Over the Edge

Just nutz...

2010-12-02T20:12:00.000-08:00

The constantly changing weather has been driving me batty. It has been truly difficult to get the masts done. Forecasts are only accurate out past the day and sometimes they change in an hour from sunny for the next two days to expect a half inch of rain by noon! Normally I would be much more easygoing about this sort of thing, but I said I would do the varnish on the masts and I am really feeling bad about not getting them done.

I finally had a good shiny day and had to go for it. I was really proud of one of the best varnishing jobs I had put down yet. Never mind that it was in winds gusting from 8 to 15. I had to really hang onto my brush up there. The waves were hopping the boat all over the place and I felt like a tether ball swinging around at times. But, I pulled it off and got down to the deck right before dark. It felt good.

It rained about 30 minutes later (fairly hard too). The next morning I got up hoping it had time to skin over, but instead found a surface with more craters than the moon. It was what it was. I had to give it a day to cure up a bit and sanded it all back down.

A few days later another lucky weather break came in and I managed to put down another semi-decent shiny coat. Best of all it didn't rain today. All should be good tomorrow!

Richard and Lani(owners of the boat) have since returned and I am winding up my stay down here. Unfortunately, I ran out of time to get the other mast even started. He will just have to hire that one out I guess, or I will have to fly back down here and do it. I'll wait till it gets a bit drier in the season.

The tour continued....

2010-12-01T05:13:00.000-08:00

Our little tour group from the other day finished out the day seeing some of the major flavors of Grenada. One such stop was a Nutmeg weigh station. It was barely operational these days, but it was still used. This particular stop once employed about 150 people. Now, thanks to Ivan, there are only 15 and we saw about six of them sitting at a table playing cards. The farmers would drop off their product here and the nutmeg(and mace) is dried out for a while in long trays, eventually shelled, sorted, bagged and shipped of to the rest of the world. Grenada was one of two major suppliers of nutmeg to the world. In 2004 Hurricane Ivan (a cat 3 storm) wiped out about 90% of the nutmeg trees here on the island. Since it takes so long for the new trees to grow and produce, the crop has yet to come back.

Throughout the island are other reminders of Hurricane Ivan. Hundreds of houses like this are all over the place. Owners simply left and never came back. Our guide says someone still probably owns them, and in some cases the original occupants have died and the families do not want to bother with the house.

A spontaneous stop was a little roadside shack called Mark's. Mark must have been our guide's brother-in-law or something but he seemed to know everyone anyway. Mark makes his own Spiced Rum and really good rummy punch and serves it up right there on the street side bar. We all had a great time hanging out and tasting his samples. I think also he enjoyed the group because he gave us the bottle we were sampling from for the road.

Next was a Cocoa Plantation of Belmont Estate. Hurricane Ivan also wiped out most of the cocoa crop on the island but this plantation still survives partly because it is one of the oldest and largest. The cocoa bean comes out of the fruit is actually white and kinda slimy. All these are tossed into bins and allowed to ferment for about a week getting turned every couple of days. The slimy coating comes off and the beans turn rich brown. This is when the cocoa develops most of it's rich flavor.

Then the beans move outside to be dried in the sun on long carts for about another week. Workers frequently walk through the beans, shuffling their feet to break up beans stuck together and evenly dry the whole tray. Everything is on rollers (even the huge roof) so it all is rolled under covers for a unexpected passing squalls. They process some of this cocoa into their own chocolate bars. Grenadian chocolate has a reputation of being some of the best in the world.

By some coincidence our tour started with a visit to a rum distillery (we sampled), stopped at a midpoint for some more samples (Marks), and pretty much ended with a tour of another distillery. River Antione Rum Distillery (est 1785) is the oldest on the island and still uses sugar cane from it's own fields to make it's rum. The key feature of this distillery is the huge water wheel that they still use to grind up the cane and press out the sugar water. They use some of the leftover dried cane to fire the boilers, but out guide said they are moving away from that because it just burns too fast. They use wood now and what bits of cane they don't burn is returned back to the fields as compost.

Yes- we sampled here too. Our tour van was indeed a very fun bus that day.

Courage, Sun & Fertility

2010-11-23T20:09:00.000-08:00

Red represents the fervor of the people, their courage and vitality - their burning aspiration to be free. The red border indicates the dedication of the Grenadians to preserve harmony and unity of spirit.
Gold / Yellow is the color wisdom, the sunshine of the islands in the sun, and the warmth and friendliness of the people of Grenada.
Green symbolizes the fertility of the land, the lush vegetation and the islands' agriculture.
The Seven Gold Stars represent the seven parishes and the hopes, aspirations and ideas upon which the nation was founded.
The Nutmeg symbolizes the island's reputation as the Isle of Spice. Grenada is the world's second-largest producer of nutmeg, after Indonesia.

Many of the houses here are a mix of really[really] nice, on well kept grounds and manucured estates. These are mostly owned(but not always) by foreigners which are primarily retirees from other countries. I have been running into quite a few of these people lately and their stories all seem to be the same... they love it here and would never move back. Some share the year with their "other home" and frequently hop back and forth between the two.

The more common houses are shanty boxes, very simple but functional, may or may not have glass in the windows, and dirt roads going straight up to their pathways leading to their front doors. Pretty much everything is built up on stilts mainly because there is typically about one foot of topsoil then you find a big rock (this IS a volcanic island). Some of these stilted houses are up at SCARY heights above ground(I'm not sure why). The supports are commonly about 12x12 concrete and have NO shear in any direction. Earthquakes are very slight and not an issue(according to our guide- Michael).

This is just a cool old bus a local fixed up for dragging tourists around. Grenada is a frequent stop for most of the large cruise lines. When one is in port it is tough to get around in town due to the extra traffic. I heard on our morning "cruiser's net" that FOUR are expected in port tomorrow.

St. George is the island's capitol and is quite a happening place. Things are packed pretty tight down there. In the background up on the hill is Fort George. I should try to get over there if I have time before I have to leave.

It doesn't take more than a few turns to get you out of town into the more spread out part of the population. The roads are narrow, sometimes very steep and feature some very quick and tight turns. Our driver said most of these roads were originally made for donkey carts and never intended for two way traffic. They drive on the left here (which was strange getting used to) and the seemingly crazy antics of or taxi/guide meshed right in with the others. Drivers constantly tap on the horn it's not just because they are so friendly here but it's all part of how they communicate. There are codes for rounding blind corners, passing requests, answering back, as well as the occasional "hey mon" to someone walking at the side. It's quite amazing how it all works out.

The roads are constantly dotted with the occasional house half snuggled into the greenery, but then the road eventually leads to hidden communities tucked into valleys.

Still Up on the Ropes!

2010-11-18T17:38:00.000-08:00

It's quite staggering how the days sometimes start out. I am learning this in no way reflects on how the rest of the day pans out at all. Yesterday it was the most calm and boring sunrise of yet and I had high hopes of great things getting done. After a normal glance upwind showed no pending doom, I hoisted myself halfway up the foremast to where I left off the day before.

I had about 30 minutes then sprinkles turned my dust making skills into a bunch of mud smears. I had full intentions of just staying up and weathering the sprinkle until I turned around. Judging by the fact that I couldn't see the end of the bay I decided this was no minor cloud passing over! I just had enough time to speed drop to the deck(which was kinda fun and I hope someone was watching) and run around to close down all the skylights. I marveled at the fury for a while and was trying to figure where in the world this came from when it stopped. That was it? Nope... the showers came back about 20 mins later. This sequence went on for a half day making it pretty much impossible to get any work done. There would be an hour break and things would start drying off so I'd gear up again and PSSSSHHHHT! The others around on the dock were blaming me for the rain since they noted it started every time I tried to go up the mast again. I'm starting to get the idea that when the forecast calls for 30% chance of showers that means it will rain for 30% of the day! (but only in 5 minute increments).

This was not the case today. A totally insane /explosive sunrise greeted my half open eyelids and tho I had doubts, I got to work anyway. It turns out it would have been an awesome day to do some varnishing. There was only a slight sprinkle in the morning and that was all. It WOULD have been awesome for varnishing but I was not ready. I am about a day off I guess, but I did manage to get to the bottom of the foremast so I'm ready for it now. I sure need a couple more of those please!

Hanging around

2010-11-16T18:44:00.000-08:00

If it rains during the night I usually start off the day wiping off leftover drops off the cap rails and waterways. It keeps the varnish from spotting and some say the droplets are actually like little lenses that can burn the varnish in the direct harsh sunlight of the Caribbean. I don't think the optics are quite right, but I will wipe them off just the same (I'll have to study that more). Since it rains every night I've been real busy in the mornings. It really started to piss me off one morning when it rained again right after I wiped the whole boat down... twice. Then it cleared up blue sky and everything(grrrrr...). The weather out here is tricky. That's why the forecast is typically around 50%. You have to read this as "It may rain, or not. We really don't know".

Otherwise- I've been hanging around alot... literally. It was time to take on the spars project. The big sticks in the middle of the boat that point skyward. When Astor came through Antigua(back in April) they decided to strip the masts all the way down and start over. This hasn't been done since they first bought the boat 22 years ago and it was time. The masts are the only job they do not do themselves and hired a couple of locals to do the work. In my opinion they did mostly a mediocre job at best. In all fairness since they stripped all the way down to the wood, it kind of woke up the grain. There is alot of that to deal with as well as their rough start/stops with the brush.

Before

It's not really obvious from a distance, but when you look close or run a hand over it -wow. I have been on the foremast for two days sanding down the brush strokes and runs and I am only about 2/3 the way down. In the pics I lightly sanded a section to pronounce the effect even more. Then I took a pic of a section after I've worked on it a bit. Now we have baby bottom smooooth. There are a few dings and battle scars in the wood that I can't get out and some of the grain is still a bit frisky but it's as good as it gets for now.

After

The tricky part of the next phase is timing the re-coat of the varnish. If rain happens to catch me in the middle of a coat, or before it skins over it would be bad(like start over bad). We'll see how lucky I get.

After all this, then I get to transfer my climbing rig over and do the main (it's a bit taller). But hey, my office has a heck of a view!

It was Sunday

2010-11-14T15:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I posted with *just* enough time to prepare for the evening event. I dove into the galley and whipped up a one-pot wonder of red beans and rice(with a chopped up sausage) for my contribution into the "pot-luck" event. I changed my shirt just as it was finishing up and it turned out perfect. Turns out that one of the others made almost exactly the same thing! It was pretty funny and at least everybody had enough to go around(it was good). The night rolled into a karaoki event and was pretty fun. There were actually some really good voices there but most of those vids are best left for personal memories and not brought up ever again. No, I wasn't NEAR drunk enough to take the mic. (We'll see about next week)

I was followed home from the "Oasis" by a rather cute brunette named Lulu. She was bold, and in quite a flirty mood. She came aboard without permission and roamed around deck for a while. I stepped her to the dock a couple of times but really wanted company and had no problems hopping back aboard. I had to draw the line when she wanted below and this time I scooped her up and walked her back to the end of the dock. She was not amused, and I left her sitting there silhouetted by the light just like a Bogart movie. Yes- I should have been a better host, but I didn't want any trouble. By chance we passed on the path the next morning and she didn't want anything to do with me and ran off. Sheesh. Females.... I got the feeling she only wanted my leftovers anyway. (She was quite fond of a good scratch behind the ears)

I poked my head out from the hatch this morning and was greeted by some fairly ugly dark clouds that looked like they were headed my way. Instead of the big projects I was prepping for, I gathered up the various clutter off the decks, snugged up the dock lines and prepared for a little downpour. It blew pretty good, I could see rain around me, but never got me wet here. Instead, I spent the day on little projects around the boat, caught up on the winches, and spend the afternoon watching the world from behind a book and a rummer.

WTH, it's Sunday. We'll see what it looks like tomorrow.

Chasing the Teak Thing

2010-11-12T12:38:00.000-08:00

For the past couple of days I've been waking up in a very familiar bunk, but due to its very nature it has a habit of not necessarily being in the same place as one leaves it. After 15 hours of transit, 4500 miles and 4 time zones I finally caught up with it.

Today I found it in Grenada- Clarks Court Bay Marina to be exact. (yes- I had to look it up too)

My commute went perfectly as planned. Other than not getting enough sleep on the plane, all exchanges of transport went without hiccup. Finally arriving at my destination(well after dark) the boat was thoughtfully lit up nicely so I had no problem finding it. Unpacking, I had originally thought my bags were rifled somewhere along the line and a few key baubles were removed by someone that helped themselves, but all items have turned up in one corner of my luggage or another. My faith in the baggage handlers has been restored.

I am currently busy finding my way around down here. It takes a bit to actually settle in and learn how it all works. Today I jumped aboard the weekly bus into town. Not that I needed anything just yet but I wanted to get a grip on where everything was. I did manage to pick up some limes for my rummers and a few other things tho. We're all good.

Don't fool yourself for one minute thinking this is some sort of cushy kick-back lounge platform kind of deal. I have resumed my duties as XO of all-things-needing-varnish-up-high(that don't really matter), as well as "swabbe that makes things shiny". It's not an easy gig.

Today (after the bus cruise social event) I worked on the shady side of the boat until it wasn't shady any longer. I managed to kill three rags and only caught up on 2 of the 6 winch drums.

Filbert was pleased with this shine. (You can't tell from this pic but his tail is wagging.)

As the weather back home is rapidly heading into chilly winter conditions, know that today here it was well into the mid 80's, with about a 5-8 kt breeze blowing in from the SE. It's very humid tho. The kind of humidity that has a person constantly in some state between drippy, sweaty or just an average sticky. I figured out that the people move slower down here just because it is harder to move through the air. I suppose one could try swimming movements but you'd look pretty goofy.

Once you get over the gecko-like ability to pick up napkins just by touching them, you have to also remember to keep an eye out for a certain mosquito that can KILL YOU! (HEY NOW- THIS was NOT in the brochure!!!!). Yes- here in the caribbean they have a version like West Nile but it is called Dengue. No worries, I got my spray... and a lighter (in case I see one of the little bastards).

This particular marina is off the main path and known as fairly quiet. A few nights during the week they feature bonus events for the marina tenants and anchored out cruisers. After this post I am off to "fish & chips" nite up at the cantina in an attempt to plug into the network a bit more. There will be beer. Check back often for updates.

The Way Out

2010-06-15T20:51:00.000-07:00

The pace of the first half of the trip out has been quite intense. Not by need, but I was just in the mood to pass some interstate under the tires. That’s my kind of driving. I got all the way to Flagstaff before the eyelids started getting too weighty so I pulled off at a stop to close the eyelids for a bit. That plan worked until the truck cooled off and I woke up FREEZING!!!! It must have been about 35 degrees outside. The only way to warm up was to start it all up, so it was time to get rolling again.

It was starting to get light again and that made it far more entertaining as the interstate/americana passed by the outside. I just can’t get enough of the changing contours, random oddities, and all the neat stuff out here. The first half of this trip will go fast. If I stopped at everything I see, it’ll take weeks to get there.

It wasn’t too long until I found myself all the way into Oklahoma City. My clear skies were now randomly spritzing and going into heavy rain and thunderstorms. I was spending too much time looking at the lightning instead of the road so I took the next off ramp to watch the storm pass. I nested amongst an aluminum forest of light standard in a Wal-Mart parking lot for extra protection and watched the amazing show out the windshield and listened to the rain pounding on the roof of the truck. It was a good time for another nap anyway. Five hours later I woke up and all was clear.

The "Rest Area-2200" tour has been quite interesting. We all know CA has a few basic rest stops scattered around, and this trip I found the entire fleet on the 40 in Arizona was closed. I wonder if they were hacked from budget cuts? Farther East I go the better they get. There are also different classes of rest areas that offer varying degrees of services. The lowest of the scale are Picnic Areas and that’s about all they are(a few tables and some might be covered) . The higher end of these are Welcome Centers. These are usually the first rest area right when you cross a state border. They can just about be classed as parks. They are usually manned during daylight hours and offer up advise on what their state has to offer. It’s a nice break to pull into some of these. (This particular one even has Wifi).

A last marathon push today brought me through Little Rock, Memphis, Birmingham, and I currently sit on the border of Georgia with some time to burn. Time for a quick update and another nap. Normally, I’d check into a room but a friend insisted I swing by his house instead. (thanks Andre). If I continued on I’d be there around midnight and I’d rather not get his whole house up. I’ll bug out of here around four and bang on his door for breakfast instead.

Then to unpack and prep the boat...

55 to the 91 to the 15 to 40.

2010-06-13T14:54:00.000-07:00

Continue for about 2200 miles. Heading through AZ, NM, TX, OK, AR, MS, TN, MS, AL, and ending up in Georgia.

I loaded with munchies, hooked up the wagon, loaded fresh tunes in the iPod, kicked the tires and put fuel in the hole. Within the hour I think I'm out.

What am I delivering? Boat #45(no name yet).

I'll be checking in when I sniff out some wifi at the stops. There is some interesting weather between here and there, but that just makes things fun.

