Adventures on Mandate         

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robandsuesail@yahoo.com

 or

sue@sailmandate.com

rob@sailmandate.com

Winter-Spring 2009-2010

PASSAGE ON DREAM CATCHER: A Junneau 42 sailboat delivery from Tortola BVI to Washington NC

Tuesday June 1

We’re on the ICW road now and because of thunderstorm and tornado warnings we decided to travel in shore.  Radar shows the storms are moving northeast—in our direction but so far all we see is distant thunder and lightning, no funnel clouds.

We got into Charleston at 5:30 PM: fueled, watered and found a dock.  We ate out in the city last night and did some window shopping.  Rob and I met some nice hotel guest folks, Mark and Terry, on our marina shuttle bus ride back. They offered us a ride to the local West Marine store in the AM so that we could buy a starboard running light.  It is a little unnerving to find out you are missing a navigation light when you are out in the Gulf Stream with all the night traffic.  Actually there was little traffic so we were lucky. 

Sunday-Monday May 29- 30

Seas and wind abated, we have a mainsail out supplemented with motoring at 2500 rpm. The Charleston breakwater is 25 miles ahead so we will make harbor before sundown. We will enjoy the Charleston Harbor Marina for the night….on solid ground, with hot and running showers, laundry, some internet catch up and maybe a meal out…a nice reward considering the seasickness I had during the last 3 days in passage.

This afternoon and evening we didn’t enjoy the +-30kt winds and lumpy, with confused seas up to 8’; a bit rough on the stomachs.  Things died later giving us a cloudy and sometimes moonlit night with winds from behind. We motored sailed toward Charleston, SC.

We sailed and motored across the shallow banks north of Great and Little Abaco Islands into the Gulf Stream last night. Wind and seas slowly built even though the forecast said light and variable. On the 2-5AM watch we were surrounded by spectacular thunder storms with lightning in three directions. We were sure we would be engulfed in one of the storms, but it dissipated before it reached us, a welcome relief. Winds picked up from the east and we are on a starboard reach doing between 9-10 knots in the stream. If we can keep this up we’ll be in Charleston by tomorrow afternoon.

Saturday May 29

Heading across the Gulf Stream . Weather is clear and winds are calm.  The engine is behaving and we think we have all the fuel filters it will take to remediate the fuel starvation issues.  Four days and three nights should get us to Charleston , and then we will do the ICW to NC.  At least that’s the plan right now.  We stocked the boat with plenty of food; Laura is a great cook, I mostly brainstorm the menu and act as her Sue-chef.  She is right on top of the next meal with prep especially in anticipation of any roily seas ahead that make prep difficult. 

We anchored at Allans-Pensacola Cays with only two other boats in the anchorage for the night. We did a little snorkeling, beach walking and swimming. It was great to swim upcurrent between a couple of small cays and drift back down current. We saw some mutton head snappers, barracudas and almost stepped on a large ray as we pulled up to the beach. The rays like to bury themselves in the sand.

The last time Rob and I came to the Abacoes we hustled into the cut and hunkered down out of 20 kn of easterlies and we didn’t stop to enjoy the cays that surround

.  This time the weather was wonderful and we enjoyed anchoring in these quiet outer islets.  How wonderful and peaceful.  We will surely make a Mandate visit to Abaco in the spring and spend more time out island rather than in

.  

Time flies!  We did an overnight and two long days to reach

in the

.  Our exit from

was in such flat seas that we could see the bottom for the first daylight hours of passage.  When we were about 20 miles north, the engine abruptly stopped and we spent 2 hours drifting in 2-3 knots of wind while the guys tore apart the starboard aft berth to access the engine.  Many tries to restart failed until Rob blew the fuel line and received a gulp of diesel laced with Biospore, (that didn’t remedy the situation), but it gave them the intelligence to consider that  the clog might be before all the filters they replaced.  Here we are a good 200 miles up the line and maybe 30 engine hours later and all is well.    

Coming in to the Abacoes seemed to take forever.  The wind piped up to 20-23 kn.  at night  and gave us a crazy ride on day 2.  This was a few hours after watching sunset over placid waters:  sunset and moonrise simultaneously.  The water was so calm it was hard to distinguish a horizon line. 

Monday, May 24, 2010

Motored to Georgetown to fuel, water and provision. Of course it was a national holiday and stores were closed.; did manage to get fuel and water. Swam, snorkeled, and walked on

Stocking Island

Sunday, May 23,2010

Sailed from Rum to Elizabeth Harbor in the Exuma Islands Georgetown (the winter capital of cruising boats in the

Friday and Saturday, May 21-22, 2010

Sailed from French Cay to Rum Cay instead of stopping at Mayaguana to make up for a couple of lost days. It was mostly a motor sail with the main straight into the winds for an overnight arriving in Rum Cay in the late PM. Anchored, ate and all fell asleep by 8:30.;real party life! Had to change a fur=ell filter two hours before we arrived at Rum. Engine was starving for fuel. Crew from Texas Two step stopped by to invite us for dancing, but we s=were chasing down a non=working tachometer problems that we didn’t know how to converse with someone other than the four of us….

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Day 2 at French Cay:  Bill is ill with an intestinal bug so we decided to spend another day here.  Winds piped up to 20-30 knots over the night and into the morning along with rain.  The Jenneau  42 is upholding her reputation as being a “wet boat” (inside joke from our 1992 charter), as we discover leaks in overhead hatches.

Our plan is to get up early tomorrow and head out now that Bill is coming around and feeling more human.  We will make a run for Mayaguana Island in the Bahamas tomorrow. After the front passes the winds should lessen a bit. Then on to Rum Cay and to Georgetown

,Grand Exuma Island for fuel and water stops.  After that it is a matter of going up the chain of pristine islands and taking off over the Gulf Stream toward mainland US.

As we approached this tiny island two days ago we envisioned that we would be the only ones anchored in this extremely remote place, but as we got closer we discovered that we were one of six boats at anchor.  Yesterday all boats left us here.  One of the catamarans gave us a whole kit of fishing lures after we conversed with him on the VHF radio telling him that we lost our last fishing lure to King Neptune.  His boat name is Lady Luna, I believe, so we will ask other cruisers about contacting him to give proper thanks.

French Cay has a nature sanctuary established by the Turks and Caicos government so we are not alone today when counting heartbeats; there are thousands of birds swarming the island. We are visited by small sparrow like birds hanging on the lifelines and delicate dark brown seabirds (I think  Boobies?) that daringly dip within two feet of us with a call sounding like cat cries.  Birds arrange by species on the sandy beach looking as though they are on holiday sans cabanas and beach umbrellas.  

Wednesday May 19, 2010

Landed in French Cay of the Turks and Caicos Island group about 3:00PM.  It is nice to be on familiar shallow mid-ocean banks in the Turks + Caicos Islands which are directly south of the Bahamas with bright turquoise waters that are crystal clear when you look down.   We anchored in good holding sand and jumped in for a swim and saw some conch in the sea grass areas.  Wind for the passage was 10-30 with the higher winds near the end of our 3 day, 2 night round the clock adventure from PR.  We were going 6 knots with the jib alone but spent most of the journey with a single reef in the mainsail main and a full jib sail.  Dream catcher gave us a nice ride: not too heeled and cutting the swell and chop well.  We all are impressed with this boat’s performance.  French Cay is a small island in the middle of a sea of ocean on the edge of the Caicos Banks where the water goes for hundreds of feet deep to 12 feet. We anchor on the leeside of the island and are protected from the waves. The winds are blowing from 19 to 24 knots; a bit breezy. 

Monday May 17:

8:24 AM: Good sailing last night in winds 4-18 knots on the beam and then aft of beam.  Saw two ships paralleling us coming and going along the coast of the Dominican Republic .  In the early morning hours I saw a slowly approaching light that turned out to be another sailboat; we ran side by side for about an hour, then it crossed around our stern and sailed north.  Bill spotted it on the horizon and gave them a call.  It turned out to be a boat named Avalon 5 whose captain and first mate we very briefly conversed with in Boquerón PR the night before we left. 

9: 41 AM: Turning at South Rock: 

Southern most tip of the Turks and /Caico outlying islands.   Exciting to see the turquoise waters again and their reflection in the low lying clouds.  

Sunday May 16

4:12 PM: Approaching mid point of Mona Passage:  Caught and released two barracudas within 15 minutes.  Their teeth are as large as a small dog.  Had a bumpy dinner of beef stroganoff with flying salad that liked to blow off the plates—we forgot to buy big bowls for eating out of when in en-passage. 

