Salinas, PR -- Caves and Radio Waves

Rio de Camuy Caves

Our second road trip took us up to the north central part of the island, through the Cordillera Central mountain range, to the caves at Rio de Camuy and the Observatory at Arecibo. There was no direct route from Salinas to the area, so we took twisty mountain roads that were in some places only one car width wide. Standard practice in such passes is to honk your horn repeatedly while continuing full speed ahead to let the people coming the other way know that you're not gonna back down. The scary part was that since there's no other way to go, the truckers use the roads on their routes and occasionally we'd turn a corner and see a big Mack truck bearing down on us. Also Puerto Ricans are nutjobs in general when it comes to driving their cars; we'd be coming down the road where there would room for both cars to get past each other easily IF we both moved a little to the right side of the road. Sounds reasonable, right? But no. For whatever reason, some people here just seem to enjoy playing "chicken" and making you slow down to a crawl and pull way over so that they can drive down the center (the mountain roads had no yellow lines in the middle), horns blaring all the way. So getting to the caves was a white-knuckle ride.

The Rio de Camuy caverns were pretty awe-inspiring. The tour took us down through a sinkhole over 400 feet deep, overgrown with lush jungle foliage. Then we entered the main room of the cavern through a small tunnel in the rock. There were huge formations under a massive domed cavern stretching 170 feet high -- clusters of stalactites clung to the ceiling like one of Chihuly's pointy spiral chandeliers, only made of rock instead of blown glass. And because the area gets so much rainfall, the cave is still "live" and water continues to build the formations up with the passage of time. At one of the cave entrances it's like standing under a shower nozzle (albeit with very weak water pressure); the drops come down like rain.

Arecibo

After a quick lunch we took more twisty back roads over to the radio telescope observatory. This is the largest single radio telescope in the world at 305 meters (1006 ft) in diameter, dwarfing the competition (the next largest in Bonn, Germany is only 100m, and the one in Charlottesville, VA a mere 42m). The dish is immense and is built right into a natural depression in the karst rock surrounded by hills. The disk part is stationary and they've worked it out so that only the Gregorian dome moves to receive the radio waves. It's quite a feat of engineering. James Bond fans will recognize it from "Goldeneye" where Pierce Brosnan is climbing all over the huge dish. When workers walk over the dish they use special snowshoe-type shoes that don't damage the aluminum panels. It would have been fun if that had been part of the tour. I would have settled for just walking out over the catwalk, but visitors only get to view it from the platform at the visitor center.

Where we are:
Location=Salinas, PR
Lat=17 57.653
Lon=66 17.549

Salinas, PR -- Rainforest Road Trip

La Mina Falls

While we're in Salinas we have rented a car to do some inland exploring around the island. Today's stop was El Yunque, the Caribbean Rain Forest in the north part of the island. (It is practically across the street from the Westin Rio Mar, so while I'm thinking about it: hello to everyone at Starwood!) El Yunque is overseen by the US Forest Service, and it's the only tropical rainforest in US jurisdiction. The Forest Service has done a lot of work putting in nice trails to all the waterfalls and interesting areas of the park. We did one of the more challenging hikes down to Mina Falls and we were rewarded with a spectacular waterfall cascading down the rock face. There was a swimming area at the base of the falls, but we had absentmindedly left our swimsuits back at the car. That was okay though, because there's a reason it's so green and called a "rainforest": it rains every day. Hard. We got doused while we were on the trail and it actually cooled us off pretty well. We hiked back up to the car and got to hear the native Coqui (ko-KEE) frogs chirp; we didn't actually see any of them though. However, we did see some other wildlife: massive iguanas. And not in the rainforest, either -- these were huge lizards hanging out by the roadside in town, walking down the sidewalks, everywhere. The first time I saw one it was starting to cross the road right in front of our car but luckily Kevin avoided it. There must be plenty more of them because there were tons of carcasses on the road that hadn't been so lucky. We even saw a schoolkid pick a live iguana up and literally throw it at a girl he was walking home with. Boys, especially at that age, are so stupid sometimes.

