Boqueron, Puerto Rico - Convoy!

Well we left Luperon a little less than two days ago. Two other boats left around the same time (Sol Magique and Mi-Lady) so we kept in touch while we were underway. As we approached the Samana peninsula on the DR's east coast, we caught up with several other boats who had left Luperon a few days before and so we all trucked along across the Mona Passage, keeping in touch via VHF and SSB radio. We have never really traveled in a group with other boats before, usually we do these crossings solo, so it was nice for a change to keep in touch with other boaters as the nights passed.

We had some great luck with sea life on the passage. First, Kevin caught a 20 lb mahi-mahi. This time we were smart: while it was still fighting in the water, we dug out the fish scale so we could weigh it. Kevin also did a fantastic job of filleting and flaying it so very little of the fish was wasted -- we should be eating lots of fish in the coming weeks. Man, cleaning a fish that size sure makes a mess on the deck. Ick. After we'd cleaned up we noticed some humpback whales cavorting off on the horizon. They were slapping their tails and jumping clean out of the water. It was too far away to get any great photos, but Kevin did manage to catch some of the action with his telephoto lens - we'll see how good those pics turn out. And just before sunset a big pod of dolphins came racing through the waves to ride our bow wake. They were in such a hurry to get to our boat they were getting their entire bodies airborne like torpedoes.

We crossed the Mona Passage early this morning and conditions were very calm. We had heard this could be a rough crossing so we specifically chose a window with very light wind and waves. We were both able to get some good sleep and when the sun rose we could see Isla Desecheo (a part of Puerto Rico) towering above the water. Around 10 am a big US Coast Guard cutter came up on the boat behind us (Mi-Lady). After some discussion they sent a boarding party, armed of course. Jim on Mi-Lady said that they were very courteous and it was just a routine boarding inspection. He didn't even have to slow down or change course. We later heard that several boats had also been boarded this morning, so it sounds like the coast of Puerto Rico is well-patrolled.

Anyway, we are in Boqueron (boke-eh-ROAN) which is on the southwest coast of PR. We are pretty tired but we have to run into Mayaguez (a nearby town) to check in with Immigration. More later.

Where we are:
Location=Boqueron, Puerto Rico
Lat=18 01.194
Lon=67 10.746

En Route to Puerto Rico

We left Luperon last night at sunset and are about halfway to Boqueron in Puerto Rico. Two other boats left about the same time so we have been chatting with them on the radio a bit. The coastline of the Dominican Republic does weird things to the wind since it has such high mountains. Some of the capes can accelerate the wind up to 10 knots, and changing the direction all over the place. So far everything is going fine, we've got two fishing lines in the water and are watching for whales. Right now we are rounding Cabo Cabron which is at the tip of the Samana peninsula on the DR.

Where we are:
Location=Cabo Cabron, Dominican Republic
Lat=19 23.000
Lon=69 13.000

Luperon, Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic landscape

Luperon - Puerto Plata day trip

On Wednesday we got together with two other couples (Roger and Andy on "Oma & Opa" and Mike and Gail on "Wild Rover") to rent a van to head into Puerto Plata, a larger town about 30 miles away. Our first stop was the Fortaleza, a well preserved fortress overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. While we were there we saw huge waves crashing offshore. At least we thought they were waves until we saw a massive body fling itself out of the water. Turns out they were humpbacks! Of course Murphy's Law dictates that they jump out of the water to attract our attention and then refuse to surface once we finally have a camera pointed at them. So no pictures, but hopefully we see some more while we are in this area - it's the mating season and the majority of the whales have migrated to a spot just off the northeast coast of the DR.

Next on our list was a tour of the Brugal Rum Factory. In Spanish the word for rum is "ron" pronounced just like the English word "run". The sugar cane is harvested and distilled elsewhere on the island, but they bring it to the Puerto Plata plant to be diluted and bottled. The assembly lines were something to see -- in a space of about 200 feet the bottles go from being completely empty to full of rum, capped and sealed, labeled, and packed in cases of 12. I half expected one of the Dominicans to put his glove over a bottle and wave at it a la "Laverne and Shirley". And of course after the tour you get to sample the product. It was still before noon but we didn't let that stop us.

Those were the two highlights of the day. There was an amber museum that wasn't super exciting, and then we stopped off for a really nice lunch at a restaurant near the beach. We also hit the fruit market and the supermercado which was just like a supermarket in the US (the stores in Luperon are much smaller with less selection). After lunch we attempted to ride the cable cars that go up the mountainside and are supposed to give a great view of the surrounding area. Unfortunately the cable car was closed for maintenance. Of course looking on the bright side, I'd rather they close the thing and not let us on than defer the maintenance so that we could have a ride to the top.

Today (Thursday) we are planning to depart Luperon bound for Puerto Rico. The forecast is for mild conditions for the next several days so we are planning to go all the way to Boqueron on the SW coast. It's about 250 miles and should take us 40-48 hours, making landfall Saturday afternoon sometime. It's a long passage, but we will be within sight of land most of the way for a change. (our return from the Bahamas last year was 335 miles) The first 150 miles we will travel along the north coast of the Dominican Republic, then we will cross the Mona Passage which is the body of water between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

Luperon - Las Cascadas

Yesterday we spent the afternoon changing the oil and fuel filters in both engines. We also had the local handymen bring us 20 gallons of diesel to top off our tank. There are two local guys who work together to take care of all the boats in the harbor: "Handy Andy" (not sure if that's his name but that's what he's called) and Papo (pretty sure that's his name). Recently a boat in the harbor sank because of a leaky head, and they were the ones who managed to get it afloat again. There are two marinas in Luperon but neither has a fuel dock, so we were happy that we didn't have to jerry jug the fuel ourselves.

This morning we had made plans to rent a car and caravan with the folks on "Adventure Bound", "Sol Magique" and "Eleytheria" to the "Cascadas". Cascada means "waterfall" in Spanish and the waterfalls here are really something. There are 27 levels (counting each waterfall, even the smaller ones) and they twist and turn through the rock just like the waterslides at a waterpark. As it turns out, that's exactly what they are -- natural waterslides. We arrived at the base of the mountain and were given life jackets and a helmet. We then had to decide how many waterfall "levels" we wanted to do. We all decided to do the first seven falls since that seemed to be the most popular. It was a twenty minute walk to the base of the falls and then we followed our guides wading through and climbing up the first seven waterfalls. Then they had us turn around and go down all the falls one at a time. Most were like slides, but there were a couple where you had to jump. In fact, Jim and Amanda (Adventure Bound) had already toured the falls once before and they convinced the guides to take some of us up one extra level to "Numero Ocho" which turned out to be at least a twenty foot jump into a deep pool of water below. Of course I am somehow first in line and Tyra (the guide) keeps telling me "es seguro, es seguro" ("it's safe"). Right. Looking down it was very intimidating but I couldn't back out, and when he counted to three I just jumped. It was actually pretty cool and it was nice to be able to turn around and watch the rest of the group jump as well (only two people didn't end up jumping). Of course our other guide, Jacobo, dove head first. Show off. Really, the guides were great, and the "Cascadas" was definitely a not to be missed experience.

After the waterfalls, the group split up and Kevin and I had our driver Titico take us over to La Isabella, the site of Columbus' first settlement in the New World. Titico was a great guide, but he spoke only Spanish for the most part, so I tried to translate what I understood for Kevin. I'm glad to know a little Spanish, but I'm pretty sure I sound like a small child (no prepositions, broken sentences only in the present tense). "Dominican Republic is country pretty. Many people is nice here friendly. I happy to speak small Spanish. Me talk pretty one day".

Luperon, Dominican Republic

[Kevin's Post]It seems like every conversation here starts with, 'So how long are you staying here in Luperon'. And the answer is always 'till the next weather window' or occasionally, 'we have no plans to leave'. There is a large community of expats here and the harbor is filled with unoccupied boats of people who came and never left. Some of them have even married Dominicans and have started businesses and families here. The cost of living is so low here that the cruisers can really stretch their cruising dollar. Plus the harbor is one of the best hurricane shelters in this part of the Caribbean due to the surrounding hills and mountains, so people can stay here year-round in relative safety. People say the longer you stay the harder it is to leave. Well, we'll be here at least another week since the tradewinds are relentless and there doesn't appear to be a weather window on the horizon.

Since returning from Santo Domingo, we have spent quite a bit of our time socializing with the other boaters and have made many new friends. Friday night we stopped by 'Oma & Opa' to thank Roger for his help securing our boat the previous day. Roger and Andi are a retired german couple, Andi was with us on the trip to Santo Domingo, Roger stayed behind. They invited us aboard for drinks and we stayed for a few hours before inviting them over to our boat for more drinks (a popular activity in Luperon). They have traveled extensively and we enjoyed hearing about their cruising experiences in Cuba, a place American vessels cannot go. Saturday night another boat decided to have a hot dog roast and bonfire on the beach since it was a full moon. So, Amanda made up some baked beans and we headed over to that. There were about 20-30 people there and it was a good time. We chatted for several hours with 'Eleytheria'. They have cruised throughout South America. Until now, the vast majority of the cruisers we have met have only been in the US or Bahamas, so it is exciting to hear about more distant waters.

