S/V Jammin Peoples Adventure

Left Martinique

2012-02-13T18:46:00.000-08:00

Feb. 13, 2012
With daylight rising and clouds crossing the tip of Mt Pelee, we pulled up the anchor and left the exciting island of Martinique behind us. This has become one of our favorite spots. Clear warm water, sand beaches, good snorkeling, fun cruising friends, great food, unlimited amount of imported quality (yet cheap) French red wine, cheese, salami,rum, and baguettes are some of the reasons we were content to stay here. Other reasons were the shear beauty of nature, mountainous terrain mixed with lush tropical foliage, a green flash at sunset (not once but 6 times), the ambiance of the French culture, great bus system, and the warmth of the sun with cool night breezes kept us comfortable. It truly felt like we were on vacation the whole time.
We had stopped here last year but only to fix our radio. We arrived and left with no great insight into the gifts this island had to offer. This year when we arrived I realized it might be a great place to celebrate turning 61, and it was. We arrived on a stormy day and sat out the first two days of rain downpours before digging out our foulies. On day 3 with rain jackets and umbrellas under our arms, we went in search of red wine and cheese.
The selections were so numerous we were overwhelmed and unsure how to narrow down our choices. So we took a practical approach. Buy no bottle over 4 Euros, and have a wine tasting party on our boat. We invited 4 couples to bring a bottle and we sampled 7 different wines. What a great fun night that was for all of us! Celebration, Unicorn, Panchita, and Jammin swapped bottles, stories, recipes, and advice while testing the French waters of wines. The next day we went to the stores and bought numerous bottles of our favorites from the night before. Then we tested the cheeses. I found a camembert that was sweet, and Dave found one that had a hint of blue cheese notes it it. My favorite Boursin, a creamy garlic and herb cheese, was my first purchase with a baguette. Dave bought chocolate filled rolls and 6 bottles of red wine.
When the weather improved we went for hikes and shopped. Part of the fun was trying to recall my 40+ year old lessons in the French language--its amazing what the brain can retrieve out of those dusty archives. It also helped that we have 3 French handbooks and two dictionaries. When something looked good in the meat market we looked it up, one day we avoided buying 5 pounds of cow lung that was going for a great price! We hopped buses and went to a shopping center, a great way to see the road system and town out of walking distance...and to find another grocery store for more cheese, wine and pastries.
One day we were invited to walk around the Botanical Garden. The brochure for the garden showed flat walk ways and a Tom Sawyer style catwalk over the tree tops. So we hopped on a bus with our two friends, from Unicorn, and our water bottle filled. When we got to the garden entranced we walked pass it and followed a hiking path that took us up on a ridge and around the garden. Three hours later we completed the hiking loop, washed the mud off our feet, and ate our lunch. The pictures we took were beautiful(when we get internet we will post them). This hike was a great test of how in/out of shape our leg muscles are.
Amazingly we could still walk and shop the next day. The shoe shops here are amazingly plentiful, cheap, and so stylish. There were at least 2-3 shoe stores on every block. I found a pair of shoes and a dress, total cost 28 Euros.
We also found time for work. We finished off many sewing projects, repaired the water maker, and accomplished other boat projects in calm and sunny conditions. And of course we read 12 more books. We left 5 years ago with 300 books and it is our goal to finish all of them before next year.
This morning we are off for a sail by to Dominica, Guadeloupe, The Saintes, and Monserrat and sometime on Tuesday we will arrive at Antigua where English is spoken, and new bays await our discovery.

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St lucia II

2012-01-17T05:58:00.000-08:00

January 16, 2012 St Lucia

Weather windows have kept us sitting in St. Lucia but we have not suffered from boredom. Since arriving we have fixed parts of the boat, read 7 books, worked on projects, organized a 16 boat dinghy raft up night, participated in happy hours, women luncheons, toured the island, and have entertained and been entertained on other boats.

One of our goals when visiting a new island is to find THE LOCAL HANGOUT! Here we accomplished that in the first week. Last week we found a great hole in the wall for lunch and local food. Right behind the coffee house named Rituals is a L shape lunch counter place. They serve your choice of 6-8 home cooked entrees, inspired by local cuisine, which come with 4 side dishes—for $5.00. Root vegetables and green bananas are quite versatile. Walking between tourists’ sites help us to work off the starches.

Saturday we hired a taxi for the island tour. Having seen the twin volcanic columns, known as the Pitons, from the ocean we wanted a back side view of these magnificent towers like giants. We left at 9, hit the local market in Castries, walked through all the vegetable/fruit stands and a few of the touristy t-shirt stalls. We drove by the central square and catholic church and then it was up the hill to the Government mansion and the college. What a clear view of the bay, the cruise ships, and the ocean. Down the hills we bobbed and weaved following the curvy roads and returned to sea level. Along the way we saw small towns clustered near the water and the French plantation influence in the waterfront housing designs in Soufries —homes there were designed to be taken down and carried to a new location as the occupants were often sold off to a new owner, the middle class homes were higher up the hillside, and some of the homes for the upper status group we saw along the vista viewpoints or tucked into the valleys. Yards are well maintained, cultural influences (French, Indian, British) are reflected in architectural details, and most of the homes have beautiful views. We followed the western road through a few more towns and settled on a local restaurant for lunch. Creole cooking is big on this island and fish is readily available. It still seems “sinful” to have a beer for lunch—but then I remember I am retired, and the guilt goes away with the first cold gulp.

After lunch we went to the Diamond Botanical Garden at the base of a waterfall. A local man “offered” to be our personal guide. He was very knowledgeable and gave us the deluxe tour with humor included for no extra charge. There were many gorgeous blooming plants and a few fruits were growing as well. Our favorites were a q-tip plant and a waxed rose. Having walked a bit we were ready to rest our feet. So off we went to La Soufriere Sulphur Springs for the mineral pool and mud bath, built by the French a few hundred years ago, located at the foot of an ash mound still steaming. The pool was 4 feet deep and oh so warm and soothing. The mud was black if you took it from the bottom or white if you bought it from the attendant—Dave went with the black mud.

From there we drove to a third waterfall and soaked our bodies once again.This time we had to walk a hand hewn path up and down and up again. It was tucked away from the public road and we were alone with the birds, and flowing water for about 15 minutes. Here the water was just air temp and not filled with minerals, just a touch of liquid healthiness being temporarily contained in concrete square blocks. Noticing the fading light from the sun, we pulled ourselves back into responsible thinking and returned to our cab driver. The ride home was quiet as we all collected our thoughts and experiences together in an attempt to command them to memory for retelling. When one gets so relaxed, the brain follows suit, and some days become more of a blur than a clear Kodak picture. This trip was one of those hazy, blurry days where the brain felt thoroughly massaged and relaxed. We returned home with no worries, and no energy.

Sunday night we went over to Pigeon Island and the fort. If you wait till 5 there is no park fee and the bar serves 2-4-1 drinks that knock your socks off—if we were wearing any. The seafood lasagna comes in a dish big enough for 1 ½ and they have octopus as an appetizer that we are going back for another night. We lucked out and it was a Jam session night. Local artist come together and play. The Caribbean jazz and blues combo was perfect accompaniment.

Tonight was the dinghy raft up which we started at 4, it rained at 4, so most everyone showed up at 4:30…but being the hosts we sat in the rain from 4 to 4:20 alone. Yet, down here it is no problem. We were dry 5 minutes after the rained stopped and having 15 other boats come out was a great show of cruiser support. It also helps that the weather has been so bad for over a week that most of us have spent way too many hours on our boat and needed the comradely of “new” others and the wealth of stories that get shared at such an event. P.S. Also a great way to off load finished books and exchange movies.

Day after tomorrow is another ladies luncheon. Last week I sat by a Brit named Amanda who had sailed from the Canaries or Azores for 1,500 miles with a broken off rudder. Five hundred miles out to sea and on her watch is when it broke. Being in radio contact with other boats she and her husband soon learned how to make a drogue from buoys, line, chain and a spare anchor. I also met a woman who makes jewelry, lives here for part of each year, and is a joy to converse with. Marsha is the organizer of the event and Fiona was the first participant. Eighteen ladies attended last week and more are sure to come this week. We get lunch, pool time, and the companionship of others who are figuratively speaking in the same boat that we are each day.

We are learning that this is another place that can suck you right into staying, but the winds are due to change by the end of the week and we feel the pull of the north on our sterns…so Thursday we will provision, and head north to ??? well, north is a good enough start J.

St Lucia

2012-01-08T12:37:00.000-08:00

Sunday, January 8, 2012 St. Lucia

It is high noon, 85 degrees, and the World Arc race has just blown the starting horn. Boats from all over the world have gather here to start their around the world sailing adventure. Next stop is the San Blas Islands, then through the canal and out to sea heading west to the Marquises and Australia. High winds and seas are predicted for the next 4 days so they should have a rough but fast time to their destination.

We were not on the starting line, nor tempted to head out with them. Our water maker is out of commission, our auto pilot has a small problem, our macerator needs an impeller, and we have not seen enough of the Caribbean yet. Our boat is at anchor in front of The Sandals resort, there are 4 other resorts nearby, and wind surfer, parasaliors, and kayaks dart between us and the shore. Our friends on Panchita, Ted and Joan, are in the marina, and we are waiting for parts to be delivered. Dave is nursing a cold, and I am limin’ with free internet.

St Lucia is a mountainous island with many activities and a limited bus system. We are hoping to take a taxi tour with Ted and Joan on Wednesday to see the island and get a glimpse of what it offers. The anchor will stay down here for 3 weeks or so to allow us time to solve our problems, work on projects, and mingle with the locals and feel what life on St. Lucia is like. Life is neither dull nor boring these days.

Bequia

2012-01-08T12:07:00.000-08:00

January 3, 2012 Bequia
We have been in Bequia for almost a week and keep finding reasons to stay. This is by far one of the friendliest places we have been. The people in town greet you, and you them, as you walk their streets. The shop keepers acknowledge you with big open smiles and ask how they can help you find what you need. No one rushes you, and no one hassles you to buy things. One does not feel new or like an intruder here. The streets are paved and the architecture is a blend of Europe, Scandinavia, and the Caribbean. Buildings are painted every color available and tall graceful palm trees shade each well kept property. There are many hotels and restaurants all along one strip of land, and two gorgeous beaches to walk upon and enjoy water sports. Many people come for a month at a time and rent houses on the slopes above Lower Beach and enjoy the 4-5 beaches the island offers. The favorite mode of transport is a thing called the Moke, made by Mini Cooper--Dave has to inspect each one. Restaurant food is reasonable to expensive, your choice, and we finally found some free internet sources. A tour of the whole island can be done in two+ hours. Every evening there is a breeze that carries the island smells out to the boat, and gently sways us through happy hours.

Night life does exist; there are bands on Friday and Saturday that play till 3 AM. American boats are outnumbered 10 to 1. We are surrounded by boats brought here from mostly Scandinavian countries, and some chartered by the French, we just melt together into a close fitting rotating mass of swirling objects as the wind moves us at her will. Tied to a mooring buoy, there is only 20 feet of individual space between boats. You could almost hop over dinghy by dinghy to each other. So friendly is a good way to be in harmony with the situation. Polite boat vendors vie for your business and daily there are loud arguments amongst them as to who is servicing which boat. But as fast as it starts, it stops and one wins the business with no involvement from others.

For Christmas the area next to the ferry landing was fully decorated, lit, and a stage was erected for the caroling contest. We missed that but heard it was loads of fun and entertaining watching the professional groups, followed by the impromptu groups, which were then followed by individuals who were either talented or just brave. We arrived a few days later but they were all still talking about that night.

New Year's Eve started with 6 large lobsters ($7.00 per pound) and dinner on our boat with Miclo III, (Ellen, Rob, and Lizzy). After dinner, champagne, and dessert we walked around town and found a local bar. There they were BBQing chicken, and selling cold beer. We sat with a local fisherman and learned much about local conditions, politics, government, wives, and life on the island. Time flew and before long it was 11:40. We headed back to our boat for a front row view of the firework display. It was spectacular! The rockets shot up, the explosive colors spread far and wide, rapid multitudes of irruptions ignited one after another or on top of each other. There was no pause, no empty unlit space in the midnight sky for fifteen minutes. Not being night owls we found ourselves waking up on New Year's Day around 11:30 A.M. and reading the day away. Dave and I both started and finished our own books that day. Since then it has been rough weather. A tropical wave from Africa is whipping over us; seas are 9-11 feet, winds 20-27, rain comes 7-8 times at night and 4-5 times during the day. Our plans to leave here have been delayed, more books have been pulled out, and projects are being considered.

Speaking of projects we learned a new one called CRAFT (Can't remember a f------ thing). CRAFT gets in the way of projects (like when you can't find the tools you need). WAWCOOOS is another new word. Coming up from Carriacou we coined it to fit the ‘waves and wind coming on over our sides’ that carried gallons of water into our salon and spare bedroom. Sneaker waves do exist. Well, our lives are simple and fairly boring for now as we sit with another set of books, our morning coffee, and contemplate what we will thaw for dinner tonight. Hope all is well, and, that you are all doing well as this year moves ahead.

Carriacou

2012-01-08T12:06:00.001-08:00

December 27th Carriacou
We left Grenada, which people will tell you is a hard thing to do. Our first stop was an island named Carriacou. We dropped anchor in Tyrrel Bay, a workingman's port--it was rolly and so we didn't put the dinghy down--we could only appreciate what was in our view. So the next morning we moved to Hillsborough which proved to be a much rollier anchorage. While I guided the motor down, Dave did the death defying feat of lowering the dinghy in 25 knots of wind and then his encore was using one hand to drop the motor on the dinghy's stern (timing it to the right rise and fall of the waves) and holding the dinghy with his other hand to the boat which was being propelled forward by current and 3 foot seas. Why would he risk life and limb? We needed to go to shore and check out of the country.

Once on shore we were told to come back in 75 minutes as the officials were headed to lunch. So, off we went walking the length of the town and finding a booming lunch business called Jerked. For $12.00 US we had 3 drinks and two complete meals of jerked pork and curried beef. Next stop was Patty's Deli for bread and sandwich meats. She sold her last baguette as we stood there so we bought bagels and great Italian ham sliced paper thin. Now it was time to check out. The office area held 3 people comfortably and there were 7 of us and 6 backpacks already in there and more trying to squeeze in. Patience paid off and all were taken in the order of arrival. By the time our turn came, they were very appreciative that we knew what we were doing, that we had 3 copies of the paperwork ready, and that we were not rude or confused. They stamped the papers and waved us on to the next check out point. The people and town itself was a delight and we felt very comfortable there. But, our plan was to go to Bequia for New Year's and so off we went at 5 AM with the rising sun and the setting stars as our companions.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-22T13:42:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2011 is coming and arriving way too fast! Here we thought we had weeks to go before the caroling and Santa hats needed to be unpacked. Is it really only days away? Needless to say we are less than prepared, and perhaps under the gun to find where the lights and decorations are hiding on the boat.

Our time in Grenada has been wonderful and all that we hoped for all the way around. The people have been friendly, helpful, and have gone out of their way to aid and assist us. One day we hired a taxi and circumnavigated the roadways that took us around the island. There were many ravines, waterfalls, tropical plantations, lush vegetation, trees heavy with fruit, bushes fully in bloom, and tight curvy roads wide enough for almost one car but no worries, two cars can pass each other if they are moving fast and no by standers get in the way. We climbed 1900 feet, viewed lakes, abandoned airstrips, churches, bakeries, schools, cliffs, neighboring islands, and so many goats tied in fields (to fatten themselves up no doubt for the holiday meals to come). Our stops included a local rummery and the tasting room, Carib’s Leap cliff, a beach that has to be one of the top in the world, a great bakery, the famous Chocolate Factory, and lunch in a local town famous for its fish frys.

Life is good and we count our blessings each and every day. 1. That we have our health and can be here learning about others and seeing how they live. 2. That our families are in good shape and don’t need us nearby. 3. That there is never a chance of ice or snow unless we leave the boat behind. 4. That each day brings new friends and their friendship our way, and, that there are few differences even when we do not speak each others language. 5. That our old friends still write and let us visit them when we are in town. 6. That family and friends are able to come and visit us and make us less homesick. 7. That the internet works in some places so that we can Skipe and see for ourselves that everyone is growing older and wiser.

Last year Kelsey, Kiele (and two friends, Mel and Russell) were able to come down and spend Easter with us. Mike was too busy with his last year of PhD research projects to fly down and relax. This year Annie, our niece from Texas, came. She spent time with us in Trinidad and in Grenada.

There is now an empty bed and bathroom available at Hotel Rockin’ Jammin’. We prepare two meals a day and sunset celebrations start around 5 daily.

Looking forward to hearing from all of you,

and to all Have Yourself A Very Merry Holiday Helen and Dave Peoples

2011-12-06T14:10:00.000-08:00

Dec. 6, 2011 Sunset and on the Water
All the preparation were done and we slide into the water this afternoon. It is so wonderful to have the breeze off the water cooling our faces and the gently rocking of the waves massaging our tired limbs. Dave and Annabelle prepared eggplant, pigeon peas, and rice for our dinner. We are just ready to settle down for our first meal on the sea.
Tomorrow we shop for the forgotten items on our grocery list, and Thursday the new rigging will be tuned and finalized. We will turn the corner and sit in a different anchorage before leaving for Grenada or Carriacou.
We were only sinking slowly for about 20 minutes when we first put in. The hose clamps around our shaft seal had been left loose by the people installing the new shaft. We tore the junk room apart, found the right tool, tightened the screws, flipped the switch on the bilge pump and we were floating higher right away. It wouldn't be natural to not have one or two exciting moments. If you didn't check out the pictures yet Dave and Annabelle put Trinidad pictures on the blog just the other day.
P.S. A special toast tonight at sunset for Jan Anderson from us to her. A life dedicated to others and well lived. We will always remember the gift of her friendship.

Season 2011-2012 Begins

2011-12-04T08:36:00.000-08:00

Like the migrating red land crabs that travel down from the hills to get back to the shoreline, we slowly prepare for our journey back to the sea. Dave has taken 7 weeks to ready the boat for this season. We have a new HARD dodger and bimini that will give us shade and rain protection. Sails that were 15 years old are now retired and new crisp white ones lay ready to catch the wind. The new rigging will make us all feel safer and help us get the most from our new equipment. A new autopilot is still in the box as Dave works on other projects that need to be completed before we leave the boatyard.

I arrived in Trinidad a week ago and last Wednesday our niece, Annabelle from Texas, joined us. She will be traveling with us for a bit. In order to get our bearings, we signed up for a tour of the island that included tastes of Trinidad foods. The record was broken on our trip as we hit 57 foods in a mere 11 hours--that's right a taste about every 10 minutes. Our guide drove us around the north west and northeast side of the island pointing out the sights, culture, practices (Hindu prayer flags), wildlife, vegetation, and stopping at all the little food stands/holes in a wall that he had checked out before. Barbeque pigs tails was one, cow foot soup another, and chicken foot soup the final dish that some of us passed on, but all the rest were flavors and delights that blended Trinidad and its cultural influences into delightfully tasty foods. There are hills, plains, mountain ranges, and many rivers on this small island. Our equivalent to Christmas holidays has just passed for the Hindus and their decorations and lights are still up and on display each night. I missed the world famous Festivals of Lights, where oil lamps are hung from every nook and cranny and the people walk the town sharing gifts of food and goodwill with any and all they meet. Open doors and arms are prevalent on that night--all people are one and treated with great respect and reverence.

Daily the rain comes, usually in the afternoon, and washes the accumulation of dust off the boats. It falls heavily for 10 minutes, pauses, and follows up with another short shower. Humidity is high and then higher after the rain. We have just started sleeping with a sheet over us. The temperature here is 86-90 and the night drops to 75 every night. Beats Oregon weather right now, which is 38 degrees. Our fellow cruisers span the world from Brazil, Europe, Canada, Australia, and a few from the US. Dave's Thanksgiving Feast was 3 foreigners for every 1 American. All had a great time trying different dishes and reenacting the pilgrim/Indian holiday.

After many trips to the stores we now have our food supplies for about 3 months. The water tanks will get filled on Monday and the boat will get fitted for traveling--tying down all the essentials that sit on the decks. With man's three basic needs met we will add on the fourth basic need of all cruisers--boat in the water. On Tuesday the boat will be lifted off the hard and gently dropped into the sea. Before we can leave port, however, the new rigging must be tuned to how the boat sits in the water, customs must be visited, and checking out must be accomplished. Then we look to the sky, to the radar images, and weather reports to time our leaving with the weather gods gifts of wind. With luck we will be able to leave on Thursday and head to ????
Well, we were thinking about Grenada and then the Grenadines, others have suggested heading to Tobago and then hit Carriacou. All we know for sure is that we will not be going to Venezuela but rather head north and a bit northwest after we get to the leeward islands.

Grenada and a little slice of Trinidad

2011-06-12T11:12:00.001-07:00

Our time in Grenada was short and quick. but while there we met many cool people and like Columbus found two other ships for the crossing to the New to Us World. We entered the waters of Grenada and took some needed sleep in the closest harbor we could find, Grand Mal, on the western coast. Another boat had the same idea and even though we didn't meet them we met up with them later down the coast. After gathering the winks and counting the sheep on the hillside, we pulled anchor and sailed down to Prickly Bay to check into the country. Check in was convenient but time consuming...but the cool drinks were in sight and we were patient. Next on our agenda was meeting people so we could get local information and find traveling buddies for the trip to Trinidad. So off to Happy Hour we trotted where we met a Brit that had been in the area for over 17 years--much was shared and we learned of many great future stops. No traveling contacts were made the first night but we did hear on the net about another Happy Hour on Tuesday. Tuesday we took the bus into St George's and went to the local market for spices, the fort for pictures, and the waterfront for lunch. Tuesday night we met our Brit buddy and we met Steve from England. He builds canal boats and spends his summers there and winters in Grenada. Still no travel buddies.
Wednesday morning on the net we found our travel buddies. Bodacious and Smidge were ready to go! It was decided that we would leave from Hog Island so we moved over there--what a beautiful place surrounded by big, unmarked reefs. We had a meeting with the two boats and another couple, Chuck and Barbara, who had the experience of doing this crossing. The three boats traveling were all newbies, with more questions and concerns than knowledge so Chuck and Barbara were a great source of information and soothed the concerns some of us were feeling. Wednesday night was hamburger night so off we went. Along the way we stopped off and listened to the music at the dinghy raft up. The band was on a raft tied to a ship and the dinghies tied to the raft and each other. The music was so good but the stomachs were growling and dinner was the goal. The dinghy was untied and off to Clarkes Court Bay we headed. Over a beer we met a young couple who sail for 6-8 months and then go back to San Francisco and work for 4-6 months. They joined us and the party grew bigger. The people we hadn't met at the earlier anchorage were there and we introduced ourselves to each other. They too were headed to Trinidad but wanted to just let us know they would be out there behind us. Thursday came and it was roti lunch time in Woburn. Yes, we do eat and drink our way through each day as it seems. The roti hut was built around a huge tree and was next to Nimrod's Rum Shack--no we didn't stop for a sample this time as the white rum is reported to be HIGH octane. Once again we met our anchoring buddies as they were enjoying the roti lunch as well. After lunch we did our check out and prepared the boats for the night passage.
The passage between Grenada and Trinidad has a history of being uneventful and problem free as well as pirate attack potential. The most recent attacks have been on the Trinidad oil rigs and we decided to travel to the east of those by 3-10 miles. No pirates, no problems, and great sailing with luminescence aplenty. It was 17-20 knts of wind and 5-6 foot seas. The sun rose and were were in sight of land.
Trinidad has been a stop where we have seen little but accomplished a lot. The boat is being put to bed--put on the hard is the right term--and we have been cleanings, disassembling, storing, and summer proofing the interior and the exterior. The best part of this experience has been the little airconditioner Dave bought. Mike and Gloria on Respite (in Bocas del Toro) spoiled us with their cool salon last fall! We have walked from the boat yard to the boat shops, bank, repair shops, bank, parts shops and bank again. That's the sight seeing so far. We met up again with our anchor buddies and exchanged names and met for dinner. Ellen is from San Francisco and Houston, Rick is from Scotland. She is in the banking world and he taught survival skills in Anartic--that's where they met. His two sons arrived and we had them over for a quick refreshment before they headed out to Tobago...
Oh, to be able to be on the water again, seeing the sights, smelling the fresh air, and kicking back and relaxing...reality check WORK CALLS! In three days we will be on a jet for the states. Once back in the states we will travel for the months of June, July, and part of August before hitting Oregon. Looking forward to touching base with old and new friends along the way.

A Hop, Skip, and Jump Passage

2011-05-28T14:06:00.000-07:00

This passage from St Martin to Grenada feels like a hop, skip, and jump trip
1:30 AM I am feeling reflective this morning...
The nightly east winds fills our sail and propels us gently through the flat seas. The water parts at the bow and runs down along the port and starboard side sending hundreds of glistening bits of luminescence out on the surface of our wake. Above, the sky is cloudless. To the northwest the Big Dipper is tilting down and almost touching the dark horizon. In the south the false cross and the southern cross confirms we are still on course. Off to the east the lights of landbase civilization illuminate the outlines of the islands of Mustique, Canouan, and 3 others as well as the various reef makers we are careful to avoid. A cathedral like dome of constellations hang overhead and are crystal bright as are the major planets. Makes one humble, calm, and grateful in the presence of such magnificent energy. DMYABKY
2:40 AM...The moon finally appears in the Eastern sky, a crescent yellow slice rising above the tiara of lights crowning the island below. The Milky Way is a swirl of mist dotted with dimensional glowing globes. There are no other ships out tonight, and we are the sole sailors seeing this night at this position.
3:21 AM I just found the "skip" in our trip...
Our navigational charts SHOW the semi-active new underwater volcano at 213 degrees, but our Chris Doyle guide says it is at 233 degrees and we need to be 1.5 to 5 nautical miles off of it. I see our course is set for 227 degrees--luckily we are hours away and when Dave awakes for his shift, I'll point out the hot bath we want to avoid taking.
4:38 AM Now we are headed to 216 degrees, a shift in current? Dave will be up within the hour luckily! Plenty of time to set a different course. Made it pass and not even a sign of the underwater giant.
8:33 AM We are in the waters around Grenada this morning and near the end of this passage. Where we stop today we can jump ino the water and swim. The passage started in St. Martin, with an overnight stop in Guadalupe,an equipment stop in Martinique, and a finish line of Grenada. We blew through the leeward islands as well as the windward islands only getting a taste of what is yet to come. The sailing has been fantastic, the winds and seas very kind, and Dave loves the silence of the motor.
Weather is coming early next week and we may sit it out in Grenada if we haven't met any other boaters going to Trinidad by Monday. Grenada is the kind of place where people stay for a LONG time, so much to do and see. The morning net is famous for its a la carte menu of organized activities and helpful information. They start early at 7:30 AM so we will have to set the alarm clock to listen in and get the reports. We would have loved to stay here but our insurance prefers Trinidad, we are told, so one more passage is in our future before we haul Jammin and get her ready for a summer of resting and hopefully not so much rusting as last summer/fall.
P.S. Our ham radio e-mail finally kicked in and started receiving and sending Friday night around 9PM. We appreciated catching up with all the messages and positive support sent by all of you out there.

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Heading for Grenada

2011-05-27T15:55:00.000-07:00

We officially left Martinique last night to avoid the, "Never leave port on a Friday" curse...
Friday, 5:40 PM:
We are sort of heading south.
We left Martinique this morning with a fixed Pactor Modem. A local Icom, Pactor dealer was able to find a loose wire in the cable and had me up and running last night at 6. The only problem is I have had terrible propagation and no e-mails are going out or coming in. Could be an antennae problem with the same corrosion I have been having trouble with all year. Anyway it should be working and we will keep trying to send this message out. We have loved the French Islands and hope to spend more time there next year. Not very many of the people speak English though, so ordering anything other than a beer has been sometimes a challenge. The coast of St Lucia looks amazing. We look forward to next season every time we look at those beautiful sandy beaches. We are skipping pretty much everything to make sure we don't have trouble getting to Trinidad. At least the weather looks good to get to Grenada.
Now the sort of heading south issue...
The channel between St Lucia and St Vincent has a HELLISH cross current. Under full sail I could only go 2.2 knots. My boat was pointing 150 degrees and my COG was 197. Didn't really pay much attention to it till Helen (with the setting sun in her eyes) said, "What big island is on the right of St Vincent?",oops. My chart plotters were showing St Vincent on our left and us missing the island by 8 to ten miles on the west side. Surprise to us, we were crabbing across the top of the island. Would have really been a surprise at night--no towns or lights on the north end to our knowledge. We are now going 6.5 knts and almost in the right direction. And the sun hasn't set yet. We should make Grenada some time in the afternoon. We Hope.

