We were up at 5:30 to get Andy ready for his dive trip.  At 6:00 I called the hotel clerk to call me a taxi just as the lady last night had instructed me to do.  He mumbled a bit about taxis always being available by 6:30 and it would “probably” be no problem.  I was a little uncomfortable with that.  So by 6:10 we were standing in the lobby and I asked again to call me a taxi.

Well, he couldn’t get anyone to answer and immediately started complaining that I should have made my own arrangements, that guests were always complaining to the management that he just wouldn’t call a taxi early in the morning like this, but that it was always very difficult to get a taxi this time of day.  The story was changing by the minute.  He kept dialing and my anxiety level went through the roof.  Not only was Andy’s wonderful dive trip of a lifetime on the line so was my $110!

By 6:20 I was in a full panic.  At 6:23, I started running to the airport to try to get a taxi while telling Andy to wait at the hotel and take any taxi that happened to show up.  When I got almost to the airport, I saw a taxi coming out which I flagged down.  I wasn’t real sure he understood where the Renaissance Grand was, but he loaded Andy on board and took off.  I felt he would make it now.  But, boy, was that a frustrating experience!

So now Andy is diving (presumably), Darl, Pat, Sarah and Will are shopping, and here I sit writing and being and evaluating the new crop of bikini-clad women arriving on our beach.

My plans for the day = putter a bit, then take a nice long walk downtown, putter around the docks and walk back.  A few rain clouds have drifted by interrupting the sunbathing with a brief shower.  I’d better carry my umbrella on my walk downtown.

8:56 p.m.
What a walk!  I think I overdid it.  Probably walked 15 miles today.  After I puttered and wrote and read about an hour, I decided to head downtown about 10:15.  Walked almost constantly until 1:30.

Checked out the ferries at the dock.  We will have to be there by 8:00 a.m. tomorrow.

Then I strolled down the dock all the way to the cruise ships.  I enjoyed walking by myself exploring at my own pace.  Thank goodness I didn’t have to walk those endless aisles shopping.  All my family was properly entertained - Sarah and Pat, Will and Darl, and Andy off diving, so I was free to roam at my own pace.  Look and Explore.

I stopped in St. Thomas Marine Store and looked over the ropes, anchors, charts and fittings.  Now that!  That is a place to shop! But I was leg-weary from the long walk and pressed on.

Back at the hotel I continued my reading of Peter Tangvald’s _At Any Cost_.  Pat read the book and forwarded it to me because she knew I would be interested.  Tangvald lead an adventurous life mostly on his beautiful 50 foot wooden boat.  He went through more wives than ports.  Like most sailing writers, he talks a lot about his troubles and difficulties and not so much about  the good sailing days.  Shoot!  The good days are just harder to describe than the near shipwrecks and storms and such.  Storms and wrecks fascinate all sailors like plane crashes fascinate pilots.  You have to focus on other people’s mistakes so you don’t make the same ones.

Then I decided to walk to the airport to try to get guaranteed seats for Sarah and Will on next Saturday’s flight.  We tried in January and failed, but when we checked in on Wednesday, the agent said we could have booked our seats instead of taking open tickets.  Well, I walked the half-mile to the airport only to discover that the envelope marked “Will” did NOT contain his ticket.  So I walked the half-mile trip three more times getting the ticket, returning to the airport, and back to the hotel.  And the answer was “No” - you can’t book a seat because Class E seats are full.

About 4:45, Sarah, Pat, Will, and I gathered at the entrance to our hotel to wait for Andy’s return.  Just when we were beginning to get nervous about him, he showed up.  He was tired, but happy.  For the rest of the evening he kept remembering details of his dive.  The wreck of the Rhone was voted by Scuba Magazine as the number one dive site in the world.  He talked long about the ship, how it crashed in a hurricane, the various parts of the ship he saw underwater, the thousands of fish he saw, the people he was with, and the leaders of the dive.  I think he got his money’s worth, but he regretted not buying the $75 custom video of his dive.

Dinner tonight was at the hotel - West Indies buffet with conch, cod, chicken and ribs.  It wasn’t great, but we didn’t have to pay a $48 cab fare to get into town and back.  The buffet featured a solo steel drum player with taped accompaniment.  He was pretty good, but the scenery was the best with the sun setting over Emerald Beach.

