Commuter Cruiser with Winterlude

2012-02-14T18:47:00.002-08:00

T minus 22 Days and Counting... Sailing today, we knocked two more items off the Before We Leave list -- the VHF works fine, the fixed salt water pump on the diesel is back to normal - or even better, but the first reefing line on the main is twisted and needs to be redone. So that's why we do shakedowns, and we'll fix it when we return to the dock.

Two rounds of provisioning are complete, everything but the fresh stuff is aboard and the boat sits about an inch lower on the waterline. After we top off the tanks with diesel/gasoline and add the rest of the stuff to leave, I imagine the waterline will drop another inch.

We went sailing today ... what a beautiful day for a sail. The dolphins played with the bow ... and the stern. Manatees swam under the boat, kamikaze pelicans splashed into the water in pursuit of tasty fish and the white pelicans sat regally ignoring the rest of us.

But .... 22 days and counting....

Countdown ... T minus 30 and Counting (we hope...)

2012-02-06T12:16:00.000-08:00

Hi all! We are finally approximately 30 days away from leaving the marina, our home for the past 3 months. Cruising the next 3 months to the Keys and then the Exumas, in the southern Bahamas sounds like my idea of heaven. Clear waters, colorful coral, ga-zillions of tropical reef fishies are all calling our names! With all the work on the boat, last year we didn't even get our snorkels or fins wet.

T minus 30 days and counting! Of course, we could end up with a weather delay, but hopefully the weather will be nice and cooperate since it's later in the spring than we usually cruise. We're hoping the northers will be done with their every three days sequence. We want to explore deserted islands -- including the Exumas Land & Sea Park - click here to see where we want to cruise this winter.

So, every day we have a project ... today's project was to change the fuel filters and run the fuel polishing system -- hopefully to rid our diesel of those nasties that like to pop up the minute the boat is underway. The diesel gets jostled around and jumps to clog up fuel filters. And those projects went fine. Unfortunately, after completing the projects & running the diesel for awhile to make sure we didn't have any air bubbles in the lines, David announced -- I hear dripping.

UhOh ... dripping isn't a good thing. Turns out the salt water pump is loose and is dripping. No problem, tighten the four bolts, right? Wrong! The last bolt refuses to tighten - so is it stripped or what's up with that? Typical of a boat, you can't see it - just feel it with the braille method. So for the last several hours we've been struggling with one recalcitrant bolt or nut or whatever it is that's causing the problem. BUT that's MUCH better than yesterday when our project was to figure out and fix the leak in the holding tank -- the good news is that the leak was in a hose and after much ado, it's fixed -- and the boat doesn't even smell like a sewer today! Today it smells like diesel fuel. Hmmm... tomorrow WILL be another day! You can imagine how much David is loving this part of cruising! We need to go cruising and have some FUN! :)

Cheers! Jan & David

December 1 ... Shakedown Cruise and More ...

2011-12-04T10:34:00.000-08:00

You're probably wondering what happened to the Sail Winterlude updates. They used to be the 1st & 15th of each month and lately I've been very random about writing them. Part of the delay is starting CommuterCruiser.com and co-authoring the upcoming "The Boat Galley Cookbook", scheduled to be in bookstores and Amazon June 2012, brought to you by International Marine Publishing/McGraw-Hill. I'm still trying to figure out how all these things work together, but Sail Winterlude is still our sailing adventures blog. CommuterCruiser.com is geared more to How To with less emphasis on our sailing adventures.

We left the dock ... finally, for our initial shakedown cruise which went very well, see details at "Shakedown Cruise: What Works and What Doesn't". Our intentions are a bit up in the air right now ... at some point, we want to leave and cruise the Exumas, a chain of 365 gorgeous islands toward the southern end of the Bahamas.

But until then, there are a lot of pluses for staying right where we are. We've been noticing there's more wildlife right here in our marina than we saw in three weeks during last summer's trip to Maine and Acadia National Park. Granted, we haven't spotted any whales here locally, but the everyday all the time wildlife is pretty spectacular.

It's routine to have manatees playing up and down the water between docks. Manatees mate in herds - I had no idea, but lately there will be a single manatee swimming and then several together splashing and churning up the shallow water - literally running into each other and acting crazy. After doing a bit of research, turns out it's several males mating with a female. I told David we shouldn't be taking porno pics of the mating manatees!

In addition, we've discovered something new about the slip we're in here in the marina -- apparently at some point in the past, someone dumped an old refrigerator under the t-dock along Winterlude's starboard side. The water is murky enough that even at 7 or 8 feet deep, we can't actually SEE the refrigerator. But the dolphins seem to know it's there. They're come around, play under the t-dock - maybe they're getting their chilled beer from the fridge down there? Whatever, they can be quite active ... at one point bumping the boat so hard that it moved an inch sideways! And if they're not under the t-dock, they're spouting off the stern. Not every day, but sometimes several times a day, I hear them and go running up the companionway, camera in hand to get a great photo. But they're not so much into having their photo taken, so I usually end up with something like the photo above. Yes, that's the top of our monitor windvane on the stern of the boat and a couple dolphins playing and not cooperating for photos.

Here you can clearly see the "stalker" blue heron looking in my shower porthole just as I got out of bed in the morning! The birdlife is quite amazing - we especially enjoy the antics of the kamikaze pelicans and ospreys. The ospreys fly overhead sometimes with fish larger than they are! We just hope they don't choose to sit on the top of our mast. And the same white pelicans hang out on the sandbar near the channel exiting the marina as stop on their way past in the spring at the lake house in the midwest!

But the challenge is still to get a great photo, in flight, of a bald eagle. Yesterday while we were taking our walk, we noticed a larger bird soaring above. It didn't look like an osprey, they are everywhere. And it had a very distinctive white head and white tail. It was so graceful and beautiful ... and so far up there that we couldn't see any distinguishing markings other than the white head & tail.

Turns out it IS a bald eagle. This is not my photo, but it is the one I want to take ... as soon as either the eagle cooperates by getting closer, or I break down and buy the long zoom lens I've been lusting over for my camera for the past two years. :)

And we haven't even mentioned the frenzy that occurs just before dawn some days. We'll be rudely awakened by a sound that sounds just like someone rolling a fully loaded and heavy dock cart up and down the dock over our heads. Clickty clickty clickty. Then the splashing begins - I swear it's so loud it sounds like someone fell off the dock right by our boat. And in the midst of all the thrashing around, every now and then something bumps the hull -- THUD. And this is not a small something. At first we thought maybe the dolphins were invading the refrigerator, but after running up to see what was happening, whatever it is is very elusive. But a couple of times during the day, we've found huge schools of mullet splashing around the boat - and we're not talking a few, we're talking dozens to hundreds. So maybe the early morning invasion is mullet? Who knows. If we figure it out, we'll let you know!

Other than last year which didn't count because it was the refit and we were working every day, we've never really just relaxed and lived in a marina. But it's not such a horrible thing. We'd both like to be out cruising, but the cold fronts are making their presence felt at least once a week and we never particularly enjoyed running for cover to a protected mangrove anchorage for every cold front. So today, when the marine forecast calls for WINDY - and according to friends, it's gusting 25-30 out there - we're in here, safely tied to the dock, enjoying our wildlife friends, and the pool and the entertainment on the deck at Portobello's.

Plus I can continue testing new recipes and editing "The Boat Galley Cookbook" for the June 2012 release date! It's all good!

Fall 2011 ... Welcome to Sail Winterlude!

2011-11-11T18:11:00.001-08:00

Hi all! Above is the SW Florida barrier island of Cayo Costa, a state park with access only by water. We're hoping the weather will let us leave the dock (it's amazing how hard it is to leave the dock even for somewhat seasoned cruisers) and go anchor out for a week or so to sort out what systems work and what we need to fix before planning cruising further abroad.

Cheers! Jan & David

Happy Easter!

2011-04-23T13:37:00.000-07:00

Our last adventure to Cayo Costa for Spring 2011 ... and we saw a GIGANTIC Loggerhead Turtle as we were dinghying back from the other end of the island! It surfaced almost right in front of the dinghy as we were skimming along as fast as our little Tohatsu 8 hp can plane us. All of a sudden there was a head, I swear it was as big as David's head, and a BIG shell in the water not 2 dinghy lengths from us -- that's about 18 feet, if you're not familiar with our
dinghy! YIKES, don't hit him!!!

We both gasped in wonder, he looked straight at us and dove to the bottom ... all 7 or 8 feet down. We turned off the outboard and drifted for awhile, me withmy camera out hoping for another chance, but alas.... as with so many
magical moments, there were no photos.

But this is the photo from my fish book, he's a Loggerhead (well, maybe it's
a she) and gorgeous. Earlier during our walk down the beach, we saw a turtle nest & tracks that would be about her size, so probably it's a good bet it's a her! :) We walked the beach where ours were the only footprints for miles, collected a few more shells (like we need more shells), couldn't find a single shark's tooth and dinghied back to Winterlude.

Tonight we'll trek across the park end of the island and watch sunset on the beach.... hmmmm.... should I take the conch horn to blow farewell to the sun on the beach... or reserve that ritual for the boat... decisions, decisions! Should be the perfect chance for a green flash! :)

We'll stay here a few more days before sailing back to Burnt Store Marina to put Winterlude to bed for hurricane season.... bummer, the season's almost over and I didn't even get to put my mask, snorkel and flippers on.... Next winter WILL be different! Not as many projects to keep us tied to the dock, so who knows where we'll go! :)

HAPPY EASTER! Jan & David
www.sailwinterlude.com

Happy 10th Anniversary, Winterlude!!!

2011-04-01T11:05:00.001-07:00

Counting up what I've got to show, for all these years afloat…

a dog eared passport, a weathered face, a tired old boat…

a yarn or two that might be true and a couple of battle scars…

days of sparkling waters, nights of falling stars….

I've got seashells, I've got souvenirs, I've got songs I've penned…

I've got photographs, I've got memories, but mostly I've got friends…

Eileen Quinn, “Friends” from “Not to Be Used for Navigation” – get it at ITunes

Apprehensive anticipation … taking Winterlude’s helm for the first time, sailing up the Chesapeake to Annapolis in winds gusting to 20 knots with waves crashing over the bow. As my hands grasped the wheel, I quickly revised my opinion of sailing cruising boats. Winterlude felt solid, heeled slightly, spray coming over the bow, little to no weather helm, just light and responsive. Was this how sailing a big boat was supposed to feel? The spray in your face, the sun dancing on the water as the wind propels the boat forward at almost hull speed … 6.2 knots. Wow. We sailed Winterlude up to Annapolis, a 2 day sail and closed the deal on

April 2, 2001! HAPPY 10^th ANNIVERSARY WINTERLUDE!!!

Since closing in Annapolis, Winterlude has taken us over 8,500 miles from Annapolis to Southwest Florida along Mexico's Yucatan Coast, exploring offshore atolls as well as inshore reefs in Belize, the magical Rio Dulce River canyon in Guatemala and the Bay Islands of Honduras. From the Bay Islands we made the passage eastward to the Vivorillos Cayes before rounding the corner of Honduras and Nicaragua to sail south to Providencia and San Andreas, Columbia (go figure, off the Nicaraguan coast) and Panama. Later we sailed to Cartagena, Columbia and explored the Columbian coastline islands as well as Sapzurro on the Columbian/Panamanian border. Retracing our steps, we absorbed the culture and snorkeled the brilliantly clear waters of the “People Who Would Not Kneel”, the Kuna in the San Blas Islands of Panama, Slowly we worked our way back, enjoying our favorite anchorages all over again before arriving back in Southwest Florida in May 2010.

Six years of commuter cruising the Western Caribbean yielded a lot of experiences, some of which have been recounted in my cruising logs. Most of the best and most magical experiences can never really be put into words or captured in photos. The magic of a giant sea turtle swimming along the boat in the crystal clear waters of Belize, porpoises playing with our bow wake in countless sails, clumsy pelicans turning into ballerinas for our front row seats during our own private performance of “The Pelican Ballet” – giving synchronized soaring and diving for fish an entirely different perspective.

The saying goes “sailing is moments of magical ecstasy punctuated by interludes of sheer terror” … how else would David have gotten me to agree to marry him during our 72 hour passage from the Florida Keys/Dry Tortugas to Isla Mujeres, Mexico? Maybe crossing the gulf stream twice with its own weather pattern which seemed to feature nothing but thunderstorms, high winds, lightning and big waves might have contributed? David wasted no time and when we flew home for Christmas 2004, he enforced my coerced agreement by planning a wedding for January 2 2005! Now several years later, the adventure continues.

Eileen Quinn’s song “Friends” – featured at the top of this tribute for Winterlude’s 10^th Anniversary, says it best … I’ve got seashells, I’ve got souvenirs, I’ve got twice monthly updates I’ve written … I’ve got photographs, I’ve got memories, but MOSTLY, I’ve got friends.

Recalling our first meeting with our friends, Doug & Rayene on s/v Kristiana … we were anchored in the Bluefield Range, Belize … busy drifting through the anchorage with the manatees in our kayaks, paddling back upwind and drifting with the wind through several manatees playing and splashing … when another boat came into the anchorage we’d previously had to ourselves. They anchored a respectful distance away and we paddled back to Winterlude. The next thing we knew, our dinghy was attached to the back of s/v Kristiana as Doug, with Rayene’s expert eyeball navigation, piloted s/v Kristiana out to anchor directly behind the reef (about 2 miles through extensive coral patches). We all got in to enjoy the best snorkeling we had ever experienced and our first exposure to someone spearfishing. Doug got a hogfish and a grouper during that snorkel trip. When we said we had no idea what a hogfish tasted like or why Doug & Rayene were so excited to eat one, they promptly invited us to dinner that evening. That was the beginning of a great friendship that has allowed us the privilege of cruising with Doug & Rayene all the way to Cartagena and the San Blas Islands, plus not to mention land adventures to Machu Picchu in Peru and last summer’s introduction to their US home state of Montana. One of Doug’s favorite sayings during whatever daytrip adventure we were having is “Disney would charge you over $100 a person to do this” – but the reality is that most of our adventures could not be re-created even by Disney’s magic!

Over coffee this morning, David and I reminisced about our favorite highlights over the past ten years.

The 72 hour crossing to Isla Mujeres off the coast of Cancun, Mexico provided a sense of accomplishment and we reveled in the clearest prettiest water colors we’d sailed.
The magic of our first experience sailing into Lighthouse Reef Atoll off the coast of Belize… still one of the best watercolors and underwater color and variety that we’ve experienced anywhere in our travels. We enjoyed snorkeling the Blue Hole and after the trauma of coming in, loved being anchored literally in the middle of a swimming pool off Half Moon Key.
Sliding up and down the mud mountain in the San Blas Islands to renew our immigration papers in Panama – there was no land access to the rest of Panama from the islands and the wind was too intense to risk the lee coast sail back to Colon.
Snorkeling with Rayene off the wall in Esnadup, San Blas when all of a sudden from behind and below came two dark gray lightning fast shapes … it happened so fast both of us surfaced at the same time saying “did you see THAT??” Two dolphins gracefully swam beneath us.
Living amongst the culture in Kuna Yala … everything from the excitement of being invited into the “Congresso Hut” to speak to the village leadership to negotiating to buy molas to the hundreds of Kuna wooden dugouts sail past us at sunset at Anachucana and we can’t forget the day we ended up with 4 Kuna children, the smallest just a baby in our dinghy headed back to Maquina … their mom’s waved goodbye from two dugouts and David’s face was priceless…. “what am I supposed to do with these kids?” They didn’t speak Spanish and we don’t speak Kuna! Luckly when we reached the dock, the children were greeted by the village… in Kuna culture the entire village takes care of the family.
For David snorkeling meant the excitement of the hunt (he bought a spear gun the next chance he had after seeing Doug spearfishing) … he hasn’t gotten as good as some of our friends where I could tell him that morning that I’d like Grouper, or Schoolmaster or Hogfish for dinner and he’d come back with my order… but I’m not picky and fresh fish is amazing!
For me, snorkeling meant my camera in an underwater case and the chance to make a new (to me) fish identification. After hours and hours of snorkeling, all the sergeant majors and blue tangs begin to fade and searching for something new adds a fun dimension to hours of snorkeling. ID’ing the photos later with our fish ID books is fun too!
One of my favorite snorkeling sites we dubbed the “Waterslide”. The blues of the water were the bluest. You’d get in the water where you beached your dinghy, just off a beach wall that plunged looking like a lunar landscape. Swim up along the mangroves to stay out of the intense current sweeping through the little pass between tiny sand islands. Then shove off into the middle main current and let it sweep you through the pass, watching while eagle rays and sea turtles swam 20 feet down underneath you. Then do it again, and again, and again….
Anchoring in Gringo Bay after the towering jungle canyon walls of the Rio Dulce River in Guatemala, we relaxed under the purple mountain majesty of the Mico Mountains rising behind Jennifer’s house. Jennifer is a great artist and combined three photos I took of “her bay” into the beautiful painting that adorns the main wall in our salon.
Other adventures such as the Rio Mandinga trip where everyone had to get out of the village chief’s large cayuco and help clear the logjam so the cayuco could get through … followed about 15 minutes upriver by the biggest salt water crocs any of us had ever seen! YIKES!
Last winter’s adventure sailing back from the Shelter Bay Marina by the Panama Canal all the way back to Southwest Florida encompassed 155 consecutive nights at anchor without approaching a dock – anchoring is much easier than docking, and usually leads to more fun adventures as well!

Our return to Southwest Florida this year for a minor refit on Winterlude has been a success, although we haven’t gotten to spend as much time cruising and away from the dock as I would have liked, a month in the Keys and exploring the 10,000 Islands area of the SW Florida Everglades was about the extent. But we did achieve our objective to explore the Little Shark River area … and we added another location, Indian Key, unknown to us that turned out to be fabulous, altho’ the current was amazing.

Who knows what adventures the next 10 years will bring? About the ony thing I can promise is that we said we’d keep doing this as long as it’s fun … and apart from the time we had the boat for sale after a week long sail from Providencia to Port Royal, Roatan, we’re still having fun…. well, most of the time.

For now, Winterlude is celebrating her 10 year anniversary in Key West – held hostage for weather – but it’s definitely not the worst place in the world to be held hostage by weather! 3 cold fronts in 4 days … maybe we’ll get a window to sail back to Charlotte Harbor over the weekend!

HAPPY 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY WINTERLUDE! THANKS FOR KEEPING US SAFE! WE LOVE YOU!!!!

Cheers! Jan & David

Time Bombs Everywhere .... Duct Tape Fails Us????

2011-03-26T19:06:00.001-07:00

We sailed under the 7 Mile Bridge in Marathon yesterday despite some challenges. Anchored at Little Shark River, our throttle refused to cooperate again. It's terrible disconcerting when the diesel fades to nothing just when you need it to power you past a critical marker! David fixed it before we lifted anchor before sunrise and as we were motoring out the channel, it let go again ... so David's down in the "hole" with the engine heating to 500 degrees hand holding the throttle connection together. Aaarrggg.

After we hoisted the sails, he was able to duct tape the throttle connection back together. That lasted a few hours ... after the wind died, we had to motorsail.... we had to stop the diesel entirely to rig a jerry-fix ... the duct tape melted and didn't work out... who ever heard of duct tape NOT fixing something??? :)

So with diesel off and no wind, we're floating in Florida Bay. David's down in the hole trying to figure out another jerry-rig ... and he tells me to keep the boat away from crab pots. Crab pots look JUST like a time bomb with their little lighting wick on top and are just waiting to snare the unwary sailor. In our case, with no way on and no steering, they were a bit more challenging. Every time a crab pot line would come up, David would hand hold the throttle together long enough for me to motor through the line and then we'd cut the diesel again and go back to figuring out a temporary fix. Aaarrrggg!!!

David is my hero! He engineered a "fix" with computer ties -- you know those things that usually bundle wires and keep everything neat? David managed to get one around the throttle connection that held long enough for us to limp into Marathon Marina where Debbie -- who is a SAINT, I might add -- helped us coast into a wall slip where perhaps it wouldn't matter that the throttle might or might not work when we needed it (especially throttle for reverse to keep from hitting a boat in front of us!!!).

Turns out our 1985 vintage Nanni Kubota diesel has a throttle connection that is no longer manufactured ... why am I not surprised... SO we wandered all over Marathon today looking for ideas. West Marine provided a possible part option, but gave us the MOST important advice we received. "There's a guy named Jimmy at Marine Power Systems ... a place full of stuff on shelves and who knows what you might find". So we visited Jimmy -- turns out he's right across from Marathon Marina ... with a couple big wooden boats that are being restored under tarps out front and some really COOL old motorcycles ... inside everything is dusty and overwhelming ... until you show Jimmy the part you're trying to replace and he starts providing advice and ideas. WOW! Thanks to Jimmy, David was able to replace the throttle connection with what so far looks to be a far more reliable arrangement ... and all for a $12 part ... if it works, it has to be the least expensive repair ever made on Winterlude!!!

Tomorrow we leave the unplanned marina stop and hope to resume our Keys exploration. Keep your fingers crossed the throttle connection holds ... there are alot of VERY expensive boats around us in this marina! YIKES!!!

Lest you think that the challenges overcome the FUN, don't even think about it! It's 90 degrees and sunny, the sunsets are incredible, everyone in the marina is fun and sometimes even overcoming challenges can be very satisfying.

Off to more fun!!! Cheers! J&D

P.S. GO BUTLER -- Bulldogs RULE!!!

Good Morning Sun!

2011-03-24T04:36:00.001-07:00

Sunrise as we sail out of Indian Key, Everglades Nat'l Park.

Call of the Conch!

2011-03-23T07:43:00.001-07:00

Anchored at Indian Key in the Everglades National Park, the world and the hustle & bustle of Marco Island anchorage seem a lifetime away even though I'm fairly certain the GPS route said we only sailed 23 miles! After the excitement of the Marco Island anchorage, we were very happy to anchor in the peace & quiet of this mangrove pass channel.

As is often the case, we brought the excitement at Marco on ourselves by blazing a new anchorage off Stingeree Key. It looked so perfect as we deftly sailed among the sandbars to pick a perfect anchor spot. Unfortunately after dinner we watched in horror as our 7 foot anchor site grew a large sandbar just off David's side of the cockpit. Checking the depth sounder we were now stuck in the mud! It didn't occur to us that less than 60 miles south of Charlotte Harbor where tides are a foot, tides would be over 3 feet! Luckily high tide was at 3:30 AM, but it was dark then so we couldn't escape the muck until 1st light. Needless to say we didn't sleep well!

After taking a great photo of the sun rising over Capri Pass in Marco, Winterlude sailed south to miss the Romano Shoal! Great sailing. Three other boats passed us either motorsailing or just motoring, wasting all the beautiful wind. I just never understand. We were going 6 knots so it wasn't as if they couldn't sail. Oh well.

We dodged crab pots, enjoyed the perfect sail, watched as a giant fish leaped clear of the water! He was every bit as big as the sailfish on my wall at the lake! And the rays were leaping and cavorting all around us! In fact, after anchoring and after dinner, hearing the rays smack the water with a loud ker-splash was a bit scary in the dark until we realized
what it was.

Just as we reached the outer marker, we had a bit of a surprise! Winterlude simply refused to go! We had just dropped the sails when the trusty diesel went urrrrrrr and died! Yikes, swing round into the wind and dropped anchor in the middle of nowhere. David quickly diagnosed the problem as a disconnected throttle cable, fixed it and we were on our way. Of course the anchor UP switch chose that moment to refuse to budge ... after we safely anchored inside , David fixed it too...corrosion.

Winding our way in and anchoring in 18 feet of water with at least a 3-4 knot current was interesting. We haven't had that much current since the Rio Chagres in Panama. David was afraid if the dinghy painter broke we'd never see our dinghy again. So we tied it with 2 lines! We explored Indian Key's tiny beach, saw swallowtail kites soaring overhead for the first time- they look sort of like frigatebirds but they're not supposed to be here, so I got out the birdbook and voila, a new species for me!

Today we're exploring these mangroves by dinghy and kayak... at least until we spot a gator. Then I'll see if David will play anymore! Tomorrow we sail to Little Shark River and then to Marathon & Key West.

Cheers! Jan & David
Anchored at 25 50.294N. 81 26.342W

Sent from my iPhone

Sunrise says goodbye to Capri Pass at Marco Island!

2011-03-22T04:58:00.001-07:00

Sailing south!

2011-03-21T13:08:00.000-07:00

Great Sailing Today!

2011-03-21T13:06:00.001-07:00

Winterlude began our gunkholing exploration of Florida's west coast today by sailing 35-ish miles south to Marco Island. The wind could not make up it's mind today ... One minute it would be blowing 20 plus and literally ammonite later only 9! Made it difficult to get the steering vane to work! But it was a beautiful sail, mostly over 6 knots. Dodging crab pots was a bit frustrating, but it was a sunny clear day (after the eerie early morning departure in the fog under the Ft Myers Beach bridge, that is!). Sailing just off the beach we had a up front personal tour of the lifestyles of the rich & famous ... Unbelievable houses ... Maybe I should call them compounds!

I was not excited about stopping in Marco but unlike Gordon Pass at Naples, Capri Pass at Marco is wide deep and easy! We anchored just inside across from where David went to dinner with Vogel's ... Snook Inn. Maybe on the way back we'll pit the dinghy in the water and treat ourselves to dinner there! On to the 10,000 Islands tomorrow ... Rumor has it I may need to break out the fins & snorkel! About time! No more cell or Internet access after tonight for a few days! Sea Ya!

Sent from my iPhone

Heading South ...

2011-03-20T18:41:00.000-07:00

Winterlude has left the dock! We're been gone for 4 days now ...
hopefully we'll be working our way south to the Keys. We hope to
dayhop down Florida's west coast and get to the Keys with no overnight
passages. We'll see how that goes -- it's really easier just to do a
single overnight and end up in the Keys. So if we happened to be
sailing and the sail was fabulous, we just might keep going and end up
in the Keys. Of course, that would defeat the purpose of gunkholing
the Ten Thousand Islands and Little Shark River, but it might just
happen. That's the beauty of cruising ... if you're doing it right,
you'll end up where the wind blows you and nowhere else! With our
little 30 hp putt putt diesel, we don't have alot of choice. With any
wind, we can't make headway against wind and waves, so we have to go
where it blows us. Today was an exception. We decided to head 25
miles south to Ft Myers Beach. The wind was supposed to build due to
a high pressure gradient north of us ... it increased but didn't
really build until we're trying to get into the Ft Myers Beach
channel ... with a mile & a half to go, wind directly on the nose and
blowing 25. Yikes! Our boatspeed kept getting slower and slower,
but we finally made it in under the bridge. Since we've been anchored
out for several days at Cayo Costa, we chose to take a slip at Salty
Sam's Marina ... and they put us right next to the Pirate Ship!
YIKES! We were a tourist attraction for a brief time and hopefully
tomorrow (Monday) morning, we'll be headed on south! We'll see how
far, the wind is still piped up due to the pressure gradient north of
us, there's a small craft advisory south of us. So we'll stick our
nose out into the gulf and see where we go from there. Hopefully
Marco, could be Naples or even Indian Key in the Ten Thousand
Islands.... Adventure beckons! :)

Cheers! J&D

Jan Irons
www.sailwinterlude.com

Pelican Bay, Cayo Costa State Park... March 1, 2011

2011-02-28T15:12:00.001-08:00

Winterlude Update … March 1, 2011

March 1, 2011 … Pelican Bay, Cayo Costa State Park, Florida…. "Good Morning Cruisers, this is the Northwest Caribbean Net" … anchored here at Cayo Costa, we nostalgically listen to our cruising friends voices on the SSB. We spent the past six years devoting an hour each and every morning to this net. Listening now brings into focus the changes that Winterlude has undergone … do I miss the crystal turquoise swimming pool waters in every imaginable hue of blue and green? Yes! I miss snorkeling four hours a day. I miss eating so much fresh fish that we were actually looking forward to something else for dinner. I miss our friends, especially s/v Kristiana.

But we don't miss the howling 25 gusting to 33 winds that they reported at Lighthouse Reef Atoll this day! I don't miss hunkering down for a week at a time in a tropical monsoon until the inside of the boat seems as wet as the outside and twice as smelly!

Since we've been back to Florida, I've discovered the difference between our lives as "commuter cruisers" and this year as "coastal cruisers". Commuter cruisers is what we've been for the past six years. We fly into some exotic locale toting as much boat stuff and spare parts as we can get aboard the airplane and very little in the way of personal effects or clothing. We then spend a bit getting the boat ready to go cruising, load enough food for six months (and wine for more!!!), throw off the dock lines and spend the next six months exploring foreign exotic anchorages each better than the last. Last year we spent 155 nights at anchor before ever setting foot on a dock.

This year as "coastal cruisers" we leave the dock for days at a time … and have the luxury of running back to the dock when the weather forecast calls for howling winds and miserable weather. We don't use the weather information to sail the boat to the safest anchorage we can find (although we could), we simply return to the dock. I know, we've turned into wussy cruisers! J As I write this, I'm listening to the winds howl outside, despite the sunshine and 80 degree temperatures. The boat sways in the slip and the wind howls in the rigging (and especially in some neighboring boat's halyards), but we can step off and not worry about anything happening to the boat while we go anywhere we want to go … take a walk, have sundowners with friends, work on a project, whatever!

While we were anchored at Cayo Costa, two boats anchored beside us departed for Isla Mujeres, Mexico … the last foreign port Winterlude stopped in before sailing back to Florida. The anchorage was filled with well-wishers, boats that had sailed out specifically to wish these two boats fair winds and following seas. As they lifted their anchors and departed, cruisers blew conch horn salutes and hailed them with well wishes on the VHF radio. They were off to adventure and Winterlude was still anchored in the same spot, looking forward to a day spent with long walks, beachcombing and relaxation. New friends asked if we wished we were going too… and the answer is, maybe someday I'll yearn for faraway exotic adventures, but right now we're content exploring our own backyard.

What about the exotic sloths, howler and spider monkeys, toucans and macaws … jungle wildlife? Do I miss it?

Last night stepping back aboard Winterlude at the dock, we were privileged to watch a bald eagle soaring above our mast right here in the marina! Wow! It was every bit as exciting as seeing a toucan in the wild. Here in Florida, we watch as anhingas swim just head and neck out of the water looking for fish – looking so much like snakes that they're referred to as the snakebird! We have our horned owl nest just outside the marina where the momma owl feeds the not so tiny baby white fuzzy horned owl. We watch the endandered manatees by the dozens parade past Winterlude's stern every day at 4 PM. We say hello to the white pelicans, cormorants and seagulls on the sandspit every time we sail out the channel from the marina. Osprey's soar overhead, often with a fish in their sharp talons. We've even seen roseate spoonbills in flight over our anchorage. And one lonely frigatebird … I'm pretty sure she must have been lost. Frigatebirds were common sights in the NW Caribbean, but not here in SW Florida.

And we're back in the "new species" hunt as well … one of the games I always played to keep snorkeling interesting was to try and find a new species of something every day. This year, it seems that new species tend to be varieties of beach or everglades oriented stuff … a Black Skimmer, a tiny baby octopus, more every day!

We also had some other excitement in our first extended cruise off the dock this winter. I haven't had to request an ICW bridge opening in over 10 years! TEN YEARS with no bridges in the way … maybe I DO miss exotic anchorages! We followed friends on s/v "Two if By Sea" (what a great boat name!) under the bridge and up to their favorite anchorage just off the ICW and across from yet another barrier island state park. This anchorage was surrounded by luxury homes, but was very protected and close to three different barrier island state parks that we enjoyed dinghying to during the days. Stump Pass State Park was exceptional in that Stump Pass is being dredged – it fills in every three years too shallow for boats so in their never ending brilliance taxpayers keep spending the money to dredge it back open again … gggrrrrrr … but that's another soapbox and we won't go there now ….. anyway, the good part about the dredging operation is it deposits new sand from the bottom of the channel on the beaches for two different islands – replenishment after Hurricane Charley in 2004. New churned up sand means LOTS and LOTS of fossil shark's teeth just waiting to be found. David is the best at finding them, but I enjoy the hunt as well. Gives a new angle to walking the beach … just as spearfishing gave a new dimension to snorkeling!

Back at the anchorage, we watch the dolphins in a feeding frenzy, tossing both themselves and the fish they are trying to catch in the air like beachballs. Splashing and playing like little kids at the beach. Nice entertainment right about sundowner time!

And so it goes. Hopefully now that the weather is warmer … low 80's during the day and high 50's at night – great sleeping weather. The water still needs to warm up a touch – it's 65 degrees here – but all in good time! Hope to see you out on the water!!!

Jan Irons

www.sailwinterlude.com

Winter 2011 Update

2011-01-26T05:36:00.001-08:00

Don't forget ... www.sailwinterlude.com! I'm not writing my normal twice monthly updates while we're giving Winterlude a much deserved facelift! It's just not exciting reporting maintenance, stripping, sanding & varnishing teak, replacing the refrigeration compressor, finding & fixing the leak in the propane system (kind of important so we don't blow ourselves up), tuning up the diesel and outboard, fixing a leak in the dinghy, reinstalling the Icom SSB which was fixed under warranty from Icom, getting our new "family room" ... better known to sailors as a cockpit enclosure, so on & so forth. We're finally seeing the end of our list of important projects, only the water heater (non-functional) and the watermaker leak remain from the original list. Of course, like every boat, we've added issues since the original list! I need to climb the mast, replace the masthead tri-color light with a new LED version and bring down the windicator (pointer and three point turning sensor) - it's either corroded or a bird has interfered with the sensor, either way it means it only spins under intense wind, not as it should.

Once we are able to actually leave the dock for longer than just overnight, I'll resume writing the twice monthly updates.

Until then, I'm posting updates on our refit almost daily on www.sailwinterlude.com under the tab Day by Day 2011 Refit. Or check out me playing with my camera under the Photo A Day tab (most days, but not really every day). So if you're curious about what we "Winterluders" have been up to, visit the website:

www.sailwinterlude.com

Cheers! Jan

Charlotte Harbor ... November 15, 2010

2010-11-17T05:36:00.000-08:00

Winterlude Update … November 15, 2010

Charlotte Harbor, FL …What a difference a year makes. This time last year we were enduring the never ending slog from Providencia to Roatan. It lasted an entire week and by the time the anchor was safely down we had 7 gallons of diesel left (out of 70), everything broken and would have happily sold the boat right then & there! I'm glad we changed our minds! We're still not sure what we're going to be when we grow up, but we haven't sold the boat, so it's time for more adventures.

Don't forget, these updates and more appear regularly on our webpage: www.sailwinterlude.com. There's a "Photo A Day" page as well as a page entitled Refit SW Florida 2010 – if you're interested, you can follow everything we're doing to the boat. It's not finished yet, I still have a few pages to convert from the old website, but it's getting there – enjoy!

Back in Florida, everyone's in a hurry, every boat has a destination. Rush, rush, rush. Except for Winterlude. There's not much wind, just enough to slowly sail the 10 miles across Charlotte Harbor to Boca Grande Pass. I waved as we passed Cayo Costa, a barrier island state park that's one of my favorite anchorages anywhere, but we'll anchor there another day. Today is all about sailing … enjoying a leisurely lunch and listening to the Indianapolis Colts via the Sirius satellite radio while soaking up the sun and watching the sparkling water gurgle by the boat.

This cruising season will be much different than the past six years, but after all the work and projects are done, adventure beckons in the Little Shark River and the Everglades National Park as well as the unexplored (to us) section of the Florida Keys between Key West and the Dry Tortugas …. The Marquesas are on our horizon, but just the Florida Keys version instead of the South Pacific. While that's a bit disappointing, it also means a 2 day sail and not a month continuously out of the sight of land. We've never been to the Exumas, Puerto Rico, the south coast of Cuba or the Spanish Virgin Islands, but those adventures are over this year's horizon, maybe next year.

