One more lock to the Atlantic!

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

Standing by to go through the last set of locks now - at 2:50EST

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

Anchored in the Panama Canal

Well...here we sit. Waiting our turn. We were told we'd be through the last set of locks by 2pm latest, but still have not seen our onboard "advisor". Without him we can not go through. Is it possible that New Years celebrations are affecting the supply of advisors???

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

So far so good....

Making our way now through Gatun Lake. Looks like we will spend the night on the lake and then finish up tomorrow. No harm done so far!! Very interesting. Amazing actually!

-Jim

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

9am here and we are still waiting for our advisor

9am EST

Still at Balboa YC. Advisor is now 45 min late. Hope we don't lose our
spot in line!!

SPOT is on. So you can figure out where we are by checking it.

Links to webcams on blog.

Future updates will be on the blog rather than email.

All onboard are ready and excited!! Supposed to go through tied to a 100'
motorboat. The girls are hoping for mimosas, and invitations to hang out in
the air conditioned cabins on the big boat!!

We shall see....

-Jim

Panama Canal Transit -Tomorrow?

Looking good for us to go through the canal tomorrow. No time yet! But once that's known this link may come in handy for any of you early risers that want to spot us as we move through...http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html

I have spent some time thinking about delaying for a day and getting permission to anchor oVernight in the lake halfway through. How great a spot would that be for New Years?
y
But...the more I think about it the better just getting all the way to the other side seems.

jim

Cal Football and the Rose Bowl

In what has unfortunately become an annual tradition, I have once again updated my Rose Bowl T-Shirt. 
As it turns out, I purchased this shirt in 2004 when it looked to be a near certainty that Cal would finally go to the Rose Bowl.  An event that last happened 11 months BEFORE I WAS BORN!!  Somehow, at the end of 2004 Texas displaced Cal and went to the Rose Bowl.

Not to worry, I was sure that Coach Tedford had us on the right path.  I just made a small change to the shirt and figured I'd be good to go on New Years Day 2005.

Well.  I'm still waiting (and updating my shirt every year).  Maybe next year???

-Jim

Patrick has left the building....

Very few parents are lucky enough to spend two plus solid weeks of time with their college age kids.  Debbie and I just had our son Patrick join us for the sail (and stops) from Northern Costa Rica to the Panama Canal.  Two weeks that I think we all enjoyed.  Wish he could have stayed longer!!

Phase 1: Complete!! We've made it to the Panama Canal

Really a pretty exciting place to visit.  For the past couple of days, we've noticed the increase in shipping traffic and traffic in general.  After weeks of seeing one or two boats a day, we see several at all times and are tracking many more on the computer.
We arrived in the "Canal Zone" at about noon this afternoon.  Ships anchored or underway everywhere.  The procedure is that you call into Traffic Control when you are one mile off the entrance bouy.  Give them your boat type, length, and speed. Plus a destination.  After that you are under their direction.

Check out the picture above to see what the traffic situation was when we arrived!!!

Moored at the Balboa Yacht Club now to clear customs and wait for friends that arrive on the 29th.  Best case we'll transit the canal on the 30th!!

_jim

Christmas Dinner in Panama

A formal sit down affair.  Cornish Game Hens, Sausage Stuffing, Fresh Baked Bread, a little bit of Wine....NICE!!!

Christmas Onboard

Happy Christmas Eve!

Well, we had hoped to find a place with internet access so we could call some of you on skype tonight, but instead we are anchored off of a beautiful island that will be one of our last stops prior to the canal scene.

And what a scene that will be. Last night was a nightmare of dodging super tankers and trying to stay out of the way. Today as we sit alone in this anchorage, I have 168 targets on my AIS ship tracking display!! 168 when I normally might have 4! This place has to be seen to be believed.

Anyway, we have sworn to take it easy today. The anchor is down, the swim ladder is down, the dinghy is in the water and we are getting ready for Christmas!!

To all of you, from all of us.....Merry Christmas!!!

-Jim, Deb, and Pat

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

Milestone - 07 degrees 06min North - 8:50am

At 8:50am this morning we reached the extreame Southern latitude of this trip!!

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

Morning Glory, AIS, and Punta Mal

We are currently sailing under a clear blue sky in 12-14 knots of breeze. Perfect!
Morning Glory just went by at 13 knots, but it turns out that this Morning Glory is a 200+ foot luxury cruising YACHT. Don't know if it's associated with the string of racing boats by the same name or not.
We did talk with them and confirmed that our AIS location transponder was transmitting and they said they had us on their plotter from 20+ miles away. Nice thing to know when you are about to enter the busy shipping lines on the way to/from the canal.
Punta Mal looms ahead and I think we'll stop for the night just before then. Punta Mal is one of the busiest compression points for shipping traffic in the world. And my basic spanish has me a bit concerned as I think in English it is called "Point Bad". We'll tackle that tomorrow morning.
130 miles from the Canal!
-Jim
PS. We've already been dodging shipping traffic all night and morning. You can tell things are about to get busy!
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

A giant swordfish just stole my Cedar Plug lure!

