U.S. Virgin Islands: a cacophony of gulls II
U.S. Virgin Islands: a cacophony of gulls II
St. Thomas, USVI: return of the prodigal journal
At Bad Ass Coffee this morning I was able to upload a resumption of the journal on the www.inthepresentsea.com site. This is more work, but I have greater control if something goes wrong.
Yahoo Small Business, which hosts my site, takes several snap-shots of it each day in case something fails. They have been very prompt in responding to my emails and have tried to be of assistance, but apparently the snap-shots do not include the WordPress blog.
Enough of that.
My greatest regret is that I can’t post an explanation and redirection on the old site. If you are reading this, you’ve figured it out, and I can only hope that others will too.
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After working online for an hour, I went to the supermarket and brought back a few items, including bottled water and trash bags. One way or the other I expect to get a solar panel Monday, and be on my way to Panama Tuesday or Wednesday.
Back on the boat I tightened the engine stern gland again. I noticed water collecting in the engine compartment. Also tightened the fan belts on the alternator and cooling water pump.
The cabin shows preparations for a greater distance than the thousand miles to Panama. Trash bags of provisions fill the quarter berths and are in the way when I need to get back there. I had to move seven to work on the engine. One of the subtle pleasures of a long passage is eating the cabin back into neatness.
I should be in Panama by May 1. From what I read online, the delay before transiting the canal is only four or five days. I will not linger long, or possibly at all, in Panama City on the Pacific side after transiting, and so should be making the approximately five week, four thousand mile passage out to the Marquesas Islands in May and June.
When I first sailed to the Marquesas in CHIDIOCK TICHBORNE in December 1978 you couldn’t even make a telephone call from the islands. By 1990 there was satellite television and all the kids watched MTV and dressed like Michael Jackson. Now I expect there will be an Internet connection.
April 19
St. Thomas, USVI: the Caribbean dream
As I boy growing up in a suburb of landlocked Saint Louis, Missouri, I shared the Caribbean dream.
I’ve written somewhere, but can’t find it now, about seeing Rita Hayworth dive off the bow of a sailboat anchored off a white sand beach in an otherwise forgettable movie, THE FIRE DOWN BELOW. I’m not sure how old I was, perhaps twelve or thirteen, and I said to myself: I’m going to sail a boat like that with a woman like that to an island like that. And I often have.
But when I did, I found that I much prefer the South Pacific to the Caribbean, just as I prefer the Southern Hemisphere to the Northern. That hasn’t changed. This time I must admit that what I like least about St. Thomas is the people. I have met some nice ones, but I’ve also met an unusually high proportion of the rude, arrogant and unhelpful. This cuts across sex and race. There is too much attitude here.
I’ll be glad to go and can’t imagine I’ll ever return.
Sunday, April 19, 2009