TischTravels

Taiwan and the New Boat

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Captain’s Log July 18 to July 28, 2011

Visit to Ta Shing Shipyard and Taiwan

July 18: We left Detroit Metro Airport around 17:30 on a flight to San Francisco where we had planned a 24 hour layover on our way to Taiwan. We wanted to spend time with our nephew, Ben Stupka, and we were lucky that he had a little time free. He picked us up at noon and we drove down to Palo Alto for a quick look at the Stanford Campus and lunch downtown. We got back to the hotel around 15:30 and rested for our 16 hour trip to Kaohsiung Airport via Taipei. We left SF at 0130 Sunday morning. The primary purpose of our trip was to meet with the builders of our new yacht to work out design details.

July 19 - Arrival in Taiwan and Visit to Ta Shing Shipyard: We arrived on Monday morning in Kaohsiung, Taiwan at about 0730 and then proceeded to our hotel in Tainan City, about an hour away. We were met at the airport by officials of the Ta Shing Shipyard, Lillian (Deputy Manager) and Steve (Engineer in charge of our boat). Steve graduated from Ohio State and NYU in engineering. As we discovered, many of the company’s engineers, including the owner, Tim Juan, were educated in the U.S.

Kaohsiung is located on the southwestern tip of the island and is its second largest harbor. I visited Kaohsiung twice while in the Navy 46 years ago (WOW! am I getting old). Of course the place has changed beyond anything one could imagine. At that time it had been less than twenty years since the end of WWII and the nationalists escaped to Taiwan after being defeated by the Communists. Taiwan was a poor agricultural backwater. There was no global trade as we know it today, but the U.S. opened the trade door and we became the biggest customer of the Republic of China. The industry and ambition of the Taiwanese people is evident in their tremendous growth and in the development of their country.

Taiwan is an island located about 800 miles south of Japan, 200 mile east of China, and 200 miles north of The Philippines. It is about 250 miles long and 50 miles wide, and has a population of 23 million. The eastern two-thirds of the island is very mountainous, but the western coast is flat and fertile and is home to most of the population. Most of the Taiwanese are of Chinese extraction, but they have 14 aboriginal tribes comprising 80 thousand people that live mostly in the mountains and are happily integrated into the general population. This time of year is typhoon season; it is very hot and humid on the island, with frequent rain showers and almost no breeze. The area is tropical and verdant.

Driving from the airport to Tainan reminded me in some ways of the Detroit Area before we allowed so many of our manufacturing jobs to be shipped overseas. Large trucks carrying rolls of steel labored down the expressway. Large factories, steel mills, paper mills, and semiconductor plants…you name it and it is probably here. Small manufacturing businesses are everywhere and it looks a lot like Warren or Livonia or Fraser of my childhood when people started businesses and it wasn’t at all neat or tidy. Between the large plants are small plots of land planted with crops like rice, bananas, or melons. Many plots have been turned into fish farms. Land is at a premium. Apartment houses are clustered everywhere and built next to the roads. The first floors are generally occupied by small businesses, with the owners living upstairs. Between the apartment houses are small machine shops, welders, scooter companies, restaurants, nail-shops…anything needed by the thousands of people living nearby. It is clear when looking around that this place is all about making things. Looking out over the landscape one sees thousands of high voltage towers with their wires strung everywhere.

After we turned off the freeway we started to notice some interesting cultural differences from what we have seen elsewhere. First of all, Taiwan has a separate traffic lane for motor scooters. In a country of 23 million people there are 11 million motor scooters. As you drive along you see people of all ages buzz by like hornets, many of them carrying all sorts of things like their dogs, kids, boxes, babies, or groceries on their scooters. In the city proper, scooters are as thick as flies, but they seem like a very good solution to the problem of traffic congestion. The roads here are not crowded because so many people prefer to travel by scooter. It is cheap, fast, parking is easy, and scooters are economical. The Taiwanese have special lanes and turning boxes marked on the pavement to make using scooters easy and relatively safe. We also noticed that drivers were orderly and patient, and we never heard a horn blow in 6 days of driving around a city with 1.8 million people. The second surprise was the abundance of 7-Eleven stores; there is one on almost every corner, 7,000 altogether, and one for every 4,000 people. These stores are a little bigger than ours, and they act as mini supermarkets.

Tainan City is the oldest city on Taiwan and home to the largest number of historic Buddhist Temples. The city was originally built as a fort by the Dutch in 1620. For the most part, the buildings of the city are five stories or less in stature, although the newer buildings have elevators and are much taller. Our hotel was a lovely granite structure over 20 stories. Next to it was a new shopping center which was about 10 stories of glass and granite and was simply gorgeous. After we showered and changed clothes we met James Leishman (our PAE representative) and Coolie of Ta Shing in the lobby for lunch and our first trip to the Ta Shing Yard. We had lunch at a favorite restaurant not far from the yard: about ten courses of delicious Chinese food. Pacific Asian Enterprises (PAE) is the designer and owner of the Nordhavn brand of yachts and Ta Shing builds four of their larger models. PAE sells the boat and sets the specifications with the customer. They order many of the parts in the U.S. and ship them to Ta Shing for assembly. Ta Shing puts the whole thing together as well as fabricating the interior, the fiberglass, and stainless steel fittings. Ta Shing is known worldwide as one of the best shipbuilders in the world.

We were very excited to see Ta Shing and our new yacht. Driving down the street to the yard, one sees store fronts and small manufacturing businesses. All of a sudden, in the middle of the city the car turned into a driveway, a gate opened and there they were: huge, massive boats up on supports, perhaps 50 feet in height. We first went into the three story office building and met many of the people who were building our boat. After a few minutes we went aboard and met the artisans who were actually making it. These men are the most talented craftsmen I have ever seen. The interior was just beginning to take shape. The first thing they did was to make the door heights higher and alter several spaces to make it more comfortable for me to walk about; a tailor made boat. We spent the next five days working through details as well as shopping for granite and floor tiles. I put quite a few pictures on the www.tischtravels.com which will tell the story of our boat and Ta Shing.

That night Tim Juan, President, and B.K. Kao, V.P., took us all to dinner at a fabulous seafood restaurant near the fishing boat harbor. All kinds of seafood fresh from the ocean were on display in plastic tubs. Tim must have ordered twenty dishes, because the large table could hardly hold it all. It was a real treat.

July 20 – Peking Duck: Our day was filled primarily with design details, but it was interesting to see how much progress the carpenters accomplish in just one day. One of the things we did was to alter the height of the seat backs and length of the seat cushions to make the boat a little more comfortable. We also changed the layout of the salon so as to accommodate the size furniture we need. This exercise took quite a bit of time.

Tim asked me what we would like to have for dinner that evening. I mentioned that I love Peking Duck, so Lillian picked us up around 6 PM so that we could go with her to pick up a duck and watch them prepare it. She drove us to a street vendor a few blocks from our hotel. On the corner were a large smoking oven and a young woman who was slicing ducks a mile a minute. She would pull a duck out of the smoker, put it on a chopping block, slice small strips from the breast and thigh and put them neatly on a paper plate, and then she chopped what was left into small pieces. These she gave to an older man who threw them in a wok with some greens and a liquid. She put the whole thing in a plastic bag and handed it to the waiting customer. When our turn came, we grabbed our duck and drove to a restaurant where the others were waiting, and they served the duck along with an additional ten or twelve delicacies that Tim selected. Once again, it was a five star event! The entire interior of the restaurant was made of brown marble. Pictures are on www.tischtravels.com .

July 21 – Fabricating our new boat and a visit to a giant food court: One of the most interesting things that Ta Shing does is to buy large teak logs from Burma and have them turned into teak veneer for the boats they build. B.K., Ta Shing’s V.P., told me that it takes real expertise to select quality logs, as they could be rotted or cracked even though on the outside that may appear of high quality. Each log cost $7,000 or more.

Logs are taken to a specialized company that spins the logs on a lath to produce very thin layers of wood that are glued to a backing that is applied over the wooden interior being constructed on the boat. After the interior is finished, it will look like a fine piece of furniture.

That evening we had dinner in the food court of the department store next door. While the food wasn’t particularly good, it was an interesting experience. The court is very large, perhaps 5 acres in size with every sort of food available from McDonalds to Tai Pad.

July 22 - Opera and seeing our new boat coming to life: Ta Shing fabricates the shell of the yacht using huge fiberglass molds. The molds themselves were made of fiberglass fabricated by applying FG over wooden forms created in great detail according to original PAE designs. Each mold originally costs over $1 million. The molds are obviously larger than the yacht itself, and therefore take up a lot of floor space. In making the boat, workers layup fiberglass by hand one layer at a time until the hull is the desired thickness. The bottom of the hull is about 6 or 7 inches thick, while topside structures are much lighter. It takes a few months just to build the fiberglass components. Once out of the mold, the hull is put on a huge steel frame that will hold the boat until it is taken off a ship in the U.S. After that the carpenters begin to build the interior structure and the yacht begins to come to life.

That evening Lillian took us to dinner and the Chinese Opera. We dined at the 100 year old noodle factory; I do not know if that is an official name or just a description, but it was fantastic. The restaurant was a real traditional Chinese place in a Ch’ing Dynasty era building. The interior was classic and old. The roof line was a classical arch with red tiles, the interior ceiling was made of timbers that were blacked by years of cooking fires, the walls in the room that we sat in were painted red that had acquired a patina from years of use that made it especially beautiful. The room next to us was painted a lite green and it had a window from which hung a red Chinese lantern and a door that sagged on its hinges. All together it presented a rich milieu for the senses, and the food was the best we had yet experienced. Tim surprised us by joining us for dinner and once again he picked about ten dishes for us to enjoy. A couple of memorable dishes were the Tainan BBQ sausage, noodles in special sauce; shrimp coated in a sort of honey glaze, and of course several vegetable courses that were prepared perfectly. It was all just great.

After dinner we went to the opera, which was held in a square a block or so from the restaurant. To the western ear a Chinese Opera sounds a bit like cats fighting to the accompaniment of clanging symbals and screeching violins, but the beauty of the costumes and the elegant movements of the actors is something to behold. It is a feast for the senses. After a few minutes your ear gets into it and you can tell that the opera is a parody of life set in a very dramatic venue. It was really a treat to see. The audience of perhaps five thousand people sat mesmerized. We have posted several pictures on the web for your enjoyment on www.tischtravels.com. Meanwhile, across the street was another entertainment venue, a karaoke performance put on in the yard of an historical site, the Chih-Kan Tower. The Chihkan Tower, which was originally named Fort Provintia, was built in 1653 by Dutch colonizers. The Dutch didn't hang out too long in Taiwan; in 1662 Zheng Chenggong, a Chinese general, recovered Taiwan for the Ming Dynasty.

July 23 - The Wedding: Friday was a special day in that we finished up the design issues on N6823, our new boat. The time change of twelve hours was catching up with us so we needed a little time off in the afternoon to nap and prepare for the wedding party that evening. Tim invited us several days before to the wedding of one of the craftsmen working on our boat, Hanquin. The wedding was being held during the day, but the reception was that evening at 1900. In this case the wedding, as we understood it, was accomplished by the bride (Weejen) walking across the threshold of the groom’s home at a propitious moment determined by astrologists. It is important to find a potentially lucky time. There are other ways to get married in the Chinese tradition, but this apparently is one of them (if I understand it correctly). The bride rents several gowns including a white traditional wedding gown, which is worn for picture taking purposes. No formal attire is worn for the actual wedding. For the reception the bride changes into gowns of other colors such as black, red, yellow, and beige. The gowns other than the bridal gown are worn during the reception or for picture taking purposes. The reception can be a very big affair, and this one seemed big to me, although we were told that this wedding of about 300 to 350 was moderate by Chinese standards. The cost of the reception is supposed to be paid by the guests, and they are expected to bring a red envelope with money inside to pay for their proportionate cost. Hanquin and Weejen’s (I cannot be sure that I have the English spelling correct, but I have noticed that the English spelling of Chinese words can vary considerably anyway) wedding reception was held in the parking lot of a magnificent Buddhist temple. A large trailer truck had backed into the lot and parked near the entrance. The trailer opened like a fan and a large stage complete with a light show unfolded. We were told that similar portable stages can be rented that include striptease and pole dancing, an attraction that is sometimes seen at weddings and funerals. Between the stage and the temple was a tented area covering about 40 tables, each capable of seating ten people. Since it was very hot and it often rains in the late afternoon and evening, the tented roof provided protection and little fans hanging from the supports help keep air moving in the sweltering heat.

At 1900 the festivities began as Tim, Hanquin’s employer, walked to the stage to give a speech to honor the families. When he came back to our table, he told me that Rebecca and I were considered highly honored guests and that it was expected that I would go onstage and also deliver brief remarks. Then began the wedding feast: first, four or five dishes including sea snake (a favorite of Rebecca’s), fish stomach, fish, and a dish that even our Taiwanese friends couldn’t identify. The next course was baked sizzling cod, then came sushi. Next came a fruit dish (Washington State Cherries on ice), and Tim told us this was the half-way point or seventh inning stretch. Of course Taiwanese Beer was served (which is very good indeed) as well as red wine and tea. By this time people were feeling no pain and we were moving around the tables to meet and great people, many of whom we recognized as having been working on our boat. At this point Tim asked me to come to the stage to give little speech of congratulations, which I did in the sweltering heat. Basically I said a few words in Chinese that Tim taught me and wished the couple the good fortune in marriage that we have had. Then, back to the table for more food. Next came scallops, then scampi, then a baked mushroom delight, a BBQ chicken, and then the waiters brought the coup de grace: a table stove was produced, pot of water, a plate of vegetables and lobster, all to put in the pot and brew into a delicious lobster soup over the next half hour .

During the meal family members were invited on stage to perform their favorite songs in karaoke style. The bride’s sister and her boyfriend acted as masters of ceremony. The whole event was very entertaining and well done. Lastly the waiters served a pudding as dessert. At this point everything stopped--it just stopped suddenly. People put down their drinks, the music stopped and everyone started leaving. I looked at Tim: he explained that when the dessert is finished that is the end of the party and it is time to go home, and they did! As I was shoveling the last spoonful of pudding into my mouth, the workers were taking the tent apart above my head and the stage was coming down. When it’s over, it’s over! We had a good laugh at this cultural peculiarity.

July 24 - Touring Tainan and enjoying both vegetarian and mango treats: The next morning, our last in Tainan, Tim, Ifeng, and Jessica took us on a tour of the city. There are four big cities in Taiwan each having a population over one million people: Taipei, Taichung, Kaohsiung, and Tainan. Tainan is the oldest and richest in historical treasures and dates from its founding by the Dutch as a fort in 1620. The Dutch lasted only about 50 years until the Chinese general Koxnigna took the fort in a brief battle and reclaimed Taiwan as a Chinese province (which it remained until the Japanese took it in the late 1800’s). We toured the fort, the old part of the city nearby as well as two old and beautiful Buddhist Temples. We stopped for lunch at the best vegetarian restaurant that Rebecca and I have ever experienced. Tim once again ordered a lucky number of courses, and they were absolutely the best yet. It was a wonderful treat. Too bad no one in the U.S. that we have found has discovered the secrets of this chef. One of the things that we enjoyed in Taiwan was the quality of their tofu, which is much better than anything we have. They also use mushrooms in wonderful ways. After lunch we drove about the city seeing the newer apartments, the City Hall, and other sites including the fishing harbor. As the sun was setting, Tim took us to the night market, a huge open air market where vendors sell new goods at low prices. It was absolutely wall-to-wall people. The sights and smells were a great experience as people crammed the narrow aisles under the stars in stifling heat, looking for a deal, a snack, or stopping for a game along the way. We left after about a half hour, and we all decided that we really didn’t need a dinner stop. Tim suggested a fruit dessert stop. It seemed a little bizarre to me, but hey, he hadn’t been wrong yet. After a few minutes of driving Tim turned and parked in front of a tiny storefront shop. In front in the dim light were some small tables and chairs crowded by people eating huge bowls of mangoes and ice cream. The bowls were the nearly the size of bowling balls. Tim asked if we wanted one...Rebecca and I shared one. It turned out to be one of those special moments when you know you have found something unlikely to be duplicated in one’s experience again. We have never had mangoes like these, and they are grown in the south of Taiwan only a few miles away. A sort of heaven on earth!

We reluctantly said good-bye to our friends Tim, Jessica and Ifeng. It had been a wonderful visit to Ta Shing and Tainan. All the people that we met were so kind, hospitable, thoughtful and generous. Honestly, the expenses of having us visit the company and all the meals Tim purchased on our behalf was beyond anything that we expected.

July 25 - Alishan Forest: We were picked up at our hotel at 0900 by our driver and guide for the next four days. We drove northeast about one-third of the way up the island and then turned east and began to ascend the Alishan Mountains. The Alishan Mountains are amazingly steep, like no mountains I had seen before. Jade Mountain, the highest mountain in the chain, rises over 12,000 feet above the ocean, which is within view. These mountains, like the Nevada Sierras and other coastal mountains, appear to be an upwelling of the ocean floor, packed mud and rock. They also seemed to be unstable, subject to frequent earthquakes and torrential seasonal rain. Driving through the mountains, there is plenty of evidence of terrific landslides that have removed huge sections of the mountains. As we ascended we could see the different climatological areas as the fauna changed from palms and bamboo, to tea plantations, pines, and finally cedars. On the way we stopped at the Taos indigenous peoples’ tea plantation and cultural village for lunch. It was an interesting place, and had the strangest 8 foot statue if an erect penis right in the middle of everything, the biggest I had ever seen. Our trip ended that day at a 100 year old Alishan Park Hotel in the center of a huge national park. It was quite beautiful as huge cedars, once among the largest trees on the planet before the Japanese harvested them during the early twentieth century, flourished in the cloud forest.

July 26 – Sun-Moon Lake and Taichung City: Sun-Moon Lake is a reservoir for Taichung City. Despite its small size, the lake is a popular recreation area with its hotels and lake cruises. Unfortunately, Taiwan has very limited recreational facilities or opportunities as the island has only a few beaches and all the land we saw was being cultivated or used for industry or residential purposes. We drove several hours down the mountain to Taichung City, Taiwan’ s second largest. On the way we saw several very large river channels that reflected the size and strength of the runoff from the torrential rains that sweep the island every summer. We approached Taichung by way of an elevated highway that crossed one of many river beds in the area. The freeways are very impressive both in their size and complexity of construction. When we first saw Taichung from the highway we were astonished by its size and architectural sophistication. It looked like New York City in many ways, but as we left the freeway and began driving on city streets the similarity ended: Taichung was new with large and beautiful buildings, wide tree lined streets, and very modest levels of traffic. Of course we were in the New Taichung City, and older, more congested areas are still in place. Several million people live here. We stayed in a new 50 story hotel in the downtown area. Taichung has recently built a new, stunningly beautiful city hall, a picture of which I have posted.

July 27 - Lukang and Taipei City: From Taichung we drove to Taipei City via Lukang, a small city with several historic treasures. The most important site was a 350 year old Buddhist Temple built during the Ming Dynasty. It was a beautiful place and I have put several pictures on www.tischtravels.com. Lukang also has an historic district of Ch’ing Dynasty (circa 1840) era buildings. It was very similar to the old cities we visited a few years ago when we traveled up the Yangtze River. These old neighborhoods are human scale and very comfortable and interesting, unlike many modern era neighborhoods. After tea at a small street restaurant, we moved on to Taipei City, capital of Taiwan. It was a three hour drive, but there was never an open area of countryside; like Southern California, it is all built up or used for agriculture. When we got within a half hour of the city center we saw a huge construction project; a duplicate freeway of about eight lanes in each direction was being built overhead on each side of the freeway. It is a massive project unlike anything I have seen before. As we approached the city proper, the Taipei 101 Building came into view. We got off the freeway and drove to our hotel in the middle of town next to Taipei 101. Many of the buildings were new and very sheik architecturally. We stayed at the Hyatt, which was a new and lovely hotel. That evening we dined on the 86^th floor restaurant of Taipei 101, which is attached to their World Trade and Convention Center. It provided a memorable and delightful experience. The next day we toured the city and saw the center of government, the Chang Kai-shek Memorial and the SunYat-sun Memorial. We also visited the Palace Museum, which has a fabulous collection of Chinese art and historical treasures.

That evening we reluctantly left Taiwan for home. We departed at 2310 on the July 27^th, arrived in San Francisco at 2200 on the 27^th, 3 hours earlier, and reached Detroit at 0630 on July 28^th! The time difference on the clock is 12 hours; when it is 6 PM here, it is 6 AM there.

Our overall observation of Taiwan is of a people who are very disciplined, kind and hard working. In all the time we spent driving around we never heard a horn or saw a discourteous gesture while driving. All the people that we talked with want Taiwan to remain independent. They do not want to become part of a mainland China. Public investment is apparent. Many of the professional people we met have been educated in the U.S. The government is clearly in the process of rebuilding their cities and infrastructure. Public spaces are more important to Taiwan society since they seem to invest less in private housing then we do, although everyone we spoke with aspires to a private home rather than an apartment. Family relationships are very strong in the Taiwanese society.

In the “it’s a small world” category, we learned while at Ta Shing that Tim’s (Ta Shings’s president) brother lives in Ann Arbor, got his PhD at the University of Michigan, now works at Ford, and that his children were patients of Rebecca when she was in practice.

Our new boat is now about one-third complete and will probably be shipped to Florida in early January. It should be in Florida by mid-February and available to us in early April. At that point we will embark on a shakedown cruise over the summer to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and then we will probably head south to round Cape Horn in 2013 or 2014.

Thank you for your interest in our little adventure.

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Comment on: Taiwan and the New Boat

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 01:01:52 GMT

Randy and Rebecca, thank you for sharing your Taiwan experience. We have been guests of the Tainan group and agree that there can be no more gracious hosts! Your comments evoked many wonderful memories. Rick and I look forward to meeting you on the seas! Debbie Heiniger Eliana, N7617

Comment on: Taiwan and the New Boat

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 01:01:26 GMT

Norfolk to Rhode Lsland

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Captain’s Log June 14 to July 4, 2011

The Great Mango Run – Norfolk to NYC, NYC to Newport R.I.

June 14 & 15: We had a great time in the Norfolk area and reluctantly left for our two day cruise north along the coast to New York City. For the most part it was a very pleasant trip, although a little lumpy until I moved Odyssey closer to shore. We arrived at the NYC ship channel about 2300. It begins as a separated sea lane about 30 miles from the harbor off the coast; the sea lane leads to the Ambrose Channel and the Verrazano Narrows. We arrived in the New York City harbor about 0800 on the 16^th.

June 16, Thursday: Entering NYC harbor was a special thrill; passing under the Verrazano Bridge, seeing the Manhattan skyline, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the Brooklyn Bridge. Wow! After dodging the ferries and sightseeing boats, we headed to our birth at Liberty Landing Marina. We tied up to a very nice dock, and then decided to tour Ellis Island, a place we had never seen. Most of our tour was predictable, having seen pictures before coming here, yet being in a place communicates emotional and small facts that you can’t get by reading or watching a TV program. It is hard to imagine that about 20% of the country’s population in the early 20^th century came through Ellis Island. We were surprised to learn that only passengers of the great steamships who arrived with less than a second class ticket came to Ellis Island. If you were a 1^st or 2^nd class passenger, the immigration and customs officials came to the ship and cleared you in personally. If you held a lower class ticket, you were escorted to a barge, taken to Ellis Island and then herded through the bureaucracy. Seeing little things like the food service or medical evaluations available to emigrants was interesting, and of course imagining the emotional reunions of family members and the thought of entering America without much money, knowledge of the language or its customs brought into clear focus the determination and courage of these people.

That evening our daughter Kathryn and her special friend Neal joined us. Kathryn arranged dinner at a twenty-something restaurant in the meat packing district, the city’s new “in” neighborhood and night life mecca. I notice a high positive correlation between the popularity of the restaurants and their state of state of decrepitness.

June 17, Friday: Two days at sea and a busy touring day left us tired and in need of a little rest. Kathryn and Neal joined us onboard Odyssey for dinner and stayed over in preparation of our East River cruise and a trip to Port Washington on Long Island. We had a lovely time together.

June 18, Saturday: The cruise up the East River was fantastic, much more interesting than I had imagined. While I am not a particular fan of Gotham, I must say that seeing all the sights of the city by water was a real treat. As you probably know, The East River is really not a river, but tidal water connecting the harbor with Long Island Sound. The river begins at the Battery, flows under the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg and other bridges, past City Hall, the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings, Midtown, the United Nations, Roosevelt and Riker’s Island, and then out to the sound. All-in-all it was about a two hour trip and another hour to get to Port Washington, where we planned to spend the weekend. Port Washington is a suburb of NYC and really doesn’t have much to recommend it, but we had a great family visit. We stopped there because it gave Neal and Kathryn a chance to catch the railroad back to the city.

