Thanks to Christine’s forecasting with PredictWind we had a super smooth ride all the way from where we left you last week in St. Martin to the US Virgin Islands.
We left SXM out the drawbridge on the northern French side (Green on the map) for its 17:00 opening and then anchored in the outside bay to enjoy dinner and the sunset.
We got underway about 20:00 for our overnight 103NM passage timed so that we would arrive in USVI after sunrise.
Mother Nature not only gifted us with calm flat seas but also a near full moon to light our way.
As you can see it was a very exciting white knuckle ride for the crew!
Our timing worked out just right as we arrived at the southern coast of St. John Island just after sunrise.
We headed for Cruz Bay (Red on map below) to check in at the US Customs & Immigration office and anchored just off shore and launched the Tender to go ashore and do all the checking in formalities. That all went well so we headed back to Möbius to go find a nice spot to anchor for a few days.
Found a great little spot in a small protected harbor on the West side of Great St. James Island (Green on map). Crystal clear water, not too many neighbors and the Pizza Pi boat anchored nearby. We stayed there till this morning (Sunday) and then headed over to Yacht Haven marina (dark Blue on map) on the East end of Charlotte Amalie to fill up our water tanks (more on that later).
We blend right in with the other boats on the dock don’t you think??!!
The dock hand was super helpful and we enjoyed chatting with him as we whiled away the few hours it took to fill up two of our water tanks.
After filling up with fresh water, we motored over to the south end of Hassle Island, which was NO hassle at all, and we we are currently anchored here as I write. (dark Blue on map above)
This is the reason we had to go fill up with water today; our watermaker high pressure pump is broken. Both the Low and High pressure pumps were not wanting to work when I went to start using the watermaker after many months sitting dormant but I was able to get the Low Pressure pump working with just a good cleaning.
However I wasn’t so lucky with the HP pump as one of the ceramic pistons was broken and so I’ll need to find a way to get some replacement parts sent over. With a water tank capacity of 7300 L/1900 USG and only Christine and I onboard we can go about six months but with family and guests arriving soon and now ability to make our own water, we needed to head over to the marina to get some fresh water and took on about 2500L/660 USG which should be more than enough till I can get the watermaker working in the next month or two.
Charlotte Amalie is the “Big City” here on St. Thomas and the airport is not too far away so we will be checking out this area for a good spot to anchor when our Grandson Liam and parents fly in on the 22nd. May head over to check out anchoring spots off of Water Island which Christine has fond memories of in her days chartering on her boat Sunrise when son Tim was just a young boy so fun for him to revisit this and share with his son Liam.
So that brings you up to date with the Good Ship Möbius and thanks so much for taking time to join us on this latest leg of the adventure. Hope you’ll be back for the next update and in the meantime please leave your comments and questions in the Join the Discussion box below.
Thanks!
-Wayne
USVI is Home for March Möbius Update 6-12 March 2023
“start using the watermaker after many months sitting dormant”
Does this get added to the run once a week list? or some other reason period of time other than many months? Is there anything else that should get a regular run?
Yes, like pretty much every mechanical device, especially those on boats, water makers definitely like it best when they are run at least once a week. I had pickled it last year as we knew we would not be needing it for water supply as we had ready access to water ashore that was produced by a water maker process so it was pure water, no additives, chlorine or anything else which was much more convenient. However in hindsight it wasn’t the best choice to leave it unused for such a long time and so now I’m paying the price.
I think it can be said that pretty much every mechanical device, meaning those with moving parts, wants to be regularly “exercised”. Best routine, which I try to follow as well as I can is to run pretty much everything on the boat at least once a month or on some approximate schedule that suits a particular bit of kit. Being full time live aboards is an advantage for this as most of these devices are being used regularly in day to day life. In the case of the water maker for example, when I get it operational I will run it about once a week to keep topping up the water we are using.
With the big focus we put on redundancy of systems for safety, we have a lot of equipment with multiples of the same device and we cycle the use of these and keep them regularly exercised that way. This would include things like dual steering pumps and dual auto pilots for example and we use #1 of each of these for about a month and then switch over to using #2 and that has been working out well. I’ve got tags on the switches for these where I write the date it was put in service and reminds me when it is time to switch over to the alternate device.
Then there is a list of equipment that is not regularly used due to being seasonal such as AirCon, heated floors, etc. so these are on an approximately monthly schedule of being fired up and run for at least a few hours.
Hope that answers your very good, as usual, questions John. Pretty much the same for any good sized boat I think and really true for pretty much all mechanical equipment I think. Interesting how directly this maps over to apply to we humans as well! For a happy life, feed well, keep clean and exercise regularly right??!! 😉
-Wayne
Can you make a replacement piston with your 3D printer?
Good thinking Sherry but these pistons are ceramic and need to be very precise and smooth. In a pinch I could machine some out of aluminium but we can get along without the watermaker for the next few months with the volume of water we have onboard so I will get the new parts and rebuild the pump when I catch up with them.
-Wayne
Wow, a broken ceramic piston in the HP pump. That’s a new one for me. If I recall correctly, your water maker is a Turkish product. Do you “have” to get the parts from them? Any chance it’s under warranty? I doubt it. I’m glad to see that you’re in US waters, it will be easier to get things than most of the Caribbean. Also good to see you’re tucked away in a good anchorage.
Yes, it was a surprise to me too Wade. My guess is that it had a crack or fault in it from the beginning perhaps because there is no way I can see for it to have been damaged or hit anything in use. When I was deciding on what watermaker to get my #1 criteria was that ALL parts be “off the shelf” items, no proprietary parts allowed and so the one we got was really just “assembled” in Turkey. Every part is readily available in the open market from membranes to pumps to gauges. Annoying that this has failed but at least I am benefiting from my priority on off the shelf items and the new pistons are readily available online because the high pressure pump is a very common one from InterPump. These are Italian made pumps so parts are a bit less common in the US but readily available online from the UK or Europe so the only challenge I have is where to get them sent so I can catch up with them as we move. Fortunately not a critical system as we have enough water onboard for many months of day to day life which gives me more options as to where to get these parts shipped to.
I’ll keep you and others posted here once I get the new parts and get the WM back up and running.
Bet you guys are looking forward to taking off on Joana yourselves soon?! Look forward to hearing about that once you get going.
-Wayne
Lots of memories here in these waters. Cooked and crewed on charters in the 1980’s, was the first recorded wedding on St Johns Cinnamon Bay, and brought 12 friends over to the BVI for the honeymoon on my Dads Motorsailer… Lived for a time under the pool at the now gone – Virgin Isle Hotel. Enjoy the islands, happy you are here in US.
Hi Nancy – I too worked on a crewed charter boat here in the Virgins 1981-84. My first husband and I were owner/operators of SUNRISE, a 55-foot cutter. Remember working the phones and picking up mail in Charter Services? Or getting ice delivered from Pop-Ice? Those were fun days. Sooo much has changed here now, but then it has been 40 years 🙂