I kid you not. It was huge, must have bitten right through the line first thing I knew was a really angry swordfish leaping into the air about 20 yards away from the boat! It did that about 10 times! Long enough for me to grab my camera and take some video.

That was the only lure on the boat that worked! Now what?

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

To my sailing friends...

I've got one of the Morning Glory's motoring up directly behind me according to my ship tracking equipment. She's moving along at 13 knots to my 7.5. Which one could it be?? Is the maxi still roaming the world winning races??

-Jim

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

It's a small small world

Yesterday, while walking down the streets of Golfito, Costa Rica and roasting under a typically hot sun we suddenly heard someone yelling at us from a car on the opposite side of the road. As per usual, we did our best to ignore whoever was trying to abuse us, but had to stop when we heard our names!!

We turned and there hanging out the window of a Land Rover were Robin Jeffers and his wife Betsy!! No way, how could that be that we'd run into friends down here?? Robin is a friend that we've met on the West Coast sailing circuit. One of the most respected boat captains and delivery skippers around. He also has an uncanny way of getting hired to work on boats that end up winning our races.

Turns out Robin had just delivered a SC52 to Golfito to load on a dockwise ship heading for Australia. We had seen the dockwise ship leave as we entered port yesterday.

For those that think we've been rushing along (ourselves included), Robin left a month behind us and beat us by 2 days!!

We met later in the day at the marina that we were docked at and enjoyed catching up.

You never know who you'll see next,

- Jim and Deb

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

Tonights Lunar Eclipse

I cleverly arranged the watches tonight so I'd be able to watch the lunar eclipse.

Lots of high clouds, but I've still got a pretty good view.

-Jim

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

Manuel Antonio National Park

 

We spent yesterday afternoon wandering through Manuel Antonio National Park.  A pretty amazing place!!




Manuel Antonio National Park



Check out the photographs gallery

Manuel Antonio National Park is one of the most beautiful and bio-diverse areas in the world. Although it is the country's smallest national park, the stunning beauty and diversity of wildlife in its 683 hectares is unequaled.

Manuel Antonio contains a combination of rain forest, beaches and coral reefs. The beaches are  beautiful, lined with lush forest, and the snorkeling is excellent too. The forest is home for sloths, iguanas, the rare squirrel monkeys and millions of colorful little crabs. 

The trail that winds around Punta Catedral affords some spectacular views. The park is easy to reach, south of the town of Quepos.

 

Photoshow

Just for fun....

Too many blue boats. Time to move on...

Eos & Helios

Marina Papagayo has been a nice stop and a good central location for us to rent a car and do some touring.  But, the time has come to move along South.  We are looking for one of those anchorages, full of clear blue water, white sand, and lots of snorkeling.  You would think that Costa Rica would be the perfect place to find that place, but according to what we read and what we hear we may have a bit of a challenge.

Either way, we'll make some progress towards the Panama Canal!!!

-Jim

Navigation onboard

"This doesn't look so hard.  Where do you want to go?"
      - Ita  (the dog)

What do Barry Dillar, Larry Silverstein and Jim & Debbie Gregory have in common??

Not all that much!!  But we all own boats...

Morpheus, Eos, and Silver Shalis

Marina Papagayo - Waiting on Patrick

Arrived safe and sound in Bahia Culebra after a great sail yesterday.  Getting the lay of the land and making plans for some fun with Pat while he is here!

Longest passage done!

Yeah! We made it to Costa Rica. We are sitting in a beautiful deserted cove in Northern CR, sleeping off our 5 days of sleep deprivation before heading into Coco de Playa tomorrow to check into the country. It can take 2 days to check in by boat, and we just didn't want to do that sleep deprived and 8 hours further into the country. As Jim says, it does look like Jurassic Park here. Beautiful, but I'm not going for a nature hike.
The sail was good. Windy at times, but not outside the boat's happy zone. When it was outside Debbie's happy zone, Jim drove! Ita does not like the loud sounds or rough waves, but she's good after you get a nice rhythm going.
Dolphin's every morning and evening, and often during the night. I could see them coming for the boat likes bat's out of hell, from 1/2 a mile away, jumping and blowing. Sounded like they were yelling, "Party! Party!! Party at Morpheus!" Some mornings it was like someone had put up a Facebook Post.
Saw some more whales, way off, and this time a Manta Ray jumping and doing flips about 15 feet from the boat. Big Belly flops! We think we have Ita figured out. Not perfect, but workable.
That's all that's new from here.
Deb
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Morpheus - Arrived Jurassic Park!!

Boatspeed = 0!!