June 19, Sunday: Sunday was Father’s Day and luckily I could spend most of it with Kathryn. Last year she was with us in Vancouver. Monday we decided to move up to Sag Harbor on the tip of Long Island about 90 miles away, an 11 hour cruise. It was a lovely day, calm waters, sunshine and our route kept us close to the picturesque shoreline. We anchored in the harbor that night and the next morning cruised about 10 miles around Shelter Island to Greenport, also a picturesque little seaport town. It was a beautiful early summer day and the cruise around the Great Peconic Bay and Shelter Island gave us a chance to see the often palatial and beautiful homes of the rich and famous. Greenport boasts Claudio’s, a seafood restaurant on the pier that claims to be the oldest restaurant in the U.S owned continuously by the same family. These little towns all seem to boast some trivial fact of history. It is a cozy and inviting spot with very good food. We rented a car and over the next few days toured the north and south fork of the island, visiting such places as Sag Harbor, East Hampton, South Hampton, and Bridge Hampton. These are really lovely places. They are famous for the large summer homes, and the bountiful shops that lie in wait along the main streets. Most of the really large residential properties are difficult to see because of the characteristically giant, well manicured hedges that are unique to this part of the country. The hedges themselves are quite something to see. Very large dogwoods are abundant and in full bloom, and other trees species such as oak and beach and other mature hardwoods graced the beautiful landscape. Of course every little town has a museum, and most of the more famous towns have the best designer stores in the country. The colonial architecture is well preserved as is the whaling and fishing heritage. The north fork of Long Island has developed quite a wine industry, with vineyards everywhere. Jamesport is in the middle of it all and home to a very fine restaurant named Jeddah Hawkins. It is located in a beautifully restored Victorian mansion. None of the restaurants seem to present the local wines. We spent about four days traveling about the area and it was delightful.

June 25: This morning we set off for Block Island, which is about 25 miles east of Long Island and about halfway to Martha’s Vineyard. It was a bright and lovely day. Block Island is shaped like a lamb chop with a large lake like harbor in the middle. We were told that during the summer as many as 2,200 boats cram the little bay, particularly when there is a regatta. Because space is at a premium, we tied up to a buoy for the night. The island is mostly a vacation destination, either for day visitors who come by ferry from New Bedford, or by cottage owners who stay the summer. The cottages are traditional sea port style with grey cedar shake siding and white trim. The island has few trees except in the low areas, and is rocky with green grass and cattails growing in the marshes. The main restaurant is the Oar Inn in the new harbor and provides a beautiful vista of the bay and the boats. The little tourist town is a short $11 cab ride away and has a full complement of ice cream and tee shirt shops, but is nevertheless worth a visit. It was all very pleasant.

June 26: We put out for Cutty Hunk, and other small island about 25 miles east and about 20 miles north of Martha’s Vineyard. Our transit was in a pea soup fog. Luckily it cleared up just before we entered the little bay. Here we met up with Curtis and Melanie Hoff, dear friends from Ann Arbor. They own a beautiful Fleming 55. We had a delightful time together visiting the island and enjoying breakfast at the “Fishing Club”. The Fishing Club was started decades ago. Its members included Teddy Roosevelt, J.P. Getty, FDR, H.S. Truman and others. It was a very modest camp, and had a cupboard with small locked lockers for the members to lock up their alcoholic beverage of choice (during Prohibition). The lockers are still there, but I am not sure the club is still in business. The facility operates today as a B&B and serves breakfast to the public. It is popular among the locals. The island is dry and has no other restaurants or gathering places. They do, however, have fresh lobsters, scallops and occasionally fresh sword fish and stripers. We enjoyed a wonderful lobster dinner aboard our boat one night, and a great scallop salad on “Hither’n Yon’ the next night.

June 28: This was our last day at sea and the last day of The Great Mango Run: we left Cutty Hunk Island around 1300 for Portsmouth, R.I. It was about a three hour run, and a beautiful day it was. Our last few hours on this trip were really memorable as we cruised up the Sakonnet River to Portsmouth. We had never been to Rhode Island before: it is a very beautiful place, with vibrant green pastures and hardwood knolls rolling down the hills to the sea. The shore and cliffs are dotted with beautiful homes some of which are spectacular mansion. After tying up at the Nordhavn dock we rented a car and drove to Newport, about 15 miles away. That evening we dined at The White Horse Tavern, established before 1673 and is reputed to be the oldest remaining tavern in the U.S. It was a very interesting and busy place and they had the best swordfish we have yet enjoyed in these parts. Newport has an historic district that runs about 20 blocks down Thames Street to an ocean drive around the peninsula and the Mansion District. Historic buildings along the way are marked with signs dating their origin. The historic area dates from the mid 1600’s, and is very quaint and interesting. Wonderful seafood restaurants abound near the dock where lovely yachts are moored. Huge (by our standards) hydrangeas resplendent in brilliant blue grace the lawns and byways, most of which are neatly manicured.

June 29 to July 4th: Aside from cleaning the little hidden places, packing, and moving off the boat we took time to see the Newport area. First we toured the Mansion District and went through The Breakers and Rosecliff homes; both were spectacular. The Breakers is 67,000sq. ft. and built at a cost in today’s dollars of $310 million ($12.5 million in 1895 when it was built). The Breakers was owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt II, son of the founder of the New York Central Rail Road and an associated Steamship Company. Vanderbilt died at age 57, just a year after the home was completed. Another mansion, Rosecliff, was built by the daughter of the owner of the Comstock Lode in Nevada. Both houses were built as summer cottages and used for about two months during the summer party season in Newport. We were told that to participate in the “season”, one was expected to host 6 dinner parties for 60 or more people and two balls with at least 600 guests. The budget at Rosecilff for the two summer months was about $7 million in today’s dollars. These homes were beautiful and lavish by any standard. They epitomize the “Gilded Age” of American capitalism before the adoption of the income tax by the federal government. Today, many of the homes are open for tour and cared for by the local historical society. About an equal number are still privately owned and seem to be occupied and well cared for.

We drove the Ocean Drive, which is a very beautiful trip of ten miles or so along the coast. That afternoon, Kathryn and Neal joined us, so we got a chance to drive to Providence to pick them up at the RR station. Providence was a surprise, in that it is a lovely city with an imposing and beautiful white marble capital building that is among the loveliest I have seen in my travels. For a tiny state, they have a big capital!

The next day we spent about 32 hours onboard Migration, a newly commissioned 68 foot Nordhavn owned by George and Marci Ann Laycock. George told me he took ten trips to Taiwan to look over construction during its twelve month construction period. I asked him if he felt he was obsessive by nature, but said he didn’t think so, although he allowed that others may have a different point of view. Migration is a spectacular boat and similar to the one now being built for us. The Laycock’s showed us around and we got many good ideas for our new boat. That afternoon we had a very nice lunch on the dock and then walked around the historic shopping district.

July 3^rd was cloudy and misty, but we took the boat around Aquidneck Island, past Ocean Drive and the Mansions, past Newport, then up the Providence River to Bristol, R.I. anyway. Bristol claims to have been the first place (1785) to celebrate the 4^th of July, and it still has the biggest and most enthusiastic celebration in these parts. We anchored in their harbor overnight and enjoyed the fireworks from the stern of Odyssey, after a wonderful dinner prepared by Kathryn and Rebecca. The next day we moved back to Portsmouth and then took Neal to Providence to catch his train back to the city. Except for two days of cleaning and moving the rest of our belongings off the boat, that was the end of The Great Mango Run.

Prologue: We have had a few days to reflect on our trip since returning to Ann Arbor. It was a spectacular adventure, one that we are anxious to continue. The beauty of the earth as seen from Odyssey is beyond description. The color of the sea, the marine life, the volcanoes of the Pacific Rim, the great sand beaches of Mexico and Central America…everyday was exciting and memorable. The adventure of piloting our boat into unknown places and challenge of the sea and the forces of nature and to come through it unscathed was a terrific thrill. The trip afforded us the opportunity to invite friends and loved ones aboard and to get to know them in a way that we could never do in any other venue. And finally, we met many lovely people along the way, all of whom were a delight to encounter and, in some cases, get to know. We never had a moment of feeling at risk or in danger; on the contrary, all the people we met were happy to assist us and were interested in our adventure. It was a fantastic trip. We dream about it and recall lovely memories all the time.

Freeport to Norfolk via Florida

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Captain’s Log May 24 to May 13, 2011

The Great Mango Run –

Freeport, Bahamas to Norfolk, Va.

May 26, Saturday: We left Nassau late in the afternoon for an overnight run to Freeport, our last stop before returning to the USA. I for one was anxious to get back home to U.S. waters. It was a calm, lovely evening and the cruise was delightful across deep, open water. What a thrill it is to run Odyssey, particularly in such nice conditions. Around 1000 the next morning we made Freeport, but we had to drop anchor and wait 8 hours for the next high tide because the entrance to the harbor was just 4 feet at low tide and too shallow for Odyssey. Of course this wasn’t the main shipping harbor, but Lucaya, a yacht harbor just outside of town. Yachts are not encouraged to go into the industrial harbor s there are no yacht facilities.

May 27 & 28: Lucaya is a fun port, with several yacht clubs, hotels, casinos, a golf course and shopping facilities. A lot of things were closed as this is now the off season in Florida and the Bahamas. We tied up around 1600 and went for a walk along the pier, grabbed a beer and dinner. When we got back to the boat some people came by to admire her and told us that a weather front was on the way that would keep us in Lucaya for a week unless we left in a day or two.

May 29, Saturday: First thing we called OmniBob to find out about the weather. Sure enough, we had to leave on Saturday or Sunday in order to avoid some big seas. We decided to take Saturday (5/25) and tour the area. We grabbed a bus and went to Freeport, which as it turns out is pretty limited. The big hotels – Xanadu and Paradise Island– are out of business, so the “downtown” doesn’t really exist anymore. All the action is at Port Lucaya, and that isn’t worth much more than a day.

As I mentioned above we took a bus to town from Port Lucaya. The busses here are just little Nissan vans and the bus stops are located next to police stations (which seems like a good idea). When we got in there was the driver, a man and his boy aboard. As soon as we got in they asked about us and in the course of things we found out that the male passenger was a fisherman. All the Bahamians we met were very kind, laid back people.

May 30, Sunday: We left Port Lucaya on the morning tide and hoped to make the 90 mile crossing of the Gulf Stream in 11 hours. It was a lovely day and our crossing was picture perfect. Our destination was Lake Worth Inlet near West Palm Beach. Originally we had hoped to go directly to Port St. Lucie and Stuart, Florida which is the location of Nordhavn’s facility. This is where our new boat will be commissioned and we planned to unload a bunch of stuff from Odyssey and move it to the new boat next February. But Port St. Lucie is very shallow and must be approached only at high tide and with someone with local knowledge. As it was Memorial Day weekend, no one was available so we put in at Old Port Cove Marina, north of West Palm Beach. Entering a unfamiliar harbor is always cause for a certain amount of anxiety, and this transit proved no exception. We got to the inlet about 1700 and the waves had been building late in the day. It was Sunday of a big holiday weekend and all manner of floating vehicles were running about, completely disregarding the fact that we are fairly big and cannot stop on a dime. We made our way around Peanut Island and planned to follow the inter-coastal waterway north. The interesting thing here are the channel signs: when a boat comes from the ocean the red markers are supposed to be on the starboard side of the boat (right side when facing forward) , but when you reach the inter-coastal the signs reverse if you are going north, red is on the port side. If you leave the inter-coastal and enter a waterway or marina channel, the signs reverse again! In addition, the waterway is narrow, shallow, and there were hundreds of boats and thousands of people out enjoying the afternoon. We moved Odyssey very slowly along the five mile or so channel, picking our way amongst the boats, surf boarders, jet skis, and swimmers. It was a mesmerizing scene: so many boats, so many people, so many bikinis, so little room! We eventually made it through the maze and under the Riviera Beach Bridge, moved up the channel and found our marina. By this time the wind was blowing pretty hard, but we tied her up and joined the little party on the dock.

May 31, Monday: When you enter the U.S. by private yacht you have to call the U.S. Customs service upon tying up. They ask a few questions then issue a number: you have 24 hours to report to a facility in person. As we arrived on a holiday weekend, everything was made more difficult and expensive. As it turns out we had to take a cab to the airport, rent a car, then go to the general aviation building and check in there. After that exercise, we provisioned the boat and returned to Odyssey.

June 1, Tuesday: We had hoped to move the boat to Stuart, but arrangements couldn’t be made until the next day. I needed to buy some charts for the east coast and attend to a few boat related things, so the day resulted in a tour of the area and a little R&R.

June 2-3-4: John Hoffman, Nordhavn’s commissioning manager came by at 0600 and we got Odyssey underway for the four hour trip up the inter-coastal to Stuart. The Inter-coastal Waterway is a canal that runs along the east coast and permits small vessels to travel without going on the open ocean. As we traveled we encountered many bridges, each with an operator and opening schedule. As we approached each one, we called to request an opening and then waited for the exact time that it is supposed to open. Most open every half hour on the hour, others on the quarter. Along the shore are many beautiful homes belonging to some of America’s wealthiest people, including Tiger Woods, Gregg Norman and others. By noon we had reached Stuart and tied up to Nordhavn’s facility. During the next few days we prepared for the sale of our beloved Odyssey and the time next winter when we will be back in Stuart to commission the new boat.

June 5-6-7: We left the Nordhavn dock at 1100 on Saturday morning and were headed for Norfolk, Va., about 700 miles north. This would bring us to within 300 miles of our final destination. During most of the trip we would be several hundred miles off the coast and positioned in the middle of the Gulf Stream. It is a long trip for the two of us to undertake, about 3 ½ days underway. We generally try to take a 6 hour watch, which allows us about 5 1/2 hours of sleep plus nap time during the day. Three days at a time is about the most that I think we can safely handle: if it gets too rough and we lose a night’s sleep we could get pretty punchy, which could be dangerous if something went wrong. The first day out of Port St. Lucie was a little lumpy, but improved over the afternoon as we headed north. Day two was very nice, with a big, slow swell and a low surface wave passing under us from the north-east. Day three was not very nice: we encountered seas that built over the day to 7-8 feet by early evening. Rebecca smelled smoke and we looked all over the boat, but finally concluded that it was a forest fire ashore. Outside it was hazy and smelled of smoke. Our last day out was beautiful and calm. It is hard to realize on such a lovely day that these are among the most dangerous waters in the world. Today, however, it is the kind of day we live for. As we moved northward toward Norfolk we could hear the Navy’s guns firing during a live fire exercise, and, in the distance, the roar of jets taking off from a carrier.

We arrived at the Chesapeake Bay at 1900 and proceeded to the entry channel. Four and half hours later we anchored off Hampton Roads across for the world’s largest naval base. It was very exciting to anchor across form so many capital ships of the Navy. The next day we completed our passage to Norfolk by moving another hour down the channel into the inner harbor and tied up in Portsmouth, across the harbor from Norfolk proper.

June 8 - 13: We found this part of Virginia a very pleasant surprise. Portsmouth and Norfolk are very attractive, with urban renewal having been very effectively applied here. The downtown areas are vibrant and interesting with boulevards, rotaries with monuments in the center, public gardens, and clean, lovely streets and sidewalks. Norfolk has one of the loveliest art museums that we have visited, the Chrysler Museum, which in large measure was donated by the son of Walter P. Chrysler, the auto magnate. Near the museum is the General Douglas MacArthur Memorial. General MacArthur and his wife are entombed here and the building contains many interesting pieces of memorabilia from his long and distinguished career. Interestingly, both he and his father Arthur were both general officers and Medal of Honor winners. General MacArthur is probably the closest person in history to a reincarnation of Caesar. The awesome power he commanded and his appointment as the Supreme Commander of Forces in Japan and its effective governor following WWII are unparalleled since Caesar won and commanded Gaul. One cannot help but be struck by the disgusting and petty behavior of our politicians today when you read his Duty, Honor, Country speech delivered to the West Point graduating class of 1988.

Not far from the memorial is the Battleship Wisconsin BB-64, tied up at the Nauticus Museum. We took a tour of the ship and posted pictures on www.tischtravels.com . It is very interesting and breathtaking in its apparent power. A few notes on the ship: it expends 400 gal of fuel per mile; costs $1 million a day to operate; has a crew compliment of 1,550, but during WWII it was over 3,000; has no heating or AC; is 68 years old and has seen 14 years of active service, most recently in the Bush I Gulf War. I have been aboard the Missouri (BB 63), which at that time was tied up next to the New Jersey (BB 62) in Bremerton, Washington. The only one I haven’t seen is the Iowa (BB 61), which may be moved to Los Angles and opened as a museum next to the Queen Mary (which we stayed aboard last year). One of the most interesting things that I discovered on our tour was the navigational bridge, the place from which they steer the ship. It is very small, enough to give a person claustrophobia. It is located in a cylinder of 14 inch cast armor plate with tiny slits for windows. Of course the ship had no autopilot, so every wave required someone to move the ship’s wheel in order to maintain course. It must have been a tedious job. Outside the navigational bridge was an open area that looked a little more like a traditional bridge, but still, the work was all done in that tiny compartment.

Over the weekend we went to Williamsburg, Yorktown and Jamestowne. Williamsburg was the colonial capital of Virginia and has many of the original buildings and excellent reproductions. Jamestowne, a few miles down the road, was the original Virginia Company settlement in the New World circa 1615. It is being excavated by archaeologists, and is very interesting also. Further yet down Colonial Parkway, which is a beautiful drive, lays Yorktown, the scene of the last major and the decisive battle of the Revolutionary War. At first I wasn’t very interested in this monument, but after driving around the battle fields and understanding the battle itself, I found it very interesting and informative. It covers a very large area, several miles from Washington's headquarters to the main battle area. There were several very large staging areas for cannon and other equipment. I did not really appreciate the scope or size of the armies involved nor did I fully appreciate the French contribution before being here. It was quite moving to see the field of surrender – in a sense the actual birthplace of our nation.

Tomorrow we will put out for NYC. It is a two day run.

Jamaica to the Bahamas

Tue, 24 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Captain’s Log May 12 to May 23, 2011

The Great Mango Run –

Jamaica, the run around Cuba, past Haiti, and The Bahamas

May 12: We moved to the dock early Thursday morning. The Montego Bay Yacht Club has a long “L” shaped wooden dock extending out into the harbor. Boats are end tied to the dock with their anchors holding their bows straight out away from the dock. Each anchor has a buoy attached to it, so the area around the dock is peppered with potential hazards. We were assigned the only open space, which was on the eastern side of the dock and squeezed in between the dock and the sea wall near some condos. It was tight, but I backed into the space twice and each time I was told to redo my effort and drop the anchor farther out in the narrow channel. The third time I made the attempt I sucked a buoy into the starboard prop, the rope wound around the prop shaft and shut the engine down. Of course I was now in a state of nervous agitation, but with currents and wind working on Odyssey and dirt from the bottom being churned up by our propellers, I had to keep going and the third time was the charm. Once secure, “ChickenBack” the local diver went to work and cut the line and buoy off the prop. Then the customs, immigration and agricultural officers appeared and after an hour or so we were all checked in to Jamaica.

While all this was going on we hooked up the electricity. The inverter began blinking an error light. I discovered that Jamaica is a 50 cycle country. This required a different approach than I had previously encountered, but after a few hours of figuring things out all was well. Meanwhile Adam, our nephew, showed up at the dock and the party began.

As all this commotion was going on our British boat neighbor Andrew offered to take us on a city tour. Within a few minutes we were all aboard his 1999 Dodge Ram pickup and rolling toward the “Hip Strip” of Montego Bay. There we saw Jimmy Buffet’s famous Margaretville Bar, which ranks right up there with Bob Marley’s cemetery plot as a tourist attraction. After seeing the original hotel strip, now in a state of decline because the new, bigger, better hotels are built farther out, we drove to the downtown area and fresh food market. Most of the tourist areas of Jamaica are located on the North West shore of the island and they are very nice and highly developed. The rest of the island is more rural and traditional with a second world standard of living. Jamaica is a beautiful island, with a wide variety of beautiful flora, mountains and very friendly people. It seems like a Garden of Eden. The downtown area is interesting with brightly colored buildings and the hustle and bustle of people going about their business. Then we turned onto a side road, all lumpy and bumpy with dust in the air, cars trying to pass each other amidst the chaos of it. This was the market. Andrew pointed out that the carts many of the men were pushing originated in the sailing days and were used to move cargo off the docks. They were funny looking things: tiny hard rubber wheels about 4 inches in diameter supporting a crudely built wooden platform about 6 feet by 2 feet with a push bar and steering wheel on one end. Cars were pulled into spaces with their trunks or rear lids open and the cars were full of one or two types of vegetables or fruits. A few men were walking around with large hats filled with tools or light bulbs or other things for sales. Being there was a lot of fun. After buying a supply of provisions for the boat, we headed for a very exclusive hotel and residence area. Apparently Ralph Lauren has a place there, and I was told you can rent a villa there for $10,000 a day. We only had lunch, but it was a beautiful place overlooking a lovely bay.

May 13: Another lovely day, with high light clouds, 80 degrees or so, a light breeze, and moderate humidity: much more livable than Panama and Costa Rica. In the morning I had about 3 or 4 hours of maintenance to do: change oil, filters, and clean the engine room. Rebecca and Anna went off to provision the boat from the local MegaMart. I spent a few hours on the internet and later that afternoon, Andrew invited us for a sunset cruise on his racing sailing yacht. We loaded all of our snorkeling gear aboard his yacht, along with an ample supply of snacks and beer, and off we went. It was a lovely day and the sails filled with air as we cruised out of the harbor and out to sea. We sailed east about an hour or so and then turned back toward Montego Bay. Our goal was to tie to a buoy at Doctor’s Beach and snorkel, then have Champagne at sunset. Everything went as planned until Andrew ran over the anchor buoy, the rope wound around his propeller, and the engine stopped. Anna and Adam went into the water to cut us loose, but eventually Andrew went in and finished the job. That evening A&A went partying with Andrew on the Hip Strip. They got home at 5 AM.

May 14: Rebecca and I spent almost the whole day on the internet. It takes almost a whole day to upload pictures to the website. Andrew was preparing for the big beach party in town to be held that evening. He takes his yacht to the Margaretville Bar, which is on the water, and brings it stern to and anchors it at both ends. He lowers the rear access ramp and then waits until sometime after midnight for the party to start. At this point in the story I will let your imagination take hold. That morning we were awakened around 4 AM by the sound of pulsating, deep bass beats emanating from the beach about 5 miles away. Wow! What a party.

May 15: The main attractions of Jamaica are the resort hotels with their beautiful golf courses and fabulous architecture. Other than that, there really isn’t much to see, but we wanted to get out and see the countryside anyway. The three tourist centers here are Negril, Montego Bay, and Ochoa Rios. Today we went to Ochoa Rios, about 1 ½ hours to the east. The main attractions here are the Dunn’s River Falls, which are very beautiful and well worth a short stopover, and the various botanical gardens that display the brilliant flora of Jamaica. We got back to the marina about 5 PM and began preparing for our departure that evening at 7:30PM. We were planning to cruise at night to avoid the winds caused by daytime thermals, and make the Windward Passage between Cuba and Haiti at night also. The route we were taking could be very rough, so we wanted to reduce the risk of rough seas as much as possible. Ocean Bob, as we affectionately refer to him, told us that we should expect very good conditions on our passage. If everything worked out as planned, we would make Clarence Town on Long Island in the Bahamas on the morning of the 18^th.

We untied at dusk and started out of the harbor with buoys or shallow water on either side. Just as Odyssey was in the most vulnerable position, the anchor windless froze up and I couldn’t continue to raise the anchor. We didn’t know how much of it was hanging below the water line. It was a very bad situation. I didn’t know what to do. For about 15 minutes Rebecca took over the helm and tried to hold the boat in its present position while I tried to figure out what went wrong. I reset the breaker, which is under the floor in the forward stateroom. When that didn’t work I raced to the pilot house to find the book on this piece of equipment and read the troubleshooting section. Meanwhile the boat was drifting around and it was now dark. Men on the dock were screaming at Rebecca to bring up our anchor, turn a switch, and do something so that we didn’t tear up their anchors: something had to be done. I asked Rebecca to see if she could move Odyssey out to deeper water, on the premise that if she couldn’t we were in fact anchored, which was OK. If she could move the boat, which she did, then we could be situated in safe water. That problem solved, we then readdressed the windless. I called James Leishman at Nordhavn, and fortunately his plane had just landed and his cell phone was on. He drove down to the docks and went aboard another 55 Nordhavn to see if he could figure something out. Meanwhile Adam and I tried to raise the anchor manually according to the instructions, but this didn’t work well. So we resorted to the last option, reading the manual and reviewing Odyssey’s wiring diagram. We found that the circuit breaker was the first line of defense, but that an 80 amp fuse was somewhere between the breaker and the motor. Anna and Adam climbed into the chain locker, and found some electrical stuff, but it wasn’t the big breaker. Then I found the fuse and it was fried. I didn’t have a spare onboard, but we borrowed one from another piece of equipment, put everything back together and fired it up. Up came the anchor and off we went at 2230.

