Adventures with Immigration

                                                                    Nov 28 2014

Greetings,

          We had a happy Thanksgiving aboard Second Star. It started with a very pleasant passage from Las Salinas across the bay to Barahona. There was a rolling swell but it wasn’t too big and it was a following sea which is so much more comfortable. The weather was beautiful. Capt. Johne and I got to see a sperm whale resting on the surface. We could see part of its back and every so often it would blow. The book said they dive deep then they’ll rest on the surface for a while to catch their breath before diving again. When we first saw it we thought it might be a big log because it was just something big floating in the water up ahead. But as we got closer and could see the shape better, and see when it blew, we could tell it was in fact a whale.

          When we arrived in Barahona the officials came out right away to check our paper work. We thought we had everything in order but as it turns out when we’d last renewed our visas we had thought they’d done them for three months but they’d only done a one month extension. So we were, technically, in the country illegally. The Immigration official started to get his back up and it looked for a moment like it might be quite expensive for us to get out of trouble. But Johne is VERY good at being diplomatic in these situations and with some good schmoozing and ass kissing the official turned from foe to friend and has helped us get back on the right side of Dominican law.

          After that we had an awesome dinner of turkey sandwiches with fresh cranberry sauce that I had made, a wonderful salad that Janet made and mince and pumpkin pies for dessert. We all had fun trying to explain to Alexis what Thanksgiving is all about and why it’s on the fourth Thursday in Nov instead of on a date. For me Thanksgiving has always been a time for family to get together over way too much food so it was fun to share our meal last night with our growing Second Star family.

More Crew

                                                                   Nov 6 2014

Greetings,

          Well, our Second Star family continues to grow. Our friend Janet, who is a professional musician we know from St Thomas, has come to spend an undetermined amount of time traveling with us. She used to live aboard a boat and missed the lifestyle. She’s brought her guitar so we’ll be singing our way westward.

          The last parts we’ve been waiting for came today so, if all goes well with installation, we’re hoping to be on the move again this Sunday. We’ll be making several more stops in Dominican Republic and then a couple in Haiti. I’m looking forward to having more adventures to report, and to seeing how our new crew members blend into our life. So far it’s going great. Alexis is learning a lot and working hard. Janet is a big help in the galley and with any projects I need or want a hand with. Alexis still goes home at night but as of Saturday he’ll be move aboard. (Is this boat getting smaller?)

         

I’ve had to do a bit of rearranging and purging so that neither the VIP nor the fore peak is a big storage area. Usually one, the other or both are piled with what-do-we-do-with-this stuff. We’ve pawned some stuff off on Alexis’s family and, whatever they can’t use or don’t want, they can sell, donate or throw away, as they see fit. Hopefully most of it will go to better use than when it was stuffed under our berths.

Until the next report…

Mexican visa adventures

                                                                   Oct 24 2014

Greetings,

          We have big news aboard Second Star. We have a new crew member joining us. Alexis is a 34 year old, Dominican “marinero”. He has been working for us here, in the marina, cleaning and polishing the boat. He wants to get more boat experience, learn to navigate and get enough sea time to get his captains license. We have decided to sponsor him and teach him so he can get the experience he needs. And, as a bonus, our Spanish will improve. While Alexis understands a lot of English, he doesn’t speak much.

Unlike traveling on a USA passport, a lot of people have to get special visas to visit most other countries. Alexis needed such a visa to go to Mexico with us. And getting it wasn’t easy. It was quite a process with lots of questions to the port captain’s office here, phone calls trying to get information from the embassy on what he had to do, and a long day in Santo Domingo jumping through Mexican embassy hoops.

When we arrived at the embassy and, after a long wait, they told Alexis he wasn’t on the list. He needed to have made an appointment online. “No, we can’t see you. NEXT!” You would have thought from the look on his face that someone had just killed he’s puppy. He would have given up but Capt. Johne said “wait. Being American Captain carries some weight if not much. Let me see what I can do.” He put on his best Captain-manners and schmoozed his way in, passed the little security guy and the round guy at the front desk, to see the Consul. He explained how important it was for this young man to have the opportunity to further his education and better his life; that we could only be there that day and wasn’t there anything the Consul could do to help, Please? He was told “Maybe I can fit you in at 11:30. Come back then. No promises.” (That’s not really a quote, it’s a translated paraphrase).

