Erika continued

Winds got up to 45 k off the starboard beam with waves coming in thru thru main entrance channel at 3' (Linda says 4'-5' as they crashed over our bow). With five fenders down we still bumped rather violently against the "T" dock. I had to keep pushing the bumpers back down between Kuhela and the concrete dock. Bump, bump until we finally gave up at 4 am and went to bed. The winds had diminished to 25-30nk by that time. Unfortunately, once again, little rain to fill our tanks. In the morning I tied gallon jugs to the bottom of the bumpers which held them down. We also got three used tired which we covered in Sunbrella and hung them from the dock between the bumpers: we should be good to go.

Ok Monday, 8/81/15, we got the outboard back, put it on the dingy, rowed back to Kuhela a put it back on the davitts in preparation to follow Erika to Florida by plane. We forgot several things which we managed to get done belatedly, but still forgot one 'till we got to Orlando: the water catcher. I called Gabriel Rivera of Good Timing who will be able to drive out and pull the line out of the water line connection and screw in the cap. Bless you, Gabriel! Getting old is not for the faint of heart.

Erika is here as a TS at best in the Gulf: lots of rain but little high wind, just what PR dreamed of and pined for; too bad it's wasted in Florida with flooding. Weather reports show more rain over at least the next 3-4 days.

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Danny to Erika

Danny ended up with a half hour downpour at 0200 on the 25th. We stayed on the mooring ball. Yesterday we left our mooring at Culebra and motor sailed DOWN WIND past two ferries and pulled into B dock at Sunbay Marina, Fajardo without any help. Man are we getting good!

Now we have Erika (1006 mb) who is S of St. Croix with 45 k winds and reported heavy rain. It's supposed to hit after 2100 tonight, the NE outer edge that is as it has a radius of 160 nm. So, no pictures. The ferries have all fled to where we don't know. No ferry service 'till this bugger is past us I guess. So far as the sun goes down we've see light showers with winds up to 25 k. NBD so far, thank God.

 

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Hurricane Danny

As of 4 pm 8/23/15 Danny seems to be headed S of PR. However, only time will tell. Looks like it'll be a tropical storm with winds around 35 knots...no bid deal at this time. We are staying on our mooring so far, but this could change in another 24-36 hours. Sky's are blue; winds are light; and there have been a few sporadic showers: NBD! Sail boats are piled up here in the bay waiting to go into the mangroves at its head. There are two canals that lead inland to shelter next to the land which is surrounded by low hills.

 

8/24/15: Although Danny is moving more slowly this am. He is still S of us moving W. Looks like he'll not be a threat. However there is another cyclonic (spinning counterclockwise) low headed towards us with a tropical depression right behind it. Then there is a huge disturbance over Africa which will be a couple of days getting into the Atlantic. When it rains, it pours! And us leaving... Who said, "Timing is everything."?

 

 

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Culebra 2015

We've hung about in Fajardo, Sunbay Marina, for several weeks recovering from our conquest of the Bonaire-Puerto Rico passage: actually the Panama-Puerto Rico passage. We sent the dingy off to have the unfindable air leaks found and repaired; the outboard out for a rehab check, service, and repair the reverse drive; replace the lazy jacks, reef lines, main sail sheet and halyards; new DriDeck for the cockpit sole; recover the helm seat and the dingy seat; replace the BBQ; new anchor chain (3/8" BBB); and new blocks for the main sail. Yipes, a small fortune along with the slip fees. Repair of the outboard moves slowly as the plastic sprocket on the cam shaft was broken in its transfer to the shop and had to be ordered from Wisconsin. The Grand boys, Dalton and Parker, joined us after having flown unaccompanied from Orlando, and we set sail for Culebra using the engines: once again into the wind. We got on our mooring which we bought without any hassles and tucked in for the night. Next morning, August 12, we motor/sailed (Holly Cow, down wind) to Melonis beach for a good snorkel, and then, yup up wind again, to Culabrita which is off the NE shore of Culebra where we anchored for the night. The boys fished after dark catching a yellow tail and a shark which we sent back to the shallows. Next morning we came around to the inner bay on the starboard engine (the port wouldn't turnover and start) and took a DRNA mooring. The boys went ashore and hiked over to the Jacuzzi (a rock pool next to the exposed side of the island) to reacquaint themselves with their prior experience. After a rolley night, we one-engine motored back to our mooring where I took the starter out to see what was wrong: it wouldn't even jump-start and the battery was fine. Turns out the bearings were defective allowing the commutator to wobble and scrape the wiring to the point of breaking one of the connections. Bummer!!! Another part to replace!