The tracker is active and can be seen here
-or-
if that doesn't work right for you, cut and paste the following link to a new page on your browser.
http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?call=KC6YNG

Cheers!

Assignment: Convexity

2010-02-12T22:13:00.000-08:00

Convexity - 2006 Nordhavn 47

First look from online sales photo.

Mission Objective: (If you should accept it) Meet up with the boat in San Diego and run the boat up to San Francisco.

Time: You should show up Saturday Feb 13(ummmm... honeeeeey?), for departure Sunday. Should take about 5 days if the weather and waves treat you right. If not- find a hole somewhere and wait it out.

Crew: 2 of 2 Plus-> you will be accompanied by the two new owners. (yes- I'm the Gilligan)

Response: WTH!?!?!? Whadya mean IF I SHOULD ACCEPT IT?

I'll report in if I get a chance. Else followup later.

Cheated Death Once Again- Strumpet

2009-10-20T08:07:00.000-07:00

Moving about on OPB’s - (Other People’s Boats)

Oct 15 - Packing the bags again
A skipper friend called me up the other day, seems he was in a bind. Up in Seattle his management company has been moving boats around at a furious pace. I guess if you don’t get your boat out of Seattle by the end of the season, it gets stuck there. His normal crew has been worked pretty ragged and he called me for assistance on one last delivery. Sure- I'll go pack my bags.

Strumpet - Our 55ft Fleming for the next few days.
The owner wants it in San Fran for the winter.

I met two other guys(crewmates) up in Seattle, went to dinner and walked onto the boat. It is a real nice 55 foot Fleming that is only two years old. It has all the toys: long and short range radar, AIS transponder and receiver (which overlays target info on the radar as well as the Nobeltec Navigator mapping program), Four engine room cameras (and a few others positioned around the deck), and in motion satellite TV, any of which can be called up on any of the five flat screen monitors spread out across the bridge. This was all observed from the super cushy command chair in the center of the Com. This thing also has active stabilizers to keep the boat level in rough waters and thrusters for docking. Down in the salon there was also about a 42 inch flat screen also hooked up to the sat tv. Yes- nice digs indeed.

Aft- Main Salon looking forward. The galley is on the left, 3 steps down in the center takes you to the three staterooms, and a step to the right are 3 steps up to the bridge.

Fri Oct 16- Cast- off the lines!
We left out of Seattle early in the morning. It was raining, a bit blowy and a chilly morning but we had a day and a half of running in the protected waters of the sound before we get out to the real waters of the ocean. Outside is supposedly really bad right now(like REALLY bad) but a small weather window is predicted to get here in a couple of days and we have to be right at the corner to grab it when it shows. Otherwise it will be gone and the next one could be a week or two or maybe not. This is the tail end of the season. It only gets rougher out there till springtime.

All eyes were constantly watching the waters for debris. This area is infamous for deadheads (logs, sometimes partially submerged just below the surface) and “sometimes you get a whole dang tree stuck in the props”(so says the skipper), as well as a very high number of vessel traffic running around.

One of the many deadheads we were dodging. This one is an 8-bird.

Freighters and Ferries can come up on you real fast. This waterway is so busy it has traffic control always watching ALL boats on their land based radar. If you stray into a shipping lane they will call you and ask your reason for being there!

All day long we had pockets of light/heavy rain and varying winds that got up to 45 at times. We were lucky that it was mostly off our stern quarter and didn’t slow us down. It just whipped up the water for a while. The boat was handling it well. This was nothing compared to what it was doing out off the point. Reports were still quite miserable. We pulled into Pt Angeles in the early afternoon to top off the fuel and wait for our weather window.

This guy was flying all over the passage.
Apparently the extension helps him look for submarines

Saturday, October 17, 2009
We got moving as soon as it was light enough to see. There is still alot of debris in the water to dodge so we had to at least wait for the light. It was raining, mostly foggy and visibility was about 1/2 mile, but waters were calm.

We left Pt. Angeles and headed through the Straights of Juan de Fuca (about 65 miles) to the Pacific when the fog started to break up. This was our short term commitment/goal point. The water was still pretty calm, buoy reports from around the corner were showing smooth waters ahead and the predictions were for everything to lay down in the afternoon so we apparently timed it all perfect.

So we thought...
The water started to get frisky, but not bad. Throughout the next couple of hours it continued to build past sloppy, then progressed to plain old "snotty". We pounded 20 miles down around the corner (down past Cape Alava), the wind was a solid 30 on the nose, seas were 8 to 10ft at 8secs. This was NOT what was supposed to happen at all! The boat was handling it all quite nicely, but we were pounding every wave now and we slowed to 8 knots. The NOAA weather reports we were monitoring on the radio finally updated and NOW indicated it was only going to get worse in front of us for the next eight hours. Looking at the charts showed the next bail-out port was still 65 miles ahead! We decided to pass on the 8 hour bash-fest/beatdown and instead backtrack to Neah Bay and hide out till it got better.

We had Nascar on the Sat in the salon
and 10 ft seas outside.
Had chips & salsa too.

No- we weren’t pukin’.

We managed to get in just after dark and worked into a slip without problem. We made tacos. We have awesome Wifi, but picked up a slip so close to the jagged cliffs that we couldn’t get a satTv lock. I missed the end of the Nascar Race. We all agreed it was the better choice at this point to be tied up to a nice quiet dock instead of getting tossed around and all beat up in the dark. We'll see what happens tomorrow. The reports say it should all lay down again and we'll attempt another run for it.

Sun Oct 18
The next morning we got under way right at twilight to find the seas had indeed settled down to comfortable rollers covered by a light hazy fog. This was much better than returning the boat all beat up and probably creaky for the rest of it's life (this happens more often than not). Throughout the day the conditions kept improving and the further down we went, the day became more and more ideal. It appeared we hooked into our perfect weather window.

We ran this way all day, into evening and through the night. There was no need to stop, and in reality there was no place to stop at this point anyway. We were running the engines a bit harder than normal to stay in our weather and get through this stretch. Unfortunately we were burning twice the amount of fuel to do it. The next morning we timed it perfect and we pulled into Newport, OR for a quick fuel stop right as the day was getting light.

View from the Commercial side of Newport OR.

No extra time spent here playing around and we were off as soon as the hoses were hung up on the pumps and got back out. Weather reports ahead still look real good for the moment, but we can hear bad weather building in behind us that might catch up and things could go all "snotty" again.

We cruised past places like Destruction Island and Cape Disappointment and gave them a wide berth(12 miles off) by coincidence (not because we were paranoid). Then there were times we were running "one foot on the beach" cutting corners and drawing a line as the shortest distance to the next course change.

Spectacular conditions. What were they thinking? I’m in command!!!!

We saw a few whales, but mostly one-sight and gone, or way off on the horizon so photo captures were very rare. We also had an occasional pod of dolphin come by and play in the wake for a while. We even came across a strange pod we thought were seals, but were actually dolphin without dorsal fins. Wiki says they were probably Northern Wright Whale Dolphin.

Northern Wright Whale Dolphin and Another frisky dolphin

Since there was no moon, the nights were incredibly dark. I was momentarily perplexed one evening when a light appeared out of the fog way off starboard side and I could not see it on radar. It wasn't long before I figured out it was a bright star (mars?) on the horizon. Even with the pilot house blacked out in night mode, the instruments were still a bit too bright to see most stars from the command chair. I did manage to get out of the chair a couple of times and poked my head out of the pilot house door to catch a bit of the meteor shower when it was clear. Other times we were running in varying degrees of fog, scattered showers, hazy sunshine then gorgeous sunny blue skies contrasted by inky blackness of night. We got into a bit of everything. Back at the HQ in Seattle, it hadn't stopped raining.

Continuous running put us rounding the point into SanFran around 4am Thursday morning. It was awesome timing between a few big freighters coming out and only one coming in behind us, but we hugged the side and out of the way enough not to freak anybody out.

Golden Gate at night ---- Snapshot of Radar into SF

We found our way over to the fuel dock just as it was getting light and tied up but had to wait till 8am for them to open. After our brief nap, we topped off all of the tanks one more time, got the boat into it's new home, and had Strumpet washed down, wiped off, and fully detailed inside and out by about 1pm. We were almost done when the owner arrived for the handoff and gave us the thumb's up. Our flight out was booked soon after our late lunch, had only a bit to sit and rest then off to the airport for the flight home. It would have been fun to run around SF for a couple of days, but that was not the intent of this trip.

According to Skipper Chris, we were hired to cheat death. Thankfully- this trip we did.

Wheel stop

2009-06-14T11:08:00.001-07:00

There were a couple of great days hanging out with friends and gracious hosts Mark and Mary in Co. Don't imagine it was all sights and touring tho. We also helped out with projects around the house. There was weed pulling in the garden and flower beds, maintenance and adjustments on the tractors, and we even scored a load of manure from the neighbors. The days usually ended up with a great meal and soaking in the jacuzzi till midnight. Life and priorities are different out there.

We finally escaped (they got tired of us) and continued westbound through the rest of the state and into the cathedral canyons of Ootah (Utah). The transitions were quite dramatic as we watched the trees turn to scrub and grass and the granite mountains change to fire colored sandstone. There are several viewstops spaced along the highway and we couldn't help but stop in a couple of them to just stare into the canyons for a while and only pretend to touch a part of their history.

Down at the bottom of the state the highway goes through St. George and drops through yet another amazing canyon. Every turn exposed another face, jagged rock wall, or a brief 70 mph peek at a dark canyon. It would have been be neat to stop and check out all of these, but we were very close to input overload at this point and like many a rental horse, this one was heading to the barn and was difficult to stop.

We blasted through Vegas(thinking later: I should have at least gone down the strip), State Line, Baker, Barstow, Corona, and finally home, ending a 13.5 hour driving day and a 2 week trip.

6400 miles
15 days
415 gals fuel
2 bags p-nut m&m's

Please return your seatbacks and traytables to their upright positions and exit to your right.

We pretty much accomplished what we set out to do. We logged quite a few hours rolling along the interstates, and also spent equal time on 2 lane back roads passing through bits of Americana. We saw little cool towns and met some neat people along the way. There were miles of grassy fields and pastures, neat old farms way older than me, and watched endless miles of green mammoth trees scan past the windows. This changed to amazing flatness from horizon to horizon, and again to majestically painted cathedral towers. We overnighted in the occasional Best Western, camped in a few state campsites, and tilted the seat back for catnaps in truckstops and rest areas. We went all the way to a little corner of Maine, footed the chilly waters and had lunch on the boardwalk looking over the Atlantic Ocean and came all the way back again. Oh yeah- the boat delivery went very well.

Wow. Thinking about it now. I Didn't have to show passport or ID once! Not too many places in the world that could still be done. America is a great country.

There were places along the journey where we thought about the first voyagers that did this in a covered wagon pulled by horse or oxen. Looking out the window at some of the terrain I would have just stopped right there and said "we are so screwed... ".

Black Canyon

2009-06-08T12:34:00.000-07:00

Practically right off the doorstep of the M&M ranch (8 miles down the dirt road) is this little hole in the ground called Black Canyon. We actually approached via the lesser traveled North rim, but this made for less traffic on the roads and is more favored by the locals who know how to get there.

This water carved canyon varies from 1750 to 2500 ft deep. Unlike the Grand Canyon, most of the viewpoints were a sheer drop(really sheer). This made for breathtaking views over the edges that cameras just don't do justice for. For even more dramatic thrills, many other natural trails ended up with sudden ends with no railings at all. I guess that's the way they thin out the gene pool out here.

Approaching the edge you could feel and hear the water rumbling the walls of the canyon from the river a half mile below. While trying to soak it all in, we actually spotted a couple of climbers on the opposite wall. They were just dots. I don't know when they started, but it looks like they had a way to go (see insert). The optimist would say they might be almost to the top. The pessimist would say "Why the hell are you there in the first place?!?!?"

From falls, through flats, to peaks

2009-06-08T10:10:00.001-07:00

With a sudden desire to pass some asphalt under the tires, we set out across the plains from Buffalo in the general direction of our next stop, Colorado. In between it was very flat indeed. Rolling hills and pastures passed the windows and day turned into night on this 22 hour run. We stretched in rest areas and had seat back-catnaps in truck stops along the way, but basically made a run for it. Did I mention how flat it was?

Odd things work into forms of entertainment out in the flats. For some reason a trucker hooked up with me and we traveled along for hours. When passing slower cars he made every move I did. We ran the same speed, he didn't want to lead, and even tho I passed a few of his fellow truckers running about the same, he stayed hooked with me. Occasionally another car would mux up a lane change/pass maneuver and he would get caught up behind a bit but it wouldn't be too long before I would see him back on my bumper again. I momentarily flashed back to a problem Dennis Weaver had with a trucker once and had thoughts this might not end well. After several hundred miles of this game, I finally had to pull off for a p-stop and he honked as we parted (whew).

------ Artistic Break ------

No matter how much he tried to ignore them all, little Splinter couldn't help but feel a little inadequate among his friends.

-------------

On down the road then...

Eventually, we hit these big things... (the Rockies). Faced with climbing through picturesque Colorado at night, we opted instead to bunk down in a room, freshen up a bit and wait till morning to make sure we didn't miss any of the sights. I'm soooo glad we did it this way.

Interstate 70 west of Denver is a masterful feat of engineering and a fabulous drive. I am very tempted to turn around and do it again. There are sections where the road is fully elevated as it snakes through a canyon with rushing river below. I don't know if this was by minimum footprint design or just because there was nothing but solid rock on both sides and this was easier. There is even a dedicated path for bikes and peds for several miles. There were several small and one long tunnel at the summit where they found it easier to just go through instead of around. Up near the top I noted my GPS display read 11.4 because it didn't have enough room to display my altitude. I would highly recommend this drive if you come this way but only for those with gutsy vehicles in perfect working order because some of the grades are very steep. I didn't see any signs, but they must have been around 7 or 8 percent climb/drop for 2500 feet and a climb again once you hit the bottom. It was pretty crazy.

Up around Aspen we pulled over in a viewstop and had the last of our manifold burritos, muffins and a cup of yogurt for breakfast. You can't beat that view for the buck.

Branching off the I70 highway to a smaller one gave us even more spectacular sights with every corner. We couldn't stop at them all or we would never make our destination. The road was very quiet and almost no other traffic. This took us to the small escape of Crawford where we found our even smaller road that eventually turned to gravel.

Way off the beat is where we are today, hanging out with friends Mark & Mary on their ranch sipping beers, and enjoying the 100 mile views from their jacuzzi deck. Birds sing, bunnies are chased out of the garden, deer roam around freely and I hear there is even elk around here on occasion.

Our hosts are running us around to all their favorite sights and points of interests (posted shortly).

I'm not sure how long we will hang out here, or when they will get tired of us and boot us back out to the truck.

Tag the coast

2009-06-04T11:49:00.000-07:00

Caught some free wifi at a rest stop in Kansas. Time for some lunch and catch up.
-------------------
We followed the small little lines, through some of the little dots on the map and made it all the way to the coast of Maine. The goal was to stick a toe in the water and say that we have traveled from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast. We stopped at a deli along the way and picked up some sandwiches for our picnic lunch. We had a little trouble finding the beach, as all those houses got in the way. Finally, we cruised through a town that dumped us right at a public beach. YAY! Our goal was in sight. We sat on a park bench and ate our sammies as the wind whipped our hair all over the place. Byron the brave took on the task of shedding his shoes and headed for the waters edge. I followed more reluctantly, camera in hand. Thankfully there were only little waves lapping the shore as Byron walked confidently into the water. After a series of posed shots, he finally embellished on a line from a movie "hurry up, it's freakin' cold in here, Mr. Bigglesworth!!!" and ran for warmer sands. Before we left, we collected a sample of sand, freshly ground by Atlantic waters as our souvenir.

On the way back from the coast we stopped at a campground in Vermont for the night. It was wonderfully planned out with grassy common areas and picnic tables, hot showers and secluded wooded campsites. What more could you ask for. Bug spray! I have already encountered the native bug life in New York, when we dropped off the boat. I am currently wearing the latest lakeside fashion of four welts on my head and neck, that I suspect were mosquito induced. Byron said that if I had a can of spray, all he would hear all night would be Psht... psht... pshhhhhhhhhhhhttttt of the can going off. Mock me if you will, but the next morning we ate breakfast in the truck and were swatting at bugs in the cab as we beat a hasty retreat to the interstate.

As we travel through New England, we opted for the back road routes through the small towns and countryside's of Vermont and New Hampshire. Each town had a Main Street where tall church steeples reside next to quaint old homes and buildings from the 1800's, contrasting oddly with the McDonalds and Walmart just down the block. Houses were surrounded by yards with no fences and every lawn was manicured by riding mowers. Lakes, ponds, rivers and streams dotted and divided the countryside in abundance. The tree lined roads would occasionally, give way to wide, open grassy fields on sloping hillsides, with grazing horses and reclining cows. Everywhere you looked there were grain silos and barns of every shape and size and in various conditions of disrepair, which only added to their charm. From the road side, patches of little yellow flowers were in bloom and could be seen randomly scattered across the fields. Strange how flowering weeds in another state is so much more appealing than when growing in your own back yard.

