Holy Mackerel!!

BIG FISHY!Check out my fancy knife! Thank you Uncle Jeff-- it works like a charm :)


Yesterday we had a huge catch-- King Mackerel!! We don't have a scale on the boat but if we had to guess it was almost 10 lbs. It made for a great dinner and because I had never cooked kingfish before I did it up three ways (we like to spoil ourselves). First way was cubed and simmered in a Thai-Peanut sauce, second way was cubed then wrapped in bacon dipped in BBQ sauce and grilled, third way was marinated in a light herb mix and grilled. I figured one of these ideas would flop-- but all were amazing! We were all stuffed!
This was great practice for the summer-- we're hoping to catch lots of fish on our trip down island. I've been a little nervous about the idea of having to prepare whatever we happen to catch on any given day. I'm from Indiana- the fish I grew up with was very much dead and usually breaded before I ever saw it (yeah for Crispy Crunchy Cod). The good thing about fresh fish is that there's no good way to screw it up. It tastes so wonderful any way you choose to prepare it (especially to the person who caught it).

On the Soggy Dollar Web Cam

There we are in the top right corner!

Check out http://www.soggydollar.com for the latest image!

Super Berry Brownies

Box brownies have never tasted so good! Topped with extra berries leftover from making fruit pizza last night these were a real treat. I started with my brother Matt's secret of adding Karo to brownie mix to keep them soft. Piled on the berries (fresh strawberries, frozen blueberries, frozen red raspberries) then drizzled some fresh Creme Anglaise to finish it off.

Happy Hour Cannon

The cannon I'm firing signals the beginning of happy hour. And for me, it was nearly the end as well. To my credit, the bartender who let me fire the stupid thing forgot to tell me that it kicks back and because it has wheels it might roll. Enjoy!

Good Pic of us

This was taken a few months ago, but it's a good one. A favorite of mine.

The magic of folding and rolling

Another food that I've been putting off actually making on the boat are flaky biscuits. Sometimes I just get it in my head that something won't work here and that's it! It takes me 7 months to try. Needless to say, things actually went really well. We had biscuits (and Ramen) for dinner one night between charters (this is when I try food I'm not expecting to turn out well) and I fried up some eggs for the leftover biscuits for breakfast the next morning.

I just finished a book titled "Ratios". It's all about the basic cooking ratios that I need to memorize to make any food I could ever dream of. It has given me new found energy and ideas-- both of which are important as we make our push through our 20th week of charter (and are still looking at a minimum of 10 more to come before we haul out). Phew.

JVD ATV tour

We had some fun loving guest who really wanted to see Jost. I hiked part of the ridge road a few years ago with SeaTrek BVI, and I'll never do it again. We dropped a hook in White Bay and rented some ATVs and did a 90min guided tour from White Bay all the way to Diamond Cay.
Little Harbour.
Over looking Great Harbour from the highest point on JVD. I suggest the tour to everyone. I rode on the back of Sasha's ATV, but it was a good ride and Daniel the tour guide was great!

Fresh Fish

I've been a little nervous to do sushi on the boat, but we came to a happy compromise and did a little chirashi for lunch a few weeks ago. I was nervous that I wouldn't have enough food, or that the colors wouldn't balance, but in the end it all worked out great! (it usually does) Above we have a bowl of tuna, salmon, and eel. We finished things off with some julienned carrots, sliced green onion, toasted nori, fresh wasabi, and pickled ginger.

Nice Rack!

SO we got sick of the crappy steel tank rack that rusted and left rust stains all over the transom. I've wanted these aluminum and plastic modular tank racks for a long time, but they are special order and also expensive. So I walk in to the local dive shop to see how much it would set me back to order some, and they said, well, hey, someone just dropped off a few of those the other day. I made an offer and it was accepted, and presto (after a few hours labor and a new drill) we have swanky new racks!

They fold down when not in use to save space, and hold eight full sets of gear even with BCs attached!

I attached the racks without modifying the boat, so they can be easily moved or re-installed elsewhere. Check out the finished look complete with acorn nuts!

Capt. Sasha has a nice rack!

Chill out

SO I noticed the icemaker drawing a little more power than usual, and when I felt it, it was running really hot. So I cut a hole in the back and installed a fan:

It still runs hot, but I hope this helps.

Sea Island Boat Works

So I have worked on or sailed a few boats so far in my life, starting from an 8' long fiberglass sailing dinghy custom built by Tom and Charlie Bunger of Bunger Surf Shops, up to a 99' party barge in NY harbor. Many of the sailboats, however, have been built at Sea Island Boatbuilders (formerly Sea Island Boat Works) in South Carolina.

The first such boat was the Spread Eagle II, a 51' catamaran out of Fajardo, PR:

Then, I moved up to captain the Katarina, a brand new 32' SeaRunner, in Rincon, PR:

There are a number of other Sea Runners down here in the VI, including Dancing Dolphin:

Adventurer and Adventuress:

And the newest delivery, Kekoa, a 50', 99-passenger version of Katarina that will operate out of the Westin in St. John:

Equipped with twin 75 HP diesels and all sorts of toys and goodies, she is pretty sweet!

More improvements

We finally got some grip tape up forward where everybody slips.

I also replaced the bow roller with one which has a lip which prevents the chain from striking the fiberglass.

The new bridle looks great.

Look at the juvenile trunkfish haning out by the bridle.

Some people say that using stainless steel in contact with ground tackle is a bad idea, as it encourages galvanic corrosion. I'd love to hear your comments.

Whales and Rain and Beautiful Sunsets OH MY

Fantastic sailing from Norman to Cooper. Along the way, we spotted whales breaching!!! It was awesome! Also the first time either Tara or I have seen whales down here!!

We celebrated at the Cooper Island Beach Club. (note S/V Seatrek Explorer in the background, to the left of Hypnautic. Also note a lot of rain way in the background) .

We made it back to the boat before the rain, which oddly approached from the West, heading East!! (Extremely rare weather pattern).

The rain eventually went away and left us with a beautiful sunset. Here is a picture of Tara working hard as usual. As I type this, it is pouring down buckets as the rain cloud actually TURNED AROUND and is crossing back over us, East to West, as it should be. Take a look at the radar.

Secret Cove

Dropped the hook in a new spot yesterday,

tied the stern to a rock,

the water was clear,

and so was the sky!

Name it!

We've been lamenting for about how we wish we could have a pet on the boat. Lots of people are allergic to cats, dogs are too big, a monkey is only a good idea if it's small and trainable, a flea circus would only be fun for a week or so. Plants have been our substitution for pets and they are still growing and amazing us every day, but there is no replacement for a pet. SOoooo. When my parents we down we found a little tiny hermit crab on the beach, who happened to be living in a really sweet shell. Now this little guy lives in a crabitat during the night, and has a nice leash tethered on the bookshelf during the day. Above, he is making friends with the ladybug also living on the bookshelf!!
The big question now... WHAT DO WE NAME IT? Because it's our first pet we have to come up with a good name. Help us out! Do us a favor and leave a suggestion.

Chaille Parents Visit

My parents made it down for a quick 5 day visit to our little paradise! No one was ready for the week to be over (even though we did get an extra day in there somewhere!). Picked up in St. Thomas, hit all the good spots and introduced the parents to a few local friends, then ended the week in Road Town as Sasha and I prepare for another string of charters. As always, it was great fun to host my parents and a couple of their friends. Hope to see a few more Chailles before the season ends!!