The adventures of Cheshire, the cat

Panama and the Galapagos Islands

2009-09-19T22:03:00.007+12:00

March 21, 2006
Underway again

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been gone from Trinidad nearly a month now. Tomorrow, Wednesday, we will leave Curacao and the Eastern Caribbean, where we spent nearly a year. We have been waiting here for good weather to the west, which means winds of 25 knots or less and waves less than 10 feet. The stretch of water in our path is infamous for difficult conditions; friends of ours who sailed around the world said it was the worst weather on their trip. The strong easterly trades from the Atlantic collide with winds rushing down from the Andes, and an east flowing current near shore. So, it’s worth it to wait a bit.

We’ll sail around the northern tip of Colombia, then west to the San Blas Islands off Panama’s south coast before making for Colon and the Panama Canal. The San Blas are also well known among cruisers as lovely and mostly undeveloped. They are a remote, semi autonomous region in Panama, governed by the Kuna Indians who live there. Lots of lovely anchorages, snorkeling and maybe a lobster or 2... The remoteness means we’ll be out of touch for 3 weeks or so, but I should have plenty of time to write once in Colon, as the wait to transit the Canal is 3 weeks or so.

Hope you are well and spring is arriving on schedule!
David and Susanne

May 2, 2006

We spent over 3 weeks in the San Blas Islands, east of Colon and the Panama Canal. I had been planning on about 2 weeks, as spring is coming on and we want to be in the South Pacific for as much of the summer cruising season as possible. But I am very glad we extended our stay. The San Blas are the nicest place we have yet visited on our trip, and we spent a real vacation there. There are over 300 islands in the archipelago, which stretches down to the Colombian border. You could compare it politically with the US Indian reservation system, but it is very different in that it is their land which they fought to defend in 1925. Backing from the US ensured a higher degree of self governance than that enjoyed by other Native American groups in Panama.

Visiting a Kuna village

Many Kunas live in families, in thatched huts of tightly woven bamboo. Most of them live in villages on islands or on the mainland, a few, such as the Flores family that I met, live on separate islands but are still connected to a village. Although the villages can be quite crowded, they are very clean, if a bit smoky from the woodfires still widely used for cooking. Bits of modernity have crept in, Kunas in the western San Blas are in reach of cell towers and some have cell phones. Villages have generators and solar powered payphones, and some huts had propane powered refrigerators, stoves, and/or TVs. Most families have at least one ulu, dugout canoe, that is the car. During morning rush hour, groups of ulus paddle or sail off to fishing spots or to family farm plots on the mainland, returning in the afternoon. All the land belongs to somebody, although the sea appeared to be a common resource.

A pair of traditional Kuna molas

The most well know thing about the Kunas are their molas. These are works of embroidery, normally about 12 x 18 inches, that Kuna women make in similar, but not identical, pairs and wear as part of their blouses. I found it hard to appreciate them till I began to look at them closely. A traditional mola is an intricate geometric pattern cut from yellow, orange, burgundy and/or black cloth in layers and stitched together. The sizing of the components is ideally regular, and the stitching is very fine and in the same color as the layer, rendering it nearly invisible. The patterns are usually abstractions of trees, mountains, or the elements of a family. More recently, other colours have come into use, and more representational images show up. Sometimes these are of things in the Kuna world, and sometimes copied from outside. I saw a Pokemon mola, and one of the RCA dog listening to “his master’s voice” on the gramophone!

Mola ladies converge on Cheshire

In most anchorages, mola ladies visited the boat with their wares to entice me to buy, although a smiling denial of “no compramos ahora, gracias,” was well received. I visited several villages known for good molas, once as part of a small group which was fun and leveraged our buying power. It was easier to negotiate prices when we were buying several, and could split pairs.

A San Blas sunset

We visited 20 anchorages, 2 twice, mostly away from villages. We would get up, listen to the daily radio net, do a boat project, snorkel, eat lunch, maybe move the boat a few miles, snorkel, and prepare dinner to a lovely sunset. Sometimes we met up with other cruisers but mostly we relaxed on our own. I was glad to have brought lots of groceries as there is not much available in the San Blas. Fresh produce are available irregularly, when small freighters from Colombia or western Panama cruise through, and Kunas make a tasty bread that is like a baby baguette, but a little denser.

Yup, that’s 4 feet under the keel!

Snorkelling in the shallows around the islands was generally good, and fabulous when we could find a nice drop off on a sunny day. The colors of the corals, sponges and fish were like an animated stained glass window, and the more I looked the more I saw. Corals were usually soft earth tones, pale yellow, umber, sage green, soft lavender, in a wild variety of shapes: brain coral, helmets, stag branches, elk horns and fan branches. Sponges were sci fi tubes and odd shapes, in bright yellows, oranges and purples. Fish were every color, often shifting as they swam through the light as though they were made of Thai silk. It was always interesting to see what looked like a vividly patterned, visible fish swim into a coral outcropping or even drop to the bottom, and blend in so well you would not have known he was there. We saw squid (they liked hanging out under Cheshire), nurse and reef sharks, a tiny seahorse, sting rays and, (my favorite) eagle rays, cruising by majestically with a pilot fish riding along. Unfortunately we also saw 2 Portuguese man o war jellyfish towards the end of our stay, which almost scared me out of the water.

The only disappointment was that David was hoping to catch crabs and lobsters. Unfortunately they went out of season just as we arrived; we noticed that they seemed to be molting. This didn’t stop visits from Kunas trying to sell them to us, as well as fish. Also he did not see as many crustaceans as he would have expected, and those were small. The Kunas go after them pretty aggressively and sell them to buyers for restaurants. But David did manage to catch several tasty fish, usually just as we were getting ready to anchor.

Chileans on Cheshire

When we arrived, we met a band of young Chilean musicians making their way home from an extended tour which included Seattle! They were nice lads, performing at night at the restaurant while waiting to find a boat to take them and their manager, aka their dog Aurelio, towards Colombia and home. We gave them a ride onwards 20 miles, their first sailboat trip, and everyone, with the possible exception of Aurelio who seemed a bit anxious, had a good time.

Don Marcy and friends in Portobello

Finally it came time to leave the San Blas, westwards towards Colon and the Canal. We stopped overnight in the town of Portobello, lovely port, named by Cristobal Colon himself and one of the former depots for the annual Spanish treasure fleet. This resulted in several forts around the bay and visits from worthies such as Sir Francis Drake, who is reported to have been buried at sea just outside the harbor, near Drake Island. As we looked for a place to anchor, David saw a familiar Cal 34 with burgundy trim, and sure enough we read Merinda, Olympia on the side. It was our former Martin Marina neighbor Don Marcy, who sailed south over 10 years ago and had been in Panama for 2 years. We spent an enjoyable evening catching up over pizza before continuing in opposite directions; he to Cartagena, we on into Colon harbor.

Sailing past Jean

We traveled to Colon in company with 2 other boats: Jean, a Moorings Leopard 38 and Moonshadow. We gave them an hour head start and passed them before sailing through the harbour breakwater. You can take the racer cruising, but you can’t take the racing out of the cruiser, I guess...

May 5, 2006
Yahoo, we are going through the Canal!

Our transit date was moved up to May 8, thanks to a timely phone call to the Canal Authority from yours truly to snag a vacant spot, a whole week earlier than originally scheduled. This means that Mark, David’s brother who is visiting us, will be able to do the transit with us. We will also have as crew Breeze and Debbie Filina, from Blue Sky.

Since a transit is a 2 day affair, we’ll start Monday evening and complete it Tuesday afternoon. There are 2 webcams on the Canal, one at Gatun and one at Miraflores. We will lock up at Gatun at night, and it will be difficult to predict when and to see us. We should pass through Miraflores sometime after 1 on Tuesday, so try to watch for us then.

We have done one transit on our friend’s boat, so have an idea of what to expect. It will be a little scarier on our own boat but we are looking forward to it and to be out of Colon and back into the home waters of the Pacific.

We’ll be joined by Cindy Mullins on May 17 in Panama City for the trip to the Galapagos. Then it’s on to the S. Pacific!! I'll write more after the transit. Wish us luck!

May 15, 2006
Through the Canal and into the Pacific

We’ve now been in Balboa, Panama nearly a week after a pleasantly uneventful transit of the Panama Canal. The week leading up to it, however, was anything but uneventful. Since it is necessary to have four line handlers in addition to the skipper on the boat, plus advisors supplied by the Canal, many of us cruisers line handle for each other, usually before we go on our own boats. This not only saves money, hiring them can cost up to $140 each, but is a good way to get insight into how it works before it is your turn on your boat.

Transit on Midnight Blue

We line handled for our friend Tim on Midnight Blue on April 29-30, then spent the next day checking out Panama City (grocery stores, chandleries and a good Chinese restaurant), before heading back on the bus to Colon. David’s brother Mark was due to show up the next day, but as we feared his journey to the boat did not go quite as planned, and he did not arrive till May 3. In the mean time, the people who had promised to line handle for us backed out, so we needed to recruit 3 line handlers for our own transit. After a day plus of dinghying around the anchorage and knocking on hulls: “Hi, I’m Susanne from Cheshire, are you available to line handle for us?” Boy, did that get old fast. I was getting despondent, and David and Mark really wanted to escape Colon for some R&R: read fishing. Fortunately some new boats showed up, and I was off like a flash with David to sign them up first! Then, our transit date got moved up to May 8, and Mark could go with us, so all of a sudden we were set.

David and Mark fishing en route to the Chagres

We were able to get out of Colon and go a few miles down the coast to the Rio Chagres, a lovely jungle river complete with alligators, toucans and some boat friends from the San Blas. David and Mark had fun chasing and catch two fishes, but we were seduced by lobster soup with our friends on Australia 31 for dinner. We also enjoyed a nice hike on an abandoned railroad grade before heading back Colon-ward, one day to go to the transit!

Cheshire’s canal crew

May 8 went by in a flash with groceries and other final errands, then we ferried our line handlers Debbie and Breeze of Blue Sky to Cheshire. We knew they would fit right in when Breeze started singing along to David’s latest Frank Zappa album! Jimmy Wong, our first advisor, showed up around 6:00 PM and requested an early dinner as we were scheduled to begin locking up in Gatun at 7. We were rafted with Manukai and Zeferin on the outside, as we had the smallest motor at 25 HP. We had met Zeferin, Sandy and Joan, in Trinidad, and Manukai, Harley and Jennifer, joined us to line handle on Midnight Blue, so we were in good and friendly company. All went smoothly as we rose the 80 feet up to Lake Gatun, bidding farewell to the Caribbean which has been our home for 1 day shy of a year. We tied to a mooring ball in the Lake, and the boys went off to celebrate with the other boats while I faceplanted after 1 glass of wine; just like after O-My-God races…

Ruben and the Ames brothers

Next morning David and Mark got in a quick fishing trip, and caught one rainbow bass. While I jumped in for a refreshing dip, first looking around for alligators! Just before our next advisor Ruben arrived. Jimmy had successfully passed along our request for ice for the cooler, as it can get very hot. Ruben brought so much that we shared with Zeferin and Manukai. Ruben spoke excellent English and was the most outgoing advisor we met, holding forth on the state of affairs in the canal zone, how the ship traffic was managed, etc. Unfortunately I was galley slaving most of the time so just caught bits, but the 30 mile trip to Pedro Miguel lock went very quickly. The down locks at Pedro Miguel and Miraflores went just as smoothly as the up locks had. The only bummer was that we were too far back in the Miraflores locks for the web cam to see us! Oh well.

Panama Canal locks

By 3 PM Cheshire’s hulls were in our home ocean of the Pacific, and Ruben let me do a little happy dance on the foredeck, which I was forbidden earlier as it might have jinxed the remainder of the trip. Off we went to the Balboa Yacht Club where we took a mooring, and saw off Debbie and Breeze. That night we joined Harley and Jennifer for a delicious dinner in the old quarter to celebrate their anniversary and Mark’s departure the next day, although once again I was fighting the desire to face plant. It was amazing how tired I got even though I didn’t physically do a lot or even feel too stressed.

In the week since, we have been tackling boat chores in preparation for the trip to the Galapagos and French Polynesia. We will be joined on the 17th by our friend Cindy Mullins for the Galapagos leg and hope to leave Panama by the 19th. Friends on boats ahead warn of windless conditions and adverse current for the first part of the trip, so I suspect we will motor for the first few days. Every time we prepare for a trip, it always seems a bit scary, but gets a little easier as we get more used to the routine.

We are facing some big decisions soon that will determine our itinerary for the next 18 months, the critical issue being where we go to avoid next winter’s South Pacific Cyclone season. The 2 main choices are New Zealand or the Marshall islands. We’ve found that the following things are important to us:

Not going to too many places and feeling rushed
Going to places that are best or only visited by boat
Getting off the cruiser highway to where there are fewer boats
Having time to get to know local places and people
Doing routes that are a little challenging but that don’t stress us or Cheshire too much

At the moment, we are leaning towards entering French Polynesia via the Gambier islands, at the end of the Tuomotu archipelago; rather than the Marquesas islands, to which most cruisers go to as their first landfall. The Gambiers are more remote and less visited, and would also be hard to get back to later in the trip. It will add about 2 days overall as going to the Marquesas, but it seems like it might be worth it. Next, we will want to be near Papeete during Bastille day festivities in mid July, which feature lots of local events such as dance competitions.

So many lovely Pacific islands to visit, and we are finally getting closer!

Love, David and Susanne
Balboa, Panama

June 9, 2006
We made it to the Galapagos Islands!

It’s too hot for clothes at the Equator

We are anchored in Wreck Bay, on Isla San Cristobal in the Galapagos after a 10 day passage from the Perlas Islands in Panama. This was a fairly difficult passage as it was upwind, and during the first half we had either little to no wind or occaionally too much as we made our way through the doldrums and squalls. We celebrated my birthday on June 5, and our equatorial crossing on June 6, with cake and champagne, pouring a little over the side to keep Neptune happy. We arrived here on June 7.

We’re not sure yet how long we’ll stay as we need to fix a few things. This passage is quite hard on boats; several we know broke backstays and forestays, and one ripped a sail. From here, we’ll sail to French Polynesia. At this point we are interested in going to the Gambier Islands, at the SE end of the Tuamotu archipelago, rather than to the traditional destination of the Marquesas, because it is less visited and would be difficult to go to from anywhere else. We would then cruise through part of the Tuamotus to Tahiti and Moorea, and on west from there.