Sailing across Charlotte Harbor, we were struck by the fact that this is the first time in six years we've just gone sailing for the pleasure of sailing Winterlude. When you're cruising, it's critical to keep up enough boat speed to arrive in good light in reef strewn anchorages. That means running the diesel much more often than we'd prefer. Today, we turn it off and it doesn't matter that we're only making 2 knots. Through the iced tea (or maybe green tea) colored water, we can see the bottom only 7 – 10 feet down, although the starfish and colorful reef fishies are conspicuously missing. Something else that's pleasantly missing is the maze of crab pots so prevalent during our sail in from Mexico. Charlotte Harbor has none! Stretching for 10 miles north & south and 10 miles east & west, we can sail, no matter what the wind direction and not be harassed by those dang crab pots waiting to snag our propeller! Who knows, we may even get really adventurous and put up our spinnaker that hasn't been out of the sail locker since the Cayos Cochinos, Bay Islands, Honduras four years ago!

Another difference is the tides. We've always paid attention, but back in Charlotte Harbor with our deep 5 1/2 foot draft, we literally can't leave the marina except on at least an even tide, preferably higher tide. You'd be amazed how many times that can screw up a days sail … you can get out, but you can't get back in.

In other news, after 12 years, our Adler Barber refrigeration system has decided to take some well deserved time off … just enough time to defrost everything in the freezer! Then it starts back up. David decided it just wanted an automatic defrost cycle. Funny, it's never had an automatic defrost cycle before!

Since the purpose of this stop in Florida was neglected projects, we've also had a diesel tune up … the prognosis is that our diesel will "run forever" (knocking on wood!) The trusty Tohatsu 8 horsepower outboard with it's frozen steering had an encounter with a Tohatsu factory service facility – and now it turns just like new!

David replaced our deck waste fitting … it's necessary to pump out the holding tank, but since we've been out of the country for the past six years, no place has a pumpout facility, so we haven't needed it for the past six years. He said it was a crappy project (and it took 2 days!) YIKES! I'm lucky he's still aboard!

The sails are on, the windlass is working, the radios are reinstalled and tested, the leaky hatches have been refurbished with new parts from the manufacturer, the propane system is still under diagnosis for a small leak. This is a huge problem since the propane powers my stove! We took the 1985 vintage propane tank to a propane facility for diagnosis, we found that it's not the tank. The next step was to replace the hose, which probably would have corrected the problem … until we accidentally installed the regulator backward, which blew out the overflow, requiring us to replace the entire regulator … the jury is still out, but we finally found a replacement regulator. Since propane is not to be trifled with, we're hoping the replacement will fix the problem. I'm running out of creative ideas for entire meals cooked on the grill!

We got quotes and ideas from two different canvas companies about constructing a new "family room" otherwise known as cockpit enclosure since the one we have leaks waterfalls anytime it rains. Unfortunately the company we chose can't even start on the project until January 3^rd!

And the projects continue!

Don't forget: www.sailwinterlude.com

Cheers & HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all!!! Jan & David

2010-10-30T18:27:00.000-07:00

Halloween Eve ... Back Aboard Winterlude! It's Saturday night and across the water wafts strains of The Monster Mash from the Halloween celebration at Burnt Store Marina! Everyone is all dressed in costume ... but we Winterluders are trying to dig out from under all the "stuff" we brought back to the boat.

So far & all is well. Fridge, check; Mainsail on, check; NO mold, check; No critters, check.... nothing smells when we opened the companionway, the dehumidifier was humming away! Interesting that our lines are all a nice sunbleached white, not green and slimy like in the "real" tropics!

After a nice dinner in the cockpit, we're celebrating with a bit of vino. My only question is ... what in the world were we ever going to do with a king sized moving blanket? Once we put the dehumidifier away, we could not for the life of us stuff the thing back under the pullman berth... I can't imagine why we thought we needed it?? :)

This week promises to be interesting with lots of meetings with canvas people, a diesel mechanic, a diver to clean Winterlude's bottom ... who knows, maybe soon we can sail out to Cayo Costa & just hang out in Pelican Bay for a few nights & walk the beach! ... after, of course, we figure out how to get the frozen waste deck fitting to OPEN!!! Aaarrrggg!!!

WooHoo ... it's good to be back aboard! Cheers! J&D

Fall 2010 ...

2010-10-15T06:18:00.001-07:00

Since everyone keeps asking when will we be back aboard ... the answer is .... sometime between October 30 and November 3! The early part of this winter cruise might be somewhat boring because we'll be doing maintenance/minor refit projects including such mundane things as getting the spade anchor and chain re-galvanized. That is IF we can find somewhere to regalvanize. Apparently either no one in our marina puts their chain in the water enough to get it rusty or they have way too much money because the suggestion we keep hearing is "just replace it, it'll be cheaper". Makes me wonder if any of them have priced a 45# spade anchor and 300 feet of 5/16 hi test chain lately....

Back In Florida!

2010-05-03T08:10:00.000-07:00

Burnt Store Marina ... Punta Gorda, FL .... Winterlude arrived safely back in Burnt Store Marina on Charlotte Harbor (west coast) of Florida on Thursday, April 22nd after a 78 hour passage from Isla Mujeres, Mexico. Update coming soon, I promise - we had to make a quick trip to San Diego to visit son Billy for a pre-deployment family day cruise on his ship, the USS Peleliu. What a fun trip - we hiked down to Cedar Falls. I fell into a creek & David will forever remember seeing his first rattlesnake as it crossed the trail in front of us. We spent the day onboard the USS Peleliu, ate fish tacos, toured the USS Midway, rambled along the Embarcadero, But you don't want to hear about this trip -- our passage was great, maybe the best passage we've ever had - or at least the least adventurous -- boring is very very good when you're on passage for 4 days! More soon. Tomorrow we'll fly back to the lake house and after a few days there we'll drive back to Winterlude to prepare the boat for hurricane season and begin the refit process - #1 priority, get rid of the new starboard side leak -- why do we have fresh water on the cabin sole anytime there's a tropical downpour? Cheers! Jan & David

4.15 Isla Mujeres Winterlude Update

2010-04-16T11:52:00.001-07:00

4.15.2010 ... Isla Mujeres, Mexico

Until two days ago for the past two weeks, Isla Mujeres and the Winterlude crew have enjoyed absolutely picture perfect Caribbean weather ... brilliantly sunny, glistening sparkling calm waters, surprisingly low humidity and comfortable mid-80's temperatures. Billy came to visit and the perfect weather continued - sorry Aly & Dan and Susan! Immediately following his departure, the skies turned gray and ominous and it's been blowing 25-35 for the past 2 days ... and we are extremely happy to be tied to this dock!

Isla is a very interesting crossroads of cruisers, boats going north, boats going south, boats going east, all congregating here, eating fish tacos and ceviche, enjoying telling tall tales and each other's company. After being socked in here for a few days, almost every boat is looking for a weather window to go somewhere ... and some are more anxious than others. Several boats have crew that has taken vacation time to fly down and join them for a crossing ... and the weather keeps changing day to day. Yesterday there were a half dozen boats leaving tomorrow to sail to Florida ... this morning the forecast has changed yet again and now there's a cold front/low forecast to be sitting in the Straits of Florida (between the Keys and Cuba) in two days. Since it will take between 2 and 4 days to sail to Florida, many are rethinking whether they leave.

For those boats with crew that have specific dates, it's very difficult to make the decision - do you go anyway and take the risk or send unhappy crew back on an airplane (nothing goes to weather like a 747), missing the crossing. It's actually quite a juggling act to leave because you checking out takes half a day. Then it's the weekend. If you want to leave this weekend, you need to decide in the next hour and once you check out, you can't stay, so if the forecast changes yet again tomorrow morning, you're out of luck! Since on Winterlude we need at least a 4 day window, and preferably 5 to give us a day of grace in case the weather patterns move more quickly than forecast, the 2 day window this weekend (with a Low now sitting in the middle of it) is not an option for us.

Despite the fact that we thought we had plenty of time and no constraints, all of a sudden we're running out of days and smack up against the fact that friends will be in Ft Myers on vacation on April 22 - 26 and we'd love to visit them. Even more frustrating, we want to fly to San Diego for a "Family Day" cruise on the April 28th and the weather keeps closing in around us, not allowing us to get to Florida. I guess flexibility is a necessity for cruisers, but my Type A personality keeps getting in my way -- I HATE not being able to schedule anything because our entire lives are centered around weather. On the other hand, we've had a couple of less than pleasant passages this year and we don't want to take a chance on another. So while that Low is forecast to be benign, we keep thinking that it wasn't there at all yesterday so who knows what tomorrow will bring!

In the meantime, we enjoyed the strains of Jimmy Buffett wafting over the marina .. much preferable to listening earlier to the sounds of 30-35 knot wind gusts driving 3 inches of rain into places we never knew leaked on this boat! The VHF radio crackled for two days with boats in the packed anchorage dragging or ending up hard aground -- luckily in the mud and not on the reef! Marina Paraiso and the other marinas are full as the gale continued. Any slight break in the howling winds and driving rains brings cruisers out on deck and on the dock desperate for some time out of their damp boats!

Earlier, dUring Billy's visit, perfect weather reigned despite the forecast for 95% chance of thunderstorms. Some people are just lucky. We explored Isla, enjoyed the most amazing fish tacos (grouper), introduced Billy to ceviche, savored tasty mexican guacamole complete with cilantro, my favorite fresh herb; dipped tortilla chips into pico de gallo - the Mexican substitute for salsa - fresh chopped tomatoes, onions, peppers and cilantro - YUM! Oh, and the best part? Three fish tacos at Bally Hoo, a thatched roof open air restaurant out on a dock over the water, were 55 pesos ... about $4!

Renting a golf cart, we toured the southern end of the 5 mile long island - the beautiful powder sand beaches are at the north end but the coral rocky cliffs rise vertically from thousands of feet of ocean depths. Too many iguanas to count scurry over the cliffs leaving us to wonder if they ever lose their footing and fall into the churning white waters below.
The El Garrafon national park encompasses most of this end of the island and includes a "zip line" starting from a wooden telephone tower atop a small cliff, plunging down to a tower further down, out to a lower tower in the beautiful reef waters and finally ending at another tower on the beach. How did I find myself strapped into a mountain climber harness and climbing up that first tower? Luckily Billy and David just behind me looked almost as lost as I felt! The poor instructor at the top told me to stand on a even more rickety two foot square black platform while he gave me instructions -- put four left fingers here, 2 right fingers there ... pull down on this wooden block for a brake ... blah blah blah. Why is it the water seems much farther down than it looked from land. Instructed to sit in the harness and dangling above open water, I briefly contemplated quitting, but somehow just about this time, the instructor let me go and I found myself zipping along the metal cable suspended above my head down toward the next tower. Trying to calm myself to enjoy the view, all I could remember was that I was supposed to pull on the brake when the attendant at the next tower gave me the signal... unfortunately it seemed he was never going to give the signal! So in the interest of stopping myself before I slammed into what looked like an unforgiving hard tower, I pulled on the brake ... and stopped short of the line I needed to be able to get to the next stand... needless to say, he had to throw me a line to pull me in, frowning the entire time. I was not the most popular zip liner of the day! Still, I didn't die and it was actually somewhat enjoyable, so stepping off the next platform for the most scenic portion of the zip line, I'm almost able to appreciate the beauty of the surroundings and the watercolors before the next tower loomed ahead. I was determined to execute this stop perfectly ... and I did! From then on, I was a zip line pro ... but I'm not sure I'll try it again!

Spending the weekend in Cancun proved to be quite an experience... espeically after Billy managed to get us upgraded from our resort to the next door 5 Diamond All Inclusive resort!
From the minute we opened the door of our new "junior suite" and looked directly over the jacuzzi and hammock on the balcony onto the swimming pool, the white powder sand beaches and the azure ocean waves beyond, I was hooked. Everything about The Royal Cancun was fabulous. I'm not sure I'd want to pay the price to actually stay in a suite, but the upgrade for 2 days was a highlight- especially after living in 18 feet of living space and using a solar shower for six months! Living like a princess could get high on my list for fun ideas! Now I just have to figure out how to fund the lifestyle.

I guess it's better we caught the ferry back to Isla Mujeres and gave up living the high life!

Now we wait ... tomorrow (Saturday) is a cruisers potluck at the marina, tonight we may go "downtown" to eat ceviche and fish tacos with acquaintances across the dock and tomorrow morning, we'll all check the 24, 48 & 72 hour wind/wave charts, the NOAA GOMEX text forecasts, buoyweather, passageweather and listen for Chris Parker to determine when we might contemplate checking out and sailing back to Burnt Store Marina, Punta Gorda, FLorida!

See you all SOON! Jan & David, s/v Winterlude, Isla Mujeres, Mexico

HAPPY APRIL FOOL'S DAY ... Winterlude Update

2010-04-01T08:00:00.001-07:00

HAPPY APRIL FOOL'S DAY!!! 4.1.2010 ... Isla Mujeres, Mexico!

Buenos all! (that's HI in Mexican) ... After 155 days out at anchor,
living on the hook, hiding from norther after norther, Winterlude rode out
the last vicious norther safely attached to a dock at Marina Paraiso in
Isla Mujeres Mexico! As the winds howled, gusting to 30 and six boat
dragged anchor out in the anchorage, we Winterluders luxuriated standing
under pouring hot water in one of the only "real" showers (as opposed to
sun showers) we've had in months. We've been walking to town every day,
it's amazing how much you can miss walking when you're living on a boat
with no place to walk! It's 12 steps from the galley to the head ... and
12 steps back, believe me I know!

After agonizing over the weather for weeks, trying to pick a weather window
that would allow us to make the 48 hour passage to Isla Mujeres in relative
comfort ... we are finally underway in a light northwest wind (forecast to
be southeast, but what else is new). At 0630 David drives and I am on
"stick watch" behind the reef while we motor 5 miles south to a safe cut in
the reef. Belizean fishermen plant large sticks in random patterns
marking a range for their fishing, but these sticks are almost as much a
pain as crab pots are in the US ... speaking of crab pots, we haven't seen
them in the six years since we left Florida, but I guess we'll be dodging
them again soon!

We e-mailed our Float Plan to Kristiana and e-mailed Marina Paraiso to
confirm our Sunday reservation. As a safety precaution, we'll check in
with the NW Caribbean Net twice a day underway on SSB 6209 at 8 AM and 0545
PM Belize time (currently two hours behind the US East Coast). We will
also e-mail Doug & Rayene on Kristiana every 6 hours with a position report
and conditions. If we miss 2 consecutive position reports, our FLoat Plan
instructs Doug & Rayene to call the US Coast GUard and alert them to the
possibility we might have a problem.

Sailed over the clear aqua water strung with coral heads in only 10 feet of
water, crossing the reef and almost instantly into off soundings thousands
of feet deep water at 0800 ... now we're really on our way. 45 hours to go
according to our Nobeltec Passport charts, electronic charting.

WOOHOO -- it's 1300 ( 1 PM) and Winterlude is crossing the latitude 18
NORTH. 18 NORTH is infamous in cruisers lives because the weather
forecasts always specify "waves highest south of 18 NORTH! So now that
we've crossed the barrier, why are our waves so much steeper and rocky
rollier than earlier? AhHa! We discover we have a knot and a half of
current pushing us northward -- it's all good, although the boat motion
makes it difficult to accomplish anything down below ... so we sit in the
cockpit and watch the sparkling water rush by and just enjoy.

Lunch was chicken pasta salad with fresh yummy cinnamon bread for dessert.
Of course the bowls slid into the sink as I was attempting to spoon the
pasta salad into them, but that's life on passage! We always pre-prepare
meals for underway to insure we eat reasonably well with a minimal time
required below just in case it's really rough.

1500 (3 PM) and we're motorsailing, although the wind has clocked east
(from North and on the nose). We have a knot and a half of northward
setting current. Waves are calmer except for the occasional three surfer
waves in succession and Winterlude is FLYING along at over 6 knots. Hull
speed is 6.2 knots and this heavy safe long keeled boat rarely maintains
that kind of speed. 42 hours to Isla!

Dark ... and despite the reef we always put in before sunset, we're doing
over 7 knots ... we added a 2nd reef and we're still doing over 7 knots.
The wind has finally shifted enough to the southeast that we can actually
SAIL, so we turn off the diesel and now we're sailing as opposed to
motorsailing to hold our course as close to the rumb line as possible.

Lightning lights the northwest sky making us uneasy ... the forecast was NO
squalls, NO convection, NO rain, NO clouds NO nothing for the next several
days ... of course, we should have known better. Courtesy of Sirius
Satellite Radio, we listened to Michigan State beat Northern Iowa for a
Final 8 NCAA spot and then I "went to bed" for 2 hours. No sooner had I
climbed in the bunk than David yelled down for me to turn on the radar for
a tanker ship a mile away. He passed us at half a mile out ... YIKES, that
gets the old heart pumping! After the excitement, I tried again to get an
hour's rest or so.... Up for my watch at 9 PM, luckily all is quiet and
the lightning show has subsided, leaving a 3/4 full moon and a starry
starry night. Bo, the Monitor Windvane is steering. Bo is definitely
partial to David and doesn't much care for me, so when I adjust our course
to keep us far enough off the mainland reef at Bahia Espiritu Santu in
southern Mexico, the steering line parts in my hand. Poor David, he's just
laid down to rest & he's back up reconnecting the line. But after that
fiasco, David actually got to lay in the bunk for a solid 3 hours --
notice I didn't say he got to SLEEP for 3 hours, just that he had the
opportunity to lay in the bunk for 3 hours! I let David "sleep" until 4
AM, when he relieved me. Lucky him, now he almost gets run over by a
cruise ship headed to Cozumel ... wonder if that's the same cruise ship
that my Dad and Kay will take in a few weeks! Two hours later, I had to
send the every 6 hour position report e-mail, so we made coffee. The Mr
Coffee sits safely in the deep sink -- I think it gets a bit confused by
all the boat motion and often the coffee grounds don't all get used during
the cycle, but still the coffee tastes fabulous! We enjoy a day old
cinnamon roll from the Caye Caulker bakery -- they're almost as good as
Cinnabon!

We can see Cozumel on the horizon and occasionally the GPS indicates we can
be anchored in Isla Mujeres before dark -- we both are committed to the
idea of pushing the boat as fast as possible so we don't have do sail
another overnight. We shake out the reefs and the boat responds by jumping
to 8 knots and at one point on the northern end of Cozumel, our boatspeed
was 9.4 knots!!!! NINE POINT FOUR KNOTS! It's a brilliant sunny day with
the waves shimmering across clear blue waters - suddenly we have an entire
pod of dolphins dancing in our bow wake and crossing and crisscrossing
under the stern. They stayed with us until the wind piped up to over 20
knots ... on the nose again, of course ... and we had to turn into the wind
to put in a reef. It's 36 miles to Isla Mujeres and we're doing 9.4 knots
-- at this rate we'll be there before dark! WOOHOO!!!

Unfortunately, sailing across in front of the hotel zone in Cancun, the
current left us ... and the time on our GPS was sinking with the sun, later
and later. It is never recommended to come in to a harbor at night... even
with the red markers lit, as in Isla Mujeres. The flashing red lights
blend into the lights on the island and are almost impossible to see.
Approaching the island, the sun had just set, the moon was rising and the
wind switched yet again from almost due south blowing 20... unfortuntately
our plan to anchor outside Isla on the west side with the south wind and
chop meant we'd have another night of no sleep & worrying about the anchor
dragging. Both of us wanted to try to get inside, luckily right about the
time we had to make a decision, a ferry came out of the channel showing us
the channel. We doused the sails and poked our way slowly along the
channel - which is not more than a few feet off the beach. Very scary to
be that close to the beach, especially in the moonlight while searching the
horizon for the next red flashing marker.

At 7:30 PM, only 36 hours after passing through the reef in Belize, our
anchor was down and set and we were relaxing in the cockpit enjoying
dinner! Sunday morning we called Marina Paraiso and two dinghies came out
to help us get into a slip -- the slip they assigned us meant the 20 plus
knot winds would blow us directly onto the dock and there are no finger
piers - you have to get lines on two telephone posts off the dock to keep
us from crashing through it! With the two dinghies helping, we had no
problem and quickly were safely
secure ... except for having to climb over the bouncing bow to get on & off
the boat! :)

In old news, before departing on our passage north, we spent a few days in
Caye Caulker, Belize, and before that we hid from the last norther in the
Drowned Cayes. Kayaking during a norther is always a popular way for us to
get off the boat -- we were kayaking, looking for dolphins and manatees
when all of a sudden out of NOWHERE, a "Jesus" fish (we call them "Jesus"
fish because they appear to walk on water, on their tails skimming across
long
distances) sprang out of the water and skimmed, launching off the bow of
David's kayak only a foot or so from impaling him with it's slender pointy
snout. With a loud THUD, it launched then cleared David's kayak, splashing
back into the water and abandoning it's tail skim. I'm sure the fish was
as startled as we were! Needless to say, I laughed much harder than David!

ALso, as a point of reference, since we left in 2004 to go cruising, I have
been looking diligently to spot a seahorse in the wild. In all that time,
I have never seen one. While tying up our dinghy at the Iguana Reef Resort
on Caye Caulker, people were peering intently over the southern side of the
dock... I lean over, the water is only about three feet deep and I can
clearly see the seaweed, turtlegrass mixed with a bit of trash, but nothing
else. A closer look shows two different adults foraging for food and a
bonus, a tiny baby seahorse!!! In my excitement, I almost fell off the
dock leaning so far out to get a good angle to get a photo.

Now we are hanging out in Isla Mujeres, near Cancun, Mexico for awhile.
Eventually we will sail back to Charlotte Harbor, Florida, but we're not in
a hurry and we are enjoying this island, the comfort of the dock and the
delicious mexican food!

That's it for now! Have a great day!

Cheers! Jan & David, Marina Paraiso, Isla Mujeres Mexico

--------------------------------------------------------------------
mail2web.com – Enhanced email for the mobile individual based on Microsoft®
Exchange - http://link.mail2web.com/Personal/EnhancedEmail

Dolphins, Manateess, Herons and Ospreys ... OH MY!

2010-03-15T08:50:00.000-07:00

Winterlude Update... Bluefield Range, Belize ... March 15, 2010 ....

Whoosh, the noise like air escaping from a balloon, causes both David and I to stop paddling our kayaks, looking quickly toward the sound. Along the mangroves, we see a cloud of sand ... something is thrashing around, stirring up the shallow clear water. Through the splashing and churning water, we spot the fin of a dolphin. The thrashing continues and we are briefly scared that the dolphin is sick, but just as that thought crosses our minds, the dolphin plunges into deeper turquoise water and swims away. Fascinated, we watch it gracefully swim along the mangroves, picking another spot and lunging in to the
shallows. Mangrove shallows are full of juvenile fish along with some teenagers and larger fish. Gradually it dawns on us that this dolphin is feeding ... and boy is he hungry!!! :) We watch until he swims off down the channel. Somewhat sadly, we turn our kayaks up to the opening in the mangroves where we padddle over the brown bar and out into the waves. Yep, they're big waves, stirred up by the norther that came through the night before. We head back toward Winterlude, paddling a bit, then letting the wind turn the kayaks sideways and just drift. This is the best way to watch little gray herons, cormorants and giant ospreys -- they leave their perches squacking at our intrusion. At one point we saw a nose just above the waterline that disappeared ... speculating, we decided it could have been a manatee, but we never saw it resurface. This mangrove reportedly has some salt water crocodiles .... we didn't see one, but the "nose" looked suspiciously like a log that submerged upon our approach ... more croc-ish than manatee-ish! Erring on the side of caution, we decided to paddle to the other side of the mangrove channel! :)

Whoosh, the noise catches our attention again, this time directly ahead with the telltail sand cloud next to the mangroves... our dolphin friend was feeding directly ahead of our kayaks. Drifting along without paddling, we were able to get close without disturbing him for several minutes when suddenly he lunged out into the channel not three kayak lengths ahead of us -- our kayaks are 9 feet long. I have NEVER been so close to a dolphin! We sat speechless watching in fascination at his lightspeed zooming and surfacing. I didn't realize the power and speed a dolphin has when he swims! We drifted until we were back at Winterlude and he swam past us headed to open water. Suddenly he returned, circling our two kayaks, then lunging and LEAPING literally six feet out of the water, pirouetting to splash back in, turned as if to make sure we were watching and then performed the dazzling lunge/leap/pirouette routine three additional times before swimming back to where we sat motionless in our kayaks as if to say ... SO, what did you think of THAT? ... before he swam away and out to sea. And me without my camera... :(

The very next morning, as we were sipping our coffee and listening to the morning radio net, David freaked out -- GET UP HERE NOW, he screamed to me. We were treated to another dolphin show - 4 dolphins performing dazzling pirouttes out of the water and another amazing ballet - and THIS time I did get a few photos - every bit as good as the Sea World dolphin show photos -- and these dolphins are performing in the wild! Just amazing!

Just a week earlier while Aly and Dan visited Winterlude, we were treated to a bow wake dolphin ballet! While sluicing through the "turqualline" brilliant blue sea, Winterlude's bow rose and fell rhythmically in tune with the waves. Whitewater bow wakes splashed and sparkled on either side of the bow. Appearing from nowhere, a pair of spotted dolphins gracefully swam directly in front of the bow, spinning as they rise to the surface before gliding, white underside to the sky and dipping to swim back. They crisscross, occasionally out of the water, then swimming deeper under the bow before surfacing with a playful splash of their tails. Aly and Dan, stand on the bow mezmerised watching our very own dolphin bow wake ballet! As the bow dips toward the surface and the dolphin surfaces, Dan reaches down to stroke it's back, but alas, the dolphins remain just out of touch. But they are so close, so graceful and beautiful as they play seemingly entirely for our entertainment.

(NOTE FYI: another cruiser, Gary on Kaiya's Song, "invented" a new color ... turqualline - a cross between turquoise and aqualline ...as a watercolor, the new color is very descriptive and I like the way it sounds, pronounced turk - a- leen!)

Aly and Dan arrived on a Wednesday, one day after a fast moving cold front with a perfect weather forecast afterward -- I was so excited to finally have a good weather forecast ... sunshine and wind from the northeast at 10-15. Thursday morning dawned with sunshine and light winds for sailing ... I tried to ignore the nasty looking dark squall line to the north. We were all in high spirits as we hoisted the sails to sail to tiny Ranguana Caye, 16 miles due east on the reef. Within the hour, the dark clouds moved in, the wind piped up to over 20 from the SOUTHEAST (this was NOT in the forecast!). Hmmm .. there's no protection from waves from any direction but northeast at Ranguana. Southeast is totally exposed to the open ocean. So we turned around and made the most of a great sail back to Placencia, anchored and immediately went for italian gelato (Tutti Frutti had been closed when they arrived on Wednesday). YUM! Upon returning to Winterlude, we watched as a HUGE yacht anchored so close behind us that we could watch their big screen TV withoout binoculars! Aly did some research online after returning to Atlanta and discovered that "Ocean Victory" was built in 2008. She reports that "you will be happy to know that they have onboard several ammenities that you (meaning us on Winterlude), sadly, do not. Here's what you get if you have a yacht that size:

"A dedicated twelve-person cinema
Dining facilities on the outside decks for 32 people
A health club with gymnasium, sauna, hamam/steam room, massage room, and a
giant 'beach' platform
Contra flow swimming pool on the sundeck warms up from 20C/68F degrees to
38C/100F degrees in just half an hour.
Giant lazarette houses three tenders and three water scooters.

The interior accommodates fourteen people in the highest degree of comfort and style with 15 crew members. The owner's stateroom incorporates a bedroom, two bathrooms, two dressing rooms and a separate office. There are three lounges onboard *Ocean Victory* and six guest suites."

Do you think Aly was imagining visiting a boat where you don't having to take a sunshower in the cockpit? Oh well, what fun would it be to have a yacht like that? .... :) :) :)

Friday morning dawned gray and by the time I had finished being the net controller for the Northwest Caribbean Net, it was pouring rain... luckily just a brief tropical monsoon after which we tried again to sail to Ranguana. By this time we had dubbed ourselves Stormchasers .. unwillingly, but it seemed we had a perpetual black squall cloud hovering over us! A three hour motorsail and the dolphin ballet later, we were nearing Ranguana -- only to see several boats in the tiny anchorage with no room for more -- so we sailed on to the Queen Cayes, part of a national park. We had never visited the Queen Cayes and they are beautiful. The cruising guide states "Three truly beautiful cays stand out like emerald jewels on isolated patch reefs a mile inside the barrier reef south of Queen Cay Pass. These tiny barrier reef isles are surrounded by gleaming white beaches, breath-taking reefs, and fabulous water colors." ... and all of this is true. Ironically, they don't tell you that the prettiest of the "isles" has a GIANT outhouse build on it for daytrip snorkelers. The outhouse is almost as big as the entire island! What a waste!! :) :) :) Exploring the islands, we found evidence of daytrippers, but also lots of various sized hermit crabs to entertain us! After a bouncy night in paradise with little sleep, we FINALLY got to get in the water! Aly is expecting and grandson Sprout's first snorkel wasn't in the typical clear Belizean reef water since the weather had the sand all churned up, but the limited visibility didn't deter his dad, Dan, from shooting his first edible fish with David's speargun! Three of us enjoyed blackened snapper as an appetizer that night! Aly and Sprout opted out and missed the delectible taste!

Unfortunately, their visit was too short and we had to sail back to Placencia ... and once again the stormchaser clouds caught us and kicked up the wind to over 20 knots and Winterlude surfed in the tiny cut between beaches. Inside the wind direction made for a rolly anchorage and we had a second consecutive night of little sleep - first the boat rolled from side to side and then seconds later would hobbyhorse up and down.

Sunday morning dawned sunny ... of course! After 4 full days of literally only 4 hours of sun - unluckily Aly did manage to get a sunburn - painful, I think, but at least everyone back home knows she went somewhere tropical! Before their flight, we all enjoyed the barefoot beach ambiance of the Cozy Corner Beach Bar for brunch. Dan, David & I braved a traditional Belizean "fry jack" -- which turned out to be omelet-like with eggs, cheese, bacon and ham all wrapped in a toasty puffy tortilla shell and literally half the size of our large plates! I imagined it being greasy which is why I'd never been brave enough to try one before, but it was melt in my mouth delicious. Aly tried the banana pancakes which were light and fluffy. Probably a good thing we're leaving Placencia tomorrow, sailing north with no plans to ever return .... I'll really miss that Tutti Frutti's gelato, but I DO have the t-shirt! :)

After brunch, a quick stop to buy some Belizean "Squash" - orange and pineapple - for Aly to take home, then a final gelato and all too soon they were boarding the tiny Maya Island Air flight and their whirlwind visit was over.

Determined to get as much reef/snorkel/spearfish time in as possible in the short couple of weeks Winterlude has left in Belize, we re-provisioned quickly and left Placencia the next morning. Snorkeling was OK at Whippari Caye, but we both wanted to get back to the reef and the crystal clear water, so the next morning we upped anchor and had the rousing rocketship sail of our lives! Winterlude was sailing under a single reefed main and jib, doing over 7 knots (hull speed is 6.2) in flat waters behind the reef! Sailing just doesn't get better than this! We had planned on stopping at two different islands along the way, but it was such a fun sail that both of us were reluctant to give it up ... which accidentally puts us 45 miles closer to Florida, in the Bluefield Range just south of Belize City.

Bluefield Range has special sentimental value for us since anchored here in 2005 was the first time we met our good friends Doug and Rayene on s/v Kristiana. They invited us to ride along on Kristiana out to the reef (something that at the time we thought was CRAZY with all the coral to dodge). We snorkeled - some of the best snorkeling David or I had ever done and it was the first time we'd ever seen anyone spearfishing. After watching Doug, David just had to have a speargun. That night we tasted our first hogfish, courtesy of Doug's spearfishing prowess and quickly had a new favorite fish!

Unfortunately Kristiana sailed to the Bay Islands of Honduras to catch up with friends from Montana, so now in 2010 Winterlude shares the clear blue waters of the anchorage with the resident playful manatees - who I'm going to snorkel with and try and get photos soon - and friends Glenda and Mike from s/v Moonslipper.

Anchored now sitting out unsettled weather in the Drowned Cayes off Belize City, we're waiting for weather to go to Caye Caulker, refuel and reprovision, then on the San Pedro on Ambergris Caye Belize ... the furthest north point to check out of the country ... and then on to a two day, two night overnight sail to Isla Mujeres Mexico. We're waiting for a forecast of light easterly winds (8-12 forecast - and you always have to add five to any forecast for what you actually get out on the deep blue sea) and calm seas. Chris Parker - the cruiser's weather guru - tells us we have another cold front Wednesday and then another on Monday the 22nd after which there may be an extended period of settled weather with light easterlies ... keep your fingers crossed for us!

Fair winds & following seas!

Jan & David
s/v Winterlude

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

So Many Islands, So Little Time... March 1, 2010 Winterlude Update

2010-02-28T08:19:00.000-08:00

.. so many islands, so little time ... March 1, 2010 Winterlude Update...... Sitting in the cockpit this morning after the 15th cold front of the season, sipping coffee, watching dolphins play - we made the "official decision, or as "official" as cruising plans can ever be: Winterlude is returning to the USA after being away for six years! Sometime in May 2010, we will be back to Burnt Store Marina, Punta Gorda, Florida where we'll do a refit on the boat- so many things need fixing or replacing, primarily our leaky canvas! - and get ready for whatever we decide whereever our next adventure in cruising might take us - we haven't explored the southern Bahamas, the south coast of Cuba is still high on our list and who knows about the Eastern Caribbean, US Virgin Island or ???! (HEY NICK - if you read this, we'll be in the slip, D-12, just across the dock from War Dept - we'll look forward to harassing you once again!)

It seems forever and yet no time since we left Shelter Bay Marina in Colon Panama in late October... just in time to sail 3 days to arrive in the tiny island jewel of Providencia, Columbia to hide from Hurricane Ida which formed just to our south and collided with the Nicaraguan coast 120 miles to our west ... closer than we wanted to be to a hurricane! As has become typical of this winter cruising season, the winds were never ideal for our 5 day passage to Port Royal, Roatan, but we made it the very day of our friend Doug's on Serendipity birthday party on November 20. Our "plan" at that time was to sail north from the Bay Islands, another 4 day passage to the south coast of Cuba with Kristiana. We were all ready, have all the cruising guides, all the charts, everything we needed ... except a desire to do yet another multi-day passage across open ocean. David & I were tired, our wind generator and diesel salt water pump needed fixing and our friends Doug & Rayene on Kristiana didn't seem motivated to go on to Cuba right then either... so we sailed to Belize! As cruising plans go, so far this winter has not followed any of our plans ... flexible is important in this cruising lifestyle!

For the past two weeks we've been soaking up Belizean islands! Despite the fact that we've spent many months here in years past, there are many areas we have never explored ... each different than the others!
Our objective this two weeks was to find reefs and areas within maximum half day sail of Placencia. Daughter Aly & husband Dan are coming to visit next week, but only for a long weekend. We're hoping to get them out to a reef island for some snorkeling, spearfishing and generally soaking up Belizean clear waters and sunshine!

