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- - - 2008 Hurricane Season - - -
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- Thursday
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Thu, 14 May 2009 09:40:42 EDT
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It's only Thursday, but already we have some tentative
sunshine after several rain squalls this morning. The cats are happily outside,
even they get bored when the weather turns weird. There are dark clouds
that look ominous, so we are in for more rain, no doubt. Even my clock
shows rain drops with happy faces on them.
Winds are about 12mph
My sailing buddy pulled in the harbor and between rain
squalls managed to make it ashore to the store where I went to pick him and some
dinner provisions up. There was a nice salesman setting up a wine tasting event
so we stopped to taste test some new Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand.
I said "Ah, New Zealand wine, home of the "Cat's Pee on a Gooseberry
Bush Wine". My friend choked and about spit his wine out with shock, giving
me a horrid look such as "how dare you say something so rude..." But
the salesman laughed and confirmed that yes, New Zealand is home to Cooper's
Creek wine with their bright green label and grinning cat. I've had this fruity
wine and ironically, it goes well with seafood, just like cat's prefer.
A bit of trivia, the wine "Cat's Pee on a Gooseberry Bush" is sold
worldwide except in America, the authorities made them change the spelling of
Pee to Phee... Go figure, only in America, would they get a slight
insult over such a fun name.
Tortola imports wines from all over the world, every store is bound to have
a different selection from the last. I've also discovered that if you save
up the distinctive corks from Pussers
Rum, (the famous franchise originating from the BVI) they make a great wine
topper stopper, because Pussers has the wooden cap attached to the cork, so it's
easy to recork your wine with a Pussers Rum cork than with the original wine
cork, which can often fall into the wine (very frustrating).
When I lived aboard my boat and worked on luxury yachts, we always saved
every cork. You never knew when something might break and the cork would be the
perfect fix to stop up an errant hose or plug up a leaky boat (heaven forbid!)
If you saved up enough, you could make a cork raft or cork drink coasters.
At one point, I was saving up enough corks to make a bulletin board, but in
one of my moves, the bag of corks got tossed out. One of my cats used to love to
play with corks and would have his own cork soccer all over the house. Then he
would trot around with the cork hanging out of the side of his mouth and it
looked like a big cigar stub he was smoking.
My parents didn't drink much if any wine when we were growing up but
somehow my mother ended up with a fat Chianti wine bottle, the type with the
woven basket covering the bottom half of the bottle. She bought colorful
candles. Once a week, when we had Italian food for dinner, she would
place the Chianti bottle on the table and light the candle. It dripped
colorfully down the sides of the bottle and each time the candle needed
changing, we added a different color. As children, we were quite impressed with
this melting art.
Speaking of wine, might as well tell you a cheese tidbit... Here in
the BVI with our ever changing elec-tricky conditions, and for those of you on
boats with fridges that tend to go up and down in temperature, I sometimes
fine my cheese has gone a tad moldy. Well, there is a perfect remedy for that.
Just shave off the moldy cheese, then saturate a linen towel or 2 paper towels,
folded over, with plain white vinegar. Wrap your cheese in the vinegar soaked
cloth. It won't alter the flavor but no mold will grow on your cheese. 
This is real handy if you happen to buy cheese in bulk. There was a
time when New Zealand white cheddar was available in bulk here for half price,
so my fridge often had a few pounds of that lurking around (wrapped in a vinegar
towel). Many people have never tasted New Zealand butter until arriving in
Tortola and I think it's the best butter in the world. For years it was the ONLY
butter we had on our shelves, but now we sport butter from all over, but most
chefs will always shop for the New Zealand butter. Thanks to the world of
container shipping, numerous New Zealand products make it to our shores. There
was a time when I bought only New Zealand beef as it had the best price at the
time. New Zealand must have a fantastic export business for so many of their
products to end up here, half way around the world.
I've been working on an index of all my blogs and postings.
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- Cloudy and wet
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Wed, 13 May 2009 13:41:53 EDT
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Another dark and rainy morning greeted us. Even at 1pm, the sun is fighting
mightily to make a cameo appearance. My neighbor is running his awful cement
mixer again, it needs serious lubrication. Well, that means tomorrow will be
jerk hammer day and he will take out half of what was poured today. Grrr... 
Well, this is the LONGEST stretch we have ever been with cloudy skies in my
short lifetime here. Amazing. We used to say we only had 5 days of bad weather,
per year, but um, looks like 2 weeks now!
I consulted my crystal ball:
A few more days of this mess and it may clear up for the weekend! Yippee!
I went to mail off a book to Canada. For some reason the Canada
Amazon isn't shipping out my book; "Hurricanes and Hangovers" so I mailed
one off to a reader who had inquired. Sadly, I forgot to take my camera to the
post office. I arrived there with the package and a folder full of sheets of BVI
20 cent stamps. When I found out the package was going to be $8.60, I said
to the postman, gosh that's 43 stamps! Can I trade these for bigger
stamps?
Of course not!
He then took the package and showed me how to apply the 43 stamps. He
pasted 4 overlapping, like a shingled roof, so that the 20 cents showed. He said
as long as the 20 cent part shows, I can use my 43 stamps.
I tried not to burst out laughing, as at this point, I was resigned to
buying more stamps. But he had taken such care to paste those 4 so neatly, that
I figured, it would insult him, if I didn't follow suit with the other 39
stamps.
So for the next ten minutes, I used his soapy sponge in a bowl, and layered
my stamps like a shingled roof and glued them all on. We both counted to make
sure I had enough, then he took my package and mailed it. I wish I could have
photographed it, it was quite a site!
So, my gentle reader in Canada, will now get a very colorful package
with my book inside.
And 43 stamps from the BVI! 
A new twist to solving local crime! Report info on this
new website.
Escapees
May Have Cut Fence at HMP (the pictures of the escapees are not very
clear, makes you wonder how we are supposed to identify these criminals if we
can't get a hold of a good picture).
I am truly amazed that every few months we have more escapees from the
prison. This is not the first time the fence has been cut. Must be one
lousy fence if prisoners can continually cut it open and walk out at will.
Maybe we need razor wire for a fence? It was reported at 1:15pm on
Saturday, um that is like daylight, guess that fence was easier to cut by the
light of day.
I want to know, how do you QUIETLY cut a fence?
The most notorious escape, was a few years back, a bunch
of prisoners escaped, went to Cane Garden Bay, hopped on speed boats and were
never seen again. Then at Christmas, one year, this guy escapes and
they say they can't find him for 2-3 weeks. Then somebody goes to his family's
house, a few miles from the prison, and he has been home with his family
for Christmas the entire time. Now that's funny.
Another time, an escapee was found in this huge piece of luggage at his
girlfriend's house, because the officer walked by it and felt the body
heat. "Excuse me madam, but your suitcase appears to be
breathing..."
A few late night road blocks would probably net a few hundred illegal guns,
a bunch of unlicensed drivers and these two hoodlums. 
More
Officers Join in Hunt for Prison EscapeesPlatinum News Online - Tortola,British Virgin
Islands
... of his former wife and step-father-in-law; and the
aggravated burglary of the home in Major Bay, Tortola, where his former
wife lived with her family. ...
Police
Believe Escapees Still on IslandPlatinum News Online - Tortola,British Virgin
Islands
Sources told BVI Platinum News that though contact have
already been made with sister islands to be on high alert, information so far
has led Police to ...
For some GOOD news!
BVI Music Festival
ready to roll!SKNVibes.com -
Basseterre,St. Kitts and Nevis
By Cherisse M. Sutton-Jeffers ROAD
TOWN, Tortola – THE annual British Virgin Islands (BVI) Music Festival is
almost good to go and will be held from May 22 ...
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- Tuesday, drwip, drwip, drwip...
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 10:17:22 EDT
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Dark and ominous! I've been watching the meager sunshine slowly
vanish as dark clouds from the southeast march towards us and plunge us into
dark and stormy skies. It's going to be kind of messy again this week!
Unbelievable! It should clear by the weekend (won't that be nice!)
In the interim, beware of flash flooding and mudslides, plus rocks, stones and
boulders that sometimes roll down the mountains and into the roads below.
I have important errands to do, but they are becoming less important, as I
don't like it when the big rocks come tumbling down. I had a near-miss one day
and thanked my angels for keeping me safe.
Brigand (formerly of the islands) writes me that my links
from the post of yesterday (below) do NOT work! Well, *tee hee hee* I
throw that in now and then just to see if anyone is reading and really
following the links *har har har*! 
A few days ago, I put together all my Dear Miss
Mermaid links in one spot (more or less) but didn't tell you WHERE to find
that either. Well, it's
HERE.
Gosh, I am full of boo boos! I've had my plate full, my
internet has been cranky. I've rewritten and updated loads of web pages, and
often then I can't upload them (internet crashes again). Then my server notified
me they were moving and sent me directions to change my whattchamacallit,
that sounded like something out of a how to build a space rocket
book (I couldn't understand a bit of what they wrote me!) so my site
was down on and off , grrrrrr. I THINK all is fixed now, but who
knows? We live on the edge here.
I heard strange noises in my bedroom, the closet doors were
rattling, puntuated by growling and abnormal cat yowlings. I thought perhaps cat
and an unknown beast were having a go round in my bedroom closet. I carefully
entered the room, prepared to do battle with whatever creature was in there, but
all I found was a very unhappy cat who had his ears folded back in disgust as he
fussed with my closet door and then cursed it kitty style with growlings and
strange yowlings. He wanted to open the closet bi-fold doors and go
hide on the top shelf. It's his secret little spot up there he just loves.
Usually he can open the doors on his own and enter the closet. Sometimes I come
along, and shut the doors, forgetting to check to see if he is hiding in there.
The doors aren't hung right (no surprise there!) and sometimes jam up. Or mash
up, as we say. I guess in his frustration, he began growling and cursing it
kitty-style while I laughed myself silly and watched him fold back his ears and
glare at me. Finally I opened the door for him and he launched himself
upwards to the top shelf, and began rearranging his kitty blanket and settled
down looking rather smitten and happy.
>"-..-"<
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- ACHOOOOO!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Mon, 11 May 2009 10:02:54 EDT
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Monday morning, gray, cloudy, rainy. Just like last Monday! Déjà vu,
here we go again...
It looks like we can expect continued influx of tropical moisture across
the region for most of the work week ... as a the prevailing easterly trade wind
flow increases across the region. This overall pattern will result in good
chances for shower activity each day ... especially during the early
mornings.
Well, no wonder my wittle black kitty is so happy, he is able to shower a
few times a day in the rain. Then he comes home for me to punk up his fur for
air drying, then he stretches out about four feet across the loveseat, managing
to fill the whole thing. I don't know how cats do that, go from tiny 9 pounds of
fluff to 4 feet of long skinny lean cat on a couch.
I went out in the sunshine yesterday and caught a great picture of the
crystal clear water and blue skies. A rare glimpse apparently!
Did you know there are song written about Jost Van Dyke that you
can download here? Well, I truly feel sorry for the tourists that came the last week, it seems so unfair to travel so far and then have gray clouds all day. Maybe this means, we get rid of the ugly weather now and have no hurricanes! Yahoo! Wouldn't that be grand! As for me, I am still sneezing and sniffling, wondering if I am allergic to the gray clouds! I've begun compulsively washing everything I can in the washing machine, after all our cistern overflows and maybe there is dust in the furniture cushion covers. I have to line dry, but as long as the winds blow, stuff keeps drying as I have an undercover place to hang things up. I just long for some sunshine so I can wash all the pillows too. I like the way the sunshine sterilizes them and makes them smell so wonderfully fresh.
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- SUNSHINE!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Sun, 10 May 2009 14:46:58 EDT
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THE SUN IS OUT! Sunshine! It's a picture
perfect day for Mothers Day!
I can't write anymore, I'm out in the SUNSHINE! Did I say the SUN WAS
OUT?
I even saw the full moon last night for the first time,
considering the moon was full 3 nights ago, that is amazing
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- Cloudy Daze
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Sat, 9 May 2009 10:16:15 EDT
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My internet has been down most of the last 3 days. It was a miracle I got
anything posted at all. It is still plagued with serious problems and
crashes every few minutes. It's bright out today, even though we can't even see
the sun, it's shining bright through a thin overcast layer. A few more days and
we should be done with this mess. At least the rains have stopped long enough
for the ground to dry out before the next onslaught. The forecast is a tad vague
and keeps changing.
I've had the sneezes for 3 days, no idea what that is about. The cats are
used to it now, it used to scare them. I vacuum and sneeze, I lay down and
sneeze, I work and sneeze. It's downright funny at times. I sneezed so loudly
this morning, my neighbor on a street below mine actually replied
"gesundheit!" Good grief. I've sneezed twice trying to get this email out.
Winds are coming back and we need those to help dry things up. I had a
walking friend stop by, she was trying to walk home from work and it started
raining, so she ended up at my house, drying out. I had to make a garbage run,
so I took her home and stopped by the store for eggs, which they were out of. I
saw a man I thought I knew, who popped in the store, so I spoke warmly to him
while I searched my brain for his name. He spoke back nicely, without mentioning
my name. So I thought, ah ha, he doesn't recall my name either. He mentioned to
the clerk that so and so had sent him there for fishing bait, and I thought to
myself, ah ha, I know the friend, so maybe that is how I know him.
In spite of them being out of eggs, and being out of cat food, I poked
around and bought some juice and a piece of chocolate cake. No doubt the eggs
would have been healthier, but the slice of chocolate cake from the bakery that
sometimes delivers there, looked especially appealing. I got in my car to drive
home, still wondering what that guy's name was.
Late at night, I woke up sneezing and decided to channel surf the TV for
something interesting. Well, lo and behold, there is the unnamed man, on
TV. I don't know him at all. I've just watched his shows a few times. So
funny!
Now I know you want me to be a name dropper, but I am not. When I worked on
yachts and ran my chef business, I often worked with famous people. They
were just trying to be ordinary people, relax and enjoy their vacation.
They didn't want to be hounded by fans or paparazzi. They just wanted discreet
crew to pamper them and let them unwind and hide from the limelight. Being that
customs and immigration generally keep the paparazzi out of here (thank
heavens!) some famous people choose to vacation here and be obscure. It's
generally pretty easy to be unnoticed here by the islanders. TV is not a popular
past time, we aren't tuned in to the latest top 40 tunes or videos, internet is
still the exception and not the norm, so many island folks here simply
don't recognize famous people.
I hope I can get this out before my internet crashes. I am miffed I've been
locked out of a few sites that I do business with that require me to sign in,
probably because my connection keeps crashing before I can log in properly.
Grrrrrrrr.........
Well, I can't send this out now, the internet went on walk about again.
Maybe later today. Also, I am behind in my emails, no doubt, so hang on, I will
answer all soon, I hope!
Sailing Pastels...
Warm and Sunny Regards,
DearMissMermaid.com
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- Drip Drop Plip Plop
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Fri, 8 May 2009 11:09:56 EDT
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Another gloomy day of weather. This has to be the longest we have gone
without sunshine since the floods
of November 2003. It's 81 degrees at sea level, but much cooler
in the mountains. It's considerably overcast but the sun is putting up a battle
to make a cameo appearance today. Apparently from reports I am seeing, we can expect
several more days of patchy clouds and scattered but plentiful showers. We
might even see (and hear) thunderstorms this afternoon!
Be on the lookout for mudslides and falling rocks and boulders. The roads
were scraped and cleared on Tuesday, but our ground saturation is about maxed
out.
One lady told me her place was flooding and they couldn't figure out why
since the ceiling was perfectly dry. Apparently the water was coming up
through the floor! I am told this can happen if a proper moisture
barrier isn't applied underneath concrete floors. I am so lucky,
I haven't had any real flooding, other than accidentally leaving the door
open when the winds did a 180 degree turn and blew about a half inch
of water in my living room. Ooops!
Utilities are up to their old tricks, cable TV was out all day, internet
shut down the next, half the time I can't get the phone to work right. The
elec-tricky come, the elec-tricky go. Today the internet is working at
a snail's pace. Ever since they "improved" their service, last fall, and forced
me to buy new equipment, it has been awful. *sigh* Well, that's life in
the islands. Nothing's easy but the rum and reggae.
Rum is the answer, (now what was the problem?) Did you know that Rum
continues to outsell milk in the islands? Makes ya wonder, doesn't it. I
grew up on milk 3 times a day and when we were older, we were sometimes allowed
the luxury of iced tea with dinner instead of milk. My mother was
determined to raise us without any broken bones and she certainly did succeed.
Well, that is until a few years ago, when I began breaking bones and
renewed my love affair with dairy.
Mother's Day is this Sunday! The island churches
and restaurants
will be overflowing with proud mothers dressed in their finery, (secretly
praying their kids will behave for just one day....)
My mother was one of the hardest working women I ever met. She stayed
home mostly, back when it was politically correct to be called a housewife. She
got up at dawn and began cleaning house, doing laundry, preparing meals 3 times
a day from scratch, and raised four kids, teaching us all manner of
interesting things from how to bake peanut butter cookies to how to wash the
family car. Even when we were in school, she made our lunches and packed our
lunch boxes. We were required to be on time for every meal in our home.
Tardiness was just not tolerated. She sewed all her own clothes as well as most
of mine and some of my sister's. My sister wanted designer label clothes,
I wanted the homemade clothes, because they fit perfectly and the materials I
picked out, were distinct from what everyone else was wearing. I enjoyed being
different and I can recall just about every outfit she made for me. My
mother worked until late at night, I don't think she ever had any time for
herself, she was always taking care of her family.
Initially growing up, I wore hand-me-downs. My mother had
this habit of meeting with the neighborhood ladies that also had daughters,
twice a year, and clothes were passed along and traded around. My sister
was much older and I couldn't wear her hand-me-downs, so I wore the neighbor's
hand-me-downs. One day my mother overheard me tell another
little girl who was visiting and bragging about her new clothes, that I
had NEVER had a new dress, all I got was hand-me-downs. The next day my
mother took me shopping at this wonderful store that had thousands of bolts
of material, hundreds upon hundreds of exotic buttons and big thick catalogues
showcasing the clothing patterns. We sat on stools and poured over
the catalogues. She helped me pick out patterns and materials. That
afternoon, she began sewing me new dresses, skirts, and blouses. As time went
on, she enlisted my help and I learned all about sewing clothes, curtains, table
napkins and so on. When somebody had a new baby, my mother would sew up cute
little baby outfits as a treasured gift.
My mother was a wonderful teacher, she pushed books upon us, and we better
read everything we checked out of the library each week. She was convinced that
through the use of books, we could learn anything and grow up to be anybody we
wanted to be. Thanks to her, and the confidence she instilled in me
"you can learn to do ANYTHING from books" I bought that old
dilapidated boat years back, and a few how-to books, convinced that I could
rebuild her to look new again. Men aren't the only ones who can do handy things,
and my mother didn't think me a nut for buying that boat, instead she sent me a
rechargeable cordless drill for my birthday! A few years later, by
golly, I had a new looking boat, and I had done about 80% of the work myself.
Growing up, birthdays and Christmas always included books as gifts. Every
room in our house had books and bookshelves. She taught me all the
traditional skills of running a home as well as constantly telling me to never
rely on a man for my income. This puzzled me for many years, being that she got
a weekly allowance from our father. She was extremely creative and
stretched that money a hundred different ways. She had such high hopes for her
children and she wanted us to study music and art in additional to our regular
studies. So I was taught to play classical piano while my friends were
learning jazz and modern songs. I found out years later, all the music that was
handed to me by my music teacher, originated from my mother, who had a love for
the classics. I also, unwittingly, learned to play my mother's favorite
tunes beside the classics, such as all the music from both "The Wizard of Oz"
and "The Sound of Music", my mother's two favorite movies. She couldn't figure
out how to stretch her money to get me into the art school held in the
afternoons at the museum, so she had me enter an art contest and the winner
would receive an art scholarship for one year. I was raised to do as I was
told, so I set about making some artwork to enter.
I had learned how
to macrame from books. There was a store about a mile or so from the house,
I could walk to, and buy the supplies. We were allowed to enter three works of
art in the contest. They would all be on display for a week and the museum
employees and art teachers would vote on the projects. If our name was on
the item, it was covered up and replaced with a number, so no one knew who they
were voting on. My mother entered my items and one day took me to see the
display. One of the things she had entered on my behalf, was an intricate
macrame belt I had slaved over. It was displayed on the wall next to
a number. It was the only macrame entered, and I was sure after looking at
everybody else's artwork of paintings and paper mache sculptures, that I didn't
stand a chance in this competition. I felt like I had let my mother down,
something awful. My mother was excited, but on the way home, I was silent.
The next day my mother answered the only phone in our home, an
antique wall phone in the kitchen with a coveted long cord on it. She
used to tell us about the day she broke the short cord, trying to reach the
stove to rescue dinner while on the phone to my father, and the cord snapped,
slapping her in the face. We had to pay the phone company a small fortune to
come out a few days later and have the extra long cord installed. She
immensely happy to have that long cord. This was back in the days, when a cord
had to be hand wired into the phone, not just merely plugged in like now.
She got off the phone and her face was lit up like a Christmas tree as she
yelled "You won, you won, you won! You're going to art school!" I
was astonished and shocked. Later I found out it was my macrame belt
that took the most votes. Little did we know, I was already a sailor in the
making, as macrame originated from the high seas by bored seaman crossing oceans
with spare time on their hands.
Jost Van
Dyke and Sandy Grounds Estates: Just a teaseBy Rob
Although the island is small, Jost Van
Dyke boasts several notable natives, including William Thornton, architect
of the U.S. Capitol Building, and John C. Lettsome (of Little Jost Van
Dyke), founder of the British Medical Society. ...
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- Wet n WIld
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Thu, 7 May 2009 07:25:12 EDT
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Well, this is a most unusual week for the
BVI! Clouds, rains, floods, overcast skies. One day of this mess, then we
should be back to our usual tranquil Caribbean weather!
MACO
Caribbean Living: Foxy's Wooden Boat Regatta in BVIBy MACO Caribbean Magazines
This month
(May 23-25) in the British Virgin Islands, there's a great regatta called
Foxy's Wooden Boat Regatta, and we do mean wooden boats. No sleek machines… just
trusty wooden boats that won't let you go under. ...
Bitter
End Yacht Club Goes GreenAll At Sea -
Saint Thomas,US Virgin Islands,U.S. Virgin Islands
The luck of the
Irish was truly with the BVI environment on St. Patrick's Day. The first
annual “GO GREEN” St. Patrick's Day Beach Patrol at the Bitter End
...
Ambulance
Involved in Weekend Smash UpPlatinum
News Online - Tortola,British Virgin Islands
The number of cars on the
road is at the bottom of the list when it comes to the cause of vehicular
accidents in Tortola. Many cars together on the roads
...
Music
Festival Tickets Available!Platinum
News Online - Tortola,British Virgin Islands
Tickets are available
beginning Monday 4th May from all members of the BVI Music Festival
Committee Cane Garden Bay. On Friday 8 May at the Noel Lloyd Park
...
Ruling on Beef Island Case in Three Months
Platinum News Online - Tortola,British Virgin
Islands
Lawyers arriving at Prospect Reef on April 28 for the opening
of the Beef Island case. BVI Platinum News understands that
whatever is decided, ...
