His name is Mango. He speaks 7 languages not one good.

More pics...

Friday!

We had a great day "date"! Let it be known that I am NOT dating Mango. If we hang out more than one time around here people start to talk. Let em gossip because I found a great runnin buddy! We started off our day towing Jill's sailboat over to its mooring in Honeymoon bay on Water Island which is the island just next to St. Thomas. After that we buzzed over to Sprat Bay and dove for a little while, we didn't find anything to shoot so we headed for some rock formations on the other side of the bay. Oh my gosh, it was the best snorkeling spot I have ever seen. I wish I had a waterproof camera so I could show you the fish and coral we saw! We also found a Lobster condominium! There were 15 small lobsters all under this one rock but they were too little to snare. We will let them grow up and then we will come back and get em! After diving for a couple of hours we decided to go back to Honeymoon Bay and have lunch. While we were eating lunch Mango's boss showed up and wanted our dingy! It's the company dingy so we have to do what the boss says, turns out he and his girlfriend and her sister and her sister's boyfriend wanted it to buzz over to Hassle island and walk the trail up to the fort that they just cleared. We decided to go with! We explored the main house at the water's edge which used to be a dry dock back in 1867. As we started up the trail we ran into a bunch of national park volunteers who were led a ranger of some kind. They were working on excavating the old yellow fever hospital half way up the mountain. The ranger offered to give us a quick tour of the main building so we agreed. He told us all about the island and the forts and what they were used for. After that we headed up the steepest trail ever in our flip flops and after about 15 mins of climbing we made it to the top. There were amazing views from the top! After resting up we headed down, took the 4 extra buddies back to the dock in St. Thomas and decided to go back to Water Island for cocktails and to catch the sunset. As we drank margaritas I remembered the small conch shell mango brought up for me earlier in the day, no one was inside the shell so I stuck it in my backpack. I reached into my bag and set the little shell on the table so I could take pictures of it. As I flipped it over to take a picture of the bottom side... PEEK A BOO! A crab! There was a damn crab in my backpack all day! It startled me, and I yelled "Mango there is someone at home in there!" So we put him back in the sea. After cocktails we went up the hill to Pirates Ridge where it just so happened to be all you can eat pizza night, stuffed our faces and headed back down the trail to the dingy. But not before we had another cocktail and sat on the beach for a while in the moonlight! How romantic. Bleh! :) It really was a fun day! Now Mango and I have another date for movie night on Monday at water Island, they are showing a movie called Emerald Forest which is about the rain forests in Brazil which is where Mango is from. So that should be fun too. I will get to posting pics...

Friday date with Mango cont.

Friday date day with mango

Something I found...

www.underwatertimes.com

cool for us boaties and non boaties too. Just interesting happenings in the sea.

OH by the way...

The camera is back from vacation in St. John and I bought a new usb port for my pic card for 3.50 at radioshack yesterday so new, yes new pics will be arriving here and on the picture blog soon! Thats right, $3.50 us dollars. It was on sale. I love my life. This is a pic of my "tan" legs I am wearing mukluks with a sarong... so-wrong yet so right. Welcome to the pointless picture adventure!

Tomorrow, I am going spearfishing!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA! I am so excited! Mango is taking me freediving/spearfishing, we are going to catch lobster! This will be my first time spearfishing and I am just totally stoked!

News flash...

COCO CRISP RUNS LIKE THE F-ING WIND!!!

Watching the sox. They better win.

I feel like Mary Catherine Gallagher...

My feelings can best be expressed in the 1995 Dixie Chicks ballad entitled "Don't waste your heart." HA!

"Don't Waste Your Heart"

For the life of me I can't believe
The you're on your knees beggin' please
All the pushing' away and puttin' down
Can't you see you're gettin' the run around
Oh it's plain to see you'd rescure me
From my loneliness so called unhappiness
Oh I didn't mean to cause you pain
I've got nothin' to lose and nothin' to gain

And don't waste your heart on a wild thing
She's got a soul that won't settle on one thing
Whoa this bird can't sing when you've tied its wings
Don't waste your heart on me

It's funny how the girls get burned
And honey as far as I'm concerned
The tables have turned

And don't waste your heart on a wild thing
She's got a soul that won't settle on one thing
Whoa this bird can't sing when you've tied its wings
Don't waste your heart on me

And I'm here to apologize
My heart can't compromise
Don't waste your heart on me

In other news...

