Yep, there is some progress. We’ve ordered all that we can afford. :)  We actually now have

Wooden Tops Warped

the butcher block tops replaced on the refrigerator and the freezer with Meganite. We came up with the idea of putting a “Star” in the top of the refrigerator and that turned out nice.

Star Inlay

We picked a light color for the Meganite and it is BRIGHT!  You might be able to get an idea from the before and after pic.  Right now they look a little “large” on the box but that may just be our getting use to them. We’re thinking of adding a border somewhere down the road.  Don’t know yet.  Since posting this blog I’ve discovered that some of the website info on our refrigeration system was never completed. I’ve made sure it’s all available now. The other pages relating to this subject are: Overview, Instalation, and Finished (not).  I’ve created a pictoral history of the various stages of the works: General Installlation, Insulation, Layout, and Liners.

New Tops

90% of the Varnish is completed. All the SS has been polished. We hired a local guy; Sean, for 400 TT / day and he did a top notch job. Of course no one does it like the owners but we were satisfied with his work and he did work hard.  With him sanding / prepping all the wood we just needed to add varnish. That’s still a bit o’ work. All we have left to varnish now is the starboard  caprail. We’ve been limited on how much we can varnish because most every day it rains.  It’s raining right now as I write this.  The Varnish we use (Signature Finishes - Honey Teak) requires about 2 hours of time to dry enough that rain won’t effect it. Hail would; but we’ve not had any hail here.  Once it dries to where the wx won’t effect it; the varnish is still soft and can be marred or scratch for another 6 - 8 hours.

Our new cushion covers are being made. Well; almost. Once at the marine fabric shop our upholsterer said we needed new foam. Damn!  So we said ok.  Then he bought the foam and we checked about foam for the dinette. Need new there too. Damn!  So we’ve now given him money to purchase that foam too. He has the cushions for our main salon and we’re close to sitting on  the benches  only. We’ve moved a couple of cushions so we have something under our bottom but it’s not like home; yet. We hope it will be soon.

After the varnishing I get to redo the aft head and the plumbing there. (Can’t say I like plumbing - plumbers deserve their pay). We’ll see about scheduling a haul date for the boat. Once hauled we’ll do some tourist stuff while the boat is out of the water;  then we’re outta here!

Too, we’ve been getting back into shape. Exercise on a boat is rather limited. W/ began  running in Grenada and doing some Yoga. When we pulled into the marina here in Trinidad we began to jump  rope in the am (only 3 days / week).  Also we’ve added some stretching to our workouts. She’s been trying (and it isn’t easy) to stretch my legs and hips (straight leg hamstring stretches). I lay back on the floor and she lifts my leg towards the ceiling. At first I could only point my toes towards the door, but now I”m getting a little more movement in the lower half of my body! Then too W/ has been making me do the yogo “Tree“. The good news is that I can actually do it!

Go Slow
Sail Far
Stay Long

Mike always said “It costs what ya got”!  Dirk called us “High Rollers” (I guess cause there are times we use marinas? .  Don’t know where exactly we fit in the group of cruisers we see around here. I know there are yachtsmen  here that spend in a week what we’ve spent in a year.  Of course; no one would say they’re “cruisers”; except maybe, the superyacht owner.

Everywhere you see costs debated on the cruising boards; how much can I get away with, what boat do I need, etc?

I completed a first full year expense analysis for our boat and our lifestyle  and it came out to $48,554.38.  You can check our website for details on where much of it went and during what months. Please keep in mind this doesn’t count any cost of purchase or depreciation of the boat as we cruise. Salesmen like to call that the cost of ownership! 

We started out in the Bahamas for the last calendar year. A great deal of our low cost stores had been depleted and we love to eat out - mostly lunch - but some dinners. We then moved to the Chesapeake where we had planned on purchasing a new hard top dodger which we did from Canvas Creations. We stayed at a Annapolis Landing Marina (which we thoroughly enjoyed) which was also Annapolis priced. We also added a great deal of supplies to our boat there; two new computers (one to run the Pactor Modem and one to be a ship’s back up for navigation), we added AIS, new stabilizing binoculars, some custom SS stuff and more track for our head sails. It all adds up. We also hauled the boat there, fixed a potential sinking problem and cruised the area.