 So, Alexis stressed while we had a bite to eat waiting for 11:30 to come. When they went back to the embassy they got to meet with the Consul. The next hoop to jump though was they needed to see three months bank statements to show he wouldn’t be ending up indigent in Mexico. Since we were sponsoring him ours would do. So, then it was off to a little mall-internet-place to get printouts of our bank statements. But we had to be back before 1300 when the Consul was going to lunch. More stress.

We got it done and were back at the embassy by 1230. They took all the information, his picture and his passport. The Consul signed his application and said come back at 1630.

At that point Johne said it was a done deal. Alexis relaxed some but he was still antsy. We went and did our Pricesmart provisioning and at 1500 hrs Alexis started pointing out the need to get back. Now, Santo Domingo is a big city and there was lots of traffic, but we had an hour-and-a-half. I tried to reassure him but it wasn’t until we got back to the embassy with ten minutes to spare and they had his passport, with a beautiful visa in it, almost as fancy as the main picture page, that he believed it. Then he looked like a kid at Christmas.

After cocktails to celebrate, we headed back home. We had left Second Star at 0540 and got back at about 2100. A long but very productive day.

On Sunday we will have Alexis’s family over to the boat so we can meet them and so they can see where/how he will be living. We’re already starting to integrate him into daily life. We’ll try it until we get to Haiti. If it’s working well he’ll be with us at least until X-mas. If any or all of us are hating it, he can take the bus back from western DR or Haiti and life will return to “normal”. But I think it will work out well for all of us.

                                                          Oct 28 2014

On Sunday Alexis’s Mother, Father, Sister and Brother-in-law, three nieces, his wife and two sons came to Second Star. On Monday he said they had all talked and talked about it all evening. They felt much better about him coming with us having met us and seen the boat. I showed them how to follow the SPOT on the blog so they can always know where Alexis is. So I guess I have to be better about sending out a weekly SPOT even when we aren’t moving.

It looks like we’ll be move on later this week. First out to Isla Catalina then back to Boca Chica…Stay tuned for more.

Still alive

                                                                         Oct 6 2014

Greetings,

          The longer I go without writing an update the more difficult it gets to do so. I get overwhelmed with trying to recap all we’ve been doing. So, as always, I’ll tell myself, as well as you, that I’ll try to be better at keeping up to date more often.

          At the moment, and for the last month and a half, we’re in Casa de Campo Marina, just east of La Romana, Dominican Republic. Most of the time in the marina has been project/work oriented.  But I’ll come back to that. Let me pick up where I left the last update.

          In early Aug we were in Puerto Rico headed west. When we got to Parguera just past Bahia fosforescente we found that the fact that it had been stormy meant it wasn’t the best time for diving because the visibility was way down, and we could anchor in the Bio-luminescent bay but the tour boat ran through there from about 1800-0100 and it was likely to be more aggravating than it would be worth. Plus we had good weather to move on.

 So we went to Bahia de Boqueron on the west end of Puerto Rico. It was a very calm, well protected, beautiful anchorage with a cute little town and a nice beach.  After a quick road trip up to Mayaguez and back, to pick up a Fedex delivery, we enjoyed a little exploring of the local bars and restaurants.

Then the weather said it was time to make the jump across the Mona Passage to the DR. First we went to Boca Chica. My brother was flying into Santo Domingo to come for a visit and Boca Chica was an easy place to hook up with him. We got to do some diving there while Johne took advantage of time at the dock to work on both Second Star and Kokomo Kat.

A few days after Darrin arrived we moved back east to Bayahibe and anchored with all the day-trip catamarans. We did some more diving there. By then Johne was well into installing our new R/O water maker and didn’t feel he could take time off to come with us. The diving was fun and it was great to have time with Darrin.

The day before Darrin was leaving a storm came through and the anchorage at Bayahibe got really rough. We were planning to come over to Casa de Campo soon anyway, and between having anchor-holding issues and needing to get Darrin ashore for his flight it just made sense to go head and come in.

Darrin left on Sunday Aug 24. Johne got the new water maker up and running that afternoon so now we can make about 50 gallons of water per hour of run time. This will cut the need to run the generator substantially.

