The Adventures of S/V Jupiter's Smile

Alabaster Bay, Governor's Harbor, then Rock Sound

2012-01-31T00:00:00.009-05:00

On the 24th of January, we arrived in Alabaster Bay and Gone With the Wind was anchored there. Barb and I saw them eating a late lunch as we walked by on the beach at Cocodimama's Resort. We were headed to Barb's favorite beach on the East side of Eleuthera to beach comb so we simply waved a hello and had a brief word. After a good long walk and a long walk along the beach, we returned empty handed, but happy to be in paradise.

The pink sand beach on the "ocean side"

The next day we had nice (expensive) lunch at the resort.

Cocodimama's street side

Cocodimama's beach side and dining

I got a good WiFi connection in the lobby

I could see Jupiter's Smile at anchor

That evening we invited the crew of Gone With the Wind aboard for "sundowners" and had a good visit with this very nice couple, Liam and Annie. As I mentioned in the blog piece about Harbor Island, they have sailed half way around the world from Sydney, Australia and they have interesting stories and a beautiful boat.

On the 26th, we moved on to Governor's Harbor and shortly after, Gone With the Wind anchored nearby. Barb and I went ashore to get some groceries and do some exploring. That afternoon, Rogue Brit, a Hunter 466 came into the anchorage.

(left to right) Rouge Brit, Gone With the Wind & Jupiter's Smile in Governor's Harbor with our ship's tender (dinghy) Big Red in the foreground, left

The wind had turned out of the Southeast now and that was the direction we wanted to sail so we decided to stay in Governor's Harbor for a few days, until the wind shifted.

We were encouraged by a shop owner and the librarian to go to the weekly Friday fish fry, a community fund raising event which begins at 5 PM. Well, it really begins around 6:30 and the food is not ready until around 7, but that was all just fine as we talked and got acquainted while we waited.

Annie, Jay, Barb, Liam, Trevor & Christy

Give your order and it is written on the back of the styrofoam container along with your name

Then wait for your name to be called, pay $10 and enjoy

Barb and I both had fish, peas and rice and cole slaw. Chicken and pork were also available as was macaroni and cheese and french fries. It was a fun time and we returned to our boats around 9:30. The event went on into the night and early morning. The next day, I spoke with the librarian about the evening remarking that most of the patrons of the fish fry were tourists. She replied, 'yes, until about 10 and then the locals begin to show up, after the tourists have left.' Bahamian people are typically night people it seems. The local youngsters had been practicing for their junkanoo competition (a combination marching band and costume event like Mardi Gras) the previous night and this night the adults were partying.

During the day children were sailing their boats

The next day, Barb and I hiked to the East side of the settlement and found the ocean beach and walked half its length to a blow hole. Again, we found no treasures to bring back with us, but we enjoyed the walk over the hill.

A nice house on the hill overlooking the harbor

Liam and Annie invited the crew of Rogue Brit, Trevor (the ex Brit) and Christy from Nevada, and us over to Gone With the Wind for sundowners and we had a very nice visit with our new friends. We returned to our boats after dark and Barb prepared a lobster tail for our dinner. It is not nearly as good as Maine lobster, but it was still a treat.

On Sunday, Liam, Annie and I helped Trevor and Christy with a short list of boat improvements and trouble shooting on Rogue Brit. We then all went to lunch at a nice restaurant overhanging the sound where Liam teased the good natured waitress, entertaining us all.

The wind was forecast to shift to the Northeast and strengthen considerably so Barb and I decided that we would leave early on Monday to take advantage of that and head to Rock Sound farther down the island, about 25 miles away. I had spoken to Chris Parker, our Marine Weather Center guru and he suggested that the wind would increase as the day progressed and would provide a "screaming beam reach" in pretty calm seas down the lee side of the narrow island. His prediction was pretty much correct and as we turned around the point to enter the Rock Sound harbor the wind was blowing about 22 knots. Rogue Brit traveled along with us and Gone With the Wind left the anchorage two hours behind us. They covered the distance in about half the time, arriving just after us, having measured a top speed of 17 knots at one point. Gone With the Wind lives up to its name!

The sailboat Sea Biscuit is in the harbor. We know them from our time in Roatan, Honduras, in 2009, and from our eventful return trip to the USA from Isla Mujeras, in 2010. It will be good to begin February with a reunion with them.

Northern Eleuthera, Bahamas

2012-01-24T18:21:00.020-05:00

On January 14th, we sailed almost due East on a Northerly wind and a Southerly current to the cut between Egg Cay and Little Egg Cay and onto the banks at the northern end of Eleuthera. With Barb at the helm we sailed brilliantly and took a mooring at Spanish Wells.

Spanish Wells' 8 moorings. Call "Bandit" on VHF16

The cost of the moorings has increased from $15 to $20 a night and we stayed three nights. We walked around the charming settlement enjoying the opportunity to get propane, diesel fuel, lunch at Norma’s Takeout and groceries at the Food Fair. This is an old, established settlement with a long tradition of fishing and the look of the place reminded us of New England.

Quiet on the waterfront Sunday morning

I love the sight of the blue sea. Parliament is elected every 5 years and people decorate their cars with their party's flags.

They decorate the graves of past (passed) voters all year round.

Having spent our mooring budget, we moved off the mooring in the East wind to anchor behind Meeks Patch on the banks West of Spanish Wells and spent a quiet night alone at this anchorage.

On January 18th, we traveled about 15 miles East and South, through the reef, outside and around the Devil’s Backbone and back through the cut into Harbor Island anchoring just off Valentine’s Marina and Resort.

From the stern - S/C Gone With the Wind in view

Off the starboard quarter

Valentine's landside

Valentine's waterside with our dinghy and Barb on the dock

Harbor Island is probably the ritziest place in the Bahamas after New Providence Island where Nassau is located. But it is ritzy in a low-key, get-away-from-it-all kind of way. The Duke of Windsor had a “home” here as well as other famous folk and there are some very nice boutique hotels along the beach.

White Lodge's land granted in 1791 by King George lll to a loyalist subject, John Teddor

White Lodge

I was impressed by the banyan tree

Lush landscaping

Narrow street carved through the limestone

The Government dock with the fast ferry, Bo Hingy ll in port

Golf carts are the preferred form of transportation

Two of the many "Straw Market" stands

A tasteful jewelry store

Another neat avenue

This is an old Loyalist Cottage, 1797 with a contemporary guest

We spent two days walking around the settlement and the “pink sand” beach, enjoying lunches out and grocery shopping and doing laundry. Many visitors come for the day, but that is not enough time to do the island justice. We did that in 2007, so we knew better this time and enjoyed ourselves. At one of the "take aways" we encountered a couple from the Australian sailing catamaran Gone With the Wind. We came to find out that they bought their boat new in 2004, just as we did, but since that time they have sailed from Sydney westward, into the Mediterranean Sea, across the Atlantic, up and down our East Coast and now we meet here in Eleuthera.

Leaving Harbor Island, we were able to sail back the way we came, passing Spanish Wells and sailing to Royal Island Harbor where we stayed two nights. Royal Island Harbor has good protection from all directions. It is a private island, but the development’s progress has been stopped so we were able to roam at will, with no one to ask for permission to do so.

On January 23 we sailed to Current Cut and went through on an almost high tide, which caused us to be flushed through at nine knots, but into the wind, so there was quite a bit of choppy, shallow water to navigate. We got through safely, going straight ahead through the “alternate route” instead of the route that we had used before that turns just past Current Island. Once safely through we motored into the wind toward the “Glass Window”, a space cut by the sea that would effectively cut Eleuthera into two parts if it were not for a bridge. We anchored nearby and dinghyed ashore for photos.

View from the bridge - Jupiter's Smile at anchor in the distance. Click on photo to enlarge.

In 1997, the bridge was battered by a rogue wave and knocked seven feet to the West. The government built a second support beneath the bridge and just repaved the road in its new position.

The Glass Window

The next day, we sailed to Hatchet Bay and entered the cut to look around at the moorings, but since it was early, we decided not to stay there and sailed on to Alabaster Bay.

Leaving the USA

2012-01-12T20:50:00.013-05:00

Our last, necessary piece of mail arrived on the 5th (thank you, John for all the mail forwarding!) So, our next journey begins. On January 6, 2012, just after dawn, we cast off our mooring in the Marathon City Marina, Marathon, Florida. We took on thirty gallons of diesel fuel at the Marathon Marina, headed out to motor into the light headwind and then motor sail along Hawk Channel to Rodriguez Key along the Eastern Coast of Florida. We anchored and while Barb prepared supper, I studied the charts and planned our route through the reef, into the Gulf Stream, to the cut at Gun Cay and the Bahama Bank. The crossing might take over ten hours (you never really know until “you’re out there”) so I decided we would raise the anchor before dawn and navigate the reef in the dark trusting the chart kit from Maptech, the electronic C-Map chart from Jeppesen, instruments from RayMarine, the engine from Yanmar and our skills. All went as planned and by sun-up we were in the Atlantic headed for the Gulf Stream. Two things indicate the Gulf Stream: first, if you are headed in the right direction, you gain “speed over the ground” as indicated by the GPS.

The wind blew almost directly at us, as we expected, but its speed dropped off, also expected, so we were motoring at about 6.2 knots, but our GPS read 9.5 knots. We were in the Gulf Stream!

Once you reach deep water (thousands of feet deep), the water turns a clear, deep, indigo blue.

We passed through the cut

early enough (2:45 PM) to enable us to keep on going so that we could anchor on the Bahama Banks, in about ten feet of water, ten miles beyond Gun Cay.

The waters were crystal clear and dead calm.

Yes, that is 10 feet of water!

Sunset in the Bahamas - We made it!

With only the slightest tiny waves, it made for some interesting visual effects.

The moon setting into its own reflection

We decided to forgo checking into the Bahamas at Bimini as we had done on two previous trips and to try a new destination, Great Harbor Cay, in the Berry Islands, about sixty miles farther on the banks. Since it was Sunday, we decided to anchor nearby, again on the banks, and then near Cistern Cay the next night. We entered the marina on Tuesday morning to clear into the country.

Clearing in was painless (as long as the departure of $300 USD for the privilege of cruising the Bahamas for as much as a year, with some restrictions, doesn’t hurt) with the Customs and Immigration Agent coming from the nearby airport to the marina to meet with us.

We stayed two nights and spent a lot of time exploring the island on foot.

The marina basin

Manatee right off the stern of our boat

A place for people to swim as well

Twice, however, we were given rides. The first, by Reverend Charles who gave us a mini-tour after trying to complete an errand and he gave us a recommendation for lunch.

The Reverend Charles' church

We took his recommendation the next day.

Cooliemae's restaurant served us lunch - stemed fish, peas and rice and cole slaw. T'was tastie!

Afterwards we were picked up by a British woman who gave us a ride to the end of the road that led to a beautiful beach. Over the two days we completely covered the entire length of Half Moon Beach beach combing.

Barb found some sea beans and some nice shells.

When we left the marina we sailed around the north end of the Cays and anchored along Half Moon Beach. The next morning we motored the short distance into the cut between White Cay and Devil’s Cay and anchored behind Fowl Cay. We explored White Cay’s beaches. As we returned to the boat, the dinghy engine displayed the same problem it had in the past. The engine would run at high speed, but the boat would slow. Since I suspected that the propellor hub was bad I had bought a used prop in Marathon. I decided to go to land and change the prop, so we dinghyed to Hoffman Cay to view the inland blue hole we had visited five years before.

The prop change took five minutes and engine worked perfectly.

When we returned to the boat we saw two other vessels in the next anchorage and went to visit each for a moment. We met Forest and Susan and their guests on the Island Packet 44 Rejoice and we have heard them since on the radio when we check in on the Cruiseheimers Net in the mornings.

The Cruiseheimers Net consists of cruisers that keep in contact with each other on the single side band frequency 5.152 MHz (USB) at 0830 each morning. It began as a small group that found that, as they cruised, they would tend to forget where they were or what day it was and what season it was. This affliction (or blessing - depending on your point of view) was labeled Cruiseheimers Disease. Cruisers check in from Central America (Roatan this morning) to the Chesapeake and places in between and when you hear a familiar boat name check in, you can contact them and converse (on a different frequency) and catch up on the news between you. It is both a social and a safety thing that provides comfort along your travels at sea and in foreign places. Last week, a cruiser at Rum Cay had lost their dinghy during the night. It had become untied from their boat and was just gone. Through Cruiseheimers, the dinghy was identified and found, drifting in Exuma Sound, blown by the winds and carried by the current over 100 miles away. The unlucky cruiser had his luck turned indeed, by a fellow cruiser who had listened to the Cruiseheimers Net.

Back in the water - December 2011

2011-12-31T16:40:00.005-05:00

Driving our van from Colorado, we returned to Florida on November 17th. Christina and Larry were not at all as we had left them - happily - as they had delivered Dorothy, a beautiful, healthy baby girl into the world. We were adopted as one set of several grandparents and spent a great deal of time transfixed in amazement at Christina and Larry’s creation.

When we arrived at Snead’s, S/V Jupiter’s Smile was found to be already in the Travelift being moved out of the storage yard to the work area.

We had arranged for a hole to be drilled in the bottom of the hull (a through hull) so that we could install the intake for a water maker. Pat Peterson of Peterson Marine made tickets available for us at the St. Petersburg Boat Show where we could be shown the Spectra line of water makers and meet the manufacturers representative. We purchased the Ventura 200T, a unit that produces about 200 gallons per day (8.3 gallons per hour) and uses just under 10 amperes of 12 volt DC electricity. It and the installation were not cheap, but we expect to be cruising to places where no amount of money can buy good water. We will make our own. While our boat was being drilled, the through hull installed and the bottom painted, I was inside and above decks putting the boat back together as much as I could. The two solar panels I had stowed inside for the hurricane season were a real joy to reinstall while I hung out from the stern of the boat on the arch about 25 feet above the asphalt. With Barb’s help, the job was completed perfectly.

Thanksgiving “weekend” brought all work to a halt and we enjoyed our time with Christina, Larry and Dorothy at their house and had dinner at their good friends’ Steve and Dan’s house.

Once all the boat yard work was completed, the launch occurred on November 29th. We pulled into the slip and decided to spend our first night “on the water” in almost six months. During the afternoon, however, we discovered that the through hull was slowly, but surely, leaking. On November 30th, bright and early, we were hauled back out of the water, the leak repaired and then returned back to the slip, free to begin loading our gear and provisioning with food and supplies for the cruising season with only one more task to accomplish - the installation of the water maker itself.

We thought that if we moved the boat closer to Peterson’s location that they would have an easier time finishing the job. We had happened to meet the harbormaster of the Gulfport City Marina at the boat show and he crowed about the “hidden jewel” that was Gulfport and the half price transient dock rate we could pay as we had our work done.

Weekly rate is .75/foot/week, electricity included.

Floating transient dock

On December 5th, I left Snead’s dock to take the boat the 14 miles to Gulfport while Barb drove the van to Gulfport. It took her less than an hour and it took me over four hours. She drove over the beautiful Skyway bridge while I waited for the openings of the Pinellas Causeway Structures “E” and “C”. The Gulfport Marina was great! They even had two bikes we could borrow and we toured the town to get some exercise. We imagine that Gulfport is now like Key West was forty or fifty years ago. Quaint and quirky, but not crawling with tourists.

My brother, Tom and his wife, Vickie have been touring in their motor home and decided to visit us here in Gulfport. We took a drive to the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg and found the experience interesting and amusing - well worth the effort.

Our water maker was installed.

The pump, valves, filters and through hull

Control box, valve to direct pure product water and the left end of the Clark pump and membrane unit (hanging inverted)

The right side of the Clark pump and membrane and reject water and heating/AC unit outlet through hulls and heating/AC ductwork

I am very pleased with the installation because we used a locker below our port side settee that already had some plumbing for our air conditioning/heating unit in it and we were able to install the filtration units and pump in the same locker. We were able hang the membrane unit (upside down - but it doesn’t care) in the space behind the back of the settee and we still have access to the spaces below it for storage. Most importantly, Barb kept ALL her space for storage on the starboard side of the boat.

Another addition to the boat that pleases me is the piano we brought with us from Colorado. Every few days, if our energy supply is adequate, Barb plays for an hour or so and I love it.

On Saturday morning, the 17th, we pulled out of Gulfport City Marina and headed for sea (the Gulf). Once we cleared the Tampa Bay ship channel we hoisted our spinnaker for the downwind run and enjoyed the day.

Barb watching dolphins on our spinnaker run

Just before sundown we doused the spinnaker and sailed with the main and genoa, which we reefed later that night in rising winds that gusted twenty-nine knots to push us on toward Fort Myers Beach. We pulled into the mooring field, Sunday morning, about 24 hours following our departure from Gulfport. We showered at the marina facility and walked the beach before an early dinner and bed.

Monday morning, the 19th we dropped the mooring and sailed to the inlet to Naples, Gordon Pass, making fresh water for two hours along the way. We were unsuccessful in our first attempt to find a place to anchor and we knew we liked Naples from our visit with Sue and Oscar in late November, so we motored up the channel to the Naples City Marina and took a mooring ball with the intention of staying two nights, giving us a chance to roam the town again - which we did and enjoyed (land showers again!)

On Wednesday, we motored along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway to Marco Island and found our way into Smokehouse Bay and a wonderful anchorage. We dinghyed under a highway bridge and found the Winn-Dixie’s dock just around the corner. We had not been to a grocery store with a dock in the USA before. We strolled around Marco Island, had lunch and loaded up on more groceries since it was so convenient.

Marco Island was the location of the landmark lawsuit that has changed the rules regarding anchoring in Florida municipalities. Previously, Marco Island, along with certain other places, did not allow anchoring overnight, until a boater anchored there, was ticketed and filed suit with the support of BoatUS. The case went into the Federal court system and it was finally decided that cruisers could anchor where they wished outside of recognized channels. I can understand the cities not wanting derelict boats anchored and falling apart, but cruising boats, with the ability to be underway should be able to stop and anchor. That is what the courts found as well. We stayed two nights in that nice anchorage celebrating the arrival of the Winter Solstice.