From there we sailed offshore to the Virgin Islands where we damaged our furler and a sail; fixed that in the VI’s and then began our trek south of  the hurricane belt for the next hurricane season.

So there you have it; our expenses for the first year ( I may be a thou shy as I know there are some expenses we missed. Keep in mind this is on a big 42′ boat and covers two people.

One thing that has helped our budget is the ability to put away money for a rainy day fund. In condo’s in Florida they call it a reserve. We’ve been doing that to the tune of $1,100.00 / month so when we have an issue I draw out of that fund. Now I’ll be able to see if I’ve budgeted that correctly or need to add more. Would be nice to reduce the amt but I doubt the boat will let me.

Go Slow
Sail Far
Stay Long

We’re here in Trinidad and we’re starting to work on items from our list. First and foremost was getting all our ducks in a row.  We’ve been running around ordering supplies, and making commitments to pay local contractors. We’ve hired Shawn at Cruise Inn for a few days. He cleaned and polished the Stainless Steel for us and did an awesome job so we’ve hired him for two more days to sand / prep all the teak for us to varnish. We use Signature Honey Teak Varnish and it lasts for a good year in the tropics, a year before we need to re-coat.  Thank you Don and Terri on Salty Dog (they’ve since sold the boat) for pushing us so hard to use Honey Teak.

We’ve ordered a new battery charger (Victron 80 amp) to replace the damn lousy Prosine 2.0 we have. The inverter still works on the Prosine so we’ll keep that in place  till it craps out too.  I was always leery of having two critical units (inverter and charger) stuffed into one package but ended up being talked into it at the Miami Boat Show by the now defunct Jack Rabbit Marine out of Annapolis.  I guess live and learn is what I need to say but I don’t seem to be learning fast enough to outlive all my mistakes.

We ordered a new larger holding plate for our freezer. Here too I had gone to a local refrigeration company to discuss with them the refrigeration / freezer setup we were interested in installing. (That company too isn’t in business anymore but Seafrost the company that manufactures the parts still is).  They (both Seafrost and the local company)  talked me into two plates in the freezer which was a good thing; but, the second plate is just too small. We don’t have near enough holdover in our freezer. So we’ve ordered another larger plate,  twice the small size that I’ll be able to “drop” in (meaning very little plumbing work).  Of course I’ll need to recharge both systems (the DC side and the engine driven side)  but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

We’ve ordered a new WiFi setup. Can’t seem to have too many of those as options no matter where we’re are it seems like one setup works better then the other. What this new one will do is allow W/ and I to be online at the same time easily, and we’ll be able to connect our iTouch and iPhone to the internet too. We’ll see if my dreams equal reality.

I bought a torque wrench. When I redo the gasket on the generator I need to accurately torque the bolts down properly. I bought new stronger then SS bolts for the job. I bought some new gasket material so I won’t be using the cork.

Bad Place

W/ and I redid the exhaust / cooling plumbing for the generator. If you’re an active reader of our blog you may  remember the water pump  was dripping on the electrical connections for the regulator and the temp sensor. The salt water would short out the temp sensor and I would get a “hot” idiot light lit.  I shot the engine with the infrared sensor we keep on board and the engine was running at the correct temperature so we  continued to use it, but I hate, Hate, HATE, when things aren’t working right. So the sensors are moved and in the process we’ve moved the heat exchanger higher  so hopefully no air can be trapped in the cooling chamber of the engine. I’m not real fond of plumbing and electrical work yet  it seems that to cruise I’m just going to have to accept that curse!

Not sure if I mentioned this; but the wooden cutting boards we had installed as tops on the freezer and refrigerator began to warp! In Antigua we had removed and re-glued the freezer top and about a month later it began to bow upward. DAMN!  So we’ve contracted with Same Crew a woodworking company that does Meganite work and they’ll be making two new tops for us as well as repairing the damage the cruise ship caused us in the US and the damage we had from the trip to Trinidad. I would have done most of the woodwork myself but on a boat one just doesn’t have all the tools needed. It is one of the extra costs of cruising.