After driving through some states where roadkill is a common site, I am happy to report that some of the native wildlife have developed a healthy respect for road side etiquette. Driving through the more mountainous areas, we were startled when two deer burst out the woods near the interstate. Fortunately, they stayed to the side, keeping pace with us momentarily as we continued by. On another occasion, as we were driving the rural roads in Vermont, we suddenly came upon a duck and her brood of ducklings traveling along the road side. As we approached, I could see their little bodies awkwardly waddling along after mom. They were a little too close to the road, and we moved over to give them some room. I hoped that in passing, the wake from our truck and trailer didn't send them in a premature flying tumbling across somebody's freshly mown lawn.

When it gets dark we start looking for a spot to settle down. One such stop we found was a state park in Darien, New York, just outside of Buffalo. We are enjoying the warmth of a campfire, after just finishing off a quiet, cozy meal. I say quiet because it's midweek and there is only about four or five other families in the whole park and right now we have about six large sites in the area all to ourselves. Earlier, when we arrived, Byron went all McGyver and created a dome cover over his truck bed with the poles from an old defunct tent. We stretched a tarp over it, clamped it in a few places and called it home for the night. It is currently eight-thirty and the sky is only now turning to twilight with tall oak trees and their leaves clearly silhouetted against the gray clouds rolling by. A few birds are still chirping, as if getting in the last bit of gossip for the day. The temperature is comfortable and there are no bugs! It's a perfect night.

We got up to Buffalo to see Niagara Falls. We were not disappointed! I marveled at the water charging over the top of the falls, a translucent primary green color that looked fake, like someone dropped in a dye tablet up stream. Where was all the mud & debris that clouded all the other streams and rivers we had seen so far. We stood at the top of the falls looking down and was spritzed with spray from time to time. If we really wanted to get wet, we could have been on the tourist boat that we watched disappear into the mist of water at the base of the falls. As if that wasn't close enough, some people, dressed in the finest yellow bag apparel, took the elevator down to the base of the falls. There they exited a cave and walked along a pathway up to and even through one of the fingers of water pouring down. As we watched the powerfully rushing current, it was very hard to understand why someone would purposely choose to go over the falls in a barrel or anything else.

We are heading down the highway, starting our trek towards home and we are desperately seeking a Dairy Queen or Dairy Bar as they call them in New England. We stopped at a DQ and were just putting our shoes on when a family with kids walked out, happily licking their ice cream cones. By the time we made it to the door, we found it locked and the lights flickering out one by one. It's only nine o'clock! What kind of state is this! Byron and I think it's a conspiracy. Earlier, at Niagara falls we stopped at the snack bar for an ice cream cone. We were still deciding the flavor of the moment and stepped aside for a woman and a child. The next minute we were ready and went to get in line behind her, when we saw that she was part of a much larger group of 20 children or more that had just exited the trolly.

After driving all night and a quick nap, we woke up this morning to a buffet breakfast at a truck stop and a "How are ya'all doin?" These are the indicators that let you know you're not in California anymore.

The small dots

2009-05-31T20:16:00.000-07:00

Sat afternoon delivery went very well. I spent extra time unwrapping and detailing the boat one last time (I wanted that thing spotless). I was somewhat impressed at how the boat held up from all of the road bashing I put it through for the last 2800 miles. There was absolutely nothing out of it's place when I opened it. That's the sign of a good packing engineer.

The day was warm and sunny and fairly gusty out around the lake, but I heard it has been raining for the last three days so we really lucked out or must have brought a little sunny weather with us. We launched, and oriented Ann Marie with her new toy on the way back to her dock. She was very happy and all set for a great summer.

Just like that our trip takes on a totally new direction. Today we find ourselves meandering around on offbeat roads discovering little bits of americana stashed around. We made it a point to take the roads less traveled. The tiny roads on the map that lead to the tiny dots. It took forever to get across one state, but we saw much more. It might have been because we were stopping quite often too.

We really wandered way off (it was a dirt road) on a tip that brought us to Sugartree Farms. It is a working maple syrup plantation but since it is slightly off season they were into their other mode of aging cheddar cheeses. They gave out samples of all 18 different varieties of their cheese(some aged 36 months) and 3 of their amazing maple grades. Very tasty. We also toured the grounds and learned about how it takes 44 gallons of tree sap to make one gallon of maple syrup. Those had better be special pancakes!

The history hidden in all of the valleys is amazing. The buildings cannot be described and show samples of construction techniques that aren't done any more. The communities built around them all have such charm and I bet most people just see it all as everyday construct that occupies the dirt. Probably not. It's all cool stuff and they know it too.

Another totally random drive-by/stop had us walking down some tracks of history when we found a collection of train cabooses on a sidetrack in a small town we were passing through. There were also some rail cars there too. Nobody was around so we couldn't find out anything about them tho. Some of these looked very weathered and original and others restored. A few even had For Sale signs on them. No, Paula wouldn't let me take one home. It would have been a tough fit on the trailer anyway.

Between the mountains and plains

2009-05-30T19:13:00.000-07:00

Here are some notes from the trip out. Paula would get inspired and bust out the laptop and rattle off a few lines as we drove out. We now we have great wifi to post them.
-----------------------
Our second official day finds us rolling out of the rest stop after an all too brief 3 hour nap before heading toward Flagstaff. We watch as the landscape changed from the pine tree covered mountains of Flagstaff to the desert shrubs and flat plains near meteor crater.

The first adventure of the day was cooking breakfast burritos, manifold style. Byron placed the foil wrapped packs in the engine compartment and shut the hood. I was a bit nervous about our burritos becoming toast, while Byron was more concerned about them falling deep into the abyss and not being able to get them back out. Several miles down the road, breakfast was deemed heated and successfully served. It was just as we were nearing the home state of area 51, a place known for their UFO sighting. In a sudden fit of quirkiness, Byron turned his foil scraps into a finely sculpted helmet. It was desperately needed protection against any alien mind reading techniques. No worries there! I don’t think they would know what to do with all that information. He made quite a picture driving down the road and his hair now has that desirable shiny sheen thanks to the cheesy side of the foil.

The skies are much more interesting than back home, changing from the wispy clouds we see most of the time, to the bulging cotton ball kind peeking out from behind the plateaus in the distance. As we entered New Mexico, the terrain changed, revealing sandstone canyons and their geologic layers; meandering river beds temporarily dry; and fields dotted with grazing horses and indian trading posts. Later we passed by a volcano, who’s lava flow is still as black as the first day it flowed. The rough, craggy texture was softened by the desert grass growing up between it and looked as striking as blond hair on a black man’s scalp.

Byron is enjoying the driving and I am enjoying him driving as well. He can be unpredictable at times and he made someone’s day when he spontaneously waved to a dog laying in the passengers seat of a passing car. The dog, taken by surprise suddenly perked up and kept leaning forward into the window of the car trying keep in his sights that strange, friendly man in the white truck.

Just out from Albuquerque we ran into our first rain of the trip. As we passed miles of fields, the damp grass smell permeated the air vents. Further down the highway we were shown what it really means to experience “weather.” At first you could see the dark clouds and the dense dark mass of rain reaching down to the ground. Soon after, the sky and ground became one black void, so that the falling rain appeared white against it. At one point the rain hit the windshield so hard, we couldn’t hear each other yell. All the while, we were treated to a grand lightning show, sometimes seeing four bolts of lightening at once. We didn’t linger long and hustled to leave the dark behind as we drove rapidly towards the light.

We got off the freeway for a much needed break with high hopes finding the source of that DQ sign we saw, but instead we were treated to whole lot of eye candy when we ended up at a small personal car and hotrod museum owned by a guy named Bozo. The collection contained around forty old classic cars, many restored to their original state and others hot rodded out. I’ve added three or four to my Christmas list!

It was an overcast morning as we entered Kansas, the half way point to our final destination. Kansas was a nice change from the desert, with rolling green hills, spacious fields and lots of cows. The morning light was just starting to illuminate our surroundings and the first thing I saw as I raised my seat from it's slumber position was a dead critter in the road before Byron suddenly swerving aside, narrowly misses it. Pleasant vistas aside, I think that this state must be in the top 10 for the most critter road kill. It became a common sight as we motored along this back roads less traveled.

We had breakfast at a little diner called the “Golden Lantern” in the small town of Neodesha. It was a diner born out of the same era as Mayberry from the Andy Griffith show. It was a no fuss seat yourself place where all the locals gather to start the day. It had a ceiling fan of an experimental type I have never seen before and resembled a giant air cleaner from a car. Spinning rapidly, it wobbled on its post like a frisbee on a stick ready at any moment to fly off and clobber some unsuspecting customer. The food was good, but the gossip was better. Within a few minutes we learned more about six or seven members of the community than we had a right to. I hated to have to get up and leave for the rest room, but Byron promised to give me a full report upon my return. Unfortunately, pictures just wouldn’t capture the essence of the place. I encourage anyone interested to break free from their normal routine and experience a little old fashioned americana on their own. It’s still alive and well in the US of A.

We are currently motoring on through Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and now Pennsylvania at a faster pace, as we have a schedule to keep and a boat to deliver. Once that is completed we will have more time for sight seeing. I would like to say that I’ve taken lots of pictures from the cab of the truck, but I’ve been hard pressed to find a clear viewing place between all the bug splatters we accumulated. Byron reports that Indiana bugs are toughest "they seem to make a bigger whack", as he scours the dry and crusty remains acquired two states ago.

As the dot shows

2009-05-30T05:11:00.000-07:00

Made it!
Got in here around 9pm last night. Since I was operating on only a few truckstop naps I needed to shower and sleep first. My original plans of taking what google maps offered and doubling the time estimate sounded good, but turns out to be a MINIMUM guess. I don't know where the time went but I have to figre it out later. This morning I unwrap the boat, clean, prep and go deliver it. That should be done by noon.

Paula has some trip notes that she will post shortly, but the internet here is a bit flaky and we will probably have to wait till the next stop.

We are thinking of heading more up through Vermont and maybe go up to Maine from here. Then back to Niagra falls and see how it goes from there. After that who knows... we have the option to cross into Canada and see what's over there. - ay! Or figure out how we go down the coast a bit before we head home.

Any comments?

Know the way?

2009-05-25T10:01:00.001-07:00

So here it is. The next event.
I have yet another new line added in my job description. A promotion- sort of.

Short story->
It came about from a need to transport product to a new owner. It's exciting because it may possibly be a market area yet untapped. Being untapped, the problem is that we have no dealers in this area yet. This complicates the standard shipping procedures quite a bit. By chance I was walking by the circle of decision makers that were trying to figure it out and merely mentioned the words "Just hook the darn thing up to my truck and I'll run it out there". The more they thought about it, the more it made sense.

That's how I became the company representative for the New England and Eastern Seaboard. I leave Tuesday. That's going to be one hell of a commute. I think I need to buy a jet. There might be a lesson to be learned here somewhere.

So it's been a flurry of activities based around this.
I currently have boat attached, freshly detailed and it gets shrinkwrapped tomorrow morning.
The truck gets a wash today, and loaded with gear. Looking at the massive bags of stuff Paula has staged to go I'm glad I have a big truck.

Google seems to draw a pretty good path. I am humored by the turn by turn descriptions.

6.	Take the exit onto I-15 N toward BARSTOW	86.2 mi
7.	Slight right at I-40 E (signs for Needles/I-40) Passing through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas Entering Oklahoma	1,215 mi
8.	Slight right at I-35 N/US-62 E (signs for US-62/Tulsa/Wichita/I-35/I-44) Continue to follow I-35 N	10.0 mi

For those that wish to follow along I have a tracker installed and went active this morning. The link below will take you right there so you can check up on us.
Where today ?
http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?call=kc6yng

Also try this one:
Progress Map
http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/track.cgi?call=kc6yng&start=9999&geo=usa.geo

Delivery is targeted for Saturday so the trip out will be quick and we will be touring our way back. Depending on time and wifi connections I will post traveling notes here and maybe FB.

Should be fun. Looking at national weather shows that it will not be boring. I keep telling Paula that if I see a bunch of SUV's with weather probes mounted on the top(stormchasers) I'm gonna follow where they are going. If they are going really fast hopefully it won't be in the other direction.

White for Christmas?

2008-12-21T10:04:00.000-08:00

I can't believe you other locals haven't blogged onto this yet...
Ok- so maybe it's not a big deal to those of you up North, or to those of you in the hills down South... but for us here in the OC (at least to me) it's still kinda neat.

Last week we got into quite a cold snap. It also rained quite a bit too. Science agreed with nature this time around and placed a nice coat of snow on Mt. Baldy and (even more rare) covered Saddleback quite a bit too. The temps have been cold enough all week so the snow is still quite low today.

Last I looked more rain is expected here tomorrow (Monday) and as an added bonus another system possibly in for Christmas. That should make a neat holiday for those with reservations in a remote mountain cabin (might not be good to be locked up too long with the inlaws tho). This is great news for the mountain communities that are reliant on the tourist industry and I could only imagine how happy the ski resorts are about this.

I just appreciate the view and I hope others can slow down a bit to take it in too.

Merry Christmas everybody!

The Wayback Machine

2008-12-06T12:29:00.000-08:00

The holidays make everyone appreciate family and friends. This last August most of us were fortunate to reconnect once again and re-live some of those stories and great moments growing up. I managed to dig out a bunch of photos for a quick visual trip back to those days.

I just got done posting them to a gallery so you can step through them again, and also share them with the ones that did not make the reunion. I figured it was safe now that we cant be prosecuted for most of the things we got into back then.

Gang Archives

Apologies for the quick and sloppy upload. For now they are in no particular order, not cropped neatly, not color adjusted, not particularly clean or void of scratches, and I also noted that apparently we had much more hair back then too.

It was neat going through them again. Those were fun times.
I am bummed that I a missing alot of pics. Hopefully I will find them and put them up with the these.

Enjoy, comment, share, continue the adventures.

T-Giving 08

2008-12-01T15:54:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving at our house is different than most others. It's not even at our house. This year it was out at a dusty little corner of the desert just a bit north of Joshua Tree and south of Johnson Valley. We had WAY too much food (as usual) deep fried a couple of turkeys, tossed some shoes, some watched football on the portable dish, but mostly enjoyed good friends and company.

The riding was a wide range between soft sand, rolling whoops on dirt trails, jagged granite shards that loved to bash skidplates (did not have any tire issues tho) and moon boulders that loved to get lodged under our bikes and lift all wheels off the ground so you have to get off and lift the bike over. It played minor havoc with the 3 wheelers and quads, and made the guys on bikes wish they were on something else.

It was good getting out again. The sweet air right after it rains is something you must breathe for yourself. We saw some neat stuff, played hard, got lost a few times, stayed up late around smoky fires, and nobody got hurt.

Can't complain about that at all.

Someting from nothing

2008-11-25T08:43:00.000-08:00

I think most people get great sense of satisfaction when creating things. While it might be a minor event to some, when finished product gets pushed out the door it's a good day.

Monday we wrapped up boat 39, handed it off to our dealer and it is most likely in Texas by now(straight run is ~20 hours). I didn't get a chance to get a pic before it was shrink wrapped. I think it might even be delivered to the buyer for the holiday.

Its neat seeing something in all stages of creation and especially rewarding if you have a hand in much of the the process (tho not quite as grand as Steve's projects). My hands touch the whole boat, but are also directly responsible for components like casting the prop and other parts from big rubber molds, machining raw aluminum castings into final assemblies, installing many of these components(like driveline and steering), but also jump around into other duties when behind schedule- like electrical, plumbing, and hydraulics, and finally detailing the boat before delivery.

One downside to working around fiberglass is that many days I come home itchy with glass dust.

Dockside and tied

2008-11-09T15:41:00.000-08:00

Hey, that was fun. As you may have assumed, I am home and safe. The remainder of the trip went almost exactly as we thought it would. NOT that we preferred our outcome, but in review we couldn't have done any better.

We managed to get out of Newport but it wasn't without quite a bit of stress. Right away we were questioning our decision as we were trouncing through some pretty big seas. The boat was not having a problem, but if we weren't assured that it would get better in a couple of hours, we would have turned back and waited it out. That would have meant at least another week sitting in Newport with only a slim chance the weather window was only equally as big. Our weather router said we had 24 hours to move 30 hours of distance. It was going to be messy on both ends.

That night it did get better, but only for a while as the next front was coming in. The wind was picking up quite a bit as we made the turn into Straits of Juan De Fuca the next afternoon and pointed us directly into the short windy chop. Every 5th wave sprayed over the whole boat. We really had to watch for logs when it got dark and when we finally made Pt Angeles it was plenty dark. There we stopped for the night and cooked up a couple of nice steaks on the bbq. This boat does feed us well.

The boat owner, Ken, met up with us the next morning and we started right off. Again we had a very sloppy day ahead of us, and at one point we were in sustained winds of 45 and it gusted up to 58! In between the downbursts we did enjoy the beautiful coastline of the Puget Sound. We reached the locks as it was getting dark and it started raining again. Our dock was just up on the other side a bit further but we were soaked by the time we got the lines and fenders out and finally tied up to the dock.

