11/02/2006

Gene and Ryan sailed Emelia down the Intra Coastal Waterway from Annapolis to New Bern, North Carolina. Our friends, Jack, Jackie, Tyler and Austin, from the boat Barbara Ann arrived in New Bern Monday, November 6^th. Evan and I arrived in New Bern Thursday, November 10t^h. We had a great surprise a few days later. Four years ago during our one year travels from North Carolina to the Bahamas we stopped in the Keys and meet a wonderful family on the boat, Eurisko. They had three boys, Nick, Garrett and David. They got along so well with Ryan and Evan we decided to stay three weeks so they could play. They arrived here in New Bern after having no contact with us and the boys got together as if no time had passed. This is what I love about being out on the water.

We’ve been busy getting Emelia ready for our big sail. Our ships store is full with over $1200 of groceries from three different stores. We’re finishing last minute details, such as, putting latches on the covers of the storage areas under the seats, so if the boat rolls the items inside won’t fall out, making book shelves, and setting up email which attaches to our Single Side Band Radio. Our departure date has been pushed back due to weather once and we are sitting here watching a large front pass through. There are three other boats, Barbara Ann, Eurisko and Tranquility staging for our nine day sail to the Virgin Islands. We hope to leave tomorrow afternoon.

The weather for the last week has been beautiful. Yesterday I was bare foot, sitting in the sun, reading my book wearing a t-shirt, capris, my best friend anklet. All is well.

Wow, we’ve really done it. Our trip has begun and I can’t believe we’re doing it. Although we’ve talked about it for the last three years, the decision to go was made and most of the details in place on August 29^th. It’s funny when I think back and know that three years ago next month I signed an agreement with Barbara Ann, aka Rough House, that once I sold my house and bought a new boat I would sail with them again. Here I am, I did not sell my house, instead I got some very good friends, The Daniel’s to rent while we’re away. Although they are not covering the mortgage, they are taking care of it as if it were their own, they are taking care of our cat, Quita, our Volvo, which they drive once every two weeks, our piano and all of our belongs which are stored in the basement. Barbara Ann is anchored down the way from us and we are waiting for that all important weather window to sail from North Carolina to the Virgin Islands.

We meet Rough House in the Bahamas four years ago. We owned an Island Packet and so did they. Some mutual friends of ours, who also owned an Island Packet, told us about them. Their names are Jack, Jackie, Tyler and Austin Hunt. Their kids are the same ago as ours and when we’re out cruising it’s always important to know what boats have kids to be sure our kids have friends to hang with. I remember trying to locate them by calling Rough House on the radio every few days, but I had no luck. Then one day we were sailing into Warderick Wells and there they were, playing in the water, white as can be, covered from head to toe in protective sun clothing, while we were in bathing suits tanned and as dark as the natives. We hit it off and the kids seemed to really like each other. We sailed together for a few months and hung out in George Town during the Live Aboard Sailing Regatta. We’ve been good friends ever since.

As I think about all the preparation to take this trip, storing our belongings, canceling our utilities, Volvo maintenance, preparing Evan’s school work, etc…. and having a going away party with so many wonderful friends, it’s still unbelievable to me that Gene and Ryan left town one month later and Evan and I in just two months time. Gene is fortunate to have Russ and Debbie Zavitson as his Music Publisher. Gene was finding it very difficult to pitch his own songs as he really only liked to write. Now that we’ve left town it would be impossible for him to do it on his own. With Russ and Debbie he has found that connection and enthusiasm to pitch his songs and get them published. I, too, am fortunate to have such a company as ERA Pacesetter behind me. The support and the excitement from everyone has been wonderful. I’m very excited about my new partner, Donnel Milam. I have found someone I really trust to take care of my clients, customers and friends while I’m away. Our business agreement is simple with a partnership continuing when I return.

Gene and Ryan officially started our Sailing Adventure October...,2006. They sailed down the Intra Coastal Waterway from Annapolis MD to Beaufort NC. It took them longer then expected because in Oriental NC they had engine trouble and had to go in for repairs. They arrived in Beaufort on November…,2006. Our friends on Barbara Ann arrived in Beaufort on Monday November 6^th and Evan and I arrived by car Friday November 10^th. Our friends, Wayne and Norma Tillett, from the boat Jura, whom we meet in the Bahamas four years ago, helped us out tremendously while we were in Beaufort. They have a friend, Jim, with a boat slip and he has allowed us to use it while we’re in town. We have a parking space for the van, we have water and we have electric which allows us to have our heaters running at night as it has gotten down in the low fifties these last few nights. Jim is one of those people who helps everyone out. He has been very helpful for us not only with the use of his slip, but he bought our van, which we will use until we depart, for a friend of his in need.

11/23/2006

We’ve had a nice time in Beaufort, but we are all ready to leave. Ryan, Evan, Tyler, Austin, Nick, Garrett and David have had a great time playing man eater, capture the flag, football and soccer on Carrot Island, and eating and playing cards at Royal James, a hamburger joint. It was especially nice to see Nick as he is now in college studying Marine Biology.

Most of you know that Gene grew up on Harkers Island. Beaufort was the big city and he and his family traveled here for doctor and dentist appointments and Saturday shopping. He still gets that awful feeling as he walks by the old two story building where his scary dentist worked. The Royal James used to be Vic’s. This is where Gene’s brother Paul proposed to his first wife about 40 years ago. Gene and Jack wondered over to the Royal James and found the junk box. Low and behold several of Gene’s songs were there. Gene stuck money in and played his songs, the funny thing is that the money Gene put in is about the amount he would have made if Jack had paid instead.

Our friends, Wayne and Norma, from the boat Jura have been of great help to us while in Beaufort. They recently bought a house here and they become our preferred mail carrier. We along with several other boats have a 100% satisfaction report and Jura received the 100% delivery award. UPS, FedEx and the US Postal Service are nothing compared to them. Thanks Jura very, very much.

We hung out with many boaters, but our nicest times were having coffee with Eurisko, Barbara Ann and Tranquility while talking about weather windows, boating and life and having pot luck with Barbara Ann, Jura and Midwatch while Gene played guitar.

We visited with Helen, Gene’s step mom and all the family. Gene had his last El’s burger. His version of In-N-Out. We sold our van to a very nice family and we hope they have as much use out of it as we have had. Jackie and I were so worried about not having the van that she reserved the marina car for use on Wednesday and I was going to reserve the museum car for Friday.

I happen to be shopping when we got the call that Thursday is our weather window to the Virgin Islands. Since I was already out and this was my last hours with the van, I was able to get all my shopping done. Oh, but I forgot Boboli bread. Oh well we can’t have everything. And great news, my wonderful Doctor, Lisa Brown, was able to order seasickness patches for all of us. I had to go to two different pharmacies to get the prescription filled, but we have 12 of them. We’re going to try them on this trip. Usually I lay around and sleep as much a possible, but this is a much longer trip and Gene will need my help. So a patch behind the ear it is.

Wednesday afternoon from 4:00 to 5:00 Emelia, Eurisko, Barbara Ann and Tranquility met to discuss weather and sail time. It was decided that we will shove off at 1:00pm Thanksgiving day. (See pictures for Thanksgiving Sailors.)

We’ve stowed and secured everything. Our ships store is ready, although I would love some more Boboli Bread. Our electronics are working…e-mail, GPS, weather fax, single side band radio, VHF radio and auto pilot…we found a way on the internet for everyone to track us to see where we’ve been and where we are, but we had to order a cable, so it won’t be ready for this trip. More info later. Although we have an electronic auto pilot we plan to use our wind vane instead. A wind vane is a simple tool with rudder, sail and line attached to the stern of the boat with the line attached to the steering wheel. As the wind hits the sail, the rudder steers its course and moves the wheel by way of the attached lines. See picture insert on next posting. Our life raft, ditch bags and EPIRB are ready…An EPIRB is used in case of dyer emergency. If we flip the switch it will hail the coast guard. There are two ways in which it would be used; if one of us is literally dying and needs to be removed from the boat or if the boat sinks and we are in the life raft. Our emergency contacts will be informed and all ships in the area and the Coast Guard will be on their way. Life jackets with whistle and strobe light attached are on deck, harness, tether and jack lines are secure…A tether is strapping secured to our harness and then to the jack line. A jack line is a length of strapping secured from the bow (front) to the stern (back) of the boat. If at anytime we need to work outside the cockpit we secure our tether to the jack line...we are secured by our tether in the cockpit as well. By the way, there have been many sailors who have fallen overboard because they unhooked themselves to pee off the back of the boat. BAD IDEA!!!

Someone must be on deck at all times to insure that we are on course and there are no ships in the area. So, we have a watch rotation. Evan will be on watch everyday from 8am to 10am and again from 7pm to 9pm. Ryan, Gene and I will rotate 3 hour shifts.

Our trip will take from 10 to 14 days. We plan to leave Beaufort inlet by 1:00pm. Our roughest weather will be crossing the gulf stream, which we will have completed within the first 24 hours. From there we should have smooth sailing with east winds on a port tack. Port tack means the wind will be on our left side. Wish us well. We’ll post again when we arrive in the Virgin Islands.

Change of plans. The weather window closed, so we are sailing south down the coast. It is 12 noon and I’ll post again when I can. Our first stop will be Cumberland Island Georgia.

11/27/2006

Since our weather window closed we decided to head south down the coast. We left waving goodbye to our friends on Eurisko at 3pm Thanksgiving Day and sailed outside in the Atlantic Ocean for exactly 72 hours. Barbara Ann and Tranquility left to go outside toward the Virgin Islands. So much for our big plans of sailing together. We found out later that they had +25 knot winds, 6 to 18 foot seas and healing at a 15 degree angle the entire time. Not fun… Barbara Ann had some electrical problems and tucked into Puerto Rico where they will stay for about two weeks waiting for repairs. We dropped the hook (anchor) on Sunday at 3pm in St Augustine FL. Our watch rotation did not work. Gene and I decided to use a patch behind the ear to ward off seasickness. Ryan and Evan did not. Within four hours Ryan asked for one, but Evan didn’t. As a result Evan couldn’t stand watch as he was to sick to come on deck. We had a nice sail the first day and a half, but toward the beginning of our third day the seas got sloppy. I keep saying, “Oh my gosh, who said sailing is fun? We’re in the shlops. Get me off this thing!” It’s funny, but every time it was my watch I spotted boats. Lots of boats. Six container ships, a cruise ship, which we were close enough to see the promenade deck, four fishing vessels, a sail boat and a power boat. Not to mention the sail boat that surprised us. We were trying to get into Cumberland Island at night and the buoys were very questionable. We could not figure them out. At one point we saw a red light over white which we thought was a range marker, but suddenly the red light turned to green and we couldn’t figure out why. That is, until we told Ryan, and he so smartly announced that it was a boat. My goodness, Gene and I were heading right to it. We used our radio to call the vessel to see it’s intentions and ended up passing it very closely port (left) to port. By the way, the name of that boat was Close Encounters; not reassuring. Now that it’s over it doesn’t seem so bad. We are anchored by the fort in St. Augustine. We have plenty to do on board and off. We found a really good restaurant with grouper sandwiches to die for, a coffee shop to use the internet and an ice cream store with great chocolate chip ice cream. We’re wearing shorts and t-shirts the temperature is in the high 70’s. We’ve spent to much money but, we’re doing just fine!!!!

12/02/2006

We got a weather window to sail to the Bahamas this morning. We left St Augustine at 6am. Our watch rotation has been revised and everyone is wearing the patch. It’s funny, because we keep referring to a Sinfield episode where Elaine finds out that the sponge will no longer be sold. So, she goes out and buys everyone she can find. That’s now how we’re feeling about the patch. We only bought 12 and they last three days. There are no pharmacies in St Augustine carrying them as they are in back order from the manufacturer. As a result we keeping thinking; Are you worthy of the patch? Is the trip long enough to warrant the patch? The patch is our God! The patch is our Friend! The patch works wonderfully!! Now we just need to see if our new watch system works as well.

So far so good.

12/04/2006

We are in the Bahamas. Clear skis, clear water, sun shine and temperatures in the 80’s. Our watch system works!!! Everyone has had enough sleep and we all feel good. It seems on my watch the boats come out to play or get in the way. I have seen 9 cargo ships one close enough that we had to change course to get out of the way, 6 fishing vessel, 3 sail boats, 2 power boats and 1 cruise ship with the promenade deck all lit up. Ryan sees flying fish and dolphin. 3:pm Oh my gosh, they caught a fish. I'm having fun watching them. Ryan is reeling it in while Gene is scrambling to find a net and a bucket. Evan is trying to help, but the net is stuck. Ok they have it on board. Poor thing. They're going to kill it by pouring vinegar in its gills. Oh, now they have me involved. I have to find the vinegar. Ok got it. Vinegar in the gills; it's dead. They've cut it up, put it into a plastic bag and now it sits in the fridge waiting to be cooked for dinner tonight. We don't know what kind of fish it is as there are no pictures of this one in our fish guide. I'll have to find a better book. Having fun!!! 6pm Land Ho! We are anchored at Great Sale Cay at the Northern tip of the Bahamas. 8pm Everyone is a little tired after 60 hours of sailing, but we are comfortable after showers and full tummies of fresh fish.