We have been making water because the free water from Sunbay was tainted by the rotting sargassum weed which is piling up on the shore at Fajardo. Apparently it's smell has permeated the aquifer where they pump their water from: pee-you! We're back up to over half full using sun power as we await the arrival of hurricane Danny slated for a direct hit sometime Monday, August 24th. But, he keeps changing direction, speed, intensity, size, everything. Maybe Sunday night we'll have enough accurate info to make a decision on whether or not to vacate the mooring ball for the mangroves. We can't evacuate to Jobos, near Salinas on the S side of PR, because we need to get back to Sunbay Marina next week for our trip back to Florida and Australia. We also have to pick-up our new supplies from West Marine and install them.

Yes, Australia. On the 14th we're off to the Great Barrier Reef and our cruiser friends Derrick and AnnMarie on Sand Gropper. We plan to be away for four months, spending New Years with them in Sidney harbor. We're leaving Kuhela in Sunbay Marina where we hope she'll be safe. In October our Canadian ex-cruiser friends, Steve and Lorry Clark, will come and stay aboard as Steve convelesses from surgery. We'll be joined for a week by Rob and Lauren Dehaan of Southern Comfort which is at Puerto Lindo's new marina where we started back from Panama to PR from in December. They are flying out, too, 'cause Rob's sister is dying of cancer. We've been having withdrawal anxieties after nearly six years of sailing together. We'll layover in FL for annual doctor appointments, visitations with Linda's Mom, Millie, and general howdy-do with all our friends and family 'till the 14th.

 

 

 

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Puerto Rico at Last

Returned to Curacao Marina doing up to 10 knots down wind and current. Got thru the swing bridge

only 6 or 8 circles at the entrance. The slip is only 20' long so we had a time getting Kuhela in straight. Going to be a hassle to get on and off as we now have to do it amidship with our dock steps (a gift from The Rapers) rather than off the lower stern.

7/22/17: After clearing Customs and Immigration in Punda and Othrobunda respectively and after a McDonald's fix we paid our marina bill and at 1340 hrs. left Curacao Marina behind. On the way we passed Morning Light, our dock mates

on their way back to the marina with just their main up?? I guess 7 knots down wind was enough for them as newbies. The seas as you can see above were running 2-1' with the winds out of the ESE at 18-20 k with gusts to 25 k. Bright and sunny. By 1500 hrs. we made Spanish Waters without incident.

7/23/15: Off the hook by 0730 hrs. Out the channel into 23-26 kts of wind and 3-4' seas 6 seconds apart. Cloudy but dry so far. Bonaire arrival is projected by the chart plotter for 1332 hrs. In first hour we are averaging just over 4 kts with both engines at 2,500 RPMs. Autopilot working flawlessly.

0910 hrs and we are leaving Awa di Oostpunt, Curacao behind. Seas are 3-4', 4-6 sec apart. Winds are 25-29 kts. Cloudy but sunny. Generally rough overall.

1100 hrs and I can see Bonnaire over 19 nm away; it is that tall on the west side. Still as rough and windy. Apparent wind has shifted more to the E.

Arrived at Bonnaire at around 1430. The mooring balls, and there are two per position, are just off the shore about 40 yards for the first row and then over the "wall" another 25 yards further out from there. They are S of the Harbor Village Marina. We're pooped, so we'll snorkel in the morning before we leave for PR. We averaged 4.9 kts, motored for 8 hrs over a 36.2 nm route.

7/24/15 Left Bonnaire after plotting our course to Culebra at around 1020 hrs. Winds are around 20 kts, sky's are bright and sunny. Seas are calm as we are in the Lea of the island and we are motoring at nearly 7 kts. Linda is at the helm.

Motored to the W side and put main up with one reef, jib out full. Took off like a scared cat (pun intended) at over 9 kts with 20-25 kts of wind. Man we were flying. Started trimming the sail as we came close to the last point and turn to our main course of 27 degrees T for the next 200 nm. This should cancel the easterly (1 kt ?) current and maintain our intended heading of 22 degrees T. We are now motor sailing with just the starboard engine (it's 67 operating hrs. under the port ('cause I needed it to charge the batteries when our generator - and sun, too- were on the fritz). Seas now are 3-4' with a 5 second interval; winds have settled back down to the predicted 15-20 kts. We're moving at 6+ kts towards PR. Skies are partially cloudy with lots of sunshine.