May 16 & 17: The total distance of this passage was about 450 miles and took us about 2 ½ days. The seas were flat, blue and beautiful during the entire trip; in fact we have been in marinas that had more sea surge that we experienced on this passage. We had a full moon both evenings that we were at sea, and each night it cast a silvery brilliance across the ocean’s calm surface. We were also fortunate to have a strong current helping us on our way: we made 8.5 knots burning less than 6 gallons per hour.

I was admiring the sunset on the 17^th when all of sudden we heard the wiz of the fishing reel. Adam sprang into action and ran to the stern of the boat while I slowed the boat to a stop. Adam grabbed the rod and started reeling for all he was worth, but the big fish fought back. Adam didn’t think he could do it, but after about 15 minutes eventually he wrestled a beautiful Wahoo into the locker. He was thrilled and astonished by its size and beauty. What a fish! It must have been around 40 pounds. I fileted it and it nearly filled our refrigerator.

May 18 & 19: At 0900 we put in at Clarence Town, the capital of Long Island, Bahamas. The waters of the Bahamas are generally very shallow, and this harbor offered only a few areas over 6 feet in depth. Most of it was reefs and sand bars. We moved into the harbor very carefully, looking about for colors in the water that could be identified as rocks or very shallow areas. We called the little Flying Fish Marina, but there wasn’t acceptable space so we tied up at the cement, industrial government dock. Within a few minutes Ms. Gibson, the harbor master, appeared and told us the dock fee was $6 a night, which we promptly paid. She offered to take us to a market for provisions, and after calling the customs office to report our arrival and arrange an appointment, we were on our way.

The island is flat and low, mostly coral sand and reef material as is common in this part of the world. The island is covered by low shrubs and short palms. The water is a dazzling blue green, with color variations caused by composition of the sea floor. After visiting the store, Ms. Gibson took us to Dean’s Blue Hole, which is a lovely small inlet with a vast white beach. In one area is a large coral cliff surrounding the blue hole, an area several hundred feet in diameter, about 650 feet deep. The top of the cliff is green with vegetation, the rock is a steel grey, the hole is deep blue, and the surrounding water is aqua covering white sand. It was a beautiful scene.

We came back to the boat and waited for the police and customs officials. They came about 1630, so most of the day was spent on the boat. As I mentioned, we were tied up to an industrial dock so the only way to board Odyssey was to crawl over the rail from the dock. It was a challenge for all of us, but a real obstacle for the customs officials. One of them was a gentleman about 300 lbs., the other was a middle aged overweight women in a straight skirt carrying a large revolver. They were very perplexed having to come aboard and stood around looking over the situation for at least ten minutes. Finally they decided to do what we had done, but the men had to go below to allow the lady to hike up her dress to get over the railing. They insisted upon coming aboard in part because an inspection is part of their official requirements, and because we arrived from Jamaica, which they consider an origin that warrants suspicion and usually a very thorough inspection. The lady officer followed Rebecca through the boat carrying the revolver and inspected each room. The heavy officer stayed with me and filled out papers. After an hour or so they departed and we walked over to the Flying Fish Marina for Conch Fritters, a beer, and a chance to get on the internet.

The next day was pretty laid back. Anna and Adam washed Odyssey and then went for a swim off the back of the boat. After a few minutes they decided to swim across the bay to the marina, a distance of perhaps ¼ mile. We watched them for a while and were a little concerned that they were so far out. We lost track of Anna, but we thought she probably found someone to talk with at the marina. A few minutes later we saw her walking down the road toward Odyssey. This was a least a ½ mile walk from the marina. We called to her and she said that she was very frightened because several large sharks had been close to her in the water. She got out of the water as fast as possible. The people in the marina said that they throw fish entrails into the water near the marina when they clean fish; hence the sharks. Meanwhile Adam was still in the water, although he was coming back toward Odyssey. We yelled to him that there were sharks in the water, that’s when we found out how fast he could swim! Later that day when Adam and Anna went to the Blue Hole for more swimming, I saw one of the sharks swim by the boat as I peddled on the trainer. It was a big boy as reported.

That evening we left on the 2200 tide for George Town on Exuma about 70 miles away.

May 20 & 21: We arrived at the Exumas at 0800. Cruising in these inland seas requires great care as they are shallow and full of rocks and coral heads. Special care should be taken to come and go on high tide if possible, especially for a vessel of our draft. The entry to George Town requires careful attention, but it is not too difficult if made during daylight hours so that the configuration of the bottom can be seem. Anna was positioned on the bow pulpit to look for danger. We anchored outside of George Town about 0900, having avoided any potential mishaps. After a few hours of rest, we had lunch onboard and later took the tender to town for cocktails and dinner. There is a small harbor in GT, but the main section of the town surrounds a lake that is accessible by dingy via tunnel/bridge from our anchorage. George Town has a population of about 1,000 people, very big by Bahamian standards. One of our friends told us about the Peace & Plenty Bar. There are three bars and two restaurants in the little village, so after a mile or so walk around the lake, we saw GT and the available locations that could provide entertainment. It was a lovely afternoon with the two young ones. They enjoyed a few PinaColdas and a little shopping in the craft market. It was a lovely day.

May 21 & 22: We spent most of the day at the “Chat’n Chill” beach bar not far from our anchorage. It is located on a lovely pink sand beach with a sand bar extending about 100 yards out into the bay and registering temperatures of about 85 degrees. A beer, a Cuban cigar, sun and sand; what more is needed for a nice afternoon. In fact it was so good we went back the next day after cleaning the black marks off the boat caused by our rubbing up against the sea wall at Clarence Town. This time we went first to the Exuma Sound side of the island and walked a beautiful pink sand beach that was about a mile long. The aqua color of the water contrasted with the deeper blue of the ocean, the greenish-brown of the coral heads, the pinkish sand, and the green vegetation was breathtaking. Later that day we pulled the anchor and headed for Nassau 135 miles away. We decided on an overnight passage because it cuts the boredom of an open water passage and gives us more quality time at desired locations. The only problem is that we have to plan our transit so that we make critical and difficult passages through shallow or rock infested waters during higher tides and sunlight so that we can pass over and/or see the hazards.

May 23: We arrived in Nassau Harbor at 1300 and tied up at the Hurricane Hole on Paradise Island. This place tops the charts on expenses: $4 a foot for dockage, $.25 /gallon for water, and $.65/kilowatt for electricity; by far the most expensive place we have stayed and not all that nice. After lunch we walked over to the Atlantis Hotel complex. It is a very large place with its own yacht harbor that attracts the largest yachts from Florida, a manmade lagoon for swimming, and a Mayan Temple out back for those who haven’t seen the real thing. I am not sure what Mayan culture has to do with the lost continent of Atlantis, but hey, this is Hollywood. Of course there is a casino, a huge hotel, and loads of shopping opportunities. Besides the harbor, the only thing that isn’t de rigueur for a big theme convention hotel is the aquarium, which was very interesting. The big surprise for us is that we really enjoyed seeing the place: I think we have been out in the boonies so long a little civilization, such as it is, is looking good. It must be time to jump ship and go home for a while.

Comment on: Jamaica to the Bahamas

Thu, 26 May 2011 20:52:34 GMT

I've really enjoyed your trip this spring; looking forward to seeing you both! love, donna

Captain’s Log April 14 to May12, 2011

Sat, 14 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Captain’s Log April 14 to May 12, 2011

The Great Mango Run –

Pacific Panama, the Canal Transit, the San Blas Islands, run to Jamaica

April 14: We left Golfito, Costa Rica at 5:30 AM and cruised for about 10 hours down the coast to Isla Parida, Panama, located in the Golf of Chiriquí. The island is about 250 miles north of the Panama Canal. We stayed here for two nights, then moved about 20 miles south to the next island. The sea was calm and the sky clear and we made Isla Parida at 4:30 in the afternoon. The island has several good anchorages, and we chose one on the southwest coast. The approach was a little intimidating as it took Odyssey through an entrance bordered by shoals. However, we proceeded thinking the charts were accurate and as we got closer we saw a sailboat in the bay, indicating that the entrance was deep enough for our draft. (We talked with the owner of the sailboat who told us he came into the bay from a different approach: So much for assumptions!) Once inside it was like a picture out of Robinson Crusoe: the little bay was surrounded on all sides by small islands, the beaches were beautiful black sand. The water was beautifully green and clear.

We decided to stay aboard the first evening and lower the dingy in the morning. Rebecca and I went to the flybridge to enjoy the sunset with a nice bottle of Pinot Noir and a good Cuban cigar. As the sun set, the sky turned peach and the sounds of an unspoiled forest became audible. Roosting sea birds were settling down for the night and making a heck of a sound. As the sun sank lower in the sky, their sounds quieted and the sounds of frogs and insects began to rise. Their cacophony was primeval, as was the sight of tiny cooking fires in the forest. It was a magical night, all that a person seeking adventure could dream about.

April 15: We slept in and after a wonderful vegan pancake breakfast we lowered the tender and explored the area. We put plenty of pictures on the web (www.tischtravels.com), but the highlight was our swimming stop on a desolate beach not too far from where Odyssey was anchored. As we approached, a family appeared and let us know it was OK to come ashore. They invited us to their little home, and showed us their meager belongings and their water well. Rebecca gave the little girl a coloring book and crayons, and three ice cream treats for the family, which they seemed to appreciate, although they wouldn’t eat them until we left. Realizing this, we took our leave and went for a delightful swim in the 85 degree ocean water. After an hour or so we followed a brick path through the tropical forest about a quarter of a mile to a clearing that overlooked the ocean. Here were built several primitive, open cabins that overlooked the ocean and had their own beach. At the end of the trail was a community kitchen and bar, completely stocked. Apparently a company or individual owns the island and has a lodge here. It was really nice and very rustic too.

On the way back to Odyssey the Yamaha engine on the tender started failing again. This time we found a little water in the fuel filter, and Buddy and I installed a large 5 micron filter that I hope will make this engine reliable. Anyway, to install that filter assembly, we put the tender back on deck, secured it and were ready to leave in the morning for the next island. Next it was time for a little refreshment and viewing of the sunset.

April16: We left our anchorage about 9 AM after completing some maintenance items. The track out of the bay needed to be carefully negotiated because it was low tide and we were surrounded by shoals. It was a 3 hour cruise to Isla Secas, a small island that has a tent resort on it. The tent lodges rent for $600/night. (Rebecca and I stayed in a similar luxury tent resort while we were in India. It was Valentine’s Day: they had sprinkled rose pedals around the room and on the bed and filled the tent with candles. It was very romantic. That was quit a trip.)

As the cruise was pleasant and smooth, we decided to keep going another 3 hours to Isla Coiba, the largest and most pristine of the Panamanian Pacific Islands. Just past Isla Secas I spotted several groups of jumping fish in different quadrants around Odyssey. Birds were attracted to the churning waters and I thought that maybe some pelagic activity might be in the area. I put out the fishing gear and hoped for the best. About a half hour later we caught a nice Mahi-mahi. It is one of the most exotic and beautiful fish in the ocean. It has an extremely high brow making the head look almost square, and the colors on the fish are amazing: yellow, olive, blue-green, spots that flash when it is excited. It was a thrill to catch it!

Isla Coiba was once a penal colony, so it has never been developed and was made part of the park system when the penal colony was closed. It has 133 species of birds inhabiting it, along with two types of monkeys and a variety of other creatures. We anchored in a bay that is said to be their best one, but it is very exposed and shallow. We were basically anchored in the shore of the ocean. Dinner was Mahi-mahi of course, and it was delicious. The next day we explored the island and did some snorkeling.

April 17: Have you ever seen a butterfly migration? When we awoke this morning Buddy stepped outside with his tea and called for us all to come out and see the butterflies. From the direction of the sea, thousands if not millions of butterflies –black, with a green and yellow markings – were making their way into the island. What an amazing sight. It must have been mating season.

We lowered the tender and went off to find the remains of the penal colony and investigate the abandon sailboat that apparently washed ashore some time ago. The beaches here are sand with coconut palms and a dense forest inland. White faced monkeys swung from the palms and announced our arrival to their comrades as we landed. The beaches here are thoroughly littered with plastic bottles, chairs, oil containers, shoes, everything that our modern society makes from plastic. In fact the Pacific Ocean here has a lot of flotsam, more that we have seen anywhere on our travels. The beaches are great for swimming, and the water temperature is over 80 degrees. As the tide came in, we decided to return to Odyssey as getting to the dingy in deeper, swell driven water would become uncomfortable. Once back by the boat, we swam for about an hour around Odyssey in 60 feet of water. It was fantastic.

That afternoon we started having generator problems. It turns out we had two problems: the generator was overheating because the impeller was worn out, so we replaced it. We carry a lot of spare parts, and so far we have everything we need to keep things running. The second issue was load management. After we fixed the generator, it still kept stopping as though it still had an overheating problem. It turned out that the inverter was charging the batteries from the generator and it was drawing 6 amps. Normally it gets its power from the alternators on the main engines while we are running. Since the generator produces 20 KW max, that invertor load plus a clothes dryer (5KW), and oven (5kw) plus 4 air conditioners (3kw each) overloaded the genset and it shut down. Once we reduced the load, it worked fine. We couldn’t shut down the oven right away because Rebecca was making a peach pie for dinner (fish tacos too!). Anyway, we managed.

April 18: Today we started off with hot coffee, fresh banana bread with chocolate and nuts, and a broken down AC unit in the salon. I didn’t know which to work on first, so I led with the banana bread. That was a good choice: next the AC unit. Buddy went below and cleaned the sea strainer for the AC units. It was clogged, and cleaning it fixed the AC system. Lucky us! Then we pulled the pick and off we went for another anchorage, this one featuring some of the best snorkeling in the region. The anchorage we chose was a few hundred yards from a beautiful, small island with golden sand and a few palm trees. The water around the island was a spectrum of aqua colors: clear, then turquoise blue, then emerald, then deep blue. It was spectacular. On the island was a colony of tiny hermit crabs running around looking for shells to make a new home. Offshore was a small coral reef home to hundreds of colorful tropical fish. Sea turtles swam in and out of the little bay. We were swimming about for a few hours when a park ranger appeared. In Spanish they asked us to come to ranger station a few miles away. There we learned the daily fee for our boat was $180, so we pulled the anchor and moved to Naranjo Bay, about 50 miles southwest of Isla Coiba. We left about 3:30 PM for a seven hour cruise. That evening, a moon rose and cast the largest silver illumination of the water we have ever seen. It was so brilliant we couldn’t see our spot light when I turned it on. Late that evening, Rebecca and I were sitting on the fly bridge taking it all in and thinking: each day is filled with wonders. Who could ask for more? There isn’t more. How lucky are we?

April 19: We spent the day resting for our overnight passage to Isla Bona and Otoque, which lies about 20 miles from the canal (150 mile run from our anchorage). We decided to make the trip at night because of the ferocious winds that can blow off Punta Mala. I guess the name says it all. We departed our anchorage at 1630. Odyssey was light on fuel as I wanted to fuel up in Panama, since their fuel prices are about $.50/gal less than Costa Rica’s. The first part of our passage was terrific. The moon rose as a red/orange ball out of the ocean. It was breathtaking. My watch was from 2000 to 0100. About 2200 our speed dropped by 3 knots to around 4 knots, a speed I normally associate with walking. We had expected to run into the coastal current that flows southwest along the coast, and here it was. I moved our course about 7 miles toward the shore in the hope of getting out of it or better yet, finding an eddy running northeast. When Buddy relieved me at 0100 we were calm seas and making 6 + knots. After about two hours, the wind built as we rounded Punta Mala and Odyssey pitched in the choppy sea to the point of nearly throwing Rebecca and me out of bed. This ordeal lasted for the next 8 hours. Not much sleep to be had on this passage. The rough seas may have been due to a northeast wing confronting an incoming tide in the Gulf of Panama. By 1100 things had calmed down and the last several hours of the cruise were relatively pleasant.

April 20: We made our way to Isla Otoque, about 20 miles southwest of the canal’s entrance. We anchored in about 50 feet of water off a shore having both a sand beach and rocky out cropping. The water was full of sea life, including sharks, so we decided against swimming. Surprisingly, the island was covered by a dry forest, just like northern Costa Rica rather than the dense jungle that we had seen on other islands. We needed a rest, so we took the rest of the day to read and watch another episode of Dexter after cleaning the main engine’s sea strainers and replacing the impeller on the port engine. We have found that Odyssey takes an hour or two of maintenance each day.

April 21: It was a beautiful day and we were excited to get underway and make Flamenco Marina at the Panama Canal. Rebecca had made some California Sunshine Bread for breakfast, so the day was off to a promising start. The trip into the Balboa and Flamenco Marina took about 3 1/2 hours. The sight of 100 or more ships at anchor was amazing. None of us had ever seen anything like it. Panama City was also a sight to see from the sea: it looks something like Manhattan, with brand new skyscrapers of architectural interest dominating the horizon. April 21 was a Thursday, and as it turns out, the beginning of a four day national holiday on Easter weekend. Everything shut down, so we were not able to get provisioned or buy boat supplies until Monday.

We pulled into Flamenco Marina and went immediately to the fuel dock. We took on 1920 gallons at $3.92/gal. Not bad, considering it was $5/gal in Costa Rica. After fueling, we moved to our dock, about ¼ mile out on one of the finger docks and waited for the parade of government officials to come aboard. First came agriculture (plant, Pets, ports of call, etc.) and a $46 fee; then came health department and more questions, many of them the same as the agricultural inspector asked and more examination of papers-- $100 for the fumigation fee. Here they spray the exterior scuppers and drains with insecticide to control malaria and yellow fever. Then came the port captain with the same questions, fees, and more examination of the same papers. Lastly came our agent who took our passports for immigration and customs. We were told by our agent that we were facing a 14-16 day wait for transit, so perhaps we would want to go back out to the islands and putts around.

April 22: The good news today was that a Canal Agent showed up first thing to measure the boat, but before doing so he too filled out the same papers as the others had done. Odyssey could not be put on a transit schedule until its length was measured and registered with the authorities. Fuel on board as well as estimated consumption while in the canal, engine type and size, safety equipment, and electronics are also reviewed and inspected by the authorities.

Our agent told us boats measuring 65 feet or more are permitted to transit within a few days. The Canal Agent, Jesus (it was Easter weekend and his name must have been a good omen), handed me the end of the tape and positioned me on the dock near the anchor. When he turned and walked down the dock I moved a foot or so ahead of the anchor to do all that I could to stretch the thing to 65 feet. He went to the other end and measured Odyssey at 63.45 feet. I guess I didn’t stretch it enough. Our papers say she is 58.2 feet. He asked for a second measurement, so I moved about a foot more in front of the anchor and, yes, he measured 65.4 feet. I could hardly keep from laughing. But Jesus was unsatisfied with the variance, so he measured the yacht by taking sequential inside dimensions and came up with 63.45 feet a second time. Imagine my surprise, but still 1 ½ feet short of our goal. He said he couldn’t fudge things and we all agreed this was God’s will. He departed with handshakes all-around, and later that afternoon we checked with our agent Tina, and she said we had been scheduled for Thursday, just four days away. Now we had to hurry and see Panama!

That afternoon we arranged for a tour of the Canal Zone. It clearly looks like a military style installation, but it still is beautiful although abandoned in many places. Some of the former administration buildings are being used by the government; others have been turned into schools and colleges. We saw the canal admin building with the monument to General Goethals who was the chief engineer for many years and is credited with completing the canal, and the French Cemetery. We finished our tour that day at the zoo. Pictures are on the www.tischtravels.com.

April 23: There is no access to the internet in the harbor except at a few restaurants located around the perimeter. Bennigan’s is the closest to us, dirty though it is. I started at 0830 to update the website for the Costa Rica passage and attend to internet business. I finished about 1930, as it takes a long time to upload pictures. After about 8 hours there, I doubt I will ever be able to look an ice tea in the face again.

April 24: On Easter Sunday we all went to the Mirafloras Locks for an afternoon buffet at the restaurant and to watch the giant ocean freighters pass through. The food was great and watching the process was very interesting. If you are ever at the Canal, you should certainly visit this spot. I have posted pictures on www.tischtravels.com.

April 25: Today we toured Panama City. We began with the old French Quarter. It looked very much like the French Quarter of New Orleans. Panama City is in serious decline, but the U.N. has declared it a World Heritage site and there is evidence of a nascent renaissance. In this general area is the city square bounded by the American Hotel (now being rebuilt) made famous during the period of canal building, City Hall, and the Main Cathedral. Within an easy walk is the Presidential Residence (painted white for purity and honesty like our presidential residence), The Bolivar Palace is now used as the foreign affairs office, and the National Theater. A few blocks away is the imposing New City District with its hundreds of sky-scraper condo and hotel buildings. The buildings are densely packed, virtually touching each other. They are serviced by two lane surface streets. I have no idea how the hundreds of condos per mile can possibly be serviced by this infrastructure. Cabs are a problem: we have been told not to take one as the drivers are untrustworthy. Also, I have no idea why anyone would buy a condo here: there are no beaches close at hand, the heat is stifling, it rains much of the year, crime and the potential for disease are serious concerns, poverty is apparent, and there doesn’t seem to be a lot to do. Despite all of these potential hindrances, there has apparently been no downturn in real estate construction nor have they experienced a banking crisis like the rest of the world. Knowledgeable local people that I have talked to tell me it is most likely drug money being laundered.

We moved along to San Francisco, a predominately residential district. Here we saw more high rise condos situated next to fancy high priced homes, including the abandoned home of General Manual Noriega, the former President of Panama ousted by George H.W. Bush in 1989. All-in-all it is a very impressive city in many ways, but it doesn’t seem to have the material infrastructure or people skills to justify such a vast expansion of developed real estate. Six years of school is compulsory, the lowest among the countries we visited. Tuition for extra schooling is at least $100 per month, which is a lot for most Panamanians. There is a shortage of skilled-trades. At night the skyline is dark. Few of the tall buildings have many lights. No one appears to be home except in the barrios and lower class apartments. There may be wealthy people from Venezuela and other countries that are moving their wealth here. Panama enjoys military protection under the U.S. umbrella, and they use the dollar as their currency.

April 26: We bid good-bye to Kathleen and Buddy Dore, who have been such good company and friends on our long passage. They flew back to Washington State, and will start the charter season in Alaska in June. We prepared for Reid to arrive for a one week visit and to help us handle lines during our transit of the canal.

April 27: Our agent delivered our 150 foot lines to be used to keep Odyssey centered in the locks, and a dozen used tires wrapped in tape to act as fenders. We were required to have four line handlers (Rebecca, Anna, Reid, and Roberto, a captain and professional line handler from Panama) and a captain (me) to work with the advisor who would direct us on the transit.

Anna joined us that evening. She is hitchhiking her way around the world on boats. We met her in Costa Rica although we met her friend Ingrid on the dock in Hutalco, MX. I was standing in the cockpit looking at the boats in the harbor when I saw very pretty young women emerge from the sailboat behind us. She was blond, wearing a bikini, and very attractive. She walked to the end of the dock nearest our boat and started to take a shower and shave her legs. Sailboats often have minimal facilities. All the men on the dock were watching.

Anna was travelling on the same boat at that time. She is Spanish and Swedish, was born in Majorca and grew up in the Canary Islands, speaks several languages, and will travel with us from Panama to Florida. She is an experienced sailor, so she can stand watch, cook, clean and in general help out.

April 28: We were scheduled to transit the canal, but things were delayed until Saturday AM. This gave Reid a chance to rest and do some business on the Internet; is what I spent most of the day doing in addition to visiting with Captain George aboard Sweet Hope to get his ideas about our build out of N6823.

April 29: Today we decided to take Reid out for a little fun on the water. We cast off for Tabago, a small weekend vacation resort on an island about 7 miles out in the harbor. We put our lines out and tried to catch something, but to no avail. We tied to a tug buoy in the little harbor at 1300 and lowered the dingy for a trip ashore. The little town was very colorful, with pastel colored homes and boutique hotels rising from the beach up the hillside. We spotted a very attractive white Spanish style building appointed with bougainvillea. We had lunch there on a terrace overlooking the bay. It was lovely.

That afternoon we learned that we were scheduled to transit the following morning beginning at 0700.