12/05/2006

8am We all had a great night sleep and plan to stay here for the day. We have strong winds and cloudy skies, but this should change as the day progresses. Tomorrow we will sail to Spanish Key. By the way, we are in protected waters, so we should not have any need for our EPIRB, but we do keep it available and we do have Sea Tow if we need help. Sea Tow is for boats as AAA is for cars.

12/06/2006

We have moved from Sale Cay to Spanish Cay to check in with customs. Wow, prices have changed. Four years ago we paid $100 this year it’s $300. We are at a beautiful, private island. It is 3 miles long with an air strip, protected dockage, a couple of private homes, a small ocean resort, tennis courts, restaurant, bar with pool table, TABLE TENNIS (great for Evan), swimming pool, quite verandas and beautiful beaches protected by the third largest reef in the world. www.spanishcay.com We went for a long walk on the beach then played table tennis and went swimming before eating dinner at the restaurant…Caesar salad, veg’s, conch fritters, cracked conch, shrimp, crab cakes, Bahamian rice and beans and key lime pie. Delicious!!

We plan to stay here another night because of weather, so we’ll go snorkeling this afternoon.

12/7/2006

We tried out our new snorkeling gear yesterday at an airplane crash site not far from the marina. The plane wasn’t very big as it was one going into Spanish Cay airport 15 years ago, but didn’t make it. The water was a little cold, but it was fun being out there. When we got back Gene and Ryan tried fishing from the docks. Ryan sat with his line out reading a book waiting patiently to hook a big one. Well a big one came, but it was wise. It swam under the dock, came up close to the bait, swam away and tried again. This went on for about 30 minutes, but with no luck the fish was just to smart. Ryan and I laughed the whole time while I took pictures and he moved his pole up and down and side to side to get the fish to take the bait. The fish was just to smart. I think the fish smiled and waved as he swam away and was having just as much fun as we were.

12/13/2006

We sailed from Spanish Cay to Manjack Cay on Friday the 8^th. We dinghied to the island and went for a walk on the beach. We found a new pavilion, picnic benches walking trails and a sign that said welcome to Manjack’s 15 acre nature park. It was beautiful. We saw two four foot wide sting rays and a one foot long sea slug. We left the island just before dark, Gene ran the dinghy into shallow water, so he had to get out and pull the dinghy to deeper water while Ryan held the motor out of the water. Evan had his tennis shoes on and I didn’t wear any shoes (bad move), so we were at the mercy of our rescuers.

On Saturday Gene, Ryan and Evan dinghied over to a little dock and tried their hand at fishing. No luck. Then Gene decided to trail the fishing line behind him in the dinghy, but he lost the line. Not just the hook, but all of the line. Still no luck. I’m not sure when I’m going to eat fresh fish again. Isn’t the man the hunter. Luckily I know how to grocery shop otherwise we’d be starving.

Sunday we went for a walk. We meet the nicest couple, Leslie and Bill. They used to live on a boat, but fifteen years ago they bought about 15 acres of land on the south/west side of Manjack Cay. We had no idea anyone lived on the island. In fact, they said they sold off some of their land in two parcels. Both couples are from England. Leslie and Bill have a gorgeous house over looking the anchorage, with large porches and doors and windows that stay open catching the soft breeze. They have a guest cottage, a private beach with palm trees large enough for Bill’s hammock, fruit trees, an herb garden, a large work shop, a private dock, solar panels, a generator, the internet and a swimming pool that holds a portion of their rain water supply. I could live there. It was beautiful, quiet, about 30 miles to the hub of Abaco and only 90 mile to Palm Beach Florida. After opening coconuts on there make shift coconut opener (the end of a pick ax stuck in the hole of a picnic bench) our tour was over and we said our goodbyes. We walked over to the beach side of the island and watched Ryan and Evan make spears because they found a large crab which they decided we should eat for dinner, but they couldn’t get the crab out of the whole. It wedged itself in so tightly and every time they tried to put a stick in the hole the crab would grab it with his claw and let go as they tried to pull him out. Again no luck. We ate rice and beans for dinner.

On Monday we moved Emelia closer to Leslie and Bill’s house because they said we could use their internet service. This was great as we all had things we wanted to look up. But, while we were anchoring we realized that we had to be in close enough to their antenna to get service. So, Ryan was at the helm (steering), Gene was at the bow ready with the anchor and I was on the computer letting them know when I had a connection. We found it. We dropped anchor, we waited for Emelia to settle and found that as she moved from side to side the internet would come in and out. We had some luck, but once in a while we’d lose our connection.

The following day we sailed over to Green Turtle Cay. My first sailing trip was to Green Turtle Cay in 1983, 23 years ago with Gene our friend John Day and his girl friend Shelly. We were on John’s Morgan 41 sail boat. We sailed from Ft Lauderdale, across the steam into the Abacos. It was also the first time I was in the presents of a rifle. Out of no where a power boat sped up to John’s boat while Gene and I were on the bow and Shelly was down below cooking lunch. When Gene and I heard the boat, we looked up to see John standing at the helm with his rifle in hand while the men on the boat asked where are the Abaco’s. John’s reply was you’re in ‘em. The boat sped off, the rifle was put away and we all ate lunch while I sat wondering if they meant any harm or if they were really lost. It’s funny because it really is different now. At that time we were the only boat out sailing. Now your lucky if you find an anchorage all to yourself. In fact, several months later we sailed with John to the Bahamas again and we were the only boat at Allen’s Cay and Wardrick Wells. When we were there just four years ago we hardly had room in the anchorage at Allen’s and at Wardrick we had to reserve a mooring ball. Wardrick is now a state park with park rangers. Anyway, we took the kids to shore and walked around the town. We saw Miss Emily’s Blue Bee Bar which was one of the places we went to 23 years ago and told the kids how our friend Allen left his wallet on the bar one evening and the next day he went back to look for it only to find it was exactly where he left it. We hope it’s still like that today. We got ice cream at the grocery store then went back to the boat to relax.

12/13/2006

We planned to sail to Marsh Harbor this morning after 8am, but the other boats that had planned to sail there left earlier, so we picked up anchor and headed out. We wanted to be with the other boats, because we had to go through a channel that can get rough. If we were with other boats we could have them in front of us and we could watch to see if we should go through or turn back. It ended up they turned back just as we caught up to them. We asked why and they said a troller said it was a no go. Well we decided to check it out. It was only going to take us 30 minutes to get to the opening of the channel so why not. It ended up the channel was fine, no white water, no washing machine waves. We went through. No problems. We called the boats that turned back to let them know and they came through a couple hours later. We anchored at Marsh Harbor. The hub of the Abacos. If you want to meet other boaters, find good groceries stores and do laundry this is the place to be.

12/16/2006

It seems we always find or know where the table tennis tables are. Today we went to one of the town marina to play table tennis and walk the docks. It was so much fun watching the kids play table tennis, because it was outside and windy, so the ball flew off the table even when they hit a great shot.

12/17/2006

Well the warmer weather is here. It is absolutely gorgeous. Sunny, 80+, clear skis and no humidity. We’re in heaven. Ok weather wise we’re in heaven, but boat project wise we’re not. Gene is down below working on the head (toilet). Up to his elbows in sh.. literally. I am up on deck getting a tan while I Never Dull the stainless and buff the decks. Evan is doing school work and Ryan has decided he wants to get a key board to play and maybe write. You know Evan wants to be an artist and Ryan is into photography and now music. I was telling Gene they’ll both be living with us until they’re 39. That’s how old Gene was before he made any money. What have I done? Around 3:00 this afternoon we went to Nelly Blye an Island Packet 35 sail boat. Steve and Aggie invited us over to play some music. They invited three other couples. Margret and Chris in their late 20’s decide to quick a great paying high rise construction job in DC to take off for a year on a boat before raising a family. Pat and John originally from Hungaria have been sailing on there boat since 1993. Erin and Chris a couple from Boston in the finance business left work to travel around the world for the next four years. Erin and Chris will be going through the Panama Canal about the same time as us. Spring 2007. We had a great time on Nelly Blye. Chris, Steve and Gene played some Jimmy Buffet, James Tyler, Simon and Garfunkel and several others and Gene played some of his songs. It was really nice meeting everyone, listening to stories, sitting in the cockpit until 7:00 barefoot in shorts and t-shirts in the middle of December.

Although we have a simple book review in our website there is a book that does not fit with in the scale of our review. The Kite Runner…A must read for everyone. It was fantastic!!!

12/19/2006

We’re very excited because we found out a couple of days ago there is a very good chance that a weather window is coming for us to leave from Marsh Harbor to Puerto Rico. We’ve been hoping for this chance the only thing is we have to stay in Marsh Harbor until it comes, which is on Saturday Dec 23. If we stay we lose about four days going south with the weather window down the Excumas, but the chance is so great we’ve decided to stay. I had mentioned before that Ryan would like to buy a key board. So, today we went to the only music store in town with hopes of maybe finding something not to expensive (this is the Bahamas) and something that will suit Ryan’s needs. He went on line and found a few to order, but the cost to ship it and the possibility of missing the package if we leave are to great. Well we got to the music store and laughed…it seems the owner found his nitch here. The music section of the store is about 5x15 and the tile section is about 20 x 25. That’s right it’s a tile/music store. The tiles they had were gorgeous, but no key boards. So we asked if there was anywhere we could find one and they said yes our shipment is going through customs now and we should have them in the store tomorrow morning. Casio’s, Yamahas and a brand we had not heard of. Well we went back the next day and they had not yet cleared customs, so we were told to come back tomorrow. Well we did and low and behold the had the one Ryan had found on line. I’m not sure what the online price was I really don’t think I want to know. Well Ryan and bought it and he loves it and get this because we spent over $50 we got a matching tile set to use as hot plates in our kitchen. I’ve named it Ryan’s Bahamas Yamaha.

12/21/2006

We have a VHF radio which is used to call other boaters, marinas, restaurants and more. We hail on channel 16 by saying the boat name three times and then saying our boat name once. After the boat we’re calling responds we switch to what is called a working channel to talk. Well in the Abacos they use the VHF radio to air the Cruiser Net each morning from 8:15 to 9:00 am. During this time weather information is given along with daily events, new arrivals and those boaters leaving the area. One announcement for tonight is that the Jib Room a restaurant/bar is hosting happy hour for the cruisers in the area. Drinks are served at a small cost and each boater brings an appetizer to share. This event is always fun to go to because we have a chance to meet other cruisers. Well I called in and said if anyone has a guitar bring and we’ll have a guitar pull. By 7:30 there were twelve people sitting near the pool with a light breeze blowing, wearing shorts and playing songs. It was great we meet a couple; he was from Bermuda and she from Canada. (I’ve never meet anyone who is originally from Bermuda) He now lives here working a boat he bought and she lives in Wales refinishing a four hundred year old farm house. We also meet a guy who’s been on his boat since 1985 and has cruised around the world several times. We had a lot of fun.

12/22/2006

Well the weather window is looking really, really good, so we went to the docks to top off our fuel and water tanks. We hold 200 gallons of diesel, 10 gallons of gas for the dinghy and 430 gallons of water. The thing is we don’t have a regulator to see how much water we are using. Our old boat held 100 gallons and we could go very comfortable for two weeks and longer if we knew we had to conserve. So with 430 gallons we should be able to go as long as eight weeks. We started filling the tanks thinking we might need 125 to 150 gallons. Well it passed that and kept going and going and going. By the time it was done we had metered 250 gallons of water. At a cost of .20 cents a gallon the water allow cost $50. I had talked to Stephen the dock master the day before about getting a slip and the cost for a slip was $1. a foot and $3. a day for water. Well add that up and the cost for us to stay at the marina is $51. We’re at the marina, we have a slip and were staying until tomorrow. It took some doing as the dock master I spoke to yesterday was not here, instead the other dock master Jason was here it took some talking, but we got the slip without paying for the metered water. Jason said he’d make more money by us just paying for the water and being on our way I told him he’ll make more if we stay as we’ll spend money on laundry, lunch, drinks and internet service. We’ve been joking around all day about the amount I have spent so far. In fact at lunch we ordered conch fritters only to find out they were out. After lunch I told Jason he just lost $16. Because we could spend money on conch fritters. He laughed and said just leave it as part of a really good tip.

12/23/2006

We are on our way!!! The weather window is open and we are ready to go. There will be another boat sailing with us. The Nelly Bly owned by Steve and Aggie. They don’t sail as fast as us so we’ll keep in touch with them on the single side band radio. This is different then the VHF radio. An SSB has a much farther range.