Cindy flew down to join us in Panama, but we were delayed too long for her to make the passage with us. This may have been for the best because that was one of the worst passages we've had - contrary winds, unpleasant seas, the possibility of scary pirates around Isla Malpelo..

I will write more soon about the passage from Panama, and about the Galapagos which promises to be a very interesting visit.

Hasta la proxima ves
Susanne y David

June 20, 2006
Galapagos Update

Results of a rough passage

We’ve stayed here in San Cristobal a little longer than we had planned, as we found several things that needed attention before we continued our journey. We took a lot of pounding under the bridgedeck on the trip from Panama, resulting in a sprung support, as well as cracking and evidence of flexing where some of the panels were unsupported. So David has been reinforcing these areas, while I have been fixing leaks and reinforcing the batten pockets on the mainsail. We’ve also done laundry, topped off fuel, water and provisions, though what is available here is basic and expensive. However the next leg will be between 2-3 weeks, with likely even fewer and more expensive provisions available at the end.

La Loberia beach

The Galapagos islands are volcanic, with sparse, scrubby vegetation. It’s a bit like the area around Bend in Eastern Oregon. We’ve walked to the interpretative center and the Loberia, or sea lion beach. Yesterday we joined Ann from Bogtrotter in a tour of the island with Darwin, a local taxi driver. We walked around the crater of El Junco, an inactive volcano with a small lake in its crater and visited the Galapagueria, a reserve for breeding the local tortoise species in captivity. There are an estimated 1500 tortoises left here, and the young are vulnerable to predation by hawks as well as from many of the introduced species such as rats and feral cats. I haven’t seen turtle soup on any menus, so I assume the threat from humans is less than it used to be. Whalers used to stop in the islands and fill their holds with turtles, who can live for months without food and water. As a result, three of the fourteen species that used to exist in the islands are extinct, and Lonesome George is the last member of another species on Santa Cruz.

Was it good for you, too?

These tortoises were smaller than the leatherbacks we saw in Trinidad, but still quite formidable. They can reach 80 pounds and live as long as 150 years. The breeding program is recently successful. Genesis is the first turtle born there and is now just over a year old, with a shell about 9 inches across. Since then 10 more juveniles have hatched and are waiting to grow large enough to safely roam outside their pens.

Can you spot the iguana?

On our walk to the sea lion beach, we also saw large black iguanas. They are well camouflaged, looking as though someone animated the boulders that they like to bask upon. We saw one when he moved, then another, then five, then fourteen! photo They spit when we got too close.

An uninvited guest

The sea lions, on the other hand, appear pretty fearless. There are a number in the harbor, and just like their cousins in the Pacific Northwest, they love to bask on boats. Like several other cruisers, we returned one day to find one stretched out on the transom! Fortunately he, or she, left when requested. Our friends on Saudade were not so lucky. Their visitors hissed at them when we returned from dinner, forcing them to climb on the other side of the boat! We notice that many local boats are adorned with barbed wire to keep them off.

Although we are ready to move on, we have had a very pleasant stay here. Restaurants have been plentiful and cheap, although they mostly serve the same 4-5 items. The climate is cool and dry, with occasional showers but short in duration. We have had a large swell for the last few days, probably from a storm somewhere to the south, which got so large that the water taxis stopped running before we returned to Cheshire. Fortunately we were able to bum a ride with a tender from a tour boat. We prepared Cheshire for a hasty exit if necessary, but rode out the night OK.

From here, we will go to Puerto Ayora, aka Academy Bay, on Santa Cruz for a day or two, to see the Darwin Institute and a few other sights. We also hope to find a few things, such as aluminum plate to reinforce the solar panel brackets, since that is the largest town in the islands. Our last stop here will be Puerto Vilamil on Isla Islabela. From there, we begin the longest passage of our trip so far: 2900+ miles SW to the Gambier Islands on the SE end of the Tuamotu archipelago, in French Polynesia. Most boats go to the Marquesas islands, nearly the same distance at 3000 miles. However the trip to the Marquesas is attractive because there is usually more downwind sailing, and the Marquesas are about 150 miles closer to Tahiti with more possible stops between.

We had originally planned to go the the Marquesas, and may still if we find the trip to the Gambiers more upwind than we prefer. However the Gambiers are appealing for two reasons: they are off the “Coconut Milk Highway”, with fewer visitors; and we will likely visit the Marquesas when it comes time to sail back to the Pacific NW, so why go twice?

Now that we are approaching the South Pacific cruising grounds, it’s easier to think about how to plan our itinerary. The wind and cyclone season dictate where and how we can travel. The tradewinds here below the equator are from the SE, sometimes more S, sometimes more E. This means that as one moves west, it is pretty tough to get back east because you have to fight the prevailing winds. We’re now thinking about going to NZ instead of the Marshalls this winter. Although the passage there can be difficult, we will need to do some more boatwork, and fellow travelers have been seducing David with tales of large and wily brown trout to be found in the South Islands.

To get to New Zealand from the Gambiers, we’re thinking as follows for an itinerary: Tahiti, possibly with stops in the S Tuamotus although presently we have very little chart detail of these areas; the other society islands: Moorea, Bora Bora, etc; one or more of the Southern Cook Islands; the island nation of Niue; and Tonga. This feels fairly doable in the months that we have left before the end of the year, which is when the South Pacific cyclone season begins.

But there are so many other islands, especially in the western Pacific which is also somewhat off the Coconut Milk Highway! So if finances permit, we may stay out another year and explore Fiji, Vanuatu, the Solomons, the Marshalls, Tuvalu and/or Kiribati. Then in 2008 we’d head south again, probably stopping in New Zealand, and seek the westerlies that lie below 30 degrees south in order to wail back towards the Americas and home. This is a challenging passage: windy, long, cold and with no stops before the Austral Islands of French Polynesia. Then we’d cruise up through Tahiti, the northern Tuamotus and the Marquesas before the trip to Hawaii and then home to WA, in the fall.

It seems like so much time, four years versus our original two, but we have come to appreciate how much time one needs for these trips even when things go as planned; which is rare. And while we are out, I’d like to explore as much of the area as possible, especially less frequented islands such as those in Micronesia. We may come this way again, but I know not to count on it, and if we do, why then we will have a better sense of where we want to go.

For Dick and Jane, and others interested in our progress, our final waypoint off the Gambiers is 23 20 S, 134 50 W. I am trying to subscribe to Yotreps, which can provide near daily reports on our progress, and if I am successful I will let you know how to find us. I hope you are ready for a great summer.

Happy Fathers Day from David and Susanne!

French Polynesia and Aitutaki

2009-08-28T14:40:00.018+12:00

August 31, 2006
Here we are in Tahiti

Lovely trail to the galapagueria

Pink flamingo

Hello all! I apologize for the long silence. We have been enjoying, most days, our travels from the Galapagos to and through French Polynesia. So much has happened since I last wrote that I will cover our latest adventures in several installments.

Our last stop in the Galapagos was Isla Isabela, largest of the islands, where we spent 10 days anchored off Puerto Vilamil. This was our favorite place. The town is small but had everything we needed, and several nice little restaurants. A lovely white sand beach extends west of the town for several miles, and there are nearby swamps where flamingoes come to feed at sunset. A nice little trail runs through the swamp to the ubiquitous galapagueria: turtle nursery. The anchorage is a short walk from town, in a little bay protected by reefs and small islands; a good place to finish off boat projects. As usual Cheshire's hulls attracted marine visitors, including a group of small penguins who entertained us with their antics. Kayaking and snorkelling was nice, though the water is chilly. Other wildlife included seals, marine iguanas, blue footed boobies, frigate birds, and sea turtles. We were also pleased to find the port captain much easier to deal with than his counterpart in San Cristobal!

Ride ‘em, cowboys!

We were joined by about 10 other boats while we were there, most going to French Polynesia too. We did an inland tour (on horses) to the Sierra Negra Volcano, and a boat trip to some lava tubes with Hub, Rose, Saraya and Trish of Pathfinder. Henry, owner of the small shoreside bar Club Nautico and his wife provided 2 tasty barbeques to our group. During the passage from the Galapagos, 5 of us with single sideband radios talked daily each morning, comparing progress, damage reports, fish stories, recipes, etc. We called ourselves “The Stragglers” as we are late in the annual migration to the South Pacific; our buddies included Bogtrotter, Pathfinder, Mustang Sally, and Eagles Wings. The others went to the more traditional destination of the Marquesas, just about the same distance as our passage to Gambiers, but not so far south and more down wind. It seemed to take all of us 2.5-3 weeks, with reasonably consistent east to SE winds.

Yumm, really fresh tuna

Land ho, the Gambiers!

We reached the Gambier archipelago on July 22, 2 fish, 3000 miles, and 19 days almost to the hour from when we left the Galapagos. It is still exciting to watch an island emerge from the horizon, and a bit of a thrill to begin navigation in shallow water and confined spaces again. The Gambiers are the southeasternmost island groups in French Polynesia, 1000 miles southeast of Tahitit and about 300 miles west of Pitcairn island, which was colonized by Fletcher Christian and other Bounty mutineers. The northwest entrance to the islands is well marked and the channel clear. We joined about a dozen boats in the anchorage, mostly French, some of whom we had met before in our travels. Next morning, we were invited to Delfiro for a birthday party, a great way to celebrate our landfall. Our French cruiser neighbors of course contributed great food and wine, including fresh fish, cakes, and other tasty snacks.

View N from Mt. Neuf

We stayed in the Gambiers 2 weeks, doing boat projects, of course, and a little exploring, on foot and with Cheshire. We climbed Mt. Neuf, the westernmost of 2 peaks at the south end of Mangareva, the main island. The views were great, and the trail could easily have been in the Pacific NW, through pine trees and ferns. The last bit was a bit exposed and steep as we had to climb a ridge to reach the peak. We also walked around the island on the road, about 11 miles and 5 hours. We took Cheshire out to an anchorage near the airport at the north end of the archipelago, and had a nice snorkel. Unfortunately just as we were ready to leave, two depressions traveled right over us, bringing several days of rain, squalls and high winds from the direction we wanted to travel, NW, and delaying our departure for 5 more days.

Love D+S
Anchored off Marina Taina, Tahiti

September 16, 2006
Polynesia - Next chapter

Results of foraging

We left the Gambier islands on August 9, eager to do a little exploring in the Tuamotus before reaching Tahiti. As we were running short of funds and fresh produce was limited in the stores, we foraged for local produce. Bananas on the stalk, soursop (prickly pear) pamplemousse, limes, and breadfruit were all available for the asking from people’s gardens or farms, and we collected coconuts aplenty when we visited the outer atoll of Totegeguie.

Pamplemousse is French for grapefruit; the Polynesian variety was brought from SE Asia and is sweeter and tastier than any I’ve ever had. Soursop was another pleasant surprise. It appears to be a relative of the cherimoyas we enjoyed in Portugal, with a white, custardy interior laced with fat black seeds. Breadfruits are famous as the reason for the Bounty expedition; Captain Bligh was supposed to bring them back to the Caribbean to plant as a cheap and easy to grow source of starch for the slaves. They are pretty common but I haven’t seen people eating them. We were told to eat them before they ripen. I cut off the peel, dice the insides and steam or fry like a potato. I think you can eat them ripe too if they haven’t gotten too soft. They taste like a mild version of sweet potato, and go well with butter :).

Weather balloon launch at Mangareva

We had hoped for southerly winds to permit us to head on course, northwest towards Tahiti. But the winds stayed west, forcing us to sail north, and combining with lumpy seas to make progress slow and us queasy, even “iron stomach” Captain David! After 2 days we reached Reao atoll, and circled it longing looking for a pass or an anchorage off the reef. There were some houses and a quay on the north side, but we didn’t feel comfortable tying up or with any other option. Fortunately the winds had backed so we could head west towards Amanu atoll.

The tempting shores of Reao atoll

This atoll is just north of Hao, which is the regional center and also the base from which the French nuclear testing was conducted. We were told that testing was discontinued, Hao was considered, and, I think, selected, as an alternate landing site for the space shuttle. This required lots of reinforcement of the already long and spacious runway.

Amanu is another lovely atoll, its palm fringed shores beckoning as we approached in the afternoon sun. However, it was 5 PM by the time we reached Fafameru Pass on the west side, well after the recommended midday timeframe for checking out new anchorages in coral country. The settled weather meant that another night at sea would not have been a hardship, but the pass looked navigable so we decided to go in. We cleared the pass, and headed for the indicated anchorage just south of the village.

The chart indicated a gradually rising depth from about 60 feet to the shore coral reef. Our depthsounder said that it was 80 feet all the way to the reef, which we could not see completely as it was to our west, and sunset was imminent. We crept shoreward, hoping to find a slightly shallower spot. Just as I was about to release the anchor, I saw coral under the trampoline. Yikes! Then I felt the port daggerboard hit the reef. David had the boat in full reverse, and using the whiskerpole to push, we managed to get the boat off the reef. Alas, the port rudder had also found the reef, and was jammed up against the hull, so we could not steer. Somehow we backed ourselves away from the reef, found an 80 spot, dropped the anchor and all 150 feet of chain, plus some rode, and hoped it would hold. Not our most stylin’ entrance!

Daniel helps us find some pipe

Next morning, after a damage assessment, David decided to drop the port rudder and straighten the shaft. So we went into the village, where the backhoe driver had a collection of steel pipes available for loan. We were assisted in our quest by the charming Daniel, an older man who had left Amanu for Tahiti at the beginning of the nuclear testing program, and had returned to retire. Many other Amanuans did the same, which is why at least 1/3 of the buildings are abandoned. Because the village is so small, older children must leave and live on Hao for the secondary school term. Daniel tried to teach us Paumotu, the local language which is similar to Maori and has more consonants than Tahitian Polynesian, and told us many stories.

After a couple of days, we got the rudder post straightened and back on, and went off for a celebratory snorkel. When leaving we discovered that our chain had fouled in a coral head, so raising the anchor took over 2 hours, several dives by the captain, and some abuse of the windlass. Our antics were monitored by our onshore friends, who had offered to look up a local diver to help us. Just as we freed the anchor, we saw a man wading out towards us with a mask and snorkel. We waved and motored forward to show we were OK, then set off towards the pass with many farewell waves for our friends. We would have loved to spend more time there, but needed to keep pressing on towards Tahiti.

