Owning a Home in the Virgin Islands - Repairs - Cistern

As you may remember, we recently painted our pool and filled it from our cistern which needed to be drained as we had several cracks in the cistern and who knows how long ago it was cleaned and re-sealed. We were originally told we would be without water for about 10 days. In anticipation of having no water, we stocked up with buckets of water to make it through that time and luckily at our marina, we were able to rent showers for the time.

So the day came, water shut off and cistern was almost drained!

Once they have the cistern drained (ours is underneath our entire living and kitchen area and is about 26,000 gallons) they need to power wash it and drain out the remains. This process took about 2 days. At that point they fill in the cracks with quick drying cement. 24 hours to let that dry. Then the painting of the new sealer, Thermaseal. That takes about 2 days as they do two coats. Problem was, we had rain one night and had to postpone the 2nd coat as water leaked through our downspout plugs. Once all the coating is done you are to wait 7 days for it to cure and let the sealer leach out the minerals. Most of the cistern companies down here go ahead right away in fill it. Shannon checked out the manufacturer's website and once again, island mentality with just get it done. The real issue with filling it right away is you will have a salt like, smelly substance in the cistern.

After letting the sealer cure for a week, it was time to get back down there and replace the foot valve as the old one was dirty and whomever put it in the last time left at at the bottom of the cistern which would then suck up and the crap from the bottom. A little cutting with a hacksaw, some PVC glue and viola, new foot valve. One of the final steps to the cistern is to come back after cure time and spray salt water rinse and get that out of the bottom. Many companies don't do this either.

Now the time has come, after two weeks of no water, I was given the OK to order the water truck! We ordered 5250 gallons for $370. Because our cistern is so big, this filled it up about a foot or halfway up the picture above on the foot valve pipe. Regardless, to have running water again!!!!

So, now is the time we had been waiting for, getting the pump going again and have running water! Not so fast, as with everything here, nothing is easy! The pump would run but never shut off, which is bad as the pump will get hot and burn out! On the phone with a plumber, oh he can't come out for another 3 days. To hell with the plumber, it is time for "Water Pumps, this is Ken!" On the phone with Larry the Water Guy, we diagnose the problem (after many attempts and getting sprayed in the face) it is a bad pressure switch. Good news is we can still use the water, just have to unplug the pump until I can install a new pressure switch.

The next day off to Home Depot for a 20/40 PSI switch. Nope they don't carry them, even though most of the homes here have cisterns. Off to East End Lumber and purchase a new one for $19. Installed in less than an hour and no problems since! More good news, we are moving into our rainy season now and just had about an inch of new rain which translated into about 3 more inches in the cistern!

Here was the old switch!

Boating With Dogs in the Virgin Islands

One of the reasons we bought the boat we did was because of its ability for the dogs to get in and out with ease and plenty of room for them to walk around. We have two dogs, Bristol a Lab/Boxer mix who is 10 and Bo Peep, a 7 year old Yellow Lab. Both are from a shelter and Bo Peep had hip dysplasia surgery, hence why you will see her with a harness on, to help get her in and out. Another reason for boating with the dogs is the access you have getting to beaches where dogs are allowed. Most of the beaches on St Thomas and St John do not allow dogs.

We had a boat in Reno, Nevada and took the dogs out on Lake Tahoe and Eagle Lake, CA. That boat was a 19 ft Bayliner 195 and was a good all around boat for us and the dogs.

The dogs love going out on the boat and it is no different here in the Virgin Islands. Our fist time out with them was to Christmas Cove, a small cove off of St James Island on the SE side of St Thomas. There are mooring balls there. Well they went swimming all right, to a small sandy spot. Problem was there were sea urchins all around this little beach and Bristol stepped on one! She was ok, and in a few hours she stopped limping.

 We learned that we need to scout out a beach with a mask and snorkel before they are allowed to shore!

They had a great day and just love the warm water. After always being in fresh water, it was funny to watch them try drinking the salt water.

Another Sunday we ventured further out over to St John and anchored up to a nice beach.

