Famous for being stuck off Key West

Many of my sailing friends will remember the story of this huge boat running aground off Key West a few years ago. It was stuck for over a year and has been here in the Palm Beach Marina since finally being re-floated. Not sure, but it sort of looks to me like she might be aground again???
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Kiteboarding - Jupiter Beach, FL

Deb's brother Dan and I spent a beautiful day on Jupiter Beach today. (just North of Palm Beach)

The winds were a little light, but I managed to have fun for a few minutes.

Deb spent the day with her sister Tori at the horse show. Tori had a great day and was the winner of the days first event!!

A good day was had by all!

-Jim

I am at a horse show

So out of my element.....
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Just hanging out

Deb is off with sister Tori, so her brother Dan and I are on our own. No wind for kitesurfing, but this is a nice place.
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How not to bring your boat into the dock!!

I saw this guy coming in and for whatever reason started hoping that he was not docking next to us!!
Turns out I was on to something!! He tried to dock in a 20+ knot cross wind, missed the weather finger pier, and the boat rotated around and ended up wedged against the main walkway 90 degrees off from his objective!!
Lots of work later and he is safe and sound with minimal damage, but it was ugly!!!


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We are not in Cuba anymore...

Safe and sound in Palm Beach today and for the next week while Deb visits with her sister Tori,

This place could not be more different than Cuba.  Huge yachts, mansions on the water, etc, etc.

Found a nice taco bar!

Jim

Cuba to Key West - The Gulf Stream

For those of you interested in such things, here is a plot of our trip across from Cuba to Key West.  The most interesting things here are the red arrows along our track.  These arrows represent the current that we sailed in as we crossed.  The small arrows are probably about a quarter of a knot while the big ones are 4 knots!!  I found it really interesting that the velocity of the current continued to increase right up to the point where we were about 5 miles off Key West when it quickly went to almost zero!!

The Gulf Stream continues right up the coast of Florida.  We are leaving Key West today and plan to ride it for all its worth!!

Next stop Palm Beach (probably!),

-Jim and Deb

Cuba to Key West: 90 miles under a Super Perigee Moon!!

Last nights trip from Havana to Key West was fairly stressful given the fact that our mast was injured due to a broken shroud and was held up by a spider web of lines led to all corners of the boat to provide support.  Not only did we have to sail 90 miles, but we had to cross the Gulf Stream while doing it!  The Gulf Stream runs to the Northeast here against the prevailing winds and this creates some pretty large and confused seas.   Last night the stream was running from 2 - 4 knots, while our boat speed through the water was about 4.5 knots.  That makes for some pretty interesting math when it comes to selecting the course to steer!

The winds were strong and normally we would have waited a few days, but we had reached the end of our cash supply and if we stayed any longer we wouldn't be able to pay our marina fees!!   When you are an American in Cuba it is very difficult to obtain cash.  Credit cards don't work.  ATM cards don't work.  Nobody is going to take your check, etc.

The one saving grace for us was the amazing full moon!! 

Not only was it a full moon, but it was the largest and brightest full moon in almost 20 years.  It's called a super perigee moon..  The last full Moon so big and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993. When it’s at perigee, the moon is about 31,000 miles (50,000 km) closer to Earth than when it’s at the farthest point of its orbit. This celestial event is far rarer than the famed blue moon, which happens once about every two-and-a-half years.  You can view NASA's diagram to understand how the Moon's orbit works.

We Are BACK!!!!

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Underway

Weather as advertised 15-20. Storm jib out and doing little but to stabilize us. Engine on at aprox. 5 knots. Slow and easy....

Rig stable!

-Jim

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The High's are higher, and the Lows are lower...

Our Taxi!

So much to say about Cuba. Here comes a mind dump.