1440 we can't hold 27 degrees T. It's too close to the wind. Speed is down to 5 kts. Apparent wind angle is 37-43 degrees. I think our bearing now (1620 hrs) is about 18 degrees T. This will put us about 50-60 nm W of Vieques. But, we are averaging over 6 kts.

7/25/15: 0800 - winds most of the night were 16-22 kts with seas 2-3' with a 5 second period. We able to maintain a bearing of around 19 degrees T which will leave us W of Salinas when we make landfall, 240 miles hence. That's about 90 miles W of our intended landfall. Passed 6 boats over night. Saw them ( targets) on the radar. We've come 128 nm in 22 hours 54 minutes at an average speed of 5.7 kts. Linda kept the lookout 'till midnight and a took the duty on my back and setting the timer for 30 minutes to look around and adjust the course to the wind the rest of the night. Our cabin hatch leakers even after I rebedded it. Oh, the joys of cruising!

24 Stats: 142 nm; Avg. speed 5.9 (with starboard engine at 1,500 RPMs); 227 nm to PR; and 8.1 nm W of bearing course.

We are now finding small and large patches of sargassum.

7/26/15 - Holly mackerel, Sapphire! What a morning. Linda woke me from my catnap at 0400 and showed me the storms/squalls that had popped up on the radar. We spent the next three hours dodging, slackening sail, turning into them, etc. They were running E to W with gusts at one point above 50 kts and torrential rain. In the middle of all this, the first reef came off the boom: I guess I didn't tie a good bowline. All of this, of course, in the pitch black. Oh, and the starboard jib line which was slack because we are on a port tack got wound around a hatch. Thankfully I discovered this at dawn as I tried to bring in the port jib sheet because things had settled down for the moment. I freed it easily from the fore deck.

It's now 0750 hrs. Linda's has made coffee by holding the percolator on the stove. I'm at the helm watching the wind angle (to keep our speed are direction at optimums for the conditions) and looking out for more squalls: yup, there's one 14 nm ENE of us as I type this on my iPad. Not good, I now remember, as they are moving W at a very brisk clip. Skies are dark and cloudy. Seas are rough with swells in the 2-3' range. Winds are slightly South of east so we are I able to make up a little of the 25(?) nm we've lost to the W because we can't hold our desired and plotted bearing course. Cats don't go well to weather: they can't seem to get closer than 50 to 60 degrees to the wind on a good day. We are 114 nm from Salinas. The squall is now 10 miles away and bearing down on us. I've got the engines turned up and we're doing 7+kts over the ground. We might make it. It broke up as we came along side it. Unfortunately another to the ENE has got us in its sights. 0910 and dodged another one. Looks clear for now out 24 nm. But for how long??? We are down to the third reef as the first two broke. It wasn't my knot tying after all. Should have put in new ones when we put in the new main sail. Sure hope it holds. By 1030 we cleared the squalls and the sun came out. Seas rose to 4-6' rough and confused and the winds likewise increased to 20-25 kts with gusts to 30 kts. The wind angle improved both in direction and with the reef in the jib. We are now making headway back to the E so we'll probably make Salinas.

7/27/15 - Uneventful night thank God! Seas rough. Cloudy this morning with choppy seas. Overcast. We will make Salinas, even Humacao just E. Winds are out of the E so when we get close to shore and hopefully out of the suspected westerly current we'll drop the sails and head into them just like most of this trip. Refueled from the jerry cans with the transfer pump. Went well with little spillage. Linda made coffee the hard way again. I'll buy vice grips when I can to secure the pots and pans to the stove top while cooking.

 

 

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Still Waiting for Our Sail

Over the next month we got hauled, a new thru-hull installed, bottom painted and the sugar scoop steps raised 2", all at about half the cost of Puerto Rico. The bottom paint, Sea Hawk 44 (hard) with tin booster, went on in four coats of green and blue at about $400/gal. Ouch!

7/1715 - finally got a tech from Furuno after a week of calling to diagnose the autopilot which had started turning the boat when engaged to starboard (right): "Crazy Ivans"! After testing it and finding nothing wrong he cut the leads to the hydraulic pump and lead them directly to the battery. Voila! The pump that should reverse when the leads were reversed (positive/red and negative/black to positive/black and negative/red) only went one way: to starboard! Bad, bad pump. We ordered a new one from AccuSteer and I, would you believe it, installed it. However, the copper pipe fittings to the pump leaked (brittle and old and moved around by me in reconnecting too much) and I had to hire a mechanic to lengthen the copper and reattach all three. Again, however, Linda and I bleed the system (twice) which got us to the ocean-testing on 7/9/15.

