Weather_

Last night we finally had our first measurable, stick on the ground snow. We got all of 1 inch. The plows were out sanding & clearing the rosds. We must have a lot of extra money in the budget. The harbor is beginning to ice up around the edges but it will take more really cold days and nights to completely freeze over. I will be putting out the triceratops snow measuring device this week. Pictures to follow if we get some blizzards or a lot of media hype. I was beginning to think that we were going to escape snow this year. Yesterday, if you have forgotten was the big storm of 2005, 22 inches in Marion, and over 3 feet on our porch roof. Today would have been the day that Ellen & I shoveled out the driveway. A nice sunny day as I remember. And actually it is clear skies and sun today. I am officially off the crutches, but still in the boot for 2 more weeks. I am glad that we did not have snow or ice for the last six weeks. It certainly would have made my getting around more difficult.

Home_:Update 2006

Well good readers it has been a while since I posted anything. I had plans to tell you about our summer cruises on Branwyn, Sean's & Nicole"s wedding in Westport, climbing Mooselauke and North Kinsman in New Hampshire, and hiking with the AMC in the Blue Hills, but everything sort of ran together and here we are in January of 2007. I would like to say that the reason this so late is because I had a broken arm, but it turns out it is my right leg. You will have to wait for that story.

We did a lot of work on the boat over the winter. I stripped the bottom and barrier coated and bottom painted the hull. That should take care of the major bottom work for the next 10 years and protect the hull. We had the injectors rebuilt. I varnished the topside wood and oiled the whole interior. We had new sails made and all seemed set to go. The boat was launched in early June, but we couldn't start the engine. After numerous trips out to the mooring my mechanic determined that the engine needed to be rebuilt. When he told me that we wouldn't have the boat until the middle of August, I got a second opinion. The head mechanic at Burrs, thought it was just valves and timing. So they sent the injectors back out and when they put them back in and adjusted the timing the engine wouldn't start. They found that the exhaust was completely closed up. New exhaust system, muffler, and we were underway. The first sail of the summer took place on July 30. We had a great sail with Sean, Nicole, Norm, Sandy & Ellen. The water was warm enough that we all went for a swim off the boat.
Everyone had a problem getting over the bar on the stern pulpit when getting back in the boat. So I cut it off. I am going to have to do a little reinforcing this year to make it stronger but it should make it a lot easier getting up the ladder and into the boat. We never went overnite this year. never had the time. Made it once to Quisett for lunch. Other than that daysail out into the bay. The new sails work really great. The boat moves along quite nicely. Much better than with the bags that came with the boat. The boat is now comfortably tucked away in the front yard. All covered up and awaiting some spring time varnish. The only plans for this year will be a new VHF and a new boom cover. Should be in the water for the first of June. With that we will put the boat away and get ready for the next update.

Vacation_: Driving in St. John

I really liked this Picture because it says it all. Driving in the islands is all done on the left hand side of the road. The credit for this photo goes to Mark Pellitier. There is a link to his website in my links section and you should go check it out. I have his permission to use some of his photos from his St. John trip and over the next couple of months my posts will contain some of his shots as well as some of mine. In any case this post is supposed to be about driving in the Islands. A couple of weeks ago I told Billy that driving was on the left hand side of the road. He said that he would be interested in trying it out on a country road. Well Billy, they are all country roads. Speed limit in Cruz bay is 10 mph and on the island roads 20mph. People, dogs, cats, chickens, goats and cows have right of way. The roads are narrow and the surface can be rough. If you are driving keep the grass on your side. It is easy going up hill because the driver is next to the mountain. Coming down though the driver gets the view into the valley. There are not a lot of flat roads you are either going up or coming down. When you are going into a swichback beep the horn to let the car coming down know you are coming up . I asked Tim for his advise and he offered the following:

"Driving on the left has its challenges and can have a rather "steep" learning curve. Left lane navigation affords the driver the ability to easily determine where the edge of the road (term used lightly) ends and the beginning of the cliff starts. This is done by leaning a head out the driver side window and carefully maneuvering along the edge of the donkey path. For fun add on-coming traffic.

One of the hardest parts of the learning this new driving style is maintaining proper lanes while making turns at intersections. One of the fastest ways to overcome this hurdle is try and convince the local driver of a large, speeding truck that HE is in fact on the wrong side of the road.

The USVI government has done a good job posting signs in high tourist traffic areas: "Keep Left" is as good a reminder as any. Good Luck."

When Ellen & I were there we drove out the North Road. It goes along the beaches and is not particularly hilly as we remember. We stayed off Centerline road because it went down the center of the island. We wanted the water vistas rather than the mountain views. Looking at a topografical map our villa is up the hill, so we will get a lot of practice driving to and from the beaches. The navigators job alongwith keeping the driver going in the right direction is to keep him or her(we are going to need a woman driver to take the girls shopping) on the left side of the road.

Massachusetts drivers are going to feel right at home driving on St. John, there aren't any road signs. The roads have names but no signs to tell you which one you are on. Directions are given by the locals to turn at so & so's house or as another one of Mark's picture shows the.....