Sunday is a big day at the Puerto Blanca Marina here in Luperon. In the morning there is a cruisers swap meet where everybody brings stuff they are trying to get rid of. We brought one of our 3 outboard gas tanks (containing fuel more than 2 years old) and sold it for $10. We also brought our 3 volume Atlantic light list publication which is about the size of 2 large phone books. We have never used them, so ended up giving them away. There were other cruisers selling baked goods, jams and jellies made with local produce, charts and cruising guides, dvds, etc. The swap meet was followed by a wonderful Dominican barbecue of chicken and steak served with rice, beans and vegetables. It was pretty pricey at $6 per person (ha), but we splurged.

There was just an announcement on the VHF that one of the local restaurants will be showing the Superbowl tonight. No guarantees that it will be in English though.

Santo Domingo, DR

Well we have re-anchored and we backed down on the anchor with both engines at 2000 rpm for 40 minutes. So I think we'll hold here. Sounds like several other people have dragged in the last few weeks so we're not the only ones.

Santo Domingo Caves

Anyway, on Thursday we were up before dawn and took an organized tour down to Santo Domingo, the country's capital. Luperon is on the north coast of the country and Santo Domingo is on the south side of the country. It was a four hour bus ride but at least it was air conditioned. In fact, driving through the countryside was one of the highlights -- the country is lush and mountainous and pretty much anything they put in the ground will grow here -- pineapples, mangos, citrus, bananas plus in the lowlands they can grow tobacco and rice. Every so often the bus would pass through a small town and you'd see roadside stands hawking vegetables or pork (from an entire roasted pig). So on the bus ride there and back our eyes were just glued to the window taking it all in.

First Church in the New World

Originally the Spanish built the first settlement in the new world at La Isabella in the north part of the country, but after many of them began dying of malaria they moved on to the south and built Santo Domingo. Our first stop was the cave called Los Tres Ojos (the three eyes). This is a series of three immense caves, two filled with freshwater lakes and the third is fed with saltwater from the Caribbean sea. Our first stop was also the first of many encounters with Dominican hucksters trying very persistently to sell you their necklaces or limestone carvings. I don't know if they realize that some people would be more likely to buy if they could just have a quiet look at the merchandise themselves without being hassled with constant patter about how these are the "best quality handmade (necklaces, carvings, statues, whatever) you can find". We kept saying "no, gracias" and the guys followed us nearly all the way back to the bus. Our guy spoke excellent English and it made me want to ask him why he didn't use his language skills to become a tour guide or hotel concierge or something instead of hustling tourists selling necklaces. But maybe necklace sales are more profitable than I think. Anyway it was a relief to get back to the bus after having run the gauntlet.

Santo Domingo Market

Our tour bus made a very brief stop at the "Faro a Colon", which translates to "Columbus Lighthouse" but really is a monument not a navigational lighthouse as we know them. It was built in 1992 to honor the 500th anniversary of Columbus' first voyage. Our tour guide told us that we had 5 minutes to get out of the bus and take pictures but that we weren't going inside because "there is nothing in there". I found that funny because our National Geographic guidebook says not only is there a museum inside with the anchor excavated from the wreck of the Santa Maria (yes, THAT Santa Maria) but also Columbus's tomb where they have a pretty strong case that the ashes kept there are really those of the explorer although they can't be 100% certain.

After the bus stopped at another tacky tourist trap (gift shop) for 40 minutes, we continued on to the historical district. Santo Domingo's Colonial Zone is chock full of historic buildings -- Catedral Basilica Santa Maria la Menor (the first cathedral built in the new world finished in 1540), the Alcazar de Colon (where Chris Columbus's son Diego lived with his wife Maria Toledo), and the Calle de las Damas (the street where Maria's ladies of the court walked around in search of husbands). We enjoyed the tour of the Alcazar, especially since our 22 year old tour guide kept touching things! He would say, "this painting is a triptych dating back to the 15th century" as he caressed the paint itself with bare fingers while some of the folks in the tour group leaned up against the tapestry woven in the 1470's. So it was interesting to be able to see all the artifacts up close, and we were glad there weren't any American or European museum curators in our tour group -- they would've had a heart attack.

Luperon, Dominican Republic

Beach Cows

Wednesday night's post:
We did a little more exploring today, walked over to the all-inclusive resort to check out the beach. Getting there was interesting; we'd been told that if you try to get to the beach via the resort they turn you away if you aren't wearing a wristband. So we went the back way instead and wound up walking along a cow path (the cows graze within sight of the beach -- isn't that funny?) We walked along the beach to the resort part and it looked like your typical resort - banana boat riding the waves, deck chairs, palappa umbrellas, etc. Rather than risk getting caught checking out the hotel we just turned around and went back the way we came. We stopped at a tourism office and signed up to do a tour of Santo Domingo tomorrow, then we hung out briefly at the marina bar before heading back to the boat. Jim and Amanda from "Adventure Bound" came over for dinner, and we had some pizza, salad, and delicious brownies that Amanda had made.

Luperon Harbor

Thursday night's post:
One of our worst nightmares happened today. Our anchor dragged while we were not on the boat. Let me back up a little: when we first got here, we set our anchor but felt we were too close to several other boats. So we picked it up and re-set it in a different spot, and this is how we met Adventure Bound in the first place because just after we dropped it Jim and Amanda came by in their dinghy and warned us that the area we were in held about as well as teflon. When we backed down on it, we seemed to hold pretty well so we decided to keep an eye on it and maybe back down on it again after it had had time to settle some more. But complacency set in and since we were still exactly where we were supposed to be after three days, we thought the boat was fine. So we got up at 5am on Thursday and went on the all-day Santo Domingo tour (I will have to save that for a different post). We were gone until 7pm and as the bus returned to Luperon we could see from the trees swaying that the wind had picked up considerably. We headed back to the boat and my heart just about stopped when we realized that the boat wasn't where we'd left it. So we knew we had dragged and immediately I started praying that we hadn't hit any other boats. Just as we were tying our dinghy to the boat, Jim came by and told us the story. The wind had picked up to 25 knots and by noon it was obvious that we were moving backwards. Miraculously we managed to miss every other boat, but it was clear to Jim that we were heading towards a pretty shallow spot and would end up aground in the mangroves. So he and Amanda jumped aboard and started our engines and tried to re-set our anchor. Fortunately Jim was familiar with catamarans so he had no trouble with the helm controls, but I just felt awful when we found out that poor Amanda had to haul up our anchor and chain BY HAND because we stupidly left the windlass breaker in the off position and because the boat was locked they had no way to turn it on. It is a tough job for Kevin to pull up the chain by hand even in light winds, but here she was hauling it up in 25 knots! Plus -- it didn't set the first time (the anchor got fouled in some junk on the bottom) so she actually hauled all that chain and the 44lb delta up TWICE. And this is not a sand bottom; it is some of the foulest muck we've seen not to mention that we have doubts about the sanitation level of the water. After hauling it up the second time they decided to put us on an empty mooring ball in the harbor. At this point Roger from another boat "Oma and Opa" had dinghied by and was able to help them get Solstice secured on the mooring. We are just so grateful. Not even sure how to begin to thank them, as they basically saved our house and our cruise.

Luperon - Lost in Translation

Okay, we are finally all checked in to the Dominican Republic. They sure love their bureaucracy here. After going ashore and checking in with Immigration ($25) and the Navy (free!), we returned to the boat and were visited a few hours later by the officials from the Department of Agriculture and Tourism. The agriculture guy said he needed to inspect our food, and when Kevin opened our fridge & freezer, the guy looked at all the frozen food, muttered "ohhhhh..." under his breath, and shook his head slowly. Luckily we were able to tell him that all the food was from "los Estados Unidos" and he left it at that ($20 to inspect the food and also the cat). The Tourism guy handed us two tourist visa cards ($10 each) and told us that we needed these cards to travel in the country and that tomorrow we had to have them officially stamped by the Immigration guy (who we'd already visited). Plus we had to visit the Port Authority and pay to enter the port (but the port authority was the one at the fiesta so that would also wait until tomorrow). So the next morning we head over to the customs/immigration shack and pay the port authority lady and we go to get our tourist visa cards stamped -- the guy stamps them, hands them to me, and immediately asks me to put them in "the box", which appears to be something like a suggestion box labeled "tourism". I can't for the life of me understand why yesterday a guy handed me these cards, saying (in Spanish of course) that they were necessary and valid for "the whole country" and now that we have them officially stamped we have to basically throw them away. I try (in very crappy Spanish) to ask why so that I understand what is happening, and the guy says (in Spanish, I am paraphrasing here) "Hey, I am the Immigration Official; if I tell you to put the cards in the box, you put the cards in the box." Okay, okay...in the box. Hope we don't need them at the next port of call. I do have to say that every single official was absolutely honest and above board about the charges so far. After Kevin paid one guy $20 and I handed another guy $20 I said in Spanish: "okay, that's $10 and $10" and was immediately corrected and handed two receipts totalling $40. Did I mention that I suck not only at Spanish but math as well?