Another weekend, back to Christmas Cove but this time we took a mooring ball on the East side of the cove and found that beach to be sea urchin free!

Now if you don't have a boat and want to go to a beach with your dogs (only if you clean up after your dog!) you can go to Vessup Beach on the east end. If you can find the road, you can drive your truck right onto the beach!

Someone asked me about dogs in the BVI and after doing some research and permit needs to be filled out and an examination needs to be done by a BVI vet. Sadly, the dogs probably won't be going to the BVI.

So many things to do with the dogs and if you don't go out on the boat or go to a dog friendly beach you can always just go in the pool!

Owning a Home in St Thomas, USVI - Home Repairs - Pool Update

In my last update with the pool, we had left off with the pool being painted. After a successful week without rain, we let the new pool paint to dry and cure. Next step was to get the spaceship skimmer up and running. Apparently with the former owner, there was a line break in the original pool plumbing and in order to find that break, my guess is the entire deck would have to come up and the bottom of the pool jackhammered. So to avoid those costs the just cut and capped off the old plumbing and ran PVC to the old skimmer with 1.5 inch for the filter intake and two 3/4 inch return lines. The new skimmer is this floating spaceship skimmer which is attached to the 1.5 inch PVC with a hose. Unfortunately after an extensive Internet search there is no real replacement for this contraption.

So we found the correct adaptor for the hose at Budget Marine. Ok, now to install it, simply just screw on the adapter, right? Well yes, but the hose that was on there was so old in just snapped and cracked! We were supposed to be filling the pool that morning as the painters were to begin on repairing, cleaning and re-coating our cistern the next day (another blog post in of itself!). Off to Home Depot, they have hose but not another adaptor, so off to the other side of the island to Budget Marine! We got back around 3 PM and sorted the hose. Now time to start filling the pool!

As I mentioned before, this pool had been empty for 2+ years with a sump pump at the bottom. Well the pump will always leave about 3 inches of water in the bottom. This water became a tadpole sanctuary, which we didn't mind as they ate the mosquito larvae. As luck would have it the frogs returned as soon as we had water in the pool. The first night we counted 16 Cuban Tree Frogs in the pool having an orgy!

Come to find out these frogs are not native and an invasive species and if you can catch them you should kill them. After their first night return for their orgy, we went down to the pool in the morning and found the entire top of the water surface filled with eggs!



The next night we went on a hunt and caught seven of them and put them in a plastic ziplock. The most humane way to kill these frogs is to put them in your freezer. Yes the next morning we had frozen frogs in our freezer, anyone have a recipe for frog legs? Just kidding....after doing that one time, we decided that we are not good at that. We found if you just pour salt on them, they seem to go away, plus the chlorine in the pool seems to deter them.

Now after a day and a half of filling the pool from the cistern, it was time to take our first EVER swim in this pool that we have looked at all these years!

Ahhh! A nice 82 degree temperature to escape the heat of the day! A few more adjustments to the spaceship, string seems to be working. Chemicals, the water was low in alkalinity, so I raised that to acceptable standards, but the PH also went up. I took my time, by adding a little bit a day for the alkalinity and eventually the PH came down on its own. So far, so good! What a welcome addition to the house!



Owning a Boat in the Virgin Islands

If you are going to live in the Virgin Islands, you may want to have a boat. Why? Because of all the different islands and beaches you can go to, not to mention the fishing. I have posted before we bought a boat. It is a 2002 Twin Vee, 26 foot, twin cat, with 2010 Suzuki 115 motors. This is a good all around center console, twin hull boat, perfect for snorkeling and great for the dogs. This boat was in the rental fleet at Awesome Boats and the owner is the Suzuki dealer here on St Thomas. Part of buying the boat was that we were to have new bottom paint put on and some other issues repaired. We bought the boat May 1st and it was at a slip in Red Hook. While waiting for the boat to come out of the water, we used the boat almost every weekend.

