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.