So today we wandered the town and ate lunch at a local restaurant. We were the only gringos in the place at lunch but the waiter came over and spoke impeccable English. We ordered the plate of the day which was a huge amount of rice with pork, a side of beans, and a small green salad, plus two cokes. Of course he brings out the cokes and we find out they are each a 1/2 liter bottle -- so here we are, the Americans, drinking more coca cola with one meal than a Dominican family probably drinks in a week. (Okay, next time just order ONE bottle). The food was excellent though and even more so when we got the bill -- only 180 pesos. Awesome. Plus, the restaurant had cable TV and was tuned to Superstation TBS. Bonus. So, Meal and Drinks: $5.45. Watching the end of "The Fifth Element" with a bunch of Dominican motoconcho (motorcycle taxi) drivers: Priceless.

Later in the afternoon we headed over to the Marina Puerto Blanco to sample the local beers, Presidente (for export, slightly more expensive) and Bohemia (domestic only, and a little cheaper). Then we wandered over to Marina Luperon and ran into a couple of cruisers from a boat called "Adventure Bound". Amanda and Jim are our age and we really hit it off. We headed over to their boat afterward for drinks and snacks. They've been here a week and were able to offer some great advice on what to see and do while we're here. So far every cruiser and every local we have met have been amazingly friendly and helpful. We are looking forward to spending some time here getting to know the place.

Luperon, Dominican Republic

[Kevin's Post]We had an easy passage to Luperon last night and got here about noon. There was a lot of bioluminescence in the water last night which made it look like the boat was throwing green sparks as it moved through the water. The Dominican Republic looks very different from the Bahamas and Turks & Caicos. Everyplace we have been so far has been very flat, the mountains here are a big contrast. We tried to clear in here in Luperon, but some of the officials we need to visit were gone to a fiesta so we'll have to finish the paperwork tomorrow. We were too tired to do much exploring, but did walk up and down the main street before heading back to the boat. Time for a siesta.

Where we are:
Location=Luperon, Dominican Republic
Lat=19 53.942
Lon=70 57.213

French Cay, Turks & Caicos

[Kevin's Post]We left the Marina this morning and crossed the Caicos Banks to French Cay where we plan to sleep for a few hours before departing for Luperon in the Dominican Republic. The Caicos Banks is a minefield of coral heads with overall depths from 6-12 feet, so you have to keep a constant lookout. Just as we were anchoring we saw a large ray jump out of the water and land with a splash. It was pretty cool. Leaving here for Luperon will be about a 20-24 hour trip so we should be getting into Luperon tomorrow (Monday) afternoon sometime.

Where we are:
Location=French Cay, Turks and Caicos
Lat=21 30.703
Lon=72 12.205

Provo - Conch Farm

Conch Farm

We had signed up with a local dive shop to do a two tank dive this morning. Of course the weather system that we were trying to outrun yesterday caught up with us here, with squally and windy weather conditions that forced the divemaster to cancel our dive. The waves were breaking pretty hard out at the reefs and it would've been a rough and uncomfortable ride to get out there. We're disappointed because today is pretty much the only day we would've been able to dive -- tomorrow we have a narrow weather window to motor 100 miles down to Luperon in the Dominican Republic. So here we are in a place where diving is the primary tourist attraction and we didn't get to go. But we took it in stride. Because Provo has other tourist attractions. Like conch.

Gerry the trained conch

Since we had the rental car we took a drive out to the east end of the island where the Conch World Provo sea farm is located. Our tour guide, Denver, explained why and how they farm the queen conch. Why? Primarily for export and to take advantage of size regulations. Local fisherman have strict requirements on how big the conch has to be before you can take it, whereas at the conch farm they can sell the smaller baby conch which are prepared in the same fashion as escargot. As to the how, the sea farm has leased 60 acres of sea bottom for their "sub-sea pasture" where they have pens to hold the conch (not that conch wander around all that much but they do have a foot and can travel). They also have onshore pools where they keep the younger, smaller conchs before they are big enough to be put out to "pasture". Total number of visitors on the tour: 2. Total number of conchs: 5,500,000. The highlight of the trip was when Denver introduced us to Sally and Gerry, the farm's "trained" conchs. When picked up these two guys come as far out of their shells as possible so that you can see what the whole animal looks like (normally conchs kind of hide when picked up). So all in all it was an interesting way to spend the morning. Not surprisingly, this is the only conch farm in the entire world.

The rest of the day we just ambled around in the rental car before returning to the marina. Our boat happens to be docked right behind two police boats that are continuously staffed. I got to talking with the captain of one of the boats and asked him if it was like a fire station, where the guys hang out on the boat and wait to be called to an emergency. He said that actually it was unusual for them to be at the dock but the weather has been so bad that they couldn't go out and do their patrols. Apparently the sole purpose of these police boats is to prevent illegal immigration from Haiti. According to the captain, every single night at least one boat tries to make the crossing from Haiti (about a hundred miles away), sometimes filled with hundreds of people (he'd seen as many as 200 crammed into a single small boat). So these policemen go out every night in search of small boats running with no lights that are barely visible on radar. He said that despite the challenges of finding a small boat on the open sea, they do manage to catch and deport most of them. Very few get in, which is why he seemed upset that they couldn't go out due to the weather because "they'll come anyway, even in weather as bad as this."

Providenciales, Turks & Caicos

Our guard dog

Some background: the Turks and Caicos (KAY-kohss) are two groups of islands to the southeast of the Bahamas and north of Hispaniola. Looking at a map, the Caicos group of islands are on the left and the Turks islands (including the country's capital on Grand Turk) are on the right. Reading left to right you'd think they'd call the country Caicos and Turks but you'd be wrong. You'd also think that the island with the capital would be the most happenin' place. Wrong again. Instead the Caicos side is more developed with more tourism, mostly due to the fantastic diving and beautiful (but dangerously shallow) Caicos Bank just south of the big islands. Providenciales is where everything is at: trendy restaurants, dive outfits, boutique hotels, and shopping. If you're like me and your tongue hurts when you say "Providenciales", then just call it "Provo". Everyone else does.

Our unlucky neighbor

So here we are. We are both running on just four hours of sleep, but it has been worth it to get here ahead of a fast-moving cold front. We arrived in Provo around 10 am after crossing the Caicos Bank (very shallow, lots of coral heads. For part of the trip, I was standing like Mary Poppins on the bow holding an umbrella to block the sun and pointing out the nasty looking heads for Kevin to avoid). We knew we needed fuel and enlisted the help of our friend Tanya in Phoenix. While we were in Mayaguana w/o internet access she looked up and emailed us which marinas had fuel docks that were open. (Our SSB email is a lifesaver, and great friends are even more so -- thanks Tanga!) When we started into the marina entrance, the narrow channel was blocked by a boat that was anchored and doing some dredging. The guy on deck motioned us to go around him on the left, which put us near some shallow coral heads. It was nervewracking for a time but we got through it and made the 90 degree turn to enter the marina. Of course we had one more obstacle to get past which was the two dogs that decided to swim across the channel directly in front of us. We slowed down to avoid running them down and managed to get tied up and checked in with Customs with no further trouble. There are dogs everywhere.

After some discussion we decided to rent a car, since that seems to be the best way to see the island. We drove (on the left side, as they do in Britain) over to Turtle Bay and had a fantastic dinner accompanied by the local beer, Turks Head. We got back in the car and had some more fun with roundabouts before stopping for ice cream in an area called Grace Bay. Provo is interesting in that it has one main "highway" going the length of the island and a handful of paved roads, only in the touristy areas. Everywhere else it's dirt roads and rocks. Of course we are driving around in this tiny daihatsu clown car, trying to avoid scraping the bottom on the potholes while passing dismembered parts of other cars that did not fare so well (specifically an unlucky crankshaft smack dab in the middle of the road). Yeah, we signed on for Avis' collision/damage insurance.

Where we are:
Location=Provo, Turks and Caicos
Lat=21 45.827
Lon=72 10.505

En Route to Turks & Caicos

Snorkeling at Mayaguana

Kevin went for a snorkel this morning to dive on our anchor and scrub a little more crud off the underside of the boat. I was inside when he called me out to take a look at an enormous 4-foot stingray that had meandered over and was laying on the bottom right under the boat. It swam away when I came out but I guess when I went back inside it came back again to keep an eye on Kevin's progress. Then later in the afternoon I also jumped in and snorkeled around a bit and after I got out and started rinsing myself off on the transom I looked over and there it was again, just hovering off to the side of the boat, watching me. Very Hitchcockian. He may have just been curious about what these strange-looking interlopers with the flailing arms and legs were up to, but seriously sometimes when we snorkel I wonder: who is watching who?

