This morning when we turned the generator on the battery didn't charge.
When we checked the Xantrex it was flashing fault and fuse.
Upon pulling out the fuses and replacing them everything worked. Now the
big question is why did they blow in the first place? The problem is that if
it blows again I don't have 3 fuses I only have 2 left.
Then I fiddled with the solar panels for about an hour trying to find
a way to tie them to the lifelines without getting a mounting bracket. I did
find a way to tie them up horizontally without supports. I tied the
flexible solar panels to the lower lifeline. I took a line from one
corner went to a clove hitch on the upper lifeline, then to the other corner
and underneath to tie it with a clove hitch on the lower line. What this does is keep
the panel on the tilt based upon both clove hitches pulling against them selves
so that the panel can't move but is supported by laying on the lower
lifeline and being tied to the upper one.
Hannah did wash, Sam worked on videos and I visited friends to help
them diagnose why their inverter charger isn't working. I guess it's kinda
a fixit day. As it turns out the charger was not only smoking with burned wires but also
blew the 4 diodes in the full bridge rectifier into little pieces so it is
beyond repair here without a bench and parts. They have two so we might try
to scavage parts from both to make one work. That will be another day.
Date:Thu, 21 Mar 2024 11:05:00 GMT
New Friends in Luperon
Good food and new resurants
The last couple days we finally got the Mediterranean covers sorted out.
I've been working on this for a couple years now! It took most of the day. We
had figured out the forward of the three a long time ago but the middle was the
bigger problem. The stern portion requires a hoop/support to make an arch.
The middle portion requires you to move the boom off to the side. It goes
under the boom. This was the portion that alwaysh confused us. In any case it's
complete and working. And it makes a huge difference in the temprature!
It also gives us full access to the cockpit in the daytime.
Today I also found a bunch of old light fixture parts that match the ones
on the boat so I was able to put back the missing lights. There were two
over the gally and two over the nav station. The ones I found in a used store
were pretty badly corroded but I took some steel wool to them and now they
are presentable. I'm glad to have those stupid wood plugs off the boat. The
lights get really hot and can melt the plastic so I need to replace them
with LED's but I can do that later for now it doesn't look stupid any more.
That project had been on my list for a couple years now.
I have a spreadsheet of projects for the boat.
Today we went with Sparrow again into town for lunch and to Asterics
for a drink afterward. We met the owner from Austria and I got a chance to speak some
German! Next week we're going for Schnitzel and Spatzel! We had a
wonderful time and some great conversation. Wanda even came with us today into
town. Her hand is feeling much better and she is able to leave the boat
now. It was a hot day and we walked a long way but she did very well. On
the way home we stopped for ice cream and then got some catfood and
vegitables.
We like going out with friends. It makes everything so much fun when
you have someone to share with.
I've been working on the solar panels, cleaning up the boat for
harbor sitting, Working on projects and sleeping late !
Tonight Samantha called and we had a wonderful conversation! We miss our
daughters very much.
Our Spanish learning is progressing slowly but we are trying every time to
do it on our own and work out how to communicate. Everyone is very patient
with us.
So far we love it here! We have met several local Domicans and I
think they are wonderful people! This is a gem of a country! It is going to be a
wonderful summer!
Date:Thu, 21 Mar 2024 11:05:00 GMT
Lunch in Luperon
Our First trip into town
This morning we got up and headed with our friends into town, but
before we left we went to buy some produce from a local farmer who brings
his truck full of food to the marina. He had everything from carrots to
cantelope.
After putting the food away we got back in our dinghy and went to
government docks and walked into town.
Sparrow took us all through town
introducing us to people, showing us places to shop and eat and just before
siesta we went to a little local resturant to have lunch. The food was
fantastic, the people were friendly and we had a wonderful time eating and
talking. We had Chicken, beans and rice, Beef, and fish. They offered
three basic lunches and then a choice of what kinds of beans and rice.
After that we went for ice cream and changed money into Pesos. The
exchange rate is about 580 Pesos to the dollar. Lunch was 175 pesos so
around $3 per plate. This was quite the suprise after the prices in the
Bahamas.
