One more day....

Counting the hours....

Hahaha, this morning a couple of local guys hunted a goat down and tackled it and killed it in front of our charter guests... LOL!!!! I love island life... They didn't actually kill it, more like tied it up and drug it into the boat then the guy got out a knife and the kid ran down into her cabin all kinds of freaked out and the Dad ran over to the guys and asked them to take the slaughter somewhere else. He's lucky he didn't become a part of the feast. You don't fuck with the locals.

I am hoping to catch the first ferry to St. Thomas after I have a drink with my friends Craig and Sally. Then off to STT where I will meet up with my buddy Jan, he used to work on the schooners too and we met last season in KW. A super fun guy who plays the ukelele. :)

Not sure I will be taking a two week charter again. This is torture.

Only 3 meals till it's over. Lunch, Dinner, and Breakfast in the morning. Easy. I got this. We should be on land by 10am.

Holy crap!!!!

Check this out!!!

Everyone better tune in and watch the guys fish and play with Jose Wejebe on ESPN!!!

http://www.spanishflytv.com/spanishflytv_schedule.php

I can't wait to see it!

Sea Cloud

And no, I didn't go to the party. I went to the bar for a drink with Hal and he didn't feel like driving me over in the dingy.... :(

I am so ready for this charter to be over.

I wanna go home!

Tuesday

on the downward slope now... I'm getting tired. And I am running out of ideas. At Peter Island. Went to willy T last night just me and Hal to celebrate my b day properly he said, I woke up with a temporary pirate tattoo on my ass and a headache. I drank too much and when my home-ing beacon went off I passed out in the dingy because Hal didn't wanna go home yet. lol things are well.

Post from two days ago.

Last night at the Last Resort was a really good time! There was live music and wine and shots of tequila. I had really delish ribs and these nice sweet potato fries and a salad. Yum! It was so nice to have a night off from cooking. I slept in this morning but not till I put out bagels and cereal and a fruit tray with a note saying that my birthday gift to myself was sleeping till lunch. lol. I didn't sleep till lunch actually, more like 10:30 when we headed out of Trellis Bay and over to the Dogs. The Dogs are a couple of small islands off Virgin Gorda. They swam a bit then I made monte christo sandwiches again because the dad really liked them. I also created a tasty little treat, I took some apple sauce, added in some sugar and cinnimon then I opened up a can of biscuits and smashed them flat, put one in the bottom of a muffin tin, spooned the apple mixture into the dough "cup" then placed another flat biscuit on top, spread a thin layer of the apple mixture on top and baked till they were slightly brown on top. What a hit! I served them with a bowl of vanilla ice cream, just delightful. Tonight it was seared tuna steaks for the parents and lamb for the daughter all served with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. Tomorrow I have no Idea what I'm gonna do. Probably scrambled eggs, bacon, and silver dollar pancakes. Lunch will be Tuna salad wraps with walnut brownie cups for dessert. Steaks and pasta and salad for dinner. Whew! I am running out of ideas. Have you ever tried to make 42 different meals? Oh and 14 desserts.

Stephanie (the 9 year old) was so sweet today, when she saw me up and around in the galley she galloped like a rhino down into her cabin and back up the stairs and yelled "HAPPY BIRTHDAY JO!!!" Slinging a bag from the pusser's rum store at me. Haha! She said "I picked it out because I know what you like." I opened the bag and inside was a cute islandy purse, I said thank you so much, what a nice gesture. She said "wait! open it!" When I did I pulled out a BEAUTIFUL red and white hibiscus print sarong! I really needed one. I left mine at home. COOL! They are such nice folks.

Today we went into Spansh Town, Virgin Gorda to fill up with water and get a few things at the store. Then we were off to Norman Island and the Bight again. Moored here within sight of the Willy T again. But I just don't feel up to binge drinking again. Wow, I never thought those words would come out of my mouth.

No internet access right now so I'm not sure when or where I will be posting this but thanks for the Birthday wishes. Love you all and miss you. Have a merry Christmas!

YAR!!!

Hal made a few calls to friends around the island and got a tip about the whereabouts of our dingy...

