I've Died and Gone to Heaven!

For several months, we’ve been hearing about a small bay we first noticed taking the ferry from Charlotte Amalie on the west to Road Town, Tortola on the east.  The bay is located on St. James’ Island, which lies south of St. Thomas right before a large passage between St. Thomas and St. Johns that opens the Caribbean to the Atlantic.  Those waters can be choppy on a calm day.

St. James then can be a good resting stop for eastward and westward travelers, especially in Christmas Cove.   The island has little to speak for it.  Some trees, no houses, a rocky beach.  A couple of chairs there to sit and look out.  But the harbor itself is fairly protected from the east and south (where most of the winds blow).  There’s about ten mooring balls available on a first come, first served basis – no charge (nice).  And there’s room for anchoring in two spots in case you arrive a bit late.

Even though you can look across a small channel to the houses and condo’s of St. Thomas, Christmas Cove feels like one of those interstate exchanges out in the middle of Arizona or New Mexico, the kind that have one aging gas station announced by a decrepit sign missing a crucial letter in it  (think Shell without the “s”).   You know, the kind that have the potato chips for sale on one of those counter displays racks.  Only there’s no fuel dock here at Christmas Cove.

But there is a floating pizza joint!  Apparently it’s a pretty good one.  We were told that it’s the number ONE rated restaurant on St. Thomas, according to Trip Advisor!  Hard to believe since there are no chairs and tables at PizzaPiVI, and it’s only been open for two years.

PizzaPiVI is an old sailboat converted into a pizza oven.  It stays on its anchor from November to August.  Then the owners move the boat to a boatyard and take it out of the water for August – October.  The high stern on the boat has been opened up to create a counter, like those sidewalk pizza stops in New York.  You walk up (uh, motor your dinghy up) to the counter, order your pizza and complete your transaction right there. 

Tara and Sasha, former charter boat crew, came up with the idea.  This married couple would  crew and cook for vacationers and usually ended their charters at Christmas Cove by serving homemade pizza.  

A dream (wish there were a pizza place right here)…

Became a vision (can’t put anything on the island but how about a boat?)…

Which turned into a major commitment (let’s find a boat and put a fully equipped pizza kitchen and ovens in it).  It took two and a half years to complete the boat’s conversion.


So when we arrived the other day, I dropped Marney off on the rocky beach and took the dinghy over to the pizza boat.  There I learned that they not only serve pizza, but GLUTEN FREE pizza crust!   I took a menu and said we’d call to place an order.

We looked over the menu, called them up and ordered two small gluten free pizzas.   We then learned that….

THEY DELIVER! 

You can order a pizza and have it delivered to your boat!  We can’t do that in Taos!  There’s an extra fee, of course, but for a first time…it was worth it!

The taste?  The sauce and toppings were terrific.  The gluten free crust was a bit thick and bland.  It’s OK.  Up to this point, when I’ve had a slice of pizza this year, I’ve been scraping the toppings with my teeth and leaving the crust for the birds!

Isn’t imagination amazing?

Surely God’s smiling!

I hope so, ‘cause this is heaven!

Fair Winds

Calm Seas

Dave

'Tis the set of the sail that decides the goal, and not the storm of life.     -- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

  

(American Poet, 1850-1919), who lived on Long Island Sound and famously wrote: 

    It is easy enough to be pleasant,

    When life flows by like a song

    But the man worth while is one who will smile,

    When everything goes dead wrong.

            -from “The Man Worth While”

Her most famous lines open her poem "Solitude":

    Laugh and the world laughs with you,

    Weep, and you weep alone;

    The good old earth must borrow its mirth,^[2]

    But has trouble enough of its own.