Friday May 14,

Sailing from Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, currently in the southwest corner of Puerto Rico .  Tomorrow we will leave for Boquerón where, when the forecast is favorable, we will sail up the Mona Passage, past Dominican Republic toward the Turks and Caicos Islands and up the Bahamas Island chain.  Looks right now like the good wind and wave conditions will be either Sunday or Monday.  The passage should be three days long.  We will provision and plan a watch schedule. 

had two horses grazing, unfettered and waiting for their owners to return from an outdoor gathering.   Very quiet and hot, wandering feral dogs and crowing roosters, and occasional friendly passersby who know we are visitors.

May 9, Sunday

Landed a Bonita Tuna while we were underway from Culebra to Puerto Rico .   The fish caught us unaware and in the chaos of fetching rum to kill him, he flipped off the transom deck.  We are passing Isla Vieques and heading for Salinas Puerto Rico for a dock to receive and install a new anchor windlass for the boat: the current one is unpredictable and makes successful anchoring chancy. 

May 7, Thursday

The best coral reef I have seen!!  Fan corals are thickly growing, and brilliant with color.  We are in Culebra, a large island just east of

, mountainous, sparsely populated with beautiful beaches.  This reef was along the beach, about 50 feet out.  I was amazed.  We spent lots of time watching colorful fish dart in and out of the fern, brain, and elk horn corals while swimming in 85 degree water temps.  The PR Department of Natural Resources installed first come mooring balls around the island and harbors. Makes for a safe night sleep.

May 4-6

We had a few days of familiarization and provisioning with Dream Catcher, the boat and her owner, “Uncle Ed”, my sister-in-law’s uncle; he is a kind and generous man and a delight to spend time with.  Dream Catcher will be transported by our friends (Captain) Bill and Laura along with Rob and me as crew, to

. The boat has spent a strenuous ten years in two

sailboat charter businesses.  For Rob and me, crewing will give us the chance to experience new parts of the

than the three charter trips we took some 10-15 years ago.  Bill and Laura sailed this route three years ago and they are anxious to share with us some of their favorite anchorages and snorkeling spots. 

Thursday, April 22, 2010

All went well with the Annapolis-Stoney Creek leg of the trip.  Bob and friend Steve took the final leg with Rob and arrived two hours ahead of time due to the strong incoming tidal currents they hadn’t taken into account. 

Mandate is docked safely (hopefully) in the muck; water at low tide gets to 2.5 feet but our six foot keel manages to nestle in the mud without tilting the boat. 

We are at Mom and Dad’s house now in Schenectady NY enjoying the woods and springtime flowers, catching up with children and grandchildren and making ready for the Caribbean boat delivery early next month.  

Friday, April 16^th

Forecasters for NOAA in this region have been consistently been wrong.    They say that tonight and tomorrow will bring 30 knot winds on our bow so we planned to stay in Annapolis on the Chesapeake on a mooring ball for two days before heading to our dock in Stoney Creek, just south of Baltimore MD.    Cousin Phyllis and Bob will meet us in Annapolis and Bob will hop on board for the ride to the dock—an 8 hour venture.

We have had some fun along our route on the ICW.  We anchored in Buck Island in the Currituck sound about a week ago.  We rafted up with Bill and Laura for dinner on the south side of the island amongst crab pots.  Later that night the current increased and made the boats bang together, so we had to untie and anchor independently in the dark and without fouling in the crab pots: that was exhilarating. 

When we reached Atlantic Bridge the next day we met up with a bunch of boats as we tied to the free wall.  It turned out that most of them had just come in from Gulf Stream passages and this was their first step on land in weeks as it was with us.  We enjoyed each other’s company so much that we all decided to stay an extra day and have a pot luck dinner. 

We met Linda and Kip on an Alberg 37 (1970); the closest boat we’ve seen like ours in all of our travels.  These people were fascinating; they have been sailing and boating all of their adult lives (they are our age), and have owned many different sailing vessels including a 54 foot steel boat.  They also transport boats on land cross country with a big hydraulic rig and they have a house with a number of acres on the Potomac River .

We left early from Atlantic Bridge —6:00 AM and were delayed going through the lock and three bridges.  Linda and Kip awoke at 8:00 AM and did the same lock and bridges and they not only caught up with us by the end of the day, they passed us!   So we have a great deal of respect for this couple and for the Alberg 37, which differs from Mandate mostly in her keel configuration---she’s got a full keel that “tracks” very well in the heavy swells and 25 knot winds we had that day.  We were struggling to stay upright and going in a straight line with our fin keel.  We also had an inappropriate amount of sail up, making her helm (steering) difficult to maintain.  Linda and Kip not only beat us, they were far more comfortable and actually videotaped us.  What amazing footage, we were slammed by waves that filled the cockpit and our keel was almost entirely visible!! 

We took an extra day of R+R at Fishing Bay to recoup from that episode and to have fun on shore on bicycles in our old haunt (2006-2007), of Deltaville, VA.

 Wednesday,  April 7

We are motoring along the ICW in Bogue Sound just north of Camp Lejuene North Carolina .   Yesterday we made a record of four groundings in one day and all within the first three hours of motoring.  Guess we are a little rusty on navigating the ICW shoals. 

Six days ago we left Biscayne Bay FL and traveled 500 miles northing the Gulf Stream , 150 miles offshore for four days, averaging 8-9 knots: at one point we reached 11.5 kn.  We came inland to re fuel, re water and to walk.  Our destination at this point is clouded.  We have run into difficulty with obtaining dock space in the Albany area.  We may be forced to dock in NC for the summer or to take up the offer from friend in the Chesapeake.  That may eliminate our plans to get the grandkids on board and plans to sew a full enclosure, but it may open the possibility of sailing the Chesapeake area with cousins Phyllis and Bob.

We leave for the Caribbean on May 4^th and have decided to go home for April regardless of Mandate’s location.  All’s well here traveling with friends Bill and Laura on their boat Second Wind.  Every night we raft together and have sundowners and dinner and admire the sunsets and surroundings; life on the water is a constant challenge to find the green flash. 

Monday, March 29

For the past three days we have been cruising the lower Biscayne Bay area with new friends Gary and Pat who are the proud owners of a 1966 Pearson-Rhodes design sailboat, Aolare.  Our boats are quite similar and quite different.  Theirs was originally more finished and refined than ours, and then a previous owner put in a lot of nice interior upgrades.  They also have their varnishing done by a professional and it is the best I have ever seen on any boat.  It is truly beautiful.  Weather was perfect for a sail Saturday and Sunday on the port quarter all the way down to Card Sound which is where we are right now, just off of Key Largo .  Today we were hit by storms and possible tornadoes, so we kept an eye on our nicely set anchor with a protected south shore.  When the winds clocked west and the storms subsided (we could see on the radar via computer), we scurried to the northwestern shore of the sound for protection and reset anchor. 

Our intent is to leave tomorrow for Dinner Key to have our cracked backstay fitting replaced.  Then we will rendezvous with Second Wind at No Name Harbor as they make their way up from Marathon in the Keys.  Bill and Laura have the GPS we sent out to be repaired and had mailed to Marathon

where we had anticipated to be this winter.  So we didn’t make there and this is our “key” substitute.  It is really beautiful, so no complaints.

We will be on our way to Washington, NC where Mandate will wait at dockside for our return from the Caribbean delivery in June.  We may leave and accompany Second Wind  as early as next Wednesday.  

Sunday March 21,  2010

We are in Cocoanut Grove at a mooring ball and having a great time with friends Gail and Chuck on Red Witch.  The marina is next to a park on the edge of the southern-most vestige of Miami , in a large city environment.   We had a free breakfast in a high end restaurant the first day and enjoyed Cocoanut Grove’s lively streets on Saturday night and Spanish guitar music. 

The mooring field is surrounded by yacht clubs in the height of international one-design sailboat races.  Snipes, E Scows, and Scows from Finland  Italy,Mexico, USA , and Great Britain numbering in the hundreds parade through our moorings to the race courses three miles out in the bay against the

backdrop each day at about 10A.M. returning after six in the evenings.   Pictures are not available on this site but will be on Rob’s Facebook page. 

Cruising friends in Marathon

are still imploring us to make the two day sail there.  We will leave here in a few days after exploring the turquoise waters of the upper keys and Biscayne Bay.

Since insurance calls for three crew members, I will be joining the Caribbean sailboat delivery team in May.  That will make our cruising time in Mandate shortened while we find a place in North Carolina to leave her in order to do the delivery.  Barring any adverse circumstances, we intend to take Mandate north for the summer after the delivery and will sail her northward June. 

On the way down here our Fort Lauderdale experience was fun when we met up with 2007 cruisers on Wild Horse and learned of a good  dinghy landing spot off Lake Silvia at a local raw bar and a Winn Dixie market.  Until then we never got off the boat while there.

