What is today bringing for us ????
August 22, 2009.Saturday morning , 5:45am.
So many questions, so many expectations,
but no answers yet.........
It is more than a month now that we are hunting for jobs without any success. I had three interviews including one in Crown Bay Marine that I was so excited about, but no results. Everywhere you turn you need to speak Spanish. I tried very hard to explain to the agents that I can speak Croatian, German, Italian ...I can even understand "Spanglish" but no..!
The best answer I got is from the doctor at the Hospital in Charlotte Amalie:" You know , most of my patients are Native Islanders and they speak with a very strong accent that is hard to understand even for me who is born in St.Thomas; but you also have a very heavy Croatian accent too, so I guess you would understand each other very well!' I didn't get the job, must be that Croatian and Caribbean accents don't have anything in common after all. Ha,ha...
Bob, on the other hand tried all his methods and used all his natural charm to get a job but must be that there is much more you need in job hunting. We even created his resume. After thirty years of experience working as a plant manager, a life time of experience as a carpenter and a life time experience as a fisherman, who needs a RESUME ?!!!!
It was funny and sad at the same time to see Bob scratching his head saying :" Where do I start? It was a long time ago, I started my own business as a ten year old kid as a"shoeshine boy"with my tools in a little wooden box on the corner of South Boston streets. How do I put my whole life in a RESUME ???"
That was the point when it hit us: we are here to start our business, to start our new life, to create something new, something bigger!! There is so much energy and so much enthusiasm to get the chartering started and it's building this anxiety inside my chest that it feels like my heart will explode before the morning comes.
So, here we are; anxious to start the business but still hoping to find a job to get us through these hard times. In our effort to survive all of this we cut back basically on everything..
including rum!!! (that hurts the most!!- just kidding).
It is not easy but as my daughter said to me the other day:" Mom, you know already that great things you create in your life don't come easy; that's why they are GREAT"
Yeah, I'm here to create something great; me and my Captain Bob; two of us, a crazy couple who left the ordinary life to create something GREAT, to make the dream come true!
As the days are passing by we go through all these ups and downs. There is not one day that something isn't going wrong on the Mary E. We didn't move the boat since July 11th when we first docked the boat. That gave us a chance to clean up completely the engine on the starboard side.That's the side that gave us the most trouble on the ocean coming here. You can see the difference:
July 29,2009, Wednesday 8:30 am.
Starboard engine: Look at me; all the oil and dirt on me..Somebody help me, clean me, wash me !!!
Where are you Bilge Monkey Bob ????
No answer..did he quit ???
Here she comes. I just love her !!!
AAAAAAAHH.... it feels so goood,
she knows what I need !!!!
July 29,2009,Wednesday,6:00pm
( 9 hours later ..)
WOW ! LOOK AT ME NOW..!!!
I'm so happy, happy, happy !!!
Ooops... what happen now.? BM Bob come here, help !!!
Here comes BM Bob running, with his famous word : "Fungoo.. alternator is gone... I need to call Tom !"
And there he goes again, calling Tom Fantasia; his best friend and absolutely best technical support in the boating world full of unexpected surprises just like this one...
A week later we received in the mail a voltage regulator sent to us by Tom and BM Bob goes back to bilge to fix another problem.
Here I am again, in the bilge. It was so nice and just sooo... sweet to be out of here, but too short !!
Well, between all the troubles and surprises that Mary E. is creating for us every day, long hours on the job hunting we still find time to explore the Island. No car, no dinghy with outboard, no problem ! We still have our "one dollar taxi" and our own "transportation", our feet.
And there we go :
ONE DOLLAR TAXI
The most famous Islander's transportation.
Just remember " I always go to the LEFT to get to the Right".
Which means if you need to go East and get to a place 10 minutes away from where you are you need to hop on the Taxi and go West , make a circle around the Island ( 30 minutes) to get to your destination. But, you always have another option- use your feet! And, that's what we are doing all the time.
This is the road we take every day from our dock in Saga Haven Marine to American Yacht Harbor in Red Hook. Takes us 30 minutes each way. Not so bad.There is a very stiff up hill that takes all the energy from me and I like it..no need to go to gym anyway. In the sunny day and 98F degrees you burn calories easy.
This is the road Bob found very interesting and he discovered that he can actually still " run "when it's necessary..