In the afternoon we went to the marina to do wash, take showers and
hang out in the evening at the "captians" table. The marina has a dinner
and happy hour every thursday and there was live music from some of the
cruisers and a dinner plate special of Flautos. We stayed and met people
till after dark and came back to the boat after a wonderful day!
I think we're going to love it here!
This morning Handy Andy is coming by with Fuel to refil our tanks and
he brought water yesterday. He administers/owns the mooring ball we are on.
And he brings supplies to the boat and helps out however you need.
Date:Thu, 21 Mar 2024 11:05:00 GMT
Luperon Morning
Luperon Morning birds
This is our first morning in Luperon and we woke to the sounds of birds
and chickens right at sunrise. The air is cool and there is a gentle
breeze. The harbor is glassy calm and the boat is so still it almost feels
like we are aground. Not having the boat move is the the strangest feeling.
Today we are going exploring with our friends from Sparrow. There is a nice forest smell
in the air and Hannah and I spent about a 1/2 hour just sitting in the
cockpit. I almost don't want to turn the generator on this morning because it's so
peaceful!
After the last little while sailing through the Bahamas and down this is a very nice change of
pace. I can't tell you how thankful we are to our friends on Sparrow who
made us feel so welcome and made the process of checking in so so easy.
We are looking forward to meeting new folks, walking around town and getting
settled in today.
Date:Thu, 21 Mar 2024 00:05:00 GMT
Luperon
Quiet seas and bad forecasts
This morning at sunrise we exited Abraham's bay on the south east end
and headed out direclty to the Caicos bank heading about 160. The winds
were close hauled out of the South West. They were supposed to clock around
to the north but they never did and by the time we got to the west end of
the Caicos bank and turned 140 they still had not changed. We were making
6.5-7 knots at 2200 rpm so we just kept motorsailing. As we crossed the
south side of the banks the wind died and got really flakey so we pulled in
the sails and motored on. There were storms forming to our north and our
friends who had decided to cross the banks were going to be right in the
middle of them. We continued all night to the south east and stayed just ahead of the
storms. The Cutless of Grace once again guided us directly to the DR.
Sam and I stayed up most of the night talking about philosophy and
history till the early dawn when the wind completely died leaving the ocean
glassy and smooth with large 4 foot swells out of the east.
In the early afternoon still motoring we could see the mountains of
the DR to the south and knew we would be there soon. As we got closer you
could see the lush green of the land. It looked positively wonderfull and
we contacted our friends who came out in a dinghy to guide us in as we had
no charts of the area. We got directly on to a ball and after cleaning up
went in to check into customs and immigration. It was near the end of the
day and our friends translated for us as we don't speak spanish yet.
It's absolutely beautiful here and I think we're going to love it.
We are going to use the opportunity to rest and recuperate and learn
Spanish.
This is a wonderful protected harbor and if you follow the markers
it's actually not difficult. We didn't see less than 12 feet and though we
heard people who don't pay attention run aground here it is an easy access.
For now we ate dinner checked into the marina and are relaxing in the cool
of the quiet evening. We are safe and glad to see familiar faces.
Date:Mon, 18 Mar 2024 04:10:00 GMT
Mayaguana Monday Night
Wind and Waves and Reefs
Tonight the wind is howling through the rigging with a mournful sighing.
It's not really that fast only 20g25 but it's making a spooky sound. And
then like an old door the standing rigging creaks and the door locks rattle
back and forth. In this boat the centerboard hits the side of it's channel
with a boom every time she rocks. It's 850lbs of solid bronze so when it
moves even a centimeter it makes quite the thud.
In the distance you can hear the waves crashing across the reef to our south and
you imagine a poor ship aground there being torn apart by the sharp coral.
We heard a story two days ago about a new boat that ran aground there when
the captian fell asleep and sailed right into it full speed.
That Reef now is blocking most of the waves but the swell is still making the boat rock.
We have a swell bridle rigged so that she's holding her bow into the swell but
it's still uncomfortable and rolls you back and forth in the v-berth. And
when she hobby horses a little bit there's that elevator feeling in your
stomach as she comes off the top of a swell. Even though we are safe
there's that nagging feeling crawling up your spine that you might drag into
a reef and run aground. Or the question of what would happen if the anchor
rode broke or if the shackle on the anchor came loose. You wonder if the
stainless steel wire you tied around it will hold.
