We woke up this morning to see that our frig and freezer temperatures were "normal." They've held all day, so we're hopeful that we can put that one behind us. Roy installed the new batteries today -- that job was huge. As an encore, he installed the new helm seat. After baking a loaf of oatmeal bread and putting more and more stuff away, I made a hotel reservation in Panama City for when I go there in January for my eye appointment. Scoped out provisioning options and learned that we have no good options other than the local tiendas. Tammy, Roy and I ate dinner at the Cantina here at the Bocas Marina, lasagna and salad, came back "home," talked with Rob and Linda on Skype, did a little knot tying. Tomorrow we'll install the new running rigging and jib, hopefully in the morning. There's much provisioning to be done before takeoff.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Return to Damiana in Panama
We left California on December 10, flew to Panama City, enjoyed one day shopping and sight seeing, and flew to Bocas del Toro on Saturday, December 12. Damiana was spotless and mildew-free. So far so good. We started putting away the many things we had shipped, and before heading out to town to buy some groceries, we turned on the refrigerator/freezer. Several minutes later, there was no change on the thermostat, We waited even longer -- still no change. A friend loaned us a connector hose/cable so we could inject some R134 but so far that hasn't helped much. We're continuing to work with it though, and if luck is with us, we'll have it running before the refrigeration specialist, currently out of town, returns! Nonetheless, we still plan to sail to Cartagena toward the end of this week.
We still have a few more important tasks to finish before leaving here: install our new batteries, install our new rigging lines, install at minimum our new jib, and if time permits, install our new mainsail. Our good friend, Tammy, who is with us for the first few weeks of our cruising season, whipped the ends of our lines today. All of us have been busy bees and are excited about being back on the water and aiming for Christmas in Cartagena.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Summer 2009 update from Santa Maria
We are hopelessly behind in keeping our Blog up to date. Needless to say, much has transpired since the last posting! We did return to French Harbor in Honduras to pick up parts, install them and finally resume our journey east toward the Vivorillos.
We met several new cruisers along the way as well as met up with Chris and Heather (sv Legacy) who we had last seen while cruising the Pacific side of Mexico. From the Vivorillos and Hobbies we sailed southeast to Providencia, a pleasant island, politically part of Colombia, but way offshore from Nicaragua. Sue and Mark from Seattle had flown in to meet up with us, but our arrival was several days later than theirs, due to boat issues and heavy weather delays. Nonetheless we did enjoy several days on board Damiana with them. Unfortunately, foul weather dictated that we stay put rather than have them sail with us to Panama, which had been the original plan. That's why cruisers plans are made in the sand, I guess. We eventually sailed to Bocas del Toro, explored the area for a few days, and then were joined by Bob and Cathy. Luckily, we were able to sail to islands for snorkeling, overnights, and just plain fun. However, time was running short so we retreated to the marina and Bob and Cathy helped us get Damiana ready for her 6-month siesta at the marina while we returned home to California, where we are now.
Roy is working in Santa Maria and hopes to return here again and again for 6 months every year. We purchased a condo, pulled our furniture and belongings out of storage, and are adjusting to the idea of being half-timers both at sea and on land.
When we return to Damiana we'll have a set of new sails to hoist, new batteries to install, and hopefully within a few days will be able to sail off to Cartagena to join our cruising friends for the holiday season.
We met several new cruisers along the way as well as met up with Chris and Heather (sv Legacy) who we had last seen while cruising the Pacific side of Mexico. From the Vivorillos and Hobbies we sailed southeast to Providencia, a pleasant island, politically part of Colombia, but way offshore from Nicaragua. Sue and Mark from Seattle had flown in to meet up with us, but our arrival was several days later than theirs, due to boat issues and heavy weather delays. Nonetheless we did enjoy several days on board Damiana with them. Unfortunately, foul weather dictated that we stay put rather than have them sail with us to Panama, which had been the original plan. That's why cruisers plans are made in the sand, I guess. We eventually sailed to Bocas del Toro, explored the area for a few days, and then were joined by Bob and Cathy. Luckily, we were able to sail to islands for snorkeling, overnights, and just plain fun. However, time was running short so we retreated to the marina and Bob and Cathy helped us get Damiana ready for her 6-month siesta at the marina while we returned home to California, where we are now.
Roy is working in Santa Maria and hopes to return here again and again for 6 months every year. We purchased a condo, pulled our furniture and belongings out of storage, and are adjusting to the idea of being half-timers both at sea and on land.