We got in touch with our land based friend Jayne Mackintoh and spent St Pattys day at her house.  She entertained and fed us well.

Friday, March 12

Well it wasn’t until Saturday that we left the dock, having found a huge oil spill under the engine that needed attention.  The annoying oil spill that plagued us over the past two winter seasons was a gusher now, it had precipitated two changes of the oil pan gasket to no avail.  We found that it was actually the gasket failure of the timing casing.  So three days later and the tearing down of the diesel remedied that situation.  She’s almost perfect now except for a fuel trickle that plagues Rob since his newly found skill as a diesel mechanic has turned him to become even more obsessive about the engine.   I’m not complaining Rob.

So we got on the ICW highway early Saturday and motored/sailed to Eau Galle to see our friend David for a pizza and to beg him to take off with us as always; once again he turned us down.  The next morning we pulled up anchor and sailed to Vero Beach where we “velcro-ed” to our friends Normand and Paula on s/v Madame for a couple of days on their mooring ball and to explore the beach, our favorite sandwich shop, and one of our favorite walking routes.  I made a polenta and ratatouille dinner for Madame and our Vero resident friend, Randi.   We had a lot of fun helping Randi figure out what to do next with her career.   We moseyed down to Fort Pierce and then up the St. Lucie River to beautiful Stuart FL to see friends Pam and Yelda on s/v Saltwhistle and Karen and Richard on s/v Trefoil. 

We spotted Maureen and Dan on s/v Trinity here, rang them up and shared a beverage, reminisced about the Yoga sessions we held on the beach in the Bahamas last winter; they were two of the groups we gathered on the Sand Dollar Beach. 

This year is turning out to be short trips to visit and wait out nasty storm patterns with vague destinations in mind.  We took in a great Yoga session at the Stuart community center last night; it helped to work out our kinks. 

Just got the latest weather up date: strong thunderstorms and tornado watch for St. Lucie River at Stuart....great.  this has the potential for a good entry on the site.

Saturday  February 27

Got Mandate’s engine started and running today!!  We will provision tonight, do  laundry, then he wants the assistance of the yard mechanic to align the engine with the new prop assembly, and I hope, we depart right after that on Monday early PM.  The weather in Vero Beach , 2 days travel has been averaging 10 degrees warmer and I hope we just get warmer and warmer at each anchorage.  It has been in the 50’s and 30’s in Titusville at night.  Our destination is Marathon in the Keys.  Rob will fly to St. Martin in the Caribbean to deliver a boat from there to North Carolina; estimated time is three weeks.   Then he will head back to Marathon .  We will take Mandate up the coast to NY for the summer at the end of May.  At least that is the plan for now. 

Wednesday  February 24

Mandate hit the water yesterday in full splendor in her 6 coats of gleaming curvaceous splendor.   Her engine has not cooperated however.  After 10 months of sitting on the hard, she is refusing to turn over.  So we are working hard to motivate her to move out of northern FL.  We have four variations of lubricants on the pistons as advised by curious passersby but have made little progress on moving the flywheel.

Tonight sailors Karen and Richard on s/v Trefoil  came to visit us before departing tomorrow for points south.  They are in their first cruising year in a Tartan 34 that they sailed down from Lake Champlain.  The boat is very similar to Mandate in beam and layout so it was fascinating to see how they did their boat’s retrofit.  Comparatively Mandate is more spacious as she carries her narrow beam another 3 feet longer.  Richard and Karen did a lot of cabinetry from native milled cherry trees and have made exquisite cupboards and a flip up dining table that make me envious.  

The crew of s/vRed Witch departed on Monday and called us from

Wednesday, February 17

Another cold and windy night on the hard, 30 degrees without anything but an old and  semi-dependable space heater and a great heated mattress pad to keep us going. 

Today we finished assembling the prop shaft and dripless shaft seal.  I varnished the toe rail in marginal temperatures (50 degrees), and will do the final—6^th coat of paint on her topsides tomorrow in the proposed 60 degree weather as forecasted by the local TV station.  We have re-installed the TV-DVD player once again and it has been a god-send in this unsettled weather. 

We have been working on the good ship Mandate since January 15^th here in Titusville FL.  For fun we have gone out to Irish bars with friends found in the boatyard, Gale and Chuck on sv/ Red Witch and single hander, Paul on sv/ Aquarius.   We visited cruiser friends in Stuart,  FL and who have since moved to Miami for the boat show and are points south by now.   They periodically call us to let us know where they are and when will we join them.  We will be there ASAP !!  “There” being maybe in the water by mid-next week (?)

Our destination is Marathon in the Keys, as always, perhaps the

MAY-JUNE    2009

Trans Atlantic trip on Schooner Marguerite  departing Cape Fear North Carolina on June 3, 2009

 Thursday July 16    12-2PM watch

Arrival in Cadiz, Spain,  the oldest established European city !!  We are safe at a dock across from the city proper.  Time for phase two of the trip that began on the 5^th of May…whew!!

 We will be laundering, packing, looking for shipment of our boat gear to home, then  train tickets  to Lampolla Spain, 900 miles north up the coast.  Jim and Barbara are meeting her brother Stephan and wife, Maria tomorrow night and they will stay the weekend, so we have gotta get off the boat. 

Thursday, July 16    4-6AM watch

36.32.02/06.57.19/ c074/bs 5.0 motoring  33 nm to Cadiz, Spain.

Spook (“Shpook”—Barbara is German), had five kittens, two still births.  Note to my mom, two are tuxedo kitties.  Barbara named them Nina, Pinta, and Maria or Nino, Pinto, and Mario, it is hard to tell the gender of newborn kittens.  Mama kitty seemed to know what to do in spite of being a teen mom, she had them each clean and nursing before the next was out of the womb.   

Coming to watch the radar alarm was going off and reading “danger”.  Jim and I couldn’t find a source of its angst so he turned it off and went down to bed at the end of his watch.  It rang 20 more times for me, so I started to read the chart intensively and of course found a submarine zone, a firing ground area, and a whole lot of ship wrecks.  Panic panic, but I just held my course.  Very often there are areas of unexploded ordinances, dumping grounds, under ground cables, wrecks, etc.  In this case it was nothing, just the entrance to Cadiz Harbor trying to scare us off from making landfall on the continent…actually it was related to the US Naval base at Cadiz…more like the Americans trying to scare us back home. 

Wednesday,  July 15   12—2PM watch

36.43.56/08.22.63/c110 motoring/ws 4.5/103 nm to Cadiz, Spain

Portuguese mountains and sand bluffs far away in the misty haze, our first sighting of the European continent.  11:30 greetings from a pod of 8-10 young dolphins jumping clear out of the water playing at the boat’s bow.  Last night we rounded the tip of the Portuguese coast at the lighthouse on the tip of Sagre, Portugal 

and four successive ships passing by on our starboard. On my 8PM watch we entered amongst four ships entering the channel and had to jog for position, a little challenging since we were strictly under sail.  But it was quite magical under stars and a bright half moon.   

Spook broke water just now (1:30 PM) so Barbara put a towel under her and is awaiting the arrival of the kids.  We will no longer be only 4 mouths to feed.

Tuesday, July 14   8PM—10PM watch

37.49.32/12.30.99/c 103/ ws 9.4/ d NW/ 311 to new waypoint,Cadiz, Spain

Stay sail, foresail, Fisherman, reefed main.  Cool and clear.

Just want to recognize some people who have provided us with hours of greatly appreciated entertainment; Grace, our Albany neighbor who gave us a whole stack of British sailing magazines that are far superior to any that you can get in the US. 

Practical Boater magazine is for small, less glamorous, and older boat owners and contains a great deal of ideas for upgrades on boats.  To Steve and Bobbie who gave us Wm F Buckley’s Atlantic High, a fun story, and the great Mystic Log pamphlets, and Good Old Boat issues. 

Monday, July 13   4—6AM watch

38.04.45/14.12.11/c 105/bs 5.4/ws 5.5 N / 244 distance to Sagre, Portugal

 Spectacular sunset last night at dinner time;.we eat at 8:30 trying to accustom ourselves to  European ways. 

 Finally a clear night, wonderful to see the stars again.  Sirius is seriously intense tonight, easy to mistaken her for an aft navigation light on a ship. 

 12—2 PM watch

38.31.84/16.13.63/ c n113/bs 6.2/ 344 distance to

Motoring. Day clearing with some blue sky.  Mama kitty looking for a place to nest picked the anchor locker, gateway to the bilge, so Barbara has hustled her out and we have put a ban on her access to the forward part of the boat.  The autopilot is doing its usual groan, Jim snoozing, Rob washing the morning dishes, Ratatoui left overs for breakfast—such is the typical daily fare.  Perhaps 2-3 days before landfall, then our lives change.

