X-Tropical Storm Maria

It's 7 a.m. in the mangroves at Ensenada Honda, Culebra, Spanish Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico with mostly  cloudy (high) skies and no wind: calm!  Maria really did fell apart from the wind sheer that started yesterday.  Last night was to be her debut, but she was, thankfully, wanting having changed her mind and turned farther N than predicted even as late as yesterday morning.  Today's prediction is for her to change her mind again, reform, and head out above the Bahamas and E of the U.S. coast as she grows in strength over the last week or two of her life.  But, fear not, another bunch of storms (so far) are right behind her headed this way (N of us?  S of us?  Who the H... knows?)  So here we sit with balmy skies and Trade Winds waiting for Tuesday and our next go around with presents from Africa.  I am living me dream!

Would you believe - yes, you would - the port engine is still on the fritz.  Mister "Muskles" managed to over tighten the hold down bolt on #3 injector stripping out the aluminum threads with the metal 10mm X 1.5 bolt: see, I am learning all about diesel mechanics, even metric stuffs.  So, I'll Helicoil (put in new 10mm X 1.5 threads) it and try again to seat the currently leaking injector.  If that doesn't work, I'll have to tap (cut in new threads) it to 11mm for a new bolt.

And, not to be out done, the water maker died.  Leaks not only water from the piston,  but also oil (from the gear box).  So, I'll now learn all about desalination.  You know, high pressure pumps, 12 volt electric motors to drive same, and osmotic membranes to filter sea water. Thank God I have the basic assembly knowledge and piping from the first one.   The one good thing is that I'll up fresh water production from 6 gallons per hour to 40 g.p.h.  Man, with production like that I can wash the boat with fresh water any time and sell the remainder to my fellow cruisers.  Nothing like a little side job for extra income.

I doubled (double up) all the lines into the mangroves so I could just pull them back on board with out having to climb back in again.  Smart!!  Not only did it make it easy to untie, but also doubled the strength holding us in.

Culebra Continued

The sun is out and we are making electricity!!!  30+ amps/hour, NET!  Zowie!

Cat 3 Irene is over Eleuthra and Rum Cay Bahamas with TS winds out 225 miles...look out FL as even a near miss is going to be WET if not windy.  Keep an eye on Wunderground.com's blog by Dr. Masters.  He seems to have one of the best handles on it.  Good luck and keep thinking NORTH today and tomorrow and then EAST for the weekend.

Culebra, Puerto Rico

When we saw that Tropical Depression Irene was headed our way, we decided to bug to Culebra. We were still on one engine as I was unable to get the injector tubes connected, even though Fernando: The Boat Doctor had put the "new" injector pump and left the hook-up for ich. Irene was supposedly headed below St. Croix to our SE, then NE from there to the western tip of Puerto Rico and on to the W towards Hispaniola. Culebra is ENE of Fajardo and seemed to be a good place to hide out. Well as you know, the predicted course was just an intelligent guess and the ichtbay did her own thing and turned north faster than expected. Once we saw that we headed for the mangroves where our friend Jim Alimi on Zoya catamaran guided us to a shallow, narrow arm where we nosed in to a stand of mangrove roots. One small, shallow-draft sloop, Meander, beat us in and another sloop and a "stink pot" trawler, Mombo. , followed behind. We pulled the anchor into the root system and tied on five more lines to the larger trunks. From the beams and stern cleats we tied four more lines to more mangrove trunks. After lashing the sail to the boom and adding two more lines to augment the mail sheet, I spread the jib lines out to the mid-beam cleats to prevent the jib from moving. All of this took about three mosquito-less, dry hours in cooling breezes…man, what unbelievable luck. The only hard part was pumping the heads with the sulfur laden mangrove water. On reflection and further discussions with Jim, we should have put our no less than double the amount of lines we did: minimum of 20. Thankfully it turned out OK with the highest wind gusts in the early hours of Monday, 8/22/11, at 44 kph 67 feet above us. Down where we were snuggled in I doubt it got above 25 kph: a great spot with a hill to the E of us. Heavy rain filled but didn't swamp our new dingy. Dewey on Culebra 1.5 miles W of us saw sustained 67 kph winds, lost power, telephones, and water all due to poor planning and engineering: typical Puerto Rican as I'm told. Even the Post Office closed down for two days. What happened to "Neither rain, nor snow, nor dark of night…"? We came out to the lake in front of our canal unscathed at 3 pm (high tide) on Monday and anchored in the higher, cooling breezes, but still sheltered from the E and S winds and waves. On Tuesday we moved one bay closer to the entrance of Bahia Ensenada and across from Dakity where we normally hook up to a mooring ball. Still a little breezy and rough from Irene's bands: she's over Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas now! Huge! Monster! Hope she doesn't pull any more pranks and turn W again and hit FL.

