Landlubbing

Tonight before showering (onshore) I had pizza for dinner. That's right, just me. I cannot tell you what Amichai and CG, Yoni and Sammy, and even Ben, had to eat, because I am no longer with them.

I'm back home. The trip - for you and I, barring the photos I have yet to develop - is really over now.


After the last post I walked back to the boat where I was surprised to find Sammy, Yoni, and CG still awake and talking. It was almost 1:00 AM and we had a big day ahead of us, but I joined them in talking for a short time before (I admit, a bit grumpily) asking them to be a little quiet so I at least could fall asleep. Part of it was a feeling of responsibility - they had asked me to be sure to wake them up the next morning!

Waking up turned out not to be the real issue; staying asleep was. One of the brachos that is said in the morning prayers praises God for giving the rooster the ability to distinguish between day and night. After being woken up at around four in the morning by a lot of roosters crowing to each other, still in the pitch dark of the night, Sammy (who was also sleeping on deck) told me he really didn't understand the blessing. Roosters are stupid.

I woke up again before 6:30. My alarm was set for 6:30, but it was too bright and I had gotten too many bug bites during the night to stay asleep longer. When I say I got a lot of bites, I mean it. Before, I had gotten bites mostly on my feet or ankles, maybe my legs. Now I had mosquito bites on my feet, legs, arms, hands and fingers, neck, and forehead. I determined later that morning that Off! definitely didn't work on these mosquitoes after spraying my foot and seeing a mosquito bite it about a half hour later. Yoni and I wondered if TMM stood for Tortola Marine Management or The Mosquito Mecca.

But I digress. After getting out of bed at 6:30 I went to go fulfill my duty to wake everyone up. I plugged my phone into the speaker jack and played "Modeh Ani" by Shalsheles Junior. It worked.

The next hour and a half was spent finishing cleaning, packing, and then showering. Around 7:30 Amichai came back from the market with a gift for us all: ice cream bars for breakfast!

We were all ready to go by 8:30, the time our taxi had been told to come. The boat was checked, our bags were by the office, we were in the office in the air conditioning, and our taxi didn't show up for another 17 anxiety-filled minutes. The ferry was set to leave at 9:00.

We got to the ferry before 9:00. But we had to check-in. And go through customs to leave the BVI. And we had to pay the $5 passenger tax to leave the BVI by sea. It was a good thing our ferry showed up and left late.

Or was it? It was certainly good we didn't miss it, but as we arrived at St. Thomas, around 10:40, we didn't dock. And still didn't dock. And still...until shortly after 11:00. And then we didn't get to go ashore for at least another 20 minutes. Because of the timing of our arrival (right after two other ferries), the customs and passport control line for entering the USVI was huge. Our plane's scheduled departure time was 12:40 PM and we were not the only ones on our ferry worried.

Due to our concerns we managed to be at the head of the line for customs and we all got through, even Yoni. No, we were not handling livestock or bringing back fruits, vegetables, or snails. We hopped in a taxi-van and rode to the airport. It was now 11:45. When was our flight, again?

As we checked in, guess who we saw? That's right, the Kansas City family oh wait no the guy from Maryland and his family not him either? how about one of the Chabad girls who was running the camp! Of course. She was on our flight back.

After checking in we had to go through customs again. This time I didn't state that I was bringing anything in to the US from another country, since I had not gone to another country since I had previously re-entered the US 20 minutes ago.

Security was pretty quick and I got to the gate as they began calling rows to board the plane. Sammy was also through security and Yoni was soon to follow - but where were Amichai and CG? It turns out one of their luggage tags had been improperly done and the woman at the desk had not affixed a tag for one of the bags to go back to Newark. They had to rush back to get a new tag, and then get through security. So while Sammy talked to the ladies behind the gate desk to stall for time, I meandered near the final boarding pass check-in, and Yoni kept an eye out for Amichai and CG. And then they came running in and we got on the plane.

We hoped all our bags were on too.

When we arrived in Newark and went to baggage claim we had reason to be concerned:

But after waiting for quite a while, and after a number of false starts by the machine's whirring without producing bags, all of our stuff showed up. None of them fell on us.

Then it was time for separate ways. Our trip had ended and while my friends headed off to taxi back to New York, I headed to the train station to go back to Baltimore. But the trip continued with me on the way - it turned out that the guy who I sat next to on the train had relatives living on Tortola.



I'm now lying on my bed at home. It doesn't rock and, when I open my window, I don't hear the soft lapping of the waves and the rushes of the eastern wind. But I do hear the chirping of thousands of crickets and at a glance I can see the soft lamplight, illuminating the paths of my own familiar neighborhood.

Thank you for reading about my adventures in the medinas hayam. Until the final photos are posted - fare thee well.