Port Of Spain

We’ve also contacted and contracted with Alpha Canvas products to make another set of interior cushion covers, to make new covers for our cockpit cushions, to make a new forward awning and to do some repairs to our main awning.  Yesterday we went with Julie from Sea Otter to the Port of Spain to look for fabric for the interior cushions.  In the past we’ve been in fabric stores

Rolls N Rolls

and they’ve  had 1,000’s of samples to choose from and always said “We can get it”.  Here in Trinidad  they didn’t have the samples, they had the bolts of fabric, there wasn’t any “We can get it”, it was, “We have it” and if that’s not enough I’m sure we have more upstairs.” What a delight; what a pain! A delight that indeed they we wouldn’t have to wait; a pain in that there are TOO MANY TO CHOOSE FROM. Fortunately we had Julie and believe it or not I tried ( I swear I did), I tried to stay out of the decision as much as possible. We’ve chosen a bold (bold to us) floral pattern for the new covers inside

10 Percent of Store

and possible a third set of with a party favors pattern. The party favors pattern may or may not get made here; we’ll see what any extra cost is. The new forward awning is going to set higher giving us better use of the foredeck and hopefully reducing the sail effect of any wind catching it. The new covers on the cockpit cushions will be out of a close weave Textilene. This fabric is PVC coated and will breath so we won’t have to always move and dry the cushions as it rains. And it still is raining quite a bit. It will be I believe a Moss Green; similar to our interior cushions that you never see!

We’ve ordered another March Pump. I’ll use the pump as replacement parts. I don’t remember if I mentioned a screw that came out of one. It’s I believe Al and I can’t get a replacement here. The screw slowly worked its way out and actually ended up wearing on the ends and looks like it’s tapered!

We’ve ordered spares for our Obendorfer waterpump that’s on the generator. It’s where I was so frustrated in Rodney Bay having to rebuild it there. It still leaks some so now I’ll have all the “correct” parts and be able to stop the water entering the boat! I don’t like water in the boat. I don’t like water in the boat. I don’t like water in the boat!  I’m saying that 3 times like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz hoping my dream of no water in the boat will come true.

We hope this weekend to begin some of the varnishing. W/ and I’ll do that. Then we’d like to be finished varnishing  by next week.

Next week I get to see about having some bronze bases made for the Lavac Heads. We’ve cracked both ours (guess I’m a little too heavy)? I’ve fixed them with JB Weld (a great boat product) and they seem to be holding fine but I would like a permanent fix. Then I need to begin re-plumbing the aft head and making a shorter hose run from the head to the pump and overboard.  Remember in Antigua one day it stopped pumping and when I finally found the clog it was all the calcite from the urine saltwater mixture that had created a solid; well almost, blockage in the lowest part of the hose.

I’m expecting to have the boat hauled for a couple of weeks and during the time of drying out any  moisture that made it to  the laminate from the nick we put somewhere around Antigua, we’re looking forward to doing some of the Trinidad tourist stuff.

Anyway; talking to Julie we too discovered that the main VHF on the boat isn’t functioning as it should. We can send and people seem to hear us, but we don’t hear their reply. The AIS is working fine, power to that unit is good and I’m getting information from the antenna, but I’m not getting any voice to the VHF unit. I’m now adding that to our “need to do now” list. I’ve gone and ordered a piece of  VHF coax to see if taking the AIS out of the loop doesn’t solve it. Then I’ll try an emergency antenna to make sure the unit works fine.  Oh well!  As they so often say and I’m doing my best to not believe it: Cruising is simply working on your boat in exotic places!

Go Slow
Sail Far
Stay Long

The offending Bolt

Well, she’s back together.  At least 98%. I”m not satisfied with that so when we’re in Trinidad I’ll have to take it apart and put it 100% right.