One of the things we got done in the mangroves was to hook up the pressure and return lines to the injectors on the port engine. Hallelujah the engine started. BUT, the injectors leak so we can only maintain about 1,500 rpms. BUT, again, we can maneuver!!! What a wonderful feeling to be back in almost complete control.

We'll hang here under cloudy , wet skies 'till Thursday to hopefully pick up our mail and packages. Then back to SunBay in Fajardo to have The Boat Doctor remedy the leaking injectors, Papo install an injector on the outboard, and have the old injector pump rebuilt for a spare. So, come one, come all starting next Monday when we'll be in San Juan for a pickup: we gots da space.

Fajardo and Salinas, Puerto Rico

Over the past month we have had both daughters (sans husbands, unfortunately),  four grand kids, and Kathy and Lee Maidenberg (dear friends from Clearwater, FL) stay with us.  Kathy and Lee had the pleasure of riding out tropical storm Emily at Yobos just E of Salinas.  Lee was most helpful helping me survey the nooks and crannies for a snug hiding spot in the mangroves. Thankfully we didn't have to "repair" to them and the skeeters as Emily never quite got up to speed as she passed to the S and W of us.  One early morning of high winds and torrential rains and she was gone over Hispaniola.  We made it to the bioluminescent bay at Las Carobas near Fajardo with Aimee and the g-children, and Mosquito Lagoon, Viequez with Marnie and the boys. Now that's a sight to be seen: light blue "fire" as you cut through the water with hand or paddle.  The boys had to try peeing, but without success as the dinoflagilates were under the surface a few inches.

Our port engine has been out the whole time.  We finally believe it is the injector pump that needs to be rebuilt.  I have been trying to get out, but have had to tap and spray (Blaster: it really works, but slowly) because of the corrosion caused by the raw water pump's (it's situated over the engine so when it failed several years ago, it sprayed the entire engine with sea water) failure.  Anyway I'm down to one more nut which should come off this morning.  Then I'll put in a pump I got with the purchase from the local Volvo dealer of another engine for its parts.  We HOPE this will do the trick.  The Boat Doctor, Fernando, has been immensely helpful through all of this.

So hear we sit at SunBay Marina monitoring the weather every morning watching the waves pour off Africa waiting for the engine to be fixed and debating whether nor not to flee back to Salinas and Yobos, a days sail (10 hours) S and W of Fajardo.  It rains on and off so we have the AC going at night in our cabin and endure the heat in the salon as we button up periodically.  Truly is isn't as big a deal as I make it sound.

Oh, let me bring you up to date on the dingy.  After a call to West Marine HQ in California I got not only satisfaction but a new, upgraded RIB 350 for a nominal price.  Yes, it comes with a five year warranty which should outlast the glue as, yes, it is still a Zodiac.  Much better boat which is a foot longer with a seat, oars and oarlocks, and a forward, built-in locker.  Only downside is the self-bailer which leaks like a sieve.  I'll call WM to see what their "fix" is.  I must say that when HQ learned what was going on, they stepped up and did the right thing without any hesitation.  Let's hear it for West Marine and Port Supply!