Also, since we’ve been here, we’ve gotten our new solar panels up and charging. So now we’ve cut our generator time by more than half. This will make a huge difference in our fuel consumption which is great environmentally and financially.

Right now Kokomo Kat is hauled out for sail-drive maintenance. While she’s out they’re doing new bottom paint and she’s getting all new Garmin electronics. They are almost done with the work that has to happen out of the water and she should “splash” on Friday (fingers crossed).

After Sharon’s sea trails we’ll be moving west again. I’ll really, really try to update as we go and share our adventures through the Dominican Republic and on into Haiti and points west. Until then… 

Passage making and storm prep

                                                          Aug 4 2014

Greetings,

          The trip from St Thomas was some of the best cruising we’ve had in quite a while. It wasn’t perfectly calm but, the swell was 1-3 feet, from the port stern quarter and, overall, it was pretty pleasant.

We did have a small issue early in the voyage. When Capt. Johne went down to do the first engine and bilge check an hour out, he discovered that the starboard shaft seal was leaking badly and had almost filled the forward bilge. He pumped the bilge out and then we brought the engines back to idle. He killed the starboard engine and I put the port one in neutral so we’d be dead in the water and the starboard shaft would not be turning. Then, the Capt. spent the next half hour adjusting and tightening the seal in a very hot engine room, with the boat bobbing like a cork in the three foot swell. It wasn’t the worst job he’s had to do underway but it’s still not fun to have to work under those conditions. I’m glad I have him to take care of these things. His sacrifices are appreciated.

With that taken care of, the rest of the trip was uneventful. Kokomo Kat had left a few hours before us and we caught up with her about 0500 and both pulled into the anchorage at Ponce, Puerto Rico at around 0900.

We got the anchors set in the bay just off the marina. Sharon and Johne went ashore to get checked in and then we spent the rest of that day watching the marina prep for TS Bertha’s arrival. They have really good concrete piers here and it was fascinating to me to watch them take all the boats from their secure slips and move them out to much less secure anchoring. Quickly the anchorage filled up with the boats that had been in the marina and our biggest concern as the storm passed by (aside from watching our own position to make sure we didn’t drag) was watching the other boats around us to make sure none of them were dragging or, in one case, breaking an old mooring.

In the end we only saw winds to 33 kts. and a couple of rain bands that were just enough to help rinse the salt off. The only boats that drug were on the far west side of the anchorage and the sea tow boat took care of them.

Sunday we went into town but, between the storm and it being Sunday (I don’t know which was more of a factor) almost everything was closed. We did see the old fire house and have ice cream at King’s (world famous according to everything I’ve read on Ponce).

Tomorrow we’re planning to move on. We’ll go a couple of bays farther west and spend a few days exploring there. After that we’ll move on to Bahia Fosforescente to try to get a night snorkel/dive with the bio-luminescents.

Several people ask about my health since I didn’t mention it in the last update. I’ve just gotten my latest blood work results back and my thyroid hormone levels are still (three and a half months now) in the normal range. My eye is still wonky. I don’t expect that to change without more intervention and this is not the time or place for that. So, at this point, I’m just continuing to live life compensating for a wonky eye.

On to the next adventure…

Time to go?

                                                                   July 30 2014

Greetings,

          We’re getting ready to leave St Thomas and move west. Our time here has been long but productive. It’s been all about projects. Aside from the work Johne and Sharon got done on her house, and on Kokomo Kat, we’ve also gotten some stuff for upgrades on Second Star. We are putting in a much bigger R/O water maker, which will mean we need less running time and we’ll be getting more fresh water. And, just today we got four, 250 watt, solar panels, which will equal much less generator time and, there for, less diesel burned.

          There is a lot we won’t miss about St Thomas. The anchorage here is very rolly. And the cruise ships have made it very touristy and expensive here. But we’ve met some awesome people here and some of the scenery is stunning.