In our quest for new island destinations, we navigated through coral reef strewn waters to reach Ranguana Caye. Ironically despite the fact that Ranguana is perched on the edge of the reef just north of the half mile wide cut we sail through every time we overnight from Belize to the Bay Islands, we've never stopped at the tiny island! Anchoring at Ranguana feels like being anchored on the end of the world! There's a tiny ideallic island in front of the boat (hopefully) and NOTHING else in sight except the bluest of ocean waters! The island spans a white sand beach over seven different shades of clear waters at the eastern tip to three wooden traditional Belizean rooms on stilts finally ending at the western end where palm trees mix with mangroves, providing an ideal location for the brown booby birds and frigate birds soaring overhead. The downside to the end of the earth paradise is that any swell from any direction comes in the open reef cut, making our boat roll sometimes in contrast to the wind, which can make for a bumpy night. Weather only gave us one night's respite this far out, but we explored six or seven different reef areas that afternoon and the next morning, including the cut itself and David brought home a red snapper for dinner.

The stars and evening were spectacular, dark dark dark, David was sitting in the cockpit reading and I was below when he was startled by a monstrous boat shuddering BOOM - WHAT WAS THAT??? We looked expectantly at the eastern horizon expecting to see an oil tanker in flames or something equally as disturbing, but nothing happened. David theorized that it was another devastating earthquake at sea and overnight we'd probably get a huge tsunami.... THX David, for keeping me awake worrying most of the night! The next morning on the SSB net, we heard that the Space Shuttle Endeavour broke the sound barrier just east of us on its way back to a successful landing at Cape Canaveral, Florida. A boat underway north to Isla Mujeres, Mexico reported seeing it streak brightly through the sky about the same time we heard the sonic boom. If we'd known it was landing, we'd have been watching - like when we were lucky enough to see the International Space Station streak through the sky earlier this winter!

Leaving Ranguana, we sailed back through the minefield waters thinking we'd check out Rendezvous Caye - a rare east west oriented caye shaped like a dogbone that supposedly has a good north anchorage protected from south winds and an adequate south anchorage protected from north winds. Upon approach, we spotted serious construction equipment -- a dredging barge piled with sand sat in the middle of the northern anchorage - not a good omen in an anchorage large enough for just one boat! The entire island appears to being redone as a very exclusive resort..... hmmm... time to look for an alternative anchorage! As we sailed on west, a helicopter whumped whumped directly overhead - a rare sight in southern Belize - and landed on the island! We hightailed it on back to South Long Coco Caye and picked up a mooring ball just at sunset - you never want to be out moving around in coral reef waters that late in the day because you can't see what you're about to hit until you hit it, but the unexpected surprise at Rendezvous Caye left us with fewer options! Not good planning on my part, it's always good to have an extra couple of hours before sunset just in case the unexpected happens! So after anchoring, I did the only thing I could do ... I jumped into the crystal waters for a sunset swim!

The next island, Whippari Caye, is on the inner reef and has somewhat turbid, cloudy water for snorkeling, but it has the advantage of being a 2 1/2 hour sail from Placencia! Immediately upon getting in the water over a soft coral reef and huge dramatic wall drop off, I spotted my favorite fish, a porcupine fish - the largest one I've ever seen and out swimming around the wall! Spotted with oversize, SAD puppydog eyes ... who could fail to love a porcupine fish! :) Mostly they hide in coral openings and you rarely see anything except their head and eyes. Unfortunately, the water clarity was as described, so not good, but good enough for David to invite a spanish mackerel to dinner, so even though the soft coral wall had no hard coral, not as many colorful reef fish and not good visibility, it was a successful venture. Earlier there had been a commercial snorkeling trip boat anchored just south of us, so we dinghied over to check out their spot on the reef ... we always wonder what they're looking at! And in this case it was a nice size patch of "real" coral with some nice colorful fishies ... also a pack of oversized barracuda, but they didn't seem too interested in us - luckily David's spanish mackerel was safely in the bucket in the dinghy. I did notice that despite the fact that he chased several large dog snapper in & out of coral heads, he didn't shoot one ... maybe the hovering ominous silvery barracuda persuaded him it wasn't a good idea!

Exploring this area, we came across what looked like a "garden" framework to grow coral. There were various coral species "planted" that looked like they were growing within a wire and rope framework. Neither of us had ever seen such a thing .... it was maybe a 20 feet square with separate "plots" growing staghorn coral, elkhorn coral, finger, brain and pillar corals. All were small, but looked healthy. So OK, what IS this??? Later we found out that a year ago, six coral nurseries were set up around Placencia with funding from the World Bank and Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre - the corals being grown are listed as "critically endangered" .. only one small step away from being "extinct in the wild". These corals have decreased by 98% in the last 30 years due primarily to climate change, increased frequency of storms, bleaching due to sea temperatures rising and diseases. Laughing Bird Caye is the first target where they want to "replant" the coral using the coral from the coral garden experiments. Laughing Bird is a national park, but we noted when Billy was here 4 years ago that most of the coral was dead - the rangers told us it was from Hurricane Mitch (1998) and Iris (2001), but we suspect that over 10,000 tourist snorkelers annually haven't helped the situation. Overall a great idea, we hope it works and the coral can be restored!

Now back in Placencia ... waiting out the 2nd of 3 cold fronts in a week's time ... hoping this one will be a little less intense than the last which packed winds of 50 knots -- you can't believe the NOISE that kind of wind makes whistling through a boat's rigging! Let alone the hard sway and heel of the hull as the wind catches and throws us from side to side dancing around our trusty anchor. We had two anchors down and had no trouble, knock on wood! This time we've reanchored back in the lagoon with only one other boat where we hope we'll have less wave action and roll, although we're a bit more exposed to the wind. Out front in the main anchorage, there are close to 30 boats, and not all anchor as securely as one would prefer. One boat came sailing in just about the time the 50 knot front hit, anchored dropping a bit of chain and rode in front of all the other boats that spent considerable time and effort getting 2 anchors set and ready for the storm ... never a popular thing, luckily they stayed put. Around the Northwest Caribbean, anchorages reported boats dragging during the night, boats on beaches, boats on reefs ... but luckily here in Placencia everyone behaved and despite a couple of boats dragging, there were no problems. Sadly, we heard on the net that the tiny fishing community in Isla Holbox Mexico -- just two islands north of Isla Mujeres, had 80 knot winds and water overran the entire island creating major destruction. Very sad.

Another day, walking the beach on the way back to the boat, we were delighted to stumble onto the "anybody can buy" wheelbarrow! Years ago when we were here, about 4 PM there was always a man pushing a wheelbarrow down the main thoroughfare in the village bellowing literally at the top of his lungs "anybody can buy, anybody can buy" -- he peddled warm coconut or cinnamon buns fresh out of his mother's oven. It was one of the highlights from our last visit that we missed this time, but times have changed. So imagine our delight when we came upon three adorable boys, probably ages six to eleven, struggling to push their heavily laden wheelbarrow through the sand along the harbor! Naturally, we bought warm bread ($2 belize per loaf which is $1 US and worth every dime) and then asked if they were the same family with the "anybody can buy" guy ... they seemed embarrassed and looked at the sand as they nodded affirmative but would not tell us how they were related. I suspect maybe the original "anybody can buy" man drank more than his family approved and who knows what happened to him, the boys didn't say and it didn't seem appropriate to push the conversation further in that direction. But in the meantime, we know they're out every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon at 4 PM with coconut and cinnamon bread right out of the oven and we'll make an effort to intercept them whenever we're here!

Unexpected pleasures sometimes abound in small out of the way places like Placencia Belize! Last night David, taking his normal shower in the cockpit, was surrounded by dolphins frolicking. I tease him about showering with the dolphins which he insists on calling porpoises even though he knows they're not! We also meet some very interesting characters ... like Bob, a singlehander on the sailboat "Fool". "Fool" is about a 28 foot sloop with no engine, a real sailboat. Bob's been waiting somewhat patiently for weather to sail north to Isla Mujeres. Unlike other cruisers, Bob's dinghy is an Opti sailboat and he has to heed wind direction even to get the dinghy to the dock and home again. But his draft is only 3 feet which allows him to have easily the best protected and closest anchor location in the lagoon. Bob always has a smile on his face and a tattered straw hat jauntily cockeyed on his head protecting him from the intense Belizean sunshine. It's so obvious that he's enjoying life and his boat that he always makes us smile.

There are some cruisers that eat out regularly - not easy in Belize because there are no restaurants on most of the deserted tiny isles, but we usually enjoy dinner in our cockpit at sunset. Plus it's just safer to be back aboard before dark, so we rarely go out in the evening - when we do eat out, it's generally a mid-afternoon spicy fried chicken treat at the Cozy Corner Beach Bar. But every now and then we stumble on something special! Friday at midday, a standing room only crowd gathers up the outside stairs of a nondescript pastel blue two story concrete house. The house is located next door to the ancient above ground cemetery and across the dusty street from the Hokey Pokey Water Taxi dock. These folks know one of Placencia's best kept secrets! Siripohn, a young Thai lady that operates the Thai massage shop, is a splendid cook and offers specialty Thai food - take out only. Only one day a week, only for lunch, Siripohn slaves over her hot stove preparing each meal individually while a half dozen hot sweaty people mill about her kitchen waiting, sometimes not so patiently, for their turn for the delicious spicy Thai cuisine. Siriphon prepares a fixed number of lunches and when they're gone, they're gone. There is no menu and only one selection - but there are always a number of disappointed folks that didn't manage to get there before the food runs out! Luckily, we've been twice and gotten food both times! Either calling ahead or going early seem to be the secrets! Yum!

Now off to finish boat chores, laundry and restocking the larder. Stay tuned, after Aly & Danny visit, we'll explore the northern island of Belize in March, then sail up the Yucatan coast of Mexico to Isla Mujeres and eventually on to the Florida Keys and the west coast of Florida!

Cheers, fair winds & following seas! Jan & David, anchored in Placencia Lagoon, 16 30.715N 88 22.741W

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Once Upon A Time... Central Belize... 2.15.2010

2010-02-20T15:28:00.000-08:00

Blue Ground Range, Belize... 2.17.2010 .... Once upon a time in the land of great winter snowstorms, snow and ice marched relentlessly across the continent reportedly invading 49 of 50 states simultaneously. Meanwhile, tropical vacationers seeking to break up their dreary winter with a breath of warm air and sunshine happily stuff sunscreen into their luggage in anticipation of a much needed vacation in the Caribbean.

We're not entirely sure, but we suspect that this winter may be the evil attitude of Sir El Nino, a devious weather maniac, who seems to have kidnapped our glorious tropical weather holding it hostage, allowing each and every winter storm to invade south to the Caribbean punishing all those happy vacationers with gray chilly weather, sometimes two and three times a week. I really feel sorry for those that have one week to vacation, wasting an entire week of precious vacation while Sir El Nino looks on and chuckles. And thus continues the saga of this winter's cruising season!

But for now, we just dropped anchor at the Blue Ground Range - a group of small islands or cayes - about 10 miles off the coast of mainland Belize, just inside the famous barrier reef - the sun popped through and the wind dropped -- all of a sudden it went from chilly to HOT -- there's a manatee playing around the boat and I must quit writing to go for a swim! The water is refreshingly chilly, but not chilly enough to drive me out of the water.

Alas ... the manatees disappeared, but the swim was fabulous - crystal clear blue water - bluer than turquoise because we're uncharacteristically anchored in over 30 feet of water (here in Belize, we're more often anchored in 7 feet than 30 feet!).

Without question, the highlight of Winterlude's past two weeks was sharing our cruising lifestyle with Susan, a Fleet 39 friend from the lake. Despite weather related challenges ... Susan was lucky enough to
experience not one, not two but three northers in her 10 day visit! There are only three anchorages in the south half of Belize that are protected from all around, necessary during a norther and Susan got to visit two of them! In Tobacco Range, a mangrove enclosed anchorage, we cheered the manatees swimming behind us and tortured (well I tortured, Susan watched) upside down mangrove jellyfish. We were "kayak snorkeling" ... only possible in totally clear shallow water where the bottom is easily visible ... we saw some fish, two small southern stingrays, lots of starfish and dozens upon dozens of upside down jellyfish. Of course, I had to show Susan how if you pick them up with a kayak paddle, they will swim off in search of someplace without me bugging them!

The norther came through -- usually the wind will be southeast and switch abruptly 180 degrees to northwest increasing to 20-25 and blowing stink for a day or so-- and once it was done, we sailed out to South Water Caye where we enjoyed snorkeling in the shallow water of the national park. It's always fun taking someone else snorkeling -- Susan was amazed at all the different kinds and colors of fish ... like being in an aquarium only better. Returning to the boat, we spent some time flipping through the reef fish identification guides trying to find which fish we saw. There are so many, it's difficult! Since it is a national park, David couldn't spearfish, so we enjoyed the rest of the frozen lobster tails David traded for my homemade ginger snap cookies. Lobster season is over now, too bad for Dan's visit in a couple of weeks.

Without any light intrusion, starry starry nights are stunning and luckily, we had a couple of nights that we could hang around in the hammock and watch the stars. David delighted in showing Susan the Southern Cross ... for the first time, as the song goes! :)

Hiding from the 2nd norther in Sapodilla Lagoon, Susan got to experience the phosphoresce that lights up everything in the water. It's strangely odd to see a catfish glow as it swims under the boat! Susan wasn't certain it was healthy. We didn't see the salt water crocodile while kayaking in the lagoon, but we scared something big (at least if you judge the size of the splash) out of the mangroves - Susan was more than happy to let it go and not go investigate whether it was really a croc. Meanwhile the kamikaze pelicans commanded our attention with their loud splash when they hit the water!

We finally got a great sail behind the reef out to Spruce Caye where we spent two days snorkeling, listening to Illini basketball on Sirius Satellite Radio and kayaking. Drifting in the kayaks while three dolphins frolicked around provided a mezmerizing half hour of pure entertainment, certainly a highlight not just of the past two weeks, but the entire winter so far! Of course, the more magical the experience, the less the chance of photos, so the only images are engraved in our minds.

Back to Placencia to hide for the third and final norther, we roamed the "narrowest main street in the world" ... i.e. the sidewalk that runs along the beach - there is no street, the narrow sidewalk IS the street, hence Placencia's claim to "fame". We had another chance to pick flavors of homemade italian gelato to pair ... my favorite is coconut and lime, David's favorite combo is caramel and strattichello (?) - an italian vanilla mixed with chocolate chunks, we're not sure, what Susan's favorite combo was... lots of people favor chocolate and caramel or peanut butter, or cappachino or ... We tried to eat at Melene's restaurant, but Melene was gone for a Valentine's weekend trip and didn't return at least two days after she was supposed to return ... so no cook, no food served! So we substituted Cozy Corner, the food might not have been as good, but the location right on the beach with picnic tables is hard to beat!

Escorting Susan to the airport, we were in for one more surprise! I had NO idea that Susan was a pilot, but as the plane taxied past, her smiling face peered down at us from the copilot's window! She told us later that she successfully piloted the plane to a stop in Dangriga and on to Belize City.

We remained in Placencia for a few more day, getting laundry done, eating more gelato, buying veggies from the David Perez veggie stand and getting ready to head out to the reef for 10 days or so before Aly & Danny come visit in early March!

THANKS Susan for visiting, we enjoyed every minute!

Cheers! Jan & David, anchored at South Long Cocoa Caye, Belize

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Placencia Belize 2.15.2010 Update

2010-02-16T16:28:00.001-08:00

Hi all! The 2.15.2010 update will be a couple days late .... we're having too much fun with friend Susan visiting & I haven't had a chance to write anything yet. But rest assured, I won't forget later! :)

J&D, s/v Winterlude, anchored Placencia Belize 16 30.609N 88 22.070W

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Winterlude Update: Southern Long Caye, Belize

2010-01-30T14:24:00.000-08:00

January 30, 2010 ... Southern Long Caye, Belize

Hello to all! Winterlude is anchored at Southern Long Caye in central Belize - just inshore

from Glory Cut (an opening in the reef allowing access to the outer atolls) on the main reef

that stretches the length of the country. We love Southern Long Caye -- it offers the

advantage of being close to the reef allowing great snorkeling and for David, spearfishing,

but also the advantage of being tucked behind an island when the wind howls for days on end.

It's a couple miles long so when the wind howls, the kayaking and inshore

snorkeling/exploring is excellent. Unfortunately it's a mangrove island, so there's only

the tiniest beach, but it's big enough to allow us to burn & then bury trash.

The first time we anchored here, we used waypoints from friends on Windfree, another

cruising boat, to warily work our way from the north side to the south side to anchor from

the northwest winds. It's very shallow with sporatic coral heads rising almost to the

surface and makes for a tedious couple of miles, but well worth it. When we rounded the

corner and saw the big neon swimmming pool blue spots that indicate all white sand bottom,

by far the best anchoring, we were pleasantly rewarded. After dropping our anchor in one of

the huge swimming pool spots, David was standing on the bow as he always does, watching the

anchor & chain and making sure we're not going anywhere. As I wandered up to take a look

around, he's gesturing toward the water. In 7 feet of crystal clear water, it was very easy

to see a rotten log with huge lobster tentacles sticking out all the way around! Turned out

we had anchored almost right on top of a lobster condo -- the fishermen call places the

lobsters congregate, lobster condos. As it was late in the day, we figure the lobsters

won't be moving from their condo overnight, so we leave them in peace and jump in the dinghy

to explore. Seeing 3 eagle rays in the clear water under the dinghy, we figure this island

has big potential and we haven't even snorkeled the reef cut yet! Unfortunately when we

woke up the following morning, the wind had switched to out of the south and the chop was

making the boat bounce around, so up the anchor came and Winterlude wandered back around to

the north side of the island to once again enjoy flat water for anchoring. Doubly

unfortunately, the lobster condo escaped for yet another day!

There are actually 2 cuts in the reef at Glory Cut. Once upon a time, before Hurricane

Hattie in 1956 submerged it, there actually was a Glory Caye- as in real island. Now it's

just the shallow spot between two deeper cuts through the reef. The northern cut is the one

we use when we go in & out - it's narrower, but there's deep blue water through the center

and bright white breaking water on both sides, making it easy to see in most sea conditions.

The southern pass is full of coral heads and we chose the north side to snorkel. We were

not disappointed - there is more healthy staghorn and elkhorn coral here than we've seen

since we rounded the corner at the remote Vivorillos Cayes on the far corner of Honduras

headed to Panama! WOW! David wants to check out the south side of the northern cut, so

after an hour or so, we hop back in the dinghy & head down the reef. In the shallow coral

heads and sand behind the reef cut, David finds not one but two medium size hogfish to

invite to dinner (i.e. spearfish) and we didn't have to worry about what's for dinner that

night! Hogfish is my favorite, so we were happy to have some for dinner and enough to

freeze for another night! After snorkeling and about 15 minutes after cleaning the hogfish,

a lone pelican swoops down beside Winterlude and establishes himself as our guardian

pelican! He swam around and around the boat every watchful. We weren't sure what we were

being guarded FROM, but he was very diligent at his job. I'm guessing he arrived a few

minutes late for the fish cleaning and was hopeful we'd have more. In these islands there

is nothing to do with trash and therefore, they encourage everyone to throw anything that

will decompose overboard. After I finished my grapefruit half, I threw the rind overboard.

I didn't realize a heavy clumsy pelican could move so fast -- or that they were adept at

juggling, but that pelican swooped in, grabbed my grapefruit rind in mid-air and juggled it

in his big beak long enough to figure out it was NOT a fish and that apparently it was not
his idea of haute cuisine! He spit it out faster than he caught and juggled it! The crew

on Winterlude got a good chuckle out of his antics, but he remained with us, always on guard

for the rest of the afternoon.

Watching the gorgeous sun set over the mainland Belizean mountains across the inner channel

that evening, a Belizean fishing boat rounded the tip of the caye and dropped anchor. Given

all the advantages, it's not surprising that the Belizean fishing boats use Southern Long

Caye extensively as a hideout when they don't anchor right behind the reef. Shortly

afterward, they were back underway headed right for Winterlude! As they drew closer, they

politely asked if we could charge a battery. David answered yes and they skillfully pulled

right alongside Winterlude to hand off the battery, all without bumping our boat -- the San

Blas Kuna could use some lessons from these guys! The name of the boat was Vision. It's

white, about 24 feet long, has a gaff (?) style rig - one huge sail and a tiny jib. The

boom hangs over the back of the boat several feet. But the most distinctive thing about a

traditional Belizean fishing vessel is the wooden cayucos piled on the deck. This one has 5

stacked on each side deck, carefully tied down with dilapidated lines. There are 12

(TWELVE) men aboard -- keep in mind, about 24 feet with 5 10 foot cayucos stacked on each

side deck. During the day, the main sailboat drops off the 10 fishermen upwind or upcurrent

and anchors a couple miles down the reef. Each fisherman gets in his little cayuco and

paddles to wherever he wants to start. Jumping out of the cayucos while still firmly on,

each fisherman begins to spearfish for grouper and collect lobster while drifting back

toward the main boat. As their boats fill up, they transition the catch to the main boat

and start over. Vision anchored too close to Winterlude that night - I guess they were

protecting their battery which David said would take overnight to charge. In reality it

took about 3 hours, but by then it was late. They had already rigged the yellow tarp over

the boom that serves as their living quarters and hung two hammocks under the boom. I'm

guessing the guys that are lucky enough to get the two hammocks have the best sleeping

conditions in the boat! They laughed & chatted through dinner - a musical lilting creole

english that's mostly unintelligible drifting over a few feet of water. After dinner they

retired early, ready for another long day of fishing the next morning. Taking their charged

battery back early the next morning, David found out that they fish for 9 days and then

return to their homes for a few days before setting out again.
Imagine living in those conditions for 9 straight days! They were enjoying a hot breakfast

though - spicy fried chicken and homemade warm tortillas - I tried to get our friend Doug a

fishing job on their boat since he enjoys his fried chicken so much, but they didn't need

any more help! For charging the battery, they rewarded David with two HUGE grouper filets

from their icechest. They made 4 dinners for the crew on Winterlude and we appreciated them

every time we enjoyed that grouper!

Swimming out to check the anchor a few days later, I attracted a remora -- the only fish I

saw in the entire area. Another name for remora is shark sucker and he kept trying to

attach to my dive fin (they regularly attach to sharks and other fish via a suction ring on

the top of their heads). Every time I kicked harder to keep him off, David laughed harder

standing on the bow watching the entire scene. This six inch remora chased me round and

round the boat and I finally gave up and climbed back in the dinghy! That night another

Belizean fishing boat approached us looking for a piece of line to replace one that they

lost to tie their cayucos down and something sweet. David traded them the rest of my

homemade ginger snaps and a piece of line for six lobster tails. Those were the only

homemade cookies I'd made all winter ... just because HE's not wild about ginger snaps! See

if he gets any more cookies! But the lobster tails were delicious and we still have some

in our freezer waiting for Susan to come visit ... if they last that long! :)

Friday January 22nd was a day for Belizean history -- just after dawn dense FOG rolled in

until we couldn't see the island we were anchored behind! Locals said that they hadn't seen

fog in at least 8-10 years! Fog in the Caribbean, go figure. The wind switched to the

northwest (from southeast) forcing us to reanchor on the other side of Southern Long Caye or

Winterlude would be banging on the little coral heads just inshore from where we were

anchored! I was finishing up the Northwest Caribbean net as the morning net controller and

David was getting more and more insistent that I hurry up. As I stuck my head up into the

cockpit to find out why he was in such a tizzy, he started the diesel and said, we have to

go NOW -- or be aground on those little coral heads. A short while later, safely reanchored

in a swimming pool blue sand patch on the other side of the island, we hoped the fog would

burn off so we could take the dinghy and pioneer a path through the coral heads to Columbus

Cay and Cross Cay 4 to 5 miles south rather than take the long way around through the

channel. We took the GPS and the dinghy and wove our way through. The water was so clear,

just riding in the dinghy was almost as good as snorkeling! David spotted a huge shadow

that we thought was a coral head until it moved -- turned out to be the biggest sea turtle

either of us had ever seen, and in only about 8 feet of crystal clear water! I wish we

could predict when things like that are going to happen so I could have had my camera ready!

Good thing we blazed the path because the next morning the wind switched to the south and

was forecast to come from every direction - we used it to wind Winterlude through the coral

south to Tobacco Range. There were a few tense moments when halfway up the mast with the

headphones on I yelled to David -- HARD to PORT NOW!!! -- to avoid a coral head that had

looked like another patch of dark grass until the last moment. But we arrived in Tobacco

Range with our rudder intact, so it was another successful voyage!

It's that time again when end of the month maintenance chores intrude on our normal daily

activities. Winterlude has a list of 13 chores that must be done each month - things like

topping off the battery water, reading the battery levels, checking the oil, topping off

transmission fluid since we're leaking transmission fluid, lubricating all the locks so they

don't rust shut, and so on. When we first started cruising, we read somewhere, that every

time we do a maintenance chore, there's an imaginary chit put in our imaginary black box.

If you accumulate enough imaginary chits, you avoid things going wrong. We're always

looking to add chits to our black box!

That's it for this update! Fair winds & following seas to you all and lest we forget, GO

COLTS!!! :)

Cheers! Jan & David, anchored at Southern Long Caye again, 17 05.363 N 088 02.898 W

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Winterlude Update 1.15.2010 ... Sapodilla Lagoon, Belize

2010-01-15T08:02:00.000-08:00

Winterlude ... January 15, 2010 ... Sapodilla Lagoon, Belize

Sapodilla Lagoon, Belize ... I feel so sorry for all the tourists that used precious

vacation days looking forward to some great diving and snorkeling in Belize this January.

The Caribbean hasn't escaped the weird weather systems that have been haunting the U.S.

Mind you, it isn't freezing, but in Belize 60 degrees is a big deal! Guest house owners

were standing in line buying extra blankets at the hardware store in Placencia ... all their

guests were complaining. There's no need for heat, or a/c in most of the little guest

cottages in the beach! But the sun didn't shine for the first 15 days of the year, at least

not more than an hour or two ducking between clouds, the skies were gunmetal gray .. and

sometimes yellow or greenish. Rayene said that if they had skies this color in Montana, it

meant hail. The weird skies in Illinois would usually signal a tornado watch. But luckily

in Belize, they just meant lots of wind from very strange directions. Belize is blessed

with lots of little islands and a reef running almost the length of the country -- but the

reef and islands lie north and south. The usual weather pattern here is tradewinds from the

east and in settled conditions, it's wonderful anchoring behind all the little cayes or just

the reef itself. The snorkeling and diving can be superb. But not with winds from the west

or south! Tourists are complaining that the visibility for diving is almost nil, there's no

sun, it's too chilly to sit out at the beach ... on & on. Luckily for us, Winterlude is

not a tourist with only 7 days of vacation time! We get the simple pleasure of living here

for 3 or 4 months and according to Chris Parker, the weather pattern is about to change for

the better ... something about the jet stream moving to it's usual location. So one more

cold front tomorrow night and then the forecast is calling for "settled weather" ...

something we haven't seen in a forecast this winter!

So while we're finding places to hide from westerly and southerly winds, we've had a blast!

Once we accepted the fact that we can't go snorkeling, fishing and anchor in our favorite

spots, we've adventured into places and done things that we've never had the chance because

we were too busy snorkeling and fishing!

Yesterday, anchored in Sapodilla Lagoon - a totally enclosed mangrove lagoon on the mainland

Belize - we dinghied out the Z shaped narrow entrance, determined to see if there was a

mangrove creek that would allow us to get to the Sittee River, famed for it's wildlife and

especially birds. Lucky for us there were a couple of local fisherman anchored in their

panga just off the beach... they told us that yes, there is a passage, a mangrove creek into

a mangrove lagoon, then another mangrove creek into the Sittee River. They also told us

they could be difficult to find, we'd just have to dinghy along the shoreline slowly until

we found the creeks. So off we went. The first mangrove creek turned out to be wide and

deep surrounded by thousands of tangles of mangrove roots and no solid land. When we

reached the main lagoon, we were both wishing for a skiboat and a slalom ski - we don't see

water that glassy flat very often even on the lake! Luckily, there were no noseeems! We

surveyed the far shore twice before finding the tiny mangrove cut through to the Sittee

River, but we finally triumphed. The bigger challenge was remembering where the disguised

cut might be on our way back along the riverbank! All the palms, mangroves and river

foliage looked the same! Heading upriver, we rounded the first bend to find the Sittee

River Marina, complete with modern gas pumps and road access! While this might not seem

unusual in the rural U.S., let me assure you, it was no small feat to build this little

marina. The marina was for fishing boats, mostly small pangas, but we could buy gas to

further our explorations, except for the fact that this trip we'd neglected to bring any

cash ... not expecting there would be anywhere to spend it! :)

Just past the marina and a few sparsely scattered houses, we saw two toucans with

brilliantly colored beaks perched on, of all things, an electric line. Darn, we want to

watch nature and nature wants to perch on an electric line amongst all this gorgeous jungle!

Further upriver, we saw lots of birds, mostly fairly common, and decided to turn around

and head back toward the mouth of the river and the tiny lighthouse. We saw lots of

pelicans doing their kamikaze thing .. the pelican plunge. Reflecting on their ungainly

plunging bodies, we remember that fish don't stay still underwater. Trying to get a photo

.. or worse, David trying to shoot his speargun, fish are a constantly moving target.

Pelicans must have amazing eyesight to see a fish from the heights they plunge ... and not

break their skinny necks and actually come up with a moving fish ... pelicans just get more

& more amazing!

After exploring the mouth of the river, during which we determined that even though it would

be a great place to anchor Winterlude, the 4' sandbar across the mouth didn't seem to have a

deep enough channel to allow us entrance, we decided we'd better head back. Our 3 gallon

gas tank was emptying quickly and we really didn't want to paddle back.

We located the elusive mangrove cut, flew through the lagoon and were planing through the

wide mangrove creek entrance when all of a sudden, I yelled "STOP"! David cut the throttle

just in time for us to drift by an immense endangered saltwater crocodile. On another day I

would say he was sunning himself, but there was no sun, so he was just sitting along the

side of the mangroves grinning. At this point, I didn't consider that maybe WE were the

ones endangered instead of him, but David, always the more conservative, reminded me to GET

THE PHOTO AND LET'S GET OUT OF HERE before his grin decides to chomp itself into our rubber

blow up tubes on our dinghy and see if WE taste like chicken! :) The photos show that

he was at least 8-10 feet long, possibly as long as 12'! BIG CROC! David decided it was

a good thing we didn't spot him, just inside the entrance to our big adventure because it

might have ended abruptly!

On the way back, we stopped at the little beach where there was a long dock. The telephone

poles used as posts had rotted away to tiny spindles at the waterline and we debated on

whether to use the dock or to pull the dinghy up on the beach. The dock won and we safely

explored the beach which turned out to be the front for the housing development that's been

under construction for many years ... ever since we first visited in 2005! So far there's

been little progress or alot of progress, depending on how you look at it. The area is

mangrove swamp, so they're filling in solid land areas, and have even dredged a marina area!
Nothing other than sand and dredged areas, other than a lookout tower they built to show

prospective homeowners the view that they'd have ... which wasn't all that good, but it did

provide a great area for a walk. Rayene and I were both looking for somewhere to take a

walk!

This entire trip wouldn't normally be possible because the seas wouldn't allow us to take

the dinghy the two miles or so to the entrance to the mangrove creek or past the little

beach, so, it was unexplored territory and a highlight of our winter so far. David says the

highlight is that we DID NOT get eaten by that croc, but what does he know! :)

Other than that, we enjoyed a great moroccan dinner with E Squared Motion ... cruisers tend

to have interesting hobbies, and Mark & Liz's hobby was Moroccan cooking as well as bottling

their own NINETY bottles of wine aboard! 90 bottles, and their boat was about the same

size as Winterlude. They originated in northern Minnesota and brought the boat down to

Mobile Alabama and then all the way to Belize, so they had some fun stories about the trip.

David has been enjoying the new Sirius satellite radio antenna we brought back with us .. we

can actually listen to alot of the sporting events he's been missing! Even the Illini

basketball team from time to time. But we don't have a speaker in the cockpit and he'd

really like one now that we actually have something he wants to listen to! While we were

in Placencia, we paid a visit to John the Bakerman ... you can't buy bread in Placencia,

just homemade stuff and John the Bakerman makes pretty good bread - they don't put any salt

in it, so the flavor in bread in Belize is lacking, but that's just my editorial comment.

Anyway, we bought some cinnamon rolls and on the way back the sand path that actually has a

street sign at the end - newly installed - David wandered into some guys house that had an

open door and a jillion old electronic parts lying about - outside as well as inside. He

explained that he was looking for a speaker and the guy dismantled a speaker, removed the

guts, rigged it up and tested it so David would know that it worked and sold it to him for

$5. During the process, I wanted at the end of the "street". It took so long I was

beginning to wonder if he'd been kidnapped and if I should go back to find him. Reluctantly

I decided that if I wandered back they might kidnap me too, so I should stay put. :) I'm

kidding, Placencia seems perfectly safe and the people are so nice, but it did take forever

for David to re-emerge from his electronics adventure. The speaker was old and heavy, but

David bought some speaker wire at the hardware store and voila! We now have a cockpit

speaker ... he has to hook up the wires every time he uses it, it can't stay out in the

cockpit because it might get wet, but we can listen to the Illini in the cockpit ... when

Sirius decides to carry the game! :)

Oh, one more big adventure, we visited a new vegetable stand in Placencia and the oriental

man, David, that owns it has the most interesting selection of vegetables. There are green

bell peppers ... and translucent white ones and even BRIGHT PURPLE bell peppers -- we

haven't tried those yet, but they certainly are interesting! We have, however, tried a

Chinese Radish. My Dad would LOVE a Chinese Radish. He loves radishes, and usually they're

small red round globes. But Chinese Radishes are a bit like the hot red radish and they're

shaped like white carrots! Whoever heard of a WHITE carrot! But we bought some, I peeled

them and chopped them up into carrot sticks, except they're white. And they make the best

snack! YUM! Plus they keep as well as carrots, so they're a big hit on Winterlude right

now!

OK, that's about it for this update. I can hear David & Doug returning from their early

morning dinghy trip to "run the trap lines" ... Doug got the great idea to run a grouper

line ... like David & his dad used to run trout lines. Who knows if they caught anything,

but it was yet another type of fishing!

Until the next update, we are enjoying Belize and looking forward to our friend, Susan,

visiting in early February! BTW, for those that know the destination we were hoping to

visit, but haven't made it and probably won't ... that island has had REALLY chilly

weather... I guess that's because it's further north that Belize!

Cheers! Jan & David, s/v Winterlude, 16 46.727N, 88 18.138W

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

HAPPY NEW YEAR from Winterlude!

2009-12-30T13:45:00.000-08:00

Oh, the weather outside is frightful.... not really, compared to all the ice & snow in the Midwest but why is it I'm surprised EVERY year when the weather in December stinks? We even said we weren't going back to the boat this year until the weather improved, but here we are. On the other hand, I'm not sure why we dread "wasting" time in mangrove protected storm anchorages ... I guess we'd rather be out on the reef in crystal clear swimming pool water snorkeling over colorful pretty fish. But mangrove anchorages have their own advantages beyond flat water and 360 degree protection from nasty northers where the wind switches 180 degrees hard - inevitably in the pitch dark. A week or so ago, we paddled the kayaks upwind and drifted downwind again and again, watching the bogue's resident manatee. We watched a dolphin seemingly in a feeding frenzy, little fishies jumping everywhere. Then the ugliest biggest jellyfish in the Caribbean, the stinging Cauliflower, swam up to take a look at us before swimming off upstream trailing his cloud of ugly streaming jellyfish nastiness behind him. Paddling up and down all the mangrove creeks, we were amazed at the literally thousands of entangled mangrove roots, all reaching down to the iced tea colored waters and the the tiny scurrying crabs running up and down. We startled the birds - the soaring American White Ibis with its brilliant white coat, elegant black tipped wings and bright red beak and legs crawked letting us know it's displeasure. An entire flock of pelicans took to the air right over me, making me wonder if I was about to experience yet another "crappy" incident, but no fear, no problem this day.