Over Twenty Workers Axed From Peter Island
Resort
Platinum News Online -
Tortola,British Virgin Islands
Information reaching BVI
Platinum News states that some twenty five (25) employees received dismissal
letters last week from Management, where it was cited ...
Big savings on Dell's most popular laptops. Now starting at $449!
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- Drying out!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Tue, 5 May 2009 15:18:26 EDT
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WOW, it really stormed all night and I could hear the sea churning, the
winds howling, yet incredibly by daybreak we were treated to an ostentatious
morning, which so far is still looking pretty good.
My cistern runneth over, and that's a good feeling, either it's very small
or we are very frugal. I think I'm pretty frugal with water, so I am
encouraged, now to grow more in the garden and the pots. Or as my friend put it
at a party, she had no balcony, but she had a stairway to her roof, so she
started a pot garden on the roof. This was met with laughter, as we imagined her
growing marijuana (pot) on her roof. But she quickly explained, it was flowers,
tomatoes and starter fruit trees she was growing on her roof in her pot
garden.
The Caribbean
webcam page has been recently updated, and sadly we have lost many
webcams! Not sure why that is, but many are simply not working anymore.
Kind of sad, but still there are quite a few to look at. If you stumble
across any new ones, there is an email there to send them to the webmaster.
I've been working an index to all my past webpages and BVI pictures online.
It's not finished yet, but you can take a sneak peek at it here.
Mother's Day is around the corner, surprise her with a beach
toe ring! These are of course immensely popular in the islands.
A French Wine Bottle Arrived on the Shore this Morning with this Message in
a Bottle:
Your post....May 04
Not in any sense critical, but
puzzled why a longtime resident in the West Indies, and a sailor to boot, should
refer to the 'eastern' and 'western' sides of a house. Is this out of deference
to your readers who probably wouldn't understand the terms..........
'leeward and windward'? Or worse, who wouldn't understand which way
to travel at a road junction if an islander said....'go west' or 'go
east'!
'Luv
Frenchie
Welll, let's see, seems to me if the
winds clocks 180, then the windward and leeward are reversed and we're all still
confused. Typically the winds come in my Eastern windows. That is the
direction the sun comes up *giggle* and western being the direction the sun
sets.
Yes, we Tortolians have a bad habit of
using east and west in our directions, for driving, being that the island is a
long skinny rock topped with greenery and man made t'ings, and that the island
lies east to west or west to east. If you hit the roads at the wrong time of
day, you could find yourself doing battle with a glaring sun, in your
face. If it's morning then you are headed east, if it's afternoon, then
you are headed west. So most folks become familiar with east and west pretty
quickly on the island, plus we have sections of the island named West End and
East End but no North end or South end.
Because of the mountain chain lying east
to west down much of the middle of the island, there are no roads that truly go
north or south, they merely cross to the other side and often involve hair pin
turns that zig zag across the island. We do however refer to the North Shore and
the South Side. The North shore being where most of the spectacular beaches are
located and the south side being well, on the south, but not renown for it's
beaches, though they do exist on the south side.
Some of the best seashell collecting can
be found on the southern shores, not sure why, but that's where I've found much
of my (now lost) seashell collection. Somehow in moving, my seashells went
missing. Must be in that mysterious box of missing items, that probably
fell off the truck on moving day. I am missing items from my last move, that
when put all together, appear to fit inside a large box. So I surmise that it
fell off somewhere in route and probably ended up in a dump or someone else's
home. My fire extinguisher is one of the missing items. I noted that again,
recently, when my refrigerator cord caught on fire. I stood there and stupidly
watched it burn out, reminding myself to buy another extinguisher.
Warm and Sunny Regards,
DearMissMermaid.com
A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!
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- Monday Moisture
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Mon, 4 May 2009 08:32:48 EDT
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Sunrise brought moisture to the area in the form of rains and
clouds. Last night we watched the rings around the moon, which are said to
forecast inclement weather. Well, I guess it's true! We need rains, parts
of the islands are actually looking brown. Cisterns need filling. I have no idea
what mine is doing, I try to conserve water every way I can. The landlord's
rental agent promised us street water a year and a half ago, but so far, it
lacks the last fifty feet of plumbing to complete this job. I figure they will
be done in ten years or so, give or take.
Astonishingly, the winds have done a 180 during this last rain
squall, most bizarre indeed! I had already had to close the
window on the eastern side, as it was flooding my bathroom. Earlier I had thrown
open the front door on the western side, and busy at my desk, was shocked when I
got up to see how the potted plants were fairing on the patio, and YIKES,
my living room was flooded with about 1/2 inch of water. Grrrrrrr..........
Splish, splash, my mops outside too. *Sigh* All three cats are
indoors, each in a different chair, curled up in tight fury balls, as snugly as
they can. Well, it's time to fetch the dirty towels out of the hamper and
spread them across the flooding.
WOW! It just rumbled, roared and thundered! Visibility right
now is down to LESS THAN 100 FEET! I kid you not! I can NOT see the
driveway nor the fence. I just see gray, like we are stuck in a cloud.
Well, this is going to make the banana, lime and mango trees very happy
indeed!
The cistern access is in the upstairs apartment which is locked up tight
with a tenant that only shows up a few times a year, and that's where the
cistern access is. So I conserve and pray we are OK. I remember when my friends
came to visit we were telling them about how to take one minute showers, then
turn the water off, soap up, then rinse off for another minute and be done with
it. Most Americans are used to very long showers and this always bothers them,
these requests we in the Caribbean make of them, to take these super short
showers. My friends dutifully took their super short showers with few
complaints. One day I fired up the washing machine and ran a few loads of
laundry and hung them out to dry. My company said indignantly,
"WHAT? You are washing CLOTHES? When we have to take two minute
showers?"
"Yes, I replied, if you didn't then we wouldn't have enough water to run
the washer... and I personally hate and detest hanging out at laundry
mats." (An odd quirk of mine.) The way I look at it, luxury showers
and no washing machine or Caribbean super short showers and the luxury of a
washing machine.
Life's little trade offs, when you live in these charismatic islands.
I heard a joke that California has four seasons: earthquakes, floods,
fires, and riots. So I started thinking what four seasons we had in
the BVI such as High season, Low Season, Hurricane Season and Carnival
Season! Yes the carnival is wrapping up in St Thomas, but it's coming to
Tortola in early August. Indeed we have 3 Public Holidays in a row to make sure
we don't miss it.
Hit the nail on the head? Head in the Nail? Nail in the
head? The other day while at the beach in my favorite beach hat, I noticed
it was annoying my forehead. I took it off to rub my brow and low and
behold in the hat brim was a big nail! No wonder my head hurt. Some
hapless tenant before me tried to pound nails into the concrete walls in odd
places, making quite a mess. On one of these, I had tossed my beach hat one day
to hide the nail and the ugly hole around it. I guess when I pulled it off
to go to the beach, the nail came with it, and began pressing into my forehead
while I tried to figure out what/why it hurt.
Good thing I am hard headed. By the time my head was hurting, I had been
wearing the hat for about a half hour.
Today, all my websites have vanished from the web. I have fired off
an email to my host guru to ask them to look into this matter. I understand they
have mega computers and dedicated hosting and mirror sites and underground sites
and that generators and backup generators and they brag they NEVER let you down.
Well, today they let me down. I haven't checked the news to see if there is some
sort of calamity somewhere, I generally don't trust the news stations, finding
them a tad sensational and in an urge to rush the story to the market, facts are
often overlooked. I just hope my websites come back up today. 
A Sunny Day at the Beach
2009 3 Free CREDIT SCORES: See Your 3 Credit Scores from All 3 Bureaus FREE!
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- The weekend is here!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Sun, 3 May 2009 16:53:14 EDT
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So here is it a sunny Sunday and I seem to be in hibernation mode!
It's already 4pm and the weather is drop dead gorgeous. Seas are gentle with no
significant swells so virtually, no undertow to worry about at the beaches. It's
just a fantastic day to enjoy watersports. There is just nothing spectacular to
report weather wise, other than if you aren't here, you should
be! Weather should be like this all week with a few scattered showers
thrown in for fun and flowers. Air tickets are cheap these days (with
advance purchase) and we have no swine flu here. Rates for boat and
accommodations have come down since Easter. Many places will offer you
deals in the BVI, just ask!
I discovered I wrote the Saturday report, the internet crashed and then I
never got back to sending it out. Plus my assistant came over and we tore the
place apart and put it back together again, mostly. Actually she came over to
help me do major spring cleaning. While I dumped out my office drawers, cabinet
and files for a major overhaul, she went through the rest of the place moving
every piece of furniture and cleaning under it, around it, over it, beside it
and so on. I had tried this on my own and was sneezing and coughing so bad, I
enlisted her help. I'm embarrassed to say, I think she removed about ten pounds
of dust and dirt from places, I didn't even know existed!
The cats, ran out doors, with mock terror on their faces and hung outside,
guardedly looking inside the door now and then, with worried looks, to see if we
were moving again or just cleaning. I tackled a big pile of laundry and found
more stuff to add to it, cushion covers, table cloths and so on. By the end of
the day, I was ready for a white glove inspection and a much needed nap, as I
had been up since 4am.
After my nap, I went to the dumpster, as during the cleaning I had
ruthlessly sorted a lot of my junk and ended up with 3 jumbo garbage bags to
haul off. Besides the typical household garbage, which took up
about half a bag, I had almost a full bag of repair projects. I decided I
have too many broken things sitting around waiting on me to repair them. Many
included tracking down hard to find parts and so on. I decided to shorten
this list drastically by just tossing it all out. It's an islander thing, to
want to repair stuff, because the new t'ing isn't available on island, so it's
repair the old t'ing or do without. Mailorder companies are hit and miss. Some
will ship to my PO Box in St John on the US side of the Virgin Islands and
others will not. Many retail stores here in the BVI only order inventory once a
year and that is typically before Christmas. So if they sell out of
whatchamacallits in December, you may have to wait a whole year to find that
whatchamacallit again. Then the third bag was downsizing my office. Old files, I
no longer need or want, were shredded and bagged. I ended up with a huge pile of
sentimental stuff, that one day I must resort again, as it was huge. 20 years of
love letters, greeting cards, loose photos and so on. I could probably spend a
few days just scanning it all and backing it up in three places.
Then there is the frustrating stuff, the phone bills that are 36 pages long
for one month only, and inform me I spent $56.00 I honestly do not know how or
why the phone company came up with a scheme to waste as much paper as
possible. My phone bills for the last year take up a huge amount of space!
Then one of my banks, keeps sending me paper statements. Never mind that I've
been online repeatedly, informing them I am happy with electronic delivery and
don't need the paper, there is a glitch somewhere, and they keep sending me the
paper. Two banks I deal with don't even have an electronic option so they fill
up my mailbox and filing too. I guess, I need to rearrange my office so the
printer/scanner is next to me instead of four feet away, then I could begin to
scan this mess in my spare time (ha ha ha, when do I ever have spare
time?)
My printer/scanner is idiotic. You have to use the computer to scan, even
though there is a scan button on the printer. It doesn't work. I don't know
why, but I will never buy another printer from this certain manufacturer
again. Their software clashes with some of my programs and when I try to update
their software, they give me pages and pages of instructions, that I don't have
time to follow. I do know, I have to reset the scan options on the computer and
punch numerous buttons to make one scan. If I want to keep scanning, it lets me,
but only if I use the computer buttons and not the scanner buttons. But then it
hogs all my memory if I scan too many at once. SO I have to close out,
wait an eternity for the computer to process the scanning then go forward.
Grrrrr... I thought computers and their peripherals were supposed to save
us time, not create more work.
********************
Qualified buyers willing to pay $2 million to $25 million
for a lot in Mr. Johnson's Oil Nut Bay, an 88-home, low-density development
under construction in Virgin Gorda, will benefit from a new 90-day automatic
approval for a landholder license.
Good news!
Virgin Islands Reports No Cases of Swine Flu
Platinum News Online - Tortola,British Virgin
Islands
Some stocks of the antiviral Tamiflu are available in the
Territory and the BVI Health Services Authority has been able to source
additional stocks and ...
Better run and hide a lot further away next time!
Local Police Officers have confirmed with
BVI Platinum News that Jessroy McKelly, 21, who was wanted by the Royal
Virgin Island Police Force, ...
Fun stuff...
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- Mayday! Mayday! All is well!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Fri, 1 May 2009 13:51:23 EDT
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An irresistible day in paradise, but I want a do-over of a my trip to
the beach yesterday.
Today it is 81 degrees with slight winds and plenty of sunshine and fair
weather. It's perfect for your choice of numerous outdoor activities. No storms on the
horizon, and hurricane season isn't here yet anyhow. We made it through another
record breaking year of absolutely NO snowfall in the Virgin Islands.
Amazing! I hope we keep up this wonderful record indefinitely.
Today is MAYDAY! The first of May. I remember it was a big
fun time at my elementary school, back in the dark ages. I was
extremely lucky in my very young years, and attended an exclusive fantastic
day school for five short years. Classes were small, teachers were
old, rules were strict, and the curriculum extremely tough and challenging. We
ate lunch briefly out of a lunchbox at our desk and enjoyed 30 minutes of pure
freedom at the playground once a day. The rest of our school day, our little
brains were over burdened, and we left each day with mountains of
homework. Failure to comply could result in after school tutoring and even
more homework and conferences with parents to urge us forward. We were
pushed and shoved to stretch and exercise our brains into decent educated
young human beings.
By the time my mother came to pick me up, each day, I was exhausted
and grateful for the long ride home, so I could rest during the trip while
my achy brain took a break. Every May, we had to put on a show, which
out parents were dutifully required to show up and attend. I think that and our
Christmas Show, was the only time of year they practically required parents
to make a cameo appearance at the school, no matter what. Much of those
Maydays are foggy in my brain, from long ago, but I do recall the May pole
being decorated and us dancing and singing around it. We also performed
(tortured our audience!) by playing musical instruments and singing.
Throughout my years there, on Mayday, I was required to play a
different instrument each year such as the xylophone, piano, autoharp, dulcimer
and bells. We got to spend the whole day outside in the sunshine, as it was held
on the front lawn on the town's busy Main street. It was a day we looked
forward to, even though we had spent months rehearsing. It was one day we
got to go home with NO homework and for that, we were
all immeasurably grateful. No matter how awful we performed, our
parents and teachers, told us we did very well.
My beach trip yesterday was fun and funny. My friend traversed the length
of the island to come get me to go to the beach near my home. It was sunshiny
when she set out and raining when she arrived. On the way down my driveway, her
flip-flop plopped out, rendering it useless for wearing, and I was trying
to remember one of the versus of Jimmy
Buffet's Margaritaville song.
I blew out my flip-flop
Stepped on a pop-top
Cut my heel had to
cruise on back home
But there's booze in the blender
And soon it will
render
That frozen concoction that helps me hang on
She had no other shoes with her, my feet are short and wide, hers were long
and slender, so I had nothing in her size to offer her. I set about
hunting for the duct tape which was finished (finish, as they say in
the islands, which means there is no more!) So I dug some more and found the gorilla
tape that thoughtful Drew,from Minnesota had sent me at a time when
everything in my life was falling apart. Believe you me, Gorilla
tape is like duct tape on steroids! Last I had seen it, my housemate
was patching his truck with it and my friend pulled off the rest of the tape,
which turned out to be about 2 square inches. So now the gorilla tape finish.
She was trying to put the thong back through the sole of the flip-flop and
tape it into place. She really needed tape for the top and bottom of the
sole, to effect the repair functional.
I then hunted and searched as somewhere, I felt I had a bag of various old
sticky tapes. Sure enough I found it. Inside the baggy was electrical tape in 3
colors, Teflon tape, masking tape in 2 sizes, scotch tape, double stick
sewing tape, and low and behold, two water proof awning repair tapes in
different colors. (I had bought these to repair leaky holes in my now-sold old
heap of a jeep.) All these tapes were bought before the Gorilla tape
arrived on the scene. Gorilla tape is like the end all to all other tapes. So
after she cut and taped for awhile, the flipflop became functional, the rains
stopped and we headed for the beach. We thought we were leaving that big dark
cloud behind us, but incredibly, it followed us all the way to the beach.
Since my friend had never been down this road before, we stopped many
times, on the way to the beach, to check out the views, to rescue an orphaned
air plant, to study and discuss a plant I don't know the name of, other than
it's from the pineapple family and it's often planted on property lines, as once
it grows, it's like having a living razor blade sharp fence, NOTHING will
pass through, and make it to the other side alive. So it's like a nature's
security fencing.
I was going to insert the pictures I took, but alas, my batteries must have
failed. My camera yields no pics at all from yesterday! However,
I did find a several days old, cute pic of the cat channel surfing for
Judge Judy (his favorite show, he meows up a storm every day at the precise time
she comes on, until you help him find the right channel for it! He's learned if
he pushes the buttons, the talking picture box does interesting
stuff...)
So at the beach, we sat in these old rickety woven arm chairs,
waiting for the sunshine and ended up just yakkety-yakking away and sipping on a
fruity smoothie from the bar. About the time the sun made an appearance, it was
time for us to head to lunch at Cruzins, where
we were meeting some honeymooners. Lunch turned out to be fantastic and then it
was over, time for my friend to go back to east end, the honeymooners to go
honeymoon and me go back to work.
Still dry. We never got to swim at the beach, the water looked so
cold under that dark sky. I know LAUGH, how can 86F degree water look cold in
the crystal clear waters of the Caribbean?
Hence, we need a do-over at the beach! (Life is just tough all
over...)
*************************
Shhhhhh, Judge Judy is on & don't you dare
touch my remote...
Local news:
Foreign yachts had better have a GOOD crystal
ball onboard to detect these new proclamations! You can't go to Jost
Van Dyke or Anegada to clear in anymore and can be fined for doing so?
YIKES!!! We need to encourage yachters and the economic benefits they
bring us, not harass them with fines and last minute changes that they have no
way of knowing about.
AMAZING! We live in a different world
here...just ask government...
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- Thursdays
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2009 08:06:34 EDT
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I love getting up early most days, watching the
sun rise, listening to the SILENCE of a sleepy morning. My construction neighbor
must be out of funds again as he isn't torturing us lately with thunderous early
morning un-oiled muffler-less equipment. The English
language is one of the largest languages in the world (word count) but I find
myself having to make up my own words sometimes to describe t'ings.
Weather is wonderful, though a big dark cloud looms in the background as a
reminder it can change to a sudden downpour in seconds and then typically in
less than five minutes the rain is gone again and the world is drying out
quickly. Trade winds are whispering by at 6-9 knots. Seas are calming down
and may build back up early next week. Surfing isn't that grand right now,
beginners might have a little fun, but nothing to write home about. My
thermometer is stuck on 82F degrees. Birds are chirping and for some odd
reason, my neighborhood is still eerily quiet at 7am.
By the way, if you are in Road Town at
the Serendipity Book Shop on Main Street, they have a new Cafe
upstairs that offers coffees and economy lunches, plus internet access, either
use their computers or bring your own. I was there recently and they were
unloading a mountain of new books, half of which I wanted to cart home. I am a
hopeless bookoholic, but have to restrain myself, as my current home doesn't
offer much space for collecting. The Book Shop is a perfect place to buy
souvenirs and gifts, as well as treat yourself. They have some large coffee
table books of Caribbean gardening and architecture, stuff I want to cart home
and drool all over the fantastic pictures.
I was caught recently sleeping at my keyboard, so trying to be fast on my
fins, I said I was merely checking the keyboard for drool resistance. I
have no idea how I could fall asleep at my desk. I think I was sleep walking and
just ended up there.
One of my little fluffy hunters has assassinated another snake
and parked his headless body on the welcome mat. Now that's
attractive... Nothing like throwing open the front door and
being greeted with the latest bounty; guts and all. I shudder to think about
where the missing head might be (and pray I never found out. )
I tore open the new coffee only to find out it was beans and not
pre-ground. Grrrrrrr... I'm not awake yet for this early morning
unforeseen complication. This started a hunt for the coffee grinder, and I
thought I was so well organized, but I was too sleepy to remember what was
where. The last place I Iooked, is where I found it. (Just like looking in
boat refrigerators!) In the meantime, I came across all sorts of junk to
be discarded. Like the broken bean pot. Actually it was my tiny
beloved 1.5
quart slow cooker crockpot. One night I somehow knocked it off the counter
while sleep walking.
Every time I am in town, I search in vane for that sized crockpot, to no
avail. I find 3-4-5-6 quart pots and sizes in between, but not the baby 1.5
quart. Well that's island life for you, a hit and miss. Years ago, I begged all
over town for ANY size crockpot and finally had to haul one home after a trip to
the USA. About a year after that, slow cookers, began popping up in the
stores here, finally. Technology arrives on the island...
The 1.5 quart mini crockpot, is perfect for throwing in a cup or so
of dried beans, topping with water, then slow cooking all night (or all
day). The last hour I dump in the spices and flavorings.
Sometimes I keep adding and make it a complete meal, like turning beans into
a fiery chili meal. It's just the perfect size for dried bean
cooking, hence my name for it, the bean pot.
Usually I leave a night light on in the kitchen, because it's in the
central part of the house. I get up for water late at night and my housemate
often comes in late and rummages around. The light doesn't really prevent me
from bumping into things or knocking them off the counter, it merely allows me
to see what I have broken or tripped over next.
I have a couple of swivel backless wooden bar stools for counter height, so
they aren't super tall but they are so comfy and handy. They get moved
all over creation from this side to that side of the counter and so on.
The night light wasn't on (yet) and I shuffled into the kitchen at o'dark
o'clock, and hit the bar stool sending it cart wheeling across the floor, none
too quietly.
Ooops.
A second later the bright overhead lights were on and my thoughtful
housemate had come to see if I had broken any body parts (or destroyed more
equipment.) "Just turning the night light on!" I announced as I picked up
the errant stool, which seemed no worse for the wear.
Speaking of Wear and Tear...
These well used surfboards have seen better
days...
If only they could talk, what tales they could
tell...
Big savings on Dell XPS Laptops and Desktops!
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- Wednesday
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:09:16 EDT
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The winds have died down to normal and the rains haven't made an appearance
since last night. It's 82 degrees at sea level. Waters are warming up slowly for
the summer season.
The BVI Music Festival is set to take place from the 22nd through to
the 24th of May 2009 at Cane Garden Bay.
Foxys wooden boat Regatta on Jost Van Dyke is the same weekend. I think it
will be his 35th!
“I hear all the time about the number of expatriates in the police
force which is far more than that of BVIslanders…But you (BVIslanders) have to
work for what you want and quite frankly I have worked with my people and they
don’t like discipline and that cannot work,”
~~~~
I truly miss the old days, when things were slower here, safer and
friendlier. Locals are well known for their laid back attitude, though many
strive to do well and own their own local businesses. But the government has
always guaranteed the locals 100% employment and many interpret that
very creatively.
Big savings on Dell XPS Laptops and Desktops!
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- good news s/v Paper Moon FOUND
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:37:44 EDT
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Good news, word got out so quickly, that S/V Paper Moon
was located in Bonaire and he is flying home to his family.
We've had mini hurricanes most of the morning, strong winds peppered with
wet rains and cloudy skies. This should pass in a few days. The current radar shows that more is on the way.
So patch up your cistern, clean your gutters, and get ready for the rains!
An Excellent Credit Score is 750. See Yours in Just 2 Easy Steps!