When we return to Damiana we'll have a set of new sails to hoist, new batteries to install, and hopefully within a few days will be able to sail off to Cartagena to join our cruising friends for the holiday season.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Honduras
We started our journey to Honduras by first sailing to Glovers Reef in Belize. We were in company with three other boats, all planning to eventually sail to Panama. After spending a few days at Glovers, it was time to move on. Weather wasn't in our favor to head directly to Roatan as we had thought, so we went to Puerto Escondido on the mainland for a few nights. That gave us the opportunity to sail to Utila, an island just west of Roatan. We liked Utila very much. Nice village, good provisions, pleasant people -- could have stayed there for a long time. However after a week or so, we sailed to French Harbor in Roatan. What a wild ride -- squalls, lumpy seas -- and when we arrived the anchorage was quite full. We had to set and raise anchor three times before we had good holding. Well, after we settled in, we enjoyed French Harbor very much. The most amusing thing we did was visit the Iguana Farm. Hundreds of prehistoric iguanas are everywhere -- along the path, in the trees -- very exciting.
After several days in French Harbor, we moved to West End, another popular anchorage. It, too has a charm all its own. West End is a divers' mecca. There are numerous dive shops, lots of tiendas (small stores) plus good transportation to Coxen Hole (the main port and largest town). Snorkeling at the reef is excellent.
After several days in French Harbor, we moved to West End, another popular anchorage. It, too has a charm all its own. West End is a divers' mecca. There are numerous dive shops, lots of tiendas (small stores) plus good transportation to Coxen Hole (the main port and largest town). Snorkeling at the reef is excellent.
We've met some new friends along the way, and a special treat was to have Jan and Rich on Slip Away arrive at West End yesterday. It's always wonderful to meet up with friends from our travels in Mexico.
We're planning to return to French Harbor to pick up some parts that are being shipped in and to get stocked up with provisions for the journey east to the Vivorillos and south to Panama.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Still in Belize
Last entry mentioned that we were going to pick up Tammy and Holly who were flying in from Seattle to spend a few weeks here in the "sunny Caribbean," snorkeling, sailing, and working on a tan. Well, we had one or two nice days, but otherwise, we ended up playing lots of games indoors because we had rain, high winds, and grey skies for much of their visit. Luckily they got off the boat for a few days to spend some time at a resort and during that time the sun was shining, the beach beckoned, and all was good. Roy and I sailed north to Ambergris Cay, stopping at several cays, also enjoying the few nice days. Tammy joined us a few days later and hung out at Cay Caulker, again in rain and grey skies, except for the last day when we had bright, warm sun. Holly and Rob, who arrived the day Tammy came back on board, came down from Ambergris to visit and we all went to a very neat place for lunch. A day or two later Tammy flew home, and sadly never had a chance to use her brand new fins!
A few days later, friends Mai and Dave arrived, hoping to sail to Roatan with us. They, too, came prepared to snorkel in the beautiful snorkeling areas on Roatan. Bad weather once again foiled our plans, and after spending 6 days waiting for some pretty wild fronts to pass through, they decided to jump start the land travel part of their vacation. So, here we are, 4 days later, still tucked into a safe anchorage while the winds are howling and the seas out in the ocean are 7-11 feet high every few seconds. Based on current forecasts, it looks like we'll be able to make the passage to Roatan next Wednesday (today is Saturday).
Monday, January 12, 2009
Happy New Year
January 3, 2009
We had a pleasant holiday season and hope all our readers did as well.
After Charlotte and Bill left Placencia, the weather turned for the worse and the harbor was filling up with cruisers starting the season. We decided to stay through the holidays since weather predictions indicated squalls and cool weather until January 1 at the earliest. The Saturday before Christmas 14 of us were up at Robert's Grove, a 5-star resort for a fabulous buffet. Luckily that night weather cooperated, we all ate our fill, including unlimited lobster. Bananas Foster for dessert was also a hit with our group. The Christmas Potluck was once again held at Tranquillo, the restaurant/bar on Placencia Cay. The owner let us bring our own food and drink since they were closed that day. We set up 3 tables of cards and dominos and played games until the witching hour -- 9 pm -- Cruiser's Midnight.
On Monday, December 29 we got up very early to take a 7:30 a.m. ferry up to Mango Creek and from there took a bus to Dangriga to get an extension for our visas and boat. The immigration officer had no trouble granting visa extensions but said we'd have to return to Big Creek, up a river from Placencia, to get a boat extension from Customs. A long bus ride back, a cab ride to Big Creek and another ferry from Mango Creek back to Placencia and by 3:30 p.m. we were finally finished. A bonus was finding a market in Dangriga that carried some nice edibles not available in Placencia.
