Saturday, May 23, 2009

Last Day on St. Thomas, May 20

Wednesday: We have a flight at 2:45 p.m., but that still gives us enough time for one more snorkel trip at Secret Harbour. This time, golf takes me down to the beach with her. I do so enjoy watching the waves.

So many places for me to sit on the rocks and take in the scenery.

And I get a kick out of how golf always tries to catch a good wave right as it comes at me!

So after taking pictures of me, golf heads for the water with her "noodles," since her air mattress is now flat. The noodles serve the purpose but are a little more . . . . obvious.On the way back, there's a gate at a driveway. Larry says it's only for a waterfront lot, but we need to check it out. Sigh . . . . it's not Robin's Nest. But it has a nice gate -- just no turtle on the gate.



So, farewell, St. Thomas. When's the next trip, golf?


Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Tuesday, May 19 -- Boating!!

I know what you're thinking -- and, yes, this is a lot more powerful than a surfski, but a lot smaller than the King Kamehameha Club yacht. But Skipper Larry was in his element. Whatever the equivalent to the "happy biker" with bugs on his teeth, that was Skipper Larry at the helm.
Here he is moving wakeless out of the harbor.
Then, whoa, we picked up speed and we're on our way! We're heading to St. John's and the bays or coves where they can snorkel there.

I think I better sit back or I'm likely to be flung overboard. Does this thing have a seatbelt???

Ahhhh, this is the life . . . .

At the first cove/bay on St. John's that Larry went to, way around to the north side of that island, where they stopped to check out snorkeling,

(Note: that's a pretty goodly distance for a non-swimmer to attempt to get close enough to the shore to snorkel.) I was left on board with golf while Larry snorkeled toward shore to see if it was worth golf's getting in the water. I tried my hand at the helm . . . .


I could handle this little rowboat on steroids . . . .

Oh, Larry? What's the report?

This is a LOOOOOOOONG way out from the shore for golf to paddle in on her little Window Surf Rider Kid's Raft (see the 7th item down the list here http://www.poolcenter.com/pooltoys_inflatable_mattresses.htm) -- you may recall she can't swim, so she has to float and just put her face down in the water. Larry decided this was too far for her to have to paddle all the way in, snorkel along the shore, and then paddle back. And he reported he didn't see much at this point worth her making the tiring (for her!) effort.
In the meantime, . . . . "I'm king of the world!!!"

No, it CAN'T be time to head back yet!!

No, it wasn't. They went to several other coves/bays and finally found one where Larry could tie up to a mooring that wasn't too far for golf to go in, so she was out of the boat in a flash and paddling toward shore. She got close in and headed down the shore awhile, seeing lots of fish and coral. But she realized going along the shore that she was going with the current and therefore getting back might be a bit of a problem, so she turned around and came back to the boat.
As she was getting out of the water and handing her fins, snorkel, mask, and float up to Larry, Larry told her, "You realize your air mattress has a leak?" It was half-deflated. golf looked with horror at Larry. It was a good thing she had headed back when she did or she would have ended up flailing to the shore where she would have had to wait for Larry to swim in and bring her a life jacket. She could not have gotten back to the boat without assistance.

With the Band-Aids they had in golf's tote, they attempted to "patch" the float. No dice, couldn't get an airtight seal. golf was beginning to get a little depressed, as the purpose of this trip to motor over to St. John's was to find places to snorkel. If she didn't have a float, she couldn't snorkel. Larry pulled out an inflatable life vest and simply inflated it by blowing into the nozzle. Not ideal, but it would support her. They headed back toward St. Thomas and on the way found another cove where boats were moored closer to shore. So they went in there and golf had a blast!!


So, they ended up spending most of this day motoring around looking for places to snorkel and not really finding any good places, mostly due to the distance from mooring to shoreline. Still, it was a pretty day, Skipper Larry was happy, and they enjoyed about five hours out on the water seeing the scenery of St. John.




Heading back to St. Thomas, Larry wanted to get a picture of his First Mate (not me . . . . obviously, this is golf.)


Then they drove around to the bay below the apartment where they were staying. So here's the view up from the water to the deck of their apartment (shown in Sunday's pictures, which showed the view down from their deck):



So back to the harbor and turn the boat it. A fun day for all -- I was the only one who didn't get a little sunburned.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Monday . . . evening

First exploration this morning: We went to Secret Harbour, where Larry and golf snorkeled. Now, golf was quite happy with that (in the process, gleefully finding out her "replica" gold Rolex Yachtmaster is, actually, water resistant!! [I had a hard time believing she would go in the water with it at all, if she didn't know it would "survive," considering what she paid for it]), but apparently Larry felt he had not seen enough sealife, so he wanted to go to Sapphire Beach, where they had snorkeled the last time they were here.

Unforunately, when they got there, they found the seas running very high, and the conditions were not ideal for snorkeling. But they stayed there for a while and enjoyed the strong ocean breeze. Since I didn't have anything much to so while they were wasting their time . . . .
I ran around collecting interesting pieces of broken coral and built a wall.

We had a rather interesting visitor to the beach while we were there, and I tried to lure him over toward me so I could have golf take a picture of me with him, but he would have none of that. Larry suggested wrapping a leaf of lettuce around my head and throwing me at him, which would have resulted in my immediate and personally undesirable dismemberment. Fortunately, golf vetoed that suggestion.
Okay, now tomorrow for the boat rental, since today there were small craft warnings with rough seas due to the strong wind.