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- Sailing Vessel Emergency
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:42:26 EDT
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Great sailing weather, but now we have one missing
in action... Since many sailors read this page, I hope you will copy and paste
the info and forward to other sailors or marinas or marine related
businesses. You can email me for more details.
For all you sailors out there, we have an emergency
message for the Sailing Yacht "Paper Moon".
The man that bought Paper Moon is not answering emails, cell phone or
satellite phone. His family has a major emergency and he is desperate to
find him.
The lone owner/crew is Juan C., and is believed to be somewhere
between Culebra and Colombia.
PAPER MOON is a Morgan Out Island 36 foot sloop, name on stern is
Paper Moon, N. Miami Beach.
White with blue canvas.
On stern solar panels, wind generator, dinghy on davits a West Marine with
18 hp Toshiba.
Please send emails to other boaters throughout the Caribbean.
Email Dear Miss Mermaid, if you have any sightings or info, I have
additional info for the owner/crew of Paper Moon.
A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!
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- Mondays
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 08:18:46 EDT
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Simply marvelous today i nthe BVI. Breezy, sun shiny, clear and
beautiful! A lovely day to be alive! I of course have this huge mess
to deal with, the busted up plants and all. We briefly doctored them up
yesterday, the destruction was just overwhelming, and well, today I will make it
all right again. It was just such a sad monumental mess, it was hard to know
where to start. Grrrrrrr...
I went to a fantastic pool party with fabulous views of the sea and out
islands, I could have just stared and drooled all day long. A lone sailboat goes upwind.
More on Hurricanes and Hangovers...
I was born during a hurricane at Lenox Hill Hospital
on the east side of Manhattan. At one point during the lengthy delivery the
doctor came in to see my mother, offered her a drink and a cigarette, informed
her that the umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck, and that they had done
all they could. Things looked bad. The doctor suggested that my mother have a
drink and a smoke and pray. She managed all three and I arrived
intact.
A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!
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- Lazy dazy
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Sun, 26 Apr 2009 15:14:57 EDT
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Very windy and blustery today. I head a loud crash outside. My umbrella and
table which was housing a lot of potted plants toppled over, busting up plants
and pots. It was all so sad.
82 degrees with blue skies and puffy clouds, perhaps a rain shower will
come our way.
A funny video!
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- Saturday
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2009 08:18:55 EDT
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Another wonderful day in the tropics. It started off with heavy rains,
that's because I am going to a pool party! The rest of the day
should be sun shiny with only scattered isolated showers. It's 82 degrees
and spring is here with summer making an early entrance this year.
Bougainvillea in glorious bloom, a cat's paradise...
I don't think our hospital surgery can handle that load...
13
Little Dix Bay Employees to be SeveredPlatinum News Online - Tortola,British Virgin
Islands
... international offshore law firm, Harney Westwood
& Riegels laid off eight workers including two Attorneys at Law of Harneys
Law Firm branch in Tortola. ...
A drinking island, with a sailing problem!
Top 10 destinations for iconic
drinksmsnbc.com -
USA
Painkiller — Soggy Dollar Bar, Jost Van Dyke, British
Virgin Islands Devotees know this rum-based drink is best experienced at the
Soggy Dollar Bar on Jost ...
What? How come we wait HOURS in line for this "modern"
banking?
Not sure I understand the reasoning here, we have hotels over half
empty, so we build more hotels and that will improve the room rentals for the
rest of the hotels?
Check all of your email inboxes from anywhere on the web. Try the new Email Toolbar now!
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- Early rains over Peter and Norman Islands
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:55:29 EDT
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- Thursday
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:45:43 EDT
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A marvelous day in paradise. Scattered showers might come your way
and might not, as they appear to be very isolated. So you might get spit upon by
the heavens above and then again the angels might protect you. Winds are
moderate and will gently push your sailboat along. A great day to fly a
kite, but see the notice below about keeping your kite 3 miles from the
airport!
Phones are fickle in the BVI. I have two with different companies. We now
have 3 phone companies in the BVI. Grrrrrrr... I think I may have to cancel one.
It's the one that rings ONCE and if I am not sitting with it in my hand, I can
never get to it in time.
Disgusting.
My other one plays games. Sometimes my calls come through, sometimes not.
Sometimes I am sitting at my desk with my phone right by me, and it's beeps me
to tell me I just got a voice message. Hmm... Why didn't it just ring me
live?
Mysteries of the phones in the BVI...
Dialing out can be tricky as I often use the name to select the saved
number but randomly get messages I have misdialed. I will try the same name
again, without changing the number and the call will go through.
Many folks do not return calls in the BVI. It's a chronic problem, so if
you want to talk to someone, you just have to keep calling until you finally
either get the phone company to work right and get the call through, or the
person finally answers or shows up at work or home, if they don't have a
cell.
Incredibly many businesses refuse to take messages and will simply tell you
to call back later, if the person you want to talk to is not there. Calling
anyone in government is downright hilarious. A third of the time, the main
switchboard is out of order, the other third it works but no one answers and
then that rare third, you actually get your call through, but chances are who
you want isn't there. Common responses are "They are in a meeting." You
can call all week and find out the same person is in the same "meeting" all
week long. The other common answer is "They are at lunch." You can
generally get this message between 10 am and 3pm, even if you call every half
hour.
I guess government employees takes their lunches very seriously.
Now we have free or nearly free texting in the BVI. I hate it. I can type
about 3 words per 3 minutes. People text me, and I call them back. If I didn't
it would take me an hour to text "Hi How are you I am fine."
Some of my friends won't take phone calls live anymore, you have to text
them. So I text them "Call me." In the time it takes me to figure out how
to text them "Call me" I could have already called them, chatted
about the matter, and hung up already. Grrrrrrr...
Some of my friends are on prepaid, pay-as-you-call per minute and others
like me either have "contract" minutes or unlimited minutes. I bought
into the unlimited minutes, so now when my pay-per-minute friends call, we hang
up and I call them back so we chat free. Incoming calls are now free, but it
wasn't always that way. But if you have run out of your prepaid minutes, you
can't get your incoming calls at all. Often the caller gets a busy signal
which makes one think you should keep trying back. But then when you get the
busy signal for days, you realize it's a trick by the phone company to let you
know they are out of prepaid minutes.
Some companies surcharge you if you call friends that are on a different
phone company, that is extremely frustrating as then you have to keep up with
who is on which company, if you have phones from different companies, so that
you use your correct phone to call the right person at that company and the
other phone for people with the other company and avoid the surcharges.
Now we have 3 phone companies here so it is mass confusion.
I remember someone saying "Now we will all be walking around with 3
phones..." as when we had two companies, it was cheaper to have a phone
with each company than to pay the surcharges if you called friends or business
with the "other" company. I hear my phone ringing and often answer the wrong
one, which makes me feel and look silly.
Recently I saw a wrist watch for sale and it is really a cell phone. I
remember seeing that in Sci-Fi movies ages ago. People talking into their
watches! If I had the money, I would buy the watch/phone, I think that is
hilarious and less chance of losing it. Just not sure I could get used to
talking to my wrist.
Either way, if you are trying to call someone, try 2-3 times every half
hour or so until you get them. If you are calling into the BVI from overseas,
get Skype.Com as the rates are super cheap to call into the BVI. If you are
calling Skype to Skype, it's free and most everyone in the BVI who has internet
has Skype, just that most folks here don't have internet, so it's still a
minority!
Go fly a kite, but not near the airport!
Kite Flying Prohibited in Vicinity of Airports
The
British Virgin Islands Airports Authority wishes to remind the Community that
the flying of kites or similar objects within the vicinity (5km or 3.1 miles) of
the Airports poses a serious threat to the safety of Aviation.
Such objects can easily be ingested by aircraft engines causing
catastrophic damage (aircraft crash, loss of life).
We therefore solicit your cooperation in ensuring the safety of ALL air
traffic movements within the Virgin Islands.
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- Wednesday Already!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Wed, 22 Apr 2009 10:56:52 EDT
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Just another perfect day in paradise. Hard to beat a day like this with
glorious sunshine and big white puffy clouds high up in the sky. The winds are
moderate and sailing is good as is snorkeling and other beach and water
activities.
***************
A pirate and his parrot, were adrift in a lifeboat following a dramatic
escape from a valiant battle. While rummaging through the boat's
provisions, the pirate stumbled across an old lamp. Secretly hoping that a Genie
would appear, he rubbed the lamp vigorously. To the amazement of the castaways,
a Genie came forth. This particular Genie, however, stated that he could
only deliver one wish, not the standard three. Without giving any thought
to the matter the pirate blurted out, "Make the entire ocean into
rum!" 
The Genie clapped his hands with a deafening crash, and immediately the
entire sea turned into the finest rum ever sampled by mortals.
Simultaneously, the Genie vanished. Only the gentle lapping of rum on the hull
broke the stillness as the two considered their circumstances. The parrot looked
disgustedly at the pirate and after a tension-filled moment spoke: "Now yee've
done it!! Now we're gonna to have to pee in the boat!" 
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- Still Tuesday!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:10:29 EDT
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I am sooooooo late getting this out! It's 82 degrees at 8pm at
night! We had rain slast night and early morning. Scattered rains are
predicted, kind of a hit and miss. Snow season is over, so no snow to worry
about. Hurricane season is around the corner, but it doesn't mean we will
get any.
Lori pointed out these whale sitings to me last week, and I somehow tripped
over the email and just found it!
Whales
near Camanoe Island! Come to think of it, whenever I've seen
whales, it's always been in April! It must be their favorite time to visit
here.
Hey I'm going to shop at KFC and see what surprises I get in my
bucket!
Boat
Captain Nabbed with Marijuana in KFC BoxPlatinum News Online - Tortola,British Virgin
Islands
According to information reaching BVI Platinum News,
the young man who allegedly had the drugs in the chicken box aboard the ferry,
was caught sometime late ...
And MORE about our bad drivers, only this one has a strange
twist...
Sadly, the sea claims another one...
Platinum News Online - Tortola,British
Virgin Islands
Following yesterday's search, last evening President of
VISAR, Phil Aspinall told BVI Platinum News that despite the additional
help received to intensify ...
Poor Branson!
5
Secret Caribbean BargainsExaminer.com
- USA
Tortola. This is the largest and the most touristy of the
British Virgin Island chain, but it offers so much. And once you venture from
Road Town (Tortola's ...
St. Maarten arrests 4 in fatal smuggling casePR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung) -
Wien,Austria
The boat was packed with about 25 migrants, mostly
Haitians, when it capsized in January near the British Virgin
Islands. Three children are among the
...
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- Mondays
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:04:04 EDT
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Perfect weather, great for sailing! We might get some scattered
rains, this week, but don't hold your breath. Otherwise expect late 70's early
80's in the temps and moderate tradewinds.
The Sir Francis Drake Channel, as seen from Tortola, with St
John in the background
A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!
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- SUNDAY
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2009 13:19:39 EDT
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It's 82 degrees and very quiet. My enighbor hasn't decided which
noisy construction apparatus he wants to wake up the whole neighborhood with
yet. It's 6:13am, maybe he is sleeping in late. Usually by now, he has the
entire neighborhood awake and cranky.
About an hour ago in the early light, I watched a lit up ship traverse the
channel and give their early morning risers a fantastic view of the
islands.
I called to report the internet has been down all night and got a rather
perky operator at the phone company. He promises to wake up a technician
and see if they can flip a switch and get it going again.
Internet cranky all day, comes on for a few minutes at time then runs away
again.
I was just called "sir" again, on the phone. Did my voice drop with my
birthday?
Well, I guess it's good "cover!.
Nothing but gorgeous fair weather predicted. I gave my plants a good long
soak, so that means it will rain. If it doesn't then I better wash the
heap of a jeep next, then it will surely pour rain.
View From the Spy Glass while looking for dem rum
swilling, bilge drinking, scallywag pirates!
******************
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- Friday already
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:05:35 EDT
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I don't know what happened to Thursdays report. It's like I lost a day
somewhere. Hmmm.
Hate that when it happens!
Well today is Friday already, we had a holiday Monday, so that makes it a
short week, and Tuesday morning was a LONG power outage, so those that were hung
over from Monday, had a nice break at work *tee hee hee*. That
remdinds me, I better fill my generator gas tank back to the top again. Better
to do that during the day, and not in the middle of the night.
Sooooooo.......
Today's weather is just fantastic! Blue skies, crystal clear water
and only 82 degrees. Fair weather is expected for the next few days.
Low tide at sunset, a beachcomber looks for edible goodies
among the rocks and coral.
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- Wednesday
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:57:47 EDT
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The early morning brought showers and it just felt wonderful. I hope
my plants got some benefits as well as the proverbial cistern. Fair weather for
a few more days with the odd little shower if you are lucky, now and then. The
waters are just crystal clear, it's a great time to go diving or snorkeling. 77
degrees in the mountains. Southeasterly winds of 25 knots or so, give or take.
**********************
It’s
Official--WWW.BVIMUSICFESTIVAL.COMPlatinum News Online - Tortola,British Virgin Islands
On
Friday, Saturday and Sunday May 22, 23, and 24 Cane Garden Bay will again come
alive with this year’s celebration of the BVI Music Festival Cane Garden
...
Court
Manager, BVI « CaribbeanJobsOnline.comBy livejobs
Court Manager, BVI. Posted on April
15, 2009 by livejobs. Caribbean Jobs Online. The Government of the Virgin
Islands invites qualified and professional applicants to apply for the post of
Court Manager, Magistracy. ...
Two
Caribbean Cocktail RecipesWine
Enthusiast Magazine - Elmsford,NY,USA
By Kristine Hansen On the island
Jost Van Dyke, which is part of the BVIs, electricity first switched on
in 1991 and walking barefoot is still de rigeur ...
Hoping you had a Hoppy Easter Week!
And just what makes you think we aren't
related?
Great deals on Dell’s most popular laptops – Starting at $479
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- Tuesday, back to work, holiday over now...
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 10:00:33 EDT
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Another fantastic day in paradise, a great day to spend at the beach or
sailing, especially since da current done mash up hours ago! Mine went out
about 830-ish, so maybe it gave many folks a chance to not go to work, or to go
back home anyhow.
81 degrees with wafty easterly trade winds floating by,
scattered clouds in the cerulean skies, just one of those oh so beautiful days,
it makes you happy to be alive!
Checking the weather,
and we should have boringly lovely weather all week with a slight change this
weekend when a frontal boundary digs southeastward.
I'm happy, because my generator, the tiny 29
pound 1KW, Kipor (1,000 watt) is purring along outdoors, supplying
my office. It sounds like a sewing machine, so not offensive at all. I have a
hundred foot cord, I could park it 90 feet away and not hear a thing, just lazy
is all.
Several readers brought it to my attention that my link the other day for
the Doggy T-Shirts was all wrong!  I designed 29-30 shirts
in honor of National Pet Month and they come in five sizes. Try this link!
Yesterday's Sunset in the
Beautiful BVI
OK, and to the smartypants that wrote and asked me where the sun
sets....
In the WEST!!!
(I believe this is universally true, well, at least while on
earth...)
Perhaps that lost alien who crash landed his UFO, wrote
me that question... 
This brings up an idea for a new game show "Are you
smarter than a First Grader?"
TODAY'S QUOTE
Friendship is like peeing your pants, everyone can see it, but only you
can feel the true warmth. ~~~Anonymous
(Perhaps this quote was written by a 5 year old too...)
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- In loving memory of Capricorn Lady
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2009 04:20:46 EDT
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80 degrees, moderate winds in the BVI. Easter Monday is a holiday in the
BVI, so you can expect some serious slimin' (oh dear me) I mean
serious limin' around the islands, as Labor forbids working
on this day, except in certain industries, such as bars. What a life! We
take our holidays seriously.
So you can expect gorgeous fair weather today and the rest of the week.
What more could you ask for? Peace in paradise.
Limin' means to lay about or party or go out on the town.
Easter Sunday was a day of perfect blues, in all shades. I was at the
seashore, and wanted to capture the images, the three thousand shades of blue
that occasionally grace our seascape when the sun, seas and weather are
just right. I had my camera with me and had just taken 3 flash pictures of an
artist friend's handiwork. She avidly crochets, making numerous custom items for
her customers. I try to catch a pic of each one, before it is delivered to the
new owner, so we can compile a portfolio for her. She often crochets by the sea,
and I stop to capture new images for her, as she doesn't own her own camera.
Well, I guess my rechargeable batteries are dead-dead. My camera refused to take
any more pics after those 3! I was mortified, as I had just taken
the camera off of it's charger, (at home) where it CLAIMED to be
fully charged. Grrrrrr........ I think I have some spare
batteries running around here somewhere, I must toss these and put in the
others. I HATE it when I miss a great shot.
Get the Bugle out for,
FINAL TAPS...
Now for sad news about a beautiful yacht that plied the local waters for
decades; the Capricorn Lady. If you were lucky enough to charter this
wonderful yacht, you enjoyed a piece of glamorous history, and total luxury.
The Death of Capricorn Lady, 71' Trumpy (aka Silver
Swan)
Hi Dear Miss Mermaid:
I am placing a link below which will
take you to my Face
Book page and scroll down to find a video on the Death of my boat.
When we sold Capricorn Lady to a wealthy owner, he replanked the bottom at
Frenchman's Cay Boat Yard, and we supervised. Then later, he replanked it
again in a Florida boatyard and put on a new transom. Apparently the boat
sat in the year, through several hurricane seasons, and was put up for auction
in February. The unsaid reason probably is that the yard ended up owning
the boat for the repairs. Anyway, take a look and have a good cry with
me.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MERMAID LADY. My
new book, Mermaids of the Siuslaw, Quest for the Eyes of Atlantis, will be out
in a couple of months. It takes the characters, two mermaid gals, from the
Pacific to the British Virgin Islands, yeah, home again. Anyway, have a
look see at the video and all the best. Have a beer for me.
Judi Gilman
MORE from Judi:
Dear Friends:
Danny and I purchased the 71' Trumpy Yacht built as
Silver Swan in 1946 and brought her to the BVI where she carried passengers for
term charters from 1980 to 1999. We lived aboard the boat full time for
all those years, most of them at Nanny Cay Marina on Tortola. The
Lady got hauled out every year, was insured by Lloyds of London and never
missed a single day of charter. We sold her to one of our charters in
1998, thinking she would be pampered and upgraded for the rest of her
life. Apparently the boat was put up for auction by a Florida shipyard in
February, and no buyer stepped forward. Who knew??? This beautiful
classic yacht was destroyed in one hour. I discovered this information a
few days ago. It's a sad end for a beautiful Lady who provided a wonderful
way of life for Danny and me. Our previous sailing boat Capricorn
was beached in a hurricane, and many of my friends have lost their vessels
in storms and other acts of nature, but it just doesn't seem right that the
Capricorn Lady died in such a disrespectful manner. Better for her to be
resting in a watery grave, intact. What do you think?
Dear Judi,
Talk about a GOOD LONG CRY! That is the saddest video I
have ever seen. I am in shock. What were they thinking? The so called
auction must have been top secret and advertised on the back of a
postage stamp!
Yes, I think she deserved a proper burial at sea, at the very
least. Or did destroying her up the ante for the 2 remaining
Trumpys? I searched all over the internet and lost her trail in August
2005, so the mystery remains, what happened to this fine lady the past three and
a half years? Why was the boat yard so eager to destroy her? What
was gained from that?
It could be the new owner found out about the 2010 SOLAS regs
coming into effect soon, that may have put him out of business.. I believe
if you carry over 6 passengers, you come under these new regs and it appears the
new owner was gearing up Silver Swan to be a period (1940's) day charter in
Tampa Bay (see links below). Next year, we will lose numerous historic
yachts from the charter scene, as these regs comes into effect. SOLAS is "safety
of life at sea". One of the new rules is that as of July 2010, 85% of
materials used in construction, must be non combustible (to a point).
Rumors abound the new cruise ship owners pushed to
have these regs take effect to force older cruise ships out of business. We
already saw the death of Windjammer Tall Ships, what next? Conversion
costs for many yachts and ships, will simply be too prohibitive. Nonetheless,
this fine lady could have been sold as a private yacht to a wooden boat
enthusiast, and I bet many will be outraged, as word spreads of this senseless
destruction of a historic fine yacht.
Readers, if you have a chance to cruise on a
historic yacht before July 2010, DO IT, many of these beautiful ladies will be
unavailable afterwards.
I did some research Judi, and came up with these
links:
Not only did Trumpy design and build Capricorn
Lady (Sliver Swan), he also designed and built the Presidential Yacht
Sequoia. The video claims only 2 wooden Trumpys
remain.
"Elegance in wood. Luxury Yachts that set the
standard were the signature of Trumpy & Sons."
Going back to the 1930s, the master list of Trumpy owners
is a remarkable "Who's Who." The handcrafted wooden motor yachts were built for
the likes of the DuPonts, Guggenheims and the Dodge and Chrysler families. Plans
were also drafted for Sequoia, the Presidential Yacht that became part of
history with presidents from Herbert Hoover to Gerald Ford. Celebrities from
Josephine Baker to Howard Hughes were among the elite group of Trumpy
owners.
"In my last letter, I talked about Silver Swan. She is a worthy
project and this great American yacht should be saved. Everybody should do at
least one." Another
Quote from the same blogger.
FOUND:
Avoures is currently restoring the Silver Swan, a 72-foot Trumpy built
in 1947. The owner, an Atlanta eye surgeon, bought his future "retirement home"
from a charter outfit in the Virgin Islands. From a Spring 2003
article
Interesting, Judi refers to Capricorn Lady (Sliver Swan) as a 71 feet, the
blogger as 72 feet and this site featuring yachts built by John
Trumpy & Sons , lists her at 75 feet.
From scrounging the internet, I can't find any info on this
yacht past August 2005, so it's a mystery (at this point) what happened to
this fine lady from 2005-09.
When bragging yachts grow in length, when docking they shrink...
(marinas often charge by the foot for yachts!)
Quotes
from those who watched the video:
1-...splendor to splinters... I'm getting as weepy as Silver Swan is
leaky.
2-Didn't watch the whole clip. Too sad.
3-That's heartbreaking!
Trumpys are the stuff of legends. Captains of industry, heads of state,
and scores of American presidents have entertained, celebrated and negotiated
aboard these magnificent vessels, dubbed the "Rolls-Royce of American motor
yachts" by the New York Times.
GOOD NEWS!
Judi wrote 2 books about Capricorn Lady: So at least her memory is forever
alive in her captivating books.
************
Some MORE GOOD news
(unrelated):
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- HOPPY EASTER!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2009 00:19:04 EDT
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- Beautiful Day to Be In Paradise!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2009 13:34:45 EDT
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A gorgeous day in paradise! 82 degrees with gentle trade winds.
Perfect weather for the next few days, it's Easter Weekend and Monday is a
holiday here.
Rainbow from Tortola to Jost Van
Dyke
I'm living life VERY carefully today *giggle* so as to survive the BIG one
(my birthday) *har har har*. Still growing back new skin and
scales from my previous mishap, so I want to take it easy. Say I made it
ALIVE! LOL!
Hurry! April 15th is almost here. File your Federal taxes FREE with TaxACT.
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- Good Friday
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 10:36:21 EDT
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It's been super bright at night the past two nights, thanks to the passing
of the full moon. Surf was up briefly yesterday and about 8 people were out in
it, doing their best.