We have over 150 foot of chain out in 12 feet of water so were not
really in danger of the anchor dragging but when a wave hits it pulls the
chain and jerks the boat. And when a wave breaks near the hull it makes a
deep bubbly growl as the crest breaks all along the side of the boat.
The moon is a 1/2 waxing moon and is very bright tonight and you can
see Jupiter just to the west of the moon. We were able to see the southern
cross the last few nights for the first time in 24 years. It's low on the
horizon at midnight but tonight the moon is too bright and the stars are not
as easy to see. You can use Ursa Major as a clock as it points to the north
star and moves around. It seems the swell is worse with the tides and it's
high tide at night now.
There are times when it's peaceful that sleeping on a boat is the most
amazing feeling but on nights like tonight it's spooky and difficult to
sleep. You hear every creak every slap of a line and you catalog them in
your mind as to whether they are dangerous or not. Last night a metal bowl
slid off the galley counter and as it hit the fiddle on the edge of the
counter it rang like a bell before it hit the cabin sole with a terrible
metalic bouncing sound that had me jumping out of the berth thinking
something terrible had happened. Tonight I can hear things softly sliding
around the counter and wonder if it will happen again.
Then there are the pumps. You're always listening for the bilge pump
going off. Or hearing the toilet (vacuflush) pumps and wonder if someone
used the head or is there a leak causing the pump to go... How long has it
been running? Did I just wake up? Did it run more than 30 seconds? We
woke up last year to the fresh water pump making noise after it ran dry. It
ran dry because it pumped 200 gallons into the bilge from hose that didn't
have two hose clamps on it and was just clamped onto some pex. When you
hear a pump going off and pull up the floor boards to be greeted at 3am with
a bilge full of water it's a scary thing. "Is it salt or fresh?" "Oh thank
heavens it's fresh..." Of course you don't really like the prospect of
tasting bilge water at 3am, in order to find out, but afterwards it's a
sweet, oily, rotten flavor instead of salty and you're very pleased.
And then the realization hits you that you're a long way from home.
So tonight I closed the hatches to quiet the howling. It doesn't stop the
rocking but in some weird way it's like closing the rickety door to your fort
when you are 10years old and you feel safe in your hobbled together fort
in the woods behind the house. It's yours and it's safe and it closes out
everyone and everything. Get a good solid boat. Treat it right. Take care of
her and she will take care of you. And hey, the cat is there in her favorite
spot, calm as can be, so what could go wrong? Trust the cat, Trust the boat.
The next time I chat with you hopefully we will be
arriving in the Dominican Republic. It's a 30-40 hour run depending on
winds but it crosses a channel that has kept boats at bay for centuries and
even one of the greatest admirals ever, Columbus, lost his flag ship there on
a reef while towing it eastwards at night against the wind and the current.
The trades are strong this time of year and the current can be 1-2 knots at
times. We have a 3 day window where winds will be north of 45deg true which
quiets the trades a little. So we're going to attempt the crossing.
Beating against the winds and waves breaks boats and crews.
We do not intend to be one of those. But what happens when the forecast was
wrong? What then? What is our plan? And what about charts?
Oh yea, we don't have any for this leg. Let's hope nothing goes wrong with
my phone or the ipad because this time there is no backup of paper or chart plotter.
Well the simple answer is take care of the boat and she'll take care of
you. Sleep well, Sleep well...
Date:Sat, 16 Mar 2024 02:52:00 GMT
Mayaguana Friday Night
Cookout and Dominos on the beach
Today was too windy for laundry and the boat was a little rolley and we
just ate breakfast and lunch and rested a little. We puttered. But in the
afternoon we went to shore because we heard that there was going to be a
"thing" at the beach. When we got there sure enough there was a cookout/beach party put on by the
local community. Apparently they do this every Friday. It's not really for
boaters but we're invited. Everyone in town was there and it was a lot of
fun
Hannah and I had grouper, rice and peas, potato salad, and baked mac and
cheese.