September 26, 2006
Tahanea and Tahiti

Sailing away from Tahanea

Needless to say, we were much more cautious as we approached our next atoll, Tahanea. We set a course that took us around several other atolls, which looked good until we realized we’d be in channels less than 10 miles wide in the dark. This may sound like a lot of room but lee shores can come up quickly, especially when squalls move in and the wind shifts. But all went well and we made a textbook landfall and anchorage in a lovely lagoon just west of the pass.

Unfortunately, the passage of a low pressure system, followed by reinforced trades, known locally as maramus, brought 48 hours of strong winds and waves, gusting into the 30s for the day after we arrived and confining us to the boat. The reinforced trades are often caused by a high pressure system to the south, a bit like the Christmas winds in the Caribbean. We got out and explored the nearby island, a nature reserve, stocking up on coconuts and seeing some interesting crabs and moray eels in the low tide area. Black tipped reef sharks. Too soon, it was time to leave for our final approach to Tahiti.

Aiuroa anchorage – just like in the movies...

We chose to spend a night on the remote SE coast of Tahiti Iti, the peninsula that is almost separate from it’s bigger sister, Tahiti Nui where Pape’ete is. Watching the dramatically steep mountains emerge from the clouds, and become densely green as we got closer, is still thrilling. Despite breakers on both sides, Aurorua Pass was straightforward, and the coral reefs inside were well marked. We chose a lovely bay north of the pass to set the anchor, then after lunch headed out to snorkel and explore. The anchorage was so still it was almost eerie, as though the boat had grounded!

The next day, we motored most of the way to Pape’ete, then around to the popular anchorage off Maeva Beach, on the NW side. This involved passing near both ends of the runway to the airport, for which you needed VHF clearance. I am glad we were not there when a jumbo jet was due, though maybe David would have preferred that!

A month has passed remarkably fast as we repaired the boat, and shopped for provisions and other necessary or desirable items that would be hard to find until New Zealand. David was able to fix the slow leak in the port side that had resulted from our reef encounter in Amanu, and refair the daggerboard. I restocked our non perishables, did some cleaning and took care of electronic business with the wifi internet connection available through the marina.

David and Rae share a girlfriend

With our friends Rae and Sharon from Mustang Sally, another catamaran who hails from nearby Vancouver, we drove around Tahiti Nui on day. With our guide, we visit museums, maraes, and waterfalls. Paddling is very popular here; there seems to be a canoe club about every 100 yards on the shore. Some were just out having fun, while others were clearly training seriously for the big races that are held periodically.

Our Tahitian guide and his dog

Everybody paddles in Tahiti

Pape’ete public market

Pape’ete would seem small in comparison to many cities, but felt large to us after several months in more sauvage places. Buildings such as the Catholic Church, the town hall, and the Chinese temple are testimony to the mix of cultures found here. Everything we really needed could be found, but usually at prices 1.5 to 5 times what we might have paid at home or in Panama. The groceries stocked a grand array of goods, mostly European, and with a big price gap between subsidized essentials, eg the house brand of canned tomatoes, and luxury goods such as cheese, lots and lots of good cheese. I had to hike several times to the small Wing Khong grocery to track down Thai curry paste, but fortunately it was a good place to buy other oriental treats too. We tried fei, a local banana relative that is red; it is somewhere between a banana and a plantain in sweetness. Restaurants were expensive, but we did visit the more affordable roulottes at the downtown quay. These are vans or trucks with small kitchens inside, and tables outside for patrons. My favorite, the Red Balloon, served large and tasty savory and sweet crepes.

Pape’ete roulottes

We met up again with our friends from the Galapagos, with whom we had a great book swap and hors d’oeuvres party. It was bittersweet, since some of them were heading towards Australia on a different route. So this was possibly our last meeting with Pathfinder, Medusa and Champagne Traveller. We enjoyed their company and stories of their adventures in the Marquesas and northern Tuamotus, and wished them well on their way.

Now we are in lovely, calmer Moorea, the backdrop for movies such as South Pacific and Mutiny on the Bounty. The snorkelling here is the best since the San Blas, with lovely pink coral and clear water, and hiking is dramatic and accessible. In a few days, we will sail over to the Leeward group of the Society Islands, and hope to visit Huahine, Raiatea and Bora Bora before leaving on our next passage to Niue and Tonga. So many islands, so little time, guess we will have to come back some day!

Hope you are enjoying a lovely fall wherever you are,
Love D+S

October 16, 2006
Leaving French Polynesia

We are presently in Bora Bora, hoping to leave French Polynesia tomorrow or sometime this week for points west. The current plan is to head for the tiny island nation of Niue, 1000 miles away and bypassing the Cook islands, and then the Vava’u group of Tonga.

I’ll have more to tell you about our travels in the Leeward islands, mostly good. Happy Halloween, many treats and no tricks for you!

David and Susanne

October 27, 2006
Pit stop in Aitutaki

We decided to make a quick stop in Aitutaki, the Cook Islands, about 500 miles west of Bora Bora and slightly less than 1/2 way to Niue, our next planned stop. We left Bora Bora around 2 PM Monday, October 23 after waiting a week for a nasty looking low to pass by, and encountered good sized cross seas from the south. This made things pretty uncomfortable, and on Wednesday a good sized wave slapped the starboard solar panel hard enough to tweak the support. While David could not see severe damage, we thought it would be a good idea to pull over and do a little inspection and reinforcement, as the panels are a critical power source for us.

Coming in to Aitutaki is a bit tricky. The pass is very narrow and there was a strong outflowing current; we were very glad for the extra power in our 25 horsepower outboard! The anchorage here is small and we could not get our faithful Delta anchor to bite, so we pulled up to a local fishing boat to raft. We tracked down the owner who doesn’t mind our presence for a couple of days.

People here are very friendly. We were visited yesterday by 2 charming young ladies, Tina and a girl whose name sounds like Mary but isn’t. Like our visitors from St. Lucia, they found the boat and our travels very interesting, and swam off the back. Last night there was a birthday party and dance show at the local cafe, so we went up after dinner and enjoyed it for a while before a delicious full night’s sleep. The local language is a Polynesian dialect. “Hello” is “Kiaorana”, very similar to Tahitian. But everyone speaks Kiwi accented English; our first English landfall since Trinidad! This is quite nice, especially for David. The countryside is pleasantly green and rolling, and little things such as different styles of boats and shop products remind us that we have finally left French Polynesia.

While we are here, we hope to explore a little bit, and maybe attend one of the church services which are renowned for beautiful singing. We hope to be able to leave mid day Sunday and push on to Niue, which is not quite 600 miles away. With good winds this should take us about 4 days. We heard that a Canadian boat, Ume, just went up on a reef on the east side of the island and is a total loss. Fortunately the crew are OK. So we will want to take good care to approach in daylight!

Love
David, Susanne, and Cheshire the cat

Monday, November 06, 2006
Now in Niue

We left Aitutaki on Monday, October 30, which meant we had to check in for 1 day! It was a great stop and we could easily have spent twice the time there. The island is only 7 square miles, so it is easy to walk almost everywhere, but there are enough roads to make for a variety of hikes. With Johanna and Patrick of Vidora, I hiked up Mt. Piraki, maybe 1000 feet, for a nice view of the lagoon, then around the top of the island. Delicious fresh produce was available at Tauono’s gardens, who, it turns out, has visited Olympia and knows someone I had met in the Park Service. Small world, indeed!

It’s a giant clam!

Patrick and Johanna arranged a special tour for us on the glass bottom boat run by Lawton, who had guided them into the harbor. He took us to the giant clam and oyster breeding areas, about which he is pretty knowledgeable since his brother is the fisheries officer. We snorkelled a bit, observing several new species of fish. Then we went off to Maina or Little Girl island where red tailed tropic birds nest, and Tapuaeta’i or One Foot island. The lagoon is large and shallow and coral heads were everywhere, so we were happy to leave Cheshire safely at the dock and let Lawton do the driving.

For you Survivor fans, this is where the Cook Islands episodes was filmed. Now the same location is being used by a British variation called Shipwreck. Over three months, contestants come one at a time and stay in turn at two islands, who compete to have them join their “tribe”. At the end, the tribe with the most members wins. It sounds a lot more positive than the elimination approach of Survivor; maybe I will have to catch an episode in NZ. These projects have brought much welcome business to Aitutaki; many of the boaters have been hired and kept busy for weeks.

Aitutaki kids dancing

We saw several dance groups, which consisted of both adults and kids. The kids were the most fun to watch; some were quite good and the rest made up their lack of technical skill with enthusiasm. On Sunday, Susanne and Johanna walked up to the Cook Islands Congregational Church, the oldest church on the Cook Islands. Our arrival occurred on Gospel Day, the anniversary of the arrival of the missionary John Williams in 1821 on Aitutaki, which ensured a four day holiday and a special feast after the church service. The famous singing was quite enjoyable, though it seemed to take a few ”imine” (hymns), for the congregation to warm up and really get into it. Everyone has their own hymnbook, which only contains the words in Cook Island dialect; everyone knows the tunes and their parts in the 3 or 4 part harmonies by heart. I sat next to an older gentleman named Ricky, who allowed me to share his hymnal. The tunes were not hard to follow along, so I sang with them; it was great fun. Ricky says I did quite well for a visitor! They use a call and response pattern reminiscent of traditional African singing, with the men leading.

Rock ‘n roll on the way to Niue

But it was time to press on to Niue, so off we went. Sea conditions had improved but the winds had lightened a bit, so it looked like 5 days instead of four for a while for our 600 mile passage. But the winds built over our last 2 days, and so did the waves. We had considered slowing down to ensure a daylight landfall but decided to go for it, since we confirmed with another boat that it was possible to come in at night, and we wanted to see our friends Rudi and Andi of Uhuru before they left. On Friday the winds were in excess of 20 knots, it’s hard to tell exactly when it is from behind, and the waves were 12-15 feet. With our genoa poled out and full mainsail, Cheshire romped along. David saw the GPS register 18.2 knots while I was driving, and the knotmeter showed peaks of 13-15. This enabled us to cover 198 miles over 24 hours, and reach Alofi harbor about 4 in the afternoon. We were directed to check in immediately, so our helpful neighbors got us onto a mooring and swept David off to the docks, and we did not have to inflate our dinghy. I got busy slicing potatoes as there was to be a potluck in an hour on shore. Phew, a whirlwind arrival! But it was great to arrive in time for another party, and a hi/bye with Uhuru who left the next day.

Alofi lagoon

Niue, (pronounced Noo-way) is similar to Aitutaki in many ways. The population is the same size, about 1800, with many expatriates primarily in Australia and NZ. Sadly, this has left many empty houses. Everyone waves on the road, I suspect most people are related to each other, and is friendly and helpful. While Niue is internally self governing, like the Cooks it is politically affiliated with New Zealand which manages external matters such as defense, food and materials. Both Niueans and Cook Islanders have New Zealand citizenship, and the New Zealand dollar is used.

A number of years ago, the Niue Yacht Club began to put down moorings in the harbor, which together with free internet and the nice atmosphere has made this a popular stop for yachts. Since there is no protected place to leave a dinghy, one hoists it in the air with a small crane onto the quay. Free hot water showers are available with a key deposit, in the nicest such facility I have seen since Trinidad. Tomorrow I shall do laundry at 20% of the price I paid in Bora Bora, while enjoying delicious ice cream and Wifi at Mamata’s cafe.

Trish and Dean of Ume

We plan to rent a motorcycle and spend a couple of days exploring. We also hope to help Trish and Dean of Ume, the wooden boat that hit the reef a week or two ago, as they are still moving stuff from the boat to storage. They are Canadian neighbors from Vancouver, and have sailed most of the way from the Galapagos without an engine. Theirs died 800 miles out. Some local fishermen will try to get Umeoff the reef in the next few days, and if so she may well be repairable as the damage appears to be in a small area near the keel. It’s interesting that this is the second boat we have encountered this season that has run onto a reef, under similar circumstances: a night approach from the east, probably due to skipper navigational error.

Well, I have gone on at some length, but I wanted to share these two delightful places with you while they are still fresh in our memory. If you are looking for a nice relaxed Pacific vacation, either of these places would be a treat.

Love
David, Susanne, and Cheshire the cat

Trinidad and Bonaire

2009-07-07T21:09:00.015+12:00

June 10, 2005

We are now on a mooring in Trinidad, anchored in Chaguaramas Bay near Port of Spain. This is a big cruising sailboat gathering place during hurricane season as there have been very few recorded hurricanes here, and there are tons of marine related businesses. There are still boats here who came down from Grenada last year to be repaired after hurricane Ivan in September. We did another overnight sail from Grenada to get here, 80 miles and we went faster than we expected, coming up against the land before daylight! Fortunately the wind died, and we motored the last few miles in through the dramatic Bocas which I will try to send pix of too. We expect to be here 1-2 months or so, doing more boat projects. It is supposed to be hot and humid. Today was not too bad but we will see. Most places, like this Internet cafe, have air conditioning. I'm hoping to see if I can find or start a regular yoga class again.

More to come soon - take care till next time!
David and Susanne

June 19, 2005
Postcard from Trinidad

We have been here a week already and are feeling settled in. We are currently on a mooring in Chaguaramas anchorage, near Port of Spain. When we arrived, David had to fix the mooring as the attachment loop was jammed inside the mooring ball. So Simon, our very pleasant “landlord” gave us a discount. This seems typical of life here - when something isn’t quite right, things are worked out and the folks are helpful.

David has been upgrading our tired, leaking plastic salon vents to metal ones. Later he will build dorade boxes for them so they can continue to ventilate even when we are sailing. Dorades are those funny horn looking things that stick out of boats’ decks - they are designed to provide airflow to the boat’s interior even when the deck is awash. Next, he will work on the leak in the port hull between decking and topsides, which looks like an old repair that may have worked loose.

We have also been investigating canvas and upholstery upgrades. The local tailor is highly recommended, especially for coming up with ways to make things better than they were before. He is a quiet, kind, busy man - also named David! So he is working up an estimate to replace our funky old mattresses and ancient vinyl salon cushions. We also want to add some awnings to reduce the solar heat load on the boat (imagine that, Washingtonians!). We started today with a good old silver tarp which covers the cockpit and middle of the boat, and is already providing very effective heat relief.