In the meantime, were the boat was docked, if a tropical storm or hurricane comes, you have to get the boat out of the marina and put it on a trailer or in the mangroves. Even if we had a trailer, I couldn't imagine the line of panic to have a boat out of the water, nor do I want to mess with a mangrove. So we called around the various marinas and found that the one, Compass Point, that was already in the mangroves, therefore you do not have to move the boat. They just do a system of chains and ropes with all the docks and boats. The marina is about 5 minutes further from Red Hook or 15-20 minutes from our house. There was only one slip available and it was for 30+ foot boats, so we have to pay for a 30 foot and the cost is $16/ft. Not bad, $490/month. Yes we could have found a mooring for less, but with two dogs and the ability to walk right on board, priceless!

With a little coaching and pushing we finally got the former owner to get the boat out of the water. Well I get a call at 10 AM, "Ken, can you take the boat over to the boat yard in an hour?" Of course I could, so we ran over and drove the boat around the point to Independent Boat yard, which happens to be right behind our new marina.

Now Independent is essentially a dirt parking lot were a lift takes your boat out and places it on a stand. The place is HOT with no breeze and no shade, not to mention all the dust from the other boats being sanded down. While we had the boat out, we had to have a survey done for the insurance company. The survey revealed some minor issues, but as I was going over the boat I found some fiberglass damage on the leading edge of the hull. Also, the aluminnum weld on the t-top had a hairline crack, but the entire unit could lift up. So scrambling in the boat yard we found the fiberglass repair guy and the welder, they both kindly fit us in.

After more prodding, the boat got painted. I think we must had lost 10 pounds each from hanging around that boat yard, it was HOT! Not to mention the constant darting from yard to boat store to the owner's shop.

Now it was time to get the boat back in the water and bring it to the new slip. It right around the corner. As I am pulling into our row, there is my old room mate in Boulder, CO 19 years ago, Lance, who is a sailboat captain for a cruise ship excursion company. He asks me where I was putting the boat, I said the one next to the green boat over there, he was like, no way that is my brother in law's boat and he is moving it to St Maarten and will be moving his boat next to mine! Small world to go from old room mates to slip neighbors?

We had all the dock lines made at Budget Marine, the boat store at the boat yard. It was a challenge getting all the lines just right, but I have to give Shannon all the credit for doing such a great job of getting it perfect.

After dripping in sweat, it was time for a cold refreshment, and we were thankful there is a little bar which is a one man show by a nice guy named Chris, called MooMoo's. I don't think that first cold Presidente ever tasted so good!

One of the things we found out was that at this marina, they have a fuel service called Caribbean Patroleum. They come with a fuel truck and fill your boat during the week or you can make a special order for $30. The gas is about 10 to 15 cents a gallon cheaper than the docks (about $5.10/gallon) and I don't have to mess with the fuel dock ever again!

We both slept great that night, with the next day going to the former owners shop and getting the title and registration card. In the US Virgin Islands, all boat registrations are due at the end of June. We had to get the title notarized and off we went to the Department of Planning and Natural Resources to register the boat. Their office is located upstairs at the airport (don't forget to bring your parking ticket with you to get stamped so you don't have to pay for parking) Since we didn't plan of going to the other side of the island, we stopped at the little restaurant that is behind where the taxis park and before you go through the gate to the airport parking. The place is called Atlantis Seafood House and is a little outdoor eatery. We both had the curry chicken with fungi, plantain and potato. For $10, it was delicious and I ended up with left overs for another 2 lunches! We also got two chicken stuffed pates for lunch the next day.

Registration was pretty easy, you go to one office, fill out the paperwork (don't forget to bring the old registration card and the notarized title/bill of sale), then it is off to the seperate cashier (I don't get why the first clerk can't take money and do paperwork, job creation at its best. We were the only two people in the office) to pay. It was only $55, and here is the catch, our boat is only 25 feet, 8 inches. The price goes up at 26 ft to $100, so if you are boderline like our boat, make sure you put feet inches on the form. Once you pay, you go back to the other office and they give your registration and sticker. We were done!

I have to share another episode of the St Thomas, you can't make this shit up. This picture came as I was walking down the hallway at DPNR and saw this sign hanging.