El Yunque Rainforest

On the way home we hit rush hour traffic in San Juan. We were starving and the car was low on gas so we got off the freeway to look for a gas station and maybe some cheap food. As I was paying the cashier at the Shell station, I glanced out the window and saw a mall with all the typical American chain restaurants -- Chili's, Johnny Rockets, and most importantly Macaroni Grill. See, we received a generous gift certificate as a wedding gift and yet every time we've been back in the states we forget about it until we get back to the boat (neither the Bahamas nor the Dominican Republic had a Macaroni Grill, go figure). So I've been carrying this card around for a year and finally we found our chance to use it. Much better fare than McDonald's, that's for sure. Plus, while we were eating one of the other tables had a birthday and all the waiters gathered around to obnoxiously sing the chain's signature birthday chant. Judging from the birthday guy's reaction, it's just as embarrassing when they sing to you in Spanish.

Salinas, PR -- Free At Last!

So it has been a running joke between us and our friend Jim that our dinghy is the "Beast". For starters, it's usually the longest dinghy at the dock (13 feet vs most are like 8-10 ft). Secondly the outboard is 30 horsepower, while you see most other dinghies with something less than 10hp. But what really makes it a Beast is that it revs up with a huge roar and a big belch of smoke when you start it. When we first started cruising, I tried to start the damn thing and ended up hurting myself and cussing up a storm. So for the past two years Kevin and I have been kidding that I'm his "prisoner" because I can't start the outboard and go ashore by myself. So we've been joking with Jim from Adventure Bound about how we'd be willing to trade in the Beast and finally he just had me come onboard their dinghy and start it to see how easy it is to start most outboards. Piece of cake, started up no problem. Meanwhile his wife Amanda, a triathlete who is in way better shape than me, had a go at starting up the beast and had no trouble. So then of course I had to go over to our dinghy to prove that I couldn't start it, except -- I did! It took a two-handed pull, but it sputtered to life! So this morning Kevin had me try to start it cold (the "Beast" doesn't like waking up early in the morning). After 10-plus pulls, I was able to start the thing, and Kevin had me practice steering it all over the anchorage. I feel like a 16 year old who has just learned to drive!

Salinas, PR

We were up and at 'em early on Saturday morning, motoring over to Salinas. We had our mail shipped there and since it was a good couple of miles to the post office, we hauled out the bikes and took a ride down there. So far the bikes have held up pretty good for being non-marine-grade made-in-China models. They both had lot of superficial rust on the surface, but other than that they worked just fine.

As the sun set we headed over to meet up with friends on "Sol Magique", where Ginette and her husband Paul hosted a quesadilla dinner for six (Jim & Amanda from Adventure Bound, and Kevin and me). Everyone brought a little something to share and we all had a good time. By cruiser standards we were out pretty late (9:30!) and we were pretty tired out from the long day. Our guidebook says that Salinas is the cockfighting capital of Puerto Rico and we realized that this morning at 4:30 am when all the roosters in town decided to start cock-a-doodle-dooing at the same time. The sun wasn't even up yet. What a racket.

Where we are:
Location=Salinas, PR
Lat=17 57.653
Lon=66 17.549

Isla Caja de Muertos, PR

Caja De Muertes

On Wednesday and Tuesday we shared a rental car with Amanda & Jim on Adventure Bound to do some provisioning and run some errands. High up on the priority list were some fast-food runs (our first since leaving the States) to Pizza Hut and Burger King. Most importantly for me was renewing my passport. Since you have to send in your current passport, I figured I'd do it while we're in Puerto Rico so that I can still fly back to the US in March using my drivers' license. Hopefully all goes as planned and we get my new passport back before we have to go to the British Virgin Islands when my dad comes to visit. I have my fingers crossed anyway.

This morning we headed over to Isla Caja de Muertos (Coffin Island - because in profile and on a map it is somewhat coffin-shaped). The water here is so clear we both jumped in with our snorkels to try to dislodge some stowaways (barnacles) that we must've picked up in the murky waters of Luperon. The hull was covered in baby ones, the big kind are harder to scrape off so we were lucky in that sense.