          One of the interesting things about cruising is that we don’t always know very far in advance what comes next. As I’m writing this, I realize it’s hard to tell you what we’re planning to do, because we aren’t sure ourselves. As is so often the case with cruisers our plans are being affected by a weather system, and so, the fact is, I don’t know what we are doing in the next 24 hours. We may leave tomorrow afternoon to go to Vieques (a little island off Puerto Rico), or we may go to Ponce on the south coast of PR. We may stay here another day, or we may stay a few (until the weather passes). We will get up tomorrow and check the weather and see how we feel about the options, then make a decision at least about tomorrow. We will be sending out the SPOT’s as we travel, so if you want to know what we decided just check the SPOT track (click under Where is Second Star on right hand side of blog page). I’ll send one out tomorrow whether we go or not so it’ll have our position.

          One way or the other we’re planning to be in the Dominican Republic by Aug 15^th. My brother is coming for a visit and Kokomo Kat has a date with a travel lift. There will be more work there but, hopefully, more play as well…

I'm Back

                                                                       June 23 2014

Greetings,

          Okay, it’s been over two months since the last update I posted. No, I didn’t fall off the face of the earth. I just haven’t been super inspired to write.

          Starting back in April where I left off; Bobs visit was great. It is always good to have him aboard. I was only here for the first half of it because I took a trip up to VA to spend some time with my family and get acupuncture treatments (I’ll come back to that in a minute). After I left Bob and Johne took Second Star out to do some fishing (no catching) and go over to the BVI. It’s my understanding that they had a pretty good time. After Bob left, Johne and Sharon got to work full time on Sharons house, replacing boards on the deck, painting and doing general maintenance projects. At this point the house is ready to be listed for rent again and we’re all back to boat projects.

          My trip was a long one. I was away from Second Star for six weeks. It was great to get so much time with my family but hard to be away from home that long. The acupuncture seemed to help a lot with my overall health. My energy is good and I feel like myself. Between the acupuncture and the drugs, I’m in “remission”, which means my last three blood works have shown my thyroid hormone levels in the normal range. The down side is my eye is still wonky. At this point it looks like surgery may be needed to get that straightened out. But I have a cool pirate patch and I’m living my life. Things could be a lot worse.

          Johne is ready to get out of St Thomas and Kokomo Kat needs to come out of the water for some maintenance on her sail drives. We’ll be moving on soon to a yard that can handle her but we’re not yet sure which one or where. In the running for possible places are Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Tortola, Trinidad and Granada. I’ll post something when I know which way we’re headed.

          That’s all for now. I’ll try to get back in the habit of posting more often. Meanwhile, I hope all is well with everyone. 

In St Thomas

                                                                   April 4 2014

Greetings,

          We arrived in St Thomas a week ago. We pulled into the harbor at 0630 on the 28^th. Sharon and Kokomo Kat didn’t get in until about midnight. The passage was pretty rough some of the time, and none of it was calm. Second Star had some leaks and, when bigger waves came over the bow we were taking water in, so there’s been a lot of cleaning and damage assessment since we got here.

 The anchorage here is pretty well protected. We get a little roll when the waves are come in the channel but it’s not bad. We’ve seen rays and turtles in here, and the sea planes take off and land right behind us, which is very entertaining to me for now, but they are loud and watching them may lose its charm after a while.

Johne’s daughter Jeni, Grandson Carson and Jeni’s boyfriend Bill had booked tickets to come here and see us six months ago when we thought we’d be here by Feb. We made it in time to spend the last 2 days of their trip with them. It was great seeing them. Carson is 17 now and has grown a lot in the last couple of years. His Grandpa hadn’t seen him for almost 4 years so the change was shocking.

Going back a bit; our time in Curacao was very pleasant. Except the part when we took the starboard engine apart to take the head to the shop for re-facing. And the putting it back together twice because we had the wrong head gasket. But other than that we enjoyed it there. With the engine work and trying to get up here ASAP we didn’t do and see a lot while we were there. It’s a beautiful island with a great anchorage and we’re looking forward to spending more time there the next time we’re down that way.