On Friday, we made our way out Big Marco Pass, rounded Cape Romano and put in at Little Shark River in the Everglades for the night. Along the way we learned something about making water. We ran the water maker for 3 hours and I noticed that the “Change Filters” indicator was showing that the filters were doing their job, but needed changing. I think that the outflow from the “sea of grass”, the Everglades, is rich in filter-clogging nutrients and sediment and our water maker was giving testimony to that fact. I changed filters and ran the water maker for a little while to be sure all was in order before I shut it down and flushed it with fresh water (all done automatically!) We learned that it is good to run the water maker in clear water.

On Christmas Eve we sailed from the Little Shark River across Florida Bay towards “the keys.” We called on the radio to contact our friends Bill and Dorothy

on Full Circle, whom we knew to be in Marathon and they answered. They told us that the mooring ball next to them had been vacated and that there was a Christmas Eve potluck nearby, if we were interested. Barb prepared a dish and we crossed under Highway 1 at Moser Channel under the Seven Mile Bridge and headed straight East to Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. A little after 2 PM we secured the mooring ball right next to “Full Circle.

Christmas was happy in the company of friends and strangers and we planned to spend about the next two weeks waiting for important mail, packages and doing the business necessary for our departure out of the USA. The Marathon City Marina is a great place to do those things as they accept mail for their “tenants” and they have land showers. New Years Eve came and went in the company of Bill and Dorothy and long time friends of theirs whom we had met in Colorado, Carl and Tracy.

Tracy & Carl whoopin' it up New Year's Eve

A tradition, started last year, is the Marathon City Marina Polar Bear Plunge on New Years Day. For safety reasons, diving is not allowed and the other requirement is that you must bring your own ice cube.

A fun start to 2012!

"On the hard" at Snead Island Boat Yard

2011-06-04T23:06:00.005-04:00

On Sunday, May 29th we began preparing Jupiter's Smile for her first, ever, long term rest on land. We need to be ready for hauling the boat out of the water on June 1st. The to do list includes removing the three sails, the canvas bimini and dodger, and two of our three solar panels. The sails and canvas were stowed below inside the cabin along with the deflated and rolled dinghy. Clothes, seat cushions, food, the portable generator, the bicycles, the Hydrovane autohelm and the dinghy motor came off the boat and went into the rear of a rented SUV in two shifts. This was all done while the boat was at the dock and we had the air conditioning running in the ninety degree heat. Larry and Christina are storing these items until we return with our own van later in the month.

We have items on the boat that we have never used. This will be the time to remove these things, the biggest being the Hydrovane autohelm. It will also be an opportunity to do a really deep, Spring cleaning.

Our boat's radar and windmill are seen beyond the white boat in the center

Once the boat was hauled, power washed and held in place with properly chained stands in "Yard B", we clammered aboard to remove the two solar panels. I wanted to do this task over land instead of over water just in case something dropped.

I want to reduce the windage in case of storms this season. The windmill blades are feathered and one blade is tied to the supporting pole so it will not turn in the wind. I am leaving one solar panel in place to keep the batteries charged. The other two panels are stored, hopefully out of harms way, inside the cabin.

It looks like a mess inside, and I guess it is, but the rolled up dinghy is just out of this view below, on the left on the port settee. On sole (the floor) there is the cooler and the hatch is open for ventilation. The whisker pole is to the right of the hatch. Next to the whisker pole one the starboard settee are our fender boards, a boat hook, the cockpit cushions and then the two solar panels. In the forward cabin, the mattress is folded and the sails and some clean laundry is stowed on the forward berth in bags.

The boat is strapped down with anchors screwed into the ground...

...and the instruments are covered with Barb's handiwork.

We leave Jupiter's Smile as safely protected and prepared for the hurricane season as we can. Be safe, little boat! We love you!

Check the Blog http://jupiterssmileisdocked.blogspot.com/ for any news until our return at the end of October.

Colorado, here we come!

Exploring the West Central Florida Coast

2011-05-28T15:01:00.003-04:00

Having established a date to sail with Larry and Christina, we set out to explore as we sailed back to meet them in Ft. Myers on May 8th. We sailed out of Davis Island Yacht Club's marina into upper Tampa Bay. We sailed the length of the upper bay to Boca Ciega Bay at the northeast end of the Sunshine Bridge Causeway and anchored. In the middle of the night the winds shifted and came from the south. Our anchorage became rolly. In the morning, we lifted anchor and headed back to the Davis Island Yacht Club to find shelter from the waves. When we got near, we saw the masts of the docked boats rocking and rolling. We decided that we didn't need to pay for a rocking night(s?) at a dock. We pulled out and headed to the far west side of the north bay to see if the seas there were less. They were indeed less, but not small enough for our liking. As we sailed down the bay again the winds increased and shifted to the west southwest, the direction we wished to go. We were taking spray over the bow and the dodger and small craft were advised to seek shelter. I decided to head to St. Petersburg and put into the Harborage Marina for shelter. After tying to the dock we washed the boat and filled with fresh water. We set out the next day and sailed to our favorite anchorage near de Soto point. We headed out the next day, deciding to use Passage Key Inlet again and tried to sail south, but the wind was too light. We motored into Long Boat Key Inlet several hours later (after another lovebug encounter), had the bridge opened for us and then motored the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway into Sarasota Bay. We anchored off the Eastern shore for the night. The next day, we moved to an anchorage off City Island and spent a few days exploring Sarasota. One pays $2 at O'Leary's Watersports and Grill and then may tie up and lock one's dinghy to a cable or palm tree there.

We did that for two days and then decided to eat lunch there and not pay the fee.

The sights within Bayfront Park are varied and entertaining. Remember, clicking on the photos will enlarge them for easier viewing.

There were many banners like this throughout the park

We left Sarasota and motored the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GICW) arriving in Venice a few hours later. We took a right turn and exited Venice Inlet into the Gulf and continued to Boca Grande Inlet, anchoring in Pelican Bay for the night. The next day found us in the Ft. Myers Beach mooring field again.

On May 8th, Larry and Christina arrived at Doc Ford's Restaurant's dock and I took them aboard our dinghy and out to Jupiter's Smile. We dropped the mooring ball and motored north on the GICW. Once we cleared the section known as "The Miserable Mile" the wind picked up and even though we were near our planned anchorage, we elected to raise sails and play for a while in the breeze. We anchored and Barbie cooked up a great dinner that we enjoyed in the cockpit just before the sunset. The next day we were forced again to motor and we pulled in to Pelican Bay a little after three. We have now visited this anchorage three times and like it very much. We dinghied to shore and took the shuttle across Cayo Costa to the beach. We beach combed a little, walked back to the dock and dinghied back for dinner aboard. As had we motored over the previous days Christina was reading and grading her students' final exams so this was not an entirely carefree trip for her. We left Pelican Bay the next morning and motored into the Gulf through Boca Grande and headed south, back towards Ft. Myers Beach. We rounded Cayo Costa, Captiva Island and Sanibel Island. When we got just south of Sanibel the wind began to pick up, we turned off the engine and we sailed with Larry at the helm all the way into Matanzas Pass, the Estero River, under the Ft. Myers Beach Bridge and up to a mooring ball.

Christina was able to connect to the University's computer using our Internet card and she entered her final grades for her students while sitting in our cockpit. Nice office! I thought it was a very pleasant two and a half days on the water with them aboard and they were able to experience a little of what it is like to live on the boat.

The next day, we realized that a boat we were near in the mooring field was S/V Java Moon. We had met Skip in San Andres, Colombia and again in Providencia in January, 2010. We met again and I drove us all in the dinghy for dinner at Bonita Bills and exchanged tales. Fortunately, we got to finish dinner and our beer, but, unfortunately, dark clouds rolled in and the wind rose alarmingly.

We rushed for the dinghy without busing our tables and headed back to the boats. As we approached Java Moon to drop off Skip we all noticed that another sailboat was scooting through the mooring field with the mooring ball still attached. The boat was loose, the mooring line having broken, and its crew was on a neighboring boat. The boat missed Jupiter's Smile by a little (enough) and the skipper raced his dinghy to board and halt the boat just in time to prevent it from grounding on the far side of the mooring field. Life on the water is seldom boring. We spent some more time visiting the beach and while on the Internet discovered that there was an AKC dog show coming to North Ft. Myers. To get to the show we decided to rent a motor scooter, but we would need to leave early in the morning before the rental office opened at 9. The owner said that we could pick up the scooter around 4PM and keep it over-night and return it before 4PM the next day for just the 9-4 rental fee. We did just that and since it isn't dark until around 8PM, we took the scooter for a whirl across the causeway to Sanibel Island to comb the beach and then went up to the Tween Waters Inn on Captiva Island for dinner. We returned to the marina in twilight, well windblown and tired. The next day we travelled to the dog show. The trip took a little more than an hour along roads that had a 55 mph speed limit. The scooter sometimes hit 45 mph with the two of us aboard. We watched all three Borzoi compete and decided that we would come back and see the Hound Group competition after lunch. The Best of Breed Borzoi didn't earn a placement, but a very nice Saluki won Group 1. The Borzoi owners and the Saluki owner all knew people we knew and it was fun to "talk dogs" again after so many years. The scooter ride back was against the wind and the machine struggled to maintain 40 mph all the way. I dropped Barbie off and then dropped the scooter off, walking the three blocks back to the marina. That day was certainly a change of pace for us.

We dropped the mooring ball and motored almost the whole way back to Pelican Bay for visit number four. This time we stayed several days. We dinghied over to Cabbage Key and had dinner at the Cabbage Key Inn where supposedly they make the best hamburger on the Florida West Coast. Barbie thought it couldn't compare to the much less expensive burger at Bonita Bill's. I haven't had either burger (or any burger for years) so I can't say.

We left Pelican Bay and headed out Boca Grande Pass, navigated the Swash and hoisted sails headed toward Sarasota. We called the Sarasota Yacht Club, the organization that places the buoys in Big Sarasota Pass to learn about the status of the inlet. It is reported to be difficult to navigate without "local knowledge" so I was going to be sure to get the most up to date information about this pass. I also called Towboat US and was assured that if I followed the channel markers, I would be fine...and we were. We passed under the Ringling Brothers Bridge and anchored near a city boat launching facility so that we could access the Publix grocery store across the street in the morning. We did that next morning and after storing our provisions got underway, under sail, in Sarasota Bay headed north. Barbie did a great job of piloting us while I trimmed sails to navigate the GICW to a popular anchorage at the north end of Longboat Key. That evening, we went ashore for a nice dinner and then walked to the beach to burn some of it off. We left the next morning, motoring up the GICW, opening the Cortez and Anna Maria Bridges and entered the lower part of Tampa Bay. We turned north and anchored just off what is called Passage Key. No part of the Key was above water but we waded across what amounted to a sandbar with the Gulf of Mexico on one side and Tampa Bay on the other about a mile from any other piece of land. We soon grew tired of that novelty and proceeded north to Egmont Key. We anchored and saw signs that told that this was a bird sanctuary and that the beach was closed. We didn't leave however. We planned to stay through the night anchored right where we were. We thought it would be fine to see the shore birds returning to their roosts and to watch the sunset over the island. We could move the next day to the north to explore the beach and the Key where landing ashore was permitted. The winds would shift from a westerly to an easterly direction after midnight, but the forecast was for continued 5 - 10 knot wind speeds (just enough to ventilate the interior of the boat.) We would be in the lee of the shore until midnight and then against a lee shore after that. The shore to windward (in the lee of the shore) is good. The land is protecting us from the wind and waves. A windward shore is good. A lee shore is not good. The wind is blowing the boat toward the land. If an anchor drags the boat ends up on the beach. But, the winds had been forecasted to be light. Barb was still awake, reading at midnight, when the wind shifted almost on queue - but it blew at 20 knots! An instrument alarm woke me up and I still had my eyes closed as I ran to check it and bumped into Barb as she was already checking the instrument herself.

"Fetch" is the nautical term for the distance on the water over which the wind travels. The greater the fetch the more distance waves have to gather the energy of the wind and build on themselves. The energy in the wind (anything, actually) increases with the square of its velocity. Double the wind velocity and it has four times the energy. Wind blowing 20 knots has 16 times more energy than wind blowing 5 knots. Before the wind shift, the fetch was a matter of yards. After the wind shifted, the fetch was nearly ten miles. All that meant we were wakened by waves building from nothing to three feet rather suddenly and rudely. The anchor was holding, but we were hobby horsing as the wind was howling in the wind generator (the only happy piece of equipment on the boat at the moment. We were generating electricity from indirect solar (i.e. wind) power even though it was midnight.) Barb went gamely to the bow and as I motored slowly forward, we began retrieving the anchor to move to a windward shore. She worked the windlass flawlessly and we were on our way, crashing into the waves. I considered going to the lee side of Fort De Soto, just north of our position but the chart shows some shallow water near there and it was low tide now. Did I mention that it was midnight? It was not the best time to try to anchor in a place one had never visited before. Although we were very familiar with it, I didn't like the idea of navigating the Manatee River to the southeast, toward Palmetto and Bradenton, because the dredged channel is narrow and it was low tide. It was also midnight. Once anchored there, there would still be a fair amount of fetch so the effort would not be greatly rewarded. We ended up crossing the lower bay, eastward, toward the Southwest end of the Sunshine Bridge Causeway and anchored in calm water about a quarter mile from the shore at position 27.56175,-82.63555 at 2 am, just as the last quarter moon was rising in a clear, starry sky. The wind was still blowing about 17 knots, but we were protected from the waves (the water was almost calm) due to only a quarter mile of fetch. We shut down the boat, put Jupiter's Smile to sleep and we as well, were soon sound asleep - again.

Sleeping on a boat is different from sleeping on land. But sleep we did and got a late start the next day. Barbie steered close to the wind and I trimmed sails as we entered the Manatee River and pulled into our old anchorage in the Manatee River just off de Soto point.

The next day, we returned to Egmont Key anchoring off the beach where we could land the dinghy and explored the beach, the ruins of the fort built in the late 1800's and the lighthouse. As we left we sailed near Fort Dodge and then crossed the Bay again to anchor in the Manatee River. We had called Snead Island Boat Yard and while they would be closed on Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend, they said we could come in early to prepare our boat for the June 1st haul out. We decided that we didn't need to be "boating" on Memorial Day Weekend with the hoards of local boaters and that the luxury of being at a dock, plugged into shore power providing air conditioning and the lure of "land shower" facilities was all we needed to bring us into the boat yard early. Our cruising for the early part of 2011 had come to an end, but our work was not done.

Love bugs - more than you want to know!

2011-05-10T18:06:00.002-04:00

Bear with me for this Biology lesson. I must relate our experience with "love bugs" in May. This is a phenomenon that occurs twice a year all along the Gulf coast, Spring and Fall and sometimes again in December. Love Bugs (Plecia nearctic) take to the air and mate in huge numbers. Our first encounter happened while we were sailing up Tampa Bay toward Davis Island and a swarm engulfed our boat. They landed everywhere including our sails. Most of the insects we observed were copulating as they flew. If they landed while copulating, and most were, the female (larger than the male) would crawl along forward dragging the male backwards behind her. The females lives 2 - 3 days. The males live longer. The literature states that the couple may stay connected for days! That is their behavior. Our behavior is described below.

A female lovebug

A male lovebug

Lovebugs on a boat (not ours)

Copulating lovebugs

They are very fragile and swatting at them amputates wings and/or legs that flutter onto horizontal surfaces. Squashing them with a fly swatter leaves a smear that stains badly and they release an acrid odor. We discovered that it is better to leave them alone, letting them land and allowing them to enjoy their activity. We have screens to keep these pests from coming inside the boat. In the cockpit, I found that I could just gently grasp the bugs, individually or coupled, and throw them overboard. They would usually fly off after being thrown before hitting the water. While I was at the helm, a few flew under my shorts pant's legs from time to time and if I shifted my weight and crushed them, I would have a stain on my shorts. Because of this, I eventually wore my oldest, most frayed pair of shorts. At dusk, when the temperatures began to fall, these pests disappeared. The swarming seemed to last about two weeks. We encountered them in the greatest numbers in Tampa Bay, but we ran into swarms of them miles offshore in the Gulf as well.

Motorists in the area find that their cars become encrusted with crushed lovebug bodies everyday after a short drive. That crust must be scrubbed off as soon as possible because the bodily fluids are acidic and it will damage the paint. Mother nature is full of wonders. Thankfully, some of them are short lived.

Since you read this far, you are excused from the upcoming quiz. Be well!

Into the Florida Keys and onward to Tampa

2011-04-22T17:10:00.006-04:00

First stop: Dinner Key Marina in Coconut Grove staying with S/V Nightingale and touring the area until the weather is good to sail farther.

The marina's shuttle boat has a regular schedule, unless the water become too rough.

Look for the vortex beyond the mooring buoy slightly right of center

Looking like no better weather yet

Even worse

We left the mooring field and sailed southbound in Biscayne Bay. We were able to sail all the way to Buttonwood Sound and Key Largo. We dropped anchor, but did not go ashore.

The next day we had light winds, but sailed to Isla Morada, dropped the hook and went ashore for dinner at Lorilei's.

The keys are known for their quirky characters...here the "Nautilimo."

We motored along the Intracoastal Waterway the following day, leaving it behind at Six Mile Bridge and sailed into Florida Bay, heading North. Sandy Key is in the middle of Florida Bay and I thought that it would be a pleasant, isolated stop. We stopped, but could not land.

Inviting, but a real disappointment. The signs all say "No Entry."

We entered the Little Shark River and anchored in the first bend with the intent to avoid more mosquitos here than if we went farther upriver. Our plan worked fairly well. The mosquitos didn't find us until dusk.

Early the next morning we continued our journey north. At Marco Island we came in Capri Pass from the Gulf and anchored in Factory Bay with three other boats.

We went to the Snook Inn for Dinner.

The following day, coming from the Gulf, we sailed through Matanzas Pass and took a mooring...

...behind Estero Island for about $13 a night and had easy access to showers, laundry, cheap diesel fuel, meetings with friends...

...several waterfront restaurants and the beautiful....

....Ft. Myers Beach. A fifty-cent trolley ride took us to the publix grocery or all the way to Bonita Springs, where we found a wonderful little authentic Mexican restaurant for lunch, Fogarte's (??).