The week between Christmas and New Years found us playing games with other cruisers, doing boat chores, shopping for provisions to last us for at least 10 days since we planned to take off on January 1 or 2. On December 30, a power boat bumped into our port hull and caused some damage -- cracks in the hull and loosened any eye which we use to hold part of our anchor lines. The people on the power boat were towed to the dock and we never saw them again. We reported it to the local police, two officers came to the boat and then went to get an "expert in fiberglass" to come and assess damage and estimate repair cost. A short time later an officer and the expert returned and shoved $50 in Roy's hand and said, "take this." No further follow up was made that day or over the weekend. Needless to say that $50 won't even cover the cost of materials let alone labor, but we thought -- what the heck -- we were flying a U.S. flag, the boat that hit us flew a Guatemala flag and the collision occurred in Belize -- did we have any chance of ever collecting just compensation? We figured we'd have to chalk it up to experience.
New Years eve several of us dinghied over to one of the big cats in the harbor, hosted by Barb and Torrey, everyone brought snacks and drinks, and at 6 p.m. it was midnight in Greenwich so we toasted the New Year. As usual, the party ended by Cruiser's Midnight, 9 pm.
Next, we wanted to scoot out of Placencia and find some nice places to snorkel. Our departure was delayed until Friday, January 2 because of weather and wanting to do some repairs. Roy filled the cracks with epoxy and we're now using a nearby cleat for the anchor line. We were a few hours out of Placencia when we received a hail on Channel 16, the emergency radio channel. Another cruising boat, Tisha Baby, hailed us and said that a police officer came looking for us and wanted to speak to us. Turns out he asked us to return to Placencia to complete some legal papers for the Port Authority re: the collision, which we did. While at the dock we heard that the people on the power boat were missing. Today we heard from friends in Placencia that the power boat has been seized by the Belize authorities
Finally around 1 pm yesterday we left Placencia for the second time and motored, then sailed, to a lovely spot, North Long Cocoa Cay. This noon we dinghied to shore and were invited to go ashore even though the island is privately owned by Sittee River Wildlife Association. We declined because the bugs were out in full force, however we snorkeled off the bar at the tip of the island and saw gorgeous coral of many colors and shapes and a few tropical fish. While in the dinghy we passed over numerous huge dark red starfish. This afternoon we got in the dinghy again to go to the other side of the cay -- it's very beautiful.
We are anchored in about 5.5 feet of water and our dinghy ride got us within 3 feet of bottom. We could see everything on the bottom from the dinghy -- the water is crystal clear -- this is why Belize is so high on cruisers' lists.
January 4, 2009
Last evening we had a nice dinner of BBQ chicken, ratatouille, and fresh baked bread. Afterwards, Roy said, "shall we have Bananas Foster for dessert -- and with that he got up, gathered the banana, butter,rum, cinammon vanilla ice cream and made a scrumptious dessert. To top off the evening we played Scrabble -- Roy won.
This morning we tuned in NPR on our single sideband radio but at 8 a.m. switched to the local cruisers' net. It's another beautiful day here at North Long Cocoa Cay; we decided to stay here one more day before continuing to explore the cays in this area.
January 9, 2009
We left North Long Cocoa Cay on January 5 and meandered through several small cays, following a route in our guidebook, and arrived at South Water Cay, right at a cut in the barrier reef. Two other boats were on mooring balls, Blue and Barracha, we set our anchor in about 6 feet of water. The cay is home to a zoological research institute and also has a resort with nice cabins peppered throughout the south end. The following noon, January 6, three more cruising boats arrived and several of us dinghied to shore to walk around the south end of the cay -- very beautiful.
Early in the morning on January 7, we, along with two other cruising boats, Sanderling and Tempest, departed South Water Cay to sail out to Lighthouse Reef, one of the most famous and interesting atolls in the world. It is home to the Blue Hole. We've wanted to see Lighthouse Reef ever since we first arrived in Belize in 2007. We had a light wind forecast so we expected to motor most if not all of the day -- that wasn't a problem, however the swell coming right at us from the east was pretty rough. All three boats were bumping along for several hours. As we approached the reef, it was scary since the reef is submerged and not visible until you're right on top of it. Luckily many cruisers have plotted the courses into the several cuts in the reef, which we followed to a T. We anchored on the west side of Long Cay inside the reef, Marlene made a focaccia, invited everyone from the other two cruising boats to come and share -- and had a happy hour on Damiana that evening to share out stories of our "swell" passage.