The volcano on Montserrat is erupting, well its always erupting, but the past week we have been getting the ash cloud for a week. It makes it really hazy and some days you could actually see the ash on the surface of the water while snorkeling. If the wind blows the right direction we get ash. Ha!



This other picture is what I am looking at right now as i sit outside. In the caribbean its like, everything is so colorful! Take this bush for example, it's purple! And lets throw in some green vines for character.




Oh and this is the pineappe thats growing outside my window. :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Hi Mom! Happy Mother's day! I love you!
Hopefully the presents will get to you by the time you come visit...

Well, I have had a relatively uneventful weekend. Friday night was a lot of fun, we all went to Caribbean Saloon where I saw tons of people I know and we had the most fun I have ever had at that bar. We watched the Red Sox LOSE, :( we danced, we sang Bon Jovi songs, we consumed massive quantities of beer, and this bartender (name withheld to protect the insane) decided he wanted to be my boyfriend. WHAT? He is very persistent, so I have spent my weekend running away. Actually I was just really tired last night so I didn't go out to watch his band play like I said I would, I feel bad but I just couldn't get my 3rd wind. He's a really nice guy and he pleads a good case, so you never know. He said to me, "Lets just try it out, lets date, you never know what could happen." I replied, "I am crazy and I will ruin your life." he said, "Thats a chance I'm willing to take." How bout that? I just don't know if dating the Bartender at a bar I frequent is such a good idea.....:)

I was just reading Maria's blog and thought I would showcase my surrogate kitty too! Her name is Gray Kitty, and she is the cutest kitty in the western hemisphere! She sleeps with her little wrists bent under her chest and here she has her face in her hands! It's adorable. I just wanna squeeze her.

Sunday funday! I am going to swim in the pool all afternoon!

Happy Friday!

I had a wonderful day at work today! I worked with Clement who is my boss, and we are the "A-Team". That's what he calls us because we rock the boat! Clement owns Limnos and he has the best cd collection so we jam out all day long to great tunes. Now I am getting ready to go out on the town with Jeanette and her friend Ken who is in town from NYC, and my neighbor Dwayne. It should be awesome, I just wanna watch the Red Sox game so we will probably go to Caribbean Saloon.

Guess what????

What I'm reading.

It's a novel for any ex-pat, islander, runaway, free spirit, traveller, ex-jack, ex-girlfriend, ex-boyfriend, wannabe islander, wannabe anything, and your every day person. If you've ever wondered what it's like to live in St. Thomas, or any other island, sit down and read. I am.

And you thought I was kidding...

Something I forgot...

I saw Sir Richard Branson the other day in Virgin Gorda! We were coming into the marina and I was admiring a dingy at the dock near where we tie up, only to realize that the man in the dingy was Sir Richard Branson, the owner of Virgin Records who owns an island called Necker Island very close to Virgin Gorda. Well you see, I see lots of people every day that I don't actually know but we wave at each other from the dock and whatnot, we are I guess you would say. So when I see Mr. Branson I just assume because I recognize him that I know him from the marina and I wave at him and say "hi good morning how are you today?" He waves and replies "I'm well how are you?" but this guy has an english accent, as I reply to him it clicks that I don't actually know him and I realize who he is but I just continue on about my business tying up my boat. He waves good bye and speeds away. So now, basically, we are friends now. Hahaha! Just kidding... but you never know, maybe I will get an invite to Necker Island! :) Oh and I have changed my layout to a plain one till I find another one I like. I was tired of the pictures being all funky.

Personal Maintenance Day!