We have arrived and are anchored in Bahia Santa Elena. Take a look at it on Google Earth. Pretty darn cool, with some very strange noises coming out of the jungle that grows right down to the waterline!!
Here's what our guide has to say about it...
"a pristine, nearly land-locked cove in Northern Costa Rica's Santa Elena National Park. Parrots adn exotic birds twitter close by in the jungle canopy, while howler monkeys wail to nearby tribes - the only sounds within this tranquil anchorage."
We are the only ones here...
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Easy night

Saw no more than 20. Timing worked out to allow us to go slow and we will be entering Bahia Santa Elena at sunrise. This is an early stop, but supposed to be deserted tropical paradise. We shall see. 24 hours and we'll continue on.
Looking foward to dropping my anchor!
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

A little help please.... Active volcano or not??

All,
We are now about 110 miles north of the Nicaragua/Costa Rica border.
On our left is a huge mountain towering above Chinandega, Nicaragua.
To me it looks like an active volcano with a constant stream of smoke bellowing out the top. Debbie thinks what I see as "smoke" is actually clouds that magically form at the top of this mountain and nowhere else within hundreds of miles that can be seen.
Can someone with access to google, or google earth, or wikipedia please let us know if we are looking at an active volcano or not?? Leave a comment here and we'll get it by email.
thanks,
-Jim
PS. We are about 130 miles short of our destination now at 9:30am, anyway you look at it our average speeds bring us in at night. Not good. So...we are doing our best to slow down. Definitely not something that comes naturally to either of us.
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

An easy day....

Had an easy day today after a challenging night last night.
Winds filled in at midnight in the 20-30 range. Normally, while not fun that's not a big deal, we just set the boat up for it, slow down and keep everything as comfortable as possible. The problem last night was the constant and large change in direction and strength for the breeze. We saw 60 degree shifts multiple times and wind speeds up and down between 10 and 30. This created very confused "washing machine" seas, so there was no way to "set up" for the conditions. We just kept changing things and never getting them right.
Lucky for us things calmed down totally this AM and we spent most of the day in 5-12 knots of steady onshore breeze.
Hoping for more of that tonight!
-Jim
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

How this silly email thing works...

To those of you that send us emails (or more importantly reply to one of ours!), Deb sent this to her family last month. I think its worth sharing with a wider audience.

-Jim

Hello Brothers and Sisters!

Here is a quick primer on how Jim, my computer Geek of a husband, has set up our email accounts and addresses. If anyone of you has ever tried to turn on my TV, you'll know how complicated he can make things. But it is cool once he gets it all working.

So, Sailmail was developed by and for sailors (duhh) to keep in touch with loved ones and to download weather info while off shore. It takes the emails, "Bibbity-Bobbity-Boo's" them, sends them over the Ham/Single Side Band radio waves, then "Boo-Bobbity-Bibbity's" them back into emails to your computer. We get a generous daily "Key Count" of how much data we can send over the Air Waves, but it is limited. We download email wda7721 at sailmail.com at least twice a day, like 6am and 6pm, or more often if we are looking for something important. This is where you send short, important stuff, like, "Love You", or "Austin got an A", or "TMI in the blog, Deb..." When I send you stuff from wda7721, and you want to get back to me, DON"T hit "Reply". This sends all the stuff I already know as well as the new stuff and uses up part of our total "Key Count" for the day.

Also, Jim has set up our regular emails, deb at jdgregory.com, to send "Shadow Files" to wda7726 of anything set to them. The Shadow files tells us who it's from and the Subject line. I go through the shadow files and download the ones that look important, providing it's been a light day on the Key Count. So, if you put in a accurate title, like "Dosage info for Ita's UTI", I'll know to download it ASAP. I'll save the "fwd,fwd,fwd Why women live longer" ones until I get onto internet on land. Also realize, that it takes 2 downloads to actually get the info to me if you send it to deb@jgregory.com... once to download the shadowfile, then once to download the whole email.

And lastly, Jim has set up the blog to automatically send the comments you make to us, so we do get to see your comments.

So, that's the primer on email. I love you all. Please forward this as you see fit. Please x3 keep emailing me.

Love you all,

Deb

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

Acapulco and Huatulco

Deb Here:

I know I haven't blogged lately. I've been concentrating very hard on not melting....

Jim asked me to blog on Acalpulco, and I added Huatulco. Well, Acapulco was very nice, in a BIG town sort of way. The YC was great! They had a great pool, with David, the waiter, who fetched me Mojito's whenever I even thought about one. That was great! The people were friendly, but the hours were wonky. No one's out in the am, the shops open at 11, everyone is closed 2-4, and they stay up way too late!

My adventure was trying to find a Vet to give Ita a Health Certificate for our next stop, Costa Rica. 6 cab rides and the best I could find was a pet store, selling roosters, puppies, cats, and really dirty stuff that had a clinic in the back where I could get Ita shots. I wouldn't even put her down on the vet table. I decided to wait for our last stop in Mexico, which was Hualtulco (Waa-tool-co). The cab rides through the various neighborhoods of Acapulco made me know I was good to stay in a cab. Fun to look at in the day safe in a cab....