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Adapting to Cultural Differences

2011-05-26T13:07:00.001-07:00

Well, we have been in the French islands for a few weeks and have been disappointed with the lack of any "Happy Hour" bars or parties on boats around us. What is up here, was our reaction...then we paused and thought we are in France, we are where they drink wine, we are where wine is part of lunch and they take a 2-3 hour lunch break. Wait, they are smarter than us--their Happy Hour starts at noon and we need to get aboard this stand of thinking! So with that in mind Dave's grocery shopping list of late starts with wine,bread, cheese, and the other stuff. We are adapting to these cultural differences and finding an afternoon nap helps after lunch with wine. Another adaptation is the money exchange rate. To accommodate this difference Dave is calling the EU and US dollar a straight exchange rate. He believes he is paying $2-3 dollars for wine and $5.30 (which is roughly $7.50/gallon) for diesel. We heard gas and diesel is over $4.00 gallon in the states and thought that was high.
We are still without our ham radio, without internet, without e-mail and the local Wifi provider has been out every time we have tried his services. However, each day out at anchor we get on for less than 10 minutes at a time and with luck this will go out today, Thursday, May 26.
P.S. Dave is working on a new concept "Cruiser Trawler Extended Care". he see a wide open market for this service. More later.

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Monserrat to Martinique

2011-05-24T16:55:00.001-07:00

May 18, 2011 From Montserrat to Martinique

No volcano action, thank goodness…but no engine action, ARRUGH!

After sending the post on our night passage, the morning started but the engine wouldn't. Dave got the tools out, and four hours later he had installed an additional fuel pump and we were up and running. I had plenty of time to get pictures of the volcano while we cut cookies in the passage. The engine ran until we were entering the anchorage of Anse La Barque on the west coast of Guadeloupe. Fuel issues? We weren't sure what was up but we circled around, got it to start again and dropped anchor. This anchorage was a working man's niche and big enough for 5 small boats. We were number 5. In the morning we woke and set sail for the islands at the tip of Guadeloupe called Iles des Saintes.
As we dropped our sail, to enter the harbor of Terre-de-Haut, Iles des Saintes, we were caught between a rock and the shore when a squall hit, the motor quit again, and the rain poured sideways due to the squally winds. We do make dramatic entrances these days. We missed the rock, the other rock, the ferries, and found a place to legally drop the anchor--not breaking any laws.
Then the rainbow (figuratively speaking) appeared in the sky.
What a find! The French atmosphere, the snug harbor, the bakery, the restaurants, and Dave's birthday was off to a great start. Our neighbors were Canadian, American, and a sinking working boat. The water was crystal clear and rolly (due to the 3 ferry lines that dropped or picked up passengers every few hours) but the scenery was worth the price of the rolling. We checked the internet and Dave had received one birthday wish. The morning was off to a good start so we headed to town. We met Steve who had a loaf of French bread in hand so we knew we could ask him for food recommendations. He suggested a few places for Dave's birthday lunch. A short walk took us to one end of the town and after turning around we headed towards lunch up and over the hill. Dave ordered the smoke fish salad, I had the Greek lamb and of course a dessert. We were overlooking the bay and the sun shined all day.
Upon returning to the boat, we discovered internet was no longer working-a single side band equipment failure not within our ability to fix. We set up my laptop to take to town so we could let people know we would be in-between communications when not on land. After accomplishing this task, we met Steve's wife, Anne and other boaters-Daniell's Storey and Artic Tern. They had hiked over to the fort. Day three brought a cloud burst and while hiding from the shower we met Highheeled, a boat from Canada. The meeting ran over into lunch and a great time was had by all. We then found internet ($7.50 per hour), checked in with the family, and read all of Dave's birthday messages. Sunday we left, but we will be back next year as there was much to see and do that we missed.
The sails went up and we were headed to Le Marin, Martinique. Our course took us pass Dominica, which is incredibly gorgeous and we will be spending time there next season. The motor is working, the fuel looks good, and we are eating our way through the islands still.

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Heading to Martinique

2011-05-24T16:55:00.000-07:00

May 24, Martinique

Hot, Hot, Hot is the name of the local internet supplier and we are feeling the HOT, HOT, HOT love of Martinique. It's 90 degrees inside the boat and the sun is shining at high noon. Dave is shopping for the fifth time in two days for treats and just asked for more money-this time its for more cheeses and rum. Dave is getting the hang of the food names and returns from each excursion needing to look up more words. Quiche for dinner served with salad, bread, cheese and fruit, to compliment two different French wines that he watched local people buy in large quantities -pretty smart move we hope.
Le Marin, Martinique is a slice of France in mood and design. Everyone is laid back but at the same time passionate about their ideas and opinions. You listen to conversations and hear the emotions rise and fall. They speak of weather, the expense of things, and that's about as far as my French gets me.
Art work abounds everywhere; no opportunity to display art is missed--even in the multicolor metal poles that run up and down the streets.
Yesterday we took the ham radio in, hopefully to be repaired, so we can once again send and receive internet emails. He said to return on Thursday-fingers are crossed. In the meantime one café has internet. Off we went this morning for croissants and espresso with an internet connection and we ended up with the pastry and coffee-no internet this morning. No reason why, just a shrug and a mention of maybe later in the day from the waitress. They also serve cold beer so we will try around 4 for a connection. (Post script: no internet, no joy, but good cold beer)
Tomorrow we will spin around the corner to one of the three beaches with exclusive hotels beyond the sand. It's been awhile since we have been able to snorkel or soak in the ocean salt. Next week we will head for Grenada and hope to meet other boats heading to Trinidad. June 15th, our departure date, is creeping closer and closer.

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The Saints to Guadeloupe

2011-05-24T15:48:00.000-07:00

With the rising sun off our port side, we pulled anchor and left St Martin this morning. All day we have been riding on the wind and surfing down the 3-6(daytime)4-10 foot(night time) waves past various saints--St Martin, Sint Maarten, St Eusatatius, St. Kitts. The boat lunges forward, then dips down to the left and lifts up to the right. Quite a dance step we are doing with extreme dips and lifts at uneven intervals while maintaining a tilt of 15 degrees. And so, as the sun set on Nevis tonight we are headed towards Montserrat.
In about an hour or so we will be in line with the famous volcano. The course one takes keeps you out of the ash zone so your sails don't get toasted by the ashes. I have heard that you will smell the volcano well before you see it with the right wind, and tonight the wind is coming from the southwest where the activity is on the island...more later, I need to check radar, the charts, and give the horizon a visual check right now.
All is safe and sound--no ships, same waves, same wind, and the smell of Montserrat is in the air. The north end of the island is visible and contains most of the existing population as well as the new airport. The lights on shore are thick and clear so there must not be too much smoke in the air. Clouds keep covering the full moon but I am hopeful that we will get a view of the volcano when we pass...
12:40 AM I see a huge bank of lights on shore and they appear to be yellow or orange...and I just read an excerpt from my book, An Embarrassment of Mangoes, about the daily color codes used for volcanic action. Volcanic alerts are given daily by the Montserrat Volcano Observatory, ranging from green(quiet), yellow, orange(eruption possible within 24 hours), to red(eruption may begin without further warning or is in progress). I wonder what the alert was for today? Boats are advised to stay 10 miles clear, and our course is set for 12 miles. I'm going with the thought that those were indeed YELLOW lights.
1:20 AM The night sky has high wispy clouds until you look at the bottom half of the island. From the horizon up there is a large billowing cloud rolling and growing wider. Dave woke up and watched it dissipate with me. Our winds are now kicking up to 27-30 with gusts of 33. He has the main up and we are bucking a current, making only 3.8-4 knots. As time moves forward the lights on the island get dimmer, the cloud must be moving forward as well.
2 AM We are at 16 degrees 41" N, 62 degrees 26 W and I can see very little of anything. The moon has been buried into the cloud coverage, the island has dimmed to almost nothing, but the winds have picked up to 35-37 and we are reefing the sails and holding on. Yeeha!
4:40 AM O.K. Dave got drenched at least 8 times, me just 3 times. Squally winds caught us and have been swish swashing us like a washing machine for almost 3 hours. It has calmed down to 3-8 foot swells, a few seconds apart, and the wind has slowed down. We can finally get a look again at the volcano, Dave says, in about an hour when the sun rises. I'm thinking the heck with that I want some sleep without the bounce effect that lifts me off the cushion every 3-6 seconds.
Hope you all got a great night sleep, we will be catching some quality winks when we drop anchor around noon today in Guadeloupe.

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May in the Tropics

2011-05-14T09:19:00.000-07:00

See Pictures on other link

Here the flowers are blooming, the rain is falling, the sun is shining, and the humidity is building to match the temperatures of 85-90--normal conditions in this part of the world. Yet unlike home in Oregon, things are winding down rather than up. This is the end of the season, when the businesses and shop clear stock and prepare for a slow summer. Dave took his boat repair lists and shopped like it was Christmas; the boat is one lucky lady and we are a few thousand dollars poorer. The to-do list is now 3 pages long. No, Dave is not ready to go to work…it is mostly for his return in November.
So what’s been happening since the last up-date?
We were lucky enough to meet up with Shirley and John from Solstice in St. John, USVI and spent some time getting jazzed up to follow their path and cruise in Europe in a few years. We had not seen them since 2007 in Mexico. After that we waited in St. Thomas, USVI to rendezvous
With Joan and Ted on Panchita. We had not seen them in 17 months. They arrived with Joan’s brother Craig and his wife Mary. Both visits were too short yet our paths will cross again.
What great timing—it was Carnival in St. Thomas and we made it to two of the parades. The first was the Children’s Parade with the dancers, twirlers, marching bands, and trucks loaded with super sized speakers preceding each group. We are talking 14-20 2 feet by 4 feet and bigger! The next day was the Adult Parade which started at 11 and ended at 5 PM. People parked and camped out on the parade route, bringing their grills and chairs. Some backed their truck beds up to the path and had coolers of beer and soft drinks to sell with food hot off their grills…no permits needed.
We took pictures of the participants who came in all sizes, shapes, and ages. The colorful costumes reminded us of exotic birds and the brilliant colors used in the Caribbean were everywhere. The elaborate head gear and rolling skirts were the leaders in most case announcing the arrival of groups or in some case following…perhaps they were returning from the “refreshment trucks” (that followed each group)loaded with ice, juice, booze, wine and water. Most participants were well infused with their favorite drink by the first ¼ mile as they had been waiting to start for hours in some cases. One refreshment truck was decorated as a Tiki Bar—how appropriate.
Steel drum bands performed being towed by one single truck pulling 3-4 trailers of double decked musicians—OSHA would have had a fit! Bands from other islands (that have cut CD’s) performed on truck beds and local fan club members dressed up in costumes followed the bands while dancing to the music and “refreshing” themselves. The Zulu tribe is always a crowd favorite and fierce warriors they were. Dave’s favorite is the stilt people who had to keep moving in order to not fall. It was a great day and Dave saw it all.
At 9 PM the firework show started and we were moved by the elaborate display. Some of the rockets sent our showers of light that we had never seen elsewhere. A local, named Karen, had given us special glasses that broke the lights into prisms of colors and that enhanced our experience 10 fold. Following the light show was a band festival of Calypso music that went until early in the morning. The night before was the Battle of the Contemporary Bands that went until 3 AM, and the day before that was the 4 AM to 9 ish Jump Up Music Parade of thousands grooving and singing down the waterfront—that one we missed.
With Carnival over, it was time to make our goodbyes and head out to sea. So we bit the chain, raised the anchor and traveled 105 miles to St. Martin, the French side of the island. And a miracle occurred…nothing broke or failed, a first in two years.
Today we ate French pastries, last night Happy Hour at the Sint Maarten Yacht Club, dinner on the waterfront (a four course French dinner with a Banana Rum liqueur after dessert), and tonight we are raiding the freezer to balance the food budget. A weather event arrived at 5 PM and the dark clouds gave the boat a nice bath just as Happy Hour was starting in the lagoon. So instead of socializing we are hunkered down listening to Time Life Legend Ultimate Rock Collection of 300 songs and just limin’ the evening away. Life her is a blend of French and Dutch, depending on the side of the island you are on at the time.
So where are we headed next?
We might end up stopping in Antigua, Guadeloupe, The Saints, and Martinique before landing in Grenada. We will be by passing many islands that we plan to catch on the way back up next January. Ultimately though, we will end the season in Trinidad with a haul out date of June 10th and plane reservations for June 15th back to the states. We are looking forward to seeing friends, family and solid land this summer and fall.
Hope to see you all!
Until later our best thoughts and prayers to all of you out there.

April winds bring bread, muffins, and chocolate cake

2011-04-27T16:10:00.000-07:00

April 27, we are now into our third day of a tropical front/trough that has kept us pinned in Francis Bay on St John, US Virgin Islands. We have read 5 books, and are now baking our way through the day. In the Northwest when we had stormy and rainy weather, we would hunker down below and make bread, cinnamon rolls, and cookies...some habits are hard to break. As the bread cooks we are icing down rum instead of drinking hot Spanish coffees...some habits need to adapt to the surroundings. The temperature here has stayed in the 80's, the gusts have been up to 30knts off and on night and day.

Since writing our last blog update we returned to St. Thomas to mail some forgotten items, bought fresh food, and restock our rum cabinet. We left there and went to Christmas Cove, where we met Ann and John Taylor on Livin the Dream. Over dinner they told us about 5 beautiful beaches within dinghy distance, the fabulous snorkeling, and the PRIME RIB NIGHT at the campground off Francis Bay on Friday nights. So we made plans to meet up later in the week for the great company, the beaches, the snorkeling, and the HUGE PIECE OF BEEF! As we ate, Dave stopped chewing when he ran into something solid and hard in his mouth--and discovered a cap on a tooth had fallen off. The next morning at 8 AM on the Coconut Telegraph, a radio net that goes from The Bahamas to Trinidad, Dave put out a request for a dentist nearby. Two people came back with names and numbers.
A quick phone call and Dave had an appointment with a clinic for 11 AM that same day. We sailed over to St John, found the clinic, and he had his tooth glued on by 11:10 AM, the cost ZERO DOLLARS! Needless to say we can highly recommend St. Johns Dental Clinic by the grocery store.
By sailing around the corner we were now in sight of the 5 beautiful beaches and we took our pick of places to tie up. Ann and John were right. We dove off the back of the boat and we were in a reserved for snorkeling. The first thing we saw was a turtle, followed by an abundance of coral, fish, sponges, and other sea creatures. Our new underwater camera came in handy as we learned how to take pictures that are worth keeping. Once we get internet again we will post some of the latest pictures. Five days in a row we snorkeled for 1-2 hours, and were lazy bums the rest of the day.
Before we realized it, it was Friday night and we headed off to PRIME RIB NIGHT. By climbing 99 stairs we were above the bay and had a front row seat for sunset. It's a bring your own drinks kind of place so we brought our box wine and toasted the sunset before getting in line for our 1 1/2 pound serving of beef, baked potato, beans, salad, and trimmings. After a great dinner we went to the craft store where glass artists show off their latest creations. They have a community here where they invite artists from other places to come and live, work, and sell their wares using recycled glass from the island. This night a very talented man and his wife from Vermont were working and made a beautiful intricate serving bowl. He was excellent in his teaching and explaining his process as he worked for almost two hours.
Saturday was another snorkeling day, and great weather. Sunday came and the weather began to change. The weather forecast told us that we should stay in this protected area and so we did. Which brings us up to date and why we are going to gain 10 pounds eating bread, muffins, and chocolate cake. The snorkeling is not so good on these wind blown days with surface chop white caps putting water into your snorkeling tube. So here we sit, reading, baking, sewing, reading some more, and eating our way through the days... no complaints from the captain or first mate.
Our plans are to go to the British Virgin islands of Norman and Virgin Gorda this weekend and then head back to St. Thomas to meet up with Panchita, (who we haven't seen in over a year) and then back to St. Johns to meet up with Solstice who we met back in 2007(they are returning from Europe). And with luck we will make another PRIME RIB NIGHT in Francis Bay.

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St. Thomas and beyond

2011-04-14T06:46:00.001-07:00

Now that the gang (Kelsey, Kiele, Russell, and Mel) was all aboard again we took off to repeat some of the earlier spots, and see some new territory. We only had 5 days...so we went around to the North side of St. Thomas and found Magens Bay and Beach...the water toys came out and we soak in the rays, salt and slurped down the rums. The next morning we walked the beach and took gorgeous photos. Back to the boat and across to Jost Van Dyke. There Kiele met Foxy and his son while the rest of us met the bartender. As the sun set we ate dinner on the boat and one tired girl went to bed while the others put on their dancing shoes and went to shore for some more dancing and fun. Oma and Opa heard the music on board--just the right amount of volume for us. The next morning we were off for Culebra and a storm followed us in. Once in Culebra we checked back into the states, and had a Dinghy Dock beer hour. Dinner was once more on the boat and we turned on the music--thanks to Russell boat's gift of an Ipod player with great speakers. Kiele was not feeling good--her ears have been on and off again infected--so we left Culebra and went to Fajardo and the clinic. There was presure behind her ear drums and drops were ordered. A final dinner out for fish and fun was in order. After that we returned to the boat and everyone dug around for clothes, shoes, chargers, gifts, etc. and packed bags fuller than ever before. Tuesday arrived and we took everyone off to the airport. We made our goodbyes and headed off to Home Depot for the final supply run of the season. Knowing we are headed back to the land of hot and humid we bought a small air conditioner for our time in Trinidad, bought supplies we would have bought back in the states and lugged down here next fall, and took long showers at the marina. Life is good, we are still loving our lifestyle, and the people we meet are so much fun and full of the adventurous spirit that make cruisers cruisers.

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Kelsey's Visit

2011-04-08T11:28:00.001-07:00

March 27th we picked up Kelsey, Kiele, and Russell(who has been a friend when ever we have needed help moving, packing, or anything else). March 28 we drove around Old San Juan, saw the fort, the city, and the walled sea front that greeted the pirates and the invading forces over the past 400 years. What a beautiful place it is. We will attached pictures when we get internet again.
We set the sails and crossed over from Puerto Rico to Culebra on the northwest side to see the luminescence--there were a dozen or more that night over a 15 minute period.
The following day we bit the bullet and took off for Jost Van Dyke. Kiele did great, she is use to no balance as she tries to stand and walk before her first birthday. Kelsey and Russell did fine considering it was rough and rolly. It was our 37th wedding anniversary and as we dropped anchor, Helen fed the fish 3 days worth of food. Needless to say, Dave, Kiele, Kelsey, and Russell went to the world famous Foxy's and had a grand night celebrating while Helen huddled under her sheet and had a few belts of gatorade once again. The next day Helen went to shore looking for yogurt, ginger ale and a glimpse of Foxy. After that we went to Sandy Bay, a gorgeous beach with great shells, wonderful beach sand, and picturesque water lapping its shore in every shade of green imaginable. From there the boat and crew headed east to Tortola and we ran into Zoo Keeper, Jenny and Malcolm from Australia. A few beers later we were caught up and exchanging info on where to go next. We had heard about the bubbly pool on the east side of the island and we took off for it. Finding a small niche, designed for one boat we dropped anchor and launched the dinghy. A short walk past Foxy's Tabu and the poisonous trees, we were the third group waiting for a turn in the jauccuzi like natural pool. It was worth the wait and twice that day we found ourselves enjoying the waters around this bay. The next morning came and went, and we just chilled at this anchorage for another night. Another sunrise, another short jaunt, another great little beach and then we anchored at Soper's Hole. There we found a restaurant, ate bar food, and left them $100.00 richer and us looking for grocery stores. Soper's Hole also had a Pusser Rum Bar, which we enjoyed, and some shops for souvenirs, and a grocery store for YOGURT, finally. Needing to be in St Thomas, we left Soper's, over-nighted at Round Bay on the east side of St. John's, and found a short reef to swim on. April 5th we went to Cruz Bay on St. John and checked back into the US. There we found some shops, found a grocery store, and better food for a better price. Before sunset we crossed over to St. Thomas and stayed at Christmas Cove on a buoy--which we now remember is NOT a quiet night for the crew--that whopped and wacked the side of the boat all through the night! April 6th we headed west to Brewer's Bay and dropped anchor off the runway of the airport--preparing to pick up Melissa Bennett from Washington,DC (WHO HAD DECIDED ON A LATE NIGHT WHIM TO JOIN US AS WELL--we can be pretty persuasive). Before sunset we realized Limburgh Bay would be better so we moved. A 10 minute walk and we were at the airport for Mel. She packed light and she survived a dinghy ride through the night surf from the beach to our boat.
An here we are, all caught up. Oma and Opa are babysitting while Kelsey, Mel, and Russell enjoy a bit of fun in St. Thomas while Dave waits for the phone call to pick them up. We can hear the music from the boat and hope they have become enough of a cruiser to realize midnight is 9 and the wee hours are from 10 to 11 PM. It is now 10:37 and Dave has been yawning since they left...

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When was the last update?

2011-04-08T11:28:00.000-07:00

So, we may have appeared to have dropped off the grid for awhile. Not having internet to tell us when we last updated the blog, we are a bit sketchy on the last time we checked in---a common life hazard in the cruising world. We do know it is April, and that it is pass April 10 as our daughter and granddaughter arrived that day and they have taken over the front room, while a friend of the family has taken over the back room and we have been jaunting around for days and some nights with them...and we know it is not TAX DAY, because we are still waiting for info to give to our accountant to complete her work. So happy almost middle of April to you all!!!!
So, where have we been?
Did we tell you we left Ponce and went to Isla el Caja de Muertos and finally made it back into the water? I think we did but we both fell sick the next three days and stayed in a comatose state while staring at a beautiful beach, watching the ripples of the wind over emerald green and aquamarine blue water,and chugging away on gatorade.
Gathering strength we took a dinghy ride around the other side of the island and found a snorkeling site. While there we met a local dive boat couple and had a great visit with Lynn and David from Caribbean Image Tours. They work out of Ponce and give their customers great trips on and in the water. From there we went to Salinas, a sleepy little anchorage where time has stopped for many cruisers. Our first day there we met Marianne from Tradewinds sail and canvas who clued us into all the great spots for wifi, food, hardware, and fresh bread. It was a comfortable and cosy town. We should know, we stayed almost a week so we could be part of the Thursday night burgers at Drake's and Friday night BBQ at the marina. We didn't make it into the water but we did sew, and snapped, and tied things closed as we baby proofed the boat for the arrival of our first grandchild on board. In the evenings we met cruisers who have spent years in this part of the Caribbean and picked their memories on experiences and places for work on the boat as well as places to "lime" when work is not a priority--Granada is a favorite stop they all agreed.
Isla Santiago was a overnight stop, dropping anchor just before sunset. This island is a natural habitat for research monkeys, hundreds or thousands we aren't sure. But at sunset a number of monkeys were swimming, jumping from trees into the water, or just running up and down bent palm trees before night stopped their monkeying around antics.
We then sailed to Culebra and spent a few days dinghy around the island and anchoring off the beautiful beaches. We found a few nice bars, a great sandwich shop for Cubano sandwhiches, and walked ourselves back into shape. We met Beth and Art Bauer on Adagio and ate at a restaurant where you order at the kitchen door, bring your own liquid refreshment, wait for your name to be called so you can return to the kitchen and get your dinner. Food was great and the company superb!
The next morning we sailed to Fajardo, tied to a dock, and washed clothes.
Now ready we rented a car, shopped for provisions to feed 5 people for 16 days, and ran down parts to fix the boat, of course. Then we unpacked the car, shoved every corner of the boat with stuff we didn't need to make room for the stuff we did need to be handy and available. I should have drawn a map or listed all the NEW places we discovered for stuff so when we regroup and have a need for something we might find it again in less than 3 days of saying, "So where else might it have fitted and ended up?" Perhaps when we finally sell the boat we will be able to find all those missing parts we currently know as "they're on the boat somewhere, aren't they?"...

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First Carnival in Puerto Rico

2011-03-09T20:24:00.000-08:00

Check out our Carnival pictures in our picture folder
Tomorrow should be Thursday and we will be leaving the world of internet, roads and stores for an island that has flora, fauna, and beaches with a few humans.
We have not submerged our bodies in salt water since a glorious day in December down in Panama and the thought of floating on a tube or noodle is so delicious to us right now!
We arrived in Puerto Rico on Sunday, two days before the end of Carnival in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Carnival has been a 150+ year tradition and we were able to view only one of the events--the burial of the Sardines. This was a fun and audience participation parade for the night before the start of Lent. It started with bands, baton twirlers, dancers, and along the side lines a large group (50+) of masked and costumed marauders swinging paper mache' "bladders" at the young and attractive rumps of young women.
Some say the burial of the Sardines is symbolic for the number of fish that will be eaten during Lent, others say it is letting go of the old and negative, and welcoming the new and repentant. We copied some past pictures that capture the participants and flare of the night. I will try to down load them to the blog site.
March 27 Kelsey, Kiwi, and a friend arrive to spend time with us. We will explore Puerto Rico and with luck also some of the Virgin Islands. Grandma is super excited, but mom is more excited to see her daughter. Dad is just plain excited!
So we will be out of contact for awhile, sunning, reading, and working on child proofing a boat that has never been home to a baby! Yikes, child proofing at our age is a challenge!

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Lost a Day, Gained an Hour

2011-03-07T06:37:00.000-08:00

March 6, Lost a day,gained an hour
After 5 straight days of non stop sailing, we arrived in Puerto Rico. Traveling non stop makes you loose time as well as sleep. During these long trips we each take a watch of 4-5 hours, sleep or work and then follow it with a 7 hour watch. The idea is to get 6+ hours of sleep, but due to boat issues over the pass two days we didn't get those long stretches. Sleep deprivation can do some strange things. When we turned on the computer this morning we learned it was SUNDAY! Not a good day for clearing into a country--overtime charges can be a killer. When we called in at 2 to clear customs, they said we needed to meet with an official and he would arrive between 5 and 6. Having not slept, we were looking forward to our pillows and a bed...but what can you do? We stayed up and waited till 4:30 to go to shore only to be told the local time was actually 5:30 OOPS! Luckily the official was running late. He arrived 20 minutes later, gave us the name of three local restaurants that will feed us real Puerto Rican dishes, and recommendations on two other beaches to visit on the south side.
It is Carnival week here and we missed the parade today, but we will hopefully get glimpses of the fete tomorrow and Tuesday as they wind down for Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. Currently we are anchored in front of three dueling night spots with the ever famous walls of speakers. Since 9 PM they have tempered down the volume so we can only hear 2 opposing systems. Off to bed now to clear the head and get back in touch with the benefits of sleep.

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March 1 leaving Jamaica

2011-03-01T08:44:00.001-08:00

March 1, 2011 Sailing Away from Jamaica
Pictures have been added to our picture file for this and previous blogs-check them out!
It is with regret that we leave the island of Jamaica. Here, in Port Antonio we have found genuine people with large hearts and big souls. Yesterday we made our rounds to the veggie market, the butcher, and the bakeries. Each stop we said our goodbyes and the shop keepers came around to give us hugs, squeezes, and knock fists (Jamaican handshakes). As we walked around others that we had met stopped us, greeted us, and asked how our day was going? We had over 20 locals that made us feel valued. It amazed us that by day three we felt accepted here.
Daily we walked the length of the town in both directions, went out at night eating at the local drive-by Jerk Chicken stand, and never had a moment of worry or fear.
Everyone said we must come back and be in Jamaica again---and you know what, we will. This part of Jamaica made us feel welcomed, accepted, cared for, and appreciated. Yes, the hagglers were there, the beggars were there, and the hustlers were there, but if you talked with them, exchanged pleasantries about the weather or their town, and then said, "Not today, another time." they felt respected and gave back respect. Respectful actions and words make all the difference in the world. They are living examples of their national anthem. Often their parting words were, "Respect, mon." The rest of the world could learn a lot from this model.
Here in the anchorage we have met so many great people. First we met Mucho Gusto, Jeannie and Keith from Albuquerque, New Mexico-who knew Inspiration's Sandy and Ralph. Then we met Andres and Petra Heimlich from Vienna, Austria on Ulysses, and 8 of their 10 children-pure joy and love surround them. We also spent some time with Tim and Alexandria on Braveheart (who gave us valuable information about the Virgin Islands and Dominican Republic). We played with their 7 month old daughter, Amelia, and spent a bit of time with their crew Annie, Ben and Wendy from England. The crew went with us to Piggy's and to the Saturday night music fest that they called Carnival. Dave said the dancing style was close mashing body contact with clothes on-that is my G-rated publishable version of what he described.
Tasting foods, new to us, has always been a priority and our favorite was Piggy's Chicken-it's a drive by stand located where the road splits into three lanes--two going one way and the third going the opposite way. You ran for the middle space between lanes, order your chicken, and then ran back to a triangle in the center of the road and ate your dinner at a table for 4. Then for a beverage you waited for traffic to clear, walked to the bar across the street, ordered a beer, and returned to your table in the intersection. Dessert was a 50 cent bag of roasted peanuts from the appliance repair shop next to the bar. Best smoked chicken in town and definitely the hottest home made spicy jerk sauce.
While here we have been introduced to all sorts of new things:
Holey Bulla, a spice cake donut with banana flavor
Naseberry, a kiwi looking fruit that taste like buttery brown sugar and fruit mixed together
Sweet apple, slice open & white custard oozes out, be sure to spit out the watermelon size seeds
Otaheiti, a pear shape fruit that is a blend of apple and pear flavor
Saltfish, a salted dried cod similar to jerky
Ackee, a starchy veggie that cooks up and looks like macaroni and has a nutty flavor
Jamaican Jerk chicken with a wet and dry rub
Curried goat and coconut rice
Brown pork and brown chicken
Wild cinnamon, with a deeper, smoke flavor
Patties, a meat or veggie filled turnover
Banana flavored deep fried fritters
Calaloo, greens like collar or spinach
Blue Mountain Coffee
Nutmeg nuts and pimento that you grind fresh into your recipes
Red Stripe beer and Rum punch
News Flash: For the first time ever Dave actually said NO to a new food--twice. He decided he could live without tasting cow foot soup-the chef showed him the delicious amount of oozing gelatin between the joints) and the turkey neck/nuts stew.