We had our bad weather days, and our good. There were a couple of days of fog where we could hardly tell the boat was moving. The entire crew was a gag to be around. We all worked well together. The boat performed very well with only a few hiccups that were easily managed. In case you couldn't figure it out...

I had a great time.

Yup, This must be it

2008-11-03T11:42:00.001-08:00

Up until today the weather has been patchy rain and gusty winds but that was because a storm was coming. It never got as bad as predicted and that is fortunate for me, but reports up and down the coast were quite different. Today I have a steady annoying drizzle, and it's cold out there. Yuppers, this is Oregon.
The rest of the crew is in transit back this way and I guess that means it's time to go. The seas are down to an 8ft swell today and supposed to be down to 5-6 by tomorrow. It's not great, but since there is another front headed this way it's as good as we get. We might be out tonight, or early am tomorrow. Then it's another 28hrs. Our window should be *just* big enough that we might make it up to our turn into the Sound as the seas build again. It won't be pretty.

So I have been down in the engine room prepping for getting under way again. I remounted a poorly mounted sump pump, cleaning out some of the raw water strainers, and poking around looking for other things that are just not right. There's always something that needs fixing on a boat.

Yes, Steve, I am in my element!

Hanging out in Newport, OR

2008-11-01T11:54:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't been following Ken's blogs, we did not make it all the way up to Seattle before our weather window closed up on us. Ironically, we pulled into the closest port of Newport. No, (I know what you are thinking) this one is in Oregon. It's a neat little fishing port that is also supported by Rogue brewery, a tasty little microbrewery that has an inspiring success story. I remember this stop from my last trip up the coast and when I get a sec I'll have to walk over there for a visit and ummm... maybe a few samples. If I remember right they have a small eatery with a killer cheeseburger.

The weather reports from several sources have the conditions outside pretty bad(combined seas to 22 ft swells and winds to 35kts), but it has been really nice here at the dock. Reports above and below my position aren't nearly as pretty so I think we did good when we pulled in here when we did. I have been seeing a few more of the larger fishing charters come in today and chatting with them reinforces the idea of hiding out for a while. As I type tho- the skies are darkening and my onboard weather station registered a 22 kt gust just slammed the boat. Winds are predicted to go to 50kts tonight. I better go out and double up the lines. This storm could go out to Tuesday with another one right behind it so I might be here for a while.

The rest of the crew rented a brand new Impala and drove home to Seattle yesterday morning and left me minding the boat. No worries... I have food, water, power, the ability to stay dry(unless I have to do something outside), sat tv, a library of about 500 dvd's, xm, and finally managed internet, and the pilothouse will provide a real good view of the approaching storm. The coasties have a base right across the channel and they have been quite the source of entertainment today running some drills(those boats are kinda cool). I should go pop some popcorn.

I'd post some pics, but I left my usb adapter on the desk at home. I'll see If I can scrounge up a cable but for now you just get the text.

More later.

B

Off to WA

2008-10-25T19:27:00.000-07:00

Egads- where has the time gone? Time to update the blog. Not that there hasn't been anything worthy of updating about... just too damn busy.

Then it just gets busier.

I am off again for the open waters. It's a new boat this time but also one that I know. I met the boat and skipper Jeff while down in Costa Rica. Sans Souci was in the next slip over from Astor and was the one that was supposed to be brought back via transport ship but couldn't be loaded for various reasons. The boat waited out the season sitting idle and just now is making it's way back home. I hooked up a ride and we leave tomorrow.

I'm not sure how much I will be able to update the blog because we are not planning to stop and will not have too much wifi that far out, but the owner in Seattle does a real good job of keeping track of his boat and keeps a good log. If that is the case I will keep notes and post them when I get home.

Find Ken's home page - here
(click on What's New for the latest)

and a way to track our position - here
Or click on "where is my boat now" from his logs.

and another way to track but only works if we are around busy ports - here
Once loading in the approximate area from the worldmap you can go find Sans Souci from the little pull down menu on the left. This only works if we are beaconing.

We should be heading out Sunday before noon and be up in Seattle by the end of the week. I've done this run before and it might not be a picnic. It should be good for a few stories.

B

Closer to home than you'd think

2008-06-17T15:25:00.000-07:00

Wow, time flew since the last post. Activity has shifted into double-overdrive this last week and coupled with our usual round of chores it left me with NO time to sit(I know- hard to believe).

We now have a few new boats in the anchorage and with it comes the happy hour introductions, more random nights out, a few pizza parties, gut busting rounds of stories and possibly/maybe a few tequila shooters in there somewhere.

Welcome to Golfito, Dave and Mary, our friends cruising their Nordhaven named Jenny. We left them way back in El Sal and they just now caught up with us. It is good to run into them again.

Also a grand welcome to new friends Mark and Lyn. When they idled their boat WAHOO up and dropped anchor I noted the familiar BYC(Balboa Yacht Club) burgee he was flying and I HAD to call him on it. They have been motor-cruising their powerboat south since October. Interesting how one can travel 3000 miles and still run into connections from home. If anyone was looking for them I can toss a coconut and hit his boat.

It gets better tho. Also gathered around the table were fellow cruisers Patrick and Patricia (sv Rhapsody). At one point for some reason the topic switched over to geek talk (even out here) and Patrick started telling parallel stories I know I've heard before. I asked "Do you know Mike Friese?" Yep, they all worked together a while back. No kidding! He bought me a shot of Tequila. Thanks Mike.

Not that Astor was in any state other than close to perfect, I still had TONS to do before Richard found his way back. He did just that Yesterday morning, and he said the boat was in better shape than when he left. We did good- I think we can come back (I wasn't really worried tho).

With many of the major projects finished off and put to bed I have taken on more minor PITA chores like practicing my whipping skills on all of the newly replaced lines hanging around. I even gave Paula a very challenging job of stitching up Replacement Deck Doily #4 which has needed to be done for a couple of years since the original #4 failed it's float test. By coincidence and a strange comedy of events, RDD#4 also recently failed it's float test(over the side), but was recovered from it's 40ft drop to the mud by a true salvage legend after about 30 minutes of exploring the depths and muck. For those that are keeping track, I am now 3 for 3.

Yes- this means we are into another phase of our adventure. I spent a good part of the day looking at flight times, prices, seating assignments, booking a hotel stopover in San Jose, clicking on this and printing that. WHEW! That'll burn up a good part of a day. I started all this on my office on mid deck, but it started raining again so I had to move below. It turned out to be a good useless day to do it. Paula spent most of the day gathering all of our things from their little cubby corners and fitting them into our bags. Travel day towards SoCal begins Thursday and ends on Friday so we shall see how it all comes together. In it's infancy, flight travel used to be a fun and enjoyable part of a trip, but now there sure is alot of stress involved.

I'm not sure how fast we will acclimate back into the pace of SoCal. I'm sure much of it is the same, but since we left back in the begin of March you people have whacked out the fuel prices but that's ok because I hear the batteries in my truck are dead-dead, picked your American Idol, no doubt finished out the season for several of my favorite tv shows, made Hillary realize she is not the one for the US, and a few global tragedies have occurred on continents only an ocean away.

We still have a few stories in the writing stages so we will try to sneak them in here just for fun, and we will continue to blog probably in a different phase and perhaps rearranged a bit, but it has been a truly fantastic time.

For those that have enjoyed this, the best thing I can say is that sometime/somehow we will be back aboard and pick up the stories where we left off. This is only a planned side-step in the journey. Stay tuned.

Byron & Paula
Astor Tenders and Crew - Spring 2008

Sounds at night- Paula

2008-06-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

The cemetery across the road from Fish Hook Marina is mostly a quiet place. There is activity that surrounds an occasional check-in or as some might argue, for those checking out. The above ground crypts start with basic rectangle brick boxes and are decorated with leftover tiles, rocks and others show simple trowel tracks designs in sweeps across the surface. Some have basic headstones or simple crosses made with plumbing fixtures, fancy scrolling wrought iron crosses, and the very basic have irregular names scratched in the wet concrete with a nail. Some of these crypts are stacked and empty cells await the rest of the family, others expecting future expansion still have rebar poking out of the tops. Sadly, many have been subject to vandals that just like breaking things and these give the place a run down feeling.

As one would hopefully expect, we don't hear too much from its occupants. However, when twilight sets in, the place takes on a whole different life of its own.

Once in a while, Byron and I will walk over to Banana Bay marina just up the road for dinner. When we exit Fish Hook, the cemetery across the road is practically at our door step. As we take a left and start walking along the edge of the road, we begin to hear strange noises coming from across the street. Our ears strain for any identifiable sounds. We hear a single clink of a wind chime repeating itself from different directions. Yes, kinda weird. We take a few steps farther and another noise becomes clearer. We swear that we hear the sound effects from Pac Man and we suddenly feel like we were in middle of an arcade. As if we needed a topper to our sensory overload, a third sound becomes recognizable. It sounds like one of the weapons used in the movie Star Wars. Wow, time to clean out the old ears! Confounded, we meet up with friends who enlighten us. The animated sounds that we were hearing were originating from the local wild life, commonly known as frogs! These just aren't your every day run of the mill frogs, these are foley artists.

There is no simple croaking in this town, except of course for the dearly departed.

(the attached mp3 file is NOT mixed, multi-tracked or doctored in any way)

Play the arcade frogs:

Hitchikers

2008-06-07T07:52:00.000-07:00

Byron has rekindled a previous passion for his salt water aquarium. One morning I poked my sleepy head above deck, hoping that Byron had already retrieved a cup of coffee from the marina restaurant.

Instead he proudly handed me a plastic container full of sea water. Not exactly what I had in mind the first thing in the morning. As I adjusted my focus on the container, things went from blurry to mildly fuzzy. Ok, I'm starting to make out an outline of some sort. I turn the container for a different angle. Thats better, now I can see a pair of eyes and legs moving frantically. It's no wonder I couldn't see anything at first, it was practically invisible. It's a little shrimp and he is almost transparent except for those jet black eyes. What's that behind him? It's a tiny little crab!

Byron was walking up to the restaurant to get a cup of coffee when he caught sight of the shrimp critter high and dry on the dock. He thought it was dead and in true boy fashion, he poked a finger to see. He was surprised to find it's little limbs moving very weakly. He immediately found a container, scooped up some sea water and put his patient into the aquatic ward. Not too far away he found the little crab and added it to the collection. By the time I saw them later, they were well on their way to recovery. Byron said he wanted to keep them a while until he could show them to Robert, our three year old friend staying on the boat next to ours. I think he was secretly enjoying having his own personal aquarium.

We figured out what must have happened to our dehydrated little patients. Floating debris in the bay must have gotten caught up against the dock on one side as the tide was going out. The marina employees, instead of scooping up the stuff and throwing it out, just carried it across the dock and dumped it back into the water on the other side. Clearly, they intend that to let the tide continue to move the debris away. Our little hitchhikers must have been attached to some driftwood and got knocked off onto the dock in mid transit.

The next time I looked in on the patients, I discovered that there were visitors in the recovery ward! Things were looking a bit crowded. There were at least a dozen guppy fish of every shape darting back and forth. I looked at Byron and in that "I'm innocent" tone he says "What? They're friends of the family." I wasn't convinced. The clutching appendages of our patients did not seem to inspire close family contact. Later we discovered a couple of "family members" belly up at the bottom. I'm sure it wasn't helpful that Byron made references to garlic and butter while looking at them. It's definitely time to release the patients and send the visitors home.
________________

Debris is always getting caught in and around things. We had some stuck between two bumpers separating our boat from the dock. The bumpers were loose and Byron lifted one up to let the muck flow past. He set the bumper on the dock and a three inch long crab jumped off, ran to the end of the dock and leaped off like a lemming.

Go with the flow

2008-06-05T08:49:00.000-07:00

I enoyed a dockside shower in the rain yesterday.
It's not like I set out and made it a goal for the day (tho some might have thought I needed to), a chain of events took place that just made it happen. At sunrise my day plans had an entirely different direction in mind, but it didn't go that way.

Obviously, the end result occurred because it was raining, I was all soapy, and out there getting wet anyway so I went for the shampoo. No, I wasn't just out there because I was not smart enough to get in out of the drenching, but I was out there finishing my washing of the boat. It was time to do the non-parade side of the boat which sometimes gets neglected. The parade side is easy to do because of the dock. I had the foresight of leaving the dink in the water and have been meaning to get to the other side. It's not an easy job, and with only one person it's almost a guaranteed slopfest.

I hadn't planned on washing the boat today either. I was out there because it turned into a good day to do it. It had gone from a blistering scorcher morning into a gray overcast and cooling and I was already in the dink anyway with a couple of rags and some soap in a bucket. It just stemmed off from what I was doing.

I was in the dink anyway and I was already wet and soapy from washing off the fantail. This is not a fun job either but I noticed it needed to be done. I saw a clean spot where the dock line must have rubbed away the grime. Any passers by would never notice that it was a little off color and had a slight layer of oil and soot most likely from running the motor. It is such a deep overhang back there that it usually involves a really long handled brush, but it's really tough to get any leverage on it being that far away AND trying not to float away as I push the wooley pad around. I figured the next easiest way is to go in upside down hang onto the rail and reach as far as I can. It turned out to be a fairly sloppy process but I got almost down to the bootstripe which is really good. I'm not sure who was getting more soaped up- the boat or me. A neighbor made the comment about it being bath day. I quipped back that the boat's pits and mine were overdue due for a scrub.

A short moment earlier I found myself in front of my bucket, very pleased with myself, rinsing out a handful of brand new rags and noted they were making a good solution of some simple green water and remembered my greasy fantail project. Perfect.

I was pleased because of my recent acquisition. I just swiped the rags out of the trash can because my inner scrounge was seduced by their bright white fluffy newness of their condition. The uberfishers that come in here are a great source for stuff like this. Their boats get their daily squeegee and have no time for rinsing out rags and I guess hanging them out to dry is against their code of show. It was a tough call whether I should risk being branded as a scrounge or a thrifty cruiser. These last few weeks aboard Astor we have been polishing demons and have pretty much killed every mini towel on board. I managed to resurrect quite a few with multiple hand washes in the bucket, but they are still pretty shabby and suspect they will not last long. These new ones came at the right time. If they were tainted with unknown nasty chemicals I would have left them right where they were. These were only soaked with simple green. SCORE!

So, scrounging a few towels out of the trash might lead to a dockside shower later. Some days you never can tell what one will get into. You learn to go with the flow.

Trip to the falls - Paula

2008-06-01T14:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday we made plans to team up with two friends from the marina office and headed for a quick hike out to a waterfall. We started the walk through town with hearty young Lexi, but her roommate, Serena, was still sleeping. The morning was only getting hotter so we ditched her.

We picked up the trail leading to the waterfall about two miles from where we are staying. The beginning of the jungle started right at the trailhead. There was still a fair amount of sunlight illuminating our way as the trees had not yet closed in above us. Dead leaves blanketed the ground and assisted us on the now soft and sometimes muddy trail, thanks to the recent rains.

We came to a rustic bridge made of logs and bamboo that spanned a stream. This was the first sign of the waterfall to come. From there on the path began to climb and our trail became a bit slippery. Guiding us along the way were hand rails made from tree branches tied together. Yours truly huffed and puffed my way up, wondering if I was really up for this adventure. Thankfully, there were several picture points along the way, which created brief rest stops for me to catch my breath.

We saw all kinds of oddities. The base of many of the huge trees looked like folds of curtains. Little reversed mushrooms that formed cups to catch the rain water. House plants that were of a prehistoric size. Odd flowers that looked like genetic experiments from a lab.

I was beginning to think the trail would never end. We rounded the next corner and it stopped right at the base of the waterfalls. It was soooo worth it! The recent rains had provided an added water supply, so now we had several water falls to admire.

It was about that time that Serena showed up with Eric from the marina. Apparently they had driven to the the beginning of the trail instead of walking (which explained how they caught up with us so quickly). We think the little sneak had this planned all along!

The air temperature was much cooler with the misting spray falling down around us. There was a small pool at the base of the falls that we were able to wade through and cool off our feet. Below the the small wading pool, the water dropped continuing down the incline we had climbed up from. We enjoyed our time there, taking pictures with what little light filtered through the trees.

Our trip back was much easier as it was all down hill from the falls. We manage to make it down the slippery slope without any gravity assisted butt landings. Serena and Eric left via car while we opted to walk back. It just didn’t seem right to end our trek riding in a car.

By the time we got back to our boat, my legs were like gumby. Despite the muscle pain I would have to endure for days to come, I was glad I didn’t let a little thing like comfort get in the way of a great adventure.

A Good Day for Bad Cruiser Poetry

2008-05-27T12:45:00.000-07:00

Wetted footprints on teak decks
Trace her paths of past steps,
As she scurries, collects, attempts to gather,
Odd items needing dryness, like laundry just lathered.

Polished winches beading with water,
Look good now- like crap latter,
Drops exploding off nearby varnish,
Further aid in their liquid tarnish.