Huatulco is my favorite by far. We tied up in this tiny newer Marina called Marina Chaway. Safe, clean and just deep enough for us to get into. From there there were 2 towns. Cruecita is the small town right by the Marina. Everything is a 20 peso cab ride, no mater where you go, so no getting ripped off. No one at the beach selling you the sombrero. NICE, NICE people. Clean streets. Lots of food and Bars. A GREAT Vet. Safe to walk in at night. A big plaza in the middle of town with the church on one side, and a band stand in the middle. Every night every one congregates down there to stroll and sell stuff. It was great.

Santa Cruz was the other town, and it was smaller, but that's where the cruise ships come in, so it is kinda ruined. Good Palapa Bar on the beach though...

That's it for now

Deb

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

SPOT Tracker not working??

Have had reports that our SPOT tracker may be down. This is possible as we have run out of the lithium batteries that are supposed to be used for this. Now we are using plain old batteries and the instructions say that it may or may not work depending upon where we are.

Well, there's some news. We are in "Turtle Town", Guatemala. Aprox. 25 miles over the boarder, and 25 miles offshore. Huge turtles are floating all around us, we saw 5 at one time a little bit ago and have to steer just to make sure we dont run any over.

Weather is perfect other than the fact that there is little or no wind. Hope there is more later, as we are burning our fuel now!!

All good, no problems.

-Jim

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

It got windy again

Not sure if I celebrated too early and brought this upon ourselves or what, but the wind came back up to 30+ at sunrise.
20 knots now.
The rule of thumb here for this passage is "one foot on the beach". The gulf is so shallow that if you get too far away from the beach and give the waves a chance to build up, you find yourself very uncomfortable.
Well, when the wind dropped and we thought we were good to go, we started trying a more direct course rather than staying on the beach.
I just spent 2+ hours hand steering and regretting that decision.
If you are watching us on SPOT you can see that we've decided to return to the beach!
-Jim
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

The tough part is over!

We've past the worst portion of this gulf and are now sailing with the wind just aft of the beam in 20 knots.
We saw 31 knots for a bit, but all and all a pretty easy evening.
Only 4 miles off the beach, sailing in 30 knots on a beam reach is something like ice skating laps at full speed in a rink that's just been zambonni'd (nice word) with the lights off.
Smooth, fast sailing, its just tough to know where the edges are.
Pretty cool!
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

All good

All is well. Deb is sleeping, the dog wishes it would calm down, but really things are fine. 25 knots and building slowly. Double reefed, no engine. Almost have the wind on the beam now.

Suppose I'll probably see 30 over the next few hours, but am staying 3 miles off the beach so the water should be flat. Maybe it will even be fun.

The downside....no moon....and no lights on shore.

Hope the GPS system does not go down over the next 6 hours!!

BTW - remind me to talk about my new $35 IPAD application from Navionics with charts of Central America and the Carib. that is almost as good as anything else that I have onboard. The ultimate backup!

-JIm

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

Looking good...

5:45pm - smooth seas, 2 miles off the beach, nice sunset, beautiful scenery, and ONLY 18 knots @ 40M.

About to enter the belly of the beast....let's hope our luck holds.

-Jim

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

Sort of getting windy, and still quite bumpy

Looks like we have almost 1.5 knots of current from behind and about 18 knots of wind from ahead. Makes it a bit bumpy. All good though, although the dog is pretty firm in her desire not to leave Deb's lap!!

2:30pm
wind 17 knots @ 84M
forecast: 5knots @ 17M

We shall see....

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

Off we go

12:27 local time
We have left Huatulco (very nice town by the way), and are on our way to Costa Rica!!
The forecast is good, and we'll just see how things go.
Current wind is 10 knots from 110M. Vs a forecast wind of 3.4 knots out of 180. Wish it was the other way around.
Updates to follow...
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Should I stay or should I go now???

The Gulf of Tehuantepec

We have arrived at the first significant challenge of our trip -- The Gulf of Tehuantepec.

The picture you see above is what my nav screen looked like this morning.  We are the little green boat in the upper left corner.  We were actually sailing along in 6 knots of wind at the time, but obviously if we continued things were going to change.  By the way, those little red triangle flags show 50 knots of wind!!  That's basically hurricane force!

The Gulf of Tehuantepec is the huge open bay that spreads across 260 miles of shoreline.  The Gulf of Tehuantepec i sthe South side of the great Isthmus of Mexico, the lowest land at the narrowest width.  Before the Panama Canal was complete, many engineers considered digging a transcontinental canal across this isthmus.

This region experiences gale force winds on average 140 days per year.