Make New Friends, But Keep the Old

Later on Thursday afternoon we had our first real conversations with fellow BVI visitors on sailing trips. There was a family from Kansas City, taking up two catamarans, out to celebrate a birthday and visit a cousin/niece that sat near us onshore. I spoke to one of them for a bit about college and what we had been doing on the trip.

After Amichai and Sammy began doing some pull-ups on some overhanging wooden cross-pieces on the path, a guy from a different group came over, recognizing the specific type of pull-ups they were doing (gripping with their fingers), and asked if they did rock climbing. Correct! We then began to talk to him about our respective trips. Turns out he's also from Maryland and now helps design satellites. Cool stuff.

A short while later we went back to the boat to make dinner. There was a bit of a concern for about 15 minutes about our propane, but after some fiddling with knobs and the smell dying down, we finally had our pasta with cheese and sauce. When we finished it was close to 9:00 and we decided to head back to shore, to continue to chat with our new friends.

When we arrived there were no other visitors there and the bartender was cleaning up. Amichai and Sammy each decided to shower onshore, so while we waited for them we just read or talked, until the manager told us they were really closing up and about to turn off the lights. We were back on the boat not long after 9:30. Who knew tourist places would close that early?

Back on the boat we watched a movie and then went to bed. I slept on deck.

Friday morning I got up at 7:25 and was joined not long after by Sammy and then the others. We motored over to Salt Island, which used to (or still does) pay an annual tax to the Queen of a bag of salt. Not far off the island is the wreck of the RMS Rhone. It was wrecked from a late-season hurricane in 1877. Apparently because it was late in the season and thus warning signs (like barometric pressure) were ignored, and because no one could swim, it was quite a catastrophe. But it's a great snorkeling and diving site!

After a quick breakfast of cereal, all of us but Amichai got our snorkeling gear and took the dinghy over to the wreck site, tied to the dinghy mooring, and went in. It was a pretty disgusting-ly hot day out, so it was a relief to get in the water. It was really cool! You could see the wreck very clearly below. I snapped a bunch of photos with my underwater camera (and again, once those are developed I can upload them). We practiced trying to dive using the holding-your-nose-and-blowing trick, with varying degrees of success. I didn't do it so well.

After about half an hour, guess who joined us? That's right, the family from Kansas City. Some of them were really good at diving down deep. One girl got all the way down to the wreck and went under a wooden pole before coming back at up! We snorkeled for a bit longer and then headed back to the boat and motored over to a neighboring bay which had fewer waves.

We decided to eat lunch ashore after seeing some shaded picnic tables. Guess who was already ashore and about to leave when we arrived? That's right, the guy from Maryland and his family.

Lunch! We did not eat that chicken.

Sammy did some kite flying.

After having a quick lunch we explored around our part of the island.

 The "Salt Pond" another tourist had mentioned, which I had expected to be just a pile of salt.

 Salt Island is no longer inhabited so it was a bit eerie, but beautiful in a lonely way.

I saw some nice conches in a pile and thought it would be cool to bring one back, until I realized the pile was one of several marked graves.

By the beach, however, Sammy found a conch shell all on his own. With the dead inhabitant inside and about to fall out. Having emptied its contents, he took it back to wash and bring back home.

We were all a bit jealous.

It was time to go back to Road Town, to dock at TMM for Shabbos. We saw this rock formation on our way out of the bay, which reminded us of a statue of a lion or a sphinx:

This was the last sail of the trip! And so I decided we needed to do something we had only ever talked of doing.

"What's so special?" you ask, "haven't you been in the dinghy before?"

No, we had never been in the dinghy before...out in the open ocean while being pulled by the boat! It was a bit crazy how we did this. First we slowed down. Then Yoni and I pulled in the slack of the dinghy rope before jumping in and holding on for our lives as the rope quickly pulled taut and the dinghy jerked forward.

I mentioned before how awesome the boat looks when we sail downwind, wing-on-wing. Here is what it looks like:

How did we snap this photo? Well, obviously from the dinghy. But how? We had forgotten the camera on board the boat. No problem! Slow the boat down again. Have Amichai pull in the slack. Have us almost slam into the boat. Have us actually slam into the boat. Have us finally pull up close enough so CG can hand us (not toss, hand) the camera. Then let us out again to snap photos!

Getting back on the boat was also a bit nerve wracking, but we all emerged from the ordeal safe and sound.

Then we refueled and went across the harbor to TMM. There (or here, as that's where we are still) we got back our duffel bags, shopped for some groceries, and cleaned the boat. As we cooked and clean we listened to a playlist of Shabbos-related songs, which was nice. We got ready just in time.

We were the only inhabited boat there, until a catamaran docked beside us. We're not sure what European country the families on it were from, but as we sang kabbalat shabbat on deck they finished docking and began rinsing off diving equipment. As we sat down to eat they left to head over to town.

For dinner we had soup, steak, some leftover chicken, rice, and brownies.  A HUGE thank-you to CG for cooking and then freezing most of the best food we had this entire trip. We sang some zemiros before heading to bed (well before our neighbors got back).