A former breeze now winds and gusty
Carry scents of trees all wet and musty
Blowing drops in odd angled falling,
Better close the skylights on this calling.

Drops to dribbles, streaming off covers,
Collecting in pools, then exit deck scuppers,
Falling now in sheets, it won't be long I think,
To time the next lull, then run out- bail the dink.

Listening to drops in waves of tapping,
Like a million tiny hands of random clapping
Something suddenly catches me in wonder,
Hmmm- How close was that thunder?

All are signs of little wonder,
Of one fine day to stay tucked down under
Hatches slid closed, safe down below
A glass of wine, a good book, and watching for mold.

----

Ok- so it might need a little work.
I'm also trying my hand at a song.
It's titled: "Hey, You, Get Offa My Rail! "
(sung to the little kid leaning against the boat and wildly swinging around a big ugly stick) (Ooo- That could have been bad)

Deck Games - Paula

2008-05-27T09:04:00.000-07:00

The morning chores are done and I'm lounging in my deck chair ready for some leisure time. I pick up my book to begin another chapter. I pause... maybe I'll just take a nap. Indecision. I put my book down and opt to do something subtle that doesn't require a whole lot of physical effort.

I've got my sunglasses on and to anyone passing by I could be looking right at them or conducting surveillance, by looking at them out of the corner of my eye. But instead, I'm faking them out and my eyes are closed behind my sunglasses. I'm planning my strategy for the next opportunity that presents itself. I hear a motor of an approaching boat. My turn, my move. I decide to try another plan and take my sunglasses off. If I look like I'm awake and I don't wave they'll think I'm a snob. Astor is proving to be a very popular attraction. This way maybe they'll think I'm asleep and then I wont have to wave. My arm, the one thats been doing the princess wave the past several weeks is getting carpal tunnel. I'm now playing possum and lying perfectly still. I expend as little energy as possible either way. Ah, the game is proving most suitable for my needs at the moment.

On the other hand, you never know what interesting people you could meet if you just say "Hello." Oh the pressures! The approaching motor sounds like one of many fishing boat constantly going by. I think I'll just ignore it this one time.

Busted! I hear a familiar voice calling out and abruptly my game stops short like a boat beached on a sand bar. It's Tim from Land and Sea Marina motoring up in his tender. He's yelling something that I can't quite make out. As he pulls in closer he repeats, "Anyone need a rat catcher?" As I look to the bow, I see his old faithful kitty sitting there facing forward, wind blowing between her ears. The bow scene of "Titanic" suddenly comes to mind. To think I almost missed this too-cute-for-words moment. The boat draws closer and kitty looks as if she is ready to abandon ship and board us as a one cat raiding party. She has her own game she wants to play. Kitty is certain there's a stowaway somewhere on board that needs to walk the plank. But alas, I decline. We are fresh out of stowaways.

I ease back into my deck chair and settle in for the next move to present itself. Just as I'm plotting my new course, Byron calls me over. I hoist myself up out of my chair. I wander over to see what's up and find him in the middle of his own game. He's looking down at two fuel jugs on deck. He picks up one and I see something scurry out from under it over to the jug still on deck. Byron put the first jug down, picks up the other one and it runs back to the jug he just sat down. It's a small crab! Apparently I was mistaken in thinking that we had no stowaways on board. Then Byron picks up both jugs at the same time. The player is revealed and this shell game comes abruptly to an end. The little crab sits tensely awaiting judgment.

The captain says no stowaways are allowed on board, so the little guy gets scooped up and tossed over the side of the boat. It's undecided whether the crab walked the plank or got a "Get Out Of Jail Free" card.

Making an entrance

2008-05-25T13:41:00.000-07:00

We heard the boats haling the marina via radio but no one in the office responded. Not unusual, that happened to us as well. After a few unanswered hails, Byron took the call as acting ambassador of the facility and told the incoming boats that he would advise the office that they were on approach. He grabbed the handheld radio and strolled up the dock to go find the dock boys. I follow him out and greet the first one of the boats as they tied up in the slip right next to ours. Their lines were quickly secured and Byron continued down the dock to help the other boat. I learn our new neighbors are Dan and Lorraine on Zephyrus. they have been cruising Mexico for three and a half years. In our chat I asked them what their plans were. Dan says they are staying here for a couple of days and then plan to head for Ecuador. Another transient cruiser lost to the Ecuadorian climate. It seems to be a popular destination from here.

The other boat that pulled in with them are their friends Ralph & Cheryl on Fortuitous. As they were coming in close to the dock, Cheryl was obviously having troubles trying to untangle her dock lines. She tossed the bow line off to dock manger Julio in a tangled mess, but it made it- barely. Then she tossed the tangled stern line to Byron and it fell short. She must have known it wasn't going to work and tossed the line with such conviction that she followed it right off the boat and splashed into the water next to the dock. The humorous nature aside, this was in reality a dangerous situation. The boat is not secure and drifting oddly with a the current and breeze, the motor is on and the propeller is turning, and there is only one other guy aboard the boat and he can't leave the helm. In this case, docking was finished up nicely and without further trauma. We were in luck the boat was drifting away from the dock and not towards.

After Cheryl was hauled out of the water onto the dock (in a effort to minimize her humiliation) Byron said, "How refreshing, I think I'll try that! Welcome to Fish Hook Marina!"

It's good for us to see that even seasoned cruisers trip up every now and then.

(clockwise from bottom L: Cheryl, Ralph, Dan, Lorraine)

Wayward Dinghy

2008-05-23T05:28:00.000-07:00

It’s early morning and Byron is on deck wiping down varnished areas from the previous nights rain. He waves a good morning to cruisers Jen & George in their dinghy as they leave the shore and head back to their boat anchored out several boat lengths away. He watches as they disembark. Byron continues his wipe down process.

Moments later he glances up and notices the dinghy drifting back. He thinks to himself, “Wow, they must have a really long painter (line that attaches dinghy to boat).” As he watches, the distance continues to grow and it become clear that someone forgot to tie the dinghy off. Oops!

George is right there but looking down appearing to be working on something else and has not yet noticed the wayward dinghy yet. Byron yells at him to get his attention, but he doesn’t hear. He must have music on or something. He calls several more times and when George finally looks up, Byron points. In the stillness of early morning, “Oh god!” comes floating over the water. In the next few seconds a third voice says with some feeling, “Not me!!”. This was most likely their new guest and deckhand Matt.

There is a splash, and George is in the water making like an olympic swimmer after the dinghy. He eventually catches up, climbs aboard, starts the outboard motor and putters back to the boat. When he arrives he ties off the tender(hopefully with a better knot this time). Silence follows and a stern tone of voice that easily carries across the water to our boat, “Bad dinghy.... Baaaad dinghy!”

There is an unwritten rule that the captain is never wrong. That might be the case but we hear later it does not prevent the crew from awarding him the nickname, “No Tie.” I don't think they are describing his lack of business attire.

We have fine quality entertainment always happening out here(and it’s on our big screen in Hi-def).

Ah- That's good Wifi!

2008-05-19T05:11:00.000-07:00

Most of the big Uber Fishers that pull in here for a few days are loaded with all sorts of toys. They are usually networked, sat-linked, flat screened, and wired for 12 channel surround. The Nordhaven 68 sitting next to me is a fine example of trying to take it all with you. The owners came in about the same time as we did and flew home. There is so much stuff in there they left the air conditioning running until the transport crew comes to pick it up and take it home. It has a digital server that holds thousands of hours of music as well as countless movies that can be individually directed to any of the 3 staterooms, main salon, or up to the bridgedeck for the night watch. That is only if there isn't anything to watch coming in on the SkyNet Sat dish. Hopefully the guy on watch is also watching the feeds from at least a few of the 6 joystick operated cameras placed around the boat or the gyro stabilized nightvision(IR or Starlight selectable) eyeball up front. The Nordie is so smart, that when the AC quit the other day, somehow it phoned home to Seattle and told the service company. The local boys here didn't EVEN want to touch it, so a couple of days later our new neighbor Tyson shows up to get things back online.

So in previous posts I mentioned the terrible internet connection down here. Some days it works ok, then on others, simple tasks like checking mail just can't be done. Being around here so long, I noted some interesting observations and ran some diagnostics. The flaky internet problem seemed to come and go with certain boats. Give me a Duh!

I don't claim to be an sort of a network guru, so I throw it out to you guys to see if I was going in the right direction. Taking a look at my wifi sniffer shows a bit of the problem. This screenshot was taken just after a couple of big boats left, and after a couple of changes were made here, but it gives you an idea. It was worse a couple of days ago.

Basically all of these boats are screaming a wifi signal on the default channel 6. That USED to be the same as our marina link but I finally got them to change it as an experiment. There are two other access points that show up from time to time also on 6 that are not on today. Egads! No wonder I keep dropping packets.

When I went up to mention this to the manager, she said the internet guys were due in a couple of days to install some new equipment. It's going to make things much better she says.

Sure enough there were a couple of guys poking around a few days later. I saw them wandering down the dock with a laptop and measuring the signal. They came over to me and asked a few Q's. In a combination of broken english and even more broken spani I told them of my findings and must have impressed them enough to gain some credi.

The good news is that the new network is up and running great. The bad news is that I became the new local tech. The installers kept running into problems and asking me to help out. I spend the good part of a couple of days working out some bugs with them. They kept handing me the phone and chatting with some expert. He was constantly steering me in the wrong direction and once I figured that out (and ignoring him), we got things clicked in.

There are still a few bugs, but everyone seems happy. I am finally done running around getting all of the other computers logged in. The new speeds support Skype at crystal clear quality, I can get youtube vids faster than I can view them, and rarely have to reload an incomplete page.

Sometimes you just can't get away. Not sure where to send the bill.

Right through my back yard

2008-05-13T11:49:00.000-07:00

Had I known about this, I would have been there for the first few boats and taken notes. We were feasting at Banana Bay last night and watched two of the first boats come through. Alas I was without camera at that time.

Clipper Round The World Yacht Race 08

Apparently these boats are midway through their race of yet another lap around the world and they had miserable sailing these last few days and had to cancel this leg from Santa Cruz to Panama. They have been burning way too much of their fuel and are making an unscheduled stop here in Gulfito.

Team Nova Scotia came in at first light this morning and took on their load of fuel and provisions. Hull & Humber came in right after that. The well worked crews were in great spirits, but were really disappointed they could not step off the boat even to walk up for a visit to the bar at Banana Bay Marina, let alone have a good look at Gulfito.

From what I understand that there are about 4 pros aboard for the whole race, but the rest are strictly amateurs. Some are going all the way, but others are called "leggers". They hop on and off at planned stops along the way. Crew compliments ranged from a minimum of ten to a full boat of seventeen. They all were quite friendly and it was neat hearing of their adventures which are quite different than ours.

Some official paperwork process is completed faster than the time it takes to fuel. Bags of fresh mangoes, papayas, pineapples, and apples are handed over to the crew as well as a fresh brewed pot of Costa Rican coffee, cases of cold beer, and the bonus surprise of ice cream cones are dished out as long as the supply holds. Marina Manager- Bruce hosted them right. A quick check of internet was appreciated by a few then in an all too short of visit time, lines were cast off again to get back under way.

As the morning boats head out I hear Western Australia on the radio. They arrive early afternoon with another team Durban 2010. Again the marina crew goes to work with the same routine. As the work was finishing up the last boat Liverpool came in but had to circle around until the two boats did final checks and untied off the fuel dock.

I had the grandest time socializing with all of the boats and teams as they came in. They all had different, but somewhat the same stories of how they came to be aboard.

I wished them all fair winds for the rest of the trip. I handed out some of my freshly minted boat cards, so maybe some will even write.

They looked like they were having way too much fun.

Names and Personaltites- Paula

2008-05-12T10:08:00.001-07:00

Another day, another boat pulls in to dock. Boats and their name are very interesting. They seem to express their owners philosophy on life. Names like Dreamweaver, Blew Moon, San Souci (without care), So Bella (so beautiful). Uplifting names that often reflect the more romantic side of life . . . happy thoughts!

Then there is the occasional boat name that comes along for shock value. Something unsophisticated yet completely relatable deep down. Sometimes satisfying to lips while simultaneously scandalous to the ears. They tried to dress it up with romanticized words but its meaning is quite clear. "La Ratta Bastarda." Yes, The Rat Bastard docked next to us a few days ago and resembled every bit of its name. We stood dumbfounded on deck as it backed into the slip. We had every intention of stealthily sneaking up for a picture after lunch. However, when we next popped our head above deck the boat was gone. Apparently it came in for a quick wash behind the ears and was off reeking havoc on polite society's sensibilities.

Today the new kid on the block is Calpurnia with a crew of three, Mark, Amy and Three year old Robert. At first I wasn't too sure of our neighbors. They kept to themselves all right, but one of the crew turned out to be a real exhibitionist. I don't know if his britches kept falling down or he just like to wear them that low, but it was a little embarrassing when he would bend over, showing a view that would make most people shudder. It's just not every day you see a guy walk around on deck in hat, shades and pull ups!

Later he wandered over to us as we were sitting on deck. I was willing to give him another chance and overlook his wanton disregard for modesty. We kept the conversation light and discussed such things as the weather. He was quoted as saying "The rain is good because it washes off all our poop (bird)." How sweet, such a charming child. Then we digressed to the aesthetics of life. Robert admired the round portholes of our boat and I said I liked his boats square widows. He proceeded to informed me that, "They're rectangular, NOT square." Then he noticed our light box up in the rigging for the running lights, so Byron turned the lights on for him. A red light came on. Byron asked him what side of the boat the red light was on, and he said "The port side." Byron then said what color is the light on the other side, and he said "Green." What's that side called? Robert said "Starboard." He had me fooled, but now a suspicion was starting to creep in. The clincher was when he prefaced a sentence with "I didn't realize . . . and "It make me crazy . . ." and then I knew! I knew that Stewie from the TV show "Family Guy" was docked in the slip next to mine!

His dad (hearing the conversation from his own boat across the dock) says that he is going for his captains license here shortly.

That kid is scary smart!

Busy Days

2008-05-09T07:15:00.000-07:00

Still here. These last couple of weeks have been busy. I figured I could skip a few posts. Paula has been having such a good time writing so I just let her fill in. I have direct-mailed to many of you instead of posting here (reasons below). She gets more feedback than me anyway and I figured nobody would miss me. (sniff)

As expected, the dynamics of the days here have changed a bit. The PBO (poor bloody owner) has seen fit to leave the boat in my care (I know... what was he thinking) and we are now on our own till June. We got busy with some final orientation, systems to cycle and keep an eye on, and instructions on some projects that I will do in case I get bored(ya right). He doesn't leave his baby very often, and I wanted him to feel like he left it in good hands. #1 rule- NO Daycharters! Bummer, I might have been able to make some serious cash. I do have rights to the dink, so we can go adventuring when we feel like a Robinson Crusoe picnic.

Thunderstorms are a hit or miss every day(hopefully they all miss - yuk yuk). I wake up, look around and see what the day brings me. We have had a few days of some fantastic varnishing weather again and I hated to let them pass. I rapidly prepped all of the newly installed (lightly coated) blocks, the 4 deck blocks (which are getting beat up and needed to be done) and found another raw block(no coats) hidden under the mainsail cover that I missed on the last varnishing round . I also pulled out 2 new raw blocks stashed in the anchor locker and thought they would survive better down there if they were coated a few times. All 10 of these took me 3 hours just to varnish.(not counting sanding). I got some sun credits that day even tho I tried to keep under the covers as much as possible.

There are many more to do but these are more important to get coats built up on them because they are new. On good days, I can get two coats on them. Today I could see rain was coming so I just covered them as the first coat was just skinned over and they should be ok. If weather looks like it will hold(being good) I'll go for the bowsprit next. I do have some detailing below for when it rains, but that can be done anytime.

Paula also has her chores. One of them is keeping up on the
winch drums. If you do one a day and it's not all that tough of a gig.

Then there's the binnacle (compass, pedestal & cover assy). THAT's a whole different game! Pics of that later.

I'm also have to train P in spare time. She's got the rum&coke down pretty good, and we are working on some other fruity/tropical things. Being on such an icon we have to be prepared for the drop-ins. While we don't let just anybody aboard, there comes a time we must be social. We need to always have stuff ready on hand for instant snackies and nibbles for social hour. Having more than two beers in the cooler is important for criminy sakes!

This internet connection has been less than bueno. We are talking back to worse than 28k dial-up days(when it does work). We ummm... 'borrowed" better wifi than this on our way down the coast. Most of the time a page loads halfway and just stops. If I get lucky eventually all of the parts might get loaded in the next 3 reloads. Trying to save a page through the blog editor has been an equally fun time. I've lost many a few updates, links to pics and just time retyping alot of them. Sometimes (like right now) speeds are great, and I can get things done. It's not my wifi, its a server side or a load issue. I can be up in the bar just feet from the access point and it would be the same. Sometimes the DNS doesn't even resolve(page not found). There is only one provider here in CR, and talking to others up and down the road says they all have the same issues and the provider just doesn't care. It's as good as it gets. If it doesn't work now, I just try again later.