 Sunday July 12 4AM—6AM watch

38.56.00/16.25.22/c193/ws 12.4/d W/ 359 distance to Sagre, Portugal

 Heading southwest because it keeps the point of sail better than direct downwind.  We are turning westerly, but the course can be corrected in daylight and we will have made some southing.after over shooting to north.  Seems a bit roundabout in thinking but is the way of sailing sometimes.

 We are expecting to see more ships at night soon as we get nearer to the incoming and  f outgoing lanes.  Sting is on CD  befitting the tenor of the scene, singing  eerie melodies on a foggy night.

 Saturday July 11,   12 noon—2:00PM shift

Position:  N 40.00.49 / W 17.36.32, Course over ground 115 degrees

Boat Speed: 7.3 knots, Wind direction:  S Wind Speed: 14.3  

432 miles to west of Sagra, Portugal

After 3 days of gray murky sunrise-less and sunset-less days, we are seeing glimpses of sunlight in thinning but not clear skies.  A touch of listlessness is setting in.  We have turned southeast in the last 48 hours, encouraging that we are now headed in the right direction.  At the rate of 100 miles a day we should be making our way point in 4 days, perhaps Gibraltar in 2 more days and somewhere in Spain where we will depart Marguerite in another 2 days.    

 Friday July 10,  8PM shift

Position:  N 40.37.45 / W 19.40.63, Course over ground 115 degrees

Boat Speed: 5.7 knots, Wind direction:  S Wind Speed: 23  

534 miles to west of Sagra, Portugal

Thursday July 9 8PM shift

Position:  N 41.23.34 / W 22.54.35, Course over ground 124 degrees  Boat Speed: 5.1 knots, Wind direction:  SSE

 Singing Ave Maria with Sarah Brightman on the i-Pod.  The cockpit  is almost sound proof from any cabin area, enabling music to be played all night long to accompany the helms person on duty.  We have listened to books on CD as well. 

 Tonight is foggy so we have the radar up and running, it takes practice to determine what is “clutter” versus what is actually a gargantuan ship approaching—a little daunting.  Odds have been that a ship is not approaching since we have only seen 2 in the distance since we have left Horta. 

 Tuesday July 7

Position:  N 40 47.56 / W 27.38.02,  

888 miles to European waypoint just south of Lisbon Portugal

 We have gone 187 unnecessary miles north in bumpy seas.  I have been seasick I think because the regular doses of Bonine I took previously (1/2 tab 2Xdaily) hadn’t really gotten into my system before I felt sick. 

We are hand steering because winds are from many directions and the wind vane needs to be adjusted constantly, so instead of climbing the over the davits to reach out to the vane’s sail, we are just using the wheel.  If the boat is balanced well you can set the wheel on the correct compass heading and let go for periods of as long as 15 minutes without having to readjust or with making very minor tweaks, this enables one to read and write while steering..  I have been consuming books ravenously, for me, from the stack that cruiser/skipper Bonnie gave me  to read.  Bonnie and her first mate Tim departed for Scotland a week ago from Horta on her Benneteau 50.   

Monday July 6

We’re off for the continent, and as always sorry to leave our new found friends, always that heartbreak in the cruising life.  Captain’s plan: to go north to go south; because of offshore winds predicted and offshore currents from the north.  Rob and I are not sure we agree with that since all the advice we’ve gotten from the long timers is that you head straight east after leaving a southward passage through the rest of the Azore Island chain.  Such is the life of the crew, we can only suggest, the final decision is up to the captain.   

Seas are rough and there is a 20 knot steady wind, what a way to get back into the fray!  ; Time for the Bonine pills…cruising buddy Carla Reister suggested these for seasickness and they have turned out to be the best for he two of us so far…and they are chewable; what a hassle in 20 knot seas to get ourselves water!  We have to do the cabin dance, I have been threatening to do  30 second video clips from our digital camera of the cabin dance.

Horta, Faial in the Azores Islands

Atlantic Ocean

Sunday July 5, 2009

Still in Horta Faial in the Azores waiting for the captain to decide when to leave, it looks like maybe tomorrow.  We are making the best of our time by visiting the island and integrating into the social patterns of the cruiser life.  Somebody has to do it.  We are awaiting lunch from our Venezuelan neighbors who are cooking up something that smells wonderful and is “recipio de mi Abuela” 

Last night we celebrated our independence with other American cruisers, Betty and Bob on s/v Mallard;  a good time was had by all yucking it up about the Brits and their passion for telling Americans that we never should have won that Revolutionary War.  Bob and Betty  have traveled from Seattle through the Panama Canal, the

Caribbean Sea, and around South America and they are now headed for

Two days ago we rented a car and toured the island, and did some hiking.  It is magnificently lush and old European with narrow winding streets and villages of volcanic stone houses/ruins/farm outbuildings dotting the hills.  Cattle grazes on steep patch work hillside pastures. The uppermost edges of the volcano craters are community grazing for any citizen of the island to use.  Each island family is entitled to three free cows from the government. 

We went to see the volcano that erupted and attached itself to the island in 1957. We toured a spectacular underground museum devoted to the geology of the islands.  The eruption was associated with 425 earthquake tremors.  Many families were evacuated and were given free visas to Canada

and the US at that time. 

We stopped along the road at one of the many overlooks to just listen to the quiet cacophony of cows, roosters and dogs that filtered up the hills in the evening.  We had decided to stop in a café in a remote village to experience an evening with the locals. 

Our café of choice was empty at the beginning, the owner telling us that most activity didn’t begin until after midnight.  He said his daughter was a massage therapist and practiced downstairs—so, aching from all of our hiking, we both had a massage and then came back  upstairs to the bar.  There were bullfights on the television and there was a family of twelve that had come in and were sitting at a long table.  They ranged in ages from 8 months to 80 years and were there to sing  Karoke.  What a hoot—little girls to old men to middle aged women all coming up to sing to Portuguese songs with words posted on the television screen.  So we joined in and did some American songs, with a little coaxing from the crowd.  It was great fun.  There was a single man at the bar who we invited to join our table; he was the Chief of Police for the island.  He invited us to his house at the end of the evening for a glass of native wine—very sweet but good.  We didn’t get back to the boat until 3AM.  So we met the goals of our mission to get outside of the cruiser community and meet some islanders. 

Our Venezuelan neighbor is now 16 minutes late in calling us over for lunch—not sure if it is due to difference in cultural interpretation or if he genuinely forgot the time…

ursday July 2

We have been in Horta, Faial in the Azores Islands for the past 5 days we have had Marguerite opened up, cleaned and inspected for the trouble she gave us with the engine (turned out to need the raw water pump rebuilt) and the auto pilot, (installation fine, but perhaps the hydraulic pump is undersized). 

In the meantime Jim and Barbara have been spit and polishing, I painted Marguerite’s message on the surrounding cement sea wall, a custom that voyagers do for ‘good fortune’ for the rest of the journey.  Artistry has become quite elaborate over the past thirty years and the level of “competition” is quite high. There are hundreds of graphics so room is made for new ones by finding an unreadable space and painting over it. 

Barbara fell in love with a Portuguese stray pregnant kitty, so papers are being prepared for proper entry into

Rob and I have been meeting and playing with boaters who have traveled all over the world—we are novices in the grand scheme of things.  Many people are returning home after 10-15 years of sailing all over the world; the usual reason is to see about their elderly parents or their grandchildren. 

In Horta we have hiked to the cow pastures which lie above the city proper, and discovered a banana plantation.  We took an excursion with Pepijn, a wonderful thirty-something man from the Netherlands to visit a, (there are several), caldieron (volcano crater) and hike around its rim.  Beautiful verdant fields with a variety of wild flowers and hydrangeas tumbling down the steep inclines of the volcano bowl; at the bottom a lake and another mini crater and a “butte” that formed some time in its process.  In the afternoon we stopped to see our friends Kevin and Inness who are crewing on a 150 foot schooner from South Africa .

Kevin wanted to see the Horta Whaling museum/factory so we walked there with him—a very sad video on whaling; I learned that a whale is a fairly docile being and is speared when it is incapacitated, lying on the water’s surface for air. 

Both of the Azorean islands we have visited are very European with ancient and modern structures.  Compared to Flores, Faial is bigger, spread out, more populated (20,000), and more sophisticated. 