We leave at noon and we’ll put our sea sickness patches’ on at 8:00 am. This is decently patch worthy. We’ll be out for eight to nine days. We will sail due east on a compass heading of 90 degrees for three to four days then due south on a compass heading of 180 degrees until we near Puerto Rico. For those of you who have asked how we know where we are since there are no roads, it works like this. The earth has latitudes, these run east to west and longitudes which run north to south. If you look at a globe you will find these easily. (The way I remember that longitude runs north to south is that the word longitude has the letter n in it which is the first letter for the word north.) This is a simplified version….We will start at longitude 77 and run a coarse on latitude 26 until we get to longitude 65, then we will take a right and stay on 65 until we get to Puerto Rico which is at about latitude 18. Simple, right? So here we go. Wish us smooth sailing. We wish everyone a Happy, Happy Holiday. We will be at sea hoping Santa knows how to find us. We think he’ll slide down the mast (big pole that sticks out to the middle of the boat and holds up the sails) and climb through a hatch (window) and leave presents in the saloon (living room).

12/23/06

Oh, I forgot to write about the Keen distributor I meet in St Augustine a couple of days before we left. This is one of those stories my friend Lynda would say only happens to me. Gene, Ryan and I were at Sailors Exchange, a boat store that sells both new and used items. I was in a back corner, looking at line (rope) next to a guy doing the same thing. He looked down at my shoes and asked, “How do you like your Keens?” “Oh,” I said, “they’re great. I wear them, my husband wears them and both my boys wear them. In fact I’m trying to find a pair without the back strap for my son, but they aren’t making them anymore.” He said, “Those are the Arubas. I’m a Keen distributor, I could call John in Florida. I know he has some. He could send them to you.” Mean while, I’m thinking he knows the style name of the shoe and then I laugh as I find out his a Keen distributor. His name is Doug Cole and he lives in Florida. His partner is John Brandolino also in Florida. Doug called John, left him a message, gave me his card and said, “John will call you, he’ll get them to you.” Sure enough, John called, he had the color Ryan wanted and sent them overnight along with the new 2007 Keen Spring Collection Catalog. He told me if I need anymore or if I knew someone who needs them while we’re on our travels to just give him a call and he’ll get them to me. It’s awesome I have my own really nice, funny and helpful Keen distributor. Keens are a great boat shoe. They were designed by a boater who knows that the sole should not make scuff marks, they should have support, be comfortable, dry quickly and the toes should be covered so you don’t hurt yourself when walking through the maze of cleats, stanchions, blocks and just anything and everything on the deck and the dock. To see Keens go to www.Keenfootwear.com or go to your local REI store. Cost is from $60 to $120.+

I had mentioned meeting Pat a few days ago. She is very nice, about my mom’s age and she reminds me of her as well. Very hip, outgoing, and just fun to be around. She was very excited about meeting Gene. Just knowing he had written songs that were on the radio was very exciting to her. She had a friend ask Gene if he would give her his autograph. He did and a few days later, smiling, she thanked us. Well the next day we were pulling into the docks on our dinghy to go snorkeling and there stood Pat on the dock, smiling, wearing a KISS t-shirt. Imagine my surprise to see someone like my mom wearing a KISS t-shirt. I laughed, I never liked KISS, but the sight of her made me smile and I yelled, KISS?! She smiled and said it was the first rock concert she ever went to. Twenty five years ago she took six screaming teenagers. What fun, she took her kids to see KISS…The next day I saw Pat going to the bathroom to take a shower while I started my laundry. A few minutes later she walked out all fresh and clean and said, “I have something to add to your laundry.” I said, “Sure not a problem I have room. I’ll be glad to wash for you.” She said, “ I have this KISS t-shirt and I’d like for you to have.” I couldn’t believe it. She gave me her KISS t-shirt. I washed it and decided I would wear it the next day as we pull away from the docks to head to Puerto Rico. I figured it would be a nice good luck charm. So, on Saturday morning after getting the boat ready and before pulling away from the docks, I took my shower, put on my KISS t-shirt, walked out of the bathroom and found Pat with several other boaters laughing as they saw me in my new KISS t-shirt. It ended up being really good luck. We made our eight day passage without incident. I’ve decided I’m going to wear it on the first day of each voyage that is patch worthy.

Something else that happened before leaving was a chance to meet a nice couple from North Carolina, Annie and Crawford on a Gozzard sailing vessel. We ended up having lunch with them and we told each other stories of our adventures. I had mentioned to them a couple we met four years ago in the Bahamas. Blain and Janet on Charbino an Island Packet 45. The reason their name came up was because Annie and Crawford have a dog on board. The couple I told them about had two Golden Retrievers on board. TWO Golden Retrievers. Big Dogs. They took up all the floor space in the cockpit (outside sitting/steering area) and they had ramps to make going up and down the companion way (stairs leading down into the boat) easier for the dogs. After a few years of being out Charbino decided to dock the boat and buy two motorcycles with side cars for their dogs. They traveled all 48 states and were written up in a couple of magazines. Annie and Crawford remember reading the story. After lunch we parted ways, but from the bar I heard someone call out Emelia. I turned and sitting at the bar was Blain. After four years we recognized each other and he told us he, Janet and the dogs were doing well living on their boat in Charleston, South Carolina. Small world… It was great seeing him again, catching up and hearing about his motorcycle fun.

12/23/06

We are on our way!!! The weather window is open and we are ready to go. There will be another boat sailing with us. Nelly Bly an Island Packet 35 owned by Steve and Aggie. They don’t sail as fast as us so we’ll keep in touch with them on the single side band radio. This is different then the VHF radio. An SSB has a much farther range. We put our sea sickness patches’ on at 8am and left the dock at 11am. This is definitely patch worthy. We’ll be out for eight to nine days. We will sail due east on a compass heading of 90 degrees for three to four days then due south on a compass heading of 180 degrees until we near Puerto Rico. For those of you who have asked how we know where we are since there are no roads, it works like this. The earth has latitudes, which run east to west and longitudes which run north to south. If you look at a globe you will find these easily. (The way I remember that longitude runs north to south is that the word longitude has the letter n in it which is the first letter for the word north.) This is a simplified version….We will start at longitude 77 and run a coarse on latitude 26 until we get to longitude 65, then we will take a right and stay on 65 until we get to Puerto Rico which is at about latitude 18. Simple, right? So here we go. Wish us smooth sailing. We wish everyone a Happy, Happy Holiday. We will be at sea hoping Santa knows how to find us. We think he’ll slide down the mast, (big pole that sticks out to the middle of the boat and holds up the sails) climb through a hatch (window) and leave presents in the saloon (living room).

Day 1: 12/23 11am 12/24 11am…Things are going nicely. The weather is great, the seas are a little rolly, no one is seasick and Emelia is sailing beautifully. Nelly Bly is at our stern in sight and in SSB and VHF contact. I started watch from 10-2, but since Gene sailed Emelia out of the harbor and into the sea he sailed most or my watch and is now on his from 2-6. Evan will begin his watch from 6-8 and then Ryan will have his first watch from 8-midnight. Ryan figured out our new watch system and we think it will work great. Gene, Ryan and I are on rotating four hours shifts, while Evan is on two permanent, two hour shifts. This gives Evan eight and twelve hours off between watches and gives Gene, Ryan and me ten to twelve hours off (sleep) between watches. I’ll go on again tonight from midnight-4. Here I am on my late night watch and again it seems the ships only come out while I’m on watch. I can’t believe it. No one else sees them. It’s quiet and peaceful and I lay in the cockpit with the watch timer going off every ten minutes to check the seas. Some time in the night I leaned over the rail to look for sights and I heard someone call in a whisper, “mom”. I had this feeling of the sea pulling at me. It felt relaxing, yet really scary. I thought it was Evan calling me, so I went down below to ask what he needed, but found him sound asleep. It freaked me out. Come to find out Gene and Ryan had heard whispers too.

Day 2: 12/24 11am 12/25 11am…Christmas Eve. Emelia is sailing beautifully. She is very fast, very comfortable, sleek and smooth. She is very low in the water which makes sitting down below very comfortable and she glides through the water like a hot knife cutting through cold butter. We can’t believe how fast she moves and she loves having the sails up. We planned to sail on average about 6 knots, but she doesn’t want to seem to go below 7 knots and has gone as much as 8.8 knots. A mile is 5280 ft while a knot is 6076 ft So we go a little more than 9 miles an hour. The kids opened a present from me and Gene tonight. It’s a couple of movies….It is Evan’s watch from 6-8 and then Ryan has watch from 8-12. They have decided to do their watches together and watch their new movies. Christmas Day and we are at latitude    N 25.52.5 and longitude W 073.24 I actually cooked breakfast. This is something new as I normally don’t feel well and was never comfortable on our old boat standing in front of the stove. But today I made pancakes, eggs and bacon. Oh my gosh it was so good. I’ve been hungry and can’t seem to satisfy the need for a big meal. It’s not like we’re not eating. It’s just I want more then just soup, sandwich or a light snack, but I can’t seem to eat any more than that. It is Evan’s morning watch from 8-10 and we’re ready to open presents. Evan checked the seas to make sure all was clear, but it took us longer to get everything ready and we were all excited and forgot to do another sea check. Ok, let me say something here. I think my sister, Helen, is very excited about the fact that we are sailing around the world and I’ve asked her to come join us and I hope she does. Her concern for our safety is one that I keep close to my heart as I totally understand what she is saying. If any of you read Reader’s Digest you’ll understand her reminder to me, “I just don’t want to read about you in Reader’s Digest.” I keep this saying tucked away and remind myself every once in a while how much Helen loves me and knowing that I can never, ever be in the Reader’s Digest. And you know what? I don’t ever want to be. So, as we began opening presents this Christmas morning that little reminder blared out in the VHF radio. Oh my gosh what was that? We were to far away to hear Nelly Bly on the VHF. If we could hear voices on the VHF it meant someone else was out there. Gene picked up the hand held radio, while we did a sea check and sure enough off our port was a cargo ship way to close. It’s not that it was close enough to run us over, it’s that it was close enough for us to see the hull color. This is not good. You should never be close enough to see the name or the color of the hull. Not even with binoculars!!! The unusual thing was that the ship’s captain hailed us. Usually if you try to hail a ship on the radio we get no answer. The really nice thing about this encounter was that this captain was aware of his surroundings and took the time to hail us, let us know his intentions and wish us a good holiday. Of course we took pictures, but they will never, ever be in Reader’s Digest. Alright, there weren’t any more ships, so present opening resumed. The theme this year was to try to figure out what was inside the wrapping before opening the present. You see, we didn’t have holiday paper, so I made my own. I used the local newspaper and each wrapped package had a clue in the paper of the present inside. They got the movie Pirates so a picture of Johnny Depp was on the paper and Evan got colored pens, so I drew on the paper to show the different colors. Clues…some were figured out and some were not. Ryan got money $575 and a foot pedal for his keyboard. Evan got Stephen King books, a game boy game, an IPod and $100, which he plans to use to buy a ticket back to Nashville to visit friends. Ryan and Evan’s shared gift this year was movies, movies and more movies. I got a widdeling knife and Gene got from Ryan a bottle of Mount Gay Rum, which Ryan bought at the liquor store and was not carded, a six pack of Coke from Evan so Gene can make Mount Gay Rum and Coke and from me the book Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama. He’s reading it now and he has a new view on life. The thing is we need to get Bush out and Barack in so Gene can see results and have a more positive attitude. Is that possible? My husband the oh so negative pessimist. Ryan caught a fish today and Gene cooked it for holiday dinner. It was delicious.

Day 3 12/25 11am 12/26 11am Still going….We have been on the same tack, with the same sea conditions and weather now for 48 to 72 hours. Which means Emelia has been healing to the port side making walking down below feel like a fun house maze. It never occurred to me that I would not be standing or walking straight for the next eight days. The ocean is vast. The horizon sits just out of reach. It seems we can never quite get to it. It’s amazing, we’re in a circle of water that goes on forever. The colors are spectacular and the stars are beyond numerous. Could they ever be counted in a life time? We had meteor showers tonight and the last one I saw feel from the highest point in the sky and feel for what seemed to be minutes and as it fizzled out it seemed to be close enough to touch.

