St. Thomas, USVI 11/23/2012

Friday 11/23/2012 - Cap'n Marty's Island Hop

Today was our annual Black Friday Cap'n Marty's Island Hop. We rent a boat and Marty takes us out for a day on the water in the U.S. and British Virgin Islands.

We woke up at 6 a.m. amd immediately called next door to make sure that Mom was awake. Then we woke Marty and Steve with fresh brewed Dunkin Donuts coffee, a staple that we bring from home each year. We got our things together for a day on the water. Craig, Marty, and I were all wearing our Cap'n Marty's Island Hop T-shirts from years passed. It's tradition. Marty left to pick up a couple of things at his house, and we would all meet in Red Hook at 7:30.

We left the hotel at 7:15 and parked in the garage at American Yacht Harbor. Craig, Steve, and Mom went across the street to Marina Market to buy provisions for the day. Marina Market makes wonderful sandwiches, but they make them on island time. Craig, Steve, and Mom immediately went to the deli counter to get their sandwich orders in. They ran into Marty's friends Marni and Christy, who would be joining us today. Craig recommended that they put their sanwich orders in immediately as well.

While they were shopping for supplies, I waited for the Yacht Harbor office to open so that I could pay the $12 to park for the day. After paying, I walked down the dock to meet Mattheus at See & Ski Boat rentals. Marty met me there and we filled out the paperwork to rent the boat and go through customs in the British Virgin Islands. There was less paperwork than usual as the BVI had run out of the individual entrance forms so they had temporarily suspended the need for them.

This year we had a nice catamaran that had a full bimini (sunshade). Craig, Steve, and Mom showed up with the provisions: sandwiches, beer, ice, chips, blueberry muffins, Gatorade, etc. I was introduced to Marni and Christy. They were new to the island, and had only been here for a couple of weeks. Most of that time they had been working, so they were looking forward to a chance to do the tourist thing.

We loaded up the cooler with food and drink and set off at around 8:30. Steve, (or Milky, as he's known in these waters) acted as Marty's First Mate. With two new faces onboard Marty was in full tourguide mode. He pointed out Caravel Rock and told how ships were unable to enter St. Thomas harbor with cannons loaded. The rock looks like a ship, and they would unload their ammo on it as target practice.

Marty pulled the boat over into a bay and we enjoyed eating some blueberry muffins. Pelicans dove into the bright turquoise water trying to catch little fish that we could see beneath the surface. The sun was out and it was very bright.

Then we "putzed" (Marty's term) over to St. John. We anchored in one of our favorite spots: Peter Bay. Marty pointed out Mick Jagger's house to Marni and Christy, and he described how we had watched Presidio del Mar (a sprawling 6-bedroom rental villa) being built from scratch over the past 10 years of Island Hops. We decided to swim here, as it was a nice calm place where we could just float and relax with beer in hand. Even Marty swam today, despite the fact that he always thinks the water is "too cold" in November. Mom didn't feel like swimming, so she watched from the boat.

Even though it was still early, being on the water made us hungry. When we were done with our swim, we broke out our sandwiches. Despite the fact that we had had turkey twice in the past week, we had opted for Marina Market's turkey with dijon mustard, cranberry sauce, and cream cheese sandwich on wheat bread. It was delicious.

Steve pulled up the anchor and we putzed around the coast of St. John some more. Next we headed to Tortola to clear customs for the British Virgin Islands. Marty pulled up to the dock and Craig and I hopped off. We walked around the back of the building and into the customs office. The custom agents were in a great mood and our business was done expediently. We gave them our paperwork and they stamped our stack of passports. Then we headed around to the back of the building to pay $58 for entrance visas to the cashier. We took the opportunity to use the rest room, and some of the workers commented on the "Dixie Wrecked" on the backs of our T-shirts. Oh yeah, we're wearing those. We brought the finalized paperwork and receipt back into the office and were given the go-ahead to legally cruise the BVI. We walked back over to the dock and motioned to Marty, who was slowly circling the bay, to come pick us up.