We turned in early and set our alarm for midnight so that we could get started on our next passage. Goodbye, Bahamas -- hello, Turks & Caicos! We were glad we saved our chartplotter track on the way in (a la Hansel & Gretel's breadcrumbs), as it made going out the west entrance of Abraham's Bay a no-brainer. We're expecting to land in T&C around lunchtime on Friday.

Where we are:
Location=Passage to Turks and Caicos
Lat=22 14.685
Lon=72 58.554

Mayaguana, Bahamas

We got into Mayaguana at lunchtime today after being underway for 29 hours. The passage to Mayaguana is reputed to be one of the more difficult sections of the route south since it is so long (against the prevailing winds of course) with no good anchorages along the way. So we are glad to have it behind us. Mayaguana will be our last stop in the Bahamas, the Turks & Caicos lies about 50 miles SE of where we are. We are anchored behind a reef on the south side of the island. We plan to stay here tonight and tomorrow, so hopefully after some rest we'll get a chance to do some snorkeling.

Where we are:
Location=Mayaguana, Bahamas
Lat=22 19.526
Lon=73 01.874

En Route to Mayaguana

We heard on the news that it snowed a foot in Tucson. Brrr! Hope everyone back in AZ is managing to stay warm. We are putting miles and miles under our keels on our way to Mayaguana. So far doing this leg in one long passage is really working out well. The wind is very light and the seas are so calm that we are each able to grab some solid hours of shut-eye on our off-watches. For us, three hours on and three hours off seems to be about right. Any longer and you start to get fatigued when you're on watch, and any shorter you don't get any sleep.

You may wonder what it's like to be at the helm in the middle of the night. Well picture this: you have nothing beneath you except miles of empty ocean and nothing above you but a billion light-years of cosmic history. You start to think about big questions such as: is this clod of dirt the only planet in the universe that supports sentient beings? And if not, how can we possibly contact some other civilization if all the stuff we see in the sky is so old it may not even exist anymore? Deep, huh? Your thoughts wander all over the place but that's pretty much the kind of thing you think about when you are alone on watch at 2 a.m. That, and "yo quiero Taco Bell". Sadly, there are no drive-thrus in this neck of the woods.

It was cloudy earlier but the skies just cleared and I think I can pretty much see every star there is (or "was". Whatever...my brain hurts). I wish I knew more about astronomy; the only constellations I recognize are Orion and the Big and Little Dippers. It is strange to me that the ancients had to resort to naming constellations after make-believe monsters like Capricorn and Sagittarius. When I look at the stars, I see shapes that take a lot less imagination to envision: Tabla Ikea (crooked table), Serpento Twisticus (long twisty snake), and Pasta Farfalle Major/Minor (big and little bow ties). Give it a try sometime. Poke your head outside on a clear night and see if you think you're looking at a creature with a fish body and a goat's head or something that more resembles an unbent paperclip (can't think of a good latin name for that one).

Where we are:
Location=Passage to Mayaguana
Lat=22 45.135
Lon=73 39.142

George Town, Exumas

We had a busy weekend here in George Town. On Saturday we took a dinghy ride into town to hit the book exchange, stock up on fruits & veggies, swing by the liquor store (rum was less than 5 bucks/liter), and find a few parts at the hardware store. Top II Bottom is the name of the hardware store here and as the name implies they are surprisingly well-stocked. We were able to find a thimble for one of my rope splices, an energy-efficient fluorescent light bulb to replace the one we broke, and silver duct tape aplenty (we had run out). Couple that with faxing in our US Coast Guard registration (which we did on Monday at the "Business Center" whose computers sport neither MS Word nor Adobe Acrobat -- sure made printing out the CG's online form difficult but we managed!), and we've finished all our shore errands for a while.

Sunday we went ashore at Stocking Island to hang out for lunch at the Chat N Chill beach bar. We kicked back with some burgers and a couple Kaliks and watched the scene at Volleyball beach. There were three games of volleyball going, folks playing bridge, dominoes, and even a bocce game (don't ask me who won, I can't figure out the rules). We hung out for a while and watched the games and wandered up and down the beach a bit before heading back to the boat.

Today is Monday and we are looking at a couple of days of light and variable winds, so we are planning to leave George Town tomorrow morning. If we're lucky, we will make the long 180nm passage to Mayaguana either motorsailing or just plain motoring. Normally the prevailing trade winds make this passage a tough one, so we'll take a light & variable motorsail if we can get it. Comfort is key. Plus landing in Mayaguana will put us in a good position to head over to the Turks & Caicos soon. If we don't like the conditions and decide not to go to Mayaguana, we'll just head over to Rum Cay where the snorkeling is supposed to be fantastic. Either way, we'll be going somewhere we've never been before so we are looking forward to it.

George Town, Exuma

So Thursday we went 40 miles from Shroud Cay to Little Farmer's Cay. We met up with another couple there and had them over for drinks. Bruce and Lin are on "Alize", and we met them while we were in Charleston. It was nice to meet up with some familiar faces and it sounds like they are headed the same way we are, as they plan to spend hurricane season down in Trinidad & Tobago. I'm sure we'll see more of them down the road.

We arrived in George Town yesterday morning. You may remember that last year this was as far as we got. Funny that last year it took us two and a half months to get from Lucaya to George Town but this year it took only five days. We seem to be flying through the Bahamas, but it's only because we want to spend our time in places we haven't been yet.

So we anchored and not an hour later we see a very small seaplane come taxiing in and pull up right to the beach at the Chat N Chill. Not sure which island he came from, maybe a smaller island without a bar? An hour and a half later the plane weaves its way back through all the anchored boats and takes off. So I guess he just wanted to knock back a couple before heading off to wherever he came from. That's what you like to see. Between this experience and the one last year where we saw the other seaplane crash, you could never pay me enough to ride in one of those things.

Where we are:
Location=George Town, Bahamas
Lat=23 30.952
Lon=75 45.301

Shroud Cay, Exumas, Bahamas

[Kevin's Post]Amanda fried us up some fresh mahi mahi for dinner last night and then we both slept for 12 hours straight. This morning we left the Nassau area and motor-sailed about 45 miles to where we are now, Shroud Cay, in the Exumas. I remember when we first bought the boat, we took a trip from Warwick to Block Island. That's about 30 miles and afterward I told Amanda that was too damn far to go in one day. We were both so tired. Now 45 miles is practically a day off.

We got here early afternoon and set about on some boat projects. Amanda got to work replacing the lacing that supports the trampolines, and I put on my wetsuit and started cleaning the hull. I've been looking forward to getting to the clear water here to scrub off the 8 months worth of growth that has accumulated. It's pretty hard to do in the murky water in the US. I spent 3 hours underwater and am about 1/3 done. The bottom of the boat has become an ecosystem in its own right. We definitely need a new coat of anti-fouling paint. With the slime, seaweed, and barnacles gone I'm sure we'll go faster. As I brush all the growth off, I notice that there are these tiny sea monkey creatures that are attaching themselves to me since I have disrupted their preferred home. Nice. That was about when I decided to call it a day.

Where we are:
Location=Shroud Cay
Lat=24 32.013
Lon=76 48.027

Kevin's Mahi Mahi

Kevin's latest catch. We figured out a way to post small photos with the SSB, so hopefully we'll be able to post more photos going forward.

Nassau - Catch of the Day

Spoiler alert: Kevin caught a fish. For those of you who want to know details, skip to the last paragraph.

So while all you people were sleeping, we made it 120 miles to Nassau. We'd been hoping the weather would hold and it did so we left at 4pm on Monday for a night passage across the New Providence Channel. It was just us and the big boats: cruise ships, motor tankers, cargo ships, and the like. A few hours after we left, a cruise ship caught up with us and it was so brightly lit it looked like a small city. Weren't sure if he even realized we were there until we heard a northbound tanker hail it on the radio (by name of course. All the big ships have the AIS system which tells them each other's important data like boat name, home port, and astrological sign.) The northbound tanker wanted the cruise ship to turn more to port and thankfully the captain said that he couldn't go to port as there were two small ships there (we were one of them). So at least the mega-giants can see us on their radar. That is encouraging.

We were motoring straight into the wind all night (it seems like that is always the case, doesn't it?) and it was ridiculously rolly with large nine-second swells, which basically means that you get hit by a swell and small waves and then the boat spends the next eight seconds pitching and yawing to recover itself only to be hit again on the nose by the next swell. Oh, and guess what -- we were down to our last seasickness patch (Kevin got it because a. he is more essential to boat operations, and b. I have inherited my dad's iron stomach). The waves slowed our speed down to a mere crawl at times (2.3 knots) and then the boat would recover (back to 5 knots - not setting any speed records here) before getting knocked on its butt again. So it was a rough night that didn't really let up until we got within a few hours of Nassau. But we made it to Nassau in one piece.

