Here are the latest blog posts. For older posts click here for the previous blog site. Eventually we will bring all the old posts over once we automate the process.
Special Window Blog post – 27 July
so last night mary had done a great job asking me about “why i loved Catalina” questions. pretty much the only thing i could come up with that i did not love about Catalina was the leaking windows. they are not actually made by Catalina but on the 440 they are quite large and seem to not always been manufactured optimally. on palapa the forward port and aft port window still leak. both forward ones have been replace 1 or more times so it seems a bit of a crap shoot. in any case this came up last night so today and i was poking...
read moreOff to Caracou – 26 july
we took our time getting under way this am with aimee creating a new breakfast delight. this one is the gaucamole egg wrap. aimee starts with a thin egg omelet, this one had cheese and basil and a few other things. then wraps it burrito style around fresh gucaomole. not surprisingly it was delicious! we need to make sure we keep getting these great avocados! around noon we finally got under way for another 8nm down wind sail. you can see from the photo it was so flat i was sitting in the stern seat working on the computer. no, not...
read moreOff to Petiete St Vincent via baby palapa island – 25 july
well another full day today. in fact this may be a record of 3 countries and 4 stops. it was finally not raining and after checking email we got under way for our 3nm trip to petite st vincent. aimee wanted to stop at an “island” on the way. i was fine with this but the “island was not exactly what i was expecting, more like spot of sand. when we arrived there was already a boat there and another arrived shortly afterwards so we wasted no time getting to shore. after dragging the dingy up to the “high” point...
read moreHunkered down in Cliffton – 24 July
last night we had another MAJOR rain come through. we had towels out at the known leak places but always seem to miss something. the forecast was for more rain for the rest of the day so we decided to hunker and do some internet and wait for the weather to improve. we where just barely able to get the internet with the 12dbi 2Watt transceiver aimee had gotten me but alas this only works if the boat is not swinging. aimee had a work call and another call with her parents so i got to be the antenna pointer. talk about taking tech support to...
read moreGoat Island & Cliffton 2 – 23 July
we started the day with a delicious avocado egg meal. we have been getting great avocados here that a giant and delicious. after breakfast we tried to dingy back to our island with the camera to get some photo’s of our rocket but alas the sea was too rough to even make it to the far side of the lagoon let alone through the pass and out to the other island. the rocket is on peteti tabac at aprox W12 37.4 N16 20.8 if anyone is in the neighborhood and wants to check it out! we had a nice 30 min downwind sail to “goat”...
read moreAnother Island Adventure – 22 July
so today we aimee started the day with a swim to our little island to do yoga on the beach followed by a hike up the mountain. you can just barley see her in the island photo so i added a blow up as well! after the yoga event and breakfast we headed out of the not very good anchorage to this inviting little island for our beach fun day. the Anchorage off the island turned out to be even rolly-er than the one we where in but the island was beautiful. it reminded me a bit of the south pacific with broken up coral plates on the windward side...
read moreSpecial Conch Project3 – 21 July
so like i said i really had no idea what i was getting into when i headed over to waka iere for happy hour. i arrived as jen was returning with a conch and there was a debate over wether we should open it on board or on the beach. on board won, which was a good thing as even in the “comfort” of the cockpit it was a major job! i was sent back to palapa for some lime which is apparently the antidote for the conch “slime”. when i returned sietes had the vice grips on the conch and he seemed only minutes away from pulling...
read more25nm sail to Tobego Cays – 21 july
so today we only had 25nm to go to the tobego cays so we where not too concerned we had to wait until 9am to get the propane. it turns out the reason it takes overnight and the reason it is so expensive is they gravity feed the propane from larger jugs. this is what we did in las palamas not the safest or quickest but gets the job done! this delay gave jen and siets a good head start. we also decided to add a few extra “stops” to keep things interesting. we tried to stop off at this little santa Barbara looking island for lunch...
read moreProject Day in Admeralty Bay Bequia – 20 july
so today the first thing on the agenda was to drop off the propane. i arrived 30 minutes early which was no drama but i was totally taken aback when she said it would be 70 ec per tank! these are little 5kg tanks and 70ec is about $25 so $50 yikes. we really had no choice but i think this was even more expensive than egypt! back on palapa aimee was finishing up yoga and seites and jen where inviting them selves over for banana smoothies. after a bit of discussion on the “optimal” plan we got on the same page and commenced the...
read moreUnder way to Bequia – 19 july
last night we had a TON of rain. very nice to clean the boat out but so much our various window leaks all kicked in getting a variety of things wet. we also ot hammered again by mosi’s. this is a new deadly and super small super fast type. aimee killed one but another terrorized us all night preventing much sleep. i got up before dawn to get us under way but of course it was raining again by the time i was pulling the anchor up. we had a bit of a motor in the lee of st lucia but just as we caught up to waka iere we got wind. we...
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