Monday went as follows: Started out locating and getting some 6mm SS  bolts at Budget (not) Marine in Grenada.  I rode a friend’s bicycle to town and just so you know; I walked up a couple of the hills or what they refer to as mtns. Wanted  to get some of the stronger steel bolts  but couldn’t find them. Tried the Toyota dealership the BMW dealership (have found what I’ve needed at auto dealers before) and Ace Hardware.  I ended up with 10   6 mm x 3/4″ and 2  6mm x 5/8″  SS A-80 bolts. I wanted all 5/8″!

So once back on the boat I spent a goodly amt of time in the engine room using a hack saw and cutting  the

Me and My Long Arms

longer bolts down ! Then I filed  the ends so the threads would be good. Now remember it is hot here and the boat doesn’t have AC and even if it did with the generator down we wouldn’t have AC anyway. So I’m shirtless cutting the bolts in the engine room and after every 30 minute or so I  take a 5 - 15 minute break.

Once the bolt lengths were all correct I went about cutting a new gasket out of the cork gasket material with the black stuff embedded in it.  I used the gasket silicone on it. What a PITA on the Aquagen.

When the Aquagen works she’s a dream, but working on it isn’t.

After we got the coolant  top  that the compressor attaches all gooped up  I began to put the new gasket on the engine with all the gasket sealant. About  half way installed, I discovered there is one bolt that won’t naturally turn down. It’s the one by the SS tubing Aquamarine added to  hold the compressor. I have to put that bolt in first and then turn it down, then put the others in. @#$%^#$^. to say the least. I removed what I had already

It's the bolt behind

installed; lifted the gasket with the goo off and proceeded to put the single PITA bolt in and turn it down so the gasket all fits correctly. I proceeded to install the other bolts and once they’re all in, put the compressor back on. I notice the compressor fits  snug (physically touching) to  the bolt that was broken off. DAMN!  Maybe that was the cause of the broken bolt.  So I remove the compressor and take the locking washer off the offensive bolt (yes I considered it offensive by now) !  If the bolts are torqued properly the locking washer shouldn’t be needed anyway. Off it comes -  change out the washer and put the compressor  back on. Put it all back together and an hour or two later start it up.

What I started out to do was simply replace the gasket on the water pump with one made out of a waterproof chart paper and tighten down one bolt on the coolant cover that was leaking coolant (I was afraid the cup seal wasn’t the perfect size).  I’m not getting any water out of the gasket  but the cup seal is still leaking.  And with the cup seal leaking I”m getting a small amt of saltwater spray sent all over the front of the engine room. Then too I see a little green up by one of the bolts for the coolant at the top of the engine!  DAMN and that wasn’t all I said. So like a good sailor I jury rigged a fix. I wasn’t interested in taking it all off and starting over, I’m tired and it’s a been a long day. I don’t have the bolts I would prefer and I don’ t have  perfect replacement gasket. I used a fender washer for a  1/4″ bolt and cut a gasket out of the same cork material and gooped it up to and then installed the bolt.  Finally it’s not leaking but it ain’t pretty.  When I torqued the bolt down (BTW I looked it up and they’re only torqued to 7 ft lbs or so and I may easily have over torqued the others the last time when I had this off to put the vent plug in that Aquamarine suggested) the cork with the gasket goo squeezed out quite a bit!

Thus I’m wondering if I wasn’t to not use the gasket goo on the cork impregnated with something gasket?  If W/ had pulled out the  gasket paper I would have used that instead.  As luck would have it she pulled out the cork gasket material.

When we get to Trini I’ll  redo the top plate. The generator will be 100%. Right now it’s holding the coolant  but I don’t want to remain this way on a passage. That would be a bigger PITA should it fail there. And I fear that if I leave this for any length of time the antifreeze will react with the bolt, the cover and the Aluminium block  making  the bolt much more difficult to remove.

Go Slow
Go Far
Stay Long

We’ll, not me, at least not physically. The boat is injured and I feel the pain. I feel the pain cause so much of me (us) is in this boat that when something doesn’t work it’s like I’m injured. And I feel the pain cause I’m physically bent over, reaching, cutting a finger - hand or my arm, squinting, trying to hold the light and get a wrench on one end and socket on the other end of what ever I need to fix.