After Dinner Hannah and I played Dominos with the locals and talked
with a number of people till after dark!
We met the man who caught the fish. He's quite amazing. There was
another boater here who has been coming here for 10 years and he introduced
us. This guy free dives to 65 feet and hunts the fish with a speargun. He
also free dives for Conch. He supplies most of the island with fish and
also sells to the mail boat for other islands. He's very successful. We
met the women who cook for the Friday meals we talked for hours! There are
about 185 people on the island and about 23 kids in the school. The
population is mostly dwindling because there is no work so the kids go away
to school and never come back. But it's an amazing community and seems like
a wonderful town. It's definately off the beaten path and very remote only
seeing a mail boat every couple weeks. But we got a much more REAL
Bahamian experience than going to a tourist town. I'm very glad we've spent
some time here and there's more to do here!!!
We also met many of the other boaters in the bay. Most of them are
going south to Luperon so I think we're all going to sail together.
It was a wonderful evening of learning, stories, tall tails and making new
friends. This is what seeing the world should be like! I wish there was a
real way to share this with you guys but these little words are all that I have.
These people are wonderful. They are kind, friendly, fun, thoughtful and
willing to share their lives in a way that you don't find in other places.
They are so undisturbed by the bustle and politics of the US.
Date:Wed, 13 Mar 2024 00:41:00 GMT
Mayaguana
Overnight to Mayaguana
Yesterday we got up early and checked weather. The winds had already
shifted favorable for our trip south. 6 boats were already leaving the
bay at Rum Cay and we hurried to get ready. But we did not leave un
prepared. We took our time to make sure that breakfast was finished, that
everyone was dressed and the boat ready for a serious off shore journey. We
even put up the man overboard lines and cleared the decks of everything
including our spare anchor which we took apart and stowed in the chain
locker. As part of our planning a couple days before we knew that we did
not have paper charts of anything south of the Crookeds and we did not have
charterplotter charts either. So we would be using our backup charts on
phone and ipad. CMaps from B&G and Aquamaps. This is a highly irritating
problem for us and after paying for charts from navionics only to realize
that they were not "all" of the Bahamas I was not pleased. Not to mention
our charts of The rest of the Caribbean are still waiting for us at St.
Breandon's Isle. This meant that going into the harbor at Luperon or and
Mayaguana we would be going slow with phone charts and visual person on the
bow charts...
We motored out around the reef and turned into the wind on a beam
reach in 15 knots of wind that later built to 20-22 and we knew that the winds
would be clocking around to the east through out the next day or two. The
winds held out of the north until we were well passed San Salvador when they
started shifting and we headed South East.
Throughout the day we kept the same point of sail but as the winds
shifted so did we, drawing a gentle curve on the charts. As the winds built in the morning to
20 knots we reefed the sails and averaged 7 knots all day double reeved. The
seas were rough. Not really more than we had done before but they were
tiring. There was a Trade wind swell out of the east at about 4-5 feet on a
12-15 second period and then there were the wind driven waves at 4-5 feet on
top of them from windward. That made for a confused sea with peaks of the
waves at 10 feet and lots of whitecaps across the waves at 20-22 knots.
Frequently we were hit by waves over the side of the boat till everything
was wet. At one point we decided to put the hatch boards in to keep water
out of the boat. It was a tiring day. As we came abeam Samana Cay I got on
the SSB radio to download an updated grib file and decided the winds were
not going to hold for a continuation to Luperon and so we turned southerly
toward Mayguana on a broad reach. It was not long into the evening before
the winds continued to clock to the east till we were close hauled as we
approached the island at 2am.
I spent a lot of time looking at the stars and trying to learn more
constellations. Even before you get out your sextant you have to be able to
identify the stars. You can't spend hours just finding the stars to take a
sighting and if you use your phone to find the stars to shoot with a sextant
that even further mixes the technology and defeats the purpose of the low
tech approach. So I'm trying to learn the stars and how they move so that
it becomes easy to find the stars I need for a good sight. As I was doing
this I also made up my own constellations! And one of them to the left of
Scorpio at about 2am was the picture of a sword, a simitar and it was pointing
east directly at Mayaguana. I couldn't see the land yet but there was a
faint glow on the horizon so I knew where it was. That glow later turned
into a light on a hill. So I called that the sword of Mayaguana.