One creek opened into a huge hidden lagoon - we paddled about halfway across and then hurried back to find the creek that would take us back to where Winterlude was anchored ... the maze can easily become disorienting and we didn't want to be lost all night! Later the wind completely died ... not a good thing surrounded by mangroves ... David reminded me that this was the scene of our being held hostage by noseeems, the first year we were cruising. The bugs in the mangroves can be vengeful, but luckily this time, they must have been busy bothering something else.

After hiding from the norther that wasn't for 2 nights (no bad weather as expected), we ventured out the main shipping channel for Belize City and sailed out to Turneffe, one of the three atolls offshore Belize - the three Belize atolls represent 3 of the 4 in the Caribbean, the rest are all in the South Pacific! Turneffe is usually used as a hidey hole for bad weather or a stopover on the way to Lighthouse Reef, but with the wind from the west, we were hoping to snorkel and fish on the east side - with the normal easterly tradewinds, most people never see these reefs. Unfortunately, the weather decided to pipe up to blowing over 30, the holding in the lagoon where we were anchored was grass, not good, and for the first time in over 5 years, we drug anchor ... of course in pitch black, driving sideways rain of an intense squall. Add to the fact that s/v Kristiana didn't have their anchor light on and it was only about 5 feet deep on our depth meter (we draw 5 1/2 feet, but we know there is an offset from the depthsounder to the bottom, we're just not 100% sure of what it is & try to avoid 5 feet of water), and needless to say we had a fairly exciting hour and the boat was for sale again for a few minutes after the trauma. Luckily, the weather the next few days was fabulous and we were able to sail out to Lighthouse Reef Atoll ... the pinnacle of diving and snorkeling in Belize ... the water colors are unsurpassed and the underwater life is astounding. Snorkeling, I was happy to see eagle rays glide gracefully past, tons of pretty little reef fish, a baby angelfish, it was good to be swimming in the aquarium again.

The 2nd night at Lighthouse, we moved in to anchor close beside Long Cay to hide from a coming Norther which wasn't bad, then we moved 2 miles down inside the reef to anchor.
This has to be one of the wildest places we've anchored in awhile! No land in sight, middle of nowhere, outside breaking reef walls surround us a couple miles out, patch reefs inside surrounding us 360 degrees - in good light, it appears we're anchored in the middle of a "lake" - flat water and no bugs. Here and there in the middle of our "lake" are bright turquoise sand traps that stand out brilliantly from the rest of the bottom which is about 10 feet deep and covered in turtle grass. We dropped our anchor in the middle of a "sand trap" and watched as we backed down hard and the sand literally swallowed our hook!

Too many snorkeling places to explore and too little time! After two days of isolation, we're chased back to Long Caye by more predicted squalls. Three days later, all the boats here are bouncing with the NE winds since the island is behind us and the reef is a ways in front of us, leaving considerable wind chop with the 20 knot plus winds. But this afternoon for the first time, everyone in all the anchored boats is out & about .... kind of like a neighborhood in the U.S. come the first really nice day of spring. David & Doug are out on a "Lion Hunt" -- Rayene & I decided to stay home since the water is still chilly after 3 days of no sun & rain. The lion problem is apparently huge -- I haven't had a chance to do the research ... no internet available out here ... but the story goes that Hurricane Katrina released several lionfish into the Gulf of Mexico. They are native to the Pacific ocean. Lionfish are absolutely beautiful fish - and fatally poison. They have no natural predators on this side of the ocean and are multiplying at an alarming rate, eating all the young fish in all the nurseries. This year is the first time we've seen lionfish on the reef, which gives credence to the rapid expansion. According to friends, if something isn't done, these predators will wipe out the natural ecosystems of the Atlantic/Caribbean reefs.
No cruiser wants that to happen, so they organized a "Lion Hunt" and have gone hunting. These little guys are only about 6 inches long and have long graceful spines that wave with brilliant black and white or red and white coloring ... they are one of the most spectacular fish we've ever seen. And as the rule goes, if it's beautiful in the ocean, it's probably dangerous, containing fatal poisons. When we recheck for our 30 day recheck in Belize, I'm going to do some research on the internet and see what I can find... surely these guys have some kind of natural predators.

Our Christmas was wonderful ... anchored with 4 other boats at Lighthouse Reef, David & I donned our Santa Hats and went Christmas Caroling on Christmas Eve -- took our dinghy around & serenaded every other boat in the anchorage ... poor folks! Then Christmas morning, Mike from Windfree, the boat anchored next to us, brought us cranberry scones hot from the oven. His wife, Gloria, baked them for everyone in the anchorage! What a NICE way to start our morning - they went great with my morning coffee! Later we got together with our friends on Kristiana and had a yummy Christmas meal - Aly says we're being European eating fresh grouper on the bbq grill for Christmas dinner, but it was wonderful! Along with the garlic mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cornbread, asian cabbage salad and hot fudge pudding.
No one left hungry!

Just FYI, in stark contrast to the blatant commercialism invading the holidays elsewhere, for the past 36 days, 28 of them we've spent not a dime! There's no place to spend money! :) On the downside, there's no place to walk on dry land either ... I haven't stepped ashore on dry land in over 20 days ... I'll be glad to recheck the end of the first week of January just to wander the streets of Caye Caulker!

Our treat for the final day of the 2009 will be to set the alarm (yes, you all KNOW how much I HATE setting an alarm, but this will be worth it ...) to see the International Space Station fly over us at 5:28 AM -- apparently it takes 3 minutes, but the skies are supposed to be clear, so we'll be watching! And later, we'll get together with the rest of the boats here in our dinghies and all raft up for a floating get together ringing in the New Year ... I'm SURE it will be midnight SOMEPLACE tomorrow afternoon! :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!

Jan & David
sv Winterlude, anchored at Lighthouse Reef Atoll, Belize
17 11.675N 87 35.958W (if you go to Google Earth, you can SEE where we're anchored!)

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Winterlude's Biggest Dilemmna ...

2009-12-14T10:43:00.000-08:00

December 15, 2009 ... Sapodilla Lagoon, Belize .... You know life is good when your biggest dilemmna is whether to look up to see the frequent falling stars from the nightly meteor showers or down to see dozens of phosphorescent fish swimming upwind past the boat! Glowing fishies or brilliant stars leaving a glowing trail halfway across the inky black sky! We're anchored in Sapodilla Lagoon, Belize to hide from a squally week, but this lagoon is so protected that while outside it blows 30 knots, we're sitting in flat water watching brightly colored double rainbows and filling our water tanks!

A few days prior, our VHF radio crackled to life ... "I've been thinkin'" ... uh oh ... it's 6 AM and our friends on s/v Kristiana had been standing on the bow, looking seaward. "We're coming over in 5 minutes". Double uh oh from the Winterluder's. Anytime Doug's been thinking, Winterlude usually ends up in a different anchorage by sunset! Last time it happened, we ended up leaving Utila Bay Islands at 3 PM to sail an overnight passage to Belize! So Rayene comes to visit - before we even have coffee made! - while Doug finishes generating his every morning weather report relied on by cruisers all over the Northwest Caribbean via the morning SSB Net. Kristiana has decided to sail to Sapodilla Lagoon, 15 miles north, to hide from the predicted squally nasty weather over the weekend. Anytime you're sailing, it's critical to make your own decisions, but Doug has rarely led us wrong & if he wants to go hide from the squalls, it seems a prudent decision to us! Unfortunately that means giving up our lunch plans with s/v Backstage Pass, who we haven't seen for years, since we were behind them on the dock at Catamaran Marina our first year on the Rio Dulce. The morning's sail is picture perfect, this IS the cruising dream.

A week ago after a boisterous overnight passage from Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras, the utter stillness of Monkey River Lagoon (where we first dropped anchor in Belize) was almost overwhelming. After listening to 24 hours of pots, pans and rigging bang and howl, sleep impossible since even though you couldn't move because your body was wedged in, your insides still swayed in response to the rolling boat. Nothing like feeling your stomach & intestines lurch from side to side (thanks Rayene for the appropriate description, my tilt a whirl analagy is getting old!). But now listening to the noisy splash the the anchor makes as it gurgles into the water, there is no noise. Not even a bird breaks the stillness. I fondly remember Belize's total solitude and the QUIET of the mangrove anchorages and the totally flat water! Aboard Winterlude, the hanging brass lantern is perfectly motionless for the first time since we left Colon, 5 weeks earlier. The sunshine is hot, but the breeze is surprisingly refreshing blowing through the boat. The silence is so overwhelming that I fretted for an hour about a tiny noise I kept hearing close to the nav desk. Finally it dawned on me that the solar exhaust fan overhead in the air vent had miraculously reawakened and was busy running at low speed - I guess it finally got enough sunshine to wake up! It was so quiet even the noise of this pen scratching on paper was offensive especially since David was taking a well deserved nap after being up all night sailing. This year we've undertaken more overnight passages (7 so far) than we've ever done in an entire winter season and neither of us are fond of the unexpected challenges. But there are rewards as well ... the brilliant falling stars blazing a trail through the night sky, the water full of twinkling phosphorescent who knows what, the "Jesus" fish dancing on their tails across our path, there are many wonders that we would have never experienced except for passagemaking - not to mention that it allows you to get somewhere you'd otherwise have never had the pleasure of experiencing ... And after this passage, we were escorted in Ranguana pass by playful dolphins. But it was really nice to be behind the reef for the final 16 mile sail to Monkey River Lagoon!

After a restful night in Monkey River, we waited one more day before upping anchor at 7 AM to make the 10 mile trip to Big Creek to check in to Belize. Belize is the pickiest country amongst all of Central America ... most countries don't care how long it takes you to get from one country to the next, but Belize figures it shouldn't take longer than a few days. We didn't want to give them the false impression that it was possible to do it overnight and check in the next day - that would have been bad precedent for those following in our wake!
We motored up Big Creek, which is just what it sounds like, a big creek. But this big creek has big banana transport ships and oil tankers arriving in & out. Cruisers have to anchor behind the yellow metal buoys to stay out of the ships turning basin. All in all, there's not much extra room! Last time we'd checked into Belize, David & Doug handled it all on their own & Rayene & I stayed aboard, so I wasn't ready when Doug & Rayene stopped by in their dinghy to collect David. Apparently Belize has changed it's rules and now everyone aboard has to appear before the Immigration officer, not just have the Captain take passports. A few hours later, after some brief excitement based on how long s/v Kristiana has been in Belize the past calendar year -- apparently there's a never enforced law that says you can only stay in Belize a total of 4 months during any calendar year or you have to pay import duty, amounting to 35% of the value of your boat! After Rayene & Doug convinced the Customs official that they had only been in Belize 3 1/2 months - which would allow the few more weeks until the end of 2009, we walked back to the dinghy. Belize has a wonderful ship's dock in Big Creek, but cruiser's must beach their dinghies on a rocky cruddy beach to check in. And we have to replay this escapade every 30 days - the only Central American country that forces you to recheck in every 30 days, which means leaving an offshore atoll and sailing back 65 miles or more to a port of entry. Uggghhhh!!!

After checking in, we motorsailed over to Placencia, where we got one of the biggest shocks of our cruising careers! The anchorage, normally FULL with 25-50 boats, including 25 plus Moorings charter catamarans, was TOTALLY EMPTY. Literally there were NO boats. Hmmm... are we in the right place, what happened here? Turns out Moorings has relocated all their charter boats around on new docks in the lagoon behind town, leaving the anchorage for "real" cruisers and no one happened to be around! We anchored, dumped our dinghies in the water and proceeded to tie to the dinghy dock challenged by a hurricane two years ago -- they still haven't rebuilt the fuel dock at the end or replaced anything other than key pieces necessary to make your way CAREFULLY up the dock to dry land. From there we were to meet Doug & Rayene at Tutti Frutti - the best homemade italian gelato place in the world in more than a dozen mouthwater flavors. Imagine our shock when we arrived at where Tutti Frutti always was to find no Tutti Frutti! Progress has intervened and they've moved up the main street. After querying a local, we wandered in the correct direction only to see Doug forlornly drooped over the front rail. Seems Tutti Frutti is closed on Wednesdays! :( Oh well, cruisers are nothing if not flexible and we head to get a spicy fried chicken fix at our favorite restaurant, the Cozy Corner, right on the beach! Gelato would have to wait until tomorrow.
(Note: David did manage to enjoy 3 visits to Tutti Frutti on Thursday, he seems to be afraid he might not get his homemade gelato fix before we leave ... and given Doug's "I been thinkin'" the very next morning, it seems David was right! But we'll recheck in Placencia in 30 days, so he can refuel then!)

Placencia has changed since our last visit three years ago, but for now it's still a sleepy delightful seaside village. Progress can't be stopped however, and we hear about plans for an international airport just north of Placencia so tourists can fly directly into paradise and avoid Belize City. We're lucky to enjoy this area before the 21st century changes it irretrievably ... probably not for the better - there's already a hi-rise casino under construction in anticipation!

Now anchored in Sapodilla Lagoon, we wonder what has gone wrong with every weather prediction we've heard - we've had a couple of minor squalls, but mostly great days. We've kayaked all over this mangrove lagoon ... identified a new (to us) species of the world's ugliest jellyfish - a Stinging Cauliflower. Turns out it's also the Caribbean's largest at over a foot in diameter. Wouldn't want to meet this guy on a pleasure swim as he's highly toxic. But he's so big he's also hard to miss! We see jumping rays, had dolphins spout less than 5 feet from the boat after dark a couple of nights and enjoy the nightly light show from the meteor shower and the phosphorescent fishies. It's fun riding in the dinghy at night as the glow attaches to everything thing that moves water ... thus the outboard propeller and the bow wake make it appear the dinghy is hydroplaning on a sea aglow of phosphorescence! Backstage Pass joined us in the lagoon and we enjoyed some time together over sundowners with Mary, Sylvia and Frank. The next day Ann and John on Living the Dream sailed in and we enjoyed spending several hours meeting them and getting to know each other. One of the major parts of the fun of cruising is meeting other people from everywhere.

But our plan to leave the lagoon at dawn today (based on the weather forecast for settled weather for Monday & Tuesday) was derailed by a major thunderstorm complete with lightning - something rarely seen here - right about dawn. So maybe tomorrow we'll sail north. We're still hoping to make our way due east to the offshore atolls, Turneffe and then Lighthouse Reef Atoll to spend the holidays! Of course due east is exactly where the tradewinds blow from and WInterlude's little 30 horsepower putt-putt diesel makes us a SAILBOAT, rather than a motorsailer, so we'll see how it goes.

Fair winds & HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

David & Jan, aboard Winterlude, Sapodilla Lagoon, mainland Central Belize

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

(no subject)

2009-11-30T12:16:00.000-08:00

Winterlude: Port Royal, Roatan, Bay Islands

What A Difference Two Weeks Makes! … Port Royal Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras… where it's Election Day … Sunday, November 29, 2009. Given the upheaval in Honduras …although it's Election Day, here "down island", all is quiet. It's also sunny, a big change from the last several days. Into every paradise a bit of rain must fall … and maintenance intrude and that's a good summary of our two weeks! I am amazed and quite proud of David with all the maintenance headaches ... I didn't realize he could change a salt water pump or do alot of the other serious projects he's just successfully completed. He wasn't happy about it, but it's done & it works! :)

Thanksgiving evening, we had a weather "trough" park on top of us. It was nice enough to wait until we were ready to get in our dinghies to head back to the boats … but we were dripping before we were even away from the dock. I guess the 5" of water in the bottom of the dinghy should have been a clue! If you're not familiar with what happens when a trough stalls in the tropics, we had "biblical" rains – filled 2 water tanks – 35 gallons each within just a few hours Thanksgiving evening and then had 2 more days of torrential rains. Our dodger & bimini immediately forgot the two coats of waterproofing I just applied in Shelter Bay Marina, Colon, less than a month ago. As a result, we have no dry family room and we have leaks we've never seen before – including unfortunately a leak somewhere in back of the navigation desk – that has at least temporarily wiped out my little EEEPc laptop. That's why you always travel with backups! I won't leave this MacBook sitting on the nav desk, that's for sure!

Last update, Winterlude was still in Providencia, roughly 500 miles south and east of Roatan, thinking we had a weather window for a pleasant sail – hopefully in time to celebrate our friend Doug's birthday, November 20th. We left Providencia on Monday (Doug's birthday was Friday – no problem), but unfortunately the predicted wind never materialized and instead blew right on our nose – turning a simple overnight to the Vivorillos Cays into a 4 night challenge not ending until Friday morning, Doug's birthday – WE MADE IT! Our reward was feasting on charcoal grilled chicken, cabbage rolls, salad and birthday cake with several old and new friends. The next day, we dinghied around the corner to the next bay to visit Ed and Julie, watchee's for the Calabash Bight Yacht Club – wonderful location, incredible facilities and no guests … which I don't understand. Tuesday we caught a ride "down island" to check in to Honduras at Coxen's Hole. Doug took us in his hard dinghy to BJ's Backyard in Oak Ridge, then we were lucky to catch a ride in the back of another watchee's pickup truck to Coxen's Hole where we waited until the immigration officer returned from the cruise ship anchored in the harbor.

Luckily sleep has a way of putting thing back in perspective, but a week later, we're still in progress fixing stuff that didn't care for our 5 day trip. It was bumpy, wind on the nose, 100 hours of which 93 were primarily motorsailing – with our 30 horsepower putt putt engine, only 7 hours of quiet real sailing. The diesel ran hotter than optimal and by the end of the week had an ominous cloud of white smoke from the exhaust haunting us. By the time Doug on Kristiana came out in his dinghy to greet us outside the reef pass at Port Royal, we had 8 gallons of diesel remaining – the center tank was dry and the starboard tank had less than a quarter tank… 8 gallons out of 70 when we started! Yikes! Glad I didn't realize how close we were!

David tore the diesel apart, changed the impeller, tightened the alternator belt, discovered the transmission is leaking – down a half quart of transmission fluid from the passage – luckily we have plenty aboard. Found a new bronze check valve at Dixon Marine here on Roatan when we checked in to Honduras and replaced the sticking check valve so we don't have to worry about siphoning water anymore when on starboard tack – too bad we couldn't replace it before we left Providencia, especially as we spent a lot of time on starboard tack monitoring the bilge pump constantly. Due to the heavy waves over the bow, we had hatches leaking the entire trip – hatches that never leak even in the heavy squalls preceding Ida – this time everything below was soaked with salt water – thank goodness I got it all cleaned and dried out … just in time for the fresh water drenching courtesy of the current stalled trough.

Luckily "Other" Doug is a "watchee" for a property ashore which means he's housesitting for an absentee owner. The casita where he resides has a great bodega – workshop – complete with vice and other necessary tools to fix things … like our KISS wind generator which broke in one of the squalls preceding Hurricane Ida, before we could get it turned into the gusts, the bearings overheated. We had spares, and David, Doug & Doug fixed the wind generator, not once but twice. The magnets refused to stay in place until the guys used some old fashioned contact cement. It's working today, generating amps from the 15 knot winds, so hopefully it'll continue to be cooperative. David's currently "in the hole", the lazarette in the cockpit which allows somewhat contorted access to the back side of the diesel, replacing the leaking salt water pump – thank goodness for spares. We also suffered through flushing the cooling system and changing the oil – seemingly routine projects that never end up that way.

In between all the projects, we had a GREAT Thanksgiving. It's so nice to be together with Doug & Rayene on Kristiana and "Other" Doug from Serendipty, currently ashore. Another major benefit of visiting a "watchee" is a real hot shower and being able to wash clothes without worrying about making water aboard AND a real oven & kitchen to make a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. While Rayene stuffed and baked the turkey, believe it or not, I made yummy homemade braided bread, garlic mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. The five of us sat down to our feast including real cranberries. Washed down with a couple of bottles of real wine (as opposed to box). And followed by Rayene's delicious homemade pumpkin pie topped with whipped cream. While dining on Doug's deck overlooking the harbor, we were buzzed by split tail hummingbirds checking out the cranberries! Imagine having a brilliant green hummingbird hovering in the middle of your Thanksgiving table! Not something that happens regularly at my Thanksgiving celebrations! The hummingbird feeder outside Doug's casita regularly attracts as many as 25 hummingbirds at once! I thought we had a lot of hummingbirds at our feeders at the lake, but it pales in comparison to Doug's hummingbird friends!

A side benefit to the delicious feast was Rayene's reheating the feast the next day so that after spending a day flushing the cooling system & replacing the antifreeze, we had leftovers and I didn't have to cook! The very next day – Saturday – in the still pouring rain after spending all day trying to change the oil – we went through 2 different pumps that refused to work before Doug brought over his pump that magically did the job. If David hadn't dumped a quart of oil under the engine while changing the oil filter, it would have been only a tedious job. Luckily Rayene to the rescue again with delicious turkey veggie soup with some of the best cornbread I've ever eaten!

As soon as the water pump is fixed and the wind switches to the northeast – from the southwest – we need to sail 10 miles west to French Harbor Roatan to fill up on diesel and hopefully buy a new tachometer to replace the one that gave up even before our passage. Then all will be fixed and ready to enjoy the rest of this cruising season!

From here our plans are up in the air. Latest news from the south coast of the island we're not allowed to visit says that we can only stay 60 days. And December, January and February high temperatures are in the mid-70's and lows are in the mid-60's – bbrrrr, could make for somewhat chilly snorkeling even with our wetsuits. So we're rethinking our winter cruising plans, but we're not sure what they are yet. We'll keep you updated. Now that everything will be fixed, we should have a problem free rest of the winter – David hates trying to fix broken stuff and I'm not much help. Not sure what we would have done without our friends Doug & "Other" Doug – friends helping friends is a big part of what cruising is about. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what we can ever do to repay all the time & help they've given us lately…. I'll think hard about it!

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

11.15.09 ... Winterlude Leaving Providencia!

2009-11-14T08:58:00.000-08:00

11.15.2009... Leaving Providencia!

Hola all! We finally have a weather window to leave Providencia, how exciting
is THAT!!! After sitting through a near miss with Hurricane Ida as it hit the
Nicaraguan coast a mere 120 miles due west of us and then the nasty cold front
generated by Ida's remains a week later, the weather this morning (Saturday) has
finally dawned sunny with blue skies, puffy white clouds, settling waves and
a window for us to go sailing! About time! We've been sitting in Providencia
now for 2 weeks and 2 days. Long enough for us to make friends with the 4'
barracuda that has adopted our boat as home ... well that may be taking
it a bit far, maybe we just have an uneasy truce with that barracuda. He looks
like he means business! But we have to wait on officialdom and since this weekend
is yet another holiday - this time the Fiesta de Puentes - Bridge Festival - we
can't actually leave until immigration comes to stamp our passports - sometime
Sunday afternoon... we hope.

In the meantime, we jerry jugged 33 gallons of diesel ... putting
our two 5 gallon jerry jugs in the dinghy, dinghying in to a privately owned boathouse, asking if we can leave the dinghy
there while we walk to the island's only gas station, less than a half mile, but a
LONG way when the jerry jugs are full of diesel! We fill up, carry the jugs back
to the dinghy, ride back to the boat, filter the diesel into our starboard tank with
a special filter, check the diesel level in the tank with a wooden stick, then repeat
the drill. Three times later, the diesel tank is full and we have two full jerry
cans lashed to the deck. Good timing too ... two other sailboats came in a few days after
we did our diesel drill and the island ran out of diesel, so they came up empty handed!
Our friends Doug & Rayene on Kristiana always say life is in the timing! :)

In the meantime, lilting Caribbean music drifts across the sunswept turquoise anchorage,
welcoming the ferry from San Andres, 50 miles south. Tourists and luggage are
unloaded and then reloaded on an old half size yellow school bus for the ride to Agua
Dulce (sweet water) and the "resort lined" beach. We rode the local bus around the
island ... it's called a "chiva" and is actually an old UHaul yellow truck that they've
cut open air "windows" in the sides and put in bench seats. Painted gaily with a landscape
depicting split mountain and the beautiful watercolors that surround this island, the
bus is very popular with locals as well as the few tourists. It cost us $4,000 pesos
each to ride around... that's the equivalent of $2 US. To start the bus, the driver turns
the key as normal, but then reaches across and touches two white wires together and voila
the old engine rumbles to life. Interesting....

Mr Bush, the agent that welcomed us to Providencia, told us "we are not reeech here, but
we leeve well and are happy. There eees no crime." Dilapidated Columbian trading boats
stop 2-3 times each week delivering everything from apples to diesel fuel (good thing for
those 2 other sailboats!) to LG flat screen TV's. Most houses are colorful, traditional
open to the cooling ocean breezes with wide wooden shutters to shut out the frequent rain
showers. Residents wander, chatting with fellow islanders, life is slow and ready smiles
are everywhere. Columbia has an initiative that every Columbian should speak English as
well as Spanish and lots of people are happy to practice their English on us. It's a bit
lilting, more mixed Caribbean creole than English, but fun to listen - almost musical.

Several days we've taken advantage of the watercolors of the surrounding seas to get in
the water and cool off - it's very hot down this far in the tropics. The first day we
snorkeled, we decided the clarity would't be very good with the hurricane just a day past,
so I didn't take my camera. Of course, I immediately came face to face with a large
loggerhead sea turtle - the only ones with overlapping plates on their shell. He was as
startled as I & we sat there facing each other for much longer than would have been
necessary for me to get a great photo ... if only I'd had my camera! He swam lazily
away and later I rediscovered him hiding under a rock ledge a short distance away. This
time I retrieved my camera from the dinghy and returned to find him gone... of course.
And despite snorkeling there several times, we've never seen the turtle again. We have
seen lots of fish - 18 varieties in my first hour in the water! Everyday stuff as well
as some more unusual species - a queen angel fish, an indigo hamlet, several sand divers
and some BIG dog snappers and mahogany snappers. David keeps swearing he's going to
put a speargun on my camera. Most of these guys are out swimming around & they're too
fast to catch until they return to their hidey hole in the coral. Unfortunately we've
never found their hidey hole, although we know it has to be close. So no fish for
dinner so far. We did see 2 little boys fishing floating on an oversized piece of styrafoam
that floated in after the hurricane - they had several handlines going and caught several
small fish - learning their trade early! Some older boys were carting 5 HUGE wahoo
down the main street in a wheelbarrow - we asked & they told us they caught them just
outside the reef the night before.

We've also hiked several places .. the best hiking was the national park trail out to a
rock formation called Morgan's Head. The trail took us along the cliffs overlooking the
ocean, past a couple of old spanish cannons aimed out the entrance channel and a small
beach claiming to have "Morgan's Submarine Cave" just to the left. Signs everywhere
proclaimed "pirata" -- pirates. Henry Morgan made this harbor home for awhile, terrorizing
ships on the high seas. The "national park service" was redoing parts of the trail -
replacing bamboo on the handrails I guess to make it safer. Unfortunately the fenceposts
that the bamboo rested on were just as dilapidated and I would not have wanted to test them
to hold my weight before plunging over the cliff! Luckily, the trail was wide and mostly
flat, just uppy & downy - climbing reminds me that my legs get out of shape when we live
aboard!

That's all from Providencia this morning. We'll continue preparations to sail away & the
next update will recap our adventures! Everyone have a safe & happy THANKSGIVING!

HUGS! Jan & David
s/v Winterlude ... preparing to sail away!

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

11.5.09 Hurricane Ida, Landfall 120 Miles West ...

2009-11-05T16:00:00.000-08:00

Providencia, Columbia ... Hurricane Ida made landfall 120 harrowing miles west of where Winterlude is anchored in Providencia Columbia earlier today (Thursday). All is well here, was a stressful last two day. NOT a good idea to Reason with Hurricane Season! More in the regular update.

Cheers! Jan & David, 13.2 North 81.2 West, Providencia, Columbia

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

11.1.09 Winterlude Update, Providencia, Columbia

2009-11-01T07:41:00.000-08:00

All Saint's Day Providencia, Columbia!

I love Providencia! Especially after the 53 hour passage from Colon to here. The weather forecast was for winds 5-10 and waves 3-5. Perfect. Last Tuesday morning a squall came through Shelter Bay and we opted to delay one day for better weather ... three different forecasts agreed that departing Wednesday would give us the best passage. I guess no one told the ITCZ (Inter Tropical Convergence Zone)... anyway, 2 days and nights of the tilta-whirl on steroids left both David & I were ready to sell the boat & forget about cruising, IF we lived through the passage. Needless to say, after some sleep, we've reconsidered.

Reaching the south end of Providencia - a tiny Columbian island off the Nicaraguan coast - gave us much needed relief from the huge swells. Immediately the sun shone brightly, the mountainous island blocked the waves and some wind ... and pods of dolphins came out to play alongside the boat. Frigatebirds soared overhead and soon we were anchored between two other US boats, the only boats in the anchorage. Last time we were here there were easily 15 boats. Nice to have the place to ourselves. Squalls continued to come through, but now, in flat water safe with the anchor secure, we were happy to have a good boat wash. Winterlude was so covered with salt that you took your life in your hands ice skating on the decks above. A fresh water rinse is always good after an ocean passage.

Two hours after we had the anchor down, Mr Bush, the local self-designated yacht clearance official arrived at the boat with 4 "real" officials. The first official came aboard, introduced himself as from the Health Department and asked to come below. While the others sat in the boat alongside, he came aboard and just talked to us for a few minutes, making sure we weren't sick or otherwise contaminated. After he gave the clearance, the other officials boarded and quickly dispensed with the formalities and paperwork. The only part about this process we don't like is the Columbians always take your passports. They are very informal and relaxed and don't understand why US citizens always want their passports back by no later than the next day. In our case, the next day was Saturday, then it's a holiday All Saints Day, we think, which means everything's closed on Monday. We were able to convince Mr Bush to follow the Immigration guy back to his office & get our passports so we could pick them up on Saturday instead of next Tuesday or Wednesday! Turns out, the couple on the boat, Memory Maker, beside us, still hadn't gotten their passports back after 5 days! We were just lucky again, I guess!

Providencia is actually two islands connected by a colorful footbridge. Santa Catalina was a pirates haven and the cannons still overlook the channel entrance from sea. Today there are no more executions on Pirate Beach, but there's a nice hike and good scenery. One of the reasons I love this island is it's topography - very few Caribbean islands are mountainous and Providencia is one of the most scenic ... right up there with St John in the US Virgin Islands. Also like St John, large parts of the island and reef are designated either a national park or the Seaflower Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. Last time we were here, we didn't get a chance to explore it fully and we're hoping this time we can
circumnavigate via the local bus and then rent a scooter to explore on our own. There are waterfalls to be discovered and out of the way beaches waiting for our footprints - the only footprints! The island has a land area of 18 km's and a population of somewhere between 1,400 and 4,000 depending on who you ask. The economy depends on eco-tourism, government employment, cottage industries and artisanal fishing and farming. The official language is Spanish, but when you walk down the street and say "Buenas Dias", faces light up in big grins and they respond "Good Morning to you"! It is a status symbol to speak English and people do it proudly.

All the faces here are friendly and open, helpful and inquisitive. We enjoy the Columbian people as much or more than any others we've met anywhere - especially here, far away from the mainland influences. One thing different from our last visit is the US dollar ... very strange that people prefer pesos to the US dollar - previously they were always happy to take US dollars at a fair exchange rate. We don't remember the exact exchange rate last time we were here, but it was somewhere around 2,500 pesos for $1 US. Now the bank gives 2,000 for $1 US and the supermarket and money changers only give 1,500. Mr Bush last time happily took US cash for his services, but this time requested pesos - he explained that the US dollar isn't so stable currently & he'd rather have his own currency. Interesting!

We'll wait here for a better weather window to head on north to the Vivorillos Cayes - "only" a 185 mile voyage, versus 265 from Colon to here. Chris Parker (the weather "guru") that we subscribe to is saying the unsettled weather may last through mid-November - if so, we should have plenty of time to explore and fix the casualty list from our recent passage.
If a good forecast comes before mid-November we may consider it, but a prerequisite will be NO SQUALLS in the forecast - difficult in the tropics where every day's forecast is a 60% chance of thunderstorms or squalls.

That's it from paradise! Enjoy the next two weeks & we'll let you know where we are and what we're doing from where-ever we are!

Cheers! J&D
Providencia, Columbia 13 22.780N 81 22.460W

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

10.15.09 Winterlude: Smithsonian Institute Experiment!

2009-10-14T10:17:00.000-07:00

We're a Smithsonian Institute Experiment!!!

October 15, 2009, Shelter Bay Marina, Panama….. Hi all! Yes, that's right! Winterlude is smack in the midst of a Smithsonian Institute experiment here in Shelter Bay Marina! Keep in mind, the marina is in the middle of the Chagres National Park in Panama (the country, not Panama City, Florida!). There are weird strings hanging about 18" apart off the dock in front of our boat & the next slip. Each string is tied to a nail, has a yellow tag, the string descends into the water about 2' with a half red brick weighting the bottom and a rectangular "thing" about the size of a 3X5 index card in between. We asked what this was all about & the marina folks told us that the Smithsonian Institute is conducting an experiment about barnacle species introduced to local waters by cruising boats from all over the world! Yikes, too bad for their experiment that Winterlude's new bottom paint appears to be working fabulously – no barnacles on the bottom (other than our ill fated prop) just a bit of slime. I wonder if we will skew an otherwise educational experiment for the Smithsonian by not having any strange foreign species clinging to our bottom to infest Panamanian waters!

It's been a busy couple of weeks, starting with our second trip to the Rey for food … we've now gotten the infamous GREEN LIGHT six times in a row …. A small geography lesson is in order here for those unfamiliar with the area … Shelter Bay Marina is the marina from the old U.S. Army Fort Sherman – from back when the US controlled the Panama Canal. Ft. Sherman is on the "other side" of the big bay/basin leading into the Panama Canal, just inside the jetty/breakwater. The wildlife and history are fabulous here as I've highlighted in earlier updates, but the location is "across the tracks" … or in our case, the canal from everything resembling civilization – not a terrible location given the crime rate in Colon! But, somehow in all the wisdom building this canal, the US forgot to put in a way to access Fort Sherman! Or maybe it was deliberately isolated. Anyway, the bottom line is, you ride a shuttle bus for approximately 15 minutes through winding national park style roads complete with howler monkeys and sloths hanging in the treetops until you arrive at the Gatun locks. At the locks there is a stoplight off to the left side of the road and a GIANT metal barricade gate/fence. The remnants of an electronic sign says "Approx. XXXX minutes until opening", but the electronic part is gone and the sign abandoned, so there's no way to tell how long you might have to wait. The "bridge" itself is a swing or rotating bridge – it revolves out of the way for ships to enter the locks and then rotates back into place for vehicles to cross. Enterprising entrepreneurs have set up stands on both sides of the lock selling snacks, breakfast, coffee, lunch, whatever you might want … so everyone gets out of their respective vehicles, mingles, snacks, chats and generally waits for the giant container ships to pass in both lanes – 2 lanes in the Gatun locks. Traffic from the Caribbean/Atlantic locks through to the Pacific in the morning and in the afternoon the ships come the other way – 24 hours a day, ships are coming and going. So you wait…. And wait and wait. Last year we had a couple of one hour delays waiting on the lock swingbridge to open. But THIS YEAR???? Like I said, so far, 6 green lights, no waiting! J Hopefully a good omen for the rest of our winter adventure!