The trick getting across here is to wait for the best possible forecast, and then follow the beach as closely as you dare from one side to the other in order to avoid the possible large seas that build up if you are surprised by heavy winds.  We think we have pretty good weather forecasting data these days, and Gibb Kane is helping us as our shoreside weather expert so....we think we will be fine.

However it does look like we are "stuck" here in Huatulco for a few days until the weather shown above changes enough to let us through....

Standing by....

Acapulco Cliff Divers

The view from our dinner table tonight!  Almost didn't go, but glad that we did.  Brings back serious Sunday afternoon Wide World of Sports flashbacks!!!

Who Knew?! Sea Turtles have Boobies!

We left Bahia de Navidad yesterday, bound for Zihuatanejo. I was on watch, and kept seeing Boobies (the sea bird...)standing on the water, which usually means give them a wide berth since it's probably a log or something they are standing on. Well, I went sort of close to one, and saw it was standing on what I thought was a coconut... Clever Bird...those things could be tippy. I went closer to another and realized that all the coconuts I'd been seeing were actually Sea Turtles. And there were a lot of them. And most of them had a Boobie on their backs They would float along allowing the Boobies to land on their backs and rest. Some of them have had Boobies for a long time judging by the guano on their shells.

If any of you are following Spot, you will swear we were crazy yesterday. Actually, Manzanillo has a really big fishing fleet. The Panga fishermen go out 10 miles into the ocean, then drop a really long (5+ miles) fishing line with baited hooks on it. They hang out all day at one end, then pick it up and what ever they catch and go in late at night. The Pangas have flashlights, but the long lines don't have lights or markings. Some have a flag at each end. Visualize trying to see a golf flag at 5 miles. They do have plastic coke bottles or a clorox jug tied at each fish hook junction. So in order to see these things you basically have to look for a very orderly line of small floating trash.!!! Then you have to follow the trash line to the Panga and go around. Arrg.

We are through that area and about 5 hrs from Z-town. More then,

Deb

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

My friend Drake Sparkman ...

I've just learned that my friend Drake Sparkman has passed away after a long fight with brain cancer.

Struck down during what appeared to be one of the happiest times of his life, this all seems particularly unfair.

Drake was unique, and I loved him for it. Universally, liked and respected, he was equally comfortable as the current Commodore of the American Yacht Club in his blue blazer and brenton red pants, as he was sailing to Hawaii in shorts and a hideously ugly Hawaiian shirt!

In our lifetimes, we are all lucky to find one or two really special friends. I've just lost one of mine....


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

Tenacatita

All,

Deb and I are anchored in Tenacatita, a beautiful harbor surrounded by mountains, nice beaches, palm trees, etc. Dolphin are literally swimming around the boats in the harbor and rumor has it if you jump in they will come and swim with you.

Neither Deb nor I have been brave enough to give THAT a try, but I'm trying to work up my nerve.

The only negative in this day right now is a BIG one. We have the Cal-Stanfurd game on the radio, and are not happy with the 38 - 0 score!! Four years without a decent QB is getting a bit ridiculous!

Time to update my Rose Bowl shirt...

-Jim

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

More on Tenacatita from Deb...

Here's a bit more about Tenacatita from Deb:
I was on watch Sat am when I made the decision we were going in one bay early into Tenacatitia instead of Bahia Navidad for a couple days because I wanted to sit out in a cool(er) bay rather than at a dock with a lot of people around. Call me a recluse. That's the reason for the big right turn on Spot. That and sneaky rocks on the north side of the bay.
This is a great little bay. The dolphins here are very used to people and boats, but seem fascinated by Ita. There is one big Bottlenose who keeps hanging around the boat playing Peek a boo with Ita. It will come up and blow within 5 feet of her for at least an hour, again and again. (S)He must like to watch Ita run from side to side. Jim wondered wether they could really see outside the water. I reminded him of the Sea World dolphins jumping out of the water and touching the big balls suspended 20 feet in the air. Yes, they can see something outside the water.
OOOO something neat. Sat night at sunset as we were motoring down here we were converged upon by a bunch of the little dolphins with pink bellies. (Aside: I will be able to give you names of these various types of critters as soon as Pat gets here with the books I forgot that my lovely sister Sally is getting for me.) Two of them jumped twice about 5 feet away from the steering wheel, about 5 feet in the air and looked right at Jim and I. It was very cool.
I took Ita on her first Kayak ride yesterday. She sat very low and peeked over the side. She thought it was cool. I managed to get in, land and get back onto the boat without tipping us over. Yes!
That's all for now!
Deb
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

SF to Cabo 2010

Almost ready to leave Puerto Vallarta. Hope to be back underway tomorrow at some point. We'll make a few stops along the way, but hope to be in Acapulco the weekend of the 27th and 28th for their monthly regatta, and then will wait for the right weather window to sail South to Costa Rica where we meet Patrick on the 11th.