Barb's cousin, Don and his wife, Sue picked us up and together we toured the Edison and Ford Summer House Museums. Edison liked the spot on the river and was engaged in researching plants that would, hopefully, produce latex in a large enough quantity to manufacture rubber during the war years. The research yielded no commercially viable results. He worked in a nice neighborhood though.

The Edisons loved Ft. Myers and had these Royal Palms planted along the streets to beautify the town. This is Thomas Edison's Florida house. (above)

This is his lab

At one end of the lab is his desk and the cot upon which he took his catnaps

This is the view of Edison's house from his neighbor's house. The neighbor was his very good friend, Henry Ford. Ford built the house, but didn't like Florida as much as Edison and only spent about two weeks a year here.

Henry Ford's back yard

This is Sue, Barb and Cousin Don on Henry Ford's back porch.

As we visited this historic site, I couldn't help but remember our good friend Mina Arnn Weiler who was recently killed. She was a great grand niece of Thomas and Mina Miller Edison. Mina Edison was a great benefactrix to the town of Ft. Myers. I thought nostalgically about our own Mina's civic contributions and her years as a teaching colleague in Colorado Springs.

We left Ft. Myers Beach, sailed into the Gulf and rounded Sanibel and Captiva Islands. We entered Boca Grande Inlet and anchored in the bay in about 12 feet of water. I called a friend of Christina's, who was also a boater, and he gave us advice about docking in Tampa, but he also encouraged us to explore the area around Charlotte Harbor. One such place was Pelican Bay off Cayo Costa. This is a Florida state park and it is a mostly uninhabited barrier island with a lovely anchorage. We stayed here a few days waiting for the wind to shift around again so we could continue northward.

We sailed north bound in the Gulf using Boca Grande and Swash Cut to get out to the Gulf and then Venice inlet to get in from it.

This is the cut into the Venice area

The Venice town dock allows tying up for eighteen hours.

The docks are heavily patrolled

We went out into the Gulf again and used Passage Key Inlet to the north of Santa Maria Island to enter Lower Tampa Bay headed for de Soto Point. This is a nice little anchorage in the Manatee River off Tampa Bay with a National Monument and museum dedicated to the landing of Hernando de Soto, in 1539.

DeSoto and his troops were brutal and ruthless in their far reaching, but unsuccessful quest for gold. They brought disease and enslavement to the Native Americans and their journey spread fear and loathing far and wide.

We sailed up Tampa Bay and under the Sunshine Bridge to the Davis Island Yacht Club and docked there for several days. The members are nice folks and an active sailing club. Since we are members of the Port of Washington Yacht Club we were extended benefits here.

Jupiter's Smile on the far right with downtown Tampa behind.

Larry picked us up and brought us to stay a couple of days with Christina and him at their home in Temple Terrace, just north of Tampa. Christina is a professor at the University of South Florida and Larry is in the Engineering school in a PhD program there. While Larry studied for one of his final exams we took Christina to St. Petersburg on Saturday. We had lunch, visited the Farmers Market and then looked at the many boat yards nearby in Salt Creek.

We had decided to put Jupiter's Smile on "the hard" in a boat yard and tie down the boat to weather the upcoming hurricane season. We were shopping for a suitable location. On Monday, after calling many yards, we settled on the Snead Island Boat Yard on the Manatee River in Palmetto with a haul out date of June 1st.

Both Christina and Larry were very busy with their end of semester activities so we decided that we would leave and then get together again in Ft. Myers in a week and go sailing together for a few days.

Back from Puerto Vallarta - March 30, 2011

2011-03-30T12:45:00.004-04:00

On the 18th, our replacement dinghy arrived just in time to inflate it and mount it aboard on our davits.

We packed and before dawn, caught a cab to the airport to fly to our timeshare and a reunion with Mick and Mary in Puerto Vallarta. It was a great week + one day and I will put details of our trip with photos on the "While Jupiter's Smile is docked" site.

http://jupiterssmileisdocked.blogspot.com/

The weather here in Florida this week will be somewhat unsettled until Saturday so we have decided to stay at Bruno's Zoo until April 2.

Had a nice reunion with the crew of S/V Kwiana (Formerly Sunday's Child).

Brian, Jay, Barb, Nancy, Daniel (John is behind the camera)

Background on our relationship with these wonderful people may be found in the two links below:

http://jupiterssmile.blogspot.com/2008/08/death-of-sailor.html

http://danieldrydenincidentdetails.blogspot.com/

Around Fort Lauderdale's Beaches

2011-03-17T20:19:00.003-04:00

This is Bruno's Zoo, where we have just spent a week. Jupiter's Smile is the last boat, with the three flags flying and the radar reflector hanging from the spreaders.

Barb is departing the boat

We have biked a few times to the beach and these photos depict the Spring Break scene.

We hooked up with Ruth Puzo for lunch on Sunday and visited the daughter of a friend of hers in search of a good dock from which we might do some boating. Did we remember to bring the camera? Nope. Next time, Ruth.

On Monday, Chris Pennington picked us up for dinner and we ended up at one of her favorites (the same place we went to lunch the day before), but the food is good and reasonably priced so the revisit was just fine with us. We met her friend, John there as well. We plan to see her again when we return from our trip to Mexico.

Barb, Chris Pennington and Jay

Docked in Fort Lauderdale

2011-03-12T17:48:00.004-05:00

Jupiter's Smile departed Lake Worth's Old Port Cove Marina on Tuesday March, 8th. We went only a short distance, to Lantana, just south of West Palm Beach and anchored off the ICW in front of the Key Lime House where we planned to go for a nice dinner ashore. We met Steve and Cindy from S/V Slip Away as we walked across the Lantana Bridge towards the beach. Steve had a hat on with Slip Away embroidered on it so I knew they were neighbors in the anchorage. We chatted a while and learned that they were acquainted with cruisers we knew, S/V Pea Soup and S/V Scandia. We decided to eat together at the Key Lime House and spent a nice time there.

The next morning, we left to travel another short distance to Delray Beach, anchoring in a small man made lake off the ICW. When we pulled in, there was a nice sloop anchored and Barb went out on deck to ask how much anchor rode they had deployed so that we could be sure to be far enough away when we anchored ourselves. The fellow said that this was a terrible anchorage as he had been dragging most of the night and had snagged a plastic chair as well. I was thinking that he was trying to discourage us from staying there and since he hadn't answered Barb's question, she asked again. He said that he had thirty feet out. That explains why he dragged!

The lake was at nearly high tide with just under twelve feet of water depth. Add another five feet for the distance from the water's surface to the anchor platform and you have seventeen feet. We put out a five to one ratio of rode to depth, so we would use eighty five feet where he had used thirty! We anchored well away from him! An hour later he left and we had the anchorage to ourselves. Good luck on your travels, sir!

Bob and Lauren Gardner had said to contact them when we were nearby and since they lived less than two miles south of our anchorage right on the ICW, we called. Even though they were preparing to return to Long Island that afternoon they suggested that we go to lunch. Barb and I hopped in the dinghy and scooted down the ICW to their place and tied up. We had a nice lunch right next to the Boca Raton Inlet Bridge and had a nice chat. When we returned to the dinghy the tide had gone out and one of the tubes of the dinghy had been sliced by an oyster or a barnacle and was essentially flat. I said that the boat should still float with its inflatable floor and the other two tubes still inflated, but it would be a much slower return ride. We did just fine and called to say that we had made it back safely and for them to have a safe flight to Long Island.

With some nasty weather approaching we decided to stay put the next day and that turned out to be a wise move. In the morning, the tenth of March, the earliest possible day when we were told we might have our replacement dinghy (and that would have been fortunate, considering the events of the previous day) I called our representative at Marine Max in Pompano Beach, just fourteen miles away. He e-mailed me the tracking number and he indicated to me that the dinghy would not be in until next week. Yet another disappointment.

The weather service put out an alert for fifty mph winds and heavy rain with a chance of water spouts in the afternoon and I watched the approaching squall on the radar. We had set the anchor the previous day into the East wind. During the night the boat's bow pointed to the south with very gentle wind. With this change of wind, the anchor had not been pulled towards the south at all. When the wind changes the process is usually gradual enough that the anchor resets itself firmly, but this was a much more rapid and forceful change. The cloud that swooped towards us was very, very dark and the wind turned the boat violently from pointing southwest to pointing north in seconds. I started the engine to be sure that, if the anchor did not reset itself in its new direction that we would still have control of the boat. The rain came down in buckets, but in time, it became clear that the anchor was holding and we just needed to wait out the passage of the squall. Within an hour the wind was moderating and the rain was much more gentle. We had a nice sunset.

On Friday, we set out to visit the Marine Max store and deliver our sad remains of a dinghy. I called once we arrived and practically forced the dinghy on them. We anchored a few hundred yards from their shop and they came out in a boat to get the dinghy assuring me that they would call me on Monday to report on the situation and arrangements for getting the replacement dinghy.

I was unsure of the anchorage and the fact that it was a Friday afternoon, I wanted to be settled into a place away from the crazy weekend traffic. It was early and in spite of not being able to contact Bruno by phone we set out to travel the short six and a half miles to his dock. We called a second time, but got no answer. As we floated right to the docks another cruiser poked her head out and Barb was able to ask if Bruno was there. The woman (Pam) went to get Bruno and he directed us to a dock where we tied up without incident.

Barb departs the boat at Bruno's

We met neighbors, Pam (her husband, Bruce, is away tending to his father) on S/V Ahquabi and Paul and Sandy on S/V Quarterdeck. Both of these boats and crew are circumnavigators and are very interesting to talk to and coincidently, they remember hearing about our friend Dorothy in Venezuela several years ago and know Graham and Iris on S/V Pelagic, cruisers from Australia we met in the Bahamas.

View from Bruno's looking east

Looking south

So here we are today, on Saturday, pretty much settled in. I called our former cruising friend, Christine Pennington and left a message for her that we were in town for a week and spoke to my nursery school chum, Ruth Puzo and we will meet her tomorrow for a visit.

Barb's bike ready to emerge from its backpack sack...

....and ready to be unfolded. It is a full sized, 21 gear mountain bike!

We took our bicycles off the deck, unfolded them and after lunch we took a ride to see the Las Olas Boulevard St. Patrick's Day parade ending. We biked to the beach and realized that this is the first day of the Spring Break for many college students. Much of the sand on the beach is covered by very uncovered flesh. Sand is a chemical compound composed of one part silicon and two parts oxygen - silicon dioxide, the same as glass. There are other silicon compounds and mixtures observable on the beach as well. A major golf tournament, the Cadillac Open, is going on at the Doral.

The MetLife blimp video platform for the golf tournament

We look forward to the change to daylight saving time.

Until next time, be well!

We move about a half mile in Lake Worth

2011-03-07T21:05:00.002-05:00

We slowly hauled the anchor after being here for a month. Barb scrubbed the anchor rode while I pulled it aboard. As we lifted the anchor from the bottom we saw a marine head (toilet) hooked on our anchor. It is impossible to tell when we snagged it. Maybe the anchor hooked onto the marine head while we hauled the rode. In any case, the anchor held successfully for several weeks. We made our way to the Old Port Marina without raising the anchor and head out of the water. As we approached, the marina staff suggested we slow down and raise our anchor before we entered the marina, but I said that our ground tackle included the head and that we would remove it once we got to our slip. They had big smiles on their faces as we passed by. We were told at the marina that several vessels sank in the area in Hurricane Wilma. Maybe the head came from that event. At least we didn't hook an entire boat and we have done our part in cleaning up some of the junk at that anchorage.

Now we have a day to clean up the boat, do laundry, pump out the holding tank and fill the water tank in readiness to head south and to pick up our dinghy in Pompano Beach. Stay tuned.

While ashore in West Palm Beach, we revisit 1966

2011-03-06T10:50:00.002-05:00

In late 1965 and early 1966, Rodger Dill and I were in training to save the world from communism. We were together in boot camp and then at the U.S. Navy Hospitalcorps School in Great Lakes, Illinois. The results of that experience include the making of life-long friends, the coldest weather to which I have ever been subjected, a blind date that is still on going, acquiring useful life saving skills and the fall of communism.

On April 9, 1966, Rodger, another corpsman, Chip and I made our way to the Illinois Central Railroad station in Chicago. We were meeting three girls from Park Forest. For Rodger, this was his second or third date with Bonnie, but for me it was a blind date with Barbara. Soon, a vision of loveliness, dressed in an orange sweater and skirt, a shapely, beautiful brunette with hazel eyes approached. It was like the rest of the world became a blur and the only sight in my field of vision was Barbie. We strolled around downtown Chicago for several hours, sometimes hand in hand. We boarded the train bound for Park Forest and the rest of the Easter week end, where I was warmly welcomed by Barb's parents. Barb's dad had been a Navy radarman in WWII and her mom was a wonderful cook. It was a nice visit and now, having married on 9/4/68, we are approaching forty five years of the continuing saga, still sometimes hand in hand.

Nearly thirty years later, Barb was at a professional conference in Boca Raton, FL and as it was concluding, I joined her to tour Florida and visit Disney World. Waiting at the airport, on our way back to Colorado, my mind wandered to those Navy days and the memory that Rodger had lived in West Palm Beach. I wondered what may have become of him. I checked in the phone book, found a name and number and called. The woman's voice that answered inquired as to whether it was Rodger, Sr. or Rodger, Jr. to whom I wished to speak. I said I didn't know which, but the Rodger I wanted was about fifty years old and a Navy veteran. That would be Rodger, Sr. We only spoke on the phone for a few minutes and then Barb and I boarded the plane, but that was enough to reconnect to a long lost sailor buddy. A few years later, during a second professional conference, Barb called and then visited Rodger and his wife, but I had not been along on that trip.

In January of 2007, we were headed south toward our first Bahamas trip and we stopped in Vero Beach. We called Rodger and he and his girlfriend joined us aboard Jupiter's Smile for a reunion. We had not seen each other for forty one years!

Libby and Rodger in January, 2007

Jay and Rodger, 2007

We got together again in Lake Worth two more times and vowed to keep in touch. That really hasn't happened very well while we have been out of the country and I submit this apology for not contacting Rodger earlier as we lay over, waiting for our replacement dinghy, in Lake Worth this time. I did finally call him and we reconnected for an evening with Rodger, Libby (now Mrs. Dill) and her father, Robert, at Duffy's. Rodger is still working and pursues his passion for Corvair automobiles along with his wife and friends. The expression, "It keeps him off the streets" does not apply here. It serves to occupy many weekends in his "barn" with his buddies tinkering with cars and going to shows. This Saturday we spent the day with them, visiting their home, looking at corvairs, doing some shopping and then dining at The Key Lime House (pictured below.)

Barb and Rodger

Libby and her Dad, Robert

Jay, Barb, Rodger, Libby and Robert

I see that Rodger has just joined facebook and there will be no excuse for not keeping in closer touch from now on. Sounds like a resolution, doesn't it?

Till next time - be well!

Making good use of time in Lake Worth

2011-02-24T11:54:00.004-05:00

Wild Horses stayed until February 24th. Roger and Adel helped us many times by including us in their shore excursion plans.

The dinghy landing (Roger and Adel's dinghy) in North Lake Worth (North Palm Beach) near the PGA bridge just East of Federal (US 1).

We have become MVP members at Duffy's, a local sports grill. We saw the AKC Westminster Dog Show Hound Group on one of their (30+?) televisions. We saw Best in Show aboard Adel and Roger's boat. On the day that we did our laundry, we bought all-day bus passes for $4 since it would have cost a minimum of $3 for just the bus ride get near the laundry and another $1 for a transfer to ride right to the laundry and back again. We finished the laundry by 11:30 and hopped on the bus for an adventure for the rest of the day. We traveled to West Palm Beach, got off downtown and found a place for lunch near the waterfront. We walked a little after lunch and then boarded the free trolley to ride the full circuit to see the sights of West Palm Beach.

The fountain being beautified...

...and stopped up.

Adel and Roger

They'll let anyone in the park.... thank goodness.

On Wednesday the 23rd, I got a call from a long-time family friend, Bob Gardner and his wife Lauren from Smithtown and Boca Raton. They had just arrived back in Boca Raton, got the message I had left on their answering machine and suggested we meet for lunch. They wanted to see our boat and so we suggested we meet at Duffy's for lunch and then dinghy out for a visit. Roger and Adel offered their dinghy and we insisted that they join us as well.

Jay, Bob, Barb and Lauren Gardner

It was a great, spontaneous visit and we were able to catch up on family news and swap tales. They made a short stop to see Wild Horses and then came aboard Jupiter's Smile. I think Lauren and Bob were very enthusiastic about the possibilities of cruising themselves. We enjoy cruising because of visits like today's.

Lake Worth. FL Waiting for Godinghy

2011-02-21T17:15:00.003-05:00

We left Vero Beach behind on Feb. 4th and anchored in Peck Lake just south of the St. Lucie Inlet. Peck Lake is just a wide spot in the ICW, but has a decent dinghy landing on sand with a boardwalk across to the Atlantic where a virtually deserted beach awaits the beach comber.

The next day, we motored into a light wind through the ICW to Lake Worth, heading to the far north end of the lake to drop the hook.

We have planned to stay here, spending nothing to anchor and nothing to land the dinghy, waiting for word of when our replacement dinghy will arrive and be ready for us to make the exchange.

A few days ago, Barb and I went for a dinghy exploration and when we returned and approached our boat we see, just beyond us, is it? No! Could it be? Dang, it is! WILD HORSES!

So we have spent the last three days playing with Adel and Roger in the same place where we first met FOUR years ago!

They hope to head for the Bahamas next week, but when we called Ted Catlow in Washington last night, he said he was headed to S/V Helen Irene (in a yard in Ft. Pierce - not Cracker Boy's, though I'm not sure) on the 25th for a week, so maybe Wild Horses will hold off their departure and wait to see Ted. We heard from Dorothy and she should be "trawling" through here tomorrow and/or Sunday as well. Jeeze, it is a really small world.

Dorothy and Bill made it in Saturday night and we had a lovely visit both then and Sunday night. We had not seen Dorothy since the San Blas (Kuna Yala) Islands of Panama and before she completed her around-the-world circumnavigation.

Bill and Dorothy guests aboard Jupiter's Smile for fine dining....

..... from the trawler M/V Full Circle.

I understand the Dryden's are intending to sail from Rio Dulce to Florida aboard S/V Kwiana by mid-March. Maybe we will still be around to see them too!