Something I learned through my travels is that it seems a little bit harder to get things done when you live on an island or a boat for that matter. We all work hard and its rare to get a day off on a week day for me anyway. It seems lately my days off have been on the weekend or more specifically, Sunday. It's pretty much impossible to get anything done around here on a sunday. Banks are closed, post office is closed, sometimes the stores I like to shop at are closed on sundays, so things start to pile up on my list and when I get a day off on a weekday it becomes a "run around all day like a crazy person" day. Like today for example. I woke up at 9am which is soooooooo late compared to what time I usually get up. I headed out to get things done. Walked downtown which took about 30 minutes, cashed my check at Banco Popular which takes like an hour standing in line,then I tried to do some shopping. I bought some perfume which I needed, I ran out of perfume while I was in Australia and have been too cheap to buy any more, so basically I go out smelling like deodorant which isn't so bad considering I don't think half the people here even know what that is. I bought my Mom her Birthday and Mother's day presents, (oops! spoiled the surprise! Sorry mom!) On my way to the post office I walked past this little ice cream shop and I caught a glimpse of something I had not seen in like a year... A DR. PEPPER! I went straight in and grabbed it out of the cooler, paid the nice lady and sipped my frosty delicious beverage all the way to ship Mom's presents. Stood in line at the post office for about 30 minutes, then caught a safari over to Yacht Haven where I went to Hooters for lunch, I know, but I like the buffalo strips and it was 80's day and I love 80's music and the beers were cheap. After lunch I went to the pharmacy to buy hair dye, went to the grocery store for a few things, then took a safari home. It is now 3pm. It took me 6 hours to do all that. Seems like a long time to me. Productive yes, but my legs hurt from running all over the land! Now that I am back at home it's time for personal maintenance which those of you who have ever lived on a boat know all about. When you are a busy girl like me you tend to slack off in the girly pretty polished department. The rest of the afternoon will consist of, dying my hair, plucking my eyebrows, waxing, shaving, and otherwise torturing myself in the name of beauty. You gotta do it every once in a while or you start to look like those cavemen from the Geico commercials. I have also decided to give ya'll a glimpse of my cabana. This is what I have done so far to my bathroom, I painted the wall behind the mirror but I bought those little cocktail paintings here on island. They are my first REAL art purchase! I will post pics as I finish different areas of my little house so you can see it. Gotta get back to maintenance!

Wonderful Weekend in the West Indies!

Wow! I had a great weekend! The season came to an end this week and on Friday night Meg invited me over to a pig roast at Alex's house to celebrate. It was amazing! The boys cooked the pig in a roasting box and we all ate like hogs, drank beers and had cheesecake for dessert. The next morning I slept in for a while, caught a safari over to Yacht Haven Grande and went out on Meg's boat Doubloon for the afternoon trip. I had a blast, snorkeled with sea turtles and sting rays, hung out with Dave and Alex on the boat and had a nice sail. After the trip, while Meg and the guys cleaned the boat I ran down to my house and made everyone soft tacos from the leftover mexican food I cooked the night before, ran them down to the boat and we all went over to the Rum Shack for happy hour. After that the boys and I went over to the Hull Bay Hideaway for horseshoes and a little dinner. After 2 days of good times I thought about taking it easy today and staying home but at about noon Jill hollered up the hill at me to come down to the house, Jeanette was there and wanted to go to the beach! So I threw my suit on and grabbed my backpack and off we drove! We went to Sapphire beach for a while until it started raining, as we gathered our things we looked out at St. John in the distance to see sun drenched hills and decided to hop a ferry and go to that island in the sun! We went over to St. John, did a little shopping and went to Woody's for happy hour and some munchies. We stayed for a couple of hours then caught the 6pm ferry home, on the way across the channel, Drew called and asked us to stop by Fat Boy's for a beer, so naturally we accepted the invite. It was nice to see him and about halfway through the beers Jeanette and I left to catch safari back to Charlotte Amalie where her car was parked. It was a fun filled weekend and I go back to work tomorrow! Whew!

The camera is still on vacation.

My camera is on vacation in St. John and I don't know when she is coming back, so I thought I would put up a picture from last year here in St. Thomas. While I'm at it, I need some advice on a new camera. The one I have, I found in Key West, forever ago, it has been dropped so many times its being held together by electrical tape, and the lens cover wont close so there is some sand inside it, and it doubles as a maraca. Basically it's time for a new camera. I want a waterproof one so I can snorkel with it and get some pictures at the Baths in Virgin Gorda without worrying about a rouge wave ruining my day. Anyone out there have any recommendations?

Carnival 2008

Here is a clip from last saturday, before the rain started!

Fun day off with D-Wayne!