Winds and sunshine with 20+ knots expected through the weekend, so a great
time to sail fast! Live slow!
Tomorrow is my birthday! Yippee! Then Sunday is Easter and in
the BVI, we celebrate Good Friday, as a holiday as well as Easter Monday!
In the BVI, you can not shop for alcohol until after 6pmon Good
Friday. It's one day of the year for all the drunks to sober up!
Well, if they haven't prestocked for the day.
Many bars will be open today, you can have food and drinks, but no alcohol
in your drinks.
When I lived on a certain island, I shall not name, but it's land of
some serious drinkers, probably has more drunks per capita than any other island
in the Caribbean, well many bars simply served their alcohol drinks in coffee
cups throughout the day. That way if the police popped in to see if they were
selling drinks, every one was nursing a coffee cup. Some went so far as to
use the Styrofoam cups with lids, so you could tear off a tiny sipper hole and
no one could see you were drinking beer from a coffee container. If you've
been to this particular island of drunks, I am sure you can guess the name.
Last year, at Easter, we had mammoth record breaking waves that did a ton
of damage to some seaside businesses. See
pics from 2008.
Life is Short, Pet Often!
This is National Pet Month! To commemorate, I've designed 30 Pet T-shirts for your best
friend that come in 5 different sizes. Take a peek at them, tell me what
you think.
In honor of Pet Month, here's some funny stuff!
Dogs have owners, Cats have Staff...
Study hard, and you might grow up to be
President. But let's face it: Even then, you'll never make as much money as your
dog. George Bush, to a graduating class, referring to Millie, his
dog, who earned $889,176 in book royalties.
Every puppy should have a boy.
I have a great dog. She's half Lab, half pit
bull. A good combination. Sure, she might bite off my leg, but she'll fetch and
bring it back to me.
Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight
cats to pull a sled through snow.
Dogs come when they're called; cats take a
message and get back to you later.
Dogs believe they are human. Cats believe they
are God.
The average dog is a nicer person than the
average person.
Newlyweds: We can't decide between a puppy
and a baby. Should we ruin the carpet or ruin our lives?
Children say the darnest things:
The fastest way to get your own puppy, is to beg for a
baby brother or sister; you'll get the puppy right away!
***************************
Pro Valor Charters
in East End at Habour View Marina is now carrying "Hurricanes and Hangovers"
and listed it on their website! WOW!
Update: Entertainment Line Up for
Virgin Gorda Festival 2009 ...17 Mar 2009
.. the Virgin Gorda Festival committee for the selection
of artist for their upcoming Easter festival. ...
HUDSON AND THE HOO DOO CATS play
Jolly Roger tonight and Saturday night!
Beef
Island Development, VIEC Environmental Court Case still ...By admin at saildivebvi.com ( BVI Captains Log Blog)
There has been a lively debate on BVI Platinum (follow this
link) with most people lining up against Dr Smith's views, and indeed asking why
he is still flogging this. It is a very interesting read. I am quoting a couple
of the ...
UFO Crash Lands on Tortola
Free to a new home, for anyone wishing to
haul it away
Email Dear Miss
Mermaid
A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!
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- FULL MOON TODAY, TONIGHT!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 12:52:09 EDT
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- View From Paradise
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 12:44:11 EDT
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- here I am!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 12:38:10 EDT
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Just another wonderful day in paradise with perfect weather and no storms
on the horizon. Perfect for sailing, or snorkeling or beach combing.
EASTER MONDAY there will be parties at Ivan's Campground in Jost Van Dyke
and at Beef Island. Both will have live music, food, fun and games.
Wednesday, I somehow missed posting. My neighbor who is not close by, had
his cement mixer going full blast at maximum revs, without a muffler and
my house was vibrating, my hearing went deaf and my head ached.
Grrrrr........ how many more years he will be building this house, I've no idea.
For two days he mixed and poured cement and today he is jerk hammering it back
out again. We have no sound laws here, you can make as much ruckus as you want,
but this was ridiculous. My ears are still hurting today. I think if he
starts it up today, I will have to flee my office and see if I can work at the
beach. I'm running a fever anyhow, so I'm not at my best.
I need some of those old fashioned huge puffy ear muff things to plug into
my computer, place over my ears and listen to soothing tunes when that
happens. I am sure the guys using the mixer are slowly going deaf. I just
kept trying to tune it out and keep pleasant thoughts in my head, but still I
saw pictures of me doing awful mean things to that machine. Shame on me or
shame on him?
Max Weather has sent over his thoughts on the upcoming Hurricane
(Gurricane) Season:
Hello All 
Reported today in the Tampa Tribune (Wed. April 8, 2009), Experts
scale back hurricane forecast.
Forecasters from Colorado State University have reduced their
prediction activity to an average number of storms.
The newest forecast from William Gray and Phil Klotzbach calls for
12 tropical storms, with six becoming hurricanes and two of those growing to
major storms of Cat 3 or stronger.
The last forecast they had issued in Dec. 2008, called for 14 TS
and 7 H with three becoming Cat 3 or greater.
The reasoning is that the National Climate Prediction Center says
there is a chance a weak El Nino will form this
year. An El Nino or warming of the water in the equatorial Pacific Ocean,
creates conditions in the atmosphere that stunt the growth of developing
hurricanes. Also, temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean are dropping
slightly. Hurricanes feed on warm water. (What happened to Global
Warming?) (There is also a chance they are
wrong as hell!)
Hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30. Don't
count on it!
The time to prepare is now, not when you hear a
rumor you are in the sights of a major storm!!!!!!
Let's have the safest season yet, Max The
time for Gurricane parties is now, while you have a roof and table n
chairs!
Jocko's spaghetti predictions coming soon ....
****************
Speaking of hurricane parties... Remember
all those plastic forks and spoons and napkins they give you when you pick up
food to go? Well, when I get home with my food, I prefer to use my own
real forks and not some flimsy plastic fork etc. I have a box on my top shelf in
the kitchen where I toss all these to-go utensils. Why? Not
because I want to be a pack rack, but it's my hurricane stash! If we get a
storm (or earthquake or tsumnami) and the power is out for days, the last thing
I want is a mountain of dishes to wash. So slowly over the years, I've built up
a large stash of plastic knives, forks and spoons etc. So before you toss
it, think about your hurricane stash.
I know when I moved last, I was amazed how much STUFF I
owned and subsequently moved, for the inevitable hurricane and/or lengthy power
outages. There are the paper plates, the plastic cups, the growing box of
plastic utensils. The canned goods, which at this moment are severely depleted,
then the box of assorted batteries, the jumbo tubs for water storage, the water
jugs for filtered water, the battery operated boom box, the drawer full of
assorted candles and jumbo matches (the little ones don't seem to store as well
as the jumbo matches). Then there are the assorted flashlights (most not working
as I discovered lately) , then the box of jumbo
ziplocs, the type that are the 2
gallon size and up size that can hold laptop computers and small printers
and so on. The box of garbage bags, not for garbage but to bag or
cover things up, you want to stay dry from the storm. Then there is
the kitty litter, we never use, but if we are locked up tight inside during a
storm, then of course I have to set up the litter box. Two of my cats HATE the
litter box, and the last storm scare resorted to walking around cross
legged for hours and crying pitifully at the door. I kept showing them the fresh
clean litter box, and they would give me disgusted looks, as if to say "We
outgrew that mess, ages ago!" but finally when all else failed, they
reluctantly used the litter box, then spent hours cleaning themselves, as if
they had been unjustly contaminated. I promptly "bagged up" their deposits, to
leave the litter box fresh again, but this didn't appease them much. I remember
when I opened the door after the storm, they ran out and hid under the nearest
bush, doing their business.
***************
This will be heaven on earth, I recently waited over 2 hours
for my friend to clear in off the ferry, to visit. While we like things
slow and easy, maybe not that slow...
One day in exasperation, a reader wrote me "There are people
employed on Tortola for the sole purpose to inconvenience you as much as
possible!"
Yes, it's true, one of our dirty little secrets.
A friend of mine came in to claim her
work permit and they seized her passport and told her to pick it up downtown
after she got her work permit. Well, first of all, I don't believe a foreign
country can legally seize your passport on a whim, when you've broken no laws.
But the next day she went to town to fetch her passport, and the labor
department, didn't finish with her until 3pm. She walked the 6 feet over to
Immigration and was told they CLOSED at 3pm, for her come back another day. She
of course doesn't have a car, so all this is doing is making the taxi mon rich.
WHY does immigration close at 3pm? They can't work 8 hours a day like the
rest of us?
New Deals on Dell Netbooks - Now starting at $299
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- Teusday All Ready!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 11:22:22 EDT
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Another incredible day in paradise, with perfect spring weather, just now
and comfy, a great time to be here, living here or visiting here on vacation.
The world is beautiful. We can expect fair weather for a few
days! Yippee! Life is grand!!!
Only in the BVI...
My friend was running around volunteering for a worthy cause, when suddenly
her car stopped running because it sensed it needed water and lit up her
dashboard with the little watering can. So she yanked on the open-sesame handle,
that little thing you are supposed to pull from inside the car to open up the
hood. Well the handle gave way all right, and the cable snapped before
opening the hood.
Ooops!
Lubrication goes a long way in the BVI, and many of us sadly forget this. I
know my construction neighbor REFUSES to use lubrication on any of his
equipment. As I write this, the noise is deafening from his machinery. Some days
I want to fill up a balloon full of machine oil and fling it down his way.
So my friend is stuck on the road, and can't get the hood up. In the BVI,
when you are stuck, you typically pop open the food and this signals the good
Samaritans to come to your aid. After awhile, someone figured out she
needed help and wasn't merely standing on the side of the road by her stopped
car, working on her sun tan.
The good Samaritan wrangles with the problem and miraculously gets the hood
open. So the owner reaches in side her car to fetch the big water bottle
to satiate the beast and guess what.
The water bottle had peed all over the place, including all over a huge
stack of raffle tickets she had just picked up for the charity. It
times like this when one can look heavenward and say "WHY?" to no cloud in
particular.
By now another good Samaritan had stopped and they had water to donate and
finally the car was happy. She made it home and spread a zillion wet
raffle tickets around her home, and prayed a big breeze didn't come along
and send them out to sea. The next morning she is picking them all up and
stacking them up again, a little ruffled but nice and dry and still usable.
Ah, all in the name of charity. Life is funny like that.
A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!
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- Sun Day (almost)
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 04:03:47 EDT
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WOW, it's 4am and I am still UP, rather than getting up. I had a
burst of energy and stayed up cleaning house tonight. Oh boy. What fun!
Weather looks like it's going to be gorgeous for the next few days, just
perfect.
Looking at the eastern end of St John,
A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!
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- Saturday
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Sat, 4 Apr 2009 18:11:47 EDT
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A gorgous day for the races and of course the little race village is
set up at Nanny Cay for the weekend. I might hobble out there tomorrow.
We are enjoying spring weather with clear skies with moderate winds.
Nothing untoward on the horizon.
Did you hear about the new pirate movie they might film down
here?
It's rated argh...
Free
Cash at BVI Spring RegattaPlatinum News Online - Tortola,British Virgin
Islands
Visitors to the BVI Spring Regatta Village at Nanny Cay
Marina from April 2nd through April 4th, 2009 may be eligible to enter a free
raffle and win $500. ...
Virgin
King Launches Boutique HotelsBlackBook
Magazine - New York,NY,USA
It was 1978, and in order to impress a
woman (now his wife, Joan) Branson answered a high-flying ad to visit the
British Virgin Islands,
...
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- Thursday
|
- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 10:02:33 EDT
|
BEAUTIFUL day in the BVI. 80 F degrees, nice trade winds, it's
raining sunshine most everywhere today. We might get a teeny tiny shower, but
don't hold your breath.
My Friend Cleaned up the Beach and brought back several Messages Found
In Bottles on the Seashore of Tortola:
Boy Missy Mermaid what you posted about your fall
on the board is a bummer, a scrape is one worst things that can happen to knees.
Seems to take forever to heal and really limits you kicking up your heels.
Does this make you miss the Spring Regatta? Dang wish I was down there, I
would sure haul you around to see the sights, even if I do scream a lot when bad
drivers abound on the road where I am driving.
Anyway, I hope you get better
real quick. You said you have the big one coming up, I thought for sure
you would be older than 21 but then age is only relative to the mind. Get
well enough to enjoy the big one.
Warm regards and kind thoughts,
Jim
K
The kicking up my heels, is what I miss most! Thank you for your kind
words!
Hope you're feeling better! I will be
sending your box tomorrow AM to the St John PO box. If that is not a good
address, please let me know ASAP! I'd have put some XL bandages and more
Neosporin in it, but by the time it gets there I hope you won't need
them!
Drew
A klutz like me, always needs more First Aid! Thank you!
Whoa! Quite a smash by the sounds of
it?
As we strive to meet the "big one's" in life we
learn to do more in extreme "slow-motion" to prevent incidental/accidental
unexpected and unwanted incidents!
Wingless flights should be
discouraged except over expanses of deep, soft, energy absorbing water!
Might I suggest pads? As in knee, shoulder, hip and bottom pads, plus a
helmet? Of course, when you even think a step in the dark might
result in a crash, you might try wrapping yourself in "bubble wrap," you know.
The really big bubbles that we all enjoy passing time popping?
Then again, should
you recreated this recent most disastrous fall into the abyss while wrapped in
bubble wrap, the resulting tumbles would pop bubbles as you roll, sending pops
like gun fire across the island perhaps arousing your fellow islanders to arms
in defense of their homes from invading unknowns suggesting a wholesale invasion
from a nearby hostile island? Whoa, please don't engage in any
further unlicensed flights anymore. You will force Foxy to impose
local control forbidding unauthorized uses of bubble wrap? While
attempting unauthorized test flights at night?
Obviously your need
to "carry out" was over kill and over gross capacities for a trek in the
night? The fish, hot wings, stew, rice, hot sauce or whatever had to
be extremely important to prompt you to make the attempt? Next time please
alert your neighbors to line the path with mattresses or other soft landing
debris to ensure your safe approach to your front
step!
So sorry for
the uncomfortable results of your need for speed to get home to eat leftovers
... Good Grief!
Just to clarify a few things... I had gone
out in day light, left my outside lights ON, and in my travels had been a
meeting, then sold a bunch of my books,
acquired groceries, and cat foods, plus a gift of food in
a to go box. So I foolishly had my arms full with purse, cat food, to go
food and groceries when I took flight in the dark (island wide power outage). As
usual, I planned to share my to-go food with my kitties who love most any kind
of meat. Since much of it was spilled out on the driveway, after my crash
landing, they dined al fresco. Or
as they innocently put it to me "We cleaned up the mess in the driveway for
you..." Such good cats to have around...
We're rooting for your speedy recovery - in time
for your birthday [5-
oh?]
Mermaid tails are hard to walk on so don't
be too hard on yourself!
San Francisco Fan
I just want to make it ALIVE to my birthday on Saturday the 11th! Thank you for your note.
I shudda remained a mermaid near the water and stayed safe. It's only when
mermaids get too far from the ocean, they grow legs and knees.
That flight down the hill sure didn't sound like
fun! I think you need a few solar powered yard lights that'll light your
way despite what happens to the elek-trickity! I'll see what I can find
around here, send a package down. Any other necessities on your
list?
Drew
Well let's see, someone suggested knee pads and bubble wrap... 
Are any of your books and calendars in the local
stores yet?
joanne
Serendipity Book Shop on Main Street in Road Town
Tortola
Other Places:
In Vieques, Puerto Rico, at the Museum Gift
Shop at the Vieques Conservation & Historical Trust
Mail Order through Amazon
(ships worldwide)
Wholesale orders can be obtained by contacting my email address
(see top) or BookSurge.Com
I am waiting on another shipment of books, to
hopefully spread them out to more locations and islands. Custom ziploc baggies
are on the way too, so that the book will be sold to survive dinghy trips
to the boat and protect it from our erratic rain showers or for neater packing
in a suit case home.
Spring
Regatta Underway March 30 to April 5All At Sea - Saint Thomas,US Virgin Islands,U.S. Virgin
Islands
The BVI Spring Regatta (jointly owned by the Royal
BVI Yacht Club and the BVI Chamber of Commerce and Hotel
Association) celebrates its 38th anniversary ...
"Sip and
Stay" at Peter IslandGadling - Santa
Monice,CA,USA
But, when you consider that this gets you a night at the
Peter Island Resort & Spa – on the largest private island in the British
Virgin Islands – your ...
Tortola's
Christmas Presents to HaitiAll At Sea
- Saint Thomas,US Virgin Islands,U.S. Virgin Islands
Through their
international network, the Rotary Club of Tortola established a
partnership with the local Haitian Rotary in Les Cayes to ensure funds and
...
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- Winds Day
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2009 12:41:25 EDT
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Today is a grogeous day with promises of drier weathre for the rest of the
regatta and incredibly the skies have returned to that famous Caribbean blues.
Trellis Bay, Beef Island, British Virgin Islands
I read with interest, the short article " Surviving
Hurricane Hugo Aboard a Yacht in the Caribbean" and anyone who is even
remotely thinking of staying aboard their boat or yacht during a hurricane,
should read this article. This article will change your mind and you will want
to stay ashore in a firm concrete building.
It seems all the Nanny Cay webcams are down, so not
much to watch the races with. The bar cam is working
and my friend recently timed her husband as being there for three hours in the
day, when he said he was at work. Oops! Life in the islands.
MANY of you have written about my crash landing, and I owe you
all a big thanks for your concern, I will answer all soon. I am recuperating,
incredibly weak and a bit cranky from the pain. I can feel my skin
trying to grow back whenever I flex my knees *ouch*.  It seems much of my day
is whisked away, cleaning wounds, nursing them, unbandaging, rebandaging,
sleeping and day dreaming of all the things I would rather be doing, like
working and playing.
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- Two's Day
|
- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2009 10:41:02 EDT
|
So much for the dry weather the pros predicted, it's been raining off and
on since daybreak.
I had one solid wet kitty in my bed, waking me up, to dry him off. I ended up
rubbing him dry with the edge of my blankie, also his favorite, as he has
been ensconced in it since I got up.
I was going to have coffee and watch the beginning of a certain movie for
the 4th time, (while rubbing kitty's belly). I've seen the middle 3
times, but not the beginning nor the end. Right when it started, and the coffee
was on, one neighbor fired up his cement mixer, which needs oiling and needs a
new muffler, so the sound was deafening. I switched to closed captioning.
Then somewhere else, there started a ruckus of pile driving going on, I
don't know where yet, but it reverberates across the hills and my walls. So off
with the TV and out of bed and to a super early start with work.
It's 81 degrees but with the brisk winds, feels much cooler. Looks to me
like scattered showers are the norm for the next few hours. The racers can enjoy
fresh water showers to cool them down from the hard work of racing their boats.
A few days ago...
Looking North
Tortola, foreground left, Guana Island in background, Beef
Island on right
Warm and RAINY
Regards,
DearMissMermaid.com
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- Sailing
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:41:24 EDT
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Well it's a wonderful day in paradise. At daybreak we had super duper heavy
dew, as in dark clouds, rains and winds. Now we are dry, with cerulean skies and
moderate winds.
A great way to kick off the Spring
Regatta. Which don't forget to check out the local BVI
webcams, you might even catch some of the regatta live and some of
the evening parties next weekend.
We are supposed to have perfect sailing weather this week, what more could
you ask for? A great day at the beach? We have that too!
A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!
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- Sun Daze
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Sun, 29 Mar 2009 21:41:31 EDT
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We are expecting beautiful weather for the next few days, and that will be
perfect for the Spring Regatta opening tomorrow, on Monday.
I'm still alive, and getting very little done, but tomorrow I hope to
hobble in earnest back to work.
Elec-tricky...
I hope these are "dead" wires, but I didn't touch to find
out!
Another
Driver Slams into Utility Pole (I think we are having a secret
competition now! Wait until you see the picture of where the car ended up and
just how fast was that clown driving?)
Platinum News Online - Tortola,British Virgin
Islands
Police, Fire and Rescue, ambulance and a crew from the
BVI Electricity Corporation promptly responded to the scene of the
accident. ...
A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!
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- Picture Postcard Perfect and bad landings
|
- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Sat, 28 Mar 2009 17:22:57 EDT
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Gorgeous weather today, yesterday and for the next few days. Just perfect
for the opening, Monday, for the Spring Regatta at Nanny Cay on Tortola in
the BVI.
Nights are cooler and this should continue for at least another week, which
is wonderful.
A couple watches the sunset over the Sea
The small mountain is named Sugar Loaf
This could be YOU, Come on down!
I skipped a few days writing, I had a big boo-boo and my body be
mashed up. I was carrying a bunch of stuff from my heap of a jeep and walking
down a steep hill covered in rocks and concrete, in the dark. I had left
my outdoor lights on earlier, in anticipation of coming home after sunset, but,
we had another island wide power outage that evening *sigh*.
I thought I was being ever so careful, but the next thing I know, my
packages and I went flying, but oops, we can't fly! After that ever
so brief flight, I landed rather hard, sliding head first,
downhill, leaving a trail of skin, blood and guts, behind on the
rocks. (OK it wasn't really guts, it was my to-go food box scattering it's
contents.)
Apparently my flying skills are sadly lacking and this short
lived attempt at flight ended in a sudden hard crash landing;
minus the landing gear. On the rocks, I laid there in
extreme pain, wondering who I was and what was I doing. I prayed nothing
was broken, despite the extreme pain. I just laid there for a little while,
oddly enough, wishing it would rain.
Finally I struggled up and made it to my front door. As I stood there
fumbling for a key, the lights miraculously came on. A tad late, thank you
very much.
So, I guess any flight you can walk away from is a good
flight and I am ever so grateful to be alive. I'm trying to make it to my
birthday in 14 days, it's the BIG one.
Be nice if I could arrive there alive...
That night, I exhausted much of my first aid kit, lovingly supplied
by a gentle reader, Denise from Louisiana, who gave me this nice case
of assorted first aid supplies awhile back. At the time I figured "that's
good insurance I won't have any accidents now." I've delved into it
occasionally for this and that, mostly supplying friends in need and a few
minor booboos of my own.
The next morning, I woke up very weak and in extreme pain. Mirror,
mirror on the wall... I looked like I had been chewed up by a shark
and spit out again. Talk about large scale skin loss ...(OK, I
won't!)
I called my neighbor who had to drive to town to drop off her kids, and she
brought back reinforcements, such as more antibiotic cream, and more jumbo
bandages. By now I had resurrected the quad cane from the bowels of
the closet and was hobbling around, still in a bit of shock.
I've been exhausted, in and out of my bunk, for 2 days now, and not getting
much else done except excessive day dreaming. (It takes the pain
away...)
I think I won't be trying to fly again; at least not without the
aid of a plane, a pilot and landing gear.
A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!
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- Mini Hurricanes and Surfing Cats
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:25:55 EDT
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It was like a mini hurricane last night! I was freezing and got up to
turn off the fan, but it was already off! My comforter was hanging out
side to dry, (under cover) so it was just me and my hand woven blankie to battle
the elements. I washed my comforter before sunset, and put it out to dry, then
fell asleep before fetching it again. late in the night the winds were
gusting and almost howling with rains to boot. Temperature plummted to 75, and I
haven't seen that in awhile at sea level. Even at 77, I have warm fuzzy slippers
on my feet.