It started out as a couple hour job. That’s what I estimated.  W/ usually doubles that time but ok; it’s a morning job. It’s Sunday; day of rest. Boats don’t rest.  I had two things to do. I was going to tighten a plate down on the top of the Aquagen (it was leaking coolant) and I was going to put a new gasket (made from a glossy magazine cover) on the water pump (it was leaking saltwater), and I didn’t have a spare gsaket.
First I pulled off the water pump; I needed to loosen the belt running to the water pump so I could pull off the refrigeration compressor so I could get to the bolt (that appeared loose) that was under the compressor.  Done!  I find the bolt laying on top of the plate. So I gently try to restart it in the hole. Damn!  It won’t go. DAMN!  (that’s not really all I said). So I pull off the other bolt holding the compressor on and now have clear access to the hole. Words can not fully describe my feelings here. And if you remember the 7 words that years ago were not to be spoken in public you might have heard them all. The bolt had sheared off!

How to get it out. I called Serge on Spirrare  and he came over to help.  He’s younger with better eyes; and has as much or more experience with engines. Besides; it’s always easier breaking someone else’s boat rather than your own.

So from a job that was to be a couple of hours we’re now to a job that may take us to the marina and I’ll have to pull the engine out; take it to a machine shop and have the stud removed.  We discuss some options. But right now it comes down to; let’s see if we can get it out. We look for the Easy Outs. I know I have some. Can’t find any. We do however find some of the screw extractors. Gently Serge punches the center of the bolt and drills a small hole. We try the extractor. Nothing. Serge drills a slightly larger hole. We try the extractor. Nothing. I connect the extractor to the drill and I try using the drill to remove the Bolt.  Viola!  It’s coming out, it came out!  Whew, an am job turned into a month job which turned back into a two day job!  Today is Sunday. Nothing is open. Tomorrow I’ll go to the marine store and get some “metric” bolts so they’re all good, I’ll also go to ACE Hardware (yep there is one in Grenada) and see if I can get some strong metric bolts. Put it all back together and hope the leaks are fixed.

After we got the bolt out, we reminisced about my good luck,  and  Serge took off. After all; there was an afternoon of the Dominos Train Game for cruisers planned at the marina.  I would miss it (I’m not really a big fan of that game) and W/ too decided to stay and assist.  After lunch I raised up the heat exchanger (one of the things on my Trinidad list and that should make sure no air stays trapped in the top of the cooling system).  That done, sweat rolling off me, we picked up and called it a day.

What a day. Aren’t Sunday’s to be a day of rest?

Go Slow
Sail Far
Stay Long

A good book BTW.  W/ laughed out loud all the way through it. Written by a guy who’s mom took it to a college prof after he had passed away and the professor liked it so much he sent it to a publisher.  You’ve got to like New Orleans and the wackyness of the South for this book to really stick out. (

From the Library Journal: The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel with the sad history turns 20 (LJ 4/15/80). This story about a young man’s isolation still rings true at a time when millions interact more with computers than with other people….
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Anyway….. I’ve been doing projects in the engine room. W/ now wants to call it Dave’s room.  I’ve changed both March pumps from Vertical to Horizontal (as called for by March), I’ve made a new 3rd generation salt water manifold we affectionately

Mike & I 2nd Gen Bong :)

call the boat ” bong”.  The second generation leaked and even after I tried to fix the leak I still got a drip. I’ve changed the orientation of one of the valves on the watermaker; wasn’t happy with it, put in a manual one, stopped the oil leak on the Kubota generator, re-plumbed the cooling system on the generator, and replaced two suspect hose clamps on the seacock. That’s what got us.

To replace the hose clamps, I actually had to cut one off. But before I did anything on a 1 1/2″ hole in the bottom of the boat I closed the seacock. Replaced the one, added a second, removed a third, cleaned and put the clamp back on. Then I went on to cleaning up the engine room a little and retired for the day.