Yesterday I had a day off so I decided to show my new buddy Dwayne around the island! He just moved here from California and had yet to see the north side of the island. So, we started our adventure at 10am by walking over to Glady's for breakfast. Chatting with Glady's about her wall of fame and enjoying a delicious brekky was a great way to kick off the day. After that we caught a cab over to Hull bay, to the Hull Bay Hideaway where we played some pool, had some cocktails, sat in hammock chairs and watched the surf roll in. Hull bay isn't the best spot for swimming because there are boats anchored everywhere and the surf was pretty big so we decided to take a ride over to Magen's bay which is one of the best beaches on the island and just so happens to have the best pizza on the north side. So we grabbed a slice, a cocktail, and set up our towels and jumped in the ocean for a swim. We spent a couple of hours frying on the beach and trading i-pods before we decided to head to the Rum Shack for happy hour. I introduced Dwayne to all my buddies there in Havensight, walked him around to Offshore bar and Capt. Mayhem's, then we took the Sky Ride up to paradise point to catch sunset and to listen to The Four Horsemen, a really awesome local band. We had a couple of Bushwackers and some munchies before calling it a day. It was a long day, and I had a really great time spending the day out and about on the island. I got really sunburned but I am taking the day off to recover and I head back to work in the morning! Back out on the caribbean sea! I am ready! I love my job!

Hello Monday night!

Wow! I'm so sorry I have been neglecting you!

I have been working my butt off! Literally. I am withering away to a stick figure version of myself. Cool. Ha! Work is great though, I get to go to the British Virgin Islands every day, lay on the beach for an hour, eat lunch on the boat for free, go snorkeling for an hour and come home. This takes all day mind you. I have to wake up at 5am to get to work and I don't get home till 7pm. So when I get home I basically eat a sandwich while showering and fall into my bed and go to sleep.

Life on the island has been good and wild and crazy and scary all at the same time. A week or so ago a dead guy came floating up on the waterfront outside my apartment, thank god i didn't find him. I walked right past him on my way to work, but as I said, I go early so I was half asleep and didn't notice him bumping up against the rocks. My landlord found him about 10 minutes after I left for work. Turns out he was a local man who lived on a boat across the bay. No foul play was suspected. A day later, another dead guy floats up. This time he was fully clothed wearing jewelry and had his wallet on him so they think he got drunk and fell in the water. Creepy.

This week is Carnival! But I have been too busy to explore it really. I went to the Carnival village with Jill and Doug the other night and ate the hottest Pate I have ever had! It should be illegal!

On Wednesday I went to St. John to a birthday party. About a month ago some people who work at the Maho Bay Campground came out on my boat for the day. We had a great time and they invited me to Amanda's birthday party April 23rd. So I got the day off and went over. It was a theme party down on big Maho bay, a white party. Everyone wore all white! It was so cool. We had white sangria, champagne and painkillers. (THE DRINK! NOT PILLS!) I will post pictures as soon as I can. I left my camera at Amanda's. Anyway, Maho campground is this tent/cabin village, and all the people who work there live in tent/houses too! It is the coolest place ever! I will try to find some pics of that. Thanks to everyone at Maho for making my first trip to St. John full of wonderful memories!

In other news, I am looking to buy a suzuki samurai, the ultimate island car. I have been spending alot of money on taking a cab to work and in the long run I will save so much if I buy a cheap car. Soon I will be able to explore the island without spending a ton of money on cabs.

Big shout out to Maria in the FAR EAST! I know she has to be missing boat life by now! I miss her funny/crazy/true stories from the bay in Mexico!

xdsiu/; <--- that was written by Gray Kitty, who just walked across my macbook. :)

Long weekend off the water!

Well, my first week of work went great! I have been off since friday because the boat was having a coast guard inspection. It was a good thing we were off because I got the worst cold and needed these days off to get well. In the mean time, I started painting my apartment! I love fixing up my little place. I have been really busy so there's not much to update ya'll on, I go back to work tomorrow and I'm not sure when I will have another day off. Hope all is well with you and yours!

First day on the job!

It was GREAT! I had a blast, learning my new boat, capt. and crew. We got rained on a bit but it still turned out to be a great day! Above are a couple of pics of what we did today. One is the Baths at Virgin Gorda and the other are the Caves on norman island. Whew! I am tired, a good tired, a productive day kind of tired. Time for bed because I have to get up at 5:30am. Night night!