April 30: At 0600 Roberto came aboard to help us with our lines and fenders during the crossing. We are required to have a crew of 5, 4 line handlers and 1 captain. We rented 12 fenders from the agent, which consisted of old tires wrapped in garbage bags, and 4-150 foot heavy lines that are required by the transit authority. Roberto got everything in order over the next hour. I called Flamenco Control on Ch. 12 and told them that we were ready to get underway. They told me to report to buoy 6 at 0745, and standby. At 0815 the transit advisor (Astro) came aboard and we immediately got underway. We soon passed by the Balboa terminal, a place where container vessels too large for the canal off load containers, which are then sent by rail to Colon on the Atlantic side, and reloaded on identical container ships to complete delivery of the cargo. Then we passed under the American Bridge and the entry to the locks.

We proceeded up the canal entry to the first Mirafloras Lock while Asto talked constantly on the radio to the other advisors and lock management to lay out a strategy for our passage through the first three locks. The strategy was no sooner articulated then it changed. Finally it was decided that we would enter the lock behind Atlas III, a medium size training and tour vessel and tied up on her port side. Pictures of this are posted on www.tischtravels.com. Everything went as planned. The huge ship in front of use rose to the level of the second lock; it moved forward into the second lock, gates closed, water in the first lock was pumped out, and then the lower doors opened. All of this took about 30 minutes as we danced around in the current waiting to enter the lower lock. Atlas III moved forward, pushed side to side by the current. We followed a few minutes later, bearing in mind Atlas’s struggle. The locks are narrow with walls about 30 feet high. We approached Atlas very slowly and tied off to her after placing fenders everywhere possible. Other boats followed us into the locks and either centered or wall tied depending on the type of boat. The gates closed and the water started to rise. It was very brown and billowed up from the bottom in great clouds. About ten minutes later were up to the level of the next lock. The doors swung open, we untied, dropped back to allow Atlas to move forward, and then repeated the process in the next two locks. During our lock ups, Reid manned the forward lines and did a sterling job. Roberto manned the stern, and Anna and Rebecca acted as emergency fender placers.

We crossed Lake Mirafloras to the Pedro Miguel Lock, the last before we reached the level of Chagres River and Lake Gatun. The little Mirafloras Lake is about a mile long and our entry into the lock and tying up to Atlas was the same as in the other two locks. Our problem started as we began to exit the canal. Astro told me to bring up engine power and move through the current. As I did, the current grabbed the bow of Odyssey and swung her toward the starboard lock gate. It looked as though we were going to hit it, then I swung the wheel, and put the starboard engine full ahead and the port engine full astern. Odyssey pulled out of its turn to starboard and moved quickly to center, then passed center and now headed to the port gate. The boat tipped from one side to the other and I was turning the wheel frantically. I reversed the engines, looked back to see if I was going to hit Atlas, which was behind us. At that moment I envisioned hitting the starboard gate, ricocheting off it to the port gate and then backing into Atlas. A grand slam! But as things worked out, I got control of Odyssey and moved out of the lock without a scratch, although my heart rate was about 300 bpm.

After exiting the Pedro Miguel Lock, we proceeded to Lake Gatun via the Gaillard or Culebra Cut. This is the area of construction of the canal that was the most challenging as 7.4 nm of mountain top had to be excavated and moved to another location. There is a wonderful book on the history of the canal, Path Between the Seas, by David McCullough.

Our trip to the Gatun Locks is about 25 miles from the Pedro Miguel Lock. As we cruised through the cut we could appreciate the herculean task of digging the canal. It is a marvel of engineering and construction. As we passed the mouth of the Chagres River, we recalled the difficulties of managing the huge water flows during the rainy season that baffled the French and was partially the reason for their failure to complete the canal. Part of the effectiveness of the American approach was to use the river to create a fresh water lake, Lake Gatun, which acts as a high altitude water bridge across the isthmus. The transit through the cut was interesting: it is narrow and a little intimidating as huge ships pass within a few feet of us. The water is brown, the walls of the cut are scarred from excavation, and there isn’t much of interest to see other than the large ships. Farther along, we passed into Lake Gatun, which was bisected by the wide canal marked by buoys. The lake is bounded by low hills covered in jungle vegetation.

After about an hour cruising along the cut, our advisor told us that we had to make the next lock by 1445, or we would be forced to anchor overnight in Lake Gatun. We did the math and it didn’t look like we could make it, but Astro said he knew a short cut, which along with an increase in speed might get us there within a time frame that would permit a continuation of our transit. We cranked up our speed to 9.5kts. It was the first time I had heard our turbos whining for such a long period of time. We never run the engines this hard as it is very inefficient from a fuel perspective. We kept this up for about 90 minutes while Astro talked with canal management. We got to the lock at 1530. Astro was told that we would transit in a few minutes. We approached the locks and then got the news that we were cancelled and would have to anchor in the lake that night because a ship’s captain wouldn’t wait as directed and proceeded to enter the lock anyway. In Gatun, we are supposed to enter the lock before a large ship, but that ship’s captain lack of patients cost us a 24 hour delay.

That night we tied to a buoy, a type I hadn’t seen before. It was a large red disk about 6 feet in diameter with a ship size cleat in the center. As I found out that evening, it is intended to accommodate two boats tied in parallel and then allow several others to raft from the original two. That happened to us about 2200 when about 8 sail boats showed up and wanted to raft off. I wasn’t expecting that, so I was a little distraught about the risk of damage to Odyssey. After a few minutes everyone was tied up and I began to look around. On the little sailboats people scurried around with flashlights and miner’s head lights, some people were taking their evening bath (many sailboats do not have comfortable showers) in the lake without regard for the potential for crocodiles. Meanwhile we are watching Dexter in the lap of luxury.

May 1: It rained hard last night, washing some of the dirt from the Gatun lock expansion project off our decks. They’re building a new set of locks in the Canal Zone to accommodate the largest ships in the world. At the present time they accommodate about thirty-five to forty ships a day. In the future, instead of 3 locks up and 3 locks down, the largest ships will have just 1 lock up and one down. Meanwhile we are waiting for our advisor and the opportunity to complete our transit.

At noon Franklin showed up and we began the Gatun down lockage at about 1 PM. The process was the same, except that a huge bulk carrier followed us into the locks and we tied to its forward tug in all three locks. Controlling Odyssey was a little difficult and stressful, as its deep draft was moved around a good deal by the water flow in the locks and the prop wash of the tug; but we had a great crew handling the lines and the fenders, and having an experienced, professional line handler to coordinate things made all the difference. The result: not a nick or a scratch.

We finished the locks at about 1530 and proceeded to Shelter Bay Marina in Lemon Bay, across from Colon. While underway, a pilot boat came by and picked up Franklin. We tied up in the marina about 1640 and prepared for our next leg, a passage to the San Blas Islands.

May 2: We left Shelter Bay Marina at 0600 and proceed out to the Caribbean and turned East up the coast to the San Blas Island, about 80 miles away. We experienced 20 knot winds on our nose, making for a bumpy ride. Although the water was a beautiful azure blue, all of us were a little tired out after the stress of the canal transit and the sea conditions didn’t help much. Rebecca and Anna crashed, but Reid and I carried on. It took us about 9 hours to get there, and when we did, we were not disappointed. The trade winds were blowing about 15 knots by that time, and we anchored at Isla Provenier. This tiny island has a runway and daily air service to Panama City. Reid was scheduled to leave at 0635 the next morning. These islands are very primitive and inhabited by the Kuna Indians. That afternoon they came out to Odyssey in dugout canoes, dressed in their native garb and ready to sell their famous handcrafts. Kuna are very attractive and welcoming people. After buying a few carefully selected items, we went for a swim off the swim platform. The water was about 85 degrees; it was splendid. That evening some of the crew enjoyed a perfectly prepared filet mignon while others had a delicious garden burger; following dinner, a movie.

May 3: The next day we were up early and took Reid to the island airport for his morning flight. After bidding him a truly fond farewell, we headed out to Cays Coco Banderas, about 3 hours west of here. When we arrived, I wasn’t sure we were there; it was just a reef with a few sand bars on which coconut trees sprout. I was a little intimidated by the idea of anchoring in what looked like the open ocean, save for a coral reef and sand bars, both anathema to a boat. So I found another island, Green Island, not too far away and worked our way through the underwater obstacles and found a perfect anchorage. That afternoon we swam in 85 degree water on bleached white coral sand and walked the coconut palm beaches. It was a vision out of a dream.

May 4: We were all tired and slept in until about 0730. Rebecca made vegan pancakes, rated a 10 by most people. After breakfast we put the storm plates on the large salon windows. The starboard side is no trouble, but the port side is a lot of work given we are at anchor and we had to do it by standing on the tender. As we were right in the middle of this project, the first of three fishermen pulled up in his canoes and offered us lobster. In all we bought 16 lobster and 2 very large crabs.

We pulled anchor around 1330 and headed for Lemon Cay to meet up with a sailboat that Anna had been on. She wanted to celebrate the captain’s birthday. Underway we cleaned the crab and lobster and arrived at the cay about 1600. The first attempted anchorage was a fabulously beautiful place tucked in behind an island not much bigger than Odyssey. It had two grass huts on it and a few Kuna out fishing in their dugout canoes. A reef wrapped around the west side of the island, the water was about 70 feet deep until we reached a ledge, then it quickly climbed to about 10 feet or less. When the sun is out you can see the depth gradations easily and they are beautiful. After a few minutes we decided to move behind another island a mile or so away where a lot of sailboats were anchored. Getting into that anchorage was tricky and the sun was starting to set so seeing reefs and rocky patches was getting difficult. I was very nervous, but we passed through the tiny channel in the reef and eventually anchored in 30 feet with a sand bottom. After a few minutes to be sure Odyssey was anchored securely, we got in the tender and explored the islands. On one of them we saw about 10 other tenders pulled up on the beach, and then we saw the reason for all the sailboats. On the beach behind the palm trees was a tiny bar with a flat screen TV and sat dish. It was 1700, and all the boaters were in for an afternoon cocktail. We stopped in for a beer and talked with a couple of people, and returned to Odyssey for a dinner of fresh lobster and Chardonnay!

May 5 -8: We pulled the anchor around 1230 and headed for Holandes Cay, about 2 hours east. Like the other islands it is a series of sand bars with coconut trees surrounded by turquois blue waters and beautiful reefs. Holandes has a “hot tub”, in fact several hot tubs, which are sand bars about 2-10 feet deep and very warm. The two we investigated with our snorkel gear have coral reefs around them, so we spent an hour or so in the “Japanese Tea Garden” as one boater called it--lots of lovely and colorful tropical fish with the ocean about 85 degrees. When we got back to the boat, I called Bob Jones our meteorologist who advised us to stay a day or two more in order to get satisfactory sea conditions for our crossing of the Caribbean.

The temperature is hot here, and what’s even more interesting is the humidity: when you walk outside it is really like a steam bath. Wow! It just smacks you in the face. The morning isn’t bad, and the breeze of the trade winds is great, but the afternoon is best used for a nap or snorkeling a reef, which is how we spent the last few days.

One afternoon we stopped by a few other boats anchored in the vicinity. One couple from Washington State had been here for two years. That gives new meaning to getting away from it all. I have no idea what they do with their time. The admiral seems to sunbake in the same position each afternoon for an hour or two in her bikini. Other than snorkeling and trying to stay comfortable, there really isn’t anything to do except to enjoy the beauty of the islands.

May 8-12: Sunday we decided to leave the San Blas Islands. We pulled the pick at 1330 and headed out into 10 foot ground waves, which lasted about ten miles or an hour and a half. That was miserable. We were advised that we would have a difficult run up to the 15 degree longitude. That was about 240 miles from the San Blas. Once past the ten footers, the waves subsided to 6-8 footers, then gradually over the next day down to 4-6, and after 15 degrees things became acceptable. Life on a boat in rough seas is a test of patience and endurance. Sleeping can be a real problem as many people cannot sleep while being bounced around. Food preparation is also a challenge. All of us were a little sea sick as we started off, but after medication we were all tolerating the conditions. Rebecca doesn’t sleep well in rough weather, but I tend to fall asleep as the boat’s motion acts like a rocking chair.

On a long, unpleasant voyage the ocean starts to look like a relentless, interminable, desolation…not the azure plane of wonder that it can be on a beautiful day. Anyway, after 3 days we saw the coast of Jamaica on Wednesday morning. It was a beautiful calm day. We were very excited knowing we were close. We washed the boat, prematurely as it turned out. As we made the south western point, the winds began to blow. Soon we were in 30 MPH winds, the waves built to 6-8 footers again, and the anchor pulpit was buried in the waves as we rolled and heaved into the oncoming brine. It was miserable and we couldn’t wait to reach Montego Bay. We were patient, but tired. At 1800 we dropped anchor in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Not a minute too soon!

Captain’s Log February 21 to April 14, 2011

Sat, 23 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The Great Mango Run – Costa Rica from Papagayo to Golfito

After Gus and Lyle left for home, Rebecca and I decided to rent a car and see the country. Cars here are expensive: one week for a small Korean car was $215, but with taxes and insurance it came to $450 plus fuel. Fuel is also expensive. It is a government monopoly and they now charge about $4.49 per gallon plus a 13.5% sales tax plus $.29 per gallon environmental impact tax. Everything is subject to 13.5% except hotels; they get a 24% sales tax. Anyway, we got the car and took off for Arenal Volcano about 150 miles away from Liberia, a sizable city where we picked up the car (we have some great pictures of this area posted on the website). The first part of the trip was via Route 1, the Pan American Highway. It runs from Alaska to Chile. Here in Costa Rica it is a two lane, nicely paved road that is patrolled by traffic police on motorcycles and cars. Driving south, one can see the Talamanca Mountain Range that bisects the country. This time of year is the dry season and the prevailing northerly winds and the moisture they bring are blocked by these mountains. During the wet season, the winds shift from the south and rain falls all over the country. However on the northern Pacific side of the country things are now dry and the country is brown, the trees have shed their leaves, and the arroyos are dry and dusty. This is called a dry forest. There are a few trees in bloom that display beautiful pink (pori tree), purple (jacaranda tree) or orange (poro tree) flowers, but other than that, vegetation here is sparse and waiting for the seven month dry season to end. This is cattle country and, where irrigated, sugar cane and pineapple are grown.

We drove along Route 1 for about 40 miles and then turned left at the bullfight ring in Canas. (I didn’t realize it, but bullfighting is popular here). We made the turn and then began our gradual ascent up the long sloping side of the volcanic mountains until we reached the little town of Tilaran. Along the way, we noticed that the fields became greener and crops such as corn were grown at different elevations. At Tilaran we drove to the center of the little town and found a very pleasant inn and had lunch. When we left we lost our bearings and turned the wrong way despite directions from local passersby. After about an hour and a half, we found ourselves high in the mountains south of Lake Arenal on roads with ruts so deep that we wondered if we would be able to proceed without damaging the car. The farther we went, the worse the road got, but the more beautiful the scenery became. This area is among the most beautiful places I have ever seen. The grass is so thick and lush it is hard to believe, the hillsides are covered with cedar and pine forests, and the farmers take advantage of it all by tending fat, seemingly contented cows. The mountain vistas were beyond description. As the minutes ticked by, we became concerned about being caught out there in the dark. We stopped to ask directions from a man who was fixing his fence by the side of the road. He directed us, in Spanish, to a crossroad ahead and we followed what we thought were his instructions, concerned, however, that we may have misunderstood and were now traveling in exactly the wrong direction. We made the suggested turn and drove a ways further until we reached an electric utility truck with several men onboard. They confirmed the directions and after about an hour we made it back to where we had lunch and made the correct turn toward Arenal and our hotel. All-in-all, it was the best wrong turn we ever made.

Now on the correct route, we rounded the southern end of Laguna de Arenal, a reservoir that stretches about 20 miles below the base of the Arenal volcano. At the end of the lake was the volcano, and a more beautiful vista cannot be imagined. The area around the lake is a botanical wonderland, with beautiful farms and pastures on the northern side, and eco sensitive rain forest resorts on the other side. The farm land is fenced with trees that grow straight like a fence post should, and can apparently be cut to the desired length and then planted and the tree regrows. The effect is to see a fence row of straight fence post trees with branches and shoots growing out of the tops.

This area of Costa Rica is a very big tourist attraction and hotels and inns abound. The hotel we chose, The Royal Corrin, was at the base of Arenal and offered about ten geothermal bathing pools of varying temperatures all filled with waters from the volcano. The hotel was quite nice and offered a great massage package and a splendid view of the volcano. The Arenal area has all the things that tourists look for: canopy bridge walks, zip-lining, eco tours, horseback riding tours, hiking to the top of the volcano, etc. Since we had done most of this at Rincon de la Vieja, we elected for the hot springs. Besides, the hordes of tourists make so much noise screaming as they zip-line and tramping about that there is little hope of seeing any animals. When checked out of the hotel, we found that someone had tried to break into our rental car, and, of course, we had visions of the rental car company ripping us off since they required a $950 security deposit. The hotel manager was pleasant but of no help and essentially denied that it happened on his property, so I called the police. They came a few minutes later, looked things over, behaved in an official manner and asked us to accompanying them to the police station. We wanted a police report so that whatever insurance company we wound up dealing with couldn’t deny the claim for lack of a police report. So, after an hour or so we got a report and were treated very well by the local constabulary. At that point, we departed via the town of La Fortuna for San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica.

As we traveled from La Fortuna toward San Jose, we were now on the eastern slope of the mountains. Here rain is plentiful, temperatures are nearly perfect, and the flora and fauna are clearly those of a tropical rain forest. At higher elevations coffee is grown, and down near the road were fields of tropical plants cultivated for the household and office plant market of North America. We stopped at a little restaurant that had posted road signs for at least five miles letting every interested party know it was an Israeli restaurant. We learned from the waitress that it was indeed run by Israeli immigrants, they apparently ran it like a kibbutz, and that Costa Rica attracted many Israeli immigrants. I didn’t realize that people emigrated from Israel; I thought it was the other way around.

We drove along and made San Jose about 6 PM. San Jose is not a very nice city and it certainly isn’t user friendly, particularly in the dark. For one thing there are very few road signs, so it is hard to tell what street you are on. As you get closer to the center of the city the streets are very narrow and for the most part are one way. The city is full of dilapidated buses blowing sooty smoke, driving on crowded streets wide enough for only one vehicle at a time, but since nobody is going to be last, everything is chaos. Dense pedestrian traffic is part of the mix as people run to catch a bus after work, or clog the meager sidewalks as they carry home their bag of groceries while pulling their child by the hand. In the midst of this, Rebecca was trying to wield our little Kia while I read the map and offered helpful tips on how best to navigate the situation. After a frustrating hour or so, making two or three loops through the rat maze, we finally found our hotel, the El Presidente, complete with gated security for our car. It was the best hotel in town, but that isn’t saying much.

Our room was sparse but clean. We were hungry and set off to find a vegan friendly restaurant. We settled on the lobby bar and grill. Here we struck up a conversation with a fellow American traveler of Irish decent hailing from Boston. He was probably in his 70’s, white skin, red faced, drinking a hardy tumbler of Buschmills and sporting a very large bay window. A couple of middle aged Costa Rican women were buzzing around him and his friend, who was half in the bag and in no better physical shape. A few minutes later the friend headed for the elevator with two of the ladies in tow. At this point, your imagination can complete the tale!

The next morning we rose early and set off on a walking tour of the city. Most of the city center is relatively dirty and devoted to government buildings, many of which were built in the 60’s or 70’s in a modern design and are now showing their age. They are not attractive. The key architectural jewel is the Teatro Nacional located on the central square. It was built by the rich coffee growers of the late 19^th century and is modeled after the Paris Opera House. It is a Neo Baroque structure and pictures of it are on the website, along with pictures of the Cathedral Metropolitana and the Gold Museum, which were also interesting. The streets are full of people out for a walk or selling something. The central square is seedy. The Hard Rock Café and MacDonald’s seem to be favorite clustering points. People were friendly and helpful everywhere we went.

We left the city about noon and planned to drive the Pan American Highway north to the Papagayo region and Odyssey, about a 3 hour drive. After we passed the airport we decided to take a side trip to Sarchi, the furniture making center of the country. During the first part of the trip we must have passed 100 car dealers, mostly used car lots. It reminded me of Livernois Ave. in Detroit when I was growing up. Next came mile after mile of furniture stores and craft shops. The countryside was beautiful, but there wasn’t anything of architectural significance. We passed through a few small towns and stopped in the central square of one where a band concert was in progress. We have posted pictures on the web of the church and the local goings on.

As we proceeded back toward Highway 1, we entered a very hilly area with tortuous winding roads. Here we faced utter frustration. As we were driving along, the traffic stopped and then proceeded at a crawl. From a side road a few cars ahead of us, a funeral procession entered the highway and began the deceased’s final journey. For at least an hour we followed this procession, led by an old 70’s black Cadillac hearse followed by a dozen or so mourners walking behind it in the blazing hot sun. Up and down the hills we went, turn by turn, hill by hill for over an hour. I was tormented and offered Rebecca driving tips, but she wasn’t very receptive and pointed out that it was probably illegal to pass, even if the opportunity presented itself. So there we were, crawling along, contemplating the futility and tentativeness of life. There was no way to pass; we could only wait and hope the cemetery was just round the next corner.

Eventually we passed the funeral procession and made it to Highway 1. After about an hour of traveling at normal speeds, traffic again came to a standstill. This time vendors appeared selling water and junk food. It was a bad omen. After about 90 minutes of bumper-to-bumper movement we reached the nexus of this gargantuan traffic jam, which must have been at least 10 miles long; a bridge was being rebuilt and only one lane was open. After we passed over the temporary bridge things speeded up, but for the next 30 or 40 minutes we saw the traffic jam coming up the other side of the mountain, trucks over-heating, drivers fuming, an endless wait in a line that no one knew how long it would take to negotiate. Two hours later we reached Papagayo, Bahia Culebra, and Odyssey.

Back on Odyssey we had a few days to prepare for our next guests. We managed to get in a round of golf at the fabulous Four Seasons’ course. The heat here is very intense in the midafternoon, but the fee for play is substantially reduced if you choose to start your play at 2 PM or later. With cart, good clubs and shoes if you want them, the fee was only $130. Normally I would expect to pay $300 or more to play on such a spectacular Arnold Palmer designed course. No one was on the course. Rebecca and I played together and we have never enjoyed the game more. During the round we saw Howler Monkeys and Coatis on the course. (I posted pictures on the website). The next few days were spent taking the tender to far away beaches, cleaning Odyssey, and swimming in the pool in late afternoons at the harbor center or at the Four Seasons. A few days later our friends, Charlie Bright and Susan Crowell, joined us.

Charlie and Susan spent four days with us, and they had never been on a boat like Odyssey. We planned a cruise north along the coast first to Bahia Brasililto, then back to Playa del Coco and then to the marina. The trip up the coast was fantastic; we put out the fishing gear and surprise, surprise …Charlie caught his first fish! As we pulled into the Bahia Brasililto the Papagayo winds picked up and blew around 25 knots. We anchored, but judged that it was too windy to put out the tender so we stayed aboard and enjoyed the sights. All of a sudden the generator stopped. This was bad news as a generator is critical to running the air conditioner. I restarted the generator, but it ran for only a few minutes. I went below into the hot engine room to check things out and thought to change the fuel filters since they have the most obvious potential for problems. Proud of my little accomplishment, I returned to the wheelhouse and fired it up again. It ran for about 5 minutes and then stopped. At this point I remembered seeing jellyfish in the water and wondered if they might have clogged the water intake to the cooling system. Back down I went, opened the sea strainer and there it was: a mass of jellyfish clogging the strainer like a Jell-O mold. Rebecca, being a surgeon, performed the operation. After cleaning the strainer we fired it up and it ran about 20 minutes. I went back below, repeated the inspection-yep, more jellyfish. After cleaning the strainer again, we moved the boat to the other side of the harbor, away from where the jellyfish were being blown by the wind and current.

The next day the wind had died down and we decided to deploy the tender and go to the beach for a walk and a swim. After lowering the tender, we cruised around the harbor then tied the dingy to a buoy and jumped into the 80 degree water. We swam ashore and enjoyed a lovely walk. While walking back to the boat we decided that Rebecca and I would swim out to the tender and struggle aboard, and then bring it to the beach, since getting on the boat on the beach is much easier than trying to climb aboard in open water. We swam out to the tender, got aboard, and tried to start the engine. It wouldn’t start. I fiddled with everything, but it wouldn’t start. First I thought of using the paddles and paddling ashore, but the specter of being blown out to sea negated this option. So we hailed our friends ashore and after 30 minutes or so they managed to get a fishing boat to tow us to Odyssey. (Later I found out that ethanol in gasoline dissolves a part in the fuel injector pump. Yamaha sent a replacement part to us when we were home in Ann Arbor). We enjoyed a wonderful lunch on the boat, and then put out for Playa Del Coco, about 15 miles south. While on our cruise Charlie mentioned that he had received a traffic citation for crossing the double yellow line while driving to the boat, a practice many drivers engage in on Costa Rican highways. We were a little concerned for him, since we had heard from others that traffic tickets can be very expensive here. Later we learned that he had to pay a $400 fine. The fine could only be paid through the rental car company. Apparently when he went to pay it, he learned that they charge a 35% processing fee on top of the fine!