Supposedly it was on a beach in Jost Van Dyke. So off we went in the boat after telling our guests the info. And like true pirates, we found it and stole it back!!! All while the thief yelled and cussed us from the end of the dock! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! So we have our dingy back. :)

We had breakfast at Jost, just some fresh baked croissants and cereal and fruit. Then I made personal pizzas for them and salad for lunch and they are taking me to dinner at the Last Resort tonight for my birthday. We decided to do it tonight instead of tomorrow because we will be in Virgin Gorda tomorrow and Hal wanted to have dinner at Last Resort which is close to Marina Cay, which is where we are now. (Guess it doesn't matter where I want to eat for my birthday) Remember Marina Cay Mom and Nita? We ate here when you guys came to visit. It is where we got those Pusser's rum enamel mugs.

I stubbed my toe on my door and ripped my toenail off this morning, then I stepped on a piece of glass and it's still in there. Great morning.

Now I am sitting at the bar soaking up the free wi-fi. And a rum punch of course. Hey, I don't have to cook tonight... no need to be sober.

Oh cool! My charter guest just found me at the bar and bought me a drink! HAHAHA! Score!

Ugh, one week down. One to go.... I can do this....

Good Morning Shit Show!!!

6am... CRASH!!! WTF???? I hear a glass break in the salon and walking around on deck. I feel the north swell. Great. I hear Hal cleaning up the glass which is fine with me because I know I secured everything before I went to bed so that means it was his glass that slid off the table. Ten minutes later he comes in the cabin to tell me that A. a glass broke, B. He kinda cleaned it up and brought me my flip flops to wear while I actually cleaned up the glass, and C. Someone stole our dingy while he was out partying on shore last night. F.M.L.

You gotta be shitting me. He borrowed a friend's dingy to get back to the boat but had to go to the police station and file a report. It was a really nice dingy. I wonder why he didn't lock it up. RIB about 12ft long. 15 hp.

OMG this swell is killer! The north swell came in at about 6am and just keeps getting bigger. I had to stuff towels in the cabinets to keep the bottles from rolling around. Damn this monohull. Oh did I mention it's not the boat I thought it was? Yeah its a 47ft monohull trawler. Blah. a

Anyway, I wish I could surf because today would be a great day for it. Not so much a good day for bobbing around on this mooring though.

Just got off the VHF with the coast guard. I swear they put new recruits on the radio because this kid sounded about 18 years old and had no idea what he was doing. We will never see that dingy again says Hal, but I have faith. The USCG has nothing better to do today than buzz around harbors looking for our dingy right? I bet it's in Red Hook St. Thomas. Anyone and everyone keep an eye out!

Cane Garden Bay, Tortola

Moored here for the night.

Apparently someone sneaked a peak at my passport as it was lying at the helm and the guests found out my birthday is Sunday. They asked me if I could be anywhere in the islands for my day where would I be (uh STT hello?!?!!?!) but I said it didn't really matter to me, which it doesn't because we are back in the BVI and we can't go back to the US. So they are giving me the day off from cooking on Sunday and they are taking me out to dinner. So nice!

Today we had sub sandwiches and chips and I created the tastiest little dessert! Since the oven is broken I resorted to creativity. After breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs I whipped up my blueberry muffin mix and made silver dollar blueberry muffin pancakes. I set them aside and scooped out about a half a stick of cream cheese into a mixing bowl, added a bit of vanilla, and about 3 tablespoons of sugar and mixed it up with a spoon. I proceeded to build mini blueberry cheesecake sandwiches. I set them in the freezer and I served them after lunch. You should have heard the ooh's and ahh's LOL! I love being a smart ass. After lunch we head out to do some more provisioning and the oven man came to fix the oven. YAY! So now I can proceed with my baking plans. :)

Tonight I am making BBQ pork chops with sauteed yellow squash and zucchini and twice baked potatoes. For an appetizer I am making little caprese salad skewers. They are marinating right now. All I did for that it cube some mozzarella cheese, throw it in a big ziplock bag, add some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, basil flakes and some minced garlic, and halved cherry tomatoes. Then you just shake it up! Let it marinate for a few hours. Then you take some toothpicks, skewer one half of a tom, then a cheese cube then another half a tom. Repeat. TA DA! Easy and delish.

Tonight I think I will take it easy, Hal says he is going into town tonight and coming back in the morning which is fine with me. I can take care of things here. He needs his nights out.

Tomorrow we are off to Marina Cay and monkey point on Guana Island for snorkeling. I assume I will have interwebs there but you never know. I seem to find it in the least likely of places.

Cheers to Maria who is finally where she belongs back at home on Arigato Jack! Possibly the best boat name in the world. Oh so relieved and happy for you!!!

At Jost Van Dyke!