Yesterday, January 8, we dinghied all around the south end of Long Cay, looking for good places to snorkel. Finding none, we scooted over toward one of the diving mooring balls. The sky was somewhat hazy so visibility wasn't perfect, however Roy was able to swoop down and see some coral and small fish. Marlene, a surface snorkeler, snorkeled afloat for a short time.
Last evening we had Bob, Annette and Stephanie from Tempest come over for snacks and a rousing game of Chicken Feet (a fun dominoes game), a great way to spend our last evening at Lighthouse. Last for this visit -- we'll definitely come back -- it's gorgeous!
We weighed anchor at 7:45 this morning and are on our path to return to South Water Cay or beyond for the night, planning to return to Placencia tomorrow.
We motor-sailed all day, not enough wind to give us enough speed to reach South Water Cay by nightfall. The swell was much calmer than on Wednesday. We reached the South Water Cay area by 3 pm so decided to try anchoring in Twin Cays, where its reported manatees live. Alas, we couldn't get good holding for our anchor, and much of the anchorage has silted in since the guide book was written, so we backtracked to South Water Cay for the night.
January 10
After a brisk sail from South Water Cay, we arrived in Placencia harbor around 12:30. Wind was in teh 10-15 kt range and under jib alone our speed was between 6.5 and 8 kts. Again, we had "swelly" seas, but since we were behind the reef, it was quite a bit more calm than out in the ocean.
We're here for a few days to provision and pick up Tammy and Holly who will spend the next several days exploring the cays with us.
We had a pleasant holiday season and hope all our readers did as well.
After Charlotte and Bill left Placencia, the weather turned for the worse and the harbor was filling up with cruisers starting the season. We decided to stay through the holidays since weather predictions indicated squalls and cool weather until January 1 at the earliest. The Saturday before Christmas 14 of us were up at Robert's Grove, a 5-star resort for a fabulous buffet. Luckily that night weather cooperated, we all ate our fill, including unlimited lobster. Bananas Foster for dessert was also a hit with our group. The Christmas Potluck was once again held at Tranquillo, the restaurant/bar on Placencia Cay. The owner let us bring our own food and drink since they were closed that day. We set up 3 tables of cards and dominos and played games until the witching hour -- 9 pm -- Cruiser's Midnight.
On Monday, December 29 we got up very early to take a 7:30 a.m. ferry up to Mango Creek and from there took a bus to Dangriga to get an extension for our visas and boat. The immigration officer had no trouble granting visa extensions but said we'd have to return to Big Creek, up a river from Placencia, to get a boat extension from Customs. A long bus ride back, a cab ride to Big Creek and another ferry from Mango Creek back to Placencia and by 3:30 p.m. we were finally finished. A bonus was finding a market in Dangriga that carried some nice edibles not available in Placencia.
The week between Christmas and New Years found us playing games with other cruisers, doing boat chores, shopping for provisions to last us for at least 10 days since we planned to take off on January 1 or 2. On December 30, a power boat bumped into our port hull and caused some damage -- cracks in the hull and loosened any eye which we use to hold part of our anchor lines. The people on the power boat were towed to the dock and we never saw them again. We reported it to the local police, two officers came to the boat and then went to get an "expert in fiberglass" to come and assess damage and estimate repair cost. A short time later an officer and the expert returned and shoved $50 in Roy's hand and said, "take this." No further follow up was made that day or over the weekend. Needless to say that $50 won't even cover the cost of materials let alone labor, but we thought -- what the heck -- we were flying a U.S. flag, the boat that hit us flew a Guatemala flag and the collision occurred in Belize -- did we have any chance of ever collecting just compensation? We figured we'd have to chalk it up to experience.
New Years eve several of us dinghied over to one of the big cats in the harbor, hosted by Barb and Torrey, everyone brought snacks and drinks, and at 6 p.m. it was midnight in Greenwich so we toasted the New Year. As usual, the party ended by Cruiser's Midnight, 9 pm.