Do you see what I missed?  Yep. So hours later after we’ve counted Lobsters to get to sleep we had about a dozen mini rain showers. Early in the am when W/ was awake and making her stroll to the aft head she wakes me up by saying we have water in the boat. I stumble back to check the hatch (thought I had left it open),  hatch was closed and as I grab the handrail on the aft vanity I discover it’s full of water, as well as the sink. Oops, I forgot to open the seacock up so as rain gathered in the cockpit it ran out the hose to leave the boat. But; the seacock was closed so it backed up into the aft vanity sink and filled that area up. As we were rolling some all night from the Southerly ground swell water would slosh out of the vanity / sink area. I opened the seacock and we began the process of cleaning up at 4 am.

Now to make sure you don’t think we’re on a continuous vacation other things we’ve been doing:  we now have all our shots for travel anywhere in the world, we’ve removed the sail and had it fixed; we’ve removed the furler and ordered a new one from Famet. Great system and I’m staying with it. We’ve cleaned some of the boat. We replaced a connector on one of the solar panels, we’ve purchased supplies for some repairs or upgrades. We’ve discovered where Home Depot, K-Mart, the mall, the auto parts store, 3 boat supply stores, a good fruit / vegetable market, and food  specials are. We’ve met some of the regular local sailors that are rebuilding their cruising kitty. We’ve been busy, I’ve done more Suduko’s than I care to admit, finished one book; oops I’m talking of a life of liesure now; so I’ll stop.

Fair Winds

We left Annapolis Monday heading S.  Picked up our varnish from Mickey and Lil on Carpe’ Diem and motored out of Back Creek into the Severn and the Bay. We sailed for the morn under a Yankee going about 6 kts. Winds were brisk but they slowly died as the day wore on and we ended up motoring into Solomons.

We kind of enjoy Solomons and stayed two nights there picking up an expensive mooring. I’m just tired of the mud in the Chesapeake so the mooring was worth it to us. Wed was to be a good sailing day and it was almost. Again we put up the sails and sailed half of the way to Reedville. We had met Walt and Mary at an SSCA gam in the Rhode River; they have a Westsail 32 a sistership of our last boat and related to our current one. During the course of the gam we talked w/ them about being a mail drop. They had said no problem and even offered us a slip at their house should we make it there. Well; with that kind of offer - we would make it there.

Sailing from Solomons was; as W/ likes to say, kind of pleasant. We ended up doing close to 6 kts under mainsail alone. We tried full sails and then it was simply easiest to leave the main up and if the winds slacked a bit put out the Yankee. Reedville is kind of a weird place. Weird good. There is a Menhaden fish processing plant, a couple of restaurants, a few B and B’s, a really nice Maritime Museum and two great places to anchor. But the guides suggest often skipping it because of the odors coming of the fish processing plant. W/ said “How bad can it be”? On the way in traveling around some pound nets (fish traps) we first went through a mild area of odor thinking - well that’s not too bad; then we hit the big stuff. Oh - Oh! Fortunately we passed through the river of odor in the wind and slowly made our way into Reedville. Mary had said to call before you get into Reedville as the cell phone coverage in there is not great.

We began calling when we made it S of the Potomac but the cell phone coverage in Virginia on the Chesapeake isn’t great at all. After trying close to 100 times (yeah - I may be exaggerating a bit) the only option was to stop at a dock and call. We stopped at the first dock in town at the end of the only main street. The restaurant was now only open weekends, the marina was connected to the restaurant and so I began hiking down Main St to find a place that had a landline  and the owners would be kind enough to let me make a local call. After what seemed like hours (actually maybe 10 minutes) I found a restaurant that wasn’t open but had people in there and they were kind enough to let me use the phone.

I called and received excellent directions, go back a bit, turn to stb, past the water tower, past the green boat w/ the wood like mast,

Our Boats

past the Hinkley, and Walt will be waiting on the dock. They’ve already swung their boat around to the side. And what joy seeing Walt on the dock ready to catch lines. We tied Elysium up and with the offer of power to the boat, and warm showers inside their home we were happy sailors. Yet there was more. After warming up in the shower they said that hourdouvs would be at 6 and we would eat at 7!  What hospitality!  Had we died and gone to heaven?  So being the good guest all we had to do was take them up on it.