The prevailing northeast winds will increase to 15 to 20 knots throughout
day ... with gusty winds to near 30 knots possible especially along
coastal areas and in higher elevations, accompanying the shower
activity. Isolated to scattered afternoon showers area possible.
A low pressure system located well north of the local area is producing
large long period northerly swells. These swells will probably arrive to the
local area late today and may peak
tomorrow afternoon. Therefore dangerous
surf conditions are expected to begin today lasting through the weekend.
For swimmers and small boats, exercise extreme caution, and for the
surfers, well Surf's up!
Speaking of surfers...
I woke up to muddy kitty skid tracks throughout the house. Somebody with 4
wittle wet muddy paws, discovered the art of skating around the tiled floors
with wet paws. As a result, not only are there numerous wet foot print tracks,
but lots of evidence of kitty skating and surfing. It looks like somebody
converted my home to a kitty skating rink over night. Throughout the
living room are numerous long paw print tracks where somebody was running
with wet paws, then sliding and skating around. From the looks of my floors,
somebody or several somebody's had great fun skating and surfing all over
the house throughout the numerous rain showers of the night.
Whether the rain blew in on the floors while I slept and they discovered
this pastime or they ran outside to wet their feet and back in again to surf, I
am not sure. I just know that 3 lazy cats are all sleeping soundly this
morning, and no one is 'fessing up. I guess *sigh* it means
*sigh* I have to vacuum and mop again.
Cats are amazing and the things they think up to amuse themselves, are
astounding, especially when you are sleeping and thinking your home is safe.
Ha!
Now, I could seek revenge, they HATE my hepa filter vacuum cleaner. They
run from it in mock terror and give me disgusting looks as I push it around and
they flee for the outdoors. So I could be real mean and start it up NOW, as they
all lay peacefully sleeping...*tee hee hee*
BUSTED AGAIN!
RE: The Speed of Cats
Most of the mermaids I know are much bettor sailors than
mathematicians. I think it would be 5 miles away but here in the north we run a
little faster because it seems like for most of the year we are freezing our
furry little butts off. Plus you guys run on island time. big difference,
huh.
This fur covered note, signed by a pawprint was from Bastian, who
included his pic:
YES, Bastian, you are so right, if cats run 30mph and it
took mine 10 minutes to get home, then he was 5 miles away, not 10.
Warm and Sunny Regards,
DearMissMermaid.com
Check out Dear Miss Mermaid's New
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- Hump Day (Wednesday!)
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:36:12 EDT
|
The
Spring Regatta starts next Monday and runs through the following weekend.
Some dark clouds are hanging about today and it's a tad muggy, but that could be
just me feeling muggy. I slow cooked dry beans on the gas stove and for some
silly reason, Caribbean homes rarely come with stove ventilation. So
*whew* probably just me feeling muggy from the lack of stove ventilation.
The nights are still nice and chilly here, I love to wrap up in my blankie
and get a cat to cuddle with me. Actually my hands get cold, and I live to wrap
them around the cat's belly, cat's burn at a higher temperature than humans.
They can also out run us at 30 miles per hour! Cats also have better
hearing than even dogs.
So let's see, if I call the cat and it takes him 10 minutes to get home,
does that mean he was 10 miles away?
Shhhhhhhh, I'm sleepy after that long run home...
Great Deals on Dell 15" Laptops - Starting at $479
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- Gorgeous!
|
- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:21:17 EDT
|
All is well on the home front, scattered clouds, chance of scattered
showers, temps from 78-81 F degrees depending on whether you are in the
mountains or at sea level. NO more snow predicted for this area for the rest of
2009, so *whew* glad we escaped snow again!
Trellis Bay Anchorage, Beef Island
Back in the dark ages, when I lived ashore, far from the ocean,
I grew legs, as Mermaids, do, if they get too far from the sea, I worked in an
office. I was lucky that I always had a window to the outside world, except
once, for about a year, I had a windowless office, and it was hugely depressing.
Luckily the rest of my career I had at least one window, and was
actually upgraded to an office with two windows, for many years, for which I was
immensely grateful. My blinds were always open to the fullest to take in
the sunshine or rain, I had to be able to see outside.
Fortunately, I escaped working in offices, about the time
windowless cubicles because all the rage. I would have probably slit my throat,
had I been forced to work years in a windowless cubicle.
In walking around Road Town, I notice the buildings are often
built with plenty of windows to take in the grand views which often look out
towards the ocean. But, alas, I am amazed, how quickly folks in the BVI
cover up their windows and never look out of them. This puzzles me completely.
Most folks stuck somewhere in the world with windowless cubicle, would do most
anything to have an office with windows,particularly with the fantastic views we
have here, rather than a cubicle with none, but not here in the BVI. Folks
hide behind their drawn curtains, or blinds, set to the maximum privacy and
never look out the windows. Someone told me the workers don't want to be "seen
working".
I don't get it. Some things, I just never understand, it's a
mystery to me!
A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!
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- Forgot the pic!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:49:21 EDT
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- Sun Daze
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Sun, 22 Mar 2009 13:07:42 EDT
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Internet is flaky, here one minute, gone the next. Well, that's life in the
islands, a bit flaky!
The skies are overcast again, I guess those beautiful blues just weren't
going to last. We could have stormy weather tomorrow, but we hope not. A high
surf advisory is in effect, this doesn't mean the surfing will be great, until
the winds turns back northerly, but beware of rip tides and currents that can
sweep you off shore, if you aren't diligent. A surface trough is expected
to head our way and dumps catered showers on us. Well, um scattered
showers!
WASHED UP IN A BOTTLE ON THE SEASHORE:
Just wanted to say hi and stay in touch before our visit in April/May.
We've been enjoying the pictures that you post -the recent one of Beef Island
has really gotten me in the mood.
Are traveler's checks widely accepted in the BVI? I'm kind of undecided
on the best way to pay for dinners and stuff while we're there. I imagine that
credit cards work fine, but I'd like not to come home to a big balance, if
possible. Yeah, right.
One other off-the-wall question. Are you familiar with Mrs. Scatliffe's
restaurant located "in Carrot Bay on the second floor of a yellow and white
building across from the Primary School"? I have been intrigued by her
advertisement in the BVI Welcome magazine for years! Her sign alone is worth a
stop.
Richard & Maggie
Thank you for your note in a bottle! Yes, Travelers Checks are widely
accepted. Just remember to hide the proof of purchase separate, in case you lose
them and need replacement, but that rarely happens. Folks have been known
to go snorkeling with their wallets and that can cause a mess too.
Credit Cards are accepted but not every where and many places have a $25
minimum, which can be annoying, since folks from the USA are used to being able
to charge everything from ten cents on up!
Some banks will freeze your card the first time you try to make an overseas
charge, so you may want to call your bank now and notify them of your dates of
travel and that you your credit card will be with you and you'd appreciate not
having the embarrassment of being told to "call your bank" the first time you
make an overseas charge. Now lately, VISA has been imposing a 1% charge on
overseas charges, and this of course annoys me, as I use my credit card locally
to pay my monthly bills, due to the super slow mail service here. The bills
never reach me in time. I have no idea how or why it takes 3-6 weeks for an
envelope to travel 7 miles to my neighborhood post office. But I just got
my local December phone bills, so I am still clueless how the local
mail works.
A friend of mine was in the boat yard for a week, and at that time there
was no bank machine nearby and he was on a budget but had planned to use his
card to purchase his meals. So he went to pay for breakfast and it was under $15
and they refused his credit card charge unless he wanted to spend $10 more on
breakfast.
He called me, as the taxi fare was $25 to the nearest bank machine and he
had little cash on him. I said, oh well, the manager of the restaurant is a
friend of mine, lets' see if she can work out an exception for you, explain how
long you are in the yard and that you want meals and drinks charged to your
credit card for a few days. Well, luckily, my manager friend is the "can do"
type so she set him up a house charge, so he could breeze in and out for food
and drinks, and when his boat yard stay was over, she would charge his credit
card for all his purchases at once.
Now that is small town hospitality!
As for travelers checks, before you spend them, ask them if they want the
payee left blank or filled out. Some businesses pass the travelers checks onto
their suppliers and some deposit them. Some folks want to "cash" their travelers
checks and no one cashes them. You buy something, then you pay with your
travelers check and get your change back in cash.
Luckily our bank machines have now expanded outside of Road Town. It took
YEARS (decades actually!) for our bankers to figure out that not everyone
comes to Road Town on a regular basis and perhaps other parts of the island
would enjoy bank machines. That doesn't mean they WORK when you get there.
But bank machines are now at West End on the Frenchman's Cay side of Sopers
Hole, near
Pussers, at Cane Garden Bay both at Myett's
and at Bobby's
Market.
Nanny
Cay Marina now has one at their taxi stand, a nice shady place with seats
where you can meet interesting folks, besides do your banking. Machines are all
over Road Town too.
There aren't bank machines on the out islands, other than Virgin
Gorda, in Spanish Town. There might be machines in East End, Tortola and
Beef Island, but I don't know where they are, if they exist, perhaps another
reader will enlighten me. If you are using your credit cards at the
machines, make sure you know your PIN and also some machines are now charging a
fee for using them, sad but true.
If all else fails, you can go in a bank downtown and get a credit card
advance, but that will more than likely take hours as our banking is super slow
(like the post office).
So basically, you need a stack of cash, travelers checks and credit cards.
I also recommend if you have more than one credit card, to only take one with
you at a time, and leave the spares hidden in your room or villa or in the safe
with your passports and tickets etc. Here again, if you lose one, you have a
spare. Some banks like USAA.com will issue cards by Fed Ex if you are in
trouble, but others will not.
If you have any leftover travelers checks at the end of your trip, you can
make them payable to your credit card company and mail them off, or you can
deposit them into your bank account. Some folks save them for their "next trip"
but if your next trip is over 90 days away, I don't recommend this. Also, you
can spend travelers checks in your home town! Many folks seem blissfully
unaware of this.
As for Mrs.
Scatliffe's Restaurant, as far as I know she is still in business by
reservation only. Sometimes you are treated to live entertainment and singing. I
believe she only accepts cash and perhaps travelers checks. Ask her when you
make reservations. I personally have not been there, but many of my friends and
readers have, and they report a delightful time with heavenly food. She is
located on the eastern end of Carrot Bay.
Carrot Bay is a delightful old time seaside fishing village. The
village is friendly, with many folks hanging about the streets. So drive
carefully. Many don't own cars, and when on my way to Carrot Bay, it seems I
always find somebody hitchhiking there and I give them a lift.
I don't believe she serves spirits, but you can stop at Cruzins Bar, or one of the nearby bars, before or
after for drinks. Cruzins has the widest selection in Carrot Bay including a
huge exotic beer menu.
AND YET ANOTHER FLOATER TURNED UP IN REGARDS TO MY FRIEND WHO
RECEIVED CASES OF SPAM INSTEAD OF YAMS:
Gosh Miss Mermaid, your friend must have
been on one of the Polynesian Islands to get that many cases of Spam.
I remember the first time I saw fried Spam on the
breakfast bar, my opinion of that dish is still yuck. You will see why spam is
the national dish over there in the link I am attaching.
You still have
plenty of time to make it to the Spam Jam Waikiki for 2009.
Here is the link.
http://www.spamjamhawaii.com/
Regards,
Jim K
(Floating along in a KY whiskey bottle)
Well, thank you for this info! Thankfully, somebody
somewhere, loves Spam food. It was originally called Hormel Spiced Ham, and
through a contest, the name SPAM was entered, and the rest is legendary history.
It was the first canned meat, that required no refrigeration, to hit the
market, so it was considered a miracle food. Whoever thought up the
new Spam name was rewarded with $100, a substantial sum of money in
1937. Spam has been the staple diet through many wars and helped
balance diets for many, living without refrigeration.
A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!
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- Saturday!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Sat, 21 Mar 2009 19:25:20 EDT
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Weather is wonderful, giving us a well deserved reputation. I haven't
written much lately as my email program has been fighting with me. Sunday
is predicted to be a gorgeous day where as Monday is supposed to bring rains and
possible storming, but thankfully, no snow.
Lately we've had lots of electricity, not sure why, but I am ever so
grateful. Ever since I bought more gas, well we haven't had anymore outages. My
internet comes and goes, but hasn't been down for long periods like before, so
all in all things are looking up I guess.
Life is funny! Our Annual "Dark and Stormy" casual race to Anegada
over Commonwealth's 3 day weekend was canceled because the weather was, um, Dark
and Stormy! Now that is hilarious but all in all, I guess it saved many
boat owners from equipment damage and boat malfunction.
I stopped by the wholesale place the other day to buy a mountain of cat
food. Those boyz love Fancy Feast cans as well as the dry stuff. Spoiled little
fur babies! I was looking for a shopping cart. Finally found one.
Not that it's much help, the heavy cases of canned cat food are upstairs. I feel
like a pack mule, carefully coming down those stairs with stacks of cat food
cases on my hips. There is an elevator, but I happen to know the repair man
lives in Puerto Rico, so I am not taking my chances, there is always something
wrong with the elevator and I would rather not be in it, when it decides to
break. Besides, it takes a very long time to traverse the floor. I know,
I've tried sending my cart up in it, then taking the stairs and meeting my cart
at the top floor, but something always goes wrong. The cart arrives 10 minutes
after I do. Where does it go in there interim? Anegada?
Later, when I was leaving the store, pushing my cart out to my heap, I
passed a woman who was at the entrance looking bewildered and
longingly at my cart. I told her the shopping carts were way over there by the
steps, near the Exit doors. We both look at the ramp, near the entrance
doors, far away from the carts and laugh. I said "You would think the
cartss would be close to the ramp and the Entrance not by the steps at the
Exit."
She said "Well, it's Tortola! I guess it made sense to
someone!"
We laughed about it.
Cerulean Skies
Beef Island, Tortola, BVI
By the way, my book "Hurricanes & Hangovers
(and other tall tales and loose lies from the coconut telegraph)
is now available in East End Tortola at
And if you need a nice baseball cap, they have them in every
color of the rainbow, I've never seen such a huge variety of colors
to choose from in caps.
BVI
Spring Regatta Goes High-DefinitionCaribbeanracing.com - USA
Caribbean sunshine, sparkling
seas, great racing and serious partying at this year's famous BVI Spring
Regatta will be captured in glorious high-definition ...
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- 1,000 words
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:31:49 EDT
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- Winds Day
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2009 08:49:01 EDT
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Another great day with beautiful weather, blue skies, moderate trae winds
an don the south side, temperate seas.
beginning May 2, increasing the number of daily San
...
2009
Rolex Regatta Is More Viewer FriendlySt. Thomas Source - St. Thomas,U.S. Virgin
Islands
... to catch up with old friends at the entry desk,
according to Linda Phillips, spokesperson for the BVI Spring Regatta, the
next race following Rolex. ...
Travel Picks: Top 10 luxury
islandsMSNBC -
USA
Second home to Sir Richard Branson, Necker Island is the
Virgin entrepreneur's very own private island in the heart of the
British Virgin Islands. ...
Travel relief for recently unemployed
News 10 Now - Syracuse,NY,USA
In the British Virgin
Islands, Peter Island Resort and Spa has a Safety Net travel policy that
gives you a full year to re-book and guarantees the rate for
...
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- St Patricks Day (think green!)
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:35:43 EDT
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Beautiful day today. Yesterday we had a mini
hurricane! Big blustery squalls coming in one right after another. It was
chilly too!
Today is gorgeous and a normal BVI day. Yee
haw! Yahoo! Yabadabadoo!
The rest of the week should be nice and dry with an off chance of shallow rain here and
there, though our sky is nearly cloudless.
Watch out what you order for! (Wish
for?)
I ordered groceries to be delivered. I usually don't
eat much meat, but I had this intense craving for a good old fashioned crockpot
roast. Mermaids have a tendency to be severely anemic, if they aren't
careful. So I wanted a nice rump roast, which is typically 2-3
pounds, and put it in the bottom of the crockpot then smother it in herbs
and garlic followed by a generous splash of Worcestershire
sauce, topped with whole potatoes, baby carrots, onion
halves and shrooms, though this time I had a healthy zucchini, so that went
in too, chopped up into big chunks. I dusted all that with more herbs and a
bit of red wine for good measure. By this time, my 6 quart crockpot is
full, so I then let it slow roast all day long and that evening enjoy the
tastiest tenderest meat and succulent herbal veggies. Of course then there is
the au jus, to douse it all in and what a yummy healthy meal.
Well a few weeks ago when I ordered groceries they were
out of rump roast. Matter of fact they were out of all beef! None.
Nada. So I spent a few weeks on soya mince, plus the usual beans and rice
dishes etc.
So I call up the other day and YEP they got beef and
YEP they got a rump roast for me. So I sent my order in for delivery. That
afternoon a man walks into my kitchen with a big box. I open it up and see it's
only part of the order and he goes out to his truck for more. He comes back with
2 boxes and I said "No, I didn't order THAT much food."
He says, well one box is the meat. "The meat? All
I ordered was a 2-3 pound rump roast!" I open the next box and it's full
of the veggies and the next box is well, half a cow!
I look at the man and say "All I ordered was a 2-3
pound rump roast. NOT half a calf!"
He inspects this slab of meat, which we determine
weighs OVER TWELVE POUNDS! He looks it over and says:
"Well, that cow had one BIG RUMP!"
We laugh.
I ask him if I can slice off 2-3 pounds and send the
rest back and he groans. It's late on a Friday, I'm the last delivery. He
decides either I keep it all or send it all back.
I sigh.
He grins.
I sigh.
I tell him "That will never fit in my crockpot and
besides, WHAT am I going to do with 12 pounds of roast beef?"
"Eat it?" he volunteers.
He looks at my big oval crockpot on the counter and
says "I bet I could stuff all that meat in there for ya!"
Yeah. If he jumps up and down on it and
makes the crockpot twice as tall!
I roll my eyes, sign the bill and let him leave, minus
the cow.
So out with the chopping board, I carve the cow up into
3 more generous roasts and 6 two inch slabs, like mini roasts
or humongous steaks. I dump out the entire freezer, place the cow, minus
one rump roast, into the freezer, then begin to fit the rest of the stuff around
it, some wouldn't fit and had to be kept out, like all my assorted nuts I
generally cook with as supplements when NOT eating meat and so on.
Later on I am laughing on the phone with a friend of
mine about this cow, and she says well one Thanksgiving she was working in a far
flung restaurant and she ordered up six cases of YAMS. Imagine her horror
when on the eve of Thanksgiving, they deliver to her six CASES of...........
SPAM!!!
Life in the islands.
You gotta love it. You gotta laugh. I was at least, so GRATEFUL, that I
didn't have six cases of Spam to deal with. I am not a Spam person at all.
Sorry, you Spam lovers, but I am not. (I'm not sure what is in Spam and not sure
I want to know!) I do know folks who swear by it (and others that swear at
it!).
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- Rainy days and Mondays...
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:38:36 EDT
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We got both here! More later!
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- Sunday? Haze Day?
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Sun, 15 Mar 2009 15:34:07 EDT
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The morning started off really hazy, but it's cleared up some now. White
caps dot the Sir Francis Drake Channel, the watery highway down the chain of
British Virgin Islands. The winds are moderate. It's back up to 81 degrees but
feels really nice and cool, with the tradewinds blowing by.
Well before I got this out, the haze appeared again, but it turned out to
be marching rains and now we are severely overcast with dripping rains. So much
for the "dry" weekend predicted. *********
"A Friday Sail, Will Always Fail" is often heard amongst
fishermen and sailors alike.
Some people are unfazed about superstitions, such as never leave port on
Friday, and furthermore Friday the 13th, which is more ominous because of the
traditionally unlucky 13. I wasn't aware of 13 being an unlucky number until my
small hometown got their first high rise. It was 25 floors, the tallest building
in the state and more than double our ancient 10 and 12 story
buildings, the town boasted.
My little school class, which was held downtown, in a small church, several
blocks from the high rise, was one day was treated to a tour of this new
building. Of course the highlight was to ride the elevator to the top floor
and check out the views of our hometown. On the elevator, we immediately noticed
there was no button for the 13th floor, and interestingly enough, the high
rise went up to the 26th floor, which was really the 25th floor. Naturally our
teacher spent the rest of the day trying to explain why the 13th floor
didn't exist, to a bunch of 7 year olds who couldn't fathom why 13 was
omitted. We thought the architects had simply made a huge
mistake!
Chris of Nevis, is apparently undaunted by "never leave port on a Friday"
and apparently the 13th, doesn't faze him either. He sent me some entertaining
links, to his adventures of first launching a newly refurbished Cape
Dory boat on Friday, February the 13th, which didn't go well at all. Matter
of fact, they weren't able to do her maiden voyage that day, due to various
mishaps.
But, undaunted, he managed to take the maiden voyage on March 13th, also a
Friday. Luckily he and his crew survived and made it back to port alive and
well, if not a tad "skeered" as he put it in his note to me.
It's a great story, with pictures, you can read at
For more fun and mayhem, and trivia:
In the 18th or 19th century, the British Navy decided to dispel the
myth that Friday was unsafe to leave port. They built a new ship, laying her
keel on a Friday, launching her on a Friday, choosing her crew on a Friday,
hiring a captain named James Friday and finally set sail on a Friday. All went
very well.
Except the ship and crew were never seen again.
Whether this is folklore or an embarrassing moment in history, you can
read more about it in:
**********
In
the field of opportunity, it's plowing time again - Neil
Young
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- Friday the 13th, again this year!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:56:13 EDT
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Another glorious day in paradise with a bit of overcast or haze, hard to
tell which. 70 degrees, moderate winds, no snow predicted, no storms, just fair
weather sailing. The north shore waters may be rough though, so pay attention to
rip currents and be careful surfing. Not a good
weekend for beginners, but those experienced will get to test their skills.
It's Friday the 13th again!
I'm not really superstitious. But I am planning to stay put all day and
take my chances on good luck. Besides, I discovered the cats don't do laundry,
and therefore it has piled up something awful. At least 2-3-4 loads, and
oops!
I have to hang it out, which is really kinda nice. It smells great
afterwards, in that it doesn't smell at all. I don't like perfumed products in
my wash stuff, I like to smell like a mermaid and not a bottle of softener.
Besides, I use a cup of plain white vinegar for softening my clothes. It does
wonders.
Speaking of food, I am having Bobby's Market deliver
my groceries for free today. Saves time and money and available anywhere on
Tortola.
Recently I dined at The
Pub in Road Town on a Saturday night. I've had their lunches often, the
lunch chef is excellent. So I was wondering what evening would be like and
had company who had never been to Tortola before. We were able to sit by the
water and dinner was excellent, the service friendly and speedy. So an A+ to the
Pub!
I've been designing some mini magnet art for refrigerator
or file cabinet or anything magnetic. Take a peek, even though the site
isn't finished, and let me know what you think of this idea. Does it look better
with a description on it (BVI etc.) or just plain?
all links are clickable (I
hope!)
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- Thursday already!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2009 11:09:03 EDT
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We have beautiful spring like weather here, nice and cool at night, warm in
the day but not hot. Just purr-fect, as my cats would say.
Sorry about skipping a few days, had some issues to deal with and well,
time slips away so easily in the islands, especially if you don't wear a clock
or calendar. My cell phone does tell me the time and date, so that's kind of
handy, if I really want to know.