Next, we wanted to scoot out of Placencia and find some nice places to snorkel. Our departure was delayed until Friday, January 2 because of weather and wanting to do some repairs. Roy filled the cracks with epoxy and we're now using a nearby cleat for the anchor line. We were a few hours out of Placencia when we received a hail on Channel 16, the emergency radio channel. Another cruising boat, Tisha Baby, hailed us and said that a police officer came looking for us and wanted to speak to us. Turns out he asked us to return to Placencia to complete some legal papers for the Port Authority re: the collision, which we did. While at the dock we heard that the people on the power boat were missing. Today we heard from friends in Placencia that the power boat has been seized by the Belize authorities
Finally around 1 pm yesterday we left Placencia for the second time and motored, then sailed, to a lovely spot, North Long Cocoa Cay. This noon we dinghied to shore and were invited to go ashore even though the island is privately owned by Sittee River Wildlife Association. We declined because the bugs were out in full force, however we snorkeled off the bar at the tip of the island and saw gorgeous coral of many colors and shapes and a few tropical fish. While in the dinghy we passed over numerous huge dark red starfish. This afternoon we got in the dinghy again to go to the other side of the cay -- it's very beautiful.
We are anchored in about 5.5 feet of water and our dinghy ride got us within 3 feet of bottom. We could see everything on the bottom from the dinghy -- the water is crystal clear -- this is why Belize is so high on cruisers' lists.
January 4, 2009
Last evening we had a nice dinner of BBQ chicken, ratatouille, and fresh baked bread. Afterwards, Roy said, "shall we have Bananas Foster for dessert -- and with that he got up, gathered the banana, butter,rum, cinammon vanilla ice cream and made a scrumptious dessert. To top off the evening we played Scrabble -- Roy won.
This morning we tuned in NPR on our single sideband radio but at 8 a.m. switched to the local cruisers' net. It's another beautiful day here at North Long Cocoa Cay; we decided to stay here one more day before continuing to explore the cays in this area.
January 9, 2009
We left North Long Cocoa Cay on January 5 and meandered through several small cays, following a route in our guidebook, and arrived at South Water Cay, right at a cut in the barrier reef. Two other boats were on mooring balls, Blue and Barracha, we set our anchor in about 6 feet of water. The cay is home to a zoological research institute and also has a resort with nice cabins peppered throughout the south end. The following noon, January 6, three more cruising boats arrived and several of us dinghied to shore to walk around the south end of the cay -- very beautiful.
Early in the morning on January 7, we, along with two other cruising boats, Sanderling and Tempest, departed South Water Cay to sail out to Lighthouse Reef, one of the most famous and interesting atolls in the world. It is home to the Blue Hole. We've wanted to see Lighthouse Reef ever since we first arrived in Belize in 2007. We had a light wind forecast so we expected to motor most if not all of the day -- that wasn't a problem, however the swell coming right at us from the east was pretty rough. All three boats were bumping along for several hours. As we approached the reef, it was scary since the reef is submerged and not visible until you're right on top of it. Luckily many cruisers have plotted the courses into the several cuts in the reef, which we followed to a T. We anchored on the west side of Long Cay inside the reef, Marlene made a focaccia, invited everyone from the other two cruising boats to come and share -- and had a happy hour on Damiana that evening to share out stories of our "swell" passage.
Yesterday, January 8, we dinghied all around the south end of Long Cay, looking for good places to snorkel. Finding none, we scooted over toward one of the diving mooring balls. The sky was somewhat hazy so visibility wasn't perfect, however Roy was able to swoop down and see some coral and small fish. Marlene, a surface snorkeler, snorkeled afloat for a short time.
Last evening we had Bob, Annette and Stephanie from Tempest come over for snacks and a rousing game of Chicken Feet (a fun dominoes game), a great way to spend our last evening at Lighthouse. Last for this visit -- we'll definitely come back -- it's gorgeous!
We weighed anchor at 7:45 this morning and are on our path to return to South Water Cay or beyond for the night, planning to return to Placencia tomorrow.
We motor-sailed all day, not enough wind to give us enough speed to reach South Water Cay by nightfall. The swell was much calmer than on Wednesday. We reached the South Water Cay area by 3 pm so decided to try anchoring in Twin Cays, where its reported manatees live. Alas, we couldn't get good holding for our anchor, and much of the anchorage has silted in since the guide book was written, so we backtracked to South Water Cay for the night.
January 10
After a brisk sail from South Water Cay, we arrived in Placencia harbor around 12:30. Wind was in teh 10-15 kt range and under jib alone our speed was between 6.5 and 8 kts. Again, we had "swelly" seas, but since we were behind the reef, it was quite a bit more calm than out in the ocean.
We're here for a few days to provision and pick up Tammy and Holly who will spend the next several days exploring the cays with us.
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