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.
Scene of the crime ! – 28 June
a few days ago we moved from the bitter end over to saba rock. you can see bar on the right where we have had many rum punches and conch fritters and where we had our wedding reception. you are probably wondering why you have not been hearing about evenings on shore here. there are short answers budget and diet. i went though all the money aimee and i have spent this year on us comms and the boat and it was not a pretty sight. stay tuned for a “cost of cruising” entry on the new palapa site but we where basically 2x what we...
read moreAnother Day Another Hike! – 27 June
yes this really is me, the longest my hair has been ever! aimee had wanted to get up this morning at 630 and go for another early morning hike, again amazingly i was ok with this plan. in fact we both woke up before sunrise and where able to get some work in before heading off at 630. it was much cooler than the last afternoon hike but also less windy. it was also much harder for my sore calf muscles! all in all a very nice way to start off the day. back on palapa after a swim we where back at work on the computers trying to finish up the...
read morePrivate beach happy hour – 26 June
today i dropped aimee at the bitter end to take the ferry to gun creek and then hitchhiked to spanish town for groceries. while she was gone i got wordpress installed on my local computer and figured how to upload sites to our server. around 3 aimee returned and suggested we go for a harbor cruise. i was ready to declare victory on the computer so after aimee made a snack and a martini with 4 olivis we headed around the corner to this deserted beach. it was just us and a wayward rooster as we enjoyed the sunset, the rooster was very...
read moreExercise? – 24 June
We woke up this am wondering “where are all the people” there was no one in the mooring field except for a few random boats, the shore looked deserted. we would find out later this was partially because it was “turnover day” with the moorings so everyone was probably back in totolla. aimee got to work putting tiki on the raft. perfect timing as we expect to finally pick up our dingy chaps in st marteen in a week or so when we get our next weather window. we also started work on the new palapa website which you are...
read moreAnother Day another country back to BVI – 23 June
we got up quite early, the sun comes up at 545am down, here and while aimee was doing yoga i got online. we are getting daily updates on hurricanes now from noaa so i always go check their site when i get the email. today it looked like it was going to be pretty calm for the next 24 hours with less than 1 meter seas and less than 15 kts of wind so i decided we should head east. it was only 50nm to virgin gorda our favorite place in the bvi so when aimee got done with yoga we had a quick swim and got under way. we both love going to new...
read moreBack to Cubalitry Island – 22 June
surprisingly enough after almost a week in culebra town we where ready to get out of dodge. don was leaving with his crew to head to the DR so after a quick trip to shore to top of the internet on the phone we headed out. we decided to head back to cubalitra (baby culebra) but this time we picked up a mooring of the south side so we could still have internet. the pickup was a bit dicey as i was concerned it might be shallow just downwind of the morring. aimee did a rock star job getting us on after loosing the pole overboard and getting her...
read moreTwo engine family – 15 June
Ever since we bough a new motor in St Marteen I have been trying to get rid of the old 4 stroke 6hp merc i got with palapa back in 2006. aimee had put some flyers up a couple of weeks ago and we finally got a call from someone interested enough in actually coming over to see the motor. they even brought an extra dingy up the mile trip in anticipation. of course the motor had not been run in almost 6 months and i had not drained the carb so i had to rebuild it twice before i got it to go. the good news was my customer got an hour of free...
read moreZINC change day – 13 June
today after i got don to help out slicing my new snubber line onto my hook i decided to do the zinc change. its pretty easy with the hooka and the water was perfect. aimee took a photo of the zincs and the bottom and its amazing how much “fuzz” we have on the bottom after 2 weeks? i cant help but wonder if this is normal or if our paint is some how no longer doing its thing. i last got the bottom painted in oct 2008 when i left the us, so about 4 years. there is plenty of paint left with only a couple of white spots on the...
read moreSUP excusrsion day – 12 June
Today I headed over to don’s boat this am to see if we could get his autopilot to work. We had “fixed” it back in viequas by adding heavier gage wire to prevent it from dropping out every time the bat voltage got below 12 volts. this worked but the new problem was it would not hold course. some how in the process of rewiring it we reset the stored parameters. with a little digging through the manuals and a few beers later we had it back to “normal” we will see if it works next time he sails. while we did this...
read moreAIS Woes – 12 June
today i decided to take a look at the AIS which had filled with water due to a leak in the port window and a suboptimal waterproofing design. i had “fixed” the window back in las palmas but alas it did not last. but this is another story. the ais is “water proof” except for a hole under the membrane key board where the ribbon cable goes in. water can seep under the edge of the keyboard into the unit and collect in the bottom. in any case i took it apart and cleaned it out with fresh water and wd-40. a ton of slushy...
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