Aboard Winterlude we've been busy doing the not so fun part of cruising … when you leave a boat in a tropical paradise all by it's lonesome for six months, corrosion tends to set in and you can never predict what won't work next. So it's imperative to check all major systems and make sure they're functional before ever leaving the marina. We started with a "Mandantory" list of 49 items and we're down to only 14 … that's the good news. Our canvas dodger (the part that covers the companionway … i.e. doorway) had totally disintegrated due to UV rays on the thread – this is common in the tropics with the UV so intense. When we first had to replace the dodger back in 2001 in Florida, we debated having a hard dodger (i.e. fiberglass) fitted, but for the price of one hard dodger we could replace the canvas version totally three times. And canvas dodgers look better in our opinion. In retrospect, given the difficulty of finding skilled canvas people in 3^rd world countries, this was probably a mistake. When you do find someone, their workload is backed up sometimes for two months! We got lucky when Roman, an Austrian, living aboard his boat nearby in Linton, could work us in and will have our dodger restitched – as well as a new cover made for our Honda 2000 generator and patches put on our jib suncover and mainsail cover – by next Monday – October 19. Unfortunately our Panama cruising permit expires October 16 … but we can renew it, it's only money….. grrrrr….

You may recall, changing the oil has always been an adventure aboard Winterlude … we thought we had the issue solved by using a small Stearns $25 electric pump… but when the electric pump refused to pump the oil further than three quarters of the way up the hose to the pump, we accomplished nothing but a mess. I went across the dock and asked Uhane (pronounced Ooooo haaaa neeee – Hawaiian for XXXXXXXX) if Bryan had a portable oil change pump we could borrow. He did, but it was completely unfamiliar to us. Basically it consists of a small round pump a bit smaller than a hockey puck with places on each side to hook up hoses .. the smaller hose goes into the dip stick hole and the larger hose out the other side pumps it out into the empty oil can from last time we changed the oil. This hockey puck attaches to the end of a DRILL! What? Bryan didn't think to tell us (and we apparently weren't wise enough to figure it out on our own) that when you attach the hoses, put one in the dip stick hole and turn on the drill, the hockey puck twirls around at full speed flinging oil everywhere from the hose formerly in the dip stick hole! YIKES what a mess! Back to Bryan who informs us that you have to HOLD the hockey puck in place to keep it from spinning and that's what makes the inside pump work. So 2 hours later, we finally have the oil pumped out and the mess mostly cleaned up! Little things that should not be a big deal somehow don't always turn out that way!!! But the oil is changed, the diesel is GO ..… well, almost. It seems that the ignition switch decided to be "cranky" so to speak! We started the diesel with no problem to heat up the oil to make it easy to pump out. Then did the oil change and added the new oil. Now we need to double-check the dip stick & make sure we added enough, so David goes topside to turn the key to the diesel…. the silence is deafening! Aaarrrggg… so we add another project to the list. And so it goes. Luckily, it just needed the connections cleaned and redone – darn corrosion again! Unluckily when he got in the tools locker to get the tools he needed, he discovered everything was soaking wet … not good. Tasting the water revealed a freshwater pressure water leak – the pressure water pump is next to the tool locker. After tightening a couple hose connections, we were OK again. But you can see how living aboard a boat for only six months at a time equates to "fixing your boat in exotic places"!

In the past 72 hours, David's been a plumber, an electrician and a diesel mechanic … I need to be careful, he's threatening to join a union and demand better pay! But he can't decide which union to join, so I'm still OK! J

This morning, David went up the mast to fix the deck light and to check the masthead wind indicator which all of a sudden stopped spinning, making the wind direction permanently east… hmmm. Luckily the deck light was easily (for a boat) repaired with the new parts we brought back and the wind indicator turned out to be another corrosion issue – rusted in place. David PB Blasted it –hint… if you don't have PB Blaster aboard a boat headed to the tropics, don't leave the dock!... and now it works fine. About this time he decided to get industrious and change out the regular style light bulb on the masthead tricolor navigation light – we had an extra LED bulb and he wanted to switch to save power underway. BUT, about that time, with him sitting in a bosun's chair atop the mast … 55 feet in the air … the skies decide to let loose a monsoon rain shower! Oh well, no lightning or thunder, he gets cooled off and we get a power saving LED masthead lightbulb!

Barring further major issues – and we've worked through most of the biggies already – the only biggie left is making the SSB radio work – it works, it just doesn't transmit or receive, not good for a radio – indicating another corrosion issue, this time, hopefully with the connections to and from the tuner to the antennae – we're hoping to leave the dock to sail to Providencia Columbia mid next week. Our slip fees here at Shelter Bay are paid through October 22 and we'd REALLY like to be gone before that at the latest … even waiting on weather, but we'll see… As I mentioned earlier, this is the part of being "commuter cruisers" that we really don't care so much for … but the effort will all pay off shortly!

In the meantime, it's upper-80's here, the swimming pool and hot tub are wonderful at the end of every day and hiking to see the monkeys or the ships is always great. Which we appreciate even more after days like the oil change/drill spinning incident!

Cheers! Jan & David, aboard Winterlude, Shelter Bay Marina, Panama

10.5.2009 Winterlude Update ... Shelter Bay Marina, Panama

2009-10-05T09:39:00.000-07:00

October 4, 2009, Shelter Bay Marina, Colon, Panama .... We're back
aboard Winterlude after an unbelievably quick, easy trip from
Florida. Only 7 hours from the time we left Orlando until we were
unlocking the hatch on the boat. Last year it took more than 3
hours just to drive from the Panama City Tocumen International airport
to the boat! The new 4 lane toll road is finished and incredibly,
had virtually no traffic -- probably because it's a $2.50 toll. We
even made a quick stop at the "Rey" grocery store to pick up a few
essentials - no easy access to stores once we get to the marina since
it's on the other side of the Panama Canal, Gatun Locks - usually you
have to wait for as long as an hour for one or more monster ships to
get through the canal lock, but the light was green - amazing even the
taxi driver! More positives ... no cockroaches, no ant infestation,
no bugs of any kind, no mold, no mildew, no stinky smells, nothing
missing! Down below, the salon was crammed full -- all the usual
outside stuff crammed below to hide it from the intense sun UV rays --
with the mainsail covering the floor, we had no place to walk! We
got the sail outside, the window air conditioner in & cooling and went
up to the marina restaurant to eat dinner.

Every year, the first full day back on the boat is always full of
surprises - it's amazing what the heat, humidity, intense sun and salt
air can do to screw up stuff that was working perfectly when we
left! Early challenges included an overflowing bilge - the check
valve stuck not letting the water run out - so we manually pumped out
15 gallons of extremely dirty, but luckily FRESH water (as opposed to
salt water - we're not sinking, just leaking somewhere in the cockpit
from all the rain!). The snap crackle pop shrimp are happily
munching away at the algae on the bottom of the boat, although it
looks relatively clean - the now one year old bottom paint seems to be
doing an amazing job. On the other hand, David conned a diver from
the giant sportfishing boat next to us to take a look at our
propeller. We knew it would be overgrown and so it is - we didn't
have any antifouling paint on the prop, maybe a mistake! No big
deal, we'll just hire a diver from the marina to clean it for us. Our
house batteries are dying, but Casa de Bateria is delivering new ones
tomorrow at 2 PM ... let's just hope that they really MEANT "manana"
-- often in Central America "manana" only means "not today"! :)

But in the meantime, when it's not a monsoon (it's still rainy season
here), the sunshine is brilliant with bright blue skies and puffy
white clouds. A few thunderstorms build up and dollop us in the late
afternoon, but that's when we do inside boat projects. The main sail
is back on, the solar panels and wind generator are pumping in amps,
the howler monkeys and spider monkeys are happy to see us on our daily
walks and the huge container and cargo ships are still coming in the
jetty preparing to go through the Panama Canal. The marina pool and
hot tub are inviting, the water just the perfect temperature, not too
cold but cool enough to be refreshing in the 90 degree heat &
humidity. And the new restaurant manager has NFL football on the big
screen TV! Last year they had music videos so it's a major
improvement! It is a little strange to go to a restaurant with no
food ... trying to order is an exercise in futility. "No we don't
have that... How about.. No we don't have that" -- I've heard multiple
people just ask ... so what DO you have? French fries, they always
seem to have LOTS of papas fritas! Good thing we're headed back to
the Rey tomorrow to stock up on some more food!

Not so much to tell for now... we're hoping to leave in the next 2
weeks or so to sail north. Next stop the little island of
Providencia, Columbia .... but lots to accomplish before we're ready
to sail!

Jan & David

Cruiser's Worst Nightmare

2009-04-11T15:52:00.000-07:00

A Cruiser's Worst Nightmare …

No it's not a rogue wave, although it might be an unseen reef. Most
cruisers think about sinking, dismasting, storms and rogue waves the
way Midwesterners think about tornados. You know it can happen, but
you don't worry about tornados daily, in fact you rarely think about
them. Likewise, taking the necessary precautions to avoid bad
weather, both wind and seas, is second nature to almost everyone who
cruises for any length of time.

No, one of the biggest nightmares is getting the e-mail via sailmail
from home with bad news about elderly parents … or other family
members or loved ones.

Luckily when the e-mail from my brother Jeff arrived, Winterlude was
already anchored in cell phone range in the San Blas Islands in
Panama. Unluckily, the infamous Columbian LO located just offshore
featured 17 foot waves and 25 knot winds for the past two weeks
crashing on the Panama lee shore. While more than 70 miles seems
inconsequential to those of us used to traveling the U.S. interstates
at more than 70 miles an hour, at 5 knots an hour that same 70 miles
becomes very treacherous. But it was the only way back to Colon and
the only marina in which to leave WInterlude. My Mom has had
Parkinson's Disease for the past 15 years, all her body systems were
getting tired and prone to failure, so when she complained that she
couldn't breathe, no one knew what to expect … a routine case of
bronchitis, a worse but treatable diagnosis of pneumonia or the
worst. Given the weather situation, we debated options to get home as
we anxiously waited for more information.

Cruising in the San Blas Islands is idyllic and isolated, which is
part of why it is so attractive. Nowhere in the world, short of
remote islands in the South Pacific, can you find an indigenous
culture almost completely isolated from the outside world. No way in,
no real roads -- the mountain jungle of the Darian disrupts the
transcontinental highway, the only interruption from the top of Alaska
to the bottom of South America. There are no marinas, no facilities,
not even food stores. The only way back to civilization is 70 miles
back to Colon along a scenic coastline hostile for sailors.

Luckily for us, the Columbian LO which stations itself just offshore
and creates the brisk tradewinds and oversized waves, took a break
just about the time we got the bad news. Hearing that Mom had been
taken from emergency to the hospice signified a rapidly worsening
situation. Knowing that it would take us parts of 3 days to sail to
Colon, we hastily upped anchor within the hour. Now it's a race.
We could have sailed overnight to Colon, but the winds & waves were
still a bit brisk, so we opted to stage to the outmost San Blas
Islands and leave by dawn the next morning – this way we were already
clear of most of the reefs surrounding the picture perfect San Blas
islands. Unfortunately it also meant a rolly night with very little
sleep. Sailing all day to Portobello the next day was a rolly, but
not uncomfortable sail – winds dropping to 20-22 helped our sail. En
route we sailed by one of the largest sea turtles I've ever seen
swimming the other way – it had to be six feet in diameter and I'm not
exaggerating. The purple protrusion in the azure water rushing by
the hull resembling a little girl's brightly colored hair comb is the
infamous Portuguese Man of War – the deadly jellyfish. Ships
approaching the Panama Canal hovered on the horizon. Regardless, we
were both very happy to sail into Portobello and drop anchor for the
evening in flat water … no roll, no bugs meant our first good night's
sleep for awhile.

The next morning, sailing with dolphins playing in our bow wake
combined with winds and waves laying down a bit made for a pleasant
early morning sail. We followed a container ship through the jetty
into flat water once again and dropped our sails for the last time
this season. A few minutes later we were welcomed back to Shelter
Bay Marina and tied to a dock for the first time in 4 months – nice
not to worry about weather for now.

Normally we take about 2 weeks to get the boat ready to leave for the
months we return to the U.S. We like to take our time and accomplish
a task or two a day while taking daily walks out on the Panama Canal
Jetty to watch the ships or meandering through the jungle trails
watching the howler and cappuchino monkeys, the sloths, toucans and
noisy green parrots. Now we're debating, do we leave it as is, depart
immediately and return after we'd flown home and checked on Mom. Or
do we rush through the critical items, like pickling the watermaker,
cleaning out the fridge, fresh water flushing the diesel and outboard
… all the tasks making sure we wouldn't end up with rats, cockroaches,
mold or worse aboard when we return? Ultimately, with Mom "stable"
in the hospice, we spent 2 days and accomplished almost all the
critical tasks – we missed filling the ¾ empty diesel tank – we like
leaving our diesel tanks full to avoid the creeping crud growing in
the tank. But given the fact that we wanted to get back as quickly as
possible, we sacrificed the diesel. Upon returning, we'll have one
full tank and one one quarter full. We'll run the quarter through the
fuel polishing system several times. By running a quarter of the full
tank out first, we can cycle the quarter tank in the contaminated tank
into the clean tank. This will allow the messy, stinky but doable
task of physically cleaning out the contaminated tank – it's difficult
to get all the crud out because of the baffles and the tank location,
but it is possible.

Luckily, we were able to get last minute flights back to the U.S. and
arrive at the hospice the morning before my Mom passed away. I
guess you could call that a happy ending to a not happy situation.
Now having gone through all the Memorial Services and graveside
services, we are very happy not to need to return to Shelter Bay to
put Winterlude to bed for the summer. But we are not happy about
the weather … David's resolve never to be forced to wear anything but
shorts after he retired has been altered … returning to 32 degrees and
SNOW in April only strengthened our resolve to stay gone through at
least May next year!

In the meantime, we'll return as early as October 1 and continue the
cruising adventures. Until then, check the website in a few weeks,
I'm sure I'll find time to post photos from this past winter's
adventure!

Cheers!
Jan & David
back in the U.S., Winterlude is in Shelter Bay Marina, Colon, Panama

The Big Bad Wolf ... and little Gillian Grace!

2009-03-15T12:42:00.000-07:00

PLZ Mr Big Bad Wolf, Let-Go of My Isobars!

March 15, 2009 … Eastern Holandes Cayes, San Blas Islands, Panama….

Please please Mr. Big Bad Wolf, let go of my isobars and don't blow my house down!!! Winterlude is a boat, made of fiberglass and stainless steel, not a house of straw, still whenever the wind pipes up to gale force and blows for days, it can get nerve wracking! There was a big HI pressure system sitting just off the east coast of the US and the Columbian LO sitting just north of Cartagena and between the two weather systems, the isobars are stacked up almost on top of each other… which translates in layman's language to gale force winds, giant waves and gray skies! The weather this year certainly hasn't been as good as last year, but then the winter in the US has been yuckier than normal too, so I guess it's just going around everywhere!

In between gusts, we got great news from the home front ... son Andy & wife Jackie had their first baby ... our first grandchild on Wednesday, March 11. A baby girl, Gillian Grace, born 7 lbs 8 ozs, 18 1/2" long at 3:13 PM ... I am absolutely SURE she will have David wrapped around her little finger in no time at all! We can't wait to get back and meet her in person. David got to "talk" to her on the phone the other day... made his year! :)

Back aboard, good thing I enjoy David's company because being unable to get off the boat for days, living in an 18 foot space would become trying otherwise! This will likely be a short update because it's literally what we've been doing until two days before this update was due on the 15th! There have been other highlights from stolen moments between gales & current. We had a day of glorious snorkeling at the Minefield, one of our favorite anchorages. We snorkeled my favorite reef & the clarity wasn't good, but it was great to see that wall again & swim against the current in the passes & let the current sweep me back through. Anchored here in the Hot Tub (cruisers have nicknames for all the anchorages … it's just easier than saying we're anchored behind Kalugirdup Cay!), the water is so clear yesterday we watched two giant eagle rays swim under our boat and a turtle leisurely swimming by about a boat length out.

David spotted a BIG dog snapper (my 3rd favorite edible fish, behind hogfish and yellowtail snapper) under a coral head in about 10 feet of water off the reef by Sibadup. The bad news was that David thought the snapper was too big for his spear gun! Luckily a friend was happy to shoot the fish in the head & we shared the fish. Three dinners later, the dog snapper is gone. It had to be 15 lbs minimum! But luckily another boat sailing up from the far Eastern San Blas caught a giant marlin. We've never been lucky enough to catch a marlin and normal policy is to release them, but this one kept biting and would not let them remove the line, so they ended up with the fish. They split it up, fed the Kunas here and several boats got "a little fish"… our share of a "little fish" turned out to be 8-9 pounds! We steaked it up & shared with new friends on TaraVana. Marlin tastes like swordfish, white meat and steak-like. We have 3+ dinners in our freezer from that fish, so we don't need fish for awhile!

Back to the weather, that BIG BAD WOLF trying to blow us away was annoying! You wonder in some of the big gusts if the anchor is going to hold -- we know it's buried completely from snorkeling it after anchoring. A friend on another boat claims his Chinese knock-off anchor is trying to burrow its way home to China! But a connector could break or …. and Winterlude would be on the reef behind us in a very short period of time. So no matter how long we've been cruising or how many times we've inspected all those connections, we're still uneasy when waking in the middle of the night to a particularly big gust. Wind above about 22 or 23 knots turns the KISS wind generator into a helicopter - which is exactly how it sounds once the winds reach 28 knots! And with the vibration of the wind in the rigging, the boat vibrates like a helicopter is taking off directly from our deck! The worst part is sitting in the cockpit, day after day, looking out over the beautiful aqua clear water, seeing the wind blowing the tops off the waves crashing on the reef and knowing that the snorkeling is just going to stink. So far, we've mopped the floors, equalized the batteries… twice … defrosted the refrigerator, cleaned stainless, waxed, done laundry … twice … and every other mundane task we can think of waiting for the weather to moderate. I learned how to get TIF weather files, 24, 48 & 72 hour wind wave and surface analysis charts from NOAA via Winlink SSB radio, studied Spanish, did a bit of writing, and too many sudoku puzzles. David's going through a book every two days, at this rate, he'll be finished with every book aboard by tomorrow or day after!

Due to the bad weather, again this year, no supplies are getting into the San Blas Islands. Most supplies are carried either by Columbian Trading boats or by boat from further west along the Panama Coast, near Colon. With 15 foot waves crashing on a lee shore, no boats are risking losing their boats, and maybe their lives, to bring supplies to the San Blas. So there's no gasoline, no diesel, no fruits & vegetables, and dwindling supplies of rice, sugar, flour and the basics. Luckily, this year, we did a bit better job of provisioning than last year! This year we have plenty of canned & frozen food, toilet paper, propane, and other essentials. Unfortunately we're down to our last carton of milk, but that just means I'll have to eat oatmeal or Quaker breakfast bars (or my last grapefruit) for breakfast instead of raisin bran - hardly a major imposition!

We've played more games of Skip-Bo than either of us can remember -- a card game -- and I'm ahead in the overall tally -- Farkle, a dice game and Yahtzee - no Mexican Train this year, no one else seems to be playing and I'm not sure it would be fun playing just the two of us. We borrowed a DVD player from David & Damon on Bruadair, plus a folder of about 20 of David's 600 movies and we've watched 5 of 5 Harry Potter movies, plus Monsters Inc., Sixth Sense, Snow Falling on Cedars, the Blue Seas, a great documentary about reef life from BBC, Hannibal, Kingdom of Heaven, the 7th season of Amazing Race, and dozens of other movies. The good news is that Mr. Amp Ogre (that would be my David) hasn't been whining about amps with the KISS wind generator whizzing away generating more amps than we can use! We've been turning ON stuff just to burn electricity - that will change soon, I'm sure.

The weather is finally predicted to moderate this week … after 10 days of the BIG BAD WOLF howling, we're all ready! There's a boat that just came into the Hot Tub anchorage, Legacy, and they are "roving Spectra Watermaker reps" -- go figure, what a great idea, a major manufacturer paying a cruiser to work on people's water makers and carry a supply of extra parts. We need a hose for our watermaker, so we'll pay Chris a visit in the next day or two. Sometimes you just meet people that you really enjoy … that's the case this week when Rick & Ami from TaraVana stopped by to introduce themselves. Turns out we both enjoy snorkeling and fish/coral identification and David & Rick both enjoy spear fishing. We've been fish identifying and spear fishing two days in a row now & we're having a lot of fun … which accounts for why despite the fact that I sat here for 2 weeks with little to do, this update is late! J Gotta play this year when the weather allows!

The reef behind the boat is calling my name, so I guess this update is done! More in two weeks!

Jan & David
s/v Winterlude
----- End of Original Message -----

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Naba-daba-dup! Hello Fred Flintstone! :)

2009-03-02T08:44:00.000-08:00

March 1, 2009 … San Blas Islands, Panama …. Winterlude is currently anchored by Sibadup, one of the stunning tiny islands of the outer reef chain of the San Blas Islands, Panama, known as the Holandes. If you want to picture where we are, visualize the Corona Beer commercial islands … or maybe the Windows screen saver with the tiny island with three palm trees surrounded by vivid water colors and a sailboat.

After dropping anchor yesterday, I snorkeled on our anchor - it's totally immersed in white sand so fluffy, billowy and brilliant white, it almost appears to be fresh powder snow. No worries about the anchor even with the weather predicting a cold front coming, no time to waste, let's go snorkeling! A few minutes later, the dinghy is pulled up on a perfect white sand beach bordered by overhanging palms and I'm sitting in perfectly clear water next to what we named "The Waterslide", putting on my fins & snorkel. As I push off from the beach, I snorkel over white sand plunging 20 feet off a steep slope that could be a lunar landscape except for the conch inching its way along the bottom. Clarity is perfect and a couple flips of my fins brings me along the edge of the mangroves where I can avoid the current, swimming upstream along this cut. The water is hot tub warm and clear, although tinged with the tannins from the mangrove roots, there are snappers, bar jacks, colorful reef fish, schools of immature blue tangs, fish fish everywhere. After enjoying the aquarium, I'm at the other end of the cut and two more fin flips push me out into the current, brilliant deep blue over the white sand bottom of the main cut. Icy cold water sweeps over my body - the temperature change is abrupt and seriously chilling! From the surface, the deep blue water appears to be boiling indicating the strength of the current rushing through between the main island and the tiny sand and mangrove island less than 50 yards away. Relaxing is in order - as best I can do between shivers, just letting the current drift me through the cut. On the first drift, I spot an eagle ray - being followed by a bar jack which is very unusual … and then a BIG nurse shark, luckily just laying in the sand, no coral or rock close, just hanging out. Not being a big fan of sharks, I enjoyed the waterslide drift another time, warily keeping my eye on him, but seeing more fish and another large ray gracefully making it's way in the pass to feed. My third trip, I lost the shark and even though it's a nurse shark, the idea of him swimming up behind me would literally scare me into having a heart attack and that's NOT the way I envision my life ending. So I made my way back to the beach . Before returning to the boat, we reconnoitered several other snorkeling spots accessible by dinghy from where we're anchored in what we lovingly refer to as the Minefield, for all the coral heads we had to dodge getting in.

Before the upwind sail to the Holandes on Sunday, Winterlude anchored in Naba-daba-dup -- doesn't that sound like somewhere Fred Flintstone should live? -- behind a reef, enjoying nice flat water and no roll, despite the trade winds honking - blowing 20 plus with 8-13 feet waves outside - and something called "debris" clouds causing my sun shower to be less than a nice hot shower every night! But despite these weather related challenges, we still live in paradise. Looking out from my favorite seat in the cockpit I see brilliant blue clear water in every shade imaginable, the mountains on the mainland tower majestically over the islands, the little palm studded white sand islands beckon for beach walking -- on the windward side only, the leeward side (away from the wind) generally has chitres - or no see ems -- to be avoided at all costs! Hermit crabs in their stolen shells joustle each other always providing entertainment making me laugh! Snorkeling provides the opportunity to glide above as the spotted eagle rays below glide up a white sand rise that looks just like powered snow and over a brightly colored coral formation. Small cleaner fish pace the eagle ray, as do I, just marveling at his grace in the water.

Rays and fish jump, fish feeding frenzies are regular events, dolphins show up at unexpected times and the nightly star spectacle is fabulous. Drowsing in my hammock on the bow I can see the moon smiling at Venus and an array of stars much brighter than anything at the lake -- and I used to think there was NOWHERE better to stargaze than the lake! Kuna fishermen in their wooden cayucos paddle past to sell us fish or just to chat. Just watching the Kuna cayucos provides entertainment - they may be laying out their nets to catch hundreds of silvery flashing fish or just cruising by behind the boat. Normally they hide behind brightly colored plastic tablecloths to stay dry from the spray and wind in their open cayucos … one day last week with the enhanced wind, we even saw a guy with his snorkel mask on hiding behind his tablecloth … he flashed a brilliant smile and a big wave at us as he putt-putted past the stern of the boat.

Into every paradise, a bit of maintenance must intrude. Since we returned from Costa Rica, we accomplished several maintenance tasks, sailed to Naba-daba-dub and have been enjoying life in paradise.

Our first maintenance task was to refill our propane - always an adventure because there are no facilities in the San Blas Islands for filling propane tanks and complicating the matter, Panamanian propane tanks have completely incompatible fittings with American tanks. Luckily Winterlude - because I'm such a gourmet cook, I'm sure - lasts about 2 ½ months on a single tank of propane. To refill we hang a Panamanian tank upside down from our arch high above the back of the boat , connect a hose with Panamanian fittings on one end and US propane tank fittings on the other end and literally gravity drain propane from their tank to ours, watching the clear liquid drain down the clear hose! It must have worked because my stove has propane, but it's always a bit scary -- propane is not to be trifled with, the last thing we want to do is blow up our boat or ourselves! And since it's the end of the month, we have the monthly maintenance chores to attend to … lubing all the locks so they will unlock at the appropriate time, watering the Trojan T-105 batteries, moving all the seacocks to keep them from freezing, checking the fluid levels in the diesel, checking the strainers on both the watermaker and the diesel … lots of little things that prevent major problems later on! The definition of cruising is "fixing your boat in exotic places", but we prefer to do as little fixing and as much snorkeling/star gazing/socializing/beachcombing as possible!

Anchored in Naba-daba-dup, the trade winds piped up and we snorkeled inside and outside the inshore reef - good snorkeling - on days where it wasn't too rough. On other days we enjoyed rendezvousing with friends Nancy & Ginny on Willow - we last saw Willow when we were anchored in Guanaja, Bay Islands, Honduras, waiting for a weather window to sail to Panama -- over 2 years ago. They invited us and Bruadair over for fresh fish at a pitch in dinner aboard Willow -- a Valiant 42 and a beautiful boat . Willow's outboard had refused to work a few days earlier and they were able to buy a new Tohatsu from the dealer in Panama City and have it shipped to Nargana/Corazon de Jesus airstrip with only a couple of minor delays. So now Willow is enroute to the Cayman Islands with a brand new outboard which will greatly enhance their diving and snorkeling adventures! Ever since we've known them, they've struggled with a less than reliable outboard, - David towed them in twice from diving in Guanaja- so this is great news . Nancy donated the old outboard to Paco on Nargana, a wonderful man who generally has clean diesel and gasoline for sale. He had a few other of the same brand outboards and was delighted to get Willow's outboard to put together with the others and hopefully make one whole functional outboard! Sad news this week, Paco's 15 year old grandson drowned which was devastating for the family. We don't have details but the Kuna divers dive down so deep after lobster that David's thinking he was free diving and something happened. Very sad. Cruisers had a Memorial Service for him at Nali's restaurant.

Earlier this week, we snorkeled the spot called Disneyland for the first time this year. Up until now the water has been too rough to dinghy out the couple of miles to the Disneyland reef. We visited the Barracuda family who remembered us from last year … luckily they just said hello and left us to explore the reef pass on our own! The coral formations were beautiful, lots of sea fans and other bush like plant looking corals, and lots of good fish. David's definition of good fish and mine differ considerably … I like colorful reef fish, spotted eagle rays, dolphins, turtles … all kinds of pretty graceful stuff. David wants big snappers, preferably dog snappers or other edible fish. There were trigger fish and other edible delicacies , but David just put new bands on his spear gun and his aim was less than accurate. This calls for more practice! This weekend is the last of shellfish season and we spotted another large lobster, but couldn't find a second, so the grateful lobster's life was spared.

We figure we have another five weeks or so left in the San Blas Islands before heading to Linton - an interim stop before returning to Shelter Bay Marina in Colon. Rumor is that Linton has a good sail maker and we desperately need our jib recut -- any wind above about 15 knots and the jib leech vibrates so violently it literally makes the arch move an inch back and forth & vibrates the entire boat. I'm always afraid the mast will fall down on our heads! So we're hoping to get the jib fixed … and maybe even replace some of our dodger and bimini canvas which refuses to repel water this year -- making the cockpit interesting with waterfalls in a variety of places that we would prefer they not be whenever it rains, which is frequenly in the tropics.

OR, we've had an e-mail from our friends on Kristiana in Belize … they want us to meet them in the Vivorillos (corner of Honduras) in mid-April and plan on exploring territory we have yet to discover next winter season rather than staying in Panama. We are undecided, our current plan made in jello is to stay here. BUT, the nice thing about living on a sailboat is a good weather window could turn up & we could decide to meet Kristiana, 400 miles to the north, on the spur of a moment. Snorkeling and fishing was phenomenal in the Vivorillos Cayes when we passed through there on our way to Panama two years ago. We'll just see what happens and where we are this time next year! J

Jan & David, s/v Winterlude
Sibadup, 9 35.381 N 78 43.018 W

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Photo Test

2009-02-18T10:05:00.000-08:00

Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica ... Winterlude 2.15 Update

2009-02-17T09:52:00.000-08:00

Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica ... Winterlude 2.15 Update

So here we are, David & I, sitting on a hard folding bench seat in a tiny airplane with no markings. Our friend, David from Bruadair, sits on the bench in front of us gazing out the window at the spectacular coastline scenery passing beneath our wings. The three of us, plus the pilot and an off duty pilot sitting in the co-pilots seat, along with a heap of other people's luggage behind us, constituted the entire passenger list on this trip. This would NEVER happen in the United States! We were scheduled to take the tiny plane from Changuinola, Panama back to Bocas Del Toro, literally a five minute flight, to connect with a 48 passenger Air Panama plane for the one hour flight over the mountains to Panama City. When we arrive in Bocas,… one of those landings where you hope there's something other than water under the wheels of the plane by the time they actually touch … we were escorted into the terminal to await the larger plane … ironically, the 48 passenger plane was the identical model to the one that just crashed outside of Buffalo NY … and it was Friday the 13th, making David a bit nervous about having to fly that flight anyway! But that plane had mechanical trouble in San Jose and Air Panama sent a 20 seat plane instead. Unfortunately there were 24 passengers and too much luggage to meet the weight requirements, which is how David & David and I, plus piles of luggage ended up on this spectacular sightseeing flight!

It was a gorgeous day… blue skies, some puffy white clouds, bright sun which in the late afternoon was casting warm, beautiful light on everything beneath us. The blue sea, so transparent in places you could follow the contours of the coastal shelf bottom as well as the reefs and tiny gem islands, erupted in white froth where rocks dotted the surface. Here and there a sailboat or ship dotted the surface. David swore he saw a whale, altho' I missed it. Following the coastline until the Panama Canal loomed, we didn't have to cross the mountains, the more direct route that the larger plane would have taken. Hanging a right just before the canal, we could see tiny fishing hamlets dotting the coastline everywhere a river descended to the Caribbean. Just before sunset, we turned to fly just west of the canal crossing to Panama City. The late afternoon light danced on the jungle forest highlighting more colors of green than I knew existed. A rainbow glistened out to sea, entirely suspended in the clouds, each end clearly visible.

This sightseeing flight was not part of our planned adventure to Costa Rica and would have cost fortunes had we actually chartered this plane to enjoy the view. As it was, we had Disney adventure included in our regular $70 fare! Of course, all was not roses … you could see through the cracks to outside … higher altitudes resulted in very chilly air pouring through those same cracks … I almost froze! And there was a minimal waterfall just missing the luggage behind us. But the views were unforgettable, and the experience will endure in our minds since I'm sure the photos will not do it justice! Why is it some of the best experiences are unphoto-genic!

Panama immigration requirements were the reason we ended up on the sightseeing flight. Immigration allows us 90 days in Panama and we don't want to see what happens if we ignore the rules, we planned to leave the boats in Nargana in the San Blas Islands, fly to Changuinola on the mainland, take a $6 taxi to Sixeola on the Costa Rican border, where we were stamped out of Panama and into Costa Rica with no problems … immigration for Panama is on one side of an old rickety bridge, you walk across the bridge, and hope that no semis decide to try & cross at the same time, forcing you to hug the rather skinny "outside lane" -- you could see through the wooden slats in the road to the rushing water of the flood swollen river below. Checked in to Costa Rica, we gazed in despair at the muddy morass below that lay between us and the bus station. Frontloaders scooped the mud out of the streets into waiting dump trucks, lines of them. Turns out, the previous week , Sixeola had more rain than most locals could remember which flooded the tiny already dirty border town and filled almost every house with slimy smelly river mud. Being the brave souls we are, for $7 more per person we avoided the mud and opted to take a taxi to Puerto Viejo, our Caribbean coast destination … plus wait an hour and a half and endure a 2 hour bus ride, not arriving in Puerto Viejo until 9 PM … without dinner, I might add. It just seemed prudent to spend the extra money, arrive in 45 minutes & enjoy a nice dinner at a great little beach restaurant called Chili Rojo.

Puerto Viejo is a funky artist village at the junction of the black sand and white sand beaches on the Caribbean. 5 blocks long and 3 blocks wide, we had little anticipation of great food, but we were in for a big surprise! Bread & Chocolate, owned by one of several local Americans, found us feasting on french press coffee and bagels (the first bagels I've had since leaving the U.S.) for breakfast… David had bacon & eggs! The day was spent wandering through shops, watching local artists ply their crafts, having lunch (more food, do you sense a theme here?), getting my HAIR CUT - almost the highlight of the trip… collecting land e-mail at an internet café, all the things that cruisers miss while cruising paradise!

Returning to Panama, presented a bit of a dilemmna. Standing in line was a rather eclectic crowd fom surfers, with surfboards to eco-tourists, with cameras & binoculars, from all over Europe. When arriving at an international airport, immigration assumes that you will exit the country the same way. When you arrive at a tiny muddy border crossing, they require proof that you will be exiting their country within your allotted 90 days. Of course, we haven't bought our airline tickets back to the U.S. yet … and even if we had, I wouldn't have had them with me on this trip. Personally I think it's a scam, but they forced us to buy an $11 bus ticket back to San Jose Costa Rica as proof that we are leaving Panama. Of course, we are not using the bus ticket, so we wonder who gets the money. Somehow I doubt it's the bus company!

In Panama City for the day, we wandered down to the Tohatsu dealer on the waterfront … our stern mount bracket for our Tohatsu outboard decided to strip the screws, resulting in an adventure every time we used the outboard … David clamped it with a C-clamp, but it vibrated loose quickly, resulting in more than one frantic grab for the outboard before it went snorkeling without us! Thankfully, the Tohatsu dealer took a bracket off a new outboard to sell to us since they didn't have one in stock. The torture came when we had to wait on the bill … getting the bracket, even with the language challenges took 10 minutes, getting the BILL took over an hour. They have computers, but they don't yet link things like parts lists, inventory and prices to billing and invoicing … the poor girl had to look up every washer, bolt & piece of the stern bracket, write down the prices on a piece of paper & then transfer them into a bill in Excel. As David said, don't you just want to say "wait a minute, let me fix that for you" … but it's their business, not ours. After the Tohatsu dealer, we headed to the Multi-Plaza mall … what culture shock for someone who's been living on a boat doing hand laundry out of range of cell phones or any modern conveniences … the Multi-Plaza mall has every shop imaginable … Prada, the Mac/Apple store, all the expensive high end fashion brands as well as Columbia, Timberland and dozens of sporting goods stores.
Overload for the senses! We bought new cell phones at Digicel, the new cell phone provider, spent $200 at the Riba Smith grocery store - an upscale type grocery, Panama's version of Trader Joe's, altho' not even close. The only items on the list that we could not find were sesame oil, sweet spicy thai sauce and cooking sherry. Oh well, we'll still eat well on the boat! No starving episodes this year!

