This is the first morning in a couple weeks that I haven't felt rushed to get going on a busy day ahead. I don't have to be at the marina until around noon. I can take some time to write, catch up on a little reading, get in a medium (45 minute) run. Maybe even watch the Bahrain F-1 qualifying session. Later this morning Cathy will drop me off at the condo so I can continue painting. She has an appointment and will join me later. I'm expecting a couple from Long Island NY to arrive at the marina around noon. I'll meet them there to show them to the boat they'll stay on while taking sailing classes. They'll be my students for six straight days of ASA courses, which begins tomorrow. After getting them settled on their boat (Catalina/Morgan 440) I'll return to the condo to finish up painting. Today is the last day I can work on the condo for at least one week. It's also the last day I need to work on the condo for a couple weeks. The project is going well. There have been a couple minor hiccups, but just now we're on track to move in mid-May.
Yesterday, like previous days this week, I was occupied with bareboat charter functions and doing diesel repairs and maintenance. The previous week I took several days off to work on the condo. I'm way behind in sea time for the month – just five days so far. This coming week of teaching will help get me catch up. But Capt Patrick, the other main guy on the dock, leaves next Friday on the annual St Petersburg Yacht Club race to Isla Mujeres. He'll be gone for a week, leaving me to keep things running on the dock. When he comes back Capt Dave, the company owner, will fly to Isla Mujeres for a week-long cruise along Central America. Patrick and I will then both be busy covering for him. The result may be that I may not get a lot more sea time this month. I'll be occupied with charter operations, and there are still several main engines and generators that are due or nearly due for service.
Last year after the race to Isla, I was given the job of flying to Cancun to get to Isla, then sail back the boat that had participated in the race. Three former students were crew for me. It was my first crossing of the Gulf and for that reason it was technically interesting, despite contrary and light winds the entire trip. It was my first catamaran delivery – a Lagoon 36. And I learned about currents in the Gulf, which are strong and change month to month.
A month after that delivery I was given the job of bringing back that same boat from Key West. It had been sailed there as a participant in another regatta. Cathy came along on that trip, as well as our friends Carsten and Viola from Berlin who were visiting at the time. We spent a couple days hanging out in Key West, then took four days for the trip back.
So far this year there has been no talk of me doing an away trip. And that's okay. The away trip I am most interested in doing next is one to the Bahamas. That's one of my favorite cruising grounds and one that Cathy has not yet seen. But a trip to the Bahamas is a big one - the islands are spread over such a vast area. It would take a few days just to get to Bimini, my favored port of entry. Nassau would be a couple more days minimum. The Exuma chain, 100 miles of delightfully under-inhabited islands with miles of white powder beaches, begins another day's sail from Nassau. You could easily spend a month in the Exumas.
(Norman's Cay – the island referred to in the movie "Blow" with Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruse, is in the Exumas. Norman's Cay was indeed a busy trans-shipment airbase for Carlos Lederer's enterprise. In fact, many of these out islands of the Bahamas were hot with smuggling activity back in the day. I remember well. Haven't I told some of the stories?)
Before the Bahamas trip happens I expect Cathy and I will borrow a boat for a week or so and cruise down in the Sanibel and Captiva area. We've been quickly through there by boat on the trip back from Key West. And we've visited there by car. It's lovely.
This is a big weekend for bike racing - World Superbike at Assen, AMA Roadracing at Road Atlanta. Coincidentally it's also the first weekend of motorcycle road racing for my former home track back in Oregon. I'll be seeing results from those races via friends on Facebook. The WSB and AMA races will record on the DVR, but I'll see results right away on my phone. Road Atlanta is one of two tracks in this region that are on my bucket list to go to for riding trackdays. The other is Barbur in Alabama. Both have reputations for being really fun, challenging tracks, with elevation changes as well as professional level facilities. Florida tracks are flat – like Assen.
You asked about driving on the left in the Virgin Islands. Weird isn't it? Particularly as the cars are all left hand drive. This is a remnant of the days when the USVI were Danish colonial islands. The Danes originally drove on the left like the English. (The Danes have since changed to driving on the right, like the rest of Europe.) The US bought the islands during WW1. They were strategically important for their location as a submarine base. The submarines are no longer there, but to this day, there is an area near downtown Charlotte Amalie called Sub Base. Despite becoming a territory of the US, the VI have never changed to drive on the right. Among the jokes about the local government and culture – if you think driving in the USVI is dangerous now, imagine the carnage if one day the law was changed and everyone was to start driving on the right. It would be chaos and catastrophe.
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