August 9-19, 2015


I wake up early at home and nothing changes in the islands, I think my eyes opened at 0530 hours. I eased quietly out of our berth as to not wake my wife. I slept comfortably through the night in our spacious air conditioned cabin. I stepped cautiously barefooted through the boat expecting the stairs to creak, but I found this new yacht not to have a single creaky spot, nice! Through the large saloon windows I could see the silhouette of Norman Island starting to brighten. I started a pot of fresh coffee and moved through the sliding door to the elevated helm. The smell of fresh sea air made me feel at ease, I was in my happy place. As the skies began to brighten I returned to fetch my coffee and was greeted by my wife, she doesn't miss a sunrise either. Heat up some water for her tea and we move to the trampoline to watch our favorite part of the day together.









The rest of the smiling crew would slowly emerge and embrace the warmth of the sun, the a/c was cranking all night! The nice thing about these newer boats is the efficiency of the separately zoned a/c controls. The Maytrix crew enjoys a meat locker while we set our hull to a comfortable 74 degrees, perfect. Breakfast was soon served with nothing left out! Fresh fruit, cereal, BACON and eggs etc. Even little Conner enjoyed his favorite foods!





We were heading for St John this morning, but we didn't rush. Everyone enjoyed their breakfast and a refreshing morning swim. Each cabin was equipped with its own head with separate shower and I took advantage of the large water capacity of the 4800 this morning. We do follow the normal water conservation rules while on a boat, but with 7 adults I did wonder how we would fair in this regard.







Later in the morning we released the ball and headed along the South Shore of St John. The night before we left home I built a hand rig to fish with instead of renting a trolling rod. I built a wooden H shaped spool and coiled 250 feet of parachute cord to it with heavy line and a steel leader attached to the end. It was not successful during this run to St John and I doubted my handy work!





Sea conditions were relatively calm this day with just a slight roll. The wing on wing trip under clear blue skies took perhaps 2 hours averaging just over 6 knots. It was around 1300 hours when we motored into Cruz Bay anchoring to the left just before the C&I building. Once the hook was set everyone jumped in the dinghy to clear customs together. We entered the building and we were the only ones there. My wife moved quickly to grab the forms from a nearby counter and was abruptly questioned as to what she was doing by a cold C&I officer. I was really taken back by the attitude and treatment we received from this woman. My wife stepped back 5 feet to where the rest of us were standing and we waited patiently for several minutes while this officer handled whatever she was handling. A couple minutes passed and with a disgusted look she said you may get your forms now. Another officer walked in as we completed the forms and she called us over with a smile, thank goodness! I noticed a local charter captain walk in behind us with his clients and he patiently waited by the door until miss attitude motioned him over, he obviously has learned to heel until she gives the secret hand signal!

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Once cleared in we beelined to Mongoose Junction to grab lunch at Deli Grotto, great food and service! After lunch Matt and Stephanie wanted to take Conner back to the boat so I dinged them out while the other ladies started shopping. I immediately returned to the National Park docks and walked through town to meet up with the crew. I grabbed a cold Presidente at a street stand and took my time catching up with the ladies who were undoubtedly searching for jewels. I stopped in at our favorite restaurant The Lime Inn to see if my buddy was at work yet, unfortunately not. I made my way to the Wharfside Village stopping at a bar or two of course. It felt good to be on St John. I joined up with the ladies and we headed up to the Dolphin Market to pick up some provisions for our dinner, grilled Mahi Mahi Taco's with fruit salsa!

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Once back on the boat we discovered one engine was not spitting water, we checked the filter and it was clear, dang it! Good thing about cats is that they have two engines!! We were actually on a schedule today, our friend Denise was meeting us at Maho to join us for dinner in just one hour. With one engine we cruised the magical North Shoreline of St John. Boy do they need rain, the hills were very brown, but still incredibly beautiful. As Conner sat happily at the helm with his Mom and Dad they were guided towards Maho with the help of a distant rainbow. We motored into Maho to grab a ball with just 10 minutes to spare before we saw Denise standing on the white sand beach waiting for the dinghy.

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It is always wonderful to meet up with Denise, she's awesome! We enjoyed catching up on things since we last visited a year ago. She has mad skills with cutting fresh mango too which was helpful in preparing the fruit salsa!! We spent hours talking, enjoying fish tacos, drinking good red wine and were blessed with an outstanding sunset at Maho Bay, good times!

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To be continued...<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" />