Fajardo, Puerto Rico

We got back to PR and Culebra June 10. Our tip to central Florida - we stayed with Jackie and Duane Williams - was successful: doctor appointments seemed to work for both of us; money was well spent at West Marine and Harbor Freight; the kids were all fine as were the g-kids and mother-in-law; the "Hood" was open-armed and gracious; and the weather was mostly good. As some like to say, "A good time was had by all." While we were lounging around, Jim Alimi, Zoya, was refinishing our interior saloon woodwork. He did such a great job we hired him to redo our saloon cushions, too. Wow, what a difference. You'll love the sight if you ever stop by.

After our return we waited a week trying to fix the dingy which has sprung the seams that glue the pontoons to the hard bottom. In other words the glue failed and it leaks water, not air, like a sieve. No amount of 5200 (sealant that dries in 24 hrs.) seems to do, so I found the 5-year guarantee (thank God!) and took the collapsed sinker in to the repair shop in Carolina (San Juan) in a rental pickup. Of course this necessitated sailing back to Fajardo on a lovely downhill run in squally weather, where we took up residence again in SunBay Marina. We were greeted as long lost family by Doña Olga, the owner and manager. What a place: single slip pricing (we usually have to pay 1.5X or 2X 'cause our 28' beam takes up more than a single slip), free water, free electricity, free Wi-Fi and Cable, and patrolling security: almost too good to be true.

Debbie and Rick Lehto, Miss Heidi, came back with us, but are staying at Puerto del Ray Marina S of us by a few miles: much more expensive and far less friendly and secure. They are having warranty work done, too, on their transmission. Seems when the new one was put in no one looked – and who would – to see that the drain plug was put in correctly. We've also made a few runs to dinner, Wal-Mart and COSTCO together since.

We have been thru three tropical waves (basically windy rain storms lasting less than 24 hours) to date and have not made up our minds what we'll do for the rest of the season: stay put in PR; sail around PR, SVI, USVI, and BVI; or head back S slowly towards Grenada. We want to be close to Salinas in case we have to duck into the mangroves at Lobos 'cause of a hurricane alert. I think we can make it back in plenty of time from the Leewards or Windwards which are basically "full" and no good places to hide left. Linda feels they're too far off. We both agree that the PR, SVI, USVI, BVI sail plan is doable. We'll keep talking.

While waiting for Zodiac to make up their minds – fix or replace, and we're sure it'll be fix and a 1 year warranty – we've been doing projects. We installed a HDTV, Dri-Decked the cockpit in Kuhela green, set up a wireless network with a 1 terabyte (remember 16 byte computers from Texas Instruments?) wireless hard drive, put in a security camera, ordered more paintballs and cayenne pepper balls with 200 round hopper for my long barrel paintball pistol, ordered an ozone generator, and cleaned, straightened, cleaned, straightened, cleaned...

At Sea: May 4, 2011

It has been a very long time since I last wrote…I have been bowled over by Lauren and Rob Dehaan's aritacruising.blogspot.com. I have been so out classed by them that I got into a blog funk. But, I realized that there a few people that simply want to know where Linda and I are, so, here goes again. BUT, PLEASE do go to Rob's BLOG for details missed here and Lauren's PICTURES! He and she have the gift…fabulous!!