7/9/15 - 0930 left Curacao Marina with Steve and Linda Aronowitz of Moondancer headed for Spanish Waters to test the new autopilot hydraulic pump and get fuel. Linda cleared out with Curacao Harbor Control and we went to the Queen Emma floating bridge

 

where we had to circle for about 20 minutes before they opened it. Once thru the bridge and the channel entrance slop-chop we turned to ESE and motored into the 3 knot current and 20-25 knot NE trades. The pump and autopilot performed well and we moved along at about 4 knots for the 5 nm trip. Bright but cloudy sky's; no rain. Seas1-2' on the nose with a 4 second period. Just found out that the Curacao Yacht Club's fuel dock opens at noon, so we cut the revs to 2,000 and speed to 2.9 knots. We passed a monstrous oil loading platform on the way.

 

$370 for fuel after 30 minutes of circling for a three-outboard speed boat getting gas. Then when we tried to pull away from the dock with 20 knot breezes pushing us on, we couldn't start the starboard engine. Turned out the start battery had literally blown its top. We were able to jump from the port start battery to the leads and get her started, but we had to keep the jumper in place because the fuel pump needed the power to operate. Mike and Jean Corbett on Tomorrow's Dawn helped us both on and off the dock plus gave us a battery terminal for our dingy battery which Steve remembered seeing stored by the helm. Another "Voila!" Hooked it up and the engine started and off we went.

Returned to Curacao Marina doing up to 10 knots down wind and current. Got thru the swing bridge with only 6 or 8 circles at the entrance. The slip is only 20' long so we had a time getting Kuhela in straight. Going to be a hassle to get on and off as we now have to do it amidship with our dock steps (a gift from The Rapers) rather than off the lower stern.

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Curacao Haul-out

We got hauled today (6/9/15). We moved off the dock around 0900 and moved to the haul out ramp where we tied up to wait for the haul crew. After the morning coffee break at 1000-1020 two of the three man crew man-handled Kuhela up into position for the cradle lift to maneuver around for an hour and a half to get the exact position for the lift. They were extremely careful and exact even to having to strap the back end on the cradle apparatus to make the stern pad positioning perfect. By noon and the lunch break Kuhela was safely high and drying. The Sea Hawk Islands 44 with Tin Booster paint we bought in BVI held up pretty well. Pierre at Curacao Marine said we should have had three coats to last two years in better shape. That's what we'll get this time. He will also raise the sugar scoops 2" with a well at the middle-front to accommodate the emergency tiller brace that bolts on there. These "wells" will collect water and slime/seaweed, so maybe it's better to use bolts instead of the wing nuts that are on them now. Decisions; decisions.

Getting the rental car was a hassle 'cause I forgot (at the airport pick-up and couldn't find the reservation in gmail) the name of the rental company. Cr.p! Had to drive back to the apartment to ask Linda and then drive back to the airport, a round trip of about 90 minutes. Not pleased to say the least!

The apartment we rented is one room (approx. 24'x15') with a kitchen and bath at the backend. We just found out that electricity is extra. Bonus! This is another oddity in Curaçao along with no hot water in most places - just one spigot! Definitely a first. It does have a gas stove, TV, and WiFi and a safe.

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Updated Log to Curacao

5/4/15 - Spoke with Parker on SSB. Winds will be up due to high pressure ridge at 35*N and Columbian low well E. Probably 10 days 'till we can move to Curacao. We'll have to wait and see. Got generator started (dead battery) by jumping it with the port engine start battery thru the hatch! Cleaned and stretched isinglass. Fixed latch on locker on port side. Found second leak in port pontoon of dingy. Must buy flexible epoxy to patch as patching material on board doesn't last. Changed water maker filters and made water.

5/5/15 - 1500 moved in 25+ kn winds into Renaissance Marina where we med. moored with help of Saunders. X-J signed us in. Signed up for a month as the winds are not expected to abate soon and we plan to go to FL for Kyler's HS graduation. Went to dinner at Iguana Joe's. Had Bon Bon shrimp and Iguana nachos. Great!