Hemingway Marina from Morpheus

This part is the worst of times...Marina Hemmingway is odd. You can tell it used to be really nice, but it is now in disrepair. The people try hard, but it doesn't quite make it. So many people come by and talk, and talk, and talk, and talk... I had to leave and buy ice when the guy on the boat behind us started thinking I was Dear Abby... His Ex girlfriend's fiance died the day after Valentine's day and she needs space, and.... The boat across from us has SEVEN, count them, 7, Shitz-Shus, all of which started barking this am at 7. Customs was knocking on the boat at 7:30 because they forgot to charge us a fee... 3 different guys asked me if we wanted to buy diesel (NO), then asked Jim because I'm just a chick, not to mention all the hustlers offering Taxi's, Money Changing, cigars. ARG!

So we were not planning on coming to Cuba. Honest. Therefore, we didn't stock up on cash. Since the U.S. embargoes Cuba, there is NO WAY to get $ from the US to here. So we were checking under the sofa cushions to come up with the $ to pay for docking, customs, etc, not to mention all the Tips every single official asked us for very privately so none of the other officials would know.

The Best of times...

Since coming to Cuba, and staying in the Marina would be one of the most stupid things to do in the world, I decided we had to get enough cash to go out at least 1 night. Advice: If you are going to work a deal, go to the biggest boat in the harbor. I went and talked to the Captain of a really nice, big, 100+ foot motor yacht, and wrote him a check for cash! Not a lot, but enough to get out of Cuba and go out to Havana. Yes!

So yesterday afternoon we went out into Havana and had a blast! Of course we saw the best parts. Most of what we saw was from when Spain owned Cuba.

The building were gorgeous, like New Orleans. The wrought iron on the balconies, marble and tile everywhere.

Huge verandas in front of the hotels with people drinking coffee (strong and good), Mojitos (small and refreshing), and smoking huge cigars.

Live Cuban music everywhere. So cool. Plazas with fountains. Photos later. We also went to the Rum Museum and a Beer place that sold Beer by the Meter. 
 

I found the absolute coolest taxi, a 1958 Chevy Bel Air, light blue and white, that was totally restored, but with a Toyota engine since gas is so expensive. Photos later. Taxi driver Julio (Not Iglesia) drove us into Havana, and gave us a mini tour on the way. It sort of fried my brain having to speak Spanish, listen, translate for Jim, then translate Jim's questions back into Spanish all day. And Julio (not Iglesia) spoke really fast! It took me 3 times to understand that he was saying "Fidel Castro". 

We also took a "Coco Taxi", which kind of looks like a 3 wheeled, football helmet shaped golf cart. 

And we had to take taxi's because taking a bus is an adventure I don't even want to think about!

 

There were lots of old trains and horse drawn carriages, but here's the kicker...(get it...I crack myself up.) Out of 10 carriages, 1 was a mare, 1 was a gelding, and 8 were stallions. All together, standing in lines, no problems. Hmmm...








We spent a good hour listening to an acapella (Spelling?) singing group, we saw tons of old steam trains from the 1800's and LOTS of painting of a young Fidel. I thought they were of Bob Marley but Jim clued me in...

Then last, we stopped at a hotel/dance club (The Mill ochociento trenta, aka 1830) and watched real live honest Cubans dancing. It was hot! Just like that movie, Havana Nights? With Nick Nolte and Vanessa Williams and a really Hot Cuban guy! I digress...

And Ita was with us the whole time, in her bag or walking with us. She was very good.

BTW, when you come to Cuba, ALWAYS bring your own toilet paper, and seat covers are a good idea since there are no seats on any of the toilets. The fancy hotels have nice ladies in the rest rooms who give you 3 squares of TP in exchange for a tip.

Well, that's my quick summary of Cuba. Go if you can, and bring enough cash!
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Re: How's it coming with the main sail?

Dan,

Plans change with the wind....

I will be there, but exactly how, I'm not sure. Here's the plan as of now...

We got the sail and headed straight for Florida. A piece of the rod rigging broke, so we had to go into Cuba for emergency repair. It's pretty cool, but as it wasn't on our planned route, we don't have cash to go out and play. Waaaa. But it is allowing Jim to go up the rig and do a McGiver repair to take us the last 90 miles to Key West.

We will be leaving here as soon as we get a weather window, which means we should be in Key West by the 20th-ish. Then Jim rents a car and goes to Miami to get a replacement piece. I think I stay in KW to guard the boat. Then we may move the boat north.