There were 6 other boats heading to Mayaguana ahead of us. They left
the harbor about an hour before we did and they arrived in the dark. Some
anchored outside and some tried the entrance in the dark. The bay here is
very complicated and full of changes in depth and lots of coral heads and
reefs. We opted to slow the boat down by detuning the sails and making 3-5
knots took an extra 3 hours till sunrise when we struck the sails and
motored into the opening in the reef.
Sam was on the bow watching for reefs, Hannah was on the ipad
planning our course through the maze and I was movning slow watching the
depth and trying to steer with my iphone. It took us over an hour to get
into the long bay behind the reef and we anchore in 12 feet of water as
close as we dared to land. I made lots of circles to chart the bottom as
best as I could. This is a rolly anchorage and will not be comfortable in a
blow which is coming over the next week.
I'm not sure why but it was a challenging and tiring day. Sam and I finally
got to sleep at about 9am and didn't get up till lunch.
We had bean salad for lunch and fried burritos for dinner. I hate the sound of the
centerboard and the wires in the mast when the boat rocks. Some day we will
have to fix both. But that is for a refit.
Overall it was a good day and the boat performed flawlessly. We are
coming together more and more as a crew and we are able to sail the boat
better and better every day. There are things we do now as a matter of
course that make things easier and safer. A few of them are: We keep the
decks and rails clear. We keep our lines tied up. We reef at 15 and double
at 20. We reef at night. We don't go into harbors at night. We do 6 hour
shifts. We plan our day before it happens so we know what points of sail
we're going to use. Everything is in a locker or tied up. Nothing is left
laying about the cabin. We leave the chart table clear with charts open and
log book ready to write in. We try to log every hour. Food is prepared
ahead of the journey. We always top off water and fuel if it's available.
We give the cat and the crew bonine and ginger before we leave. We never leave before
everyone is ready. We do final walk throughs of the boat so multiple people
put eyes on things to make sure we are ready. There's more but these are a few of the
important ones.
Date:Sun, 10 Mar 2024 21:04:00 GMT
Rum Cay
A great day sail and sharks in the water
It was a nice evening and a beautiful morning. We got up at about 8am
and got the boat ready to leave. I checked weather and the winds were here
a little earlier than planned so we headed out as soon as we could. Even
still we got a late start leaving the bay at about 10:30. I checked in on
the ham radio and let them know were were off to Rum Cay on the waterway net
on 7.268lsb and downloaded the latest grib files. We ate breakfast and
cleaned the boat for off shore. But you know what?!
The engine started wonderfully! I'm so pleased. We motored out past
the point and put up the sails on a beam reach in 10-15 knots of wind off
our starboard and made 6-7 knots all afternoon arriving at Rum Cay about
1600 and anchored in 9 feet of water just off the government docks.
Waves were 2-3 feet on top of long 2 foot swells.
After we arrived at Rum Cay and Hannah put the bread in
the oven, someone came
on the radio on 16 saying they were getting out of the water because there
was a bull shark in the bay. I guess no swimming tonight! There were also
several baracuda as well.
After looking at weather we are going to attempt to leave for
Mayaguana tomorrow morning at first light. We should have another beam
reach at 15-20 knots off our port beam for a 20 hour run at 7 knots. After
that it doesn't look like we'll have winds to complete the run to Luperon
for a week so we could be stuck in Mayaguana. Alternatively we might check
into Turks and Caicos for a week and hang out there. I don't know. We'll
decide Tuesday.
For now I'm going to have dinner. The boat smells of fresh bread and
bean salad. I think there will be shortbread later as well.
We will have a relaxing evening and tomorrow will take care of it's self!
