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Monday March 19, 2012

It is 6:30 AM and I am up but still just lying in bed. I hear the engines start. Right, we have to go back to Road Town to check out with BVI immigration and customs and to the fuel dock to top off Bella Donna's fuel tanks with duty free diesel; it is much cheaper to do it this way. Anyway, it is a short trip. We arrive and drop anchor. As John enters the dinghy he says he should return shortly unless there is a West Indian delay.

More than an hour later John returns. The office was open but the one official person needed did not get to work on time. We have an expression in Hawaii, Island Time; it seems when one is scheduled to be somewhere at a certain time, one is always late. The most common advice given is to slow your roll. Whatever, we are off to the fuel dock.

What, the fuel dock is closed! Yes, all the employees are in a meeting. We have to be in Yacht Haven Grand Marina in Saint Thomas and depending on the conditions it could take up to 3 hours to get there. Tick-tock, tick-tock    here they come. We need to fuel fast and get on our way. We take the floor boards up in the port and starboard hulls above the fuel tanks. There is an opening in the top of each fuel tank where you can stick your finger in and feel diesel when the tank is full. Deborah is real good at it. She yells to Luci and Luci yells to John to stop the fuel hose. Did I mention that you never trust a fuel gauge. 

We arrive at 1:40 PM, a little under the 3 hours as John just put the throttle down a little bit. We squeeze into a narrow but wide enough slip on the opposite side of the dock to cruise ships dock on. We all have to run for the 2:00 PM immigration and customs checkin. The US, unlike the BVI, want to see all persons entering and how they compare to their passports. What should have taken 15 minutes take over an hour due to an immigration computer crashing several times. This could be due to the poor power control on the island which surges, sinks and fails often. 

The ever efficient Caption John already has maintenance people on the boat to fix what needs fixing and clean what needs cleaning.

After the log day we walk into town and eat at Shipwreck a kind of Caribbean sports bar with a really good hamburgers.

God Bless Bella Donna