A Confession

Secretly to most folks, overtly to people that know me; my lifelong desire has been to operate a Hotdog cart at the beach.

If I ever do this consider me in my mind that I have arrived. I don’t need your stinking money and prestige.

I lust over hotdog carts I see on Craig’s list and eBay. I have almost bought several carts before but backed out at thoughts of practicality. I could justify a cart for tailgating but then I would be stuck eating hotdogs every week. Don’t get me wrong…I love a good messy hotdog.

Back in February I was at one of my favorite beaches in the entire world and there, next to the road was a middle aged woman operating a hotdog cart.

I approached her and said, “You know, you have my dream job,” to which she said, “I was thinking just now how much this job sucks.”

Well, there you have it…my secret desire.

Gotta run now and pick up some dogs and buns, some chili, onions, slaw, mustard, relish….

Sandy

I got a call from the island this afternoon.

“This is bla bla with St Croix animal welfare. Did Sandy reach?”

My island translator has been off now for 48 plus hours. I ran it through the brain filter.

This lady was calling was from the St Croix humane society following up on my escort of the dog named Sandy. She wanted to know if Sandy had “reached her destination” without any problems.

“Oh yes, she was an angel”.

“I hope so…she is missed.”

It cost a lot of money and effort to get this little Pit Bull mix here. She will have a good life now.

Donate or volunteer a few hours to your shelter if you can in honor of Sandy.

A Fact!

Tis the time of year for a great convergence of fun….but before I continue did you know that an octopus has a beak? The size of the beak is the only obstacle keeping the octopus from assuming most any space between a crack or passage? And the beak is nasty and will bite you. So there.

The conversation came up the other night with dinner guests. I was fresh off a documentary from the science channel so I knew the subject matter.

My guests assumed this was some Wreggieism and demanded an accurate answer from a marine biologist. Just so happens Gigi has one on speed dial.

Her friend answered all confused that Gigi would be asking her this and confirmed that yes indeed an octopus has a beak.

So there you go…walk confidently knowing you know that an octopus has a beak.

I write about the great convergence of fun later.

Stuff I noticed II

I really missed my bed. As nice as that resort was it didn’t hold a candle to my memory foam mattress. I didn’t wake up once last night.

I drove to the drug store on the right side of the road and it felt natural. I did miss seeing mongoose scampering back and forth.

We escorted a sweet little dog back from St Croix and she will enter her life as a North Carolina dog now. She is in the Charlotte Humane Society shelter this morning.

I learned that 70 and 100 SPF sunscreen is available now. Up to now I was using 30 and 50.

I learned also once can get sunburned through a tee shirt.

I came back refreshed and motivated to work. I now want to study and get some advanced diving classes.

I have found another hot sauce I like called Island Fever. I brought back a few bottles.

And So It Ends

The end had to come. Today I travel back to Charlotte with a rescue dog in my checked baggage. He/she will find a new home in Charlotte.

Yesterday Gigi and I had breakfast out at The Golden Rail and did some shopping downtown.

By lunch time we headed back to the hotel.

Gigi stayed behind and I headed to Michael and Terry’s for a visit. I came upon Terry soaking wet with sweat keeping up the grounds of Sundog House.

They have done an incredible job upgrading and maintaining their vacation villa.

We soaked in their pool, had conversation and then Terry said she would make some bread fruit salad.

Bread fruit….the stuff of history lessons and Magellan.

The salad she made was much like a potato salad but strangely better. She added some hot sauces and olives with traditional potato salad fixings and presented it on a bed of lettuce. Damn good it was. I was one with Magellan.

I had a date to meet a woman about some new hot sauce I had found on the island. I didn’t meet up with her until 5 PM. A nap was involved between lunch and the sauce rendezvous.

By then we decided to get some picnic items and head back to the room for a quiet evening.

What a wonderful week

Another First

Chalk down another first on this trip.

Yesterday, after lunch at The Deep End, I lay down under a grove of coconut trees beneath a thatched roof beach hut and took a peaceful nap.

It was actually better than the now famous Jeep Nap of ’08 in the Pueblo parking lot.

Thus Far

Yesterday I accomplished something on my “Bucket List” if I had a bucket list and that was to become certified to dive.

It was a wonderful final dive, the stuff of a documentary on Discovery HD except I was seeing it for my own eyes.

Afterwards we celebrated with cold beers and a fantastic lunch.

Saturday was equally satisfying with multiple dives.

Previously I was on a boat at Buck Island with old friends and new friends snorkeling, and then drinking sparkling wine, toasting in Italian, listening to Italian classical music, enjoying pasta and various cheeses and salads. We laughed and talked the afternoon away pausing for a refreshing swim in the perfect waters.

