When Peter and Dorothy Muilenburg first arrived on little St. John more than 40 years ago, the island was a far different place than the bustling tourist destination it is today.




Back in 1968, Peter and his young wife Dorothy knew a friend of a friend who said the snorkeling in St. John was amazing. That’s all it took for the adventure seekers to hightail it down to the Virgin Islands, what they didn’t know is how long they would call the island home and the legacy they would build on-and off-its shores.




“We drove a heap of metal from New England down to Florida and sold it and bought plane tickets to the Virgin Islands,” said Peter. “We loved it from the moment we got here. It was everything we expected it to be and then some.”




They must have loved it, the two weathered an approaching hurricane on their first night at the Cinnamon Bay Campground in the V.I. National Park.




“We arrived just as a hurricane was coming,” Peter remembered. “They were evacuating the campground and the last people at Cinnamon Bay were leaving when we got there. We didn’t have anywhere else to go, so they told us to take care. I figured we could shelter there somewhere.”




As it turned out, the storm veered north and missed the island; leaving in its wake perfectly calm and beautiful weather and an empty campground for the Muilenburgs to enjoy almost exclusively.




Before long, Peter-who grew up sailing in Manila Harbor in the Philippines-put a down payment on a 28-foot sloop and the couple moved aboard. They lived on the little sailboat for about 10 years and welcomed their first son aboard the sloop. 




With a second son on the way, the couple moved ashore; but with the Muilenburgs there is always a story and their first modest home on St. John is no exception.




“We were out on East End living on board for a while and then we got a place to stay that was a really ramshackle spot,” said Peter. “It was an old rum shop and we had to work on it for about two to three months before we moved in.”




As with most salts of the sea, Peter is an exceptional storyteller and he put his talents to use a few years ago with the publication of his book, “Adrift on a Sea of Blue Light.”  The book is a collection of Peter’s yarns and the old rum shack tale is in it too.




The night the family moved in, they were awakened by a pack of donkeys who were none too happy to be displaced by the new occupants of their old abode.




As Peter tells it, “The first night we stayed at this house the donkeys that were displaced very quietly gathered at our window and gave a blast of jack ass breath that raised us out of our beds. They waited until we were asleep and then, with their muzzles right by our window, they gave a unified blast.”




While Peter and his family were settling into their new digs, he was keeping himself busy with a little project out on the East End of St. John-building a 42-foot double ended gaff rig ketch. Breath is still one of the jewels of Coral Bay harbor and has been since Muilenburg, along with Paul Johnson, completed its construction back in 1983.




“It took me from about 1979 until 1982 to build the boat and then we launched it in 1983,” said Muilenburg.

“We sailed it up to the states where we could get some cheap lumber and finished a lot of the interior work up there. But we found ourselves longing for the Virgin Islands and all our friends so we came back down through the Bahamas.”




That would not be the last trip the Muilenburgs would take aboard Breath. The family has crisscrossed the Atlantic Ocean twice and sailed down to Venezuela more than a dozen times. One of the last family adventures ended in peril, but not tragedy. 




The Muilenburgs, along with Peter’s 89-yaer-old father, were cruising north to Ft. Lauderdale through the Bahamas, when Breath struck Great Inagua and went hard aground. Everyone was fine, but getting off the reef was no easy task. 




“This is really a story of the power of friendship,” said Peter. “Friends and family are really the best security you’ve got. A lot of people contributed tons of money and supplies and services to pull her off the reef.”




The Muilenburgs managed to limp in to the Exumas to rebuild Breath enough to make the sail to Ft. Lauderdale to complete the work.




“It was seven months from the wreck to when we got back sailing and the vast majority of that time was spent working on the boat,” said Peter. “There were endless projects and jobs.”




Peter has long been in the chartering business and while he doesn’t ply the waters daily anymore, Breath is still available for day sails out of Coral Bay. The boat can accommodate up to 18 people, making it the perfect venue for day cruises, parties or even weddings.




If after spending a day on Breath, leaves you wanting more, the beauty is actually for sale now. Call the Muilenburgs at 340-693-5257 for more information. To book a charter call 340-779-4994 or 340-626-8229.


Publishers Note: “Adrift on a Sea of Blue Light” is a wonderful read and is available at amazon.com. Definitely worth the purchase.

< Prev		Next >