We hopped back on the boat and Marty slowly pulled out of the harbor. Once he got past the no wake zone, he opened it up and we sped to Sandy Caye. This is a gorgeous flat stretch of white sand lined with palmtrees. It is the archetype of a tropical island. We tied off the boat to a mooring ball and decided to swim ashore. Mom didn't feel like swimmimg, so she stayed on the boat and watched us. It was probably a good idea, because the water was pretty rough. The water is very deep until you get very close to the shore. When we made it to the shore, we enjoyed digging our toes into the soft white sand. The turquoise water lapped against the sand and we felt like we were in paradise. Marni wrote "Happy Black Friday" in the sand and took a picture to send to her Mom before the waves washed the words away.

We swam back to the boat and timed our climbs up the ladder with the frequency of the waves. First Mate Steve assisted with untying from the mooring ball, and then we headed to. to Jost Van Dyke for drinks at Foxy's Tamarind Bar. Marty was able to tie the boat up to the dock. We found a table near where Marty had pinned his business card when he first moved down here 15 or so years ago. People hang up all kinds of things: business cards, T-shirts, baseball caps, and bikini tops...anything to record their visit.

Anna was our waitress, and we immediately recognized her from past years. She has been here forever. She told us that Foxy, the proprietor and somewhat of a local music legend, had been in Anguilla for the past couple of months, so he wasn't here today. In the four times that we had been to the bar, we had seen Foxy twice. The first time he had actually played guitar and sang. The second time (last year) he had been hosting Masachusetts Senator John Kerry.

We ordered a round of frosty bushwhackers. Last year Craig had tried their chicken roti. I had tried a bite and I have been dreaming of it ever since. We both ordered it this time. It was a delicious roti filled with curried chicken and potatoes. It was served with cole slaw and tamarind chutney. It was a delicious West Indian dish. Marty got conch fritters and Marni and Christy got popcorn conch, and we all shared. Everything was very tasty.

Anna was telling us that they had some big concerts lined up for the end of the year: Shaggy would be playing around New Year's Eve. They expect a huge crowd and are obviously very excited. We ordered another round of bushwhackers. Marni went over to the adjacent guft shop and returned with a few purchases. I decided to check it out as well. They had a rack of sale items (sarongs, cover-ups, T-shirts) which sported a sign saying "Black Friday Sale". They always have nice items for sale, and I found an inexpensive bracelet and some earrings to purchase.

We got back into the boat and headed a few bays over on Jost Van Dyke to the Soggy Dollar Bar. We hadn't been able to go there last year because it was too crowded. But this year there was a mooring ball free and we tied up to it. Mom didn't feel like swimming so she just relaxed and napped on the boat, lulled to sleep by the motion of the waves. The rest of us swam ashore. The bar was extremely busy and we had to wait a while to be served. We got their signature drink, the painkiller. We sat at a picnic table and enjoyed watching a local rasta guy with dreadlocks down to the ground teaching a young tourist girl how to get the swinging ring to land on the nail in a popular bar game. He was really good at coaching her and convincing her not to give up. Eventually she learned the trick and was able to hook it several times in a row. The late afternoon sun was still very hot, beating down on us at our picnic table. Marty noticed that a larger pinic table under a nice thatched umbrella had opened up. This got us out of the sun and we finished up our drinks in the shade.

We left the Soggy Dollar at 4 o'clock and swam back to the boat. We stayed moored there for a little while and chatted with Mom and enjoyed the waning rays of the sun. Marty let First Mate Milky captain us most of the way back to St. Thomas. We arrived in Red Hook at 5:20. As we pulled up to the dock, we noticed various people from other islands carrying big screen TV's, stoves, etc. that they had purchased at the St. Thomas K-Mart on Black Friday waiting for the ferry back to their islands.

We casually unloaded the boat and carried the leftover beer and food back to the car. We said our goodbyes to the girls. They had really enjoyed their day of tourist fun, and they were a lot of fun to have around. Marty had left Doc's car for him to pick up at the garage, so he rode with us in the Sonata back to Secret Harbour.

By the time we got back to the room, we had missed sunset. After a day in the sun on the water, nobody was hungry enough for real dinner, and nobody wanted to be anywhere other than the balcony or the couch. So we made a pot of coffee and ate some leftover subs from lunch. Marty was asleep on the couch by 8 o'clock. We listened to blues shuffle on the iPod and had a couple of drinks. When Steve started to fall asleep in his chair at 11:20, we decided it was probably time to go to bed.