Mary and Walt

Ok, Sharing a hot meal with other sailors and telling tall tales is one of cruising’s most important rules. So we ate some good food, shared some good stories and they offered the house to us as we needed. There was some wx coming in and boy was the NWS correct this time. The following day they had some errands in the am but gave us the key to the house and we warmed up and did some internet updates in the am. They returned home and invited us to dinner….. again. Sweet. Obviously we accepted and W/ and Mary began to discuss how they would arrange the evening. Friends of Walt’s Mary’s too were invited so we would meet some other locals. Well; almost.

The town like most communities are divided into groups. In this county of about 20k there are two groups of people; the “Born Here” and the “Come Here”. Walt likes to joke that the founder of Reedville was himself a “Come Here” but that really doesn’t effect any of the feelings of the born heres. So we met some more “Come Heres” and had a great evening yucking it up. There I discovered that Walt and Mary had an unfinished room and Walt was laying a floor. In my not so polite manner I invited myself to help him finish and our work time was to begin Friday promptly at 10 am.  That’s a working schedule I can live with.

We worked on the floor most of the day and when we had finished Walt and Mary gave us an automobile tour of the Reedville and the nearby area while we treated them to lunch. There we met some other cruisers, Jack and Zee on a Valiant 42 Kate. They were hanging in the anchorage till the Nor’ Easter blew through. That evening we attended a meet and greet at the Maritime Museum in Reedville.  Great fun. We met some other “Come Heres” and there was actually one or two “Born Heres”.  Funny how the Come Heres seem to always be the ones volunteering but I guess that is one of the best ways to get to know a community. They have a wood shop where they refurbish wooden boats, have small family boat building nights, women boat building weekends and the members that volunteer here get to use it too!  That’s my kind of place. Also they have a great model railroad that is called, “The Railroad that Never Was”.  It was a proposed RR that the ferry boats fought and so it never got off the ground. Funny now, none of the ferry boats are in existence anymore anyway. The Model RR is a 1920 era and all the models of the town are detailed to the homes and business that were in existence then. Cool.

High Water

The following day Walt and I put in a replacement door in the Pantry. We hung it but didn’t put the door knob on yet as there seemed to need to be some trimming and we didn’t have a hand planner. So I retired then from working any more on their great homestead.  All the while the wind was a blowing and the water kept rising and the temperature kept dropping. We actually turned on our diesel heater that really didn’t warm up the boat but it did take the cold out. In other words; we couldn’t run around in our tropical outfit.  That evening we had dinner; yeah, at the hospitality King and Queens again, with Jack and Z and the 4 of us.

The following day we were feeling like people on welfare so W/ offered to cook the evening meal and we had a great deal of comfort food; Goulash.  That with Wine, Beer, and an endless supply of tall tales made time fly by. One of the evenings we were really indulged in watching a current eposide of “Ugly Betty”. We hadn’t seen any of the last year’s and so they brought us basically up to date. The following day the Sun was to peak, the winds were to abate, the rain (almost freezing) was to go away and so too we were making plans to head S and prepare for going off shore to Bermuda.

Finally sunshine! Finally!  We spent the am cleaning up from four wet days on the boat and readying it for our

Walt N Mary's Visit

trip down the bay. And finally too; we were able to show Walt and Mary our home. They stopped by to help with the lines (and make sure we were really leaving :)  ) and they continued to make us feel good with numerous “Oooh’s and Awww’s” about how we had the boat.

We’ll sincerely miss Walt and Mary but as it seems to most sailors there’ll be another day of getting together. While we were there Walt was discussing another set of cruisers that were just there. They were there by car as their boat was in Trinadad”. Out of curiosity I asked if it was Terry and Barb. What a hoot! It was Terry and Barb from Windwhisperer. We met them in the Bahamas last winter (and who can forget W/ towing Barb in her dinghy backwards) and found out they were just here, going to the boat show and visiting.  Last year their boat sat where ours is now. So for sailors it’s a small world.

Fair Winds

For some we move slow. One cruiser; well actually two that we know of; in a year did almost 5k  nautical miles (nm).

Part of the Tennis Crew

We go slow. In the last year we’re at about 1k to 1.5k nm. Maybe our senses are dull and it takes awhile for people to get through my hard shell; nah, I’m just slow. But it does   take us time for us to  met the locals in an area. And since I know I’ve been remiss in the past about posting some pics of great people we’ve met along the way here goes.