Amanda kayaking

We then hopped in the dinghy and headed over to the beach and ranger station. Coffin Island is extremely popular on weekends -- there's a ferry that leaves the anchorage in Ponce several times a day on weekends, complete with twinkle lights and vibrant music, packed to the gills with partygoers. But today is Thursday and it is all peace and quiet, in fact there's only one other boat in the anchorage. There are three rangers here full-time and as we walked up the beach one of them waved. His name is Orlando and he's been a ranger here for over 10 years. The rangers do rotations where they spend a whole week on the island and then are relieved by the next week's crew. Just looking around the island you can tell that these guys take their job pretty seriously -- the trails are well maintained, there are signs showing points of interest, there's no sign of trash anywhere, and there are some beautiful picnic areas with nice resort-style gazebos. I can see why people come here by the ferryload on the weekends. During May-November, the rangers help out by protecting the sea-turtle spawning habitat on the Eastern side of the island. We hiked up the hill to take a look at the lighthouse which dates back to the 1880's. On the trail we saw lots of lizards, and when we came across a couple of small snakes I'll admit: we BOTH screamed like girls. The lighthouse was all locked up and there was some vandalism so it wasn't much to look at, but the view down to the bay was breathtaking, a green oasis surrounded by crystalline blue water and our boat just a white speck in the water. Hopefully in Salinas we'll be near an internet connection so we can post the photos.

Where we are:
Location=Caja de Muertos, PR
Lat=17 53.173
Lon=66 31.844

Ponce, PR -- Carnaval

Ponce Carnaval

We have moved the boat back over to the anchorage near the yacht club. It's much more convenient to go ashore here plus there is free wi-fi so that clinched it for us. We put together an interesting anchor combo since it's so deep here and we don't want to drag: we put out our Fortress (an anchor with really good holding power) then 50 feet of chain, then our Delta (a heavy plow shaped anchor) then another 100 feet of chain. The delta acts as a kedge to keep the fortress buried (or so we hope). There is supposed to be a front coming today with strong winds from the northeast so we'll see if our trick works.

Ponce Carnaval

Our friends on Adventure Bound arrived on Saturday afternoon from Luperon. Despite having just finished a killer 50 hour passage and having to hand-steer the whole way, they were up for going out for beers at the boardwalk. The boardwalk seems like a scene for tourists and locals alike. They have a bunch of little take-away places selling empanadillas (fried meat-filled pastry) and pinchos (meat skewers). Plus Medalla Light, the local beer, is only a dollar and you can walk around with it. Just like everywhere else we've been, it seems like only the tourists drink the local brew. In the Bahamas and Turks instead of Kalik and Turks Head, the locals were drinking Heineken. That's understandable since Heineken is kind of internationally known as a "good" beer. Here though, instead of Medalla Light the locals drink Coors Light, which costs more and isn't as strong. Can't really figure that one out.

Giant Puppets

This week is Carnaval in Ponce. There have been parades every day, but Sunday is supposed to be the big day so we went downtown to the main square (called the Plaza las Delicias) to check things out. We could hear the music from the band onstage before we even got to the square (click on the link below to see the video). The streets were crowded with people, vendors selling ice cream and empanadillas, and teenage kids dressed up in brightly-colored Carnaval costumes with scary masks. Some of them wore the traditional elaborate papier-mache masks while others were wolfmen, monsters, and even Jason from Friday the 13th. They have an interesting tradition: the costumed kids (primarily boys) carry around these papier-mache balloons on strings, and when they walk past a girl they whack her booty as hard as they can with the balloon. I don't know if it hurts (I wasn't whacked) but it makes an incredibly loud noise. Most of the girls just keep walking and ignore it, so it can't hurt too badly. The religious theory behind the tradition is to "beat the devil" out of you before the Catholic season of Lent, but I think the modern theory is that adolescent guys have an excuse to smack the butts of the girls they like. The parade began with some guys wearing tall costumes rigged so that the huge papier-mache hands were on sticks so they could move them like puppeteers. There were a few more pretty costumes, then the parade started to resemble any small-town parade -- classic cars, high school bands, beauty queens, etc. The parade moved at a snail's pace so that the floats would stop, wait for 20 minutes, then eventually move on. There was crowd-control tape to try to keep people off the streets but it was pretty much ignored and bystanders could walk right across the parade at will. So as the afternoon wore on and the parade got slower and slower it eventually dissolved into total disorganization, with the crowd intermingling with the local high school bands as the band kids wandered around drinking bottled water and chatting with their friends on the sidelines.

Where we are:
Location=Ponce, PR
Lat=17 58.681
Lon=66 37.518

Ponce, Puerto Rico

The past couple of days we have just been taking it easy. We get up at 4 or 5 in the morning, motor east for a few miles in light winds, and drop the hook before the trade winds kick up from the east. Yesterday we were in a spot nicknamed Gilligan's Island (really called "Cayo Aurora"). In the morning just as we got into the dinghy to ride over to the mangrove island, we saw a ferryload of pasty white tourists arrive with plenty of pool toys. The island is a state park "manned by rangers" (meaning we saw a guy lounging around in his boxer shorts at the ranger station) and it is hugely popular with locals and tourists. There were picnic tables, fire pits, and a picturesque shallow lagoon where people were swimming and snorkeling. We took a snorkel through one of the mangrove streams and didn't see much in the way of aquatic life but it was cool to look at the mangrove roots underwater. We then tried to walk around the island to the beach/reef side but there was no path -- guess most of the appeal of the island is the lagoon and picnic spots.