Soo, the long and the short of it is Yes, plan on meeting me somewhere in FL by car when you arrive. Check the blog for details. It's all there. I promise I'll post something too instead of just Jim. www.morpheus-sailing.blogspot.com

PS Tell Dad I've finally gone somewhere he hasn't!!! HA!

Love you

Deb

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I've finally gone where my Dad hasn't!!!!

As some of you may know, my Dad and step mom are AVID travelers. They have been all over the world, including the Antartica and USSR before it was open to the West. But, finally, I got him! CUBA! All it took was a busy 2 hours in the middle of the night and the breeze kicking in between us and Key West, and Havana was the place for us to stop so Jim could McGiver a fix so the entire rig won't fall down. (Sorry MR.E. I know that's a run on sentence.)

So here's my version/highlights of what's gone on for the last few days.

Mast: It was a beautiful night, 3/4 moon. We came off a big wave, TWANG...intermediate rod rigging broke. Scurry around, Jib in, Main down, motor on. I get to sleep for 4 hours because Jim's too worried about the mast coming down.

Next am, haul Jim up the mast to put up a quick fix. Motor slowly along coast of Cuba, which is beautiful BTW. Wind comes up, so we opt to go into Havana to put up a more substantial repair.

Go through Customs. As Latin American countries go, it was easy. Everyone we needed to clear with was right there. The dock was good. People knew what they were doing. Everyone asked for a tip on the sly, but as we had no cash, they went untipped. Then motored 5 min over to Hemingway Marina.

From what we've seen, you can tell that Marina Hemingway used to be beautiful. Facilities are great, hotels with pools, lots of lawn. But now its a little rough. The Men's head has been broken for 4 years, so everyone shares the ladies. 6 stall, 3 work, no seats. 6 sinks, 1 works. Haven't tried the showers yet. Hotels are a little blocky, and they have beautiful fountains with no water in them. We are tied side to a good concrete dock, but it allows for a TON of people to come by say hello, offer services like laundry, repairs, diesel, taxi, money laundering...

So that's it up to now. Ita is loving land, but after 3 weeks in boat jail in the Caymans, she is totally ok with the boat. The last passage was a piece of cake for her.

I'll have more details on the rest of Cuba after we have more experience. We are safe and happy.

Love to All, and NA NA NA BOO BOO to my Dad!

Deb

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Tied up in Marina Hemingway. Now what??

Well, we made it through the check in process.

First the doctor comes with rubber gloves (that scared me) and a facemask to make sure we were "ok". Then agriculture to make sure we didn't bring the wrong food, then the harbor master, then immigration, then customs and finally we were free to tie up in our marina spot where we were greeted by no less than 7 people that wanted to pitch their services to us! Holy cow, I just need a nap!

But, a request first.

What should we go see in Havana?? We are six miles away from downtown. Have done no research on Cuba since we were not planning to visit and now here we are.

What are the don't miss things that we should not miss??

Please leave comments on the blog they are sent to us automatically.

thanks,

-Jim

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Greetings fromHavana!

The night went well and the wind dropped to make the trip much easier on the mast and jury rig repair. We are just a few miles outside Marina Hemingway now at 8:30am and should be safely tied up to the clearance dock within the next hour or so.

We expect the clearing in process to be interesting...

More later.

-Jim

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Mast still up. Heading for Havana - slowly

It's 830pm and the rig is still up. Its been an interesting day. The forecast was for SE breeze around 10 knots, and we had that long enough to think we were home free and to set up a jury rig repair via a combination of Gibb and Scott Easom's suggestions. (thanks to both of those guys for their help and suggestions!!!)

But....

The wind decided to throw us a curve ball and build to 20+ out of the NE!! So much for the "lee" of Cuba. Instead Cuba became a lee shore. Not so good. 20 knots against us while riding a 2 knot current in the direction of our travels made for a miserably bumpy ride. We throttled way back to only 2.5 knots through the water and tried to minimise the banking through waves, but if you go too slow then you start wallowing back and forth side to side and the mast doesn't like that either.