Remember; in the Bahamas I was volunteering to teach some of the island kids and a couple of adults tennis; here some of them are from left to right; Christian, Nicholas, Chamin, Tyler and Maria, in the back row Zach (I hope) and then a real hacker; me . They were some gifted athletes and I hope they’re still playing.

Then there’s Mike and Jenny who you’ve heard so much about

but not seen who they are. Mike’s the one with the almost always serius look (duh1) and Jenny is the one with the cat. But the cat; Zander, is no normal cat.

Mike jenny Zander

Mike’s able to hold him upside down and scratch his belly;

Zander Lovin It

Zander then goes into a blissfull stay for a minute before wanting to be down running around again. And while they were out at St Michaels with us they brought Zander and he decided to move aboard - temporarily. :)  It’s a good thing to, because we’re not yet ready for additional crew.

Zander right at home?

Yesterday I saw a sistership anchored out. They’re not many Westsail 42’s on this coast so I rowed out of the harbor to met them. Ron (the owner) was aboard with some friends Dave and Kelly. We talked for awhile and they invited W/ and I in for dinner at the Crab Claw Restaurant. We went in and had a great dinner with them exchanging stories of the cruising life. They were 2 years ago in the Abaco’s where we were last year. Great people that we hope to met again!

Ain’t life wonerfull!

It has been a great week. Met some high latatude cruisers: John and Phillis on Morgans Cloud. If you want to read about true adventure check our what they’ve done.

Two days ago our medium sized camera bit the dust. So we’ve added a camera to our US trip. The list keeps getting longer on purchases. I’m looking at an Olympus that is water resistant and shock resistant. Think that will be a value on the boat and hopefully last a few years. Our friend Jack on Drifter has had one for about a year and is quite happy with it. Thus we’re down to two cameras but the lack of pictures isn’t due to cameras; it’s due to me!

W/’s been playing tennis a little more (Three days this week). We’ve installed our Morse control cable for the generator so now we don’t need to go to the engine room or the aft cabin to adjust the speed. The wx has been just about perfect. And I didn’t burn the boat down!

One am it was a little cool so I went to fire up the heater. We’re still trying to figure out running it. Must really be overthinking the system and reading too much. Anyway; I went to light it and saw that the burner was full of diesel. Never checked the depth. But I figured; “What the Hell?” I’ll just burn it off. So I lit the thing and about 3 minutes later smoke comes billowing out of the chimney. I’m sure we must have been quite a sight looking like the smoke stacks in England in the early 19th century. After about 10 minutes the fire burned out and there were small particles of soot all over the port side and some inside. It’s a good thing W/ was still sleeping as she wouldn’t have been too happy seeing the plume arising from our boat. She did complain a little about the odor and then went back to sleep. So in the future I’ll make sure if the burner is flooded to get the extra out!

And yesterday another Westsail 42 came into the anchorage. A neat boat Consort and the owners think it’s actually hull number 1. Hopefully we’ll get to see it in the next day or so. They said it’s factory finished and they’ve haven’t modified it down below. However the previous owner had put a Hood roller furling main mast and mizzen on her (yes it’s a ketch), and keel stepped the main spar.

As for diving I’m still dry. My ear ends up feeling perfect as the day goes on but as I sleep I seem to end up with a little fluid in back in it. Gotta heal soon though, then I’ll be back to normal and the Bugs (aka Lobsters) need to watch out.

Fair Winds

Well if it’s not blowing from the wrong direction our wind generator isn’t working. I took it in again to SALT and now they’re telling me the bearings are out and it’s not worth spending anymore on it. Winter in the Bahamas is windy and we really want to be able to use it to create electricity since we’re a little heavy w/ out needs. Not like land based but on a boat w/ refrigeration; freezer, computer and High Frequency radio we’ll be up the. So for now, we’ll stay put till we get it working. Much easier getting stuff done here as opposed to in the Bahamas.

Oh; and BTW, I’m almost all better, W’s making me dry dishes again!

Fair Winds