Till next time - be well!

Winslow Life Raft Re-Certification

2011-02-08T21:33:00.007-05:00

I tried to have one of Winslow's authorized service centers re-certify our life raft on a call and walk-in basis, but to no avail. They said it would take about two weeks from the time we delivered the life raft. So I called Winslow's toll-free number and got Andy.

Andy said we could "come by next week any day but Monday" and we could watch the process and could have the life raft back the same day. Great! How about Wednesday? "Try to arrive before nine AM."

Barb and I took a mooring in Vero Beach City Marina and rented a car (Enterprise: they pick you up) to bring our life raft to Winslow in Lake Suzy, arriving at 8:30.

Here's Andy....

Barb is standing on the floor of the large area where the life rafts are received, inspected, tested, re-certified and repacked. About 90% of Winslow's business comes from the aviation industry. If you were to look in the right overhead compartment, you might spot a Winslow life raft next time you fly. To Barb's right were two of the large inflatable slides that airliners deploy in a water landing being serviced. That kind of business! For being just a small part of their business, everyone, including the president, Gerard Pickhardt, treated us like we were their best client.

This life raft belongs to S/V Jupiter's Smile. Note the "MAX PACK DIMS"

This is the vacuum packed raft out of its "valise." In an emergency, you'd never see this.

You'd clip the rip cord/tether to a cleat on the distressed vessel, toss the valise over the side and...

the silver bottle inflates everything automatically...


...except the insulted floor. There is a hand pump for that. Notice several handy features (boarding ladder, flashlight, heaving line) inside a Winslow...

...and outside too. If the raft inflates upside down, the "Right Line" is used to flip it over.

The life rafts almost always inflate right side up, but just in case that Right Line strap is shown running horizontally with three orange grip loops attached and a cord in the center. Climb on top, grab the cord, lean back and over she goes. The five bags fill with water, adding ballast to keep the life raft stable. One of the orange, water-activated chemical batteries is shown hanging just to the left of center.

These battery cells, once immersed, produce electricity for the light on top of the raft and the light inside the raft under the arch. Our raft was due for service over two years ago. We were in Panama and wanted service done right - not almost right - so we waited. The life raft would have functioned, as we saw today, but these batteries probably wouldn't have...

But there are two other flashlights packed aboard and one still worked perfectly. Duane is checking and replacing flares, medications, batteries and foodstuffs in the survival kit; things that were also outdated.

The pressure relief valves are being tested here. The sea anchor drogue is next to the soapy-water spray bottle. No leaks were found and the pressure test confirmed it.

The raft is repacked and ready to be vacuum sealed, but...

...not until it is the final check list is checked and the raft is photographed.

The vacuum pack is first checked to show that it doesn't leak, it is then put under a vacuum and pressed and shaped to the specified dimensions. I didn't pick an "off the shelf" package although they have that available. I had measured and specified the dimensions so I could perfectly fit the life raft valise in our cockpit lazarette.

Certified until February, 2014.

The process took about six hours and much of that was waiting for the pressure tests. Duane explained everything about the life raft and answered questions and we had a tour of the plant as well. No photos of that - industry secrets preserved. Had we thought to bring other personal items - copies of passports, cash, glasses, a credit card, anything really - it could have been put into the survival kit and sealed. It will wait until next time. It was a very rewarding day. My confidence in our life raft is complete and my satisfaction with the Winslow company is as well. I HOPE WE NEVER USE THE RAFT!

The official factory tour may be viewed at http://www.winslowliferaft.com/factory_tour.asp

Vero Beach and Ft Pierce and Vero Beach

2011-02-01T15:33:00.004-05:00

Jupiter's Smile left from Satellite Beach to Vero Beach early Friday morning in very light winds so we motored. When we checked into the Vero Beach mooring field we saw that S/V Chrysalis was there! We had met Skip and Mary in 2007 and traveled to the Bahamas with them.

We didn't hook up with Skip right away because he was not around - working at WestMarine in Ft. Pierce. I left our boat card in his dinghy and he couldn't believe it when he found it. Time warp!

Vero Beach City Marina fuel dock and office. A local, free (donations encouraged) shuttle bus transports one all over the county every hour, dawn to dusk, except on Sundays. The laundry is excellent as are the shower/restrooms.

The view back towards the marina along a street that takes us to the beach.

The homes are modest with beautiful trees...

...several with epiphytes hanging from them.

We spent the night in Vero Beach and then went on to Ft. Pierce to visit the Farmer's Market.

At the Saturday morning (8AM-12 noon) market in Ft. Pierce, one can get fruit and vegetables....

...decorative plants....

...these are orchids...

...prepared food...

....healthy smoothies....

.... or just walk your dog, sit on the sea wall and/or people watch or shop for original art, carvings and jewelry (no photos of art, etc - that is forbidden) or speak to local authors hawking their books.

While we were in Ft. Pierce, we got a phone call from Skip so we returned to Vero Beach for the opportunity to visit with him and plan our life raft re-certification adventure from there. We had a couple of dinners and drinks and caught up on old times over several days. Skip is doing well. He has a great cat, Breezy. It was a good visit.

Satellite Beach at the Lee's Jan 12 - 26

2011-01-27T12:27:00.006-05:00

Thanks for the photos, Kathy!

Jim, Kathy and Rachel are wonderful.

Jim, Rachel and Kathy Lee

We had a wonderful time and S/V Jupiter's Smile had a safe place while we did things besides cruising for fifteen days.

Well ...... I take that back. Cruising is not all about boating. It is the living of a full life while living and traveling on a boat. That includes being with friends and family, sightseeing and also doing the everyday chores that everyone does whether on a boat or on land. We are not "boaters" because we live on our boat. We are not "live aboards" because that does not evoke the travel aspect of cruising. We are cruisers. We do not know what is around the next bend, but we know that we can get there on our boat. We can go nonstop or we can stop and smell the roses. At the Lee's there are roses.

What we did .... we enjoyed each other. Jim, Kathy and Rachel were all working, but we dined together often, either at their house, our boat or out on the town.

We biked, hiked, combed the beach, and I flew in Jim's aircraft. Here is a video Jim made while flying and then soaring his Phoenix motor glider.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOjB1kOdt8I

See more at his website

http://www.phoenixairusa.com/

Kathy is substitute teaching in the Satellite Beach schools and volunteering at the public library and several environmental causes along with Rachel. Rachel is a junior at the high school, taking three advanced placement classes, playing the clarinet beautifully in the marching band and in the all county band. She is taking a class in Spanish on-line. She leads a full social life, gets great grades and will probably catch up on her sleep in a decade or so.

Across the street from the Lee's live the Glinski's, Tom and Cindy. In their back yard is the Hinckley Bermuda 40, S/V Feather. This beautiful vessel is fifty years old this year and has had a long and illustrious life that will continue for several more years and many more nautical miles under their care. I called my sister, Betsy at the Hinckley shop in SW Harbor, ME and she knew about Feather and all its prior names. Over cocktails, Cindy asked if we knew the big catamaran S/V Viva? "Do you mean Viva Bob?" "Yes!" "We love Viva Bob! We met him in Marathon, FL in 2008, again in Rio Dulce, Guatemala (stayed on his boat while Jupiter's Smile was in Abel's Boat Yard) and sailed with him to La Ceiba and Roatan, Honduras, in 2009. We love Viva Bob!" Small world! As our friend Roger says, "There are only twelve of us out there doing what we are doing, it seems." Certainly, that is an exaggeration, but the instances of repeated meetings with friends and friends of friends easily supports the six degrees of separation hypothesis.

While we were at the Lee's we got our "Little Buddy" heater!

3900 BTU propane fired, indoor rated, shuts off instantly upon tipping. Takes the edge off the morning chill and keeps us comfy in the cold evenings. Highly recommended!

Barb and I rented a car and drove to Tampa to be with Christina and Larry for her birthday on the 22nd.

Barb, Larry and Christina, Steve and Dan, Cathy and Gordon, Jay

We had a very nice visit, playing hard and found time to purchase the little red table in the Little Buddy photo above ($8 at Ikea)!

Buying Little Buddy has made the weather in Florida turn warmer as well. We are looking forward to wearing shorts, tee shirts and sandals all the time now.

Time to move on. So long for now. Thank you, Jim, Kathy and Rachel. We love you!

Florida - still cold weather, but heartwarming experiences

2011-01-12T10:55:00.016-05:00

We stayed in Fernandina Beach on a mooring for five days. I needed to fix a leak at the hot water tank and we enjoyed the quaint surroundings. In talking with a young teen-aged girl we learned that she was a dog lover. We mentioned that we had borzoi and she said that she knew a woman who has them as well and rescues them from bad situations in Florida.

"What is her name?"

"Ann Marie Wiseman."

Well, we know Ann Marie from when she lived in Colorado. We called her and she returned the call. We got together at the marina and we got to put our hands on a borzoi again for the first time in several months. Ann Marie is doing well and several of her friends and family have moved to the area so this is definitely home for her now. It was good to see her and another affirmation of the fact that the older one gets the smaller the world becomes.

Now that we were in Florida, we had two major projects on our plates. Getting our leaking dinghy replaced and getting our life raft re-certified. I had spoken with the Winslow life raft representative at the Annapolis Sailboat Show in October and knew that we could find them in Florida and be able to check that task off our list. The Mercury dinghy issue could have been addressed in Washington, DC just down the dock from the marina, had we known, but we had been so occupied with family issues that boat issues were hardly addressed at all (once the brightwork varnish had been completed.) The location of a Mercury inflatable boat dealer nearest us now was in Jacksonville. We called MarineMax and a gentleman got back to us suggesting we pull into Jacksonville Beach at the Beach Marine Marina and he would come to the boat and check out the leaks and have a recommendation for us. We and he did this and it was determined that we would be able to replace all the Hypalon rubber parts under warranty (10 year warranty!) except for the inflatable floor, which is PVC and has a one year warranty. We have opted for replacing the the floor and paying for that and getting a new boat under the warranty. It is expected to take four to six weeks to get the new parts. MarineMax has a store in Pompano Beach farther down the coast so we have transferred our transaction to that store. Now we wait, but we do not need to stop moving south in search of warmer weather. S/V Nightingale has moved on to do some business and we will meet again in St. Augustine.

St. Augustine has installed two mooring fields since we were there last time. One is south of the Bridge of Lions and the other is north of it, near the historic fort. Since we hoped to leave St. Augustine and put to sea via the inlet instead of motoring the ICW when we headed farther south, we elected to take a bridge opening out of the picture and stayed on a mooring near the fort. We enjoy St. Augustine and felt good about being there. Photos of the city are in an earlier blog and I will just point there instead of showing them here. The Christmas decorations were still up and the city was as beautiful as ever.

St Augustine-December, 2007

In a few days we were joined by S/V Nightingale.

We had been dressing for the cold weather both inside and outside the boat. Stephen had demonstrated their heater, "Mr. Heater Little Buddy", for us back in Fernandina Beach and we had been in search of this device ever since, but to no avail. After searching and bicycling all over St. Augustine, I finally ordered one from the Ace Hardware site online and had it shipped to Satellite Beach, our next stop.

The weather was still cold and we had two days to travel before arriving in Satellite Beach. The winds were not good for sailing south in the ocean so we opened the Bridge of Lions and got ready to motor the ICW. The journey went as planned and we piloted our way through the canals behind Merritt Island to Jim and Kathy Lee's dock in their back yard. Kathy had a wonderful dinner for us and we got caught up on our lives since our sailing adventures together as they had sailed aboard S/V Stardust. Reunions are great!

We are back...and underway - DC to ....?

2010-12-27T21:29:00.005-05:00

Jupiter's Smile was docked at the Gangplank Marina in downtown Washington, DC and we borrowed Dad and Mom's car most of the summer and Fall of 2010, to be able to drive the 20-30 minutes from the marina to their place in Springfield, VA.

Mother and Dad had 24/7 help in their apartment for almost five months from Care Experts and hospice care for about two months.

With Dad is Ophelia. She, "T" and Janet were Dad's legs, his eyes and helped him and us in so many ways.

Tom provides some soothing tunes

Dad with his family - Larry, Barb, Jay, Betsy, Mother and Tom

Barb and I almost left on November 15th, but decided not to. The weather was perfect. The tide was right, but it didn't seem right to leave just then. My Dad passed away 18 November, 2010.

Dad's passing was made as comfortable as possible and he didn't appear to suffer. In medical school he had won a prize for his knowledge of anatomy and so he had directed that his remains go to the George Washington University Medical School. This was one of his many ways of "paying it forward."

All this pithy, family stuff seems to be out of place in a sailing blog, but think about it......

After a family gathering to remember the good times with Dad, we departed for a dash to Wilmington, NC with a few stops along the way. The morning after our first anchorage, we discovered that the motor on the windlass (raises and lowers our anchors) had quit. Our chain weighs about a pound per foot and the anchor weighs 44 pounds. I hauled in the one hundred feet of chain by hand. We only anchored one more time before we pulled into Salt Pond Marina in Hampton, VA to visit with Jim and Pat Wharry (S/V Shamrock) at their home.

Pat & Jim Wharry - wonderful friends!

The next night, in the Dismal Swamp, we tied up at the rest stop on US 17.

Yes, this IS a highway rest stop!

- could it be the only rest stop in the US for cars, trucks and vessels underway? Our mast is the second "pole" from the left. One can just see our RADAR on the mast.

Cold weather was closing in and we needed to "get South" as soon as possible. Along the way we took a side trip up the Neuse River to New Bern, NC. We visited two pairs of friends, Ben and Barbara Watford and Arne and Bev Myrseth.

We had met Arne and Bev on S/V Scandia briefly as we were all going to the Bahamas. They were almost everywhere we went in the Bahamas and we grew to enjoy their fun loving ways more and more. Barb said "how are you today?" in Norwegian and Arne answered her and went on to expect a conversation. That phrase was all Barb knew and we have laughed about that meeting often. Our last meeting was at the Annapolis Sailboat Show last October and we learned that they had a home in New Bern. They said we should stop by for a visit. Did I take a single photo? No! Here's an old one.

xxxxxx

Ben Watford was my high school chemistry teacher in Smithtown, NY and the only teacher to attend the reunion back in September. He said that we must stop and visit on our trip south bound and we did. We had Ben and Barbara aboard for cocktails and then left for dinner in New Bern. We went to their home the next afternoon. Ben is a golfer, potter, Model A Ford owner and an author while Barbara, also a retired teacher, does her best to keep him in line. I hope I am quoting him accurately, "I still own every book I have ever read." His high-ceiling library is walled floor to ceiling with full bookshelves of every genre. We had a wonderful visit recalling past history and hearing charming tales spun by the master story teller.

Ben can only hold this serious expression for a few seconds before he gets a twinkle in his eye and his dimples begin to show. The man is mischief personified.

One of Ben's works and a gift to me. Thank you for teaching me and for being my friend.

The story of growing up poor, black and self-motivated

We arrived at Bennett Brothers' Boatyard and Marina in Wilmington, December 2nd and went to Tom and Vickie's in Wrightsville Beach. Barb and I are so thankful for Tom and Vickie's generosity and hospitality, staying with them for four weeks.

Tom & Vickie's home (porch under construction!)

During that time we had a short, but important list of things to service and repair on the boat at the boat yard. Unfortunately, the weather turned "unusually" bitterly cold soon after we arrived and that hampered our bottom painting and Tom and Vickie's window replacements, but we both proceeded to get projects finished.

Larry, Jay, Barb and Mother

We all returned to Mother's for Christmas, had a nice holiday....

Larry, Aunt Janet, Terry, Tom, Vickie, Jay, Barb, Mother and Amanda

Mother, Barb, Jay and Vickie ..."did you remember to go to the bathroom?"

and headed back to North Carolina

This is northern North Carolina!

the day after the area was visited by more cold, snowy weather

The roads were pretty dry, but the wind was blowing snow across them

When we arrived back at the boat, the power was off inside and the temperature had fallen to 28 degrees (INSIDE!). No damage was done except to the handle of the swim platform shower head. I have fashioned a fix for that. The MaxProp had been serviced and installed (it looked like jewelry - I hated to have to put it in the water - out of sight.) We were ready to get back into the water and headed toward a warmer climate!

Barb had met Beth (of S/V Nightingale) in the laundry room and her husband, Stephen, suggested that we all head south together. I had said I wanted to go as fast as possible - meaning an offshore passage from the mouth of the Cape Fear River to....whenever we got tired. As we left the river's mouth behind we set a course for the Georgia/Florida border, St Mary's Inlet and the mooring field in Fernandina Beach.

Grand Cayman to Key West

2010-07-11T15:12:00.002-04:00

On Tuesday February 9th, we had been advised by Chris Parker, our weather forecaster, that we would have good winds until we got to near 16 degrees North when we would run into squalls if we got there before noon on Thursday. After that we should have light winds from the south-south-east so we would probably need to motor into Grand Cayman on Saturday morning. On February 10th we set sail from Long Cay in favorable conditions, Northbound with 4 foot seas and 15 knots of wind forward of the beam. The next morning, Chris advised us that we should not worry as much about the squalls as we should be concerned about the cold front rapidly advancing on Grand Cayman more than 200 miles farther ahead of us. We turned on the engine and with the sails up and the current helping a little we were doing eight knots at times. At noon we were at 15 degrees 59.261 minutes North as we saw the line of dark clouds, but they were dissapating as we came near and presented no problem. What did get our attention were the fishing trawlers. As we drew near one they fired a flare! What was that about? Were they signaling us? Why didn't they just call on the radio? Where they sending a silent signal to their friends that there was a sailboat ripe for the picking? We were about 100 miles off the coast of Nicaragua where some "problems" have been reported, such as boardings. The vessel in question was underway and not in any apparent distress so we continued until we saw the floats of the fishing net. I turned off the engine and that folded our MaxProp and with the strut that extends from our keel to our rudder we were able to glide over the net. We left the area, keeping an eye on the fishing boats as they disappeared over the horizon. Soon, we approached the edge of the banks in an area known as Thunder Knoll. Here the northbound currents coming from Panama meet the westbound currents from the Windward and Leeward Islands and the sea floor goes from 90 feet to 600 feet and then to 9000 feet and beyond. We were beyond the squall line and the wind was diminishing from 20 knots on the nose to almost none, as expected, but the seas were very rough and confused. We pushed on (as if we had another choice) and by nightfall the seas had diminished as well. By dawn we were making good progress by motor-sailing and it appeared that we might make Grand Cayman that evening instead of the following morning and more importantly ahead of the cold front.