Thursday I sat on the boardwalk and talked to new friends that knew some of my other friends and we knitted together any connections we may have sharing a few happy hour beers while Gigi shopped.

I have 2 and a half days ahead of me that are a blank slate except for dinner tonight with Michael and Terry at the Terrace to watch the sun set and the “city” of Christainsted light up.

Finally I don’t know if this is coincidental or a side effect of diving. Both nights after diving I have experienced vivid nightmares.

The Dives

Yesterday we got in three dives around the Frederiksted pier.

The weather was very hot and the water felt refreshing. So intense is the sun that my sunscreen at 50 barely keeps away the burn. My shoulders actually burned through my tee shirt. I thought the tee shirt barrier would be enough.

The Frederiksted pier is where cruise ships dock while in port. Divers can’t dive there for security reasons when ships are in port.

The area has a flat sanding bottom with a gradual slope toward the end. The pylons of the pier are host to lots of cool sea creatures.

We witnessed a school of herring that literally must have been hundreds of thousands of fish and they schooled for hours.

I am really enjoying the underwater calmness, the weightlessness, and quiet except for the life giving air that goes in and out of my lungs. I also wish I could exhaust the exhales further away from my face.

By the end of the day I was so tired that I showered and went to bed and slept 12 hours.

Today I am back in for my final dive and certification.

A Loss in The Family

It is with great sorrow that I tell my readers of the loss of one of my chickens. I now have 11 chickens.

This will throw off the loading of egg cartons.

We have decided to continue our vacation and will have a memorial service on our return.

In lieu of flowers the family asks that you give any sympathy money to me.

Anatomy of a Vacation

I am staying at a resort that reminds me much like The Silverado near Napa, CA. This is an old quaint place, built in many phases and spread over a large area. It has tennis courts, a golf course, restaurants, beaches, a spa, shops and lots of service personal. It is well maintained.

Theoretically I could stay here the entire week, never leave the grounds and that would be my experience of the island.

I am not a resort person per se. Gigi is a resort person. She is enjoying the relaxation and convenience of the place.

Yesterday I went to Buck Island on an 80’s era sailboat. The owners have been renovating this boat starting with the motor and rigging and avionics. Now the process of wood restoration has begun with many coats of varnish.

The weather was iffy but seas were calm and the clouds broke by the time we launched.

A nice long snorkel reveals a lobster as big as an infant, an equally large flounder, a few barracuda, and lots of colorful fish.

We had lunch, drank champagne, and laughed.

I came home and took a long nap with Gigi then went out to forage for supper. I ended up with a large pizza from The Deep End. They really need to perfect pizza crust before they try and sell pizza.

Today…I dive.

Day II

Yesterday was a rest day. We slept in late.

I walked the property and eventually we headed to a beach restaurant beside our room.

Back for a nap when housekeeping knocked. We hung around and decided on a trip in town.

I headed to the brewpub and watched the day go by. Gigi shopped.

Dinner at The Pickled Greek and back home to an early bed.

Day One

We made it to the island not without some drama.

We left around 5:30 AM for the airport, got through security to a boarding jet.

I didn’t have time to pee.

The plane flight to Atlanta is short by most standards so it was up to 22,000 feet then descend. They turned off the seatbelt light.

Our connection was tight. Again the plane was boarding the tiny regional jet to St Croix. They would not allow our carry ons and packed them in the plane belly.

After a three hour twenty minute cramped flight with a hard landing we were safe on the island. ….minus two bags. Couldn’t be…I saw them put the bags in the underbelly.

Turns out the door to the cargo bin was stuck for almost 2 hours. The cargo included live animals.

Finally we got the rental car, bags, made supper plans with Terry and Michael and headed to the hotel.

This place is nicer than I expected and I have stayed at many fine hotels. Our room alone must be 1000 square feet. They put me in the honeymoon suite under the name of Wreggie Hunnicutt. I am not kidding.

This room runs about $800 a night during the high season. Wreggie got it for $148.

This morning I installed my reader lenses in my dive mask. It is darn handy to be able to read gauges when life and death depend on this.

Oh, and a wonderful dinner with old friends and new friends. The Cultured Pelican rocks. Thanks Nikki and Mitch and all the staff. The lobster was the cap of a long day.

Hopefully......

Unless my plane went down I should touchdown on the island of St Croix about 1:35 PM. Either way I am at peace.

By 3 PM EDT expect me to be drinking a Carib with a slice of key lime looking at Tidy bowl blue water or a continuance of death from an airplane crash.

(Warning to thieves: I have a male house sitter at home watching my critters)

I will do my best to relax….I have promised my wife I will.