Thanks for looking in on us.
Byron & Paula
Boatsitters Especiale

A full day in Golfito - P's views

2008-05-07T17:16:00.000-07:00

It's the wee hours of the morning (5:00 am to be exact) and life begins to stir in one of the berths. Pocket change has slipped out of shorts casually tossed into the corner of the bunk. During the night the coins begin their migration throughout the sheets. By morning Byron emerges with several colones (local currency) adhered to various parts of his body. He peels them off and the depressions left behind make him look as if he has engaged in a wrestling match with an octopus.

He makes his way to the deck, lap top in hand for a little internet action. Getting internet is always a challenge. Sometimes it requires moving around the boat and perching in strange places for the clearest access point. Byron sets up his antenna on the back of a deck chair. He then props the lap top on a sky light and sits across from it plucking away at the keys. It's a reoccurring event every morning, noon, and night.

An hour later I join Byron on deck. My notebook and pen is poised ready to scribble out my email notes until I am able to break in and get some computer time. As I try to concoct the next email ramblings, I am distracted by the local traffic. It seems I've become the designated greeter by default. I execute the princess wave with precision as a constant flow of boats cruise by. On the rare occasion that someone responds verbally a rather questionable game of charades begins. I'm always left with serious doubts as to whether my meaning was interpreted correctly. However, the other party usually leaves smiling, even if not with any comprehension (Loco Gringa!)

From here on the day can take many directions. We could work on the boat . . . but lets not dwell on the negative. Thankfully, another alternative has presented itself; A bay tour in the dingy! The sun is just starting to heat things up. We climb into our ride. As we sit on the side of the baking pontoon, our searing backsides become one with the dingy. We patiently wait until the engine turns over. Then we are off, ripping through the waves with the wind streaming across our faces... relief at last!

The view of homes and buildings from the water side is much more exposed and you get a clearer view of their construction. For a change it makes one REALLY appreciate some of the building codes of the US. We make our way between fishing boats and find they are not much better. On closer inspection, we wonder how some of them can still be afloat, while others list seriously to one side.

While the dinghy putters along shore I see small streams of bubbles rise from the depths all around us and wonder what critters are hiding just out of view. As I ponder this point, I look up in the nick of time to avoid having a butterfly plastered to my sunglasses. I ducked right, it went left and catastrophe was averted. If you're not careful it can be a place fraught with danger . . . no-see-um bug bites, falling bird poo, gnats up your nose while snoozing on deck, butterflies like bug splat across your person. One has to be on the alert at all times!

We make it to the other side of the bay without further mishap. This side is nothing but jungle with a few homes interspersed hear and there. Decidedly, we liked the lush, unspoiled look of this part of the bay. The mountains are thick with amazingly tall trees and flowering vines, covering like a canopy. My favorite spot is the small island in the bay where a family has beached their panga and is having an afternoon picnic. By the end of the tour we realize it's a place of visual contrast, man vs nature. Nature has our vote!

Upon our return the rest of the day is filled with even more possibilities. Lunch. Will the cook perform wonders in the galley or will she mutiny and send all ashore to dine at the marina? Should a person attempt a siesta below deck (stuffy), or on deck with gnat repellent? At happy hour the question is whether to have rum, or how much rum? Sunset appreciation, no contest, all are in attendance. The BBQ dinner choices, fish . . . fish . . . or more fish! Oh and what movie are we watching tonight, Master and Commander or Captain Ron. No Perfect Storm on this ship. Finally, to internet or sleep.

Gentle Zzzzzzzz's drift through the open skylight from below. A lone figure sporting a headlight again sits alone on deck late night plucking away at his laptop. The night time bay sounds echo in the background. The A/C coolant water constantly dumping from the 68 ft Nordhaven next slip over is like our very own expensive babbling zen fountain. Another day has come full circle.

It's just another day in Golfito.

This bus stops here.

2008-04-16T06:49:00.000-07:00

We are safely tied up and fendered to a dock provided by Fishhook Marina in Golfito.

First look shows us it is a mix between a quiet little town that supports a small local fishing fleet, and a town that wants to grow. Nothing here is very big except the wharf. They must get the occasional large ship in here for something. Being a protected bay without swells Yacht transport services like Dockwise makes a stop here to load boats for piggybacking them elsewhere. Right across the street (I think it's the ONLY street) is a very packed cemetery that might be neat to check out, then the trees and dense jungle pretty much take over the rest of the hill. Everything is covered by this green mix of vegetation.

Golfito is also a port of entry. Being so close to the border of Panama, cruisers are in here for provisions as well as checking in and out of Costa Rica. Aside from the low water pressure and the painfully slow internet, it has everything we need for our stay.

Now the real work starts:
Yesterday was consumed by the complete tear down, clean/wash, and re-sort of the inside and top of the boat. Today, we will finish going around the outside and maybe even a bit down under the waterline. I know of a few things up the mast that need tending to and I hear the never ending job of varnish upkeep will also start soon. Best not to rush into too much tho.

Somewhere in there we will have to get in to the center of town to explore a bit more too.

Day Hopping

2008-04-15T06:30:00.000-07:00

The last couple of nights we have been day hopping down the coastline. We have been up early and try to get in and set by 4pm just to make sure we don’t get caught in any bad weather. The hops have been from 30 to 60 miles. The thunderheads have been looking quite intimidating and seem to be quite consistent as they form every day. We didn’t get into any of the downbursts, but it wouldn’t have been too difficult to get caught by one. Leaving in the calm of the morning means we don’t have wind. We fire up Roger(the detroit wind) and he pushes us along instead. There hasn’t been enough breeze in the afternoon to hold the sails out, so we just motor. Oh well. There will be more in the Caribbean!
------
Quepos (KAY-pohs) - Sat April 12 - This first stop is a busy little bay. It’s noisy because they are in the midst of some major upgrades. There are 3 huge cranes in the harbor doing dredging, setting pilings (which is a really rattly job), and something was making a racket like a landslide every 10 minutes. They must have been dumping riprock somewhere I couldn’t see. This went on till fairly late in the night, and when they did stop, they left their huge construction lights on all night. When they get done with this place, it should be a busy new port. From the water we could hear a really loud dance club rocking away most of the night.
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Bahia Drake- Sun April 13 - Cutting straight across a notch of coastline brings us to Drake. It is almost a private looking anchorage that is surrounded by just a handful of modestly sized retreats tucked into the trees. The cruising guide mention there are some eco-adventure lodges in there too. It looks like a good place for something like that. The two mountain peaks visible behind Bahia Drake are supposedly the rainiest places in Costa Rica. They register 220 inches annually.

There are a few sportfishers on moorings and pongas zipping around in support. It’s alot quieter here, but again, we hear the beat of music drifting across the water carrying the entertainment for the evening. Sunday must be karioke night. Yep- it’s pretty obvious.

Just before getting in this afternoon, we hooked up with another spotted mackerel. I just had enough time to strip it down to fillets and wash down the deck before the anchor dance made things more complicated. Excellent timing. We had burgers already set to grill this evening, so the fish will keep for another night. Yes, the burgers were really tasty.
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Puerto Jimenez (he-MAY-nayz) - Mon April 14 - Getting around the Oso Peninsula and up into Golfo Dulce took us most of the day. We go into a bit of chop going around the bottom end of the point, and had a build of wind but it was on the nose. We can’t get this sailing thing right. Another spotted mack threw himself onto the hook, and we were glad to put the extra fillets in the fridge. Now I guess we can have some friends over! Did I mention how tasty that fish is?

The port is on the edge of Corcovado National Park. There is a frequent line of ferry boats from Golfito and what seems consistent timing of turbo-props landing at the airstrip carrying backpackers and eco-touristas. Since it is just a quick ferry ride right across from where we will be for a while, We can easily get back here to check this place out for sure.

The marina in Golfito is expecting us in today [Tues 15], so we will up the anchor shortly to make sure we get the tide for the entrance.

Out from Los Suenos

2008-04-11T21:37:00.000-07:00

Fri Apr 11
Tomorrow we head out again and see how far we can get down the coast. It looks like we have 130 odd miles to Golfito and that should be 3 days with night stops. We could do it in 2 but the tides will be wrong for entry. So we take our time on the last jump- no worries. We topped off fuel in the main tank today, and have most of the extra cans filled if we need it.

We have some spotty t-storms again tonight. I can see flashes around us but not close enough to hear thunder for most of them. Makes for a neat evening on deck.

Posts will follow.

B&P

Los Suenos

2008-04-10T18:19:00.000-07:00

Thurs Apr 10
Yesterday we motor sailed the whole way and we managed to somehow dodge a good brewed up storm along the way. It might have had something to do with the panic of not having the storm covers installed and the frenzy of installing them underway when we saw the ugliness in front of us. Once we got them in place and remaining gear lashed down, it all drifted off to the side and we had calm seas the rest of the way.

We got into the anchorage right as predicted, converted over to lounge mode, and enjoyed the evening in the anchorage among a few other large sailboats and a few powerboats on anchor. We couldn't fit in the actual marina if we wanted to. It is filled with superfishing powerboats. There might be some sort of tournament going on, or perhaps just the market down here. There is quite the parade out in the mornings, and back in at sunset.

We spent the day over at the Mariott lounging around the pool. It was nice. REALLY nice. The pool is not just a big hole in the ground with chairs around it. It is more of a long narrow snaking channel that winds itself around several sculpted patio areas with each one being diffferent, exotic planters, and under foot bridges. While floating around, there are alcoves designed in to sit and chat, a jet section like a jacuzzi, a bigger pool with a v-ball net stretched across, a section with waterfalls, and exentually you will find the swim-up bar.

Where in the world are we today?
Here are a few handy g-maps that give the rough idea.

Bahia Carillo

2008-04-10T18:17:00.001-07:00

Wed Apr 9 - Bahia Carillo
9 50.30 N - 85 29.45 W
Charlie’s Charts (one of the cruising guides we have been using) suggested this was a good place to tuck in for a night. It is fairly exposed and has a tricky entrance dodging some rocks only visible at low tide. The shores were well groomed and occupied by a hotel, what looked like condos and private houses. There is a small area mooring some nice sportfishers and what looked like a service area I wold hesitate to call an actual marina. We found it too crowded to anchor in the first suggested area and it was getting shallow way too fast, so we went across to the second suggested anchorage and found it rolling with swells. We ended up dropping right in the middle and found it quite pleasant.

This was one of the few places we didn’t get a hint of a wifi trace. I guess we are starting to get really far out. We also broke out of the 10 latitude range. Currently we are cruising 9 deg 45 mins N. I tried to find the North star last night but it was lost in the horizon haze or even behind the cliff of this cove. We didn’t get rain last night, but lightning was on the horizon with no thunder. It must have been way off.

Every cove we get into seems to have it’s own different little world built in. Right at sunset THOUSANDS of little tiny fish about 2 inches long swarmed in pockets around the boat and were surface feeding. We could barely get a glimpse of them because they were moving so fast. It rippled the surface and sounded like rain.

We have about 58 miles to get to Bahia Herradura and get into Los Suenos Marina.
9 38.20 N - 84 41 W

Sails up again

2008-04-10T18:15:00.000-07:00

Tues Apr 8
We grabbed an early start again. We have about 40 miles to get to the next port. The idea is to get off the water by the afternoon thunderstorm. Cruising along the coastline we find it continuously dotted with some fairly nice estates and more resorts even still being constructed. Every now and then we round a point and find a hidden beach with someone’s retreat barely visible amongst the palms. Some without any obvious roads must be only accessible by boat. The vegetation is getting thicker and turning more green.

Bahia Potrero

2008-04-10T18:12:00.001-07:00

Mon 4.7
10 26.700 N - 85 49.173 W - Bahia Potrero
Morning found us really busy. We got in a last run to the super mercado and had to go to the official holding the fishing licenses. He was almost surprised that someone was actually taking the time to do such a thing.

We left out of Coco late morning and went down the coast to our first stop. It was just a 15 mile shoreline run down to look at Bahia Potrero. Its’ shores and hills are lined with high end homes and larger resorts, but for some reason the actual Marina Flamingo has gone bankrupt and is in a ghostown state of disrepair. What is left of the main dock heels to a severe angle and disappears mid length then reappears further down it’s length. The end is only occupied by birds and two boats that have not seen their owners in a very long time. There are no water based services here. No problem, we were only here to set anchor and stay the night. The outer anchorage/mooring area was filled with mainly six-pack sportfishers in very nice condition. There are rumors that someone is rebuilding the marina but we did not see anything that supports them.

We were treated to a very pleasant breezy afternoon sipping pina coladas ala “Lancee”(lan-say) and watched the daily thunderstorn roll our direction. Right on time we got in a brief shower at the dark of sunset. I donned my foul weather jacket to go preside over the “rail-o-que” to cook the chicken and the wind/rain stopped. All is good.

Playa del Coco

2008-04-05T09:46:00.001-07:00

We are anchored down in Playa del Coco.

Yesterday, we tidied the boat and converted it over to anchor mode while Richard went ashore to check us into CR.

It's a neat little anchorage, and offers a mid updated fishing/resort village for support. There is just enough protection in the little cove to harbor moorings and anchoring. It is very calm most of the time, but when winds turn around and come onshore it gets a bit choppy. There are no docks, so we do beach landings. The low surf supports the beginners just fine.

In town, there is quite a mix of locals, transplants, and tourists. First look shows it to be quite the nighttime hangout. Every other building seems to have some form of a club. The town probably doesn't have everything, but just enough of what people want.

With an airport nearby, it looks like we will be bidding adios to crewmember Amit. He has things he needs to do before heading home. He figures this is a good jump-off point. Looking at the map, we will probably be doing day hops the rest of the way, down so it works out OK for us too.

Yesterday afternoon another thunderstorm caught up with us and pounded the area. The boat got a nice rinse and all was calm a couple of hours later. I guess we are in one of the drier areas looking at the cliffs around us which are quite brown and dry. I hear it gets wetter from here on down.

Thurs Apr 3

2008-04-04T09:10:00.000-07:00

Thursday 4.03 1200 hrs

10 53.13N - 85 57.38W

cse 144 - Sp 8.6 - wnd 17.9 - 2 reef main, stysls, jib -

The morning puff clocked around and turned into a bit of a papagayo condition. The morning sail plan had the countertops clearing of the bits that accumulate the day before, but quick adjustments on deck put things back to the normal state of tilt.

Normally my watch starts off with taking down everything and firing up Roger(the motor). My reputation as "captain motorboat" is not accurate today. Things are currently looking good for "CM" as we have been cruising along mostly in the 8's with a little water on the decks. We even had a brief escort by a pod of dolphins. Welcome to Costa Rica! (well, not just yet)

We are cutting across the Golfo de St Elena and are roughly 6 mi from rounding Cape Elena and have to dodge a few little islands for lunch. Then we cross the Golfo de Papagaya which is about 25 miles.

If we can keep the speeds up, we might make it just in time to set anchor before the sun goes down.

Schooning along

2008-04-03T13:43:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 4.02 1200 hrs

12 47.36N - 87 37.50W

cse 132 5.2kts - wind 5.1 SW - staysails - Motoring

Next stop: Costa Rica

We got underway this morning put all 5 sails up and had a great sail for several hours. We were just skipping along in the 9's and not even splashing the deck. Now handed off to me, I had to round a point (Didn't want to hit Nicaragua) and it all just DIED. Oh well, I get to drive the motorboat again!

For the past 3 hours the winds have been building and are more than enough to launch some more laundry. It's lunch tho and good smells are coming up from the galley. We will be nice to the cook and not beat her up too much until she gets out. Paula's watch is next.

We got out and launched the advanced fisherman(a little bigger sail). With it topping off our sail plan we have been hitting the 10's. That's the way to schoon!

Our next port is Playa del Coco in Bahia Culebra, Costa Rica.
10 33.8N - 85 42.1W - Nav says it is about 175 miles give or take a couple of zags for tacks. That will be our port of entry into CR.

Rest stop- Pnta Ampala

2008-04-03T13:14:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 4.02 0000 hrs

13 07.06N - 88 17.20W

At Anchor - Punta Ampala in Golfo de Fonseca

We got here just in time to set anchor, have a "rummy-punch" and watch the sunset. It's a neat anchorage that appears to be lined with houses(some of them fairly nice). We have been the detour of quite a fair amount of pongas that come over to toss a wave and a "Hola" of appreciation. Fresh fish (caught two more s-mackerels this afternoon) went on the grill right away and again were very tasty.

Morning came a bit too soon when a squall came through at 4am. I just happen to be up watching the lightning in the clouds and felt the wind change and smelled dampness on the breeze. Then I heard what sounded like a low flying jet coming our way. I slid all the hatches closed and pulled back the storm covers right as the rain started. I was tempted to stay up on deck for a nice personal rinse off, but rain stings coming in that hard! At one of the good gusts I saw around 46kts. The anchor was set and doing it's job from blowing us up on the beach, but Richard decided to get out before the waves got big(we were very exposed at this point). Right when we all got on our rain gear, it all stopped and went totally calm again. There were more storm cells on the radar, so Richard stayed up till sunrise and we all went back to our bunks.