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February 20, Sunday in Port Antonio

2011-02-22T10:58:00.000-08:00

Sunday in Pt. Antonio

A perfectly sun shining day. After clearing a fuel tank of sediment, Dave and I take off for a Sunday stroll. There is a point in the distance in the next bay that Dave has been eyeing and a restaurant called Anna Bananas about 20 minutes out in the same direction. On our walked we are honked at by the taxis all wanting our business, some stop, and we say, “Our legs are too fat, we need the walk, may be after the 5 miles we will need your help.” Some of the sites were too great to pass up as you will see in our pictures. We were walking by funeral homes, ice cream shops, goats tied to a stake, rum bars, food booths, small shelters with chickens clucking, candy stores, big speakers blaring music—many times country western from the states, reggae, and island rap tunes.
We were early for Anna Bananas meal time so we practiced Limin’ and sat sipping cold Red Stripe beer and coconut water. I took many pictures of the bay, the buildings from town, the hills and houses, and the herd of goats that wandered by on their way home for the day.
After lunch we walked out to the point. There was a park built by the local Rotary and many families were enjoying the day. Some were swimming, some were playing soccer, and there was even a cricket game in play. We walked and greeted everyone along the way and they in turn answered us and asked how we were enjoying their town. At the point we were able for the first time to see the Blue Mountain range, world famous for Blue Mountain coffee beans. Around the corner from the point were the ruins of the Folly Mansion. Made from beach sand concrete it stood for 32 years before collapsing. It was featured in music videos by Shabba Banks and Lauryn Hill. Here we turned around and walked back through the town and to the boat. On the dock we touched base with some cruisers we had met, some we were meeting for the first time, and exchanged the names of good places to eat. Cruising life has its own partyline of information and it is freely exchanged and taken.

2011-02-22T10:22:00.000-08:00

February 18, Jamaica

It’s been rainy and overcast since our arrival on Thursday, so our first pictures lack the sunshine but are rich in foliage and color. Yesterday, Clive, the local fisherman (and dweller of the mangroves) stopped by on his hand tied bamboo raft and sold us bananas. Dave gave him some new fishing lines. Today is market day in town and we are salivating for fresh fruit and Jamaican jerk. With bags in hand we go foraging for food—a five hour adventure. We have learned to first browse and watch where the locals stop and shop, so we walk up and down various streets checking out the shoppers, shops and stands.
A man yells,“150 for 12 juicy juicy, here mon get you from me.” Then when we get closer to his wheelbarrow of oranges he says, “100 Jamaican dollars for you, mon.” The books say the “hagglers” will banter and barter with you and you should counter offer 20-30 percent less and settle in the middle. When we say “no” we need to do so politely, and here that means thrown in some humor with the “Need more time, mon.” So we reply, “Too much for these weak arms to carry for now, need more time.”
Across the street from the clock tower and taxi parking lot is the open air market. Here we enter and are immediately assaulted by a sensory overload. Music is blaring from a wall of 4 foot by 8 foot stacks of speakers, the aisles (?) are ragged paths through the excess stock, children, people sitting on the floor, and you gingerly cut your way through. Goods are hanging down from the rafters so Dave ducks below 5 1/2 feet as the vendors yell, “Look here, buy here, you need what, maybe coffee, t-shirt, we have what you need, come see,” as they take your arm and guide you to their 4 by 8 booth of wares. I see some hand carved wooden spoons and the Rastafarian artist shows me his collection of handmade items, there is a smile and eye contact that is friendly and accepting on his face. We talk and I admire his handiwork. Then I tell him that we have no Jamaican dollars yet and we will see him on Monday. An elderly smiling man walks Dave through the t-shirts and Dave indicates he sees one he likes so the man gets it down and it is his size. But we are browsing first, so we say, “We have no money, just got here, we need the bank, we’ll be back after the bank.” Of course he tells us the way to the bank and then adds, “You remember me, mon, best t-shirts in whole market”. We then cut our way through this maze, music still blaring, smells mingling together—fresh fruits, coffee, spices and spicy cooked food wavering through the air. Out of the corner of our eye we see the hindquarters of various animals hanging behind a chicken wire fenced-in area. We follow that glimpse only to meet a wall—no door—so we turn and try to follow the wall by zig zagging through the smiling vendors and again hit a wall but no door. On our third attempt there is the door. Inside this cage are more than 12 smiling butchers, each with their own cutting block of a tree trunk, displaying their meat. The choice was beef, pork, and goat—some had only one kind. We found what we wanted and decided we would come back later now that we knew where the elusive entrance was to be found. More smiling vendors offered us their wares and ended each encounter with a smile, solid eye contact and the words, “Remember me”. Many of the vendors are elderly, some are sitting and humming to the tunes, but all are ready to give you their full attention and talk you out of your money. Eventually we see an exit and are now in the outside market where the fruits and vegetable stands line a narrow alley and are shoulder to shoulder. Most are 3-4 feet, some are 8 feet long. Everyone grows the same things and green beans are in season. Ackee is new to us and is one of the traditional foods used with saltfish. We are then stopped by a “hustler” who tells a story of woe and then asks for a dollar. We say we haven’t been to a bank yet and he points to where money can be exchange. We leave with the words, “We’ll be back, later” and walk off. As we pass the money exchange office, he loudly yells, “There, stop there and get the money, mon”. But we have nothing to exchange…
Our walking takes us pass school children out for lunch break, locals out looking for parts and things, and we just mingle into the mix of things as well as two pale while people can. As we pass we greet everyone with a simple greeting and are answered with a smile, eye contact, and an inquiry on how we like Pt. Antonio. Our wandering takes us pass many more open stalls, shops with glass windows and door, and chicken wire enclosure of their stock if it is a hardware store, or parts store. As we cross a bridge the air is smelled with delicious spicy food…but its source is unclear. We walk further and see a bar with many cars parked in front. There we see people eating, people carrying away boxes and bags of food. So we follow the new smells and find a chalkboard with checks by the items being cooked today. Dave tries the curry goat and I get the jerk chicken. It’s is full of flavor and you can’t beat the hole in the wall ambiance. There is one table and it has dominoes on it. We sit there and are joined by one of the locals that offers to tour the island with us using his car—we turn down the unlicensed taxi man with dilated eyes and just enjoy his company and insights on the island. He buys his own drink and continues to talk to us as we eat. Little do we realize we are preventing some afternoon games of dominoes—a serious pastime on the islands.
Now well fed we head back to the market, get the fresh cut meat—you buy the 5 cent plastic bag from a bag vendor after it is cut, pick out some new to us fruits and veggies, buy a loaf of fresh bread, and head back to the boat. So far we haven’t entered a rum bar. We’ll save that for another day, another adventure.

February 15, 2011

2011-02-15T07:00:00.000-08:00

Montego Bay to Pt. Antonio, Jamaica

Our arrival to Jamaica was as exciting as most of our passages over the past year.
We arrived at night with a finish line in our path--the Pinapple Cup, a race from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to Montego Bay, Jamaica was in the middle of receiving its entries in the harbor. Using our limited night vision abilities we avoided crossing their finish line and confusing the officials. Next to the finish line we dropped our anchor and slept soundly for the first time in 4 nights.

The next morning the sun rose and I had turned 60 years old. What a place to celebrate. In this country I became a "senior" with rights to go to the senior lines in the banks. Checking into customs, immigration, health, and the marina took about 2 1/2 hours and NO MONEY exchanged hands. One of the officials called a cab driver for us and we were whisked off to see the area of Montego and to lunch at a beach front restaurant called Memorbillia. The chef described his specialities and we had three different dishes--all yummy, spicy and Jamaican. We returned to the Montego Bay Yacht Club and had a toast to the sunset and returned to the boat for another restful night sleep. Saturday night was the awards dinner for the Pinapple Cup and we bought ticket to attend the event. There were free rum drinks, awards handed out, a buffet of local dishes and desserts, and dancing to steel drum music--a great time and fun to see the yachters' side of life in the fast lane. Local music on shore floats out to us as does the cruise ship's disco music. Almost every day a ship or two are here letting their passengers taste the Jamaican town and tourist spots.

Jamaica is a friendly place with beautiful people of all blends. You never pass by someone without a hello and a comment on the day. The temperatures are warm but not hot with a breeze all day long. Being further north than our past places, there are different flora and fauna to admire. Many we can't identify but they are in bloom or sporting fruits and pods in abundant quanities.

We went to the Megamart grocery store, a five mile round trip walk, to find Jamaican spices and rubs. What a rich supply they have here of spices and herbs! We bought many differrent kinds to try out later. Before heading back we tried a drive-in/walk-in local chain for jerk--it was Ok but it couln't compete with the meal at Memorbillia.

Yesterday we went to the local farmers' market and enjoyed seeing the small outdoor operations of selling what they must grow in their yards spread out on towels, paper, table cloths, carboard, or in carts, back of vans, etc. Both sides of a busy street were filled shoulder to shoulder with vendors and it extended to vacant buildings and alley ways. In the market there are some new to us fruits that we are enjoying. One is shaped like a small dried up promogrante and when you open it up there are black seeds surrounded by a custard like substance--so sweet and good. There are also mangos and papaya right now. We also noticed cute minature 6-8 inch tall pinapples.

The weather has turned again so we will skip the trip to Negril and head out later today for Pt. Antonio, Errol Flynn's old stomping grounds. A strong storm is due next Monday down here and following that we will be looking to cross to the east towards Dominican Republic and on to Puerto Rico--our longest trip to date.

Eastward Bound, February 6, 2011

2011-02-08T05:43:00.000-08:00

February 6, 2011
Woke up, packed away the eggs and stuff, cleared the lines of obstructions, and we were ready to lift the anchor to head out to sea from Providencia, Columbia. Dave turned on the engine and...#%%%!!### No forward, no reverse, and no speed...the throttle cable block had broken--again. Dave quickly assessed the problem, dug out tools, we found a piece of 3/8 inch thick metal bar, and he went to work fabricating a new and improved replacement block. We are now out pass the channel and on the open sea. The edge of a squall just passed and Dave shorten sails just in case--good thing as we had 100% up and the gusts clocked in at over 35. Our target is to get to Jamaica by the 9th. Seas are fairly gently and the boat is at an angle I can deal with. All the meals are pre cooked, a Key lime pie is chilling, and we will enjoy it with our anchor watch drink upon our arrival to Jamaica in three days. Life is good and we can hardly wait to be in the EASTERN CARIBBEAN.

Three hours later...
A school (or do you call it a pod) of dolphins found us and darted in, out, below and around our sailboat for over an hour. We were the new amusement ride for them. Quite a few were youngsters and they frolicked as youth usually do--showing off and attempting daring feats for their peers.

Two mornings later (February 8th)... Well we more than half way to Jamaica and the conditions are light. We had about half a day of really nasty waves and wind. The boat did well even though the bow was buried a few times during one of those wave crashing events we lost the kayak. The waves actually ripped it off its mounting brackets and bent the lifeline stanchions flush with the deck. No idea when it happened. We were reading and the and the combined noise of the wind and bashing waves was so loud we didn't hear a thing. Oh well, it would not have been a normal trip if all went totally as planned. We were able to have a good sail most of the day but now the wind and seas have died. We will send another post when we get there or we have another note worthy event.

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February 2, 2011 Providencia, Columbia

2011-02-02T07:10:00.000-08:00

We haven't had internet since we left Panama in January but we are able to post a blog entry from our sailmail site. A rather smooth and uneventful two day and two night passage brought us to this island, off the coast of Nicaragua, that belongs to Columbia. There are two islands and we are on Providencia--the non commerical, laid back, and casual island. It has the flavor, the rhythm, the taste, the colors, and the sounds of a Eastern Caribbean island. When we first arrived we were able to rent motor scooters and tour the island--it takes all of 12 minutes if you do not stop and enjoy the views. There is only one road so no one gets lost here. Families of 4 and 5 ride on one scooter carrying groceries, propane tanks, etc. It is quite the sight to see a 10 month old baby first behind the handle bars and 4 more faces crunched behind on a two seater bike...
The beaches are smooth and sandy, the fishermen pull up to the beach, and you buy your dinner fresh off the boat (but the fish are scarce this year). Fresh vegetables and other items arrive by boat from mainland Columbia once or twice a week. There are trails to hike, peaks to climb, and paths to walk. Captain Morgan had a hide out here and some of the geographic forms bear his name--Morgan's Head and Morgan's Crack. We will send photos later when we have internet. Everyone is friendly, they speak English with Creole/Caribbean inflections. Our second week here they had a night of music and dancing provided by the Minister of Culture for the cruising community. It was along side the main road and an ice cream shop so the musicians could plug in their two electric instruments, The man playing the cow jaw, the man playing the steel blocks, and the man playing the inverted wash tub sting instrument didn't require anything fancy. Thirty cruisers enjoyed the glimpse of island culture and danced with the locals as the bugs enjoyed a meal on us. Since then we have been reading, swimming and sunning, and reading and sunning...today we MAY attempt to do something constructive like rust removal from a few areas unless we decide to read a book and work on our tans. The temperatures are in the 70's and 80's, the water is clear and in the low 80's, perfect for us.

Our plan is to head for Jamaica at the first opportunity. We have been told that might be as soon as March or April...not quite what we had hoped, however. All we need is 3 days and nights of less wind, flatter seas, longer periods between waves, and a change of wind direction. Last week had a weather window of one day, the end of this week HAD a weather window that has disappeared, and next week there may be hope. Kelsey is trying to meet us in Jamaica in March but we cannot set a date till we make the crossing from here to there.

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Thai, Espresso, and Truffles

2010-12-13T10:04:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, Dec. 8^th we made a return trip to the Thai restaurant on a neighboring island. This time it was not raining 12 inches and we had our camera handy. The pictures document the vertical climb and the unpaved sticky mud paths that we traversed to get to the awesome food and scenery. On this trip we hiked beyond the restaurant into the jungle for truffles, espresso, and to search for the red dart frog that is poisonous--living right under your foot literally. No nips or bites so we live to tell the adventure and eat our truffles back on the dock with some boxed red wine…Life is good, and we are still having fun out here in the middle of little villages and surrounded by good friends.

Weather is a State of Mind

2010-11-14T05:42:00.000-08:00

Today we put on our rain gear and waddled through torrential downpours to trek up a pretty steep climb for Thai food. It started with 6 of us and ended up with a party of 9 very committed diners. To get there we hired a water taxi and he drove us 15 minutes over the not so smooth waterways between a number of nearby islands. We were wet to start with and the ride did not dry us out. The climb was through the back paths of a town and up the hill behind it to the top treeline on that island. Photo quality views along the way of backyards, narrow footpaths, foliage, jungle, and washed out ravines were right out of an adventure movie. The mud and muck was worth it though.
Thai spice aromas were carried away from the house specialties and reached our noses before our eyes found the place. The restaurant has one cook, one waiter, and one bus boy. Your meals are cooked to order, and brought out one by one. We ate, drank, swapped stories, voiced opinions, and compared sea moments from unforgettable times.
Seats were shifted so all could be involved and time just stopped for about 3 hours. Then the rain abated,we noticed the sun was setting, and it was time to leave the hillside retreat behind...but not forgotten as we all had ordered another meal to take away for later. Food is a big part of cruising, but not nearly as important as good company and a chance to glimpse into another person's view of the world.

Trip to Changuinola

2010-11-07T18:40:00.000-08:00

October 29th, 2010
It's a rainy, drip drop day here in Panama. We traveled yesterday to Changuinola. First we hitched a dinghy ride with another boater to Bocas Del Toro, the town nearest our marina. There we bought ferry tickets for the 30 minute boat ride to Almirante. At Almirante you either take a $1.00 truck/taxi ride to the bus depot and then buy a bus ticket, or hire a truck/taxi to take you where you need to go. Our $1.00 driver negotiated a $15.00 fee for taking four of us to our final destination.
When we arrived the commerce in town is situated on one long street until you hit the central market district and then it is two streets of shops and services. Our driver pointed out the shops we needed for boat supplies, paint for automotive use, a hardware store, 4 grocery stores, and a very good Chinese restaurant.
First we explored the main "mall" area. Here a mall is like Saturday market spaces where the owners display their wares on table tops and a piece of fabric/tarp hangs between them and the next vendor. The vendor has a strange collection of items--no rhyme or reason for what you may find. There may be locks with silverware, clothes and pans, shoes and guitars, but most shops also had a set of drums for sale. The famous music man (salesman) did a great job of convincing this town of the need for a drummer in the family. We found a dollar store where everything was priced from 35 cents to $35.00--must be an old sign.
Exploring further down the street we found the town square. All cities have a park like setting where festivals and gathering occur in this centrally located block. Benches and walkways criss cross through and surround the square. Old men sit on shady benches and young mothers watch their children from these seats. Being hot and thirsty we made our way to the AIR CONDITIONED restaurant. Here we ordered beers for lunch and toasted Mike's (from Respite) first social security check. The nice thing about Latin America is there is no hurry ever. We sat, talked, drank and ate for two hours. Around 2:00 we again braved the heat and began serious shopping. At 3:30 it was time to rehydrate in another air conditioned bar/restaurant. Around 4 we headed to the bus depot (the second busiest spot in town) and found an air conditioned bus ride back for $1.20 per person--we were the only non-locals and we were treated well.
The road took us through a jungle like preserve that lays in this area, and up and down the hilly terrain. We passed the local dump, guarded by a female mannequin dressed in a police uniform holding a dead plastic bird. (Their version of a scarecrow) Many of the vultures kept their distance and rummaged through the bags in the back of the dump. Once back in Almirante we arrived to the ferry and found 3 bus loads of backpackers (ages 18-45) waiting for the same ferry ride. The ferry stops at 5:30 and is first come first serve...we feared we were going to have to find a bed for the night. But a local hustler got us to the front of the line and on the last ferry of the day. We arrived back to our boat around 6 and poured a chilled drink to rehydrate and relax with before watching Matrix, part 1. Just another day in paradise.

New Pictures For the Blog

2010-11-03T11:00:00.000-07:00

Click our link on this page called Photos of our Adventure or go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/svjammin, to see some of our newest pictures.

We’re Back on the Boat in Bocas

2010-11-03T10:57:00.000-07:00

After spending an incredible 4 and a half months in the Pacific Northwest (with many highs and lows) we are back on the boat in hot muggy and buggy Panama. I posted some pictures of our summer. They are on our pictures part of the blog. We had a 6 hr flight from Florida, where we had visited Helen’s brother, back to Panama. Arriving at 7 PM, we spent the night in PC. The next day we caught the overnight bus back to Almirante, arrived there a 6 AM, took a truck taxi to where we caught a water taxi to take us back to Bocas. We waited around Bocas to have breakfast before taking another water taxi back to the boat. It was a very long two days of travel. We have been here two weeks and have had to order more parts from Marine Warehouse who have been incredible. Our batteries were toasted and our control cables were frozen. So here we sit, waiting till the next ship arrives, probably two plus weeks. Unlike Shelter Bay last year, we have not had the daily thunder storms and the buckets of rain. The temp during the day is 85 and the temp at night is in the mid 70’s--not bad but the boat doesn’t really cool off much. We had a great Halloween party at our local Cantina and have posted some more great pictures on our page. It is nice to be back home. I just wish we could get away from the dock for awhile.

Bringing our blog up to date.

2010-11-03T10:56:00.000-07:00

As all of you know we have been lax about updating our blog. It is a real catch 22 when you get behind. All sorts of new stuff is happing but I need to mention things of the past first.

The Trip from Hell

2010-11-03T10:53:00.000-07:00

Here is a summary of our trip back to Panama. It was one of the few times we had a schedule to meet. Only in an emergency will we do this again. Life is too short!

Day 1 Oil filter fails and the low pressure alarm goes off. I was able to replace the oil filter and stop the leak but only after two tries--ended up with about two quarts of oil in engine sump to clean up. Just did that yesterday. Messy job but learned bleach removes those stains. P.S. Helen was dodging without power the two reefs as I worked.

Day 2 Coming into Guanaja's reef our engine lost power and was starving for fuel--could not run over 1000 rpms, not good for beating into strong head winds and current. We anchored right after we were safe behind the reef, changed the filter and it seemed to help, also some water in fuel. (Same problem 4 days later). Looked at filter and it was clean with no water. I have no idea what is up. Oh yeah, I also noticed the line to reef the jib was hanging overboard so I dove and unwrapped it from the transducers. While under I noticed the drive line was 3/4 of an inch sucked in--later for that problem...and of course then the holding tank that needed to be drained didn't work--tried to fix it but hand dumped over the side what I could get at. Literally what a shitty day.

Days 3 to 3.5 No matter how I tried we can't motorsail faster than 2.5 knots due to the current, head winds, and 5 to 6 ft seas. I tried to sail off wind and still no luck. We were burning about 1.5 gals an hour doing this and we were going to run out of fuel if this continues. Broke the boomvang off at the mast. Basically the housing, pulleys, and attachment bracket just blew up in many pieces—13 years of sun exposure and fatigue. Was able to jerry rig a single line boomvang that lasted the rest of the trip.

Days 4 to 4.5 wind came out of the north, northeast at about 25 + knots seas were only 5 to 6 because we were in the lee of the Banks. Could only sail at about 6 knots because we only had the mainsail so we decided we needed to try to get the jib up. I was able to finish the sewing of the jib in the cockpit while under way (It had ripped out earlier that month). Left the lee of the banks and the seas built to 8 to 10. No way were we getting the jib attached and up so we decided to make a quick stop at Providencia to have some calmer waters. The autopilot was having trouble maintaining course because of going downwind and large seas so the off course alarm was going off every 3- -6- seconds during Helen's watch. After about 20 seconds it would adjust to course so the alarm would stop only to start again. Got to Providencia, put the jib up in 20knts of wind but no seas, and took a needed 6hr nap before we left.

Day 5-6 Seas were down to 6 to 8, the wind was still 25 + but we were hauling ass and it felt great. Autopilot was still having some trouble but not as bad as the day before. We were getting into potentially big squalls and ship traffic so we started radar only to have it die in about 2hrs. Ended up being corroded connections but it still died about every 3 hrs or so. Helen said the head was backing up so I went to dump the holding tank. Turned it on and nothing happened. The outlet was clogged. I figured we had knocked the calcium off the walls during our rough passage and that it had blocked the outlet. Put a quart of muric acid in the tank and let it sit. 6hrs later I opened the valve which was clogged and shit flew all over the forward bilge and under the bed area. Not a good thing. Connected the macerator and it still didn't pump. Took the whole thing apart and all the blades in the pump were broken off. It took me 1 hr to find my spare impeller but I did have one. There are 4 bolts that hold the pump to the motor, three had rotted off and broke when I took it apart and this was my last backup macerator. I put it back together with silicone and one bolt--it worked sort of. It was leaking and sucking air so it took 20 minutes to drain the tank, but at least we didn't have to bucket and chuck it. for 36 hrs more.

Day 6++ The seas were 8 to 10 + but had a 6 to 8 second period so they looked huge but it wasn't all that uncomfortable. There were a few waves that were much bigger than 10ft and reminded me of the Northwest. We were having squalls all day long and got overrun by 4 or 5 with 2 that had winds of over 35. It was good practice to shorten sails before we were over run. The foot of the jib, which I had not resewn because it looked ok, ripped out along the seam of the sun cloth. It wasn't going to damage the sail but if I let it continue it would make a lot more work for me so we rolled in the jib. The wind was actually out of the north and a little west so it worked out ok. We still had 25+ winds so we could maintain about 6 to 7 knots with just the main all the way out. The last 10 hrs the wind shifted to due south and was 20 knts on our nose again. We were again motoring at about 5.5 knot into wind with a 8 to 10ft following sea ugh!!! We were going to be making our approach after dark. Not my best choice but I had not calculated the miles to and from Providencia so here we come. We checked into the morning net and asked for some waypoints to get us in the dark. Another cruiser sent us some that afternoon. They were great. The lights in Drago were weird and wild, similar to the run way lights approaching O”Hara airport we guessed. There were red and green entertwined because there were 4 or more bends in the path and no clear entering point. We shot a gap, lined up. and they worked. We anchored at 10pm, and slept soundly for the first time in a week.

The next day I went to check the engine and found that somewhere on our trip the 3/8" plate bracket holding my watermaker pump had broken off in the middle and the pump was laying loose on top of the engine. So much for pickling the membrane. I am going to try to find a piece of PVC tubing I can put the membrane in and pour solution over it for storage. Might work, but I will bring back a membrane as well.

Looking back there was nothing I could have done to prevent any of the problems, it was just one of those trip you want to get behind you. I could have done a better job at figuring mileage. I had just not figured it was 35 mile out of our way to go to Providencia. At least that was the difference from going straight from the Hobbies south to Bocas or going to Providencia then to Bocas.

Now we are here and almost have forgotten our HELL trip, it is time to go see Kiele for the first time. Cool!!!

Life is great! Except for all the stuff that broke the boat did great in those conditions. I still feel good about our boat and its abilities.

Roatan Our Favorite Place So Far

2010-11-03T10:49:00.000-07:00

Roatan is by far my favorite place that we have cruised to in the past 4 years. We felt safe and welcomed everywhere we went. The food was good, and by Central America standards it was very clean and properly prepared. The local people were friendly and always willing to answer questions and help out. A large percentage of them spoke English so practicing our Spanish was made easier. Fresh fruits and vegetables were available from trucks almost everyday. There were three modern grocery stores that stock anything you could want. Best if you got there the day they were stocking as the locals know some supplies are short. Transportation was easy and affordable. You could ride the collective bus or take a local cab. The airport was centrally located making it one of the best places to have visitors, and that’s what we did.

Our pregnant daughter was first and had a wonderful visit as did we. I have written a blog about those experiences. The highlight of her visit was relax time and the dolphin encounter.

My sister and brother in-law were second. This was the first time they had come anywhere to visit us on the boat. We had an incredible time exploring, eating, drinking, and most of all diving. We were able to dive every day. On one occasion we had a 6-8ft shark swim right between our group. It turned out to be a Hammerhead which even made it more exciting. On every dive there was something new and exciting. We were diving with Tim and Paula on Hooligan, and, John and Kathy on Mystic Moon. Thanks to them I was able to dive over 65 times during the 3 months I was in the Bay Islands. I felt this was quite a birthday present to myself on my 60^th year. I am very proud of that accomplishment after about 10 plus years of only using scuba gear to clean the bottom of the boat. Except for being a short visit I know Cheryl and Rich had a wonderful adventure.

Our last visitor of the season was our son Mike. He wrote a great blog about his trip as well. Again the time was short but we had a fun time diving everyday and just having good times on island time. We spent the last full day doing ziplines with Helen and exploring the local jungles. We also had never done ziplines. Oh what fun.

Part of the problem of keeping the blog up to date during our stay in the Bay Islands was exactly what made it so great. Everyday we basically did the same activities: get up, eat breakfast, listen to the nets, determine when and where we were going to dive, have lunch on our way to explore the island, do our shopping, and the big decision of the day was where the evening sundowner was going to be. Life was simple but oh so great!

The only problem from the outside world that affected us was the whole time we were there a drug war was happening on the furthest east end of the island. But unlike Mexico it was a local problem with one drug lord wanting his stolen coke back from those who stole it. There was actually a road block not allowing any outsiders into the area so the two sides could “duke it out”. Except for hearing the horrific stories, we know of no cruisers who were affected. We will definitely be back to Roatan some day but for now there is still a lot to discover out there for us. Maybe we will find another favorite place in the world.

Mikes Vacation

2010-04-26T20:36:00.001-07:00

A teasing of retirement as a day in the life of the Peoples.

So I got down here on Saturday after taking a lil puddle jumper from San Salvador. Traveled out to the West End of Roatan where my dad has been anchored for basically 2.5 months out of 3. The heat index is about 100 so welcome to an early Texas summer. However, it aint bad and great reasons to jump off the back end of the boat to snorkel over to a large reef just outside the moorage, which we did my first day. Right under the boat we have a medium but fat 3-4' barracuda who was friendly. Then today we have had 2-3 sea turtles popping up every now and then. At the reef, the fish were amazing, every saltwater fish I knew from looking for my aquarium and stuff. There must be way over 70 different species down there all traveling in schools or by themselves. Some of the prettiest were yellow tailed damsels that have these really cool bright blue spots on them.