We enjoyed having Charlie and Susan aboard. Susan coined the term stupefication for the feeling she got aboard the boat. What with the breeze, the sea motion, the sun, a late afternoon cocktail – stupefication pretty well sums it up. As the sun set on their last evening aboard, she seemed very relaxed as she set about conjugating the verb to stupefy. What else is an academic to do?

The day after Susan and Charlie left, Don and Eileen Paneck came aboard to babysit Odyssey while we went home for a month. They own a 35 foot Nordhavn and moor it near their Coronado home in southern California. Don has plenty of experience with a boat like ours, so having them aboard while we went home gave us a heightened sense of security, and a welcomed vacation opportunity for them.

After almost three months onboard Odyssey, we were ready to go home for a while. Being among our family and friends and in a familiar setting is very comforting. We had such a great time. It was perhaps our best and most productive visit home yet.

We came back to Odyssey on April 3. Buddy and Kathleen Dore, our friends from Alaska, were already onboard and preparing the boat for our next leg of the trip. Rebecca had stuffed our suitcases with over 50 lbs. of vegan food, so at least we could set off with some vegan cheese and ersatz mayonnaise. I brought boat parts, in particular the injector pump for the Yamaha outboard. On April 6 we shoved off for a trip around the Nicoya Peninsula to Los Suenos Marina. We stopped for the first night at Puerto Carrillo on the Pacific coast. We got there just after sunset and anchored in 35 feet of water. The ocean’s swell was pretty bad and we rolled through the night. I couldn’t sleep and finally gave in and got up at 4 AM and started the engines. Before I knew it everyone was up and we took off in the dark and cruised about 6 hours to our next stop, Tambor. Although other boaters had suggested the place, it wasn’t much. While we were debating what to do a surfer paddled up and offered us suggestions. He was an American x-pat who moved to Costa Rica 20 years ago. He said he liked it better when he first moved there as there was less activity and no electricity. In the meantime he has had two children. He complimented us on our boat and mentioned that he had been cruising with his dad and his dad’s girlfriend aboard their 240 foot yacht! The yacht had 22 employees, an $8 million annual budget, cruised all over the world, but his dad’s girlfriend didn’t like “boating” so he sold it last year and took a $40 million hit. His dad made his money in the auction business. His name was Ritchie(?) of Ritchie Brothers (?). Anyway, he gave us a few suggestions on places to go and see, so we departed and moved Odyssey to Isla Cedros a few miles away. What’s amazing is the amount of information people will give up in a ten minute conversation.

Isla Cedros was surrounded by smaller islands and looked secure as an anchorage. We put the tender in the water and took it for a spin. It worked better than ever, having put the new fuel pump in a few days before. The island however was part of a dry forest, so it wasn’t very interesting. Buddy went ashore and retrieved a coconut from beneath a tree. Later we enjoyed fresh coconut milk and chips from the nut. We didn’t see any animals, but we did see a lot of refuse. It probably blew in from Puntarenas, a town of about 100,000 a few miles away. The water looked a little murky, too. So, the next day we moved about 20 miles south to Los Suenos.

Los Suenos is the most famous marina in Costa Rica. It is home to about 300 sport fishing boats and it is almost always full to capacity. We had made reservations, so a slip was available to us at $3.50 a foot plus sales tax. This is a very expensive place. There are no amenities included in the dock fee, but there is a beach club and Marriott Hotel, which charges about $100/day/pp for a day pass. We were told there was a Happy Hour from 4 PM to 6 PM. We went up for a drink and hoped to stay for dinner. We ordered some drinks and then around 6 PM I asked when Happy Hour ended. The bartender said it ended at 6 PM. Rebecca asked for a Corona. The bartender said OK, but then said that it wasn’t a drink covered by Happy Hour. That’s when we found out about the scam: only local drinks are included. What are those drinks? Almost nothing. We left Los Suenos the next day and headed 50 miles down the coast to Marina PezVella at Quepos.

This is also a brand new multimillion dollar investment gone badly. The bank now runs the place and it is about half complete with no apparent plan to move further toward completion. The reason so many of these places in Costa Rica fail is because sport fishing is down and travel by yacht is diminishing, the economic downturn and high cost of fuel has undoubtedly affected a lot of people. Costa Rica’s tedious bureaucracy certainly doesn’t help.

Quepos is the site of the Manuel Antonio National Park. The park is about 4,000 acres and we planned a tour for the next morning. Unfortunately, when the time came we were all a little tired. The night before, about 1 AM, we heard a loud startling sound that woke us from our sleep. Odyssey had been tied to a dock that was experiencing a lot of turbulence. We were rolling and banging around like crazy and two of our lines (rated at 10,000 lb.) snapped and the ship was gyrating widely. As the ship pounded against the dock, two of our fenders also ruptured. After we got control of things, we moved the boat to another dock and things settled down to near normal.

Although tired, we set off on our morning tour of the park. It was conducted by a guide and consisted of a 3 mile walk through the forest. We enjoyed it immensely. I have put several pictures on the web, but the highlights were the Firebilled Toucan, both Two and Three Toed Sloths (the guidebook said sluts, but I am sure they meant sloths), the Red Eyed Green Frog, and a few bats and lizards. The beaches of the park were among the most beautiful we have seen. After the park tour we shopped at the local vegetable market. Wow! Do they have great fruits and vegetables. We had a lot of fun shopping and Odyssey was now ready for us vegans.

The next day we took off for Drakes Bay, about 65 miles southwest and on the Peninsula De Osa. It was a beautiful, calm run. This part of Costa Rica has an eight month rainy season, so things are very green and tropical. Everything is green and lush. Drakes Bay is a small but colorful town. When we arrived we were looking forward to experiencing the little town and 13 room hotel and gourmet restaurant. We put the skiff in the water and Rebecca and I started for town. Our first stop was the sail boat next door to get the lowdown on things. They had arrived shortly before us, and told us that they had recently come through the canal and were on their way north after spending the last four years in the Caribbean. At that point it started to rain, and by the time we turned the boat around and made it to Odyssey, it was pouring buckets. We tied up and got inside, thinking it would be over in a few minutes, but it kept raining and after an hour or so the skiff began to fill with water to the point I thought it could either sink or roll over if the waves kept building. The dingy was rolling up and down with the increasing size of the waves, and it was starting to hit Odyssey hard. So, we decided to bring it aboard. Rebecca went out and climbed into the tender to connect the hoist cables, lower the Bimini, and pull the drain plug while it was pitching several feet as each wave rolled under it. It weighs over 1200 LBS. and when it starts swinging, it gets dangerous. Anyway, we got it put away in fine style, but I was a little worried about Rebecca.

The next day we took off for Gofito, having lost our interest in Drakes Bay. Golfito is located about 65 miles around the peninsula in the Golfo Dulce. It is the last port in Costa Rica and the only place that we can check out of the country and get a zarpe. The zarpe is a form required to get into the next country. It proves that you left the last country on good terms. Golfito was the banana exporting center of Costa Rica. It has an old dock that was originally built by United Fruit Company, and still dominates the waterfront. Nothing much goes on here now, except for yachting. We stayed at Fishhook Marina, which looks like a classic Hemingway sort of place. Next morning we went for a boat trip to a botanical garden that features orchids. On the way we saw a flock of Scarlet Macaws. They are the most fantastic bird I have ever seen: red, blue, yellow and white. The flowers and tropical plants were too beautiful and numerous to write about, but I have put lots of pictures on the web, but I couldn’t take a picture of the fabulous Papillion butterfly. It was about the size of a salad plate, with the most beautiful silver/blue wings. It was very shy, and could fly very quickly. I chased it around for a while, but to no avail. I am glad to have seen such a wonderful creature at least once in my life.

On the way back we stopped by a couple of small grottos in the cliff wall that border the gulf. The cliffs are covered by beautiful jungle; all manner of tropical plants flourish. Once back in the marina and aboard Odyssey, we took a siesta during the hot afternoon. Around 6 PM we went to Fishhook and had a wonderful fresh tuna dinner, then back to the boat for our nightly ritual of watching an installment of Madmen, of which we have all become quite fond. Soon season two disks will run out and we will switch our attention to the serial killer Dexter.

We began our final day in Costa Rica by arranging with the marina manager to get us checked out of the country. It cost a total of $150, and should have taken about three hours. In the meantime, we took a tour of the giant mangrove forest not far from Golfito. The mangrove trees were the largest I have ever seen, perhaps 150 feet or more in height, with giant contorted roots that anchor them against summer storms and protect the mainland. We were fortunate to see another variety of toucan, the Yellow-billed Toucan, an Osprey, a Pink Spoonbill, and a variety of other birds and reptiles. (I put lots of pictures on the web.) We went back to Odyssey around noon, and then to the super market to provision for our eight day trip to Balboa and the Panama Canal. We decided to walk the half mile or so, but wow! Was it hot. Around 5 PM Rebecca checked on our papers. We got some of them, but not the zarpe. We talked with a few people on the dock: Too-Tall-Willy, who, in the process of trying to pick up Rebecca wound up with me. It must have been a disappointment. Anyway, Too-Tall has been through the Panama canal several times and gave us a lot of helpful advice, as well as tips on negotiating the waters around Turks and Cacaos. He was interesting. He and a buddy run a sport fishing boat and have taken it all over the Caribbean and are now on their way to Ecuador. They chase fish and other things. Sport fish guys are real cowboys, sort of a throwback to a time when people didn’t think about the consequences of how much they drank or smoked. The other fellow I talked with was a different sort. He was taking his wife, son and a friend of the son’s across the Pacific on an old wooden yawl, complete with wooden blocks. Everything was nicely varnished and it looked pretty good for an old gal. The first stop is the Marquesas’ Islands, about 3000 miles west or 30 days at sea for them. The old boat had few amenities-- for example, no refrigeration. The missus was off to the store to get the frozen meat she orders to but in her ice chest. I hope those boys like Spam! Around 10:30 PM we finally got our zarpe, and prepared to shove off for Panama’s Isla Parida the next morning at 5:30AM.

Today’s cruise to Isla Parida in Panama has been delightful; clear, blue sky, calm warm ocean water, beautiful music in the pilot house, and a good current to make the voyage an hour less than expected. Rebecca’s making cookies in the galley. I am sure you have had enough of this tome, so I will close and take it up again when we have passed through the canal.

Thanks for looking in on us.

Randy and Rebecca

Captain’s Log February 4 to February 21, 2011

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Captain’s Log February 4 to February 21, 2011

The Great Mango Run – El Salvador, Guatemala, and Northern Costa Rica

Shortly after arriving in Barillas we met John T. Wright S, scion of one of the most influential families in the country. John is a very handsome, friendly and charming young man, who has been educated in the U.S. and, like other members of his family, holds citizenship in both the U.S. and El Salvador. He offered to take us for a walk in the forest to see spider monkeys. During our walk, John told us the history of how his family came here two generations ago, focused their efforts in agriculture, gradually bought land, and eventually built a sugar mill. During the revolution of the early 80’s the government confiscated their property. John’s grandfather, Billy Sol, was abducted by revolutionaries, shot, and thrown into solitary confinement. After his release a year later, the family fled to Florida where they remained until conditions changed. At some point they regained ownership of their sugar mill, but not their land. Over the last 25 years they have been investing both in the sugar mill and in repurchasing the land that was confiscated.

As we walked into the forest, we met an elderly man who was familiar with the monkeys. He found some bananas and called out for Poncho and Maria. Soon the troupe appeared; Poncho was the alpha male and Maria was the senior of 24 females. Spider monkeys are about two feet tall, dark in color with a white face, and long, almost stringy appendages including a prehensile tail. As they moved from branch to branch you can see how they got their name. It was explained to us that as long as Poncho is “strong”, that is he can complete his connubial duties with all the females during each full moon, then no other males are tolerated. In the event that a male baby is born, it is taken from its mother by the other females and dropped from the highest tree. As Poncho ages, one or two males are tolerated until at some point they battle each other and another alpha male is crowned. Occasionally the troupe visits with a neighboring troupe. They apparently party for a day or two and exchange females. As long as Poncho remains strong, he is entitled to another perk: he eats first!

We asked John about touring the country. He suggested that the best way for us to see things was with him, and he arranged a fascinating trip to San Salvador and Guatemala for us over the next two days. Bright and early the next day, Heriberto (the very friendly and capable marina manager) drove us about an hour and a half past farms situated on the slopes of volcanoes to the capital, San Salvador. The city lies in a valley surrounded by volcanoes, the sides of which flow into the San Andreas Fault. It is a bustling, modern city of 2.5 million set in a spectacular setting. Many of the major streets are boulevards that lead to rotaries, at the centers of which are lovely pieces of statuary. Modern, architecturally pleasing buildings abound, and development is apparent everywhere. Many foreign companies are building plants here, particularly Japanese and American companies. Ubiquitous cement slab buildings are dominant along the side streets and in the older areas of the city. San Salvador also has its barrios and impoverished areas. As Heriberto turned off the freeway onto the side street we passed a monumental stone Mormon Temple under construction, a new enclosed shopping mall, and several high rise apartment buildings. A few minutes later we turned into the gated entrance of beautiful high-rise apartment building. The armed guard checked our credentials and opened the steel gate. John came down from his parent’s 12^th floor apartment and greeted us. We took the elevator to the top of the building for a panoramic view of the city, then to his family’s beautiful apartment for refreshment, and then to his armored car to begin our tour.

El Salvador has a terrible crime problem. Gangs roam the city preying on people from every walk of life. All substantial buildings and many small restaurants have guards standing outside armed with machine guns. People who can afford to do so hire armed guards to accompany them everywhere. The gangs practice everything from extortion, to kidnapping, to the more familiar crimes of prostitution, drugs and murder. As John described things, the gangs seem like the Mafia of old. Juan Wright, John’s father, told me that the situation is improving, but that the genesis of it was in the revolution. The revolution spawned lawlessness, weakened judicial institutions, and forced migration to the U.S where many found their way into the barrios of LA and its gangs. When caught, they were deported back to El Salvador, but now with more experience in criminal activities.

John is a very busy and remarkable young man, yet he generously carved two days out of his schedule to show us his country and take care of us. In addition to managing the Barillas investment, John is preparing to move to Spain and study for an MBA later this year. John took us first to his family’s sprawling sugar cane mill. The plant is very modern and impressive by any standard. Trucks line up day and night bringing sugar cane from around the country to the mill. Some of the cane comes from family land, but much if it is purchased from other growers. The name of the corporation is Ingenio El Angel, and is owned by John’s extended family with his father as president. The business seems to be the epitome of an enlightened business: efficient, environmentally responsible, and socially conscious. Operationally, the cane is brought in by trucks and dumped onto a conveyor. It is moved by conveyor to a series of crushers that mix the cane stalks with water and squeeze the sugar into a slurry, then to an evaporator, crystallizer, and to a bagging operation. The waste pulp is burned in a furnace (with stack scrubbers) to create steam that powers a generator. The power runs the plant and they are able to sell 12.5 megawatts of surplus power. Operation of the plant is scientifically managed. The employees are unionized, but management is benevolent providing medical insurance as well as a clinic, a retirement plan, school subsidies for the children of employees, , and other community programs.

After touring the sugar mill, John drove us to his grandfather’s coffee plantation high on the side of a volcanic mountain. John’s grandfather, Billy Sol, is a legend in El Salvador. Although he was born in Iowa, he came to El Salvador as a young man and built a large and successful agribusiness. During the communist revolution of the 1980’s, his land and family business was expropriated; he was shot and thrown into prison. After a few years in Florida, he returned to El Salvador and worked to rebuild the country and his family business. His autobiography, Sun and Steel, is being published this month. He was a delightful host, showing us his African trophies, his home and giving us an understanding of life during a volatile period of his country’s history. We gained valuable insight into what it means to put your hands in the soil and build a big life and a country.

That night we returned to our five room boutique hotel/gourmet restaurant that was recommended to us by John’s mother, Carolina. The next morning John picked us up in the armored car and we proceeded to the airport for our trip to Guatemala in the family/business plane. Flying between San Salvador and Guatemala City took about an hour and gave us a view that was simply fabulous: volcanoes, crater lakes, sweeping vistas…breathtaking! Guatemala City, like San Salvador is built around a fault in a valley between active volcanoes. Optimism abounds as highways and subdivisions are built on the fault itself, and they experience hundreds of tremors a year. The runway is built above the fault on a plateau, but in landing you can see the steep hillside drop away and on it are built hundreds of makeshift homes comprising a crowded barrio. If a plane ever undershot the runway it would be a terrible disaster. Guatemala City is about twice the size of San Salvador and has many high rise, attractive buildings. Like most of Central America, crime is a serious problem and guns are present everywhere. After clearing immigration, we hopped in a pre-arranged cab and headed for Antigua, a World Heritage site about 25 miles away.

Antigua was the original Spanish capital of Central America. It is a beautiful intact colonial city that now is a tourist destination. The pictures that we posted on the web describe it best, but if I were to visit it again I would definitely stay at Hotel Casa Santo Domingo, which is built on the ruins of a convent and is an absolutely beautiful setting. The town offers many interesting shops that display the art and crafts of Guatemala, which are impressive indeed. So are the two fiery volcanoes just outside the city.

That evening, back at our beautiful hotel in San Salvador, John’s parents Juan and Carolina joined us for dinner. After spending so much time with their wonderful son, meeting Carolina’s father Billy, and seeing the fruits of Juan’s business career, it was very exciting and a privilege to meet them. They are remarkable people and we feel very fortunate to have met them.

The next day we provisioned the boat and drove back to Barillas and Odyssey. We spent the day at the pool talking with other boaters and learning what they had discovered in their travels. One of the sail boats had picked up two attractive young European women who were boat-hiking around the world. They literally walk the docks asking for a ride in the direction they want to go. Sailboats are small, and with three men and two girls aboard showers often are taken from the hose at the dock and legs get shaved there too, all while wearing a bikini. Blond hair, blue eyes, tan, beautiful… and I spent 65 winters in Michigan!

The next day new friends from San Clemente joined us for our trip to Costa Rica: Gus and Lyle Gialamas. Gus is an orthopedic surgeon and Lyle is a nurse practitioner. We met them in Dana Point; they had a boat moored next to ours and its name was Odyssey also. In their spare time Lyle and Gus volunteer with Operation Rainbow, which recruits doctors and nurses to help the victims of natural disasters like the Haiti earthquake. They have been there twice, as well as many other places.

They flew overnight from LA and landed the next morning in San Salvador. Heriberto picked them up at the airport and brought them to Barillas. Gus and Lyle love boats and were anxious to make the two day passage to Costa Rica with us. Gus is also an experienced fisherman, so I was looking forward to seeing an expert in action. I wasn’t disappointed as Gus came equipped for some serious fishing. After we left Barillas the next day, we put out our lines and started catching fish: about six good sized Skipjacks (good for cat food) and one very large Wahoo – maybe a 40 pounder – good for dinner! Gus had trouble getting it aboard as it was so heavy. The weather was beautiful for most of the first day, but late in the afternoon the wind began to pick up and by sunset we were burying our nose in 10ft to 15ft seas. It was unpleasant, but by the next day things had settled down. Then, late in the second day as we approached the coast of Costa Rica the wind picked up to above 30 MPH. At this point it was nearly 6 PM and we were within an hour of our anchorage, so we hoped for a calm and protected bay. No such luck! The sun sets at 6 PM sharp, and it is dark by 6:30. We really don’t like entering a harbor at night, and in a 30-35 mph wind it is even worse. We started to anchor, but I decided that it would be better to tie up in the nearby marina. It was a Hobson’s choice – anchor in the dark, maybe hit a rock and/or blow around all night on a potentially dragging anchor, or enter a marina at night in a big wind with a lack of sea room and limited control and maybe hit another boat. But the marina had 340 slips and almost no boats inside. Thank goodness there was plenty of room for us and we had no trouble tying up.

The next day, Sunday, we slept in and waited for the local officials to come aboard and clear us into the country. About 9 AM five of them plus our agent arrived. $561 later, we were cleared into Costa Rica. What a rip off! But we weren’t completely finished with officialdom: the next day our agent took me, the captain, to the airport so that I could pay the boat importation fee and sign important papers at that office. It took me a couple of days to recover my good humor.

Over the next few days we had a great time: we enjoyed a Valentine’s Day dinner at the Four Seasons nearby; we rented a car and drove to the Rincon de la Vieja volcano for a day of canopy walking, hiking, and hot spring baths; we took the tender to deserted beaches for snorkeling and swimming in the 79 degree beautiful ocean water. A great time was had by all. One of the most interesting things around here is the Howler Monkeys. They are larger than Spider Monkeys, and the males really make themselves heard. Rebecca’s research revealed that Howler Monkeys make the loudest sound of all land animals, which reportedly can be heard for three miles.

The area here is very beautiful. The inlet from the ocean forms a very large bay with several smaller bays inside, all of which can be used as anchorages. Most of the bays have little villages or resort communities. One is occupied by Playa Coco, the largest town in the area. The hills are covered by a sort of jungle, which at this time of the year is dry and denuded of most of its leaves. Many trees have a flower in bloom of either a lavender or yellow color. Some bear fruit that the monkeys eat. The temperature at night is pleasant, but the days are hot and often humid. The sky is blue and clear with puffy cumulous clouds. There is almost always a breeze or wind. It is a beautiful place. The standard of living in Costa Rica is very high compared to the other countries we have visited, and we have not seen any armed guards or policemen with weapons during our travels here.

Astern of us in the marina lie four very large yachts, the Utopia at 234 feet, its sister ship Ocean Victory at 248 feet, Exuma at 150 feet and Were Dreams at about 150 feet. The first two are the largest yachts that Feadship has built. Exuma is notable for its fresh design. I wondered how the person who owned the 234 footer felt when is jet touched down and saw his boat’s big sister tied up in front of him(...always, there will be bigger and better!).

This week we will be touring Costa Rica. We’ll let you know what we have found in our next installment.

Thanks for looking in on us.

R & R

Comment on: Captain’s Log February 4 to February 21, 2011

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 22:58:02 GMT

Hi Randy & Rebecca, It was a great pleasure for my wife Debbie & I to meet you both at the Marina Papagayo Costa Rica in late february 2011. We really apreciated you hospitality & inviting us on your beautiful yacht "ODyssey" Rebecca you did a great job with the yachts interior decorating, it really felt like a relaxing atmosphere with ALL the comforts of home. We trust you enjoyed the rest of your stay in Costa Rica. How was the saty at the Marina Los Suenos in CR? We have been back in Bermuda since the 7th of MArch. Please keep in touch & Enjoy the Special time together on 'ODYSSEY" Peace & Mighty Blessings Jose & Debbie Cabral BERMUDA

Comment on: Captain’s Log February 4 to February 21, 2011

Sat, 26 Feb 2011 16:33:16 GMT

Never lacking for interest, this part of the world seems to offer a culture far different than what we are accustomed to! Stay safe and we look forward to your return home! Love,The Gordons

Comment on: Captain’s Log February 4 to February 21, 2011

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:33:22 GMT

I just read your entire post... who are you guys? It's just wrong. 65 winters in Michigan and you're watching blond bikini-ied leg shaving in the beautiful cove. There is no justice. Dan.

Comment on: Captain’s Log February 4 to February 21, 2011

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:25:50 GMT

I just cancelled my subscription to National Geographic. I like my new internet service from R&R. Dan.

Captain's Log February 4, 2011

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Captain’s Log January 31 to February 4, 2011

The Great Mango Run - Huatulco, Oaxaca, the Gulf of Tehuantepec, and El Salvador.

After anchoring the evening of January 26, we moved to the Marina Chuhua the next morning. The marina is in the county of Huatulco, which is in the State of Oaxaca. Huatulco is an area that is being developed as a tourist destination by the Mexican federal government. It is a beautiful area with broad boulevards appointed with Royal Palms and Bougainvillea, fine roads and lovely hotels and beaches. There are several small towns in the area, and all cab rides are 20 pesos, or $1.75. An area encompassing about 20 miles of the coast and inland about 5 miles has been designated as a national ecological park, the largest national park in Mexico. The government bought the land from the inhabitants in exchange for new homes, cash, and the development of a tourist industry here to replace traditional ways of making a living. The nice thing about this place is that it doesn’t look like a big resort. It looks like a really nice small town, and the people couldn’t be nicer. This project was begun in the mid 1980’s and is now substantially complete. In my experience, this is the best beach vacation spot in Mexico.