Flores is a village island, beautiful and rugged and set back in time, full of ravines and wild flowers, narrow streets and homes with individual terraced vegetable gardens and terraced  pastures of two to five cows and/or sheep.  We walked up the typically narrow streets and stopped to talk with one of the residents working on his garage doors.  He lived in Canada

for 25 years while maintaining his home on the island.  As we departed from him, a woman (Maria) leaned out from her upstairs window and asked if we wanted to see her home—to which we replied “sure” and admired her one-room deep connecting  rooms all facing a  patio overlooking the ocean.  Running but no hot water, a crude kitchen sink with just one tap, a modern bathroom.  No screens, just shutters with glass curtains providing mosquito/fly barrier.  Lovely.  We had beer and juice, talked of her life in

, took pictures, (taught her to use our digital camera), talked of her work and her children and grandchildren and her return to this beautiful island.  Many Portuguese have a connection with

and other parts of the US for education and work.  The anchorage in Flores

was somewhat unprotected and rolly with ocean swells, so we took turns babysitting the boat while in harbor.  We departed for Horta on a Friday (bad luck to leave port on a  Friday), but we didn’t realize the day and the trip was fine.

In Horta presently we are waiting for Clive, the electrician to do a European transformer conversion and then we will be off for Spain,  most likely on Friday, again. 

June 22  8 PM

Position:  N 39 52.39 / W 34 49.89, Course over ground 110 degrees

Boat Speed: 6.7 knots, Wind direction: negligible SSE Wind Speed: 5.5  

166  miles to Azores waypoint to

Flores.  We have decided to make the island of Flores our first landfall.  It is the most western island and is actually the most western part of Europe .  We should be there by tomorrow morning. 

For the past two days we have been steering by hand to give ourselves a break from the auto pilot and its horrible groaning noises that disturb the sleep of Jim and Barbara in the aft berth. 

Seas are calm now; we spotted and circled a sea turtle floating along.  Nights are clear once again and it is hard to tell ship lights on the horizon from rising planets and stars.

June 21 5:30 AM   Our 19^th day out

Position:  N 39 54.60 / W 36 43.27, Course over ground 110 degrees

Boat Speed: 5.5 knots, Wind direction: SSE Wind Speed: 6.6. 

365  miles to Azores waypoint 

Motoring.  A strange sight I try to capture with the camera.  It is gray out everywhere in the four mile pond except what is in front of me that is an arch with blue sky and clouds ahead. 

At the left side of the arch is a rain squall.  I am going for the arch but the squall is catching up with me. 

June

Position:  N 39 53.38 / W 39 55.01, Course over ground 090 degrees

Boat Speed: 4.9 knots, Wind direction: NE,   Wind Speed: 7.0

514  miles to

waypoint 

Wind stopped around 10 PM the following morning, but seas are still up.  We are forced to use the engine that Jim does not trust because our sails cannot hold anything with all the jerking around.  The engine is doing quite well in spite of the excessive steam coming out of he exhaust, the indicator is not reading that it is running hot.  We are also using the auto pilot that  “farts” because we are not able to get all of the air out of the hydraulic steering system. So noisy it is. 

At 4 AM  the ocean is flattening but with irregular swells that throw the boat unexpectedly wildly.  Steering for the rising sun.     

June 19    5:30 AM

Position:  N 39 16.32 / W 41 27.77 , Course over ground 049 degrees

Boat Speed: 8.2 knots, Wind direction: SW,   Wind Speed: 16.8 

589  miles to

waypoint 

Rainy, windy, gray. We are 4-5 days from Horta harbor in Faial in

.  Ocean is steely and loaded  with whitecaps, the wind whistling through the mast is making a hollow eerie wail.  A fitful night with bakeware, dishes, and silverware clanking in their cupboards along with many unknown noises from the deck above and a rolling sound from the bilge that sounds like a cocoanut.  Rob climbed in bed and as the boat pitched and yawed our bodies lurched together in a strange dance. 

June 16    4:43 AM and 8 PM watches

Position:  N 35 53.22 / W 46 50.68 , Course over ground 113 degrees

Boat Speed: 6.4 knots, Wind direction: S,   Wind Speed: 10 

680  miles to

waypoint 

Found the constellation of the Crown, Corona Borealis and the Summer Triangle of Altair, Deneb and Vega, very bright stars.    The computer weather GRIB file tells us that we should expect winds of 20-25 for 48 hours and we have another 3 degrees and 880 miles of easting to do.  Jim tightened the Triatic stay between masts in fairly heavy seas swinging around in the Boatswains chair he took ten turns on the turnbuckle.  He also tightened the back stay and the rest of the shrouds—rigging is new and is undergoing its initial stretch.

A pod of ten gray speckled dolphins accompanied us. 

June 15, Monday

Time:  8PM,  Position:  N 35 24.17 / W 49 18.38, Course over ground 115 degrees

Boat Speed: 5.0 knots, Wind direction: SW,   Wind Speed: 7.8 

804 miles to

waypoint 

Since nights are so dark we have been attempting to expand our knowledge of the stars and constellations.  My mission for tonight was to find the summer triangle of three of the brightest stars: Altair, Deneb, and Vega.  I quickly found that getting myself out of the cockpit (out of the canopy of the canvas) in the rolling seas with a star book in hand and then trying to locate stars of the eastern sky was impossible on two counts:  staying still long enough to get a sense of the sky, and realizing the sails were in my way.   So I got back in the cockpit and searched for a new bright star in the more accessible western sky and found one in the constellation of Bootes, just south of Ursa Minor. Its name,  Arcturus.  Tonight’s homework: constellation of Draco, .which should be in the west above Ursa Minor. 

I’ll have to find the summer triangle from a hilltop in the

. 

.

June 13, Saturday

Time:  4:00 AM, Position:   N 35 44.51/W 58 07.73,  Course Over Ground 085 degrees

Boat speed: 6.3 knots,  Wind direction: SW,   Wind Speed: 14.0 

1211 miles to Azores waypoint, 1004 miles from

inlet, NC 

Sunrises are changing, becoming later because of the easting.  At 4:00AM

It used to be dark, now it is light but I still watch the liquid sun make its rise.  

Likewise I do not see the moonrise anymore, due its own schedule of rising later each day, n.  Skies are very dark and it seems as though we are headed for the great abyss in the murkiness ahead. 

Time:  7:21 PM, Position:  N 35 25.98  W 55 52.56, Course over ground 130 degrees

Boat Speed: 7.1 knots, Wind direction: S,   Wind Speed: 17.5 

1111 miles to

waypoint 

Dark nights, fair seas, jib, foresail, and main up; sailing the four mile radius that never ceases.  Clouds from behind pass overhead and then roll down over the horizon in front of us.

No ships have entered our circle for the past four days. 

Days on end of getting up late after night watches, reading, sleeping, eating, and struggling to maintain balance against the bouncing boat. Making coffee is a chore, making sesame noodles is more challenging, making a salad is most challenging, chopped veggies everywhere. 

June 12, Friday

We are approaching the mid Atlantic now; our

sail is poled out to catch beam winds from starboard.  We are on a broad reach making 8.5  knots with a 15 knot wind speed, three sails are up, the genny, the fore sail, and the main sail. There are currents in this vast ocean and we have definitely caught one, probably running at 2.5 knots in our favor.  

Our generator is running to power up the batteries and I can use the AC on board to make this entry in Word which I will in a couple of weeks when we reach the

, be able to transcribe into our web site.

Since our departure on June 3 we have experienced a variety of wind and sea conditions.  For the first 4 days we had strong winds 9 20-30 knots strong breeze to near gale Force 6-7) and high seas, 12 foot swells where we felt unsure whether the boat was going to make the climb without tumbling broadside into the sea--- a miraculous thing this buoyancy phenomenon, you just gotta trust it will work with the boat. 

We reached latitude 33/longitude 64 just northwest of Bermuda (in the Triangle) and the wind just stopped—we were in the Horse Latitudes,

, notoriously calm.  At that time it was a welcome relief to just drift and enjoy the sun.  We took turns swimming alongside of the boat; the water was delightful.  For the next couple of days we struggled to get out of the doldrums by going to a higher latitude in order to get more wind.  We were advised by weather routers via SSB that above lat  36 were gale force winds, so we needed to stay between lats 34-35.  When we reached there we found light winds at best and took out the asymmetrical spinnaker for a mild but pleasant day at only 2-4 knots boat speed---better than nothing or going backward.  Unfortunately Spetz the cat, who loves to play on deck, got wild and wooly since the seas were down.  Her playfulness with climbing the bow sprit, running up the roller furling and charging the length of the boat got the best of her.  She vanished in the night, overboard.   We are slowly recovering from the loss of such a sweet companion and have spent the last three days in silent grief not mentioning her name and packing up her bowls and toys. 

We are currently at lat/long  35/60 having picked wind finally as we gybe-tack across our Rhomb line to the Azores, with only 1,345 miles to go, or given a conservative estimate of two weeks to the Azores.  We are gybe tacking to stay on broad reaches because Marguerite is not terribly keen on a dead downwind run --as with most boats, they like to pitch and yaw while the sails flog.  Winds have clocked around to a more southerly direction enabling us to make a better easting currently.  