Since last I wrote back in P.R., we buddied up with Debbie and Rick Lehto of Miss Heidi and set sail for parts unknown to us, but not to them. Via St. Thomas and the northern BVI to gain an edge on the mostly easterly wind, we headed SE to Majors Bay, St. Kitts. This was a long and arduous over-night trip where we couldn't keep our course because the wind veered a little SSE forcing our course further S. We crossed the Saba Bank – a shallow area which pushes up the wave heights – at night in 5-6' choppy seas ending up 38 nm S of our target anchorage. The book said we should make the first tack the longest, but not how to compute the next tack. Anyway we motored into the wind the final leg to Majors Bay where we met up with Miss Heidi and spent the night. Next morning we sailed windward of Nevis and Montserrat down to Deshaies, Guadeloupe. Montserrat is stunning with its perpetual steam vents and mud flows that buried an entire town. In Deshaies we rented a very expensive car and went S to Basse Terre where we had a very French lunch overlooking The Saintes. On March 23 we checked in to Antigua at English Harbour to await the arrival of the Vaughn family (Marnie & Mark and our grandkids, Kyler, Dalton, and Parke)r. We had a fun time with them for 9 days of fishing, snorkeling, sailing and their favorite, swimming with the stingrays. We stayed for the Classic Race week after they left and then the following week's just plain old races, "come one come all". We also had the boat hauled at North Sound Marina for a bottom job and work on the port rudder which had developed a wobble: seems the key had either slipped out or had not been replaced when we had work done on it in P.R. We also took a side trip N to Barbuda, a flat and uninteresting place famous for its frigate rookery: woo, woo!

Today we are headed back to Culebra completing a wobbly circle. We have just passed windward of steaming Montserrat and Redonda. I can see Nevis with St. Kitts behind. Once again we are heading for Majors Bay for sundowners (G&T for Linda; R&T for me), dinner and some sleep. From there it is a 165.6 nm shot past Saba (missing the bank this time) to Dakity, Culebra, Puerto Rico. At 5 knots we should get there in 30+ hours.

We are planning a trip back to the good olde U.S. of A. on the 16^th so we can share a car to the aeropuerto with Debbie and Rick. We could be in Orlando for up to 2 months if Linda has her knee worked on. It's been giving her trouble for a couple of years and has now progressed to the "maybe it's time" stage. Only the doctor (and Blue Cross) can tell. We'll be staying with our dear friends Jackie and Duane Williams who have offered to nurse Linda if need be. We'll activate our phone again: (772) 559-9375.

Waiting…again…

We're still in Dakity, Culebra, Spanish Virgin Islands E of Puerto Rico. This anchorage is nearly perfect with its barrier reef, clear blue waters, and hilly, green backdrop. We'll be here probably another week even though we have (or will as it got sent Thursday) get our mail from the Caltriders in Florida. We've been doing maintenance and projects when we're not reading, socializing, or playing Spider solitaire on the computer: yah, loads of fun. The winter weather (winds) have started. They're off and on 25+ knots mostly from the E and NE. Makes for great sleeping (mid-70's). The sun still shines and there is little rain which makes it more than bearable given the North American alternative. We heard the groundhog came out and thumbed his nosed at Al Gore. Given our nightly display with Jupiter at our stern, Venus at our bow, the Milky Way, and thousands of stars to include around dawn the Southern Cross, we truly don't have it so bad.

Our friends on Arita, Aussie Rob and Jacksonville Lauren Dehaan, are having a ball according to their blog, aritacruising.blogspot.com, which you shouldn't miss. You'll see why when you get there. They are headed down Islands ahead of us and we hope to catch up before we get to Granada or Tobago. I don't think we'll sail all the way to Trinidad for the Carnival in March, rather take a ferry. We hear that the oil rigs around the Gulf of Paria near Port of Spain are rife with fishermen/pirates waiting to pounce of us cruisers. It's just too close to Venezuela and senior chavez (yes, lowercase, ze leet'l plik) to take any chances, especially after talking with a couple who were boarded, terrorized and burgled a month or so ago. A terrible, terrible experience which they thankfully lived through is spite of the pirates' plan to torch the boat. Poverty sure is a bitch.

We're off to COSTCO, West Marine, Wally World, Homo Depot (yah, we saw tee shirt in Key West at Fantasy Fest), etc. on Monday with Zoya, Albanian Jim and Chicago Debbie Alimi, to provision. This entails taking the 6:30 ferry to Fajardo, renting a $25 car (with $25 for insurance from our AmEx card), driving 75 miles, and taking the 5:00 p.m. ferry back to Culebra. It is mitigated by being able to BUY, BUY, BUY!! all of our favorite things, plus the essentials.