I got up around 7:30 and Amichai was already up and had davened. I then davened and there was a staggered awakening as Sammy, CG, and Yoni got up and did the same. We had kiddush over grape juice, with orange juice and brownies, around a bit after 9. By then the families from the catamaran next to us had left, but guess who arrived? That's right, the family from Kansas City, come to return the boats and head back home.

Not long after we finished eating our kiddush-breakfast, an employee of TMM who was working on the boat next to ours asked us about Judaism. We then had a short discussion about reinterpretation through the generations (and he seemed to have ideas similar to "yeridas hadoros", the "decline of generations"), about the King James Version of the Bible versus Hebrew, and exactly where Jews stood on Jesus and his place in the Trinity (actually not in the Trinity, or any Trinity at all).

It was getting hot, so we walked over to the air conditioned office to relax and read some books (they had a small selection on some shelves). We also spoke to some members of the Kansas City family which floated in and out of the office as they got ready to leave. After they left we spoke to the captains of the catamarans they had been on, as well as the cousin they had come to visit. They had some pretty interesting stories. One of the captains was from South Dakota and the other was from (I think) Idaho! Both captains live on boats and have for some years. Sammy was very pleased to hear one of them say wing-on-wing is a difficult point of sail, after we said we had done it.

They also briefly spoke about safety procedures. Did you know that for very "large" passengers that fall overboard you use the main halyard on a winch to pull him or her back up onto the boat?

We ate lunch a little after 1, finishing up the vacuum-sealed deli meat we had brought with us. Then we headed back to the office to be cool and read some more. After the office closed at 5 we went back to the boat and by then it had cooled off outside.

We thought everyone had left, but as we were settling in on deck, a family came on to the catamaran next to us that had been abandoned earlier that morning, along with a TMM employee. They were going out for a brief sail. As they were about to pull away, I noticed that one of their dock lines was still looped around a post! I shouted to them and un-looped it. Just an everyday occurrence for me, saving million dollar boats from being destroyed.

Before Shabbos was over we sang some shalosh seudos songs and then davened maariv and made havdalah. Amichai made havdalah this week and it was cool to hear him do the Sephardi version of it.

Since then we cleaned and packed and showered. We're getting up very early in the morning to get ready to go. We have a ferry to catch!

The trip isn't over yet, but all of us on the boat have been doing a lot of reflecting over the last couple of days. Three weeks is a long time to be out here and it feels a bit strange, but welcome, to know we are going back home soon. I think I have been very fortunate to have been able to go on this trip and spend time with such great people.

Shavua Tov!

Chicken of the Sea

Holding the Conch

We ended up staying docked in TMM for the rest of the afternoon and through the night. We moved our boat so that our windows would face the wind to catch the breeze and then walked over to town. Our destination was somewhere in town we could sit and relax, like a cafe.

We ended up walking back over to U.P.'s, the movie theater which is much more than a movie theater. Sammy wanted to see if they were showing Midnight in Paris. I was highly skeptical it would be showing and I turned out to be right. None of us wanted to watch The Green Lantern, which, along with Harry Potter, seemed to be the most advertised movie.

While we were there we bought some drinks to cool off. I bought a can of 7-Up which cost a dollar fifty. These islands can get expensive. Yoni bought apple juice that said it was 100% apple juice with added ingredients.

Instead of seeing a movie, we went bowling in U.P.'s  basement. In most bowling alleys one purchases based on how many games are going to be played, but not here. Here you paid based on time, by the half hour. Amichai and CG bought an hour for themselves. Sammy, Yoni, and I purchased a half hour. So we were able to play 1.5 games. I did pretty poorly, while Sammy bowled the best game of his life (so far). Yoni did a lot better than me. Part of it was that I lost a bit of confidence after a buzzer and flashing light went off as I was bowling halfway through the first game. One of my feet went over the line a little bit and an F showed up for my score for that bowl. I have never been to a bowling alley like this before.

After the game, Yoni and Sammy went to the arcade upstairs and I stayed below to read. After a while Amichai and CG wanted to leave, so we went up to look for Yoni and Sammy. We looked all over th ground floor for them, but didn't see them, so we left, figuring they had gone back already.

Not long after we left it began to pour, so we ducked under some awnings. Although the rain let up a bit, it showed no signs of stopping, so Amichai decided we should just walk in the rain. When we got back to the boat Yoni and Sammy weren't there.

So we made some popcorn and waited. About an hour and a half later they finally showed up. It turned out they had been on the first floor reading, which was already where the movie theater was, and where we assumed they had not gone. We made dinner (Morningstar Farms Garden Burgers) and then watched The Little Mermaid before going to sleep.

The next morning was dark and rainy. So much for trying to start out for St. Croix! It remained cloudy the whole day. A neighboring catamaran's residents were leaving early, so they gave us some groceries, water, and beer before leaving, which was nice. After relaxing for quite a bit, we set sail for Cooper Island.