As for an update on my health issues; shortly after we got here I need to refill one of my meds. I took my prescription to the pharmacy and was told that I needed to get a US licensed doctor to sign off on it. They couldn’t fill a prescription from a Colombian doctor. I went to a walk in clinic the pharmacist directed me to and, not only could Dr. Flowers help me with the prescriptions, but when I ask where I could get the blood work I was going to be needing done, she said “here”. So they drew blood and she went over my history with me. She recommended I see an Ophthalmologist because she was concerned that my eye hasn’t made better progress on the steroids. The ophthalmologist did an exam and went over my case history and he said there’s not damage to the eye or the optic nerve so we’re still focused on getting the over active muscle, that’s limiting the range of motion, to relax. I’m still waiting for the results of the latest blood tests. When I have those, and we see what changes the meds have made in my thyroid output, we will determine what the next step should be.

Johne’s brother Bob will be coming down in a couple of weeks for a long-past-due visit. We’re looking forward to having him aboard again. In the meantime, work on Second Star, Kokomo Kat and Sharon’s house will be the order of the day.

Moving again

                                                                  March 24 2014

Greetings,

          This is just a quick update. I’ll try to post more detail in the next couple of weeks.

          We’ve been in Curacao for almost two weeks now. In that time we’ve taken the head off the starboard engine, taken it to the machine shop, (one valve was “chuffing”) had it resurfaced, and put it back together (twice since we had the wrong head gasket the first time). We’ve also been waiting for the weather again.

          Now the engine is functional and the wind is slowing down so, first thing in the morning, we’re pulling out to cross the Caribbean expecting to arrive in St Thomas first thing Friday morning. The weather is still a “sporty” (as our friend Judy says) but it should be doable.

          After we’re settled in to St Thomas I’ll write a good update on our time here and the trip. In the meantime, if you’re so inclined, you can follow the trip on our SPOT share page to the right of the blog. 

Leaving Colombia

                                                                      March 7 2014

Greetings,

          Well, the weather looks like it’s going to start cooperating. We are now checked out of Colombia and will be pulling anchor tomorrow morning to head for Curacao and then on to St Thomas. We may be in Curacao for a little while but don’t plan to stay long.

          Our time in Colombia has had its up’s and down’s. But, overall, I’ve been very impressed with the people here and it’s a very beautiful country. The medical care I’ve received here has been excellent and (for any cruisers who are thinking of passing this way) Dino, the agent in Santa Marta, is the best agent we’ve dealt with in Colombia and one of the best in the best we’ve dealt with the whole time we’ve been cruising. We had a delightful lunch at his house today. He and his wife are charming, wonderful people. He’s also very honorable. One of the employees in the port captain’s office was looking for a little extra money for himself to do our paperwork. Dino could have just told us there was an extra fee and probably made some for himself. But instead he told the guy he wasn’t going to ask us because he didn’t want us to think it was for him. He had the guy come meet us, and when Johne said he’d be happy to pay our fees, all he needed was an official receipt from the port captain’s office, It didn’t take to long for the guy to back down. In the end, we gave him 5000 pesos (about $2.50) which only covered half of his taxi to come meet us. Dino is hoping this will discourage him from asking for money he’s not entitled to.

          In health news, I’ve been on the first med for two weeks. The Doc said I should be seeing improvement in my eye within three weeks. No improvement yet but I’m still hopeful. If I don’t start seeing progress in another week I’m supposed to start taking a steroid to reduce the inflammation. I’m hoping to avoid that but I really want my eye to be working right again.

          That’s about it for now. We should be in Curacao by Tues night. If you want to follow the trip, we’ll be sending out the SPOT’s so if you click on “Where’s Second Star” on the right side of the blog page. Next update from Curacao or St T. 

Things are looking up

                                                                              Feb 22 2014

Greetings,

          Well, after all the tests and waiting, and more tests and more waiting, the results are in. The diagnosis of Hyperthyroid has been confirmed and I have started on a treatment program. Dr Consuegra said I should start seeing improvement within three weeks. From the numbers on the free T4 blood test, I think, I’m just into the range of being hyperthyroid so hopefully it won’t take much to get it back under control. I’ve been given a hall pass to continue with my life. Dr Consuegra said I should see an endocrinologist in six weeks to check my progress, but until then, take my pills and go about my business. The only restrictions he gave were no alcohol or smoking or stress. I don’t smoke so I only have to stop drinking and stressing. No problem :)

          It also looks like the weather may be starting to calm down. Mid next week the winds look like they’ll be down from 30-40kts to 15-20kts. And the seas will be calming in turn. Our travel buddy Sharon, on Kokomo Kat, has crew coming to join her for the next leg so it all seems to be coming together. We have a little work to do on the boats to be ready to go but mostly just the usual pre-passage-prep stuff.