Day 4 12/26 11am 12/27 11am Nelly Bly had some trouble last night. They blew out their main sail and Steve was a little sea sick. We can not see them, but have communication through the SSB. They were able to see our mast light last night because we are higher in the water, but they do not see us this morning. They have decided to turn back. They said their options were to continue, go to Rum Cay or go back. With still five days to Puerto Rico (much longer without the main) and a shift of conditions when they head south, it would be questionable of their arrival time and safety. Rum Cay does not have the provisioning they need, so turning back is the best option. This is unfortunate as this was their second attempt to sail to Puerto Rico in less than two months. Their first attempt was much worse and with just two of them on board I would have done the same thing. They really made the right choice. We, by the way, carry an extra main sail. It’s not always easy to do so , but we bought a new main and had room on board to store the old one. Ryan has a really bad headache today. So, he took a good dose of Advil, drank lots of water and went off to bed. Gene and I decided we would share his night watch as he is still in a lot of pain. Everything else is still going well. No changes so far and Emelia is loving the freedom she has to go fast, far and continues. We have the wind vain working like a dream. We haven’t touch the wheel or the sails. We were told before we left that we have to name our wind vane as it is a part of the crew. A name?! Ryan hasn’t wanted to participate in the naming of the wind vane and Evan laughs at the names we’ve come up with, but he hasn’t come up with any. So, Gene and I are at cross roads as we are not in agreement. He came up with Motley. He said it was because it is part of the crew and it looks a little Motley. I said no way, can’t do it…not with my association of Tom Bass aka Tommy Lee. He also came up with Woody. The top is made of wood and it sticks straight up. I don’t think so! I came up with Carly because of the song You’re So Vain. He nix that one. I said how about You’re So, but spell it Eurso. All of our middle names start with E, Emelia starts with E, we should continue the E tradition. He doesn’t like that one either. So he calls it Woody and I call it Eurso. Woody Eurso Vane Nelson. Not bad. It would be a sad name for a little boy, but this is metal and wood. It’s cute. It works so far.

main (this makes the sail area much smaller and slows the boat down some) and the jib is only half way out. Some time during my watch we had a little action. Emelia was hit on the port side by an unexpected wave. Since we are sailing with the wind vane the wind probably shifted, moved the boat to port and before my next check the boat hit the wave just right to knock us over at a real steep angle, knocking everything over that was not secure down below, waking me up as I screamed from the jolt of it and sending Gene running to see what happened. We adjusted our angle of sail, put everything away and continued on. We’ve found leaks we didn’t know about and the previous owner probably didn’t know about them either. I’ve used tDay 5 12/27 11am 12/28 11am. The wind and seas have changed some today. We have a double reef in the owels to wipe the boat dry and I have bowls collecting water in the galley which I empty about every two hours and one of my food bins is full of water. Luckily it holds a small amount of canned food which I have plenty of and can throw these away with out worry. It’s amazing how quickly sea water rusts a can. Ryan’s room is leaking in three places and his cushions have gotten wet. Evan’s room is leaking as well, but I managed to cover his cushions with trash bags and towels before any damage was done. We think the water is coming in through the deck hardware. We will have to pull all the hardware up, screws and plates and dry them out, caulk and seal them when we get to port (destination). Our room thankfully has no leaks. But the worst of it was that when Gene and Ryan put the big, new pilot house windows in they did not use enough caulk to bed them. I personally saw and felt the error of our ways. As I was standing in the main saloon I saw a little water drip at the big front window. I told Gene about it but could not figure out how it had gotten there until this wave came over our port bow and crashed into the big windows. To my surprise I got wet. Ok not just me but the settee, the books, the clock, the floor the inside of the windows and the walls surrounding it. It was as if someone took a bucket, opened the window and through it in. I stood there dumb founded until I realized I needed to clean it up and put something in front of the window so it wouldn’t happen again. Gene and Ryan put a canvas tarp over the outside of the windows and it didn’t happen again. It actually was good that it happened on our maiden passage as I would not want this to happen with continues waves hitting the window and no way to stop the flow of water in the Pacific on a sixteen day run. The windows will be rebeded and caulked when we get to port. A couple of nights ago I made a bed on the floor in the saloon. Ryan has the front berth which is never used on a passage so he sleeps in the sea birth made up in the saloon. A sea berth is a laying area about five feet long and three feet wide. It is flanked on both sides. One side is the back of the settee (sofa) and the other side is a lee cloth. A lee cloth is a piece of canvas about three feet wide by four feet long. It is tied at the bottom of the settee under the cushion and at the top of the ceiling of the boat. It is used like a crib railing to keep us in our bed on either tack. Evan is comfortable in his room, but felt the need to be closer to us and now that his room is leaking it‘s best that he camp in the saloon. Our bed is the most comfortable and that’s the bed we all jockey for. But since three of us sleep at the same time…this seems to be the routine now, sleep as often as possible….I needed a safe place for the third person and I didn’t have an extra lee cloth for the other settee. So, on the floor are a couple of cushions, a pillow and a blanket. It is set up to be able to use the solid wood at the bottom of the settee to lean against on this tack and since it is on the floor we don’t have a chance of falling out. Since I’ll be awake when we change tacks I’m not real worried about falling the other way. It’s now my bed and it is very comfortable. In fact it is so comfortable I can’t get out of it. It’s day five and I’m exhausted. I can’t move and I can’t do my watch. I’ve never had this feeling before. I saw it once when a couple on a Valiant sailed into St Thomas, Virgin Islands after being out for eight days. The women crawled out of the boat and laid exhausted on the dock. I remember thinking I can’t imagine that feeling. I felt so sorry for her, but there was nothing we could do. She just needed to feel the solid ground under her. Now I feel her pain. I just can’t get up. I am literally crawling on the floor. Ryan and Gene have decided they will take my watch. It is not safe for me to be on deck. Gene woke me at 5am to check on me. I’m feeling fine and decide to relieve him and let him get some sleep. I end up staying on watch until 2pm and let Ryan, Gene and even Evan sleep through their watch. It’s funny the conditions we have for this sail are ideal. The thing is as a family we’ve never done more then a three day passage and we are all trying to adjust and figuring it out. Ryan has been great through this whole trip. He is eager to learn and has little fear of walking on deck and lots of respect for the water. In fact, he is adamant about all of us wearing our teether and harness.

Day 6 12/28 11am 12/29 11am We have changed tacks and are heading south. Oh my gosh, my legs. I think my right leg grew three inches to accomidate the fact that I’d been walking at an angle for so long. Now my hope is that my left leg grows because we’re no longer on a port tack we’ve changed to a starboard tack and the fun house has changed along with it. We’re still in ideal conditions and can’t believe our luck. Chris Parker (our weather guru on the SSB) really called this one right. We lost contact with Nelly Bly on Friday so Chris Parker relayed a message on the SSB. They are doing well and should be in Marsh Harbor today. As I said we’re on a new tack. This means the boat is healing toward port. Which also means the port settee is now a comfortable bed so no more sleeping on the floor. Okay this was histarical. Gene was going to the bathroom. Both our heads (bathroom) are on the port side and it’s really best to sit, but Gene stands. In fact, he was standing with one hand holding his jacket up and the other holding himself. The boat healed a little more then he expected and instead of letting his jacket fall or letting go of himself he decided just to move with the boat resulting in a bump on the head as he careened into the bulk head. I’m hoping now he sits. The other thing about the head is figuring out how to shower. When the boat is on a port tack it is quite easy as we can lean against the starboard wall. On a starboard tack we have to be more creative. Evan has come up with a plan. When he showers one foot is on the floor and the other is on the port wall. I tried it and it works. I can’t wait to stand up straight. As I said the fun house has changed. We no longer have water coming into the boat. It seems since water is no longer saturating the starboard side the water has subsided and the port side seems to be holding fine. But now the problem is that the galley sink is full of sea water. Although this can be a common thing (the hoses leading into the boat are below the water line also known as sea level and the sink is above the water line, but when we heal about 15 degrees or we go into sea troughs the sink goes below the water line and gravity takes over filling the sink with sea water) I’ve not experienced it and I have to figure out how to wash the dirty dishes that fill both sinks. We closed the sink sea cock (a valve that can be opened and closed to allow sea water in or out) but water is still standing in the sink and fills the hose. I managed to wash the dishes in the bathroom sink and I was able to get the water out of the sink with a bowl and bucket but the hoses are still full and there is no way to drain it unless we open the sea cock, change tacks, drain the hoses with gravity, close the sea cock and change back to our tack. That’s not something we want to do. This tack seems to be as easy as the last. Emelia is just as comfortable, moves just as fast and seems to be just as happy. Of course we’re all happy too as we are getting close to land and we’re all ready to go for a long walk and eat a big, big hamburger, french fries and a coke and we hardly ever eat meat.

Day 7 12/29 11am 12/30 11am We had another one of those side wave hits. This one seemed to be a little harder and to get to our destination we need to stay on this tack which is not safe. It defentally will happen again. We decided to head away from Puerto Rico and head east to St John. If conditions allow we will head back toward Puerto Rico in the morning. Earlier I said Emelia sailed faster than we calculated so we are close to St John but it is night fall and not safe to head into shore. Gene and Ryan decide to stay right outside of land sight, lay the boat up and wait tell morning. I woke at 5am and we decide to head to Puerto Rico, but as we got everything ready it starts to rain, the wind and seas change so we decide it’s best to go to St John. Land Ho!!!!!!!!