It was pretty windy and rocky, although not as bad as Monday. We got to the calmer waters of Cooper Island shortly after 3, where we double tied ourselves to the mooring. As we did that we saw a huge fish in the water, which we assumed as a barracuda. After going ashore we found out it might have been one of these:

We had pizza (!) for lunch and then went ashore. There is a small beach with some chairs, a gift shop, a restaurant/bar, and bathrooms (no air conditioning). While others began to relax and read and use the WiFi in the restaurant/bar area, I headed over to the gift shop, where I got very distracted with a wooden cube puzzle. After spending some time trying to figure it out and embarrassingly failing, I ended up not buying anything and headed back to join the others.

Yoni contemplates the ocean:

Before we left to go back to the boat at nightfall, we each tried to balance walking along a tree trunk that was nearly horizontal, right by the beach. Sammy had also found a coconut which he kept trying to crack using various implements along the beach, but only succeeding at making a gash in it. After CG ran along the sand, we took the dinghy back to the boat.

On the boat Sammy finally broke the coconut, hammering into it with a screwdriver. For dinner we had fake chicken, rice, beans, and salad. We said our highs and lows and Yoni mentioned that he finished his book, the most American book: The Great Gatsby.

After dinner we watched Peter Pan - except for the last 5 minutes, because the laptop battery died. Then we went to sleep.

This morning I woke up late, around 8:45. It's a sunny day and Sammy, Yoni, and CG went snorkeling and saw a bunch of rays and schools of fish. At one point they noticed a huge conch shell on the ocean floor. They kept trying to dive for it, and even had me toss them the stick we use to catch the moorings, to no avail. Then suddenly a snorkeler from the boat nearby popped up right next to us holding the conch shell!

 He explained to us how to dive farther down you have to hold your nose and blow to pop your ears because of the water pressure. The conch shell had a huge crab living inside:

We breakfasted on bagels and scrambled eggs and then relaxed on the boat before taking the dinghy ashore to relax some more. After a bit I saw the snorkel-man and his son in the bar and went over with my camera to offer them the pictures I took. They thanked me and downloaded them onto their computer, after which we had a long discussion about religion and how people decide what they do or don't do, what they agree with or don't agree with, or just ignore, about what it says in their religion/holy books.

Since then we've just been relaxing. Sorry if you were expecting a more adventure-filled post, but some of vacation means sitting around and enjoying our leisure time!

Oh, and this is from an advertisement for wine, about the geese they keep in their vineyards:

Four New Posts

Just so it's clear, there are four new posts updated today:

This is a test, this is only a test, of the emergency broadcast system
Chabad of Nazareth
And Then There Were Five
See Emily Play

Be sure to catch them all:

See Emily Play

Yesterday we woke up at 7:30. After davening (Rosh Chodesh!), we headed out ASAP. We had to sail back to TMM because of...Tropical Storm Emily.

We ate as we already began to sail away, which was difficult because the winds and waives were rising. We figured the trip (from western St. Thomas to mid-Tortola) would take 3-4 hours.

It took over 6 hours. We saw the highest waves so far (6 feet) and very high winds. The boat rocked really high, up and down, as we struggled eastward, upwind. Both Yoni and CG got seasick. Overall the sail was very tiring and we all got sunburned.

After finally arriving at TMM they tied the boat securely to a dock and we went inside to find out about insurance coverage for a hotel for the night. We spoke to the insurance provider and TMM, which got us hotel rooms, and everything seemed fine. The hotel was across the street so we grabbed some stuff for the night, and everything from the fridge, and went over.

The hotel was actually quite nice. This was because we got deluxe rooms, which were the only rooms available. I actually ended up with the nicest room, so we ate and hung out in mine:

For dinner we ate frozen burritos (heated on the stove in my room).  Then we all went to sleep by 10pm, exhausted.

I woke up shortly after seven and had a nice quiet davening in my solarium. I walked around a little bit, watched the weather on the TV, and then went over to the other rooms after 9.

Sammy, CG, and Yoni went over to TMM to deal with customs and insurance. There was a lot of drama of he-said this, but he-said that, about coming back to TMM and letters for insurance and the hotel, but in the end we hope everything will be alright with the insurance through the charter company we used (which linked to TMM). It was very frustrating, but since Emily seems to have mostly passed by to the south, we no longer will be staying in a hotel. Back to the boat! We split the bill from the hotel four ways. Yoni is on separate insurance, which pretty much only covers a hole-in-one or an act of God.

Now after eating lunch on the boat, we will decide where to go for the evening and the next few days.

Belated Chodesh Tov!

(and http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4436399338243841474)

And Then There Were Five

We regret to inform you that one of our number has left us, never to return to our boat. His passing from the waters of the BVI and USVI are much mourned. It was a somber moment for us all.

Let me explain.

