I caught one of the local buses
(called "safaris") to Redhook and joined JCCL for a steak and fish dinner,
followed by a rousing game of Mexican Train dominoes. There was an extra
bedroom in the rental, so rather than catch a taxi or asking JCCL for a ride
back to Crown Bay, Barb and I just slept over. The next morning Jon and
Cathy drove us down to the Redhook hub where we had breakfast and then caught a
safari back to Crown Bay.
Our time with Jon and Cathy was much too short; they were
excellent guests that we really enjoyed hosting. And it was fun to meet
their friends Chris and Lou. It was easy to see why JCCL have been friends
for so long.
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Cathy does a backflip off our swim platform
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Cathy and Jon relax on the upper deck
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Lou, Chris, Jon and Cathy on the upper deck
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JCCL on the swim platform
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JCCL at the pizza parlor
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Loading the L16 batteries into a too-small auto
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Bringing one of the starter batteries into position for lowering into the engine room
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Struggling to lift one of the L16 batteries through the "gate" in the battery box
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A very tired Jon faces the last of the L16 batteries
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Patio of JCCL's rental in Redhook
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View of Redhook harbor from the rental
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