Day 8 12/30 11am 12/31 8pm Land Ho!!!!! Oh my gosh we can see it. No longer is the horizon in view, but land. Brown, mountainous land in sight. This mornings weather was the worse we had the whole trip. Had we left at first light the first day we may have gotten into St John or Puerto Rico before sunset last night and we would have missed this. But we did great!!! As we sail toward land the rain stops, the seas settle and the wind slows down. The brown, mountainous shapes have turned to lush green islands and we can see Jost Van Dyke and we can see down into the clear water. We head toward Jost and watch for reefs as the water depth closes in and we can now see bottom. As we round the bend we see St John up ahead, along with many sail boats navigating the easy waters. A small cruise ship has crossed in front of use heading to a small island to let the passengers snorkel while a large cruise ship passes our stern to head into the British Virgin Islands. He find Francise Bay, St John easily. This is a familiar location as we’ve spent a lot of time here in the past. We see a mooring ball up ahead and head for it, pick it up and tie on. We’ve made it. We’re secure. All is well and we are ready to go to shore. It takes us some time as we have to get the dinghy inflated and clean up a little. Ryan, Gene and Evan got the dinghy ready and I’ve cleaned down below. We are showered and eager to stand on land. We head to shore and we all sigh as our feet hit the sand. Hitch hiking is a common practice here so we get to the road and stick out our thumb. Low and below we get picked up by the first person. His name was Rooney and he was a real big guy in a real small car, funny, loud and cussed like all get out. But we’re having fun listening to him as we all hold on for dear life. In the Virgin Island they drive fast around corners which there are a lot of and up and down hills you just hope you don’t go over and on the wrong side of the road. I thought this mornings boat ride was the worst of our trip, but driving is far scarier. We have him take us to his favorite place, Island Blue and buy him his favorite drink, Tequila. We head off to sit by the water and order hamburgers, french fries and coke. Wow, are they ever good. We are so hungry we order three appetizers and dessert. We are full, comfortable and sleepy. We decided to take the dollar bus back toward town, but have to walk about ten minutes to the stop. This feels good. As we arrived at the bus stop we meet a very nice family from South Carolina. Nancy, Mark, Ross 10 and Emi 8. We hit it off and ended up taking a taxi together for the same cost as the dollar bus to a smoothie stand to have more to eat. Then along with our new friends we walked about thirty minutes down the road to the goat trail and up to Maho Bay where our dinghy sat waiting for our return. We arrived back to the boat before dark. We showered and we all climbed in to bed. The lee cloth was down and the settee set up for Ryan as his bed because his was not suitable to sleep in. Evan’s room was dry and clean and Gene and I feel into our clean sheets and all of us slept through New Year’s Eve. Happy New Year!!!

~~~~_/)~~~~_/)~~~~~

1/1/2007

A new year has begun and we are in paradise. We are sitting in our favorite spot in the Virgin Islands. Maho Bay, St John. We are in a protected anchorage with three beaches, a camping resort tucked up into the hills so they are not seen from the water and a great restaurant with a view out to the lush blue waters and Emelia.

We sat in this same harbor for New Year’s Eve 2000 when the world was to come to an end. We figured then we should be in a pretty spot if it happens. It didn’t and we’re back. Today was a clean and repair day. Gene repaired and I cleaned. I scrubbed everything inside that I could reach. Lockers, cabinets, walls, floors, clocks the list went on and on, but it needed to be done as the salt water does much damage to the boat. Ryan and Evan put the rowing dinghy in the water and rowed to shore. They hung out on the beach and swam at the shore. While Ryan took pictures of pelicans swooping down into the water to eat fish, Evan walked up the wooden staircase, about 300 stairs and 500 steps up to the little store and bought himself a sprite and starburst. Gene and I took many breaks and while we did we sat in the hammock in the soft breeze and warm sun. It is beautiful here. We went to dinner at the hill side restaurant and we couldn’t believe our eyes. First, it was very busy. This was a surprise as this was not the case just seven years ago. Second, the cook who took great care of Evan making him special meals was still there. His role has changed, he is now the manager in charge. Oh, but the food was delicious. The view was gorgeous and the atmosphere with its open air veranda, help yourself to salad & drinks and meet new people was nice.

1/2-7/2007

Years ago we meet the Beechler’s and became fast friends. A family of four Cathy, Marty and their children Zach and Sara living on their boat in the harbor of Red Hook, St Thomas. Cathy and I hung out a lot and Sara (12) & Ryan (11) celebrated their birthdays together at this bar that when someone ordered this blue drink a shark would come out of the wall and blow smoke. The Beechler’s now live in a wonderful house they built themselves in St John. Also in Red Hook are our friends Skip and Andrea. They are the owners of the charter company we had our boat with years ago. Last but not least in Red Hook is Laura. She works for Skip and Andrea and she is the bomb. She wants Gene to write a song about her, Laura. I think it was done already on the soap opera General Hospital, but she is adamant and I’m going to get Gene to try. Also, for Ryan’s 11th birthday she bought him something we did not want on the boat. At that time Poke’ Mon was big and Ryan & Evan were into it. So much so that when we left we did not let them bring them onto the boat. Laura found out and so when we had this big birthday celebration for Ryan with 21 people on board she showed up with a present. When Ryan opened it she stood next to him with this big grin on her face just wanting us to stop her. Ryan and Evan had the biggest smiles because they new Laura helped them out. She brought, what else, Poke Mon cards. They’ve loved her ever since. We had dinner with the Beechler’s the other night. Zach now 22 picked us up. He graduated college with an English major, has his boat captain’s license, charters people around the Virgin Islands and is leaving for Nepal to work with his friend at an organic garden for 5 months. Sara is in college in South Carolina studying international business, which happens to be what Nancy, the women we meet at the bus stop, teaches in South Carolina. Marty is a top real estate agent and sings in the local bars and Cathy is the islands Banana Bread Lady. What delicious bread and brownies she makes. Over the course of the week she brought us three banana bread loaves and six big brownies. They didn’t last a day. Marty dropped us in Cruz Bay today where we walked the shops then had lunch at this great restaurant. From there we took the ferry over to Red Hook where we visited with Skip and Andrea. They adopted a baby girl 15 months ago and although we did not get to see her the pictures we saw were of this little, pudgy, dark haired beauty. We also visited with Laura. She is a hoot. It’s hard for me to describe her. She is so much fun and the kids get a kick out of her. This really was the main reason for us coming to the Virgin Island. Just to visit with friends. Today Ryan and I decided to hick Ram’s Head. It’s this pretty little spot on the other side of the island. For us to get there we could walk, hitch hike or take the dollar bus. We left at 9:00 am. Ryan rowed the dinghy to shore, we walked the 500 stair/steps up the hill, walked the goat trail along a mountain pass to the beach on the other shore and onto the street where we began walking the long, steep road. We opted to start hitching and if we didn’t get picked up we would wait for the bus, but we didn’t have a bus schedule. We happened to be on a road that not many locals travel so as tourist car after tourist car passed us we were doubtful we would be picked up. Then just as we started climbing the big hill a man in a very nice car stopped and picked us up. He’s lived on the island for a number of years and it turned out he was the Beechler’s next door neighbor. He dropped us at a gas station about half way there and we started walking and hitching again. This road too was not traveled by many locals so tourist car after tourist car passed us again. The thing is in all this time the dollar bus never passed by. I told Ryan it would probably come just as we arrive at Ram’s Head entrance. We must of walked over an hour up and down a winding steep hill road. Ryan was thinking about turning back and my thought was what’s the point. Were not getting picked up this way so what are the chances of being picked up the other way and the bus still has to pass us going up before it goes back down. Then a car slowed, pointed to the side of the road, stopped and waited for us. Literally just in time. The skies changed from beautiful, clear blue to grey. We sat down and the rain came. Big rain drops and a lot of it. The drive and his wife were heading to Ram’s Head to snorkel, but needed to stop at their hotel on the way to pick up their gear. They offered us a ride all the way. Ryan and I took it. Susan and Clint Viebrock live in Telluride, Colorado. She is a writer for the paper and he is retired, pursuing an acting career. In 1989 they left St Martin on his 28 foot sail boat to get married in Bermuda. This was an eight day passage and Susan had never sailed at night. They figured if they could survive the trip their marriage would also survive. It turns out we have mutual friends. Kit and Tim O’Brien from Nashville. Since Susan writes the celebrity column for the paper she meets everyone coming into town. She asked me to write a little note to Kit and Tim because she would be seeing them in a few weeks and it would be neat for them to receive word from us. What fun I thought. I wrote a note and she stuck it in her purse. I’m positive she’ll give it to them. Ram’s Head was beautiful. To get to the top we walked along a sandy shore up to a gravel trail with cactus. This trail took us up and then down again to walk along a stone covered shore to a dirt trail leading up and up. At the stone beach we stopped so I could listen to the sounds of the water moving through the stones. Some waves were fast with lots of water making the sound of the stones hitting each other and the water moving around them boisterous at a fast pace, while other waves were slow making a soft tinkle sound. We moved up the mountain and about ¾ of the way up is a view of the east side of St John. This area has two cliffs over looking the ocean waves. The wind blowing through the trough is almost enough to blow us over. The breeze feels good as we have gotten very hot climbing the mountain in the warm sun. We move on and reach the top. The view is panoramic and we see St Croix about 35 miles away. After our long journey Ryan’s not that impressed, but I am. We both take pictures and head back down. As we wind our way back Ryan starts seeing what he likes. Nature. This is his thing. Pictures of animals set him free. We pass a black spider still alive being dragged away by thousands of ants. Ryan stops to take pictures. A lizard on a cactus, Ryan stops to take pictures. It’s fascinating watching him. The views he picks up through his camera are awesome. As we reach the shore Susan and Clint are ahead of us. We asked how their swim was and they said very enjoyable. We took a picture of them and started heading to the bus stop. We decided no more walking, a wait for the air conditioned bus was a great plan, but to our surprise, Susan and Clint offered us a ride back. All the way back. It’s over a twenty minute drive, but we were happy as we were ready to get back and eat. It ended up Susan and Clint were not suppose to be in St John. They were to be in Tortola, but her passport was left at home so they had to wait for Fed Ex to deliver it. It was decided that they would join us at our boat around noon the next day, meet Gene and wait for their package which was to arrive mid afternoon. Ryan and I made the executive decision to eat dinner at the restaurant at the top of the hill. We were so hungry that we arrived at opening bell. 5:30pm. Susan and Clint stopped by today and we had a nice visit. Her passport arrived so they are off to Tortola. Cathy and Marty came by as well and we lounged around on floats by the shore, drinking a reminiscing. We dinghied them back to the boat and they loved it. Luckily for us Cathy brought more Banana Bread and Brownies and wrote in our memory book that we may send her an SOS if we run out and she’ll bring some more.

1/9/2007

We just arrived in Puerto Rico. We are staying in a marina that is way to big. About a 1000 slips and the place is almost full. It takes ten minutes to walk from our slip to the office. Courtesy golf cart rides are available by calling Marina Control. I called to be picked up to did laundry, loads of laundry. Literally. To my great surprise while I was folding a white towel I realized I have a tan. As the towel hung down my leg to get the fold the way I like it my foot and calf stuck out just far enough to see the beautiful contrast of my new skin color. Not that pasty Nashville white as my mom calls it, but island teak with a soft glow. It makes me feel so good and my spirits lifted.

1/11/2007

It is Ryan’s 18^th Birthday. I can’t believe it. My little baby is 18. One of the things that happens when we are out cruising is that we don’t really know the time let alone the date. So, last night when Evan came to me and said he still needed a couple of things for Ryan’s birthday present. I said we’ll pick them up tomorrow and Evan said tomorrow’s his birthday. Oh my, I wasn’t prepared and it was way to late to do anything about it. Well this morning I got up and started putting Ryan’s present together while Gene went to the little market to get the things Evan needed. Our plan was to take him to the rain forest so we knew we had to have everything ready before 8:30 as that is when he planned to get up. Ryan’s presents were ready. Evan got him….actually you’ll need to see the picture. It’s posted. We gave him $1000 to buy more camera equipment. We went to the rain forest and hiked to the popular water fall. It was pretty, but crowded so not many pictures were taken and Gene was the only one brave enough to go in. After we went to the best restaurant yet. La Parrilla. We spent $140 and it was well worth it. The front looked like a swap meet setting with row after row of small restaurants and shops. I thought it was going to have fish sandwich and burgers, but I was wrong. The chef was well known for his sauces and oh wow my fish with delicious sauce was fantastic. Ryan had pineapple, shrimp rice to die for and Gene had lobster with conch and shrimp. Evan had chicken nuggets in a sauce unlike anything we’ve tasted. Along with our meal we had appetizers and desert. Cheese cake, flan and chocolate cake. The setting was beautiful. We sat in the back over looking the beach. A few people were at the bar and several more came in as the afternoon progressed. Soon we saw three horse back riders coming in from the beach. It was ideal. The swap meeting setting vanished as we sat for hours enjoying each others company.

1/14/2007