It is day 5 of the charter and we are anchored outside of Foxy's bar. I made bacon wrapped scallops with broc and rice for dinner! I par cooked the bacon to make it easier to handle then I wrapped it around the little scallops and poked a toothpic through. I pan seared them in the same pan I cooked the bacon in so it had a nice bacon flavor, I also added a handfull of minced pineapple to the pan for a sweet kinda hawiian flavor. They loved it. I made burgers and hot dogs for lunch today at White bay, easy. Last night we moored in Maho Bay, St. John. That was great because as soon as I was done cleaning up dinner I hopped in the dingy and buzzed over to Maho Bay Camps where my friends live and work and ended up staying the night there in a tent cabin because I can. This morning in woke up and buzzed back to the boat before the guests woke up. :)

What was for dinner last night you ask? Oh just a deeeeelish chicken carbonara pasta and garlic bread. It was so good, I made it from scratch, I am really impressed with myself. The guests loved it and asked if I would make it again next week! Lunch yesterday was curry chicken salad on a toasted baguette with a greek side salad, romaine and iceberg topped with yellow bell peppers, kalmata olives, cherry tomatos and feta cheese crumbles.

I think tomorrow I will try out the pancake adventure again now that I have the tools I need. We are headed to Soper's Hole, Tortola to do some more shopping in the morning then we will head over to Cane Garden Bay, Tortola and anchor for the day and night if it's not too swelly. The waves have been big and the Christmas winds are here so finding a smooth place to spend the night is key. Cane Garden Bay is home to the infamous Bomba's Shack which serves majic mushroom tea during the full moon party every month.

I will write again soon as I can!

Internet for a few Seconds!!!

Ok, quickly.

Breakfast was a near disaster yesterday as I realized this boat was not equipt with the proper utinsels to cook breakfast... a.k.a. a skillet and proper spatula. And I forgot to get the Pam, which my mom will tell you is very important!!! "DID YOU SPRAY THE PAN?!!?!!?" So after a botched attempt at butter in a large pan and a shitty spatula and disgusting looking pancakes, I resorted to toast, fried eggs, bacon and a fruit plate. They were totally understanding. The dad was like "hey, if you haven't the proper tools how can we expect you to make things like that? Don't worry Jo, everything looks beautiful!" I tell ya, I am so blessed.

Ok, We took the ferry from Tortola to St. John so the guests could get their US visa's and I could show them around the town of Cruz Bay while Hal brought the boat over. They walked around while I scoped out places to get the last few things on my shopping list. We went to the Westin Resort to meet Hal at 3pm which is when they do the Iguana feeding at the hotel. Then we went to the boat, I made them a fruit and cheese tray and Hal dingied me to the bay to shop. We stopped for a beer or 3 at the Quiet Mon Pub, an irish pub on a tropical isle. Then we shopped and went back to the boat where I cooked up my speciality.... FAJITAS! I made beef for the parents and chicken for Steffi because she doesn't like beef. I went a bit overboard on the cayanne pepper I think because poor Steffi kept glugging water but she sure stuffed her face with seconds. They are from Scotland originally and said they don't get much mexican food over there but they LOVED it. :)

Today I did blueberry muffins, yogurt, a fruit tray and cereal for breakfast, we are headed to Great St James island for snorkeling this morning. For lunch, it's curry chicken salad sandwiches with chips and dip, and fruit, and a salad, and tonight I am making chicken carbonara pasta.

Dude, I'm a good cook....

Ok, from here we are headed to Francis Bay, St. John for the night then over to Jost Van Dyke and from there I really don't expect to have much service so I will write when I can!

Love ya!

Above, great st james island

p.s.

Y'all really need to start following this blog I found, it's flippin hilarious! Especially today!!!

Toast Floats

Good Morning Campers! (Hi Maria!)

I slept like a rock!

Woke up at 8am to set up an easy breakfast, just cereal, bananna nut bread and a lovely tray of fresh cut fruit and OJ. Figured I would go light because we may be on rough seas today...

The guests are going swimming with the dolphins today which leaves us to get the generator fixed and leaves me time to play my music loud in the galley and get lunch ready.

Today I am making Monte Christo sandwiches and home made potato salad...
And brownies...

We are headed to Pelican Island today and the Indians to do some snorkeling. Then we will spend the night in The Bight at Norman Island. That's where the Willy T is anchored... hmmm...

I won't have interwebs tonight so maybe tomorrow, I think they want to go to St. Thomas tomorrow... Above is a picture of the Willy T, and a favorite pastime of its guests...

