We wake up by 7:30 am and eat a quick breakfast. Benjy is supposed to be here by 8:30-9:00am to look at the situation with the door to the basement. He arrives at 9:30am (island time) and has Kiwi (the woodworker) with him. We all look at the situation and it is decided that Kiwi will take down the door and cut it shorter. After we come back from out month trip, he will fix the opening by putting a new filler piece in where the door was. He has agreed to cut the door down while we are out shopping. This will at least make the door usable for the trip because without doing the cut, we could not open the door over the bed mattresses.
It is also decided that we will have to do the additional cleanup in the basement. What a waste of our time, but we really don't want to have to pay to have it cleaned. (they swear that they did cover everything and taped plastic up, but it sure doesn't look that way.)
While Kiwi is on the boat, I talk to him about removing the helm seat from the salon. It has been one of the things that I have wanted done for a long time. Kiwi looks at it to see how it comes off and with a screwdriver and a little assistance from me. It is out. He also breaks off the 2 wood pieces that held the seat to the platform. 
I am thrilled, but the removal left some sections with bare wood. The plan is to have Kiwi put a new laminate top on and match the wood trim….but that will be done after we leave. We also give Benjy our two "barrel" chairs from the salon with the hopes that he can find someone to buy them. We have purchased 2 new teak folding chairs with blue & green striped cushions to replace the old chairs. The salon is looking better and better! 
LuSea trying out the new deck chairs
By 11:30 we are finally ready to start out shopping spree. We go back to Kmart to pick up a few things and some of the liquor (it is the cheapest place on island to purchase booze, go figure). Next we go to Cash & Carry and I pick up a plastic table runner to cover the bare wood marks where the helm seat was. While there I buy a silk flower arrangement…..don't tell Paul as I haven't put it together and out yet. I have always wanted some decorative flowers for the boat, but have yet to find any and he always just rolls his eyes when I say that I want them.
Next we head to Cost-U-Less (like our BJ's) to start buying the dry goods and beer/wine. While there it allows me to see what they have in the produce, meat, & frozen sections. We have decided that we will buy the dry goods and put them in the car first. Then we will head to Price Smart (like our Costco) to start the meat, produce, and frozen food purchase. Yes, this means that we have to backtrack to Cost-U-Less, but it allows me to see what they have and what I can get at Price Smart. It is totally worth it to do it this way as I get to choose the best of both stores. The funny thing about these stores as they have many of the same items that Costco has and many are Kirkland Brand.
After the two "big box" stores, just one more stop to the grocery store. I have been told that the "Plaza Extra" is a better place to grocery shop than the Food Center out by Compass Pt., so this is my first foray to this store. I am pleasantly surprised. It is just like a large U.S. grocery store with much more than Food Center. The prices are better than "Food Center" also. Here I buy the last 10 or so items and I am DONE! 4 hours start to finish, though we are a thousand dollars poorer. Can't believe how much we spent, but this is food and booze for the month and includes the 4 kids visiting for 8 days. Paul is shocked as to how much it cost, but he rarely knows what I have spent at the food stores at home.
We now have a Ford Taurus that is loaded to the gills. There is absolutely no room left and LuSea must sit in the front as there is no room for her anymore in the back. Back at Compass Pt. we start the daunting job of getting all the stuff to the boat. Our boat is at the furthest possible slip on the dock at the end of the T-dock. Luckily they have large rolling carts and we find 2 empty and proceed to fill them. At the boat I start putting away the cold items while Paul goes back to the car for another cart-full. After it is all at the boat, Paul heads over to American Yacht Harbor in Red Hook (about a 10 min drive) to buy blocks of ice. This appears to be the only location on St. Thomas that sells blocks. Unfortunately, the marina does not sell any ice. And additional ice we need we then have to go to Food Center to buy. Luckily we do have an icemaker, so that is running full time to make cubes.
We spend the rest of the afternoon putting away everything, in every imaginable empty spot. 2 freezers and 1 refrigerator are full to the brim. Not room for one more item. It is amazing how when we shop, I always seem to buy just what will fit.
After a long day, we eat an early dinner of a rotiserrie chicken that we had the presence of mind to buy. Certainly it made for easy dinner prep. Again, in bed by 8pm.
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