Other than our adventure to Costa Rica, early in February the weather was yucky -- no sun, literally NO sun, the cell tower's solar panels quit functioning for over 10 days! Gray, blustery, WINDY - we moved behind an island to gain a bit of shelter from the steady 30 knots that plagued boats causing some to go sailing on their own, luckily not Winterlude! Of course, we still had 85 degrees and warm water, but just no fun to do anything - anytime you got in the dinghy you were assured of being soaking wet by the time you arrived even just at the next boat in the anchorage - less than a 2 minute ride. The bad weather gave me an excuse to Murphy Oil clean all my inside teak and lemon oil it, so in two days, my inside teak is gleaming again. We tried to equalize the batteries since they are not holding a charge, but no luck, altho' they are better, they are still not right. Thank goodness for the little Honda 2000 generator, what with NO solar for 2 weeks and deliberately anchoring in the wind shadow of the island to shelter us from the 30 knot winds, we needed it for power! Altho, the pull cord broke forcing us to disassemble the entire generator to get to the spot to replace it … don't they KNOW these things break in time and wouldn't it be a good idea to make replacing a pull cord possible without total disassembly? Luckily it works great now that it's replaced!

This week promises sun and settled weather - a bit windy at 20, but that's just the trade winds. Have to run… the snorkeling, fishies and eagle rays are calling!

Later -- Jan & David, s/v Winterlude, 9 28.782 N 78 43.343 W

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Stay Tuned!

2009-02-15T13:35:00.000-08:00

Sunday, Feb 15 ... Winterlude is anchored in Nargana & her crew has just returned from an adventure to Costa Rica ... Panama only allows us to stay for 90 days before we have to leave the country for 72 hours. So we spent 72 hours in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica .... more soon, I promise ... I'm too tired to write this afternoon!

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Fwd: Isla Robeson ... Winterlude Update 2.1.2009

2009-01-31T10:38:00.000-08:00

Isla Robeson, Winterlude Update 2.1.2009

Isla Robeson, 2.1.2009 …. Before we dropped anchor in the Isla Robesons, there were six ulus surrounding Winterlude. Some had two ladies in brightly colored traditional garb and a couple cute, often naked young children. … some have molas to sell, some are men wanting to sell us lobster or crab, one is a nice young man named Manuel who speaks a little English, wants to practice and was very curious about our anchor kellet. Several wanted us to recharge their cell phones. One was Justino and his family who we met in the East Lemmon Cayes last winter. Last winter his family was in charge of one of the tiny islands in the East Lemmons … gathering coconuts to transport back to Isla Robeson and caretaking of the island. This winter, Justino has appointed himself in charge of yachts, informing us that he would return at 2:30 (it's now 12:30) to take us to meet the sahila (chief) of the island. We tied his leaky wooden ulu to the back of Winterlude, and Justino climbed into our dinghy for the short ride to "town". Ailiatupu is no more than a quarter mile long and half as wide with a brand new elementary grade school, grades 1 through 6 and 60 students! Because of the overflowing population and the island's small size, they are industriously bringing large stones from the mainland … in their paddled wooden ulus (canoes) to enlarge the island, filling in along shore where it is shallow, but the water drops off sharply a mere few yards from shore. Still, with bamboo huts overflowing the banks, they are trying to enlarge to accommodate all the kids and their families, most kids are younger than school age. One ulu has a 9 month old baby sitting quietly all by herself in between a dad and an older brother, but both were out of reach to grab her should she decide to move about.

After visiting with the 74 year old sahila, paying our $5 anchoring fee and receiving our official receipt, a yellow 5 X 7 sheet of paper stamped with the dates of the 30 days we're allowed to stay, stamped with the sahila's official stamp and signed laboriously, we offer our gift of 5 pairs of reading glasses. The sahila was thrilled, but his wife was really excited. She instantly started trying them on to pick the best pair for herself first. With the official blessing, Justino took us on a tour of the island, mud basketball court, a few tiendas, one where we bought fresh Kuna bread, friendly people and dozens of curious kids followed our progress. He also told us all about how he's the sahila's favorite representative for the yachties and that we're to contact him for anything we need. He lives on a different island and made us promise to visit his island a short distance away that same afternoon. We visit and he proudly gives us a tour of his island, which is even smaller and MORE crowded than the other island if that's possible. There are 12 extended families living here and again, they are trying to enlarge the island wherever there is shallow water by ferrying large stones from the mainland for landfill.

We met Justino's family and visited his house … where he showed us the deteriorating bamboo walls - he has a blue tarp strategically hung in a few places where the walls barely hold up the roof and you can see right through. His house is 20 years old and leaks … his wife tells him they need a new house, but Justino is also saving money for school uniforms for his kids and an eye operation he needs in Panama City. He has $60 saved for his new house, but we THINK he said it would cost $100. His wife gave us a gift of a homemade Panama flag … very crudely done, not at all like the needlework of most Kuna ladies, but thoughtful nonetheless. They had Panama flags hanging in rows from the rafters of the hut and hammocks strung for their beds and chairs.

Now it's time to take a shower, but too many ulus are out and about, keep in mind, we use a sun shower in the cockpit for showering. Lots of curious kids by themselves, 5 or 6 years old, some a bit older, all want bubbles or balloons… one guy wants us to charge his phone, one poor fisherman lost his only hook - we give him another hook, one proud dad wants us to take a picture of his adorable kid. Fortunately we know the danger of taking photos, then they want you to print a copy. Which is fine for one or two families, but remember the 60+ kids in the elementary school? All of them have many siblings and all paddle out to get their picture taken -- since we're low on printer ink, we wisely refrain from this trap!

The following morning, a fleet of ulus paddles to the mainland river with 5 gallon water jugs, interesting that it's the men getting water here, instead of the women. We're guessing they work on their fincas (banana, yucca or plantain farms) along the river and bring the fresh water on the return trip. The waterline to Ailitupu is broken and maybe the women refuse to get water until the men get on the stick and fix the broken waterline? J In other traditional villages it was always the women who got water while the men were out fishing before dawn and here it seems a lot of men are farmers in addition to fishing on their way to and from the fincas.

So far in one day, we've given away all but 10 of our bubbles (left over from Aly or Megan's weddings) and 5 of the remaining 31 pairs of eyeglasses. Plus a ballcap to Justino because the doctor tells him it's important to wear sunglasses and a cap all the time in the sun for his eye problem. Bruadair (another boat) gave him an extra pair of polarized sunglasses.

We met Bredio, the other local guide/yacht services entrepreneur, who is much more professional and possible more competent than Justino. Bredio washed our hull and then did a complete wax job. I rewrote his book in English telling of his services and a pricelist. He never once mentioned anything about how he needed money for his kids school uniforms or otherwise … he lives almost next door to Justino, so we know he's not living in the lap of luxury, but he never complains or even mentions his personal circumstances. He just asks for work and works very hard. Bredio is refreshing. One thing we don't like about the Kuna culture is their tendency to tell you everything that's wrong with their lives and expect you to either fix it or contribute to fix it. In Justino's case it's his house (maybe if he'd stop smoking pot, he could fix his house?) While we were in Ailitupu, he made $50 from Bruadair for cleaning his boat's bottom and polishing stainless, $20 from 4 boats for having his wife do laundry and another $25 for a river tour he guided … significant money for someone who only needs $40 to have enough to get a new house! The best is the Kuna in a big ulu (not many Kuna have access to an oversize ulu and an outboard) with nice gold necklaces or earrings who stop by asking for gasoline, rice, milk, money, beer, Coke, anything you'll give them … one guy even held up his t-shirt to show me his stomach, rubbing it and mentioning that his family was hungry … as they sit there in their big ulu with gold jewelry! Please!!!! But it's part of their culture and for the most part, most everyone is very nice and expects to either work or sell us fish or molas for money.

The next day we made water … i.e. run the Honda 2000 generator … so we accepted 16 cell phones and a DVD player rechargeable battery to charge. Ironic that there are SO many cell phones on these islands with NO electricity, no light after sunset, nada! We also bought a nice dog snapper from a fisherman asking $2 … delicious dinner. We took Justino's wife our laundry, sheets and clothes in the river. We've learned to dry it ourselves … if you let them dry it, they throw them on the thatch roof of their houses … unfortunately the cook fire is inside and the laundry comes back smelling like smoke! Unfortunately, this particular day the weather gods decided to bless us with squalls, which was great for filling the water tanks, but not so good for getting the laundry dry. Sheets up, scurry to take all down, then it clears 15 minutes later, sheets up, nope, repeat process! I finally hung them down below to finish drying and the inside of the boat looked like a sheik's house in Saudi Arabia or Egypt or wherever they have sheets hanging for ceilings inside!

Just prior to one of the worst of the squalls, a young lady, maybe 13 years old, with her youngest brother, 3 years old and two younger cousins, 8 or 9, paddled out to retrieve three of the family's cell phones that we had charged.. Torrential rains began just as they got to Winterlude. We invited them aboard (breaking our own rules). They enjoyed seeing pictures of Andy, Aly & Billy, the weddings, Billy & Katie water skiing, etc. Then the rain quit and they all climbed back in their tippy leaky ulu and paddled off … with their three cell phones and chargers securely in an empty plastic rice bag! She returned later offering us a gift of a yucca root to thank us for charging the phones. We were also given two eggs as thank yous for charging phones. We're not sure what type of eggs these are, they are too small for chicken eggs and are almost a phosphorescent white color.

What else? Not a moment's peace anchored here, it's a cultural experience, but it's exhausting. Another guy was looking for line for his mainsail, we gave him what we had, but it wasn't exactly what he needed… he was happy anyway. Two more ulus selling fish, lobster or crab, no thanks. Another girl with yet another cell phone to charge … word gets around quickly here (we ended up charging 25 cell phones, some multiple times as well as the DVD player battery - we're guessing the families have movie night & invite everyone in their family, then the next night the DVD player gets passed to the next family)! A girl has a cute 8 week old puppy and wants us to take a photo, we decline and they paddle off to try the next boat. We've given away 50 balloons, now David is showing them the empty bag & they seem to get the message. Just as an aside, they all ask for dulces or caramelos -- we don't give away candy or gum, their teeth are bad enough without us contributing to the problem. Did I mention that the nice man that gave us the eggs to thank us for charging his cell phone is an albino and from another island a LONG paddle away? Here's another lady needing reading glasses … I enjoy giving away the glasses, it's so nice when there's a pair that helps … you see their faces light up and they nod yes emphatically … most of these ladies do not speak Spanish, only Kuna. This one had her grandson, maybe 7 years old, paddle her out and translate. The kids learn Spanish in school.

We also had the Mandinga River Adventure while anchored here, but that's another story ! Let us just say we should have listened when Bredio, who makes part of his living conducting river tours, told us that it was not possible. We missed the translation of why other than something about low water and trees. Justino agreed to take us … 5 boats, 10 people … on the river tour. He talked the sahila (chief) into letting us rent his 30 foot long cayuco with a 15 horse Yamaha outboard … suffice it to say the sahila may not rent out his cayuco again! Ask David about how big those crocodiles were? And the rest of the adventure … let's just say Survivor has nothing on us… and why is the Gilligan's Island Theme song stuck in my head …. "a three hour tour" ….??????

That's all for this episode! Stay tuned!!!

Jan & David, anchored in Esnadup (away from Isla Robeson for some peace, quiet & snorkeling!)
9 29.095N 78 40.245W
----- End of Original Message -----

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

The Birthday Party ... Winterlude 1.15.09

2009-01-15T14:30:00.000-08:00

Nuedi to all -- Winterlude Update 1.15.09, Esnadup

Nuedi is Kuna, a universal greeting as well as thank you, no thank you, goodbye, whenever you don't know what to say to a Kuna that speaks no spanish, just smile and say nuedi, you're sure to get a smile back!

Our goal for this winter is to visit as many new spots in Kuna Yala as we can, experience new things, enjoy the treasures Kuna Yala has to offer. New Year's week we spent in the Green Islands, a group of islands less than 3 1/2 miles from Nargana, a "modern" village with a small store, regular Columbian Trading Boats and even internet at the local gradeschool. The internet is new since last year. Progress, of a sort, I suppose. We walked the airport runway while in Nargana, not many places to walk any distance here, walking around islands is fine, but most are less than a half mile around the sandy white beach - it would take many many laps! The airport runway isn't without hazard however. Normally Air Panama and Aeroperlas have an early morning flight and that constitutes the traffic for the day. But just as David & I were about to embark on a mid-afternoon walk, we heard a faint buzzing in the sky and look up to see the infamous red plane. The red planes fly throughout the San Blas picking up live lobster for the Red Lobster restaurant chain in the U.S. No lobsters at the airstrip for this plane though, so he flew on to the next San Blas landing strip. So, why are there crab claws in the middle of the runway? If a crab that size crawled up to the middle of the runway to shed his shell, maybe David & I are hanging out at the wrong places trying to find crab! :)

The poor Kuna ... an indigenous culture, impoverished, living in bamboo huts with thatch roofs and dirt floors, cooking over an open wood fire, hand laundry, no electricity, no modern conveniences. And yet, the Kuna have much that has been overshadowed in the hustle and bustle of the world we live in.... we were privileged to witness what in my imagination I can only assume was the world's best birthday party. A Kuna father with three girls, maybe seven or eight years old, paddled out while we were in the Green Islands to the uninhabited postcard perfect island in front of where Winterlude was anchored. As soon as the ulu drew close to the beach, the girls piled out, laughing and splashing in the knee deep clear water over white sand. The dad tied his ulu to a stake in shallow water and hung a hammock between palm trees, relaxing as the little girls cavorted and frolicked in the water. Later they walked off, hand in hand, Dad in the middle, down the beach, completing their leisurely beach circumnavigation before returning to the hammock. Just before sunset, they climbed back in the ulu, the dad paddling toward the mainland and home, while the girls trailed their hands in the water and giggled as little girls do all over the world.

All in all, a lazy Tuesday afternoon, hanging out with dad and enjoying the setting and each other. No beach toys, no blow up whale or even a skimmer board. The Kuna may not have material possessions or modern conveniences, but they have time for family and friends and a sense of community. Kids play freely in the villages and everyone watches out for everyone else's kids. It's always a treat to glimpse into their day to day lives as we did with the "birthday party" - whether or not it was a birthday or just some family time, it made us smile.

I can't believe it's been two weeks since the last update. Where does the time go? Days merge together into weeks, living is easy and stress-free. Today is a good example - Monday. We get up and because there's no wind overnight, our batteries are low. I am the Panama Connection Net controller this morning, so the SSB radio needs full batteries. We
generate a few amps while making coffee with the Honda 2000 generator hooked to shore power, but it's slow going. David agrees to turn on the diesel and we add almost 80 amps in 45 minutes, just time enough to enjoy my coffee and raisin bran. David plucks a few sugar bananas from the stalk hanging from the arch on the back of the boat & has sugar bananas and oranges for breakfast. I play net controller for a half hour until 9 AM, then check my e-mail, nada. David & Damon (a friend on Bruadair) have made plans to go lobster hunting this morning, but before they can leave, a big fiberglass panga pulls up -- surprise, it's Geraldo, the big veggie guy -- Geraldo was supposed to be back 4 days after Christmas, but you never assume just because that's when someone says they'll return, that they actually WILL return! Geraldo's boat is full of goodies & for $24 I score 2 litres of vino tinto, a litre of milk, a dozen brown eggs, a Christophene (like a squash), carrots, potatoes, onions, a watermelon, 6 tangerines, 4 big grapefruit, a head of REAL lettuce, a rarity here, and other misc items. I take the loot inside to begin the process of washing it in bleach water- everything gets washed in bleach water & dried in the sun before storing to get rid of any bugs or anything else - vegetables & fruits here are not processed like in the US, often they aren't washed at all.

David & Damon make their departure to go hunt lobster & I climb in my kayak for a bit of paddling. I paddle around two islands, walk the beach on one, find a nice shell, watch some hermit crabs playing in the sand, see a ray swim away from under me, then paddle over to where the boys dinghy is anchored to see if they've been successful as great white hunters. Alas, no lobster. This is a problem because David on Bruadair wants to make Lobster Szechwan tonight for dinner, he wants to invite us and there's not enough lobster… luckily a Kuna man in a wooden ulu near where David & Damon are looking for lobster finds a couple & takes them by for David to purchase. In the meantime, I've made it back to Winterlude, climbed aboard, rinsed salt & sand off & I'm finishing up the veggie storage now that they're dry & enjoying black bean chicken salad for lunch when the infamous cayuco with the yellow stripe and a tiny man in nothing but grey underwear and a BIG smile pulls up. Serapio comes almost every day with an assortment of who knows what to sell to cruisers. Today he has fresh WARM coconut breadsticks - melt in your mouth, SO GOOD! I don't need anything else today, a shame because he had quite a few veggies, but Geraldo has been through the anchorage earlier & everyone is stocked up. I relax in the cockpit eating my lunch with the addition of the warm coconut bread. A half hour or so later, David & Damon dinghy up - no success, although David has a dog snapper that will serve as dinner tomorrow night. We chat awhile & Damon heads back to his boat and I get lunch for David - they've been gone 3 hours & he's hungry! After lunch, he cleans his fish, I hang out - Last Resort (another boat) dinghies over to say hello, followed by Barb on Hurrah - she needs the e-mail address of Shelter Bay Marina. We visit awhile. Cruising must be like living in the 50's - all your neighbors drop by for chats during the day & the next thing you know, it's time to shower and go to dinner on Bruadair! I have asian cabbage salad, David's made the rice, lobster Szechwan and Japanese cucumber dish. Best dinner I've ever had -- I have the recipe if you all happen across some fresh lobster up there & want it!

So the philosophical question of the day … Why are there never any sea turtles in the turtlegrass? This has been a mystery to me the entire time we've been cruising. Turtlegrass is everywhere, growing on the bottom in the sand in shallow water ... you don't want to anchor in it because it's often so thick that the root systems make it impossible for your anchor to penetrate. So where are the turtles? There is a large sea turtle in the little lagoon where we're anchored now, it likes to swim around just before sunset, causing me to go running for my camera, only to disappear before I can be ready. And we have rays jumping and those phosphorescent unidentified objects floating by after dark again… So much to do, so little time!

Until next time!

Jan & David,
s/v Winterlude, anchored 9 32.733N 78 53.921W (actually now we're in the West Lemmon Cayes, moved from when I wrote this initially!)

www.sailwinterlude.com

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Pelican Ballet ... Winterlude 1.1.2009

2008-12-30T07:35:00.000-08:00

Pelican Ballet … Winterlude Update 1.1.2009

Prospero Ano Nuevo!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR from Winterlude

January 1, 2009.… Kamikaze pelicans provide endless entertainment for cruisers, flying low and fast, just off the waters surface until spotting their prey in the clear water. Catching an updraft, they position them selves for the plunge directly into the water. Why they never break their necks is beyond me! But their ungainly uncoordinated bodies bob to the surface, the beak points up and time after time, they devour their fish. It's amazing they can fly at all as gawky as they appear! Obviously appearances can be deceptive!

Imagine my surprise to receive a guest of honor invitation, complete with front row seats, to the Pelican Ballet, performed nightly at Salardup, one of the 350+ palm islands in the San Blas Islands of Kuna Yala Panama. Salardup is uninhabited with a palm fringed white sand beach, complete with starfish and every hue of blue and green water imaginable on the leeward side (away from the wind). On the windward side, a formidable reef with waves crashing provides relaxing background music .

In the glowing light just before sunset, the performance begins. Sixteen ballerina pelicans glide gracefully up on the wind updraft, splitting off to soar a circular pattern high above the coconut palms, slowly descending simultaneously. Suddenly, one by one , they dive, perfectly synchronized and with only a split second between, splashing into the aqualline waters. Surfacing, gulping their treat, they rise above the surface, repeating the ballet sequence until gliding to an unlikely intermission, landing awkwardly on a palm branch, swaying precariously until their body weight settles. After a suitable intermission, the second act begins, beautifully orchestrated, accompanied by the musical rendition of the waves on the reef and concluding with the sun dipping behind the purple shrouded mainland mountains.

We have never been treated to such a synchronized performance in the 5,500 miles we've been cruising and we've seen a lot of kamikaze pelicans! We stayed at Salardup three days and every day at sunrise and sunset, the performance would repeat. But despite anchoring at several close by islands, we've not seen it since.

Before Salardup, we had a great sail to Porvenir, a small island, the official entry into Kuna Yala… in Panama, a zarpe, official document clearing you out of one port to be presented to the port captain in the next port is required for every port. Most countries just require you check in when you enter the country & then you're free to visit all the ports in that country before checking out and moving on to a different country. So we had our zarpe from Colon and needed to check into Kuna Yala with Ricardo, the port captain. No problem, except we need our cruising permit renewed. It doesn't expire until January 17 and Ricardo refuses to renew it until a day or so before … which requires us to return to Porvenir on January 17... Not in our plan. Since Porvenir is at the far western end of the arpegilo and the trade winds blow incessantly from the east or north east, it's not easy to get back to the islands from Porvenir! Bummer! A cruising permit is issued for 3 months, and at this point we haven't figured a way around returning. It certainly decreases our options for cruising to the farther away eastern San Blas, where the more traditional villages stand watch over the more pristine reefs. Immigration is different (some of you may remember our immigration woes from last year culminating with David having to buy apair of long pants to enter the immigration office), but we have to check out of the country after 90 days, for us Feb 14. We're currently evaluating our options … maybe fly from Nargana to Panama City, to Changinola and then take a bus across the border to Puerto Viajo, Costa Rica and stay in the funky little beach village for 3 nights so we can check back into Panama. No definite resolution yet, but immigration and cruising permits are a daily topic of conversation amongst cruisers. Maybe even moreso that the weather!

Tradewinds continue to blow strongly creating 15 foot waves on a lee shore, great for surfing, not so great for sailing. The weather from Chris Parker tells us there's a cold front in North Carolina, stretching to the panhandle of Florida that will cause the high pressure to weaken off the US East Coast in turn causing the pressure gradient to weaken all throughout the Caribbean. So later this week we can expect the winds to settle into the 10-15 range, MUCH better, and the waves to settle as well. Lots of boats will be making plans to leave the San Blas to either sail to Cartagena, Columbia or Colon, Panama where they will make arrangements to go through the Panama Canal on their way to the South Pacific.
So you can see, sometimes weather in the US, and the Midwest, actually creates better weather for the Southwest Caribbean and we thank you! J

A few nights just before Christmas, we were treated to a special Christmas parade as we relaxed just after dinner in Winterlude's cockpit. My view was the evening shadows of the mainland mountains, towering over the islands … when the corner of my eye caught a glow. Since there's almost no electricity, glows in the dusk are very abnormal and I sat up for a better view. The entire surface of the water was aglow with phosphorescent unknown creatures, each of them transmitting a white Christmas light glow and meshing with hundreds of others to create a virtual parade of phosphorescence with Winterlude being the split in the middle. Later we heard that they are swarms of squid and the lights are part of their mating ritual.

After getting supplies & gasoline in Nargana, we sailed to the Green Islands, 3 miles out and a lifetime away. We're anchored behind a gorgeous new reef with eight little islands scattered in this arpeggio. This is one of the island groups that we didn't visit last winter … and there are more on our upcoming to do list, so stay tuned! Aly & Danny, we missed this spot when you were here, you would love it … swim ashore to the medium sized corona island, lounge in the foot deep water on white sand spit with a cool beverage, tons of coconut palms, nice beach - you can walk all the way around, although partly you're wading in clear ankle deep water. Lots of exploring to do & lots of time to do it. It doesn't get better! J

Enjoy your New Year's celebrations, celebrate safely!

Jan & David
s/v Winterlude

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Merry Christmas from Winterlude!l

2008-12-14T11:14:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS! I'm trying something new! Sending a Christmas Card ... or a Christmas email! Attached is a photo of Christmas Trees in the San Blas Islands! Christmas Trees here are colorful "worms" that attach themselves to underwater coral. Every color under the sun! A bit larger than an inch & a half, they disappear into themselves when a finger gets too close for comfort! They are living, breathing organisms just like the Christmas trees you have in your houses. Of course, I think
it would be tough putting decorations on them since they disappear the instant you touch them! So from our Christmas Trees to yours ....

MERRY CHRISTMAS, Love DAVID & JAN on Winterlude!

Winterlude Update, Back Aboard!

2008-11-29T11:07:00.000-08:00

December 1 ... Hola from Shelter Bay Marina, Panama!

(A quick housekeeping note: the SSB radio e-mail does not like me e-
mailing huge quantities of addresses, it assumes I'm a spammer and
won't let me send. So, this year I'm doing updates a bit differently.
After this e-mail, they will ONLY be POSTED on the blog on my website, www.sailwinterlude.com
on the Current page... so please mark your calendars to check the
website on the 1st & the 15th of each month & I'll let you know what
we're up to!)

Shelter Bay Marina is where the latest James Bond movie, Quantum of
Solace was filmed, so if you've seen the film, you have a good idea of
where Winterlude is right now! Arriving eleven days ago, we thought
we'd be off cruising by now, but as often happens, events - luckily
only weather - conspired against us! Winterlude was on the hard (out
of the water) for the summer and has a fresh coat of ... uh, what
can only be called dusky purple bottom paint. Huh? How did that
happen?

When we bought Winterlude, the bottom was bright white and we loved
it. It was easy to see to clean and looked sharp with the dark dark
green hull. Unfortunately, that paint is unavailable outside the US,
so when we hauled & painted in LaCeiba Honduras, we switched to black
(ugggghhh!!!) bottom paint. Nothing distinctive about black bottom
paint on a dark dark green hull & for three years I've been hoping to
get my white bottom paint back. So when Shelter Bay told me they
could get white bottom paint, but there was a small catch, I agreed.
Turns out the "small catch" was that the paint goes on what they call
"maroon", I call dusky lavender and when the boat goes in the water,
it turns WHITE! So we show up to the boat & sure enough the bottom
is dusky lavender. We had no time to contemplate the tragedy because
our insurance survey was scheduled for the next morning. Luckily,
the biggest problem was the fire extinguishers & flares were expired,
but that's a story for a bit later... and we SPLASH the boat! Thank
goodness, no more climbing down an extension ladder in the middle of
the night to go to the bathroom! Unfortunately, the bottom paint is
still dusky lavender! But a guy down the dock said he used the same
paint in Trinidad a few years back & that over the first month, the
color washes off & becomes brilliant white. I guess time will tell.
In the meantime, no one else in the marina has dusky lavender bottom
paint ... as a matter of fact, we're somewhat of an attraction because
yard workers as well as other boaters check by regularly to see if the
paint's turned white yet. :)

As I mentioned, our only problem with our survey (you can't get
insurance on the boat without a survey every few years & this year was
our turn) was our fire extinguishers & flares were out of date. Not a
big problem unless you happen to be in Central America. We knew
before leaving the US that this was going to be a problem, but the
airlines are pretty strict about NOT allowing fire extinguishers &
flares in checked baggage. You would assume that buying them in
Colon with all the boats passing this way would not be a problem, but
the only versions they had were for BIG container ships -- the fire
extinguisher would have taken up my entire KITCHEN!!! So last
Saturday we went on an adventure to Panama City (only 30 miles but 3
hours away due to road construction & impossible traffic) in search of
fire extinguishers & flares. And voila, the very first marine store
we stopped had both! So afterwards we celebrated by buying WAY too
much food & other "necessary" items at PriceSmart (the Shelter Bay bus
driver, Victor, had a membership card & "bought" our stuff) and then
Panama's version of Trader Joe's, Riba Smith at the MultiPlex mall.
The MultiPlex mall is as fancy as any mall you'd see in the USA, with
the requisite stores, including an Apple Store for me to drool!

We have all our boat chores complete - surprisingly enough (knock on
wood), everything worked & the worst issue we had was having to take a
hacksaw to the steel bar locking the outboard to the rail - no one was
going to steal it, that's for SURE! Now we're just waiting for
weather to sail to the San Blas Islands. It's a 2 day sail, we'll
stop overnight in Puerto Linton. Several boats left yesterday, but
when we woke up we were fogged in & it was raining so hard we couldn't
see the bow of our own boat, let alone anything else. We prefer to
use our eyeballs when we're under sail, not fully trusting our
radar. Over the past few days, NOAA (the government weather people)
let us know that something called "INVEST 96" was camped 30 miles due
north of us and could possibly turn into a hurricane. Huh?
Historically, there have never been hurricanes in Panama. No one
told "Invest 96", so the wind howled and the waves crashed OVER the
jetty to the Panama Canal - and that's one BIG jetty! All these huge
tree trunks emerged from nowhere to float just offshore & boats coming
in to the marina report playing dodge tree every five minutes. Dodge
tree doesn't sound fun! Luckily Invest 96 didn't turn into a
hurricane after all, but in the meantime, we've seen literally 2 hours
of sunshine between pouring monsoon rains for the last 10 days! The
good news is that it's WARM - 85 degrees - and Winterlude is not
leaking at the moment, so we're warm & dry. The window a/c unit we
have over the main hatch is keeping the humidity at a pleasant level
so life is good!

By the way, I was always taught that INVEST was something one did with
money. Now apparently the government has screwed that up so bad that
they've reassigned INVEST to NOAA, the weather people, and the term
now refers to the predecessor to a hurricane???? What's up with
that???

Now if David could just convince the people in the marina bar to stop
showing soccer & start showing FOOTBALL (as in futbol american) we'd
be good. But even when they DO show "real" football, there's a
problem ... Sunday night football, they closed at halftime, causing
David to miss the Indianapolis Colt's come from behind WIN. Such is
life in paradise!

Hopefully soon Winterlude will be cruising again!

Cheers! Jan & David, s/v Winterlude, Shelter Bay Marina, 9 22 N, 79
57 W

P.S. Don't forget to check www.sailwinterlude.com for regular
updates ... the 1st & 15th of each month through May 2009!!! And have
a good winter!

Shelter Bay Marina ... April 14, 2008....

2008-06-16T06:22:00.000-07:00

(I wrote this months ago & didn't find time to send it until now...
sorry!)

Hola from Shelter Bay Marina, just across the bay from Colon, Panama &
where Winterlude will spend the next six months on the hard. We
arrived here after the perfect sail, and as I mentioned in the last
update, David could not wait to take his first "real" shower (as
opposed to sun shower) in several months. We made sure Winterlude was
safely tied in her new slip and then he ran for the showers & I ran
for the laundry. Unfortunately for me, Shelter Bay has no laundry
service, but they do have great commercial washers & dryers, so much
for handing off my mountain of laundry. After doing all that laundry,
I deserved a shower too & Shelter Bay is known for it's shower
facilities. We even know one boat that urged us to spend at least one
night here if not for anything other than to SEE the showers! There
are several variations ending up with a Jacuzzi hot tub. Exploring
the seemingly never ending hall of shower possibilities, I finally
settled a free-standing shower, with two seats & all kinds of nozzles,
jets and sprays. I stepped into the shower anticipating the hot
water & steam pressurized water flow that I would soon enjoy. But alas…

To my dismay, I quickly discover, you have to be a rocket scientist to
work the shower! Stepping into the shower, I reviewed the wall of
controls which looked amazingly close to the control panel in an
airplane … too many knobs, wheels & buttons and no instructions! I
take a deep breath & push the knob that looks closest to being a
"regular" shower control. Water halfheartedly pulses out of the
footwide rainshower head above my head … but it definitely wasn't warm
and lacked the pressure I was anticipating. So OK, that was
obviously the wrong knob … so I tried the next likely suspect & warm
water shot out of the holes behind my back, but nothing over my
head. Time to shut everything down & start over, it cannot be this
hard! After thorough review, I choose a button & VOILA, I enjoy
all the hot water & pressure I had dreamed of … unfortunately it was
coming straight up under my feet!!! Quickly hitting that button
again, I sigh with frustration…

Taking a simple shower can't be this hard! All I really want to do is
stand under the streaming pressurized warm water and enjoy. Trying
all the controls was getting tedious – water squirting from tiny
nozzles everywhere but where I wanted it – over my head. – I had it up
& down my legs, from under my feet, from under the seat, from beside
the seat, aaarrrrggggg… I left the "real world" for less than six
months & in the meantime, simply taking a shower has turned into an
alien nightmare! Needless to say, the next night, I chose the
original shower in the ladies bathroom, no more of these fancy,
shmancy shower rooms for me!!!

Shelter Bay Marina occupies the marina space from U.S. Army base that
was returned to Panama when the canal was returned in 1999. In 1999
it was a busy place, with office buildings, a YMCA, barracks, officers
houses & condos on the beach overlooking Colon harbor. There were
nice roads throughout … very reminiscent for those familiar with Ft
Benjamin Harrison. Except, when U.S. Army left, Panama abandoned the
base, leaving the jungle and rainforest to overtake it in just 10
short years! There are overgrown bunkers built to defend the canal
during the World Wars, the base's jail, mixed in with howler monkeys,
chattering white faced monkeys & those in the boatyard even claim to
have seen a couple of jaguars in the dusk. There are several other
types of cats that reside in this jungle as well, but you're lucky to
see one because they're residents of the night. While it was
strange to walk the overgrown paved roads & climb through the bunkers
& other ruins, it was even stranger to realize that the Panamanians
tore down all the top officials private houses … the lawns are clearly
visible, the foundations are there, but there are absolutely no
houses. Why the barracks, bunkers & other structures remain and the
officers houses were destroyed is beyond my imagination. We enjoyed
walking "Kennedy Loop" – the street sign is still there almost every
dusk watching the antics of the monkeys and searching to find our own
sloth!

After parting with Kristiana, we're thinking more & more about joining
Doug & Rayene on their land adventure to Peru later this year. As
most history buffs, I've always wanted to visit the land of the Incas,
and see Machu Picchu, the lost city from the lost civilization for
myself, but mountain trekking is not our area of expertise. Unlike
Doug & Rayene who lived in a log cabin they built themselves in the
mountains of Montana for 19 years, I have never even BEEN on a
mountain bigger than the Smokey Mountains and I don't think they
qualify. Now we're talking about a 4 day trek with multiple passes
over 14,000 feet…. Hmmmm….

So one day David & I decide to walk to Fuerte San Lorenzo … in the
same national park as Fort Sherman, but the other side of the
peninsula. It's 6 miles each way on a good road with a jungle
overhang, sometimes turning the road into a tunnel… which provided
shade, which was good because the temperature had to be around 100.
The backpack which we packed with plenty of water, as well as lunch &
snacks was heavy & we alternated the task of lugging it around.
Luckily for us, each time we stopped to enjoy an apple or some
Gatorade, our load lightened. About ¾ of the walk to the Fort a
National Park ranger drove by & offered us a lift to the Fort. This
wasn't part of the plan and definitely defeated our rationale to hike
this far, but since there had been no other traffic, we jumped into
his truck & rode in the air conditioning the rest of the way. Ft San
Lorenzo sits high above the cliff overlooking the opening to the
Chagres River. We had entered the Chagres months earlier & gazed
intrigued at the fort high above. Now we're exploring the fort &
gazing longingly at the boats anchored in the serenity of the
Chagres. We loved it there & will go back, but for now, we have to
head back & get Winterlude hauled out & put to bed so we can head
back to the US for Y Flyer season! We wisely ate our lunch at the
fort, so now all we were carrying was the water & Gatorade. Both of
us discovered our feet could hurt places we didn't know existed, but
we make the trek & actually walked 10 of the 12 miles in the heat &
jungle. Along the way we saw toucans & parrots, lots of howler
monkeys – a couple of times they even threw stuff at us from above,
and troops of white faced monkeys. You'd catch a glimpse of color or
movement in a tree out of the corner of your eye & when you stopped to
look closer, there was some jungle creature looking back! No big cats
or jaguars though, David was glad of that!