For the last couple of days Gene did repair work while I finished up the laundry and removed the varnish from the outside teak. I love the look of teak oil, so as soon as the teak dries out and I bleach it I’ll be able to put on the teak oil and keep it looking nice as oil is much easier to maintain. The repairs Gene did were all the leaks we found from our eight day leak adventure. I ended up doing ten loads of laundry totaling $29. For that amount I could of gone shopping and bought all new things. Ryan really wanted to go back to the rain forest so today we hiked a trail we thought would be less traveled. Sure enough we only saw about four people and none were at the top when we arrived. Our plan was to hike to the peak. It took us almost two hours, but it was wonderful. The sights, the sounds, the feel, the smell, even the taste was different. As we began our hike the air was cool and I wore my sweat shirt. There was a dampness in the air and a wonderful smell of freshness. We began in a thick forest of palm trees. The colors around us were so vivid. On the ground I noticed died palm fronds which were so brown they looked black. I also noticed a large dead leaf. The front side was brown and the under side was white. The palm frond and the leaf were such a contrast in color but sat harmoniously rejuvenating the forest. Peace. That was the feeling I had standing there in awe of a place I’ve never dreamed of. At one point we reached a cliff over looking palm trees for miles. It was amazing. It made me think about other palm trees I’d seen but those were always planted by someone and had mulch and manicured green lawns around then. I ended up looking down at my feet which were standing in a puddle of water. Well why not? After all I’m in the rain forest. Under the puddle was chocolate brown, orange mud with light brown, pink and grey stones and red pebbles. On the stones just off the path were one, two, three, four, five, six different types of moss and about the same number of different ferns from Kelly green to hunter green and all greens in between. Just off the trail shooting out of the moss was long thin blades of grass and fuchsia colored Impatience growing impatiently. Beyond the trail lay the white dead leaves and black palm fronds and out of the ground came bright orange palm roots with cocoa brown trunks covered in light green moss up about four feet then small, yellow immature shoots and bright green shoots of palm leaves stretching toward the blue skies. The entire sight was absolutely amazing. We passed small and large water falls and at one point there was a water fall that was cut off in the middle by a huge boulder. On one side of the bolder the water fall ran very slow with a soft tinkle and on the other side the water fall raged. The strange thing was that when we stood on the side with the tinkle we couldn’t hear the side with the raging water. The boulder cut it off yet it was only a few steps to get from one side to the other. We saw a few animals, a bright blue bug with orange antennae and a humming bird that got so close Gene and I ducked out of it’s way. We heard it coming, but neither one of us knew what the noise was. We both realized we’d never actually heard the song of a humming bird. Soon we reached a dense area in the forest and we weren’t able to see much farther then a few feet, but I swear I could hear a phone ring in the distance. We stopped to listen. Does a mobile phone work in the rain forest? It sounded like the fast ring of my old Cricket phone. A cricket. It was a cricket. So far away, but so distinct. Wow, did Cricket mobile actually use the sound of a cricket to name the company? Ingenuous. The trail kept leading up and as we rounded a bend the entire rain forest changed. Gone were the palm trees and vivid bright colors. In their place stood before us weeds with white flowers, low brush and thick bushes with spiky leaves and small dead trees still standing tall, but with no limbs or branches. We couldn’t see more than five feet off the cliff. We were in the clouds. It was a little scary to think if we feel and got past the thick under growth we had no idea how far down down was. At this point Ryan and Evan were way ahead of us, but they were to stop if they got to a cross roads. This was agreed upon so we wouldn’t get separated from one another. As we walked the weather around this bend changed too. The wind was strong, the air was cold and the breeze was crisp. We still couldn’t see past five feet, but we could tell we were on a ridge and very high up. After walking about ten minutes we could hear Ryan and Evan in the distance and we saw a rock cliff that we thought they may have passed. We called them back. This was it. The peak. Our destination. Amazing, Grand, Fantastic, I could go on all day with positive adjectives. As we hiked up the rock cliff not more than fifteen feet off the path we found ourselves on top of gigantic boulders still in the clouds. The wind was moving fast and pushed the clouds from down below and revealed a view and a smell that Ryan stood in awe of. His comment was that this was the freshest smell he’d ever smelled. Evan sat down right where he was looked out and said he was high enough. Remember, we were in the clouds. Now we stood with a view for miles and miles. We were up so high we couldn’t see the bottom, in front of us were three green covered peaks and in the distance were mountains and passed that the ocean. Ten seconds later the wind swept the clouds into our view and brought us back into the white and grey clouds again within ten seconds the wind blew again to revealed the greens and blues. This went on as long as we stood there and I’m sure in continued when we left. I hope to post Ryan’s 10 second interval pictures next time I post. I need his permission as I think he is holding out to get them published and make some money. As we climbed down from the peak we turned another bend which put us back into the cool, wet palms. Our hour and thirty minute hike down was as awe inspiring as our climb up.

1/15/2007

We’re back to repairs and improvements today. I’m removing the varnish from the teak with a heat gun. Ryan is sanding it and putting on teak oil. It looks great and it is easier to maintain. Evan is catching up on school work and Gene is trying to figure out what is wrong with the autopilot. We have the wind vane which works great but not without wind. Our autopilot is our back up and helps so we don’t have to hand steer. It’s important that it work. I decided it would be a good idea to wash Ryan and Evan’s bed cushion covers today. So, I took them off and found the insides to be a little moldy and very ,very smelly. It’s funny because the outside covers are no more than a year old with no use, but it looks like the insides were not replaced maybe do to cost. I washed the covers and found a material store in Fajardo that sells cushion foam. Gene is not excited about changing them as the foam is very hard to cut, but I hate the idea of the kids sleepy in a smelly, moldy miss. We went to the material store early this morning, Almacenes 100 Inc., it is known by the locals as 100. We talked to Carlos and to our great surprise he volunteered to cut the foam for us at such a low price we took him on it. In fact not only would he cut it, but he would have it done by mid-afternoon. We had to go back to the boat to get all the cushions, which was not more than ten minutes away and by 11am Carlos was diligently fast at work. We picked long lasting thick foam at a cost of $68 per rectangle and Carlos said he would change of 10% for each cushion cut. Total cost per cushion $74.80. He also, asked if he needed it is it ok that he charge of for glue at a cost of $4. Yes, of course use what you need and we’ll gladly pay the cost. We had four cushions so we figured about $305. We returned at 4pm and not only was the foam cut, he had stuffed the cushions, used only three pieces of foam, a small amount of glue and charged us only $229. He was wonderful and we appreciate his had work. The cushion look, feel and smell great.

1/17/2007

We sailed to Culabra today to get ready to head to St Croix. It’s very pretty here, but we’re all happy just to sit on the boat and do nothing. Ryan, Evan and I got sea sick today. It’s probably because we were at a dock for over a week and the waters were very calm with no rocking. It’s good that we sailed here first before St Croix as it will take us from early light to just before dark to get there and the auto pilot is not yet working which means each of us will have to hand steer during our watch as we will be heading into the wind and seas which makes it hard to set the wind vane.

1/19/2007

We’re off to St Croix. We’re all excited as Eurisko is there and we would like to see them again. Oh no, the wind is dying, we’re only going two knots and we have to make a choice…motor sail to St Croix to make sure we arrive before dark or sail to St Thomas. If we sail to St Thomas it will take us about four hours, then it will take us another eight hours to sail to St Croix and we have to wait a couple of days because the seas are building tomorrow. We decide to motor sail to St Croix and after thirty minutes the winds pick back up so we turned the motor off and sailed at 6 knots all the way in. Evan and I were sea sick again and Gene and Ryan hand steered most of the way. We hailed Eurisko on the VHF, found where they were anchored and anchored right behind them. The anchorage is crowded and the locals say this is the busiest it’s been since Hugo in 1989. The holding is great, the dinghy dock is not far away, the town is a stones through away with water front restaurants and shops, a marine store, an Ace Hardware, and a laundry mat. The only down fall is that we are anchored 100 yards away from the sea plane airport, dock and water runway. They start at 6:45 am and end at 5:45 pm. This will be interesting. It’s my sister, Helen’s birthday today, so we are sitting in the cockpit with Gene playing Happy Birthday on his guitar while we sing along.

1/20/2007

I love the smell of jet fuel in the morning!!!! No really, we can’t smell it, but we sure do hear it. 6:45 am on the nose. The sea planes come close enough that we wave to the pilot and all of the passengers as they come and go. The pilot opens his window and waves back while the passengers smile and wave as well. Eurisko called and the kids are off. We probably won’t see them again until dinner time. I have a feeling this is what it will be like until we leave. I know it makes them very happy and it makes me and Gene happy too see them have fun with old friends. A couple, Chris and Tom, on their dinghy Rocky stopped by to see how our anchorage is. We said it’s great, but if they plan on moving they should stay to listen to the sea plane. We’ve gotten use to it and just pause communication when the sea plane takes off. Chris and Tom decided to move over near us. They are from Pleasant, California and their boat name is Rock N Roll. Gene and I went for a walk and had French fries and a coke at the restaurant Connie works at. Chris and Tom joined us and we had a nice time getting to know each other. Soon Dave stopped by and Connie got off work so we all sat around for a while and talked. Then Connie and Dave took us for a little walk to the local grocery store. Boy, I hope this grocery store is not an indication as what I can get here. The town is lovely and set up nicely. There is an old fort which sits on the water front and this is where the kids are hanging out. There are ruins stretched down one side of the street, but these ruins are not ancient they are what use to be beautiful mansions hit by Hugo in 1989. There is one house that has been restored and it is gorgeous. White clapboard with red shutters. All these houses are built up high off the ground, but we can see where the water and wind and now time did damage. I’m looking at them thinking prime real estate.

1/21/2007

Ryan and Evan are off again. They came home for dinner then were off again until 10pm. They both came home with scratches and bruises, but they’re having a great time playing soccer, football and finger fighting with Garrett and David. Oh my gosh, Gene and I did nothing today.

1/22/2007

Evan woke up to get his school work done before noon as that is when Eurisko kids are done with their home school work. Ryan changed the zinc today. (Zinc is a solid ball of Zinc alloy which goes on the steering shaft and the prop. It is used as a sacrificial metal to prevent curs ion from stray electrical current on the boats metal.) By 1:00 Ryan and Evan were off. Now, back to the auto pilot. Before we left Puerto Rico, Gene had a repair man stop by to look at the auto pilot. He said it was the gears and it would be $2000 to replace it. Gene didn’t have a good feeling about the guy so we decided to wait. Gene and Dave looked at the auto pilot today and it doesn’t even have gears. It has a belt. Dave and Gene are trying to find one to replace it. Hopefully, that is all it will be as the cost will be no more than $50. 50 dollars 2000 dollars what’s a couple of zeros? At 5:00 I went to shore to see Connie at the restaurant she works at. It was crab racing day. It was hysterical. More than fifty people were lined up to rent a crab for two dollars for the race. By 5:45 the races began. The crabs had names painted on their shells. All the crabs were separated into two buckets and the buckets were placed upside down in the center of a circle. A women played the kazoo, the buckets were lifted and the crabs started walked. The crowd went wild, screaming out the name of their crab. It seemed the crab named David kept winning, but Wilma was never far behind. It was so funny watching these adult tourists jump up and down. Connie and I stood, watching, shaking our heads and laughing. Evan joined us for a few minutes, he rolled his eyes and walked away. I know he thought it was just as funny as we thought it was. I’m not sure which crab won in the end, but the winner got a nice prize.

1/23/2007

A friend of Connie and Dave’s, Gary, let us borrow his car today. Connie drove us around the whole island on the wrong side of the road. Ok, it’s the right side for St Croix, but not for us and I freaked out. Dave and Gene sat in back. Dave said he likes it better back there because he doesn’t have to see what’s coming. I got use to it until we made right turns. I kept expecting to get into the right lane, but instead we crossed in front of the car coming straight at me. Not only did I freak out over that, but there was a section of road that had a right hand turn, a lane going straight and a left hand turn. Connie went straight, but not without me screaming, laughing and shaking all at the same time as I thought the car to our right was waiting for traffic to stop before pulling out to go straight. When in fact he was turning and it looked like we were going into his right of way. I don’t think I can drive here. I have a hard enough time figuring out which way to look when crossing the road on foot. The tour Connie took us on was great. The island is much flatter than St John with a small section of rain forest and hundreds of sugar mills scattered about. We went to Point Udall, the Eastern-most point of the United States. We did the tourist thing and took our picture next to the sign. There is a monument there showing the suns position at noon on January 1, 2000 the year of the millennium. There was a man from Grand Rapids, Michigan trying to figure out how to read what did turn out to be a somewhat complicated sun dial. Luckily with our knowledge we helped him figure it out which lead to the question how do you guys know all this. Well we live on a boat and we have to know how to take sun, moon, star sightings. After we figured the monument out we all realized that it was really a unique and interesting feature. It is hard to describe, but there are two cement shaped M’s crossing each other representing M for millennium. There is a pole in the middle with a slit in the pole. As you look into the slit you see due east. On the ground is a point of true North which the pole shadowed on January 1, 2000. Gene has contested the fact that this is really not the eastern-most point of the US. He believes and we have confirmed on our maps and charts that in fact the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska crosses the international date line making the one closest to the international date line the eastern-most point. Who knows, there may be a monument there as well. The problem is it’s to cold for us to go see. This island is gorgeous and there is not a lot of development. After the point we went to the best cheeseburger place on the island. After an hour and a half later, full of cheeseburgers, fries, brownie and ice cream we headed off to the grocery store. Great prices, good produce and a good selection along with things we’ve never seen. We wonder picking up the items we need and some we don’t. Soon we’re back at the boat. No dinner tonight as we’re still full. We relax and play a game of scrabble. It’s nice having the kids on board tonight. We haven’t seen them much as they are having fun with Eurisko and other boat and island kids.

1/26/2007

