Monthly Archives: May 2013

I could feel the sweat dripping off of my shoulder blades, landing at the small of my back, soaking into my T-shirt. Like Marce, I’ve been on my own quest. Unlike Marce I don’t have to sit in a room full of books and lists, endlessly starring at microfilm with lists of names and birth dates. However, my quest demands that I wander the hills of St. Thomas in search of my past.

Forty years ago I lived and worked in Charlotte Amalie and I expected things would be different, but I can’t find anything even though I’m haunted by the feeling that I’m so close, like maybe just around the next bend. That kind of thinking has gotten me into trouble on more than one occasion in the past and it looks like my insatiable curiosity has done it again.

It’s a hot one all right. Mid eighties but the trade-winds are light today and that makes all the difference.

I took photos when the reality of our contract was nearing an end and we’d have to leave, but what became of them I’ll never know. I really thought that I’d never make it back here. There were four locations that I wanted to see once again, all with obvious physical landmarks.

-The Village Gate with second story entrance, huge old tree growing up through the roof and large masonry spiral staircase around it. One of the oldest buildings in Charlotte Amalie with a wrought iron gate opening up onto Main st. They wouldn’t tear that down would they?

-Admiral’s Dinghy at the base of the tramway to the top of the mountain. They moved the Tramway!

-The patio on top of the mountain. The new Tramway doesn’t even go to the top.

-The Carousel Bar at the harbor’s edge in town, built on a real carousel, all 29 flavors of frozen daiquiris gone without a trace.

Every morning I’d wake up, well afternoon, I was a musician after all, and start up the hill I knew as Mafali Hill and past Villa Santana on the way up the single lane which would get so steep that it would turn into stairs. I found that but no Village Gate, but like most quests I’ve found some amazing sights wandering these hills.

This, dear Escapees, leaves me wandering the mountains of St. Thomas in a quest for a faded old photo dream I once had a long time ago.

Today was chore day. First up was defrosting the freezer which had become so iced up I could barely find anything.

As you can see defrosting requires quite a bit of inversion work but at least it’s cool in there. With little breeze today it was pretty hot in the anchorage by 8:00am.

We were also expecting the watermaker repairman and to give him access to the system we had to clear out our third bedroom, commonly referred to as the garage.

I made space in the Presidential Suite and Jack schlepped all the heavy parts and supply bins from one end of the boat to the other, a job he does not like one bit.

Five minutes later the drama was over, Jack was resting in the cockpit and we were ready for the repairman.

Dave and Jamie from Reefco came much earlier than we expected and patched up our classic unit in no time. Dave thinks it stopped working because air got into the system and that the broken pressure gauge was from age and vibration and not related, or marginally related, to the air issue. He fixed most of the leaks, changed our carbon filter and gave me some much-appreciated tips on maintenance and troubleshooting. The membrane survived the weeks of sitting and our water quality is great, as usual. We’re now happily filling our tank and champing at the bit to take showers.

Meanwhile, the freezer is defrosted, the food is back in and the temp is gradually reaching its optimum operating level. We have the ingredients to make pain killers and a ripe mango aboard. Life is good.

Our watermaker is still on the fritz and we’re conserving like nobody’s business. But I have to say I really miss having a shower, especially with the summer fast approaching. And the laundry is piling up. I was bemoaning this fact to Ron last week and he was incredulous that we don’t have a catchment system aboard EV to take advantage of tropical showers. To tell the truth, we never even thought about it because, well, we have a watermaker!

The other day Jack and I were mulling this over in the cockpit when it started to rain. We had the sun awnings deployed and suddenly realized that with a little tweaking we do have a catchment. We got a bucket and some water jugs and experimented with various tensions on the awnings until we had a pretty good flow. In about 15 minutes we captured about eight gallons of water. Not bad!

There’s more rain predicted for today or tomorrow and now we know what to do and how to rig the awnings for maximum flow so we won’t miss so much of the rainfall next time. Meanwhile, the watermaker technician will be here tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

So many cruisers and seasoned Caribbean travelers pooh-pooh St. Thomas because they think it’s noisy and dirty and overrun by cruises ship tourists. I love it. We’re here late enough in the season that there aren’t many cruise ships; in fact there hasn’t been one here since Tuesday. I’m enjoying the island because Jack spent some time here in his 20s playing in a band and he’s constantly on the lookout for anything resembling the venues he worked 40 years ago. And I’m enjoying it because this was the meeting place of two families and a sea captain who became my ancestors. As I walk around the town I imagine life here in 1815 or so, and wonder how different life would be had my family stayed here.

Tuesday we took a long and choppy dinghy ride to the other side of the harbor to the AT&T store where we got a SIM card for Jack’s phone. Now we can make calls and send texts while we’re here. After that we dinghied back to town and in a light cooling rain walked up the hill to the “99 Steps.”

We’ve done our share of Step Treks all over Pittsburgh and particularly on the South Side Slopes where Drew and Ericka live so this felt like home. The steps lead up to Blackbeard’s Castle which is not a castle at all but rather a lookout tower built by the Danes in 1679.

The grounds are beautiful and we loved the pirate statues and the view of the harbor.

After I rescued Jack from the clutches of the pirate we visited the Camille Pissaro gallery in the Bank Hus where we saw amazing historical photos of life in St. Thomas that helped me imagine what the place was like when my ancestors lived here. A guide walked us through the various exhibits and when we were ready to move on another docent ran through more places she thought we’d be interested in and gave us some lunch suggestions, too.

We came back down the hill and found our way to Gladys’ Cafe where I had a vegetarian sampler of all the delicious Caribbean side dishes. It’s the best meal I’ve had in a restaurant since our Thai dinner with Drew and Ericka in Fort Lauderdale. Now I’m on a mission to learn how to cook some of these local foods.

Early morning sun shower over St Thomas harbor..