If we are late, there is a Four Seasons in the harbor that we've selected at our meeting point. I don't expect to be late!

-Jim

Another alternative to crack...

So, if you are looking for another alternative to crack, try driving on the buses in PV.  This must be where the idea for the Harry Potter Bus came from.  It is impossible that these guys squish these buses into the spaces they do.  After a Mexican woman next to me crossed herself, I closed my eyes!

 

Speaking of Harry Potter, I’m going to see it tomorrow, in English!  HAA HAA, Tori!!!!  Mischief Managed!

 

PV has been great.  We are getting some upholstery work done for ½ of what it was going to cost in the US.  Yeah!  And I went to see a Dermatologist today, just to make sure.   I got the “all clear, wear more sun screen, and your skin is great for someone who spends so much time in the sun…”

 

Otherwise, same ol, same ol for when we are in harbor.  Grocery shopping at the Wal-Mart, getting the propane refilled,  walking the dog…

 

That’s all for now!

 

Debbie

 

dolphin

Here's some raw footage showing more of our encounters with dolphin on the way from San Diego to Turtle Bay, Mexico. It may run a little long, but its pretty good stuff!

-Jim

Link to Morpheus "Spot Page"

Sunset Bar - near Marina Vallarta

 Many of you seem to like following us via our new SPOT tracker, but say that the map on the blog does not work very well.  So, we've set up a new link that you can bookmark and check at any time.  Hope this works better.  Thanks for following along!! 

http://tinyurl.com/WhereIsMorpheus 

-Jim



PS.  Ita seems pretty happy these days so long as we keep her well "hydrated"!

Updates to the "Master Plan"

View Morpheus Cruise Plan in a larger map

Ita the dolphin hunter.....

Morpheus Trivia Question

So, we are 70 miles out from PV and just under half way to the the Panama Canal. We have another 1500 or so nautical miles to go. What would you think the course is from here to Panama??
Guess before reading below....
Surprisingly, (perhaps only to me) it's no where close to 180 degrees. In fact, it's 105 degrees. Only 15 degrees off of due East!!
Random facts from Morpheus.
Out
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Deb's update from the middle of somewhere...

Hello all:
Well, it's been great sailing. We've been sailing from Cabo to PV now for about 30 hours, and we've run the engine for about 2 hours, and sailed the rest. I don't really know what this part of the ocean is called.. Pacific - Sea of Cortez Convergence Zone? I haven't had to change the sails or Otto for at least 4 hours. No dolphin or whales. Lots of flying fish. Really blue water. Warm, sunny, puffy clouds... Highlight of the day is a freshwater shower!
So, it's up to you all to entertain me. Please call my children and harass them for not emailing. We have one email from Chris telling us to call him.... And nothing from Pat.
Anyone know how to get a dog to pee? Ita's refusing to go while at sea.
Deb
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

You either know the story, or you don't.....

Just a bit more mileage out of this one....

Deb's Cabo San Lucas update...

Hello All!
We have been here in Cabo for 2 days which has been nice. We came into Cabo just at Sunrise, and it was beautiful. Cabo and the Arches have to be one of the prettiest landfalls I've seen. AS we were getting ready to turn into the bay, a big whale breeches about 200 yards ahead of us. 2/3's of his body out of the water! Then waves his tale and then his fins. Soooo cool. Coming in at dawn was also exciting because there was a big Fishing tournament going on for Muscular Dystrophy. There must have been 200 fishing boats within a mile of the harbor going North while we were trying to go South. I swear it looked like LA!
Cabo is definitely feeling the effects of the Drug Wars at the border. It is very quiet, for Cabo. Definitely fewer people, but of course there are not 250 sailors here after a race and it's not spring break, but still, the restaurants are empty and the bars are suffering. We are staying in the Marina, so we get to listen to the Music from the bars while going to sleep. Actually it's nice. Then the Fish boats start at dawn, so I get some quiet time for coffee and email. Ita has LOVED being on land. Being able to walk and pee whenever she wants is her version of heaven. I have a big canvas bag I carry with me. Whenever we go into a store, bar or restaurant, or when she feels she has walked far enough, thank you very much, she jumps in the bag and goes to sleep. No one knows. Occasionally the bag will move when she makes herself more comfortable, but so far, so good. If anyone is thinking a cruising with a dog, get a lazy one.
Later today we are off for Puerto Vallarta. 35 hours or so to get there, so we leave this afternoon and arrive Sat am.
More on route,
Deb
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Hello from about 50 miles from Cabo...