We’re having our first dinner guest tonight. For the day I plan to make manicotti, do laundry and clean up the boat. I’m up by 7am and I start the sauce. From 9am to 11am I do laundry at the laundry mat. It’s a nice one. I’m starting to rate towns by the laundry mat. This one, unlike Puerto Rico, has hot water, great driers, far prices and it’s cool enough for me to stay and fold our clothes. By 1pm dinner is ready, laundry is put away and the boat looks great. Gosh, I forgot we’re not at home in our 3500 sq ft house. We’re on our 35 sq ft boat. That’s inside and outside. Ok, that may be a little bit of an exaggeration, but it is small relative to a house. But much faster to clean. Dave and Gene went to the marine store and when they returned the three of us go snorkeling off a reef not five minutes away on the dinghy. Gene and Dave head out to check out the reef. I decide to sit and tan and I watched a beautiful sailboat cross the horizon coming from the western shore. She is a dark blue schooner with white top sides, double square rig masts built in the 1920’s. She is 120 ft long with my all time favorite Tan Bark sails. She glides across the seas with ease and as she passes us she heads south to enter the harbor under full sails. This is a working ship. It is run by Tom Ryan and he is responsible for the teenagers living on board. Gene and Dave swim back to the dinghy and move it to a spot they say has an abundance of lobster. I’m for that as it means we can add lobster to tonight menu. They head off with their spears in hand. Dave is the first to bring a lobster back. It’s not very big, but it will taste good. Gene comes back with a conch. Remember, hunter and gatherer. Hunting conch takes no real effort. They don’t swim away, you don’t have to spear them and they probably don’t even know you’ve picked them up. But, Gene is proud and he puts it on board. Ten minutes later Gene and Dave return. Gene has speared a lobster and he thinks it’s big. As he raises it to the surface we see it is even smaller then Dave’s. He thinks he should throw it back, but he blew the lobsters mouth off and the antenna are no longer attached. I’m serious the hole from the spear was bigger then the lobster. We all laugh as both Gene and Dave defend their under water eye sight. They’re much bigger under water, they both say, three feet long at least. We laugh even harder and realize lobster, although very little, will be served tonight. We’re back by 4:30 and I go off for a quiet kayak ride. It’s nice as it is warm outside and as I row the oar crosses in front of me and drips water across my legs cooling me off as I watch the tourist walk on the board walk. I’m back by 5:30, the manicotti is in the oven, I’ve showered and the salad is ready. By 6:30 our guests, Eurisko, arrive with appetizers of humus, pita bread and lobster. The manicotti is out of the oven and the apple and blueberry crisp desserts are now baking. The smells from the boat are wonderful and the sent of island Jasmine is in the air. The kids eat down below while the adults sit topside. We talk until 11:30, we wave good bye and watch them row away. It was a nice night. By midnight I’ve cleaned and put everything away. Gene checks emails. Sad, but peaceful news. Gene’s stepmother, Helen, has been sick for some time and tonight she has passed away. We fall asleep with the thought of Helen and the joy we had with her while in North Carolina before we left.

1,29,2007

Dave told us about this local restaurant in town, so today were meeting Eurisko in town to have lunch at Singh’s Fast Food. Wow, it’s delicious. It is an Indian, Bohemian, Crucian mix of sweet, spicy and curry flavors. The kids love it. Gene ate a shrimp Rotte and I ate a chicken Rotte. It is a corn meal tortilla wrapped up with stewed potatoes, smooth curry sauce and melt in your mouth chicken, shrimp or almost any other type of meat you might fancy. Evan got shrimp, rice and black beans cooked just right and Ryan got plantains that were just so delicious. The restaurant is somewhat off the beaten path, which is a shame as this is what we look for when traveling and many tourist miss out on what is best. This is one of those places we’ll return to several times before leaving.

2,2,2007

The auto pilot part came in and it is not what we needed. It is still not fixed, so Gene and Dave are trying to figure it out again. Our friend Stan at the Marine store has been more than helpful and he is on the case trying to find what we need. Hopefully, we’ll have an answer by Monday, the part by Wednesday and be off by Friday for Bon Aire/Curacao. Such is the way of traveling by boat.

2/3/2007

Two Saturdays ago Gene and I were walking and came across a local hangout. It seems, Pongy, the owner of the hangout has been serving food from his side yard every Saturday since 1990. He has lived in the house which was his parents for 60 years. We didn’t have any cash on us so we decided to come back the following week. We showed up the next Saturday at 2:30 and he was out of food. We talked for a while and we found out he serves both breakfast and lunch. Breakfast begins at 4 am and ends at 6 am Lunch is from 10 am until the food runs out usually about 4 pm with the exception of today. We decide it will be more fun to show up at breakfast as we will be able to get a feel for the locals after Friday bar night. Also, we have plans to go to Buck Island with Eurisko at 10 am so we will miss Pongy lunch hour. Gene set his alarm and at 4:30 am he woke me up asked if I still wanted to go and I told him if he did. Fifteen minutes later he woke me again. We are so use to our long nights of sleep that we are to tired to get up, but we don’t want to miss what we think will be great fun. So, we quickly get dressed and grab a sweat shirt and head out in the cool air on the dinghy. Pongy’s house is across the street from the shore. There is a small park on the water called Gallows Bay with deep water and a nice dock. We figure if no one is there we’ll just head back, but as we round the bend past the fort we see cars coming from every direction, people walking and talking excitedly and picnic benches full of happy, finger licking eaters. Pongy’s house is one of several on the street and his house is in the best of shape and is quite large. The house is blue with a flat roof a large covered front and side porch with a chain link fence running along the front sides and along the sides and back of the yard holding in on the left side a dog that frightens me every time we walk by and on the right is his wonderful make shift restaurant. As we enter I notice the dark sand floor looks as if it has been raked and a large crab lives not far from where Pongy‘s cooked conch sits on the table. There are several people sitting at a picnic bench either waiting for their food, eating or just talking after finishing their meal. Everyone greets us as we walk in, but we don’t know the routine. We step over to Pongy to say hello and he says oh you made it. We say yes and we’re excited to be here and he smiles and says what will you have. We ask him to suggest our breakfast as we don’t know what he serves. Fish or conch he says. I’m not sure I can eat either at 5 am so I tell Gene to order what he wants and I’ll nibble from his. Gene picks the fish. Pongy tells us to pay the girl and we stand in line waiting to do so. There must have been 40 people in the standing room only area which holds about 15 comfortably. But everyone seems to get along and as more people enter they too are greeted by everyone waiting with a cheery good morning. The locals are lovely. There is a pretty women helping her older friend after a long drinking night out. She does not allow her to have more alcohol even though there is some on the counter to be had. There are factory workers eating and taking to go with them for lunch. Two girls from the casino stop in before work to grab a bite. A women with her boyfriend stops in to tell Pongy she is back after months away. She asks if we’re having fun and suggests we use the hot sauce she grabs from the table. She opens it and puts it before my nose. It is sweet with a vinegar smell but smells to hot for my taste. A young man sitting at the end of the table puts some on his fish and he begins to choke from the heat. He laughs and his friend pats his back while Gene suggest he add more. I’m having a great time just watching the local flavor. We get our meal and decide we’ll have more fun eating inside while talking with the locals. Our meal is good. Fungi and Parrot fish. Fungi is made of corn meal and is served like grits. Parrot fish is local, easy to catch and lives near the shore. The fish is boiled and then simmered in a tomato, onion stew that adds such flavor that our months water for more. We finish our meal and stay a while longer, talking and watching as over a hundred people are served in the short hour we are there. Pongy tells us this is normal. He serves about 200 for breakfast and 400 for lunch. I add up quickly the amount of money he must make each Saturday and I realize he is doing quite well for himself. I think back of the times we’ve walked by his place and realize he’s been home every time. This must be his source of income and I see that I hope it continues for a long time as I’d like to come back as I am having such great fun. I think too that for the two weeks we’ve been in St Croix everyone we’ve run into has been more than nice and very helpful when we need it. Greetings here are made with the honk of the car horn, a wave of the hand and with a smile, direct eye contact and the words ok when we say hello. It feels good to know that we are so welcome. After our breakfast feast we head back to Emelia. With droopy eyes we get the boat ready for our sail over to Buck Island. It’s amazing how long it takes us. Everything must be put away and since we’ve been anchored and comfortable for the last two weeks it takes some thinking to remember where everything belongs. Eurisko comes over about 9:30 and we get under way by 10am. It is just 7 miles away and the wind is at our nose. Gene decides to motor out of the harbor and before we know it we have arrived and we never put the sails up. We anchor with ease near several other boats in a designated anchorage on the north west side. There are dinghy buoys on the other side, but we decide that the winds are to strong and we will snorkel on the north shore. Buck Island is a National Park that was expanded by Clinton in 2001from 880 acres to 19,015 acres. It has 5000 acres of coral reef and 1100 acres of sea grass. The waters are protected so no fishing is allowed. Before we leave the boat we have a picnic lunch of a variety of sandwiches, chips, hummus and salsa. After lunch Gene jumps in to pick up litter from one of the charter boats. Connie jumps in to cool herself and her son Garrett jumps in beside her. He wears his snorkel gear and sees a barracuda. Connie freaks out and asks for the ladder to be moved to her side of the boat. She is use to this easy and quick task on her boat as Eurisko is 34 feet long, 12 feet wide with flush decks. This task on Emelia is not so simple because she is 48 feet long, 14 feet wide and has a pilot house to maneuver around. Connie gets more nerves and thinks the task is not being done because it takes Gene a while to get to it. I let her know it is on the way and soon the ladder is mounted on her side of the boat. But by now the cuda has swam out of sight. Her son David jumps in with his snorkel gear and swims with Connie on her side of the boat. She is debating whether or not to take off her sparklies. (Jewelry) For now she leaves them on. With the cuda gone I decide it’s time to jump in, but while I’m at the edge of the boat I too am talking about taking off my anklet. I decide not to and I stand at the edge, poised to jump in, my feet are on the edge of the deck , I jump and as I hit air David yells to Connie, MOM! CUDA! GETOUT! NOW! All this is yelled before my feet hit the water. I’m in. I’m under. I glide down, eyes closed. I know the ladder is behind me and I turn and swim up. My hand grabs the ladder and my feet are on the first rung. I’m up and out. My eyes open and Connie is still in the same place poised to move, but I moved so fast that I think I’m not even sure I got wet. The cuda swam away for good and we all laughed at our antics. Ryan, Garrett and Evan row the dinghy to shore and the rest of us swim in. Gene, Ryan, Connie, Dave and I walk along the sandy beach while Garrett, Evan and David finger fight in the water. Ryan gets his under water camera and swims off to take pictures. Connie is very particular of where she’ll snorkel so we wait for her to decide where we’re going in. She doesn’t like swimming over grass as she’s not sure what is down there. We get our gear on and Dave is the first to go under. Connie is still on the edge getting her gear on and I’m a wimp and need to know someone is with me. So, Gene holds my hand. It’s a little murky, but I see a school of fish right under me. Suddenly the fish dart away, the whole school is gone. Dave yells through his snorkel, SHARK! CUDA! UNDER GENE! BIG! I freak out. I pull Gene’s hand, I want out. Gene pulls me back, he doesn’t want me to go. I pull him again and I yell, I WANT OUT! I realize I’m in less than three feet of water. I stand and I bogey my little butt out of the water. Connie is on the edge, wide eyed. I feel grass against my leg and I scream. I can’t stand it. Get me out. Gene and Dave come to the shore and we look for the shark and the cuda. They are there. Swimming close to shore, protecting their territory. Although Gene wants to go back in, no one else does. So, we walk along the shore and watch Ryan as he with out fear takes pictures. We all decide that for now that may be the best we’ll see of Buck Islands under water reef. As we walked we kept laughing about what happened. I should have known how big the shark would be. I was in less than three feet of water. It’s not like “Jaws” could swim there. Also, remembering how big Gene and Dave thought their lobster catch was should have put me at ease or at least should have made me pause and wonder how big is big. We hiked along a trail which brought us to the top of Buck Island. It didn’t take long and the view was wonderful. It’s nice knowing this little island is so protected and so many can enjoy the splendors of the beach, the trails and the large well cared for reef. We were back on the boat by 4pm the anchor was lifted and we were off. The wind behind us is just under 15 knots so we sailed back to St Croix with just our stay sail (this is a sail just at the front of the boat) it took just about an hour and we cruised in at 6 knots. We dropped the hook (anchor) got all of Eurisko’s gear on the dinghy and said our good nights. The kids went off to shore and Gene and I cleaned up. It took us no time at all to get everything out again. The only thing we couldn’t clean was the salt water off the outside. Gene and I were in bed by 7pm and I feel right to sleep. Gene was out like a light all night. Ryan and Evan were home by 11. At 11:25 it began to rain. I feel back to sleep knowing that Emelia was getting a fresh water wash down and everyone was safe and happy after a great day with friends.

2/8/2007

In paradise still waiting for the auto pilot parts. Gene has been doing little improvements to Emelia, writing songs and just hanging out. I’ve been reading, relaxing and making a windless cover and a mast boot cover. The windless is at the bow of the boat and it helps pull up the anchor. The mast boot is at the base of the mast where the mast meets the boat. Both of these covers are needed to keep them out of the sun and salt water. Ryan and Evan have been hanging out with Garrett, David and Santana having a great time.

2/9/2007

Tonight is Jump Up. St Croix’s, Christiansted street party. At 9am this morning the police were out in full force getting the streets closed for tonight’s big celebration. At 6pm the party began. We stood in awe as we watched the Macon Jamie get dressed for their big show. ….Willard John is the leader of the group. He is also the Principal of the Junior High School in town. He has been stilt walking for over 30 years and has been teaching stilt walking to children from age 10 on up for the last 25 years. There are 25 members in the troop, the youngest is 10 and the oldest is 24. They practice twice a week and four hours every Saturday. They are amazing to watch as they walk and dance for hours on stilts from 6 to 10 feet high. The stilts are wood with a stirrup for the foot which continues up the calf where the walker first wraps a towel around the leg and then four taught straps are tied. At the bottom of the stilt is a large rubber stopper placed on the wood to soften the step. Then the Maco Jambie is dressed in traditional costume with a mask and beaded, feather hat. We had a great time following them watching them walk and do amazing dance steps to the beat of the bands that filled music on each street corner.

2/11/2007

The auto pilot is fixed!!!!

2/13/2007-2/16/2007

We left St Croix anchorage at noon today. The seas are calm, the wind is great and Emelia is moving right along.

Valentine’s Day!!! Snickers candy bars all around.

We had a guest on our boat last night but we didn’t know about it until 8am. I woke up and saw some translucent white and blue candle wax looking stuff. When I picked it up it felt like baby finger nails. I had no idea what is was. It was the beginning of Evan’s watch so Gene asked me to wake him. I called Evan’s name, but he didn’t wake up. I bent over to kiss his forehead and as I did I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I did a double take as I thought since I’m wearing the patch I might be hallucinating or someone was trying to scare me. But, NO it was real and it was dead. A flying fish… Evan looked up and said he knew a FISH was on board, but wasn’t real sure as he only felt a small splash of water come from the top hatch in the middle of the night. This hatch has got to be 8 feet off the water. It seems that flying fish don’t wait to be caught instead they through themselves at you. A flying fish laying on the settee at Evan’s feet. Gene through it overboard and I wiped the cushions clean. Then to my surprise I saw more of those shiny blue and white things. Oh icky, they’re fish scales. Later I told everyone about the fish scales and it seems there were some on Evan’s shorts. Double ick.