One good side effect of the exasperatingly slow speeds was that Kevin caught the most beautiful Mahi Mahi I have ever seen. He used a new "Alien" lure that he trolled out on a line around 6:30 am, and by 8 am he had a hit! I've seen illustrations of this kind of fish in books and the colors were always so vivid that I thought the artist might be exaggerating the hues - aquamarine, deep blue, and bright yellow - but that is what the fish looks like. This one was small, about 5 lbs, and my photo (when I post it) doesn't do it justice. In my photo the colors are kind of drab but Kevin says they are only vividly colored when they are alive. Plus I suck at photography anyway (you try taking a photo when the floor beneath you is jumping around like a rollercoaster). Actually better yet, try filleting the fish while the boat is jumping around like a rollercoaster, because that was Kevin's job. Blood and fish guts -- yuck. Tasty grilled fish cakes -- yum.

Where we are:
Location=Nassau, Bahamas
Lat=25 05.023
Lon=77 12.578

Port Lucaya - You Can Check Out Anytime You Like

"...But you can never leave..." Well that's how it's starting to feel, anyway. Since we are stuck here in Lucaya we decided to make the best of it and made reservations for the Champagne "Jazz" Brunch at the swanky Harbor Room. Free champagne, the buffet was excellent, and the jazz? Well, it was basically one guy playing a couple of keyboards, but he sure jazzed up his arrangement of "Hotel California". But it was a nice way to celebrate our wedding anniversary. One year of marriage under our belts and so far no complaints. Well, no serious complaints anyway.

We spent a few minutes contemplating a bizarre structure that wasn't here last year. At first we thought it might be a very compact driving range -- there were tall lights surrounded by all kinds of netting, but then we realized that it was a trapeze act (the guy who climbed up and started swinging back and forth was a dead giveaway!). They have mocked it up to look like a pirate ship and I guess they plan to eventually stage a Vegas-type Pirate-themed acrobat act. You can tell that this past hurricane season was a mild one -- it seems that all the cash the businesses would have normally spent on hurricane repairs has gone instead to improvements. Some examples: the marina we spent a month at last year used to be called Lucayan Marina Village, but now it is the more imposing Grand Bahama Yacht Club; and the Pelican Bay Hotel has re-roofed nearly all of its buildings from spanish tile to a more wind-resistant metal sheeting and they are building a covered enclosure over the pool bar. Nice.

After lunch we walked out along the beach and just enjoyed the sunshine. It's still blowing pretty good out there so even though we've been here a week longer than intended, we will hang out here one more day and see if the weather moderates a little before pushing on further south.

Port Lucaya - Kayaking

Kayaking in Lucaya

The cruise is ruined. Well, nearly ruined. Okay, we'll manage. This morning I pulled a jar of peanut butter out of the pantry. I opened it and Kevin and I both stared in absolute horror. Chunky! Who bought chunky?! Not only was it chunky Jif, but it was EXTRA-chunky Jif. I double-checked the other three unopened jars in our stockpile and sure enough there wasn't a smooth one in the bunch. I guess during our frenzied shopping at Sam's Club we had grabbed the wrong kind. Ew. I guess we'll live -- we just have to chew it more.

Last time we needed a splice in a line I was the one who sat down with the book and figured out how to do it. So now I am the designated "splicer" in the crew. (A splice is a way of putting a loop in the end of the rope without tying a knot). This time it was a different type of line (8-strand Brait) so I had to learn a whole new set of instructions. After more than an hour of bruising my fingers and cussing up a storm I came to the last step. All of my strands were about an inch too short for the final "tuck"! I was totally ticked off, because now I will have to start over at the beginning. My extra-supportive husband did not hesitate to point out: "Well you would've had to do it two more times anyway since I need three lines spliced not just one. It's good practice." Thanks, honey.

To cheer me up, Kevin decided to inflate the kayak that he got me for Christmas. He pulls the thing out of the bag and goes to inflate it with our dinghy pump when we realize that the pump doesn't fit the nozzle. We find some attachments that *kind of* fit and start filling the thing with air. But because we didn't buy the "right" pump, every time we close the valve it loses a lot of air. So the thing won't inflate all the way. We are kicking ourselves for not trying it out in Florida so we could've bought the right damn pump, but it has enough air to float and we are both able to try it out. It's nothing like a real kayak (the bow wiggles back and forth with every stroke of the paddle) but it's still pretty fun.

We are anchored in the same spot, tucked back into a cove. Both the glass-bottom boat tour and the booze cruise come through here to turn around, so every day we get a boat full of tourists staring at us like fish in a bowl, and today was no different. Can't blame them, really. I'd stare too if some yahoo was paddling around in what looked like a deflated pool toy.

Port Lucaya - Daytrippers

Tuesday morning we woke up around 8:30am after sleeping a solid 11 hours. We looked at the weather and spur of the moment decided to try to cross south to the Berry Islands because the winds are supposed to strengthen all week and we wanted to get as far as we could before hunkering down. So by 9:30 am we were on our way, headed out the Bell Channel, sails up and engines on. After about an hour the winds started building and of course the seas did too. On the chartplotter, our ETA to the Berrys showed as 5:40 (right at sunset) even though we were cruising along at 8+ knots. We discussed going on (for another 7 hours with wind & waves building) vs turning back. We decided we probably would've been fine if we'd left before sunrise but we knew that it was foolish to push on. Not that we would be in danger, just that the whole point of this is supposed to be fun and if we're getting knocked around by the seas it's not that fun. So we decided to call it a daysail and turned back towards Lucaya again to wait out the weather for the week. There are worse places to be stuck, that's for sure -- at least there's lots to do in Lucaya. We first anchored off the marina where we stayed last year hoping to make use of the free wi-fi, but the ferry guy came by and said we weren't allowed to anchor so close to the marina. So we moved on down the channel and tucked into one of the man-made coves. There's no internet signal here, but it's nice and secluded and protected from the wind. This morning Kevin looked at the weather forecast and it's looking like we'll be here til Sunday at least, which is our anniversary so that will be kind of cool to celebrate it here where we got married.

Where we are:
Location=Port Lucaya, GB
Lat=26 31.110
Lon=78 37.868

Back at Lucaya

We woke up and were on our way out the Lake Worth inlet by 3:30 am. Last year when we crossed to the Bahamas, the sea was smooth as glass and we motored the whole way in record time. We weren't so lucky this year. Winds were out of the southeast at 15 knots with gusts up to 20. We got pounded by the waves, which weren't very big but it's still annoying to bash straight into them. As the sun rose both wind and waves picked up even further. Poor Boris, who was hiding in the forward port bathroom, must've gone airborne several times when we hit some big ones. And our lamp, the only freestanding piece of furniture that we own (everything else is bolted to the boat - now it's clear why) fell over one time too many and the bulb shattered. We have all kinds of spare lightbulbs on the boat for running lights, anchor lights, steaming lights, etc, but not a spare for a "normal" light. We still have plenty of lights but they are all "car dome light strength" -- dim enough so that you can just make out writing on a page. Our real lamp somehow made it feel more civilized. Only one day out and already something is broken -- guess we'll add "lightbulb" to our latest "boat fix" list. Supposedly these were ideal conditions in which to cross, but then again most people cross from further south in Florida and would've had the wind behind them instead of slamming into it headfirst, so we only have ourselves to blame. All in all it was a pretty relentless day, I guess we were spoiled last time.

Rumrunners

We arrived at Port Lucaya around 4pm and got checked in with customs and immigration no problem. We left the dock, motored around a bit, and found a decent spot to anchor. As soon as we were settled we dinghied back over to the Lucaya Marketplace to -- you guessed it -- RumRunners for some coconut drinks. Ah...it feels like home.

Where we are:
Location=Port Lucaya, Grand Bahama
Lat=26 30.877
Lon=78 38.504

Lake Worth, FL

To Lake Worth

[Kevin's Post]We left Ft. Pierce yesterday morning and decided to go out the inlet and head down to Lake Worth on the outside to avoid the bridges and the weekend boater traffic on the ICW. So we knocked out the whole distance in one day. The wind was pretty much due south so we had to motor the whole way with the wind and waves coming straight at us. It wasn't too bad, we arrived about an hour before sunset.

