Ceiling And Visibility Unlimited

3-29 It was a day at sea. We headed out around 8 for our 6-9 hour journey depending on weather. We were able to start sailing towards the top of St. Kitts. It’s a beautiful coast line. It was especially cool to see Brimstone Fort from the water. We had been sailing for about 20 minutes and a big squall came with huge wind and sent us zipping. It was very sudden and we were going very fast. Cale quickly turned into the wind to de-power the sails but for about 30 seconds it was pretty crazy. After that, the winds settled and were pretty good. The waves were bigger then the 4 or 5 ft predicated for a while. Cale thought it was because it was only about 150 feet deep and St. Eustachious and Saba were on one side and St Kitts on the other. I think he was right because once we were clear of the islands it seemed to settle back into the 4 or 5 ft waves. We sailed as long as possible and then motored the last hour or so, so we could get there in time to check into customs. While we motored the boys fished. Cole first caught a decent size barracuda. They are scary looking with their big teeth. They both put their lines out again and both caught bonitas within seconds of each other. Cole’s was small and came off easily. Cade’s was bigger and hard to get off.
Last night, Cale heard from the car rental lady that a boat had capsized. Sadly, just 13 people had been found of the 25 people on board. The rest were still lost at sea. During our whole journey the coast guard kept coming on saying their last know location. Their was a plane flying over doing search patterns. It was really sad. About half way they radioed and said they’d found the capsized boat but no survivors. It was about 10 to 12 miles from where we were.
We dropped anchor around 4 and Cale took the dinghy to check in. He was able to check in but not pay Port authority or the toll bridge fee. Plus, we didn’t make the cut off before the draw bridge closed. We had a quick dinner and then took a dinghy ride to see where we will be docking tomorrow. It’s a cute little marina area. There were tons of birds in the trees as we went in. We saw our spot and then stopped at the customs dock on our way out and walked through the parking lot to a brand new McDonald’s to get a treat.

3-30
Cale took the dinghy to pay the fees so we could go through the draw bridge at 9:30 am. The kids did homework and we got the fenders and lines ready to dock. As soon as Cale got back we got in line. There were probably 10 or so boats. They don’t leave the bridge up for long so there was pressure to go through fast. Cale said he was a “titch nervous.” It went fine. We made it through safely. Then, came docking. On our way, we were getting super shallow depth readings, like .1. We were in the channel, so I we think it was just mud and debris that was registering. Docking went pretty smoothly.
Cale and I went to check in to the marina and go to Budget Marine. On our way a guy grabbed us to clean our boat. It was really expensive, but also with all the other projects lately we just haven’t gotten to it. His name is Emeril. Cale talked to him for a while and he works really hard to help support his brother and mom. He hopes to be able to go to the US someday to make more money. We went back and forth to Budget Marine about 3 times. We ended up getting a lot of stuff we’ve needed to get for a while including the a new water heater, new plates (light weight and won’t brake), plumbing lines (to unclog the port side head), new sprayer for the outdoor shower (although the next day we found 2 spares we already had), and got our new dinghy motor serviced. The Budget Marine is here is huge. It think its the biggest I can remember being in.
I also dropped off all 56 lbs. of our laundry. We had a lot with guest extra bedding and towels and I didn’t keep up on our clothes while they were here.
Next, we got started in the dreaded project of running a new power cord for the radar up the mast. I raised Cale up there using the halyard. Surprisingly, he was able to drop the line with a weight right down. The hard part was using the camera and a hook to hook the line and pull it out of a small hole on the side of the mast. We tried and tried. I had basically given up and was going to let Cole try and I went to pull the wire out and out came the yellow string. It was kind of a miracle. We then fed the 2 cords up one at a time (all while Cale was sitting up the mast). Next, we put the new radar in a bag and sent it up. He was able to get it on. After that, it was another couple hours trying to run the cords through the boat to the helm.
The guys were also working on the gel coat all afternoon so the whole boat is in disarray, but it will look nice when it’s done.