Date:Sun, 10 Mar 2024 04:00:00 GMT
Calabash Bay
Sailing and Fixing stuff
So we left a little late from Georgetown on Friday and said our
goodbyes on the radio. We left several new friends and made our way in
light winds to the top of Long island to stage for Rum Cay. About 2 hours
out we were making 1-2 knots and having difficulty with helm control so I
decided to start the engine for the last little bit. However the lure of
the big ocean was calling so we motored out past the point to see if we had
winds heading south. The big swells were there like I remembered. These
swells come all the way from Africa so they are much bigger than what you
find along the east coast of the US. These are trade wind swells. I turned
off the engine and tried to sail. But, after finding no wind for a southern
passage I decided to turn on the engine and head back to Calabash Bay. And
of course the engine wouldn't start! I'm getting so tired of this!! Anyway I
jumped it by lifting the floor and we headed back to anchor at about 1600.
Saturday we woke early after going to bed early. I got the drone out
and took a few pictures/videos and then I started working
on the starting situation with the engine. I was bound and determined to
get to the bottom of this wiring gremlin once and for all. So Sam and I
pulled everything apart. We cleaned every ground and positive connection. WE
replace every bad crimp. I rebuilt the instrument panel and re-wired it or
at least reworked every connection. We took apart the electrical panel and
checked the engine battery switch which does get hot sometimes and tried to
figure out all the charging issues. And after the final reconnection of the
positive cable to the starter I decided to test it. And it didn't work. I
went after the yellow wire on the alternator that feeds the field coils and
at least I could get it to start charging after revving it up to 2500 rpm.
So I started cleaning the positive connections again and then the Tachometer
and charging quit for good and wouldn't start again. Now it was getting on
1500 and I'd been at it with Sam for all day. I'm not going off shore till
I get this fixed! Period. End of discussion.
Then I looked at the big Junction connector behind the instrument
panel and wiggled it... darn if it didn't start working. The one thing I
hadn't looked at. Hannah reminded me, "It is plugged in right?" and of
course after cleaning that plug with de-ox-it, everything is working. The
simplist thing is usually the problem. There were a host of wiring
irregularities but the real problem was simply dirty connections in the
Junction connector.
Feeling much better we all took baths in the beautiful water and did
a little swimming. After putting everything away we had dinner and then
Hannah and I discussed weather and routing for the rest of the trip.
So if we leave heading south tomorrow we'll get about 8 hours of good
sailing and 8 hours of becalmed during the night. We would arrive at
Mayaguana late monday night. If we toodle over to Rum Cay tomorrow and stay
the night leaving Monday morning we will be in Mayaguana Tuesday morning.
But we will have no winds to get to Luperon for a week. So we could spend a
week in Mayaguana. But we can spend some time seeing if we can get checked
into Turks and Caicos. We will be able to go there any day between
Wednesday and Friday and hang out for a few days. But checking in and out
of Turns and Caicos is not as easy as it looks so we will have to figure it
out in Mayaguana. Also Mayaguana has fuel and water so we can re-stock.
For tonight we're going to bed and tomorrow we will have a relaxing sail 25
miles to Rum Cay arriving in the early afternoon. Good night everyone!
Oh... looking outside with the fabulous stars you can see the light from the
aft cabin illuminating the water. The fish see it too and you can see their
shiny bodies flicking around in the water. It's cool to watch.
Lilah was weird tonight hissing at nothing. Something has her spooked.
Date:Thu, 07 Mar 2024 23:45:00 GMT
Ready to go
Quiet Evening and last minute preparing
We moved back closer to the town a couple days ago and have been
filling up with water and fuel, doing wash, organizing, baking bread and
planning the next leg of our journey to the Dominican Republic. This will
be the most technical and most difficult part of our sailing so far. It is
also potentially the most dangerous and longest sail. This is the thorny
part of the thorny path. The winds are mostly dead off the nose and strong.
We are late in the season and the trades are strong especially below 22deg.
I have been spending a lot of time planning the route and checking weather
and waves. This is a luxury we didn't have 25 years ago when we headed
right into the Sargasso Sea in Feburary and were knocked down in 60knot
winds and 20 foot swells. I guess that makes me a little concerned about
this portion. But this time we will be island hopping, and we have grib
files.