So that's just off the back of the boat, then on top of that there are probably 30 dive buoys within a mile of the boat. Today's dive, we get in the water, its shallow at first (15') but enter into a canyon that's only wide enough for one diver, we go down it for like 5 min weaving through it sometimes so tight that its like a tunnel. Different corals line the edges, hidden under the ledges are a few pesky but very pretty lionfish (which are great eating by the way!!! Found out last night at a benefit bbq for the local kids) Then we exit the canyon onto a massive wall with the pretty blue Caribbean water going down to the bottom and fading into the deep ocean. Swimming along the edges are rays, schools of fish, huge tube sponges that got up to almost two feet across and 4 feet tall. Along the wall there are many more of these canyons for exploring, seeing a huge Caribbean king crab, anemones with tentacles the size of my fingers white with a purple tips, so many different corals some pinks, some orange, lots green, and cool iridescent blue sponges too, everywhere you look it is just paradise here. If you happen to slow down and just float over a patch of coral, so many little colorful fish are there and small creatures you notice too. Then the occasional turtle swimming up at the top of the wall, silhouetted of the sunny water above, large branch corals between him and us, and schools of fish swimming around him…

So then after a brief afternoon siesta, we pull up our dingy to a dock, pick up our dive tanks waiting there for us that were just filled and walk the unpaved sand street of the town (about a mile long if that), lined with small tropical bars, open air restaurants, and many dive shops. Stop in and buy some veggies out of the back of the truck and stock up on bread and eggs for the week. I can't wait to try the coconut bread for French toast. Then for dinner we decided to have a lil surf and turf of lobster and filet and finish the night with a lil glass of 23 yr old rum on the rocks and gaze at the quiet night sky lightly bobbing in the water…

How can you ask for a better life…. This has just basically been 3 days so far of my week vacation for me, but months of adventures and relaxation for newly Granddaddy Peep's and Grandma Mom.

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Unexpected Surprise

2010-04-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

Helen had been home just three days from helping Kelsey move to Oregon when we woke up to an E-mail from Kelsey writing that she was on her way to the hospital and her water had broke. You might think we would be totally excited to have our first grandchild come into this world. We were but there was a problem. Kelsey was seven weeks away from her due date. We had made plans to be there and here comes Kiele (Kiwi) seven weeks early. Kiele was also breach so Kelsey told us she was not leaving the hospital till the baby was born and she was having a C section. More things to worry about. By 9:00am we had Helen booked on the 1:00pm flight to Houston and continue on to Portland. Arriving at 8:30 Portland time. Fast work!!! The doctors tried to slow down Kelsey's labor to give Kiwi some meds that would help develop her lungs. They were hoping to postpone labor by at least a day. Kieli wanted out of there and they could not slow down labor. Kieli was born by C-section at about 2:45pm on April 17th before either her Husband or Helen could get there. She was 4.5 lbs beautiful little girl who surprise everyone and was able to breath on her own and scored a nine out of ten on the baby tests, which is even great for a full term baby. She will have to be in NICU for a couple of weeks but she is surprising everyone how well she is doing. Kelsey is also doing well recovering at home but spending most of her waking time at the hospital. Kelsey has already shown how great a mother she will be, and can't wait till Kiwi gets to come home as well. We are very proud of both of them. Life is good

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Highlight of our year in Roatan

2010-04-12T07:52:00.001-07:00

Our daughter Kelsey was able to visit us here in Roatan. We had a fantastic time sharing our island life with her. Kelsey was 6+months pregnant with our first grandchild making it a very special visit. One special time was our visit to Anthony Key Resort to swim with the dolphin. Both Helen and I just watched from shore but Kelsey had a very moving experience. During her time in the water their pregnant dolphin came up to Kelsey's belly and nuzzled her nose against Kelsey Even the trainer was surprised and acknowledged the dolphin's understanding of Kelsey being pregnant. It was quit a thrill for everyone in her group. We look forward to being with Kelsey for the birth of our grandbaby

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New Pictures Updated

2010-04-11T13:36:00.000-07:00

Check out the new pictures I have added to "Photos of our Adventure"

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Anchored In Roatan A Vacation From Cruising

2010-04-11T13:33:00.001-07:00

We have been in Roatan for over 2 months now. Most of the time on a mooring in West End. West End is dive central. There are 30 dive sites just a short dingy ride away. I have been lucky enough to dive all the sites around us. Lucky meaning I have a dive partner group consisting of John and Kathy on Mystic Moon and Tim and Paula on Hooligan. Life doesn't get much better. The people here are extremely friendly and helpful. We have made friends with West End Diver who have been great. West End has a variety of restaurants and bars that make life fun. Helen has been in the states for a month helping our daughter get settled in Oregon and I have just been diving. It has been hard to update our Blog when your life consists of waking up, having breakfast, deciding where to dive, eating lunch, exploring the West End, and doing a few boat chores when it doesn't get in the way of Happy Hour. The hardest decision we make in a day is what to thaw for dinner and where to dive. The weather has been consistently in the mid eighties and seventies at night. Up until two weeks ago we had a cold front come down from the states about once a week. This meant stronger winds out of the North to West. Sometime we would move for a day or two and sometimes we would just sit tight. We have had one noteworthy storm of 50+ knots where we broke the blades on our wind generator, and lost the sunshade on our Jib. Other than that it has just been strong trade winds of 15 to 20 most of the time.

Diving has been great. We usually dive the reef wall protecting this end of the island. Our dives always involve depths of 70 to 80 ft and the marine life is incredible. We were very lucky to see a Hammerhead shark, very rare for this part of the world. Morays, giant crabs, Hugh grouper, are just a few of the common sittings. Today we dove a wreck on the north end and saw 3 green morays, 2 turtles, many large grouper, a 5ft or longer flat purple flat worm, lobster, and the biggest crab we have seen so far. Doesn't get much better that this.

Life is good I am waiting for Helen's return to explore more of the island. We will be heading back to Bocas Del Toro in May to store the boat for the summer so we can be with Kelsey when she has her baby. Our first grand child!!!!

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Roatan The Land of Clear water and many adventures

2010-03-12T19:48:00.001-08:00

Honduras, the land of water and adventure

We arrived in Roatan, Honduras on February 3. Our first stop was Guanaja which is a small rock island, population 6,000 and a strong Seven Day Adventist following. The houses are built up on stilts, the paths between are 4 feet wide, and the largest industry is the fish processing plant which became our best friend. Following the cultural norms all businesses close from 12 to 2 or 2:30 for lunch which gave us time to stop and sip the beers. We walked to the back door of the processing plant and bought lobster meat for $4.00 a pound and cleaned conch for $2.50 a pound. Life was good. We anchored off and met friends from Canada, Idyll Island, Cathy and Derek, Mystic Moon with Kathy and John, and Hooligan's crew of Paula, Tim and Nigel. Since they all dive and have equipment Dave broke loose from the depths of our storage his gear and started diving again. His first day he dove three awesome sites, walls and lava tubes surrounding him, fish and coral life within touch, and left the water with the most amazing grin on his face for hours. Our group went exploring and we dinghy drove to Graham's Key where a fishing resort owner welcomed us to walk his island, observe his fish pens which held turtles and a 300 pound grouper, see his bone fishing grounds, interact with his wildlife, and drink cold beer under the shade of his palapas restaurant. The snorkeling out on his reef was so cool-the coral variety, sea fans, and schools of small fish abound here.

After spending a week in Guanaja, we moved to Roatan and French Harbour. There we reconnected with reality by shopping in stores, buying a modem for internet connection, and walking on paved roads. We then dropped anchor in an area near Fantasy Island Resort where the gang refilled their dive tanks daily and did some more diving. Feeling the need to see what was around the corner we moved to West End and discovered diver's paradise. With over 20 sites within 10 minutes of our anchorage the serious diving began. On shore there are 4-5 places to get refills, island food restaurants, grocery stores for the basics-fruit juice, mixer, bread, and booze, vegetable trucks, a laundry, and 6 beers on ice for $8.00. Walking the unpaved road, and seeing the local shops brought to mind what Lahaina, Hawaii must of looked like before it became "found".

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Providencia to Tha Bay Islands

2010-03-12T19:45:00.001-08:00

The passage to Roatan has been more comfortable than recent trips, and for that we are grateful. The previous seas were square, confused, and turbulent. Many waves plowed over the dodger and dumped running water through the cockpit, which translated into many bruises and falling objects (mainly Helen). This trip however we were able to make water, hang laundry, fish to no avail, and sun bathe on the foredeck. In the first 24 hours we cover 181 miles of sea without motor power-which is a new speed record for us. On day two the winds died down to the low teens and we meandered along at 5 to 6 knots through the day and night. We sailed using the spinnaker pole to push our jib out and gain a bit more speed.
Currently we have the moon light to guide us, stars popping out from behind clouds that are moving with a cold front, and calm swells that allow the boat to sway in a fairly smooth left to right pattern. The need for long pants and a jacket made us scramble through stored clothes. We may need more of them when this cold front finally arrives in full force this weekend-the thought of needing to put on shoes to keep warm makes us grab for the coffee liqueur bottle and check its level for future reference.
Our first stop in Honduras will be Guanaja, famous for "No See-Ums", an easy, cheap, and painless check in, and a cruiser hang out called Manatee Bar and Restaurant where cruisers from around the area come together to swap books, and feed each others need for new conversationalists and entertaining stories of passages and places.

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Providencia, Columbia

2010-01-26T18:05:00.000-08:00

OK we thought today was Saturday, and kept thinking tomorrow was Sunday, and we honestly have no idea or need for the numerical date. So we check the computer for affirmation. Nope, we created an extra day this week by now realizing tomorrow is the real Saturday. Hey though in our defense, we always knew this was still January and not yet February!
Today we walked out to the fort and cannons, around Morgan's Head on Santa Catalina, and up and down the edge of the small island. Saturday, we will be renting scooters, touring Providencia island, and going out for lunch at a roadside restaurant with a couple on a one year hiatus from Massachusetts (she is a meteorologist professor from Rutledge University who is an expert on arctic climate research and global warming impact studies) and their two barely teenager kids...fun, fun, fun. Sunday we will snorkel, swim, dinghy around the bay and look for Captain Morgan's famous treasure cave. Out there is a great reef with hundreds of fish--this is a preserve site so the fish are abundant.
Next Thursday or Friday the weather will allow us to go to Honduras and meet our other friends. In Honduras the diving is suppose to be clear 100 feet deep, warm, and some of the best in the world. We think we will be there for all of February through April. Utila is one of the islands, has a night life, and is a preferred spot for young people looking to dive. Roatan has Fantasy Island and great snorkeling; French Harbor is a must see spot as well. In mid to late April, we will be taking the boat out of the water for a survey before heading back to Panama in early May. Early May we will go to Bocas Del Toro, the European hippy hangout, put the boat up, and then head for Texas and Arizona. However, we are cruisers who have trouble keeping track of the day as well as the week so we may actually do something totally different than our current plans that are obviously written in shifting sand. Life is good and we are still having fun in the sun.

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Northbound to Roatan

2010-01-22T15:56:00.000-08:00

It is midnight and we are trekking at 6-7 knots over 3-8 foot rolling seas. Earlier the seas were 7-14 feet and that gave us quite a crack the whip/toss and drop ride for about 10 hours. Since the moon has set, the stars are our only companion out here 150 miles off the shores of Costa Rica. With no interference from other lights, the stars are bright and clear. Orion's Belt is prominent in the sky as is many planets and satellites. It is still warm enough to be in shorts and barefooted and my watch has started. Our AIS, ship identification program, shows no traffic, our maps show depths of 3-4 thousands of feet, and we have seen only one other large ship out here since leaving San Blas this morning. There was a suspicious "other boat," not lit, and traveling in the shadow of the large boat earlier that we noticed. All is good.
P.S. Another companion turned up-phosphorous looking like fireflies, as densely packed and bright as the Milky Way. They dot the surface of the waves that break upon our hull. Like tiny dancing fairies, they shimmer and disappear from sight as we sail north through the moonless night.

San Blas Islands, last visit for this year…
We waved goodbye to the San Blas Islands on January 18th and must say they should be counted as one of the Wonders of the World. These island number in the hundreds, and the Indians that live out there are gentle, soft spoken, and mild mannered in most cases. They show entrepreneurial skills and a strong work ethic. We spent one week off an island and watched a house being raised in the tradition of barn building in the states. For two or three days the man of the hut worked hard chopping and cutting wood each afternoon. A launched arrived one morning with a work crew of men who hopped out and began to raise timbers for a roof, laced rope into a lattice on the roof braces, and then wove palm fronds into a roof. At the end of the day the building was half done. Every week, every anchorage had a launch make the trip to bring fresh vegetables, eggs, meat, fish, beer, and of course the hand made molas that these islands are famous for creating.
The anchorages are getting crowded now with people from the Arc Rally and from all over Europe who are getting ready to cross over into the Pacific and head further west. Most of the anchorages that had seen 3-5 boats are now 15-30 boat crowded. The flags are mostly Italian, French, and German, but other European countries are in there as well.

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Leaving Linton for the second time

2010-01-06T16:47:00.000-08:00

Leaving Isla Linton

After three weeks anchored behind Isla Linton we are ready to leave. I got my rebuilt autopilot back a few days ago and everything is working great again. We have had a great time here seemingly busy doing something everyday. Thanks to Owen and Betty on Hiatus, we were able to make several trips into Colon without have to take the two and one half hour bus ride. We did take the bus a couple of times and it makes a long day. These really are the only mode of transportation for most Panamanians and the buses will haul anything. The last bus we rode had a full size mattress in the back with everyone's groceries piled in the last three seats. We are glad to be back to depending on the boat instead of the local busses.
We had a great New Years on our boat with a couple of other boats, Nim Tai, Hiatus, And Renegade came over for pizza and New Year's. We actually found ourselves awake and still partying at midnight. That was a first for us in a long time. We also enjoyed a few great meals at the local cruisers restaurant and the French Restaurant in the next bay. At the local restaurant you bring your dingy right up to the break water, stern tie off on a buoy, and nose tie to a line. From there you can either grab a swing tire or rope then pull yourself out of your dingy about 5 ft from where you sit to eat. They serve Great Columbian food. Hans, the owner is from Holland, and his wife, the cook, is from Columbia, his 18yr old daughter is studying Law in Cartagena, and his math whiz 11 yr old son helps with the bills and serving meals. It is a real family enterprise.
Our plan was to leave for Providencia, Columbia on Sunday with a very short weather window. Sunday we woke up and decided instead to go to San Blas and make sure the autopilot work first. The weather window was only two 1/2 days long with a very cold, cold front moving in behind it. Temperatures in the LOW 70's, winds to 30 knots, and a lots of rain didn't really sound like fun. So here we are, back in the San Blas Islands where it is 82 to 90 every day with snorkeling and 40ft visibility just waiting to be enjoyed. Providencia can wait.
Our trip down from Linton was great. We had steady 15 knots of wind with a little lumpy 5 to 7 ft seas. It actually was the calmest we have seen so far. We had a great 9 hr sail only using the engine to leave and enter the anchorage. That is why we own sailboats! We used less than a gallon of gas!

Later we will describe our La La life in Kuna Yala…

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Riding the Christmas Winds

2009-12-22T13:27:00.001-08:00

Riding the Christmas Winds of the Western Caribbean
The weather changed, giving us a window of opportunity to go as planned to San Andres and Providencia for Christmas, so we left the San Blas islands and forged north. Twelve hours into our 48 hour trip we lost our auto steering and had to steer by hand in 6-10 foot seas that were steep and square with 4-5 seconds apart swells-trashy waters! We were about 55 miles from land and with the help of the wind made it back in 6.5 hours-a record for our boat! We dropped anchor in Linton, famous for a great French restaurant, and slept. A few days later Dave made a two day trip to Panama City to turn in the auto pilot to have it rebuilt. Having now been here for a week we are part of the "family". We ate a 3 hour meal at the French restaurant on Wednesday, and Helen played dominos with the ladies on Thursday. We went to Colon on Friday for groceries, and Owen (on Hiatus) drives boaters to the local pizza parlor on Sundays. The last couple of nights we have been able to sit in our cockpit and been entertained by a number of fire fly type beetles. We have not seen these before down here, and have not seen fire flies since our trip to the Midwest twenty years ago. It has been fun to have them flying around our cockpit; our little Christmas lights.
So for now, we are sitting here in Linton, waiting for our part to arrive from Texas. If it arrives, and we get the auto pilot installed, we then have to wait for a weather window so we can head north…but the radio net this morning reported the temperature in Belize is a chilling 60 degrees, not much incentive to head north in a hurry.
In the meantime we have become a part of the social circle here and invited to attend the four holiday gatherings organized by locals and cruisers. We will be cheering and sharing times with these new friends and thinking of all the wonderful past times with our old friends and family.
After the holidays we will go back to our routine of wait and play, not a bad life after all!

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San Blas Islands...a world without electricity

2009-12-22T13:27:00.000-08:00

San Blas Islands...a world without electricity
We spent late November and early December in the lowest latitudes we will see for a long time. The San Blas islands, off the coast of Panama, are a slice of life backwards and forwards. The islands and atolls are mostly uninhabited, and if they are inhabited the huts are what you see on Survivor, the series. In fact the islands are pretty much what you see on the series as well. There are no stores, no roads, and the altitude on these islands is 2-4 feet. Global warming will be taking them away in a short amount of time.
When we arrived to our first inhabited island we were greeted by 2 young men in a hand made wooden canoe called an ulu. They asked for food, and milk, and magazines. After getting a bit from us they pulled out their cell phones, called their wives and wanted us to talk to the wife and kids. Who would of thought we would get cell service out here when we didn't get it in parts of Arizona or Texas? The Indians were hopeful we could also charge their phones for them because there is no electricity out here. Their payment was a promise of fish, lobster, or crab.
In the islands known as the East Lemons we met people who have stayed there for 3 years. Quite a few of the cruisers spend 8 months or more in these islands with a trip to Cartagena, Columbia to meet cruising permit requirements. You can dive off the back of your boat and snorkel in 82-85 degree water with 20 foot visibility. As we were dropping our anchor 2 men in a canoe tried to sell us fish, I waved them off so we could concentrate on setting the anchor and not drifting into one of the 30 boats in this small space. During our week there four of the local mola makers arrived. We bought the beautiful reversed embroidery (that they are famous for making) featuring traditional designs and scenes from their daily Indian lifestyle. Other enterprising locals showed up in bigger wooden boats offering produce and beer, handcrafts, fish, turtles, conch shells, and some even offer to work on your boat for a full day at the cost of $20.00 plus a meal. Our boat is now waxed, polished, and shiny. The man and son who did it worked from 8 AM until 5PM. Over lunch he explained that his new born child needed a towel and that he would have to paddle many miles to the mainland to find a store that sold towels, but that this was so important in their culture that he would make the trip and give up three days of work. At the end of the day, I presented him with a towel and his wages. The look of sincere, deep appreciation and gratitude was unmistakable. He teared up and thanked us for our kindness…
The next island we went to an atoll called the Swimming Pool because of its color and shape. The seas changes from a pale green, to turquoise, and deep blue. There are at least 9 reefs and 8 islands in this atoll. Within its boundary is an area called the Hot Tub which has a rock face that plunges down 70 feet and is home to more coral, sea creatures, and fish than we had yet to experience. I felt like I was in a Jacques Cousteau film and scenes from the Abyss flashed in my mind. Daily we dove off the boat and snorkeled, went on dinghy rides and saw two kinds of sharks not far from our boat, sea horses, conch shells, and all matter of native fish as well as some new species to the area, the dangerous Lion fish are now cruising these waters. What we haven't seen are many dolphins, whales or turtles. However, with the full moon a turtle arrived on one of the islands, dug holes, and laid her eggs. We covered them so the birds and local natives would not harvest them. We stayed long enough to have two Monday get togethers, take yoga lessons, play bocci ball, and meet a bunch of cruisers. Being a sailboat we follow the winds and wait for the right wind to blow our way...

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Rio Chagres

2009-11-11T10:58:00.000-08:00

I ended up spending the whole two and a half weeks in the Chagres while waiting for Helen to fly back. It was having such a wonderful experience I just couldn't leave. I anchored in 4 different locations on the river and each had its own unique feeling. My first anchorage was closest to the dam that forms Lake Gatun which is the main part of the Panama Canal. It was an easy
anchorage and I was treated to my first sighting of toucans since being in Panama. I saw a few monkeys and a tarpon(fish) that was as big as my kayak. It came up right along side my kayak while I drifted down the river watching the wildlife. It was long and slender, but felt the size of a dolphin as it surfaced next to me. I stayed there 4 days and then decided to go down stream to explore another area. I anchored off the mouth of an inlet and was able to explore it using the kayak as well. I saw a few crocs, parrots, an anteater, and sloths but no new toucans. This jungle river was a true jungle cruise, unlike many I have taken before in Costa Rica and Mexico. Once I made it back to the boat I was sitting in the cockpit and noticed a couple of toucans about 50 yds away. I watched them when two more came into view. It was quite a treat to be able to watch that many. Over the next couple of days I was treated to many more wildlife adventures as I explored the many inlets. I was able to see all three different types of toucans and I have good pictures of two types. A new group of toucans were about 50 ft from the boat eating berries off a bush right next to me. On one of the afternoons when I was again just sitting on the boat I saw a Howler monkey on a limb over the water. I watched him scurry out to the end of the limb and then retreat back to the main trunk. He went back and forth for over 45 minutes. I was down below when I heard a splash. I went up and discovered that the little monkey had jumped into the river and was swimming across. The howlers on both sides were going crazy. I have no idea what would motivate a monkey to swim across a swift river with crocs about. He made it in about 20 minutes, must have been love!

My last anchorage was down stream towards the mouth. I wanted to go ashore and explore the fort so being closer was a little better since the dingy had been acting up. The trail from the landing was a nice 1.5km walk up hill to actually get to the fort itself. I again saw two types of monkeys and many birds. The fort has a history going back to construction in 1597. It was taken over and destroyed three times. The fort was used to both protect the river of gold, and to plunder it depending on who had control. They said it was the richest river in the world for the amount of treasure that was moved down the river and later sent out on ships. It was very well fortified but still taken after very bloody attacks. I took many pictures of the remaining cannons.
The next morning I woke up to the dam dumping copious amounts of water with a 5.5knt current. I didn't dare get off the boat for the whole day. I spent the day watching the anchor chain stretch to its limits. The next day when I left it was back to normal. Thanks to the sea gods.

My time in the Rio Chagres was absolutely magical. I am hoping to take Helen back there, but the amount of rain that has dumped worries me that there will be another water release right when I am trying to enter the reef and sand bar tricky and narrow entrance.

Life is good. Helen is back on the boat, and we are ready to take off on our next adventure. Next we are headed to the island group called San Blas. 300 islands, 39 inhabited, and life there is the same as it has been for over 800 years. We will be greeted by Indians in dug out canoes selling fruits and vegetables, fish, lobster, conch, and hand made molas(reversed embroderied rectangles). They take American dollars, there are no gas stations, no banks, and no worries.

Sometimes you have to remember where you are!!!

2009-10-25T17:58:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here in my cockpit having a wonderful dinner of Steak, roasted potatoes, and salad with fresh blue cheese dressing I made myself. It is 85 degrees and I dressed up for dinner. I am eating Filet Mignon because in Central America as well as Mexico the locals don't eats it and you can buy it for $4.20 a pound. They average 3.5 lbs for the whole filet and I bought 3 the before I left. I have a nice yellow shirt and green Columbia Sportswear shorts. I have been accused of being a Columbia Sportswear billboard. Oh I wish!!Most of my clothes are thanks to Bob at Columbia in Lake Oswego. I hope that is his name I know he reads my blog. I am 3100 miles away from Oregon as the crow flies and 4000 miles from Skagway when we turned around and headed south. I am in Panama, sometimes I forget just where in the world I am. Solstice I know you can relate you are much further than I. But I am here in the land of jungles, pirates, and incredible scenery. My current location is on the Rio Chagres it is 8 miles from Colon, but a world away from mankind. At the mouth of this river is a fort called San Lorenzo it was over taken by Captain Morgan, of the famed spiced rum Morgan. He knocked the crap out of this place. I'am not exactly sure why, I haven't look it up on the internet yet, it is on a bluff all by itself but he blasted away with bigger cannons and scored this piece of Panama. If I go up steam about 4 mile I run into the dam that forms the Lake Gatun which is part of the Panama Canal. Where I am anchored I am surrounded by jungle. There are parrots, Toucans, crocs, fish the size of my kayak(Tarpon), snakes, incredible amount of foliage plants that I had only seen in the DC zoo prior to this. Tuesday I am going to Portabelle. Columbus landed there. It was his first step on mainland America. They celebrate the Black Christ. They are the only people in the Americas who believe in a Black Christ. I choose not to go to the celebration last week because of the rumors of bad people taking advantage of good people. When Helen arrives here in two weeks we are headed to San Blas Islands. These islands are so incredible they are their nation within Panama, the land of the Kuna Indians. They have not changed there lifestyle in hundreds of years. They have their own laws which as cruiser we all obey. Their islands are nothing like we have experienced before. In the next year we will go Isla San Andres(Columbian Islands), Nicaragua offshore islands, Roatan, Cancun, Cozumel, Bocas Del Toro and back here to store the boat till next season.
I just wanted to sit back and reflect on who we are and where we are. What an incredible life we live. Sometimes we take it for granted, another beautiful beach or incredible island. Sometimes we need to just step back and look at what we have experienced. We are in Panama on our own boat. How cool is that. WOW

Life is so good

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I am out of here

2009-10-21T10:25:00.001-07:00

After three months of either being in the work yard or at dock, I have finally cut the ties and left. Well at least for 2.5 weeks, then Helen comes back and I go to Shelter Bay to pick her up. I spent almost two month back in the states visiting Mike and Kelsey and helping Helen take care of her mom. Her mom passed away shortly after I left to come back to the boat. I was sorry I wasn't able to be there for the funeral or other events, but all of our permits to be in Panama were to expire in 5 days and it needed my immediate attention. Once that was taken care of I started on the boat projects. Fixing the boat after my damage during my crossing was a whole different story. When I broke the strut I also bent the shaft at the taper. I ended up with a new strut, new shaft and new coupling. The later two we machined here in Colon. Removing the broken strut took four days by it self. I wont go into details but I never want to attempt that again. All the parts went back together fairly well and was back in the water a week later. Shaft alignment turned out to be easy because it was so close to start with. It took another week to get the boat provisioned and ready to go. I tackled a few below deck varnish jobs and was good to go. The only problem was I was so nervous to leave the dock I didn't sleep much the night before. It was worse than being a newbe. I had been at the dock way too long. That morning my heart was pounding, my blood pressure dropping , and my head dizzy and spinning when I left the dock not knowing if everything I fixed was going to work or not. There were times I even felt like I could black out. I set it on auto pilot and tried to eat something and calm down. My whole passage was only about 8 miles but it was like crossing an ocean for the first time. I felt like crap the whole way and couldn't believe I was doing this to my self. I really was pathetic. I made it with no problems and am currently anchored about 5 miles up the Rio Chagres. This a jungle river about 50 to 75 yrds wide. There are parrots, Toucans, monkeys, snakes, and all sorts of jungle animals all along the river bank. I haven't put the dingy in the water yet, but I think I will put the kayak in first to explore this evening. It is so nice to be back out here and away from the dock. I enjoyed meeting new friends, and will probably be going a different direction than they are, but this is what it is about. Today I am relaxed and feel great.

My position report is finally updated.

Life is great

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We made it through the canal!!!

2009-07-10T14:09:00.001-07:00

We made it through the Panama Canal, and we are now sitting in the Western Caribbean. How great is that? Our trip through the canal was flawless and easy. The weather was perfect all the way and we were able to make it in one day. I had gone through the canal, on another boat 4 days earlier, so I knew what to expect and that made my trip so easy. My one hired line handler and my friends from Leo Scotia and Panchita were awesome. For those coming behind me I would recommend Luis as a competent crew. He treated me well. His phone number is 67770222. He also arranged for lines and cabs. Now the other side of the story!!!