5/9/15 - Daily winds are still 20-25 kn with gusts above 30 kn. Weather reports show these conditions out thru next weekend. African/Sahara Dust gets all the way here leaving a haze obscuring the sun. Not as bad as smog in LA, but... We've decided to go back to FL on the 17th in HOPES of going to Kyler's graduation, or at least wait out the wind/weather in happy surroundings.

Steve and I have completed a bunch of projects/repairs: re-wired the generator to the house as its battery is dead; patched the dingy with G-Flex; fixed the strbd. Engine's starter disconnect (I was having to jiggle the solenoid starter connection to get engine started); tightened the strbd. engine fan belt (locking bolt was over tightened!); and stabilized the aft antenna mounting bar. Still to go is re-stitch bridle thimble and replace main halyard (cover rotted off presumably from the Columbian dirt/mud/organic material).

5/11/15 - Went up mast at 0630 before Aruban wind came back up to normal 20-25 kn. Used old main halyard and boson's chair with spinnaker halyard as safety back-up. Linda was on the electric winch and Steve was belaying the spinnaker halyard. Lorry stood by in reserve. We communicated with our "marriage savers" (Wilkie-talkies). Mast is 58' tall from deck base and 67' from the water. Main halyard is 200' long. It is covered in Colombian mud which I neglected to wipe off. Will order new Dyneema halyard with thimble spliced in. Also will order new generator battery (36 amp hours).

5/17/15 - Went to FL for Kyler's H.S. graduation at the Amway Center. HE MADE IT!

Steve and Lorry flew home.

5/25/15 - Steve returned one day before us so he could sail to PP, DR, ?

5/26/15 - Reassembled the dingy seat after attempting to fix leaks: only partially successful. Will have to look at it again when we get to PR. We will put the dingy sans motor on the davits at the fuel dock. Can't get off Kuhela with it hanging across the stern. Bought groceries for trip. We will refuel after we get off the ball ( Med-moor) to include the bladder at about 1300. This should give us over 200 gallons: 90 in the tanks; 35 in the yellow diesel cans; 30 in the "salad oil" cans; and 48 in the bladder. Have modified the bladder's fueling/re-fueling system so we can pump the fuel into the tanks. Just had to reverse the hookups on the pump to make the change happen.

Bright, sunny day with winds for the most part under 20 kn. 82*F, 73% humidity. Winds are predicted anywhere from 14 kn to 35 kn from mostly E. with small craft warnings over next several days. Seas predicted at around 5-6' with 6 sec. interval from ENE. We hope to sail out into calmer waters 100 or so nm NE of here.

We cleared out at Barcadera. Had to tie up along side a Venezuelan steel boat in order to get ashore. No problem and they were friendly and helpful. Got the bum's rush after telling Customs we were leaving right away. We had a steering hydraulic problem fixed with more oil and re-aligning the rudders that kept us dockside longer than they wanted. Finally got off about 1845 in 20 knot winds and 3' seas. Averaging 7.2 knots for first hour and a half. Wind and seas increased as we passed the western tip of the island. Winds back to 20-25 knots, seas to 5'. New main halyard (dyneema) too thin to be held by clutches. Main slipped. Used corks to jam it. Night passage quite rough. Couldn't hold course fit Culebra or even PR. By morning we were 15 nm off course to the W. About mid-morning the jib heads gave way followed shortly by the entire sail. We bundled it up and changed course to Curacao 200 miles away where we hope to make repairs. Seas all broken up at around 4'. Winds 18-25 knots. Very uncomfortable. Afterward taking down the main we refueled with relative ease underway using the Dehaan pump so both tanks are full. Had to swop in line for out. Autopilot also went out so we are hand steering to Curacao, too.

5/25/15 - "O" Dark Thirty: Last but not least main boom line parted freeing the boom. Climbed up up tie it down. Tie down also parted in middle of the night. Made two lateral tie downs at top of boom vang after light and before breakfast tying them to the mid cleats thus temporally securing the boom. Will re-weave the main block in Curacao probably at Curacao Marine. By the way, steering with defective hydraulics in 1.5-2 hour shifts all night in an itchbay! Can't let it go for a second: constant reading the GPS heading and adjusting the bearing. With our speed under 4.5 knots this went on seemingly forever.