Sunday morning I took a nice, long luxurious shower ashore. I also uploaded some of the movies for the blog (see previous post). We breakfasted on blueberry pancakes. I went to a clinic to get something checked out while Ben packed.

Ben, you see, had a conference to go to and as such only was going to be with us for two weeks. He had a plane to catch that afternoon to fly back to New York. We had to leave the dock at 1:00, so the question was, should he leave us early and take a taxi to the airport, or should we sail to Charlotte Amalie and let him off there? I was in favor of sailing, because I thought we might be able to see some sights in Charlotte Amalie the next day. Ben looked at the map and saw that there was a Bay right next to the airport. Perfect.

It took forever to get out of the dock. As we were pulling out and trying to maneuver our boat (which is really hard to back up), lots of men from all the neighboring fishing yachts got out and shouted words of encouragement and advice. It was both highly reassuring and highly embarrassing. Sammy told them we'd be there all week.

After we got out of Red Hook, we set sail (and motorsailed) towards Charlotte Amalie. We got up to 8.5 knots! That's pretty fast.

We avoided where this boat was nestled up close to the rocks...ashore:

When we got to the bay by the airport there was only about an hour before his flight took off! But the bay was literally right next to the airport. We could see the planes take off and taxi down the runway.

While Sammy steered, Amichai quickly took down the jib, and I took down the mainsail, Yoni, CG, and Ben hopped in the dinghy. But then the dinghy didn't move! Sammy shouted to close the choke and the dinghy began to go.

They dragged it onshore fast. Ben rolled up his jeans to wade through and he and CG ran over rocks, went over a gate to the street (definitely was illegally done) and then...saw his plane pull up!

They tried to wave down a taxi, but he waved back that he wouldn't stop. No other cars would stop for them. So they started running for the plane.

They ran through the airport, into check in, and - no one was at the desk! Was it closed? Could he check in? The ran to a kiosk screen and endured painful waits for his credit card swipe to go though before tickets finally came out. They ran through doors that said "Ticketed Passengers Only" and waited in line for customs, filling out his customs form while in line and using a borrowed pen. When they got to the customs booth the official asked why CG was there. She said that she must not have seen the sign and then was told that it was probably best that she left immediately. So she did.

About twenty minutes later I got a text message from Ben:

Made it! just waiting to board. my lord that was epic. thanks for one more ridiculous sailing memory, friends!

Here is our boat in the Bay, as seen from Ben's seat in the plane above:

In the meantime, Sammy got a phone call from TMM about the impending Tropical Storm Emily. They wanted us back over there and we would have to leave early in the morning to make it. Sammy had wanted to head over to the beautiful island of St. Croix for the week, which we all agreed would be great. "Let's not go crazy about this guys,", he said about the hurricane. But orders were orders, and this took all the wind out of our sails (yes, I just used that metaphor).

But we needed to get some groceries first, so Yoni, CG, Amichai, and I took the dinghy ashore and went looking for a supermarket. We got directions to one and began walking, but stopped in a convenience store on the way to buy drinks. We happened to pick the convenience store that turned out to have a large photo of Yassir Arafat by the cash register, which was manned by a very Arab cashier. He asked where we were from and then told us he was from Virginia, and showed us his VA drivers license, when we didn't recognize the town he was from. It was a little hard to understand him from his very heavy accent and weak English in general. But he gave us a dollar off our purchase, welcoming us to the island.

The supermarket we went to, Pueblo’s, was huge. It was like a combination between a supermarket, a dollar store, a liquor store, and a small hardware/home-goods store. We got enough stuff  that it made more sense to taxi back to the dinghy, so we took up the offer of one of the men outside the store to give us a ride.

This taxi driver was holding a Winnie the Pooh doll, which he said was left by a previous passenger. He was from the Dominican Republic and spoke to CG in Spanish most of the drive (which also veered onto the right side of the road at certain points). At the end of the drive he asked if CG was interested in going dancing, but she said she was too tired.

We had salmon for dinner. Afterwards, CG, Sammy, and Yoni watched Aladdin while Amichai and I both read before going to sleep.

Chabad of Nazareth

Before Shabbos we inquired as to where the rabbi lived. He was not in Charlotte Amalie, as we originally thought, but on the east end of the island, near the harbor where we ended up docking. The actual name of the area in which he lived was named Nazareth, which we thought was ironic for a variety of reasons.

Friday night we walked over to the Chabad rabbi's house. It was a long walk; about 25 minutes from where we were docked. The road was twisty and uphill and there were no sidewalks. And it was getting dark.

A neighbor of the rabbi saw us walking and circled back in his car and stopped us. He told us we were going to die from getting hit by a car, pulled over on the side of the road, opened the doors, and had us get in. It was still a halachically acceptable time for him to do this, so we got in and got to the rabbi's a lot quicker - and alive.