We contact weather routers Chris Parker frequency #8137.0 at 7:00 AM,  and Herb Hillenberg 4 PM, frequency #12359 on the SSB radio.  You can try to reach these frequencies but you most likely will not hear Herb since his signal is directional and reaches out into the ocean.   Radio propagation is weak most of the time forcing us to hone our skills of interpreting crackle. 

We have a 2 on and 6 hour off watch schedule that is round the clock so the daytime schedule is loose with everyone awake.  Everyone goes to bed around 8PM while I take the first evening watch till 10PM.  If there is an increase of wind or if sails need to be changed or emergencies arise, we get all hands on deck.  Last night at 11:30 winds increased from 4 knots to 20 knots as a squall came through.  We did a Chinese fire drill of taking down the large square sail at top called the Fisherman, then we gybed around to the alternative tack and furled in the jib (genny) sail.   We have to undo/redo 2 preventers --blocks and tackle that hold booms to one side that prevent accidental gybing while underway.  So it is an exercise that fits into the age old definition of sailing the seas as “hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror”. 

We haven’t seen much traffic out here, an occasional ship coming by is first seen as a cacophony of lights on the horizon that tends to get brighter and brighter if it is coming toward you.  The other night Rob and I saw a ship that was so long that we first wondered if it was a tug pulling a barge, the navigation lights were so far from the main body of the ship.  It came by so closely that we had to pull in the jib and the main sail and head the wind vane down to make room for it to pass.  The wind vane is a totally mechanical device that uses the wind direction to steer the rudder through the use of a tiny “sail” device on top of its own rudder that transmits mechanically to the boat’s rudder.  It has performed flawlessly in winds from 4kn to 35kn, quite a miracle after all the fuss we’ve made over the amp-sucking autopilot backup.

Monday June 1, 2009

So you would think we would be ½ way to the Azores, or at least in Bermuda refueling and re-topping our supplies.  Well we aren’t.  We sailed for four days through robust wind and seas (18-20 kn) with lots of  lightning as well as a two hour 45 knot squall with wave swirls (I know there is a correct term), pounding at her dodger canvas.  Marguerite performed grandly.  Our watch schedule was running smoothly, 6 hours of off time for reading, listening to music, entertaining others who were awake, or sleeping. 

What failed us was the autopilot interface with the hydraulic steering; we’re not sure what is causing the clunking and veering off and unwillingness to be our #1 helmsman, but it forced us at 184.9 miles out to sea, to decide once again turn back.  We are now in Morehead City just outside of Beaufort NC having frustrating “technical” calls to Raymarine and having to exchange parts that we exchanged not a week ago, once again to the local West Marine store…good thing there is a great exchange policy, but are not so sure we are not taking that to the limit. 

Anyway the crew remains hopeful and positive about all this.  We couldn’t ask for a better pair than Barbara and Jim to spend the last month with, and as of this moment we haven’t decided to bail out on the mission.  We may just have to adjust dates at the European side of the water. 

May 28   

Happy Birthday Kimberly Jane

On Marguerite finishing our first 24 hours since we departed St. Augustine at 11:00 AM yesterday. 

This was our 2^nd attempt at crossing the ocean after discovering the failure of our newly-installed autopilot which made us add another 3 days of wait  for another “brain” to come in and be installed and then be calibrated.

We broke our round the clock sea watches at the helm into 2 hours of duty with 6 hours of down time.  My first night watch with full sails under following seas to the starboard in winds of 8-15 knots.  Marguerite sails beautifully.  I watched for and hour a spectacular light show of lightning striking above in the clouds to my port side and strikes to the water in front of me.  I tightened the jib sail on the furler to make it smaller in case a strong wind would precede the impending storm ahead and this allowed me to turn upwind to starboard in hopes of avoiding it altogether.  As it turned out, Jim who followed me on his shift reported that the lightning show lasted another 20 minutes and then dissipated.

Spetz has accompanied each helmsmen throughout the night with her feline wanderings around the cockpit. She normally on land is on the prowl for lizards until late morning, so this has been a big disruption of her life.  She has managed to provision however by loading  a few lizards on the boat; one raced up my leg in bed as I was sleeping the other night.    

Winds clocked around to the south from east and are currently SSW and making their clockwise rotation to west, WNW, north, ENE, then east.  Hopefully we will be away from the easting once we clear Bermuda on our way to the Azores .

.

May 18: Dreary Monday in St. Augustine

Now that the major equipment concerns of the schooner have been addressed , the weather has turned against us. 

North winds over the southern currents of the Gulf Stream make for very steep wave heights and dangerous going.  If we can control one thing about this journey it is when to start, the rest is up to mama nature.  Rain and wind abound in St. Augustine, the first rain I have seen of any quantity in Florida.  

Jim and Barbara are still great company and we have settled into a fairly predictable routine of boat work, cook, eat, drink, plan, strategize, and fall asleep to our own boat tales, get up at 6:30 to listen to Chris Parker's weather routing on the SSB radio and the start of a new day.

We hope to depart by Thursday or perhaps Sunday, we will check with Chris in the morning and Herb in the afternoons as well as NOAA weather and GRIB files and buoy reports throughout the day.  It is very scienterrific..

May 4, 2009

Crossing the Atlantic

We are ready to go on our trans Atlantic voyage and will be leaving tomorrow night for Saint Augustine FL to rendezvous with Jim and Barbara on Schooner Marguerite.  

The itinerary for Marguerite is to sail up the Gulf Stream some time around the 15th of May, and then go out toward Bermuda.  We plan on spending a day or two there refreshing and refueling. 

We will then do the 1700 mile leg which will take about 20 days or so to the Azores island chain that is 900 miles west of Portugal.  We will spend a week there most likely enjoying the company of other cruisers making the trip across--Horta is the capital of the Azores and a popular stopping place before making the final leg to Europe. 

We intend to go through Gibraltar, possibly stopping in Morocco,   and then on to Spain, where Rob and I will depart Marguerite.  Jim and Barbara intend to make Marguerite their home in Europe for an undetermined amount of time, so this voyage, for us  is actually a boat  delivery.  

We have been invited to stay in a house in Lamposta, Spain, which is between Valencia and Barcelona and about 20 minutes from Spain's southeast coast. My brother's wife's sister Eleanor will be our hostess for a week or so.    Then we will hitch trains through Spain and France for the next few weeks winding up in London for a few days.  From there we will fly back on Air Icelandia with a two daylayover in Iceland.  We arrive in Boston (Logan) Airport on the 30th of July.  

The rest of the summer will be spent at camp with our grandchildren and hopefully I will see my siblings too.  So that's the latest.  

While we are at sea you can track our progress if you go to winlink.org, then click on "map" then click on "user".  Look in the directory to your right for these HAM radio email call letters: KI6WLU@winlink.org.  It will point to our position and if you click on "view position reports" you will get a short report and lattitude/longitude from Marguerite.  Please check this out !!  

March 12 , Thursday

We arrived in the USA two days ago…land of noise, pavement and gross consumerism.  Why we think we must live such a complicated life must be one of the questions someone from a third world country must ask. 

At any rate we are back to unlimited telephone and internet access, showers with hot water, and busses to shopping centers---free in Vero Beach.  Vero (Velcro Beach) is quickly becoming “Marathon north” for/or older and more timid sailors who make this place their destination for the winter. 

Our return sail from the islands was stimulating in the beginning with 15 to 20 knots of wind and 4-5 foot seas.  We had a crazy sea current ride with the boat yanking itself east to west violently 180 degrees at our Nassau anchorage just outside of a noisy bar on a Friday night—what were we thinking?  Our anchorage outside of Chub Cay was quiet but violent rolling side to side from the turbulent seas off the Bahamian Banks; we actually were rocked into deep sleep once pillows were propped against our bodies.  Anchorage on the Banks in subsiding seas against Bimini was beautiful and the Gulf Stream unusually calm as weather fronts finally subsided. In Bimini we tried to hail Marguerite on the VHF thinking they were close behind and we got our friends on Placeforus instead; they left a week before us so we were surprised and delighted to have them as our “buddy boat” to the US from that point on. 

So once we rip ourselves from the Velcro here, we will make our way to Titusville via the ICW Indian River, and, once again fate has it that we are in the ideal location for the next space shuttle launch !!     

March 5^th Thursday

After dinners with Bob and Carol and Judy and Irwin, Maria and Maurice, Jim and Barbara we have left Georgetown satisfied that it had all the fun we were searching for.  Sunday friends Rick and Carla on Euphoria finally showed up after months of email correspondence and promises.  We gave them a couple of days and then had to take off in order to meet our intended deadlines…who says retirement is relaxing? 