By the way, we do NOT change time here. We are Atlantic Standard time, year
round. So in the spring/summer we are the same as Eastern Daylight time, but in
the fall/winter we are an hour later.
I did manage to make a cameo appearance at the fool moon party. It started
out so slow with few people, I began to wonder if the economy was in trouble
here. I was meeting friends from off-island and couldn't find them, so I took
one of the very few available seats, and figured they would pass by eventually
if I sent out my cosmic rays to attract them. I started talking to a stranger
who was sitting nearby and found out we were from the same place. A few
minutes later, who wonders by, but my friends.
I parked far away so I could slip out when I was ready. My dang reverse
lights work randomly and it's so annoying. I put it in gear and the reverse
lights shine brightly, then as soon as I ease off the clutch to back up, they go
OFF plunging me into pinky darkness. If I stop, they come on again.
Grrrr... So I had to back out of my parking spot at a snail's pace,
figuring less chance of a dent, if I am creeping by at an inch a minute...
It's the same bad mechanic who couldn't fix my generator but charged me a
fortune to fix my jeep and everything he fixed broke within a few short weeks,
including all the wiring he fixed. Matter of fact, NOTHING he did stayed fixed.
So at some point, I will go to a new mechanic with the same long list of tiny
annoying things to fix.
My friend finally replaced my broken back windshield with promises of
replacing the broken front one soon and then the dent and then I will get a
mechanic to fix the other stuff, and I will be good as new again. The broken
windshields and dent, weren't my fault, and the friend didn't have proper
insurance, so I am being immensely patient while they cough up cash here
and there to make it right again. *sigh*
The golden rule: Do unto others, as you would have them do unto
you...
I know what it's like when t'ings are tough and people giving you even more
grief, that you don't want, don't need and so on. Sometimes we all need LESS
STRESS and more compassion. Anything I can do to promote that, well, in the end
it all works out fine.
Mostly.
Sometimes.
Maybe you just gotta live like a cat, they always act cool and confident
and very little ever bothers them.
Do I look stressed? *wink* *wink*
I know those goofy teeth make me look oh so
ferocious...
Actually, when this cat was rescued from the wilds, he fit
in the palm of my hand and was a hissing, spitting, biting, clawing machine that
was terrified of people and not scared to show it either. I had to handle him
with welder's gloves for months, he was such a brat. Now he would never
dare pull a claw on anyone or anything except to run up a tree when it suits
him. Now he's just one spoiled baby who loves belly rubs, tuna and the Judge
Judy show. Yep, he shows up everyday, right on time, to watch Judge Judy
and get a belly rub. If the TV is off, he cries and cries until somebody turns
it on for him. Then he flops down in front of it. Who is training who
here? One wonders...
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- Fool Moon Night!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:27:04 EDT
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I write a nice long newsy email today, and the computer ate it right when I
wanted to send it out.
*burp*
I'll try again tomorrow.
Plan your week carefully, Friday is the 13th again.
70 degrees at 825pm (we do NOT change our time for daylight saving).
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- Sunday
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Sun, 8 Mar 2009 17:31:35 EDT
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Things have dried up a good bit, the blustery winds were busy this morning,
but have subsided. A cloudy morning turned into a beautiful sun shiny day.
I didn't make out on the water, sad to say, but soon come!
But here's what I found UNDER the water!
I did make a cameo appearance at the Arts and Crafts Festival in Trellis
Bay. It will move to Virgin Gorda on Monday for the day, then come back to
Trellis Bay for the full moon party on Tuesday.
Since mermaids, grow feet if they get too far from water, I saw my favorite
craftsman, the shoemaker! He gave me a BIG hug, cause he knows I am
obsessed with his leather sandals. I managed to buy another pair, I only had
money for one pair, but I picked out several and finally settled on one pair.
The stuff he makes, you will never find in any stores, he has his own unique
designs that I am infatuated with. Being that he makes his shoes with leather
and the soles are rubber, there is a break-in period. I wear mine around the
house for an hour or so, then the next day for an hour or so. Then I am good to
go walking miles and miles! After the break-in, they fit like a
glove. There is nothing like leather shoes that mold to your feet.
Ahhhhhhhh
Check all of your email inboxes from anywhere on the web. Try the new Email Toolbar now!
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- Blustery!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Sat, 7 Mar 2009 15:27:20 EST
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A very blustery day in the islands! The winds have shot through
here like scared goblins at Halloween. My table umbrella flew out to the street
and it was quite the comedy trying to track is down again, as it kept dancing
out of arm's reach.
The temperature hasn't broken 80 today, amazing. Funny how it drops a few
degrees and we get cold! I was wrapped up twice in my blankie, as it was
around 72 in the wee hours of the morning.
After a few days of wetness, we should have dry weather for awhile.
Whew! It's supposed to be a bit sloppy tomorrow, but I hope to get out on
the water anyhow, work on my mermaid tan.
Rolled up on the Beach in a Blueberry Jam jar from Minnesota:
Dear Miss Mermaid,
I see that this year's spring regatta is March
30- April 5. The same time that we will be in Tortola, we have missed it
every year so it's exciting to think that we will be able to see the
different race events. I'm wondering what there is to do on Tortola during
the regatta. Is there a central place that we should plan on checking
out? Are there events going on in Tortola for the
Regatta? Thanks! Hoping to see some large Oysters
race!!!
There will be a village with food booths and live entertainment in the
evenings. The food is cash only but the drinks, whether sodas or spirits are
bought with tickets. You go to the ticket booth and get enough for your liquids,
then you get your food (with cash) from the vendors. It's good stuff,
sponsored by various restaurants. It's a pretty cool party, lots of
families and sailors. You generally run into all sorts of people you know and
the latest new babies.
I remember last year, this family brought their toddler, their family dog
and their newborn in his brand new stroller. Despite the music and noisy crowd,
the baby was sleeping but the toddler was forever escaping from the
parent's reach, while they were trying to chat with some other adults. So they
were chasing the toddler down every few minutes. The family
dog sat up tall, right next to the baby in the stroller, looking
extremely worried. She would watch the sleeping baby, then rotate her head
around, watching the crowd and looking for the rest of the family, then go back
to intently watching the baby. She wasn't on a leash, but she obviously
felt like the official babysitter.
As strangers leaned over to admire the new baby, the
dog's forehead would wrinkle up worriedly and she would inch closer
to the stroller watching the baby and the stranger nervously, as if she was
guarding her own newborn pups. Finally the parents rounded up the toddler, had
him by the hand, and began pushing the stroller towards some food booths,
the dog carefully walked right next to the stroller, maybe an inch away,
alternately watching the newborn and watching the crowd. If the parents stopped
and the stroller came to a halt, she sat down right next to the stroller and
continued intently guarding the baby.
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- Friday
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Fri, 6 Mar 2009 13:25:25 EST
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The morning broke with a mini storm of rain and winds. Kitties curled up
around me, declining a free outdoor bath. It was 77 degrees and hasn't warmed up
much since. It feels good to be cold for a change. A thick cloud cover dots the
area, but should move out by tomorrow.
The Arts and Crafts Festival opens Friday (today) in Trellis bay and runs
through the Holiday weekend. Yep, Monday is another local holiday!
Two weeks in a row of Monday holidays, gets rid of the ho-hum March
doldrums.
I hope to go boating this weekend and get some new pictures. Lately I've
been photographing food for a cookbook. Now that's real exciting...
De
Loose Mongoose Cross CountryPlatinum
News Online - Tortola,British Virgin Islands
The first race of the
2009 BVI Mountain Bike Club Championships takes place Sunday 8th March.
De Loose Mongoose Cross Country race will start at 8am at
...
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- Rainy Daze
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Thu, 5 Mar 2009 10:40:12 EST
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Thick and cloudy. Can't see much beyond maybe 2 miles. Rains come and
go. My little black kitty keeps showering in the rains. He is good
and clean by now.
81 degrees at nearly sea level and about 5-8 degrees cooler in the
mountains, where the low lying clouds have obscurred our peaks. It doesn't feel
like 81 as my feet are cold! Ya know mermaids grow feet if they get too
far away from the ocean.
Internet is off, so no idea when this will go out. Elec-tricky has been on
for awhile, that's kind of nice.
Gosh on a rainy day, I would love to just curl up with a cat and a book or
movie and forget about work, but instead I am pouring coffee down my sleepy body
and trying to get moving today.
Warm and Sunny Regards,
DearMissMermaid.com
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- Wet and messy
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Tue, 3 Mar 2009 11:07:55 EST
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Dark, gloomy, overcast and passing rains today. Of course, it's my fault, I
have errands to do. Normally I would wait for better weather, but one errand
involves a joint effort so I have to coordinate with others, and such is life.
Sometimes you just have to venture out into a little rain!
The power outages no longer bother me, Al's Marine fixed my generator in
short order. I am THRILLED! Al's Marine had to move after the
Port Purcell fire, but he is down the street from Qwomars Drug Store in some
converted shipping containers. Previously I've had rebuilt starters and
alternators done by Al's Marine, so why I didn't think to take my sick generator
to him in the first place, is well, sad on my end.
I had already been robbed by another mechanic, who I shall call BOZO,
and who apparently didn't have a clue what he was doing, despite the fact he has
a shop that randomly opens. To make matters worse, I chased Bozo
around for months trying to get my generator back, as it was never in his shop
but supposedly "upstairs" for safekeeping according to whatever employee was
around at the time. No one ever seemed to have keys to upstairs. One day I
was riding with a friend and saw Bozo at his shop, I got her to slam on brakes,
(yes, I admit, we were in the street, but no one was behind us) I ran back
to grab him and demand my generator right then and there. He had been hiding it
from me for months, and still it was NOT repaired. I was quite miffed but
thrilled to get it back.
Eventually the generator made it to Al's Marine and he did a fantastic job,
it now purrs like tuna fed kitty. And do you know WHAT was wrong with it?
A clogged hose! They replaced the hose and called me to come pick it up
again. Amazing. So, if you see me all dreamy eyed, it's because no matter what
that elec-tricky company is doing, I can keep on working and actually make some
money now and then.
But look at this great pic I snagged, now THAT is the life to live in the
BVI:
I spent 10 years on my sailboat, and it rates pretty high on
my "best times of my life!"
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- Happy Holiday Monday!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Mon, 2 Mar 2009 16:32:30 EST
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It's a holiday in the BVI! Winds are moderate, seas are fairly calm,
surfing is not too good these days, but should improve next week.
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- Saturday Already
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2009 09:33:49 EST
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81 degrees with happy faces on the clouds on my clock. It didn't come with
any instructions, I guess they figured I would figure it out. Best I can tell,
it means cloudy but not rainy. Of course I am one of those people who doesn't
think rain is a bad thing, I happen to like rain. Of course I prefer to be
home when it is raining, preferably in bed with my cats and either a good book
or a good movie.
Elec-tricky woes dot the island, we had three power outages yesterday and
one already this morning. Last night I ran out of gas for my generator, so here
I am getting all dressed up to go out at 9pm in search of gas. I had called
around to find out if other parts of the island might have power, and it turns
out the gas station closest to the Pockwood Pond Elec-tricky corporation was
open and pumping.
Boatie Gossip:
For the Yacht watchers; "Highlander" is Steve Forbes' yacht, "Blue
Guitar" belongs to Eric Clapton, and "Wyntje" belongs to Walter
Cronkite.
For those in a hurry:
It is ironic, that these books teach you in a hurry, how to slow down and
enjoy sailing. My first few years in the Caribbean, I crewed on yachts as paid
crew on busy boats that sailed almost daily. They were all monohulls, so I was
quite used to leisurely traveling at 5-10 knots. In most ports, I could shop
nearby or have food delivered to the boat, so I rarely was in cars. One
day I flew home for a visit, and my brother picked me up at the airport.
He merged into interstate traffic, approaching 50mph when I screamed
"SLOW DOWN! You're scaring me!" I finally had to just close my eyes
and take very deep breaths, while I got used to this newfangled speed all over
again.
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- Fish Fried Day
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:27:50 EST
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BVI Weather is wonderful today. A
typical perfect day in paradise. It's a great morning for the beach as da
current done mash up. (No elec-tricky!)
I've listened to my little Kipor
generator purr for hours while I work, instead of heading to the beach
myself.
Is something wrong with this picture? (Please buy more books,
so I can go to the beach more often!) Har har har...
I can't get on the internet, so I am writing this offline. When it comes
back on, I will cyber-world this to you! Some days I do so without use of
any cords or wires or plugs. I use my laptop on battery to connect by air to the
cell tower to beam out onto the internet. Amazing technology. I wish more wireless,
cordless
technology would abound.
Friday or Fried-day?
Tonight is the Fish Fry in Apple Bay. Jolly Roger is having a band tonight
and tomorrow.
The Friday Fish Fry in Apple Bay is basically a buffet of West Indian foods
set up in warming trays under a tent at the informal community center next to
the banyan tree. They start serving around 4 or 5, pretty early, as they
seem to catch a lot folks on their way home.
Everything is take-away, as there isn't any real seating. Fresh fish
is always on the menu along with assorted other meats and veggies, the vast
majority of which are grown within a half mile radius.
It is possible, to take your food and walk down to the beach and sit on the
stone rock retaining wall, watch the sunset and dine out of your Styrofoam box
with your plastic fork and there's room to set your drink down on the wall next
to you. There's even a garbage can nearby, but it's semi-invisible, half the
folks don't seem to see it and thoughtlessly toss their stuff where
they will. Others, thankfully are conscious of the beauty around us and toss
their refuse in the can.
A farmer once said "all the BVI flat land needs to be set aside for
farming, not buildings. It easier to put a building on the side of a mountain,
with modern technolog, than it is to grow a farm the side of a
mountain. "
Of course terracing would work for farming somewhat, but still that's back
breaking work to set up such a thing and could take years to build, before any
farming commences.
I once managed an old villa on island, where a previous owner had
painstakingly terraced part of the property for a vegetable garden. It was all
hand stacked stone rock walls. It was quite overgrown. I had directed the
gardener to clear the area so we could see what condition the terracing was in.
It turned out to be quite doable, and underneath the overgrowth, the beauty of
the hand stacked terracing showed through.
I was thinking of finding a farmer to come work the area, it looked like
quite a bounty could be grown and we were catching a lot of rain water what with
a new roof and gutters. I was thinking of setting up a composting pile. I
could look at that terracing and envision this huge food garden growing.
Then the unthinkable happened.
I showed up at villa one morning, was headed for the front door with keys
in hand when I slammed on my flip plop brakes. Uncontrollably, my jaw
dropped heavily.
Ahead of me, as I inched forward, very timidly, still in shock, as I
got closer, I could see that the terracing was completely destroyed.
Stone rocks, dirt and plants, scattered everywhere in a huge mess. Huge
ugly tire imprints from a backhoe zigzagged up and down the hill. You could
scarcely tell a beautiful terrace had been there for decades.
Following the trail of destruction, up the steep hill, and I must
admit, fighting back my tears, lead me to a newly installed utility pole
and new overhead wiring.
A major power line ran on the edge of the property. I thought they
were supposed to have their own right-away access. As I found out later,
they did have their own access and it was completely overgrown. So I guess they
just did what was convenient to the crew at hand. They would destroy the entire
terraced area and hope we wouldn't notice.
So, rather than clear than own right away area, to access the poles up the
mountain, they simply drove their heavy duty equipment through our
property, up and across the terracing. The behemoth apparently got stuck many
times, so the operator merely spun out the dirt and painstakingly hand-stacked
stone rock walls, sending it in all directions.
I estimated it might take someone 12 months,or more, of full time
work, to restack the walls and move the dirt back into place. It was just
senseless damage done and virtually zero recourse. Local wages are not cheap by
any means, and the cost of having that type of work redone, was astronomical.
To stack a rock stone wall, without the aid of concrete, is a work of art.
A good artist will stack one to last a lifetime. Those artists are few an and
far between these modern days and that art may be lost to us forever, if
their ongoing work isn't retained as a part of the local culture.
Many BVI roads are lined by stone rock walls, some are hand stacked, many
are stacked with concrete. As they get knocked down by car wrecks and heavy
equipment they are often replaced with rusty metal guard rails.
Where before, a stone rock wall would have been built as a retaining wall
next to roads, it's now poured concrete. Luckily many are being painted as
huge murals. There is a new mural on Zion Hill Road which connects the south
shore to the north shore in West End. I can't figure out how I will ever get a
picture of it, short of hovering nearby in a hot air balloon.
But back to the day of destruction, the utility company had elected on
their own, to come trespassing and destroy the precious terrace, where I
envisioned a Caribbean
garden of tomatoes, okra, pumpkin, squash, cucumbers, pineapples,
potatoes, taro,
and herbs like basil, oregano, thyme, mint and rosemary.
We already had planted around the rest of the place, many
fruit trees and were going to start a banana plantation, as there was some
swampy area that had been filled in and it was just begging to have a grove of
banana trees.
But, it took man and his machine probably an hour to just forever destroy
the beauty of an artists priceless stone rock wall work,and the dream of a
viable terraced
garden for future food for generations to come.
The exquisiteness was robbed and progress had reared an ugly mess,
leaving behind its signature scar.
Today's Quote.
Pray for Peace. Drop seeds, not bombs.
~Dear Miss Mermaid
That reminds me of tear-jerking documentary I once watched on life
after Hurricane
Katrina. The BEST part was this one family that didn't have time
to bemoan their losses. Their home was completely destroyed and in their
ravaged front yard, made barren by the floods, was a teeny tiny travel
trailer donated by the government. The male head of the household was quite
happy and said they only used the trailer for sleeping and the rest of the day
they worked outside. The trailer was too hot to use by day, they had no
electricity.
Piles of sorted rubbish, stuff that use to resemble his home, had been
cleaned up after the hurricane and was spread around his property, more or
less in sorted piles. Then he showed us his pride and joy as the camera
followed him.
On a vast concrete pad where his home or driveway, might have
stood before the tragedy, laid a magic oasis. Anything from his home
and perhaps the neighborhood, that could be recycled into a plant
container, was thriving with overflowing vegetable plants. His smiling young
children chimed in they loved working in the "garden". The man appealed
for people to send
seeds to Katrina victims. He said the garden gave them hope for a
brighter future, a better tomorrow, a usefulness in life while things got
better.
I've often wondered how that family is doing today, and how their garden
fared. From the looks of that exquisite beauty surrounded by destruction, it was
clear, that garden was well loved and heavily doted on. With their
enthusiasm against seemingly overwhelming odds, the family appeared to
be happy, proud and busy.
Life goes on. It is what you make it., for good or for bad.
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- happy Thursday
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2009 09:04:13 EST
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80F degrees at sea level and almost 10 degrees cooler in the mountains. The
sun is out and winds are moderate, seas are fair. My clock shows happy faces on
the clouds! We can expect the rare occasional shower, but the clouds don't
look like the rain type today.
I finally got my generator fixed and I am one happy camper. I got it home,
and it fired up and purred like a well loved kitten. A few hours later, the
power went off for hours, so I had to seriously set things up again.
Well, right when I typed that, the power went out AGAIN!
10:02am!
OK, move generator outside, fire up generator, hook up 100 foot cord, hook
up six-outlet surge protector, plug in computer and other tools of the trade.
OK~whew~ I am back in business.
Tortola's Poker Run is this Saturday 28th February from Cane
Garden Bay beach. Boat registration 9-10am.
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- Ash Wednesday
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2009 08:39:45 EST
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It's truly amazing how quickly we go from darkness to daybreak. At 6am we
were still plunged into almost total darkness, yet by 630, it's complete
daylight with slight overcast. We know the sun is there, even though we
don't see him yet. Birds are chirping in eager anticipation. By 7am, the
cloud cover has already cleared considerably and the sun is definitely up and
happening.
Nothing but fair weather is scheduled for us for awhile. We might get more
cloud cover as the day wears on, but nothing really untoward. Winds are moderate
but nothing to reef about.
Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, observed the
day after Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday). It is for many people a sobering
reminder of the 40-day period of purification and renewal that comes before
Easter, observed by some religions.
New Orleanians live with a profound respect for the naturally-occurring
hurricane – small wonder in a town largely below sea level – but visitors might
sooner associate the city with the fruity hurricane cocktail. Certainly one of
the most visible beverages in the French Quarter, this bright red, rum-based
drink is the de facto emblem for the bar that created it, Pat O’Brien’s, and has
been widely copied around town. Highly potent, the drink has been known to
supercharge a night on the town and brighten up even the most overcast day in
the Quarter.
The story of the drink’s origin holds that, due to difficulties
importing Scotch during World War II, liquor salesmen forced bar owners to buy
up to 50 cases of their much more abundant rum in order to secure a single case
of good whiskey. The barmen at Pat O’Brien’s soon came up with an alluring
recipe to clear through their bulging surplus of rum. When they decided to serve
it up in a tall, jaunty glass shaped like a hurricane lamp, the hurricane
cocktail was born. Today, even the hurricane
glass itself is a souvenir of New Orleans.
Everyone has a different recipe, but this is mine, for a Flaming
Hurricane Cocktail:
Now to make a Flaming Hurricane, you will need all three Cruzan Rums,
Light, Dark and the deadly 151. You need a box of sugar cubes, juices and
grenadine.
First pour a shot of 151 into a shot glass and add the sugar
cube. Now take a very tall glass or hurricane
glass and add some pineapple and orange juice, a splash of grenadine,
light rum and dark rum. No need to stir. Top off with the shot glass of 151 and
the sugar cube, light it on fire and you now have a Flaming Hurricane Cocktail.
Serve with a tall straw to stir and optionally garnish with pineapple, orange,
cherry and the proverbial paper
umbrella.
Warm and Sun Setting Regards,
DearMissMermaid.com
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- HAPPY MARDI GRAS! Fat Tuesday!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2009 10:25:25 EST
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Another great day in paradise. I need to get some more pics out for
you, my camera has been acting as erratic as the internet. It's just life in the
Caribbean, nothing seems to work right, when you want it to.
81 F degrees and the winds started off blustery and breezy today. No need
for air conditioning, I was c-c-c-cold last night. Not sure the cats appreciated
me stashing them close to me so I could share in the warmth of their bodies.
Cats burn at a higher temp than us mere humans. They are good warm fluffy things
to cuddle close, if they allow it. Mine would put up with it for awhile then
sneak off when they thought I was asleep.
For the next week you can expect fair weather with good winds and a few
scattered rains. What more could you ask for? It's like gorgeous spring
weather!
Gov’t
to Add to Criteria for Residence and Belongership (it's tough as
nails already! let's make it harder!)
Platinum News Online - Tortola,British Virgin Islands
He
further explained that “applicants take a 45-minute test on British
society, history and culture.” Details of the Virgin Islands
Sensitisation Course are ...
Click here to download the latest Cruise Ship Schedule (this
gives you an idea when to avoid certain areas, based on the number of ships
in)
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- the internet connected made an appearance!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:19:35 EST
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We've have small brief scattered rains for the past few days. We still have
some thick haze and colorful sunsets because of same. It's nice and cool
at night, but daylight quickly warms things up to breezy tropical fare. Seas are
a brilliant tropical blue on the south shore today.
There's a weird flu going around that causes back aches, sinus trouble, a
sore throat, a raspy voice, a dry hacking cough and lethargy. Twice today on the
phone I've been called "SIR"! Gosh is my voice that bad today?