At the house there was the rabbi, his wife, their 5 young children, a Jewish woman from St. Thomas and her young daughter, and two Chabad girls close to our age who were running a small camp for the rabbi's kids (and any other Jewish kids that needed camp on the island). The only person looking forward to meeting cute Jewish island girls more than Ben, Yoni, Sammy, and I was CG, who beelined over to chat with the two of them. (And for the curious, all the words the rest of us said to them the entire Shabbos were "Good Shabbos" and "Thank You").

We davened to ourselves, as there was no minyan, and then we sat down to eat. The food was absolutely delicious and over the meal we had many discussions, heard some Torah, told some Torah, and sang. The rabbi also told us about "mushrooms", which apparently is a term for Chabad houses that pop up in different areas that are not officially sanctioned by the Chabad headquarters, and are often started by meshichists.

The walk back was treacherous and very dark, but we all survived. The next morning we walked back in the heat to Chabad and got there around 9:15. Since davening was not until 10, we cooled down, read,  and played Anagrams. Ben played with the kids.

We started davening a few minutes after 10 and there was no minyan yet. After shacharis the rabbi gave a talk on the week's parsha, speaking on accidental killing, the role of the ir miklat (city of refuge) and the psychological harm that the killer can suffer. He finished when the minyan was finally completed and we had Torah reading, followed by musaf with a minyan. Musaf was a little rushed because it seemed as if an Israeli family that was there had to leave quickly, but they still stuck around through most of the kiddush/lunch that followed, so we were all a little confused about that.

After eating our fill and talking and singing a bit, we walked back to the boat. Oddly enough, it was a bit cooler (or maybe it was just that we walked back downhill). Amichai and CG took a shabbos walk by themselves. This meant that they missed out on the huge iguana that Sammy, Yoni, Ben, and I saw, waddling on the front lawn of the local high school.

We relaxed on the boat the rest of the afternoon. Towards nightfall we sang shalosh seudos songs and then davened maariv. Then we sang havdalah together. It was a nice Shabbos and it was very nice to be around fellow Jews again.

For a motzai Shabbos activity, CG, Amichai, Yoni, and Sammy decided to go see Captain America.  On the cab ride there the driver asked if he could go get gas. No, they said, he could not. They had to hurry. But he went to the gas station anyway. As the driver was about to get out, Sammy asked him if he was getting gas. Yes, he was. Sammy told him they were in a rush. As the driver said "just a little gas", Sammy then began to open the door, threatening to get another cab. The driver hurriedly agreed to continue driving.

He also drove on the right side of the road for awhile (even though in the Virgin Islands you drive on the left) and at one point the street went straight down, so steep, that on the way up he had to bend over the steering wheel to see the road.

They all agreed that it was a terrible movie. Amichai fell asleep in it. The rest of the theater talked the whole time during quiet moments and laughed over the top during the "funny" (not funny) moments. The movie is not recommended.

Belated Shavua Tov!

This is a test, this is only a test, of the emergency broadcast system

There are lots of days to catch up on and each day will be posted separately.  The days have been full of action and drama, but updates were a bit delayed due to a bit of emergency precautions for Tropical Storm Emily (shoutout to Belferea).

Before reading the following posts, many of you may be wondering: Who are these people? Who are all these characters I'm traveling with? Or if you're a friend or relative of one of my friends, who the heck am I?

Hopefully this will clear some of that up.

MEDINAS HAYAM PRESENTS: INTERVIEWS

Name: “Galley Wag” Ben

Favorite Color: Sunburn Red

Hobbies: Sailing, Boating, Yachting, etc.

Pull-ups: One-armed

Ended up on this trip because of: an unalterable chain of cause and effect envisaged on high and affirmed below

One word characterization of your cabin-mate: Cuddly

Favorite trip location (can’t say air conditioned bathroom): Maho Bay

Worst trip location: TMM

Finish the sentence:

The worst part of waking up: peeling the sunscreen-glued t-shirt off my back.

I now appreciate: how isolated and vulnerable true sailors must have felt.

I’m beginning to: feel at home.

Name: Ariel

Favorite Color: Cerulean Blue

Hobbies: Intellectual activities

Pull-ups: Enough to look impressive, and let’s stop there

Ended up on this trip because of: a well-timed phone-call

One word characterization of your cabin-mate: Clingy

Favorite trip location (can’t say air conditioned bathroom): Maho Bay

Worst trip location: Cane Garden Bay

Finish the sentence:

The worst part of waking up: peeling the sunscreen-glued undershirt off my back

I now appreciate: flush toilets

I’m beginning to: get a sunglasses tan

Name: Amichai Levy

Favorite Color: Red

Hobbies: Rock Climbing, Wrestling, Computer Programming

Pull-ups: Two fingers, one on each hand.

Ended up on this trip because of: my sailing lessons from when I was 11 years old.

One word characterization of your cabin-mate: Beautiful

Favorite trip location (can’t say air conditioned bathroom): deep water soloing at Monkey Point

Worst trip location: I don't have one.