Have a good day!

1 day down, 14 to go...

Whew... I am exhausted.

My day in a nutshell...

6am: woke up
7am: caught cab to ferry dock
8am: boarded ferry to Tortola
9am: meet up with Captain Halford
10am: arrive at boat and get acquainted with my surroundings
11am: leave dock and head to Peter Island Resort (big swells)
12pm: arrive at Peter Island
12:15pm: generator bites the big one
12:15pm: Captain Halford goes into a west indian tirade and climbs into the engine room.
1pm: Charter guests arrive, I meet them on the dock and explain that we are having technical difficulties... yadda yadda yadda.
1:30pm: we leave the dock with guests on board and head to Road Town, Tortola to provision while Hal waits on a mechanic
2:30pm: arrive at Village Cay marina and head to the store with guests in tow (BTW they are AWESOME!!! So cool and so nice.)
5:30pm: finally done shopping, even though we didn't get everything on my list, Ron was getting antsy with our 3 shopping carts full of stuff... still, it's stuff we needed.
6pm: load food on boat and then move boat to a different slip to hook up to shore power,mind you I am deckhand in all of this docking and casting off and stuff, I'm not just in the galley.
6:30pm: still putting things away
7pm: start prepping for dinner, realizing all the things that we really needed and didn't buy...
8pm: Dinner is served!

Tonight I made:

Crab Cakes (FROM SCRATCH!!! THEY WERE KICK ASS! I EVEN ATE A BITE OF ONE!)
Green Beans
Roasted corn on the Cob
Corn Bread

Served with a lovely Pinot Grigio!

They loved it! Even the 9 year old said "mum, this is quite nice don't you think?"
:)

They stocked a whole cooler with Heineken for Hal and bought the biggest bottle of Cruzan rum I have ever seen for me... This is the beginning of a beautiful charter.

I am totally exhausted and only had to cook one meal. The good news is, they are not early risers! They wake up at 9am! Thank God!

Now for the best part... I am in my own cabin, lying on a memory foam bed... in the A/C, sipping a glass of wine...

My bed at home sucks so bad. I wanna be on charter forever!

Tomorrow the little girl is going swimming with the dolphins and hopefully Halford will have the genset fixed by the time they get back and we are off to Virgin Gorda I think...

I have internet here at this marina but supposedly we will be anchoring out alot so this might be my last post for a while.

GOOD NIGHT!

I'm shipping off!

I have my big backpack packed up, and sadly, there's not much left in my closet... It's kinda nice living out of a suitcase but sometimes I wish I had an apartment somewhere with my stuff in it, all cozy with a bed that doesn't have springs poking me in my pressure points and pillows that weren't like flat pancakes. I am really looking forward to sleeping in a comfy bed on charter!

I'm not sure if I will have internet access while I am on charter but if I do I will write a little blip if I get a chance. We are picking them up at the exclusive Peter Island Resort, then motoring back over to Tortola to provision.

Awesome news!!! We will be going to ANEGADA!!! That's where the pink flamingos live and it's one of the BVI's I haven't been to yet. I don't know anyone who has been there actually. You can only get there by private boat or sea plane. It's a low lying coral island like Key West, It's not mountainous like the rest of the islands around here. I wish I had a camera. :(

The pic above is Anegada...

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

17 hours till my new adventure begins!

In just 17 short hours I will be on a ferry to Tortola, British Virgin Islands. I am excited and nervous but it will work out just fine. I am headed over to the West End of Tortola, a.k.a. Sopers Hole. That's where Blackbeard the pirate used to keep his fleet of pirate ships! From there my captain will take me to the Charter company office and I will get my uniforms and a little brief on the charter. After that we will head over to Peter Island to pick up the guests. I am a bit nervous but i know I will be ok.

Congrats to Dane who just got a job as the second mate on the schooner Argia in Mystic, CT!!!

OMG MY SHIP HAS COME IN!!!

Hahaha! Not really, but I found a Schooner that I am destined to own! THE HMS PICKLE!!! It's amazing. Now I just need my rum fortune to come rolling in from Cruzan rum and everything will be fine!!! :)

Read about her HERE.

Homework today.

I have been busy planning my meals for the first 7 days of the charter. It's really hard. In the process I forgot to eat lunch. Now I am hungry and have dreams of amazing food dancing in my head after putting together my menus. Too bad I don't have any amazing food.