At sunset Gene looked over and saw dolphin jumping. What a nice surprise. They came up to our bow and stayed with us for well over a half hour. All of us put our harnesses on and went to the bow and watched as 35 to 40 baby to adult dolphin played in the water. Dolphin are always the high light of any sail as they are so much fun to watch and look like they are really enjoying themselves.

We made it to Curacao in 67 hours. It has been to easiest sail yet. We even played a great game of Scrabble.

2/17/2007

We arrived at 7am and anchored next to Barbara Ann. Jackie woke up and stuck her head out of their cockpit to find us right next door. She screamed and was so excited to see us. We went into town to check in and had lunch at a little Dutch/Indonesian restaurant. We had sate’ and krupuk, bread dipped in mayonnaise with garlic, vegetables and apple pie. It was very good and tasted so much like my childhood Indo food.

2/18/2007

Ryan began windsurf lessons today. He loves it. He has lessons scheduled for the next four days for an hour and a half each day. He is quite good at it and his instructor complemented him on how well he is doing. Gene and I watched him and had such a great time. We were betting on him finishing without his beautiful, long, wavy, dark hair getting wet. It did, but not until the very end of his lesson.

We went to the boat Barbara Ann tonight for cocktail hour and met several other boaters. Angela, Ken, Jessie 11 & Riley 9 from the boat Tess, Bill & Katarina 11 from the boat Escape Velocity, Mary Jane, Eon and Emma 13 from the boat Sea Star. Gene brought his guitar, Ken his keyboard and Eon his flute. We had a great time getting to know each other, playing music and sharing stories. Tess is from Canada. They are finishing their four year sail around the world. They go from here to San Blas, Panama Canal, Hawaii then home by the beginning of the school year where Jessie and Riley will see their old friends and enter school. Escape Velocity is from Virginia. Bill and his daughter have been sailing for the last year and plan to go around the world. Bill enjoys sailing, unfortunately his wife, Nina, does not. Katarina enjoys it as well and as a family they have decided that Katarina should experience cruising life with Bill while Nina stays home and takes care of business. Sea Star is also from Canada and has been sailing around the world for the last four years. The experiences they have had are numerous, exciting and wonderful.

2/22/2007

Our first guests, Dr. Lisa Brown and David Lee Brown, are to arrive tonight. We are very excited and a little anxious about their visit. Everything is ready and we hope they have a great time on our boat and in Curacao.

2/23/2007,2/28/2007

I woke this morning and made pumpkin muffins while Lisa exercised on the bow. The weather is beautiful, but the winds are to strong to sail outside the protected cove we are anchored in. We went for a long hike past the salt ponds which have a pink hue from the algae growth, up a peak with gorgeous views, to the rock shore with large braking waves and on to a swimming hole with warm sea water about three feet deep. It was very cool and relaxing to sit in the water after our long warm hike. We had cocktail hour on Emelia tonight with all of our new friends as we wanted Lisa and David to experience the normal life of the cruiser. Gene, Ken and David played guitar and everyone shared stories, ate wonderful tasting appetizers and drank coconut rum Mia Tia’s.

Today was a great day for Lisa and David to lay around the boat and work on their tan and fall asleep in the shade.

We went to shore to snorkel Tugboat today. The water was perfect making visibility great. We saw the most colorful fish, a brown eel, coral, fans and more. We had a great time playing in the sea. Afterwards we went to town and had a tasty meal at an open air restaurant serving Dutch and Indonesian food.

Ok, I’m a chicken when it comes to snorkeling. I hold Gene’s hand and I float on my life jacket. So, when Roel de Bakker, the dive instructor at Down Town Dive by Tugboat, invited us to do an introduction Scuba lesson I was the first to say lets do it. Everyone laughed. David said he’d pay my way if I do. Well why not? I’m always the one who talks everyone else into doing stuff so, our introduction to Scuba lesson begins in the morning.

We had to watch a silly video before we went into the water. On the video it says, Scuba divers are more fun then regular people. We all got a kick out of this and decided this will be our new motto. Lisa, David and Gene are having an easy time with it. I on the other hand am not. I’m to chicken to do some of the skills needed to go down, so I’ve decided just to follow them on the surface. They are doing great. They went down about 20 feet to the sunken tugboat and swam in the middle of all the fish. They had a wonderful time. I on the other hand had a great time watching them and everyone was impressed at the fact I swam such a distance by myself. When we returned Roel took my hand and brought me down 15 feet and swam with me while I was in awe of this awesome new adventure. We wish we had known about this before Lisa and David joined us as they had so much fun they would have taken the whole course. When we returned to the boat we told Ryan and Evan that we are now more fun then them. This along with David and Lisa’s enthusiasm and the comfort they felt when meeting the instructor got them motivated to agree to take the Scuba Certification course. David and Lisa treated us to a wonderful dinner at Sari Fundy’s where we all ate to much and had a great time together.

Although we were not able take Lisa and David sailing and for various reasons we couldn’t seem to get our act together to take them on many adventures of the island, we think they had a pretty good, relaxing time.

3/1/07,3/4/2007

Alright, so now you know what a chicken I am in the water. Gene, Ryan and Evan are not. Ryan and Evan are like fish. They take to the water, love it and swim with much ease. Surprisingly, I have decided to try to Scuba. The instructor is very good and I feel confident with him. When we arrived at our lessons this morning I was surprised to find a fifth student. The instructor is only aloud to teach four at a time. If there is one to four more he must have an assistant. I almost backed out because of this as I wanted to make sure Ryan and Evan got the benefit of his knowledge. We agreed that the assistant would work with me, so here we go. The course will be three full days. Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Saturday we have planned a big hike to the highest point with a total of seventeen people.

Ryan, Evan, Gene and Jeannette, our new friend and student diver from Holland, did great. I watched them from the surface as they took off their mask, put them back on and cleared them (this is the main skill I am paranoid to do), they took off their BCD’s, the vest and tank, and put them back on, they took their regulators out of their mouths and put them back in, they used the spare regulator of their partner and to top off their skills they swam from 25 feet up to the surface without their regulator. I couldn’t do it. Luckily Roel knew how I felt so he had me dive with the group to 25 feet and swim along a small reef and under the pier. This was awesome. I had know problems with this. For the remainder of the day Roel’s assistant worked with me. Unfortunately , he did not make me feel comfortable and I was unable to do any skills. In the mean time the rest of the gang finished their skills and went for another dive.

Saturday morning. A break from Scuba. We have rented a fifteen passenger van which we hope will hold seventeen. Gene is our driver, I am the coordinator and Jackie has become our tour guide. We fit three rows of three and two rows of four. The drive is over an hour, but when we arrive the view is fantastic. The hike is strenuous, all up hill for an hour and a half. We use our hands to climb the last two hundred yards. The kids reach the top first, then the men and the women follow behind. We sit on top, enjoy a snack and a view of most of the island. The ocean surrounds three sides of our view and the fourth side is forest with a town in the far distance. It’s spectacular. Our hike down is just as hard, but very rewarding. We all hop in the van again and head for lunch. The food is ok and the view is beautiful. We are sitting high upon a cliff over looking a sandy beach and a small harbor. There are jet skiers down below pulling a man in a tub that looks like a blown up dress from neck to toe. We laugh as he holds on for dear life, being tossed and turned and were sure getting water up his nose. Lunch is over and we head to the van again. Our next stop is the Grocery store. Gene drives the kids back to the boat, but stops at McDonald’s for chocolate and vanilla shakes. He returns just as we finish and the van now carries seven passengers and three rows of seats and the floor full of provisions.

This morning I woke and decided I just don’t want to finish. It’s not fun for me and I feel I’m slowing everyone else down. Gene does not agree and asks me to finish. When we get to the Scuba school Roel is excited because he has found another assistant and thinks things will go more smoothly. I agree to continue. We watch another silly video and laugh at the fact that Ryan and Evan are now more fun then regular people. The gang continues to work on their skills while Roel’s assistant helps me. His name is Chris Curtin, he is from the states and he is very patient. We get started right away on my skills. I tried taking my mask off, but this still freaks me out. I’m able to take off my BCD, I’m able to take my regulator out of my mouth and I’m able to use Chris’s spare regulator. I’m even able to swim up 20 feet without breathing, but I can’t take off my mask. I go down and sit on the bottom while the rest of the gang does their skills. I do a couple with them and they all give the thumbs up. I’m excited that I’m here, but more excited to see that Ryan and Evan are really have a great time. It’s time to do another dive. This time 40 feet. Roel is leading, Gene is my partner, Ryan and Evan are behind me and Chris and Jeanette take up the rear. We all do great. I keep my hand in front of my mask just in case someone gets to close, but otherwise it’s wonderful. Of course we can’t talk, so hand signals are used. The only noise is our breathing and everything looks three times bigger and much closer then it is. We saw the most colorful fish, beautiful coral and a brown spotted eel. After the dive everyone was very happy and excited. Chris and I stayed in the water while the rest of the gang took a break. There is no question of the fact that everyone will be certified, but I will not if I don’t get over my fear of the mask removal. Chris is patient and I struggle on. I breath hard and try to relax, the mask comes off, but I swim to the surface. We try again. The mask comes off, I open my eyes, I swim to the surface again. We try again. We mask comes off, I open my eyes, the mask comes to my face, I swim to the surface and laugh, laugh laugh. It seems I couldn’t get it back on because my mouth was turned up to cover my nose and the mask had no where to go. We try again. Four more attempts and I do it. We come to the surface and shout hurray. Everyone on shore jumps up and down. They are happy to know I’ve done it. We join the others on shore and it is time for our final exam. We all pass. We have one more dive to complete. 60 feet down and without instruction. Roel and Chris will be with us, but will not tell us what to do. This dive is from a boat not walking in from shore. We get dropped off at Directors Bay and we are to swim back along the reef, pass the tugboat and on to shore. This dive will end at night. We do great. The view is fantastic. Again, Ryan and Evan are having a great time and they swim with ease. We saw a turtle and a baracuda. After our dive I have to take my mask off again. This time I do it on the first try. I, along with the rest of the group have passed and are certified. Wow, we are tired after an eleven hour day and we go to Sari Fundy’s for dinner. We talk about my struggles and the ease in which Ryan and Evan are naturals. Life is good and we’re having fun!!!

3/6/07

Mishaps and medical needs and someone is always there to help…Last night I left the internet club by myself on the dingy. Ryan and Evan wanted to stay longer, so they planned to get a ride back with Bill and Katerina. It was very dark, very windy and I had no shoes. I was a little uncomfortable so I put on my life jacket and thought I’m probably going to get stuck on the reef. I should have turned back as instinct told me, but I trudged forward. I turned on the back light to be sure other boats would see me and I turned the bend heading toward the reef. I was half way through when sure enough the water was to shallow and the motor got stuck. I tried to back out with no success. I tried lifting the motor, but it was just to heavy for me to pull up. I blew my whistle in hopes that someone on one of the boats near by would hear me and know that I’m there. I thought about Bill passing by in the next hour and wondered if will is my light and if the battery would last. I blew my whistle again. I saw no one on deck to help me. I sat for a while and tried to figure out some more options, but none of them worked. As I mentioned before I had no shoes, so I was concerned about getting out of the dinghy and pulling it to deeper water. I blew my whistle again and I saw a dinghy light in the distance. I wasn’t sure if they heard me, so I blew again and covered and uncovered my light three times. I pulled the oars out to measure the depth of the water. It was only a foot deep with a sandy bottom. I was getting ready to get out when a nice man by the name of John from the boat Queen of Hearts said his wife heard the whistle and made him come out to help as it was sure to be a women who would blow a whistle for help. He helped me lift the motor and we drifted off. He stayed with me until I was sure everything was working properly and I headed home…Gene has a really bad ear ache. Luckily Doctor Angela on the boat Tess has not left for San Blas yet. Angela came over and checked Gene’s ear and gave him ear drops and antibiotics. No charge, just to help. She told Gene she would do a follow up when we arrive in San Blas…Evan is itching terribly from a bad sunburn. I had nothing to ease his pain so I did an all call on the VHF and asked if any one had aloe or solarcain to stop sunburn pain. Diane from the boat…hailed back and I dinghied over to her boat to pick it up. It was so windy that she had to through the aloe into my dinghy as I couldn’t stop without the wind carrying me away. This is from someone I hadn‘t even met…I was to meet several other boaters to get a ride to the grocery store this morning. I got the dinghy ready, put a full six gallon jug of water in the bow to keep the wind from picking it up and Gene let the painter (the line that ties the dinghy to the boat) go. The dinghy motor died. I couldn’t’ get it started. The water was to deep to through out the anchor. I started rowing, but the wind was to strong and all I could do was keep the dinghy in place. Gene got on our rowing dinghy and I had to catch him and tie his dinghy to mine. He climbed on board only to find out I was out of gas. Luckily Joe on the water boat saw us and towed us back to Emelia….These are just a few examples of why I love cruising. People go out of their way to help. Thanks to all those cruiser who take time to help.

3/9/07

As most of you know my parents are Dutch and Curacao is a Dutch island. My parents spoke Dutch at home with us and to all of our cousins, so I understand it very well. The thing is it is very hard for me to speak as I have not practiced since my childhood. While here in Curacao I have asked everyone to speak Dutch to me and I have found that when I speak I add a few Dutch words into my sentences. So, we were at the grocery store today and I told Gene I was going to order two pieces of bread from the baker in Dutch. I prepared myself and said to the baker, “Twee sneetjes brood”. He responded by saying “speaka da Spanish?” Oh my gosh, Gene and I laughed so hard. The baker does not understand Dutch and here