The Royal Mail Steamer Rhone from _R.M.S. Rhone_ by George and Luana Marler
“On the morning of October 29, 1867, the RMS Rhone was at anchor outside Great Harbor, Peter Island.  The Rhone, under the command of Captain Robert F. Wooley, had left Southampton on October 2, 1867, and was taking on cargo and stores for the return crossing.
“The RMS Conway, commanded by Captain Hammock, lay alongside.  The stillness of the tropical day was undisturbed as the sun blazed down from a clear sky upon calm seas.  As the morning wore on, the barometer began to fall, hinting the weather might deteriorate.  The seas, however, remained, untroubled.  Although the captains alerted themselves, work was allowed to continue.  Captain Wooley hailed Captain Hammock that he did not like the look of the weather and, as the hurricane season was over, it must be a northerly brewing.  Wooley felt they should shift to the northern anchorage of Road Harbour, Tortola.
“About 11 a.m., the barometer suddenly fell to 27.95 degrees.  The sky darkened, and with a mighty roar a fearful hurricane blew from the north/northwest.  The howling wind whistled through the shrouds and tore at the rigging.  With engines going at full speed, the ships rode the storm.
“At noon there came a lull in the storm.  The Conway weighed anchor and headed toward the northern anchorage of Road Harbour.  As she steamed across the Sir Francis Drake Channel, she was hit by the second blast of the hurricane. Her funnel and masts were blown away, and she was driven onto the island of Tortola.
“The Rhone tried to weigh anchor during the lull, but the shackle of the cable caught in the hawse pipe and parted, dropping the 3,000 pound anchor and some 300 feet of chain.  With engines running at full speed, she steamed seaward in order to seek sea room to weather the second onslaught.  She had negotiated most of the rocky channel and was rounding the last point when the hurricane, blowing from the south/southeast, struck, forcing her onto the rocks at Salt Island where she heeled over, broke in two, and sank instantly, taking most of her company with here.”

Andy’s journal:
“I got to go scuba diving today.  I got up before the sun so I could go diving…. I made it to the other side of the island ten minutes early and at 7:00 they weren’t even there with the boat yet.  We got signed up and loaded up the boat and got under way.  We got to the customs office in about an hour.  Then the captain Chris Sawyer went in to talk to the customs people, and he was there for an hour.  Perry, the other dive master, got us some Johnny cakes that were pretty good.  Then Armando got on and when the Captain came back we headed to the Rhone.  It took another 40 minutes to an hour to get there.  On the way the captain told us the history about the Rhone and all about the storm that sank  the Rhone in 1867.
“We finally got to the wreck about 9:00 or around that anyway.  We got our wetsuits on and the dive instructors got our equipment ready to go under.  The first group of divers went in and were gone.  I was of course on the second group.  We got all suited up and in the water.  I ducked my head under the water and saw a few fish.  Then I saw the ship.  I first saw the mast.  It was huge and I started my descent down to the most outstanding, beautiful, spectacular final resting place of the RMS Rhone.  We went into the ship through what appeared to be a door or a big hole or something, but anyway we went in to what they call the river.  It is called the river because if you look at the ceiling where your air bubbles are hitting the air runs like an upside down river. There was a dead crab waiting to greet us as we entered.  There were several fish in there.  Armando was filming everyone when they entered the ship.  Then he filmed the roof where the river was.  When the lights hit the coral the red and color came out and it was magnificent.  We went through the wreck and saw thousands of fish.  We looked through the portholes where someone once looked through while it was on the surface.  There were some portholes that still had the glass in them and the glass wasn’t broken.  When I got low on air Perry sent  me to the surface and I surfaced with group one.  About five minutes after I surfaced the rest of the group surfaced.
“We went to the other side of the island so that it wouldn’t be so rough.  We ate lunch and went back to the wreck to dive again.  We went down for our second dive we went down at the stern (or back) of the ship.  We saw the screw which was six feet tall and five feet wide.  We saw more fish.  I saw some sea urchins and we saw a 60 pound red snapper.  It was huge.  We swam around and looked at more of the wreck, and when my air got low I surfaced again with the first group.  We dived to 80 feet on the first dive and 60 for the second dive.  I am still amazed at  the size and beauty of the Rhone.  I would love to go again if I ever get the chance.”

Will writes:
“Today my brother, Andy, went scuba diving by a wreckage of the RHONE. I didn’t see the stranger with the green and gold ink pen much today, but I felt his presence because I saw about ten green and gold ink pens when we were shopping.  There were several jewelry stores, fragrance stores, and T-shirt stores.  I bought a small bean-bag lizard and a monkey.  I ate lunch at the Hard Rock Café in St. Thomas.  After that I lost my lizard.  I didn’t swim, fly my kite or walk where the waves come up and splash your feet.  I got to go pack because I’m going to Tortola to get a sailboat.  The stranger didn’t even get close enough to talk to me so I still didn’t find out who he is and why he is following me.  I almost forgot, I got a Hard Rock Café T-shirt after I ate lunch.”

Sarah writes:
“Spent the day shopping in Charlotte Amalie.  Lots of little alley ways with shops off of them.  There were many jewelry stores with gold, silver, diamonds, emeralds, rubies - all the colored precious stones.  There were perfume shops, linen shops, leather shops, and some local craftsmen scattered throughout.  I bough a children’s boo _The Little Island_ to take back to the four-year old class and a tape of steel drum music.  I bought my things at The Pampered Pirate.  There were lots of clothes with the bright tropical prints.  We had lunch at the Hard Rock Café - cheeseburgers in paradise.  After lunch, shopped a little more - then a wild taxi ride back to the motel.”

End - Day Three - Motherofallvacations Vacation