This weekend weather permitting and I am alive, I will do my open water dives and become certified.

Of course I will blog…blogging is life sustaining to me. Unless I’m dead.

Did You Know?

When a pig drinks beer she spreads her toes.

Help me Decide the Fate of Yellow Boys

I’m getting that urge to retire my old pal and swim truck referred to as yellow boys. Best I can recall they have made at least 16 trips to the Virgin Islands and I only recall one trip that they stayed behind.

Heck I wore them last weekend in the dive tank. We have seen a lot of good times together.

On the right column you can anonymously vote the fate of yellow boys.

Who is worthy enough to see my pools?

On St Croix there are a set of very remote tidal pools that for me are a natural thing of beauty and a calm oasis. Being there with a few companions and hearing the crashing waves against the rocks lets me know that I have arrived to my sanctuary. Money can’t buy a more pristine view.

The pools are well defended both from people and natural barriers and unsuspecting environmentalists who just as soon you not see them.

On foot one must get past the first barrier, a guard shack at the Carambola Resort. Here the guard listens to your intension and decides if you will park on the hill and hike to your hike or allow entry to park in the resort.

If you park on the hill expect to add a strenuous mile to your already strenuous hike. I have learned to lie and tell them I am having lunch at the resort. I get a pass and prime parking.

On the trail expect steep hills, exposed rocks and roots from foot traffic, thorned trees, an active bee hive, numerous but harmless hermit crabs and a poorly marked trail often leading to indecision about ¾ the way through the hike. As nasty as this sounds the forest is beautiful and the views are incredible.

Once there one must carefully move along the ragged sharp rock wall to enter the pool area.

Plan B is one can drive there on and equally challenging Jeep trail. This is where the local environmentalists come in. You see while nothing is said about driving to and from most anywhere on the island driving to the pools is considered an unforgivable sin. Driving this beautiful trail makes your vehicle dirtier and more harmful than any car on the planet.

The entrance to this trail is hidden; I had to find it on satellite photos from Google Earth. Not a local I know would reveal the entrance to me.

The drive is very slow, deliberate and gorgeous. I drove by several ruins and vistas that I plan to explore when I am down next week.

As before once there one must carefully move along the ragged sharp rock wall to enter the pool area.

What sets plan B apart is anyone who is physically challenged can now experience the beauty of the pools if they can climb the last barrier.

If you are able to hike the trail I strongly suggest it. If you are not physically able then take the Jeep trail.

In both cases respect the land.

Resorts and Hyperlinks

I am normally not a resort person. However I have always longed to stay at The Buccaneer Resort on St Croix.

I have passed the gates often while going to many of the rented villas in the Shoys section of St Croix.

Whenever I enquired about rooms, even in the off season the minimum was $400 a night. No way.

Introduce Skyauction and The Great Recession and I have seen rates budge to Wreggie standards.

Back in January I bid on a room…any room at The Buccaneer and won for a nightly rate taxes included for $148 a night. That is what a cheap room goes for off season at The Divi Resort on the south shore of St Croix.

So for a week I’ll be high styling with room service and breakfast in bed, maybe a round of golf on the resort course.

The fun begins Wednesday.

Craig's List

I have been looking for some rudimentary dive equipment on Craig’s list and eBay.

Craig’s list is still the Wild West compared to eBay where the rules are whatever the seller wants and there are no consequences for behavior.

I found one guy loaded with dive stuff in good condition …his and her dive stuff. I asked if I could only buy the men’s stuff and he said no, I would have to take all the pink stuff, the small fins and small BCD or nothing.

Then I found a guy who lived an hour away willing to piecemeal his stuff but he said he would be out of pocket until Tuesday night of next week.

I hate that term “out of pocket” and why in the hell list something on Craigs list if you aren’t going to be around to show it.

I guess I’ll have to “cool my jets” (how do you like that term mister out of pocket) and rent down on the island.

By the way I did a head count this morning and I still have 12 chickens. It was their first night camping out.

State of the Chickens Message

Today we moved the chickens from a large dog kennel to a summer home made of a chain link dog kennel.

First thing is I tried to make it varmint proof by topping the kennel with hog wire. Then I put chicken wire on the bottom portion to help deter snakes and foxes.

Then I tarped the kennel for sun and rain protection.

I made some feeders and waters from Home Depot buckets.

Strung a few branches up for perches.

This summer I'll build a connecting coop for winter and nesting boxes for eggs.

Looks like we have some diversity in the group. It appears 11 of the hens are Rhode Island Reds and one appears to be a Golden Comet.

Class of 2010

Sunday's graduation picture.