Happy New Year's Eve!

This is how my NYE is going right now....



Hope yours is awesome, safe and happy!

Note to self...

If you have a problem with seeing people hanging... do NOT watch the movie The Happening, with Mark Whalberg. I flipped over to it on HBO a second ago and its about 30 mins into the movie and I had not heard anything about it, there I was, innocently enthralled in the building suspense of the scene, I thought it was like a monster movie or something like that and all of a sudden.... LIKE THERE ARE 10 PEOPLE HANGING FROM TREES AND ALL THESE LADDERS PROPPED UP LIKE THEY ALL KILLED THEMSELVES AT THE SAME TIME!!!! WTF IS THAT????? WHO MAKES A MOVIE SO MORBID??!?!?!!?! I screamed outloud and turned the channel. Great. Now I'm gonna have nightmares again. I really think I might have a touch of PTSD from earlier this year when Lilly and I saw her neighbor hanging in his backyard.

UGH!!!!! GRRRRR! I am so mad! I'm gonna punch M. Night Shyamalan in the head if I ever meet him. His movies are always scary and usually about monsters!

Lilly warned me the other day not to watch the movie with Angelina Jolie called Changeling, because she had a mild panic attack while watching it, kinda the same scene I think. What? Now we have to research all movies to make sure there are no hanging scenes?!?!?!? Whatever.

In other news, Happy New Year! Hope everyone stays safe and happy tonight. It's cold and windy here.

I am so ready to ship off!

I have posted quite a few bloggy blogs today!

It's because I am bored in the fog at home. It rained all day, not only that, it was dense dense fog, like the clouds came down to the ocean. We never have fog. With my house on the mountain I never saw the sun. My clothes are still on the line outside dripping wet since 9am. They are just getting extra rinsed out. Our washer is outside and exposed to the salt air and whatnot so you have to get your clothes right out when the cycle stops or you get rust spots. Unfortunately today, my new white shorts were a casualty.

The cat kept finding a way into the house today and I kept kicking it out on the porch. I went into the bathroom earlier and there is a shelf right outside the window behind the toilet and all of a sudden MEEEEEEEAAAAOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWW!!! So loud it literally scared the piss out of me. I screamed and cursed it again and then it did that thing cats do when they know you are still there so they keep talking (short funny meows) to you till you come outside. I don't know what to do about that cat.

Ok, I have two of my favorite videos of the year to send you off to bed with a smile on your face..

David after Dentist:



Leprechaun in Alabama



"This here's my leprechaun flute, wards off spells..." LOL

Right now I am watching Oprah, yep, it comes on at 8pm here. This polo player she has on is making me want to start watching that sport....Nacho Figueras, whew!!!


Holy Argentina... Thank you! And Ladies, you're welcome for the gratuitous man meat portion of today's blog! ;)

Testing!

Testing the new signature... What do you think???

Living in a cloud high up on the mountain today....

So this is winter?

It's so cold here. It's rainy and windy and like 70 degrees up here on the mountain! Of course I am trying to do laundry, we have a clothes washer but no dryer. Just a clothes line that I regularly "clothesline" myself on while drinking. It's pretty funny when it happens because I am usually the only one who is there to witness it and I just have to laugh at myself.

My friend Jan is in town on the Schooner Spirit of Massachusetts anchored over at the Beachcomber Hotel. The other day the captain invited me aboard and Jan made us all a lovely Polish New England boil for dinner. I got my hands dirty before dinner and helped them service some blocks because I can't stand to sit around and watch people work.

I can't do much else besides wait around to leave at this point. Trying to stay home and not spend the money I don't have. I really need to dye my hair. Gonna splurge on the 15 dollar box of hair dye at k-mart. lol. I love dying my own hair.

Nita and Mom will laugh at what just happened to me.... So there I was, minding my own business in my room, my door was shut but I had opened our door that leads to the "living room" porch because I am doing laundry like I said. Well, I heard a loud bang come from the living room and since it's windy I just ignored it. Then I heard something that sounded like walking in the hall way outside my room and a little sound like a grunt and my heart started racing! I drank a bit too much coffee already today so I was jitttery and immediately start imagining some creeper who came down the road and was now in my kitchen drinking my leftover coffee. Then another sound I couldn't place, I can't tell if its the upstairs elephant walking neighbors or inside my house. So I start looking for weapons to defend myself in an attack. I just so happened to have a sharp knife by my bed and an empty vodka bottle for cracking skulls. Haha, I am a paranoid wreck, but we have had some robberies and murders in the area and I wasn't about to be dead before I start my new job. So I turn off my fan and tv and sit in the silence for a while trying to hear the terrifying human breathing outside my door (I was sure someone was out there) when all of a sudden a car pulls up and a man in a National Parks truck pulled up at the end of my drive way and gets out to check some guage thingy he had and I thought, hell, he will hear the intruder scream when I stab him and come to help me, so I position myself in front of my door and karate kick the damn thing open like a crazy person and..... you should have seen that damn cat fly down the hall when the door hit it in the ass!!!! LOL THAT FUCKING CAT WAS MAKING ALL THE NOISE. He came inside and knocked something off the counter in the kitchen then came down and sat outside my door because he is lonely and could hear me in my room. I screamed and hollered at that damn thing for five minutes then checked the house and porch to be sure... :) (MOM AND NITA, remember the KILLER NICKEL!!!???) I just really shouldn't be left alone at home.

Whew, now I have calmed down and am having another cup of coffee.

THIS YEAR'S VIDEO MASH UP... so so so so so awesome!!!

For Tugster

I found this little guy at the dingy dock here in St. Thomas at Yacht Haven Grande yesterday. LOL too cute! I didn't get the name though, sorry!!!

I am really starting to spaz out now.

I have nothing I need for this trip. I need good foul weather gear and warm clothes of which I have neither. I am going to freeze to death. I checked the NOAA site and the seas are topping out at 20 feet. What if I get sea sick? What if we hit a speeding whale? The schooner is 129 feet long. That's huge. Bigger than the Clipper. I need to calm down but my head is spinning. I feel like I may vom all over this coffee shop. Just thinking about being that high aloft to set and bring in those square topsails makes me start shaking. I have been aloft before but never that high and never to do anything like that. I think I am freaking myself out now for no reason.

I am nervous and excited all mixed into one.

Wanna hear something awesome???

The itinerary goes a little something like this...

Mid Jan- sail south from Norfolk, Virginia
Feb- Sail through the entire caribbean -St. Martin, St. Vincent, the Grenadines, etc.
March- Sail north to Key West for a few days

and then.....

CUBA FOR TWO WEEKS!!!!!!!!

I'm gonna drink mojitos and smoke cigars and probably throw up.
VIVA HAVANA!

p.s. look at this.... http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/index.pl/article_home?id=17642513

WHAT??!?!??! 22 FOOT WAVES HERE????

My life... It's amazing.

You are reading the lame ass blog of a bad ass chick that is the newest crew member aboard the freedom Schooner Amistad.... as if you people had any doubt about which job I would choose....

I am so happy! Just ecstatic!

I fly to Norfolk, VA on Wednesday.

I have no cold weather clothes.

Uh oh.


Help.

quote of the day

"Darkness can not drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate can not drive out hate, only love can do that."
-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Home

worst tip ever.

exhausted.

I need a new life.

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!