The cruising guide informs us that Georgetown Port Security wants to be called while the vessel is ten nautical miles from the port. At four PM, I called and said that I would not be anchoring at the port on the exposed west side of Grand Cayman because of the approaching cold front. I also did not want to use the alternative southern mooring field because the swells from the storm would affect that area as well. I informed them that I would prefer to round to the northern side of the island and anchor in the protected Governor's Harbor. They said I could do that and that I should call when we were anchored securely and that we must not go ashore until we were visited by the authorities. Roger that! Oh.....by the way..... we will probably not be able to clear the reef on the north until after dark. Could you give us waypoints to safely negotiate the reef and then to find the entrance to Governor's Harbor? Long pause. You have not been here before? No, sir. Long pause. He gives us five waypoints that I immediately plot on our chart plotter. As darkness falls, I fire up the RADAR and I check its alignment with the chart overlay and with what we can still observe visually. The waypoints I am given take us through the reef, but not in a buoyed area, but if you can't trust Port Security, who can you trust? The chart shows as little as six feet of depth in a couple of spots, but the seas were calm and we draw about 4.5 feet. So, with RADAR, SONAR and chart plotter holding my gaze and Barb with a spotlight on the bow we inched our way through the reef and into North Sound. It is a straight shot across the sound to the harbor entrance and through the mangrove lined channel into the anchorage. We dropped the anchor and backed down to the south in preparation for the weather to come. We reported our position (19 degrees 21.25' N and 081 degrees 22.62' W), thanked him for his help and fell asleep. At four in the morning the wind and rain began. We heard a sailboat calling Port Security from the port anchorage reporting that they were dragging toward the rocks ashore and the seas were very rough. They got themselves sorted out avoiding disaster and I was very glad that we were not in that location. The wind was strong, but Governor's Harbor was a snug little spot so there were no waves. The storm continued until dawn and stopped as suddenly as it had begun.

We called Port Security to inquire about when we could expect the authorities. They would be admitting two cruise ships in the south mooring field and they would probably not get to us until after noon. DO NOT go ashore. No problem. A little rest was welcome. We got a call at about 2PM that the officials were at the dock and I should dinghy in to the Governor's Harbor Yacht Club to meet them. The customs agent was there in her skirt and heels and the immigration officer was looking at me strangely. I soon figured that I was not going to transport them to our boat and that I should have had our boat documents and passports with me. I will go back to the boat and get those items and 'is it okay for my wife to come as well?' 'To be sure, I'm certain she wants to touch land. No problem.' All in proper Queen's English. All that got done and the weekend clearing fee was waived since it was their fault we had to wait for them. In fact, there were no fees at all. 'Welcome to Grand Cayman' and a discussion of transportation, provisioning and sightseeing left us with good information and a feel for the friendliness of the island.

We assembled our bikes and began our sightseeing. Hurricane Mitch had blasted the island years ago and the yacht club was no longer a yacht club. Half the docks were in place and they had no electricity at all and water only sometimes. It is now a major day trip, SCUBA diveboat and fishing charter embarkation point and diesel fuel was available from a stainless steel tanker truck. A half mile away was the main road that runs north and south the width of the eight mile wide island where most of the resorts and activity is found. Having the bikes was wonderful as public transportation is somewhat erratic and certainly expensive. Grand Cayman is reputed to be the most expensive island in the Caribbean. It is very civilized and it was embarrassingly comforting to be back amongst English speaking, first world people. Now, as we pedalled around, laundry on our backs and in baskets, I felt like the poor-visiting-the-privileged instead of the other way around like we had experienced for the last two years.

The beaches are beautiful, but the snorkeling is only mediocre. The diving is supposed to be great, but we did not do that. We dinghyed out to Stingray City where Barb enjoyed petting the huge stingrays in waist deep water. We biked to the turtle farm,

to downtown Georgetown,

to see where we would have anchored (see the surf better by clicking on the photos to enlarge them)

to the southern mooring field (Spotts),

and to Hell and back.

Early on, we met a British couple, James Stewart and Lucy Kennedy aboard Snow Leopard. They had the use of a car and we toured the eastern end of the island with them. On March 1st, we heard Kaija's Song on the radio, a vessel that we had heard before, but never met. They reported that they had lost their engine and then that they lost a shroud and were coming into the harbor under sail alone. We returned their call and assured them that they would have no trouble sailing into the harbor where we were and that we would dinghy out to tug them in should they need it. They negotiated the reef and the channel and anchored without a problem. We let Gary and Kaija recover from their stress and then spent the next three days with them as they arranged for repairs and did some sightseeing with us. Meanwhile, the wind continued out of the west and the northwest, the direction we planned to sail so we waited until Thursday, March 4th to check out of the country. The entire paperwork check in/check out in Grand Cayman cost $3 and with our check out documents we could purchase our diesel fuel without paying duty on it. The next morning we bid farewell to Grand Cayman, transitted the reef and sailed toward Isla Mujeres reporting our sea conditions and float plan to Port Security and to the Northwest Cruisers Net. We had light wind and very favorable current as we approached Isla Mujeres and dropped the anchor in their harbor in the late afternoon of the third day at sea. The next morning on the VHF the cruisers net reported that after the next few days it would be favorable for a passage north to the US so Barb and I decided we would not clear into Mexico and continue our journey after resting at anchor. We heard radio traffic from our friends from two years ago, Gary and Nicole on Chateau so we called them to say hello. They were leaving the next morning for Fort Meyers, FL. Have a safe journey! In a few minutes were are hailed by Patrick on Stolen Child. On May 5th, 2008, we had left the US from the Dry Tortugas to head for Mexico and arrived with Stolen Child. We enjoyed Patrick and Nancy's company in Isla Mujeres. Our paths crossed again in Roatan a year later. Here we both were in Isla Mujeres again and they were planning to return to the US at Key West at the same time as we were! What symmetry! So we got together aboard Jupiter's Smile and discussed our strategy for navigating the Yucatan Current and the Gulf Stream together.

On the 9th of March, we pulled out of the harbor together and began executing our plan. We were hailed by Michael on Sea Biscuit who reported that they were leaving as well and we agreed to set up a radio watch schedule to track each other and report conditions for the duration of the trip. We had met Michael and Robin in Roatan as well and attended Robin's birthday party there the year before. Michael served as a radio net controller for the Northwest Caribbean Net and had a very good radio signal. The journey started well, but late in the day the wind increased beyond the forecast twenty knots and we found ourselves in twelve foot seas on the beam through the night. We were making good progress until the next day when seas came down, but we lost the favorable current. We spread out to try to find it again. Sea Biscuit was closest to the Cuban coast and we were farthest north. Sea Biscuit reported that they had found the current again so we headed southeast to pick it up ourselves. That is one advantage to traveling with company and staying in touch. That evening, at our scheduled 10PM SSB radio check, I heard a very faint voice calling us. It was Nicole on Chateau, the boat that had left a day before us.

The signal was weak and Nicole has a thick French Canadian accent so it was difficult to determine the nature of her distress at first, but we were able to learn that Gary had taken the dinghy to land on the north coast of Cuba to give their black lab, Alpha, a potty break earlier that evening, before dark. Nicole had heard gunshots and Gary was still not back at the boat. She was frantic. We discussed plans to help and determined that Sea Biscuit, farthest from Nicole's position, but with the strongest radio would continue on, but head toward the Dry Tortugas and call for assistance along the way even though they were unable to hear Nicole. Stolen Child would turn toward Nicole's position since they were closest to her and maintain radio contact with her. We would remain in place to relay messages between Stolen Child and Sea Biscuit. Michael began his appeals for help on all the emergency frequencies, but got no answer from anyone. Patrick was doing a great job of reassuring Nicole, but was still seventy miles away. I said I would check back with Patrick every ten minutes, but that I was going to start scanning all frequencies and call for help as well. The only answer I got was from Sea Biscuit. Then, at 1:30 AM we heard Gary reporting that he was safe with Alpha on board Chateau. He had gotten lost in the mangroves, it got dark, he ran out of gas. He came upon a fishing camp and a fisherman and a guard towed him back to Chateau. The guard was along to make sure the fisherman did not leave Cuba with Gary and to check on the sailboat. Tragedy averted, we three boats resumed our journey towards Key West.

Patrick and I knew we would not make Key West before dark on the 11th so we sailed slowly through the rest of the night and day and let Stolen Child catch us (and in fact they passed us.) Sea Biscuit called us at our scheduled 2PM radio check and said that they would probably make Key West just after dark and would not call again unless something was amiss. At dawn, on the 12th, the wind had died and we were just outside the ship channel into Key West together, when a huge cruise ship approached from the east. Patrick hailed them, but they ignored him. Not knowing what the ship was intending to do, we both started our engines and diverted to avoid them. Once they cleared us, we motored up the channel and made note that the ship that ignored us was the Celebrity Century. A note to Celebrity Cruise Lines yielded no satisfaction making me question their attention to seamanship and safety. We activated our cell phone and called Homeland Security to check into the US and received a clearance number. We were advised that we needed to report to immigration in person with our passports within 24 hours. We saw Sea Biscuit anchored and we anchored nearby. We were home!

We depart Colombia to go to Panama and.....Colombia, headed home

2010-03-22T17:37:00.006-04:00

We sailed from Cartagena, Columbia to the San Blas Islands of Panama to San Andres to Isla Providencia to Grand Cayman to Isla Mujeres, Mexico and to Key West in about two months. It feels like we are home.

When we left the Bay of Cholon on January 15th, we motor sailed about seven miles to the Rosarios Islands. We had drinks aboard Joule with our Austrailian friends, Peter and Nani along with our German friends, Bert and Inge from Boree and Derrick and Anika from Narid, another flagged boat - maybe Dutch?. The water is clear and the anchorage is good on the south side of the islands so we spent a couple of days exploring by dinghy. There is an aquarium where they have a shark show for the tour boats, but we came a little late for that. There is a fee for the show, but after hours you can come and walk around, unguided, for free.

Another free attraction is the aviary - Palmar. It has a very extensive collection of native and exotic birds and we went ashore with Peter and Nani to see it. At the end of our very enjoyable stroll it was suggested that we might purchase a piece of jewelry at a very reasonable price and the profits from such sales went to support the aviary. Barb bought an ankle bracelet that she has worn almost every day since.

The weather window we sought was in place for the voyage to the San Blas (Kuna Yala) Islands of Panama, so we departed at about midnight, on January 18th, negotiating the cut through the reef following Joule. Joule is an Island Packet 40 so we sailed compatibly on light winds, arriving at the reef off Snug Harbor at dawn a day and a half later.

We played in Snug harbor a couple of days. We left with Joule and Narid and passed through xxxxxxxxxx, where the anchorage was somewhat cramped and rolly, to the Devil Keys. A check of the weather presented us with a decision. Stay and enjoy Kuna Yala and let a rare weather window pass by or go toward the Colombian Islands San Andres and Providencia off the coast of Nicaragua on our journey back to the USA. We ambivalently elected to take the opportunity now to make headway toward the US realizing that there were many miles between us and Washington DC by June. With that in mind, we bid adieu to Joule and sailed from the Devil Keys to the west end of the Holandais Keys and a deep water anchorage with the intent of leaving at first light toward either San Andres or Providencia. Since we had not been to San Andres that was our first choice. We snorkelled from the boat in exquisitly clear water. We could see that our anchor was buried in the sand forty-five feet below us! We launched our dinghy and went to the island and explored the entire coastline. This is a very pleasant spot.

Just before sundown a vessel we had heard on the radio came into the anchorage and began nosing around for a good spot to anchor. Consort decided to anchor very close to our bow, but since the conditions were settled it did not present a problem at that moment.

We had heard them discussing their autopilot not working properly and that they were sailing to test their repairs before coming to anchor. They were also heading for either Providencia or San Andres. So, we called them on the VHF radio and discussed our respective plans. Duncan and Janet, a British couple, on Consort intended to sail to Providencia, but in addition to their autopilot repairs they had concerns about their engine consuming belts at an alarming rate. They were only getting a few hours of service from a new belt and they were down to having only one belt in reserve. We said that we would stay in touch as we both headed west.

The winds were light and remained light as we sailed on January 24th. We checked with Consort on the SSB radio periodically and all was well. The autopilot was working and they ran their generator once in a while to keep their batteries up so they were able to save their main engine (and its belt) for the upcoming anchorage. The wind and current made the way to San Andres an easy run, but heading to Providencia was too close on the wind for Consort so they settled into a course to San Andres as well. We arrived after two full days of sailing at dawn on 26 January, as planned, and sailed in a stiffening and clocking wind most of the way up the channel with Consort right behind us. We anchored off Nene's Marina and dinghyed ashore to check into Colombia again. These far flung islands are National Parks so there is a $45 fee to anchor that is good for a year. I checked our documents from our stay in Providencia and discovered that we had already paid the fee almost a year before and that it was still valid. We celebrated our good fortune with cerveza.

We enjoyed meeting the crews from Consort (finally face to face), Roger and Linda on Sand Castle (thanks for the piloting advice into the anchorage), Jack and Cynthia on Duchess and Julian with his charter crew on Tropic Bird. We spent ten windy days exploring the holiday oriented island alone and in company with our new friends.

On the tenth day, we moved to a popular cay to anchor near the mouth of the channel to make a predawn departure to Providencia possible. On February 6th, we awoke and set out into the channel with only one channel buoy and the sea buoy to mark our way. Heading southeast, the channel buoy was spotted easily, but the light of the sea buoy was extinguished. It was "visible" only on our radar screen and with that aid, we had no problem piloting beyond the reef and into deep water. We turned north and began the close hauled sail into 12 knot winds (true) with 5-6 foot seas aft of the beam, fifty-five miles to Providencia. Sand Castle and Duchess set out after dawn from the anchorage at Nene's. We kept in touch with VHF radio and we were overheard by a vessel in Providencia's harbor: Gone, our friends Daniel and Jacline, from previous years in the Bahamas, Guatemala and Roatan. They called out reporting that they were the only boat in the harbor. We had a joyful (wine,etc) reunion with them. Sand Castle and Duchess came into the harbor to anchor nearby and with our new and old friends we dinghyed to the Santa Catalina side of the harbor to have dinner and revisit our gracious hosts from the previous April at Bamboo.

Next day (Superbowl Sunday), Daniel and Jacline came aboard and we bombarded them with information about Panama and their upcoming journey. We asked the local agent, Mr. Bush, about a location that might have the Superbowl on television where we could all meet and enjoy the annual spectacle. He suggested that we join him at his home and we did that. We all surrounded a nineteen inch TV and in between munching and drinking we explained the game of United States football to our foreign friends. Well, we, in fact, were the foreigners, weren't we? It was a great game and a great evening on a great island in the company of great people.

The wind direction was forecast to remain on the nose for the next couple of days so we stayed put until Tuesday, February 9th, when we moved eight miles to Long Cay and anchored for a head start toward our next destination, Grand Cayman. I will resume our story in the next post. Look for it soon.

Jay & Barb

Cartagena, Colombia

2010-01-05T17:05:00.004-05:00

We spent about a week in the Bay of Cholon revisiting old friends Tisha Baby and Valentina and making new friends in this lovely, tranquil spot.

It is a nineteen mile sail (or in our case this morning, a motor sail) to the harbor in the city of Cartagena (pictured - with Sea Star off our starboard bow). Here the anchorage varies from about 9 feet to 45 feet in depth.....

The old, walled city is very picturesque.....

.....and the beach in the new part of the city is inviting.........

....the port is busy with container ships and cruise ships coming and going and it provides a good deal of entertainment every day and unfortunately many nights as well. The sounds of civilized industry.....

......and the wakes of inconsiderate sport fishermen made the anchorage less than desirable. Also note the highrise building under construction. The conrete dust from construction settled quickly on every horizontal surface while the rate of growth on the bottom of the boat was accelerated by the nutrient rich, warm, but fouled (toxic?) water in the harbor.

Experiencing the city and its people was worth the trip.

Meeting new friends........

Robert and Carmen, the "Constable and goddess of Cholon" aboard Manatee and the keepers of "the Crow's Nest."

Ken and Marilyn on Dream Ketcher

David and Kate on Hello World

Left to right: the crews of Joule (Peter and Nani), Jupiter's Smile (us), Sea Star (Dan and Cathy), Equinox (Hank and Betsy), Navy Blue (Eddie and Valma), and La Sirena (Mike and Mary).

........... and reuniting with old ones is always a joy.

(pictured-Bryan of Pearl S. Buck and Wim and Annetta of Thetis)

San Blas, Panama to Cartagena, Colombia/The Kersti Incident

2009-12-02T17:33:00.002-05:00

We had a little excitement in a recent passage from the San Blas islands of Panama to Cartagena, Colombia.
http://www.sail-world.com/USA/Blue-Water-Rally-yacht-sinks---cruisers-to-the-rescue/63931

It was actually somewhat surreal. In the dark at first and in poor conditions we just did what we thought we should do and except for the loss of the boat, all went pretty well. Here is our official version:

The Kersti Incident Report

On the morning of November 27 just after 0400 hours, S/V Jupiter's Smile received a Pan Pan call from the sailing vessel Kersti at 10 degrees 00 .5 ' N; 076 degrees 24' W. They reported that they were taking on water and were unable to keep ahead of its incursion by bailing with buckets. The vessel was down at the bow and was in danger of sinking.

Our position was 9 degrees 57 ' N; 076 degrees 20.34' W . We changed course and they did as well so that our headings would converge. The seas were running from 10 to 12 feet steep and short period so that headway to the north was difficult. At about 0545, at position 10 degrees 01 .55 ' N; 076 degrees 21.38' W. we came on site and stood by.

Kersti was low at the bow with about a foot of freeboard. S/V Sea Star made contact with the US and Columbian Coast Guard via their Iridium sat phone. S/V Tempest, S/V Infinity and S/V Mariposa were in radio contact, all with words of encouragement and ideas to keep the vessel afloat.

