Boat Projects

Dan, with some help from me, changed the membranes in our water maker. That was a very involved process. I was disappointed that the membranes in our Village Tech water maker went out so soon. We had tried to be very careful where we made water. In Charlotte Amalie the water started tasting “heavy”. My parents mailed us the water tester and it showed around 600. Municipal water can go up to 1000, so we were still safe but it didn’t taste as good as it used to. A call to Village Tech and they said it was the membranes. Very expensive membranes. $500.00!! It was going to cost another close to $200.00 to have them shipped to us, but thankfully Karon and Alan were able to bring them down. The installation was a chore!! The manual said one hour per membrane (we have 2 membranes). A two hour job took us about 5. After it was all back together, Dan ran the water maker and tested the water. 800!! It was worse than before. I felt so sorry for him when I saw the look on his face. I told him it probably just needed to run for awhile. Sure enough, after about 30 minutes it was down around 300. Yes!!! I am so thankful we have that tester, and I am so proud of Dan (us) for getting those membranes changed! We aren’t as bad at these boat jobs as I feared!

 

Trouble with the website

We apologize for the problems with the website. I haven’t been updating like I should because for some reason we can’t get pictures on it. Trying to solve that problem it now seems like I can’t adjust the dates. So I am putting the last several postings together and try to sort this out. Please bear with us!!

We are out of the boatyard. It really was a good experience at the Nanny Cay Boatyard. Alegria looks great with new bottom paint. Eddie Wyke, from Virgin Islands Marine Refinishing did a great job doing some fiberglass touchups we needed done. We would HIGHLY recommend him for any fiberglass work. He did a great job and the price was reasonable. We got a little break from the boat as we stayed in the hotel at Nanny Cay. We had so much work to do ourselves though, we didn’t get much time to enjoy it. The boat looks great though.

April 23

Happy Birthday Dad/Grandpa!

It’s Dan’s dad’s birthday!! This is quite the birthday month!! We weren’t able to call so we hope he reads this!!! We love you!!

April 19

Makai is back!

Fred and Kathy, our old friends from the Bahamas are here in the BVI’s! It’s so great to see them again. They made a special effort to get over to Sopher’s Hole to catch up to us. That was nice. Kathy brought some champagne over and the candle holder from Dominican Republic to replace the one that broke. It’s so good to be back with them again. We are headed into the boatyard at Nanny Cay on Monday, and they will be coming in on Tuesday, so hopefully we can spend more time together.

April 17
Happy Birthday Marlene/Grandma!

We won’t say how old she is! We’re sorry we aren’t there to wish you happy birthday. Marlene has always been a big supporter of our trip and we appreciate that.

Sopher’s Hole

The restaurant in Sopher’s Hole was very busy the night we ate there.  The waitresses looked a bit overwhelmed, and that should have been a sign.  Audrey, a rather large and harried waitress, pulled some tables together for us.  From the beginning, things didn’t go well.  It took a long time for her to bring only half of the drinks.  We waited and waited and she finally took our food order.  Dan ordered the rib dinner.  Audrey was confused as to whether he wanted the dinner or not as there was also a rib appetizer.  Dan pointed out the dinner on the menu that was priced at $12.95.  Much later our food came and she didn’t bring enough plates for the kids pizza.  Then we order some more drinks and she disappeared.    She was gone for at least twenty minutes.  In fact we thought she forgot about us.  Needless to say we weren’t impressed with the service.  When the bill finally came, I checked it over as usual, and she had charged Dan $25.95 for the ribs.  Dan was sure the price was $12.95 and sent Tessa up to get a menu to double check.  Sure enough, this menu said $12.95.  I left it to Dan to sort out while I went to the restroom. 

When I came back, they all filled me in on the story.  Audrey came back to the table and Dan pointed out the mistake on the bill.  He told her that his meal should have cost $12.95. That was the meal he ordered, not the $25.00 meal.   Audrey looked at him and replied,

“In my mind, you ordered the dinner.”

To himself Dan replied, “In my mind, you were a Hooter girl.” 

To Audrey  he said, “But I pointed to the $12.95 one on the menu.”

Then came the showdown.  Dan stared at Audrey.  Audrey stared at Dan.  A hush fell over the crowd.  After what seemed an eternity, Dan asked her, “So…. are you going to change it?”

Audrey snatched up the bill, snarling, “I’m gonna get the manager.”  She made her displeasure known by banging glasses, shoving chairs and slamming her rather large hips into tables, sending the silverware flying. Apparently it was quite a show and I was sorry I missed it.  When I came back, they were waiting for her to bring back the bill.  Soon she returned with the new bill showing the $12.95 dinner. That was good.  The new total for our bill was $63.00.  I told Dan to give me $70.00 as that would include tip.  We weren’t going to give her  a 15% tip because of her slow service and attitude, but I felt she was overwhelmed that evening so I didn’t want to leave her nothing.  First Dan gave me three twenty dollar bills, but I said I didn’t want to have to wait for change and we went back and forth and finally he put some money down.  Karon and Alan used their credit card, and we joked that Audrey was now in the back using their card for her own personal spending.

“Don’t you put that evil on me Ricky Bobby!”

We left the table and headed to the dinghy dock.  I again asked Dan how much he had left and he said sixty dollars.

“But our bill was $63.00.  I told you to leave $70.00.  You didn’t leave enough to even cover the bill.”

Audrey had him all confused.  He headed back to the table.  Audrey had already picked up the money so he left  the extra money on the table and came back to where we were standing.  He was still acting confused and not sure how he made a mistake.  Then it dawned on him.  He did leave $70.00 originally and now he just left ten more dollars.  Karon points out that now he just paid for the $25.00 dinner.

Dan made a beeline back to the table, and in his haste, nearly knocked Alan and I into the water.  Luckily Audrey hadn’t made it back to the table to collect the extra money and Dan was able to grab it and make it back to the dinghy without her noticing.

“What would you have done if she had the extra money in her hand when you got there?” 

We could just see Audrey sizing up Dan across the table.  “Are we doing this?” 

That would have been a story!