Upon our arrival, we made contact with fellow Olympia expat Ken Kleinhoff, who arrived here on Sangreal via the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and South Africa. In the latter place he met and married his delightful wife Gail, who makes a mean Bloody Mary and helped us get the proper antifungal cream for David’s feet (she is a nurse). We have also been hanging out with a couple of American solo sailors, Mike and Larry, who are sadly going back to the states for the summer and leaving their boats here. But I don’t think we will lack for company, there is a pretty active cruising community here.

Every day except Sunday there is a radio “net” at 8 AM for about 20 minutes, to exchange information about goings on. On our first day here I got drafted to host the net on Wednesdays, and I will start next week. I feel a bit underqualified, but I figure it will be a good way to learn about things here. I’m also organizing a workshop with the internet café to help get those of us new to wireless more familiar with how it works, and I’m looking into starting up a yoga class if I can figure out a way to charge for it legally. Trinidad is pretty strict about limiting visitors’ ability to sell products (eg excess boat gear) and services. So we will see what can be done.

We joined Mike and Larry last Sunday in attending a local jazz concert, billed as the artist Anthony Woodruffe and his friends. Anthony began with a nice rendition of the national anthem on his sax. The next several pieces were somewhat high school talent show, and we weren’t sure about staying past intermission. But then the pros came on - a great pan (steel drum) player named Ray Holcom; pianist Clive Sander, who also sang terrific scat; and several others. They were able to galvanize the other players and raise the performance to a much higher level. Several calypso pieces became audience sing alongs, which we joined in on the chorus. It was great - a totally different experience than you’d have in the states. I am looking forward to some upcoming concerts in the “panyards” where the bands that play in Carnival are based.

To get David’s foot cream, we had to go to a local mall, which I enjoyed more than I expected. They had good stores, including 2 real bookstores, and some scrumptious chocolate hazelnut ice cream. I have generally been able to accommodate my voracious reading appetite with novels from book swaps, but I might need to treat myself to a few new books before we leave!

Live crabs for sale at the market

Today we went into to the big open market downtown. It goes on for several blocks, and has a meat and fish section as well as produce, clothing and canned items. Our allotted hour went by quickly, but we made sure to catch our ride back as he had arranged for a discount at the local grocery store. So we stocked up on soda water, beer and other items, and were dropped off right at the dock. Now we are set for a while. It is very convenient to eat ashore, as food is cheap and cooking is hot, but we try to do this no more than once per day or less. However since Trinidad has a large East Indian population, I am looking forward to our next trip to town to search out some palak paneer and other tasty dishes.

Till next time - staying cool in the airconditioned Internet café!
David and Susanne

Friday, July 15, 2005
It's been kind of exciting down here…

Hurricane Emily

This morning, we had a brush with Tropical Storm/Hurricane (Evil) Emily. The sailing community has been anxiously tracking her progress over the last 48 hours. Despite a forecast that predicted that she would head towards Dominica or St. Lucia, her position remained at 11 degrees north as she moved westward - less than 30 miles north from here. This was very similar to what happened with Ivan last year, as the several survivors pointed out repeatedly. Tuesday night she was assessed as a hurricane.

We moved around the corner to a more protected anchorage yesterday and began hurricane preparations. We stripped the sails and other things from the deck, set 2 anchors and organized the interior including an emergency grab bag with key documents. Emily was downgraded back to a tropical storm, and began finally moving north, so we didn't take the final step of stripping the solar panels. It was raining, cloudy and a little windy in the PM and night, but not bad. We stood anchor watches most of the night. The wind built in earnest just before daylight as Trinidad was lashed by Emily's "tail", reaching 42 kt around 6:30 AM with rain in sheets. It came from the opposite direction than we expected (east) so we were concerned as to whether the anchor would hold - but it did. We are VERY glad we invested in this new larger anchor (a 44 lb Delta) and 150 feet of chain - we used about 120 feet. I do not think the old set up would have held although we had it ready as a reserve.

By 9 AM, the winds decreased, and we could go inside and eat breakfast. We have spent most of the rest of the day tidying up, and also checking out another possible hidey hole nearby (unfortunately there is an underwater wastewater pipe right down the middle). One boat did drag onto the beach (don't know who yet) but everyone seems to be OK. There was a lot of flooding in Trinidad, and loss of power for several hours. I think Grenada received the brunt of the storm, which was upgraded again to hurricane status (100 mph winds), and there was some onshore damage. Fewer boats were affected because there were a lot fewer there to begin with (and Emily was Category 1).

The funny thing was, I had scheduled a talk on hurricane preparation for Wednesday, which I cancelled since we were all busy with the real thing. We may reschedule it again though, as for many of us this was our first brush with this kind of weather, and we got off fairly lightly.

So far so good - but we all know that it is probably that more storms and maybe worse will hit here again this summer and fall. It will definitely affect our planning as to where and when we move.

Otherwise things here are good. We went on a great turtle watch on Tuesday, where we saw both baby leatherbacks hatch AND mama leatherbacks lay eggs. It was fun even though we were starting to stress about Emily. I'll write more about that soon. Now it is time for an early night!
Cheers from a damp Trinidad
David and Susanne

July 20, 2005
So, what do you do for fun in Trinidad?

One of the most popular things to do here is to go on a “turtle watch“. Several beaches on the north and east coasts of Trinidad are nesting areas for the endangered leatherback turtle. On Tuesday July 12, we drove 2 hours across the island to Matura Beach, access to which is restricted during 6 months each year for turtle nesting. A permit is required and strict rules must be followed, or one faces a large fine and jail time.

Leatherbacks are huge (around 800 lbs) and long lived. The age of the female we observed was estimated at 80 years. They begin laying at 20-25 and continue for the rest of their life. The turtles who come to Matura are tagged and tracked through a microchip implanted on their shoulder. One was tracked diving to over 4000 feet, probably to escape a killer whale, one of their few predators (besides man). They breathe oxygen but can store it very efficiently, limiting their need to surface. They mainly eat jellyfish, and unfortunately sometimes mistake plastic bags for them. Leatherbacks swim amazing distances - they travel from the edge of icebergs, down the coast of Europe, and across the Atlantic.

While she might not return to exactly the same beach, a female will come back to the same area year after year to lay her eggs. She mates with several males, then comes in to the beach to lay several clutches of up to 100 eggs, about every 10 days or so (sounds exhausting to me). She lays at night, crawling out of the ocean to dig a hole with her rear flippers, and throws sand across her back, to try to camouflage herself. 60 days after they are laid, the baby turtles hatch, also at night for camouflage (triggered by temperature). Eggs laid in a warmer spot produce more females, in a cooler spot (eg near tree cover) more males. They climb over each other, out of the nest and head straight for the water, normally the brightest thing around. They swim straight out to sea, sustained for 2 weeks by yolk retained in their bellies. Less than 5 percent survive to adulthood as they make tasty snacks for fish, birds, etc.

Baby turtles

We were lucky enough to go at a time when females were still nesting and babies were hatching. The babies are very cute - exact miniature replicas of their behemoth parents. From the moment they hatch they are in motion, moving their flippers even when held, to go towards light. We had to be very careful with lights on the beach so as not to distract them or scare off the mamas. Our guide found a nest where a hatching had just occurred, and had David dig into it. He pulled out about 10 limp little turtles from the bottom, who had been the stairs for their siblings. Once out in the air, however, the little guys revived and were soon making for the surf as energetically as their predecessors. As they were swept away in the waves, one couldn’t help wishing them luck in avoiding the dangers that lay ahead.

Momma turtle

Soon after that, one of our group spotted a huge dark shape emerging from the waves. We were careful to give her room, as she ponderously made her way up the beach and began to dig her nest hole. Another person observed that she dug just like we would with our arms - scooping up the sand with the edge of her flipper and tossing it away, shaping up the lower area into a little cave when she had dug as deep as her flippers would reach. However, she was doing this with her feet, looking the other way! Don’t think I could do that. When she began to lay her eggs, she went into a sort of trance, and we were permitted to take pictures and even touch her. It is hard to describe how this felt - more like touching a person than an animal. The skin of her shoulder was softer and warmer than I would have thought, and you could feel the immense power of the muscles beneath.

This was a great trip, marred only by the approach of Hurricane Emily, which was moving steadily closer and ricocheting back and forth between tropical storm and hurricane status. Since hurricanes draw all the moisture and weather in the area to them, it made for a beautifully clear night for the turtle watch. But in hindsight, it was not the wisest choice especially since we had not been through the fire drill of preparing for a hurricane before. We got back after 2 AM, and were up again at 6:30 for the weather forecast and to move the boat to a more protected spot. Fortunately we were able to complete our preparations and even take naps before we got the blow, but it was stressful.

It took us a couple of days to unwind and get ourselves back to normal, especially since we were also settling into a new location. Our new anchorage is a bit removed from the center of Chaguaramas, but it has a workshop and will cost about ½ of our moorage last month. We are back to working on various boat projects, though not at breakneck pace (a bad idea in the heat). I have been checking our finances and getting charts for the next part of our journey. David has gotten us another watermaker, a reconditioned PUR 40 which will hopefully actually work. In a couple of days we will get our lovely new salon cushions (I can’t wait!). David will soon begin work on our new, integral gasoline tanks, so we can stow or get rid of the jerry cans that occupy almost half of the cockpit.

Big decisions that are still hanging out include a new outboard for the boat, one for the dinghy, and a new dinghy. Other projects, such as a mainsail cover, await us although some could be done elsewhere (like in a lovely secluded anchorage where we could actually swim off the boat).

That’s all for now, and probably enough! Hope you have plenty of time to enjoy summer where you are,

David and Susanne

September 3, 2005
No, we haven't been swept away by Hurricane Katrina...

Wow! It’s September already. Here in the land of eternal summer, this still means it is back to school for little Trinidadians, with the usual sales. Since my 4 pairs of shorts and 6 T shirts are getting a little tired, I indulged in a little shopping today, which also meant air conditioned splendor for most of the day. I also treated myself to Mira Mehta’s latest book, Yoga Explained, as I did not bring any of my yoga books with me. It is nicely organized, with philosophical references as well as good pose guides. I took a class with her a few years ago and was very impressed - she is someone who has spent her life studying and teaching yoga, and still finds new things to share.

But life here is not much about trips to the mall. I have been waiting to write until we had reached a decision regarding the purchase of a new, larger 25 hp engine, which we initiated Monday past. At US$3800, it is our largest single investment so far, thus the deliberations of a month before decision. There are several complicating factors:

1) This is a pretty unusual outboard engine because it is high thrust and low power. Therefore locating a dealer was a challenge - one person David talked to told him Yamaha did not make one (even though it is on the web page).

2) We needed some dimensions to see if it would fit in the cockpit. Yamaha pretty much doesn’t deal directly with customers, and when we were finally able to get some specs, we got 2 different measurements for what appeared to be the same section. So, we created a purchase agreement that requires the engine to be measured before it is sent to ensure we don’t get something that won’t fit.

3) Installing it pretty much requires a haul out. Not every yard here can haul us (due to our 20’ width) and most of those that can are booked. We will also want to redo our bottom, as the paint we applied in Portugal has worn off and the rear sections of the hulls are sitting low in the water (yep, our butts are too heavy…). Our shipper has offices in Curacao and Panama , so we could have the engine shipped there, but haven’t yet gotten a solid recommendation on yards in either of those places. It’s also possible we could get the engine and go somewhere else to install it, but at 200 lbs and 53” it’s a bit awkward to stow.

We also debated whether we needed it. We think it will give us another knot of speed, and greater ability to punch through adverse conditions (such as entering an atoll with perpetual current against us). We have heard a few stories of pirate attacks off of Panama’s west coast, so having a larger engine will also mean greater ability to get away from them if there is no wind. We will keep the current engine, which we could use if something happened to the new one that we could not immediately fix. We expect to continue to sail most of the time, but engines are handy for the beginnings and ends of trips, and getting through doldrums or away from nasty weather as well as dubious people. So, as they say here, “there ya go.”

We remain anchored off TTSA, about a mile from the main yachtie/cruiser center of Chaguaramas. This means a near daily walk or bike ride for our errands, which is good exercise. It’s a bit scary at night, so most of the time we spend US$0.30 for a maxi taxi. I’m still doing my weekly stint as net controller, and have started sharing weather reporting duties with another cruiser. This means I get up early to listen to the NOAA forecast for the region, as reported on a ham radio net, then summarize it for our area. Naturally we were all very interested in Hurricane Katrina, even though it was thankfully never a threat to us. This next month is the peak of hurricane season, so we are watching the Atlantic weather very closely and keeping our stores topped off in case one comes this way and we have to go to a safer anchorage to hide.

David is still working on building our new fuel tanks, and is about to begin demolition in advance of reconstruction. I have procured paper charts for us from here all the way to Fiji . We still don’t know yet if we will go further west than that, although David is in favor of spending our next hurricane season in the Marshall Islands so he can see the places he was not able to visit when he went there on Capricorn Cat a couple years ago. I have some copies of electronic charts too, but am planning to rely for now on the paper as it does not require power to operate. We are doing other little projects, and making sure to play as well as work.

Last week we did a joint tour of a pan (steel drum) workshop and the Angostura Bitters factory. The workshop is run by Rory Pascal, who makes steel drums by hand for local and international use. He gave us a detailed overview of how steel drums have evolved, and how they are constructed and tuned. Tuning is an art form and quite individual, as it is possible to bring out different levels of overtones in the drums. Different bands have different sounds, determined by how their pans are tuned.

The bitters factory was on a whole different scale - a very large, modern facility with an excellent guide. The center of the operation is the secret mixing room. Only 5 people know the secret formula for the bitters, and periodically they go into the room to mix up the herbs that are it’s basis. The herbs are then steeped in alcohol and distilled before bottling. We were allowed to see and smell a batch of the herbs that had been steeped. I could identify cinnamon, cloves and lavender - I noted with some concern some dead bees lying on top and hope that they are not part of the formula! The tour concluded with a sampling of Angostura products at their bar. They bottle a number of different rums, punch mixes, and as well as gin and vodka. An incentive to go on the tour was the availability of Bounty rum in the gift shop for a little over US$3, so we purchased some to try. Rum is generally less cheap here than we had hoped, probably due in large part to high government tariffs.

Yesterday was Trinidad’s 43rd anniversary of independence, marked in the usual way with parades and fireworks. We made it in to Port of Spain for a picnic before the fireworks, which were quite nice, and our intrepid driver managed to skate through the side streets to get us back on the single main road before the rush.