Friday bright & early Winterlude was due to be hauled out & the crew
was ready. But as life in a marina goes, we had to wait while a
GIGANTIC yacht came in to the end of the T dock on the first dock.
Bruce, the yard manager, came down to tell us that Winterlude probably
wouldn't be able to sneak by this enormous floating palace until it
was safely tied to the dock, so we waited. Eventually we were hauled
out & placed in a nice spot with a breeze, water and electricity so we
could finish all our "leave the boat" preparations. We've never had
any trouble leaving Winterlude in a marina outside the U.S. & don't
anticipate any now, but this was the first time we've left her high &
dry out of the water. Out of the water necessitates some different
preparations. David wanted to loosen the plug in the bottom of the
keel so any water that gets into the bilge while we're gone –
including that from the heavy duty dehumidifier we left running inside
– can simply drain & he can unhook the batteries & not have to worry
about keeping them charged. But, of course, the plug had been sanded
over during the last paint job in LaCeiba, Honduras & the slit for the
screwdriver painted over. Hmmm… David gets his trusty Dremel &
voila! Next thing I know he has the plug out & bilge drained! WOW!
That was amazing, nothing EVER goes that easily on a boat!!! We also
got out the full cover for the first time … we had the cover made in
2001 and it was one of the things we had decided maybe was not the
best use of funds since we'd never used it. BUT, it went on easily &
despite not fitting the stern exactly right (we'd added an arch since
we had the cover custom made), I think it will be a big help in
keeping the UV rays to a minimum, maybe preserving that new shiny teak
that we just had sanded & coated with Cetol Gloss!

We only spent one night on the hard & the next day were on our way to
Panama City to fly back to the US. One night was enough, you can't
use your onboard head while the boat's out on the hard so life is a
bit disrupted … especially for us older folks who need the bathroom
during the night … nothing like trying to climb down a ladder 15 feet
in the air and stumble through a boatyard in the middle of the night
several football fields away to get to the marina bathrooms!

For now we're back in the US …. In September & October we'll make our
land adventure to Peru to climb the heights of Machu Picchu and then
head back to Winterlude. Until then, have a great summer!

Hauling

Winterlude: The Last Sail....

2008-04-16T05:58:00.001-07:00

The Last Sail …. April 15, 2008

April 15, 2008 … Too soon it seems, every cruising season comes to an
end…. The mainsail goes up, the clink clink of the chain links on
the electric windlass signal an adventure ending and another about to
begin. After over 170 days at anchor in dozens of interesting new
ports from Panama to Columbia, Winterlude hoists the sails for the
last time this season. Sailing slowly past the Spanish forts
safeguarding Portobelo for the last four centuries, we hang a left
toward Colon. In the distance, 17 miles and a lifetime away, we can
see dozens of ships, the size of small cities, waiting their turn to
proceed through the Panama Canal. The wind is light, the sun is warm
on our shoulders and the sky paints a brilliant blue against the
white of our sails. Bo, our Monitor windvane steers us closer &
closer to civilization.

I sit watching the crystal blue waters flow by, straining for a last
glimpse of dolphins playing in our bow wake or an eagle ray gliding
alongside, but I see nothing other than the sun sparkling on the
water and an occasional Jesus fish - nicknamed because they appear to
walk on water … on their tails, no less! Looking to starboard is out
to sea and a parade of container ships and tankers interspersed with
a single gleaming white cruise ship. Looking to port I see an
occasional tiny fishing village nestled in the rainforests under
towering green mountains. The white puffy clouds almost kiss the
tops of the highest mountain peaks with only the slightest splash of
blue sky in between.

Sailing slowly, enjoying every minute of our last sail, both of us
were caught up in the rushing waters, the sound of the wind whistling
in the rigging and the boat heeling slightly. Suddenly a brown spec
appears in the blue. I jump to the rail watching intently. Everyone
else – including both Danny & Aly who were only aboard a week – has
seen sea turtles this season, just not me! As a final farewell, a
lone sea turtle swam almost alongside Winterlude. It was huge, at
least 4 feet and swimming leisurely in the middle of nowhere as if it
had nothing better in the world to do but swim up & bid us farewell.

Mezmerized by the sparkling blue ocean water, knowing that once
again, our cruising season ends in only a couple of hours (and two
weeks of hot hard endless boatwork), we reminisce about the past six
months.

Winterlude traveled almost 1,000 miles in six months through clear
tropical waters teeming with fish from Bocas Del Toro, Panama in the
far west to Cartagena, Columbia in the far east. Along the way we
passed over 400 islands, only a smidgen of which we had time to stop
& savor. We've anchored in 33 different places, including the
Chagres River, Cartagena, five different islands along the Columbian
Coast, six Eastern San Blas stops, eighteen Central & Western San
Blas islands, plus Colon and Portobelo. Obviously next season,
we'll have to return to Panama since there are at least 350 islands
and a few rivers in the San Blas that we missed entirely! It won't
be the same without our buddyboat, Kristiana, but we'll force
ourselves to eat extra Kuna bread for them since they won't get it in
Belize next winter!

During those six months…

* Rayene & I swam with the dolphins … literally … and also with
countless eagle rays – better than Disneyworld or Seaworld! We
invited a black fin tuna, some snappers & a grouper or two to dinner
and swam the other way quickly when we saw sharks!

* David splashed gasoline in the most famous Kuna mola artist's eyes
… our first meeting with Lisa will not be soon forgotten. Luckily
Lisa was not injured … but she was out of gas & had several miles to
travel to get back to her home island of Rio Sidra. David was trying
to be the nice guy when our boat lurched in the gas transfer. Lisa
did return & sell us all mola art – even Aly!

* Doug & David played pied piper in the Kuna villages with dozens of
Kuna children flocking after them as they entertained, blowing
bubbles while Rayene & I explored the villages, visiting with many
Kuna women & inspecting hundreds of molas. We enjoyed learning
firsthand about the Kuna culture & way of life. It is unique in the
world and fascinating, if sometimes overbearing.

* We gave away dozens of reading glasses to Kuna Indians who needed
to see better … to read or to make quality molas. Not speaking Kuna
made it a challenge, but it was always rewarding when someone tried
on a pair of glasses that obviously allowed them to see more
clearly. Next season we'll take more glasses & try to help more
people. The word gets out quickly & in some islands we had almost
blind elderly people paddle out to the boat saying "len ses" "len
ses" . We haven't determined if that's Kuna or an attempt at
English, but we recognized what they wanted & helped when we could.

* Rayene deviously talked her way into the Cartagena Hilton on the
pretense of wanting to look in the shop for a new swimsuit… both
David & Doug were drooling at the inside opportunity to watch the
bikini photo shoot at the Hilton pool with the Miss Columbia
contestants… BTW Rayene really was looking for a new swimsuit!

* The magic of the Rio Chagres, from spotting my own sloth slowly
making it's way along a branch of a tree to the noisy troops of
howler monkeys to the chattering white faced monkeys … and who could
forget our explorations, the $60 Disney tour – even swimming in the
waterfall during such a torrential downpour we couldn't even see – so
much rain that it kept trying to wash my contact right out of my
eye! We even had to bail the dinghy on the trip back up the river!

* David & Doug looking for the start of the Carnival Parade in
Cartagena … while going with the crowd flow of 10,000 people, they
were as "inconspicuous" as two gringos can be. But when they turned
to take photos, they were swarmed with paint slinging carnival
enthusiasts … most had handfuls of white paint, red paint, or blue
paint … David & Doug both ended up mostly red. Thankfully they both
evaded the motor oil boys, but just! Earlier this week I washed the
Chicago Bears cap that David had covered with red paint & it mostly
is all gone … very sad, another memory washed away.

* Our "out of food" dilemma actually was fun being creative with
meals, trying to keep it interesting. How many ways can you eat
beans & rice, especially after we ran out of beans! I think we
actually ate better when we had no food than when we DO have food!
J David's opinion might vary!

* I still wish I had taken the photo of the frozen chicken feet
sticking out of the top of my freezer compartment! The savory
delicious aromas of Thanksgiving morning filled the boat when we
cooked that chicken! YUM! And every time I used REAL chicken broth,
the boat smelled good all over again!

* Challenging the "no roads to Kuna Yala" reality by playing in the
sticky red gooey mud all the way up & over the mountains on the jeep
experience of a lifetime. David ended up with a new $8.95 pair of
long pants courtesy of a useless trip to immigration & we both were
covered with mud, but happy to see Winterlude & still be alive!

* David being less than thrilled by the hammerhead shark that
confronted him while cruising the reef edge behind the Hot Tub out at
the Holendes Cayes. Of course, we both watched Aly walk on water
after Danny scared up a BIG nurse shark that didn't seem to realize
he was supposed to be sleeping in the cave under the ledge. Then
there was the shark that chased David around the rudder of the boat
while he was trying to clean the bottom! We hadn't seen sharks
before Panama, so they were quite the adventure… one that we tried to
stay as far away from as possible!

* Walking in the footsteps of the infamous pirate Henry Morgan as he
ransacked the forts at Portobelo & later based his infamous overland
invasion to Panama City from Fuerte San Lorenzo which we explored
while at Shelter Bay Marina.

There are so many unforgettable experiences in a season of cruising
but alas, finally you know you've been anchored too long when a
giant frigatebird soars above, day after day using the windvane on
top of our mast as his morning roost! Frigates are BIG and we
watched nervously several mornings as the fragile windvane bent &
swayed under his weight. Luckily, it survived, but it was definitely
time to move on!

Now secured to a brand new floating dock in Colon's Shelter Bay
Marina, Winterlude enjoyed a fresh water rinse. David can't wait for
his first shower in six months with unlimited hot water AND water
pressure … and me?? I'm looking forward to handing my overflowing
laundry bag to a marina laundry lady!!

Last Update coming from Shelter Bay Marina on May 1! Then we're back
to Illinois & I'll post some photos as I find time in between racing
Y Flyers!!!

David &Jan Irons
s/v Winterlude
Colon, Panama

Portobelo, Panama ... April 1, 2008

2008-04-03T08:04:00.000-07:00

Portobelo, Panama …. April 1, 2008

Dolphins soar out of the water, turning a complete flip ending in a
splash that puts the Seaworld dolphin show to shame. But he
background isn't the stage at Seaworld, it's the ancient town of
Portobelo, Panama. From the jungle shoreline, we can hear the howls
of the howler monkeys, - unheard since we left the Chagres River in
October! Winterlude is anchored across from town where three
freshwater rivers wind their way down from the mountains that frame
the bay. It's a large bay with an entrance free from
obstructions: a welcome relief for the seamen aboard Christopher
Columbus' "la Capitania", the flagship for his fourth trip to the New
World in 1504. As a tropical storm raged outside, Columbus' four
little ships literally were blown into the harbor, expecting to be
wrecked at any moment … instead finding themselves inside a large
beautiful bay surrounded by mountains protecting them from the
howling winds. In his relief to be safe, Columbus proclaimed "Puerto
Bello" – translation: "beautiful port"! With variations in
spelling, the name stuck through the past four centuries.

Portobelo became one of the most important ports in the Spanish Main
… shipping lanes that brought millions of pounds of Inca treasure:
gold, silver & platinum back to Spain. Treasure was collected from
as far away as Peru, sent via ship to Panama City on the Pacific
side, then hauled overland by mule via the Camino Real – a muddy
dangerous trek through the mountains. Spanish galleons arrived once
a year transforming Portobelo, from a sleepy fishing village with no
more than a hundred houses, into a bustling port teeming with
thousands of people. We climbed all through all four forts dating
from the 1500's to 1700's – all three levels of each, meaning that
the two top levels which were located HIGH on top of a small mountain
required a hike up an almost vertical path to reach. Now here's a
question for you … why did the Spanish think it was necessary to
build a moat around a fort at the very top of a mountain!

Silver bars & gold pieces accumulated for months prior to the event
called "The Fair". The Spanish built the "Aduana" house – a HUGE
structure, two blocks long, for storing "treasure". But the
treasure, mostly silver bars were stacked outside in the streets
around the building while inside was food, offices and other
necessities. It must have been quite a sight to see thousands of
dollars worth of silver bars stacked 5 feet high & streets deep
around the customs house at "Fair" time!

Today Portobelo has a population of 1000, only 300 more than in
Columbus' time. And despite the fact that electricity has arrived,
it's still mostly a sleepy fishing village. (Speaking of
electricity, I went to the one room library today to use the internet
& 10 minutes after I started, the windowless room went totally black
… electricity it appears is a sometimes thing!) There's a small
restaurant internet café here that bakes fresh French bread every
afternoon. Cruisers dinghy in each morning to put in their order,
otherwise there's never enough hot French bread to go around!

Portobelo is also known for El Nazareno, or the Cristo Negro … a life
size statue of Christ that has become an icon for miracles. Pilgrims
travel from all over Panama to ask El Nazareno to cure their ailments
on October 21 annually. The pilgrimages began following the cholera
epidemic in the early 1800's. The cholera epidemic decimated entire
communities all up & down the Panamanian Caribbean coast, but
Portobelo escaped without losing a single life. As word spread, the
miracle was attributed to El Nazareno & the statue's popularity took
on a life of it's own. Today El Nazareno comes out of his glass case
in the ancient church twice a year … once for the Cristo Negro (Black
Christ) procession in October and again for Semana Santa – Easter
Week. We were lucky enough to see the Easter Week processions – 50
men – 25 on each side - carry the huge platform with El Nazareno
bearing the cross through the two main streets of Portobelo. A band
follows and after the band, the entire community joins the
procession. Thousands of lit candles sway to the music – hundreds on
the El Nazareno platform and individual candles in every person's
hand. This procession is so important to the lives of this community
that little kids build their own mockups of the huge platform and
practice the three steps forward, two backward sway that the men use
during the actual festivities – in hopes that they will be selected
for the honor of carrying the real thing when they grow up.

During Semana Santa, we joined two "kid" boats anchored in the harbor
& colored easter eggs in the shade of the almond tree in front of
Fort San Fernando opposite town. Easter Sunday afternoon we enjoyed
an Easter Egg hunt and potluck meal. Unfortunately, the men got
carried away hiding easter eggs in the 17th century fort & only
twenty six of the twenty seven eggs were found, leaving one for the
iguanas. How many people are lucky enough to enjoy the adventure of
an easter egg hunt in a 17th century fort! J After the hunt, we
had an "egg tapping" contest – apparently this is a tradition in
upstate New York … everyone selects their favorite egg (hard boiled
& already decorated) and taps them end to end. One will crack & one
will not, the winner goes on to the next round until there's only a
single egg left. After egg tapping, the British boys, Finn &
Laurie, wanted to do a British tradition… rolling the eggs down a
large hill. All the kids climbed to the top level of the fort &
commenced rolling eggs down a steep slope to the lower fort. A most
enjoyable Easter!

Because it's such a large bay, there are often two dozen or more
cruising boats anchored here. Portobelo is the end of the road for
people backpacking the Transamerican Highway from the top of Alaska
to the bottom of South America, or anywhere in between. The only gap
in the road is in the Darian jungle, Panama. So those biking or
riding motorcycles across continents are at a dead end. Backpacker
sailboats fill the gap, providing transportation across the gap to
where the road resumes. These boats are entertaining to watch,
usually overloaded – maybe six full size people and a motorcycle on a
30 foot sailboat. We always wonder if these people have any idea
that sailing is not for unseaworthy craft and that Mother Ocean can
be ruthless when the weather turns bad. There's one boat in
particular that cruisers label "Dennis the Menace" for his habit of
dragging anchor through anchorages. We've seen this boat in three
different harbors and watched him drag three different times. And
we're not talking about dragging anchor for a boatlength or two,
Dennis drags anchor for miles! All the way across bays, often
creating a hazard for other boats unlucky enough to be anchored
behind him. But watching them load full size motorcycles on board
from a typical inflatable dinghy nine or ten foot is quite entertaining!

Much as I HATE doing hand laundry … which, by the way, now we haven't
seen a washing machine since November 13 (have I mentioned this in
prior updates) … that's 120 days with no laundry except hand laundry.
… nothing is ever CLEAN, but everything is CLEANER! J BUT we have
discovered that there are wonderful places in the world that you
simply cannot visit unless you're willing to endure some lack of
modern conveniences. Oh, to be sure, there IS a laundry facility in
Portobelo … 4 washers & 2 dryers, 50 cents a load which is cheap, BUT
… frequently there's no water, and that's assuming there IS
electricity! When there is water, you have to get there before 7 AM
when it opens or fight a line several women long with 8 loads each…
so I continue to do hand laundry… On the other hand, there's the
wreck of the Vizcaina, one of Columbus' 4th voyage galleons that sunk
just beyond the opening to the bay at Portobelo and Rayene reports
seeing sunken cannons when she snorkeled there before… sure enough,
snorkeling the reef there are two Spanish cannons encrusted with
coral in about ten feet of water. Wow, Spanish treasure all for the
price of a bit of hand laundry. Most worthwhile!!!

Unfortunately, nothing ever stays the same for long. Part of the fun
of cruising is sharing the fun & creating cruising memories with
friends … but the hard part of cruising is parting. Since Kristiana
greeted Winterlude in the Rio Chagres on October 17, the two boats
have not been anchored out of whistling distance for more than a
couple of nights. But now Kristiana is waiting on a weather window
to head up to San Andres, Columbia, the Vivorillos, Honduras and on
to the Rio Dulce in Guatemala. And on April 1, Winterlude will sail
back to Colon & Shelter Bay Marina to put Winterlude on the hard and
return to the U.S. for Y Flyer (one design racing) season.

Kristiana sailed out of Portobelo with David blowing (rather weakly)
a traditional conch horn salute as a goodbye. Hopefully we'll catch
up with them later this year to explore Peru, the Inca Trail & Machu
Picchu on a land adventure.

Until next time! Winterlude, Portobelo, Panama

Winterlude: Final Days in the San Blas Islands...

2008-03-16T13:52:00.000-07:00

How quickly things change! On March 10, we were hunkered down out on the reef in Kuna Yala, the San Blas Islands, waiting for the wind to quit howling over 20 and more importantly, the giant waves that build up off the Panama coast to calm to a manageable 4-6 feet from towering over 10-13 feet! After spending the last 100 days here in the San Blas, it's time to explore the central coast of Panama and get Winterlude ready to leave on the hard (out of the water) for the first time since we've owned
the boat.

Now only five days later, we're anchored in Portobelo for the 2nd time in five days! We sailed out of Chichime in the San Blas on a bright sunny Tuesday morning. The winds had "decreased" to a "manageable" 15-20 and the waves were down to "only 7 feet". A bit bumpy, but very sailable – the only problem being the course was too far downwind (wind directly on our stern) to make for a perfect sail, but it was quick! So quick that it was only lunchtime when we reached Linton, our planned destination
40 miles west along the Panama coastline. So we sailed another 8 miles on to Portobelo, dropped anchor for one night in this beautiful cove & then continued Wednesday morning to Colon. Colon, in contrast, is an absolute zoo. The Flats anchorage is fascinating because of all the ships transiting the canal – BIG monster ships coming by throughout the day and night. Unfortunately BIG ships create BIG wakes and the pilot boats & tugboats that attend them create even more havoc in the water, so it
was rolly & not very comfortable (imagine your bed rolling enough to throw you out & having to hang on while trying to sleep!)

David went through the canal himself a long time ago with the U.S. Coast Guard and loves watching the ship traffic. I enjoyed it too until we awoke in the middle of the night to a smoke fog that was INSIDE our boat! Turns out Colon has their garbage dump not far from where the Flats anchorage is for sailboats. Normally it's not a problem because the northeast tradewinds blow the smoke AWAY from the anchorage. But when the wind lessens, the smoke invades, settling like a dense fog over everything.
And the sun doesn't burn off this type of fog! In the middle of the night I awoke with my throat burning & thought I was sick. Nope, just the garbage smoke from Colon – which they make sure is extra enticing by piling black tires on top to keep it from blowing & insure the heat stays in to burn all the garbage – so it's essence of black rubber and garbage that is now INSIDE my boat – both black soot and permeating stink! And now, two days later, I can attest to the fact that it does NOT go away!
So we sailed back to Portobelo, the bay that Christopher Columbus discovered in 1502 on his 4th trip to the new world. Sailing in to the bay, Columbus exclaimed "Puerto Bello" – Spanish for beautiful port and with various spelling changes through the years, the name stuck! More on Portobelo, it's four Spanish forts and rich history after I have a chance to explore…

But back to our last weeks in the San Blas Islands….

March 1st brought Aly & Danny flying into Corazon de Jesus … the flight was supposed to arrive at 6:30 AM & David & I bounded out of bed, actually bright eyed & excited about the morning and dinghied over to the airstrip…. where the Aeroperlas flight arrived on schedule. Unfortunately Aly & Danny are not on Aeroperlas! So there's no plane and no office or anyone to ask. In Spanish, I inquire about the Air Panama flight from a bystander, keep in mind, there's no office or personnel. Apparently
Air Panama changed their flight times and the flight wouldn't come in until 9 AM…. I wasn't happy about trading my last few minutes of shuteye for naught, but Aly & Danny, sitting in the Albrook commuter airport for 2 hours before the internet café/bookstore even opened were even less happy. But the frustration vanished the minute we watched as their plane approached… keep in mind, this is NOT an airport, at best, you'd describe it as an airstrip. The Kuna did a backbreaking job of constructing
the runway and then lengthening it … all in handmade concrete … no giant yellow concrete roller machinery, so it's not exactly level or smooth. Imagine making your own sidewalk with only handmade forms, mixing the concrete, sand & water in a 5 gallon bucket (or sometimes a dilapidated wheel-less wheelbarrow) and trying to make it as even and uniform as possible. Now extend that to the length of a runway!.

The plane made it's final approach over Nargana after first making a pass over the airstrip to check the orange windsock. The plane's wheels were literally three feet over the aqua water before thankfully touching down on the concrete and not catching short on the rocks!

First impressions are everything and Aly's first comment was that "all these tiny little islands look straight out of a Corona commercial!". The Corona slogan is something like "Miles from Ordinary" and the San Blas certainly qualifies! We've gotten spoiled after 100 days of seeing nothing but tiny uninhabited white sand islands topped with swaying coconut palms! It was great seeing it all again through their eyes. The majestic mountains of the mainland towered over us as we sailed farther
from the coast to anchor at Esnadup – we had hoped to sail all the way to the outer reef the first day, but the 8-10 foot waves caused us to pick the better part of valor & anchor the first night close to the mainland. Regardless, we hadn't been anchored for 15 minutes when Danny spotted a sea turtle swimming in the lagoon created by the surrounding reef. The waves crashing on the reef caused a continuous musical roar. Shortly after dropping the anchor, we piled in the dinghy for our first
snorkeling expedition. Dropping in the water & swimming out through the cut was a bit different than what I think Aly & Danny anticipated …. No flat smooth water, waves breaking on the reef. But often, when it's calm enough, the outer reef walls are teeming with ocean critters. Sure enough, we'd barely started along the wall when two gorgeous eagle rays swept beneath us, introducing Aly & Danny to what would become a routine sight while snorkeling. The maiden voyage of David & Doug's toy sailboats
took place in Esnadup, but sad to say, David's sailboat refused to sail with the sails up. Anyone who knows much about sailing can attest that it's important to keep the "white things" up in the air. Back to the drawing board for now…

Another BIG hit aboard Winterlude was Christmas together -- keep in mind, we weren't together for Christmas, so this was our chance. Danny & Aly made a BIG hit the first evening with our cache of Christmas presents, including a GALLON box of my very favorite cheddar GOLDFISH!!! We ate almost half the box right away. David's favorite was the oreos and the Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies made Christmas just perfect! Keep in mind, these are all delicacies unavailable in Panama that we had not consumed
since late September, months earlier!! Consumed is the wrong word... maybe inhale would be a more accurate choice!

After the potentially rough sail to the outer reef the next morning turned into a pleasurable sail through gentle swells, we anchored in the "slot" at the Hot Tub anchorage at the Holandes Cayes. Danny spotted the dolphins, altho' they never swam close enough to put on their usual show. Coming through the reef, the water colors span the range from clear white through all the hues of aquagreen & turquoise blue before ending under the boat in swimming pool clear water – the clear water over white
sand literally looks like you're anchored in a swimming pool! At the Hot Tub, we swam through the Waterslide – a pass between two island so named because the deep blue current rushes through … the trick is to swim through the pass along the mangroves where the current is less then pushing out into the current & letting it drift you back through … all the while watching the two eagle rays playing on the white sand bottom 15 feet down The wreck at Dog Island is like snorkeling in an aquarium - a
40 foot steel cargo ship which sunk in the 1950's in six to fifteen feet of water over perfect white sand. Tiny blueheaded wrasse (aquarium fishies) were five inches of unlimited curiosity. They swam right up to my mask and also to my camera lens. Aly achieved the gold star by being the first (and only) one of us to actually touch one of the elusive critters!

By the end of the week, Danny gained sufficient experience as a spearfisherman that he managed to scare up a HUGE nurse shark from under an underwater cave ledge. David says Aly was walking on water headed back towards the safety of the dinghy but I was right there & had no trouble keeping up with her! Danny shot a lobster and one night we had lobster spread as an appetizer. During the week he shot a squirrelfish and a grunt, both edible fish. He also learned that to shooting a moving fish while
contending with the surge, diving down & gliding into place so the spear is a few inches from the fish's head is NOT easy!

Other than that, we visited the Kuna tienda in the East Lemons and had warm Kuna bread, visited Mamitupu, ate all the food I had been hoarding for their visit, swam to the Porvenir beach from the boat and had a great time being together. Being from Atlanta, the home of traffic & more traffic, both Aly & Danny enjoyed not only no traffic, but not a single car, nor honking horn nor glaring police or ambulance siren for an entire week! The biggest noise comes from our little Honda 2000 generator,
and then only when the sun hides behind the clouds or the wind doesn't blow to make our electricity for the boat.

So when people ask "but what do you DO all day", I'll just refer the question to Aly & Danny ... we never had a free minute (if you don't count swinging in the hammock watching the stars)...

Until next time...

Jan & David, sv Winterlude, anchored in Portobelo, Panama

Winterlude: Playing in the Mud

2008-03-01T07:09:00.000-08:00

Playing In The Mud, March 1, 2008

(Mom, I promise, we're not doing this again, but we survived! Read on…)

There are no roads leading to Kuna Yala, the official name for the group of 377 islands and the corresponding 226 kilometer mainland strip of jungle and steep mountains. No roads means no way to get to either Panama City or Colon to get a tourist card and a 60 day extension on our passports to legally stay in the country. Our logic was that it would be safer to take the jeep trip over the mountains to Panama City than face the 10-12 foot waves on a lee shore in a 2 day sail to Colon.

These are the ancestral lands of the Kuna Indians. The only way to travel is by boat or commuter plane to isolated landing strips. Despite influences from the outside world, the Kuna continue to be one of the only indigenous tribes in the world with their culture largely intact. They limit interaction with the western world and allow no roads into their strip of Darien jungle along the mainland.

There is a 4 wheel track that cannot be considered a "road" beginning at the end of the Carti airstrip. It winds through the river and over the mountains 40 kilometers later intersecting the Pan American Highway, the strip of paved road that runs from the top of Alaska thousands of miles to the tip of South America. The Pan American Highway is unbroken except for a 150 kilometer gap in the Darien Jungle – partially due to the wild terrain The 4 wheel track through Kuna Yala traverses a vast virgin
rainforest and wilderness mountain ranges. In years past, the Kuna have disrupted the track, but currently they use the track for economical transportation to and from Panama City where several thousand Kuna now reside.

Thick slick gooey Georgia red clay mud characterizes the roughly 20 miles that took over three hours to traverse in our trusty Nissan Frontier king cab ¾ size pickup with a tarp frame "house" covering the bed. The driver was a capable Columbian named Carlos, but nicknamed "Grande" for obvious reasons … Grande is ex-army and still routinely does 1500 pushups a day and can squat lift 700 pounds … plus he makes the "drive" from Panama City where he lives with his family daily in the dry season … he
told us it is not possible in the rainy season. He regaled us with stories of jaguars, panthers, almost all the large cats, wild boar and all manner of jungle snakes he routinely sees while traversing this track after dark. Luckily we were doing it during the day.

At the Carti airstrip, five cruisers climb into the Nissan … four of us squeeze into the back seat – a space meant for 2 adults comfortably or three crowded and we are four! Luckily none of us is as big as Grande! The back of the pickup not only has all our luggage, which is empty in anticipation of all the goodies we plan to bring back from Panama City, but also two Kuna. Three hours later, finishing the trek, somehow there are five Kuna in the back … none of us are really sure how or when they
got there, but if our ride was a challenge, theirs must have been really rough! They sit on wooden bench seats laid over the luggage on each side of the tarp enclosed pickup bed! The back is totally open and I imagine they're glad it's muddy just so they're not suffocated with dust! Of course, not only the inside and outside of the open back of the truck is totally covered in dry red mud, but also the inside of the truck and Grande himself. This should have been a clue!

The trek starts on the level grass landing strip at the airport and soon gets more exciting, up and down small muddy knolls and then down a fairly steep one lane path to the river, the Rio Carti. The truck is slipping & sliding but has no trouble navigating and I'm having a great time, my window down, leaning the camera out the window to get photos.
The water was tire deep crossing the river and Grande takes a somewhat circuitous route to stay on the river rock to maintain traction. After crossing, we pull aside while three vehicles going the other way come down the single lane path. Grande uses the delay to get out, find a trash plastic bottle and cool down his engine with river water. We all look at each other wondering if the engine is hot 15 minutes into the trip, what will happen up & over the mountains!

After driving for another 15 minutes, the trek turns to the steep grades of the mountain terrain. After a couple of muddy foothills, Grande gets out of the truck, taking off his flip flops to wade in the muck, locking in the hubs on his all-terrain tires … no use ruining a perfectly good pair of flip flops in this muddy morass! Now the track turns steadily uphill and sitting behind our fearless driver, I'm starting to get some small muddy splatters coming in the window. At the base of what appears
to be an insurmountable track, the truck pauses to get up momentum to begin our first big climb. The first 100 yards, the tires have traction to pull us through thigh deep ruts, spinning and sliding. Then the track makes a sharp curve and continues it's upward 20 degree grade (you won't find a 20 degree grade on any public road in the U.S.!). By this point the back of our truck fishtails sideways (luckily TOWARD the mountain and not away), the engine is screaming and the tires are spinning wildly
in their quest for traction. There are red muddy chunks the size of baseballs flying and I wisely decide to roll up my window, although not before the camera takes a muddy hit on the lens! Now it becomes more tense and Grande grips the window frame just above the rearview mirror, literally using his force of will to pull the truck up that mountain. I'm feeling like we're riding in the "Little Engine That Could" if you remember the children's fable! "I think I can, I think I can…." the chant
fills my brain like sometimes you can't get a song out of your mind. As the tires spin and the mud is flying everywhere, I happen to glance out my now closed window – I'm looking straight down into a huge abyss! Someone tell me again WHY we decided to try this trip???? The truck spins to a stop, losing momentum and traction, sitting sideways halfway up this stretch. Grande gets out, retrieves his shovel tied on the top of the truck and cleans off the tires for another try. Same result. At
this point, he asks the five of us to get out and WALK up this part of the mountain! Actually though, after looking straight down over that mountain road with no guardrail of any kind, I was more than happy to get my plastic crocs (shoes)muddy and propel myself up! ?

Twice on the way up, Grande asked us to get out & walk so that he could claw the truck up the track. Just getting out of the truck was like stepping onto a mountain grade covered in ice, slick with no traction. We quickly discovered that the edges of the road with grass or pebbles provided somewhat better traction – once we could get from the side of the truck to the side of the road! No one told us before the trip that we'd be wading in mud so thick that it created a suction bogging down our
shoes, making each step a challenge! But the scenery … what we saw of it … was worth the adventure. It's not often that it's possible to journey through such untouched territory. Grande told us that there are seven difficult areas going to the city and only two returning. Several times we had to back down a muddy trail to get enough momentum for the truck tires to carry us through the ruts. Several times Grande had to get out and use his shovel to keep us from sliding into the deepest ruts
that wouldn't let us continue. By the time we reached Panama City the truck was COVERED and I do mean covered, with mud… there were chunks of mud inches thick on the windshield despite the rain that kept washing it off in streams. I was afraid the truck would roll or slide over the edge of the road and down the steep incline, but Doug informed me after the fact that laws of physics say it would be almost impossible for a truck that's a foot to two feet deep in muddy ruts to slide sideways over
the edge of those mountains!

I seriously considered flying back, except for the fact that there are no airplanes that fly to Carti anymore and Carti was where Winterlude was anchored with Rayene on Kristiana keeping watch. Returning, I almost backed out again when I realized that there was a 50 gallon drum of gasoline in the back of the truck… now not only are we going to slip slide down the mountains, the gasoline in the back makes us a sliding bomb!!! The Kuna's need the gasoline for their outboard boat engines. Oh dear,
what to do…ultimately against my better judgement, I resumed my same position behind Grande while we set out to do the reverse trip. Despite his assurances that the trip down the mountains was easier than the trip up, we had to get out and walk up one ridge – in the rain. The second "difficult" part, the mud sucked the little pickup down so far that we had to have another truck pull us out with a rope attached to both bumpers. This process was somewhat time consuming and at one point we were all
wondering if we could walk the rest of the way back and make it before dark! But the tow was successful, other than Grande had to cut the tow rope because the mud was so thick he couldn't get the knot untied (how many Kuna does it take to tie a tow rope knot???). Luckily the rest of the way was uneventful, even crossing the river . Safely back on the dock, we could see Winterlude waiting for us across the bay … I was never so glad to get home in my life!!! We won't do that adventure again,
but I am very glad we did it when we did. I'm sure in the future, the Kuna won't be able to stop progress and the track will become a road, which will totally change Kuna Yala, the Kuna culture and everything we love about this place that time somehow forgot!

While we were in Panama City, our big adventure was checking in with Immigration. All because we THOUGHT we had to get a tourist card and a 60 day extension to stay legally in the country for 90 days… read on…

Immigration … after walking 6 blocks from our hotel, we discovered that there's a dress code for immigration … your shirt has to have SLEEVES, no sleeveless blouses allowed. And, of course, mine didn't. Luckily I had a longsleeved shirt back at our hotel. We walked the 6 blocks back, got the shirt, repeated the 6 blocks to Migracion. This time the guards at the door let me in fine, but told David no shorts. David was right beside me when they initially wouldn't let me go through, why didn't
they tell him then? Unfortunately David didn't BRING long pants with him, so I went inside to see if I could figure out where we needed to be & what the official deal was. In the meantime, while I'm pushing my way through throngs of irritable people, David is accosted by a tall man in a nasty brown leisure suit who speaks perfect English and says he'll handle everything for us & it'll only cost us $25 each. He's helpful, but no thanks. I find out that to get an extension of 60 days on our tourist
card, which we don't have, all we need is to wait in line in the stuffy back room forever & pay one dollar each, but David can't get in. So off to an almacen …department store … we go and David buys a $8.95 cent pair of dress pants….. donated to some Kuna guy as soon as we returned to the San Blas! Finally the guard at the door admits us both to the confusing noisy hot environment with lines & unhappy people everywhere…. Think of the worst bureaucracy you've endured lately … maybe the license
branch in Indianapolis would be a good example … and triple it for a third world country! YIKES!!! So we're finally in the correct line, we think, with the correct documents & photocopies, David in his new navy dress pants donned directly over his shorts in the department store & me in my long sleeve shirt when we realize the line isn't moving & Mr Tacky Brown Suit comes back to tell us we have to take a number. OK, so where do we get a number? You have to get them from the man in the corner
in black & but the numbers aren't good for today, you have to come back tomorrow. We're NOT going to be in Panama City tomorrow!!! So we go talk to the nice man in black in the corner, explain our predicament & he tells us we don't need to "register" as long as we leave the country in 90 days there's no problem. Our passports are stamped January 17, we're flying out April 15 .. that's 90 days and since this is the third authority figure that's told us the same thing … the Port Captain in Porvenir,
the young lady in migracion and now the infamous man in black, we take their word for it & vamoos, leaving two hours later with nothing more than we started with … oh, except for David's new long dress pants!