Finish the sentence:

The worst part of waking up: mosquito bites.

I now appreciate: kosher restaurants.

I’m beginning to: feel severe withdrawal from computer programming and wrestling.

Name: Chana/Channa Gila Ovits Levy (CG)

Favorite Color: Blue

Hobbies: A bunch. Singing, sailing, painting, laughing, dancing, reading, fencing, running. Crossword puzzles.

Pull-ups: In my dreams.

Ended up on this trip because of: a lust for adventure.

One word characterization of your cabin-mate: Hot.

Favorite trip location (can’t say air conditioned bathroom): The Bitter End

Worst trip location: The kitchen when we're all cooking

Finish the sentence: 

The worst part of waking up: is discovering you've blown off course.

I now appreciate: dry underwear.

I’m beginning to: peel.

Name: Yoni

Favorite Color: Blue

Hobbies: Swimming with dolphins (which I’ve never done)

Pull-ups: ?

Ended up on this trip because of: bullying by Sammy

One word characterization of your cabin-mate: Salty-dog

Favorite trip location: Fallen Jerusalem

Worst trip location: TMM

Finish the sentence:

The worst part of waking up: not knowing whether the goo covering your body is sweat, sunblock, seawater, or insect repellant.

I now appreciate: Americans.

I’m beginning to: develop a taste for seawater.

Name: Captain Sammy Steiner

Favorite Color: A color I saw in a dream when I was about five, in the dream I knew it was my favorite color, but I have not seen it since.

Hobbies: Reading and writing. Rock climbing. Sailing. Long, moonlit strolls along the beach.

Pull-ups: Right now?

Ended up on this trip because of: a dream that was six years old.

One word characterization of your cabin-mate: Astounding.

Favorite trip location (can’t say air conditioned bathroom): the boat.

Worst trip location: the office at Spanish Town harbor.

Finish the sentence:

The worst part of waking up: listening to my alarm.

I now appreciate: my friends.

I’m beginning to: plan my next trip.

Slippery When Wet

I wrote this on Friday, but didn't get a chance to post it then. Let's pretend I posted it late Friday afternoon.

First, some things I left out from Wednesday. While we waited for our laundry, Yoni, CG, and Ben headed over to the rum distillery in Cane Garden Bay. It is the same distillery that makes the rum we bought our first night.

While we filled up on water before leaving the Bay, we got a new stick for mooring! The water parted before us and on the way to Jost Van Dyke we saw many, many rainbows.

After mooring at Jost Van Dyke we had a discussion about capitalism, patents, and free trade preceding our dinner of spaghetti and meatballs. Over dinner our conversation turned to incompetence and disorganization at certain collegiate institutions.

Oh, and earlier in the day Ben took a Joy shower. That is when you shower off the back of the boat with a bucket of sea water and dish soap.

Thursday morning we breakfasted on blueberry muffins and then Sammy, Ben, and Amichai left on the dinghy to go to passport control. Since we were just leaving the BVI, only Sammy really needed to go with our passports and customs forms. Yoni, CG, and I swabbed the deck while we waited.

They returned after about an hour. Why did it take so long? First, the customs lady was watching a Queen Latifah movie the entire time. She had Sammy fill out a lot of paperwork, much of which turned out to be unnecessary because she was able to suddenly print a lot of it out when he was done doing it by hand.

While onshore, they went to check for groceries. They found a grocery store that sold frozen peas and BBQ sauce, but no milk and eggs. There was also a fridge with open beer bottles. It was a real bachelor pad. Only it was a grocery store.

At a cafe Amichai asked for an iced coffee. They said they didn’t sell any. He then asked them if they sold regular coffee. Yes. Could they put it in a cup of ice? Okay.

They gave him a cup of coffee and a cup of ice.


Then we sailed! We sailed for a bit and then we saw a big storm coming.

This is what it looked from one side of the boat:

This is what it looked like from the other:

We weren’t sure how strong the storm was going to be and Sammy’s first thought was that we might be able to stay ahead of it and use the storm winds to push us. He told us all to be ready to let out the sail, but also to bring it in if necessary.

I stood ready by the main. Let out the sail! I started letting it out with the winch.

Then we keeled, more than we ever did before.

PULL IN!!!!!!

We took down the sails.

There were very strong winds and very strong rain, pelting us all on deck. We continued to motor toward our destination, Cruze Bay on the island of St. John.

After the storm died down we raised the sails again, but as the mainsail went up, the halyard line (which raises and lowers it) got caught high up on the mast. We spent several minutes trying to figure out how to get it loose, until I took took the wheel and Sammy saved the day by climbing up the mast and swinging the line loose.

At this point we were entering US waters. We all thought it was now appropriate to pull down the BVI flag. And who better to pull the flag down than our British citizen, Yoni?

It was less successful than expected.