Got to Curacao around 1400. Checked in with Customs after coming alongside next to the bridge at Willemstad. Next we went across the inlet with permission of the Willemstad Port Authority, tied up and went to Immigration and then Digicel. From there we called Curacao Marine (I now understand they don't monitor the VHF or even have one) and lined up a slip from where we hope to get everything fixed. Pulled into a slip with help from various cruisers already here: very friendly and helpful bunch.

Posted with Blogsy

Some What a Catch Up from 2014

1/2/14: left Sunbay Marina at around 1400 in scattered showers. Seas off Rosy Roads and Puerto del Rey Marina 2-3 ft. Chop with wind 20-25. Made turn at Rosy Roads to 207T. Rain showers off Vieques threatened but missed. Winds down under 10 kts.: bummer, motoring at 1800 RPM's. Seas now (1730) 1-2 ft.

Broad reach wind 15-21, speed 5.6-7.5.

1/3/14: wind picked up around 0100: 15-24. Speed 6-8. Turned off engines. 18 hr. avg. 6.8 knots.

Broad/beam reach, wind 18-19, speed 7-8; seas 5-7'

Broad/beam reach, wind 12-15, speed 5-5; seas 5-7'

Broad/beam reach, wind 8-10, speed 5-5.5 seas 5-7'

At 1500 hrs. checked engine oil. Stbd engine room awash. Pumped out with emergency hand pump: bilge pump not hooked up (elec.). Port engine room same. Water coming from???? Pumped both bilges and now motor sailing as wind below 13 knots past 2hours. Seas 3-4 ft.

1/4/14, 0730: wind 17-24 knots; seas 4-6'. Speed 6.5 - 8.4 knots b/b reach. Partly cloudy with a squall 8.5 nm W .

1700 hrs.ind 14-26 knots; seas 5-7'. Speed with port engine at 1,200 rpms. to counteract the ( probably) out of sync rudder.

1/5/14, 0200: woke up to see Bonaire light. Entered channel between the islands using chart plotter and radar. No moon.

0615 hrs. arrived Oostpunt, Curaçao. Took sails down.

0730 hrs. Bright, sunny. Wind 7 knots from S. Many fishing boats and 2 sail boats headed towards Bonaire for a festival. Caught up with Rob and Lauren Dehaan on Southern Comfort at anchor at Spanish Waters.

Panama to Cartagena After our stay in Panama

12/23/14 - Left Nargana around 9:15 am after several attempts to get the autopilot to work. Seas on the bank are moderate with swells at times to 6'. Clear sky's with cumulus clouds. Seas 81.3*F. Bearing 71/72*T. Current arrival at outer markers set for 5 pm Thursday, 12/25/14. Off the bank at 11:30 am. 171 nm to outer marks. Set jib at 5:15 pm in 8-10 knots of wind off port bow. Speed increased by around .5k. Wind shifted so took jib in at 0020. Linda went to bed.

12/24/14 - cloudy at dawn with 15-20k wind on the nose. Cleared to blue sky's with few cumulus clouds. Swells 3', 6 sec apart. Choppy.

Still slightly sea sick since last night. Linda's fine except for a cough.

At 1515 winds came up to 10-12k just barely off the port bow. Speed increased 1 k. 1615 wind to 20k. Speed up another .5k. Wind kept increasing to 18-25k. Pulled jib in at dusk. Increased RPM to 2,200 to make headway (4.5k) against gusts. Ships all around lining up to enter main shipping channel one after the other. No moon! Arrived 2315 after 37.5 hours of slogging.

4/20/2015 - Puerto Valero, Columbia: 0230 alarm. Linda makes coffee. 0305 up anchor. No moon. New windlass works flawlessly. Winds under 10k; seas flat. Round point and head north into slight chop. Sent out Spot message. By 0530 winds increasing as well as seas: swells 2-3 ft. with 1 ft. chop. 0600 winds continue to increase: 10-12k and seas, too: 3-4 ft. Wind constantly within 25* of port bow. Can't sail. Engines flawless at 2,200 RPMs. Winds and seas continue to increase on way to Magdalena waypoint 5 nm off the river's mouth. 0730 winds 18-21k; seas 4-6 ft with 2 ft chop; skies high, light overcast. Visibility 5 mm. Linda makes Spam and egg sandwich breakfast. Speed average down from 6.5 kph to 5.4 kph. 1015 ETA 1421. 1226 wind gusts up to 30 kph. White chop and rough/bumpy/steep (3-4 ft) seas. 1350 3 mm out. Winds 24-27 with gusts over 30 kph. 1430 arrived at Santa Marta Marina. 11 hrs. at 5.4k moving average. Sent out Spot message on our safe arrival.