Not good, but conditions seem to be moderating a bit with sunset. We will hope so anyway and hopefully have a good report for you in the morning.

-Jim

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Alls Well - It's a contest to see who can design the best jury rig repair

We really lucked out here.

1- The leeward shroud broke, not the windward one. We could have lost the mast.

2 - The conditions were calm with flat seas and a full moon, so we could figure out what broke and react quickly.

3 - The moon was bright so we could see.

4 - We have an oversized mast designed to be extra strong because we were crossing oceans with our kids onboard.

5 - It happened at midnight and we are used to bad things at midnight!!

So, we are motoring along with over 100 miles to go to Hemingway Marina near Havana. The conditions have only improved with flat seas and wind now down to 5 knots in the lee of the island.

We have nothing but time on our hands now until we arrive. So, it's a contest! To all of my sailing friends. Design and describe the best jury rig repair for us to install once we arrive at the marina. I have ton's of spectra/vectran line onboard. Lot's of extra blocks, etc. What should I do??

Leave a comment with your suggestion here on the blog and we'll announce the winner and send pictures of the repair tomorrow!!!

thanks,

-Jim

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Houston - We have a problem. All's ok.

As we hardened up in 8-10 knots last night on stbd tack our 2nd intermediate shroud between the 1st and 2nd spreaders broke. It was on the "loose" side so the mast was/is fine. Have dropped all sail and are motoring in towards the lee of Cuba where we hope to find flat water and calm winds. Will motor East until we find a protected place to make temp repairs or will go to Hemmingway Marina and figure out if Cuba knows how to make rod rigging.

Bummer...

-Jim

PS> Everybody is fine.

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Hello Cuba!!

Well, we are just off the Western corner of Cuba! Just outside the 12.5 mile limit and at 10pm I fear that we may sail by and never actually see Cuba. Too bad as I would have liked to visit. Perhaps next time...

Lot's of traffic to dodge and pay attention to. Gotta go.

-Jim

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All's Well

75 miles South of Cuba and beginning to feel the effects of the Yucatan Channel currents. A huge volume of water funnels through the space between Cuba and Mexico and we will gain the benefit of as much as 4 knots of current in the direction we are traveling. The speed assist is good, the unfortunate part may be that with the current traveling against the wind the wave conditions may be "uncomfortable". We will see, but for now all is good.

Winds have been slightly stronger (17-20) than forecast and ENE rather than E and ESE.

-Jim

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Why is that bilge pump coming on so often??

That was the question that Debbie asked me yesterday afternoon a few hours after our departure. Once again we had escaped the clutches and safety of a nice marina and were back on our way North!

I told Deb it was probably just the result of the little bit of rain we'd had early in the day, but she countered with "This is the third time its come on in 5 minutes!". Humm...that's not normal.

I stuck my head below to take a look and right away heard a strange whooshing noise from up forward. The forward hatch was cracked open and gallons of water were rushing below with each wave!! Not good!

It turns out that after passing the rolled up dinghy below to Deb through the hatch, I had "dogged" it closed with all four latches. But...Deb had not seen that and assumed it was still unlocked. So, she carefully unlocked all four handles!!

Ultimately no harm done. Although she has a very wet bed and that is sin number one around here in her book!!

Conditions are as forecast. Winds of about 12-16 knots just North of East. Lots of East to West current though that is keeping us sailing pretty close to the wind and therefore living life at a 30 degree angle.

Beautiful day! We are both hoping to make it all the way to Key West, but will let the weather determine whether or not that is a good idea.

Enjoy your Sunday,

-Jim

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Leaving Roatan, Honduras today!!

Best Pictures from Roatan, Honduras

Bigger is not always better

I just don't get it.

If you want to be anti social, stay on the boat all day, watch tv all night, and run all of your "hey, look at me lights", why not just stay home??  And, while I'm at it, why is it that you feel the need to run your diesel generator 24 hours a day to power all that crap, while others in the marina are trying to sleep!

Guess it's good to be you, huh??