We wish we could say when we will be moving on, as the islands off Venezuela and further west sound lovely (snorkeling, fishing, no overpowered Hindi or Soca bands serenading us from the cars on the beaches…). It will be a few weeks yet, I think. In the mean time, I hope that you have thoroughly enjoyed your summer and even the beginning of fall!

David and Susanne

A tree full of scarlet ibis

October 14, 2005
Back on the sander, again

My goodness. I started this e-mail over a month ago, when we scheduled our second haul out. Time flies when you’re … sanding? Well anyways, here we are at Peake’s boatyard, still in Trinidad. We hauled out September 19, in the hopes of receiving the new Yamaha in a few days. It actually arrived last Friday, October 7. Not that we were bored, mind you. There were the twice daily calls or visits to the shipper, and the sanding. Most of the paint below the waterline that we applied in Portugal is now off, as we found a number of little, and a couple big, blisters when we hauled. We got a quote from the boatyard to remove the paint, but decided buy a sander to do it ourselves. It’ll only take a week or so, right? Three weeks later, I’m down to the dagger boards, which I think have gotten bigger since the last time I did this.

We have treated ourselves to the rental of an air conditioner, which has made it bearable, and in fact cool enough at night that I usually need a blanket as well as a sheet! But David sleeps comfortably, so it’s worth it.

The new engine

While it is depressing to be redoing the work on the bottom so soon after our Portugal haul out, things are going pretty well. David is planning to reuse most of the aluminum structure that supported the old engine, with some reinforcement. We have friendly neighbors who have helped us lift the 200 lb engine beastie on and off a couple times. Note to self: have plenty of beer, rum and coke in a nearby cooler. It’s much easier to have visitors over, and the air conditioner is a distinct draw, especially for those toughing it without one. We’ve also had a couple of barbeques in the nearby pit, where we have met even more folks, more from the charter and delivery industry. Like us they are a bit younger, and saving a few bucks by living on the boat in the yard, and doing much or all of their own work.

A couple of weeks ago a test for the first level of amateur (ham) radio license was offered. I was able to pass the test and am now a technician with the call sign KE7FBH. My friend Mark, who also passed the test, has nicknamed us piglets. Don’t be searching me out on the airwaves yet though. I doubt I will use this much before we get to Panama, where I may be able to take the next level exam, general. That license currently requires Morse code proficiency of 5 words per minute as well as another written test; however there is a proposal to abolish the Morse requirement altogether as has been done in some countries. I have the study materials just in case...

Not too much else new at the moment. Hurricane season is winding down, and some folks who had left their boats here have reappeared and even sailed off already! Our friend Mike from California just returned and brought us a lovely new copy of the October Latitude 38 magazine, which we are savoring. We are looking forward to our return to the water, at which time we’ll revisit our itinerary. We are still planning to head west to Panama, but may not stop much along the way. In the meantime, in between shifts on the sander and contemplation of the engine box, we are thinking about other necessary boat acquisitions and where/when to make them. Towards the top of the list is a new dinghy, probably a newish inflatable, around 9 ft, with an outboard. The faithful old Tinker isn’t quite robust enough for me to feel confident taking it into the Pacific where, if it fails, we could be kind of stuck.

Hasta la proxima: until the next one
Susanne

This boat was singlehandedly rowed across the Atlantic!

December 28, 2005
Merry Christmas - still in Tdad

Guy Fawkes Day

Finally after 3 long months, we have left the yard, again, and can start planning our departure from Trinidad. We have been here far longer than we intended, however we have accomplished a lot. Our new motor is finally installed, has been run, and the old one sold. We have more better bottom paint. We’ve acquired a lot of useful gear, including our anchor, more anchor chain, another dinghy and an outboard for it, a hookah for diving, and a watermaker, to desalinate seawater. We’ve also acquired charts for most of the places we intend to visit, thanks to a very affordable copying service. And Susanne has lost 30 lbs from when we left Seattle, which has been more than compensated on the boat by the number of books she has picked up for reading on passages west!

Diwali

Most important, we have made many friends and learned a great deal from them to prepare us for the journey ahead. In fact, our decision to stay longer and do more work in Trinidad was in part due to advice from others who had gone through the Caribbean and Pacific, and counseled us to take care of all major needs here. In the yard, we inspected the rudder posts and chain plates to the extent possible. We will inspect all the other major boat systems, repair and maintain elements as needed, and acquire or order spares for retrieval in Panama before we leave here.

The record setting hurricane season continued through November with the development of tropical storm Epsilon, the 26th named tropical system this year. Some of our friends, who left in early November, were anchored north of Grenada and had TS Gamma form on top of them, making for very unpleasant conditions! So it is not necessarily bad to be sitting here in Trinidad, out of the way. We hope to continue to avoid nasty weather as we begin to make our way west.

We celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas with other cruisers, mixing traditional dishes with new favorites. For New Years, we plan to finally head out to our favorite local anchorage of Chacachacare, a former leper colony. This will allow me to test out the single sideband radio, and do a little swimming and hiking. The weather here has improved; it is noticeably cooler and dryer, and thus much more comfortable.

Looking ahead, we have been getting reports from other boats who left before us, to help our planning for the passage to Panama. While we haven’t settled on a firm itinerary yet, we will probably not stop often before the San Blas Islands, off Panama’s Caribbean coast. We’ve been hearing and reading about these islands for years. They are supposed to be one of if not the nicest destination in the Caribbean, and we hope to stay about a month there before proceeding to the Canal.

Pizza with Ken and Gail

I haven’t been very conscientious about photographing things here. But I have taken a few parting shots to share with you. The first is with Ken and Gail Kleinhoff, to whom we bid a tearful adieu to in November as they head up island and eventually to Europe. Then there is my four footed girlfriend Princess, one of the dogs in the yard who came to regard us as family. She would escort me around the yard and around Chaguaramas, waiting patiently outside establishments where she was not welcome. She has an unfortunate tendency to run in front of cars in the yard, so we don't expect her to survive terribly long.

Susanne and Princess

With our friends at Peake’s

And we had to get a picture with our friends the travelift crew, who invited us to their Friday night limes and taught David their card game. They are a really nice bunch of guys. I only went to the lime once as it is held after work, in their changing room with the girly posters on the wall and lots of cigarette smoke. I think I am the first real girl to attend!

I’ll write more about our upcoming departure as it gets closer. We are very excited to get moving again, and we hope you all have a peaceful and happy New Year!

Love,
David and Susanne

February 20, 2006
We are finally leaving Trinidad!!

Racing at TTSA

Probably Wednesday or Thursday. We are taking care of last little jobs now, like putting together things to be sent to us in Panama. It is definitely bittersweet. After more than 8 months here, we are really ready to go sailing and other cruising stuff like swimming off the boat. But we have gotten to know some great people here, including some of you, both fellow cruisers and Trinidadians. While we have no definite plans to return, I would very much like to someday.

From here we plan to sail to Bonaire, a trip of a little over 400 miles, probably 3-4 days. We’ll spend several days there as there is supposed to be great diving, then head to Curacao and Panama’s San Blas islands before going to the Canal.

Carnival workshop

I will write more, including some of the Carnival activity we have been squeezing in between boat projects, but may not be able to send it off till Bonaire. Hope those of you in the US are staying warm and dry, and those of you in the Caribbean are in lovely protected anchorages.

Susanne

March 6, 2006
Latest

We’ve spent a week in Bonaire, mostly relaxing. Apart from friendly residents and a history of colonization by a European country, Bonaire has little in common with Trinidad. There are only 14,000 residents, so the arrival of 2,000 tourists on a cruise ship, which happens about 2x week, is noticeable. Most residents speak at least 2 languages, the local Papiamento dialect and Dutch, the official language. Spanish is also widely spoken, and those who deal with tourists speak good English and sometimes French, German and/or Italian. Papiamento appears to be influenced by Spanish, Dutch, and local Indian and African dialects. It is spoken and written throughout the ABCs: Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.

Mardi Gras parade in Bonaire

Bonaire and Curacao are part of the Netherlands Antilles, or overseas territories of the Netherlands, along with St. Maarten, Saba and Statia in the Eastern Caribbean. Aruba is also an overseas Netherland territory, but it has a separate and more independent status. Discovered by the Spanish, the ABCs have been under Dutch governance for nearly 300 years. The Dutch influence is most easily seen in the clean, paved street and walkways, and the water supplied through desalination as the island is very dry. Free water is hard to find but you can drink it anywhere without concern.

The main town, Kralendijk, is in the middle of the island on the west side. The island is surrounded by a reef from 5-100 yards offshore, which quickly drops off from 20 feet or less to hundreds of feet. This makes for great diving and OK snorkeling. We did find a good snorkel spot Sunday off the NE side of Klein Bonaire, the island opposite Kralendjik, which rivaled the Grenadines. I took an introductory scuba class a couple days ago as I want to use the hookah we bought in Trinidad. This is a floating battery powered remote air system which will let us go to 30 feet or more without an air tank. .

On Saturday we rented an extra bike and rode down to the south end of the island. It’s very flat and largely occupied by salt curing ponds, where the water is odd shades of pastel pink and green. We saw pink flamingoes and small green and yellow parrots called pritkitchi. Away from the ornamental facades and plantings of Kralendijk, it is very arid, reminiscent of the southwest US, with large cactus and thorny bushes covering the ground. Many plants are succulents, adapted to necessary water conservation. .

Although we feel somewhat adapted to the heat, we find ourselves needing to be mindful of time in the sun, keeping up with SPF 30 sunscreen and water intake. The constant breeze can mask the strength of the sun until it is too late, and I think I am spending more time outside, in just a bathing suit. Right before we left Trinidad, I splurged on some new custom suits by Debbie Otway, the swimsuit lady, and am I glad I did. She also made me a black dress from swimsuit fabric that is perfect for smart casual as they say in Trinidad, and will be wrinkle free and easy to wash. A great way to celebrate my weight loss! .

Ed plays in the pan competition

Speaking of Trinidad, I didn’t write much for a while, as we were busy with what felt like boring projects, and were focused on getting them done in order to leave. We had made many friends among the summer crowd who left at the end of hurricane season, and it was sad to see them go as we are headed in a different direction than most. However, the length of our stay allowed me to get to know some people better, or at all, whom I might not have otherwise. One of these is our friend Ed, a talented artist who has joined a pan band competing for the Carnival title. So far, I find that while it is very fun to discover different places, I get the most enjoyment from people that we meet. And while it is now great to know more cruisers, especially those who are going west into the Pacific with us, it is for me more special when I can connect with people living somewhere, breaking through the divider between cruiser/tourist/visitor and resident.

So here are 2 friendships which developed at the end of our Trinidad stay: Fanny Ray, aka Miss Fanny, works at KNJ Yacht Services at Peake’s, overseeing contractors working on client boats. She is a Venezuelana, and lives on the sailboat Santa Rita with husband Billy, who is American and runs his own business, Billy’s Rigging, with their daughter Iliana. I had the good fortune to get to know Fanny through Chris and Duff of Sudiki, and was invited to join her on trips to the downtown market. This is no mean commitment as she likes to leave at 5:30 AM! We would spend a couple hours, first in the fish and meat section, then browsing the fruits and vegetables, looking for the best deals in price and quality. She showed me the best herb lady, tucked in the back of the market, who always has fresh dill, yum, and the best egg lady, whose eggs have rich, bright yellow yolks. We would round out our shopping at the HiLo supermarket, and I would be set for groceries for more than a week by 10 AM. We’d gossip about Peake’s and the people there, and talk about lots of things. I grew to look forward to these trips and Fanny’s pleasant company.

Michael drives Cheshire to her parking spot at Peake’s

Micheal Gianetti manages the travelift crew at Peake’s and can usually be found driving the hydraulic trailer. He’s been there since Peake’s opened, and says that he has never gone a day without completing the work scheduled, even though he and his crew have had to work late into the night. I first got to talking with him after thanking him for reblocking our boat during a particularly busy week. In many ways the challenges he faces are similar to those in my old job, even though the circumstances are quite different: competing demands on short time frames, keeping employees performing, high expectations, hearing about it when you don’t meet them and being expected to continue to perform miracles without always getting thanks. One day he took me for a spin in his immaculate silver Lancer through the Tucker Valley, in the park near Chaguaramas, at high speed. Very fun! His father worked for the park, and their family lived there within walking distance of a beach, and many trails into the hills. By his own admission, he isn’t the easiest person to get to know, but I am very glad I did.

Hopefully this lengthy email compensates a bit for our lack of communication over the last few months! Stay tuned for more news of our adventures as we head to Curacao and Panama’s San Blas Islands.

Love, David and Susanne

Canary Islands and the SE Caribbean

2009-07-02T18:06:00.022+12:00

April 10, 2005
We’re in the Canaries…

after a fairly good 5 day passage from Portimao. We arrived this morning, and have had showers ! The wind piped up to 30+ knots yesterday, and we think the waves got as big as 20 feet. We had an interesting situation, we were going too fast to Las Palmas and were going to get there at night. So, we took all the sails down, and were still going 4 knots. We added a drogue (a kind of sea anchor) designed by Mr. Dave Stewart, which slowed us down to 3 knots. This consisted of 2 small tires tied together with chain, dragged behind the boat on 50 feet of anchor line. It also stabilized the boat´s motion quite a bit.

It was very weird needing to slow down so much, quite contrary to our prior experience. But we did not want to enter a strange harbor at night, and it would have been harder to try to stay stationary off the harbor if we arrived early. I think we will need to keep doing this on occasion, so it was good to practice.

Finally it is warm - I wore fleece at least part of the day and night our whole trip down. Time to dig out the shorts!! We are tied up behind Yves Parlier´s latest racing machine, a catamaran with 2 masts on each hull. Tomorrow they will try to break the one day speed record, after avoiding a collision with us when they leave :).

Hydroplaneur, with Cheshire behind

We´ll be here a few days to rest and provision. Not sure yet which Caribbean island we are heading for - St. Lucia and Guadeloupe are the 2 under discussion at the moment. Anyone been to either of these?

Cheers from Cheshire!