This morning we arrived in Ponce (PONE-say), Puerto Rico's second largest city named for Juan Ponce de Leon. There's a small anchorage near the Ponce Yacht Club, but the depth there is 30 feet and there were already several boats anchored and many more on fixed moorings. In order to put enough scope down you'd want to put at least 150 feet of chain out and things could get a little too close for comfort if the wind shifts. So we just tucked around the corner near the industrial dock (where the big ships tie up) and found a nice spot where we dropped the hook in 15 feet of water instead. Not much scenery to look at though -- in one direction we have the shipyard and two lovely landfills and in the other lots and lots of urban sprawl. Perhaps there's a reason we are the only ones anchored out here...

Where we are:
Location=Ponce, Puerto Rico
Lat=17 58.681
Lon=66 37.518

Cabo Rojo, PR - Telemundo

We motored about 8 miles south of Boqueron to a small bay called Cabo Rojo. The trade winds have picked up and it's been blowing a pretty steady 15-20 knots out of the East each day. We are just at the southwest corner of the island of Puerto Rico, so once we turn the corner and start heading along the south coast we will have to make small jumps along the coast in the early morning before the wind pipes up.

Just for grins we tried to catch the national news on TV last night. We figured that we are in US territory, surely they broadcast the major channels right? No such luck, just Univision, Telemundo, and a whole host of other Spanish-language channels. We had great reception, but some of the programming that they show is pretty crazy. They have these variety-entertainment shows that give "Wallace & Ladmo" a run for its money -- grown-ups dressed as pirates and clowns and god knows what. I kept expecting to see the bumblebee guy from the Simpsons wander onto the screen. On their version of "Entertainment Tonight", one of the co-anchors was a puppet. A puppet, I kid you not. Take that, Mary Hart.

Where we are:
Location=Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico
Lat=17 56.564
Lon=67 11.828

Boqueron - Nightlife

Today the first order of business was to get ourselves checked into Puerto Rico. We'd been told we had to go to Mayaguez, but it was Sunday so we thought we'd try calling in since we are registered with a US Customs Decal. We got the number for San Juan, who told us to call Mayaguez, who told us (only in Spanish) that they were closed and to come in Monday. Not satisfied with that answer, we called San Juan back (each call was at a minimum 50 cents so I had to keep going into a liquor store to get change -- the clerk thought I was crazy) and after answering their questions about home port, last port, people and food on board, we were finally given our clearance back into US waters. We used up our stock of laundry quarters ($6) but we saved the $30 cab ride to Mayaguez, so it worked out well. People here have been very friendly, one lady overheard Kevin asking "habla usted ingles" on the payphone and asked if we needed help translating, and we met Ida who is a bartender at one of the pubs and she gave us some info on where live music would be playing and where we could get free internet. Not to mention the nutty, Spanish-mumbling elderly gentleman we met in the park who kept making baseball motions and showing us baseball cards while pointing at himself. We finally got it when he pulled out his wallet and showed us a black-and-white photo of his younger self in a baseball uniform, had to have been more than 60 years ago since the guy looked to be about 80. After it was clear we understood his pantomime, he hopped on his bike and rode away. Surreal.

Went for a walk along the beach and a swim in the afternoon and then dinghied into town around dinnertime. Even for a Sunday night, the place was hopping. Boqueron is a resort town and college kid hangout so it's chock full of bars and restaurants. We had dinner at one of the waterfront places and watched the birds flitting to and fro after the sun had set. Birds? Wait, no...not birds -- bats. It took us awhile to realize it because they were flying by so fast. Guess there's a reason the Bacardi emblem is a big bat. After dinner we wandered into a couple pubs and clubs and it also took a few moments for us to catch on that the guy to girl ratio in most places was way off. Also a dead giveaway: most of the guys were extremely well-groomed and had nicer highlights in their hair than me. Anyway the music was loud and fun so we just kicked back with a couple Medallas (local beer) and people-watched for the rest of the night.

sunset over the DR

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