Shortly thereafter, S/V Pelican's Flight came on scene and attempted several times to drop a pump into Kersti's dinghy. The dinghy was out on a long painter in order to safely effect the transfer of the pump. With Kersti now headed into the wind the seas were washing the bow with each wave. The pump fell out of the dinghy at one point because of the rough seas, but was retreived by Pelicans Flight. The vessel appeared to be taking on more water and the seas and wind continued unabated. S/V Mariposa arrived at the scene and a crew member was willing to bring a pump aboard by jumping into the dinghy. Kersti's captain did not want to endanger others and he refused that solution. A third attempt at transferring the pump saw Pelican's Flight ride over the dinghy painter and the dinghy was subsequently lost.

The crew deployed their life raft and at 0753 they had it inflated and trailing behind. At 0756 they stepped off Kersti and into the life raft at 9 degrees 59 .05 ' N; 076 degrees 21.84' W. We came along side and the crew, Jeff and Ruth Morris of the UK came aboard with two backpacks and four bundles of belongings in plastic sacks. The crew was uninjured. Jeff pierced the tubes of the life raft and cast it off as it deflated.

As we were nearly forty miles off the coast and in big seas with up to thirty three knots of wind, we elected to depart the scene and head for the Bay of Cholon and safe harbor before dark. We did not observe the vessel sink and its DSC radio call continued until we were out of VHF range. Our jouney was very quiet while the seas were very boisterous. My wife was sea sick as she had been almost all night and Ruth was nauseous as well. At 1630, we dropped anchor in the Bay of Cholon.

At 1800, a Colombian Coast Guard launch with three crew came to Jupiter's Smile and determined, after a second visit, that the Morris' would visit the Coast Guard office in Cartagena the next morning, traveling there aboard S/V Glide. The Morrises left Jupiter's Smile at 0545, on November 28.

Our last news regarding Kersti was that the Coast Guard (Colombian?), as of 1800 while they were visiting us, found no sighting of the vessel. A few days later, we heard from a third source that the Coast Guard (Colombian?) had found the sinking vessel, dived to survey the damage and found (and photographed) a crack where the keel attaches to the hull. As they attempted to tow the boat it sank. We have heard from the Morrises more recently about this and they confirm that this is true and they have returned to the UK and are looking for another boat. Good luck in your search and your next adventures on the water.

El Rio Chagres

2009-06-15T18:25:00.005-04:00

Pearl S. Buck and Jupiter's Smile cautiously navigated the waters into the Rio Chagres. We traveled upstream until we were in sight of the dam that retains the water in Lago Gatun. The primary use of this water is for operating the Panama Canal. Anchoring is permitted in the river, but we saw this small lake to the north and decided to anchor there out of the river's current. It was soon obvious that we were in howler monkey territory. The calls between several troops of these small black monkeys (with the loudest vocalizations of any animal) made that abundantly clear. Flocks of pairs of parrots, storks, mackaws and toucans flew overhead and an occasional crocodile was spotted. The location was idyllic.

Thetis joined us within a few days and aside from a few locals we saw very few other people. We were near a dock in the national park and could dinghy to it, disembark and walk to the road that crossed the river and went to Colon. We never left our dinghy at the dock, however, due to the reports of thefts here. Dorothy on Pearl S. Buck delivered us to the dock and then picked us up when we returned acting as guard while we were in Colon.

Leaving Bocas del Toro toward the Rio Chagres, Panama

2009-06-05T17:55:00.003-04:00

We headed out

Zapadillo

Bluefields

Tobobee Bay

It was May 2009 Work in Progress

2009-05-15T00:04:00.001-04:00

We departed Providencia in company of the catamaran Damiana

with Roy and Marlene aboard, sailing in moderately light winds and moderate seas. Late in the afternoon we passed San Andres and at about sundown we had cleared the Alburquerque Keys. We had an uneventful second day at sea with a few clouds threatening to produce rain and we heard thunder a few times, but nothing developed. We were out of sight of Damiana, but we were checking in on the VHF radio every three hours for reassurance that all was well. At about two the next morning the wind died with about sixty more miles to go to reach Bocas del Drago so the motor was called into service. We approached the inlet at dawn and were impressed with the lighted buoys showing us the channel in the early morning twilight. As the sun began to show its face the lights on the buoys went out and it became surprisingly difficult to determine their location at a distance. I found this to be somewhat disconcerting, but as we got closer the channel was plainly evident and we entered with no problem. As we approached, we called Pearl S. Buck and Bryan responded. It was great to hear his voice as we had not heard him since he left Guanaja two months previously. He and Dorothy were anchored at Starfish Beach (pictured). We rounded the island of Colon and tucked into their anchorage to rest until Monday when we could check into Panama without paying a weekend surcharge to the officials.

We enjoyed a swim and Barb walked with Dorothy on the beach.

On Monday, we called the port captain and said we would anchor near the Bocas del Toro Marina. He said we should not leave the boat and that he would round up the necessary officials and visit us in an hour or so.

Till then, be well!

Isla Providencia April to May 1st 2009

2009-05-08T00:44:00.000-04:00

Providencia – 4/10/09 to 5/1/09

Remember - double clicking on a photo will enlarge the view! (I hope!)

A Canadian fellow sailed in from Nicaragua one day, stayed long enough to stir up some interest and then left for the Cayman Islands. This little catamaran has to be about ten feet long. Yikes!

We arrived on Good Friday, but after we checked in we stayed on the boat, resting. We missed a local presentation for the boaters in the town square. We were able to attend a similar show a few weeks later. We listened to a spirited local band and watched a dance group show off their skills. We were invited to Roland's beach restaurant and we went for a fun evening with the crews of four other boats.

We liked the island of Providencia, the people who live there and the cruisers who were visiting along with us. During the three weeks we stayed, we hiked, motorbiked, sailed and socialized.

There is a fine hike on Catalina, the island that shelters the northern side of the harbor. The trail leads past the old fort and allows the hiker to approach the rock formation known as Morgan's Head.

It takes a little imagination to make out the profile of the notorious pirate. Looking to the south, it is easier to make out the profile of Split Mountain, also known as Morgan's Ass.

We made two circumnavigations of Providencia. The one by motorbike took three leisurely hours as we visited several overlooks ..

..........and beaches ...........

............ and stopped for a nice lunch.

The lunch stop was at a resort where Internet access is available...on some days...not today...maybe manana. The food was good and the view was gorgeous. We met a couple that took the motorbike ride too. They made the entire trip in twenty minutes and then went back around at a pace like ours. The second circumnavigation was with the crews of Pelican's Flight and Tempest on board Tisha Baby. The waters were calm and the wind light so we motored around and through the reefs. We stopped in a cove for lunch and got back to the anchorage in time for sundowners.

We were there on the anniversary of the wreck of the S/V Viva caused by hurricane XXXX. Our friend Viva Bob intended to be there too, but the present Viva had engine problems and he had sailed back to Rio Dulce to replace both his engines. Maybe next year?

We visited the Bamboo Restaurant several times, bringing the crews of about 20 boats with us on two occasions. The friendly proprietors were well rewarded for their hospitality. They are closed on Sunday, but allowed a group of us to gather to play dominoes at their tables.

We watched and waited for a good weather window and on May 1st the opportunity arrived for

S/V Damiana and us to depart for the two day passage to Bocas del Toro. We bid a fond farewell to the cruisers in the harbor and the wonderful people of Isla Providencia.

April 9 – April 30, 2009: the Hobbies to Providencia, Columbia

2009-05-01T15:59:00.001-04:00

The other boats, Damiana, Tempest, Pelican’s Flight, Tisha Baby and Jacana intend to stay a while to fish, swim and snorkel. While we enjoy those activities, there is hardly any dry land around to explore and the weather window is too good to pass up. We decided we would leave the next morning for Isla Providencia, 196 nm away, with good conditions expected for the entire trip.

Before dawn, we had the anchor up and we were underway, motoring, retracing our course out of the anchorage and along the inside of the reef. By the time the sun was up we had sails up and had exited the reef. The wind was blowing about twelve knots from the north-northeast and our destination was generally south-southeast, so this is pretty light wind. We left the motor on and running at seven knots with the sails up as we navigated the bank for nine hours when, at 2:30, the wind shifted to east-northeast and picked up to thirteen knots. We had covered enough distance to be comfortable slowing down with the expectation that the wind would increase soon and we could expect to arrive at our destination with good mid-day sun, so the motor was turned off. We sailed at 6.2 – 6.6 knots for twelve hours and into the night with winds up to seventeen knots, until we encountered huge, dark clouds blotting out the full moon, with flashes of lightning and trailing rain. We reefed the sails as the wind speed dropped eerily and we turned on the engine. Three hours later, the clouds had disappeared without incident and at 6 am the engine was turned off again. We were under full sail doing 5.7 knots in 14 knots of east-southeast wind and .5 knots of opposing current in 2-3 ft seas, close-hauled for six hours arriving at the sea buoy off Providencia at noon. By 1 pm, on Good Friday, we were anchored in the beautiful harbor between Providencia and Catalina Islands and in touch with the famous agent, Mr. Bush (this one has a high approval rating), ready to clear into one of Columbia’s most far-flung islands. This leg of the trip was completed with the only excitement being the fact that it went nearly exactly as planned and without incident, safely.

March 30 – April 8, 2009: Guanaja, Honduras to the Hobbies

2009-04-09T15:19:00.003-04:00

The beach at West End, Roatan

Barb returned from her visit with the Dangerous Babe’s in Puerto Vallarta to Roatan on March 29th. Despite her long, tiring journey, Barb wanted us to get on our way and out of Roatan, so we left the next morning. The winds were out of the East, but light, so our eastbound journey (motoring) was comfortable. We made our way to Guanaja and entered a cut through the reef at Soldado Channel. We sat at anchor, all alone for two days, enjoying the solitude and the beauty of the Michael’s Rock region. As we walked the beach, swam and snorkeled, a few local men had been busily constructing a site on the shore to celebrate the upcoming Semana Santa holiday and on the third day they began burning the left over materials, upwind, so the smoke blew toward us. We departed for a new anchorage less than two miles to the southwest, Blue Rock, and enjoyed the remainder of a quiet day alone again. The next day we rounded the end of the island to go to Bonacca town to top up our fuel, get final provisions and visit the officials to check out of Honduras declaring our next destination to be Bocas del Toro, Panama, about 600 nm away.

On his fourth and final voyage during the late summer of 1502, it took Christopher Columbus and his crew 28-days to tack eastward along the coast of present-day Honduras. “Other tempests I have seen,” Columbus reported, “but none that lasted so long or so grim as this.” Upon reaching a point that is now close to the border with Nicaragua he proclaimed, “Thanks to God!” The tip of the peninsula still bears that name, Cabo Gracias a Dios. The source of his difficulty was the strong Trade Winds that blow generally out of the east. The seas tend to build to uncomfortable heights. The decks would be continually wet and the crew would be sorely tested by the need to tack against the wind and current.

Using a variety of forecasting tools, modern day sailors watch for a period of favorable weather before they venture out in these waters. So the prudent cruiser waits for the weather window where either the winds die down and the seas moderate so they can motor-sail or they wait for a shift in the wind toward the North so they can sail eastward under sail alone.

If the winds die, we can turn on the motor and make the first leg of the trip in about thirty hours in seas with a manageable swell. But, we are a sailboat and I resist motoring if I can harvest the wind instead. That means we watch and wait as patiently as we can for a wind shift that will last long enough to make the passage, but not blow so hard that comfort is compromised. This was our plan as we waited at El Bight just north of Bonacca Cay. We waited for three days discussing the weather forecasts with Damiana, Tempest, Pelican’s Flight, Tisha Baby and Jacana. As the Trade Winds continued to blow, several vessels arrived from the east and departed westward. On Monday, the winds were down, but still out of the east. Damiana departed and we decided to follow their lead as they reported favorable conditions – at first. We noticed, as we made our way out of the anchorage that they had turned around. They were about a half hour ahead of us and reported that they had waves over their bows (they are a catamaran) and that they were returning. We returned too. Around noon, the wind was still down and the seas had settled and Damiana left and headed east. We did not follow this time.

At dawn the next morning, Tempest, Pelican’s Flight and then, soon after, Jacana filed out of the anchorage and through the cut near Half Moon Cay on a heading of about 100-degrees. We had all discussed the forecast and our weather advisor, Chris Parker on the Caribbean Weather Net, had advised that we leave on Monday and motor to arrive at the Vivarillo Cays ahead of the approaching cold front, which is what Barb and I thought we would do and what Damiana did. Chris Parker’s second choice was to go on Tuesday with more wind, sailing ahead of a cold front and then ride the front. That would provide wind from the north and an opportunity to sail. However, the front would also bring strong winds of possibly over 35 knots, in squalls on Tuesday night. We didn’t like that “window” very much. Having missed the motoring opportunity on Monday with Damiana and seeing the three boats leave Tuesday morning to face the cold front (they had said, “We have big boats (around 45-50 feet), we can take it.”) we began to suffer from being left behind. After two hours of discussion (rationalizing) with Tisha Baby on the radio and getting forecasts revising wind speeds downward, we left the anchorage motoring northeast behind the reef and met Tisha Baby as they left Josh’s Cay. We both went out the North East Cay Channel two miles north of our anchorage’s latitude. We raised our sails before we even cleared the cut. Once clear, we made for a heading of 85-degrees while Tisha Baby motor-sailed even higher at 80-85 degrees. Our first destination, the Vivarillo Cays, is on a heading of 103-degrees from Guanaja, but Richard and I agreed that once the front came through with northerly winds, it would be better to be able to turn downwind toward our destination, so we were trying to get as far east as possible as soon as possible. Tisha Baby was trying to get a little northeast, in fact, so they would have more room to run if need be. The other three boats, having left about two hours before we did, were motor-sailing in good conditions and, being bigger, were making more speed than we were. Jupiter’s Smile was making 6.6 – 6.8-knots with the sails up and the motor on with a north wind of 8-knots in 2-3-foot chop over a 2-foot swell. We all continued motor-sailing this way until the wind picked up to 12-14-knots at about 3 pm. We turned off the motor and continued under sails alone at 6.2 -- 6.6-knots in 2-ft chop and virtually no swell. By 5 pm the wind had freshened to 16-22-knots and with dusk approaching we decided to shorten sail. Dusk and dawn are at about 6 pm and 6 am respectively at these latitudes year round. We took in the headsail completely, left the staysail full and put in the equivalent of two reefs in the mainsail. We have roller furling on all three of our sails so we have continuous reefing capabilities, not fixed reef points. We usually reduce sail at night so that the person on watch does not need to adjust anything in the dark and we sail more slowly so that if there is something in the water we don’t see, we don’t hit it so hard. By 8 pm, we frequently had winds of 30 knots out of the north and I had reefed the staysail as well. By 10 pm, we had 8-10-ft seas and we were running with sails no higher than the spreaders on the mast, still making 5.7 knots, heading about 107-degrees (a little downwind) so the deck was wet with spray but we seldom took any waves on deck. The motion of the boat was not violent, but by no means gentle and Barb became seasick. As we sailed through the night, maintaining good speed, our hourly radio contacts with the other boats indicated that our strategy of maintaining our latitude earlier in the day was allowing us to indeed run a little downwind with seas a little behind us and we were catching up to the three boats that had left before us. Everyone was reporting a very rough ride and our wind instrument recorded a true gust of 39.4-knots. Tisha Baby was sure we had 12-foot seas. As dawn broke the wind dropped below 30 knots more frequently and the seas seemed to decrease a little…or, was I just hoping that they were? We had decided to change our destination to the Hobbies Keys, a little north of the Vivarillos. There we could get out of the big seas sooner, as long as we could clear the reef without having to negotiate any breakers. As we approached the reef we knew from our radio contacts that we had passed the three boats farther to the south of us during the night and that they would need to head more into the wind and seas to reach the Hobbies, but that they would be using a wider and more used cut that would certainly have no breakers. Tisha Baby was about an hour behind and north of us and we both decided to use a cut directly in front of us about 6 miles north of the wider one IF the opening was indeed safe. If we saw breakers, we would need to turn south to the cut that the other boats would be using and probably meet the first of the three boats there at the same time. At about 10am, we saw that the opening in the reef was relatively calm and with the sun high and bright enough to be able to read the water depths, we knew it was plenty deep and wide. Even though the wind was still blowing in the 20s, the seas were completely calm inside the reef and we let out all our sails again and went screaming toward our anchorage, still over twelve miles away. We were snuggly anchored near Damiana and three other boats by noon and Tisha Baby came in to anchor about a half hour later. Two hours later Pelican’s Flight anchored, followed soon after by Tempest and later, Jacana. Barb had recovered once we entered the reef and she got lunch prepared. We cleaned up and went to sleep early.

Looking back on the experience, we did better than the Admiral of the Seas did, but we had five hundred years of technology to help us do better. We covered 165 nm by motor-sailing eight hours and sailing twenty hours. We had fourteen hours of benign weather and fourteen hours of trying conditions. The boat and all its systems performed wonderfully and at no time did we feel unsafe or in danger. Barb was seasick and that was unfortunate, but to her credit she stayed in the cockpit; there if I needed her. The largest of the five boats, Tempest had the worst trip. Annette gets seasick like Barb and was. In the seas, their topping lift (that supports the mizzen sail’s boom while the sail is furled) became loose and it swung into the blades of their wind generator breaking the blades and cutting the topping lift. I believe that was the only physical damage. We all made it safely, thankfully. Gracias a Dio.

Let's Catch up! December - March

2009-03-10T12:08:00.001-04:00

January 2 –January 12, 2009 – French Harbor, Roatan Honduras – Chain?

Over time, things deteriorate. I am not pleased with the condition of a section of one of our anchor chains so I would like to replace it remembering the “weakest link” aphorism. On January 20th, I placed an order for 250 feet of anchor chain with Luey MacLaughlin, owner of Blueseas Seafood for a very good price. The chain would come from Luey’s brother, the owner of a freighter out of Florida, in about ten days, or so we thought. Meanwhile, we enjoyed the leisurely pace of Roatan. We visited the Iguana Preserve, went snorkeling and walking, and on rainy days set up our water catcher and read several books. I do not know if the chain has arrived yet (or not) and as I write now, it is March 10th and Barb and I are back in the United States planning to return to the boat on March 20th. Will we be able to load chain aboard? We hope so.