Departure Plans

Morpheus docked at Barefoot Cay, Roatan, Honduras

With any luck it looks like things may fall in place for a departure this Sat. AM.  We've seen Roatan, all boat projects are done, and the weather is looking good.  Destination unknown at this point.  Maybe Cozumel, maybe Key West.  Will be great to be out sailing again!

PIcture of the Day

Picture of the Day

Barefoot Cay Marina - Roatan, Honduras (from the the mast of our boat)

Picture of the Day

Happy here in Honduras!

Morpheus Panama Canal (better late than never)

Morpheus - Panama Canal - Dec 2010 from Jim Gregory on Vimeo.


I've finally been able to pull all the photo's and video together from three or four cameras to put this video together.

Yes, it's a bit long, but if you have 9 minutes and watch  it you will probably have a pretty good idea of what it's like to go through the canal.  It was an amazing couple of days!!

If you are interested, there is no better book to read about the canal and its construction than  "The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914" by David McCullough

Catch Up: Costa Rica to Panama

Tried this last night and it didn't work out. Hopefully, today will be better.

Here is a collection of pictures and video covering our trip from Northern Costa Rica through to the beginning of the Panama Canal. It's a bit long, but my Mom says it's good! So, it must be.

Enjoy,

-Jim

Catch Up - Most interesting restaurant thus far...

El Avion Restaurant/Bar (link)

This is no ordinary aircraft but a restaurant & bar!  Although the plane itself does have quite a history as part of one of the biggest scandels of the 1980's. The plane was eventually left in Costa-Rica where the locals purchased it and transformed into the “El Avion” restaurant.  See below for a more detailed and very interesting history!



From the restaurant history write up...

"Our Fairchild C-123 was a part of one of the biggest scandals in the mid 1980's. During this time, the Reagan Administration had set up a bizarre network of arms sales to Iran designed to win release of US hostages being held in Lebanon and raise money to fund the Nicaraguan, counter-revolutionary guerilla fighters, commonly referred to as the "Contras." By artificially inflating the prices of the arms, NSA official Oliver North, was able to reap profits that could be diverted to fund the counter-revolutionaries of the Cuban allied Sandinista government.

Of the $16 million in profits raised, only $3.8 million actually funded the Contras. With the CIA's help, they purchased several items, including two C-123 cargo planes (one of which is our plane), two C-7 planes, a Maule aircraft, spare parts, and munitions. They also built a secret airstrip on an American-owned, 30,000 acre ranch in northwest Costa Rica. On October 5, 1986, a US cargo plane (the twin sister) of El Avion's own Fairchild C-123, was shot down over southern Nicaragua. One of the crewmembers, C.I.A operative Eugene Hasenfus, parachuted to safety and was captured by the Sandinista army. Led out of the jungle at gun point, Hasenfus's very existence set in motion an incredible chain of cover-ups and lies that would mushroom into one of the biggest scandals in American political history known as the Iran-Contra Affair. As a result of this successful Sandinista strike on our Fairchild's sister plane, the cargo operation was suspended and one of the C-123s was abandoned at the International Airport in San Jose. In August 2000, we purchased the abandoned Fairchild for $3,000. We then disassembled and shipped the pieces of the Iran-Contra relic to Quepos. From San Jose, the fuselage was shipped via ocean ferry (from Caldera to Quepos) because it was 10 inches too wide for the antiquated Chiquita Banana railroad bridges! After hauling all seven aircraft sections up the Manuel Antonio hill, the C-123 finally found its current cliff-side resting-place. The Pub Plane Monica Quesada, Tico Times Now, our C-123 has been retired to less risqué endeavors as a restaurant, bar, coffee store, and an enduring Cold War relic. Now El Avion is ready to serve up a food, drinks and beautiful sunsets! Join us under the wing at our restaurant or in the fuselage at our pub."

More Catch Up - Mexico to Costa Rica

Nothing too special here, but some video and pictures covering our last stop in Mexico and our trip to Costa Rica. That last stop was Huatulco. This is a relatively lightly visited area by cruisers, but a very popular stop for those heading further South.