April 21, 2005

..in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. Despite some setbacks, we are moving towards our departure across the Atlantic. Dave Stewart decided to fly home last week, as the adventure was taking longer than we had planned. We miss him - he contributed a lot while he was here. Then my purse was stolen - from the boat while I was on board, down in the port hull. This was quite disturbing. We are staying on an unlocked dock, and there have been other reports of thefts in the area. The other night, a Lebanese ex-con was wandering around the docks and trying to get on people’s boats at 2 AM. After one of our neighbors called the police, they came and chased him off. We think he may have been the thief, but there is no way to prove it. We have lengthened our dock lines to keep the boat further from the dock and make it harder to board. I must say I will be quite glad to leave, even though the crossing will be more of a challenge with just 2 of us.

However, we continue to meet great, helpful people, which has made our stay more pleasant. Our celebrity neighbor, M. Yves Parlier took the Hydroplaneur out for an attempt at the 24 hour solo distance record. Apparently it was within reach, as he was hitting 40 knots at times. But when he put the boat on autopilot to reef the starboard mainsail, it lost control, and he broached and broke several battens in the sail. Quelle dommage. But no matter - the president of the Canaries came by, took his shoes off, and climbed onto the boat for a photo op with Yves, who thanked him for hosting the attempt (in English). Yves is an around the world racer, who is famous for repairing his dismasted boat in New Zealand waters while not breaking the race requirement to stay below the high water mark.

Yves and the President of the Canaries

http://www.parlier.org/hydraplaneur/bateau/caracteristiques.php?lang=eng

We have had the most contact with a very nice couple from Brittany, Michel and Annie. Annie does not have the use of her legs, but gets around pretty well with help from Michel and her wheelchair. They loaned us a French guide to the Canaries, and our first city map. Michel introduced us to gofrio, a kind of roasted farina particular to the islands. It can be eaten without cooking, and mixed with anything to make a breakfast cereal, a dip like hummus, thickener for soup or sauce, a side dish or dessert,… I got a kilo from the store and plan to experiment.

We first encountered the Canadian boat, Parbleu! on our way here. They were the only sailboat we saw on our passage, so we chatted for a while. We helped Pierre and Susanne move to their permanent berth, and return they gave us two rides to the hypermarket for provisioning runs, which would have otherwise entailed a taxi as we had about 15 bags of heavy stuff like canned tomatoes.

As all of the above are French speakers, I have frequent opportunities to practice my French. The guidebook was fun reading - definitely from a different perspective. In the food section, “there is not the variety of cheese you would expect in France” it sniffs, “but if you can set your chauvinism aside, the Canary cheeses are quite good, considering.” In the introduction to Canary culture, French visitors are directed to only provide one bisou (kiss on the cheek), as two or three are regarded as excessive here. Different advice than one might find in an English guidebook, I think!

For day to day transactions, dealing with police, etc., I’ve been resurrecting my rudimentary Espanol. We have a tendency to fall back into Portuguese, especially the basics such as good day and thank you. However, these are understood, with a smile. One of the most noticeable differences from Portugal is that most shops close at 1 or 1:30, and remain closed until 4:30 or later. Then they stay open till 8 or 9. One has to plan one’s errands accordingly.

We are now awaiting replacement credit cards, which we hope arrive shortly. Then we can go back to sea and head for the Caribbean at last. Since we need to be in Trinidad by June, we are thinking about St. Lucia as our first landfall, then cruising through St. Vincent and the Grenadines on our way to Trinidad. Hopefully our luck will be better...

Susanne and David

April 22, 2005
We´re off to the Caribbean!

The package with my credit cards got here today, thanks to Paige. So we will begin check out today, and plan to leave tomorrow AM. Yesterday we scoped out the fresh market, which is like a 2 story farmer’s market. There is a great spice store - I even got wasabe powder which I was not expecting to find. Our last errand will be to go there tomorrow. As per before - if you need to communicate with me before we get to the Caribbean, please do so via Paige (paigeol@hotmail.com). You can of course send messages to this address, I just won’t read them for a couple weeks.

Our most likely landfall right now is St. Lucia. It’s about 2600 miles and we think it will take us 2-3 weeks. Then, we will make our way south through St. Vincent, the Grenadines and maybe Grenada on our way to Trinidad and Tobago. I expect we will stay in Trini a little while (at least a month), and maybe tackle a few boat projects. I am interested in it because it is a “crossroads” place, where many cultures have mixed over the last few centuries. Thanks for your good wishes and news. Wish us luck!

May 12, 2005
We made it!

20 days from Las Palmas to St. Lucia. Now we are in a bar next to the marina, sipping rum drinks and beer as a squall washes the decks. Showers felt excellent. Tonight I get to sleep for more than 2 1/2 hours, for the first time in three weeks - wow. The crossing went very smoothly - we ran out of wind for a few hours twice, but otherwise had very consistent 10-20 knot winds. We checked in daily on single sideband radio with Herb Hildenberg, who runs a daily weather net and provides individual forecasts.

Not sure yet how long we will be in St Lucia, probably a week or so. We’ll probably move out to the anchorage in a day or 2 as the marina is $25/night.

Thanks for all the messages! Nighty night.

May 25, 2005

Another Saturday night, this time anchored off St. Lucia…

Fresh coconut milk at the market

Waves are gently lapping on the nearby beach next to the quiet little town of Choiseul. Our table is covered with the remnants of the maybe legal lobsters we bought off a guy in a kayak. The CD is a rasta mix we bought off another guy in Marigot Bay - not too bad. The fan moves the warm air pleasantly, but we are now accustomed to being damp with sweat pretty much all the time. A small price to pay to spend time in this lovely island of volcanoes, palm lined coves and friendly people.

View above Rodney Bay

We’ve spent the last 10 days exploring Rodney Bay, Castries, Marigot Bay, Soufriere and various points between and around the island. On Wednesday we hiked a trial along the island divide (Barre de L‘isle). Supposedly it was 1.25 miles each way, but it went up and down a lot, and was especially steep at the end. In the heat, felt like at least 5 miles! Local trees were posted along the way, and our battered map had some interesting information about them. It was a pleasant respite from the press of people in Castries and the seaside.

The Pitons

On Friday, we snorkeled in a quiet little bay, which is a great way to get the sun on the back of your body and find out if your sunscreen really is waterproof. I have not done this in a long time and felt like I was flying over a fish city. Some little purple fish seemed to like swimming with me and tickled my armpits! We went around the headland to attend a Friday night fish fry, and were greeted by Dwight, Cuthbert, Charlie, Bill, John and 2 others (age 12 or so), who swam out to the boat. They were very entertained by diving off the back of the boat, messing around in the dinghy and trying out the steering wheel. They were quite charming, and curious about the boat and our trip. We all saw the green flash at sunset, then the remaining 4 persuaded me (Susanne) to row them back to shore. I think that this was my favorite time so far (even above lobster!).

We are now in Bequia, in the Grenadines, a group of islands between St. Vincent and Grenada. We have bypassed St. Vincent due to lack of time, compelling reasons to visit and good anchorages. The Grenadines are reported to be beautiful, with a few oases of civilization and lots of nice beaches and places to swim. Then on to Grenada, and Trinidad. We are not sure yet how long we’ll stay in Trinidad. It is a good place to spend hurricane season and do some boat projects. But we have heard that there are many boats which were damaged by hurricane Ivan which are still there. Several boats we have met recently are headed to Venezuela, which has been expanding it’s marine recreation sites. So if Trini is too crowded, we will go west.

We decided a while back to not try to push through Panama this year - it just seemed like trying to do too much. We will head towards Central America in the fall, as we would like to cruise Belize, Honduras and the San Blas Islands before going through the Canal. After that, I am interested in taking a course to teach English as a foreign language which is offered in Costa Rica. Then, the Pacific!

May 31, 2005
Greetings from the Grenadines

The brochures are correct - this is a marvelous area. We have spent the past several days hiking, snorkeling, and generally enjoying being here. We are presently on Union Island, about to cross from St. Vincent to Grenada jurisdiction. We'll head to Grenada island later this week - there are still several lovely little islands to explore first.

We took a day on Bequia to hike across the island to a secluded beach. On our way back, we stopped at a nice little hotel/restaurant with a great view of the islands. The manager, from Holland, chatted with us before lunch. If you want to get away from it all and don't need beach side, consider this place:
http://www.oldfortbequia.com

Water is nearby everywhere, and it is nice to be up in the breeze and away from mosquitoes. On this same hike we began identifying fruit trees, and filled our tummies and backpack with Mangoes, limes and plums (all windfall of course).

More to come later - best wishes from Cheshire!

June 6, 2005
Grenadines, part 2

From Bequia, we sailed south to Mayreau, another island of St. Vincent. It is just a couple miles west of the Tobago Cays, a group of islets and reefs that is famous for snorkeling and diving. We traveled in company with Jan Trabandt, whom we met in Bequia and who asked to join us for the trip south. Jan develops cellphone software for a Phoenix company, and had managed to spend 5 weeks in the Caribbean by telecommuting as necessary. He sailed with us to Mayreau, the Cays and later Carriacou, but spent nights ashore in hotels. This arrangement suited all involved. We especially appreciated his help on our initial approach to the Cays, which is a bit tricky given all the reefs in the area.

We managed to snorkel almost every day in the Cays and surrounding islands. I really enjoy it. It’s a great form of low impact exercise, especially for back body muscles such as hamstrings. I love watching sunlight reveal subtle colors in the fish and the reef elements. This is best appreciated if you move slowly, and stay stationary enough so that the fish think you are a log and go about their business. Also, there is this wonderful feeling of flying over the sea bottom, while at the same time being supported by the enormous power of the ocean. David enjoys diving down to the little caves on the reef bottoms to look for lobsters. This is a bit risky because the lobsters are spiny and moray eels tend to inhabit those cavelets also. I think he would really like to catch one himself as he used to in Massachussetts, but that is out of the question here.

The boundary between the nations of St. Vincent and Grenada runs through the islands, between Union and Carriacou. It’s hard to appreciate - most maps or charts don’t even show it, and it seems like the islands have more in common with each other than their distant capitals. We spent a couple of days around Carriacou, where I met a man who said he was the only representative of the Grenada military during the invasion, and served as liasion to the US Army. People were quite comfortable stopping to talk, asking about our trip, and discussing their lives and current events such as the implementation of Caricom (the Caribbean version of the European Union).

Our last evening in the Grenadines was in a lovely little cove off Saline Island, at the south end of Carriacou. We had to work hard to get there against the strong easterly, ocean swell and 2 kt of current, but it was worth it - a jewel of a place to ourselves. Some fishermen came in to check nets and cut wood last night, but they left before sunset. We enjoyed a pleasant snorkel around the bay, then dinner, which consisted mainly of a 4 lb lobster purchased the day before in Tyrell Bay. It doesn’t get much better than this, I thought.

It’s about a 15 mile transit to the main island of Grenada, with another small island group on the way. This area is know for the nearby presence of an active underwater volcano called "Kick ‘Em Jenny." It is 500 feet underwater, but slowly building up to sea level. Someday it will form a new island. It has been know to throw up rocks and create significant disturbance when erupting. Fortunately we saw none of that, although David did propose that we should sail over it and drop our garbage down so it could be incinerated. We considered spending the night in the area, but found strong gusts from every direction in the anchorage, and even rougher conditions out side. So we sailed down the west (leeward) side of Grenada Island to tiny Dragon Bay, just north of the capital of St. George’s.

From the sea, one does not see much sign of the damage done by hurricane Ivan last September. Houses looked normal - there were a few wrecks and evidence of landslides in the higher hills. In St. George’s, however, damage was more evident. Some buildings have been repaired or rebuilt, but there is still a ways to go. We heard some lively radio debate about the progress of recovery and what has been done by the government with the resources provided for it. As it is the beginning of the 2005 hurricane season, disaster preparedness is discussed a lot as well. The manager of the electric utility made the good point that the next disaster might not be a hurricane - like Washington, Grenada is in a volcanic zone and could just as easily need to cope with an eruption or an earthquake.

Our visit here has coincided with a tropical wave, an atmospheric disturbance that can develop into a storm or hurricane. This has meant frequent rain squalls and rapidly veering wind gusts up to 30 kt. As a result, our anchor did not hold in the mucky bottom of St. George’s lagoon, and at midnight we found ourselves dragging down onto the mooring lines of a boat at the end of the yacht club dock. Fortunately we were able to disentangle ourselves before contacting them, but it was an anxious event for all concerned. We managed to reanchor further away, but spent the rest of the night on anchor watch.

Yesterday we sailed around to Prickly Bay, one of the main yacht anchorages in the region. As soon as we got the anchor down, another squall hit, and we dragged again, though David arrested it by letting out more rope (scope) on the anchor. We decided to go to another, more protected spot, Hog Island, where we set the anchor and tied up to some nearby mangroves so we could spend the night in peace. There is a small informal long term community orf expatriate sailors here, and we were immediately welcomed and invited for drinks. Tonight there is a barbeque on a nearby beach, where we will celebrate my birthday.

It was raining sooo hard..

In a day or 2 we will head south to Trinidad, thereby ending the Caribbean cruise chapter of the trip. The past month has been a lovely and much appreciated vacation after all the work of getting here. My favorite aspect has been the opportunity to meet new people, in the sailing community and island residents, as well as doing a bit of exploring and sightseeing. While we need to spend some time on boat projects in Trinidad (especially upgrading our anchor gear!) I expect we will also have time to continue meeting people and exploring there too. We have made contact with another Olympia expatriate, Ken Kleinhoff of Sangreal, who is currently anchored there after circumnavigating via Cape Horn, and look forward to hearing about his adventures. I’ll probably write you next from there. Till then, take care!

Preparing to leave the USA, and Portugal

2009-06-30T16:55:00.023+12:00

January 14, 2005
First update - more to come..

We’re in the final weeks of shedding the old life here in Olympia. I made several full car runs to Goodwill before New Years, stopping off at CD Connections and the used book store to sell what I could. Prior to that we held a great potluck with our friends here, to give or sell things that they wanted. It is surprisingly satisfying to know that things I have enjoyed will continue to be useful to people we know. We have found homes for most of the things we intend to keep (Mostly family treasures). There is still quite a bit left, and I am hoping to sell as much as possible in the next couple weeks.

Other chores include trips to the doctor, getting health and boat insurance, and hoping the British airways ticket price drops by the end of the week. I am still doing a little bit at work - next week I am to go in for some orientation with my successor, Don Arlow. David is finishing off projects on his former boat, the O-My-God, and tackling house projects necessary to renting.