Today we are taking care of some last minute tasks including fueling up the boat. Normally we would avoid going to a fuel dock on a weekend, but today we had no choice. The boat traffic here in Lake Worth is incredible and it is a nightmare trying to maneuver a big slow boat with a zillion small fishing boats zipping around like flys. Imagine trying to pull into a gas station, if the gas station were located in the median of I-10. We make our first pass with all our fenders on the opposite side of the boat from the dock. We were planning to turn around so our bow would be into the wind when we dock. No dice. There are half a dozen boats right behind me so I can't turn around. I try to turn into the marina past the fuel dock to let the boats go by, intending to back out and slide up to the fuel dock. But, it takes too long for the boats to go by and I can't hold our position with the wind and current. The current grabs us and pushes us sideways pinning us against a piling at the bow and the end of the fuel dock at the stern. Fortunately the slip that we were pinned in front of was empty and our rub rail protected us from any damage from the piling. After the boats went by, I was able to pivot the stern away from the dock and back out. No harm done. I tell Amanda to move all the fenders to the other side of the boat since the current was stronger than the wind and coming from the opposite direction. We set up for another pass. This time a small fishing boat sneaks in ahead of me. We set up for a third pass. This time we actually get tied up (with great difficulty since it was the dock hands second day and he didn't know how to tie up a boat). Of course from his perspective, he's probably thinking I don't know how to drive a boat. Anyway, we filled the tank and 5 jerry cans and filled the outboard tank too. $260. Ouch, but it's cheapest fuel we'll see for a while.

We're planning to leave tomorrow morning by 4AM and head for Lucaya on Grand Bahama, a distance of about 80nm. This is the same route we took last year and it took just under 12 hours. Hopefully we can make even better time this year since the wind will be out of the south. If we can't make it to Lucaya before dark, we will divert to West End.

Where we are:
Location=Lake Worth, FL
Lat=26 45.557
Lon=80 02.663

Ft. Pierce, FL

[Kevin's Post]Today we did another 40 miles south on the ICW. This was one of those days we were glad to be on protected waters since we saw apparent winds as high as 33 knots. That's a lot of wind. We're still about 60 miles from our planned departure point, Lake Worth. We're going to try get to Lake Worth tomorrow, but may break it up into 2 days depending on how bad we time the bridges. There are 8 drawbridges between here and there, 6 of them have restricted opening times. If the forecast holds, we will be able to cross the gulfstream on Monday.

Where we are:
Location=Ft Pierce, FL
Lat=27 28.211
Lon=80 19.509

Palm Bay, FL

This morning we topped off the water tank, rinsed the bird crap off the deck (stupid birds), and left the marina for parts south. Today was an easy day, only a 40-mile stretch to an anchorage near Palm Bay. So far things have been in working order -- both engines fired up first try, that's always a good thing. We weren't able to put the sails up since the wind was coming straight from the direction we wanted to go, but we made good time on one engine and arrived at the anchorage around 3pm. We have a couple more days of motoring south through Florida before we can get to our jumping off point at Lake Worth. It is looking like there will be good weather early next week for our crossing to the Bahamas. We are looking forward to being in clear water again. Right now both transoms are covered in sludge and there's no point in cleaning them off since the dark brown water just stains them again right away. Ick.

Where we are:
Location=Palm Bay, FL
Lat=27 59.428
Lon=80 32.375

Titusville, FL - Provisioning

[Kevin's Post]Today we made another Sam's Club run to fill the freezer. Just how much can we cram into a 16" x 16" x 24" space? Well here's what's in there now: 14 lbs chicken breast, 13 lbs ground turkey, 10 lbs cheddar cheese, 10 lbs mozarella cheese, 10 lbs frozen vegetables, 3 lbs deli sliced ham, 3 lbs deli sliced roast beef, 3 lbs deli sliced turkey, 6 lbs steaks, 3 lbs frozen bread dough, 2 lbs ricotta cheese, 2 lbs italian sausage and a few other odds and ends. And we still have some room to make ice. The refrigerator is still empty, that's one of tomorrow's chores.

We have ported our phone number over to Vonage so that we will be able to keep our old phone number as we travel through the caribbean. You'll still be able to call that number and leave us voicemails. We will get an email notification any time a message is left which is pretty cool. Plus we have a USB telephone which we can plug into any internet cafe computer (or our own on the boat if we have wi-fi) and call home for free.

We're starting to look at the forecast watching for a weather window to cross over to the Bahamas. This year we are subscribing to a private weather service to get weather information. Last year we primarily used the NOAA forecasts, but listened in on Chris Parker on the SSB later in the spring. We were pretty impressed with the detail and accuracy of his forecasts, so this year we subscribed to his service which allows us to hail him during his morning SSB broadcast for personalized weather routing. Plus we get daily emails detailing the current weather conditions and outlook for our area. As of right now it is looking like we probably won't cross until the beginning of next week.

Titusville, FL - Back at the boat

[Kevin's Post]Happy New Year! We left Phoenix early this morning and are now back at the boat. We are always nervous returning to the boat after being gone for a while and this
time we were especially nervous since the marina we left the boat at is a bit sketchy. And the tornados that hit 50 miles from here last week didn't ease our worries either. But all is well, the boat is exactly the way we left it, just a little extra dirt. We are busy trying to get the boat and ourselves ready to leave the country, hopefully within the week. We'll have a rental car for the next few days in order to finish our provisioning and run some last minute errands. It seems like our list of last-minute tasks gets longer by the hour as we try to pick up the odds and ends that we think we'll want or need during the next year and a half. Everything costs at least twice as much once you leave the land of plenty, so we are packing every nook and cranny of the boat with food, supplies, and boat parts. Now the real challenge is remembering what we have and where the hell we put it.

Phoenix, AZ - Happy Holidays

Wow, didn't realize how long it had been since the last post. We locked up the boat, boarded the cat, and headed out to Arizona to visit the family for the holidays. So far it has been a busy trip -- we've been running around getting last minute shopping done and visiting friends and family. We stopped by the office to see some familiar faces, and we also drove up to Flagstaff to visit my brothers and sisters (who are attending Northern Arizona University). Kids these days -- they've spent the last couple months without heat bc they thought the furnace was broken. Of course with all the system break-downs Kevin has had to deal with on the boat, he was able to troubleshoot and get the heat up and running within 45 minutes. My husband rocks. Hope everyone has a great holiday season!

Titusville, FL - Shuttle Launch

[Kevin's Post]Well, I guess the photos eliminate any chance of suspense in this post. We saw the Space Shuttle Discovery launch. It was originally supposed to go up Thursday night but was scrubbed due to weather. Today was the second attempt and they were anticipating only a 30% chance, again due to weather. But in the last few hours before the launch the skies cleared up and the wind stopped. At 8:47 PM we were staring at the launch pad waiting. Then all of a sudden we could see the flames and smoke and night became day. Smoke billowed out to sides of the launch pad and the shuttle lifted off. It was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen. The flames were so intense it was like staring at the sun. After a few seconds we could hear the rumble of the rockets. We were able to clearly see the shuttle ascend from the launch pad all the way to orbit 9 minutes later. By the time the main engines cut off the shuttle looked like a bright star.

Our boat is docked at a marina in Titusville only a few miles from the launch pad, and we were able to watch the launch from the dock. Every parking lot up and down US 1 was charging at least $20 for parking. I think the parking lot owners must hope the launch scrubs, because then they get to charge everybody again the next day. An enterprising boat owner could have probably charged $100 a head to view the launch from the water. Maybe next time.

Titusville, FL - Thirsty Manatee

Today I was cleaning out our shower sump (a job that is exactly as glamorous as it sounds) when Kevin called me outside to look at something. He was standing on deck spraying the hose into the water, excitedly saying "look at this!". I had no idea what he was talking about until he said "it's a manatee". It was confusing because at first all you could see was its snout, which looks like a weird alien-head. But when it stretched out behind the boat you could see the whole body and it was huge, about 500 lbs. Kevin had been cleaning the boat when it showed up and started slurping up the freshwater that was running off the side -- I guess manatees love freshwater. Kevin just kept letting the hose spray into the water and the manatee actually rolled over on its back with one flipper on the transom, enjoying the free drink.

So we were looking forward to watching the shuttle launch this evening, but the weather had been iffy all day so we didn't have high hopes. NASA kept counting down until the last possible minute when they finally decided to scrub the launch due to low cloud cover. Because the launch window is only open five minutes per night we will have to wait until tomorrow, hopefully the weather is better then. So the closest we came to seeing a shuttle in the air was this shot of the cheesy christmas light display on one of the boats on the next dock.

Titusville, FL

Sorry for the lack of posts. Kevin wrote a post while we were in St. Augustine and we sent it to the website via email but didn't realize that it didn't show up, so I've put it on there now. We spent the past week in Daytona, FL watching boats run aground trying to get into the anchorage. In Daytona, the ICW becomes a narrow channel in the middle of a shallow river that runs pretty much straight north and south. There is an anchorage off to the west side of the channel but there is a huge shoal running parallel between it and the anchorage. To anchor, you have to motor south until you are clear of the shoal, and then you can make a right-hand u-turn to get into the anchorage. We saw four or five boats run aground trying to come straight in. Despite the fact that I got on the radio and tried to tell them how to get into the anchorage. But when they don't have a radio on, what can you do, other than sit back and watch the show? It was like they saw some boats anchored and figured they could just head right on over without consulting their charts or anything. One guy who was singlehanding ran aground a couple hundred feet from us. While he was waiting for high tide, another boat came up and ran aground about 20 feet away from him. We could see them talking to each other from their boats, and then the second guy managed to use his engine to get himself back afloat, did a 180, and proceeded to run himself hard aground again. Yeah, that's it, take navigational advice from the guy who's run himself aground. We ended up hopping in the dinghy and helping the singlehander (an older gentleman whose charts were so old they did not show the shoal) by sounding out the depths around his boat to help him find deeper water.