          The next update should be to say we’re headed for the islands. No more medical crap. Although, I’d like to say thank you one more time for all the supportive email, advice and love I have received though out this “adventure”. It’s been a bit tough at times and having a big network of family and friends’ boosting me from behind has really helped so;

 Thank you all. And a big group hug.

Still in Taganga

                                                                             Feb 16 2014

Greetings,

          We’re still sitting in Bahia Taganga Colombia. It’s still blowin’ a gale. I’m still getting tests and waiting for results and more doctor visits.

          We made three trips back and forth to Barranquilla this past week. When all the test results come back later this week we’ll be headed back over there to see Dr Consuegra again and start a treatment plan.

          We’re planning to do a little site seeing in the next few days while I’m on hold medically speaking. There is a museum/park here that is where Simon Bolivar died. It’s supposed to be interesting and educational.

          Not much more to report right now. Hopefully, in a couple more weeks, I’ll be reporting on good heath, a good weather window and pending passage making.

Trip from Cartagena to Santa Marta

                                                                             Jan 31 2014

Greetings,

          We are now sitting at anchor in Taganga Colombia. And, for a couple of reasons, it looks like we’ll be here for a bit. The first reason is the weather. We left Cartagena on the evening of the 21^st. The weather had improved but still wasn’t great. We got as far as the river at Barranquilla but, we were buddy boating with Kokomo Kat and she had a fuel issue and lost one engine. So we decided to go back to Puerto Vallero which was down wind and has good anchoring. With a change of filters and then running long enough to get the air out of the lines she was ready to move on. But, again we had to wait a couple of days for the waves to lie down.

The wind was strong, and even in the bay there was about a two foot chop. The water was stirred up and murky. Not good for swimming. There were no water taxis so it was still better than the roll in the anchorage in Cartagena. But not somewhere we wanted to spend much time. On the 25^th it calmed down a bit again so we headed out to make the next leg around the point at Barranquilla and over to Santa Marta.

It was rough but not too bad across the river but, as night fell and the wind pick up, it got a lot rougher. We were taking waves down the deck and heavy spray on the bridge. It made Johne say “why do we need to keep reminding ourselves we don’t want to do this?” It was much better when we got in close to the lee shore, but not a fun trip all-in-all.

We pulled into the bay at Santa Marta but it’s not a great anchorage so we came around the corner to Taganga which is a much nicer, calmer, prettier bay to anchor in. The water here is much clearer. It’s surrounded by hills that look very much like the Baja Peninsula. They are very dry with big cacti. It’s windy here too but the bay is better protected so the waves aren’t so big. It’s a much nicer place to be stuck for a bit.

Which brings us to the other reason for staying longer.  As many of you know I’m having an issue with my right eye. Right before we left Puerto Vallero I emailed a friend who is an Ophthalmologist to ask her advice. She was concerned from the symptoms I described (Dropping eye lid, limited and decreasing range of motion in the upward direction) that I may have something (a tumor or aneurysm) pressing on the optic nerve. She and another Dr. friend I had consulted recommended getting an MRI and other tests to rule out things that could be an immediate danger. She didn’t think it was a good idea to wait until I got back to the states (maybe a month or more). So, when we got here, we ask Kevin to find out where I could get the tests done. He got the info for us and we’ve started down the path of trying to find the problem.

So far I have had an MRI and an initial consultation with a neurosurgeon. He has ordered more tests so we will be back at the Clinica Mar Caribe tomorrow. Going in to this I was worried about the language barrier. It has been challenging but I have to say, the staff have bent over backward to help us. I have received so much personal care and attention from everyone. From the ladies at the front decks who used the translate program in the computer to figure out what I needed, to the Tech who gave me the MRI and reassured me that it was “easy” and told me “Just Don’t Move” the rest was in Spanish but that much he made sure he got to me in English. He has also spent quite a bit of time talking to us about the other tests. And the Dr. who spent 45 min with me this morning, gave us him phone number and said to call him as soon as we had the next round of tests. On top of all that the cost here is a small fraction of what it would be in the states. The MRI was 700,000 Colombian pesos which is about $350. And the appointment with the Dr. was 35,500 pesos. I feel very good about the quality of the care I’m getting and would recommend it to anyone who needed medical care.