My internet connection has been mostly down, it comes up to tease me
for a few minutes, then goes down again. Calls to the company produce
the usual "bring your computer in, we'll look at it". It's not my computer, it's
their signal. Very frustrating. I might as well go to the beach.
I should give up trying to make money at a computer, I need a job at the
beach that requires no utilities!
Back in my younger days, I had on a skimpy bathing suit that was several
years old, but I was very fond of it. I was playing Frisbee on a
busy beach with a group of others. Naturally, everyone's eyes followed the
path of the Frisbee to see if it was a good throw and what kind of spectacular
gyrations the catcher might go through to catch it. Some of us were really good
at this and would do silly things like jump up when a low one came,
then catch it between our legs, or jump up catch it, do a 360 spin and
send it sailing back again to another player.
Another trick was to catch it on the tip of your finger and let it spin
there before tossing it under an upraised leg, to another player. A
fast and high throw came at me, so I jumped really high to grab the
Frisbee with both hands overhead. At that precise moment, my top decided
to come completely undone and while I caught the Frisbee overhead with both
hands, my bikini top fell most ungracefully down to the sand.
I remember the strange looks on the others in the game, then the smiles,
then the laughter as I tried to gather up my top and recover myself. That's when
I realized I had literally broken the strings that help my top in
place. One of the players (a true gentleman!) ran towards me,
clutching a big beach towel, and I am ever so grateful for that. By
now, the entire beach load of people were pointing, laughing and clapping. Yes
clapping! Someone shouted "Nice catch!" and someone else chimed in with
"Nice tits!"
I wrapped myself in the proffered towel, I am sure my face was beet red,
this was not a nude beach at all. Fortuitously, there was a nearby boutique that
sold bathing suits and I found myself in there, wrapped in the borrowed towel,
frantically searching for one to purchase.
****************
On another note, entirely different, I am saddened to hear about the riots
and civil unrest in Guadeloupe and Martinique. Apparently they are fed up with
the high cost of living and the low wages and things have escalated into a huge
mess with the island businesses coming to a standstill. It's so sad all around,
as their economy will be hurt by the tourist drop off, who wants to vacation in
a war zone? You can google Guadeloupe Riots for more info.
******************
More recipes from yours truly:
all include easy steps by steps with pictures and resource
links
*******************
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- Cocorah Who?
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2009 13:24:27 EST
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A beautiful day in paradise with bright baby blue skies. We had a brief
rain this morning, enough to wash the roof and put a few drops in the cistern.
Rolled Up On Shore in a Kentucky Whiskey
Bottle:
Enjoyed your story about taking your friend for a ride on the
island and all the screaming from the ride.
Now, I give you one of my stories, my island was Johnston Atoll, 1/2
mile wide, 2 1/2 miles long.
My friend was head of the computer system on the island and therefore
he was issued a truck.to take care of everything, still don't what the taking
care of entailed.
Everyone on the Island ate at a mess hall, called the Coral
Reef Cafe, really nice, but a walk of 1 1/2 mile from where we worked and
lived.
One day there was a new person there from Boston and we offered
him a ride back down island in my friends truck.
When we got to where the truck was parked we all bailed out,
the keys were left in the truck. The Boston boy looked with a puzzled
_expression_ on his face and ask, "Aren't you afraid someone will steal your
truck."
My friend turned, looking around the island, he could see every
inch of the land mass and then jumped up in the truck bed and looked around
again. Old Boston ask what are you looking for, the answer, "a
barge."
"A barge," said old Boston.
"Yep, figure those radical guys from Tonga plan a raid to take
my truck after what you said. Since we are over 900 miles from the nearest
land, I think they will need a barge."
I miss the island life, I earned the name Island Boy out
there.
I have some neat stories about Johnston Atoll, especially ones
about the Polynesians people I encountered out there.
I am one of the CoCoRahs observers who report to their
University of Colorado site.
Jim K
Dear Jim,
Thanks for the book review and thank you for
writing! Your story is hilarious. Then I thought what the heck is a
CoCoRah? Is that like a coconut retriever? Then I looked it up and
by golly, I learn something new every day!
By the way, a coconut retriever is a name for a mixed breed dog that
plays at the beach chasing coconuts.
In January of 2008, a VISAR crew
responded to a rescue call, internally referred to as a “shout” which was
initiated by the mega yacht Leander. ...
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- Thursday Already!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:46:58 EST
|
Another great day in paradise, though it's still overcast and winds are
blustery, it's nice nonetheless. The Sahara dust is in full force it seems, as
it's quite hazy. I have on long Leggings to keep warm. I know LAUGH. I get cold when it drops to
the 70's. Leggings probably went out of style along with the mood
rings, but they are a nice way to stay warm.
I wear a rainbow
topaz ring, which many mistake as a mood ring because it changes
colors as the sunlight or other bright lights hit it. Mine primarily gives
off shades of purple, green and blue.
The skies today are many shades of bluish grays. Rough surf
conditions along with long periods northerly swells may make for some choppy
sloppy boating on the north shore. Fresh to strong winds with gusts of 25 knots
can make for some entertaining sailing. Remember, if you THINK about reefing,
(on a sailboat) then it's almost too late, when in doubt, always
reef. This keeps your guests from screaming and helps the boat go a
tad faster without as many knockdowns.
Speaking of style, I was out with friends chit chatting when a tourist came
in smartly dressed. We kept commenting on her attire, almost to the point of
embarrassing her. Finally I explained, that we don't exactly get the latest
fashions in the BVI nor high fashions, so when we see someone dressed in the
latest trends, from the real world *giggle* we often take notice to see what's
in style lately. She did get a good laugh out of that.
There is no one set style in the BVI, that is for sure. What with people
here from all over the world on work permits and others on vacation, we see all
manner of dress and clothing styles. I have my clothing sorted out by "town
wear" and "tourist wear" and "home wear". If I have to go to town to do
business with government or anyone else, then I get all decked out in a
conservative dress or pants suit etc. Tourist wear is what I put on to go to the
beach or to go out and party with friends for a casual time. Of course home wear
is the stuff falling apart or too risque to wear elsewhere. I also have a class
of clothing for DIY (Do It Yourself) this is stuff I might wear while doing home
projects like fixing the heap of a jeep or something around the house. It's the
old stuff with stains or rips or faded out, but not quite ready for the garbage
bin, but too far gone to be useful to anyone else. Stuff is always falling apart
in the Caribbean. Whether it's your clothes or boat or vehicle or home, it takes
a beating here.
What with the sand and sea, the salt and Sahara dust, the volcano ash and
concrete dust from jackhammering neighbors, the intense sun, the propensity for
sweating more due to the tropical weather, things just wear out faster.
I put up a few recipes on Ehow.com and hope to put up more soon.
See:
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- Blue Gray Day
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2009 13:33:54 EST
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Overcast, cloudy and blustery. The winds are coming and going in
gusts. We can expect increasing seas and dangerous surf conditions.
Long period northerly swells are hitting the north shore and marine
conditions may deteriorate for that area. The surfers may be able to get in some
good surf today and tomorrow but it may be all you get for a few days, as the
swells are expected to clock to the east. Despite the clouds, only tiny
scattered rains are expected.
That's a real shame too, my jalousie windows need a rinse down. The maid
upstairs was nice enough to sweep all her dirt over the balcony and on to all my
windows. All I
could do was shake my head in disbelief and cough loudly (no help!). Apparently
she swept the entire upstairs, then brought it all out to the long balcony and
she swept that in broad strokes so it all rained down on my open windows. As you
may recall jalousie windows open out horizontally, so they make nice shelves to
catch all that dirt. Even the cat woke up sneezing, as he was sleeping in front
of the windows when he was hit with this sudden dust cloud, poor thing. I decided to just take a
DEEP breath and let it slide. The damage was already done, why mention it now
and appear to be a whiney neighbor? *sigh*
If only bank lines weren't so long here! Ever tried to make a deposit in
under an hour?
Thieves loot
church for $15000SKNVibes.com
- Basseterre,St. Kitts and Nevis
ROAD TOWN, Tortola- A number
of persons are being sought after US $15000 in cash and checks were stolen from
the New Life Baptist Church in Duffs Bottom ...
That's a real SAD take on our society. Sad when
the thieves grow tired of robbing the hard working business people and instead
turn to robbing those making generous contributions to their church. Kind
of sickening. I bet they find a way to deposit their money now, in spite of the
length of time it takes to make a simple deposit.
TODAY'S QUOTE
Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with
no loss of enthusiasm.
Winston Churchill
The GOOD NEWS is, airfares to STT are CHEAP and then it's just a
fun ferry ride away to the BVI. So if you are sick and tired of being cold or
snow or need some sunshine and limin' in your life, then check out air fares and
you might be pleasantly surprised! Some round trip tickets are under
$200! (Um, now last year, weren't the airlines closing down routes and
telling us air fares would soon be nearly impossible to afford?)
TODAY'S ADVICE:
SAVE WATER (Drink Rum!)
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- Tuesday already!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:08:12 EST
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Monday! ooops! Tuesday!
The winds are gone, the Sir Francis Drake channel looks like
a flat lake. At sea level, the temperature is up to 82 but
elsewhere is 5-10 degrees cooler. The higher you get, the cooler you
be...
OK, all is well, I skipped a few days, was under the weather *ha ha*
but doing just fine. Sometimes, it's a good thing to leave the computer OFF for
a whole day or two or three.
My last vacation, um, hmm, 3 years ago? (Man I sure need another
one!) I left my computer off and at home and took off for nearly two
weeks without it. Heaven on earth!
It's a great day to head up to Virgin Gorda but you are going to need some
motoring to push those sails. I see a sailboat motoring downwind, and I think,
gosh, run upwind while you can, being as there is no wind really. But it usually
comes from the east and Virgin Gorda is usually straight into the wind.
Winds should increase tonight as a weak cold front approaches the area.
Swells are expected to arrive mid week and a small craft advisory may become
evident around Thursday.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(\(\__~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_/)~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in the dark ages, the first time I ever flew in an airplane, I was 20
years old and going to Las Vegas with my father. We read books on playing
blackjack and even though you have to be 21, he told me to dress up in my
business suits, act 30, and no one would bother me, which turned out
to be true enough.
We sat inside next to the wing. I had the window seat. That is the
WORSE place for a first time flyer to be! The wing wiggled and liquids
seemed to be leaking from it. I was petrified and everyone else seemed to think
this bouncing wing that was surely going to fall off at any moment, was normal,
so I kept my mouth shut and gripped my book with white knuckled hands.
My father had made the flight arrangements, and this "direct" flight made
three landings en route. We didn't know it until the flight was over, but we had
a new pilot. Another no-no for a first time flyer. Do not put a new pilot and
first time flyer on the same plane. When we landed in Atlanta, we hit the
runway with such force that we bounced 3-4 times rather harshly. By now I was
praying heavily and dismayed to find we had only gone 150 miles so far.
We took off and landed in New Orleans. Again, we hit the runway
pretty forcibly and bounced a few teeth jarring jolts down the runway. I told my
father, that flying was OK, but boy the landings sure are ROUGH! He
gritted his teeth and grinned at me. When we took off again, I think we did some
practice runs with cards, and then back to studying our books. We were actually
going to Las Vegas on business, for an exciting tax law seminar (whoopie!) and
we planned to have some extra time to gamble and play.
I think we landed in Dallas next and again, we bounced heavily down the
runway, I was sore all over by now, from the tension in my body. We took off and
finally landed in Las Vegas. I think we bounced a good five times before
sticking to the pavement and coming to a stop. I would be ever so
grateful to get off that plane. As we stood up to stand in the aisle
waiting to get off, the exuberant stewardess breathlessly announced we should
all give a round of applause to our NEW pilot.
I looked at my father horrified. I thought pilots were supposed to have
gray or white hair and look grandfatherly. Perhaps because my own
grandfather had piloted a Sopwith Camel and I clearly remember the great picture
that hung in his study, taken from another plane, of him flying. (He
also drove his car like he was flying, at great speed down Lookout Mountain as
if he were being chased by something horrific and must drive the maximum to get
us down the mountain as quick as possible.)
My father explained that the hard landings were not normal and the result
of the new pilot. Sure enough, when we flew back home, all out landings were
gentle, albeit with a different pilot.
Upcoming BVI Holidays
H. L. Stoutt’s Birthday
Mar 02
Commonwealth Day Mar 09
Good Friday Apr 10
Easter Monday Apr
13
Whit Monday Jun 01
Territory Day Jul 03
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- HAPPY VELNTINES DAY
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Sat, 14 Feb 2009 10:37:12 EST
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HAPPY VALENTINES DAY
My thermometer has quit being stuck on 82 and is now stuck on
81. This is expected to keep up for at least 2 more months. Gentle tradewinds are
seen rippling dimpling westerly down the Sir Francis Drake channel at
a lazy speed from the east of 12-14mph. A moderate northerly swell is headed our
way and may arrive late tomorrow or Monday. We can expect a
sprinkling of showers for the next few days with a possible increase mid week.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~(\_(\_~~~~~~~~~~~
Nothing happened to me on Friday the 13th. I fought off evil and bad luck
by staying home and cleaning house until 2am. I woke up this morning and
WHOA, I wondered if I was in the right place. Everything organized and put away,
even the cats were tucked away: one in his reserved cubicle at the bottom corner
of a deep bookshelf, another curled up in an oval basket and the
third hidden away with his cotton blanket on the top shelf of the
closet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~(\_(\_~~~~~~~~~~~
Lawdy mercy, the police cracking down on dem heavily tinted
vehicles. One woman was fined
$500 for having her vehicle tinted at 95% when the law
allows a maximum 35%. What I wants to know is, how do you even SEE to
drive with 95% tint? Isn't that the same as driving around on a
moonless night, with one eye closed, and the other patched up, during a power
outage with no headlights on? There's no law against dark sun glasses and
dat be what dis lady need. If she need her life to be dat dark, maybe she should
stay home under a rock in a dark windowless room. Save herself $500
too!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~(\_(\_~~~~~~~~~~~
Today's Quote (from an injured sailor)
Our taxi driver took me back to the boat in a marina
cart...that's gotta be a first.
There's a funny picture to go with this quote! Click here and see the Feb. 13th post,
it's a hoot. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~(\_(\_~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~(\_(\_~~~~~~~~~~~
Bryan
Hodge Named 2009 Champion FarmerPlatinum News Online - Tortola,British Virgin Islands
“I
will like to see that we can feed Tortola. That keeps me going and I’ll
like to be a part of it,” the 2009 Champion Farmer stated.
...
AMEN to arts and food! We need more
locally grown of both!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~(\_(\_~~~~~~~~~~~
Washed Ashore, Found on the Beach, in a Very
Cold Bottle:
Dear Miss Mermaid,
I am seriously homesick for the Caribbean Sea,
snorkeling up north just isn't the same!
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- Friday the 13th
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2009 10:10:12 EST
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Well, got the internet fixed but now my emailbox is giving me fits about
sending emails. *sigh* It's always something to keep me entertained!
I am hopelessly techno challenged, a horrible typist that needs a spell heckler,
yet amazingly I fixed someone else's computer recently, after it had been down
for weeks. Go figure. Life is funny! And I am trying to laugh about it
every day. Laughter truly IS the best medicine!
81 degrees with tiny seas on the south shore and moderate seas on the north
shore. A few scattered rains are expected. No storms on the horizon
and NO SNOW predicted, so overall very good news all around. I guess I
can put away those snow skis and forget about slogging through the
snow...
If you are looking for a great place to sneak away to for a fabulous lunch,
try sitting in the garden by the ocean at Cruzins in Carrot Bay. We went
there for lunch yesterday and it turned into an afternoon event, as the ambiance
was so relaxing, the view so mesmerizing and the food and service, excellent. My
friend had a HOMEMADE hamburger. They had lovely specials but my friend said she
felt like a burger. I mention this because this is probably the only place on
Tortola that makes hamburgers from scratch. Everyone else tends to use the same
4-6-8 ounce frozen blah burgers, so she was tickled to get a real
hamburger cooked on the outdoor grill.
I had their grilled pizza, which I shared with my friend, an unusual idea
that is unique and really tasty. My friend insisted on the
triple chocolate dessert and asked if I would share it with her. However, when
it came out, she took one small taste and decided NOT to share with me after
all!
We immediately ordered another one for me, as I was already
drooling. WOW that dessert is really decadent. I think it pushed us
over the edge, as we sat in the tradewinds, admiring the shady garden and the
gentle waves rolling in, savoring chocolate three different ways. We had places
to be and things to do, but heck, sometimes it's just plain fun to toss out the
clock and enjoy life.
They also have a unique gift shop, and I took the opportunity to put some
of my "Hurricanes and
Hangovers" books in there for sale.
I'm not much of a beer drinker, but do have a long extensive list of exotic beers. So stop by for a drink or
lunch or snacks or dinner, or just to buy my book! *giggle*
Now if I could just sell a zillion books and sit by the ocean everyday
for inspiration...
I was about to mail this out when I checked my calendar see what day it
was. And it's Friday ( I was hoping it was Thursday... just
can't win them all...) then I noticed it's also the 13th. So, beware. Now, let's
see, if I remember my math correctly, since it's not a leap year, March
will follow with the same dates and we will have another Friday the 13th next
month too as well as in November! A triple year of Friday the 13th's, the
likes of which we haven't seen since 1998 and won't see again until 2015. (Maybe
by then the stockmarket will rally back!)
On the other hand, tomorrow is VALENTINE's
DAY! So love the one you're with and if you're lonely, ask someone
out. (By the way,
I'm single.....) Don't forget to buy flowers, chocolates, sexy gifts (if
you know them really well!) and put some romance in the air. Forget about the
doom and gloom, make love, not stress.
By the way someone asked me to make the underlined links clickable
on a NEW page. I am working on that, but in the meantime, anything underlined,
you can right click and select "open in a new window". Not sure that
helps, but best I can do at the moment...
Warm and RELAXED Regards,
DearMissMermaid.com
Check out Dear Miss Mermaid's New
Book!
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- Check out Woman Who 'Swam Atlantic' Didn't Really
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2009 21:07:11 EST
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Scattered rains are the norm. A long period northerly swell may invade the
area this weekend. Winds should be moderate and seas normal with no small craft
advisories. I was on the north shore today and some surfers were trying out the
rather tame waves and still managing to get a free ride.
Today's Quote, Found on a BVI Blog:
It is the random encounter on a daily basis with someone you don't know
who will go out of their way to ensure that you are inconvenienced
that really make me question why people that live in a beautiful island have to
resort to filling their days with random acts of "inconvenience".
You know, there are days I feel that way exactly. I wonder if this person
has been to the labor and immigration waiting room lately. The A/C broke again,
it seems to be broken an awful lot the past few years, and it's an oven
there now, no open windows, no open doors, just an oven filled with people
struggling to breath, battling for what little oxygen they can Hoover up. Maybe
it's a new health test for the work permit folks. If you don't pass out before
your number is called...you might get your paperwork done. Multiple trips
to this oven can make one appear grumpy. (Gee, I wonder why?)
I would like to see crafty characters outside selling low numbers. I would
buy one in a heartbeat! Or how about a lively auction of appointment
times? I would be an avid bidder! This business of giving 200
people the same appointment time, is a tad annoying.
What if the waiting room were the same as the lobby for the old folks home?
They would have loads of visitors on a daily basis and we could all grow
old together!
I know the government is talking about moving the old folks
home. I say, move it and child care and the animal shelter all to the same
property. The young can entertain the old and the homeless pets can love them
all!
Oooops! Story doesn't hold water...
(What did she do? Walk across?)
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- Whether or not...
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:54:22 EST
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4am
Can't get on the internet, so having to rely solely on my crystal ball for
the weather predictions. Looks to me like scattered showers and Sahara haze are
the norm with temps in the low 80's seaside and low 70's in the mountains. Sea's
are a tad choppy on the south side and no idea on the north side, my crystal
ball is cloudy about that area. Hmmm...
8am
I called about the internet being down (nothing new there!)
9 am
I called about the internet being down (still) and was told my account had
been canceled due to new management and my file being lost.
Again??? Funny, my last name is rather unique and not another person
on the island shares it, so ummmmmm..... I must be the only
MERMAID on file! *giggle*
Last October, when my internet went down for nearly a month, it was the
same story, my file had been lost. This was presented to me accusingly, as if I
had snuck in at night and destroyed my records. I shrugged my shoulders and said
"Can't help you there! I don't work here, so um, maybe talk to who does
work here and find out where they hid my file? I've been a customer of
yours for um 20 years... It must be around here SOME WHERE. I've
spent forty or fifty thousand with you in that 20 something years,
maybe you would like to refund all that since I don't exist in your
system?"
So, my file is lost again and my internet is down again. I spoke to a
plethora of kind helpful people who listen to me intently, then pass me
down the line, to explain all over again. Finally someone assured me that
it would be straightened out in a half hour.
Maybe.
11am
That was three hours ago. I called back all chatty and polite and was told
"sometime today, they will PROBABLY straighten it out..."
I wish I could promise to PROBABLY pay them one day... My
service is prepaid (they require that.) Soooooooo........... life in the
islands, a giggle a minute.
Perhaps I should just go make breakfast/lunch/brunch.
We always say, you can't have all your utilities
at once in the islands. Cable TV was out for a few days, but came back, the
current was mash up, the phone has had it's moments where "all circuits are
busy" and I couldn't dial out for hours. Now the internet mash up. I
have my own small business here and it's a miracle I ever get anything done at
all.
1130am
Still no internet. So, I made brunch. I had some leftover Jamaican
callaloo, so I made a three egg omelette with callaloo and white cheddar cheese
tucked inside. YUMMY, very pretty and colorful.
So what is Callaloo? I confess, this was canned. I bought it at New
Year's when I was having trouble locating collard greens for a traditional
Southern New Year's day meal. I figured Jamaican Callaloo in a can would work in
a pinch and for some reason I bought about 5 cans of the stuff. Well, we never
located the collard greens, but we did locate fresh spinach, which my housemate
turned into Florentine (spinach and parmesan) as he had never heard
of collard greens or a traditional Southern New Year's Day meal.
So the 5 cans of Callaloo have sat in the pantry.
So what is Callaloo?
I looked on the can and it reads:
Ingredients: Callaloo, water, salt.
Well, Ohhhhhhhhhhhh Kay, I guess that sums it all up for us!
I had some as a side dish yesterday for lunch and today I drained it for
the omelette and Ohhhhhhh that was wonderful. It seems to be like it's a
hearty sharp spinach type veggie, very green and very tasty but not as
sweet as most cooked spinach.
NOON
No internet. That "half hour" is turning into a half day... Perhaps,
I should listen to the cat, who is begging me to come take a nap with him. I've
been up since 4am, might as well take a nap. Actually he wants a belly rub. He
is hooked on those! They put him under, into a trance, as if he has been
hypnotized and his belly rubs, generally put me to sleep, so we both snooze, my
arm gently cradling his belly, next to me. When he has had enough,
something will break his trance and he will leap up and leave, like he's
late for fresh tuna, and generally, the motion of my arm moving, when he sprints
away, wakes me up, and I go back to work. He makes a handy snooze alarm clock.
My friend's cat wakes her up at daybreak everyday, whether she wants to get
up or not, he shows up and meows quite loudly until she awakens.
Who is training who?
1pm
No internet. I call them back and they say "try back in 10-15
minutes."