We stopped in Huatulco for several reasons: we needed a rest stop before crossing The Gulf of Tehuantepec, it has a great marina, and there are many U.N. World Heritage Sites that we wanted to visit, particularly the spectacular Indian ruin of Monte Alban near the City of Oaxaca. The first day in port we rested and had lunch in the little town of La Crucecita. This area of Mexico is known for its mole – negro, red, yellow, and green, a dish that I love. While in town, we arranged for an eco-tour to the cloud forest for bird watching, and a two day trip to Oaxaca. The next day at 6:15 AM, our guide Alberto picked us up and we were off on a bird watching expedition. We drove up into the Sierra Madres to an elevation of about 5,000 feet. The San Andres Fault lies just off shore, and you can easily see the result of the colossal tectonic forces at work. High in the mountains are the remains of coral reefs and sand bars that were under water millions of years ago. The sand was perhaps the finest I have ever seen: silky fine gold-ivory sand. Alberto told us that the area experiences about 300 tremors a year: quit a shocking revelation! (I‘m sorry). The principle bird life we saw in addition to parakeets and magpies was the emerald toucanette (sp). This bird was unbelievable; it is about 18 inches long, with a huge black and yellow toucan bill, the eyes are yellow, and body and tail are emerald/lime green. It was breathtaking in its beauty. After bird watching all morning, we stopped by the little town of Santa Maria with the Ave Maria church to see a local coffee roaster. Mexico grows a lot of coffee in this region, and the flavor did not disappoint.

The next day at 6 AM we left for Oaxaca, about 150 miles away (5 hours). Again we crossed the Sierra Madres, this time using a tortuously twisted road that rose 7,000 feet before dropping into the Oaxaca Valley. During the trip, we stopped for breakfast at a little village high in the mountains. The buildings were made of wood instead of the cement of lower altitudes. It gave it a sort of familiar look. This particular village is often visited by Europeans who are aware of the shaman that uses a special hallucinatory mushroom as part of a religious experience, in addition to special cleansing baths and other practices. The Beatles and other celebrities have visited here.

The main attractions of Oaxaca are the ruins of Monte Alban and Mitla, the colonial section of the city, Iglesia de Santo Domingo, and the black pottery of Dona Rosa. I have posted several pictures for you to see. Monte Alban lies atop a mountain just outside the city. It was built over a period of about 1,300 years, beginning in 500 BC. It served a combination of purposes including a celestial calendar, ceremonies associated with rain prayers, a university with a medical school, a sports arena and ball courts. Evidence shows that explorers from distant lands such as the Vikings, the Chinese, and others may have visited Monte Alban. Mitla is a similar ruin, but built at a later time. Here, the Spanish partially destroyed the Indian monument and used the stone to build a Catholic Church. Monte Alban was saved because it was overgrown with vegetation. After visiting these ruins, we stayed in a beautiful hotel in the colonial section of Oaxaca. The hotel building was originally a convent that was built in 1560, and confiscated by the state after the revolution of 1810. While staying there, we saw a very lively and entertaining display of traditional dances, and shared our dinner table with some very interesting people. One lady, a clinical psychologist and her granddaughter, related fond memories of Ann Arbor where she lived for nine years while her husband taught at the medical school.

The next day we walked around the lovely city center (Plaza de Armas) and enjoyed seeing families out for a stroll, a cup of coffee, or a balloon for the kids. Music could be heard everywhere, and the center city with its square has a distinct European flair. Around the square are the main cathedral and the very special Iglesia de Santo Domingo, which dates to the time of Cortez. It is a fabulous church that competes with any historical monument in terms of gold per square foot. It is simply unbelievable! After lunch we went to the central market which occupies at least a city block: there we bought some mole, mescal, and chocolate.

After another 5 hour car ride back to Huatulco, we needed a day to recover. Buddy and Kathleen were leaving the next morning, and we needed to check out with the port captain and immigration authorities prior to our departure Monday afternoon. After completing all the tedious details with the authorities and a final shopping trip, we cast off about 5:30 PM. Omni Bob predicted smooth sailing and he was correct, thank God.

Our trip to El Salvador was a little less than 500 miles. Our course took us across the Gulf of Tehuantepec, down the coast of Guatemala, and then to El Salvador. Because our next port lies about 7 miles up a river and requires a pilot to meet us before entering the bay, we planned our arrival for 9:30 AM Thursday morning. Rebecca and I were doing it ourselves, and this 3 night cruise is the longest single offshore cruise we have done alone. We generally do two six hour watches at night, and nap during the day as needed. During this cruise there has been no moon. The sea is obsidian black, but you can tell the horizon because the star canopy begins there. The brighter stars and planets cast a radiant beam across the ocean’s surface. The plankton sparkles on the sea like lightening bugs, and sometimes like a green florescent light flickering beneath the surface. Occasionally a ship passes, but we have seen only three on the entire voyage. The weather was very warm and humid during the day, and refreshing at night. The daytime sun is very intense and the humidity equals the temperature, about 90 degrees. Of course in the middle of this passage our pilothouse air conditioner ceased to work properly, but the others are, so we will get by until we can find a repairman. During the day I put out fishing lines. Today I caught (and released) two huge sail fish. What a thrill!

We arrived at Barillas, El Salvador on time and the pilot met us at 10:30 AM to guide us past big sand bar and a reef just offshore. Barillas is located about 7 miles up the river in a mangrove forest. Tiny fishing villages dot the intermittent beaches. Several very high volcanoes and steep mountains rise above the country side inland from the sea. After about an hour of traveling up the river we reached Barillas, a small development with perhaps twenty mooring balls anchored to the river’s bottom. Rebecca ran Odyssey as I worked with the panga pilot to secure a line to the ball. A few minutes after we were tied up, a panga full of officials arrived: the port captain, the harbor master, an immigration official and two customs inspectors plus one policeman with a very big automatic rifle. All of them covered their shoes and crammed into our salon. I guess it was a day trip for them, an adventure of sorts. After looking through our papers and the cupboards on the boat we were asked to accompany them to their offices where we repeated the same paper work and left $50 in fees. The port captain asked us to fly a Salvadoran courtesy flag, which we promptly hauled aloft. At the small café across from the pool, we had a pleasant lunch. We met the owner’s son, John, a handsome young man just back from George Washington University in Washington D.C. We talked about his family and his life. His parents were displaced during the revolution in the early ‘70’s. The government took all their land and distributed it to the poor. Apparently that was a disaster for the country. His parents returned later and they have been buying back their land. They raise sugar and cocoa, in addition to running this small marina. John lives with his parents in San Salvador, and flies back and forth a couple of time each week. It is only 85 miles to San Salvador. This weekend there will be a triathlon taking place here. We asked John about our safety and travel conditions. He said Guatemala was very difficult, Honduras is better in places. Crime is worse in the cities, but you have to be careful everywhere. He changes cars, routes, and time of travel so as to avoid a routine that criminals could target. We went back to the boat about 3 PM and slept until the next morning.

When we got up this morning we saw black oily flakes all over the boat. We couldn’t figure out what it was. We hosed down the boat, and a dugout canoe passed with three Indians in it. Later I learned that they were burning sugar cane in the area. This week we will rest and relax here. We will probably go to San Salvador early next week. Maybe we’ll take a walk in the forest to see the spider monkeys.

Wish you were here.

R&R

Comment on: Captain's Log February 4, 2011

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 01:04:10 GMT

We wish we were there too! We love following your blog at <a href="http://www.trawlerblogs.com">Trawler Blogs</a>.

Comment on: Captain's Log February 4, 2011

Sun, 06 Feb 2011 16:58:04 GMT

Just viewed your photos. They are worth a thousand words and more! The architecture, culture, people, colors, animal species, flora, depict the unique beauty and reality of places that would otherwise seem unreal!! (Glad to see that your new bike is getting some use!!) Frank and Karen

Captain's Log January 27, 2011

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Captain’s Log January 12 to January 25, 2011

The Great Mango Run

We stayed in Cabo San Lucas until Friday, awaiting better weather conditions on the Sea of Cortez. We did some shopping and wandered around. We walked to the beach and had lunch at a beach bar that seemed perfect for that time of day: 60’s music blared from a bar that was made from a speed boat, margaritas were flowing and the customary beach bunnies and interested parties were enjoying the ambiance. We were planning a crossing to Barra De Navidad about 380 miles to the south (2 nights at sea), and situated down the coast from Puerto Vallarta. Omni Bob (Omni Marine Navigation Service), our weather consultant, advised that we could expect 5 to 6 foot seas from the N-NE on Friday (our hoped for departure day), and he thought that by Saturday they should simmer down to a comfortable 4 feet. We wanted to get going because we had already been delayed in California and we had to spend a couple of extra days in Cabo. When we started out it was very smooth and we wondered if Bob had been too conservative. Then we found out once again that he was spot-on. The swells out in the ocean began to build and the N winds took over. Soon we were taking 5 and 6 footers on our port quarter, and the boat experienced a slightly uncomfortable yaw. As I sat on the aft deck I could look up at the rollers as they slid under our stern. Thank God for stabilizers or it would have been very uncomfortable. While cruising down the coast the evening before we made port, the moon rose over the Sierra Madras creating a spectacular display. At first I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was perhaps the largest silver moon I have ever seen, almost as bright as the sun. It was so clear that we could see the craters on its surface with only a weak set of binoculars.

On the third day we arrived at Barra and tied up at the Grand Hotel dock around 2 PM. By this time the temperature was very warm, probably near 80 degrees, and the sun was brilliant. This seemed a vast contrast to what our friends and family were experiencing up north. After registering at the marina, we headed for the pool. Rebecca and I enjoy this place very much. We spent a week here last year. At that time the hotel was nearly empty and this year was no different. The hotel and its grounds are very beautiful, and the village across the bay is charming. I would highly recommend it to you if you wanted a place to relax, play golf, swim and enjoy Mexican culture. It is a beautiful, picturesque place and the prices are very reasonable.

After a couple of days, we cast off for Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo, about 180 miles south. After we were out to sea, I put out our fishing gear in the hopes of landing dinner. I have a wonderful assortment of lures and fishing poles that should be quite inviting to all types of eatable pescado. In my experience, it takes a lot of time and patience to get even a small fish. So far, I have only caught small fish in the range of 15 pounds. I was dreaming of something like 50 or 75 pounds. Today was different though; after hours of trolling and changing lures assiduously, I landed the biggest thing yet. I am not sure that Darwin didn’t play a role in this, but I caught a bird. That’s right, the crazy thing was flying by and saw my lure so expertly presented that it dove right in and got hooked. We hauled it in, lifted the poor thing beside the boat and carefully and cautiously removed the hook from its bill. We dropped it back in the water and it looked like it might die, but three or four of its friends came back, circled and encouraged it. The last I saw it looked like it might recover from its ordeal.

Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo are about 10 miles apart and share a pair of bays that adjoin at a rocky prominence in the middle. Ixtapa is the larger of the two towns, and has a marina and cruise ship dock as well as many high rise hotels on the beach. Offshore a few hundred yards lay Grand Isle, which has a lovely beach dotted with palapas and swarms of pangas bringing visitors. We anchored a few hundred yards off the beach, lowered the tender and went for a swim and snorkeling expedition. The water was very warm but cloudy (note later observations): as we headed south we noted that the water temperature had risen from 58 degrees in Dana Point, to 67 degrees in Cabo, to about 75 degrees in Barra, and now about 80 degrees here. After a couple of hours we cruised over to the more intimate Zihuatanejo Bay and dropped anchor around 4 PM. There were at least 30 boats at anchor, along with two other Nordhavns. It is a beautiful bay, with gorgeous, very interesting looking resorts clinging to the cliffs along the bay. (After we are done with boating, I think we will come back here and stay in this one place that is truly spectacular for its architecture and the beauty of its setting.) The little town lies in the northeast corner of the bay and spreads out up the side of the mountains that surround the bay. There is a lagoon off to one side of the bay that is home to a rare species of salt water crocodile. The cruise books warn cruisers to keep small children and pets off the swim platform and beaches as these monsters occasionally make a grab for them. The sun sets around 6:30 PM, and it is a sight to behold in Zihuatanejo: beautiful rose hues reflect different shades of color off the buildings, the water and the mountains. There is clarity to the air that reminds of Northern Michigan, but it is totally unexpected here given the humidity. Rebecca and I were a little tired: we decided to have a beer and a cigar on the fly bridge before the evening’s activities. Of course we were anxious to get ashore, but a couple of issues had to be resolved. First, it was difficult getting ashore; the town doesn’t have a dingy dock, only a huge cement pier where you can pick up and drop people off. You can’t tie your boat up here as is often the case in other ports. The alternative is to anchor the tender a little ways offshore, and wade in. But this presents two other problems: security (someone would have to stay with the tender as we wouldn’t want it stolen) and sanitation. No one mentioned that these two towns do not have a sewer system and dump the waste of over 100,000 people into the bay. The water stunk and looked foul and we didn’t want anything to do with it. So we took turns with Buddy and Kathleen driving each other ashore. Rebecca and I had been here several years ago. We stayed at a resort a few miles around the far side of the bay, and we did not notice any foul water at that time or place. We looked forward to seeing the town again and have a nice vegan lunch ashore. Trying to explain veganism to many of the Mexican waiters is a real “Saturday Night Live” sort of experience. They just don’t believe that some would not eat meat, much less cheese.

We looked around and came across “Coconuts”, a lovely restaurant that looked like an 18^th century hacienda. It was beautiful, and the chef was delighted to accommodate us. The food was terrific, and we later found out the chef was from Australia. Go figure!

At 4 AM the next morning we pulled anchor and headed for Acapulco, about 110 miles to our south. Most of the Mexican Pacific coast above Zihuatanejo is rocky with few harbors for refuge; the Sierra Madras rise almost straight out of the ocean and the San Andres Fault lies nearby. Below Zihuatanejo things are different: the 110 mile coastline to Acapulco is one long golden sand beach. It is also virtually uninhabited. The area in these parts is home to thousands of coconut plantations, and the groves stretch for thousands of square miles. It’s big business, and coconuts are very important to the production of many things we take for granted from lipstick to charcoal for cigarette filters. As we have moved south we see more sea life. Whales abound, as they feed and nurture their new born calves. We also saw Porpoise, Bat Rays, Sea Turtles, and occasionally fish. We reached Acapulco at sunset, and just when I was about to pull in the fishing gear, a small tuna took our lure. We landed it and put it into our new fish cooler for safe keeping. We pulled into Boca Chica Channel, anchored off the small island of Isla Roqueta, lit the grill and started dinner. Kathleen had the fish perfectly filleted in a flash. Standing out on the deck of Odyssey we had a spectacular panoramic view of the city. It is impossible to describe how beautiful Acapulco is at night. Unlike our previous port, the water is clear and clean. The city occupies the bank of a harbor that is three miles in diameter and around it lay the Sierra Madres. The homes of 2 million inhabitants’ climb up the mountains; at night millions of lights sparkle like jewels in a magnificent crown below the starlit sky. Resort hotels ring the beach like a string of pearls.

The next morning we proceeded to the fuel dock for a dose of reality. The fuel dock is located within The Club De Yates De Acapulco. Since leaving Dana Point we have traveled about 1,500 miles, and we took on 520 gallons in Cabo San Lucas, and here we took on 912 gallons. Odyssey is treating us pretty well at about 1 gallon per mile. A gallon of fuel costs about $3.35. It took about 1 ½ hours to fuel the boat. It is very hard to get a slip in this yacht club, but as luck would have it, they had one available for us. It was a med-moor arrangement, meaning that we had to tie the bow to a buoy and then back into a dock and secure the stern. One has to do this in the wind and without hitting the boat(s) next door. This is the first time any of us had done this, but Buddy jumped into action on the bow, while Rebecca and Kathleen took the stern lines. I was at the helm (accepting responsibility for damage), but we did it, perhaps without as much grace as we all would have liked, but without any damage to anything or anyone! That afternoon we went to the world famous La Quebrada Cliff Divers of Acapulco exhibition. They dive from a cliff almost 200 feet above and into a narrow grotto. Six or seven divers climb from the grotto up the cliff to the apex, stand around and stretch and gain flexibility for a while, build audience anticipation, then go over and kneel at the shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe, say a prayer, kiss her feet, and jump. It is very impressive. I saw it twenty years ago with my brother, and it hasn’t lost a thing; it is still very impressive. After they jump, they swim across the grotto to the tourist area and make themselves available for a photo. Rebecca loves diving and couldn’t wait to have her picture taken with young, lithe, muscular young athletes . As the heat built up in the early afternoon, we found our way to the pool at the Club de Yates. It was a relaxing afternoon. That evening we watched another episode of “Mad Men” on our TV. Kathleen brought this particular series as a complement to our pretty good library of viewing options.

Rebecca scheduled a tour of the city for the next day. Our tour guide, Francisco, arrived around 9AM and we departed. We started on the northwest side of the city, the original Acapulco, and progressed to the new resort section south of the city. Much of our tour was a walk down memory lane and how the Hollywood stars of the 40’s and 50’s spent their off hours. I bet they had a fabulous time. We saw the Los Flamingos Hotel that started things off here. It was originally owned by John Wayne and Johnnie Weissmuller through an intermediary who technically owns it and still runs it. A room there now is about $60 per night. John Wayne’s first wife was Mexican and her name was Pilar (sp?). (They had three children. They still live in Acapulco in the John and Pilar Wayne home near Los Flamingos.) I suppose that is why he became so involved with the early development of Acapulco and the connection it had to Hollywood celebrities. Before John Wayne’s involvement, Acapulco was a fishing village. Through the 50’s and 60’s it was the site of many movies, home to big band extravaganzas for the rich and famous, and a place renowned for its glamorous, any-thing-goes night life. By 1970 the hotels along the strip were built, the glamour was replaced by greater access for the masses. Acapulco wasn’t exclusive anymore. By 1980, fancier, grander hotel complexes were built on the vast beach south of the city proper, but they had to compete with similar properties elsewhere.

Our tour guide told us a few interesting things about life in Mexico:

First of all, according to him there is very little crime and everything is peachy. The violence that we hear about is between people who deal in drugs.

No one in Mexico (other than the police) may carry anything that could be used as a weapon that includes knives (even pen knives), nail clippers or even tools. For example, a carpenter carrying his tools has to conceal them in a bag. Everyone is subject to inspection.

All young men are conscripted for military service at age 18. They serve each Saturday for one year and are then released from duty, but they may apply for a permanent enlistment if they so desire.

All children must complete 12 years of school. They all dress in uniforms. There are three types of schools: public, private (where English is taught), and Catholic (were prayer is taught).

Francisco said that 90 % of the country is Catholic; the other 10% are priests and nuns.

Last year Acapulco had about 200 cruise ship visits. This year it will be about 120. Next year it is expected to be 40!

Everyone who works is entitled to social insurance including medical and retirement benefits. There is no welfare or medical care if you do not work. As a man, if you work, the insurance covers you, your wife and children, and your parents. If you are a women and work, it covers the same people except your husband. He doesn’t get insurance unless he works.

Prostitution is a licensed sport and legal all over Mexico, but it must be conducted specific locations.

It was a nice tour and a nice city, but it was time to head south again. This time we are bound for Puerto Angel, a small, beautiful coastal town just north of Huatulco, gateway to the feared and unruly Bay of Tehuantepec.

We cruised overnight toward Puerto Angel. We arrived there at sunset the following day looking forward to the picturesque setting described in the cruise books. When we got there we found a very small bay that was experiencing a huge surge from the incoming ocean waves. We poked our bow into the harbor thinking there must be more, but there wasn’t. Huge waves were washing on the rocks all around and pangas occupied most of the harbor, such as it was. I was becoming concerned that we were running out of sea room and getting into a position that could become dangerous. By this time the sun had set and night was falling. We turned the boat, slowly as the current was against us, and made our way out of the bay and pointed Odyssey toward Huatulco 20 miles to the south. Three hours later and in total darkness we found the bay we were looking for. Our night vision equipment, chart plotter and radar kept us on the right course, as the area was littered with rocks and reefs. Buddy took Odyssey into an anchorage, and we dropped the hook. Odyssey rolled around all night, but our anchor held and we drifted off to sleep. The next morning we awoke to the sight of a beautiful, picturesque harbor and a marina to tie up in for the next 5 days. Then we will tackle The Gulf of Tehuantepec!

We will post new photos as soon as we have adequate internet service.

Thanks for looking in on us. Call us anytime on 734-646-0095, we would love to hear from you.

R & R

Comment on: Captain's Log January 27, 2011

Sun, 06 Feb 2011 16:38:29 GMT

Love reading about your adventures! As for your "catch," there's a reason for the saying, "bird brains!!!" Poor thing...glad it rallied and got back on its way. As you are navigating 80 degrees waters, we are once again shoveling several inches of snow!!! Safe travels and love to you both! Frank and Karen

Captain's Log December 27, 2010 to January 11, 2011

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Captain’s Log - December 27, 2010 - January 10, 2011

Tonight we are at sea about 850 miles north of Cabo San Lucas. The sea is moderate, with swells about 6 feet and wind waves of about 2 feet, but Odyssey is handling it easily with a sight waddle as each wave passes under her keel. Soon the sun will set creating a spectacular orange and red display. We left Dana Point on January 5; seas were calm with the exception of a pleasant northerly swell that rocked us to sleep. Right away a pod of dolphins joined us and frolicked in our bow wave. It was exciting to be back at sea and hearing the familiar muffled roar of our twin diesels. As we passed by San Diego, I thought again about the many times I left this harbor when I was in the Navy and of my wonderful family and friends who have given me so much over the five ensuing decades; as a 19 year old sailor heading off to Viet Nam (Rebecca tells me that she was in the eigth grade then), who could have predicted where life’s path would lead? It also occurred to me that it would be five months before Odyssey will be back in the safety of U.S. waters. One cannot overestimate the security and comfort of being in America.

We got a late start out of Dana Point because of the failure of our thruster solenoid, the same one we replaced in Petersburg, Alaska last summer. For some reason unknown to all but the Almighty, it simply failed spontaneously when we first attempted to use it, so we had to wait over the holidays for the supplier to open for business and send us a new one. The weather wasn’t very good, so the delay gave us a chance to celebrate the advent of the New Year onboard with our new crew, visit dear friends in California, and then meet with the team at Nordhavn about the design of our new boat, N6823. Odyssey is perfect, but we originally ordered a 64 foot boat, and now with the economy as it is, the folks at Nordhavn made Rebecca and me a very attractive offer and they threw in an extra 4 feet to boot!

The solenoid arrived on Wednesday afternoon, and by 4:30 PM we were underway. The trip takes about six days of cruising due south along the Baja coast, with a brief overnight stop in Bahia Santa Maria, about 180 miles north of Cabo. The first two days were calm and sunny, which gave us all a chance to settle in and get used to the boat again. Our new crew, Buddy and Kathleen Dore, joined us in Dana Point to help us with the trip. I met Buddy and Kathleen in Alaska two years ago. They ran the charter boat that took my family on a fishing trip. Rebecca and I met them again last summer while we were cruising in Alaska, and we decided to share this trip with them. They fished professionally in Alaska for over 30 years. Buddy is a licensed captain and Kathleen knows her way around the galley and the fishing gear. They can run our boat, help with maintenance, and maybe catch some fish! Besides, they are good company and we enjoy being with them very much.

As we cruised south the wind increased and the sea became a little less settled. We made Credos Island on the second morning. It is a beautiful place and a good fishing spot. We put out our gear and within a couple of hours or so we caught a nice Albacore Tuna. Kathleen cleaned it and we grilled it later that evening for dinner. It was spectacular!

The evenings at sea are awesome (in the adult sense of the word). The Milky Way is a starry canopy extending north and south parallel to the coast, a sort of celestial map for us to follow. The moon rises just after sunset. Looking aft from the starboard door of the pilothouse, you can see the swells rolling past with the silvery moon shine on them. Looking up, the sky is full of stars, more than I have ever seen, and the quarter moon hangs amidst them. With binoculars you can see the moon’s craters and its surface detail, as well as the halo caused by sun’s light around its edges. As time passes, the moon changes color to an amber tone, and then sets below the ocean’s horizon.

The third day out we arrived at Bahia Santa Maria at about 2330. We anchored, dropped into bed in now quiet boat absent the sound of engines and machinery. The next morning we awoke to a windy northeasterly wind of about 15 mph. The bay was rough and, without her stabilizers on Odyssey rolled from side to side. The morning sun made the vistas especially beautiful; we could see the barren desert mountains on one side of the bay and the exposed sand bar with the mangrove forest sweeping around the other. Soon after Rebecca put the coffee on, a panga pulled up with two fishermen who wanted to exchange langoustines for whatever we had that would make a deal. After a little discussion, we settled on the following exchange: 1 chicken, 4 AA batteries, 4 Buds, and to 2 coloring books with crayons in exchange for 8 langoustines. We left the anchorage about 1100, bound for Cabo San Lucas 180 miles away.