Check out my new job!

Limnos Charters!

clickity click!

Back in the Islands!

Well, I have been back for just over a week and I have a job, an apartment, and life's good! I am crewing for Limnos Charters and we run day trips to the BVI's! How cool is that? I have been running all over the island today and I am so exhausted. Time for a nap on my cozy couch, under my cold a/c. The weather is a bit crazy because there is some kind of "perfect storm" brewing. There are huge waves on the north side, all the beaches are closed and the water looks like it does after a hurricane blows through. Keep an eye on the weather.

Bye bye Miami!

I am totally excited about being here in Miami. So the pics above are Before cuban coffee, and After cuban coffee. Wow! I am flying to ST Thomas in about an hour and I can't wait! I am nervous! I have really missed all my friends there and it feels strange to be going back to a place where I used to live. I have never moved back somewhere, except my parents house! So, it just feels like getting a second chance. Well I don't want to use up all my battery because all i have is a european power cord. Gotta find an adapter. See yall later!

That Great Australian Taste!

On my last weekend in Australia, I have finally decided to try the infamous "Four n' Twenty Pie". I initially heard of this phenomenon while working on the mega yacht Francine, in Savannah. One of the dekhands was from New Zealand and he went on and on about how much he missed "pies" and I was like, dude I can bake you a pie, apple, pecan, what? He went on to describe some kind of meat and gravy thing and I was grossed out. Apparently "Pies" are to Aussies what "Taco Bell" is to us Americans. Drunken late night food. I have decided to try one, for lunch.

Bonjour!

Ca va? (That means "How are you?" in french.) Ca va tres bien! (That means "I am very good!") I am learning french! It's so fun. I am learning on my ipod with the podcast "Coffee Break French", it's pretty easy and it's free! That's the kicker. Anyway, just thought I would let you all know what I have been doing the past week. I have been staying with Jess while Mick and the boys went away on a "boys week" which has now lasted over a week... wonder when they are coming back. I still have stuff on the boat and my flight back to the Caribbean leaves next Monday! I'm sure they will come back soon. So lately I have spent my days lying on the trampoline learning french, trying to get a tan before I head back to the land of sun and fun. I hope yall are keeping warm wherever you are and I hope your 2008 is going great! Well, nothing too exciting going on here in Oz, just enjoying my last week with Jess and Nicola, I am really gonna miss them when I leave. Bye! Above is a picture of the French West Indies, which are not far from the Virgin Islands, french might come in handy!

Running with the ferals!

Yesterday Jess and Nicola took me to the Sanctuary to see kangaroos wallabys and koalas not to mention wombats and fruit bats! We had so much fun! We ate a picnic while fending off white ibis' with thier freaky long bills and we saw platapus' swimming around like little crazies. After that we came around a corner only to encounter a couple of wallabies just lounging about along the trail. So I decided I had seen the trainer man approach them and I could do the same so I snuck up on a sleepy wallaby and gave him a sctratch under the chin and he loved it! He chilled and gave my palm a little lick like a cat and Nicola had a go with him too and we left him to his sleep. It was great day and I am proud to say that I actually touched a wallaby in Australia! I wanted to take him home.

The countdown has begun!

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Where the bloody hell are ya???

I am here! In Frankston that is... I love Frankston! I am staying with Jess for a few days while Mick and the boys have a "Guy's Week" which personally, I don't want anything to do with! Ha ha! Things have been crazy around here and without internet it's all piled up and I have fallen way behind on my blog. So let me TRY to summarize.

Australia Day at the Norford farm was the best day EVER! Jess and I went, basically Australia Day is like our 4th of July but way bigger, and drunker, and the party goes all day and all night. We met tons of great/crazy people and made some new friends.

I went to Ballarat with Jess for a mini one day road trip!

Spent some time buzzing about Port Phillip bay.

Shannan took me to see kangaroos and "wallabats" in the wild! Im telling yall it was amazing, It was a nice little hike and the roos were just right there! In the middle of the trail, off to the sides, they are huge animals! I was like, OK where is the fence? Yeah, in "The WIld" means no fences.

I've been trying to lay low and save my cash as much as possible so now that I think of it I have not been very exciting.

