So generally I can crank a blog out just like that. Once I was so into the spirit of writing that I just kept going and my parents were clearing their throats like ‘Ahem, Anneleize, I think you should finish up with that now’, and my fingers were just doing a little dance, and I do believe I typed a full 5 pages that day. But we aren’t here to discuss my typing prowess at all!

This is my blog, and even though I was supposed to be keeping it up when we were in America last year, I didn’t. For me, the fun part was recounting our adventures on the boat, with our Israeli friends, cruising up the chain, and when we were staying in Colorado, it just wasn’t the same for me. There’s something magical about exploring new places, well, for me at least, like feeling that new feel, going places you’ve never been, seeing things you’ve only dreamed about!

 Ok, ok, gotta slow down here.

 I mean, I wouldn’t want a massive horde of people reading this (don’t you just love modesty and exaggeration), and then going, hey that sounds amazing, let’s go! Not that I don’t wish there were more children my age on boats, because believe me, I really do, I just like the fact that there aren’t too many people like me. I am a unique person, naturally.

Before you become bored to death with my incessant babble, I will begin the real story that you all visited my blog to read.

              THE BLOG TO END ALL BLOGS is what I’m calling it.

Very few people actually know what it means to live on a boat. It’s such a small space to share with so many people and it does get cramped after a certain amount of time. However it has its upsides. You generally get to know whoever lives with you VERY, VERY well. You become tight-knit, close and pretty possessive of what you would classify as your people.

But enough of that….

On to the good stuff.

This blog is about St. Croix, which some people may not know. St. Croix is part of the US Virgin Islands, and about 35 miles away from the rest of the Virgin Islands. The island is amazing, but as is the norm with most places, the people make it so much more. We first arrived in St. Croix about 3 weeks ago, after I met a girl called Arden on a boat near us in Honeymoon Bay, St. Thomas.

Arden, trying out a different type of LED poi 

The fire child has graduated to a fire queen.

She quickly convinced us that we NEEDED to come to St. Croix, and since we hadn’t done any real sailing in almost a year, we did. We arrived in Frederiksted, on the west side, in the total darkness, and dropped the hook. We quickly went to sleep because it had been a long day. Well, long for Dad, considering every time we start sailing I get drowsy as a side effect of sea sickness so I basically am no fun, I just sleep. The next morning I woke up and could honestly not believe my eyes. I mean sure, I’m in the Caribbean, but St. Croix looked downright heavenly. The water was this ice blue color, and the sand on the beaches was a goldeny, inviting color. I quickly realized that I liked St. Croix VERY much. Arden took me ashore and introduced me to Pi, who owns Teres Veho, a popular beach bar where we hang out all the time, and her son Q, who helps in the kitchen and is an avid, nay, fanatical bicyclist. I also met Nash, from Kenosha, Wisconsin who helps around and is a really nice guy. His mom and sisters come to the beach too and are of course the sweetest people. The only other ‘boat kid’ here in Frederiksted is Kieran, a South African teen who I’ve been trying to teach Afrikaans to again, since he can understand it but not really speak it.

The naturally fabulous leprechaun,
Kieran

Needless to say, a common interest, that being South Africa has made us besties in a short time. Kieran also does LED poi, and is quite proficient at it. And of course, there is the fabulous Arden, of the fair house of Astin, she of the fire dancing.

What fun

Yes, she is very, very good at the fire dancing and is absolutely one of a kind. She has a pet, but of course if you wanna have drama you gotta go all the way. Bert is… interesting. Bert also happens to be a ball python who resides on Arden’s boat as the ‘ships cat’ as it were. A natural scene might be for Arden or her 6 year old sister Riley to walk around with Bert around their neck. Although Bert does have a rather calming effect on me, so that’s good. We did sail up to Trellis Bay on Tortola for a short ‘holiday’, Arden’s parents being musicians, they had a gig in Trellis playing for the Full Moon Party there, and we tagged along.

Fire was a big part of the Full Moon Party.

There I got to experience how much fun it is to sometimes just be a regular teenager, one who can dance and laugh and generally just be happy, and I really enjoyed it. From there we went to Eustatia Island, above Prickly Pear, off Virgin Gorda in the BVI’s and we had a few days of R&R, considering the ferry driver in Trellis either had a bad day or a very malicious streak in him, as he came so close to the boat, at such a high speed that his wake (the waves from the back of the boat) came into our cockpit. For those of you who don’t know, there are 5 FEET from the waterline of our boat into the cockpit. Some people… I ask you! After some nice days in Eustatia, wherein I got to enjoy the 3 meters of water and the nice warm sun, we hauled up anchor and headed back to St. Croix, partly because we loved it so much there, partly because we promised Kieran and his mom, Fiona, that we would come see the St. Patricks Day Parade in Christiaansted. And go we did. It was… interesting, to say the least.

The streets were packed and there was many a skimpy green costume.

There was a lot of loud thumping bass on the floats, and a considerable amount of loud, sun burnt, drunk tourists. Oh yeah, and EVERYBODY was wearing green. Except me of course, I was keeping up that time honored tradition of being strange and different. I wore RED. *several gasps from the audience*. Yes ‘tis true. After that debacle, we sailed for Frederiksted, it being only 15 miles or so around the corner. After we had made it 3 miles, the US Coast Guard decided that now was a perfectly good time to do a safety inspection. Hmmm. Let me think about it. The seas are big, we are rolling considerably, you have a aluminum/rubber boat, which looks VERY hard, and you want to board us NOW. What a great idea! Yeah, high five for that amount of sensible thought. Then as they started to pull in closer after announcing their intention on the loudspeaker, I ran down to my bunk and grabbed my phone, as I recall hearing that if the authorities are ever giving you crap, you should video tape them. So that’s just what I did. I got my phone and I started videoing them with a huge smile on my face and they pretty much realized that if they made even one tiny mistake, well I had their butts in a bag, so to speak. Dad had previously told them that he’d worked really hard on our boat and he didn’t want her hurt, and couldn’t they just wait till we were around the corner, where it was less rolly? That combined with the fact that I was videoing them made them think better of their idea and they left to go bother someone else. We made it through the seemingly endless sheets of rain, from which we got good wholesome drinking water and arrived back in dear old Frederiksted.

 A couple of days later and Arden and I were doing our thing, selling some jewelry on the beach to some cruise shippers.

 And finally Arden and Kieran did some fire dancing

Like fire and ice, Arden and Kieran stun the crowds with their 'duet'.

whilst Stell and Jarad played their gig with Junie Bomba, a local percussionist whose family had tried to come in from Ghana, but were refused, owing to our dear new president’s ban on Muslims entering the country. This is the Virgin Islands. And it’s 2017, not the 1940’s for God’s sake. We shouldn’t treat people differently just because of their beliefs. We’re not Nazi’s and I’m sure as hell not going to treat someone differently because of their skin color, or their religion or any of that. It is my opinion that Donald Trump has made a big mistake, and that I sincerely hope that the people who voted for him are getting exactly what they wanted. That is all I have to say on that. It was a nice night and I had fun, I danced, I laughed, I had some of the most delicious cake ever, courtesy of Q, who simply never ceases to amaze me. It was late when we left and I honestly didn’t care at all because the number one rule in life is: NEVER NOT BE HAVING FUN.

I hope you enjoyed my blog, and I will do my best to continue writing and in doing so keep you all well informed of my adventures as Anneleize Strauss, adventurer and world class gypsy.