Hi all,
It's the middle of the night, I'm on watch, so I thought I'ld quickly update the blog. We are 50 miles from Cabo which means we are running out of wind.
We left Mag bay this morning after spending yesterday with Richmond friends Torben and Judy Bentsen. It was great to hook up with them and trade stories. After chatting up a very nice big power boat for a bag of ice, we had plenty of margaritas to keep the talk flowing,... and flowing,... and flowing...
So after a late start today, we left MAg bay and have been sailing in about 17 knots of wind from behind. A beautiful Day. No Dolphins for Ita to chase today.
Gotta go make sure Otto (the Auto Pilot) is going the right direction,
Deb
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Deb's update...

Well, as those following Spot can tell, we spent the night in Magdalena Bay (Mag Bay). I highly recommend coming into a pitch dark harbor you've never been into at night instead of crack. Really gets the heart pumping, but the long term damage isn't as great.
Any way, after safely making it into the bay, using all the cool toys Jim has on the boat to make it safe to do so, we anchored... Many marriages have ended in divorce after anchoring drills, especially in the dark. It usually starts with a husband on the bow of the boat yelling directions at his wife she has no clue how to interpret. Well Jim hates that look, so we do our anchoring quietly, usually with socially acceptable hand signals. Those don't work in the dark, so did a "whisper anchoring"... Jim speaking very softly on the bow telling me what to do. Good thing I've done this before and know what "wishhh thsss doss" means.

So we are here for the day, which we hope to spend with Torben and Judy Bentsen from RYC and then onto Cabo. Only 125 miles! That's 1/3 of the way to Panama!
Deb
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Bears vs. Washington on Xm Radio!

Go Bears!

-Jim

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

Update from Debbie...

Here's an update from Deb. I started keeping a log at night while on watch on my iPhone of things you may find interesting... You asked for it. Here we go.

So I remember all my dreams on the boat. Too well. I keep thinking I'm not asleep because all these things are happening, people are talking... I wish they would shut up so I could sleep! Maybe it's the mecklazine? (Sea Sick Med)

It's very crowded out here. It's really dark because the moon doesn't come up until 5am, and even then its tiny! We bumped (softly) into something last night at 00:33. Whatever it was didn't chase us, so all good.

At 01:45 a %$%$&*& long line fishing boat played chicken with me. All is well until the last min when he sped up and turned in front of me following the contour lines. Jim just about had a heart attack when I called him on deck!

Sea creature count for today stands at a turtle, then a whale, and 3 bottlenose dolphins. The ones we've seen before have been the small black and white ones.... I have to download a sea creature ID book. I have books for fish and birds, no Mammals or reptiles!

Ita Peed. All good.

Deb

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

Request for more Blog Posts....

I guess I have been lax on updating the blog. Here's one...
Friday 11/5 at 2:00

We are great. We spent the night in Turtle Bay, safe and sound. Jim updated the blog with the early morning explosion a boat a couple 100 yards away had, but we are fine and religiously checking our propane system. I thought it was the Harbor wake up canon so didn't get out of bed to check it out.

Ita is turning into the real sailor dog. She may be sporting a tattoo by the end of the cruise. She has discovered Dolphins and is often the 1st to let us know they are on out bow. She runs to the end of her tether and insists on going to the bow to try to catch them as they ride our bow wave and blow for air. Wonder what she'd do if she catches one? She's been peeing, but not in the right place. Damn.... Working on it....

It's been good motoring (hardly any wind) ,but clear and beautiful. Warm, lots of Dolphin and seals. Dodging bunches of kelp. Making sure all the systems are working. Cleaning out filters. etc. We have Sat. Radio, and weather, so listening to Katie Perry wile looking at the cliffs of Baja is pretty cool.

Have read a book and listened to two. Watched a Wearwolf movie last night with Jim. Seems like scary movies don't bother me with a built in Moat around me.

New batteries are great. Food is good, and our 1 evening cocktail while underway is delicioso!
-----

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

We should have purchased a motor boat!

Greetings,

We are 8 miles short of Turtle Bay which is about half way down the coast towards Cabo.

Still waiting for a decent day of sailing. The breeze was great this morning, but then quickly built to 25 out of the South (yuck), and then died completely (not much better). So, the new batteries are very full, the water tanks are full of water we've made while motoring, but...the fuel tanks are running on empty.

We had hoped to carry on towards Magdellena Bay to meet some RYC friends tomorrow, but now are arriving in Turtle Bay too late to fuel up today. Looks like a night at anchor, fuel tomorrow AM and then back out we go!

My two favorite new toys on Morpheus for this trip

1) The IPAD for its "Starwalk" application. It's amazing. Simply hold it up to the sky and it draws a picture of the stars you are looking at complete with names and constellation outlines. Fantastic!!

2) XM Weather and Radio - real time views of surface winds, fronts, cloud cover, lightning, etc.

Ok, time to get the anchor ready.

Hope all is well,

-Jim

PS> Have some great video of the dog on the bow watching a few dolphin playing under our bow for a few minutes.
-----
At 10/20/2010 3:44 AM (utc) our position was 33°58.90'N 118°26.85'W

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

Always turn the gas off at the bottle!!!