4/21/15 - Steve and Lorry Clark arrive from Canada on Avianca. Lost bag is found and delivered to the marina.

4/29/15 - Santa Marta, Colombia departure 0915 after spending last of our pesos on beer at the marina minimart. Winds calm to 5k from SW. Seas nearly flat. Clear skies with visibility 5nmn due to arid dust. SoG 6.2kn. 1130 we changed course to 61* to pass 30+|-mm W of Cabo de la Vela in hopes of catching the trade winds sooner in these calm (1-2', 7 sec. and slowly building) seas. We can still head back E if weather and sea conditions deteriorate.

Linda and Steve took the helm all night. At 2230 a freighter passed us from the stern at about 1.8nm. Couldn't see its lights until it was very close; just it's AIS signature on the chart plotter. Again at about 0430 another ship passed by at about the same distance from the bow. Seas came up as the water got shallower (

After a meeting with all of us, we decided to change course and head to Aruba. Time 1735. We have travelled 188 nm in 32 hours to this point. We will stay N in deep water for as long as we can, then slide down and in over the banks. We will motor the ~115nm into the wind and waves. The trip to DR (350 nm and at least 60 hours) is way too long as we could hit a Parker projected storm on Tuesday. We would have to sail as we don't have enough fuel to make the entire 60 hrs. and not be able to maintain with certainty our 6+nmph average. New avg. speed 4.4nmph. Seas all night rough, steep, confused, and choppy. Close intervals. Winds steady in low 20's. Dawn at 0500 with cloudy skies. Leaking hatches in main and strbd. cabins: oh, joy!

5/2/15, 0930 we refueled putting the ~28 gals. from the "oil" jugs into the strbd. tank and 25 gals. into the port tank. Port is full and strbd. is bobbing full according to the gauge. Took about an hour to do both sides. 1445 increased RPMs to 2,700. Speed increased at least 10%.

2045 dropped anchor in Barcadera harbor, Aruba after an all day run through 6-8' scrambled seas with winds 20-25 kn gusting to 30 kn.

5/3/15, 1100 Aruba Coast Guard boarded us. Checked our passports and told us we needed to check in ASAP, not waiting for Monday. We moved to the dock, tying up with some difficulty due to the NE 20+kn winds. Very pleasant immigration gal came aboard with the necessary paperwork. She took our passports, stamped them, and welcomed us to Aruba. Next stop, customs who were just as efficient but not as friendly. They were interested if we had a spear gun. Total cost for both, nada. At 1300 we headed up the coast for Niki Beach (airport anchorage). Dropped the hook in sand in 13' of water, 100 yards off the beach with three other boats. Still lots of wind and sunshine.

5/4/15 - Spoke with Parker on SSB. Winds will be up due to high pressure ridge at 35*N and Columbian low well E. Probably 10 days 'till we can move to Curacao. We'll have to wait and see. Got generator started (dead battery) by jumping it with the port engine start battery thru the hatch! Cleaned and stretched isinglass. Fixed latch on locker on port side. Found second leak in port pontoon of dingy. Must buy flexible epoxy to patch as patching material on board doesn't last. Changed water maker filters and made water.

5/5/15 - 1500 moved in 25+ kn winds into Renaissance Marina where we med. moored with help of Saunders. X-J signed us in. Signed up for a month as the winds are not expected to abate soon and we plan to go to FL for Kyler's HS graduation. Went to dinner at Iguana Joe's. Had Bon Bon shrimp and Iguana nachos. Great!

5/9/15 - Daily winds are still 20-25 kn with gusts above 30 kn. Weather reports show these conditions out thru next weekend. African/Sahara Dust gets all the way here leaving a haze obscuring the sun. Not as bad as smog in LA, but... We've decided to go back to FL on the 17th in HOPES of going to Kyler's graduation, or at least wait out the wind/weather in happy surroundings.

Steve and I have completed a bunch of projects/repairs: re-wired the generator to the house as its battery is dead; patched the dingy with G-Flex; fixed the strbd. Engine's starter disconnect (I was having to jiggle the solenoid starter connection to get engine started); tightened the strbd. engine fan belt (locking bolt was over tightened!); and stabilized the aft antenna mounting bar. Still to go is re-stitch bridle thimble and replace main halyard (cover rotted off presumably from the Columbian dirt/mud/organic material).

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