Tonight the winds are calm, the water glassy in Elizabeth harbor and
the lights from the boats look like bright stars around the horizon. People
are waterskying behind dinghys, kids are paddle boarding around the harbor
without life vests and the conch horns are blowing. It's about 75 degrees
and Hannah is cooking beans and rice and putting away the groceries we
bought today. Today we went to Shop Right instead of the Exuma market. It
has a very different selection and prices are generally a little cheaper. I
think more of the locals go there.
I'm really missing my skipper's cap that I lost on the way to Staniel Cay
and we spent a little time on the net searching for one today.
Also a couple of different boats used our 50 gal rain barrel to fill their
tank. We also gave a relay to someone who couldn't get their engine
started. They were very thankful.
Time for dinner!
Date:Mon, 04 Mar 2024 01:08:00 GMT
Helping
Pay it forward!
The Cruising community is very diverse and yet very close knit at the
same time. We all understand about paying it forward and we all help
each other. At any moment something could go wrong with our boat. It could
be serious and it could be not serious. We all need help sometimes and all
of us who have cruised for any length of time have stories to tell of things
breaking underway. Especially us personally as we have a 54 year old boat
that we are attempting to restore underway. There are jokes abounding about
fixing things in exotic locations. So, when two boats sail into the harbor
with out an engine and anchor under sail, everyone who can jumps into action.
We, and several others have been spending the last few days trying to
diagnose and fix the offending engines. Look there are folks who are super
independanat and there are folks over their heads. There are folks with
money and there are folks working their way along. There are young and old,
experienced and newbies. You have to give someone credit who sails for days
without an engine, refusing to quit, refusing to call a tow boat, and
determined that they are not going to let something as minor as a lost engine get in their
way. Before you jump in and say, "why didn't they just call tow boat, why
risk it..." you really need to think twice. Monday morning
quarterbacking does not really belong here. It's not always that simple.
And if you have a good boat and all is safe it's not a problem. I know a
couple who lost an engine off Cuba and sailed all the way to Guatamala
before finding a way to fix the engine. Self reliance is to be respected in
this world.
That is one of the reasons I love this community. Most cruisers, the
vast majority, are good people. There is a karma about it that keeps us all
in check. Perhaps it is the common realization that we take our lives and
the lives of our loved ones in our own hands every time we go out. And at
the same time there is a common love and respect of the sea. It gets in
your blood and never leaves. The independance, the solitude, the
camaraderie, the freedom, the challenge, the peace, the excitement and the
bordom keep us all guessing, and like gambling, coming back for more.
My hat is off to the folks we have tried to help this week, and my thanks
go out to folks who gave us items we needed (even if they didn't).
I lift my glass to those unamed, who have graced our lives here and made us feel
welcome, inviting us into their world, and introducing us to their friends.
You are an example for all of us and set our souls free! Safe Journey!
So to all you cruisers who read this, I'm sure you already understand, and to all you who
are not cruisers yet: pay it forward... pay it forward.
Date:Fri, 01 Mar 2024 01:20:00 GMT
Endless party
Moving day!
We moved today from the anchorage near town to Chat and Chill beach
where the party never ends. It was Regatta day today and Sam crewed on
"It's only Money" They came in second! It was a beautiful day with constant
winds out of the south east at 10-15. We should have raced but we didn't.
But since we didn't want to get wet going the 1 mile across the harbor we
moved the boat. It's a lot gentler here in a SE wind. The awards ceremony
and party was at Peace and Plenty beach just south of Chat and Chill. The
tide was out so we left the dinghy in 1 foot of water with the anchor we got
from Noname' and enjoyed the party. We met several new people and had a
wonderful time at the beach till dark when we came back to the boat.
Now we're eating beans and rice and for desert we're having fresh
shortbread.
This morning Sam left early at 7am to get the boat ready to sail and I
went to get 100 gal of water to refill. Then Hannah and I went shopping for
food. As I said before the grocery store here is not cheap but it is well
stocked and we tried to stock up a little on things we eat regularaly. We
learned a little yesterday about why the farmers market is so slim. It's
because of recent hurricanes that have salted the soil so it's not producing
much anymore.
It's getting late and we're going to turn in early tonight after a long
hard hard day... afterall we moved the boat 1 mile and actually had to
anchor again before the party! But at least we didn't get soaked by waves
coming back to the boat.