I will continue to post updates as I know more about my prognosis. I have received lots of support from family and friends for which I am very grateful. Thanks. It helps in trying times to know I’m that loved. 

Amendment to last post

It has been pointed out to me that my comments on the man who was asleep in the launch were un-compassionate. I'm am righting now to apologize to the less fortunate people of the world and everyone I may have offended with what I wrote. I didn't mean to be cold and uncaring. I'm sorry.

Dominos

                                                                                       Jan 19 2014

Greetings,

          I can now call myself a cruiser. Today I had my first Mexican train dominos experience. As we have been cruising, we have heard people talking on the VHF cruiser nets about getting together for Mexican train dominos. It’s a popular social activity in the cruising world. But, before today, we had not participated. Well, now we’ve been properly integrated into the social world of cruisers. I won’t go into the details of how the game is played here, but it was lots of fun and I’m sure we will join again at some point.

          When we left the game we had another first. A bum was sleeping in Hook when we got back to the dock to head back out to Second Star. We head actually seen him the night before. When we’d gone to the store he had told us he would watch the boat while we were gone and then held his hand out for money. Johne said when we got back. If he’d been there when we got back Johne was going to give him a little something but he wasn’t. So, after we woke him up and told him it was time to get off, he got his stuff together (a backpack and the cardboard boxes he’d been sleeping under), climb off the boat and held his hand out for money. Johne told him he was lucky we didn’t call the police. I thought it was pretty ballsy to try to charge us for sleeping in the launch. I thought maybe we should have asked him for rent.

          In other news, it does look like we’re going to be departing Cartagena this week. The weather is calming enough that we’re going to go for it. It’s not going to be as calm as I’d prefer, but to wait for that we’d probably be here until April. Right now the plan is to head out Tuesday evening. There is a big river that flows out by Santa Marta and, we’ve heard, you want to cross it in good light to avoid all the debris that flows down river. We’ll time it to get there in the morning on Wednesday. There are some bays on the north side of Colombia that we can stop in if it gets too rough or we want to rest, but we’ll head for Curacao as quickly as we can safely go. I’m looking forward to getting there. It looks like a really neat place. 

Waiting for a weather window

                                                                             Jan 12 2014

Greetings,

          Cruisers spend much of their time waiting for a “weather window”. This is what we are doing right now. For the past several weeks the trade winds have been blowing and the Caribbean Sea has been stirred up. With winds to 35 knots, the waves off shore have been running 8-15 feet. And, we want to head east, which is the way they are coming from. Which boils down to; we’re stuck in Cartagena, waiting. It makes me a bit antsy. We have company coming to see us in St Thomas in March. Even though that’s still two months away, it’s out there.

I know I don’t want to be out in the current conditions. It’s hard on the boat, it’s hard on the cat and it’s hard on us. But it’s also hard to sit here and check the weather, day after day, with no real change. It’s not that we don’t have stuff to do. There are always projects on a boat. And there are some fun people here to socialize with. We have enjoyed many things about Cartagena, but it’s time to be done here and move on. The tricky part at this point is not to let the “antsy” get the better of me. We’ll just have to wait until the weather decides to cooperate and stay put until then.

One thing we’re not enjoying here is the traffic in the harbor. Since a week or so before Christmas, the boat traffic has increased substantially. The high speed, twin and triple engine, boats come flying though the anchorage at warp speed. They go every-which-direction which turns the harbor into a washing machine with big wakes coming from everywhere. Sometimes it makes us feel like, even though it’s rough off shore, it’s uncomfortable in here too, so maybe we should just go. We know better. Even when it’s bad in here, it’s way worse out there.

So, here we sit. I’ll let you know when it looks like that will change. And in the meantime I’ll try to embrace being here…

Another long update

                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Jan 3 2014

Greetings,

          Well, once again I’ve put off writing for too long so I will do this update in sections. First the time in the yard; second our trip to Bogota; and then the Holidays.

