2/28-3/8 St Thomas Here We Come...Now We Just Need Our Boat!

That's the water we came searching for!

St Thomas Here We Come...Now We Just Need Our Boat!

We arrived in St Thomas to stay in a hotel while we waited for the transport ship to arrive. On March 3rd, from the deck of the hotel, Bluebeard's Castle, we spotted Oslo 9! We managed to find a place to get haircuts, work a bit, take a taxi to a beach and wait some more!

THERE SHE IS!! We had a marine tracker app that showed the ship getting closer to St Thomas Port so we got up early to see if we could spot it...and we did. It is really happening!

We were given a specific time by the Load Master, so we packed up and got a taxi to the Marine Terminal. We spotted to ship on a very long pier, but were surprised that we didn't see a clear way to access the ship. When we arrived, Fantasea was in the straps of the crane ready to be moved from one side of the ship to the other and then lowered into the water.

I assumed a tender would ferry us out to Fantasea from the pier and then we would make a grand and graceful entrance onto her stern.  Nope!  After being dropped off at the marine terminal with our luggage, we wandered around the docking area, but there was no obvious place for us to be. I was on the phone to the Load Master and he was describing where to head. We eventually found a guard hiding in the shade and they just pointed us down the long pier to the ship.  As we dragged along our suitcase and bags and headed for the transport ship it became obvious that there would be no one bringing us out to our boat, rather we would be climbing up the skinny, very narrow and very high "stairs" leading to the deck of the ship.  We were greeted at the top of the stairs by a young Norweigian man, signed off on being the owners, and led to a hot corner off the ship to wait for instructions.  Eventually, a few more handsome Norweigians brought us to the railing above our boat and then began tying a flimsy rope ladder over the side.  What???  We had luggage!  I don’t think this is how this usually happens.  I’m pretty sure that there are hired captains and crew that do this for boat owners.  But… that’s not us, so over the side we went! 

After boarding and getting all the instruments turned on, engines going, etc., we pushed ourselves away from the ship and spun around in the harbor and headed away.  Unfortunately, none of our navigation equipment would turn on so we were using our phones to find our next home base.  We found Saga Haven Marina, figured out all the electronic issues, and began the work of unpacking and putting everything away again.  We were both raw and ragged from the day but have fully recovered and started to experience the vision we have for the next few winters. 

Traveling from the Marine Terminal in Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas to Saga Haven Marina, St Thomas

Our First Week In St Thomas

We got our "house" put back together, the dingy put back in the water, the power hooked up to the boat and started trying to figure out what life looks like now. I worked my usual work week, but when the weekend came, we loaded up the dingy with our picnic, snorkel gear and beach chairs and went exploring. As my Dad used to say, "not too shaggy"!

And our new favorite pizza joint, Pizza Pi VI, a floating pizzeria!

That's it for now. Back to work for the week and then we are off to St John!