Happy 2005!
Susanne

January 16, 2005

T =-2 weeks and counting!

2 weeks from right now we are scheduled to be en route to Lisbon via Heathrow. Wahoo!! This weekend we participated in a yard sale and also sold a bunch of stuff direct from home. We did pretty well - there are still some things left to sell or get rid of, but we are getting down to just those things we plan to house with family and friends. I am glad Kasia’s not adopting the bed till next weekend! Remaining items include cars, a pressure washer, filing cabinets and misc household stuff so let us know if you are interested. A big thanks to Paige Lemcke who hosted the garage sale, and her wood stove which made hanging out in the garage all day bearable.

Dan Decker told us about Craig's list which is a free bulletin board. I put up a bunch of stuff this morning and we got several hits (more response than the Olympian ad that also ran today!). If you need to buy or sell stuff, including services, check it out. Thanks Dan!

Last Thursday Dr. Samantha Ritchie taught us how to suture. It’s not horribly difficult but there are some tricks to it. If I ever have to do it I will be glad to have practiced it first. Sam is also helping us complete our medical kit, as we will carry a few more serious remedies than are currently in my first aid kit. We also took First Aid and CPR, and are trying to follow up on the Travel Nurse recommendations from Group Health.

We’re also finalizing insurance and property management arrangements. I find it fascinating that world wide medical coverage comparable to what I had last year with Washington state costs $4,000 for us both, less than 1/2 as much as it would cost to stay on the state’s plan either as an employee or through COBRA. Raising the deductible to $2,500 each brings the annual cost to $2,500. Yes, something is quite wrong with the cost of American health care, and I am going to enjoy NOT thinking about that for a while, and focus on staying healthy instead.

Can you believe it - last weekend we found fresh chanterelles in woods near our house! Enough for us and friends, for several meals. I hope to go out and poke around at least one more time before we go - it is a good break from the chores.

In between the chores we are still fitting in lunches, dinners and drinks with friends and family. Dan Decker is hosting a party for us at his place the night before we go (1/29) - if you want to attend and didn’t get the invite, let me know & I will forward.

Next weekend we hope to move out of here and into Lisa Seifert’s guest room, which will facilitate remaining house projects. We’ll keep the phones on until right before we go, and of course will check email (but maybe less frequently).

I’m very interested in suggestions for good books for the Atlantic crossing and beyond. I can’t buy too many before we go, but I have heard that English bookstores aren’t too hard to find in Portugal due to lots of British expatriates and tourists (and there is always Gibraltar!). We’ll take recommendations for music and DVD’s, too.

Thanks for your support and good wishes. Keep your fingers crossed for us! I look forward to writing you from Portugal.

Susanne

February 1, 2005

We made it to London!

Just a quick note to let you all know we are successfully on our way. A huge thank you to the many friends and family who helped get us on our way yesterday. Will write more soon.

Love, a jet lagged D+S

February 2, 2005
Boa noite de Lisboa

We arrived Monday night, after an incredible week of getting ready. Despite attempts at preparation, the last two days before departure required Herculean efforts to finish getting rid of our stuff. We could never have done this without the help of many friends, some of whom were still working as we left. Dan Decker and his friend Terry with the trailer, Brian, Maria, Bill Weinsheimer, Gunner, Michelle, Bill Brosius all were instrumental in this effort. It was very strange to see all of our stuff making its way out the door, leaving us with just 4 overstuffed suitcases, 2 heavy daypacks, and the computer. At the end, we could actually see the walls and floor of the garage for the first time any of us can remember.

Lisa Seifert, Sam, Dave and Morgan, Judith and especially Paige were particularly helpful with the big move and all the other tasks of our departure. So many details. Finally, we made it to Seatac, on time, and onto the plane. As we lifted off, it finally started to sink in that we were leaving, about to begin our dream voyage.

We’ve spent the last day playing tourist in Lisbon, seeing just a little of this beautiful city. Many of the buildings here are covered with azulejos tiles in many colors and designs - others are painted in pastel and Mediterranean earth tones. The city, like Rome, is built on 7 (steep!) hills. It felt very good to stretch our legs on the climb up to St. George’s castle this morning, where were rewarded with a terrific view. The weather is “bracing” - clear, chilly but warming in the bright sun. In the afternoon, we went to see the Gulbekhian museum, which has a very eclectic collection from Egyptian to modern art - and everything in between.

On Monday night, we went to a fado house - definitely a tourista spot, but I enjoyed the music and the grilled squid. Fado is a soulful Portuguese vocal tradition, usually accompanied by guitar. There appears to be specific structure to the songs (sung in groups of 3) - common themes are unrequited love, and other life challenges. It sounds to me like a pretty direct descendent of the songs of the medieval troubadours.

There are multiple “tipico” restaurants on every block in downtown Lisbon, so today we tried to pick ones with interesting menus and Portuguese diners. We’ve had scabbard fish, caldo verde and rabbit with clams (an odd combination but good). Enjoyed some tasty vinho verde (young wine) tonight, reminded me a bit of Chateau Lemcke. We are staying in Pensao Globo (downtown Barria Alto), in a room mostly filled by the full bed, with a closet shower.

Portugese is an interesting language - it reads kind of like Spanish, but sounds a lot more like Russian. A lot of things seem to be pronounced or abbreviated with an “sh” sound. Every so often I can pick out a word or two, but mostly not. A lot of people here speak or understand English, so that is not a problem. But I try to stumble through at least simple conversations with broken Portuguese, and they humor me and sometimes tell me how to pronounce things correctly!

Everyone we have met has been really nice and helpful.

Tomorrow we plan to rent a car and head for Porto, before turning south to Portimao. We’ve already sampled some white port (good, but not like the red kind, and intended as an aperitif. Coffee is good, I am not missing Batdorf’s yet. More to come.

Love, Susanne and David

February 8, 2005
Next post, from Portimao

I’m writing this from Cheshire’s salon table. Finally, I get to meet her - and I like her very much! We arrived today just before 6 PM, and were able to check in with the marina and get our keys activated. Then we went up for a quick bite and drink, and met 2 other groups of yachties with catamarans (Brits). They made us feel right at home. We’ll spent the weekend tidying up and running errands, and try to get the boat hauled out Monday for a full body spa treatment of sanding and painting. Tuesday is Carnaval (Mardi Gras), and there are supposed to be big festivities in a nearby town (Loule).

Yesterday, we left Porto for a nice lunch in a little fishing village, where the older ladies all still wear black dresses. Then I ventured into my first “hipermercado” - think Walmart. It went pretty well - I learned that any kind of drug, including aspirin, must be purchased at a farmacia. But they have everything else there, including some pretty good produce. Unfortunately, we could not for the life of us find our way down the hill to the village of Vila Nova de Gaia, which is where the port cellars are. Finally we made it down, but we only had time for 1 tour and tasting, at the Calem cellar. Outside Porto looked very nice in the late PM sunshine. A fleet of old style sailboats, rabelas, were moored off the front street. These were used to transport the port from the vineyards to the cellars.

David’s ancestors, the Derby family, were leaders among early American traders, and I like to think that one of them sailed to Porto and looked on a scene that included many of the things we saw. Hopefully he also enjoyed his port!

We went to the medieval city of Coimbra for the evening. It is the site of one of the oldest universities in Europe. We stayed below in a neighborhood full of tiny alleys, and had a delicious dinner of roast chicken and accompaniments. Our host treated us to a glass of Ferreira port afterwards, which sent me right over the edge. Fortunately our pensao was just around the corner. In the morning, after coffee, we hiked up to the top of the hill and the old university center for a great view of the city and surrounding valley.

Then, back into the car for the last leg of the trip. Lunch was at the seaside town of Setubal, south of Lisbon. We drove across the flat plans of the Alentejo, which I think of as Portugal’s Texas. The hills were dotted with cork trees and the occasional flock of cows and sheep. Coming in towards the coast, we saw trees in blossom which I think are almond. Spring arrives early here, but the nights are quite chilly. Still glad I brought fleece and long underwear.

That’s it for now. I know there will be more to report soon as we dive into boat projects and figure out the Portimao area.

February 10, 2005
Happy Carnaval!

Today we went to Loule, about 30 minutes from here, to see a Carnaval parade. We were accompanied by Debbie, an English reflexologist who is planning a similar cruising route to ours. She and her partner have been here a while already, so she has been a great source of information for useful details like the nearest chandlery, availability of free internet at the library, the really good hipermercado is closer to the freeway, etc.

The parade was a bit cheesy, but fun. Some of the costumes were a bit worn, but they were very colorful - a la Rio, on a smaller scale. There were plenty of scantily clad women, including one in a brief tasseled silver skirt, silver boots, and body paint. Oh wait, I think she was wearing a headdress too. In the “traditional” carnaval spirit, there was a man with a large prosthesis, and other people with over dramatized body parts. I felt for the scantily clad babes, as it was not warmer than 50. Fortunately it was a lovely sunny day, unlike yesterday when there was lightning and hail.

Several floats seemed to have a graphic political emphasis, with large headed dummies of what I think were political figures. This may be due to the upcoming election. On one float, one figure was cutting out the tongue of another. In another, the opposition candidate was surrounded by Klannish types with the label “Nao” (no). The procession circled the main avenue of the town, which was divided by a greenway in the middle.

There were Procession of the Species-like moments: samba dancers swaying down the street, with a drum band behind, and large creatures in paper mache. I had moments of nostaglia for my parrot costume of last year, as I think it would have fit in well. Plus I think you got in free if you were in sufficient costume (otherwise 2 euros admission). Popular costume themes were witches, Chinese, and among the younger set, princesses, Superman, and cats.

Besides Carnaval, other exciting moments have been getting a new propane bottle installed on the boat, which means cooking and limited heat; and attending a cruiser roundtable on Sunday where we met a bunch of our neighbors. Very good for information trading. Most of the people here are planning to go into the Mediterranean next summer, so that was the topic of discussion. One marina in Ibiza charges $170/berth/night in high season!!! Glad we aren’t going there.

Tomorrow we will find out when we can get the boat hauled. Our 2 critical tasks are to sand and paint the bottom and sides of the boat, and to get solar panels purchased and installed. Hopefully the haulout will occur either late this week or early next, and then the fun begins! We will move into the yard, which will likely restrict my access to internet and ability to write posts. On the other hand, boat sanding and painting are pretty boring as several of you know first hand, so there won’t be much to report for a while. Your wishes for good weather for us are encouraged.

February 13, 2005
Cheshire in the slings

Now we are hauled out, and sanding the paint on the sides (topsides) and bottom of the boat preparatory to painting.

We hauled out Thursday. The wind was gusting in the morning, and built to a steady 12-15 mph from the East by the time to leave the dock. This was my first time out on Cheshire and my first haul out, so I was a bit nervous and not entirely sure conditions were sufficiently favorable. We had a tight exit to make as we had to avoid the long boom of a folkboat across the way. So David let the bows blow down, and we backed out of our section and the marina, aided by a neighbor and his dinghy. I tried to make sure necessary fenders and lines were everywhere, but predictably it was a scramble to get set up as we entered the travel lift quay.

Pictures of the haul out follow - once the boat was in the slings, everything went very smoothly. It’s a bit weird to feel the boat become airborne - you hope the slings are all in good repair! We were impressed by our driver’s ability to skooch tightly into our yard space - typical of Portuguese driving. We spent the rest of Thursday and Friday getting organized, giving up our cute little Peugot (silver, of course!) after one last trip to Lidl’s to stock up on very cheap wine (more on that later).

Today we began sanding. It always takes me a while to get a good sense of how far to go - the trick is to not go past the paint into barrier coat or fibre glass, and to be even and not make divets. The sun angle after 2 PM was perfect for showing what needed more work. Although there is more surface area to work on than the O-My-God (our last boat), the sides of the boat are more perpendicular, and closer to the ground. So the work is easier.

David bought a low end mountain bike today as well. I find it a bit small for me, but quite adequate for the commute across the bridge to town for groceries and Internet fix. I think we’ll eventually get another, which I hope can be larger. The constraint is, that it must fit through a forward hatch, which is 28” diagonal, and we don’t want to have to disassemble it any more than necessary.

That’s enough for today… will write more later. Wish us continued dry weather!

February 21, 2005
Cheap, red wine

Portugal’s best known wine exports are Port, Madeira, and (more recently) Mateus. I was interested to learn that both Port and Madeira are actually fortified wines, which were developed in their current form for the English market several centuries ago. Like its other Mediterranean brothers and sisters, Portugal produces many types of red and white wine, although they are not as well known. Some are reputed to be of high quality and commensurate price, therefore we will probably not be tasting them. However, we had heard that there is an abundance of cheap wine available in the stores, and have not been disappointed. On our last trip with the car to Lidl’s, the bulk store, we stocked up with about 10 different wines, all but one for 1 euro or less (we splurged and spent E1.19 on one). Last we checked, a euro was $1.34 - so this makes Trader Joe’s 3 buck chuck look expensive!

About 2/3’s were reds (tinta), and most were “vinho verde” which means green or young wine. Other countries have a few varieties of wine, like Beaujolais, meant to be drunk young, but here there is lots. Sometimes vinho verde has a sparkling quality, such as one of my favorites Campo da Gruta (red). I definitely want to get some more of this, and try it with fruit juice to make a Sangria. Yum. We also liked Veleira (red) (so called because it has a picture of a sailboat on the label), and Portal do Minho (Branco-white). There is wine in boxes too, so far we find these to be unexceptional. Even some of the bottled kinds don’t taste too different from inexpensive stateside wines, but hey, for about $1 a bottle, you can make some mistakes!

Wish we had some more erudite commentary to make, but we are pretty plebian in our taste - either we like it (fruity, a little sweet, not too much after taste) or we don’t (tannic, boring, sour). David adds that that the reds in particular make pretty good cough medicine, as we are both recovering from mild colds. Cheaper than cold medicine, too!

Speaking of which, there are also quite a number of other local distillates (aguardentes), including some made from the fruit of the madrona tree (medronho). At the Carnaval, I tried a shot of cherry liquor (ginjinha), which was distinctly reminiscent of cough medicine, so I am glad I did not invest in an entire bottle. Did give me a nice buzz though. Open air roadside bars, in addition to coffee stands, are pretty frequent - there is one here in the shipyard which is the fishermen and dog hangout. The dogs entertain the fishermen by chasing hapless passersby such as yours truly on the bike!