The yard:

We didn’t get everything we’d hoped done while we were hauled out. But the most important jobs (The bottom sanded and painted, the prop shaft seals replaced, thru hulls cleaned out and ball valves serviced, anchor chain remarked every 25 feet…) got done. We launched on the 16^th and headed back to the anchorage. With the bottom and running gear clean and barnacle free we slid through the water with ease. Going into the yard we were going 5.6 knots @ 800 rpm, burning about 4 gph. Coming out we were doing 8 knots @ 800 rpm, burning about 2.5 gph. So much better.  And our dripless shaft seals are dripless again. Yea!

An amusing anecdote from our yard time is; the first evening we were there the guard came by and told me something in Spanish. I knew it was something about a dog but I wasn’t getting it. I told him in Spanish I was sorry but I didn’t understand. He kept trying. Whatever he was saying was obviously important. So I kept trying to get it. They were looking for a dog? Had I seen the dog? No, that wasn’t it. Then I started to catch on. I was aware that there were guard dogs in the yard at night (the first night we were tied to the wall, before we were lifted one of them had been barking at a fishing boat for half the night). What he was telling me was not to come down off the boat after 9:00 at night until 5:00AM because they let the dogs loose in the yard and it was dangerous. I was so proud of myself when I figured it out and the guard seemed very relieved. My Spanish still sucks, but I’m making progress.

Bogota:

          We left the boat for five days while it was out of the water to go up to Bogota, visit Kevin and see the sights. Bogota is in the mountains at 8500 feet. It sits in a basin surrounded by higher mountains. Being so close to the equator, the temperature there stays between about 50 and 70 degrees all the time. We have been in the tropics for long enough now that, for us, that’s cold. We’d brought jackets and jeans but we were still chilly most of the time we were there.

          Bogota is a beautiful city. It’s the capital of Colombia and houses many government buildings, the presidential palace, many universities, museums, historical churches, etc. We stayed with Kevin and he was a wonderful host. We arrived on a Saturday afternoon. On Sunday we drove up to a quant village on a lake. It was a historical village that had been moved and restored when they built the dam and flooded its location creating the lake. We had dinner on the way back down at a restaurant on the side of the mountain with a great view of the city below. Monday we went into downtown. We were planning to go to the Museo Del Oro (gold museum) first but it was closed on Mondays. So we walked around exploring. We went by the presidential palace, which had guards in fancy uniforms like Buckingham Palace, on the way to the Botero art museum. Botero is a famous Colombian artist and they had a lot of his work but they also had Monet, Picasso, Degas, Renoir, Toulouse- Lautrec, Pissarro, Manet…it was an amazing collection. We were going to go back to the gold museum another day but the Mayor of the city was fired that day and for the next several days there were protests in that area and the streets were closed.

          Kevin took us to an older part of town where we had dinner and a lovely stroll in a plaza that was all decorated and had entertainment for the holidays. We also took the cable car ride up to Monseratte, the church on the mountain overlooking the city. The view from there was spectacular. We got there late in the afternoon and enjoyed the sunset with a good cup of coffee (or hot chocolate for Johne) then had dinner looking over the lights of the city (extra lit for Christmas). It was a very good trip and I’m really glad we got to go.

The Holidays:

          We celebrated the solstice in our usual style with a cocktail party aboard Second Star. We had a fun group of cruisers come and one “repeat”. It was for our solstice party last year that we first met Sharon, so it was also the first anniversary of a great friendship.

          Daryl and Marcy arrived back on Christmas Eve to spend another week aboard. We did the potluck with the other cruisers for dinner that night. For Christmas dinner Sharon joined us here. We did a non-traditional steak and lobster with garlic/herb mashed potatoes and salad. The food was awesome and the company even better.

          Over the weekend we all went to the Fort for the tour and to the beach on the other side of Boca Grande. Daryl and Marcy had to leave on Monday, so for New Year’s Eve Sharon came and we had dinner and managed to stay up long enough to watch the great fireworks displays going off around half of the harbor.

          Now we are in prep-to-move-on mode. When we get a good weather window, we’ll be headed along the north side of Colombia and over to Curacao. I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, but if I did, mine would be to write as things happen and update the blog much more often. We’ll see if I manage to do it.

          Happy New Year!