Behold and lo, Thursday's Priority Mail arrived before noon, and fortunately West Marine dropped one of the orders, the in-line fuel (gas) filter for the outboard. Oh, well, Monday for that is probably better as there are two necessary fittings not included in the package. I did install the new Hellamarine port light (red). Unfortunately, it was just ever so slightly smaller than the original. Otherwise, I could have just put the new lens cover on and been done with it. The dingy navigation lights (bow: red and green; stern: white) did arrive and now work perfectly. I even put dielectric grease on the AAA battery ends hoping that it will protect the circuits/workings from the leaking batteries that destroyed the previous light set we had.

Awaiting our Next Jump-off

Since I last wrote we have been sailing with our dear friends (and hopefully someday co-owning live-boards) Betty and Byrle Raper to St. Thomas, St. Croix, Vieques, and back to Fajardo and SunBay Marina.  St. Croix was the most fun.  We sailed down on a beam reach (wind blowing on our Port (left side looking forward) with winds gusting to 26 kph and seas 3-5’…”we be smoking!”... averaging over 8 knots the whole way.  The weather helm (tendency for the sails to turn us into the wind) was strong so we put in a reef (made the sail shorter) and still flew.

Sea plane

Cops at Frederiksted parade

Christiansted was lovely and we went into a marina, (Jones Maritime for $55/night) just across from the seaplane commuter terminal.  There are multiple flights daily between Christiansted and Charlotte Amalie, St. John.  We rented a car and toured the island absorbing its Danish heritage.  We went to the Estate Whim Plantation (museum) and were regaled as to the sugar/rum history of the island.  We visited the Cruzan Rum distillery and found some Danes we had befriended on the way to the car rental agency on Centerline Rd. who told us to forget the tour and just see if we could have a rum drink instead.  Low and behold, for a dollar less ($4) we could drink all day sampling their various rums: banana, pineapple, cream, amngo black cherry, etc., a great deal without the walk. 

Christiansted Marina from fort

Christiansted Government

 Frederiksted was holding the last of the Christmas parades consisting of two flatbed 16-wheelers decked out in huge boom-boxes and dancing people plus crowds of marchers also dancing fore and aft of each truck.  We stayed as long as possible (about 45 minutes) and had to turn the car back in. 

St. Croix rain forest

Los Palominos

From there we motor/sailed to Puerto Ferro, Vieques in calm seas with light winds.  This “luminescent” bay turned out to be a bust even on a night with no moon.  Very few luminescent critters even in the toilets (we flush with salt water): quite disappointing for all of us.  From there we sailed back to Fajardo and took the Rapers back to the aero Puerto via El Junque, the PR rainforest.

Los Palominitos

From there we took Kūhela back to Salinas on the south coast to rent a car to go back to the aero Puerto to pick up Steve Pinhey who had taken us there when we returned to Florida at Thanksgiving.  On the way to pick him up we stopped not only at Fuddruckers and COSTCO, but also at the Arecibo Observatory.  Wow, what an interesting place.  Their Visitors’ Center is a two story affair that is spell bindingly full of fascinating displays of the planets, solar system, galaxy and beyond.  Well worth the hike up from the parking lot to the rim of the huge sink hole they constructed it over.  It’s a definite “Don’t miss”.  I finally got Volvo aboard to fix the oil leak from the oil sensor when we got back to SunBay.  It took them 5 days to do a one day job, but at least they did it right.  Also had the zipper replaced on the sail cover as it had slipped a tooth and broken off trying to re-seat it.

Linda and Betty at Los Palominos

We are back in Culebra, Spanish Virgin Islands waiting for the playoff football games this afternoon (nah, really the weather).  Our plan is to head for St. Maarten (the French side as they have their entry procedures down pat compared to the Dutch side) to catch up with Arita on her way down islands to carnival at Trinidad in the first week of March.  After that we will probably come back up the islands to Antigua for Classic Race week where classic wooden sail boats congregate in April to race each other.