February - Jonesville Harbor, Roatan Honduras

We decided that it is time to explore some of the other anchorages on the island so we sailed (motored actually) a short distance to Jonesville, found the reef cut and anchored snugly. We dinghyed to shore and walked around the town. In the small grocery, we found some items we could use that we had not been able to find in the large market in French Harbor. We have learned that if you see something you need, you buy it on the spot. Don’t wait, because the item may not be available when you come back and remain unavailable for months thereafter. Next day, we went to the famous Hole in the Wall Restaurant and Bar barbeque. It is an all-you-can-eat steak, lobster tail, mashed potatoes, corn and beans, with dessert and a cigar festive experience.

After two days in Jonesville, we left the anchorage and backtracked to Halfmoon Bight to snorkel the reef there. We found it to be interesting but nothing special, so we continued on our way, sailing off the anchor and back to French Harbor.

Guanaja, Honduras

We topped up our tanks and took care of various errands and then we, Pearl S. Buck and Tisha Baby set out to explore the eastern most of the Bay Islands, Guanaja. We fished along the way and Barb caught a grouper that provided dinner for us all that evening, anchored off Josh’s (or Graham’s) Cay. The small resort there has a restaurant and bar, a nice beach and a fenced pen in the water containing huge turtles, barracuda, tarpon and jewfish. The pet pelicans are a source of entertainment as is the $10/day internet (when it is working). The wind direction helped us decide to sail to the other side of the island and Barb and I decided to head for Michael’s Rock. This turned out to be a very pretty cove where, despite the initially poor holding for our anchor, we stayed a couple of nights along with Tisha Baby. We found that the End of the World Resort was recovering from a lightning caused fire and was not open, but the owner gave us directions so that we could hike to a waterfall to complete our day’s activities. The next day, we dinghyed through the canal that transects the island and landed on Bonacca, where the majority of the population of Guanaja resides. We were impressed with the goods and services available in this community of friendly folks and we were captivated by the charm of the traffic consisting of boats and feet only. No vehicles exist on the island where they have only sidewalks and canals to meet transportation needs. We met Bryan and Dorothy and enjoyed some shopping and lunch with them. They had anchored in El Bight along with about a dozen other boats awaiting a weather window to make a run eastward to the Vivarillo Cays. Then they and most of the others planned to head southward to Providencia, San Andres and on to Panama.

The next morning, Tisha Baby left us to pick up Richard’s brother back in Roatan and we sailed to El Bight to see what attractions held so many cruisers there. We had a surprise dinner at the German Restaurant there. It was a surprise, because Bryan had asked for something to nibble with drinks. They brought salads and then the rest of the dinner. I only wished that it tasted better.

We bid our dear friends Bryan and Dorothy on Pearl S. Buck farewell and we departed for a spirited downwind run back to Roatan anchoring in Port Royal just like the pirates did years and years ago. The next morning we explored the small cay nearby before setting out for French Harbor and planning our next move. Our anchor chain had still not arrived in Roatan.

Jim Lee to the rescue! Wow and how!

2009-01-15T16:41:00.001-05:00

December 10, 2008 –January 2, 2009 French Harbor, Roatan, Honduras

Finishing our chores in La Ceiba, we set out for a motor sail to French Harbor to meet up with Pearl S. Buck who had left two days before us. The trip began quietly enough and ended up with us bucking a headwind in the mid-20 knot range. We got the anchor down near Fantasy Island Resort and settled in for a very comfortable several weeks. The snorkeling is fantastic on the reef that surrounds Roatan. The shopping is pretty good, the food is pretty good, propane, laundry and other needs are easily satisfied and the local people are very friendly. This is a popular cruisers stop for good reason. We spent Christmas with about 30 boaters at an excellent potluck dinner at a pavilion at the Coco View Resort. New Years Eve was aboard S/V SoCal SoGood with Rich and Pat and Bryan and Dorothy.

January 2 –January 12, 2009 – West End, Roatan Honduras
We sailed to the Western tip of Roatan and found a mooring ball in the harbor in quaint, funky West End. This locale is where the divers and vacationers hang out and we were lucky enough to be there too, yet far enough away from the music to be able to sleep soundly at night. During the daytime we were able to swim from our boats with snorkel gear and explore the fabulous reef and then find a wonderful meal ashore in the evenings. We found West End to be charming. The post we made regarding trying to replace/repair things in foreign countries with parts shipped and customs duty paid from the US brought a response from our friend Jim Lee from S/V Stardust. We wrote that he was delivering a Lambada motor-glider to a customer in Costa Rica and would we like him to deliver anything if he stopped in Roatan along the way? Would I, would I? You bet!

Kathy Lee (and no doubt, Rachel) did banking for small denomination US bills, shopping for vitamins, fuses and other sundry and gift items and took deliveries from eBay, Defender and WestMarine purchases. They generously packed some items for S/V Pearl S. Buck and S/V Jacana as well. On the 10th Bryan, Barb and I took a cab to the airport to meet Jim. He called us on the VHF radio and we saw the wee aircraft land and tie down, but it took almost an hour before Jim emerged from the arrival door after checking in with immigration and customs. Jim told the guard at the door that we would like to see the plane so the guard pointed us in the direction of the departure gate where a second guard directed us to the airport administrative office where we were told it would be “impossible.” It was Saturday and they were too busy to let us go out to the plane. Jim took our camera himself and took a few photos for us. We had held the taxicab at first and suggested that the driver could leave, but he knew he had a fare back to West End and stuck with us. We took all our booty back to the boats and still had time to go snorkeling from the boat to the reef. Jim remarked that it was much better than the snorkeling trip that he had paid for in Cozumel the day before. We had a nice Thai dinner ashore at Tong’s during which Bryan, Dorothy and Viva Bob got to meet Jim. Bryan and Jim had a lot to discuss, since Bryan is an experienced glider and airplane pilot and skydiver as well.

The visit came to an end all too soon at 7AM the next morning when we delivered Jim to the beach for the cab ride back to the airport. He did pay us a short, final farewell as he flew over the mooring field as he departed Roatan for the final leg to Costa Rica. It was a great visit and we thank him for his friendship and the personal delivery service.

The Definition of Cruising

2008-12-18T11:50:00.003-05:00

We are still in French Harbor, Roatan, Honduras.

The definition of cruising is getting your boat fixed in exotic places. With that goes special challenges depending on how critical the repair is to safety/comfort/progress.

As I write, a fellow sailor on his 52 ft motor sailer, Jim on Against the Wind, is off the coast of Mexico headed for Isla Mujeres, but he has torn his headsail and his engines have quit because of a blocked fuel line and/or filters. We heard him on the Single Side Band radio this morning and he was getting encouragement from the network of sailors in the area, but the Coast Guard "has no assets in the area at this time." We expect he will be okay. The winds are not "supposed" to get stronger and the current is in his favor, so even though he is moving at only 2 knots, if he stays offshore and away from the reefs I'm confident that he'll resolve the problem and be safely underway shortly as he fixes his own problem with help and encouragement over the radio.

I alluded to problems on Grace and Viva in an earlier post. Grace had fuel problems so went to La Ceiba as we stood near by. We helped them into the harbor with our dinghies in the dark. They have decided to have work done on their boat there in addition to just fixing it. They will return to the USA (by plane) for a while in the meantime. Bob on the catamaran Viva (he is known as Viva Bob) needs a motor mount replaced on one engine and a starter solenoid on the other. He was able to sail to La Ceiba with no engine needed and to anchor in the harbor with his crippled engine used lightly. These were not safety concerns, but could have been. Pearl S. Buck and we were standing by to help these boats and they will get fixed in La Ceiba. The problem for both is obtaining the parts. It has been ten days and Viva Bob still has not gotten the parts he needs, but he is no doubt making the family of the taxi cab driver, Javier, happy as he tranports Bob to and from the city of La Ceiba for entertainment.

We have a problem similar to one we had last year at this time: our battery bank is not charging like it should. Last year, I borrowed a very good, but discontinued battery charger to "equalize" our batteries. This process made them like new. I have been trying to find that same charger and finally got one on eBay yesterday. As I am typing, I am waiting for email replies to solve the shipping problem and get the unit here without having to pay 300-400 USD for shipping alone and having items tied up in customs for weeks. This is an issue that needs to be fixed before we continue to a new location. A resolution will be found within a day or two.

The key board on my laptop is slowly failing. I have no 4,5,r,f,g,or b any more. The solution was to buy a stand alone keyboard that plugs into my USB port. The downside is that it is in a Spanish format so I need to look at the US Keyboard while typing on the Spanish keyboard to find the correct keys. The upside was that the keyboard costs 150 Lps (limpera) or $7.50 USD. Bryan on Pearl S. Buck is trying to buy a single side band radio. He thinks he has found a good source, for a good price, in the United States. The shipping is so expensive that he is researching the cost of flying back to Miami and picking it up in person. So far, the differential in cost is about $60 and the differential in time saved may be several days, maybe even weeks! Maybe he will pick up my charger as well? His situation is not critical, but the radio is a safety consideration, in my opinion. Jim, on Against the Wind, is surely glad he has his working for him. With a single side band HF radio one can reach hundreds or thousands of miles instead of the mere 20-25 miles with a good VHF radio.

Aside from Jim, the rest of us can wait for solutions in paradise. We have it "so good" here in the tropics, but you don't realize the convenience of being in the US where goods and services are not only reasonably priced, they are available conveniently too.

Dorothy, Bryan, Barb and I had dinner with friends of Dorothy's from Texas. Andy and Joyce have a house in Roatan at the Parrot Tree Plantation and we all went to a nice restaurant together in Andy and Joyce's vehicle. Andy and Joyce are amazing people and I will do a blog entry on them later.

Yesterday the four of us hopped on the bus to Coxan Hole and then the van to West End and had a nice relaxing day seeing the sights together. This is not a bad way or place to wait for things to arrive from the US. We are meeting interesting people and enjoying the winter season in a way very different from many of you. We will suffer through it!

Until next time, be well!

J&B

We are in French Harbor, Roatan, Honduras

2008-12-15T13:15:00.005-05:00

Barb and I got our Sonar/depth sounder fixed ourselves and the radar was adjusted by a technician so we got away from the boatyard with only a few no-see-um bites. We anchored out as planned for a pleasent night with a gently, cooling breeze. Next morning, we motored out beyond the breakwater with no wind. By 1100 the wind began to pick up, but on our nose so we had to continue to motor. An hour later the wind was still blowing on our nose, but it had freshened to 20-25 knots. To quote my brother (retired NOAA Meterologist, paddling his kayak across Albermarle Sound), "the wind isn't supposed to be doing that!" We made it into French Harbor without incident and anchored near S/V Pearl S. Buck and two other boats.

This anchorage is very protected behind the reef and we are near a resort that has its own plane, Fantasy Island. Could it be the same one? I haven't spotted Ricardo Montalban or Tatoo, yet. I am accessing internet from their lobby and it is a gorgeous setting. Two nights ago we had a great dinner at Romeo's and attended French Harbor's Christmas Festival. While it was shorts and tee shirt temperatures as always, the street was full of Santa's helpers, horses, clowns on stilts, flashing lights and a happy family atmosphere. Lots of local color and great fun. I didn't bring my camera! Sorry.

Yesterday we went snorkling over the reef in the clear waters just outside our anchorage. It is so great to be back cruising!

If we get no further opportunity to touch base soon (one never knows) have a happy holiday season.

Fondly, Jay & Barb

December 1 - We leave Nana Juana

2008-12-09T14:29:00.005-05:00

December 1 - December 6, 2008 from the Rio Dulce, Guatemala to La Ceiba, Honduras. “Plans Change!”

We had returned to Guatemala from the USA in August. Our passports had been stamped giving us 90 days in the country. That date had passed on November 17th. We were now illegal aliens. Yesterday, December 1, our Coast Guard issued Certificate of Documentation had expired. Know that in early November, from the Homeland Security-Coast Guard web site, I had downloaded a renewal form as a PDF file. This form had to be signed and either mailed or faxed to their Documentation Center in West Virginia. Mail from Guatemala goes pretty fast (4-5 days) to the USA, but I had an idea we could do better than that. We had no good fax options, so after I signed the form, Richard on Tisha Baby scanned it and saved it as a GIF file, which I e-mailed to John MacFarlane, our caretaker in Colorado Springs. He printed the form and had it faxed to the Coast Guard. So the signed renewal form got to West Virginia in a few hours. Three weeks later, we still had no Certificate in our hands.

After good byes at Nana Juana and fueling at the Shell fuel dock, we left Rio Dulce on December first, with Bryan and Dorothy on Pearl S. Buck and Bob on Viva. We only went about ten miles, to Texan Bay, about an hour from Livingston and the mouth of the river. The weather was expected to be a factor and we had arranged to check out of Guatemala through the agent, Raul, at Livingston on the third. The plan was to hang out and relax at Texan Bay for a day after our two-hour run down the river.

We had tired of waiting for our renewed United States Coast Guard Certificate of Documentation and left without it because we were told by other sailors that it is nice to have, but not required. A Bill of Sale will do in many cases and my strategy would be to show my expired Certificate to the authorities and hope that they would not notice the expiration date. If they did notice, I would explain that the renewed Certificate was in the mail to Bruno’s Marina, in Rio Dulce and that we hoped it would catch up to us. We have found that the authorities like to have everything in order, but for the unfortunate sailor who doesn’t have everything in order, they usually (after the obligatory headshakes, short lectures, heavy sighs and warnings) figure out some way to get you out of the office and on your way again any way. The sailor just needs to look sad, sorry and then thankful for the official’s eventual largesse. Everyone has his or her part to play in this drama.

On December 2, we heard on the Rio Dulce Cruiser’s Net that Bruno’s had mail for us. I called on the radio and asked if anyone was headed downriver and could they pick up our piece of mail and meet us with it? M/V Steel Magnolia answered and Roy said that he could do that tomorrow. I suggested we meet in Livingston and we were much relieved to know that our Certificate of Documentation was nearby.

The next day we pulled up anchors and headed to meet Raul and check out of Guatemala. It all went without a hitch (he had not noticed our expired document) and we had permission to leave and head to Roatan, Honduras. Pearl S. Buck and Viva headed out of the harbor, across the sandbar (at high tide as planned, but bumping the bottom like they did coming in six months ago) and anchored across the bay in Bahia Graciosa. Barb and I stayed at anchor and waited for Steel Magnolia. At 2 PM, I radioed and located Steel Magnolia. Roy said that they got off to a late start, but that they would be in Livingston by about 3:30. I said that I would hop in our dinghy and meet them in the river. It was raining hard now, but we needed to get going before 3 so we could anchor along side our friends before dark. After a 35 minute run upriver, I met Steel Magnolia and Roy passed my envelope to me. Thanking him profusely, I took off with the current and the wind. We got Jupiter’s Smile underway right at 3 PM. About half way across the bay, I asked Barb to open the letter and her facial expression immediately indicated we had a problem. After all the waiting and then the transfer on the river, we had been sent the wrong certificate! This certificate was for a person with a powerboat in El Paso Texas. Not us! We had a good laugh (what good comes from crying?) and continued on our way. We got on the radio and related the situation to Steel Magnolia, thanking them again, but due to a mistake on the part of our government, it was all in vain. Our government has made worse mistakes. We rounded the point into shallow water and dropped the hook in Bahia Graciosa next to Pearl S. Buck and Viva, just before sundown.

Bahia Graciosa is a pleasant place and the next day we decided to explore a bit, enjoy being in salt water again and then head out the following day. We did that, except we left this anchorage and moved about three miles west to a spot just behind Cabo Tres Puntas for a bit of a headstart for tomorrow’s run. We raised anchors at 4 AM to avoid being out too late in the afternoon and coming into an unfamiliar anchorage in unfavorable light conditions. A sailor wants the sun high overhead so he might see the shallows in the uncharted waters. In this part of the world both the electronic and paper charting leave much to be desired so we consider all the waters to be either uncharted or poorly charted. Your safety is in your own hands.

As we rounded the Cabo Tres Puntas and headed east. The sea conditions left much to be desired as well, but once we passed the last point we had settled into a reasonable point of sail and boat motion. The boats sorted themselves by length and, therefore, their speeds. Soon the big catamaran, Viva was way ahead with 41 ft, Pearl S. Buck inching slowly away from us (37 ft). As we approached our planned anchorage, Laguna Diamante, Bob had already made his way through the cut and had anchored Viva securely. He radioed to us relating what he had found as he entered and advised us to avoid “that big black thing.” We didn’t realize what he was talking about until it became apparent that it was the approaching squall that was going strike us. Barb and I struggled to get our headsail furled because it wrapped our spinnaker halyard. We had done this before in the Chesapeake, and it was obvious that we had gotten rusty after not sailing for six months and had forgotten to move this line to a safe position and out of the way. By the time we got the headsail furled, the wind was blowing and rain was pounding so hard that we could hardly see the bow of our own boat and the mainsail was still too full. Without too much difficulty, we reduced the main to a manageable size (hoorah, furling mainsails!). Pearl S. Buck radioed that they were coming back out away from land and wanted to know our position so that they wouldn’t run into us in this deluge. We were near, but not too near.

I had not been pleased with how our radar had been working and I had had a Raymarine technician check it before we left Rio Dulce. Last year, as we sailed with Stardust down the east coast in the fog, I was able to see seagulls floating on the water on the radar screen! This year I don’t feel as confident. The rain was so dense that I didn’t even try to filter it out on the radar and so we couldn’t see Pearl S. Buck, let alone a seagull, just a yellow screen. I need to have this looked at again.

The inundation abated and we could see our friends just ahead and to the right of us heading toward the anchorage once more. We went through the cut in dry air and the sun breaking through, but the water had so much runoff from the surrounding hills that it looked like mud and we had no hope of seeing any shallow areas. We followed Bob’s radioed directions and anchored without incident with well-rinsed decks and canvas. Bryan, Dorothy, Barb and I joined Bob for sundowners on Viva and while the local Mayans tended their nets in the lagoon, we talked about our day. It turned out that Bob had broken an engine mount on one of his two engines and the other one wouldn’t start because the solenoid was badly rusted. That made what to do the following day easy to decide. Fix at least one engine on Viva.