Traveling the Exuma chain, we find ourselves in Black Point again, using the Laundromat and internet café.  I am having big time Bahama withdrawal pains but I will get over that and all of this will become nostalgic reverie. 

Tomorrow weather permitting we will sail to Samson Cay, a new destination only ten miles north in the Exuma chain, then to Nassau, then to Chubb Cay.  We will sail the Bahama Banks, 70 miles from Chubb landing in Bimini.  After that is the Gulf Stream crossing to FL landing in West Palm/Lake Worth. 

Only too soon we will have Mandate on the hard in Titusville and will be traveling home.  

February 26, Thursday

A week of Yoga in the mornings, long walks on the beaches and get-togethers at night. We greeted Speck friends Judy, Peewee and Irwin early in the week.  Bob and Carol on Time Enough II finally showed up in G-town too.  Bob and Carol do fiddle and guitar, flute and clogging…we brought our circle of Sand Dollar cruisers for an evening of singing, dancing, and playing percussion instruments on Volley Ball Beach, ¼ mile away in high winds the splash factor is significant against the wind. Tonight Bob and Carol will come to Sand Dollar to entertain.  We also were invited for dinner and fun with Wendy and Warwick on their Walquiez 35 sailboat.  

We checked out an electric windlass for Mandate with Sue and Rodney on s/v Glen Lion and got stories of their three Atlantic passages.  So we arranged a dinner on Marguerite to share stories and advice regarding our Atlantic passage; a rousing time that was.  Rod and Sue gave us advice on use of Marguerite’s wind vane, heavy weather sailing tactics, and use of the spinnaker and generator; they deemed her a sturdy boat very worthy of the passage.  Sue was adamant about staying in Europe for at least six months; they lived aboard Glen Lion in various ports of Europe for eight years.

A major breakthrough with the SSB radio, thanks to Darius on Breeze Hunter, we are now able to transmit!!  

We are looking for a weather window to leave the harbor next week to put Mandate up in Titusville FL.  It will take a couple to three weeks to get out of the Bahamas depending on weather. 

February 19, Thursday

Just back from our 5 day adventure on Marguerite. with Barbara and Jim.  We sailed to Conception Island , a beautiful little deserted paradise just northeast of our anchorage in G-Town.  We snorkeled in 25 feet of crystal clear water checking out reefs and for fish to spear for dinner.  No go on the fish, but reef life was spectacular.  We combed the beaches on the other side of Conception and added 3 new “heads” to a cruiser-created graveyard of washed up hard hats sitting on coconuts.  Conception rock formations were surreal so we attempted some late afternoon photography that we think are rather Dahli-esque.  Since I am still not getting photos on this site I will have Rob email them as an attachment.

We sailed to Cat Island, another 35 miles north where we visited Father Jerome’s retreat, a small scale version of a full sized abbey, where he lived out the final days of his life after creating it from indigenous rock and cement.  It sits on top of the highest point of the Bahamas so views from it are phenomenal.   We dined at a small restaurant operated by three Bahamian women, the Bluebird Café and had our fish fix—Steamed Margate with peas and rice. 

Our venture was a trial run to see if we wanted to sail across the Atlantic on Marguerite and to test our compatibility with captain and first mate.  We loved the boat and crew, so right now it is a go. 

Jim and Barbara are very competent sailors who have only one year of experience but in that year have sailed the coast from Maine to Florida.  Jim has a background of working on fishing boats off the west coast and has experienced seas 35 feet in height.  For him sailing has been on small racing boats. 

I was very impressed with their knowledge of sailing and handling the schooner throughout, and feel confident that we will make the Atlantic crossing in good condition.  We talked of safety equipment, procedures, techniques in the case of gales, adverse seas, and accidents; they have taken an offshore medical training in Annapolis.  We have extensively read literature on heavy weather tactics and emergency preparedness.  Nonetheless the venture is daunting. 

Our plan is to leave Mandate in Titusville in April, do bright work on her for a week, then drive home and see family.  We will reconnoiter with Marguerite in Norfolk to embark on the Atlantic crossing in early May.  It takes about thirty days to cross; we will stop in the Azores for a few days and then proceed to the Mediterranean.  We hope to tour Spain and perhaps France before returning to the states by August for the summer.  So, we hope this all works out.

Meanwhile we sit in Georgetown enjoying the weather and the hikes and snorkels and swims and nightly get-togethers, and still doing Yoga on the beach—we’re all so brown from those sessions!  Mandate was safe at anchor while we were gone thanks to fellow cruisers Bob and Kathy on Placeforus, and Kathy and Darius on Breeze Hunter who kept vigil: to them we say thank you….

We should be leaving here in early March after the guest lecture/appearance of Chris Parker, an SSB voice who we faithfully listen to every morning at 6:30.  Chris gives weather and sea conditions for the Bahamas and Caribbean to traveling subscribers. 

We then will make our way up the Exuma chain and back to Florida.  Winter is so short  

February 9, Monday, I think.

Well we did start an activity at Sand Dollar Beach.  Rob and I were doing Yoga stretches on deck and our neighbor noticed and asked us to teach her some positions.  We did Yoga on the beach the next day with her and her husband and a friend.  Day 3 we had 16 interested people joining us; the following day 24, not unlike the amazing appearance of Hermit crabs when you drop cracker crumbs on the beach.  So it now this is a regular thing.  In the last group there were a couple of women who knew lots more about Yoga than us, so we gave them the lead and we became followers. 

We continue to hang out with the Canadians: Kathy and Darius on Breeze Hunter, Mike and Judy on Sea Sharp, and Jackie and Roger and their (4!) guests on Audacious.  Last night 11 of us sang oldies and danced on Breeze Hunter making lots of noise in the anchorage.  We were feeling rather guilty until we climbed into our dinghy back to the boat in 20 knots of wind that howled so noisily it obliterated the loud music only ten feet from the boat. 

Yesterday our former neighbors back in Marathon, (Dec-Jan) showed up in G-town to our surprise, the level of our enthusiasm was as though we had discovered long lost friends, and we’ve known Kathy and Bob on Placeforus only since November…

I am sitting at St. Francis restaurant porch in still windy 80 degree weather, sipping a G+T, writing offline and waiting for an internet connection with three others including two Brits who have sailed around the world.  It’s been an hour and a half and the dialogue is so much fun that we don’t care about the connection.

Island time, island attitude….   

Wednesday February 4:  Georgetown, Grand Exuma Bahamas

We arrived here on Friday last week, making our last hop about forty miles north from Cave Cay (island). We met Bob and Chesley on Cygnet, and Deb and Carter on Abacus in the Cave anchorage and were forced to suffer an impromptu progressive dinner with them—we made dessert out of yogurt over canned pears laced with a bit of rum, and a crushed ginger cookie topping---the evening was a lot of laughs. 

It was a six hour passage of winds 10-15 on the nose only enabling us to motor sail with the jib…the motor actually “bends” the apparent wind so that we can put up a sail.  The sail in turn helps to stabilize the boat in ocean swells as well as giving a bit of a boost to boat speed. 

Bob Hansen, our crew since FL left Mandate two days ago.  The boat becomes much larger with the absence of the third person although Bob was very careful to make himself as “small” as possible on this tiny vessel.  He was very helpful with doing projects and acting as first mate during his tenure with us. 

We are here in G-town in the height of the cruisers winter season, as opposed to in ’07 when we arrived after the height.  There is quite a presence here; some 200-300 others, many are Canadians, resting at anchor in the ten mile stretch in clusters where the ground is deep and holds well.  G-town is looking cleaner than in ’07 and seems as prosperous as any third world city is.  The computer shack is still a 15 foot board with five chairs and one surge protector for five customers at five dollars a day.  At least once or twice during your stay there the signal goes down, allowing silent customers to chat until restoration is made to the lines. 

We are in Sand Dollar Beach, about a mile from the center of cruiser activities on Stocking Island.  The water is clear, beaches deserted and sugary.  We try to fit a swim/walk of the beach in every day, and I keep promising I will start varnish work once there is a 24 hour prediction of good weather. 

Yesterday we attended a beach seminar on SSB, VHF, and Cellular communications.  A squall came through as we were sitting there and caused us concern over what Mandate’s anchor might be doing out there in our absence.  She was fine when we got back.

Last night we had cocktails with 6 other Canadians…we were billed as the “Capitalist guests”.  We decided that we ought to start our own activities on Sand Dollar Beach to avoid the cumbersome dinghy passages. 