3-31
I had Cale dinghy me over and pick up our rental car at Payless. Cale has a bunch of projects on the boat so he pretty much wanted the kids and I out of the way. Plus, with the guys we hired to wax the boat we just needed to be off. I got the car. They drive on the right hand side of the road with the steering wheel on the left, so the same as the US. When I got back we had to move the boat to the other side of the dock so the guys could polish the other side. It went smoothly. We talked with a guy with a boat that pulled in behind us. They were on a mooring ball and a charter boat didn’t secure his lines correctly and it came off and hit his boat. It left a big dent. They are now working in the insurance claim.
The kids and I left around 11. We went to the downtown shopping area of Phillipsburg. There was a cute little market shopping district, some souvenir shops, lots of jewelry shops and then some high end stores. We walked along those and also along the beach for a while. We stopped in a shop looking for sewing thread and more floss for our bracelets. We ended up getting some rugs and a few other small things. Prices are either in dollars or Galleons. The cost of things seem pretty good. I would say comparable to US.
We next drove to the Parrotville Bird Park. I didn’t have enough cash so we had to go back to town for an ATM. On our way back, we drove across the border to France and back. The bird thing was so much fun. They come right over and eat out of the food cups they give you. We had so much fun. We loved a little bird names Peanut who was so friendly. There was also a talking parrot who said ‘hello’ for a peanut or a little food. The birds would just fly over sometimes and land on your cup, sometimes on your head. Every once in a while they would all just start flying around. It was a lot of fun. Cole got pooped on his shirt. I got it on my flip flop and foot. The birds really loved when Cole and Cade held apples. They swarmed all over.
We went to Maho Beach next which was about a 30 min drive. Quite a bit of traffic on our way. We had to wait at the toll bridge for boats to come through. Maho beach was cool to see. This is a famous beach where supposedly people have died getting too close to where the planes take off and land. We watched several planes take off and land. None of them were the super big ones, but they still were loud, and made a lot of wind. The kids skim and boogie boarded. It started pouring down rain on us twice. We drove over to Mullety Bay, but it was raining so Cole just went and looked, no swell.
There was tons of traffic on our way back because of the tolls. We grabbed Burger King and came home. Cale got the water heater in but then the generator stopped working. He was able to fix it by replacing the impeller.

4-1 Kira, Kelsey and I had pedicure appointments at genesis with Maria. She moved her from the Dominican Republic and was married and had a son. She is now divorced but she stayed on the island for her son. She worked at the Hilton doing hair for guests for a long time and then after the Hurricane and COVID they stopped paying her so she went out on her own and rented a space. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it turned out great. Maria did Kira’s toes first, then started my hair color. She painted Kelsey’s toes and finished my toes and hair. Kelsey and Kira got picked up by dad and the boys when they were done. We got lunch at Tap and Stills after. We first had it in the USVI right after we got the boat. It tasted so good. Cade, of course made up a name on his order. This time he was Bob. Kelsey was Koala.
We came back to the boat and I took a quick power nap because of my migraine headache. I haven’t been able to get rid of it for some time.
Then, Kira and I went shopping and the boys went to the beach and skim and boogie boarded. Kira and I had a good time. We were able to provision for guests. We got the groceries loaded and I sat down in the car and 1 rain drop fell in the window. About 5 seconds later, it just started to downpour. Kira and I laughed at how awesome the timing was. We got back and as we were unloading Natalie called and the kids told us Huxson broke his arm. I was shocked, but then we got back to the boat and told Kelsey and the first thing she said is “I bet it’s April fools.” So, we came up with a prank that our engines were down. Finally, Cale took it to another level and asked Natalie when we needed to tell Libby that we couldn’t make it and if she had travel insurance. She said she’d call mom and ask and we got off the phone. We called right back to say April fools but she didn’t pick up. Thankfully, we got a hold of her and after giving them a scare they heard the truth. Sadly, Huxson really did brake his arm. I feel bad for the little guy.

4-2 We decided to leave Simpson Bay at the 4:00 toll opening. That gave us a lot of the day to get ready, listen to conference and hang out. Before that could happen though I had to return the rental car and we both had to pull out cash so we’d have enough to pay our boat cleaner. The first ATM didn’t work so I ran to a different one. It was a close call, but once I got gas I had about 10 min to spare to get the car back. Cale dinghied over and picked me up.
We listened to the Sunday morning session of conference. It was so good. We are always working to get along better and become stronger and more unified as a family. I felt like the talks were made for us. Pretty cool how that can happen when the spirit is at work in you.
We had grilled cheese and some noodles for underway. Cale put on a patch and it seemed to make him feel pretty tired. We got off the dock about 3:40. There was a ton of wind pushing us onto the dock but once we got a little break we backed off and it went smooth. We then had to wait about 15 minutes along with a bunch of big yachts until they opened the toll bridge. The wind was blowing about 20 knows behind and slightly on our port. Cale maneuvered well. We had an audience of people at the restaurant watching as we went through the toll. I was glad once we were out. We headed out for our long journey. We left at 4 and predicted to arrive around 10-2. The kids lasted until it got dark and then one by one went to bed. I stayed up until 8. I slept until 11 and came up and relieved Cale. Kira came up about 1. It was almost a full moon and super cool how well it light up the water. It’s the most away from land we’ve been so far. A cool, but weird feeling.

4-3 I ended up doing a shift until 4. Cade took a shift with Cale on the couch and then Cole came up and helped. I slept from 4-7, then slept and was up until we got to Charlotte Amalie around 12. So, 18 hour overnight.