We were told on Monday that our advisor would be at our boat at 6:00 am by the canal control. Everyone knows they are always late so my crew for the trip was going to arrive at 5:45 giving us plenty of time to get ready. Last Friday, on the boat I went through on, the advisor was 1 1/2 hours late. At 5:20am Signal Control calls me and tells me my advisor will be there in 15 to 20 minutes, and I have no crew. I see my crew on the dock at the same time the pilot calls me and say he is here and could I bring the boat out into the channel it meet him. I still had no crew on the boat. I figured I had to take the boat into the fuel dock to pick up everybody instead of waiting for a panga. On my way to the dock in the dark I ran over a mooring line and wrapped it around my prop. This is a 1 inch line and it stops me dead, Oh %%%%#!#!!#!!!#####(abbreviated short version of the 4 minute ranting and raging. My crew isn't on the boat, the pilot is out in the channel waiting, and if I cancel the trip now it would cost me about $1500 plus maybe some fines as well. It is still dark so I put on my mask, no fins, and jump in the water with a fishing knife to see if I can cut myself loose. I have zero visibility because it is dark!!! I find my prop and start hacking away at everything, including my hand, as best I could. Each time I went down I had to search for the prop in the dark and only had a couple of seconds to keep cutting. After about 5 minutes I had enough of the line cut away that the prop would turn. I still felt a big knot but I had to get going. I made it out to the pilot boat about 10 minutes late, but the shaft was vibrating pretty bad. My Auto Prop wouldn't pitch right so I could only go 6.4 knots. I decided to give it a shot anyway thinking I would ruin the cutlass bearing, but hopefully make it through. If I would have broken down in the canal and had to be towed it would cost $2000 an hour for the tow, plus a whole bunch of fine and penalties. We actually made pretty good time and were able to go through the last locks with a small freighter at 2:50. We were told it would be a two day passage so I was very excited to get through in one day. We limped into Shelter Bay and found a slip. Yesterday I dove on the boat and discovered more damage than I expected. There was in fact a huge knot of rope still around my prop, and all the vibration had broken off my strut which supports my drive shaft. I was really lucky to make it through at all. Now I have to figure out what to do. I am able to haulout here which is a real blessing, but it is very expensive to do so. I now have plenty of time to figure it out. I am just stuck here in Paradise till I do.

Helen's last week on the boat(she goes home for 3 months to spend time with her mom) will be here, at a marina sitting around a pool, sitting in an air-conditioned room doing the internet, or reading on a soft cushy couch in air conditioning. She says she can handle that for a week. I however will be here off and on for two months. So by the end of my time here I will know everyone's name, life story, and have tons of new stories. I was planning a trip home and now my shopping list is a bit longer... till later our thoughts and love...and yes, life is still good!

I just found out the part I mess up is over $1000 ugh

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Panama City were are here

2009-07-10T14:05:00.001-07:00

Our crossing to Panama City was very easy with little traffic to worry about. We did get caught in one storm, lightning on all sides and approaching us… and had a water spout touch down about 100 yrds away from the boat. I had to do a 180 degree turn to avoid being sucked up by it. It was only about 200ft across, and was kicking up maybe 3 ft seas in the middle. I don't have any idea on the wind speed, but it looked pretty scary. Once we arrived in PC we took a mooring at the Balboa Yacht Club to start the process of going through the canal. Across from us was Grace, Jim and Kay, who invited us for Happy Hours. We met Wolfgang from Germany and Ed from the U.S. Parked behind us was Natasha, from Poland, who is single handling her small sailboat around the world. She is one leg from finishing this 2 year trip. We were all getting things repaired-boat life is not just Happy Hours. There is work involved to keep this lifestyle going.

The first duty once we arrived here in a Panama City was to get checked into the country. We were told the steps to follow only to find they had changed. They were even different from the day before. Every cruiser we met had a different story to tell and paid for different inspections . We found a taxi for $8 hr to run us around and help with the process. Our first stop was the Port Captain. We were told we no longer check in there and need to meet a Port Captain representative at our boat. The phone call was made and off we went. Instead of the boat we meet him and the health inspector at the BYC bar. The PC took our paperwork and issued us our clearance papers. The health inspector told us we needed to be fumigated because we came from Costa Rica but he would let it slide for a $46 fee. We received a clean bill of health and no receipt. No one else we have talked to have been charged or inspected by the health inspector, others had an agricultural inspection, and still others had a $20.00 something inspection. We then went back to immigration and received our visa for 90 days. We were legal for the time being.

My next order of business was taking care of the alternator and Honda Generator. I called Honda America about warranty and was told since I am out of the country the warranty in not valid. After a long conversation about not standing behind their products and what good is a warranty he hung up on me and left me to find my own help at my expense. So much for customer service.
The next day I hired Prado to take me to the local mechanics. I took the alternator to a local shop and the generator to the only Honda dealer and hoped for the best. We drove through at least ½ to 2/3 of Panama City that day. Mostly on the back streets and saw the real Panama. Both projects were fixed quickly and I am back in power.
The next week was spent doing all the paper work for the canal transit, and scheduling line handlers, renting 125ft lines, and finding 20 tires. The process was actually much easier than expected and we saved $400 in agent fees by doing it ourselves. About the only other thing we really did accomplish was to spend $600 on provisions and visit the large mall to get a phone and just walk around. We are set to make the crossing. Four days before our scheduled transit I was able to crew on Ecos, a friends sailboat, that would give me great experience on what to expect. The transit was two days and I was ready to tackle the Panama Canal in my own boat

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Traveling to and around the Perlas Islands

2009-07-10T14:00:00.001-07:00

We were expecting this portion of our trip to be both long and nerve racking because of all the ships moving to and from the canal. The currents against us were supposed to add to the tension. To our surprise neither the ships nor currents became an issue. We made great time in pretty benign conditions. Our first land fall was on the west side of Isla San Jose called Ensenada Bodega. This was a very shallow bay with five distinct beaches to explore. We all felt we were anchored in a lagoon created by Disney. That evening we had a 3 dingy raft up and floated around the bay and down a short river drinking rum to celebrate our last step before the Panama Canal.
We stayed two or more nights in all the anchorages we visited in the Perlas chain. Each had something different to see and enjoy. On most of the islands we were able to trade with locals for lobster, mangoes, and avocados. Lobsters were small to medium in size and we averaged paying less than two dollars apiece. The people have no concept of conservation so they collect every single lobster they can find. We ended up with a couple so small they could have been mistaken for crawdads without the claws. It won't be too many years till they have stripped the local areas of all lobster. Another island we visited was Isla Pedro Gonzales. Here we anchored in a cove next to a small village of about 400 people. Upon dropping our anchor Maurice came paddling out with his leaking dug out canoe to sell us avocados, and then asked for a tow back to the shore. His paddle was a palm frond and it had broken on the way out to us. The homes were all identical except for color. We were not sure if they were government built or private industry, but they were all the same. There were two small stores, which barely had any staples, and seem to cater to the snack and beer crowd. Maurice saw us and took us in to his favorite store. The Spanish they speak here is a different dialect from the Spanish we understand, it's a blend of languages. We did anchor on the other side of the island and found one of the most pristine beached in all of the Perlas islands. We found out later that locals were paid to keep the beach free of trash. Again we were offered avocados, mangoes and found shells to collect. Unfortunately the whole island is planned for full development.
On the Southern tip of Isla Del Rey we anchored in a small bay north of Punta Cocos. At high tide we took a river cruise and enjoyed the mangrove covered shoreline. There were a lot of birds but not much else. We moved to anchor off of Isla San Telmo to look for a one hundred year old submerge submarine. We spent 3 hrs snorkeling and searching for the sub and couldn't find it. Only one of the cruising guides even mention the sub and it doesn't give the exact location. Our friends in San Cles had snorkeled on the sub last year so I knew it existed, but where? Just before giving up and moving I spotted a odd shape emerging from the water next to shore; it was round and appeared to be the hatch. Sure enough it was the sub. The location is just off the only sandy beach in about eight feet of water. Terri on San Cles tells the story about sub better than I could so I give you her account:
"Everyone else got a close-up look at the Sub Marine Explorer. One of the earliest submarines ever built, it was constructed in the mid 1860's by German engineer and U.S. immigrant, Julius H. Kroehl. It was reportedly more advanced technologically than the infamous Hunley and was designed to retrieve things from the bottom of the sea, but with the Hunley disaster still fresh in the their minds, the U.S. government was too gun-shy to show any interest, so Julius and some partners formed the Pacific Pearl Company and took the sub to Las Perlas, Panama where she made several successful dives for pearls. Unfortunately, nitrogen poisoning was an unknown danger at that time. Julius and the rest of the diving team died of a mysterious "fever". The sub was ultimately abandoned and is now a rusted hulk in the shallows off Isla San Telmo."

Just before we left Isla San Telmo to move up the shore on Del Rey we experience a very violent T-storm and saw our first water spout. It was about a quarter mile away, but still very impressive. The storm lasted less than an hour. Our next stop was a spot behind Isla Spiritu Santo. I spent the afternoon in the dingy searching for lobster in the outer islands, but none could be found. Our charging systems were still giving us major problems so we moved on. We had to run the engine three to four hours every day to keep up with our needs . The alternator was only putting out 22amps and our Honda generator was having reverse polarity problems.
We anchored off of Isla Casaya, which was surrounded by reefs except a very small opening 100 magnetic degrees off of a white sand beach on an adjacent island. I was very nervous but made it in. Once the tide went down I couldn't believe how dangerous it really was.
Our last anchorage in the Perlas islands was Isla Bayoneta. I was getting really concerned about all the projects I had to take care of on the boat and just wanted to get to Panama City and get started. We said good bye to Lea Scotia and Panchita for the time being and headed for the city.

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Isla Santa Catalina to the Perlas Islands

2009-07-10T13:57:00.001-07:00

Isla Santa Catalina is an island off of the village with the same name. Santa Catalina is a famous surfing area in Western Panama. The village itself was full of young surfer dudes from all over the world. Since the surf was so good the anchorage was very rolly and unsettled. We would not be spending much time here. When the tide was low a reef protected the anchorage, but when the tide went up we lost our reef and it's protection. Our first trip into shore to find the restaurant named Jamming Pizza was a good surf landing with no real problems. Leaving that evening was a little more eventful in the dark, but we only took on eight to ten inches of water in the dink. The next day when the surf was much higher we tried to land in a different location and swamped the dingy and both Helen and Joan (on Panchita) fell out and into the water. The dink was totally swamped, but didn't roll. It would have made a great video on what not to do! We did find Jamming Pizza at the end of a half mile muddy road. It was a cool place but they didn't open till 6:30pm and we didn't really want to have to walk back to the boat in the dark jungle. We ended up at a small beach front palapa by the dingy landing. Great food and a good price.
With such an uncomfortable anchorage we moved on to Isla Gobernadora. It was an open anchorage, but at least it was calm. The next morning we travel about 30 miles to Ensenada Naranjo. Naranjo is a very pretty and somewhat protected anchorage on the mainland of Panama. The water was clear. The fish were big, and the beach was inviting. We made one hike into the jungle looking for monkeys. At the end of the trail we found a herd of cows, a wild lemon tree, and mangoes. We kept hearing the monkeys but never saw them. It was nice to see the different terrain just a short walk away from the beach. Our next hop was an overnight passage to the Las Perlas Islands.

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Isla Secas and beyond

2009-07-10T10:14:00.001-07:00

Our first anchorage in the Isla Secas was on the east side of Isla Cavada. We were very surprised to find Panchita anchored there waiting for us. We had not seen Panchita for about 3 weeks so it was a good reunion. Isla Cavada is a private island as are a lot of the islands in Panama. There is a very exclusive resort on the island where the minimum accommodations are $300 a night. The funny part is all the rooms are separate and they are Yurts. Yurts are canvas covered structures on wooden platforms. All are very nice and come with every amenity you can think of (yes, even internet), plus the locations of each yurt was incredible,... but they are still tents! We were told we were not allowed on shore so we didn't push it and try. The next day we decided to go to a friendlier island that was still in the Secas. The island is in the southwest section, and called Isla Pargo. Only Rains book shows you can anchor there, but it was probably the best anchorage we had since leaving Mexico. We were protected on three sides from the weather and the visibility was 25 to 30 ft. The best so far. We were able to hike the island and snorkel in clear water right off the boat. Most of the fish we have seen before but it was still amazing. We stayed 3 days and probably should have stayed a week. When we left the Secas we decided to skip the Isla Coiba park islands because of cost. The cost varies depending on what they think they can gouge you for. Some friends of ours were told it would cost the $150 a night to anchor and $20 per person per day. They settled on $150 flat rate for 2 days and no receipt. When they moved to a new anchorage they were hit up for the same fee. As you can imagine this is out of my budget. Instead we went to Isla Medidor. We were told it was beautiful. With all the coming and going of construction workers the beauty was overpowered by the noise and commotion. We stayed one night and moved on to Bahia Honda. We checked out where every cruising guide said was the best place to anchor and ended up finding our own place near the entrance. We had much more protection and clear water so we were happy. That evening two families came by and offered us fruits and vegetables for trade or money. We scored bananas, spinach,culantro, mangoes, and avocados. The next day we tried to help one of the men fix his outboard, but he need to go to Panchita to finish the project. Later another local needed help with his spark plugs and I happened to have the right tool for the job. The next day I dove, looking for lobsters and found a 12 place setting of steel dinner plates. Later that day a load of local kids came over to see us and get whatever we were handing out--pencils, pencil sharpeners, erasers and steel plates. We stayed three very enjoyable days at this anchorage, but moved on to Isla Santa Catalina to find a place called Jamming Pizza. At the time we thought it was Jammin' Pizza, so the quest was on.

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Isla Parida and Isla Gamez

2009-06-24T06:42:00.001-07:00

Our Land fall at Isla Parida was uneventful. We were able to miss the rock pinnacle that Batwing had warned us about. It was almost dark when we anchored and were almost immediately attacked by bugs. Mosquitoes, and no see-ums were everywhere. The bay is shared by a small resort but since it is the rainy season there seemed to be no activity anywhere. With all the bugs we just put up the screens and huddled below decks till the the sun came up. We decided to move to a small island called Gamez. We were hoping for less bugs. Isla Gamez is probably the first truly tropical island we have been anchored off of. It look like a island jungle paradise. To a point it was, but when we went ashore there were bugs everywhere. The pictures were great because you can't see the bugs. We went back to the boat and decided to try a little snorkeling. Visibility was about 10 to 15 ft so it was good but not great. We were suprised at how few of fish there were. We were hoping for better. That afternoon Carlos came by with a few Bananas and wanted to know if we wanted any lobster. This was the first time since the Sea of Cortez we have been offered lobster so we jumped at the chance. 30 minutes later he was back with three nice lobster and we gave him the $10 he was asking for. We had a great evening of BBQ lobster even with the bugs everywhere. The next day we decided to move on with the bugs, no visibility, and the threat of thunder and lighting we were hoping to find an even better paradise. Our next stop would be a short hop to Isla Secas. Leaving the Parida group of island you started to see what an incredible area it was. There are over 100 islands and reefs to explore just in this area. If it wasn't the rainy season and not knowing what was ahead it would have been fun to do more exploring.

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Out of Costa Rica

2009-06-24T05:09:00.000-07:00

Helen arrived back on the boat on May 22. It took only 4 days to get provisioned and checked out of Costa Rica. Golfito was a great place to wait for Helen and I made the most of it. Land and Sea became my second home for about 2 weeks. It gave me a place to get internet and just hang out with fellow cruisers. While I was there I went with the people from Batwing and Sarana to the boarder of Panama to do some duty free shopping. It was a lot of fun and very interesting place. We were able to walk freely across the border, but our first crossing was by sneaking between two buildings through a 2ft gap called the tunnel. We later found out you can just walk over the border with no questions asked. The border reminded me of Tijuana only with US type junk being sold at very good prices. I am sure most name brands are counterfeit, but there were some bargains to be found. The duty free area in Golfito actually had better prices on liqueur and that was the main reason for going. I loaded up on Nicaraguan rum and was ready to head for Panama. I enjoyed Costa Rica but I am very glad to be moving on. Our last stop in Costa Rica was at a small surfing area called Pavones. Knowing that it was a surfing place, actually it is the home to the longest left breaking wave in the world, we should have known that it would be a very uncomfortable anchorage. It was, and not being surfers we did not appreciate the surroundings. As soon as it was daylight we were out of there. Next stop will be a very long day to Isla Parida in Panama.

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Rincon Golfo Dulce

2009-05-15T12:15:00.000-07:00

Rincon turned out to be a nice place just to sit. Two other boats were there. Batwing and Sarana shared the anchorage with me and we spent a couple of nights enjoying eash others company. There really isn't much there but a very small outdoor eatery and a small tienda. I went ashore with Batwing once to walk the road and try to find the veggie truck. It was a great walk but missed the truck so we went back to the boat. That evening I saw a large Croc swimming about 50 ft from the boat. This was the first one I have seen in open water and it made me think I'am not going into the water to clean my hull. Two days later he came out to the boat and caught something about 10ft in front of the boat. I saw him do a full body roll as he attacked what ever it was before he headed to the bottom. I stood up on deck thinking all sort of thoughts about what had happened when about 5 minutes later he surfaced about 20ft from the boat and swam to shore. He probably wouldn't attack a person, but there is no way I would go into the water around there. I decided to leave the next day for Golfito and the Land and Sea cruising club. The nice thing about the location of Rincon is that it is all the way up in the end of the bay. It is very calm, and most of the thunder, lightening, and wind went right by the anchorage because it is tucked into the hills. It was a good place to sit.

Still heading south or is it east?

2009-04-28T18:26:00.000-07:00

During my trip south I wanted to make short hope since not only was I traveling with no other boats I was also still alone. The following are just a brief description of each anchorage. I have not uploaded any new picture but will do so when I have internet.

Punta Quepos very good anchorage. I anchored further into the bay because some of the rocks on Sarana guide seem to be miss placed. The main reason I went there was to avoid paying the anchorage fee for the first night I was there. Not much roll but some.

Manual Antonio park. One of the prettiest and clearest anchorages I have been to in Costa Rica. I was the only boat here for two nights and surrounded on three sides by jungle. It was quite rolly the second night. I got up at 5 and left for the next leg. I only paid one night and the ranger wanted to see my receipt to get back to the boat. He came after hours and looked out at me? I left at 6 that morning so no problem. The park was a very interesting place to walk around. They get hundreds of tourists a day but you still manage to see 2 and 3 toed sloths, monkeys, parrots, and the Jesus Crist Lizard was sort of a topper. I was told it is the only four legged animal that actually can walk on water. It walks on its hind legs so fast it actually walks on water. This is also the only area you can find Squirrel monkeys filling out my list of seeing all 4 types of monkeys.

Bahia Dominicalito it says it is a protected anchorage. Beautiful place right out of Napa Valley huge homes everything looks like Calif. Probably one of the top 5 worst nights of rock and rolling I have had. By far the worst since entering Mexico 2 yrs ago. Large swells and crosswave made for no sleep. I wanted to leave in the middle of the night but there were a lot of fishing nets I had seen them put out the evening before. I left at 4.45 when I could see the flags.

Bahia Drake I got there and I couldn't get off the boat. There was a 6+ ft swell coming through. Mystic Moon forwarded me the bouy weather report to verify what I already knew. I wanted to explore the park so I stayed. During anything but high tide the entrance to where you park the dingy had such huge breakers across it I didn't dare try to enter for three days. The swells were very steep and I would roll off the back side sideways. Bent part of my bow roller because of weird wave action. Once the swell calmed down I went to shore and had a great hike out to the point about 3 hrs away. Only saw green parrots and scarlet macaws. A lot of macaws. No Tucans I would have stayed longer but 5+ft swells were called for the next day. Don't know where they were coming from, but they were unusual.

I decided to go to Puerto Jeminez because the pirate surfer guys said I should. I love it here. It is a great town. As far as anyone can remember I am the first cruising sailboat to come here maybe since the new year. They can't remember the last one. I have been treated like a guest in the town by everyone. The Palms bar and motel has a two and a half little boy who is fluent in both Spanish and english. There is a little neighbor girl who is three, who isn't around right now, but she speaks enlish, spanish and some portugese. Really cool place. I was introduced to a Canadian who took me around the town to show me where to shop and then introduce me to the people she knew. I would definitely not pass this place up. I am going to spend a couple of days or more here then head up to Rincon. Everybody here says don't hurry to get to Golfito. There are a bunch of Tucans here. They are even just hanging out on the wires above the streets. One place I went the owner showed me two of the five thieves in town( really only five) and where not to go, bars on the left side of the road. While I was there one of them was trying to sell stolen DVDs he said were his brothers. Pretty entertaining. I even meet the ex ambassador to Tonga and Bolivia. He now owns a bar in town. Really cool older man. He owns an entire city block for his gardens and bar. He also has a bonsi collection back in Sausalito that has several 150 year old specimens that he has someone from Japan come over and take care of a couple of times a year.

Thats about it. I have not seen another cruiser since Ballena. Every anchorage I have had to myself. Actually a family on the beach in Manual Park were the only people I talked to since I left Panchita and Vida Libre. There is just no one down here. Both Equinox and Mystic Moon left Sunday for Panama. I wasn't here yet.

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Heading South

2009-04-28T14:32:00.000-07:00

My overnight trip down to Bahia Bellena was pretty much uneventful. The only catch was I was by myself and I wasn't going to get there for about 20hrs. I stayed awake the whole trip except for four 15 minute timer naps. That is where I set the timer for 15 minutes and close my eyes. The timer goes off and I am awake, if I went to sleep at all. Once I arrive around noon I set the anchor and went to sleep. On the way in I had talked to friends on Mystic Moon and they had invited me to Isla Tortuga for Easter dinner and meet their son. I said I thought I would be too tired but thanks. I woke up 3 hours later and decided to make the six mile trip up to Tortuga. Had a great night and was very glad I went. They left for points south and I headed back to Bahia Bellena to be with Equinox and Lea Scotia . We went ashore and made a hike out to the point to look at rocky shoreline and a bunch of howler monkeys. Once we got back we had a great lunch at the Bar and Restaurant in the bay call Bahia Bellena Yacht Club. We spent two more days there pretty much enjoying the area and the food. Equinox headed south to Golfito and I headed to Isla San Lucas. the sight of an old prison. Somewhat like Alkatraz but a smaller scale. It was closed in 1997 but it looked like it had been closed for 30 yrs. The jungle had reclaimed its land. I only spent one night there and said good buy to Lea Scotia for a couple of weeks. I went back to Isla Tortuga to try and do some snorkeling and relaxing alone. I only spent on night because the wave action made in very uncomfortable. I was going back to Bahia Bellena. I wanted to be there for the Saturday organic market. It turned out to be a great find and bought a couple of weeks worth of veggies. While I was back there Panchita and Vida Libre were also at the anchorage so I went with them on the same hike as earlier to show them the monkeys, They were not disappointed, and again we had lunch at the yacht club. It would be the last, I was heading south the next day.

There was a lot of worrisome hype about thefts in Golfa de Nicoya. I had no problems and would recommend this are to everyone behind me. I had a great time, but I also always locked my dingy when I went ashore and put it up at night. I doesn't hurt to be cautious. I have updated picture file I sent to Picaso the link is on the side bar.

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Dolphins and Sunsets

2009-04-11T23:35:00.000-07:00

It doesn't get much better that this. I have about 10 dolphins gliding through my bow wave while the sun slowly set to a beautiful orange hue. No green flash, I was hoping. The only thing better would be to have Helen here with me and not 3,000 mile away. Helen went home for a couple of weeks to see her mother and spend some time in Portland. Last year it was my turn this year hers.

I have been in Costa Rica for about 3 weeks and have spent most of my time around the Cocos area. Northern Costa Rica is not jungle green at this time of year that was one my big surprises. Most of it is brown until the winter rains begin in about a month or less. The low valleys are green with palm, mango and other ever green trees, but the hills are brown and bare. I have explored 4 different anchorages all having something a little different to offer. Playa de Coco is the hub of activity for the area. It has 3 grocery stores and two banks. Pretty much all that is important to me. Oh ya then there is Coconutz. One of the gringo hangouts. They have happy hour every day and beer and well drinks are only about a dollar and a half. Which for this area is a great deal. They also have Pizza and salad buffet with a movie on Wednesday. I made it there twice. Playa de Coco is also where you have to check in and out of Costa Rica. I then anchored in Playa de Panama. This is a very nice quite anchorage. A little more protection from the strong afternoon winds and waves. The only other attraction in Playa de Panama is a very nice small eco resort. Lea Scotia's relatives stayed there and had a fantastic time. I was able to make one inland trip with them to a Volcano Nation Park. Had a good time hiking through the true green jungle. We were very disappointed because we saw no wild animals, and hardly any birds. I then went back to reprovision (which is about double the cost of anywhere I have been)and meet up with Mystic Moon for a well deserved reunion, that lasted 3 days. Together we moved to Bahia Gaucayama a very small bay. Room for just a couple of boats. The snorkeling was supposed to be good, but the water clarity was not very good. There wasn't much to see. We did find a Sea Horse washed up on the beach giving us hope of seeing them in the water. They were too elusive. I then moved back to Coco for a couple of hrs to get a National Zarpe. This is a piece of paper letting me travel along Costa Rican waters for 90 days. When I was done with check out I moved out to Bahia Heuvos and meet up with Lea Scotia and Equinox the two boats I am traveling with right now. The water was a lot clearer but the temperature dropped to 72 degrees. I cleaned the boat bottom and that was pretty much my underwater adventures. We also had a power boat friend come into the anchorage Panchita. They will be there a few more days to check into the country then head our way. A schooner called R-Dreams share our anchorage very nice people coming up from Panama they share a wealth of information with us. After a short night stop back in Gaucamaya I am on my way heading south to Bahia Bellena. It is an overnight passage, the first I have done alone, but I am in the company of 2 other boats. The coolest thing about Costa Rica so far is the Monkeys. There are monkeys everywhere. Even in the town of Cocos. One night in Bahia Heuvos I watch 20 or more Howler monkeys play in the trees for about an hour about 15 minutes before sunset they all moved up the hill and sat there in about 5 trees looking west. I swear they were digging the sunset just like me. When the sun set they all dispersed down into the other trees. It was totally cool. So far I have seen three different types of monkeys. There are four types in Costa Rica so I am doing pretty good. That pretty much brings everything up to date for Jammin. Except for not having Helen here and what she, her family, and her mom are going through life is good down here in Costa Rica.

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El Salvador heading to Costa Rica

2009-03-20T17:43:00.000-07:00

After waiting 3 days for a bar crossing window we were given the ok for 7am Monday morning. The bar had been close because the waves were too large for safe crossing. We had no problem waiting til the right time after what we went through coming in over the bar. Our pilot arrived at 7 sharp and Lea Scotia went first again. It looked a lot worse than it was. We tipped the bar pilot $10( a whole days wage) to try to insure a dry crossing. It worked but not until sitting in the middle of 6 ft breaking waves waiting for that right moment to climb over the top of 3 no breaking waves and escape into the open sea where we were at home again.
We were on our way to Golfo Fonseca 72 miles away. The trip was uneventful and we arrived just before dark. The amazing thing about the Golfo is that every island is a volcano and two very large ones guard the entrance. The Golfo is territory of El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras. While sitting at anchor getting ready for an early bed time, I heard the strangest noise coming from our boat, or at least I thought it was our boat. I can only describe it as the sound a thousand frogs would make if kept in a small room. I could not figure out what in the boat would be making that sound. I finally called Lea Scotia and they were hearing the same sound. No idea what it was but it quit about midnight. The next two nights were spent off of quaint little villages all painted in brilliant colors. Cows, pigs, horses, and dogs roamed the only beach in front of the homes. We were serenaded by really bad sing along music coming from the church on the beach. The next night we again anchored off an area of homes and one very small resort. At midnight firecrackers and bottle rockets were set off for some unknown reason. It lasted about 20 minutes and it started all over again at 4 in the morning. We took the hint and left at five for our trip down the Nicaraguan coast to Costa Rica.
(Thursday night)The coastal view of Nicaragua is amazing. No matter what direction you look on shore you see multiple volcanos. At one point I could see 8, all incredible sights. Very few beach front resorts or properties were visible from the water. Just before Costa Rica we did see some amazing European style villas. Huge water front estates. I could guess where the money comes from! We are now about 70 mile from Costa Rica. I have the Big Dipper on one side of the boat and the Southern Cross on the other, pretty cool. Orion's Belt is always our center of attention as the night sky flows overhead. The wind is just picking up and it is expected to blow about 25knt by morning. These are the Papagallos which we have been trying to avoid. I hope they are only 25 for a short period of time. Tomorrow we will be in Bahia Santa Elena Costa Rica. It is suppose to be a wonderful place. Monkeys, big cats, and many kinds of birds await us. Coooool!
(Friday)The wind blew us in to Costa Rica, or was it a gale? We saw and felt 45 mph gust for over 5 hours. It started at midnight and its now 3 PM and still blowing. It pays to notice the barometer swings--3 down equals windy conditions. If the grib files shows it might blow a Papagallo believe it! If it shows 25knts it will probably blew 40 to 50 in some locations. If it doesn't show anything it will probably blow anyway. I am glad it is over. We had a reefed main and no jib all the way down since morning in 35mph constant and one peak gust of 49. The boat did well, I was only afraid of my 4 scuba tanks breaking loose in the middle of everything. One strap may not be enough. Nothing happened to them but I will be resewing my jib's sun edge which ripped out for the second time.