The region we are in, the Algarve, has been a wine growing area at least since the Romans. But in recent years, many acres have been converted to more lucrative orange production, which corresponds to the view out our train window Tuesday on the way to Faro. The trees are laden with fruit, which is another disorienting element given that it is February. Fresh orange juice is plentiful and cheap, although apparently not quite enough to prevent colds. There appears to be another trend overtaking the Algarve, namely house and apartment production. New construction is very evident, especially in the towns, to support the tourist and expatriate influx. I am very glad we will not be here in the high season, as road development is not occurring on the same scale, and traffic is rumored to be horrendous. And I hope that enough wine production continues to sustain a good supply of cheap red (or white) wine.

February 27, 2005
Home, home on the hard…

Here we are, working away on the boat. We have moved from coarse 60 grit sandpaper, to 220 grit. It is getting pretty hard to see progress, with the white glare of the hull in the sun, so David has “rattle canned” the side of the boat with orange spray paint to help show the contrast better.

I am hand sanding the lip at the edge of the topsides, as we don‘t have a small detail sander. I am looking forward to getting rid of that special early 70’s shade of aquamarine - we will paint the boat white up to the deck.

Last Tuesday we were visited by Mr. Sandblaster, a British chap who did some clean up of our bottom. This is a more drastic measure than David wanted, but you can see the large gaps in the bottom where the paint was not adhering. So, we decided to blast it all off and start afresh, to avoid further problems. The sandblasting got rid of some loose material, but we could see that there was a lot more that needed to come off. So, we have spent the rest of the week doing that. I went after some of it with a chisel, and David attacked the rest with the sander.

We had hoped to complete sanding today (Sunday), and begin painting next week but we have our first serious day of rain since we have been here. This is probably good for the orange trees, not as good for our schedule. Oh well. So I am doing interior projects, and David is going out to sand between the hulls for as long as he can stand it.

Next week, we hope to be out of the yard and welcome Dave Stewart, who will be our crew for the crossing to the Caribbean. We plan to leave on or around March 14, weather permitting On the way, we will go to the Canary Islands, maybe Madeira and the Cape Verde Islands. I am very excited for the sailing part of our trip to begin.

February 28, 2005
Adventures in food - trying out the ‘anona’

I (Susanne) am particularly interested in adapting our provisioning to incorporate local foods, and to tackle the challenge of figuring our how to identify and acquire staples or reasonable substitutes.

Grocery choices in Portugal are fairly similar to ours, especially as regards the basics. One can find some foreign foods (eg soy sauce) but not the diversity available in Washington. There is less diversity of choice than I’m used to (maybe spoiled for?) especially in the produce section. There are a few out of season items available from other countries such as Peru, such as red peppers and grapes. Mostly though it is seasonally available produce - leafy greens, cabbage, root veggies. The oranges are a nice treat. I made duck a l’orange the other night - very good but rich.

In the meat sections, I think there is more choice. One finds many more parts of the chicken than most US stores (feet, interesting looking innards, etc). Also, duck, rabbit, LOTS of kinds of fish and shellfish (whole, of course!) and the ubiquitous dried cod.

On the boat I’m also a little limited in storage space, and eventually by refrigeration, which we don’t plan to have. We still don’t have an oven yet - we have looked at a couple choices but haven’t found an ideal solution. Also, we are starting to get limited on time for such projects. So, we may stick with the broiler only for the Atlantic crossing - see how it works. This will dictate our menu choices.

My next challenge will be thinking about provisioning for our Atlantic crossing. Because the boat is weight sensitive, and we will be going places where restocking will be easy, I’ll want to balance buying enough food for emergency, with not buying in excess. Fresh supplies usually last no more than a week, then you are into “long term” veggies such as cabbage and roots, and canned or dried provisions. We hope a major protein source is freshly caught fish, but cannot necessarily depend on that.

Attached are pictures of my first food adventure. I had seen these bumpy green things in the store, so decided to buy some and experiment with them. The sign said “anonas”, which I could not find in our little Portuguese phrase book or Joy of Cooking, so I wasn‘t sure if they were vegetable or fruit. After a couple days, they got soft, so I sliced them open and tasted them. I was VERY pleasantly surprised to find a sweet, mild, custardy interior. A little more research in Joy confirmed these to be cherimoyas. I highly recommend them if you see them in the store, just to try. You can eat the rind, or not - the seeds are not edible.

That’s all for today - regards from Portugal

March 11, 2005
Quick progress report

The pace is picking up here finally. We have lots of good new to report. We have finally finished sanding the boat, and David has also sprayed on all the paint for the sides of the boat, despite some rather windy days. Today, we hope to begin painting the bottom, including the dagger boards. If all goes well, we will be back in the water on Monday.

We have also been joined by David Stewart, who will crew with us across the Atlantic. He arrived Tuesday, and his baggage arrived Wednesday. He brought with us the key remaining components of our medical kit, and prescriptions thanks to his wife Dr. Sam Ritchie. Also, the books we couldn’t fit in to our bags, other important documents and letters than came after we left, and goodies like wasabi paste to flavor the tuna we hope to catch. It was like Christmas!

We are planning our exit strategy from Portugal, and hope to be underway next week. There is lots to do but we can get started in between bottom paint applications. I’ll write more soon…

April 2, 2005
Back in the water, again!

Cheshire is a boat again, and floating happily in her slip. Yesterday was a very big day: David Ames’ 50th birthday, launching the boat with a engine that decided not to work, going for our first daysail in a little too much wind and wave, and joining up with an in progress birthday party at the beachside “Yacht bar”. While we are very glad to leave the yard, we got a lot done and made some new international friends. This was good as one of them gave us a tow from the slings yesterday and off to a nice anchorage for lunch.

Cheshire rests after launching

The birthday bunch at the "Yacht Club"

I’m happy to report that David Ames was able to get the engine working again when we were in the water, to our collective relief. We spent our first night at anchor as the winds were too strong to attempt going to the marina, which was another good thing to try out. This morning we came over early and are now settled in, with drying laundry everywhere. Today we are also looking at internet weather, taking care of final chores such as provisioning and finishing Dave Stewart’s head (marine toilet). We hope to leave for the Canaries in the next few days, ideally when the wind is lighter and coming from the north.

There has been much to do, so I have not been online a lot. I’ll write a little more for you before we leave. Ciao!

April 4, 2005
…And away we go

It’s midnight, therefore we plan to leave Portugal today now, not tomorrow. Today/Yesterday was spent organizing. David went through the hulls and cleaned up all the hard to reach little corners. With Dave Stewart’s help, he also set up the jacklines, which we will clip in to when we go out of the cockpit at night or in rough weather. I’ve been looking for reliable weather information on the Internet, and going through our medical supplies one more time to categorize and inventory them. Tomorrow I will go into town for one last shopping run before we go.

After dinner tonight, our friend Debbie and her partner Sean came by for a last visit, which involved toasting our trip with port and champagne. It seems quite a while ago now that we first met her and visited the Loule Carnival. They will explore the eastern Mediterranean for a while before following us across the Atlantic next fall. We hope to see each other again, maybe in Central America or even the South Pacific.

Yesterday we went out for our second practice sail, and things went much better than the first. We sailed back and forth across the harbor a few times, then went out into the ocean. Our objective was to sail far enough up wind that we could practice with the spinnaker, our big downwind sail. Catamarans sail much faster downwind than upwind, so we had to go out a ways. But it was a pretty day, so that was no hardship, and both Dave Stewart and I got to practice steering too. Even though we sailed out at least an hour, we still had barely enough time to raise the spinnaker and sail with it briefly before we were almost back to Portimao again.

Therefore, we are very interested in sailing downwind to the Canaries, not upwind, and have been trying to watch the weather closely. The next couple of days are OK for weather (not great) - winds will be light and there is some risk they may be more southerly than northerly. It’s about 650 miles to the Canaries and a pretty straight shot if we can hold our course, which is 222 degrees (southwest). There is a low pressure system moving in from the mid Atlantic which may affect our travels a little as the week progresses.

It has been fun to be back in the marina again, and see people we met when we were first here. Our four solar panels make for quite the conversation starter as people come by the boat. Most boats have diesel engines which are usually set up to generate some power through an alternator. This is typically supplemented by 1-2 solar panels and/or a wind generator. We have more panels because our little 9.9 hp Yamaha outboard (with the hard to find parts!) can’t put out enough power to make an alternator viable, and David hasn’t been so keen on wind generators due to the noise they make. The panels are mounted at the back of the boat on 2 aluminum masts, which can vibrate quite a bit at times. I am hoping they all make it across the Atlantic in good repair. Otherwise we may need to get a wind generator anyway, noise or not.

This will be the last email you get directly from me until we reach the Canaries, sometime between 1 and 2 weeks from now. During our first couple days at sea I’m not expecting to do much other than stand my watches and make sure there’s enough food around for those who feel like eating. We plan to stand 3 hour watches, which means 4-5 hours sleep during the night and catnaps during the day. We’ll only have a short stay there (I hope less than 3 days) before beginning the passage to the Caribbean. We will determine our most likely landfall in the Canaries, after watching weather there and weighing options.

If you want to send us a message while we are at sea, please keep it short and text only, and send to Paigeol@hotmail.com. Wish us luck!

Preface - How the adventure began

2009-06-30T15:57:00.031+12:00

When my father’s estate was settled in November 2003, we realized that we had the opportunity to accelerate our long term plan to go cruising by sailboat. At the time, David owned a 40 foot racing monohull called “O-My-God” .. a name he tried to live up to with daring exploits such as sailing over shallow banks on a falling tide.

O-My-God

We had a lot of fun on O-My-God, sailing in many races in Puget Sound and out into the ocean. But converting her to a cruising platform would have been a lot of work, without necessarily a comfortable result. So we decided we would look for a different boat, and specifically a catamaran. This type of boat met some very different criteria from each of us: David wanted a boat that was fast, light and shallow draft, while my preference was for stability, sufficient and accessible storage space, and a set up that I could handle by myself in case something happened to David.

David became interested in an Australian designer named Lock Crowther, who produced a number of designs that were built by individuals, and also did some work for the production company Catana. A limiting factor was our budget. I figured that we had about US$100,000 to spend on buying and outfitting the boat, which is a lot less than many of the newer boats on the market. So we were looking for an older boat, which we hoped would be less expensive so we could spend some money on up to date enhancements like navigation instruments.

There were several boats in which he was interested, one of which was sold to another buyer after we were promised we’d be notified if there was any activity. Prospecting trips to Florida and Australia yielded several leads but no results. Upon getting back from the lengthy flight from Sidney in January 2004, he noticed a new listing for a likely looking 40 foot Crowther in Cornwall, UK. “Hurry up and get on the plane!” I urged, fearful that this one, too, would be sold quickly. So off he went to see a 31 year old boat named Hi-Fi, who had been built by the current owners, Maurice and Anne Marie Nathan.

Maurice and Anne Marie Nathan

Maurice and Anne Marie had no children, and had sailed Hi-Fi around England, in the Mediterranean and back and forth to America. She had been sitting out of the water for several years while they came to terms with the end of their sailing days. We weren’t the first to be interested, but they immediately warmed to David and our plans to go on an extensive trip. It seemed very much a case of putting their “fiberglass child” up for adoption to the best set of parents available. A month of negotiations and a large wire transfer later, meant that we were the owners of a catamaran in Cornwall. The first thing we did was rename her Cheshire. Many catamarans have “cat” names (such as Jaguar, Ocelot, Aristocat..) and we like the image of a disappearing cat, with the smile lingering on after the rest has vanished.

Cornish harbor

Now all of a sudden, our trip began to seem real. We decided to aim to depart at the end of the year, given the time needed to prepare ourselves and the boat, and our intended first passage across the Atlantic to Portugal. Looking back, I can safely say that this year was the most difficult part of the entire trip. So much needed to be done, and so much was unknown. David went back to Cornwall to work on Cheshire in June. He called up long time partner in crime Sam Chapin to help sail her to the south coast of Portugal in October, so as to get across the infamous Bay of Biscay off the French coast before winter storms set in. I meanwhile had one of the busiest years at work that I can remember, while trying to research and initiate the process of packing up our lives and leaving.

David installs the depth sounder

Dolphins play around the boat

We decided to rent out the house, but to get rid of most of our stuff. There was no good place to store things in the house, and storage units seemed expensive and possibly risky (we heard stories of flooding, and of bills that didn’t get paid which resulted in the stuff being auctioned off before the owners could respond). We kept only things that we couldn’t replace and/or that had significant personal value, such as furniture made by David’s sister Judith. These were divided between storage at Judith’s and our friends Lisa and Paige, and our safe deposit box. We sold the O-My-God to friend and long time crewmember Dan Decker.

We were allowed 4 suitcases at 44 lbs each to take with us to Portugal, and the high cost of shipping boxes led me to decide that we would buy anything else we needed there or en route. I could go on at length about the process of downsizing and leaving in general - there were days I was not sure we were going to make it, but thanks to the help of many friends and family we got to the airport on January 30, 2004 for our transAtlantic flight.

Rossi Square by Luca Galuzzi www.galuzzi.it

Upon our arrival in Lisbon, we took a week to be tourists with a rental car, going up to Oporto and then back down to Portimao where Cheshire was berthed. It seemed so strange to finally see this boat I had been part owner for a year. She is not very big or fancy - there is just under 6 feet of headroom in the middle of the cabin. But she was sound, and we hoped to haul her out in Portugal, put on a quick coat of bottom paint and be off. As often happened on this trip, that was a bit optimistic! But a tenet of the cruising life is that there will always be unexpected delays or obstacles, and you just have to roll with it and adjust accordingly.

Looking back nearly 5 years later, this has been an incredible journey on many levels. There have been difficulties along the way, and now we are facing the challenges of trying to get back into work during a world-wide dep-recession. But the rewards have been priceless: the chance to visit remote places, meet new friends from many countries, and simply take time to enjoy where we are.

Our hope is to stay and work in New Zealand for a while, in part because we want to eventually go cruising again in the South Pacific. New Zealand is about 1,000 miles or 7-10 days sailing from several great destinations (New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji and Tonga). We feel we could spend the rest of our cruising days exploring as far as Thailand and not exhaust the possibilities. We will see what happens!

Susanne Ames
Whangarei, NZ
June 2009