Few days ago he left me in Red Hook (after a "little argument") and hit back home on the same road we always take.Walking by the blue house (as we call it) he was attacked by two big dogs ( pic's to follow in next blog). One of the dogs bit him on his ankle and had a taste of the famous "Capt Bob's Chicken legs." This sounds funny now but I'm quite sure it was not funny at all for Bob.
Bob learned two lessons that day : 1) don't argue with your woman , 2)walk on the other side of the road or run...
Next day we saw this interesting poster on the house right next to the "blue house" with two dogs. Hmmm.. something to think about!
I had to hold Bob back, not to go into the backyard and tear this poster apart... Well you know what he was thinking at this point and for Bob there was nothing more to think about...!
Since we are exploring the East part of the Island we found more interesting sites and events that are going on in Red Hook :
" HAPPY HOURS FOR IGUANAS ONLY "
at "MOLLY MALONE'S"
Irish pub and restaurant in Red Hook
IT'S PARTY TIME EVERYONE !!!!
EAT AS MUCH AS YOU CAN , DRINK EVEN MORE !!!
Just remember " it's Molly Malone's" Irish pub so wear green !!!
" Hey, why are you not wearing green ???
I'm watching you ! Don't drink any more, you had enough of Rum !!!!
Leave me alone ! I know what I'm doing; and it's free anyway !!!
YUCK ..... VEGGIES ???
HATE VEGGIES, I NEED TO RINSE THIS OUT WITH RUM RUNNER !!!!
WHAT THE HELL ,ONE MORE IT WON'T HURT!
IT'S SOOO HOT and I HAVE HORRIBLE HEADACHE !
t was great party anyway.Thank God my wife left earlier .
Ouch... my head...
I guess I did have too many rum runners; maybe a "pain killer "would help me now???
That's it , the party is over .
We are still on the East side of the Island.Today we took a walk to the National Parks of St.Thomas just to discover a beautiful, small beach called Vessup Beach right across the Red Hook channel.
American Yacht Harbor at Red Hook.
The National Park of St.Thomas and Vessup Beach is right across of the channel
On the road through National Park we came across of a few interesting cactus trees as well as a lot of "weird living creatures" such as: chickens, roosters, chicks, iguanas and all others creatures including huge hermit crabs
.
On the way through the National Park, Bob wanted to find out how tall this cactus tree is.
He asked me to "climb up" on a tree and take the picture of him standing beneath the tree... (smart a...!)
Two days later both of these cactus's were dead. Well, so much for National Park.
The highlight of the day : VESSUP BEACH,
just gorgeous !
The view from the Vessup Beach to St.John
speechless !
And , by the way what the hell is this dog doing on the beach ???
Sniffing on something?
Maybe he's looking for Capt'n Bob's "chicken legs ?
Oh yeah, that's it !
I had enough, enough and that's it.
I'm leaving!
Run Bob, run...!!!!!
Can't hide here.. the army truck on the Vessup beach.
can't hide here , the old fishing boat.
It's already taken .... by two gorillas .
Hey, what's wrong with you ??
Too much to drink?
I told you to stay away from "Lat.18"
They're cheap in prices but
rich in RUM !!
STOP BOB, STOP !!!!!!!
Perfect hiding place "Latitude 18"
cheapest drinks ever ..only $3.00 -wow...
goooood rum runners, even pain killers if you need one
great people, great music and most of all :
" ALL DOGS MUST BE ON A
LEASH "
This is the end of our busy week exploring the East End of the Island. Bob had few Lat.18 rum runners and he forgot all about the dogs chasing him on the road to here. We left Vessup Beach and came back home by sunset. It was really nice to walk towards the sunset, looking at Mary E. from the top of the hill.
Top of the hill overviewing the Saga Haven Marine and our lovely Mary E. at the dock.
This is the point where we always stop for a minute to admire the breathtaking view of this land, the clear blue ocean and all the beauty of the Caribbean sunset.
One of those unforgetable Caribbean sunsets.
Answer : From the first glare of the sun in the morning to the last peach of it's magic,glorious light at the sunset there is a DAY., a chance to live, to explore, to learn, to love, to give,to cry, to laugh and to say Thank you God for another day.....!
And Yes , Bob did walk on the other side of the road on the way back....