The final leg of our trip took about 22 hours. During the day, the sea was pleasant, and we cruised close along the coast. We were keen to see the wreck of a 62 Nordhavn (you can see it on a YouTube video clip) that went aground a few years ago on its maiden voyage. Apparently at least one person died. Can you imagine a $3 million yacht being lost on its first voyage? That evening we lit up the grill and enjoyed a tasty lobster dinner. During the evening the wind gradually began to build and by midnight they were up to 25 knots intermittently. Lucky for us, they came from the NE and because of the proximity of the Baja Peninsula there was a relatively short fetch on which the wind could ply its force, so it wasn’t too bad. By morning, things had calmed down and we rounded Cape Falso on flat seas. When we reached Cabo, we learned that they had closed the port the day before because of high winds. Lucky us!

Today I am sitting on our fly bridge looking at all the activity in the harbor and the great white fleet of sport fishing boats. Several boats are ferrying passengers from the big cruise ships to the port, glass bottom boats beckon people to view the great unknown below, and a National Geographic ship is fueling at the dock just across form us. On the dock are barkers of every sort: some selling cigars, others hawking food at the restaurant, and small children sell candy and gum. On guard at each corner is a soldier with a big automatic gun. We have not seen or heard of any problems. It’s fun to be here (for a little while). I spoke with our weather consultant yesterday and learned that a big storm is crossing the North American Continent this week, causing strong winds and uncomfortable waters across the Sea of Cortez. It looks like we will be here until Saturday, then we will leave for Barra de Navidad, about 380 miles southeast of here. Tonight we are dinning at Mi Casa, the famous local Mexican restaurant. I love their chicken mole! (Most of the time I am vegan but I just can not resist this fabulous dish and also recommend a mango margarita on the side.)

Best wishes from the Tisches!

Comment on: Captain's Log December 27, 2010 to January 11, 2011

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 11:45:46 GMT

Randy and Rebecca, Hope we cross paths in Mexico this winter. We are aboard the Nordhavn 76, Eliana. Really interested in hearing more about your plans for 2011. Your writing really captures what cruising is about! Debbie Heiniger

Comment on: Captain's Log December 27, 2010 to January 11, 2011

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:28:12 GMT

...and, the voyage continues!!! So good to hear from you! Thank you for sharing your adventure and letting us be a small part of it, vicariously. Safe travels. Love, The Gordons

Comment on: Captain's Log December 27, 2010 to January 11, 2011

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 17:01:59 GMT

Sounds just fantastic! And those blasted solenoids! I use solenoids on my kiln burners and they are always acting up! Look forward to seeing you in February-- Susan

Captain's Log Update - Oregon to Dana Point

Sat, 25 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Captain’s Log – September 9, 2010- Coos Bay, Oregon to Dana Point

Our trip down the Washington and Oregon coast was beautiful and a lot of fun. The first day or two we encountered seas around 6 to 8 feet, but they were on our starboard quarter and with a gentle moment. I enjoy large seas from astern. As we got closer to Coos Bay our weather consultant advised us to turn in instead of continuing farther south, as seas were expected to build over ten feet with gale force winds. We arrived in Coos Bay late in the day, and tied up in light fog to the commercial fishing docks.

Coos Bay used to be the largest wood pulp export harbor in the world: that’s history. Like all the lumber towns up and down the coast, the lumber mills have closed due to the recession, shops are shuttered, and unemployment is high. On the docks, people were setting their crab pots and bringing in large crabs. Sea lions barked and swam about looking for a handout of tuna from the local fisherman. The docks themselves were a little shabby, and things were generally in disrepair. The next morning the winds began to build, and we retied the boat to stand off the dock, locked things up, and headed for town to pick up our rental car.

That day we drove to the Umpqua Valley, a beautiful up and coming wine region that specializes in white wines. The vistas are like northern California – rolling hills covered by brown grass and dotted with lovely live oaks. The sweeping views with a blue-sky canopy were gorgeous. As we drove the scenic wine tour road through the hills, we stopped at several wineries and talk with the vintners. The first night we stayed at a lovely B & B located out in the country among the hills, and the second day we meandered down the valley to Jacksonville, a town, which in its entirety, is listed on the national historic register. We stayed at the Jacksonville Inn, in a cottage a block off Main Street. The Jacksonville Inn was host to George and Laura Bush a few years ago, and is known for its great restaurant and wine cellar. The little town has many unusual shops and is well worth a visit if you are in the area. We decided to stay two days, so during the day we toured the wine country, and on the second evening we drove about 20 miles to Ashland, which produces what might be the best Shakespeare Festival on the continent. We saw Henry I, part one, and it was spectacular--well worth a visit if you travel to this area.

After five days in Southern Oregon we took off for Crescent City, California. The ocean was initially calm and we were greeted offshore by a pod of Humpback Whales that were as curious about us as we were about them. There is something special about looking into a whale’s eye as he/she passes by: you know they have intelligence. The trip took about 15 hours and we made landfall at dusk. The wind was blowing pretty hard when we turned toward the harbor entrance and cruised past the beautiful coastal rocks that characterize the northern California coast. The harbor was in a poor state of repair. We tied up at the work dock. Astern of us was an old wooden cruiser whose owners were taking it from Washington to Sacramento. The husband and wife team were working in Washington State as welders and living on the boat. Their work was finished there, and they took a job in central California, so they were moving their home south. Apparently they cruise the boat at 10 knots with no autopilot. Wow, that would be a rough and unpleasant experience in the heavy sea of this coast. We stayed here overnight and spent the next morning walking through the beautiful Redwood groves for which this area is so well known. If you have ever seen these beautiful giants, you know how they impart a sense of wonder and timelessness. I do not know how anyone could cut them down, but they do.

That afternoon we talked with our weather consultant and learned that we had a window of about a week to get to Santa Barbara before a difficult weather pattern was expected to settle in. With two days at sea to reach San Francisco, four days there, and two more days to Santa Barbara, we needed to get moving. So we pushed off about 6 PM for San Francisco. The trip south was better than expected, although I felt a sense of anxiety remembering my last encounter 40 years ago with the seas outside San Francisco. At that time I was a sailor in the Navy stationed aboard the USS Currituck, a 600-foot warship. We were bounced around like a toy in the notoriously heavy seas of Northern California. Our trip was relatively gentle this time, and we made the approach to San Francisco about 3 AM. We slowed our speed in an attempt to get there at dawn, but the currents were favorable and we rounded the separation buoys about 4:30 AM. It was very foggy, and three large ships were moving in our vicinity. We planned our course with the help of the shipping pilots who were stationed in the area. We dropped south of the buoy, tuned to VHF Channel 13, and talked with a large container ship and an oil tanker also coming into the bay. We set our course to follow the commercial fairway under the Golden Gate. As we moved into the final leg of our trip, we could hear the waves crashing on the rocks, but the fog was very thick and we couldn’t see anything. Finally we could see the Golden Gate’s fog lights as we passed under the bridge. What a thrill! After going under the bridge, I was surprised at how narrow the area under the bridge, which I always thought to be very wide. But when ships are passing under it, it seems very narrow.

After we were in the bay, we turned toward San Francisco and made our way to the St Francis Yacht Club. This is a beautiful and famous club right in the heart of the city’s Marina District. What a beautiful spot! The Palace of Fine Arts was just behind us, and the trendy Chestnut Street shopping area was just a few blocks away. That afternoon we walked around the area and dinned in the city. We rented a car the next day and drove to Napa Valley. Again we toured several wineries, but the highlight was meeting Michael Grgich at his winery, Grgich Hills Estate. The “Hills” refers to one of the Hills Brothers who invested in his winery after the Parisian wine critics selected him as the world’s top winemaker in 1975. He’s one of the giants of the wine business, and at 87 he makes a good argument for the health benefits of drinking vino. The next day we returned to Odyssey and visited with our niece and nephew who joined us for dinner. Laura is a Spanish teacher in the area and Ben is a transportation planner for the city. The next day Kathryn and her friend, Neal, flew in from NYC and spent the morning with us. After a short visit and lunch at the yacht club, we set off for Santa Barbara.

Our trip south was pleasant and relatively calm. We needed to make Point Conception by early evening in order to avoid some nasty seas. As we rounded the point, the winds picked up and were blowing over 30 MPH, but we were cruising parallel to the coast and after an hour or so we were in calm waters. We reached the entry to Santa Barbara Harbor about 3 AM. Santa Barbara is about the least user friendly place we have been: they will not reserve a space and when you enter the harbor you have to make your way through the marina and tie up at the harbormaster’s dock to register. At 3 AM and in tight quarters, this was a real pain. They assigned us a space, which, after we were almost there, they changed and we had to back out and then squeeze into another space on another dock. We had about 6 inches on the beam to spare. Anyway, we rented a car and drove up to San Luis Obispo and stayed with our friends the Klostermans in their beautiful home overlooking the city. Paul and Denene were medical school classmates of Rebecca. Paul knows the wine country like the back of his hand, so he coached us on the best places to see in the area. The next day we drove through some of the most beautiful places I have been in California: the Edna Valley, the Santa Maria Valley, the Santa Ynez Valley and the little towns and wineries along Foxen Canyon Road. This is a great place to explore if you haven’t been there. One thing about tasting the wine from all the regions down the coast in such a short period of time: you learn to differentiate and appreciate the different flavors arising from the different climates and soil conditions. After our little trip, we returned to Odyssey and met a lovely couple that invited us for cocktails at the yacht club. The next day we took off for the Ronald Reagan Library at Simi Valley, about an hour away. I put a few pictures of the library on the website, which pretty much tells the whole story. The next day, we headed for our homeport at Dana Point. This is another 120-mile cruise, so it took about 16 hours. We entered the harbor at about 11 PM. It was good to be back in a familiar setting. It was a beautiful day and lovely end to a great trip.

Since starting our trip on June 2^nd, we used about 2600 gallons of diesel fuel and covered about 2300 miles (about the distance from Boston to LA).

We are now making our final decision about our next trip, which will either be across the Pacific to Australia or through the Panama Canal and around South America. We will make up our minds within the next week or two and let you know.

Comment on: Captain's Log Update - Oregon to Dana Point

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 23:25:59 GMT

Always amazed at all that you are taking in! It's a huge world and you're seeing as much as possible!! Thank you for sharing the stories and photos, taking us along on your voyage. It's a trip to remember. The seas in these photos look particularly "big." Happy to have you back home in A2... Love, The Gordons

Comment on: Captain's Log Update - Oregon to Dana Point

Sun, 26 Sep 2010 15:25:31 GMT

Randy and Rebecca, We think of you both often. Glad to see the journey continuing with great success and joy. We are settled in Winston Salem now. Hope to talk to you sson. David

Captain's Log Update August 24, 2010

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Captain’s Log – August 22, 2010- Prince Rupert, B.C to Coos Bay, Oregon

We left Prince Rupert about 6 AM headed for the Grenville Channel, a 50 mile long fjord that is a main route on the inside passage. It is a spectacular wilderness area: the channel is relatively narrow and very deep, bounded by high mountains and forests. It was a beautiful day, and we planned a 5-hour cruise. By noon we had made it half way down the channel and reached our anchorage, a large inlet that forms part of an isolated marine park known as Klewnuggit Inlet. Nestled deep in a mountain valley, the inlet opened up into three bays. We carefully made our way to the end of the most promising one, dropped our anchor and enjoyed the solitude. Rebecca made a lovely lunch, and then we lowered the tender and went for an exploratory lookabout and crab pot deployment. Later that evening two other boats found our cove, and they anchored and spent the night with us under the stars. The next day we planned an early start to Butedale, about 50 miles away. (50 miles on land is about an hours drive, but on Odyssey it is about 6 hours). The passage wound through some of the most beautiful country we had seen. Late in the day we found Butedale. We were anxious to drop anchor and get some rest.

Butedale was once a thriving lumber mill. At the turn of the century (1900) it had over 500 residents, a schoolhouse, ice cream store, powerhouse, and fire hydrant system. It was a major town in these parts. But when the fish canning industry gave way to frozen food in the early ‘60’s, it had been all but abandoned. Today a caretaker (Lou) stands guard over the place. The harbor was over 600 feet deep, so anchoring was out of the question. I was a little disappointed, because it would take another hour or two to locate a sheltered haven for the night. Looking about, we could see that the buildings were literally falling into the sea, but we noticed that the two boats that anchored near us last night along with one other boat were tied up to some logs at the edge of town. Everyone seemed to be out on the log dock with drinks, motioning for us to come in. As we got closer, one of the men called us on the VHF and said there was enough room for us, so he suggested that we come on in and they would help tie us up. When we got close to the dock we saw it wasn’t a dock at all, but several very large trees that had been floated and tied together. One of the big ones even had most of its root ball in tact. I was very leery of tying up there. I heard the voice of my Nordhavn mentors telling me that this was no place for our beautiful yacht…it was just too dangerous. But, I realized that “nothing ventured nothing gained”, so we proceeded. After securing Odyssey we carefully negotiated the log dock and made it over to the social gathering near the other boats. We were invited aboard Swell Dancer for a few beers. Doug, Melinda, Garvin and Bev were the most delightful people. They were from Alberta and B.C respectively, and had been traveling down the coast on their shared three-week vacation. After several beers, we made our way back across the logs to our boat, and settled in for a good night’s sleep. The next morning we awakened to a beautiful blue sky and sunny day. We took the tender on a harbor tour to view the spectacular waterfall on the edge of town, then we took a hike around the dilapidated village. By then all the boats had left. We found Lou, a displaced French Canadian originally from Quebec, who had spent most of his adult life in the oil industry in Alberta. Lou lives with his dog, Burt, and unnamed cat, and told us stories of visitors that he enjoys seeing each season. Lou has a son who might live in B.C., but he might have moved to find a job. Lou wasn’t sure as he hadn’t spoken to him in the last six months. He likes living in Butedale, but he is thinking about moving. It has been eight years. The winters are long and lonely, but he passes the time as an artist, making small woodcarvings painted with Indian images and wildlife scenes. He has to watch his dog carefully, because dogs are a favorite food of wolves, which gather in the yard between the houses and circle about menacingly during the winter. Lou says they are very persistent and are not afraid of lights or other human efforts to disburse them. Burt whines and gets very nervous. Bears also frequent the village. Lou invited us to his home to see his pictures. We bought one for the boat and it will remind us of the fun we had here. Later that morning we departed for Klemtu, and Indian village further down the coast.

The trip to Kemtu was replete with the same boring scenery: beautiful mountains, forests, fjords, tidal waters and streams that we have gotten so used to. As we changed course to enter the harbor late in the afternoon, we had to cross a terrifically powerful rapids of tidal currents that flowed out of the channel to the ocean. Odyssey twisted and turned in the current, but finally straightened out and made it to port. As we got to the inner harbor, we saw our newfound friends standing on the dock to help us tie up. Over the radio, Doug suggested that we back into a small area that would have to due for our berth. Despite the wind blowing against us, we changed our rigging that was originally set up for a starboard tie, and slowly moved astern, hoping to avoid a collision with long abandoned pilings and floating docks that obstructed the area. Once tied up we renewed our acquaintances and met others on the dock. As it was late, we prepared dinner and went to bed. Next morning, we toured the town, went to the store, and talked with other boaters. The town was very small, populated with less than 1,000 people. As usual, there were no buildings of architectural merit, just the simplest of structures meant to meet basic human needs. They were however, neat and nicely painted, with a pickup truck in every driveway. All the inhabitants that I saw were of native ancestry. The only entertainment was a small coffee shop attached to the very limited grocery store with a large selection of baloney and chips.

I struck up a conversation with the captain of the exploratory vessel moored next to us. We talked about the wolf cries during the previous night: at least ten or twelve wolves were about the town, walking along main street and howling during the night. One elderly resident told me that the wolves had apparently eaten all the deer that once lived the nearby, and so they now frequent the town looking for food. Their cries had a hauntingly beautiful yet terrifying, primeval quality that struck absolute fear in my heart. The captain told me that he instructs his passengers to venture no further than the end of the dock at night, and to be sure to lock his two Golden Labradors in the boat’s cabin if they go out. He awoke to the whimpering of one of his dogs on the back deck. Apparently one of his guests had forgotten to bring the dog in and the dog’s whining had awoken him. Wolves like to eat dogs (and the dogs know it)!

Another couple on the dock had left Australia four years ago and were sailing around the Pacific rim. They spent two years in Japan and told us a few stories of their travels and how they dealt with the exceeding high prices there. It is so inspiring to meet people who are so adventurous and engaged in the world. It is invigorating. What a great time we are having!

We left Klemtu for Shearwater, a harbor that is located across the channel from the village of Bella Bella. This is one of the last ports before committing to a crossing of the Queen Charlotte Sound and the Queen Charlotte Strait. These are potentially nasty pieces of water that can blow up into big, short period waves when a north wind blows. Such was the case at this time, so we needed to spend a day or two waiting for improved weather conditions out at sea. We tied up at Shearwater, a very nice spot with a restaurant, a few small shops and a marine store. Something for everyone! While we were checking in with the harbormaster, our friends called on the VHF requesting a slip. I asked the harbormaster if I could respond and play a practical joke on my friends, so he let me answer them on the radio. Doug said there were two boats in his party and he needed two slips, describing each boat by its length in meters. I responded first by telling him I couldn’t understand him causing him to repeat the whole thing again; then I told him that two boats was just too much trouble; then I repeated the boat length as though it were in feet rather than meters and told him they were too short and should just go to the dingy dock. He thought I was serious, and Rebecca and I were laughing so hard I couldn’t keep it up. Meanwhile, Doug and Melinda weren’t sure it was a joke! We had another good laugh together when they got into port a few minutes later, although I am not sure Doug thought it was as funny as we did! After a few drinks together in the luxury of a real restaurant, we planned to go fishing the next day. I asked the marine store operator for directions to the best fishing hole, and he coyly obliged. That afternoon we placed our crab traps in one of the most beautiful places we had been, and then proceeded out in the channel for a run at the salmon. We caught three crabs and three Coho! Luckily, the nearby seals stayed away from our catch, as they often snag the caught fish right off the line before a fisherman has a chance to land it!

While were fishing, a number of modern, beautiful B.C. ferries passed by. These are fast, new vessels that look like ocean liners. Garvin and Doug told me the story of a hapless ferry that ran aground last year. As the story goes, two male officers were on the bridge with their girlfriends that they snuck aboard. They had apparently decided to light the embers of love and completely forgot to adjust the autopilot to make the next turn. The ship struck some rocks, ripping the side open. It was winter and the water was about 40 degrees. Of the tree hundred or so passengers, all but two made it to safety. That’s because the staff was unaware that there were two extra people aboard, and two passengers were inadvertently left aboard to drown. Hours later, the ship slid off the rocks and sank in 1,800 feet of water, full of fuel, cars, and trucks. In terms of the lovemaking couples, one can only imagine how the “earth moved” for them! (Apparently the union is defending them on the basis that the navigation equipment was too complicated for the training that they had received. The BC Ferry Company offered the children of the drowned couple $20,000 to drop their suit.)

The next day we headed out, and anchored overnight near Duncanby Bay, then early the following morning we pushed off for Port Hardy across Queen Charlotte Sound and Strait. Port Hardy is the northern most port on Vancouver Island and gateway to the south. Port Hardy was a necessary stopover so that we could rest for the upcoming 13-hour trip to Campbell River at the bottom of Johnstone Strait. The strait must be negotiated at the proper time in order to pass through Seymour Narrows, one of the fiercest rapids in the northwest, at slack tide. Port Hardy was a nice little town and gave us a chance to get out and stretch our legs. Unfortunately the port facilities were located near a rendering plant and the odor was very unpleasant. The most interesting thing that happened to us was in meeting John and Teddy. They arrived shortly after we did on their houseboat Teddy Bear. This boat reminded me of the old saying, “he who dies with the most toys wins!” Teddy Bear is about the size of Odyssey, but it carries a helicopter, a speedboat, kayaks, and other paraphernalia. John had been a 747 pilot and Teddy a fight attendant. They live on Teddy Bear in Sitka most of the year, and cruise the northern islands during the summer. They told us stories of how John dreamed about a boat, found a good design, then arranged to have it built in New Zealand. The boat builder went broke, and they had to live in NZ for two years to complete the boat. They also told us of their trip to Washington D.C, and their visit to the Smithsonian Museum. To their surprise and amusement, the 747 in the museum was one they had flown during their careers! Next summer they are adding a hot tub in place of the ramp for the Volkswagen!

The next morning we left Port Hardy bound for Campbell River. We made Seymour Narrows on time, and the current was so swift we wound up going 16 knots through the rapids and I have a picture to prove it. That must be a record for a Nordhavn 55! In Campbell River we met our friends Clayton and Ann Wilhite. They were joining us for a trip to Vancouver. About 5:30 PM Ann appeared at the boat looking happy and fresh after her long trip from Ann Arbor. I looked about for Clayton, and there he was coming down the dock looking like a tall Sherpa pushing a dock cart mounded with baggage. In due course we got everything aboard and enjoyed a lovely salmon dinner prepared by Rebecca. She prepares the most elegant and beautiful dinners from her small but well equipped galley. The next morning we moved out for Pender Harbor, which I have previously described, and then to Grace Harbor on Gambier Island. Here we were surprised to find a mothballed Canadian frigate named Annapolis. The next day we sailed for the City of Vancouver and moored at False Creek’s Fisherman’s Warf. We were scheduled to depart for our trip down the west coast of the United States, so the use of Bob Jones our weather consultant was necessary. Bob told us to get going, as a very strong ridge would soon be in place that would create strong winds and big waves near Northern California. So we bade goodbye to Ann and Clayton and left Vancouver at 0515 on August 20.

We sailed through the fabled and beautiful San Juan Islands on our way to Port Angeles. Here we checked in with the U.S. authorities. By this time the wind was blowing around 25 knots. We left Port Angeles about 1930 and started our six-hour run out the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Cape Flattery and the Pacific Ocean. Rebecca wanted to take the first watch, so I headed for the rack. The wind continued to blow at 25 knots and the waves were building to about 6 feet with a 8 second moment: not the worst conditions, but bumpy. After about two hours, Rebecca called me to join her on the bridge: traffic was thick and confusing in the darkness. We picked our way among the fast moving goliaths and the slow fishing boats with their nets in the water. We ran over a net, but it didn’t pose a problem thank God. Finally we spotted a tug and barge. They called us to clarify our route, and we decided to drop in behind them and we finished our transit out of the strait and around the cape behind Skipjack. It was fortuitous too, because a few hours later a dense fog descended on the area and Rebecca couldn’t see a thing. Following Skipjack was a big help. By the time I got up, it was as clear as a bell outside, but Rebecca was still a little shaken from the pressure of her experience.

The next two days we sailed south on calm seas and fair winds. Life at sea is pleasant, but somewhat stressful in that we are always on guard for unknown difficulties and dangers. We take 6 hour watches and nap on and off as we need while not on watch. After turning south at Cape Flaherty, we cruised about 50 miles off shore during the first 24 hours, and then gradually moved closer to shore until we entered Coos Bay. South of Oregon we will probably stay about 10 to 15 miles offshore while staying in the California current. We check the engine room each hour or two, and constantly monitor our position and other factors on a continuous basis. We listen to weather radio frequently. Nighttime is beautiful and requires heightened alertness. During our passage we have seen a lot of sea life, including a large pod of Humpback Whales who seemed very curious about us. Our weather consultant Bob told us that a very strong front would be coming, and he recommended ducking in at Coos Bay, Oregon. So far we have traveled about 500 miles from Vancouver. We will stay here two days, rent a car and go to the wine country in the Umpqua Valley. We plan to leave for Eureka, California, on Wednesday or Thursday.

Comment on: Captain's Log Update August 24, 2010

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 17:35:09 GMT

Thanks for taking us all on this vicarious trip. Your courage on all the dicey parts of the adventure continues to be a cause for admiration. We also took to the water in August - our version - we visited friends and the Perlman Music Program in the Hamptons on eastern Long island, and took to the very beautiful, unspoiled beaches of East Hampton and Sagaponack. Well, it's the ocean....... Looking forward to hearing more upon your return.

Comment on: Captain's Log Update August 24, 2010

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:29:08 GMT

RANDY AND REBECCA, WHICH ONE OF YOU IS THE AUTHOR - OR BOTH? YOUR JOURNAL IS GREAT! SO DESCRIPTIVE! I FEEL LIKE I AM THERE. I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THOSE WOLF TOWNS! I DON'T KNOW ABOUT TRAVELING IN THE DARK AT NIGHT... NICE TO HEAR YOU ARE HEADING DOWN THE COAST. THE PAGEANT OF THE MASTER'S (OUTDOOR SHOW) HAD IT'S LAST PERFORMANCE LAST NIGHT. AND THE TROLLEY THAT RUNS JULY & AUGUST STOPPED LAST NIGHT. WE HAD A GREAT SUMMER SEASON. I AM VERY GRATEFUL. NOW IT'S TIME TO GET CREATIVE FOR THE FALL.

