Relaxing (sort of) in Maho Bay

So here we are, back at one of my favourite spots, Maho Bay, St John. It's truly beautiful here, in the midst of the US National Park, densly wooded shoreline, pristine beaches and nice snorkeling. It's just great to wake up with the sun at 6:30 and enjoy the cool, fragrant beauty of a caribbean morning.

I say 'sort of' relaxing because there is always a wealth of jobs to be done after a passage and to make the boat ready for the family to rejoin. Things need to be moved from their 'ocean' stowage to 'day-to-day' if they are used regularly, or to 'deep under berth' storage for things like downwind sails, heavy duvets and other not to be seen for a while items. And each repacking involves a lot of moving around of other things, drying out or dusting and so forth.

Add to this our little varnishing project, which takes two of us two hours each morning but is looking so good, we are about halfway through applying the varnish, just starting with the gloss coats now and it's so worth all the effort.

And then the other little things that creep up and bite you - for instance I spent a joyous hour this morning unblocking the toilet which had managed to get clogged with paper. At least Yan was good enough to to the clean up and disinfect once I'd finished the mechanical repair!

But it's truly impossible to complain when we are in such a great place, in the warm sunshine. Got sweaty doing a task? Just jump over the side to cool off, have a fresh water shower and you're ready for the next job. I imagine people looking over and thinking 'what a shame to have to spend time varnishing when you are here' and I think 'what a shame to be going back to the office next week'.

St John is also the island for hiking - the national park trails are supposed to be excellent. Yan and Karla are off to explore a bit this afternoon, and once we have the family back aboard we will do some more hiking here. There are ruins to find, and mysterious petroglyphs (rock carvings) to wonder about, as well as beautiful forest and shoreline.

So I'll just run them to the trailhead at the beach, then back aboard for a few more tasks before a swim, methinks. Nice.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com