Holy Cow!! What a start to our morning here in Turtle Bay!

Just after sunrise this morning, Deb and I heard the loudest explosion that either of us had ever heard. It sounded pretty far away, and given our trips to Mexico in the past and the explosives training provided by my brother Bob on past Mexican races, we just assumed it was Turtle Bay's traditional way to greet the morning.

Not true!!

When we got up an hour later, we looked over towards town and there was what was left of a 50+ foot boat (we later found it was from France) burning to the waterline. There had been one person onboard and when he lit his stove the entire boat exploded.

We assumed that anyone onboard had to have been killed but later found that the one person onboard had managed to get quickly to his dingy and escaped with only burns to his arms and face.

As you might imagine, we are currently double checking our gas systems, and turning the gas off at the tank!!

Off again in a few minutes for Mag Bay and Cabo. Hope to catch Torben and Judy Bentsen soon!!

-Jim

Finally!!

We had a GREAT time in San Diego as always. Finally underway. Heading south to catch up with friends that are about 350 miles ahead of us.

Cabo in. 4 or 6 days!!

Jim
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

There really are worse places to be "stuck"!

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

All is well

Recent dinner at 3rd Corner Wine Bar and Restaurant, one of our favorites!

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Might as well have the engine serviced

So far so good...
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Delayed AGAIN!!

I guess I should just get used to it. I think we should fall back on the thinking that says "if you don't have a plan, you can't screw it up"

Or, my personal favorite from college, "the sooner you fall behind, the more time you have to catch up!!"

Looks like a Monday AM departure now....

Jim
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Anyone care to guess why Deb is working with Gardening supplies??

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Arrived at San Diego Yacht Club!!

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Leaving Marina Del Rey (again)

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Never Mind

11nm toward San Diego and the showers have changed to thunderstorms. We have pulled a u turn. I don't like lightning!!
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Next Leg Tomorrow

Just scored a slip at the SDYC for the next week!! This is incredible good fortune as the Baha Ha Ha cruising rally is massing in San Diego this weekend for its start on Tuesday. Over 100 boats looking for a place to stay. Again, we lucked out...

Jim
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Where is the horizon??

We should have stayed in Northern California!!

No wind, low clouds, and light misty rain!!

Jim
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Its foggy out here!

All is well. Happy dog equals happy Deb and that all flows downhill to me!!

Picking up Pat at 2am and then moving on!!

Go Bears, beat SC!!

Jim
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Gone!

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Almost gone!!!

Perfect Day!!

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Finally underway-1012am

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

10 isn't such a great number anyway!!

So we missed our target date, big deal! Why does it still seem like there is so much to do??

Tuesdat sometime...late is looking likely now...

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Maybe we will stay a day or two??

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Tell Us Again - Why are we leaving??

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

10/10/10

Nice target, but for any number of reasons, it looks like we will be a day or two behind "schedule".

Today WAS a good day though as the mast went back in the boat, the rudder went back in the boat, and I picked up my new knee brace!!

Kitesurfing soon!!!

Will advise relative to departure updates...

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Departure Date Update

It sure is beginning to look like 10/10/10 may not work out for us as our departure date. Reality is beginning to gain the upper hand. We've not given up yet, but the odds are better than 50/50 that we will be delayed a few days.

It's good to have goals...but 10/10/10 was just a target.

-Jim

First Look at Morpheus' Cruise Plan as we head for the Panama Canal

View Morpheus Cruise Plan in a larger map


Many of you know that Debbie and I hope to spend a good part of the next year or two cruising on Morpheus.

Our big picture plan is to leave San Francisco on 10/10/10 at 10:10am! Looking ahead, the only places we need to be are Block Island during the third week of June 2011, and Newport for the start of the Newport to Bermuda Race in 2012.

The rest is a very fuzzy plan that will evolve as we go. Initially, we plan to head South for the Panama Canal, and then North up towards Belize, the Cayman Islands, the Dominican Republic and Florida.

There are a ton of miles to cover. 3,000 miles just to get to the Panama Canal and we are hoping that friends will be interested in joining us from time to time, either for a passage or for some fun while in port.

If there is somewhere you've always wanted to go along our general route let us know. We are happy to adjust timing and destinations if it means we can gain some visitors along the way.

Take a look at the map above and click on the blue "balloons" to get a sense of where we think we might be heading and when.

Get in touch with us and sign up to spend some time on Morpheus!!

-Jim and Deb

How to treat a knee injury in Ireland??

The picture below was taken after I re-injured my RIGHT knee during the first day of the Etchells Worlds. I ended up being treated by a sports medicine specialist that works with the British Olympic Team. My guess was that she knew what she was doing, so given the fact that I wanted to go sailing, I was open to anything that she suggested.

But please, someone tell me why she stuck needles in my perfectly good knee???

-Jim