By nine o’clock the next day, after over an hour of investigation, Bob decided that he could sail to La Ceiba’s shipyard and, if he needed to, he could gently run the engine with the broken motor mount to get there. So we three boats decided to go together to La Ceiba, instead of Roatan, in the interest of Bob’s safety. As we exited Laguna Diamante, we saw another sailboat heading slowly in our direction. This turned out to be Grace with John and Elaine aboard. We were docked near them at Nana Juana for five months and we attended many events together. They had left Guatemala the day after we did. They had sailed all night, but had engine problems now. Like us, they have only one engine, but unlike ours it was not running and they had planned to sail into one of the lagoons to rest and figure out what to do next. We encouraged them to turn around and go with us to La Ceiba for repairs and that we would stick with them to make certain they made it in safely. They did that. We all stayed in radio contact and we sailed in light winds toward La Ceiba. Bob turned on his gimpy engine to ensure that he got anchored safely before dark, but Pearl S. Buck and we continued to sail with Grace trailing. It was a downwind run and this time Jupiter’s Smile was the fastest boat thanks to David’s help in Washington DC for our acquisition and use of our trusty whisker pole. It got dark with about eight miles to go, so we turned on our engine and made it through the breakwater, once again with Bob’s directions and anchored safely. By the time Bryan and Dorothy got in I had sounded the bottom from Bob’s dinghy with my hand-held depth sounder and we got them anchored in a good spot. As Grace approached slowly under sails alone, Bob and Bryan went in Bob’s dinghy and I went in ours and we towed them through the breakwater and to a spot to anchor. I think I was in bed by midnight. I really don’t remember.

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T10:50:00.004-04:00

The MOTM is happening in Key West (Meeting of the Minds - the convention of the worldwide ParrotHead Clubs) and I have a parrot on my shoulder, but the rest of these are Macaws!

We are still in Guatemala (Rio Dulce) and will not be moving until the middle of the month AT THE EARLIEST! Hurricane season is still on the insurance company's calendar until November 31st.

Meanwhile, follow our inland experiences at the blogsite:

http://jupiterssmileisdocked.blogspot.com/

Return here when we sail...who knows when...soon!

The Death of a Sailor

2008-08-28T22:57:00.005-04:00

I preface this post with the rationalization: It could happen to anyone. As I write this, I am in some degree of danger. I mean right now! I can hear the thunder in the distance that tells me that electrical charges are passing through the atmosphere…. and I know that we have a long metal stick pointing over fifty-five feet in the air! Less than a half-mile away thick, black smoke is rising from a fuel dock fire and several expensive boats nearest the fire have been moved away from those docks. We seem to be safe from the fire where we are, but who knows.

I am surrounded by electrical wires, which could start a fire. We have propane tanks on board, which might explode. The boat could spring a leak and sink. Any of us could slip and fall and crack our skull. How about food poisoning? If one starts to worry about these possibilities, and they are possibilities indeed, one might not get out of bed (as if that was safe!) Danger is all around. People die!

One person died while we were back in the USA. He was a man that Barb and I never met, but he intended to ready his boat for cruising here in Rio Dulce so we feel some connection. Bryan (S/V Pearl S. Buck) had met the man and his wife while we were away. What follows is the short version of the incident. Local bad men boarded his boat looking for dollars and killed him and seriously injured his wife. The men left with no dollars and only a little of the Guatemalan currency. The wife has recovered. The long version and details may be found on the family’s blog:

http://danieldrydenincidentdetails.blogspot.com/

While Bryan and I were visiting the agent, Raul, to renew our Guatemala cruising permit, the surviving wife came by and Bryan introduced me to Nancy. Her family had joined her and when Bryan inquired about her plans, she shared that she wanted to take the boat out sailing, but that they would need a captain because they had not had a chance to ever sail the boat and didn’t know how. Bryan volunteered to captain and I volunteered to help if they thought they needed help.

Last Saturday, Bryan and I met the fledgling crew aboard S/V Sunday’s Child and we all went sailing and had a wonderful time. If you have checked their blog you already have a sense of the quality of people we accompanied. They are wonderful. I was at the helm initially while Bryan held a class for the rest of the crew on the foredeck. Nancy was gracious and eager. Jen and her Brian seemed to take to sailing like they were born to it. Daniel, III, was a wizard at the helm and the instigator of a man/woman/whole crew (under the age of 50) overboard drill. Alejandro took a turn at the wheel as well. While Renee seemed shy, she was watching closely. It was an almost perfect lake-sailing day with enough wind to keep the boat moving, but not so much that any fears arose. At one point we had the boat heeled a bit and running with the wind just forward of the beam so she was moving out smartly. Nancy was moved to tears at this moment. This was what her husband would have wanted – a fine craft, doing what it was meant to do, with his family aboard and working together.....and life goes on. Get up each morning and treasure every minute. Hug your family. Help another. Accept another. Give everyone a cheery greeting. Appreciate. Celebrate.

No photos accompany this entry and it is relatively short because I should stop now. Barb and I have just completed our third day of Spanish class and I have homework to do!

Buenos noches.

Jay & Barb

We Return to Jupiter's Smile August 20

2008-08-28T22:55:00.000-04:00

We have returned without incident (well almost) to Jupiter's Smile and find her in good shape - i.e. no odd odors, mold, infestations, bumps, tears or scratches. We are not too much the worse for wear ourselves. The only incident is that we lost a strap from around one of our checked bags. This strap had been used successfully to afix a six gallon water container to our arch on the stern deck over the last several thousand miles of wind and waves. Why the strap held fast at sea but not now seemed strange. We found a note in the bag that the bag had been inspected by TSA so someone had unlatched the strap to do that. Whatever its fate was after that, I do not know. Continental Airlines accepts no responsibility for its loss. A minor thing, but an annoyance to an otherwise excellent journey. We now need to put our living space back in order, renew our boating permit and find a location to send this e-mail.

To those of you we got to see/visit we enjoyed it greatly and are pleased that you are all doing well. To those of you we missed we hope to see you next time.

Until then, be well!

On the Road to North Dakota-Still not Sailing

2008-08-12T22:54:00.007-04:00

We left the Seattle area and drove to Spokane. There we met Jill Holland, one of the Dangerous Babes. The Dangerous Babes are about a dozen women who were Barb's high school classmates. They have met every year or so since their 40th reunion and enjoy each other more now, probably, than they did at Rich East High School. Jill is living in Gig Harbor, but we visited her as she was caring for her dad in the hospital in Spokane. We are all hoping for a good recovery for her dad. Did I take photos? NO!

We drove a little farther and visited Yvonne Mansfield in Billings, MT. Yvonne and Otto cared for our Borzoi, Galaxy's Antares for most of his life. Antares passed away in 2004 and Otto passed away last year. Yvonne is still active with many friends looking in on her. It was good to see her again. Once again....no photos!

We took no photos of Randy or Brad Wimmer when we visited at their jewelry store in Fargo, ND either. Barb's mom's sister, Aunt Sally, married into the Wimmer family and Randy and Brad had Sally as an aunt as well. They seem to be doing well as the third generation running Wimmers Diamonds.

We drove around Detroit Lakes, MN and saw where Barb's parents lived until they moved to Colorado Springs. Detroit Lakes seems to be a more popular lake than in the early 70's and her old house is for sale. Barb thinks that the beautiful lot will be the location of a new "Mc Mansion" after her old home is bought and then torn down like so many other houses in the area.

We arrive in Pelican Rapids, Otter Tail County, Minnesota.

Barb and her Godmother, Aunt Hazele M. Hafstad Rosenquist get ready to look at photos. Hazele shared her memories and filled us in on family members we had not heard about in years. Hazele turned 100 years of age in March!

We drove to Toad Lake and saw the cabin that Barb's dad built and where Barb spent several summers as a youngster. We stopped at a cabin a few doors down and visited family members of Gayle Woodley, one of Barb's summer friends. Gayle got in touch with Barb later as a result of that visit. Then we returned to Hazele's place for an adventure.

We took Hazele out in the convertible to her church.....

...and to the annual pig roast. She was greeted by many members of the congregation.....

.......one of whom took this photo. Barbara H. Hafstad and I were married on this spot almost 40 years ago!

After another round of photo viewing and memories, we hit the road that night.

We are now back in Colorado Springs again preparing for our August 19th return to the boat in Rio Dulce.

On the Road to Washington State-Not Sailing

2008-08-06T23:56:00.015-04:00

Barb and I hopped a bus in Rio Dulce and arrived in Guatemala City with some time to see some sights.

Clicking on this photo will enlarge it and you may see the armed guard at the doorway of our hotel. I have decided that this boy with the rifle makes me feel safer.

Barb and I lost two weeks after arriving in Colorado Springs as I battled with an amoeba that I picked up in Guatemala. I lost ten pounds in two weeks and several dollars in medical bills, but after a round of medication I suddenly felt well enough to pack up and get on the road to visit Glory Berglund, Barb's "new, big" sister in Port Orchard, WA.

As we approached the Portland area we called our niece, Emily. She was available to have dinner that night and we were able to celebrate her 24th birthday + 1 day, together. I am pleased to report to her father that we find her to be a delightful, attractive and charming young woman who has direction in her life, good friends and a gainfully employed boyfriend. Sorry, Tom and Vickie, no photos.

The next morning, we remembered that our friend, Jon Ulsh was living in Portland and we found his phone listing in the white pages. A call yielded a reunion at his home and we seemed to be able to renew our friendship right were we left off decades ago. It makes me think that people don't change and the reasons why we liked Jon then are the same as why we still like him.

We drove on to the Tacoma area and crossed the bridge, bound for Glory (I couldn't resist.) We spent the next two weeks getting to know each other, getting to meet other family members and seeing sights. Glory has a wonderful family (and we do too, but now we have even more!)

Barb's Nephew: Terry Berglund. We surprised Terry at the airport. "Are you Terry Berglund?" "Yes." He said. I said,"I'm your Uncle Jay!"

Sue Berglund: Terry's wife-a wonderful hostess! She shared her home with us for three days, fed us like we might not ever eat again and carted us all over the most beautiful parts of North Western Washington, almost into Canada!

Rhianna Berglund: Terry and Sue's youngest.

Left to Right: Terry, Barb, Sue, Glory, Aaron (Rhianna's boyfriend), Ty (sp?) (the wunderdog), Rhianna.

Barb and Glory.

Looking at Barb's photo album.

Barb and Glory (in front of the red tent) at the dog show in Sequim. This Borzoi won best of breed.

This is the view across Puget Sound from Glory's house. The Space Needle is to the left.

While we visited Emily did I use my camera? No!

While we toured Seattle did I? No!

How about Sue's tour of Northern Washington? No!

Maybe someday I'll learn.

Travel near Rio Dulce and we move to Nana Juana

2008-07-23T18:37:00.006-04:00

June 24, 2008

Aside from getting acquainted with the rhythm of life and the things that are and are not part of that, we have three things to report. We have taken two excursions and changed location.

Our first sight seeing trip was in our dinghy to the Castillo de San Felipe, which guarded Lake Izabal from pirates. It was built in the 1590’s and rebuilt and expanded during subsequent centuries and is now a National Historic Site and Park. The written brochure was in Spanish and the guides spoke only Spanish as well, but we got the gist of the story and never went somewhere that we shouldn’t.

Dorothy from Pearl S. Buck arranged our next trip. Bryan and Dorothy from Pearl, Richard and Pam from Tisha Baby, Russ and Shelley from Jacana, Bob from Viva and Barb and I formed a group of nine and hired a van driver to take us to Quirigua. As we drove out of the Rio Dulce river valley and into the hills, the landscape changed from jungle to pasture land, then to hilly plantations then back to rich bottom land. The recent heavy rains left some flooding behind in many of the pastures and a landslide had been removed from the highway in the hills. As we approached Quirigua we were let out of the van to visit a Del Monte banana plantation and shipping facility. This was an unexpected opportunity and we were fascinated to watch the process from banana stalk, to cutting, washing, inspecting and measuring, bagging, box assembly and boxing to the shipping area. These were very green bananas. We had been given some by friends and after over a week they still weren’t yellow. When one showed the slightest hint of yellow color we peeled it for our cereal and it was delicious. The rest of the bunch was consumed over the next few days – very tasty.

We reboarded the van and drove a very short distance to the archeological site of the Mayan ruins that seems to be on the Del Monte plantation property. The site was a major city in the 700 AD range and for several hundred more years, with its temples and ball court in the process of being restored. The stelea and zoomorphs that remain are among the best examples in existence. I will let the photos tell the story.

With much consideration we have decided to switch marinas from Tijax to Nana Juana. Tijax was exotic in a jungle setting. The marina prices are moderate to high for the area - $200/month + $0.40/KWH for electricity + $30/Month for Internet. Bryan is paying for a side-tie slip at $240/Month. (When we checked out, we discovered that we in fact paid $0.54/KWH and nothing for the Internet. The internet connection was weak and unreliable however.) The best access route to town was a short water taxi (free) ride or dinghy trip. The restaurant and bar were quite good and reasonably priced. The pool, with its waterfalls and lush jungle setting was well maintained and the filter was run for a while most days. The staff was friendly and could understand our needs usually, but spoke Spanish almost exclusively. The facilities were kept very clean and I would recommend Tijax to cruisers. The downside was the intermittent power outages and the med mooring. Med moorings are the most common kind of docking in Rio Dulcie and seem to work here. However, the dock to which we were tied was old and it seemed tired enough to cause me concern if hurricane winds blew through. Nana Juana offered a side tie slip for $180/month, $0.35/KWH electricity and free Internet that is robust enough to use Skype. It is pretty, not as scenic as Tijax, but has more breezes to keep our boat and us cooler. So we moved last Sunday and are satisfied so far.

We are flying back to The States on Tuesday, July 1 so the next news will be about that trip. We have much to make ready before that. Until then, be well.

J&B

Settled in at Hacienda Tijax in Rio Dulce

2008-06-09T20:07:00.008-04:00

June 9, 2008

View from the pool - notice the masts behind the palapa

View from the bridge - Jupiter's Smile is above the center palm hidden by boats in front.

The suspended walkway through the jungle.

To a mountain stream's pool.

The hacienda above the jungle.

We had reservations booked at the Hacienda Tijax Jungle Hotel Marina, but Pearl had none anywhere. When I made our reservation via e-mail I had tried to make one for Pearl S. Buck and Tisha Baby at the same time, but the response was that they could not take either one of the other boats. Bryan and Dorothy went off in their dinghy to scout out Catamaran, Monkey Bay and the La Holla del Rio marinas. Barb and I dinghyed to Tijax, announced our arrival and picked one of two offered locations at the dock. Barb had not been too impressed by what she saw, but we raised the anchor and while towing the dinghy we headed to the slip. Just outside the entrance, Barb piloted the dinghy to the dock and I backed Jupiter’s Smile slowly into the slip. Five men appeared to help with lines, three on the docks and two in a launch. The fellows in the launch took my anchor about seventy-five feet out and dropped it. The other three swarmed about the deck of an adjacent boat, my deck and the dock, securing Jupiter’s Smile with what is known as a Med mooring – the boat is perpendicular to the dock with only the stern tied to the dock. The drama in this was provided by the men speaking only Spanish and me speaking only English, except when I said “Si” in response to a word I thought I might have understood. My understanding Spanish is based on our almost yearly visits to Puerto Vallarta and the vocabulary remembered from my high school Latin and French classes (I’m still sorry, Mr. Carlson and thank you, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Nielsen and Miss Koch and my parents!) By the time this act played out, Bryan and Dorothy appeared at dockside and had decided that they would take the other unclaimed slip for Pearl S. Buck. With some variations, the second act concluded with us being neighbors in Tijax. That pleased Barbie and me immensely.

Hacienda Tijax Jungle Lodge and Marina is an exotic place with docks along the river front and small cabins connected by boardwalks (some with bathrooms) spread throughout the jungle. The office/bar and dining rooms are all open to the air and the pool is in a lovely setting surrounded by some variety of bird of paradise flower that produces more blossoms per stem than I have ever seen before. The men speak mostly Spanish except for the office manager and owner and the women do pretty well speaking English generally. It is an enchanting place. They offer excursions by foot and by horseback into the jungle and we will be doing that later on. Meanwhile, the weather has been somewhat rainy with the passing of tropical storm Arthur last week and showers continue for part of the day almost everyday. We are catching rainwater since the recommendation is to boil the piped water or treat it with iodine.

We have taken the water taxi provided by the Hacienda to Rio Dulce (a third of a mile away) and that or launch, dinghy or canoe seems to be the way most people get around. The town has a bustling main street with banks, pharmacies, hardware, variety shops and food stands which spill out onto the street. The road is a two-lane affair and is the main highway to Guatemala City so the heavy truck traffic crawls along with the pedestrian traffic just inches apart. This part of the town used to be called Fronteras and was separated by the river from Rellenos on the opposite bank. An 85 foot high bridge connects the two towns and they are now united under the name Rio Dulce.

The plan is to make this our home for six months until the hurricane season ends. I feel like we are on vacation when I sit and read next to the pool. The people are very friendly and eager to help. Example: while we searched the other day to find iodine for water purification at a farmacia, a painter who was working on the other side of the parking lot walked over, paint and roller in hand and helped us as an interpreter. Smiles all around and mission accomplished eventually. The day-to-day activities of finding the necessities of life in a foreign land, with a foreign tongue and foreign money present their minor challenges, but as long as it remains a source of entertainment and not a crisis, it is all good. The quality of the experience is controlled by outlook, temperament and attitude. So far, so good.

We are having a full-length boat shade made by a local canvas maker. During this time we expect to tour the area by bus, visiting Guatemala City and the old capitol Antigua, visiting the various Mayan ruins and enrolling in a Spanish language school in Antigua for immersion learning so we may enjoy the culture at a deeper level. We may haul the boat out of the water and get the bottom repainted, the prop and stuffing boxes serviced and get a thorough cleaning and waxing. We expect to return to the US for a month or more to drive and see Barb’s “new” sister in the Seattle area, her godmother in Pelican Rapids, Minnesota and possibly, if time allows and we hold up, get to Springfield, VA/Washington, DC to see my parents and brother. Maybe we will be able to connect somewhere with Tom and Vickie as they travel by kayak.

This season’s cruise is concluded. We have no set plans for more, but now we have the summer and fall to do land based activities and decide what comes next. That’s it for now.

Till next time, be well!