It is evening, and we are anchored in Bahia Santa Elena; it feels visually like the northwest and it looks to be a fun place to explore. One parrot sighted,no monkeys yet!! But tomorrow we will walk in the jungle, and up to a waterfall. More later, Dave and Helen

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Exploring Around Bahia del Sol

2009-03-14T11:28:00.000-07:00

The blog now has some new pictures to support this story and some of the previous experiences. Our first exploration was a dinghy ride to the end of the estuary to a town called Herradura. We landed at the pier, a working fishing village and walked through the water front food court. Then we entered the town, its streets, and traffic. As we walked we passed store fronts that use garage doors at night to close their store fronts. With national elections in full swing, the liberal communistic party headquarters were full of supporters and flag wavers--Americans are not their favorite people right now which explained the stares and suspicious looks the males in our party received. Our goal was the weekly market for fruit and vegetables. There the stalls and stands were so tightly packed that one had to walk sideways to get through the narrow path. Everything from toilet paper to strange looking vegetables was available for a price. The people were friendly and helped us with our Spanish. With fresh produce in hand we walked out and down to the local bakery. Using huge ovens fueled by burning wood they bake incredibly delicious bread. The batter is stirred by hand in stainless tables that are 4 feet by six feet and 5 inches deep. The lady dipped her hand into the batter and slopped it into the cooking pans and then handed them to the baker. No utensils to wash and few pans this way. Some of the party bought bread and cookies shaped into butterflies. Now being hungry we took a 3 wheel taxi back to the pier for a delicious lunch. Dave and I shared a sausage plate and a shrimp dinner--garlic and butter grilled.
The next morning we woke and completed a few projects before setting out to the structures that sit on piers in the entrance of this bay. The structures are restaurants where ladies grill fish or serve freshly made clam cocktails. While you wait you can lay in hammocks and toss back a few cold beers. The scenery is stunning and the atmosphere is definitely, "No worries, no problems." If they run out of something they yell over to the next structure and borrow whatever they need.
Another day we walked down the main road to a local store and bought coca light and ate pupulas. Earlier that day we explored the island across the way, visited their store, school, and the local goat farm. Animals are plentiful and roam from shore to shore. We caught a ride with Jan, from Canada, one day and saw the carts delivering goods, the cattle free roaming to find food, and the volcanoes in the distance.
The buddy boat we are traveling with had a birthday. Kiera turned three. Jan invited children to her house and bought a pinata. We played games and everyone swung at the Tweedy bird. The chocolate cupcakes were so good.
Having now decided it time to hit the tide and pull out for points south, we provisioned one last time in a town further in called Zacatecoluca. This town has banks and more stores, but the market place is the same as anywhere--stalls crowded together, small passages, and such a variety of goods. They did have a super market and there we bought enough meat and hard goods to take care of our needs for another 3-4 weeks. As we left the town there were roadside stalls selling coconuts, honey, melons, and road stops where trucks were being inspected and people unloaded...why wasn't clear.
Many nights were spent with mago salsa and rum cocktails on Jan's porch. One night she brought out her home brew cashew concoction. Blaze, a musician from San Francisco joined us and we philosophized into the wee hours.
So, now here we sit by the pool(plugged into the wi-fi), music and tropical birds in the background, kicking back some cool ones,just waiting for the surf to lay down and let the boat cross the sand bar that stands between us and the next adventure. This morning Dave completed the checkout paperwork and a bit later our sand bar guide came by and said, "Not today, maybe not for two or three more days." What an ideal place to wait out a weather window!

We are in El Salvador

2009-03-04T09:40:00.000-08:00

We arrived on a wave to Bahia Del Sol Resort, El Salvador on March 2 at 6 PM. The photos taken of the boat ahead of us altered our optimistic outlook of our own ride in; so when it was our turn we were ready to roll and get wet. However Neptune took mercy on us and we barely caught spray over the side. Thankful for the smooth entrance we had a drink, compared notes with our friends, and went to sleep—10 hours of uninterrupted sleep! When dawn arrived, the sounds of tropical birds, crowing roosters and a blaring horn like on a locomotive roused us from our sleep. Looking around we saw low lying land trimmed in palm trees and one story round huts on the beaches and red roof piers filled our view. We took a walk on the resort grounds and 3 wild parrots perched in the trees cawed, Guinea hens in a pen with geese and a lone sheep and deer ate away at their breakfast. Out on the main road we heard the locomotive horn again and around the corner sped a bright green bus, front tires lifted higher than the rear, and graphics painted up and down its sides—our guide book explains it is the local commuter bus with huge speakers and a blaring stereo that will require ear plugs for the one hour ride to the capital city. That adventure we will leave for another day.

Our voyage to El Salvador started last Thursday night when we left the shelter of Huatulco, Mexico to cross the dreaded Tehuantepec, leaving Mexican waters for Central American shores. The crossing can be calm or 8 to 25 feet of confused seas, more like chop, with gusts in the 40-60 mph range. We were fortunate and the first two days were great sailing (10-20 mph) and fairly calm waters. During Dave’s watch the dolphins performed for over 45 minutes darting, diving and doing acrobatics. My watch was the parading of turtles so thick it felt like a land mind field. They were very skillful in diving and avoiding being run over by our boat. It was when we left the Tehuantepec and were approaching the border of Guatemala that the seas built, the wind howled, and we were tossed and dropped for over 36 hours by the winds on our nose known as the papagallo. Taking turns of about 3 hours each we made it and arrived at the mouth of Bahia Del Sol around 10 AM. There is a sand bar, current, and breaking surf to avoid and the hour to enter that day was 5:30 PM(high slack). Being 7 hours ahead, we took well needed naps as the wind blew 20-25 all afternoon. At 5:30 the launch (panga style boat) met our buddy boat and showed him the way in. The attached pictures show his ride which was wet and wild, not unlike the log ride at Knotts Berry Farm. They did get wet. We thought you might appreciate the view we were given. But as stated above we lucked out. This country is friendly, and behind the low lands are numerous volcanoes with a layer of smoke filling the space between the two areas. It is harvest time for sugar cane and they burn the canes down all day and night long resulting in shards of ash floating on the winds and covering your boats, covers, and steps. One cannot escape the sweet odor it creates nor the desire to sweep up the mess.

Good Morning. It is Sunday

2009-02-22T07:27:00.000-08:00

It's Sunday at least that is what we think. We had Lea Scotia (Trevor, 39, Carissa ?, and Kiera, almost 3)who we will be traveling to Central America with over last night. One of our discussions was how we never know what day it is. If it wasn't for the computer we would never know. The only day that is different is Friday because there is no weather by Don Anderson on the SSB radio. We are anchored in La India a beautiful little bay surrounded by rocks and reefs on 3 1/2 sides. Our anchor sits in 20 ft of crystal clear water. It is part of a National Park so taking care of the reefs are serious business. We went snorkeling three times yesterday on the third time I set all my snorkel gear on the back step and sometime later it got knocked off into the water and floated away. All my good gear was gone. I got up at daylight and kayaked around the bay and the outer bay with no luck. I have some back up equipment but it is all old stuff. Oh well. Life is still good. We just heard on the SSB weather that it is blowing 60+ knots out in the Tehuantepec today and tomorrow, and 45+ all the way down to Costa Rica. I guess we are glad we are sitting here. The winds come over from the Caribbean side and funnel through to this side. Nasty stuff when it does. It is so shallow the seas build to 15-18ft on a 5 to 6 second period. Even ships have problems. It can extend out 700 miles from the gulf. You don't take chances with the Tehuantepec. By the way the Tehuantepec is where we are headed after a few days in Huatulco.

Two days ago we were anchored behind Isla Cacaluta. This is also part of the parks system but more open to the seas so we just stayed two nights. The surrounding shores are very rugged and rocky. Not something you would expect to see in Southern Mexico. Reminds me of Southern Oregon Coast. Every where we go seems to be magnificent snorkeling in clear water with tons of fish and coral. There always seems to be something new to see.

We plan on staying here till tomorrow or the next day and then move to the marina till we get a weather window. We need fuel, propane, provisions and to check out of the country. Then when the weather opens for a 3-5 day period we will then be off the El Salvador.

Hope everyone is doing well

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We made it to Acapulco

2009-02-15T17:56:00.000-08:00

Our arrival to Acapulco was at 5 this morning the city looked like a cluster of sparkling jewels covering the hillside. We are currently anchored in a bay just outside of Acapulco. The bay is beautiful with palapas and palms along the beach, but the city itself is very hotel commercial and not very interesting to us. We will spend two days here recuperating from the overnight passage then head south to Puerto Angel. Before our overnight sail we spent one night in Papanoa and left at 9pm to make the 13hr trip. We were able to sail all but about 3 hrs towards daylight when the winds died. It was a great downwind sail. For some reason neither Helen or I could sleep all the way down so we have spent the whole day just kicking back and trying to catch up on sleep. There are 3 other boats all on the same time frame for leaving here and heading south. We look forward to the company since we are usually alone on our overnight passages.

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27 days in Zihuatanejo

2009-02-15T14:34:00.001-08:00

We arrived, set the anchor down and decided we would be in Zihuatanejo for awhile. That decision was easy because while the anchor left its cradle and settled down into the mud we heard metal parts being chewed up. We realized our anchor windlass was not going to raise the 82 pound anchor or the 100 foot of heavy chain and either were we, or I should be honest, Dave.

Our time here was well spent. We had planned to arrive in time for a sailing fest and here we were 2 weeks early. The fest was designed years ago to help build schools in the hills surrounding the area. One of the first things we did was sign up to sell items to raise some of the funds. Linde from Rosebud and I sat at the table often and what a great way to meet people. One day I took a tour of the school we wish to help this year and as you can see by the photos (part of http://picasaweb.google.com/zihuasail) they need much help to create a clean conducive to learning structure. It is amazing to see the children in these humble settings listening to the volunteer teachers and working on their lessons. The fest raises the funds to buy building materials and build stairs to get to the school, the parents volunteer the labor to construct the walls, floors, roof, and bathrooms. We also visited the school built by previous fests and there we found the same eagerness to learn in a solidly built school yard. Los Ninos is the non profit organization that distributes the funds and gets the materials into the hands of the grateful parents and students. If interested, please check out their site. www.losninos.us/contactus.html. The man in charge of U.S. donations is from Portland, OR and can give you more information.

With less than half of the normal boaters in port for this fest the land base "cruisers" who live here for months at a time, or permanently, went into full battle action getting raffle donations, working the sales booth, setting up a music festival, restaurants, and events. They did a tremendous amount of the work this year. We were lucky to have them on board. Two days before the fest started more boats arrived and volunteers lined up for various jobs. As in past years everyone was treated to the smiling face of Nathaniel, the local dinghy service master who helped us in, and stayed on duty till 10 PM every night. Some crew flew in to be of assistance and thanks to Dean's arrival from Don Quixote, we received our anchor windlass parts. His wife, Toast, had been here with the boat, three daughters and the cat. The three girls had become our morning net controllers and enriched all our lives with their zeal and zestful commentaries each and every morning for almost a month. As we talked often with Don Quixote family, I learned Aeron and I had something in common-we both were awarded the Baja Ha Ha Extreme Snorer Award (I in 2008 and she and her sister in 2009). Such a small world!

A major event early on in the week for the sailors was the Pursuit Race. Adirondack, Jim and Diane, were the official committee boat and did a wonderful job. Ed, from A Cappella, was the statistician with Rene and Annie picking up the other duties. Jammin's Dave joined the crew of Full Quiver and managed the spinnaker as a "grinder" (but this time the parts stayed in one piece) and the crew not only had a great time but won the race on adjusted time. Lou, and the crew on Cirque, crossed the finish line first and it was a great event for all.

Then there was the night of the auction and bids flew as fast and furious as possible. Social events included the meet and greet Parade Day captains and passengers party (organized by Pam on Precious Metal and Bill on Someday). It was followed by musical entertainment. Another money maker and great time was the annual music concert, on Wednesday, featuring at least 5 professional performing groups. We had to miss this as the next morning was our event. Other events during the week were the dinghy poker, organized by Don Quixote, a Chili feed, street fair, and individuals meeting for dinners, drinks, dates for foraging for food and parts, and exploration. Some of us squeezed in a dentist vist to Dr Oliverio Soberanis, Av.5 de Mayo. He speaks a bit of English and had us smiling with bright white teeth in 30 minutes. What a great town this was to be stranded in for 27 days. Every night the square's athletic court was in use and the local people filled in the spaces to view and enjoy each others company. There were so many wonderful restaurants, wine stores, and special finds. We cleared out every packet of Zuko Light watermelon and bought 400+ envelopes of other flavors and CLight products-no more carting boxes of high calorie fruit juice boxes for us!

My responsibility was helping with the Parade of Boats and getting 160 passengers aboard 27 boats in less than an hour using dinghies (small rubber boats that hold 3-4 people plus a driver). With the assistance of many volunteers (Cornelia and Ed, A Cappella; John and Cathy, Mystic Moon; Paul and Erin, Romany Star; Pam and IV, Precious Metal; Mike and Sylvia, Vamoose; Tom Collins and Doug McCloy, Phil, Dave and Sandy Weed, Rick from Cosummate, Annie, etc.) and patient guests we accomplished the task. This event was the biggest money raiser, I believe. What was the best part of this job was greeting the passengers as they returned from a day of sailing. Every face was aglow with sheer excitement and joy. They had the glow of love in their eyes and childish grins as they professed their day to be the best day ever and they will definitely be back next year, or they are in so much trouble as the wife now wants a boat and smiling about that prospect! A surprise outcome was many of the host boaters were invited to their passengers' hotels or condos and treated to dinner later in the week and a chance to swim in their pools.
Saturday was beach day for the school children. Many of them never come off the hill and down to the beach. Life guards were placed in chairs in about 16 inches of water to keep an eye on the overly brave and give confidence to the timid. Tug of War, water balloons, and other games and events gave them a great day of fun and play.
On the Zihu Fest's final day there was time for a few rounds of Mexican Train with Rosebud, A Cappella, and Sue and Bill from Sun Baby. Later there was the Rubber Ducky race organized by Joan and Ted of Panchita and the BBQ. There it was announced that even though there were fewer boats this year, we raised more pesos than last year's group! Yahoo! Great things can be done when the goal is understood and the focus is kept on a positive outcome. Over the following two days birthdays were celebrated, I received a special birthday song from Tom on Dream Seeker who was playing at a local club, and tearful goodbyes were said to all the folks heading north as our plans will be taking us south. With a rebuilt winless in place, Jammin' will lift anchor and be on our way to El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama before hurricane season arrives in June.
P.S. We lifted anchor, moved from Municipal to Playa la Ropa (about ¼ of a mile), now known as the Litter Box (three cats are parked there), to clean the 27 day growth off the bottom of the boat and had another round of goodbyes …cruisers sometime have trouble letting go of friends.
If you are making plans to attend next year be sure to go on-line in November and get the calendar of events-some change due to cruise ship days and other considerations-just query Zihuatanejo SailFest. A new web master will be taking over the site later this year.

Helen's entry

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Zihuatanejo

2009-01-27T09:13:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful stay at Isla Grande, near Ixtapa. We wish we could go back for the great snorkeling and clear water. There were at least 4 separate dive areas all with something different to offer and visibility in excess of 25 ft. The water was warm and refreshing. Even though the beaches were full of palapas and tourist during the day, everyone was gone by 5:00pm and the area was dead quiet. You might have noticed my comment about wishing we could go back, well it happens we are stuck here in Zihuatanejo till we get parts for our anchor windlass. Whether it is age or something else, we tore up both of the gears inside the gear box on our windlass. We almost didn't get our anchor out of the sand at Isla Grande. Once we got to Zihua I spent all day taken the unit apart only to find the worst possible news. On the bright side after 4 days of waiting for an answer, DownWind Marine in San Diego was able to find the parts in California. We also lucked out and Don Quixote's husband is up in the states and coming home next Tuesday. He is willing to bring down my parts so a really bad situation has tuned out to only be a pain in the butt, but we are stuck here in the mud till then.

Now there are worst places to be stuck. Zihuatanejo is a pretty cool place, even though it is touristy when the cruise ships arrive (3-4 per week). There is pretty much anything you could want in the area including a machine shop for when I get my parts. Helen has become involved in the planning of Z Fest next week so most days she is in town for a couple of hours. There is a central tourist district with cobblestone walking streets and all sorts of shops and restaurants. Some are ok but to get better food and much lower prices you have to get away from the normal tourist hang outs. There is a canal that runs along the town with a pathway to follow to the more commercial area of town. Everyday when we are in town we explore a little more of the older less traveled area of town. They have a flower district, a fruit district, a shoe repair district, and a doctor district. It appears they put all the competition together so the customer can see what the options are and choose the one on the left, right, or middle. The local markets are wonderful and we actually found a new fruit. It looks like a brown avocado on steroids and it has the same type of hard seed, but it has orange flesh and it taste like a fruity sweet potato. We still have one more so I will try to take a picture of it. The Z-fest supports building schools in the hills above Zihuatanejo for Indian children. We are going to take a tour of the hills on Thursday. Then next week the events and parties start. Every day from Feb 3-8 something will be going on. We will miss the famous guitar fest that they hold here, as we are still working our way south as planned.

Life is still great and we enjoy at least most of every day. Some days the heat is a bit much.

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Caleta de Campos

2009-01-15T08:34:00.000-08:00

What a great find! We had actually thought about passing this small anchorage by because the cruising guides are not all that kind about the bay. They say it is rolly and exposed. Exposed it is, but the large swells that come through the bay are a gentle rock unlike Maruata. We ended up spending 4 day anchored in the bay that reminded us of Chacala, but better. The beach has about 6 palapa restaurants, but the rest of beach is incredibly beautiful. The line of palm trees and the rock cliff background makes it feel like the South Pacific. The beach lies at the bottom of a hill and the small town is above overlooking the bay. It is a very friendly Mexican town with very few gringos. We actually saw only two older hitch hiker type gringos the whole time we were in town. We had asked a young guy if there was a good place to get street tacos in town when we were on the beach. He told us up the hill about a 30 minute walk. We started up the hill and and hadn't gotten 5 minutes when the young guy shows up in his pickup truck and says he will take us. The ride reminded me of the wild toads ride at Disney Land, but in no time we were in front of his favorite taco restaurant. It was Sunday so the whole town was out walking about in their best Sunday clothes and sun umbrellas. It's quite a sight, plus the Taco's were excellent as well. We picked up some fruits and vegetables at the small market then browsed a couple of other stores on the way back to the beach. The next day we with Pamela and I.V. from Precious Metal came ashore for lunch. Great shrimp and fish lunch right on the sand with our boats a hundred or less yards in front of us. Helen and Pamela went to the little tienda across the street asking for dish soap. He said he didn't have it but come back in a little bit. He then drove up to town to get the dish soap from another location and brought it back. Talk about friendly people and great service. We loved our four days exploring the area. I have to say when we went snorkeling in the next bay I couldn't believe the lack of fish. There were small coral heads everywhere so the bay was healthy, but there just were no fish. I didn't spend a bunch of time looking but was very disappointed at what I found.
We left Caleta at 3am to make the trip to Isla Ixtapa and arrived at 4pm. We were able to motor sail most of the way so it was a nice trip. There is only one other boat currently anchored here with us. I know it gets hopping with tourist in a short time but right now it is beautiful. Five palapas line the beach and snorkeling is just a short swim away. We look forward to a couple of days here before moving on to Zihuatanejo. Since starting to write this three more boats have arrived. One boat we have been running into(from Californa last fall)is named Pageantry and from Las Vegas, we are yet to meet..but the afternoon seems promising for that...the life of a cruiser...wait and see what happens.

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Heading to Zihautanejo also New pictures in our Mexico Adventure file

2009-01-10T14:11:00.000-08:00

We are on our way south after spending a great holiday season in Tenacatita and Manzanillo. It is now time to move on. Manzanillo is a great place to provision having a WalMart and two other large stores to pick from. The bus ride is 5 pesos which is about 35 cents to go to any of the stores. We limit ourselves on what we buy based on what we can carry. This time it took us three trips to get everything we wanted. While we were there we also took a two bus trip to Old Town Manzanillo. The fresh market is a city block square and has all the fresh meat, fruits and vegetables you could want and then some. Thanks to catching a 4'4" Mahi on the way over from Tenacatita, our freezer is still full so we didn't need any meat. The fish was the biggest so far on the trip and before he was finished he had knock a 6 gallon container full of water overboard and a laundry bucket followed a few seconds later. Our man overboard drill ended with me swimming to retrieve the lost items. Trying to subdue a 4+ foot fish when he is tangled up in the steering wheel and still has a gaff and a hook in him is no fun. The pictures in our Mexico Adventure tab on this page are from before he went crazy.

Last night we anchored after an overnight passage in a small bay called Maruata. It was totally open to the ocean so we rocked and rolled all night. I needed my sleep so I didn't even notice. On our trip down, in the dark of night, we were shadowed by a very large target on the radar getting as close as 1/2 mile on our side and moving back and forth between us and Precious Metal who we were traveling with. For two plus hours he was lurking off our side running in total darkness. We were unable to see a thing. We guessed it was military and when dawn broke it was confirmed. Once we were anchored we were ask, in English, for the "Favor" of a courtesy boarding and inspection. How could we refuse a request like that, actually you can't. The ship stayed 5 miles off shore and sent a launch in with two officers and two guards. One officer and guard were unloaded on Precious Metal and one came two Jammin. The interview and inspection were done very courteously and non threatening. Once they found that PM was out of water and needed some they sent the launch back out to the ship and brought back 15 gallons of water. They said they would have brought the ship in to fill the tanks but depth was an issue. It was amazing how much they wanted to help. They ask us if we needed any water or anything else before they went back to the ship. The only glitch was we had to entertain our officer for about an hour while they went back to the ship for water. It was great; we served him tea and cookies and learned he had had the night watch duty, too. We worked on our communication skills with our guest, he spoke very little English and we had a good time practicing our Spanish and he his English. The experience turned out to actually be quite a treat except we were dead tired and wanted to go to sleep. The Captain of the ship came back with the water, introduced himself, and again asked if their was anything they could do for us. Upon leaving he gave us a full weather report for the next week, told us while in Mexico we could call upon the Mexican navy for help or assistance, and to call on the radio if something came up. He also added that if we are contacted in the future by another navy ship we can refer to the paper they left with us, say we were inspected by the Armada del la Vega, and be free to continue on our way. What a pleasant encounter it was for all concerned.

Our next stop will be Caleta de Campos another open anchorage then on to Zihau.

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Merry Christmas and a very exciting New Year From Jammin

2008-12-26T08:30:00.000-08:00

To all our land friends, cruising friends, and family we hope you had an incredible Merry Christmas and will have a great New Year. Many of you enjoyed a deep white Christmas in Oregon we understand. We are currently back anchored in Tenacatita after spending two nights in Bara de Navidad. Bara was fun to visit for the holiday season, but it is nice to be back here with friends. Our Christmas started around 5:15 am when I got up to make cinnamon rolls for the 6 boats anchored in the bay. I was delivering fresh rolls by 9:00 and was ready to crash till our potluck turkey dinner on Coastal Passage at 4:00. Our potluck included 11 people on 5 boats, each boat bringing an additional dinner side dish to compliment the turkey. It was fantastic!!!! After dinner we had dessert and a movie on Beach Access. Once dark came everyone noticed I had put up 120 ft of LED Christmas Lights, They really looked festive and I was glad I took the time. Our current plan is to stay here till New Years and then start heading south. We still plan to go through the Panama Canal sometime in May.

Thanks to our Christmas cruising friends/family for making it such a fantastic celebration. Synchrony, Coastal Passage, Beach Access, Batu

Dave and Helen

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Beautiful Tenacatita

2008-12-15T09:57:00.000-08:00

We are back in Tenacatita after a very eventful sail down from Isla Pasavera. We were able to sail through some fairly choppy conditions beating into the wind for the whole 35 miles. We made three tacks which were very interesting in 4 to 6 ft chop. It was a fun but somewhat wild ride. On the other side of the coin we had the worst 24 hr mechanical day yet. The night before we left we went to raise the dingy and found that our winch had a dead short somewhere in the system. After trouble shooting it till 11;00pm I found that both the up and down solenoids were stuck closed, causing it to push and pull at the same time. The next day I bypassed the solenoids and was able to get the anchor up and off we went. I needed to make water so we motorsailed till the alternator belt blew apart. I put a new one on in the rough seas only to find out later that the reason for the blow up was a bad Alternator. Couldn't do anything about it till I dug out my spare so we continued to sail on. We sailed into the bay and went to start the engine to anchor and the engine sounded like crap. I then discovered that the raw water intake was either clogged or the impeller was bad,and we were a dry exhaust which isn't good. We anchored fast to avoid heating up, and just sat there thinking about all the projects I had for the next couple of days. That night I went to take my evening pills and I found that our two water tanks were filled with saltwater. Some how my watermaker had produced saltwater and contaminated our two biggest tanks. The next day I started in on our projects and needed to recharge the batteries and guess what, my brand new Honda generator wouldn't start. Tearing the case apart I found the fuel tank was half full of water. I have been able to solve all the problems so far with the spare parts I had on board which is a good thing. I just hope I am done for a while. The saltwater in the tanks actually came from when the anchor well filled with water in the rough seas and with a slow drain the water siphoned into the tank through the vent. We have been the rare boat to be repair free for the two years since we left the northwest. I guess it was time.

I think we will spend Christmas here with 5 or 6 other boats that we know and then move south. Hopefully our next leg will be uneventful as usual. Just to make everyone not feel too sorry for us, the weather is great. It is in the mid 80's during the day and mid 60's at night. The water temperature in around 82 degrees

This is a great place to be broken down!!

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Isla Pasavera

2008-12-09T07:44:00.000-08:00

We have updated our blog http://www.svjammin.blogspot.com you might want to check it out. We need internet to add pictures, but Kelsey uploaded a bunch from her trip with us. There are some other pictures of our summer as well. The address at on the top of the last posting of the blog.

We are currently anchored off of Isla Pasavera in Chamala Bay. Our anchor is in 11 feet of water at low tide, that means we have 3.5ft under our keel. The bottom is sand and level for our full circle of swing so the depth is not an issue, but it is something we have to get used to before we get to the Carib.
I will try to take a picture of our anchorage along with the three other boats who we traveled here with so you might understand the beauty and isolation of this place. We went snorkeling right from the boat yesterday and had an amazing time. Visibility is about 25 ft and the amount of life was incredible. Large fish everywhere, and small aquarium type fish in large schools. I found an octopus out feeding, and 4 eels. On spotted snake type and three green morays. There are at least four different colors and types of living coral along with countless colorful anemones and sea pen looking creatures. Once we got back on board we both agreed we need to find a underwater camera. Today we are off to explore more underwater locations and see what we can find. Maybe a lobster or a couple of fine fat fish for dinner. Oh ya I forgot the water is also 82 degress to match the air temp!

Our plan is to head to Tenacatita in a couple of days

Life is great

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Novembers adventures

2008-12-08T11:47:00.000-08:00

November's Adventures-(November 7- December 8)

Pictures=http://picasaweb.google.com/kelsey.turner/MexicoWithMomAndDadNov08#

We left Mazatlan and headed off south making overnight passages to arrive in Puerto Vallarta in time for our daughter and son-in-law's planned arrival on Nov. 15th. The seas were calm and fairly smooth while the night skies were brightly lit with stars and the water luminescent and reflective. Helen is no longer hesitant about night passages with so many of nature's night lights showing her the way. A few turtles, incredible dolphin shows, and a few bites from medium fish kept us entertained and fed. A pair of spouting whales was sited off Punta de Mita just before we dropped anchor and we celebrated the joint return with a toast.

A day or two later while pulling the anchor up, Dave managed a repeat of the Canadian accident of catching a finger in the anchor chain…it healed with no infection and without stitches. We were prepared and ready this time. But we feel we may need to add more supplies to our first aid kit when it comes to finger injuries.

November 15th Kelsey and Jeromy arrived and we had a relaxing evening with two other boats, The Cat's Meow, Martin and Robin, and Coastal Passage's Michelle and Terry. Sunset, conversation, and comradeship filled the time. Sunday we toured the grocery store and ate street tacos. Monday morning we pulled anchor and went out to Punta de Mita and fished along the way. By Tuesday we had worked our way to Chacala where you swim from the boat to shore and rest under the umbrella of palms and drink cool ones. Wednesday night we met a couple from Endless Summer, on a catamaran, while having cocktails with Destiny's John and Gilly. Our daughter and son enjoyed the cross section of people and conversations that spanned many decades of experiences. That night we ate dinner at Isabella's and learned more about her life and life in Chacala for a widowed woman. Isabella is a lady who opens up her house to travelers and cooks dinners for between 3 or 4 couples. Meals are served on her patio and included shrimp chili rellenos, chicken enchiladas, with rice and beans as sides. You bring your own drinks other than orange juice and she does this all for less than $5.00. It was a fantastic meal and we enjoyed the after dinner conversation. During the days we snorkeled and fished seeing much sea life, a few manta rays, and too few bites.