That's all from me … for another perspective on our 4 wheel trip over the mountains, check my website … Directly under this update in the Current Log section (www.sailwinterlude.com), I've posted Doug on Kristiana's version of the same trip. It's interesting to see our differing accounts! Oh, and tune in for the next update which hopefully will have the saga of the two miniature sailboats Doug on Kristiana & David on Winterlude are constructing … Jerry, you'll have to see the photos for these
model sailboats –hopefully they'll float upright after all the work the guys have put into them! Photos coming in June to the website!

For now, we're anchored in Nargana, San Blas Islands, waiting for Aly & Danny to arrive on the flight tomorrow morning! We're looking forward to spending a week with them on the boat & hope they enjoy it as much as I know we will!!!

Jan & David
s/v Winterlude, anchored Nargana 9 26.449N 78 35.123W

Over The Mountains & Through The River...

2008-02-29T09:13:00.000-08:00

Doug on Kristiana's Version of our 4 Wheel Adventure

One of the problems here in the San Blas Islands of Panama is that there really are no stores where you can buy anything. And there are no banks or ATM machines where you can get more money. For that you have to leave the San Blas and sail west two days back to Colon. Or you can seek out an alternative. While visiting the Carti Islands last week we met a man. He said that he knew a man that had a boat that could take us to a man that had a 4 wheel drive truck. And this man knew the way though the jungle and could take us to Panama City through the Darian rain forest. It sounded simple enough and like an adventure in the making, so we set it up.

I went to the city with another man and his wife (David and Jan - our buddy boaters) and two other women from other cruising boats that we know. We anchored our boats well and left Rayene in charge of watching the boats while we were gone. All of my traveling companions were flat-landers (Mass., FLA, and ILL,) with no mountain experience, actually not even any experience riding on dirt roads. They were a little nervous about the trip having never gone down the road less traveled. One said that they had a gravel road that lead from the highway to his marina out in the plains of Ill. I said yeah, it will be just like riding on that. No problem.

We loaded into a 40 foot dugout early in the morning and headed off towards the coast. There we met Carlos who did indeed have a truck. Carlos is locally known a Grande, mostly because he is a very big Columbian man. He had a 4 wheel drive Nissan king cab pickup with canvas covering the pickup bed in the back. At first glance it looked like a mud ball with wheels (that should have been a clue). Everything about the outside and inside of the truck was covered with dirt and mud. The same was true of Grande. So with a bit a trepidation we loaded up our things in the back and headed our for a ride through the jungle. We were initially stopped along the road by the Panama army who inspected everything in the truck and our papers. It turns out this is a popular route for the drug trade. Oh great.

Anyway, off we went through the jungle. We started off by having to ford the Carti river which was exciting because the water was deep and the river wide and fairly swift. Then we got down to the serious part of the journey. We started to climb the mountains. The soil was a red/brown clay that had the tendency to turn to grease when wet. Everything was going well until we got to the bottom of the first real climb. We looked up at a very steep rutted hill that was a quarter of a mile in length. Grande stopped to lock in the hubs and get set for the run. After four tries he shouted out the window and 5 Kunas walked by heading up the hill. It turns our that at the last minute, after we got in the truck, Grande picked up some extra passengers (muscle)to ride in the back. It turned out good because they ended up pushing that truck half way to the city. After a few more tries Grande asked us to also get out and walk to the top. The first step out of the truck was a trick. The mud was so slippery and the hill so steep, you had to hang on to the truck for fear of slipping back down the hill. So while we got good and muddy on out little hike to the top, we could hear Grande backing down to take another run at the hill.

That's when it started to rain. We were kind of hoping that being the dry season, the road would be dry or at least not so wet and muddy. But they don't call it a rain forest for nothing. So there we were standing in the rain, in knee deep ruts, with mud everywhere, listening for any good sounds coming from the hill below. You could hear the engine working hard and then it would stop and there would be nothing for a while. During those moments we wondered if Grande might have turned around and left us there, but no. He was out with his shovel trying to fill in some of the deeper ruts that were giving him such trouble. The Kuna men headed back down the hill to lend a hand and after a while we were pleased to hear the truck coming along. The wheels were caked with several inches of mud. Grande stopped at the top and had to scrape this extra mud off the tires to expose the treads.

When we loaded back up and I asked Grande how many more hills like that one and he said six. Oh Great. Although Grande spoke no English we chatted with him in Spanish and found out that he is 40 years old and spend much of his life as a solder in the Columbian army. During the dry season, which is only about four or five months in the winter, he makes this truck run to and from the city whenever the road is passable. He said that he once made the trip three time in one day. He said the road is a lot more exciting in the dark. Yeah, I bet.

The hills got steeper as we went further through the jungle. Each time we got to the bottom of one of the real steep ones, we would stop, look it over, and you would get this feeling in our stomachs that made us wish you were back on our boats. Then the mud would start flying everywhere. And this being a tropical jungle, it was plenty hot inside with the six of us. We tried to keep the windows open when ever possible. Then a big chunk of gushy mud would come flying in the window and we would re-think the open window policy.

We had to hike up several of the tougher hills. We would stand at the top and look off through the rain forest and admire the beauty. There were birds and monkeys, and according to Grande, pumas, panthers and lots of snakes. But we never had to push the truck which I figured was a very good thing, because the Kunas were looking a bit on the muddy side after a while. So, all in all, walking to the top was not so bad. We cheered Grande on and started to admire him and his truck, the way he worked on those hills. And we counted down from seven until we were at the top of the last hill, when Grande smiled and said "No Problema". We cheered and it was all downhill from there to the city.

Actually negotiating the City roads turned out to a problema. Apparently the street workers chose this day to protest and they had started big garbage fires in the center of all the major routes into the city, effectively blocking traffic everywhere and bringing the city to grid lock. So we spent another three hours trying to finish what should have been the last 20 minutes of our trip. But true to his word Grande delivered us to our hotel safe and sound, although a bit muddy. Actually, we were amused by the looks we got from the city motorists in their shiny cars as they checked out our mud ball.

Two days later we did the ride again. But we knew what to expect this time and the ride was actually easier. There were only two really bad hills in that direction. Unfortunately we got totally stuck on one of them and we only had two Kunas on the ride back. Luckily Grande had a toe rope and there was another truck that pulled us to the top of that one. We re-crossed the Carti River and ended up back at the edge of the sea where our 40 foot dugout waited for us. Rayene was on the boat and happy to see us, and that we were no worse off for the wear.

We bought produce, engine parts, eyeglasses and lots of other things while in the city. One of the ladies went to a dentist and had a root canal. We all hit the ATM machines and bought lots of stuff. We filled the back of that truck with boxes and bags of everything. We were fortunate that everything made it back safely and in good condition, except for a few tomatoes that got sat on by a Kuna. But what the hey. It turned out just fine. But we now know that sometimes the road less traveled, is less traveled for a good reason.

We are still in the San Blas Islands and plan on heading north in a few week to the islands of Columbia and on towards Honduras and back to Guatemala. - Doug and Rayene

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see:

http://www.sailmail.com

Winterlude Update: Technology & the Super Bowl

2008-02-16T17:01:00.000-08:00

Technology & the Super Bowl!!!

"Hola! Hola!!! You wanna iguana." I stick my head up the companionway in time to see a wooden cayuco more than half the length of Winterlude with two smiling men and two boys. They are paddling back to Carti from the river on the mainland, not a long distance, but today it is directly upwind and it's blowing 25. I glanced into the cayuco and sure enough there's a dead iguana. "No gracias, no iguana!" I reply They smile again & paddle on. In years past, iguana was one of the staples
of the Kuna diet – keep in mind, living on tiny coconut palm islands, choices of protein are limited … fish fish... beans... fish, fish. So when a hunter gets an iguana, the family feasts. We however do NOT want to eat iguana, despite the fact that we've been assured it tastes like chicken!

This morning sitting here in the cockpit, sipping my Columbian coffee, I can see seven tiny palm covered islands off to my right. When the boat swings the other way, I see three or four more islands. The view behind me should be the mountains of the Darien jungle, but the morning cloud cover obscures the magnificent view. Instead I see clouds & more clouds – like we're in our own little circle, surrounded by low lying clouds. Almost every morning the cloud cover is almost like being surrounded
by fog back in Illinois, but it's denser & less swirl. Before I got used to it, I'd think the day was going to be gloomy and less than paradise. But generally the tradewinds kick in & by midday all the gloom is blown away & most days it's bright & sunny in the afternoon. Most every day, it rains … often at 4 AM. Getting rained on in bed wakes us & we rush to close the hatches, but just as we get them closed, it stops raining. So all we've accomplished is heating up the inside of the boat without
ventilation for a few minutes!

Reflecting back on the last weeks is a contrast of simple pleasures and high technology. One week ago, we were anchored in Nargana, the "capitol" of Kuna Yala, preparing for our Super Bowl adventure. When you anchor in Nargana, before the anchor is down, a tiny Kuna man named Fredrico is alongside in his wooden cayuco. Fredrico makes his living suppling "yacht services" … he'll bring you water, diesel, gasoline, let you know when his brother's store has fresh veggies, all the necessities for
cruising. He speaks a bit of English, between that and our Spanish, we communicate. Two weeks ago, another cruiser, John on Nirvana, was in Nargana & asked Fredrico if there was anywhere several cruisers could watch the Super Bowl. Fredrico said yes, and John relayed the info. Not that we don't trust John, but the reality is that the Kuna culture almost requires them to reply yes to anything we ask – they perceive it as being helpful. "Do you know where we can buy (fill in the blank) …. YES
… Is there a fresh veggie trader coming soon …. YES, mas tarde o manana – later or tomorrow …. Can we watch the SuperBowl …. YES. So forgive us for wanting to doublecheck the viability of actually watching! Our friend Doug on Kristiana confirmed that it would be possible for all of us to watch the Super Bowl and then asked that we visit the guy's hut to see the satellite dish & television and confirm that the family is willing to invite several gringo Americans for Sunday night. Fredrico took
us to visit Johnny & Nancy – unusual for Kuna to have western names. It's very strange to be invited into a hut that has no running water and no indoor plumbing (hence we walked down to the water to an outhouse over the water!) but has a satellite dish with FOXSports! Johnny & Nancy set up two televisions outside their hut, complete with chairs & tables for our snacks. We had a Super Bowl party and introduced the Kuna to U.S. football culture – including Breeze, who catnapped through the game!
We did a bit of gambling via the "board" - we won $2.75 and paid $3, so not too bad! All the cruisers pitched in to provide positions on the "board" for Johnny and Nancy, but they didn't win ... darn! We discovered during the course of the evening that Johnny is a sports nut & coaches the local kids basketball team. So the next morning we took our basketball & air pump to his hut and donated it to his son. He was very happy!

Life's simple pleasures has become a cliché, but cruising is all about the little things… you never know when something unexpected is going to appear to delight you … or confound you … like unexpectedly seeing a gigantic eagle ray majestically gliding over the white sand bottom of the waterslide when the water clears. Or snorkeling along the top edge of a reef wall, full of colorful aquarium fishies and once in a while you spot someone
to invite to dinner. We've had fresh yellowtail, dog snapper and bar jack this week! I'm learning to dive down to explore more territory, just below the surface… It's amazing how much more you can see only down 4 or 5 feet down. I spotted an eagle ray cruising the bottom of the reef wall, another 20 feet down & it was such a pleasure cruising along just under the water following his wake. But the best unexpected lately was snorkeling off the same wall when something bigger than ME swam just
beneath. It all happened so fast, I only saw two huge shapes depart, and I surfaced immediately. Rayene was a bit before me & she surfaced at the same time. She got a much better view since she saw them swimming toward her and away – I only saw the away version. We had our first experience swimming with the dolphins! Both of us excitedly commented "Did you see THAT", David was startled but despite the fact that he was only a few feet away, he didn't see the dolphin – two of them just cruising
the reef wall especially for Rayene & I!

While living in the U.S., I would question the sanity of anyone writing this update – it is unimaginable that daily amenities would be totally unavailable – I am constantly amused by marine services here in Panama who just don't get that we have NO contact – no phones, no internet access, no fax access & no FedEx (oops, sorry Nile! – UPS). There are only a couple of marinas on the Caribbean coast. Trying to make a reservation for this spring to leave the boat for six months is an ongoing trial…
I e-mailed requesting a reservation. The marina office replied telling me to fill out their reservation form online at www.shelterbarmarina.com.

I responded specifying for the second time that we had only e-mail, no phone, no internet. Back & forth the e-mails flew … finally I received an e-mail telling me to send credit card information to confirm the reservation. I sent two e-mails splitting up the credit card info so that it's less likely to be intercepted by e-mail hackers. Now it is
weeks later and I still do not have a marina confirmation despite repeated e-mails. Gggggrrrrr!!! Little challenges!

Updating our reading glasses project… while visiting Isla Tigre – or "Digir" in Kuna, Doug happened to notice an older Kuna women squinting while sewing a mola outside her tiny tienda. He inquired if she needed reading glasses & told her we'd bring some for her to try tomorrow. On returning, we went directly to the lady's store, sat her down & proceeded to try on reading glasses. She narrowed it to two pairs & then indicated she wanted her sister to get some glasses. Pretty soon the word spread
& all the older Kuna women were pushing & jostling for the privilege of sitting in that chair to see if any of the remaining glasses worked for them. In this manner we distributed eight more pairs of reading glasses – one pair to the tiniest Kuna lady I had ever seen. I really wanted a photo of her with that pipe in her mouth, but the Kuna culture does not like photos, so I restrained. When we left, we had three pair of glasses left – the three that didn't work for anyone else. Toward the
end the last of the women were sadly shaking their heads no & I was wishing I had more glasses – I'll refill when Aly gets here! Exiting we were immediately drug into another Kuna home and were able to fit a pair of reading glasses to an elderly man that was obviously handicapped. Now we had two pair left, one of which was David's old pair which were so scratched, I was embarrassed to give them away. In the meantime, the Sahila (chief) had gotten word of our glasses & he made a beeline for
us, wanting a pair. Ironically enough David's old glasses worked perfectly for him & he went away happy – always good to make the village chief happy!

So now we have one pair of glasses left! It is such fun passing out reading glasses – one of the younger women explained to me in Spanish that the Kuna huts are so dim, the interior light is bad even during the day and worse in the evening. The only light enters between the cane stick sides. The older Kuna women have great difficulty seeing their sewing. The amazing thing is that I was actually able to participate in this discussion, following exactly what the woman was telling me! The effort
I've given to Spanish is finally paying off, altho' not always! It's fun to converse with Kuna in Spanish because it is not their primary language, so we're "igual" – equals!

Back aboard, Winterlude has had two stowaways since this winter's cruise began … two geckos! For those unclear about what a gecko might be, think of the bright green guy in the Geico insurance commercials! Before we left Bocas back in October we encouraged their presence because they consume vast quantities of pesky bugs. They must be successful because over the course of the past 4 months, our geckos have increased in size substantially! The other night after dinner in the cockpit, our
trusty Coleman lantern providing light, a tiny head pops out from behind the compass binnacle. Watching us warily, he slowly advances, one eye on us & one eye hungrily devouring the feast of bugs around the lantern. Throwing caution to the winds, he pounces on an unsuspecting bug .. a black dot about the size of a pinhead. The gecko's little round paw pads must contain glue to allow him to spring three or four times his body length in any direction and then stay firmly attached no matter upside
down, sideways you name it. Soon this guy has decided that we are not a threat and is happily springing from binnacle to lantern, hanging upside down from the nav pod, all the time his tiny tongue flickering, lightning fast, catching his feast. Soon he's joined by our second gecko, this one is maybe half the first one's size – two inches max. With the addition of the 2nd gecko, the first is now busy defending his territory and grabbing a bug whenever he can. With this kind of after dinner entertainment,
who needs a movie or television! We enjoy watching our amazing little gecko friends!

(NOTE—since this update was written, we've had another amazing adventure, a 4 wheel jeep ride over the mountains and through the Darien jungle to Panama City to resupply & recheck with immigration so we're legal again. The Darien jungle is the only place between Alaska and the tip of south America where the Pan American highway simply ceases to exist – a big gap. Stay tuned for this latest adventure! Coming March 1 to a computer screen near you!y

Until then! Jan & David, sv Winterlude

Winterlude: When Life Gives Lemons....

2008-02-01T07:07:00.000-08:00

When Life Gives You Lemons ... Visit the Lemon Grove!!!

Despite the fact that we generally try to avoid the most popular anchorages, the Lemon Grove is a very pleasant spot! The Eastern Lemons are a collection of five or six medium size islands with crystal clear turquoise water and starfish in the sand. There are almost twenty boats, but once again our buddy boat, Kristiana, blazes a trail slightly outside the anchorage, but with the clear advantage of having no boats anchored near – no one to drag into us! We quickly dinghy ashore and discover that
the local Kuna family has discovered that cruisers buy Kuna bread. They get up at 2 am to begin the day's breadmaking and blow the conch horn when it's done … cruisers rush to dinghy ashore to get warm Kuna bread before it's all gone. Typically bread is made multiple times each day to satisfy demand. A small tienda (store) occasionally stocks fresh veggies & other staples that cruisers need. We've determined that the other BIG plus for anchoring in the Lemon Grove is being "at the top of the
food chain" – the veggie boats stop here first insuring the best selection.

Another island in the Lemons, similar to small islands everywhere in Kuna Yala, has a Kuna family that lives there six months a year, clearing the island & collecting coconuts. The girls' dad lives in Colon working as a night watchman for Shelter Bay Marina. Families are often separated working their way up to "middle class". The island family welcomes cruisers who occasionally string a volleyball net between palm trees & have a rousing game before sunset!

A sandspit with nothing but three Kuna huts literally rising from the reef rouses our curiosity and Rayene & I kayaked out to see the Kuna women about making some special smaller molas. As we approached in the kayaks, two young girls rush to sweep the sand, tidying up their sandspit. Unfortunately, they swept the five cent chip bags right off the "island" and into the water to blow downwind by our kayaks. Why they swept the trash off & didn't burn it when they were burning other trash, made no
sense to us, but we're not Kuna! We found out that they've been living on this tiny patch of sand for three years and bring sand & rock out from the other islands two miles away to enlarge their tiny island!

In other news, Panama changed their immigration laws about six months ago, actually they continue to change them all the time & we're never quite sure what the rules are. We THINK once we check in to Panama, we are allowed 90 days until we have to leave. So we want to check in so that our 90 days expires close to the end of April, early May when we normally return to the U.S. Technically we left Cartagena on November 14. Normally the outside time frame for cruisers to get from Cartagena to Porvenir
is about a month…. We've been over two months & counting. We wanted to check in January 18, that would give us until April 18 before we have to leave Panama.

BUT, it was a calm Saturday and the immigration officials from Porvenir must have been bored. They decided to make a run out to the most popular anchorages to make sure there were no boats that hadn't checked in. This offered them a chance to enjoy a beautiful day out of the office AND collect overtime fees since it was a Saturday. Luckily, boats anchored in Porvenir, warned via the VHF radio to let all the boats anchored in the Lemons know that immigration was headed our way. We did the only
thing we could do … we left the boat to go snorkeling! If we're not home, they can't check us in!

We dinghied out to find Kristiana's dinghy & warn them … they were already snorkeling. It was about 10 AM & we watched through our binoculars as the immigration panga entered the anchorage. Luckily the immigration officials were thoughtful enough to wear neon orange jackets so they were easy to spot over a mile away. After a half hour or so of watching from our dinghies, we decided to land on a sandspit to wait out the immigration invasion. Building sand castles to pass the time, we watched
via the binoculars as the immigration boat went from sailboat to sailboat. After several hours, we debated returning due to sheer hunger. About this time, the immigration boat finally departed … it was after 3 PM (we started this vigil at 10 AM) and high tide was invading the sand castles – Rayene's castle had already been rendered ruins by the rising tide & Doug & David's kingdom's were undergoing serious threats when we decided it was safe to return. The saga has a happy ending, we checked
into to Porvenir on our schedule January 18, a week later, with no trouble. They did give Doug a bit of a hard time about two months elapsing before he checked in from Cartagena, but luckily he didn't have to spend time handcuffed to the wall for "extending" the normal time immigration expects a cruising boat to take to check in.

In other news, it seems very strange to be living in paradise totally out of touch with world events including the stock market and the U.S. economic news. Occasionally we hear negative news of the stock market … 20% decline, economy is in decline, parallels to 1987 and 1929 …. But Kuna & cruiser life in the San Blas continues. There is literally no place to spend money unless we leave paradise, which we're not inclined to do. We figure we're preserving our capital by not spending anything!
Not exactly what the economists want to happen since the U.S. needs consumer spending to stimulate the economy, but since we're in Kuna Yala, we're not affecting the economy anyway!

At the same time, walking the beaches, the tiny hermit crabs could care less about the world's economic crisis & real estate woes. Scurrying everywhere … strange … the entire beach is available and they choose to climb over one another in small isolated patches of sand. Occasionally hermit crabs contribute to the real estate chaos and choose a new home … if you're not familiar with hermit crabs, they occupy empty shells vacated by the original creature. With all the different shells lying about
to choose from, I'm always curious why a particular hermit crab picks one type of shell over another. I guess housing considerations even apply to hermit crabs – maybe keeping up with the Joneses is alive and well in hermitcrabville. Some are sizing up, some sizing down. Hermit tracks cover the beach all the time, they're always travelling somewhere… I guess the high cost of gasoline doesn't much figure in their lifestyle either!

From where we're anchored, we can hear the roar of the waves hitting the reef just offshore and see the spray sparkle as it flies several stories in the air and crashes back into the clear water. When the sun catches the wave it appears translucent and the most brilliant turquoise aqua I've ever seen. But here inside the reef, the water is flat & clear. I always think that cruising must be similar to life in the U.S. in the 1950's – but living in the San Blas islands takes that to the extreme!
Cruising in the Northwest Caribbean, there were always limited services … like Ther, the laundry lady in Placencia, Belize. Not here in Kuna Yala! Laundry means a bucket & scrubbed raw knuckles and the clothes are always "almost clean". Laundry locations are varied – a few weeks ago, we had the experience of doing our laundry in the river like the Kuna women … and actually the clothes were cleaner than normal! The Holandes Cayes has beyond a doubt the most scenic laundromat in the world …
BBQ Island, a tiny palm covered, beach circled island with a fresh water well! We make a day of it … washed the clothes in endless buckets of fresh water from the well and then enjoyed beachcombing while the clothes dried on the clothesline strung between palm trees!

"Hot" water for a shower in the evening – very refreshing after a day playing in the salt water… is dependent on the sunshine quotient. If there's not enough sun, the shower water is much more refreshing than we'd like (i.e. FREEZING!) and if there's too much sun and we forget to move the solar shower to the shade mid-day, the water scalds & we need to wait until it cools a bit. Luckil we have too hot water more often than freezing water.

And haircuts. Forgetaboutit!!! We've been "fortunate" to have Doug on Kristiana volunteer to cut our hair. I must admit to some apprehension on asking an engineer to cut my hair, but after the first time, I begged Doug to cut my hair again five weeks later. And after his curls got too long to tolerate, even David submitted to Doug's scissors! And so far no one has pointed & laughed at our new 'do's!

I may have mentioned our "food crisis" in a previous update. Basically, I didn't provision the boat correctly when we left Cartagena. Grocery food in Cartagena was outrageously expensive & I never anticipated it would be over 2 months until we found another grocery. As it turned out, there are NO groceries in the San Blas, only Kuna tiendas with an extremely limited supply of everything other than Clorox. Visiting Isla Tigre, we couldn't even buy Kuna bread because the entire island ran out
of flour! We placed an order with another cruiser who makes extra dollars by sailing to civilization (dangerous with the steep waves encountered along this coastline in the winter) and bringing back food & gasoline for other boats. But Mark was supposed to get back approximately January 17, which would have only been 3 days over 2 months. Instead, he didn't return for another week! So now we'd been over 9 weeks without a restock on food other than buying veggies from the veggie boat. Every day
I was getting more & more creative to come up with things to eat for meals instead of a bowl of plain rice! Four days before Mark was due back for the extended date, a wooden cayuco pulled up wanting to sell us a few marginal veggies & eggs at outrageously inflated prices, but we bought anyway! He also said he could return the next day with a chicken if we wanted. Of course we accepted. The next day, we were lucky and David got a black grouper spearfishing. It was late late afternoon & I had
all but given up on Juliano, our man with the chicken. I literally had the grouper filets on the stove when David spotted Juliano speeding toward us. He had the plumpest best looking chicken that I've seen in these islands … a reprieve from starvation for another few days! Luckily the chicken was frozen solid – not prepackaged, mind you, just in a plastic walmart type bag. BUT this chicken came with an extra! His head and FEET WERE STILL ATTACHED! With the freezer empty, I put the entire
chicken, head and all in my freezer. He was too big and his big claws stuck out the top of the freezer. I should have taken a photo, but at the time I wasn't sure it was funny! After dining sumptuously on our grouper, we felt up to facing the chicken – we always immediately cook an chicken we buy in the islands because you're never sure how long it's spent unrefrigerated … even tho' this one was frozen, we still followed the same procedure. Hey Mom … I should have paid more attention to how to
cut up a whole chicken when I was a kid! David did the honors, getting rid of the head & feet and we skinned him & only cut him up enough to get him in the pan to boil. The next night we had chicken tacos, then chicken stir fry and then bbq chicken. These days our small freezer is full of great fresh meat… pork tenderloin, boneless skinless chicken breasts, smoked pork chops, bacon.

Stand by for the next update to see how our Super Bowl saga turns out... we searched out a Kuna indian family that reportedly has a tv and a satellite dish. They graciously agreed to let the cruisers come watch the game ... keep in mind, this is in a community that barely has electricity, let alone phones, no running water or other modern conveniences & Johnny & Nancy (note the western influence on the names) have satellite TV. The cruisers will all bring snacks & drinks & also we're trying to
put together a donation for the family as well as to the community -- a clothes & food drive amongst the cruisers perhaps.... watch closely for the next update to find out how it all turns out!!! And keep your fingers crossed!

Jan & David
Sv Winterlude, anchored at Isla Tigre, San Blas 9 25.792N 78 31.407W
www.sailwinterlude.com

Cruising ... Winterlude Update 1.15.08

2008-01-15T08:14:00.000-08:00

January 15, 2007 …. San Blas Islands, Panama

Lest you think that cruising is nothing but exploring other cultures & not so much living on a boat, here's an update devoted to cruising itself!

With over 300 palm studded islands to explore, Winterlude is not remaining in one anchorage for more than a few days. We're in search of the perfect anchorage!

Cocos Banderos is one of the most picturesque – brilliant aqua water surrounded by three uninhabited tiny palm islands fringed with pure white sand beaches just begging me to sink my toes in and have the warm clear waves lap at my feet & ankles! Surprisingly, there are no chitres, or noseeems. Coral reefs surround all, providing some the best snorkeling we've seen so far (altho' it doesn't compare to Belize or Roatan). The palm lined beaches invite us to jump off the back of the boat & swim ashore.
We can see our trusty Spade anchor well dug in, no worries about dragging anchor. Unfortunately, Cocos Banderos is also one of the most crowded anchorages, because it's so pretty. Boats from Germany, Italy, London, Holland and Canada surround our two U.S. boats. But the biggest drawback to this anchorage is the ocean swell that sneaks in the reef cut by the rusting shipwreck – when there's wind, the motion is tolerable, rocking from bow to stern. But when the wind quits, the boat turns to the
current & tide and the swell rocks us from side to side. Mosty it's a gentle rock, barely noticeable, but every now and then those three BIG WAVES that every surfer waits for come in to threaten my coffee cup and create havoc throwing things across my refrigerator – never a good thing!

After three bumpy rolly days spent swimming, sunning and island exploring, we get the boat ready to depart. Before dark, we hoisted the outboard to the stern rail and cranked the dinghy aboard – we hook our halyard (the rope used to hoist the sails) to the front of the dinghy and I crank like crazy – 40 rotations lifts the dinghy to the deck where David secures it over the bow. The Kuna are very curious about the dinghy lifting routine and hang on Winterlude's teak rail balancing precariously in
their wooden cayucos and jabbering amongst themselves in Kuna.

Anchor up, we motor slowly between two reefs and hoist the sails as soon as we're clear of the reefs to turn into the wind. A breezy day, blowing 17-20 knots makes for a quick sail to Nargana where we are able to buy diesel and fresh baked Kuna bread, but no veggies – we're told they'll come on the next Columbian Trader Boat. Maybe tomorrow … The Nargana anchorage is perfect, the anchor bites into the muddy bottom, not crowded and flat calm water. Finally maybe tonight I'll get some much needed
sleep. But just past 9 pm, the wind dies and left us literally hiding under the sheets from the chitres (noseeums) – the worst since 3 years ago in Belize. Torrential rains turn the anchorage into a muddy raging Mississippi river – when it rains hard high in the mountains, the rivers carry the mud directly out to sea … through the Nargana anchorage in this instance!

Thanks to Ernie on sv Lauren Grace, we know to keep our ears peeled for the throb of the trader boat diesels and were second in line when the "Eldon" arrived. We got a case of Coke, in cans which is unusual in this part of the world, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, California grapes and apples – strange to come all the way to Panama to eat California fruit! We also bought some packages of lemon & sugar cookies and "almost" ruffles. It's wise to buy only one of any strange brands & try it first before
investing in several dozen tiny packages of less than tasty cookies or chips!

After buying 10 more gallons of diesel, David and I are busy straining the diesel through the baha filter (gets the water & any dirt & particles out of the fuel so it doesn't get into our tanks & shut down our engine when we need it!) into our center tank when the radio crackles … "Trader Boat, Trader Boat" – we quickly finish the 1st jug, leave the 2nd for later, jump in the dinghy and rush to town – only to find it's a false alarm. It IS a trading boat, but this one is carrying Kuna, people, not
supplies – the island version of the bus, I suppose. We return to Winterlude and finish emptying the diesel into the tanks when David spots another trader boat, a tiny spec on the western horizon. "Fred" our local contact has assured us that it is his brother and will have gasoline (no mixto –you can buy gas already mixed with oil for an outboard, but we need plain gas) as well as more fruit and peanut butter, Joy dishwashing detergent and real tuna – most canned tuna here is not tuna at all, but
"jurel" – horse mackeral, whatever that is – I can assure you that it has a consistency of cat food, or worse! A perfect example of something we should have bought ONE of to try before investing in FOUR cans! ? Luckily the Kuna love this stuff & are very happy when David gives it away, a can at a time to visitors as they stop past Winterlude. Some want to sell molas, some want to practice their very limited English and some are just plain curious about how we live. All have bright smiles. Unfortunately
the next morning, Fred's brother does not have gas – or any other supplies when he returns – the bus carrying the produce had a wreck and there were no veggies – our limited Spanish wasn't up to the task of finding out why he didn't have gasoline. So we departed, with 17-20 knots of wind in our sails on a great beam reach behind the reef with only small waves – this was the kind of sailing we set out cruising to enjoy!

Anchored now at the Islas Holandes, we're at the final destination in Kuna-land – these islands are the farthest out on the reef & consequently have the clearest water and supposedly best snorkeling. Unfortunately they also suffer from the Cocas Banderos overcrowding situation, so Winterlude follows Kristiana trailblazing a spot into a new and unmarked anchorage. We're constantly amazed that most boats (luckily for us) prefer to anchor where there are anchors indicated on charts or cruising guides
… even if it means 20 or more boats in an anchorage meant for 5! So we're securely tucked away from the swell, anchored in 15 feet of clear swimming pool water over a white sand bottom that swallows our anchor. We're found the perfect anchorage and we spend over a week in this spot, doing laundry when it rains and snorkeling, kayaking & exploring the tiny palm encrusted islands when it's nice. There's even a vegetable boat that brings fresh veggies from the mainland about once a week – nice
to have County Market fresh produce come to you! Unfortunately it's not cheap, but we've been able to buy watermelon, limes, grapefruit, passion fruit, pineapples, carrots, lettuce, cabbage, papaya, onions, christophene (a squash), tomatoes, cucumbers and potatoes. Just as unfortunately, we're about to run out of Joy dishwashing detergent, butter, eggs, frozen meat and gasoline so we were trying to figure out what to do without having to go to Colon (Colon is a rough sail this time of year … 71
miles, but 10 – 15 foot swells from Columbia combined with the northeasterly tradewinds combine to make a downright unpleasant passage – especially trying to come back – keep in mind, Panama runs east & west. From the San Blas to Colon is a due West course, not so bad with a NE wind although the swells are uncomfortable. But returning we would have to sail due EAST, not a good thing with a NE wind – could even be dangerous as one boat recently found out. Aquilla was sailing back from Colon when
they hit some charted rocks and the boat sank literally in minutes. Everyone aboard is fine, they stepped up into their Boston Whaler type dinghy & paddled to shore. They also discovered that a Mayday call to the Coast Guard, produced the US Coast Guard on site in a very short time, while the Panamaian Coast Guard took 3 hours. Because their lives were not endangered, the US Coast Guard had to stand off watching while the Panamanian Coast Guard handled the situation. The boat was a total loss
& a too real reminder to the rest of us that cruising is not without risk. So Winterlude's solution to manage that risk is to work out a strategy so we don't have to make the Colon trip! ? We're checking in at Porvenir in the San Blas, then 30 days later, technically we have to go to Colon to check in, but we found that we can fly to Panama City, check in and get supplies there instead. The cost will be a bit more, but we will not have to sail to Colon until after the bad tradewinds season subsides
– late March or earl April! ? That leaves the problem of no gasoline, Joy , butter or fresh meat… but there's a cruising boat in the Holandes that has capitalized on the dilemma and makes a run to Panama City once a month and will do all our grocery shopping! Of course, it's expensive, he charges 30% of our order, but again, we don't have to go to Colon!!! HURRAY! Life is good!

And lest you wonder why we're not feasting on fresh fish here in paradise … the spearfishing here is not as good as Belize or Roatan. The reefs within easy reach of our free diving limits – about 10-15 feet, have lots of fish, but they're all baby fish. There are HUGE snapper, grouper, crab & lobster, but they're hidden away down deep. Cruisers regularly share, but Winterlude has only had fresh fish from David's speargun a couple of times and tuna & yellowtail from our trolling pole twice. It's
frustrating watching a big grouper swim beneath you, just out of range. It's almost like they're singing "na na na na, I know you can't get me!!!" Since you're all feeling badly for us, I'll end this edition of the Winterlude Update! Until next time, we'll enjoy the nice warm weather, sunshine & swaying palm islands for you!!!

David & Jan
sv Winterlude
www.sailwinterlude.com