Needless to say the dinghy passages in this weather are very wet, so you don’t worry about combing your hair or wearing stylish clothes because you wind up a wretched mess when you get there anyway, only to face other wretched messes who made the same trip. 

We have made contact with Jim and Barbara on their Farrington Crealock 53 schooner, Marguerite, the boat we are contemplating an Atlantic passage with in June.  We will make a four-six day side trip to Samana Cay (70 miles southeast) to test out the boat, captain and crew, before we decide to do the big passage. 

Mandate continues to be our beneficent floating home, we often complain about her smallness, especially when there is an engine project which requires removal of the companionway stairs and tools scattered over every horizontal surface of  the boat; we are however, quite comfortable, safe and cozy.

January 10

Happy 88th Dad..

We are back at the mooring in Boot Key Harbor with our friend Bob awaiting a weather window to make the 50 mile  Gulf Stream crossing to the Bahamas.  

Cannot wait to get back there and explore some of the other islands the Bahamas has to offer.  We are looking at Andros, Cat, and Concepcion Islands along with other of the 3,000 islands of the Bahamas that wemissed on our first round over there in '07.  

We traveled home by way of our car to Albany, and back again. The north weather was very snowy and we managed to get cross country skiing and snow shoeing in while there, as well as visits to grandchildren and parents and siblings.  We are so blessed to have such great families,  

January 14, Wednesday 

We are in the Bahamian Island of Bimini after a 16 hour crossing from Marathon FL in the Keys.  We rode the roily waters of the Gulf Stream all of that time and I can personally attest that Dramamine works when taken in small doses beginning four hours before starting.  Or the wrist bands may have done the trick, not sure.  

Bimini is typical Bahama, semi deserted, semi demolished, semi built, but with beautiful beaches and crystal water.  

We are expecting 30-40 kn winds for the next four days so we will begin our cross the Bahama Banks to Andros Island and the Exumas after the storm system clears.

 So we will be in Bimini for a few days getting to know its nooks and crannies, we are meeting others who just came in so we have plenty of company.

Bimini was delightful.  We visited the Shark Sanctuary in South Bimini... a funky outpost of students doing research on the Lemon Shark habitat in North Bimini.  Because of a mega casino and hotel complex that is in development up there, we got involved with the locals vs the developers vs the shark research people in a lively town  meeting.  This greatly enriched our understanding and respect for the Bahamian community.   

Nassau, Bahamas  Jan 21

Hooray for our new President!!

We made a 24 hour passage on Saturday night and arrived here after the night passage on the banks.  Wind was cooperative for the first ten or twelve hours.  Then another 2-3 hours trying to tack on squirrelly winds and we gave up for a motor passage to here, Nassau Harbor Club and Marina in the same slip we were in two years ago.  

We decided against an Andros Island visit as time is running out.  Our crew Bob has to be in Georgetown by January 31.  

Sailing is sooo much dependent upon the weather and sea state and wind direction.  

We have had fun meeting people on the dock and enjoying time with them as we all await for the next jump across the Bahama banks to the Exuma chain.  We watched the Inauguration at the local bar; Bahamians are even more excited about Obama than we are; parties were going on among the communities all day yesterday. 

Today we hopped two city busses for 1.25 each and just traveled the routes to see the islands.  After a while the driver wanted to know when we were going to get off the bus...we just said we wanted to do the route.  Needless to say we had a lot of conversation with him about Obama and our lives in the states.  One driver put very loud Rasta music on whenever there were kids on the bus; he turned it off when to discuss politics when there were only adults riding.  

We will depart in the morning for Norman Cay along with a lot of the other cruisers.  This will be a short passage, about 5 hours.   Nighty night.  I am writing from a Starbucks Cafe and time has run out.....

January 25, Sunday

A great sail 10-15 knots 

After a rocky night in Norman and a walk around the island in the morning to visit our friends, Judy and Erwin  who made it into the interior anchorage, we headed out for Shroud Cay 20 miles down the Exuma chain.  

We anchored and took a  mile dinghy ride through the shallow waters of a mangrove passage to the ocean side of the island.   We had to get out and pull the dink through the really thin waters, paddle a lot of the way, and motor through 1/3 of the rest of the way.  It was worth the struggle, because as with all the Bahamian islands the scenery was breath taking.  

We made our turn back to the boat just as the sun was melting into the Bahamian Bank getting soaked in the oncoming winds.  

Off to Warderick Wells early in the morning, we arrived at noon.  this is the headquarters of the Exuma Park chain, the island full of hiking trails and snorkeling sights.  Spikey limestone dappled with swiss cheese holes cover most of the island with occasional  6 foot radius pot holes about 20 feet deep.  The island is  inhabited by curly tail lizards and endangered giant hamster critters known as hortia.

We climbed Boo Boo Hill to retrieve our homemade Mandate sign left there two years ago.  Today we re-Dremeled our name in it for '09 and put it back on the hill along with other cruisers plaques.

Saturday there was a  gathering on the beach and one of the hortia came crawling out to beg for food.  Little yellow and black winged birds eat out of your hands as well.

Weather has been cool and windy so we didn't snorkel as we did in the warm weather of March in 2007. 

We shall depart this beautiful place for Big Major Island where we are promised to find wild pigs that swim out to your dinghy, and to scuba in Thunderball grotto.  

Our plan is to visit Farmers Cay, and make the cut to Georgetown where we will make our home on Mandate for the next month.  

Saturday March 7

Thought I did an update more recently .  Since last entry we landed for two days in Big Major and anchored off of Pig Beach where about seven wild pigs live and roll around on the sandy beaches, wade in the crystal clear waters, and greet people as they come in with their dinghys.  What a life!

We had a grilled Mahi Mahi sandwich at the local bar,  delicious!

We stopped in Shroud Cay and dinghyed to the ocean on the other side, we sailed with Bob and Chesley on Cygnet--they've been doing this for 17 years--and knew a good place to cut out into the Exuma Sound (Atlantic)  to go out and down to Georgetown, our final destination.  

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Wednesday February 4:  Georgetown, Grand Exuma Bahamas

We arrived here on Friday last week, making our last hop about forty miles north from Cave Cay (island). We met Bob and Chesley on Cygnet, and Deb and Carter on Abacus in the Cave anchorage and were forced to suffer an impromptu progressive dinner with them—we made dessert out of yogurt over canned pears laced with a bit of rum, and a crushed ginger cookie topping---the evening was a lot of laughs. 

It was a six hour passage of winds 10-15 on the nose only enabling us to motor sail with the jib…the motor actually “bends” the apparent wind so that we can put up a sail.  The sail in turn helps to stabilize the boat in ocean swells as well as giving a bit of a boost to boat speed. 

Bob Hansen, our crew since FL left Mandate two days ago.  The boat becomes much larger with the absence of the third person although Bob was very careful to make himself as “small” as possible on this tiny vessel.  He was very helpful with doing projects and acting as first mate during his tenure with us. 

We are here in G-town in the height of the cruisers winter season, as opposed to in ’07 when we arrived after the height.  There is quite a presence here; some 200-300 others, many are Canadians, resting at anchor in the ten mile stretch in clusters where the ground is deep and holds well.  G-town is looking cleaner than in ’07 and seems as prosperous as any third world city is.  The computer shack is still a 15 foot board with five chairs and one surge protector for five customers at five dollars a day.  At least once or twice during your stay there the signal goes down, allowing silent customers to chat until restoration is made to the lines. 

We are in Sand Dollar Beach, about a mile from the center of cruiser activities on Stocking Island.  The water is clear, beaches deserted and sugary.  We try to fit a swim/walk of the beach in every day, and I keep promising I will start varnish work once there is a 24 hour prediction of good weather. 

Yesterday we attended a beach seminar on SSB, VHF, and Cellular communications.  A squall came through as we were sitting there and caused us concern over what Mandate’s anchor might be doing out there in our absence.  She was fine when we got back.

Last night we had cocktails with 6 other Canadians…we were billed as the “Capitalist guests”.  We decided that we ought to start our own activities on Sand Dollar Beach to avoid the cumbersome dinghy passages. 

Needless to say the dinghy passages in this weather are very wet, so you don’t worry about combing your hair or wearing stylish clothes because you wind up a wretched mess when you get there anyway, only to face other wretched messes who made the same trip. 

We have made contact with Jim and Barbara on their Farrington Creelock 53 schooner, Marguerite, the boat we are contemplating an Atlantic passage with in June.  We will make a four-six day side trip to Samana Cay (70 miles southeast) to test out the boat, captain and crew, before we decide to do the big passage. 

Mandate continues to be our beneficent floating home, we often complain about her smallness, especially when there is an engine project which requires removal of the companionway stairs and tools scattered over every horizontal surface of  the boat; we are however, quite comfortable, safe and cozy.