Out of El Sal

2008-04-01T19:48:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 4.1 1200hrs

13 07.06N - 88 17.20W

cse 84 - 6.5kts - wind 8.4 NE - #3 jib - staysails - main - Sailing

It is a wonderful day to get started. We dumped the mooring and left Barillas Marina this morning, motored 2 hours to get out, but set sails on calm seas and heading south once again.

Our target for the day is Punta Ampala. It is a small point down the coast about 28 miles. It offers a bit of protection for the average sea and normal breeze but not much more. We'll see what the day shapes up to be, and what it looks like. There are others we can duck into if things go bad. Otherwise we might just keep sailing. We can't go ashore anyways because we officially checked out from ElSal, and we don't need to check in for anything new. We are all good to go.

Back to work

2008-03-31T20:54:00.000-07:00

3.31.08
Today we prepped the boat for getting under way once again.

We finished topping up the fuel jugs, Took down the sun tents and the sail covers, and got the storm covers ready. First light tomorrow we hoist the dinghy back into it's cradle, finish lashing things where they go and are off. We want to time the entrance right after slack tide I believe.

Depending on what we find tomorrow we have a choice right around nightfall. There is an anchorage 40 miles down right near the border that we can stop in for a rest if we find no wind(no need to rattle all night). If we have a good breeze going, we'll take it and run for CRica.

I can't stay up too long, Early call tomorrow.

B&P
From the decks of Astor

2008-03-30T12:44:00.001-07:00

Without notice, Filbert has been difficult to locate these last few days. First, this is not too unusual as he is always seeking of new experiences and adventures. He usually returns maybe a bit more tattered, but with new tales of wonders. Sometimes he just gets stuck in a sock.

Then I get this mysterious but obvious message:

I'm not sure how to handle this. Do I consult the US embassy here in El Sal? What is this MNLF? Do they even have a website? Perhaps we have a jealous ratfink aboard...

We decide to venture off in our own search of the surrounding area first.

We found a guide to take us off the normal path to go talk to some locals. It was quite a trek thru the trees and brush, but we finally reached a village.

It was clear we did not speak the same language. Our contacts were quite active and animated, and moved through their domain with ease. We quickly found that some things in our cultures translated across nicely.

Apparently we had their attention, and something they wanted.

After a few token "gifts" they were a bit more directive and pointed us in a possible direction. We now have some leads and are narrowing our search a bit more.

The whole time, I couldn't shake the feeling like we were being watched.

Barillas Marina, El Salvador

2008-03-28T08:13:00.000-07:00

Friday 3.28
We arrived at our waypoint around 2am Thurs, and did shifts till sunup. Right on time a guide in a ponga showed up and led us through the complicated bar entrance.

Good thing we had a guide. At one time there were waves breaking on both sides of us as we were running parallel to the beach, then we turned right and sorta surfed and rocked in with some rollers.

He led us into the most backwater bayou mangrove step back in time I have ever seen. We passed several small fishing camps, and several private homes of decent sizes that were tucked in between the palms and mangroves. I think we went about 4 miles, rounded a bend and picked up a mooring at the Barillas Club and Marina. It's REALLY cool. The marina grounds are very well manicured, a cool bar that overlooks the anchorage, showers, fuel at 4.50 gal(ahem), a pool, and free wifi. There are only cruisers from 4 or five boats here. We have the whole club to ourselves.

We are surrounded by tall mangroves on both sides that is home for white egrets, and several other birds that make incredble jungle like noises. I hear the chirping like crickets, probably frogs, and the occasional swishing in the water of small crocs. Yes, we saw a mysterious log swimming across current, turn and go upstream past our stern today! We were going to scrub the waterline tomorrow. We will request hazard pay now.

After several rough nights at sea, we welcome the perfectly calm waters here. We have nice breezes most of the day, and no mosquitos. Just a few small knats.

Depending on how fast we get things done we are here till Tuesday, then off again.

Just an adjustment

2008-03-27T19:56:00.000-07:00

Wed 3.26 1200 hrs (noon)
Position 13 22.32N - 89 09.40W
Cse 116 - Spd 4 to 7.7 - Wnd 5 to 20 - 1 reef in main and both staysails up-

Currently running the coastline about 2.5 miles off El Salvador. The travel is much the same as last night. The temptation is to launch more sail in the light air, but the unpredictable gusts drive us pretty hard when they come up. No need to tip the captain out of his bunk.

We finally caught two spotted mackerel on the drag lines today. We dug out the BBQ and managed to grill some nice fillets for dinner under quite challenging conditions. I didn't lose a piece, and they were quite the hit. I almost went over tho.

Our pace has taking a new direction. The active plan has us landing for fuel and a rest in Bahia de Jiquilisco. That's about 45 miles from here. The computer says we will be there by night, so we will have to drive in circles till morning. I guess the bar crossing is quite a challenge and they offer a pilot that will come out and take us past the tricky spots once there is light.

Blowing and drifting

2008-03-27T19:32:00.000-07:00

Wed 3.26 0000 hrs (midnight)
Position 13 39.92N - 90 02.40W
Cse 118 - Spd 4 to 6 - Wnd 5 to 15 - 1 reef in main+fore staysail-

Another busy night. Not much time to write.

I took watch this evening with the instructions of a quiet night and no need to rush. The wind was fluky. It would blow 12 for like 30 mins then shut down. I'd nurse it for 15 mins or so before I'd pull everything in tight(the sails) and fire up the motor. 10 mins later I would hit another pocket and take off. Out go the sails, and shut off the motor. Whee!

This looped several times and kept me busy. A few times when we were ghosting along at around 2kts, everything was real quiet and we could hear dolphin surfacing around us. I guess they were coming over to check us out.

To make the evening a bit more complicated, I had to deal with of an inbound tanker. I first saw him 6 miles out, and checked the charts where he might be going. I was clearly in his path. Minor course changes were not enough and I had to dive out of the way(90 degree course change towards the beach) near the end. We passed within 1/2 mile. It's good to pay attention.

When I handed off to Lani at 2am we were just rounding Pnta. Remidias and the winds picked back up around 18kts. This is why we left the sails short tonight.

Not just the leisure cruise

2008-03-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

Tues 3.25 1200 hrs (noon)
Position 13 34.92N - 90 47.40W
Cse 97 - Spd 7.1 - Wnd 10.8 ESE - Sailing -
sea temp 81.2
340 miles to go

Tuesday night was a gorgeous night watch with a warm breeze and moonlight to keep from tripping over the lines on deck, but very busy. I spent most of it sitting on top of the pilot house with binoculars. We were running about 8 miles off the coast of Guatemala and there were little fishing pongas everywhere. There would be pockets of 5 or 6 showing up on screen but only 3 would have lights. I didn't have too much elbow room and had to pass a dark one by only a half mile. When I got close, he finally switched on a very dim light and a little strobe. He looked like he had a low battery. I blinked my LED light at him a couple of times to let him know I saw him. When I would clear a bunch of them, 3 more would show up in my path. They didn't move all that fast so they were no problem to avoid. What made it complicated were the tankers that would choose to join our little meetings and trounce right through. Those guys MOVE!

This morning we found some wind. The bad part is that it is on the nose. We'll take anything to shut off the iron wind we have been running almost non stop since we left. The boat is heeled over pretty far hard to weather, and our course is looking pretty wacky right now, but after a few tacks we are making headway. (I took a pic to be inserted later)

All day sailing was nice, but it turned around near the end of my watch (3pm) when I broke the wind pretty bad. I handed off to Richard. For a while there the wind just stopped. The seas were going strangely choppy but coming from several directions. We were about 21 miles off the coast with all sails up. The barometer fell another point (that makes 4 since 10am). We were all below in the salon when the boat just leaned over pretty bad. Drawers were sliding open, stuff was falling out of cabinets. I was right near the main companionway and poked out to see what was happening and saw Richard coming out from the pilot house who then called for all hands on deck. We needed to pull some sails down pretty fast. We got the weather fish down with only a little drama and Paula and I were sitting down on deck, backs against the lifelines clawing at the flapping sail and trying to tie it up to the dinghy rack. We got a couple of good waves over the bow, and they came right down our side. We were waist deep in blue water. Once strapped a quick turn downwind really helped to roll up the jib. A reef got put in the main and we took off on a course to tuck us into the coast a bit more. We got within 2 miles and the waves were much better, but it was still blowing like snot. We took down the main staysail, and we were still doing over 7 knots. This lasted pretty much till 10pm and it finally let up and we relaxed. Richard said the winds never went UNDER 34kts. Looking back at the charts we figure we got into another one of those troughs between the mountains. This was what the locals call a Papagayos and really watch out for.

Shaken and stirred, brimmed in salt.
B&P

2008-03-25T08:44:00.001-07:00

Tues 3.25 0000 hrs

We managed to carry an evening puff for several hours and get in a bit of actual sailing. It made for a quiet dinner on deck for everyone just as the stars were coming out. We finally had to take the main down around 9pm and motor. Who said this mexico "sailing" was great? We sure have been using up our share of fuel.
Technically, we are mid way down the coast of Guatemala. When a large wave picks up the boat, I can see coastal lights. Radar puts us about 9 miles off.

The moon has finally come up and in it's waining state of 3/4 is still bright enough to blot out most of the stars. It has turned into quite a clear night and a moonlight path is running all the way to the horizon.

Now the wind might be coming back up. I might be able to coax an extra half knot out of the ol'girl by easing the staysails a bit.

2008-03-25T08:43:00.001-07:00

Mon 3.24 1200 hrs

A little tweety bird surprised us by flying into the pilot house this afternoon. It was a tiny little green thing. As we watched it for a bit he decided to dive down the boat for a little tour. I took off after it as it flew into the main salon for a couple of circles, then through the galley and up into the forepeak. Man, talk about the full tour. I rousted up Amit on the way and closed doors behind me as it dove into the deep corner of the v-birth and disappeared into the many misc canvas covers, sailbags, and whatnot gear shoved up there. We had to slowly pull it all out until we found him hiding in the corner and coaxed him out the open hatch.

2008-03-24T09:33:00.000-07:00

Mon 3.24 0000 hours

As you can see, not much except position has changed. We had hoped to get in a little help from a favorable current by now. Not much sailing today, but we burned up some diesel.

As it got dark, Paula and I were sitting up on deck enjoying the remnants of a cool breeze. I pointed out that there were some green birds that favored one side of the boat and some red ones circling the other side. That trick didn't work later with Richard when I used it on him either. When I did a round of the deck upon taking watch, I did note why they were around us tho. I found about 8 of them hitching a ride out on the bowsprit. They look like cool medium sized terns. They weren't too bothered by my need to snug up the forward staysail a bit(the cleat is right up there very close to them). I didn't bother them. I'll probably have to wash off the sprit tomorrow.

According to the current nav guy (me), It looks like we are 190 miles out from Huatalco and are looking at 510 to Costa Rica.

2008-03-24T09:01:00.000-07:00

Sun 3.23 1200 hours

We left off yesterday as winds slowly built enough to shut off the iron wind. It was great to be in the quiet zone again. Around sunset, and without warning we must have hit the trough of the Tehuantepec. We got the sails down and continued with the fwd staysail and 3rd reef in the main only and were still hitting 6-7kts in winds up around 35. That's what the foulies and lifelines were for. We were drenched from the firehose like spray of waves every 30 seconds. I noted that it was very warm. By my watch at midnight, we were through and the rest of the night was a coast along around 4-5 kts. We kept it underpowered all night in case the t-pecs came back up but they never did.

So THAT is why this area has it's reputation of being able to swamp a boat. We went through on a CALM night!!!

Today, seas are is still calm and wind is directly on the tail. This makes our apparent wind not enough to keep the sails from flogging around so we motor. We have been maintaining 5-7 miles off the coast which I cannot see. It might be flat land, or the haze, but the other freaky thing is that we are in only 120 ft of water.

Nothing on the hooks yet, but the wasabi is at the ready.

Early Morning Start for the Gulf de Tehuantepec

2008-03-23T18:29:00.000-07:00

Sat 3.22 1200 hrs

We all got up around 4:30 this morning to finish prepping the boat and we brought up and stowed the anchor just as it was getting light. It was a neat but almost plain sunrise. It was one where the sun was banded in several red layers.

We put up the main, 2 staysails and pulled out the #3 jib (which is now on the roller), and hoisted the weather fisherman. The sails started out on the Starboard side, and sometime when I was napping they moved over to the Port side. Hmmmm... Must have been a bit more tired than I thought.

The winds are currently light, and predicted to go even lighter later, and the seas are a bit rolly with the occasional speed bump that we stuff and lose a bit of speed.

By coincidence, MV Jenny (a Nordhaven) headed out behind us and ran us down in these light conditions and got some great pics as they went by. We are also both following Southern Belle (a 42 Fountain Pajot catamaran) on their trek south. They are maintaining about 3mi at 355 on my radar.

We seem to be in a strange back-eddy wind condition off the coastline. Our autopilot is working hard trying to keep the correct wind angle on the sails, but our path displayed on the computer is pretty wacked and wavy. We got pretty close to the beach and had to tack off for a couple of miles, then back again due to a rowdy wind shift. Richard thinks we really need the practice before we get to Antigua. We did manage to work in a really good sausage-dog and fresh pineapple for lunch. It was a busy watch.

Checking out, headed south.

2008-03-20T16:14:00.001-07:00

3.20.08 Thurs

A quick check in from the local internet bar just up the road from the marina. The guy was a few hours late today but they didn't turn off the wifi so we got some things done before he got here. He just brought us the COLDEST mugs and Pacifico's I have ever been served. The things literally slushed-up when poured.

All week we have been listening to t-pec reports. We are taking a look at the latest online and it looks like we're in our window for transit.

Richard checked us out this afternoon and we are gathering remaining things up off the docks and getting them stowed. We made another run into town for some fresh foodstuffs and also came back with an important bonus cheesecake, limes and pineapple.

We should be out of the marina tomorrow on the tide (sometime around noon) and possibly run out and anchor one more night for early departure Sat morning. I'll try to get back here this evening for another update, depending on how much is going on.

Wikipedia said it pretty good:
Gulf of Tehuantepec (Spanish: Golfo de Tehuantepec) is a large body of water on the Pacific coast of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, southeastern Mexico, at 16° N 94.8333333° W. Most of the hurricanes that form in the Eastern Pacific organize in or near this body of water. A strong, gale force wind called the Tehuano periodically blows out over the waters of the Gulf of Tehuantepec, inducing strong upwelling of nutrient-rich waters which support abundant sea life.

I hear when conditions are right these winds will channel directly through a set of mountains towards the gulf and can get up to 50 knots. Waves build from there. This is why we pay special attention this next leg. We will hug the coast to be safe and offer a better view for the ones on watch.

B

I can name that tune

2008-03-18T21:33:00.000-07:00

3.17.08 - Monday morning we picked up anchor and went around the corner to the marina. The sun tents were stripped the evening before and we were pretty much ready to go early morning. The entrance is a bit shallow so we came in right before the high tide just to be safe. We got into an end tie with just enough water under the keel at low tide to prevent sticking in the mud.

There’s a bit of surge here in the marina and it’s very breezy. Quite different from the rolling anchorage out front of the Las Brisas. We also lost the wifi access (it’s not set up here in the marina as advertised). I also miss the daily activities broadcast from loudspeaker from the resort. It was an annoying but neat way of learning numbers (bente-cinco, bente-cinco... bingo!!!!).

There is a little sidewalk bar right up the street that has free wifi and cheap beer. Can’t beat that. We have to walk up and check/send some email and grab some chips and salsa.

Now out of the rolling anchorage our first job was to tune the rigging. Richard wanted to do this before the t-pec crossing where it can get quite nasty for the unprepared. About 40 cotter pins (split pins for those of you south of the hemisphere) in 15 turnbuckles, a backstay and 4 running backs later, the spars are now all snugged up and ready to go. The forward runners actually ran out of adjustment so we had to cut the cables and refit the norseman fittings which took a good part of rest of the day.

Today [Tuesday] our job was to find the deck and give it a good washdown. She is looking like new but it was a couple hours of work. The girls and Richard taxied into town and picked up the first wave of provisions. Richard also scheduled for a ride into town from Enrique the marina manager for some fuel, propane, and one of the other guys riding along needed some ice. The truck was packed and we rode in back on top of the fuel just like the locals. That was fun. We miss out on great stuff like that in CA now.

Tomorrow if the breeze calms down a bit I heard some plans about taking the jib off the roller and putting the #3(smaller cut for bigger winds) on in it’s place. All hands ready for a folding party? We also need to dump the fuel into the tanks.

So today's blog is dedicated to the working side of cruising. I still don't think I will get any sympathy tho.

Filbert’s "Paws-On" - Coconuts 101

2008-03-15T11:26:00.000-07:00

Filbert wants us all to know that this is not just a lazy- leisure cruise. He is on a quest. This is also a learning cruise. One of the goals of this trip was to learn a bit more about the mysterious coconut.