Huatulco is a very nice town that is benefiting from some serious investment on the part of Mexico's tourism authorities. Beautiful harbors and beaches, lots of inexpensive but nice places to stay, and some very nice people. If you are looking for an inexpensive but very nice vacation in Mexico, Huatulco has our stamp of approval. Check it out!

The primary reason for Huatulco's popularity with Southbound cruisers is that it is a great place to clear immigration and customs as you leave Mexico, and it is very sheltered while being the last "safe" harbor prior to crossing the much feared and rightly so, "Gulf of Tehuantepec".

The Gulf of Tehuantepec, it is a large bay on the Pacific side of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the narrowest area of land which separates the Gulf of Mexico from the Pacific Ocean. Northerly winds that originate in the Gulf of Mexico funnel through the gap created by a narrow break in the Sierra Madre Mountains and into the Gulf of Tehuantepec with average winds of 30 to 40 mph. These winds can increase rapidly to gale, storm and sometimes hurricane force bringing with it huge seas that can push you hundreds of miles out to sea.

We waited in Huatulco for a few days, saw a reasonable break in the high winds and headed South. All and all, it turned out very well. We saw winds in the 30's for a few hours on the morning of the second day, but by that evening things were down to the low 20's and then spent the next few days alternating between 5 and 25 knots. Not too bad, considering.

Once out of Mexico, the coastline became very interesting with lots of towering Volcano's to see along the way. Some of which were somewhat active.

Landfall was made in Bahia Santa Elena, where we spent a night anchored in the middle of a beautiful bay surrounded by dense rainforest, listening to howler monkeys and creatures we could only imagine. It WAS like being in a Jurassic Park movie!

Tempting Fate at the Aquarium

Hope that glass is strong!!

Who let the girls out???

Suzanne heads out to sea!

The Three Musketeers

I think Denise and Suzanne are having a good time!!

The fish that stole my lure!

Way back on Dec 23rd, I posted that a huge swordfish took my favorite lure (a plain cedar plug), bit through the line and swam off while leaping from the water 8 or more times.

Some amoung you suggested that I must have been smoking too much of the local product, and claimed that without photographic proof, my story would be ignored.

Well, here you go....and remember I had time to watch several jumps, then run below, grab my camera, turn it on and still get the footage that you see above.  This was a big angry fish with a headache!

-Jim

Catching Up - San Blas Video Footage

We've fallen a bit behind sharing some pictures/video from the trip. I'm going to try to catch up while here at the dock in Roatan with solid Internet access. Here's the first of a few catch up items that should hit the blog over the next few days....

Waterspout on Video!

Too tired to edit, so here it is raw...


Waterspout

Sailing

Arrived Safe and Sound

Alls well.

It seems we are not the only ones that have seen plenty of rain. Those here are calling it the rain of their time on the island. No idea how long they have been here!!

Anyway, right now the water looks more like the Panama Canal than Grand Cayman.

Not happy about that.

Ita on the otherhand stood on land for the first time in a month!! She was very happy about that!!

Time to find ice, laundry, and to figure out how to clear into the country.

-Jim

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Squalls, Lightning, and only 12 miles to go!!

We've just turned on the engine and are now motor sailing in 5 knots of wind.
Had a good nights sail last night if you can call 30 knot squalls and lightning on the horizon between us and our destination a good night.
Despite all the forecasts, our wind held at 18 knots all night which was great for getting where we wanted to get. You just had to try not to think of that lightning.
I hate lightning!
- Jim
PS> Have heard that the local authorities are performing a search for a diver that went missing last night? We are keeping our eyes open as well...
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Interesting Night

Sailed all night in 18-25 knots of wind. If you have to do it, this is the easy way to go - downwind with the breeze. At about 3am the showers/squalls started much like they do on the way to Hawaii. At one point, the moon had set, it was blowing 33 knots, and dumping rain. No way to see anything on deck so, I went below, closed the hatch and monitored things from the Nav Station just praying that the auto pilot would not choose that moment to go out on us. The boat was fine - steady twelves riding the waves, no issues.