On Tuesday we continued south to Titusville. I had never heard of Titusville before but I had heard of Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center. Titusville is directly across the river from the NASA launch site. Kevin specifically chose to time our visit so that we could watch the shuttle launch, which is supposed to happen on Thursday night. From our slip we can see the shuttle sitting there on the launch pad, waiting to rocket off into space. So we will have the best seats in the house.

We will be at this marina for about a month since it's close to Orlando and about the same price as the moorings in our usual December spot (Stuart). We have already met some of our neighbors, who seem very friendly. The website made the marina out to be a paradise complete with jacuzzi, fitness center, raquetball courts, wi-fi and a sauna. We couldn't believe the monthly rate would be so low with all those amenities. Unfortunately they haven't updated their website in a long time. Seems they are under new ownership so the fitness center equipment has been sold off, the raquetball courts no longer exist and the jacuzzi has been filled in with dirt and turned into a planter. Kevin is especially disappointed that the wi-fi signal is too weak for us to pick up at our boat. So I guess the moral is: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. But it's not all bad; the sauna still works.

Where we are:
Location=Titusville, FL
Lat=28 33.258 N
Lon=80 47.709 W

Daytona, FL

We waited out the weekend at Cumberland island so that we wouldn't
have to deal with all the weekend boat traffic on the ICW. Just as we
are getting ready to get going, it starts raining. Great. The
anchorage at Cumberland island has a pretty strong current, so we had
two anchors out. Our boat had spun around several times over the
weekend so our two anchor rodes were wrapped around each other. After
about an hour of work in the rain we had both anchors up and were
underway. We crossed the border of Florida pretty early on and the
skies cleared up. We had a favorable current almost all day and could
have made it all the way to St. Augustine, but decided to stop at a
place called Pine Island about 10 miles to the north. As we pull into
the anchorage, we see another catamaran, a Manta named Caribbean Call.
They hailed us on the radio and complemented us on our boat. As it
turns out, they are hull #14. We are hull #17, so their boat is only
a few months older than ours.

Tuesday we headed into St. Augustine and took dockage at the city
marina. We stayed here last year and really liked it, but this time,
the bridge adjacent to the marina is under construction and they were
working on it all night making a lot of noise. It was a little
disconcerting watching them hoist these massive steel structures about
50 feet in front of the boat. I guess they weren't too worried about
dropping them though since there were guys standing under them as the
crane moved them around. We really like St. Augustine, but were glad
to get away from the construction. Tonight we are anchored in Daytona
Beach where we plan to stay for a few days to go ashore and look
around a bit.

Where we are:
Location=Daytona Beach, FL
Lat=29 12.040 N
Lon=81 00.387 W

Cumberland Island, GA

We left Golden Isles Marina Thanksgiving morning and headed down to Cumberland Island. Cumberland is a national park (a National Seashore, in fact) and has miles of hiking trails, wildlife, and ruins to explore. The last two times we anchored here it was too rainy to go ashore so this time we were determined to check things out. When we got to the trail we discovered that the armadillos were out in full force. Or is it "armadilloes"? Either way, the little guys would ramble across the trail right in front of you, completely oblivious as they foraged through the leaves for food. I don't think they are native, the brochure just says that they were first seen on the island in 1974. How did they get here? The only way to and from the island is via boat so maybe some guy from Texas smuggled them over in his backpack. We'll never know.

Farther down the trail are the ruins of Dungeness, a sprawling mansion built by Thomas Carnegie (not to be confused with his wealthier brother Andrew, or the very popular and influential writer, Dale) for his family. The building was consumed by fire in the 1950's but the stone ruins are still very impressive. You aren't allowed to wander inside the buildings since they've been taken over by diamondback rattlesnakes. But there is a herd (posse? troop? gaggle?) of wild horses that roam the island and we saw plenty of them munching grass near the Dungeness ruins. They were so intent on eating they barely even noticed the tourists creeping up close to take photos. There are a bunch of private residences on the island and I guess the horses keep everyone's front lawns in pretty good shape.

Anyway it's been a quiet week - hope everyone had a nice turkey day!

Where we are:
Location=Cumberland Island, GA
Lat=30 46.008 N
Lon=81 28.288 W

St. Simon, GA

Sunrise at the helm

[Kevin's Post]We left Port Royal Saturday morning before sunrise and headed out the inlet to the open ocean. As the sun came up we saw just one other sailboat, they were coming down the ICW from the opposite direction toward the inlet and converging on our course. As it got closer we recognized it as another Manta. It is bizarre how frequently we see other Mantas considering how few there are. They were going a bit faster than us since we were only running one engine (no wind)and they were out of sight within a few hours. In the afternoon we saw our first real whale. We saw pilot whales last spring, but I don't count those since they are barely bigger than a dolphin. Amanda spotted it and we both saw it spout water 10 feet in the air. Then as I ran to get the camera, it flipped its tail in the air and disappeared so we didn't get any pictures. The new fish lures were a disappointment. They are designed to dive down and stay under 20-30 feet without a downrigger, but at the speeds we cruise at they pretty much just skip along the surface. The fish didn't show any interest, but given enough time I think I could have caught a bird. Birds were circling the lures all day and a few even dove down and tried to pick them up. We went in St. Catherines sound to anchor for the night in Walburg Creek.

Another stowaway

Sunday morning we left before sunrise again to make the most of the short day. We had made reservations at Golden Isles marina in St. Simon for Sunday night as the weather forecast was starting to look ugly. The NOAA weather synopsis kept ominously referring to a 'significant marine event' for the beginning of the week. In this part of Georgia all the anchorages have really strong currents and very little wind protection so we decided to hole up at a marina. They are currently forecasting 50 knot winds for tomorrow.

Where we are:
Location=St. Simon, GA
Lat=31 09.972 N
Lon=81 24.892 W

Steamboat Creek, SC

[Kevin's Post]We had planned to leave Charleston on Monday but unfortunately our boat and our vet had other ideas. We had taken Boris (our cat) to the vet in Charleston last Thursday because he has lost a lot of weight over the last few months and we wanted to get him checked out. The vet said it was probably hyperthyroidism, but they would have to do bloodwork to be sure. So they take some blood and say they will have the results overnight. So Friday morning we call them and they say to call again Saturday morning. Saturday morning they tell us Monday morning. Monday morning they tell us Monday afternoon. Monday afternoon they won't return my calls. Tuesday morning they have the results and sure enough it is hyperthyroidism and they prescribe some medication for him. Hopefull Boris will respond well to the medication but we'll have to have his blood tested again in a month or so when we get to Florida.

While we were waiting for the bloodwork results we had a plumbing issue with the boat. Over the weekend we had noticed the port bilge pump had been coming on periodically. It would come on for about 2 seconds and stop a couple times a day. Usually that means you are taking on water, i.e. sinking. Most boats that sink at marinas have some sort of slow leak and a failed bilge pump. So Monday morning I am tearing apart the boat checking all the through hull fittings for leaks when I shine a light at the back of the engine compartment and see a slow drip of water coming from the shelf where the rudder quadrant is. Last summer we had a problem with our port rudder bearing leaking and it took me 3 days to dismantle it, fix it and put it back together. So I get a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I take apart the bed so I can get at the rudder and I am ecstatic to see that it is a plumbing fitting above the rudder leaking and not the rudder bearing. As soon as I touch it, it explodes spraying water everywhere. But I don't care, I'm just glad it's not the rudder bearing. Ironically, when I went to West Marine a few days earlier, stocking up on spares, one of the things on the list was spare plumbing fittings. And of course they didn't have the right kind so I didn't get any. Luckily we still had a rental car and I found what I needed at Lowes. $5 and 5 minutes later the leak was fixed.

We finally left Charleston yesterday morning and motored down the ICW 30 miles to Steamboat Creek. A front came through last night and it has been blowing really hard, 20-30 knots, ever since. So we took a day off and are waiting out the front here in Steamboat Creek. Hopefully on Saturday conditions will be good for us to go outside from Port Royal to St. Catherine's Sound which will allow us to avoid some of the worst parts of the ICW. And I bought some huge lures in Charleston that that I want to try out.

Where we are:
Location=Steamboat Creek, SC
Lat=32 36.632 N
Lon=80 16.747 W

Charleston, SC

Boone Hall Plantation

So we are back in Charleston. It was the perfect place to stop for a few days and fly my sister Margaret in for a visit. We are trying to get south as fast as we can, but our insurance requires us to be north of Savannah until November 15th, so this will be a nice little stopover.