Then we had a rousing chorus of the Star Spangled Banner:

Look at this British citizen happy to be in the US: 

Then a second storm came, but we were better prepared. We motored into Cruze Bay to discover that it’s actually quite a small bay, considering that’s where a customs office for the US is located. There were only a few moorings left and...they were private.

So we had to anchor. No problem, we’ve done that before. Only never have we done that in slightly less than 6 feet of water. And our draft is 5.5 feet. Luckily, a neighboring catamaran’s captain saw we were having some trouble and took his dinghy over to help us out, anchoring us securely. Thank you to David Bello of Fair Winds Sailing!

Then we went ashore for Customs. I was asked if I was bringing any cigars in from the BVI. Nope. I was waved through.

The office of the National Park Service for the National Park that is much of St. John is located here: 

Virgin Islands National Park

After some brief time spent inside the building getting brochures and asking about directions to good locations, we went back to the boat for a quick lunch. We saw some deer on the side of the island.

Then we motored over to Maho Bay. According to the NPS brochure sea turtles come in to the Bay to munch on the sea grass in the morning and late afternoon.

We arrived in Maho Bay a little after 3:00 - still time left before any expected sea turtles. So while Amichai took a nap, the rest of us took the dinghy over to neighboring Cinnamon Bay to go on a hike.

Fancy home(?) on the hillside:

There is a small NPS center at Cinnamon Bay which has a hike centered around an “ancient” rum distillery (decades and decades old).

The hike was pretty cool. The trees were like none other we had seen so far, and it was thickly wooded. We were glad that it was raining intermittently because it felt like a rainforest, there was no one else on the hike, plus some animals were out that we weren’t sure would have been out if it as hot and sunny. It felt like we were walking in Jurassic Park.

Ben almost uses the sense of taste - not a sense recommended by the earlier sign.

We saw this sign much later. Safety is our #1 concern!

The coral which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. 

 Timed photography strikes again!

 We saw a couple of these huge spiders and were freaking out. Why did they put this sign towards the end of the trail?

All the other hanging vines were green-yellow. This one was red.

We also saw some animals that were either bats or really large, dark butterflies.

On the way back to the dinghy we saw some crabs:

The dinghy was FULL of water. Time to bail it out!

The dinghy had done interesting things to the sand by the shoreline:

When we got back to the boat, Sammy and Amichai went to go look for the local store at Maho Bay to pick up some groceries. Yoni, Ben, CG, and I got on our snorkeling equipment to look for sea turtles - it was now after 5! We agreed that if anyone saw one, that person would shout to everyone else.

First, a musical performance by Ben:

Ben was the last to get in the water and was about 30 feet behind us, but was the first to shout. But by the time we got there, it was too late. He said it looked like a large fish, like a barracuda, was chasing the turtle.

But it was no matter. Soon enough after being joined by two young snorkelers from a neighboring catamaran, we saw more turtles! The first was large and had two fish hitching rides on it, the way some fish do to sharks. One was greenish and attached to the bottom, the other was gray and on its top. The turtle fed on the sea grass below while we literally surrounded it and followed it for awhile. Later on, we saw another turtle, although it was smaller and had no attached fish.

Besides the turtles, we also saw starfish and many sea urchins (besides schools of little fish). CG and Ben saw a ray. I had left my underwater camera on the boat.

There was a better sunset here than at Cane Garden Bay:

Back on the boat, Amichai and Sammy had gotten groceries - after climbing about 100 slippery steps up a hill to get to the store. For dinner that night, masterminded by Ben, we cooked up a Caribbean feast, featuring: ackee and saltfish (with an ackee substitute), dumplings, fried plaintains, and pina coladas. The meal was quite salty, but good. We went around saying highs and lows, although all of us had trouble saying just one for each. Finally, we discovered that here many of us have our US cell phone service again!

Today (Friday) I was woken up by Sammy at 7:37. Did I want to go snorkeling with him and Ben for sea turtles? I was sleepy, but I eventually got in the water around 8.

And we saw some! Sammy and Ben got in the water about ten minutes before me and saw a bunch; I saw one or two. This time I had my underwater camera! I hope the pictures came out well.

Afterwards we breakfasted on bagels and scrambled eggs. When I was finally dry enough and it stopped drizzling (more rainbows) I davened and we made some calls to where we are docking for Shabbos and to Chabad, to finalize plans.

Then we motored over to Trunk Bay, for an underwater trail. Who would steer?

We ended up not going on the underwater trail. Instead we took the dinghy ashore to the large beach and relaxed on it. On the way over a motor yacht was bearing down on us, so Yoni pulled up one of the oars and mimed rowing, to the delight of the passing yacht.

At the beach we played frisbee and buried Yoni in sand.

Now, after sailing over to Red Hook Bay, we are docked in the harbor for Shabbos. We'll be davening and eating at Chabad. It will be nice to be with fellow Jews for the first time on this trip.

Shabbat Shalom!