This morning I was woken up by Debbie shouting "Jim, Jim, there's a waterspout in front of us!!!" Right Deb, don't panic, it's just raining really hard!! "Does really hard rain go round and round in circles???" Well, no let me see. Holy (s*&^ that IS a waterspout, which way has it been going?? "I don't know." Damn. Well, I bet they can't go upwind, RIGHT TURN and grab my video camera!! (I will be posting a video of this small waterspout tomorrow!)

All's good. Rain off and on, but warm and winds forecast to calm as we get closer.

-Jim

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Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to start moving again!!

Grand Cayman is such a nice spot, and that free mooring seemed so nice safe and secure!
But, we did it! We are on our way to Roatan!

19 knots of breeze blowing right at our destination. Sunny skies, and hot as usual. Feels just like racing to Hawaii only there is no spinnaker and there is a double reef in our mainsail.

Updates as we go,
-Jim
PS. Andrew - How did yesterday go in San Diego's Etchells racing??
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Should have left on Friday

Departure temporarily aborted...

Winds and swell came up fast this afternoon, and we were not ready prior.

So...we are here until things calm down. Sunday evening perhaps??

-Jim

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Off for Roatan Island!

Finally!!

After our rush to get to the Panama Canal, we certainly have slowed down with long stops in both the San Blas Islands, and now Grand Cayman.

We are planning to leave Grand Cayman bound for Roatan Island this afternoon.

300+ miles and about two days later we should arrive.

Watch SPOT if you want to follow our progress.

-Jim

New Friends & Did they really ask that???

Meeting lots of new and interesting people along the way is a great thing about trips like this.  If you are hanging out along the water, there is a good chance that you already share a few things in common with folks you run into while shopping, dining, or sitting at a waterside bar.

Tonight we ran into a young twenty something guy that told us he was 2 to 4 months away from following his dream and setting off on a multi year sailing trip.  Never mind that he'd not yet purchased his boat, or done much offshore sailing.  His plan was to island hop through the Caribbean for a year and learn by doing.

He was so excited by the prospect of this trip and interested in ours that I have no doubt that he will make it happen.  He was also super motivated to make this happen due to severe weariness with his current job running a beachside activity center and dealing with folks off the cruise ships every day.

We asked him what that was like and whether or not he got tired of the same questions day after day.  His eyes lit up and he said that was exactly what he was sick of and then told us his two favorite all time questions....

1. He was once asked if divers could swim UNDER the island from one side to the other.
2.  And, his all time favorite was one day in a dive boat crossing a shallow area with the propeller kicking up sand from the bottom.  The boat was moving fast and left a straight line of sandy water behind it. Looking aft, one of the young ladies onboard asked him (seriously) if that sandy line was the equator!!!

Nice guy, we hope he makes the trip!!

-Jim and Deb

Picture Collection of the Day

Now that our friends Gibb and Tory Kane have headed home, we are beginning to prepare for the next leg of this journey.  Looks like we will be leaving this coming Thursday or Saturday.  Never on Friday!

"In some cultures, Friday is considered unlucky. This is particularly so in maritime circles; perhaps the most enduring sailing superstition is that it is unlucky to begin a voyage on a Friday" - cut out from Wikipedia.

Below is a link to a collection of pictures taken during Gibb and Tory's visit.

Roatan Island is next!!

-Jim & Deb

2011-02-06 kane visit

Gibb and Tory Heading Home. Why????

Afternoon On-board

The deck of "Hammerheads" bar

No posts for the last few days.  Having too much fun with Gibb and Tory.  Our visitors for the Northeast helped to remind us just how lucky we are to be here enjoying this weather while the majority of the US is freezing!

We all had a terrific time, and they are sitting at the airport now waiting to fly home to New York.  Ugh!

Good friends, good times!!  Come back soon!!!

-Jim & Deb

Morpheus from the bar at "The Wharf"

After our Morning Swim

Gibb and Tory Kane - Arrive in 2 hours!!

Is anyone confused about why they might be visiting???

Another great day