For a while now, Filbert has only heard rumors and seen a few pictures but has wanted to see this “king of nuts” for himself. On the last walk into town, it was fate that almost hit him (there are no monkeys yet) on the head with his first subject. Boy was he excited! This thing was way bigger than him.

From what he has heard, there are many phases of a coconut, and he wants to see them all. This one represented probably the last phase. It was old, dark on the outside, and even had a sprout beginning to poke out of one end. When shook, it rattled instead of swished. Since it fell out of the tree, it was pretty much ready to sprout a another tree. This is what we want.

He borrowed a sharp knife (wynona 2) and hacked at it for quite a while. It’s husk was tough on the outside, but a bit softer and fibrous on the inside. It trimmed away like a soft wood, but potential for cut fur and his own spilled sawdust was very high so he was very careful. It wasn’t long before it was halved to the hull.

With the aid of a big screwdriver and a bit more work the softball sized coconut ripped from the remaining husk. A few quick raps of the handle of the screwdriver broke it almost perfect in halves. Inside was yet another ball. It was soft and spongy and the source of the rattle. The guess is the milk turns to a solid as the seed gets ready to sprout. Filbert hears that if you get to it right before it sprouts, That milk ball can be quite a tasty chew. In our case, since our first subject had already sprouted, the milk ball was a bit dried out. (we did not get pics of that-oops!). However, in further exploring the rest of the nut, the inner side of the hull had the classic coconut meat still quite tasty. It was oily and rich and reminded filbert of a brazil nut.

A neat find, and we will keep all eyes open for more of these. The research continues.
After finishing and cleaning up, filbert starts to get another idea...
Hmmmmm.
More Filbert later.

Huatulco Legend- caution learning content ahead!

2008-03-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

Huatulco is Nahuatl for “place where the wood is adored”. Legend says 2000 years ago, the apostle St. Thomas floated ashore atop a gnarled tree shaped like a cross, set it into the main beach sand and taught the locals to worship it - which they did for 15 centuries.

In 1587, the pirate Cavendish decided it was the devil’s work, so, failing to chop and burn down the Cruz de Huatulco he tied lines from his ship and tried repeatedly to pull it down. Cross 1, Cavendish 0.

In 1611, Oaxaca’s Spanish bishop examined the cross and found it’s base buried in less than 20 inches of sand; a miracle. Renaming the bay Bahia Santa Cruz, he removed the original cross, fragmented it into smaller ones and distributed them around Mexico and Rome. Sans cross and abandoned as a port, the little bay slumbered for 372 years.

When Fonatur built the darsena in 1983, they resurrected the bay’s native name Huatulco.

From the Mexico Boating Guide - Captain Rains Guide
(I thought the story was neat - B)

Huatulco and relaxing

2008-03-13T15:54:00.000-07:00

Thursday, I think.

We've been enojying a little harbor just around the corner from the real commercial marina in Huatulco, but it's quiet. We are just off the beach in a cove of about 5 different resorts, one of which is a Las Brisas(formerly club med). It's a bit rolly, but for a 60 ton girl like Astor it is nothing. We get buzzed by jetskis and the occasional "guest" catamaran funboat and we had a local on a paddleboard come out and say he likes us out here because the guests like the pretty sailboat to look at. Neat. Sometimes we hear their bingo caller, and dance music drifting on the wind all the way out here into the wee hours, but methinks it could be worse.

Internet has been spotty for me because my wifi card has been quite the picky little thing(and that's being nice). I've lost a few reports due to a lost connect and I've come very close to seeing how many times it will skip across the harbor - Oh well. time for another marguerita. Richard has a new antenna and card that pretty much gets him access whenever he wants and I can't let him get away with that. I'm still working on mine and seems like a few bugs are chased away. I can see about 20 different nodes, but all are secure for guests, but every now and then there are two that appear that we can get into. That is when I can post.

We are here for fuel, which we will get tomorrow. and reports on how the winds are acting in the Golfo de Tehuantepec. That is our next big jump. For now we enjoy a good book on deck, the occasional chore, or a run into town.

Yesterday we were treated to a few shows by the local water critters. For some reason there are baby manta rays that just love jumping out of the water. They land with a big belly flop but they keep doing it again and again, sometimes two at a time. This morning, we were surrounded by a hundred little jelly fish. They were quite mesmerizing to watch. Paula wouldn't let me poke at them tho.

Today, we did the town. It's not too far (like a mile) and Amit, Paula and I hoofed it just for the exercise. We found it full of life and the people amazingly friendly. Once we figured out the town 'centro' we had it all. We bought some bread treats for tomorrow (a big bag of assorted styles) for under 4 bucks, stopped in a sidewalk shop and had a great lunch and beers, wandered around for several blocks and found a fresh fruit shop and got some limes, stopped in for some ice-cream in the park centro, and took a taxi home for a couple of bucks. We wanted to go check out the church, but the guy closed the doors right when we were walking up to it. What is he tryig to say?

Neat town. One would need a week to explore all the little shops and side streets. What a day.

Headed for Huatalco

2008-03-11T12:52:00.000-07:00

We had a good ride for the afternoon, but by sundown the wind had tapered down to barely a puff. We brought down everything but the staysails and cleaned the decks before it got totally dark.

By then we picked up a stray passenger. A bird (not quite sure what he is at the moment) had landed on the dinghy and stayed there the whole time we were taking down the sails. He looks sorta frazzled so we let him hang out. It's after midnight now and I just walked the decks and he is still there, head curled around and sleeping. We might just have to put him to work if he is still there tomorrow.

This evening we were also treated to an interesting light show. There were pockets of light firing off at different places in the water all around the boat. Some near the surface were quite bright, then others deep. They weren't only right next to the boat, but some quite far out too. The little balls of bio-light were about the size of a golf ball to a baseball and some lasted more than 2 seconds. Quite the strange things. Paula said she saw the same things on her trip aboard Beach Acess but nobody believed her.

We should be arriving into Huatalco tomorrow around sunrise. A new day and a new port. We will probably spend a few days there and we will start watching for a weather window for the jump across the Gulf de Tehuantepec. We hear it can get quite nasty out there.

Muchas Tortugas! Nautical Speed bumps?

2008-03-11T12:48:00.000-07:00

Monday, March 10th

One can miss quite a lot if you don't get out and look around. This morning we cut through a mine field of sea turtles sunning on the surface. No worries about hitting them tho. The close ones would get nervous, flap around a bit and get out of the way. Others would poke their heads up and take a dive if we passed too close. This went on for several miles or at least more than an hour because I missed a log entry due to the neat distraction(oops). It's good to see so many of them.

We cut down the revs on the motor (1200) to slow down a bit, and this also saves fuel. There is no sign of wind yet and ETA on Huatulco is around 5am so why rush? We still have about 80 miles to go. Over the last few hours the winds are starting to build a bit. It would be nice to get some sails up and some quiet time though. That's baja sailing I guess!

1330 hours and sure enough we got the wind we were hoping for. We put up the main sail, rolled out the jib and hoisted the fisherman. We turned off the motor and the silence was deafening. Now we are schooning along at 7.5 knots in 10.2 knots of wind. Very nice!

Newest crew member Amit(ah-meet) is doing well and seems to be enjoying the cruise. He is 25, and hails from Israel. His sailing experience and passion of the sea comes from many years aboard their family yacht "Lou" a 38 ft Jeanneau. As if that sea time was not enough, we are currently borrowing him from the Israeli Navy as he is between contracts. It is required for all young adults to enlist for at least 3 years, but he has been in for the last 7. Plans are to renew when he gets back and continue until retirement. It is common to take a break between contracts and he thought he'd try something different. That is when he saw an opening aboard Astor on "Find a Crew". Welcome aboard Amit.

Farewell to Acapulco

2008-03-11T12:21:00.000-07:00

Sunday, March 9th

With fond regrets, we bid farewell to Acapulco this morning around 0730 and have had light winds so we are motoring. We are expecting a current so we are trying to first guess where it is, then avoid it. We'll see how we do.

It's a beautiful day and we were seen off by a small pod of dolphins. Shifts have been assigned and now that everything has been secured for the moment all hands are off in their lost corners of the boat. Throughout the day we have chased variable winds and had the jib out for a while, but still motoring. We have the lures out and managed to hook up to a small dorado but that poor little guy would have barely been a snack for Amit so we tossed him back so he can grow a bit more. We went through the most amazing frenzy of churning water for quite a while and were surprised we did not hook up again.

Sundown now and the skies grow darker by the minute. There is only a sliver of a moon and the night is cooling off. It's going to be a neat night to sit in the cockpit under the stars.

Exploring Acapulco

2008-03-08T14:45:00.000-08:00

Hey, it's been fun.
Yesterday was a bit busy running around town and exploring sections of the city. We got into the big vendor area that exists more for the touristas seeing as it is placed directly off the docks from the cruise ships. We got away from that and picked up some stores for the boat, as well as a bit of trinkets from the best jewelry shop in town. Right in the door they handed us all marguritas as we shopped. NICE tactic!

Today we sorta scrambled up early with 5 blasts of an air horn. Richard was up and saw the nearby boat "Marythought" was drifting down towards us. We had our dink launched in record time and ready to assist but they missed us and had their engine started before the got into too much trouble. It was a good exercise.

We dove right in to a bunch of boat chores. Richard dove right into installing the new inverter and new crewmate Amit and my job was to replace a blown out piston hank on the main staysail and while the stuff was out we replaced a few others that were really worn.

Around noon we snuck off to the cliff divers and had a few drinks, chips and salsa. Some of those guys were pretty good, but they had quite a racket going. We hit a few more shops on the way back looking for a few things but got out of town when we saw yet another cruise ship docking. It's going to be a busy night on the strip tonight. We can hear the clubs across the water till the very late hours every night.

With only a few things left to stow, and storm covers to put on, I hear we should be out tomorrow morning for Hualtuco. There we sill spend a few days, check out from Mexico, and continue south.

A start with style

2008-03-06T13:29:00.000-08:00

What started out as a very busy day turned into a flawless transit from a to b. From gettng out the door a bit late, we got to the airport with just barely enough time to get thru the LAX check-in procedures ONLY if everything went perfect. It did. It might have also been the fact that there were minimum crowds because it was midnight. The boarding was non-event and the flight was a bit rough because those seats were not designed for the sleepy in mind. I think I'll have to write a memo.

The stopover in Mex City went off without a problem. We managed a quick breakfast before boarding the next plane without problems, off the plane and thru customs was a breeze, straight to a waiting taxi and a quick tour through the very clean surrounds of Acapulco over to the 'yachtie' parts of the city. The only glitch that caught up to us was that our driver did not know exactly where the "Club de Yates" was located and tried to drop us off at the cruise ship docks. We drove down the road a bit farther and spied Astor sitting on her mooring (not too difficult to spot tho). We got out at the fishing village and figured I'd talk my way onto a ponga. I was led directly to a very friendly local named Vicete who was very familiar with the boat because he owns the can Astor was on. He was waiting for me. He has been the personal Astor ambassador since they have been down here.

Can you believe the luck?

I sit here enjoying a very pleasant breeze, poolside at an awesome yacht club tapping out an update.

Very nice, but I didn't come all this way to play on a computer.

(I was going to upload some pics, but I seemed to have left my card reader in another bag. I'll post later when I find it.)

And so it begins.

2008-03-05T07:10:00.000-08:00

Ready or not the day has come. If all goes according to schedule, tonight Paula and I are on a red-eye out of LAX and headed down to meet up with Astor once again. I have been buttoning up things for the last couple of months as best as I can, and trying to predict the odd things that might come up, but it's time to go.

Some of you might know P and I helped crew her down to PV over the xmas/nyear weeks. It was a great trip, but tough. The boat has hopped south a couple of times since and mostly enjoyed the mexican coast but it is time to head south a bit more. The plan description is billed as a few overnight jumps, a few stops along the way(I've heard that before), and eventually ending up in Costa Rica . That is about another 1000 miles.

When out in open water, I'll be sending in updates via HF radio uplink from time to time and my assistant will post them here and maybe even mailing raw copies to assorted people. When in port and I get wifi access I will upload pics and do a few updates from the field. I'm not sure which accounts I will have access to- so for now you can send messages to [prestoffcenter@gmail.com] and it should find way to the boat. This may change as I try different things.

Enjoy the logs. Feel free to comment here, and even send notes out our way. We like mail. No spam, or long winded jokes tho. Images will get filtered out in the radio mail system.

Off to find the edge...
Arrrrrrgh.

B

Beauty in chaos

2008-03-03T22:36:00.000-08:00

Amidst all of the daily druge reports, city hustle, bad economic times and the generally dark news it doesn't take much looking around before one feels down. Maybe if you put on some different colored glasses one just might realize we live in some pretty cool times. The tech we get to play with today is pretty cool, and around the corner are creative people making even cooler toys.

One of these toys just happens to be another set of those "glasses" but when applied it allows a wearer to see things in a different light. I wish we had this stuff when we were kids.

Today's point? How many people cruise the highway every day and just see it as means to get to the other end? I stumbled upon this particular interchange when following wife Paula and her sis as they drove to Ohio one summer. Just for fun I installed a tracker in the car and checked on their progress. I found them in Amarillo, Tx that day, and caught this as they drove by.

I just had to stop and appreciate the guy that sat down and scratched this interchange on paper. He could have taken less time and done alot worse for sure. I bet the crew on the ground paving and striping didn't even know how neat this looks from above. Just like the giant hieroglyphs scratched in the sands by our ancestors, man still makes pictures for aliens to enjoy in case they wander by. Maybe it's a form of large scale graffiti?

Thanks Google Earth for being the cool tech that shows us the beauty in the chaos. It's actually all around but we usually don't stop to notice it. (btw- yes, Paula and her sis missed it too)

Ok- so I might also be a road geek. But if I'm ever in Amarillo, I'm gonna go try this thing out.

Unauthorized use of s-vac

2008-03-01T14:02:00.000-08:00

So it's been pretty busy month around here as I run around in an attempt to close up projects so I can feel good about leaving again for a while. A few weeks ago I am working in the yard and I hear the most amazing and indescribable noise that I can only describe as 20 weed whackers going at once. It was right over my head. Someone decided it was a great day to move and my house was picked as being pretty cool. I could only watch as a HUGE swarm of bees slowly disappeared through a little crack in my eve and into the attic somewhere.

Egads... something else to deal with. Add it to the list! [sigh]

For the next couple of days I watched as a few bees would come/go but it showed no signs of what actually went in there. If I hadn't been a direct witness I would never have believed it and might not have even noticed them. When called, exterminators said the bees might actually just be using it as a rest stop and they won't send anybody out for about a week. There was a bit of hope when we had a real cold couple of nights and I hardly saw anything for a while. Upon the next warm day they were quite active again tho.

I decided it was time to deal with it, but I needed to reduce the numbers a bit. So I set up a bee-sucker. I had a 10ft section of 4 in plastic pipe that I propped up with a ladder towards the opening they were using and duct taped the hose of my shop-vac to the lower end. That worked very well. Once the little guys wandered over to see what this big new thing was, there was no going back. An unplanned bonus was the tumbling down the pipe and hose broke up the little guys into bits so I didn't have a 6 gallon drum of really angry buzzers in the end. After a couple of days of this (random running) I had about 100 in the catcher. I picked another cold evening to go hunt for the rest of them. I got lucky that they had not ventured into unreachable depths of the attic, and only had to pull down a couple of boards until I found them.

I had my sucker hose ready in case I pissed them off, but they actually were quite docile. They had been busy. There were about six layers double sided, many all filled up with honey and some even capped off. I watched them crawling around for quite a while and I momentarily thought of some sort of capture/recovery, but decided I had no way of knowing if they were violent (Africanized) or not. If I wanted to try the sticky business, now would not be the time to do it.

In an attempt to suck up a few more before I decide what the next move would be, I stuck in the end of the shopvac hose. I kept getting closer, and found out those little guys can sure hold on. Then my nozzle stuck to the first layer of comb which tore off and plugged up my only line of defense. In a brief personal moment I thought "this is gonna hurt" and as I fought off the urge to scream like a little girl and run, the bees surprised me and stayed clinging onto the comb as the chunk slowly sucked into the end, turned and fully disappeared with a big "floomp". It was then that I was glad I bought the 6.5 hp shopvac instead of a lesser model. With new warrior confidence the rest of the combs went like the first and the whole process was almost as much as a non-event as I could have hoped. I never did spot the queen, but I'm pretty sure I got everybody.

I'm kinda bummed about killing the whole colony, but wild bees are quite a problem in the area and they don't really belong in the city. Besides, they had no bizz-ness hanging out in my attic.

I can now add bee-executioner to my long list of talents.
-B

Testing- testing... Is this thing on?

2008-02-20T07:41:00.000-08:00

Ok. after many suggestive hints, I submit. I'll tinker with a blog and see if I have the mentality to provide others with another sight to check out from time to time.

This will be tweaked a bit until I get it to a point that is comfy.
Much to do today tho.
Back later