140pm
No luck. *giggle*
244pm
BINGO! Called them again, gave them my name and password and POOF I'm
plugged back into cyber space!
Going to the beach requires NO utilities at all!
Nothing says I love you like flowers! Find a florist near you now.
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- Drive Carefully PLEASE
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2009 10:37:52 EST
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Scattered rains continue to harass the BVI, but the greenery and gardens
just love it. Radar shows more on the
way.
I ran across this fish story by Jimmy Buffett aptly named
"Let
Us Prey"
This excerpt caught my eye:
My endless wanderings—and damage done to my
sailboat by a bad storm—finally took me to the British Virgin Islands in the
mid-'70s. I parked my sailboat for a couple of winters in an idyllic place
called Cane Garden Bay, where I learned to play cricket in die boatyard and
chased all six cows on die island, looked for magic mushrooms and wrote a song
called Cheeseburger
in Paradise.
JB sure was BUSY those couple of winters!
Back in my chartering days, when I worked as a Chef aboard fabulous yachts,
one of my casual lunches, was to fire up the grill in Cane Garden Bay and make
half pound cheese burgers on the grill with Cheddar Cheese, Sesame Seed Buns,
Bermuda onions, lettuce, tomato, dill pickle fans, served with southern
coleslaw and potato salad. (Jimmy Buffett is southern too!) I always
called it "Jimmy Buffett's Cheeseburgers in Paradise" and we played his albums
on the outdoor speakers while dining in the cockpit. My favorite burger mix was
to mix by hand, lean ground beef, with generous portions of Worcestershire
sauce, mined garlic, minced onion, oregano, black pepper, seasalt,
with a splash of tomato catsup and one or two eggs. I would mix all this
by hand (after carefully removing my rings) just after breakfast,
then separate into roughly half pound sections, (5 pounds of ground beef
yields 10 equal portions) then mold these into big burgers about an
inch bigger than the buns, then stack them up, separated by wax paper and
let them chill in the fridge until lunch time. By adding the egg(s) and chilling
a few hours, the handmade burgers would hold together and not crumble while
cooking.
***********
NOTE ROLLED UP IN A LOCAL ARUNDEL RUM BOTTLE ON THE SEASHORE:
Read with great interest your Thursday blog about driving here in
Tortola. I have always had a great fear of dying here on the roads from
some idiot driver, and ironically tonight, as my husband and I were driving
back from a dinner in town we rounded a corner and hill,and
came head to head with a driver in our lane barreling down on
us as he passed other cars, again on a corner and hill !!! We had
to swerve violently off the road as I screamed bloody murder. I only live
here part time but I swear I don't think there is worse driving anywhere
than here.. I have a dear friend here who has sweated out cancer
survival only to swear her ending may come in a car crash here.
How very sad. Do tell me what the answer is. ? I jokingly asked a friend here if
there really is drivers training on the island? I mean nobody seems to
use their turn signals and this habit of stopping suddenly in the
middle of traffic, typically on a bend in the road when visibility is bad , to
pick a "friend"up , is quite frankly stupid and another accident waiting to
happen. And truly it sems within just a year this passing on
blind curves has become a real hazard. I'm happy they have finally
painted dividing lines on a majority of the main road out of town toward the
east end. Would love to see the yellow no passing lines too but would anyone
obey or understand them?
Sorry to go on. Have always loved your
"column" since I discovered it a year ago. Thank you. Very entertaining and
informative. Don't give up on any of your stances. !!
My friends call
me Flipper. I am a dolphin as you are a mermaid. Ha, No I'm
not crazy --- promise.
There is driver training here, but rumor is you only need 4
lesson to pass the exam. I hope I am WRONG as 4 lessons seem a bit shy unless
they are 4 eight hour lessons. I would think someone needs 50-100 hours of
practice driving before getting a license but I doubt they require
that much.
A friend said her son flunked his driving test here (again)
because he didn't use HAND SIGNALS for backing up. So what are hand signals for
backing up? He was told to buy 4 lessons in driving from a certain person
and he would pass his driving test. Is that like a bribe or what? Who
knows?
OK I digress. I have carefully studied the
driving habits of the BVI public and come up with a handy manual for
those of you NEW to driving here.
How we do t'ings in the BVI:
Pass on all curves and steep hills whenever
possible.
Slam on brakes at the last second, to pickup or
discharge passengers or to chat with someone near the road.
NEVER use turn signals.
If someone uses a right turn signal, try to pass them
before they turn in front of you.
When on major roads, you must drive either 18mph or 80mph.
Try to tint your car so dark, that no one can tell what you
might do next.
Failing that, adjust your driver's seat so you are nearly
laying down and other folks can only see your fingers on the steering wheel and
not your head (which is looking out the backseat window.)
Whenever possible, look to the left while driving straight
ahead.
At the only traffic light, have your thumbs on the horn ready
to honk up a storm when the light turns green.
Try to drag race with the other lane when the light turns
green.
If the light turns orange, your speed should accelerate to over
90mph, especially if several cars are in front of you.
If you are a BIG truck, NEVER EVER honk when taking over the
other lane on a blind hairpin curve.
If you are a taxi, ONLY stop where you can block other
roads or parking lot entrances. Discharge Road Town passengers while IN
the roundabout.
If your muffler has a small hole in it, rip off the entire
thing and refuse to replace it for the next 10 months.
If someone tells you your brake lights are out, make a note to
replace them in a year or two.
If you are a BIG truck, make sure your brake lights and turn
signals NEVER work and that your license tag is always covered in muck so no one
can read it. (If you have a tag at all.)
Loan your vehicle often, to people you know do NOT have a
drivers license.
If your insurance expires, or you have none, try to drive all
day and night looking to cause a wreck.
Play chicken with anyone driving a rental vehicle.
Pass all pedestrians and bicyclers within an inch of
their head.
Stop at the crosswalks, then gun your engine loudly when they
are half way across.
When parking, remember to park 4 feet from the other car, so no
one can park in that 4 feet of air. Failing that, park so that you
block in at least 3 vehicles, then go somewhere for 7-8 hours. If all
else fails, just park in the middle of your lane, make sure you as far from the
side of the road as possible.
If you are driving a brand new gas guzzling hog of an SUV all
by yourself, NEVER EVER pick up hitchhikers. (Why share that Air
Conditioning? You might get hot sharing it!)
If you are driving an old car about to fall apart, and you are
already late, ALWAYS pick up hitchhikers with a big smile. Go the extra
mile to get them there.
If there is a wreck, try to go as slow as possible, and drive
in the wrong lane, playing chicken, make sure to start a big traffic snarl at
the earliest opportunity.
If you are driving with your garbage on your hood or roof and
it falls off no where near the dumpster, try to pretend you didn't notice, and
speed away rapidly.
If someone is broke down on the road, always stop and help,
even if others are already there. (In spite of the bad drivers, we do have MANY
good Samaritans who will stop and try to get you going again or give you a ride
or laugh at your predicament.)
If your car mash up and break down, stop, put up the hood and
look pathetic and/or clueless.
If you have a flat and can't change it yourself, call
your taxi mon friend, they will usually come help, ditto for running out of
gas. Tip them well.
If you car mash up and you plan to fix it five years from now,
be sure to park in a very conspicuous place, preferably on prime real estate or
in a prime parking spot.
OK, that about sums it up, how we do it in the BVI!
DRIVE CAREFULLY in the BVI
(One Hospital, Two Funeral Homes, 500+
graveyards!)
Anything Underlined is Clickable, no matter
the color
Warm and Sunny Regards,
DearMissMermaid.com
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- MOndays
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2009 11:40:02 EST
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Bright and sunny, though it started off pretty rainy this morning.
All is well, and I heard that tickets from NY to St Thomas were starting at
$96! So if you are cold, come on down, we are just a ferry ride away!
Old News Worth Mentioning: (not sure how I missed
this! Foxy is a good friend and I guess too shy to mention such an honor
to me!)
His Excellency the Governor David Pearey has announced the
appointment of Mr. Philicianno ‘Foxy’ Callwood of Jost Van Dyke
as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).
The appointment was made by Her Majesty Queen
Elizabeth II as part of her New Years Honours List.
Read more here.
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- Sunday
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2009 15:17:43 EST
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Rather wet and drizzly today, but the rest of the week should be
wonderful! The rains
come and go, from light gray to lighter gray, temps have plummeted 2 degrees
from normal. Brrrrrrr........
It's a great day to curl up with a good book such as mine or the one I am currently
reading:
Many People love to get married here, but this
article below, misspelled the island of Moskito. Tsk Tsk Tsk, it pays to check
your facts. (Moskito Island was named after the Moskito Indians.) By the
way, it takes 3 days to marry here (maybe in case you aren't sober when you buy
the license, you have 3 days to sober up and back out?)
While Sir Richard Branson now owns Moskito, it used to
belong to Bert Kilbride, a man of great
legend, and the last pirate of the Caribbean. He sadly passed on last January at
the tender age of 94 and is missed by many. Some of his artifacts, found while
treasure hunting, are now for sale at http://www.bertkilbride.com/artifacts/index.html
Island
'I do' for KristyWA today -
Perth,WA,Australia
... Kristy Hinze is opting for the more laid
back attractions of the British Virgin Islands for
her wedding to the US billionaire Jim Clark next month. ...
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- Fair Weather!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2009 13:23:26 EST
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My thermometer is stuck on 82 degrees with smiley clouds. My crystal ball
reads nothing but fair weather ahead for us.
The Guyanese driver who is responsible for the island
wide power outage on the evening of February 3rd after
he drove into a utility pole was sentenced this morning.
Kenton
Sanmoogan, 40 who was charged with reckless driving, false reporting and driving
drunk while in charge of a vehicle was ordered to compensate the BVI Electricity
Corporation $11,950 for the damage cost to the pole.
Berndtson
& Berndtson Virgin Islands Map
It may not tell you where the utility poles are, but it does
have great road maps!
Laminated road map in color. Scale 1:80,000. Shows places of interest
and places to stay, castles, ruins, caves, beaches, harbours, shipwrecks, places
to scuba dive, deep sea fishing, camp sites, bird sanctuaries, viewpoints,
National Parks, mangroves, reefs. Includes inset of Road Town , Anegada , The
Valley , Charlotte Amelie, Charlotte Amelie Historic District , Cruz Bay ,
Lesser Antilles , St. Croix (1:80,000), Christiansted, Frederiksted.Climate
charts show the average daily temperatures, humidity, hours of sunshine and
precipitation for each month.
Warm and Sunny Regards,
DearMissMermaid.com
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- Fried Day Again!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2009 15:31:03 EST
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Here I am late again, but here nonetheless! 82 degrees (my
thermometer seems stuck there lately!) and mediocre winds.
Now HERE's some good news! GO SAILING this Sunday February
8th aboard Patouche Charters from 10am to 5pm for ONLY $20 (Twenty
Dollars!) The boat is going to Norman Island and Willie T.
Now that is a helluva deal no matter how you look at it. Call
494-6300 to make reservations so your seat doesn't get sold out!
In these times of high prices, this is a REAL DEAL.
***********
If you get in trouble here, call the newspaper, that's what one man had to
do, to finally get released from a building he had been locked up in! Life
in the islands is so funny!
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- Internet is UP!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2009 17:50:33 EST
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All nice and clam here, 82 degrees, mild winds, scattered showers, not much
else happening. Well, no clams, I meant nice and calm here! *giggle*
*******************
My new book: Hurricanes and Hangovers (and other
tall tales and loose lies from the coconut telegraph) is now available on
VIEQUES, PUERTO RICO!
The Gift Shop at the VCHT is open during regular museum
hours, Tuesday thru Sunday, 11am to 4pm. In the winter it is open every day from
10 -5. Telephone 787-741-8850.
ADDRESS: Calle Flamboyán #138,Vieques
All net revenues from the Gift Shop are used to fund
projects at the VCHT.
*******************
My friend thought she had finally mastered driving around Tortola. It used
to be she only did flat roads and the steep hill up/down her driveway, but
mostly she avoided driving. I remember the first time she tried driving on
Tortola, she related this story. She was going up hill when she
encountered a full size mattress laying in the street. She carefully negotiated
around it, and was going downhill, when she encountered a big truck,
backing UP the hill, back towards her. (Maybe he was looking for his
mattress?)
Only on Tortola, do the strangest things happen when driving around. Like
my friend who came to visit and wanted to take my heap of a jeep our sight
seeing on her own and I said, well let me drive you around first, so you can get
used to driving/riding on the left.
Well, as we got about 100 feet from my home, this car ran a stop sign at a
3 way stop and turned into our lane heading for us chicken style. My friend
screamed, as he passed us with about an inch to spare between her passenger
door and his.
At the next intersection, as I approached, I turned on my right signal. To
our horror, the car behind me, passed me on the right, then made a left turn,
right in front of us! Had I not checked my rear view mirror, before
my turn, we would have been in an awful collision. Again my friend
screamed and this time let out a little obscenity.
We made the turn and started down the road. From behind us, a car
approached rapidly, hugged out bumper, then flew around us and cut back in front
of us so closely, that we had to slam on brakes. This time I laid down on
my horn to wake up the drier who was rapidly shooting far ahead of us. My
friend turned to me, white as a sheet and said "I don't think I want to drive
around after all!"
Back to my other friend, who decided to tackle driving again.
Feeling very confident, she left the other day with her deviled eggs to go
to a luncheon meeting. Carefully she placed the deviled eggs in the
floorboard and her other stuff in the passenger seat. Descending her steep
driveway, the inevitable happened and everything on the seat flew off and
landed on the carefully packaged deviled eggs. Oops! Splat!
Somehow, when she got where she was going, the eggs had somehow more or less
survived, just a little squished.
Reminds me of the time I was trying to get to work (catering) with a
beautiful 5 layer cherry chocolate fudge cake. I foolishly put it in the
passenger seat and thought the seatbelt had a good hold of the box. While
winding back and forth, through the mountain roads, I guess the
box somehow wiggled from under the seat belt. The car in front of me flew over a
steep hill and on the downside, suddenly slammed on brakes, and parked right
there in the middle of the road. He then hopped out and hiked down a path,
leaving his car right where it was. I had to slam on brakes, to avoid
hitting his car. My beautiful cake flipped onto the floorboard. Thankfully,
it was tightly wrapped.
When I arrived at the villa, and unwrapped the cake (blessedly in private!)
it looked like an earthquake had hit, and the cake was hopelessly split in to
about a dozen jagged pieces, the cherry filling oozing out from the chocolate
fudge icing. What to do?
I searched the cabinets and there were no parfait glasses, but ah HA!
There were some jumbo wine glasses. I scooped up pieces of the cake and cherries
and fudge chocolate icing and filled up the wine glasses. Then I topped it off
with whipped cream and a cherry and called it a local exotic
dessert named "BVI Mash Up". After they devoured their dinner,
I served the wine glasses on an ornate lace doily on a saucer for the
guests, . The guests were not privy to the accident, but raved about the
beauty and taste and even asked for the recipe!
Sexy Maxy of MaxWeather, sent this info over, so I will share
it with you, then I will study my Crystal
Ball and see what it says!
In the past I did my own predictions with some accuracy but the
authority quoted by most all is Colorado State University so I will go with
them and see how it falls?
Any N. Atlantic, Gulf, Bahamas, or Caribbean coastal area
needs to have a plan in place and mid-season is not the time to start working on
it. Network with neighbors, friends, other communities and know the formal
emergency response groups and how to contact them when a time of need occurs.
If you do not have a network, start one, if you don't know how,
find out.
Let's make a goal to save a few more lives this year by passing on
vital information in a timely manner.
I will commence the formal (INFORMAL but you know that) Grrr
reports with the first sign mother nature is churning in the
Atlantic. Max
Always keep and eye to weather and remember it does not have to be
a gurricane to hurt you.
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| Hurricane Season 2009 Forecast |
Fort Collins. December 10th,
2008. An early extended-range forecast for 2009
calls for somewhat above-average Atlantic basin hurricane
activity, according to a new report from the Tropical
Meteorology Project at Colorado State University.
The report marks the 26th year of the CSU hurricane
forecasting team, which is led by Philip Klotzbach and William
Gray.
The team's first extended-range forecast for the 2009
hurricane season anticipates 14 named storms forming in the
Atlantic basin between June 1 and Nov. 30. Seven of the 14
storms are predicted to become hurricanes, and of those seven,
three are expected to develop into intense or major hurricanes
(Saffir/Simpson category 3-4-5) with sustained winds of 111
mph or greater.
"We're forecasting an above-average season based on our
early assessment of factors that influence an active hurricane
season including warm Atlantic sea surface temperatures and
the likely absence of El Nino conditions," said Klotzbach,
lead author of the forecasts. "The media and general public
should realize that there is a large amount of uncertainty
with our early December prediction, issued seven months prior
to the start of the hurricane season."
This forecast is based on an extended-range early December
statistical prediction scheme that uses 58 years of data. This
statistical model explains a considerable amount of hurricane
variability in hindcasts issued from 1950-2007. Over this time
period, the three-predictor scheme correctly forecast above-
or below-average seasons in 45 out of 58 years. The forecast
model also successfully predicted an above-average season in
2008.
The entire forecast report is available on the Web at http://hurricane.atmos.colostate.edu.
"We are currently in an active period for Atlantic
hurricane activity. This active cycle in the
Atlantic basin is expected to continue for another decade or
two at which time we should enter a quieter Atlantic major
hurricane period like we experienced during the periods from
1970-1994 and 1901-1925," Gray said.
The CSU hurricane forecast team also predicts a 63 percent
chance that at least one major hurricane will make landfall on
the U.S. coastline in 2009. The long-term average probability
is 52 percent.
For the U.S. East Coast, including the Florida Peninsula,
the probability of a major hurricane making landfall is 39
percent (the long-term average is 31 percent). For the Gulf
Coast from the Florida Panhandle west to Brownsville, the
probability is 38 percent (the long-term average is 30
percent).
The team predicts above-average major hurricane
landfall risk in the Caribbean.
Along with today's report, the team has updated the
Landfall Probability Web site that provides probabilities of
tropical storm-force, hurricane-force and major
hurricane-force winds making landfall at specific locations
along the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts within a variety of time
periods. U.S. landfall probabilities are available for 11
regions and 205 individual counties along the U.S. coastline
from Brownsville, Texas, to Eastport, Maine.
The Web site, available to the public at http://www.e-transit.org/hurricane,
is the first publicly accessible Internet tool that adjusts
landfall probabilities for regions and counties based on the
current climate and its projected effects on the upcoming
hurricane season. Klotzbach and Gray update the site regularly
with assistance from the GeoGraphics Laboratory at Bridgewater
State College in Massachusetts.
The hurricane team's forecasts are based on the premise
that global oceanic and atmospheric conditions - such as El
Nino and tropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures - that
preceded active or inactive hurricane seasons in the past
provide meaningful information about similar trends in future
seasons.
For 2009, Gray and the hurricane forecast team expect
continued warm tropical and north Atlantic sea surface
temperatures, prevalent in most years since 1995, as well as
the absence of El Nino conditions - a recipe for enhanced
Atlantic basin hurricane activity.
The team will issue seasonal updates of its 2009 Atlantic
basin hurricane activity forecast on April 7, June 2, Aug. 4,
Sept. 2 and Oct. 1. The August, September and October
forecasts will include separate forecasts for August,
September and October activity.
GRAY RESEARCH TEAM
EXTENDED RANGE ATLANTIC BASIN HURRICANE FORECAST FOR
2009
-Released Dec. 10, 2008-
Tropical Cyclone
Parameters Extended
Range
(1950-2000 Averages in
parentheses) Forecast
for 2009
Named Storms
(9.6)* 14
Named Storm Days
(49.1) 70
Hurricanes
(5.9) 7
Hurricane Days
(24.5) 30
Intense Hurricanes
(2.3) 3
Intense Hurricane Days
(5.0) 7
Accumulated Cyclone Energy
(96.7) 125
Net Tropical Cyclone Activity
(100%) 135
* Numbers in ( ) represent average year totals based on
1950-2000 data. |
|
Source: Colorado State
University. | | |
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- Winds Day
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2009 16:42:54 EST
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Another great hazy lazy day in paradise. 82 degrees with brisk tradewinds
keeping us cool. It seems when I am ready to write, the internet isn't ready to
run, then before it came back up, I went out today, for a lovely seaside
lunch at Kelly's on Frenchmens Cay. Very few people know about the place.
Most days the chef has 3 hearty specials and you can sit by the water in the
breeze and shade. They have a dinghy dock too, you just go under the
bridge and they are the 2nd dock on the right. For you boaters out there, you
can go to the first dock on the right (after going under the bridge) and Walters
sells ice in blocks and cubes plus fishing stuff.
Weather should be fair for a few days. No snow on the horizon, no storms,
just more Sahara dust! ACHOOOOOO! 
I've discovered that a splash of apple cider vinegar sipped in water does
wonders for asthma, seems to totally eliminate the need for inhalers. I say this
because some folks are developing an allergy to the Sahara dust and using
inhalers and meds when they normally don't need them. It does kick up and affect
me sometimes. I was using the apple cider vinegar to lessen the swelling
in my legs that pops up now and then since I busted them up. One day when my
legs were swollen, I was also having trouble breathing from the
Sahara, I sipped the usual water or tea and apple cider vinegar (for my legs)
but all the breathing problems abated too. I researched it on
the internet and apparently many have found asthma relief through apple cider
vinegar. Simply amazing!
All we need is YOU!
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- a cat's life
|
- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2009 09:33:14 EST
|
82 degrees with brisk trade winds and chances of the odd little shower.
Nothing much to
report, still hazy from the Sahara dust *cough*. ************
Found In A Champagne Bottle on the
Seashore:
Frenchie sent me a link of these cute
pictures from Jane Burton's new book: A
Cat's Life. The pictures will warm your heart, lower your blood
pressure and bring a smile to to even the saddest face. *****
The British Virgin Islands (BVI) now has its first Complaints
Commissioner and persons will able to commence lodging complaints against
Government departments and other statutory bodies soon.
Well, my first complaint would be how in every branch of the
government, non-belongers on work permits are set aside as 2nd class
citizens. I can hear the response now "Sorry, we don't take complaints
from that branch of people...." ha ha ha
Ok I am kidding, I have no idea what their response would be, but I
think most folks will feel too intimidated to complain, but it's no doubt still
an improvement to the existing government.
Now about that elec-tricky situation... (it's owned by government
isn't it?)
Ahhhhhhhhhh..................
WISH YOU WERE HERE!!!
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- more later!
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2009 19:40:01 EST
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They ate my email! Those Cyber world monsters! Chomp chomp
chomp and my email vanished with nary a burp.
Pink clouds are a nice backdrop to this modern tall ship sailing westward.
Scattered showers are keeping the island green!
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- Alive and Well
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- From: DearMissMermaid at aol.com
- Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2009 09:00:21 EST
|
Another great day in nirvana. I woke up alive, and that's always a
good sign of better things to come. 82 F degrees at sea level, a bit colder in
the mountains. Hazy from the Sahara Dust. ( click
to see current Sahara Dust Satellite) I sure go through a lot of
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" and of course this wine and many others with odd names and
odd labels have made the book. Many of the labels are reproduced in the book for
the readers' enjoyment. 
that comes in six pouches that make a quart each (just add
rums!)