I think I will whip up some tuna salad on toast with broccoli and cheese soup as a side. Maria got me thinking about broccoli. :)

I need to figure out how I am going to get to town tomorrow to pick up my paycheck from Limnos finally. Gotta pay rent. :(

I have planned Breakfast, Lunch, Appetizers, Dinner and Desserts for 7 whole days and I am exhausted. It's so much food. Now I hear that the family doesn't want me to shop for them like a normal charter, they want to go WITH ME to the store and pick and choose!!! What a pain in the ass!!! This throws everything off. Ugh. I am so stressed.

But this makes me smile... If you haven't taken time to watch Slumdog Millionaire, do it. Now! This is a part of the end credits where all the cast and crew dance to a really cool song!!!



I got a lead on another charter with a different captain from the 28th through the 3rd. Maybe I can book it too. I get back from this one on the 27th... quick turnaround. Then there is another one with him a few days later, a week in mid Jan. If I can line these charters up I can save enough money to have a nice savings when I go back to Florida in March. Fingers crossed.

Schooner Smiles, Winter Wishes.

Here are a few lovely things I have found while perusing my blog-o-sphere. These things made me smile, made me happy, and somewhat transported me into a little bit of the holiday spirit. (Somewhat.) Above is the Schooner Argus in the Baltimore lighted boat parade, when I tried to find info on her it was difficult, and what I found didn't look good. Seems that she fell into disrepair and when they tried to auction her off no one bid. Sad. Supposedly dry docked somewhere in California.

This blog here called Completely Coastal is one of my favorites! I found these great pictures there.

I just imagine this one being towed behind a big beautiful Schooner somewhere in New England.
This is an ornament you can get at Macy's.

Check out Christmas Coast for more awesome nautical Christmas decor!

In other news, here is a bit of St. Thomas trivia: the popular "Fraiser" actor, Kelsey Grammar was born here! His father lived here until he was murdered (go figure) in his own front yard when Kelsey was 13 years old. Upon further reading about Mr. Grammar I found even more HORRIFYING facts, when he was 20, his 19 year old sister was raped and murdered in Colorado and in 1980 his twin half-brother's were both killed in a scuba diving shark attack!!! It's amazing someone with so much tragedy in his life can come out with a smile on his face and laughter in his heart.

I am so thankful for my friends and family.

Merry Christmas from the Islands...

Stressing for the season!

The charter starts in 4 days and I have no idea what I'm doing. I know it's not hard to read a recipe, and I am a damn good cook but it's a bit scary when you are doing it for pay and for people you don't know. It's a good thing its only a Mom and a Dad and their 9 year old daughter. Kids are easy and picky so she shouldn't be a problem. I just need to make sure I can at least go over the menu and shopping list with Jen before we leave. She has been busy with work and hasn't had time to go over it with me. Hopefully this evening.

I have some exciting news, just a little glimmer of hope you know. I have been talking with the Captain of a boat I used to work on a few years ago and now, under new ownership and with a cool new itinerary he wants to talk to me about re-joining the crew. I am so excited! It's exactly the kind of boat I have been wanting to work on and the sail plan is amazing. Miami for the winter and New York City for the summer. Fingers crossed everyone. The Captain wants to talk to me on the phone when I get back from charter. It's not much money but it's what I love.

In other boat stuff, my friend Capt. Pao used to drive the schooner Appledore and now works on tug boats in Maine. He emailed me and said they are always hiring cooks and they pay really well but I have to be able to handle being around crusty boat guys... I said, those are my favorite kind of guys! So, if the Miami thing falls through I will check into that!

I really hope this works out!

GOONIES NEVER SAY DIE!!!!

And, this is how I feel about my blog lately...

I am such a mess sometimes!

Lilly and I carved a pumpkin last night and I burned the pumpkin seeds. It's ok though because we had a really nice time hanging out and spending some quality time together which was much needed! We drank rum and cokes and talked about our plans for the next year and we laughed about what a wild ride this year has been for the two of us! What an amazing year. Key West up and down the east coast ending up in the virgin islands! Crazy.

I will not be happy living away from boats and the water. That's all there is to it. I miss working on Schooners. I am applying with a few boats for the summer season somewhere up north. I would love to work on Liberty again. I got an email from the Schooner Manitou yesterday, they are hiring a deckhand and first mate. We will see how it goes...

As you all know, I change my mind faster than the tides so take this blog with a grain of salt, or sand, or a squeeze of lime and a shot of tequila...

I do miss Texas but I worry what I would do for work there. I wish I could work on a boat there!!!