Well Saturday night Jess and I decided to go out in Mornington and we had a great time, until the 5th hour of me wearing stiletto boots I had to call it quits and go sleep in the car! My feet still hurt. I have never felt like more of a party pooper, but Jess did a fine job continuing the party for at least an hour before she woke me up and we went home.

All the picutres from Australia Day and Kangaroos and Mornington and everything in between will be on the photo blog.

Oh! I knew I was forgetting something. I am moving back to St Thomas! Australia is not for me. I love my new friends and I have had a great time but I need to get back on the water. The Gramac is a beautiful boat but we only go out one day a week for a few hours and I really need sea time. I will be flying into Miami on March 10th, staying over night and I will arrive in St Thomas the next day. I am really excited! I have missed the islands so much. I always said that was where I wanted to be but if I didn't take this chance I would never know, and I am glad I came. It has been an amazing experience here and I will never forget those of you who have made it so.

Now as far as St Thomas goes, I am so happy to be going back, and can't wait to see all of you again! See yall soon!

Sorry I'm out of touch!

I am still cut off from the universe without internet on the boat. I dont know when I will get it back. I can't talk now because I am paying 5 bucks an hour for the net at a cafe. Everything is fine, we still have yet to leave the harbor for more than a buz around the cove and back and I am really needing some sea time. I will update you all on the fun I have had and the things I have done. Not much. But hooray I did see a bunch of kangaroos in the wild the other day. Other than that I have been on the boat. I am bored. Hope yall are warm cuz I am freezing my ass off here, if i squint my eyes I can see Antartica.

Clean Engine Room, Check.

It fairly easy to clean a relatively new/clean engine room. But there sure were lots of black fingerprints and smudges on all those shiny white surfaces! Now its REALLY clean. I feel accomplished.

Good morning Martha Cove!

Well, It's an overcast day here and the forecast says rain so I wont wash the boat today. Besides I am still waiting on a new oil tank for the Sea Legs, as it just drips oil all over the deck 24/7 and drips down the sides. It's so frustruating! It's been broken for like 3 weeks and for some reason we cant get the part delivered. I clean it and clean it and it gets greasy all over again.

On a lighter note, I got to talk to some of my best friends on the phone recently and it made me feel so much better! While I was in the mood of remembering home, I whipped up some mexican food and had a lil feast. (See picture above)

I can't wait to get my Sea Legs back, the water is beautiful here at Martha Cove, just as clear as the Virgin Islands, I need my trusty vessel to get me to the good snorkeling spots. Going by boat around here is so much easier than going by car. Another thing I could really use, a hammock. I always want a hammock. One of these days I will have one of my very own.

Well, I'm off to clean the engine room...

Ode to Maria!

Just a lil homage to my fellow blogger Maria! As I am playing with my new computer's "photo booth" application, so fun. Be sure to follow her adventures as well, http://ihaveaboat.blogspot.com
or you can click the link "Ferroever" on the right hand side of my blog. This is one lady who is truly living the dream! Go girl!!!

Fake Potato and Bacon soup on a 18 degree day.

Yum. Kinda. I'm sitting here in the salon watching the Travel Channel, waiting for it to warm up a bit before I get to cleaning fenders. Yesterday the guys installed fenders on the floating dock so now we dont have to hang our big fenders off the rails. Now I am in the process of washing fender covers and cleaning the green scum from Williamstown harbor off the white fenders. It takes a bit of elbow grease but its no big deal. Just time consuming. Wow, the longer the reconstituted potato and bacon soup sits the better it is! Pretty tasty! And can I just tell yall how much I LOVE MY MAC! This computer is awesome. It takes some getting used to, the systems are tricky when you are used to microsoft. But its super fun!

Our new home in Martha Cove is really nice. Its a pretty area and very very quiet. You can check it out at the Martha Cove site, www.marthacove.com.au as you can see, its a nice place. Well, the sun is shining and the wind is finally calm, looks like time to scrub some fenders! Woo Hoo!

Wow do I have some catching up to do!

Hi everyone! I had been without a computer since I wrote last, so I have tons of pictures and info to write about, Its going to take me a while to get everything situated so bear with me. We moved the boat from Williamstown over to Martha Cove, which is nice because there is a great beach here. I will write as soon as I get a moment to really sit down and put everything into words. Just letting you all know I am alive and well and I miss you all so much!