Margaret arrived on Friday morning and trooper that she was, stayed awake all day (with the help of some java) and she and I went on a carriage tour of the city while Kevin did boy-stuff like running to West Marine and Home Depot. That evening we had a fabulous BBQ dinner at Sticky Fingers.

The next day we headed off in the rental car to Boone Hall Plantation. Not only did we want to tour the plantation and grounds but also that weekend the plantation just happened to be hosting a real live Civil War re-enactment: "The Battle of Secessionville"! You hear about these things but you have to see it to believe it. First of all, it is sort of like the Renaissance Festival, only with cannons and artillery. Not only are the battle participants and vendors dressed up in period costume, but it seems like many of the locals dust off their hoop skirts and sabres and drape themselves in the confederate flag before heading out to enjoy the show as spectators. You have to admire the soldiers because they take this stuff

Confederate Soldiers

SERIOUSLY. They put up authentic style tents and actually spend the weekend encamped with their fellow soldiers. They march around in formation to get to and from the battlefield to the camp, and there was no laughter or goofing off among the ranks at all (although I did hear one soldier ask another about the point spread on some football game). We watched a cannon fire demonstration and even though they were firing blanks (ie no projectiles), they treated those guns with respect and had the drill down to a science, so you know that while other guys are sitting around on the weekend watching ESPN these guys are out there drilling and practicing their firing technique. I don't really do justice to this whole re-enactment thing, but if you want to read an account of the same re-enactment from a few years ago, check out this link: http://www.awod.com/cwchas/sfight.html Anyway, although there were lots of women dressed up, I think re-enactments are essentially a guy thing, what with all the guns and fighting. Also it would seem they are a Southern thing -- the old adage that the South is still fighting the Civil War is in some way true -- note that they choose to stage a battle that was won by the Confederacy. But for those of you reading this in Arizona, don't despair! Every March, Picacho Peak State Park hosts a re-enactment of the Battle of Picacho Pass. Although that was a smaller skirmish involving some Union soldiers attacking a rebel scouting party, I guess every year they have so many people wanting to be involved in the re-enactment that they end up with more soldiers than there were at the original battle. So next year, skip the nancy-boy Rennaissance Fair and head down towards Tucson for some fun with guns, horses, and American History.

Artillery Video

Click on the third picture to see a video of the artillery demonstration.

We said goodbye to Margaret on Sunday morning and were so glad to have her for a visit, even though it was brief. We are really looking forward to spending some more quality time with our families and friends when we come home next month for the holidays.

Where we are:
Location=Charleston, SC
Lat=32 46.510 N
Lon=79 56.942 W

South Santee River, SC

Well we had an interesting time today. After staying several days at Thoroughfare creek we decided to get a move on and head 30 miles south to Minim Creek. The wind was blowing a bit today, gusting up to 20 knots, but we motored down the ICW without incident. But once we started getting ready to anchor it was a different story.

We have anchored in Minim Creek before and we know that the current runs pretty strong in that area. Last time we anchored in the creek there was no wind. But this time we had the wind pushing us from the north and the current pushing us from sort of a southerly direction. Our normal routine (without current) is to point the boat into the wind, drop the anchor, fall back as the wind pushes us back, and then back down on the anchor with our engines in reverse to get a good set. But with wind and current opposing, we did a little trial and error. We first did our normal routine but after dropping the anchor, the current pushed us forward and past the anchor, so that didn't work. We hauled it up and tried again, this time pointing into the current. After dropping the anchor the wind gusted and we started looping around in drunken circles. It was impossible to get the anchor directly out in front of us to back down on in and after several minutes of trying, Kevin just gave up and said "well it's probably set enough for us to stay here one night, go ahead and shut down the engines". We were in the middle of the creek and the anchor seemed to be holding so I shut the engines down and went inside to grab the cruising log and the instrument covers. I walk through the door a couple minutes later and hear the depth alarm going off (it is set to go off if we are in 2 feet of water). Kevin is at the helm and we are up against the bank of the creek. What? In just a few minutes we had gone from anchored to aground. Guess the anchor wasn't set after all.

So we start the engines and go about the process of getting ourselves floating again and hauling the anchor up. No easy task since the wind is now steady at 17 knots and the current has increased as well. Easing ourselves off the bank is no problem, only the tip of our bow was just barely aground. But trying to get the anchor up is another story since it is behind us between the hulls and we have to be careful about putting the engines in reverse so the propellers don't get fouled on the anchor chain. We finally have the anchor partway up but as I put the starboard engine in reverse it starts making this horrible sound. We realize that our prop must've gotten fouled on one of the several crab trap floats in the creek. We were fortunate because I put the engine in neutral right away and used only the port engine and I think somehow the trap worked itself loose because sure enough when I looked over, there the float was, floating about 100 feet away from where it originally had been (we had picked it up and moved it). We were really lucky because usually if something like that happens someone would have to get in the water and unwrap the line from the prop (in the conditions we were in it would've been next to impossible).

In the end, we gave up on Minim Creek and motored another 10 miles south to the South Santee River, where the current was still strong, but the river was wider and aligned better with the wind. Everything that could go wrong had gone wrong in Minim Creek, but the anchoring gods gave us a break and we were able to set the anchor on the first try in the Santee.

Where we are:
Location=South Santee River, SC
Lat=33 09.018 N
Lon=79 19.312 W

Thoroughfare Creek, SC

[Kevin's Post]Yesterday, we left Southport and crossed the border into South Carolina. There's really only one anchorage on this 70 mile stretch of the ICW, and when we anchored there last year, another boat hit us at 2am because of the reversing current. So, we decided not to even try it this year, and instead went on to Myrtle Beach and tied up at a marina called Dock Holiday's. We had cable TV for the first time in months. For some reason, the cable at the marinas never work, even when they advertise that they have cable. So of course we wasted a lot of time watching tv, did a few loads of laundry, and had burgers and beers at the marina bar. A cold snap is going through the area right now, so we were glad to be able to run the heat too. This morning we got up and the temperature was in the low 40s with a 15kt wind putting the wind chill in the 30's. As we were motoring south we heard the coast guard repeatedly try to hail a vessel named Moonbow. A while later the coast guard issued a 'Pan Pan', which is an announcement typically regarding a vessel which is missing or otherwise in distress. A sailboat named Moonbow had turned on their EPIRB (emergency satellite beacon) somewhere between Cape Fear and Charleston. Conditions were supposed to be pretty bad out on the ocean today with winds 20-25 knots, which is why we are motoring down the ICW instead of going outside like we did on the way north. The Coast Guard never said exactly what happened to the boat, but about an hour later they issued another Pan Pan stating that the boat was adrift and the location. Presumably the crew had been rescued by the coast guard and forced to abandon their boat. We also heard a Securite saying that a bridge between us and Charleston is not working and so we are stuck north of Charleston until it is fixed or conditions are good enough to go outside the rest of the way to Charleston.

Where we are:
Location=Thoroughfare Creek, SC
Lat=33 30.862 N
Lon=79 08.662 W

Southport, NC - The Eagle Has Landed

Cruise Ship Aground

Another day on the ICW. We left Wrightsville Beach around 8am; most of the boats in the anchorage had already left and were well ahead of us. On the VHF radio we started hearing chatter about a boat aground about 10 miles further, near Carolina Beach. One by one, we heard all the other boats hail this boat ("American Eagle"), asking "are you aground?" and "which side should we pass you on?". As we approached the area, we realized why so many boats had been worried about the grounded vessel -- it wasn't just a boat, it was a 160-foot cruise ship! The ICW channel at Carolina Beach is only about 120 feet wide and here is this behemoth turned sideways and stretching nearly across the entire channel. If you look closely at the photo, you can see that the waterline at the bow of the ship is at least a couple feet higher than it should be. As we got closer we could see that one other poor sailboat had misjudged where to pass, and tried to slip by the American Eagle's bow. Yep, they ran aground too. We heard the boat ahead of us radio the ship and they were told to pass behind it, so that's what we did, although the water got pretty shallow. We passed close enough to talk to one of the passengers on deck, an elderly lady who seemed to find the whole situation pretty hilarious. Strangely, the cruise ship was keeping kind of a low profile about the whole thing -- they didn't radio the coast guard, they didn't respond when TowBoat US hailed them on the radio. Normally, a vessel that big would periodically announce a "Security Call" on the VHF, to inform other boaters of what had happened and to use caution. But maybe the captain thought that nobody would notice, and they'd be able to get going again as the tide came in. I'm sure it was embarassing, but he's lucky a tug and barge wasn't trying to transit that section of the ICW this morning, or there could've been real trouble. I'm sure the Coast Guard was pretty irked when they finally found out what was going on. Some other boater must have called them because about two hours later, as we were heading south on the Cape Fun And Games River (Cape Fear River), we finally heard the Coast Guard issue a Security Call warning on the VHF, and they didn't sound too pleased about it.

Where we are:
Location=Southport, SC
Lat=33 55.238 N
Lon=78 02.666 W