Monday, May 18, St. Thomas, USVI

Okay, I'm ready to go on our adventures today. I think we're going snorkeling. Hopefully, boat rental tomorrow!

But last night we went to Duffy's Love Shack for burgers for dinner. I appreciated the little plastic marlins used for swizzle sticks -- just my size!



But sleep was difficult for golf last night -- she and Larry didn't realize that while they had all the door open yesterday upon approval, nine million mosquitos had taken up residence in their apartment, every one of whom feasted on golf all night long. She got very little sleep and was miserable. She says tonight she'll bathe in deet before retiring. Probably not conducive to romance on a tropical island . . . . .

Sunday, May 17, 2009

St. Thomas, USVI, May 17, 2009

I'm here! I made it this time -- was not misdirected to St. Croix (though I do have fond memories of those margarita-debauched days on the beach without Larry and golf . . . .)

Anyhoo . . . golf was up early this morning for the final packing - due to the lost luggage LAST time, Larry was skeptical of checking any bag, but they checked only nearly empty bag for bringing back duty-free stuff -- and this time the extra bag arrived just fine.

Their rental is along the east end of St. Thomas near Red Hook and Secret Harbour (Google it). And after a safe arrival and acquiring the rental car, we arrived at our destination off Ridge Road.

Here I am on our front porch.





Once we moved inside and Larry got pictures of the place (to be posted later) before we ransacked it with our stuff, here I am on the kitchen counter as Larry unpacks the important stuff:


Then out to our deck to see the view (after a short detour to a tree in the yard):


The view from the deck:
north end

south end



another south end view



More tomorrow, after we explore a bit and find out where to snorkel!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

May 12, 2009 -- Cats on the Deck


I persuaded golf to take pictures of Sundance, Wyatt, and Virgie out on the deck tonight -- she lets them go out almost every evening after she gets home from work -- I just got her to take pictures this evening.



Sundance just HAS to jump up on the railing and give Larry and golf a heart attack!




Virgie is the sweetheart of the crew.



"I'm king of the world!"




Wyatt stayed inside (after being "shot" with the watergun to round him up to come back home after he wandered too far. He does NOT like the watergun!) and just sat in the window -- he decided fresh air through the screen was safer -- and drier!





Saturday, May 9, 2009

May 9, 2009, Update



Saturday, May 9, 2009:

Sorry, but golf and I haven't been doing much worth reporting lately. golf has been working on a "home improvement" project -- since last August! She was making strips of bargello needlepoint to use on the risers of the stairs in the house. Each has to be six-seven inches tall -- and 52 inches wide! That was a lot of stitching. As it turns out, all the stairs were a different height by a half-inch or so. So in order to finalize the materials, she needed to measure each step. Sundance and Virgie had to help.


She then just placed the completed pieces on the stairs to test to see how they would look when laced to masonite and then put in place. This is just a rough idea of their appearance when all is accomplished, but she thinks the needlepoint will add to the interior decor of the house.


However, after she finished the needlepoint work and while staying in touch with http://www.magnum-mania.com/, she found out the moderator there is also a Microsoft Links (computer golf) fan, and he told her how to play on line and how to customize clothes for her players. So, OF COURSE, she had to put the red parrot/jungle shirt on her player. Naturally, I had to check it out and play a couple of holes with my female counterpart:


Here I am at the first tee at Parrot Landing Golf Course.



I realize that at this distance, the detail of the golfer's outfit is not very visible as the parrot shirt, so here are some close-ups. Can you spot the golfer's red glove and patterned shoes?




Checking her grip on her backswing:

Doing a little stretching:




golf is really having a good time playing Devil's Island, Jungle Island, and Parrot Landing.

For what it's worth, golf sent an email with the picture of Larry and her at the Byoto In Temple to the talent agency here in town (Atlanta) to "apply" for being an extra on the Ashton Kutcher, Katherine Heigl, Tom Selleck movie that is filming in town for the next couple of months. She was called one day at work and asked if she and Larry could be extras that very afternoon, but Larry couldn't get off work so golf had to turn that down (dumb broad!). She's hoping she will get called again -- reportedly the production company is in town until July -- but that was probably her one shot at it -- and she said no! She was so surprised to be called that she didn't think to ask if it was a scene with Tom Selleck (she thinks he didn't get into town until a few days later) or if she could come without Larry, since the agent calling asked for both.

Tom Selleck was in town the following Friday, as he apparently ate dinner at Chops in Buckhead (ritzy area of town). She's been checking Ashton Kutcher's and (director) Rob Luketic's twitter posts to try to keep up with what's going on, but she hasn't found out anything specific yet about going somewhere where they are filiming so she could watch (frankly, after following those tweets for a couple of weeks, they get rather boring). Of course, working Monday-Friday doesn't give her a lot of time to go star-hunting . . . . . I've got to figure out how to hide in her purse or pocket if she does get called to be an extra.
A few Saturdays ago, golf also drove out to Douglasville, where there was a "cattle call" extras casting session. Good heavens, it took her an hour to drive there. I did go along but she made me wait in the car.


She hasn't heard anything else about this. I will, of course, promptly post an update, should she be asked to be an extra. No cameras are allowed on the set, so even if she gets there, she won't have any pictures to show off. So no pictures of me there either!!! Bummer! :-(