When we returned to the boat, Panchita with its emergency crew had arrived. Ted, the owner of Panchita, had had a heart attacked in San Blas and three buddies were moving his boat to Paradise Village for the time being. John, from Mystic Moon, along with Tom Collins and Mike Meyers, invited us over and we spent the night swapping stories. While drinking tequila we caught up with John's adventures and became acquainted with two new to us salts of the ocean. We learn so much from those who have traveled before us, and they relive events through storytelling and watching our expression of awe.

Needing to move on, we went to Guayabitos and enjoyed a day walking and seeing the shore life of a Mexican resort destination---very few gringos were there. Daniel's Italian Restaurant opened just for us so we could have a taste of his brewed beer and enjoy the scene. Daniel has lived on many continents and has lived a life of many opportunities-five languages, I believe, and as many wives. We were there with Cirque (Lou and Laura) and Amizade, Andrew. During our stay Andrew's dinghy was "liberated". We went ashore trying to follow up on making a report and learning if there might be a chance of recovery. No chance, and due to the weekend no reporting. Monday we sailed to Tres Marietas, a snorkeling paradise in Bandaras Bay. Kelsey, Jeromy, and Helen went in first and found the visibility to be great, the sea life plentiful, and the stinging jellyfish to be oh so bountiful! Dave had taken the dinghy back to the boat so we almost walked on water to get away from the schools of jellyfish surrounding us. We had a few stings but nothing unbearable. Dave then moved our dive site and before long Jeromy braved the waters and was snorkeling through caves, tidal surges, and on a reef with BIG fish and an under current. Next we went around the other side of the anchorage and experience the big surf and waves. The height was 5-7 feet and our dink sits about 2 feet high-it was a short trip. That night we stayed out there, alone and peaceful with the universe and the anchor chain dragging on the rocks.

Tuesday morning we traveled to the south end of Banderas Bay to Yelapa. There a panga man named Molie and Dave negotiated the rental of a mooring ball down to $20.00 for 1 day. Ashore to the right was a town that weaves it way vertically upwards towards a small waterfall. The path is narrow, allowing two way foot traffic. Some of us were on our own feet, others on donkeys and horses. Along the path are homes, small businesses, cafes, and stands with local treasures. Everyone was friendly and hopeful that you would want to purchase their wares. Near the top we passed a group that had come off a tour boat and were now headed down laden with bags of treasures and dripping wet from their dip in the falls. The falls were spectacular in the mid day sun and the beer stand sold cold beers for the thirsty visitors. We settled down and kicked back a round before heading down to tour the other side of the bay. Wandering and weaving downward we passed by many vacant looking palapas, the owners not yet here for the winter. Many were built years ago when gringos discovered this land lock paradise that has no roads in or out. Everything comes and goes by boat. We needed to cross a river and the bridge was under repair so we followed it until we saw a crossing that the locals use. There the water was only 1 foot or less deep. Once across we were once again weaving and wandering through palapas and homes in various stages of readiness for living. At the end of the walk we were on the palm lined beach and near the small hotels for tourists. It was heavenly and everyone looked so relaxed and content with life. No rush, no yelling, no worries. Another crossing of the river got us back to the dinghy and back to our boat to watch sunset.

Wednesday morning we awoke early to see if we could catch whales at play, no luck but we did get to Paradise Village and tied to a dock next to our newest friends Tom Collins and Mike Meyers. They gave us the lay of the land information and we headed out to explore Old Town. The bus took us to the center square and as we exited the bus we entered the tequila factory tasting room-what luck! Kelsey was celebrating her 27th birthday with a taste of this and then that. Tearing ourselves away was difficult. We walked down to the waterfront, and the main street called a malecon. There the beach is on one side and the road is on the other. We passed the tourist ship shops and found a Cuban cigar shop. Jeromy and Kelsey went there, we headed to the attached Cuban bar for Mojitos--fresh ground mint and lots of cold ice sounded perfect to us. Our next stop was the massive and ornate cathedral and the hill climb to our dinner restaurant. We climbed over 100 stairs for this location (Betty, the Santa Barbara stairs were easier than these) and the pictures explain it all. Ed and Cornelia from A Cappella joined us for the sunset and a superb meal of local recipes. The staff lowered the lights and made a parade to serve the birthday girl her dessert. One of the staff had her cell phone playing the background music. The mood was so right, we all sang and few of us had the notes right but who cares, it was the act, not the quality that counted.

Thursday, Thanksgiving morning arrived and we all agreed to take the day off. We sat on the beach, sun bathed, the ladies had a massage/facial and the guys had Happy Hour 2 for 1. Near sunset we walked to the turtle preserve and helped to release the day old turtles to the ocean. Three out of a hundred will return in 8 to 10 years to this beach and repeat the cycle started that night. Dinner was Brazilian and heavy on the meats-seven different cuts and kinds, complimented with salads and wine. We returned to the boat to let them pack as tomorrow was back to reality. Friday morning came early, 4 o'clock to catch the 7 am flight. We walked them to the cab and hugged goodbye for the time being. Then we went back to the boat and bed. Puerto Vallarta and the areas north and south have so much to offer, it is without a doubt our favorite civilized spot so far.

Having spent enough time tied up to a dock, Friday we headed back to La Cruz in the northern part of the bay planning to lay low for a few days before returning to a social boating life…of course plans can change.
We reconnected with Debbie who lives in La Cruz, Herb and Juliet on Synchrony, Martin and Robin of Cat's Meow, Michelle and Terry on Coastal Passage, Destiny, Cirque, Armizade, Dream Seeker's Karen and Tom, Hooligan, Beach Access, and Two Pieces of Eight. Saturday was street tacos and music at Le Reve. Monday and Tuesday the men went downtown to get parts. Tuesday was the jam session at Britannia and ribs. Wednesday was a party with the Banderas Blast(a sailing race) group, and dancing at Philo's. A trip down town with the ladies gave Helen a larger view of the true "Old Town" so another trip with the spouses and bags for shopping was made. A grocery store, across two rope bridges, carried gringo food. A jar of real maple syrup was $15.00 and a small bottle of lime juice was $6.00. We bought 3 items that fit our budget. Then we had lunch at the world famous Vegetarian Buffet. Every dish was delicious and so flavorful. Another full day of adventure and site seeing was seasoned with a group of 4 men hanging from ropes, wound around a mast 75 feet above the ground, and twirling their way back to the ground (while playing flutes and drums) of the malecon. The street was filled with tourists filming the event. Friday was happy hour on our boat till after 10 PM. Saturday was the chili cook-off fund raiser event and a run across a six lane freeway to catch the connecting bus home-we felt like illegal border crossers as we dash between traffic. A commercial bus stopped and picked us up-the model with executive seats, air conditioning, and a movie in English playing. The ride was 22 km. and cost 90cents fare! We almost missed our stop on purpose just to stay longer. This was not our usual intercity bus.

Boat Life is not dull, and we are yet to be bored with the cruising lifestyle we are living. We are now off to remote areas and no internet cafes for about two to three weeks. Our best we send to all of you. May the end of this year be good to you, and may the next year bring you many moments of awe and wonderment.

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We are in PV

2008-11-11T09:01:00.000-08:00

After 4 and 1/2 days of travel time we are in PV. Our total time was 6 days in transient, including 2 days of rest in Mazatlan. While in Mazatlan during the day we rested by the pool, swam in the warm water and around the man made caves at El Cid Resort. In the evenings we walked and ate at outdoor restaurants. One night we were able to attend a free Japanese drum concert, GOCCO Magig Taiko Drummers, which was similar to the group STOMP. It was a great evening of entertainment spent with Lady Hawk and three new cruising friends.

We left Mazatlan with the intention of only going to the southern end of town and resting, just a three hour trip of slow sailing. Well plans change and we decided since we were going forward, we would just keep going. The time was right and we could arrive in San Blas about 10:00 in the morning. We had a fantastic sail with wind 10 to 15 out of the northwest all day and night. When we were abreast of San Blas Helen reminded me of the no see um problem around a full moon, and it was 2/3 to 3/4 so we kept going. We arrived in Punta Mita at 3:00pm sailing almost the whole way, 140 miles. Punta Mita is a resort destination with palapas, condos, golf course, and hotels just north of Puerto Vallarta. We noticed right away the lush green hillsides and the emeral green grass and found ourselves thinking we truly are in the tropics again. Pulling into the anchorage we recognized the yellow jib sail of our friends Lou and Laura on Cirque and the boat of another friend, Andrew on Amizade. Then when we were were on a dinghy ride we found two people waving to us from their balcony--Gilly and John from Destiny were in their condo. It was our faded green motor standing out that helped them recognize it was Jammin'. FYI: The green faded motor will be change to bright yellow this next week to color coordinate with our kayak and gas cans--Helen is redecorating as she is running out of sewing projects! So, if you see a school bus yellow motor it should be us behind the throttle. It feels so right to be with fellow sea mates and living the easy life again. Our biggest concern is what time zone are we in and when should we move the clock time since we really don't need to know the time till this Saturday to pick up our daughter and son-in-law?

Our total trip was 585 miles. The first leg nonstop was 445, the furthest non stop so far for the two of us. It was a great sail and after the third night we were getting into the groove. Our next similar distance will be from Mexico to Costa Rica, sometime in February.

We didn't catch another fish once were outside of Guaymas. I am not sure if it was the distance off shore or what. Coming into Mazatlan we had to avoid 6 or more drift nets just floating on top of the water. They had a plastic milk jug or clear pop bottle every 200 yards. The line they use is 1/4 floating yellow poly line. Almost impossible to see till you are on top of it. Two of the lines we found were over 2 miles long maybe even more as we are not sure at what point we found them. You have to just keep following them till they end. Going over the top of these would really ruin our day, and cause potential damage to our prop and shaft. We are so lucking we didn't encounter these at night. They are almost impossible to see even in the day light. No flags, no markers, nothing to help navigate around them. They seem to be within about 15 miles of shore in about 50 meters or less of depth. Twice panga fishermen came roaring towards us and cut us a path to avoid danger and save their lines. They were catching fish, we may have been fishing just too deep. We tend to stay further off shore as normally there is less to worry about.

We will now be in this area waiting for Kelsey and Jeromy to arrive on Saturday. They will be here for two weeks after which we will move south.

It is in the high 80's during the day and mid 70's at night. Doesn't get much better. I am glad we made a fast trip since the strong northern winds have already started to blow in the Sea of Cortez.

Life is great.

Dave and Helen

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Back home on the water

2008-11-04T17:20:00.000-08:00

We are finally back on the water and heading south. We had a great time on land seeing all our family and friends, and a few new ones as well. The time spent in College Station and DC, visiting both Mike and Kels, will give us memories to last a long time. I think we will be in a few memories as well. Meeting their friends reminds us of our younger years as well. We are very proud of the choices in friends and the lives our children have chosen.

We would like to thank all of you who let us park our RV in their driveways and front yards. The visits and story swapping we had over a FEW evening drinks will be thought of often. I wish we could have spent more time with all of you, but between Helen's working and needing her sleep our visiting was cut down. The times we did have were special and will give us evening conversations for the whole year. We will enlighten those we meet about the HAB theory and other intellectual topics started but certainly not finished. Seeing the Beavers actually win a good game and being able to see all our college friends in one tailgate party helped to reconnect with old friends. Thanks for the many Happy Hour times spent together.

While we were home two of our close friends lost parents. It reminded us about how fragile life is and how getting old does have some serious draw backs. Linda, we are sorry we missed your father's funeral. He and your mom were so great and I still remember visits with them. Craig, the time I spent with you, your family, and mom before she passed on was very meaningful to me. Your mom and you have always been a very important part of our lives and we were glad we could share those last days with you both.

Thanks to all for just being there for us when we were back in the Northwest.

Ok, here we are "Back in the water, again" (sung to the tune of "Back in the saddle, again").
We are on the third day of 445 mile passage to Mazatlan. WE should be there some time tomorrow morning. To help pass the time we have been fishing and caught 3 Dorados, one Sierra, and three skip jack tuna (those we released). All accomplished in the first two hours so we then moved on to reading books. Two books down, and about 175 to go! We are eating fresh Mahi Mahi on the BBQ (which can't be beat) on a smooth rolling sea. The weather has been disappointing. We had hoped for a nice northern breeze to push us along to the south, but the wind decided to change to the south and provide no help this whole trip. In the pass three days we have seen three boats. It is a lot different than cruising the populated northwest. We are on our way to PV to meet Kelsey for a two week holiday. It will be a blast. It is so nice to be back on the water in the gently, and sometimes not so gentle, swells and waves.

It took 8 long, hot, dirty days putting the boat back together. We were planning on living in the motor home while we worked on the boat, but two days after we arrived in Guaymas we had to leave because hurricane Norbert was on the way. I wanted to stay and just point the motor home into the wind and ride it out. I said it couldn't be much different than going down hill at 75 into a headwind. That's something we can only do downhill by the way. Helen (who was checking out bus schedules north)and common sense won out and we left the day of the storms arrival. It actually went ashore just south of us so no damage was incurred by the boat but by then we were on our way to Texas to leave the motor home there. Once we came back we were stuck on the boat in a dusty, hot, bug infested yard with a lot of work to get done and no air conditioning at night to help with our aches and pains. The boat was cover with a heavy layer of dust, dirt and other sorts of grime which had to be clean before we could even start putting the boat back together. I don't know if we will ever leave the boat in a place like that for such a long period of time. I have to give a a lot of credit to Helen for putting up with me and those conditions for over a week. I must really be loved!!

Now that we are on the water and moving I am sure those memories will slowly vanish from our thoughts (like child birth pains fade) and new one will start replacing them. Last year we came down pet less and acquired a few temporary ones in our toilet bowl--a baby squid swam in as well as a fish...Well, this year we are pet less again and today our first pet flew in. We are 18 miles off shore and Dave felt something crawling up his back. When it reached his shoulder and came forward he could see it was a 6 inch wing span moth! Excited to record this first pet he went below to get the camera, with the moth following him in the air--Dave though he looked hungry as well as tired. A picture of the moth in our kitchen will be posted later on our blog.
I will try to do a better job of updating the blog. Sometimes our daily lives just seem to roll into each other and I just forget. Hope everyone is well. I love the description our friends on Wandering Star gave our life style, "It's like Spring Break for seniors." You have the sun, surf, stars, meeting new people, sharing fun times, and living totally in the present time--whatever time zone that may be...we aren't sure what time or day it is right now. Thank goodness for the lower right corner on the computer which give us the correct day at least.

Life is great; enjoy it now. It is also short and unpredictable.
Dave and Helen
Jammin

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The norrthern Crossing.

2008-06-21T16:38:00.000-07:00

We we made it across to mainland Mexico last night and this morning. It took 12.5hrs to sail 72 miles. The weather forecast was for no wind or weather of any kind. Wrong!!The weather and waves were pretty shitty out in the middle for about 5 hrs. We had waves going over our side and through the cockpit. Got to love an open stern. The wind was about 25 to 30 knts for about 5 hrs and then just 15 to 29 the rest of the trip. We sailed or motor sailed the whole way. The last 6 hours we sailed anywhere from 6.5 to 8.5 knts had a blast. The waves made the motion a bit hard but great sailing. During the strong stuff we only had the main up and motorsailed. Made great time but now we are dog tired. I slept about 3 hrs in the last day. We are currently anchored in Bahia San Pedro. Nice place but not much protection from the weather. That pretty much describes the anchorages on the mainland side

I will try to update our blog in reverse order. Life just goes on with one beautiful anchorage after another. It is amazing how that happens but life is still great. There were a few stand outs and I will write about them in the next couple of days.

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My birthday in San Juanico

2008-05-23T12:13:00.002-07:00

We spent the day just exploring the beach and snorkeling. There were fish and small lobster everywhere. Non were big enough to be taken, but it was a great site to snorkel. The weather was hot and the water was warm what a great day to have a birthday. A couple of friends on neighbor boats invited us over for birthday dinner on their boat. We spent the evening on Brandywine from Loreto, having seafood stew, scallop ceviche, fresh sourdough bread, and Guacamole. Helen made a Key Lime pie for my cake. The stew had Lobster, Triggerfish, scallops, Chocolate clams, Conch, other fish with vegetables. All freshly harvested. What a great meal!!! We had Pina Coladas and wine to re hydrate us. The boat Winsome gave me some of her sourdough starter for a treat, which was great since I had just killed mine the week before. What a great birthday!
The next day the weather forecast was for high wind to enter our area and that is exactly what happened. By night time it was blowing 25 to 30 almost all night long. The next morning it was pretty steady over 35 and 40 with at least one gust of 47. The way this bay is shaped we should have gotten some protection from the wind, but for some reason it didn't work that way. There is no fetch so there were no big waves in the bay so the seas were comfortable. We have had winds of 20 to 25 for the last couple of days and here we sit still waiting for the wind to stop. Today is actually calmed down a lot so by tomorrow we might move to the north side of the bay and explore that area.

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Isla Coronados

2008-05-23T12:13:00.001-07:00

On my way to Isla Coronados I sailed and fished all the way around the island to scope out all the anchorages. It is a beautiful volcanic island with rocky reefs all the way around. I chose a northern anchorage because of southern winds were expected, but checked out the other anchorage by dingy just in case I get chased out by wind. There was a long white sand beach at the head of the bay with two palapas on the beach that were there to be used. Pangas would bring people out from Loreto to enjoy the white sand beach and crystal clear turquoise water. I was again anchored in 15ft of water. I could see my anchor bury itself in the sand. I tried to go out and bottom fish off the point but no real luck. A lot of bites but nothing stayed on. I ended up visiting some friend in another anchorage for the evening. Helen was coming the next day so back to the boat to straighten up and put all the stuff I had left out away. The next day I went and anchored off Loreto itself. There is no protection from anything there. You just anchor right off the beach and dingy into the beach. The weather was expected to be good all day and it was. I did my re provisioning and Helen arrived about 3:00. We had a great lunch and headed back to the boat and back out to Isla Coronados. We stayed there two more days enjoying the beach and warm water and then out of no where bees started to arrive looking for water. I was a little more prepared this time with the screens so it wasn't as bad a Bollandra, but we decided to leave the next day before the word got out that we were there. Our next anchorage was a small protected point called Punta Mangles. Here again was a small deserted resort that had never been finished. The location was incredible but I guess the remote location and construction problems were just too much. I will post some pictures when I can. We enjoyed exploring sea caves and snorkeling in water that was starting to get warm. I went out fishing that evening and caught a nice Triggerfish. Finally fish for dinner. That night it was rolly for about 4 hrs so the next day after exploring the beach we took off. The wind was expected to pick up from the south for the next couple of days so we headed to Caleta San Juanico, just 7 miles north. When we arrived the wind had picked up so we anchored in the south end of the bay in 22 ft of water right of the beach.

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Honeymoon Cove and Bollandra

2008-05-23T12:13:00.000-07:00

Helen took off on May 8th to go and see Mike and Kelsey. I took off from Puerto Escondido the next day Only spent 2 days in Honeymoon Cove It has great protection from the north but not much from the west or south west. Wind was expected to pick up from that direction so I moved on. While I was in Honeymoon I saw a panga diving for scallops and heard later he scored big time so that was my plan once I got to Bollandra. It was only a 12 mile trip up to Bollandra, and it was a great place to wait for Helen's return. The winds were picking up a bit so there were a few more boats that I expected. I was able to anchor in 12 ft of crystal clear water in the north part of the anchorage. It is a bay protected on all sides from wind and just a very small western entrance so it should be a great place to sit. The first night I had a few mosquitoes so I closed all the screens and called it good. The next day I went snorkeling and scored on some scallops I only keep about 10 and it made a great meal once I figured out how to shuck them. No problems the oyster knife worked great. I was starting to get bees around and had about 100 sucking on my wet towel after my freshwater shower. I learned a lesson, don't leave any fresh water outside in the dessert when there are bees around. Once it was dark the bees left and I was enjoying an evening on deck with a glass of wine when here comes the mosquitoes again. Down below I went. I must have killed 20 mosquitoes that night. The boat itself seem to be hatching them. Bad night. The next day myself and people from two other boats went for a hike across the island. It was about 4 miles and it was truly a desolate island. The only living thing we encountered was bees and now Bo Bo's ( A small non bitting nat that loves the corner of you eyes and mouth. Again the moisture thing)It was a great hike, but I think even I might be seeing a pattern here. When I got back to the boat the bees and nats were everywhere. I enclosed the cockpit with our bug screens but spent the rest of the day inside a bee hive looking out. That night The mosquitoes were back. I can take a hint. I am out of here. I decided to try Isla Coranados just 7 miles away and a short distance form Loreto where Helen was coming in in 2 days. Gotta take care of these bugs before Helen gets home. Helen would not be impressed.

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Loreto Fest is history

2008-05-09T08:20:00.000-07:00

We are currently anchored in Honeymoon Cove on Isla Danzante. It was just a 3.5 mile trip across from Puerto Escondido, but it was nice to get away. Helen flew out yesterday and with the driving help of Louis on Azzuza it was a stress free day. I did some re provisioning in town after letting off Helen at the airport so I should be good till she gets back. Helen wrote from D.C. that she had arrived to a thunderstorm and was having her first rain since October. Hope she has a great trip.

Loreto Fest was a lot of fun. It was great to see some old faces that we had not seen in about 6 months. I was really surprised how many new boats we meet. They have all spent the winter up here or in La Paz, and most will head to the mainland next fall. there were about 100 boats that came in for the event. The fest had something going every hour of the day for 3 and 1/2 days. Games and seminars were held every day. We sold drink and food tickets for two hours each day so we basically got to meet everyone during that time. The event is sponsored by the Hidden Port Yacht Club, and Michael and Mike and Marcia would be proud to know we are now members of HPYC. Hey for 600 pesos we got two memberships, two tee shirts, a burgee, and free spaghetti diner and pancake breakfast. What a deal. They actually have reciprocating all over the world or at least it has been used all over the world. We also have a Burgee to fly proudly. I will include a picture when I get internet some day. The main event on Saturday night was a togo party. Holding to my usually self I wore a stunning white with purple trim and colorful butterflies togo. Helen's matched, and she looked a whole lot better in hers than I did. It made a fun night. Some friends from Mystic Moon wore bright yellow togos and looked just like Harry Christna (sp) even including a little dance to go with the mood. Every night was some sort of potluck, so it was one big social event. Chances are this was our only fest that we will attend since we should be in Costa Rica this time next year.

We will now spend the next couple of months exploring the northern part of the Sea of Cortez. The weather will start getting really hot, soon but the water should warm up and the fishing should be getting a lot better. When we can't stand the heat we will put the boat on the hard and spend a little shore time exploring. Hope all is well with everyone.
Dave and Helen

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It is getting hot

2008-04-30T17:11:00.000-07:00

We are on a bouy here in Puerto Escondido. Last night when we tried to go to bed it was 85 in the cabin at 11pm and 80 outside. At 9 am it was 82 in the cabin and 78 outside. The high has been right around 90 most days so the heat is on. The location is amazing. We are nestled below the Giganta Mts and they are breath taking. The bay is almost land locked with the entrance only being 10 ft deep and about 100ft wide. We are paying $84 a week to tie to a mooring bouy, and that is a pretty good deal. The problem is there are no extra facilities. It is 15 miles to the town of Loreto and a $70 round trip taxi ride. They will take you to town and let you off, and then come back to pick you up when ever you want. They also take you to the store and any other errands you need for the same price. Today we spent 7 hrs seeing Loreto and shopping, and the driver was always there to meet us when we needed him. There is a taxi mafia so there are no options on transportation. A number of years ago a local person took some cruisers to town and was arrested for having started her on taxi company. This was a one shot deal, but she actually saw the inside of a jail before everyone came to her rescue. I understand that it is not as big of an issue now. Tomorrow the Loreto Fest starts. It sounds like a lot of activities, but we really have no idea what it is about. There are a lot of boats we know here so it will be fun catching up with those people. Some we haven't seen in 6 months.

Before we came here we were in Bahia Candeleros. This was a very open bay not protected from most winds. The only resident occupant was an Eco Resort on one end. We had a great time exploring the beach, and when we got back to the boat we snorkeled for Chocolate Clams. The water is now 75 degrees so it is comfortable. Chocolate clams are brown both on the outside and the inside as well. We didn't get too many, but what we got were great. We only spent one night there, being anchored in 10 ft of water makes me a little uncomfortable but we had a great time.

On our trip up from La Paz we anchored in Ensenada Grande on Isla Partida. This was a new place for us. We choose the wrong anchorage out of the 3 available and spent the whole night bobbing in the wind and waves. There were two other anchorages in the same bay that would have been much better.

The next night we spent anchored in Isla San Francisco. This is a small volcanic island, and we were anchored right in the bowl of the volcano. I wished we would have done more exploring of the island, but I cleaned our whole bottom instead. Next time we will explore more.

The next couple of nights we anchored in Evaristo and Agua Verde. We have been to both places before, and it was nice to be back. At that point we were on a fast pace to get to Loreto for the Fest.

Hope all is well for everyone and we are looking forward to cinco de Mayo in Mexico.
Jammin

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Sitting Back in La Paz

2008-04-20T15:39:00.000-07:00

We are currently sitting at anchor in La Paz in the La Costa virtual anchorage. We had no idea we were in a virtual anchorage until the Harbor Master of this non sectioned off piece of open water came and told us so. To anchor in his virtual anchorage was going to cost us $5 a day unless we wanted to move literally 50ft then we would be outside their anchorage area. Actually when the tide goes out the boat is officially not in the anchorage, but the anchor is. Being too lazy to move, and we do get great showers and a locked dingy dock we choose to stay put. When I asked the Harbor Master what were the boundaries of the virtual anchorage all he said was just a little over there, behind us of course. Everything is just a suggestion here in Mexico.
It is amazing how the weather changes since coming across. It is still just as hot and the sun beats down hard, but there is no humidity. You would think that is a good thing, but I can't seem to keep enough fluids in me, my nose is plugged up from it and my throat is so dry it hurts. I remember this happening when I used to go play over in eastern Oregon during the summer. Oh ya and my lips got chapped in one day without chapstick. I'm the one who is suppose to like the heat so I better shut up.

We had a good crossing but had to cut it short and went to Muertos instead of straight to La Paz. On our second day at sea everyone forecasted 25 to 30 for the whole day and at 3:00 am it started. When we got to Muertos it was blowing 20 + so we sat for the day. Rick and Don said it was going to settle down and max would be 10 to 15 the next day. Next morning it was a little gusty to start and I kept waiting for it to calm down. Oh ya did I mention we took off to go north. Well we rounded the point and headed into Cerralvo Channel and hit 25knts on the nose with 6 to 8 ft swells left over from the day's blow before, and side bashing from cross swells. Helen left her seat and landed in the cockpit floor before going down below for better traction. It was suppose to mellow out so we continued. We ended up beating our selves up the whole day to make it to La Paz. It finally calmed down when we turned the corner to make the run to La Paz. A couple of the boats, who also took Don's advice and were out there with us, said it was the largest swell they have ever seen in the sea that either could remember. Go figure.

We will be here one or two days more to reprovision and then head north. This will be our last large city till we hit Santa Rosalia in a month or so. Loreto is a good size city but where we anchor is 12 miles south of the town and a $45 taxi to get to town. WE are looking forward to visiting the many isolated anchorages along the way. Chances of internet are very slim so sailmail us when you get a chance.

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Across The Southern Passage

2008-04-16T02:32:00.000-07:00

After spending three weeks in La Cruz we are on the 5th day of a fast passage to La Paz and the Loreto for the Loreto Fest. Stops along the way included Punta Mita, Chacala, San Blas, Mazatlan, and we are currently crossing the Lower part of The Sea Of Cortez. It is 247 miles to La Paz so it will take about two days, at least two full nights. We are currently about 40 miles off the coast of Mazatlan and it is 3:00 am. The winds are calm and the seas are flat. We were sailing but the wind died about 2 hrs ago. Our current speed is only 4.7 knts. I am not sure if there is a current, tide, or just a lot of growth on our bottom. I wanted to check it out before leaving, but the water was cold and cloudy. I probably should have done it anyway. The weather is suppose to turn to a strong Northernly by Thursday, which means if we would have waited till then we would have wind right on our nose at about 25knts and wind waves of about 6ft coming the same direction. I don't really want to do that for 247 miles.

We have had a great time on the mainland side of Mexico and look forward to next fall when we will head down that way again. Our plan right now is to spend as much of the summer up in the northern part of the Sea, as long as we can stand the heat. Right now we are scheduled to put the boat on hard ground for the months of August, September, and part of October. July might be too hot also so we will have to see. During the time on land we hope to see both Mike and Kelsey and visit our friends back home. I will do a better job of updating our log now that we are heading for new territory again.

Hope all is well with everyone, and cruising is everything we had hoped it would be. The water just needs to be warmer!

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Barra De Navidad

2008-03-11T12:46:00.000-07:00

If Disney would make a Mexican City Barra would be it. It is clean with small narrow streets , and friendly English speaking people. We are anchored in the Barra Lagoon, a large and very shallow body of water that is surrounded by a resort on the south side and Barra on the north. We are anchored in 11 ft of water with 120 ft of chain out. Every boat has the same amount out, and boats drag every time the wind gets above 25knts. The bottom is really bad holding with gooey mud about 2 ft thick. Bruce and CQR's seem to have the most problem. The town does make up for the pain it is to get into the anchorage. There are taco stands and tourist shops on every corner. Unlike PV and Mazatlan the prices are more like what we had hoped for in Mexico. The daily temperature has been in the high 80's every day; our tans are getting great. The French Baker makes his rounds every morning using a panga to deliver his goods. True French pastries and french bread are the way to start the morning.
Today we had to say goodbye to Hiatus and Moody Blues. They are both heading south and we are going north. It was a little hard as we have been cruising with Hiatus since the end of September. We look forward to meeting up again, but it might a year till we see both again. It has been great having been able to cruise such a long time with special friends. The memories will last a life time. Go dingy surfing!!!! Thanks to you all.

Carrizal Bay

2008-03-11T12:28:00.000-07:00

After Leaving Santiago Bay. We spent one night in a little cove called Carrizal. Of course it is not really on any charts but it is recommended in the cruising guide. Moody Blues, Hiatus, and us were the only boats. There was a 4 to 5 foot swell running into the bay but it wasn't too rolly at first. Later that night when we went sideways to the swell it was very uncomfortable. We had diner of smoked pork chops and drinks on our boat with Kent, Heather, Gene, and Susea. The surroundings reminded us of the northwest. Because of the swell and lack of sleep we left for Barra the next morning, but not until I started cinnamon rolls which we would have once we arrived at Barra.

Santiago Bay

2008-03-11T12:05:00.000-07:00

We left Santiago Bay about a week ago. We had a great time being part of the local cruising community. It was the first time we felt like we really did belong. Santiago is just a few miles away from Manzanillo but a world away from the hustle bustle of the city life. The pollution from the power plant was much less, but in the end it was one of the reasons we left. The community of Mirimar, which is the anchorage part of Santiago Bay, is very upscale, but smaller beach front homes. We were still able to go to Manzanillo for final provisioning on a 5 peso bus. What a deal! We also went to two local semi pro soccer games with about 30 other cruisers. We did this two Sundays in a row. On the second trip we actually commandeered a bus which we actually filled to take us to the game. It was great interacting with the local crowd. The silly string was flying. Drums and noise makers were all around us. It was a blast.

On Feb 28th the cruisers took over a local outdoor bar to celebrate Kent and Linda from another boat joint birthdays. We stayed till dark when the bugs drove us back on the boat to finish the celebration.

Getting together with friends

2008-02-23T07:08:00.000-08:00

Last week we were able to meet our friends Gary and Sandy from Victoria, B.C. down here in Manzanillo. They had a place they had rented with his sister and brother inlaw about 30 minutes south of here. It was a real treat to be able to catch up with people we had shared a very cold and wet experience with, and now be able to share the warmth of Mexico too. As a real treat we were able to stay on land at their home for a very enjoyable and non rocky night. Part of the night was spent at a neighbors house and drinking Margaritas and telling stories and philosophies . Ken and Carol and daughter were gracious hosts. Both homes were beach front homes with large open air living spaces. We also went to lunch on the beach in the nearby local town where I experienced the drink called Coco Loco. This is a fresh green coconut filled with rum, gin, vodka, and tequila. One was enough, but of course we followed it up with other delights.
Overall we had a great two days. It was nice to see how Mexican life onshore isn't a lot different than cruising.
Thanks Gary, Sandy, Larry, Lorraine, Ken, and Carol it was a great time

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Las Hadas to Santiago Bay

2008-02-22T17:19:00.000-08:00

After spending a week in Las Hadas it is time to move on. We are currently anchored in Santiago Bay a beautiful anchorage protected from most of the spring time weather. Las Hadas was great but I am really glad to be out of there. When we first arrived in Las Hadas it reminded me of being anchored in the Med off of any number of Spanish or French waterfront towns. The white stucco sided resorts covered the hill sides of the local bay, No buildings were of the same design or texture giving an almost unreal dimension to the landscape.
We had a great time meeting new boaters and having a cocktail party on an 85ft cruiser. The party included 14 boaters who we had never meet, we had a great party. That was quite an experience being on such a big boat. There is no way I could handle all that space. Well maybe! It had a great shop and engine room, that I could handle. I am sure that our paths will cross again. Ed and Sharon on North Star were perfect hosts
Las Hadas is a great place to reprovision. Wall Mart and two other large stores are an easy bus ride away. It is amazing how a trip to the grocery store turns into a full day event. Catching a bus, a short trip to town, doing our shopping, riding the bus back to our marina, and stowing our new food away all before cocktail hour. The amazing thing is it really is an all day event. Helen wants me to add that the shopping spree doesn't really start till sometime around noon or one, but it takes all morning to get ready, see who wants to go to town, and then actually taking off. Oh the life of a cruiser.

We have only moved about 5 miles, but we are currently listening to The Beach Boys and thinking of future travels. I will write more about Santiago Bay once we have enjoyed all it has to offer. Cheers the sunset is upon us. We also enjoyed a fantastic Lunar Eclipse party on our boat a couple of night ago.

Life is great and my leg is healing slowly but nicely.

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Don't Step On A Sting Ray

2008-02-12T13:47:00.000-08:00

My brush with the Animal Kingdom happened just after helping a friend get their dingy through the first set of waves. They had a tough time getting in through the surf and had gotten rather wet so we offered to help get them out. Gene and I were on my way back to the beach in thigh deep water when I stepped on at least one sting ray. It hit my leg so hard I knew exactly what had happened. I made it to shore and rested on a nearby panga. Looking down at my ankle I could see a good amount of blood flowing out a hole just behind my ankle joint. I looked at the hole expecting to see a stinger sticking out, instead I could see about an inch and a half down into the wound. The ray actually hit me three times. Two hit bone and barely penetrated; the third hit gold.

Within minutes the pain was unbearable. Gene from Moody Blues came over to help me and put a very tight bandage over the hole. At that point I could no longer put weight or even touch the foot area because of the extreme pain. I knew we had to get back to our boat and figure out what to do. I only knew that I needed to soak it very hot water, but that wasn't going to happen anytime soon as we were across the bay and the trip over was a 30-45 minute ride. Gene and Susea took our dingy out through the surf. In the mean time I was still on the beach when an older Mexican man came over to see if there was any thing he could do. He even wanted to help carry me out through the surf to the dingy. It was a very nice gesture, but Gene had put his shoulder under mine and was getting me to the dingy on his own. I am not sure what I would have done without his help. Once in the dingy I thought about the 45 minute ride back to our boat. The wind and waves were still coming in fairly strong so we started to pound our way back to our home. Moody Blues stayed with us the whole way back in case help was needed. I tried to rest my leg on the pontoons of the dingy but the pain was too much to let my ankle touch a thing. I held my leg up with my hand and did the best I could. Of course I drove the dingy and kept my focus on the lights coming off our boat just ahead of us.

Moody Blues had sent the dingy from Destiny ahead to get on the VHF net to find out what to do. By the time we arrived at the boat Destiny (Gilly and John)had water boiling and 10 other cruisers standing by to help or just give advise. The net was humming, there were boats as far as 10 mile away in the next anchorage breaking in to give advise and offer help. In less than 5 minutes my ankle had been irrigated, cleaned, and checked for any signs of a broken off stinger or barbs. Everything seem positive so I put my foot in super hot water. Next, Pacific Voyager showed up with Barry and Pat prepared to do whatever needed to be done. I took a couple of pain pills and soon I started to feel some relief. Actually the pain pills barely took the edge off, it was the hot water that helped the most. Within minutes antibiotics were collected from nearby boats and a stinger remover kit was sent over just in case. The last bit of advice came from a cruiser who turned out to be a doctor. He asked if we had any papaya on board. When we said no he asked about Adolph's meat tenderizer. That we had. He said that papaya was the main ingredient and to make a slurry paste and put it on the wound. I tried it and oh boy did that add some new pain. We looked at the bottle and the first ingredient was salt. Ouch. I did it three times for as long as I could stand it, then I put it back into the hot water after each treatment. In about a half hour the pain started to subside. It had been four and a half hours since I had stepped on the ray. By the end of the fifth hour the pain was manageable. I was hoping the venom had run its course. My foot was the size of a football with little toes sticking out of the end. It hurt, but I could finally take it out of the water. I started taking the two sets of antibiotics and tried to go to sleep, it was after midnight. There was no way I could sleep and it made for a very long night.

The next morning a cruiser named Gerry came by to see my wound. Another boat had identified him as the doctor who told me about papaya. We discovered that the Adolph's must have work because most people have pain that lasts up to 12 hours. I couldn't imagine that! Gerry agreed on the antibiotics I was taking and said I needed to keep the wound open and draining for at least 5 days and no going in the water. I followed the doctor's orders (Gerry is an infectious disease doctor who practiced for the past 20 years in the Pacific Islands and coastal areas thanks to the navy) and and he stopped by every day to make sure I was ok.

It has been seven days now and my ankle is still stiff and sore. The wound is trying to close but there is still some weeping. I appear to have no infection and am on my way to recovery. We are not sure why the joint hurts but probably the stinger cut ligaments around the joint. I am sure it will get better and I continually thank all those who were there for me that night. They say the way to avoid a sting is to do the sting ray shuffle while walking on the beach. Ya, like I am going to remember to do that every time I get in the water while pushing my wheels and dinghy through the surf!The truth is it is a very rare thing to happen and go figure it was me. All is on the mend now and we are off to Manzanillo bay for a week or so. Warm winds, warm water, and sunshine---sure don't miss Oregon right now, but we do miss all of you!

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Bahia Tenacatita

2008-02-11T09:56:00.000-08:00

Our stay in Tenacatita has been wonderful. Tomorrow we are heading a little south to Santiago bay to look for our Canadian friends Gary and Sandy who have rented a house somewhere close by. This is the first place we have anchored that I actually feel we could stay here a long time. It is a beautiful setting. One end of the beach has a campground that is filled with local campers and their kids every weekend. It is fun to walk through the park and see people enjoying the weekend with their families just like we do in the northwest. The other end of our beach there is a medium size resort that never seems to have too many people. Both camp ground and resort cater to the Mexican community. In between the two is a stretch of absolutely wonderful beach lined with palm trees and jungle behind them. The beach itself is almost a half mile long and we are anchored almost in the middle. We are one of the closest boats to the beach so our view is unobstructed. The air temperature is finally tropical holding steady around 85 each day and in the mid sixties at night. The water temperature is always around 80 making it perfectly refreshing anytime you wish to jump in and cool off. The sunsets are incredible with the sun falling behind our backdoor and the beach leaving a orange hue to silhouette the palms and jungle. There has been as many as 45 boats here during our stay, but it never seems crowded where ever we go. One of the highlights of this area is the jungle cruise. A small and narrow estuary that winds through the mangroves for a couple of miles. At times it is so dense, narrow and low you have to duck to make it through. The trip takes about two hours to maneuver your way to the small lake at the end. Even though we only saw tons of birds there are Boas, crocodiles and all sort of other jungle inhabitants. Coming out of the jungle and into the lake is like a ride at Disney Land. To your left are small palapas on the beach to land your dingy. From there it is a short walk back to a beach where there are a dozen palapas style restaurants. The one we choose had the best Fish Roles we have tasted.

On the other side of the bay is a small village called La Manzanilla. We spent a wonderful day with two other boats wandering the streets of this quaint little town. Except for the prices of food and real estate it really seems untouched by large masses of tourists. One end of the town is a lagoon that at high tide might spill over to the sea, but is also the home to a large number of Crocodiles. They were huge just lying basking in the sun. There was nothing keeping them from wandering through the town or the palapas just yards away. Even though they looked very full and content, I could only imagine them exploring the streets and beach at night looking for stray pets or other victims. On our way back through the town we came across a small upscale art gallery displaying the works of about fifteen local artists. Their work was worthy of any wall and we truly enjoyed our little stop. We had a great lunch at a beach front restaurant called Martins. The Cesear salad and other delights were prepared right at your table. Except for the open air atmosphere and the language barrier, we could have been at any upscale restaurant anywhere. The lunch was so good that when we found our self stuck on the beach because of bad weather we decided to stay for dinner. All was not perfect though, when we were leaving at dusk I had an accident in the shallow, dark, and dirty water that has laid me up for over five days. My next blog entry will explain what happened.
We have great pictures to add once we have internet so come back and check it out.

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Chamela

2008-01-31T20:19:00.001-08:00

When we arrived in Chamela I basically crashed till the next day. I was only able to get 3 hrs sleep the prior night and was just beat. Guess what? This is also a very rolly anchorage. I think all west coast anchorages are rolly. We are tucked behind a large finger of land but some how the northwest swell finds it's way around the corner only to make my nights miserable and restless. No wonder so many boats stay in Marinas. The next day we put up the sun shade and set out the flopper stopper. The first helped a lot, but the second just dampened the effects of the constant swell and waves. There is very large swell running out side so I think that is a big factor. Speaking of swell and crashing waves, we have a close encounter with these turbulent waters just to get to shore. There is only one small corner of the bay where there is small enough surf that you can make a beach landing. Coming to shore usually means surfing your dingy ( yeh dingy surfing, my New Years Eve desire)through 2 to 3 ft breakers. The hard part is you have to go back through those waters when you want to get back to the boat. Timing is everything. On our first attempt everyone thought we were going to flip over backwards as we climbed the largest wave in the set and came crashing down the back side. Bad Timing!!! With all our weight forward we were able fly over the top and slide down the back of a big breaking wave. This departure was after us helping 3 other boats make it successfully through the waves The next time we only got soaked waiting in shallow water for some calm to go through the surf. Good thing it is 85' and warm water.
There are about 6 beach front palapas that all have their specialities. We eat at the Corona tent for 50($5.00) peso chicken fajitas for two and 10 ($1.00) peso beers. I still get bad headaches form beer some mine are $1.50 Cokes. Go figure this is beer country. Water cost more than beer! As I sit hear tonight with visions of dingy surfing still in my head. I hear the non stop crashing waves just 150 yds from the boat and the constant rolling back and forth and think it is time to move on. Tomorrow we will head to Bahia Tenacatita. From what we understand it should be more protected and less rolly. This has been a fun beach front town, but I need some rest. Happy February and we are looking forward to seeing our friends from Canada Gary and Sandy who have rented a house down here for the whole month.

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Losing Track Of Time.

2008-01-31T20:19:00.000-08:00

After about a five minute discussion and finally turning on the computer I found out it is January 31 the end of the month. That makes it almost 3 weeks since I have updated our blog and written most of our friends. After leaving Chacala we headed to La Cruz. On the way we stop for overnight at Punta Mita. It was a very open anchorage with not much going on for us to even take the dingy down. The town itself is most a resort and a golf course. It was an 8 mile run to La Cruz the next day. La Cruz is a great little town with all the ambience that Mexico can offer. The streets are paved with round stone. They all have a pattern that we have become accustom to. Being made with round rock and not flat cobblestone it is very difficult to walk for any distance with out hurting some part of your foot. The stones are simply laid in sand and dirt. The homes in the town range from million dollar beach front homes to shambles that look similar to deer camp on a bad day. The most troublesome part of all of this old world town is that a brand new large marina is being built right on old beach front land. Docks and shops now stand where once beautiful beaches once settled behind some million dollar homes. No longer are they beach front properties, and their only view is parking lots and store fronts. What a shame because I can only imagine the whole town will slowly change from a small Mexican community to a commercial tourist town. Starting at the waterfront then moving back towards the hills surrounding this nice Mexican town. The highlights of La Cruz for us during our stay was open mic at both Philo's and Britiania, and a 6 hour Mexican Train domino game aboard Rosebud from Portland. Philo's is the local cruisers hangout with $2 beers and $7.50 hamburgers. Not exactly old world Mexico food or pricing. The local talent in La Cruz was well worth the price. After 6 days we got tired of the rolly anchorage so we followed Hiatus over to Nuevo Vallarta. Nothing was available at the docks so we tied between two old dock pilings for $9.00 a night. It wasn't great but at least we weren't rolling, and Helen appreciated the showers. We spent 5 nights tied to the pilings mostly just exploring Puerto Vallarta and re provisioning. We didn't make it to old town but everything else we saw was just big city tourist town. I was glad to leave, but we had one last fantastic adventure that we did no expect. On our last night we snuck onto the beach in front of some very exclusive resorts. Walked about 200yrds down the beach and had a very moving experience. We were able to take part in the release of about 250 one day old indangered sea turtles. The eggs had been collect about 45 to 60 days prior and buried in a protected makeshift nest. They had just hatched that morning and were waiting for us to help coax them towards the sea. They didn't need any coaxing the turned straight for the sea and made their move. Our job was to help those wayward turtles that either were taking a side trip or just needed a little extra push so they could make it to the water with still enough energy to maybe survive the first couple of hours let alone days. They estimate that only one in a hundred survive to come back and either breed or lay eggs. It was totally cool. I have some great pictures and film footage to put on the blog when I get a chance.
The next day we left headed for Chamela after a short rest stop in La Cruz. The trip to Chamela was an all night trip and because of strong currents and sloppy waves it took us 21 hrs to travel the 100 miles. The trip was filled with whale sittings, dolphins playing at our bow, but no fish took my hook. We are finally in tropical weather. 85' and water temperature of 80. WOW

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Chacala chickens, palapas and civilization

2008-01-11T13:57:00.000-08:00

We just pulled into a idyllic beach community. Palm trees are swaying, surf is softly kissing the shore, and the sounds of roosters and chickens rises above it all. There are palm roofed palapas within swimming distance and the promise of a $5.00 dinner made in the home of a local tonight; the meal choices are enchiladas or chilli rellanos. We may stay here for more than one day...the photos will be posed later and I hope you can see how peaceful it appears. Over the roosters I can now here music from the shore--if it is a club we may be hearing the music until 3-5 AM as it is Friday night and they party that late on weekends...oh well, even paradise has its downside. It is finally warm and sunny. We had fog till mid afternoon the last few days and cool temperatures. The no-see-um bites are itching now, 3 days later, but ammonia helps a lot with the itch. I don't think we will be going back to San Blas!!! As we were leafing we were treted towhales leaping out of he water only a short distance awy

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Back on the water again

2008-01-08T14:57:00.000-08:00

After spending the new Years week back in Mazatlan with family and friends it is nice to be back on the water again. Meaning we are away from docks and crowds and high costs. We had a great time with Mike and Laura who flew home on Jan 2. We were invited to a fantastic Lobster and Shrimp New Years diner aboard Triple Star with Beyond Reason and Hiatus also being there. New Years Eve ended with a midnight surfing trip outside the harbor with the dingy. Probably not the smartest thing but it seemed right at the time. Then we spent the rest of the week with other long time friends Craig , Deborah Huntington, Johnny ,and Sharon Jordan. Great time was had, and it was fun to share our life style with them. Once we left Mazatlan we spent a day anchored just south of town in an area called Stone Island. We were anchored off the beach in front of about a dozen palapas (palm covered eating areas) just like Mexico is suppose to be. We spent the afternoon sitting at a table with our feet playing in the sand watching our boats just bob in the swell. What a way of life this has become. We walked on the beach for a short distance then back to our place at the palapa. After our ten minute walk we had worked up a appetite and had fish and shrimp on the beach watching the sunset thinking about what all of you were doing at home on this Sunday afternoon. The next morning we left for Chacala a small bay just short of Puerto Vallarta. It was a 24 hr trip which we cut short because of fog and went into San Blas, Matanchen Bay, I had been here before so I felt comfortable in the fog. Last night at about 4:30 am I had just come on watch and had one of the most wonderful and chilling experiences I have had. I was staring out into the darkness when I heard this god awful noise come from what I thought was the boat. It sounded like my entire sail had just been ripped from the mast. Right along side the boat I missed two large whales by just feet. They had bellowed and sprayed the side of the boat as I sailed past. I could see the whales underwater by the full outline of the blue Phosphorus. They blew again making that horrible sound all within about 50 ft or less from the boat. It amazed and shook me up just how close I had come to silently running over these huge animals on a dark moonless night. We are sitting at anchor getting ready for another magical sunset in 80 degree weather thinking of all you at home. Tomorrow we are off to head a little further south.

We added some pictures to out blog at http://svjammin.blogspot.com/
Our postion on google earth is at http://www.pangolin.co.nz/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=kd7txh

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San Blas is a Blast

2007-12-28T20:52:00.000-08:00

First, I have to add a comment about Isla Isabella. I forgot to mention we were amazed with the acrobatics of the Humpback whale for the first time. Some only got their heads out of the water, but many times just 100 yrds out we saw their entire underbellies as they would spin when they came completely, all 35+ feet of them, out of the water and make a huge splash. More were further out but all day we saw the whale acrobatics. As well as sang goodnight to by whale songs as we drifted off to sleep.

Today in anticipation for our poor perfomance thus far in the Emerald Bowl, I sported my OSU Beaver Football T-shirt (the luckiest one of the season). The information "God" here scared us to leave the dingy on shore as we would venture out for the day. He told us to leave it at this one Palapa, that was hard to see initially, but after realizing that is is just a string of palapa's together that people can park their cars under it is directly towards the shore from a big Blue building and the 3rd one from the left with the green poles is the guy who will watch your dingy for a fee. No Problem, but he wasn't there, so we found a sturdy tree and chained to it. Up a dirt road we walk, then at the blue beer distributors, we chose to walk rt (the wrong direction) for a mile to the crocodile rd. Only to be informed that the Jungle cruise center is about 100 yrds straight instead of rt. Oh well, we were on a boat and needed the exercies. For those who haven't been on the jungle cruise this boat ride was great. Mangroves, forming tunnels as we travel through, sometimes getting swatted in the face, dense ferns and other shrubbery around. We shared the boat (about the size of a pirates of the Caribbean, but with a 50 horsepower motor)with 8 other people from texas. We started the trip turning and banking getting water coming over the sides and a sudden stop to observe what looked like a plastic 18" crocodile, but as the trip continued we saw many different fish eating birds, lots of other crocodiles, one being over 6' in length on the shore (they were real0 Just basking in the sun teasing to you to put your hand out into their open mouths as our boats sat a very short distance away. At the end of the jungle cruise for 40 pesos per boat (4 us dollars), we went into the crocodile farm where they are reintroducing them into the lagoons. They also had javellinas, white tailed deer,and some funky marsupials thingies that climbed all over one of the texan ladies. It was funny to watch. They had many pens with crocs in them, some of them only had the small babies and others had huge 8-10 footers. I actually got a picture of Laura touching one's back legs. Then after the farm they took us to a fenced in and protected spring that had a cool restraunt on it too. Unfortunately I was the only one with a swim suit so I did not go in. The cruise back, we bobed and weaved threw other boats caring more tourists in, it was crazier than Mr. Toads Wild ride.

Next we walked 4 miles into San Blas. Upon entering this typical Mexican town were many open aired restaurants with cinderblock BBQs smoking fillet whole fish covered in hot sauce, or whole fish, or lobster. Oh it smelled so good and looked great, but we passed on them for another absolutely wonderful restaurant (La Familia). The town was ok, the plaza was cute centered around the catholic church can only imagine how great of a Christmas party we missed. Bht for those traveling this restaurant is definitely a can't miss! Best 4.50 margaritas my dad has ever had with fresh limes, stiff tequila, and ohhh so good after a 4 mile stroll. The seafood fillet was covered with clams, oysters (both not cooked), shrimp, and onions and butter cooked in a foil bag. Mom's dinner was great, it was the longest fillet of fish name, it was covered in lots of veggies, some bacon, ham, cheese, it was pretty good. I got a Laura's Fillet or something like that, it was in the middle of the names. it ended up being a bacon on the bottom with fillet of fish, layer of ham, then a layr of cheese wrapped, grilled, and smothered in a spicy cream sauce.......OMG SO GOOD!!!! Then laura got beef fajitas that were better than great with ham, shrimp, and cheese melted on top along with an assortment of veggies. The first taxi offered us a price of 40 pesos (4 bucks) to take us back to the dingy and we were all over that. Luckily we got back and it was there and our shoes and everything, making our view of San Blas and this bay that much better.

The jungle cruise and the palm trees alone are worth the stop. The bitting no se ems are not too bad, but bad on the shore during a full moon.

Sorry for the length and many spelling errors, but thanks for reading

Cheers,
Mike Peoples

PS GO Beavers time to get the 4th qtr update or end of the game......please oh god please have let us win!

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Passage to San Blas

2007-12-28T07:51:00.001-08:00

The Next day after exploring the island we decided to stay and enjoy the beautiful tropical views. Its vacation, where do we have to be? We tried fishing in the morning with no success, so it was true fishing. Shortly after the morning coffee in the cockpit listening to the birds, we are joined by Pepe, a wonderful couple that is traveling with their adorable 18 month old daughter. They were very friendly and invited us to share some drinks in the early afternoon. I am jealous of these younger couples taking a year to 5 off. In the afternoon, a few beers down, we went snorkeling around the Dr. Seus rocks. The fish were amazing, so dense, so many varieties, even with 3-5'breakers going through there occasionally, we really enjoyed it. Not much coral, but the fish were worth every gulp of saltwater. The next morning we left to make our way to San Blas and anchor in the bay just south. Right off the bat, I hook into a little tuna, unfortunately he got off at the boat. We let the lines back out and get another bite within minutes. Then nothing the rest of the day. With nice rolling seas it was a beautiful trip across. We saw dolphins playing around us and at our bow, then there were these little ones that were so cute that loved to play even more! We saw a sea turtle that was floating VERY high out of the water, so we assume he was dead. Almost ran into a line of fishing nets only marked by a green pop bottle every 150 yrds. Luckily we didn't cross the set that was almost 2 miles long. Entering San Blas was pretty as we passed the river and decided to go to mantanchen bay. It is different down here, Reminds me of Cains with tall green peaks of a mountain ridge as steep as Hawaii but taler, tropical palm trees everywhere, the succulent smell of real grills going. Upon entering we all see our first shark in the water, over 8' it was and I thought I saw a couple times an elongated head poke out of the water like a hammer head. But it is beautiful here, no no-see em's yet tonight. No clue where to park the dingy, the resident and "certified" dictator of a greeter was helpful but is very intimidating and doesn't make the place sound pleasant. Almost scaring people to just stay on their boats. We will explore tomorrow. Laura and I are very excited to try a jungle cruise which we will fully update everyone with.

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Christmas Palm Trees

2007-12-28T07:51:00.000-08:00

By Mike Peoples For the Peoples

Couldn't ask for a better Christmas present, we did an all night passage during Christmas eve to Isla Isabella. Off in the Horixon we saw a glowing red light that we swore was santa making his way down to South America about 2:50 in the morning. Mom and I's watch was from 12:00-5:00. Laura and Dad had the first watch, she did a great job of staying awake and keeping everyone awake. As it was too rocky and she didn't want to dare going gown stairs, the cockpit was the perfect place to snuggle up. Shortly after I took a nap in the morning I awake just in time to see the greatest present. Dawn awaking, the sky painted in the reds and pinks so familiar to the boaters here, a tropical island off the bow. As we enter two humpbacks clear the way for us and hundreds of birds float above this small island. We sneak behind a Dr. Seus island/rock and set anchor. Tuna jumping threw the air, whales off in the distance, and boobies everywhere (the birds) what more of a christmas morning could we ask for.

Later that day we tried jigging with NW jigs. Within minutes my orange worm wearing a dress was eaten up and snapped the 20 lb test as it got wrapped around the tip. We lost many plastic jibs to hookless nibbles, we tricked one opa to bite the hook and made an excellent dinner (firm flesh) After the success we had to go to shore and explore this "Lost" island. Reminding us of visions of jurassic park, we enter an abandoned fishing camp. There huge marine iguanas are sunning on the rocks around the shanties, off to the left is an abandoned cement complex slightly overgrown by the jungle that was a bird observatory. Up the cliffs we climb filing past nested blue and yellow footed boobies, their feathers as smooth as leather and dumbfounded smiles on each. At the top we looked over the "other" crater lake. Nested in the trees Frigets and other large birds were teasing the opposite sex with their large red throats blown like balloons. About 40 birds were floating overhead, then another 50+ came in and just floated there, arms reach away we were surrounded by these magnificent birds (and not one speck of poop on us). As we looked over the Southern anchorage, we noticed many rocks not marked on the maps and big 4-7' rollers going threw. It was the best Christmas day I could ask for!

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Isla Isabela Merry Christmas

2007-12-25T07:19:00.000-08:00

We are currently anchored on the east side of Isla Isabela. Basically we are anchored in the open ocean protected by this small island. This is a first for us. No cove for any protection. The weather is calm and there is a slight swell coming around the island. The island itself is right out of Darwin and the Galapagos islands. Birds are everywhere there are marine iguanas and feral cats as well. We plan to go ashore this afternoon just in case the wind pops up tomorrow and we have to leave. Last night was amazing but we had to motor most of the way. When we get back to Mazatlan I will try to add some pictures.
Merry Christmas to all