Comment on: Captain's Log Update August 24, 2010

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 22:42:35 GMT

Your update is fascinating, the golden bears are so cute, and the photos tell us you are coming back to civilization more like we know it to be! The rugged terrain, fishing boats, and the sparsely populated state of Alaska would appear to have given way to the skyscrapers, more densely populated, and luxury liners (complete with helicopters!!) of Vancouver and the Pacific Northwest. Looking forward to your return to A2 in a couple of weeks! Love, The Gordons

Captain's Log August 6, 2010

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Captain’s Log – August 6, 2010- Juneau to Ketchikan

Today we are in Ketchikan, the last port city in Alaska on our way south. Ketchikan is sort of the gateway to the north, and place were all the cruise ships stop both coming and going up and down the Alaskan coast. Today there were four of them in here, and each one carries about 2,000 passengers plus 700 crew. Ketchikan has a population of 9,000, so cruise ships add a lot of people to the area during the summer. Both Juneau and Ketchikan are big cruise ship ports, and they have a definite souvenir shop quality and accompanying high prices, which I would prefer to avoid. For example, we lunched at the dock yesterday. A Coke was $2.39 (I mentioned to the owner that I could buy it for less in NYC!): fish and chips were over $17.

We began this part of our trip in Juneau. As you may recall, we broke our thruster on the way in, and spent the better part of a week figuring out the problem and getting parts. The diver we hired told us that he couldn’t install a new blade from underwater because his arms were too short and he couldn’t reach into the thruster tunnel to replace the blade. We talked to a lot of people and came up with a possible fix, which involved hauling our beautiful boat out of the water using a circa 1950 Manitowoc crane. We went over and talked with the boatyard/crane owner to find out about his insurance coverage and procedures, but when he looked across the harbor at our boat, he said he wasn’t comfortable doing it and I must say I was a little relieved and felt even better when his young assistant told me he was a diver and could probably fix it. Three days later he was under our boat and fixed it in twenty minutes. In the meantime we drove around Juneau in our Rent-a-Wreck, shopped for supplies, and explored the only road that transverses the area its 40-mile length. It was a beautiful drive. Back in Juneau we toured the state capital: there were four people on the tour including us. Believe it or not but the other couple was from Ann Arbor. Alaskan government is sort of interesting: they have 20 senators and 40 house members. Their chambers are very small, they meet 90 days per year, produce a balanced budget, have no income tax, and gave back to citizens of the state $1,500 each in oil revenue shares last year (family of four got $6,000). Most cities have a summer sales tax, which is waved for senior citizens who file a waiver form.

One evening around 9 o’clock as we were watching a movie we heard a knock on the side of our boat. It was the Gomez family, the people on Summer Wind that we rescued. As they were crossing the bridge their daughter saw our boat and they decided to stop by and thank us. We had never met each other, but it was like old home week. We had a great visit and joined them for dinner later in the week. Brian is a child therapist and **** now works with children who have found their way into the court system either because of abuse or other reasons. They have two lovely children and we enjoyed their company very much.

On another day I was casually looking out the window and spotted the charter boat Susan Dawn coming into the harbor. That was the boat I chartered last year with my brother and my nephews. Buddy and Kathleen Dore were the captain and crew, and they showed us a great time. Together they raised a family and fished professionally for a living. Buddy grew up in Juneau. Rebecca and I jumped in the car and drove over to the next marina and found them working on the boat. The next evening they came over for dinner. Buddy gave me some wonderful pointers on places to stop on the way back, and our evening together was just delightful. We are looking forward to sailing with them in the near future.

The next day my childhood friend Debby Reaza and her husband Richard joined us for a four-day trip to Petersburg. After they got settled, we pushed off for a six-hour trip to Taku Harbor. It was raining as usual, but by the time we reached the end of Gastineau Channel the sun was peaking through the clouds and the weather for the rest of our trip was beautiful. The scenery was spectacular, with high snow-capped mountains lining the banks of the channels as we passed. Taku Harbor is a beautiful little inlet off the main channel. We moored at a floating dock next to a 47 ft Nordhavn. The owner, Larry, was seated on a plastic chair on the dock, smoking a cigar and clearly enjoying his 9-year-old grandson. Larry was retired, bought the boat last year and was cruising as far as possible. Larry explained later that his son and daughter-in-law abandoned the little boy, and Larry and his wife Pat had taken the boy from a foster home. They clearly loved him and the feeling seemed mutual. All the time we talked, the little guy was catching fish off the dock and offering them to us. Later that evening, Richard and I took the tender and the crab trap out for some serious fishing. The next day we had a beautiful Dungeness crab for our trouble!

The following day we took off down bound in Stephens Passage for Tracy Arm and Sawyer Glacier. It was an all day cruise to see one of the most beautiful places on earth, and to get within a few hundred yards of a tidal glacier. Last year I went up Endicott Arm to see Dawes Glacier with Buddy and Kathleen. Tracy Arm was different in that it was a very narrow channel with granite walls thousands of feet high on both sides. It was a spellbinding sight. As we reached the glacier, calves or small icebergs began floating by and became denser as we went north. Within a mile of the glacier we had to slow to a crawl and pick our way through the ice. Eventually we got within a few hundred yards of the glacier. It was a tremendous sight particularly as it calved huge pieces of ice into the sea. After an hour or so of gazing at this incredible sight, we turned around and headed back. It took about four hours to reach the mouth of Tracy Arm and Noname Bay. We anchored and cooked a wonderful dinner of salmon.

The next morning we weighed anchor after breakfast and made our way to Frederic Sound. By this time I thought I had seem everything, but Frederic Sound was stunning. It is a huge body of water surrounded by snow-capped mountains the likes of which rivaled Glacier Bay. As we were entering the sound, we noticed whales spouting, and counted over twenty of them. I pointed Odyssey toward the middle of the pod and turned off the engines. For over an hour we were entertained by breaching whales, tail pounding and diving whales near and under our ship. It was fantastic. Eventually they drifted off and we turned our stem toward Portage Bay, our anchorage for the night. It was a nice anchorage, several miles long and nice and wide and surrounded by mountains in the distance. The entry was tricky, as it was narrow and shallow and swept by difficult currents. But we made it anyway, although I was a little nervous.

The next morning we fished for a while to no avail and then headed for Petersburg. Petersburg is the third biggest fishing town in Alaska and a jewel. Cruise ships do not stop here so it is a real town with limited tourist stuff. We really enjoyed our time here. When we pulled in we found out that our thruster wasn’t working in one direction: the one I needed of course. It was frightening bringing Odyssey into the slip: the wind was blowing hard from the north (clear weather) and the current was pushing from the south. Sounds easy enough, but it was nasty. It seemed ugly to me, but we made it despite our thruster problems. Debby and Richard left us at this port and headed north to Juneau and then home to southern California. We had a wonderful visit with them and a great trip. As soon as we docked I called James Leishman at Nordhavn. He diagnosed the problem and the next morning I called the thruster manufacturer. As Frank and Karen Gordon were leaving Ann Arbor to visit us two days later, we arranged to have the part sent to their hotel in Seattle and for them to bring it to Alaska with them. Within a half hour of their arrival, it was installed and working great. Frank actually put it in, as he is about half my size and fit beautifully into the tight working space were the part was located. After a tour of the town and a crab lunch, we took off for our three-day trip to Ketchikan.

Our first stop was the port of Wrangell. This is another non-cruise ship port. It is also a fishing village, but not as big as Petersburg or Sitka. Actually it looked like it had fallen on hard times by comparison to the other ports that we visited. Aside from seeing the little town, we wanted to go to the Anan Bear Reserve. If you have ever seen a movie of a bear catching a salmon in its mouth at a waterfall, this is the place. We hired a tour guide as only about 30 people a day are allowed into the reserve. The park service gives most of the tickets to tour operators, and for good reason. Anan is about 30 miles south of Wrangell and requires passage through a tricky narrows. The jet boat ride is about an hour and a half, then a hike for about a half hour through the woods to Anan, were there is an observation platform. The bears are accustomed to this arrangement and don’t seem to pay any attention to the few people who are on the platform. The guides are armed and for good reason: the place is thick with bears, both black and brown. At the time of our visit, the river was clogged with Pink Salmon. Normally you can see the bottom of the river, which is golden colored sand. When the salmon are running you can’t see the bottom and the river is black with the backs of the salmon. The river was black and choked with salmon waiting to migrate up the river, pool by pool until they reach the falls and then launch themselves up the white water current. It is unbelievable to see. Watching them gives you a feeling of respect for their strength and persistency, but then you realize that they are acting out the last moments of their lives: whatever they do they will soon be dead. And many of them are clearly beginning to deteriorate as they make their final death march. The bears, on the other hand, are having a field day. The black bears fish from the sidelines by looking for a potential victim and trying to catch it with their paws. The brown bears walk into the river and put their heads under the water to look for a fish. Brown bears only want the female fish and will throw back most of the males they catch. Browns eat the fish right in the water. The browns grab the fish, bite the brain out of its head, rip open the egg sack and devour the row, then throw the fish away. The blacks behave similarly, but they only eat the fish out of the water, often taking it far into the woods. Blacks don’t seem to care so much about the sex of the fish. They eat the skin, row, brain, and some of the meat. The black bears are afraid of the brown bears and scatter for the woods when a brown gets too close. Apparently brown bears will gladly eat a black bear. Along with bears there are a host of other scavengers, such as Bald Eagles, wolves, mink and others who clean up after the bears. From what I could see, the bears didn’t even make a dent in the fish population. One thing that was interesting was that despite the density of fish, whenever the fish saw a bear they high-tailed it away from that area, even though the river was wall-to-wall salmon.

Back in Wrangell, we had grilled lamb complete with fine wine and good cigars. The next day we took off on a 50-mile cruise down to Meyers Chuck, a beautiful little anchorage near Ketchikan. It is a tiny little spot with access through a very narrow pass in the rocky cliffs surrounding the harbor. It has a post office that is open Tuesday from 10 AM to 2 PM, and Wednesday for an hour. The postmaster came by our boat in her dingy about 6:30 AM to see if we had any mail. Wow! That’s service. The following morning we fished and caught some rockfish, and then we cruised on to Ketchikan were their son Christopher joined us for a night. That afternoon Frank struck up a conversation with the owner, Bud, of a seiner–fishing trawler, the Lake Bay. They invited us aboard and we got a full tour and an explanation of the fishing profession. The boat was a 45-year-old Delta, originally manufactured in Seattle. Delta is still in business today. Bud told me that the fishing stocks and industry in Alaska are in great shape and getting better. Fishermen buy a permit to fish particular species such as herring or pink salmon. Fishermen can own more than one license, but they have to be onboard the trawler when the license is being used, effectively making it impossible to build up a multi-boat company. The license might cost $70,000 or more per specie and the boat could be anywhere from $100,000 or more, depending on its condition and capability; many fisherman own licenses for more than one type of fish. Each crew person gets a share of the catch net of expenses; the size of the share depends on their experience and capability. The owner can earn hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, and some of the young crewmen I talked with earn to me they will earn between $16,000 and $20,000 during the summer season. One young man, Dominic, told me that they work an average of nearly 100 hours per week. It seemed like hard work to me.

I started this tomb in Ketchikan, but now we are in Price Rupert, B.C. Tomorrow we will be heading farther down the coast on our way south.

Comment on: Captain's Log August 6, 2010

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 22:13:16 GMT

...and what a trip it was!!! We're still trying to believe all that we took in; what an incredible experience! Brace yourselves for the return home as the time difference and lack of almost continual daylight has taken its toll on us! Thanks for the wonderful memories... Love, Frank, Karen, and Christopher

Comment on: Captain's Log August 6, 2010

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 18:27:01 GMT

Summer Wind to Odyssey: We were so glad to have met you. Sounds like you have really enjoyed your journey through Alaska, and the photos are magnificent. Please keep in touch.

Captain's Log Update July 19, 2010

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Captain’s Log – July 19, 2010- Hoonah to Glacier Bay to Juneau

After leaving Summer Wind with the USCG, we proceeded 8 miles to Hoonah, a Tlingit Village across Icy Inlet from Glacier Bay. It was rainy and cold, and as it was now about 6 PM we were glad to reach Hoonah and tie up. The harbormaster, Paul, was very friendly directed us to what he said was the premier spot. As we walked up the dock to reconnoiter the town, a fellow boater recognized our boat name and stopped to talk with us. He said he had been listening all day to the rescue event on the VHF radio, and wanted to thank us for the amazing job we did. He said he couldn’t believe how cool and calm we were. After that nice complement, we started up the ramp to town…but what town? Hoonah was scattered down the road that lingered along the bay front. It has a population of about 1,500 people, and most of them are associated with fishing. We needed a meal and found the “Office”, the local bar. I went in and Rebecca stopped into the food store next door for some supplies. I was supposed to order dinner, but that didn’t work out to well. The place was very basic and not much on cleanliness. I sat down at the bar and noticed that I was the only man on the premises, but four ladies were there, three on bar stools and on behind the bar. The three on bar stools started looking me over and smiling, then the bar tender broke the magic by asking for my order. I was hungry. They had beer, but as for their featured items, they had run out of crab, but wait... no, I am sorry, we are out of frozen pizza too. After a beer and listening to a few songs on the Wurlitzer Juke Box, the bartender called the only cab in town and we headed off to the “lodge” a few miles down the road. The cab was an ordinary car and the driver was very distinctly a native Indian. It is interesting to me to see the features of people of different races, as it sparks my curiosity about the origins of their ancestors and the way of life that they must have pursued over the millenniums. The driver didn’t talk at all, even as I tried to elicit a weather forecast. The fee was $5 per adult to go anywhere the road went. The lodge was a very basic affair offering deep fried food, and after paying the bill I realized it was one of the most expensive meals we have had when you count in the $20 cab fare. Once back in the cab for the brief ride to the marina, the cab driver spontaneously gave me the weather forecast. He had actually looked it up somewhere. One of the greatest pleasures of our adventure is to be surprised by the random kindness of strangers and to hear the stories of their lives. The next day two Nordhavns arrived with Canadians who were on their way to Sitka. They stopped by for drinks, shared a few stories and dropped off some wonderful oatmeal cookies fresh out of the oven. Another unexpected surprise! The next morning we left about 5 AM for Glacier Bay, which was about 4.5 hours away.

Crossing Icy Inlet at dawn was a beautiful experience. As usual it was cloudy and foggy. Fishing boats were scattered about searching for salmon. The water was dead calm and you could see the currents wiggling across the sea. As we neared the park’s entry at Pt. Gustavus, we saw lots of Humpback Whales swimming about in groups: one swam right under our bow! After checking in and going through the indoctrination lecture required by the Park Service, we entered the park. It is 3.3 million acres of which 600k acres are tidal inlets. We posted a lot of pictures on the website, since they best describe our experience. We anchored out in various places for seven nights and watched whales, seals, Stellar Sea Lions and other animals in their natural environment. It was fun and entertaining to watch the sea lions bellering and fighting for space on the rocks. Since there was plenty of space to be found, we concluded all the fuss was not so much about finding a nice sunny spot, but on pushing someone else out of the way: a pecking order issue. We cruised up to the face of glaciers, and looked spellbound at the majesty of the most beautiful mountains we have ever seen. Glacier Bay is, perhaps, the most beautiful place on earth!

After leaving Glacier Bay, we made our way to Juneau, about 100 miles away. Our trip was uneventful, and again the weather was mostly clouds and rain. Since arriving in Seattle on June 2^nd, we have only a few clear days, and most of the time at has been clouds, fog, and rain. We have had only one day above 60 degrees in July, and it was 61 degrees. No one in Alaska uses an umbrella, and most do not wear raincoats. One guy told me that he doesn’t consider it a serious rain unless the windshield wipers are on high!

Entering Juneau was exciting, as are all new harbor entries. We were assigned dock space between two huge cruise ships…the Osterdam and the Sapphire Princess. That was a trip in itself and a little intimidating. As we were making a difficult maneuver, I heard something strange from our stern thruster. Apparently a piece of wood had been sucked into it and broke a propeller. After we tied up, we hired a diver to look things over. We put pictures on the web. We have not yet had it repaired, but have talked with the manufacturer and parts are on the way. We are scheduled for dry dock this week, and the mechanic should be aboard today to look things over.

Juneau is a very small town of about 35,000 people. Surprisingly, there isn’t much here in the form of entertainment, restaurants, or cultural places to visit. It is mostly a government town. Down by the cruse ships there is a large complex of old buildings that have been nicely restored and house the tourist shops. There are a lot of nice things to be found there, but we are not here to shop. There are two glaciers, a fish hatchery, the Governor’s Mansion, and a Costco. We will see it all during our twelve 12 day layover, then we will begin our slow and highly anticipated trip back through the inside passage. We are expected several guests over the next few weeks, and that will be a lot of fun for everyone.

Comment on: Captain's Log Update July 19, 2010

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:50:00 GMT

While we agree that the capitol was not nearly as exciting as other ports we stopped in, we at least thought our meeting at the City Hall would have been memorable enough to mention in the Captain's log!! What are the chances of meeting two other A2ites looking for historical info??

Comment on: Captain's Log Update July 19, 2010

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 20:15:05 GMT

Hello Randy and Rebecca. It was a wonderful surprise to see you in Juneau, and to meet Rebecca. Thank you for the tour and dinner, which was absolutely delicious! I hope you have a good trip south. We'll look forward to hearing from you again soon. Take care!

Comment on: Captain's Log Update July 19, 2010

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:03:06 GMT

Only a week away and we'll be seeing you! Hopefully, we'll bring the heat and sunshine that Michigan has been enjoying all summer!!! It has to be one of the hottest on record! Looking forward to spending time together... Love, Frank and Karen

Comment on: Captain's Log Update July 19, 2010

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 18:57:23 GMT

Fantastic Photography! Bow Thruster props = Ouch! Hope it is an easy fix. Have fun and enjoy your journey!

Captain's Log Update June 29, 2010

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Captain’s Log – June 29, 2010- Campbell River, B.C to Sitka

After leaving Vancouver on June 24, we cruised to Pender Bay, a popular vacation retreat for Vancouverites. The hills are dotted with lovely vacation homes and cottages, and it has a pleasant casual air about it. After an overnight stay, we continued north up Malaspina Strait, across the Georgia Strait to Campbell River, which lies at the entrance to Johnstone Strait. Johnstone Strait links the Georgia Strait with the Queen Charlotte Strait, then the Sound and ultimately the Pacific Ocean. Our trip to Campbell River was delightful: sunny, a few cumulus clouds and plenty of snow caped mountains to captivate the eye. After a lovely dinner at the White Spot Restaurant (no restaurant should use the word “spot” in its name) and a brief overnight, we departed Campbell River at 0430 in order to make the entrance at slack tide to Johnstone Strait at Seymour Narrows, otherwise the 10+ knots current and savage rapids would make it impossible for us to pass. Fortunately we got there on time and made it through the rapids and into the strait in good order. The narrows is about ¼ mile wide, and the strait is about 3/4 mile wide on average. Large ships, including cruise liners, ply these waters, so it is important to stay alert and accommodate larger ships as they pass. Usually we communicate by radio with them to inform one another of our intentions and assure safe passage. Johnstone Strait is about 110 miles long (about 12 hours on Odyssey) and about 500 feet deep. Current and tides are an important consideration: on the website is a picture of us going 13.4 knots. This is a big deal in that we normally cruise at 8 knots, but in this instance the current pushed us an extra 5+ knots. By noon, we had gone about halfway when the tide began to change against us. We were approaching a well-known anchorage called Port Neville, and we decided to stop and anchor for about 6 hours (until the next favorable tide), have some lunch, and take a nap. The harbor is about 8 miles long, with an entrance neck about two miles or so long. As we pulled into the channel we saw another boat at anchor. It was Thor, another Nordhavn. We didn’t know them, but before long Bill and Kay were in their dingy on their way over to our boat to take us to the Neville Post Office (it’s the only attraction in Port Neville). When we got to the P.O. dock we were greeted by a friendly, old, bearded, sourdough looking gentleman wearing a beat-up, faded-out hat with SECURITY printed on the brim. He lived on a dilapidated old boat that was tied to the dock, and had every manner of improvisation on it – a real Rube Goldberg affair. He told us the lady who ran the P.O had moved to Campbell River due to failing health- her daughter lived there. Her son had asked him to stay on to watch the place, and given that the owners would pay for heat and electricity, it seemed like a good arrangement to him. He said he liked it there because he could be alone and meditate. I don’t know, but he seemed to me pretty chatty for a meditator. Anyway, we climbed the long ramp from the dock and explored the area. There was a sign warning us to “Beware of Bears, They Are Close”. We looked around and Rebecca began whistling and stamping her feet (she always does that when she thinks there is a wild animal around), but we didn’t see any wild things (thanks to Rebecca). On the property there were three acres that had been cleared, and three buildings: two homes built within the last 50 years and in pretty good shape, and a very old log home built, perhaps about 150 years old. Until recently it served as a store and museum. Peering in the windows and looking at the discarded furniture, a child’s doll, a wheelchair, and a few pots and pans, we had the same thoughts you might have had: imagine the generations of people who lived here. Their sorrows, their aspirations, and their joys: Where are they now? What has become of them? What’s the meaning of life? At this point I would like to tell you something profound, but that’s about it for Port Neville!

After a brief visit on Thor, some lunch and a nap, we took off for a 7-hour trip to Port Hardy, our last port on Vancouver Island. After an hour or so of cruising we were surprised to see Thor passing us. Apparently Bill and Kay decided to join us for the trip up what was now Queen Charlotte Strait. As we got closer to Port Hardy, Bill suggested anchoring in Beaver Harbor for the night and getting up early the next morning so that we could get across Queen Charlotte Sound before the wind picked up. We pulled the anchor at 0600 and headed for Queen Charlotte Strait (a very wide and open body of water), turned left, and after an hour or so entered the Sound. This area of water is dotted with rocky islands that are covered with trees above the water tidal surge line. It is a beautiful place. After we entered the Sound, we turned right and aimed for the Broughton Islands, which dot the Northwestern shore of British Columbia. They are the first step in the famed Inside Passage to Alaska. Thor headed for the Broughtons and the port of Bella Bella. After a last check of the weather and a few moments of indecision, we decided to say good-bye and turned north up the Sound toward the Dixon Entrance 250 miles and 32 hours away. This marks the border between Canada and the United States. Our goal was Sitka, about 500 miles and 63 hours to the north. This passage required two overnights at sea and a very long third day. We didn’t take our decision lightly. Now for a brief review of the local geography: Queen Charlotte Sound leads into Hecate Strait, which connects to the Pacific Ocean via the Dixon Entrance. Queen Charlotte Sound and Hecate Strait are bounded on the west by Morseby and Graham Islands, and on the east by mainland British Columbia. These waters are very long and wide and pose a potential for seriously difficult seas, but we had contacted our weather consultant who advised us to move on. We wanted to make a quick trip north so that we could see Sitka, visit Glacier Bay on July 7 (a reservation is required and difficult to obtain), and then cruise slowly south back to California by mid September. The first 35 hours were pretty good with three and four footers and some moderate SE/SW winds. I got a little seasick so I took some Dramamine, and that usually puts me to sleep if I don’t have anything better to do. Rebecca and I decided to take watch or sleep based on how we felt – no exact schedule. She wasn’t sleepy, so I dozed off while she ran the show. I woke up around midnight and took over. We worked on and off as we felt like it over the next two days. The sky was cloudy with periods of brief showers. Meanwhile Odyssey moved along, painfully slowly. Imagine taking 32 hours to go 250 miles. Oh well, we sleep, eat, watch a movie, look at scenery, and tinker with things. It is very pleasant, but 65 straight hours is somewhat of an ordeal. It is funny, though, how, when it is over, it is a fond memory.

As we moved into Dixon Entrance and headed for the Pacific Ocean, we remembered the experience we had going down to Mexico earlier this year…the pleasant roll of the swells. Of course this time we were going north, which is rarely as pleasant as we are heading into the seas. Things went fine, although it got progressively bumpier as we got closer to Sitka. I do not know the exact time, but around the 60^th hour, we were ready to tie Odyssey up and head for a beer. Unfortunately, when we got to Sitka they didn’t have a space on the dock, so we anchored out, made a drink and hit the sack. We were tired, but love being on our boat, too.

Sitka is one of America’s largest fishing ports, and is famous for King Salmon and Halibut. It is situated at the center of the western coast of Baranof Island. It is almost due west of Juneau, if you know where that is. It was the capital of Russian Alaska. The harbor is about 10 miles deep and is graced at the entrance by a huge, snow-capped volcano named Edgecumbe. You can’t miss it when you’re in the neighborhood, except when it rains, which is a lot of the time. Sitka has the highest rainfall in the U.S. The town is small in population (8,000), but big in area (4,000 sq. miles), making it one of the largest cities by area in the country. It has two Russian Historical buildings, the onion domed church and the Bishop’s home. It is very much a fishing town, with seiners and trawlers everywhere, canneries, and boat and fishing supply stores in abundance. Many of the people seem to be of native extraction and their tribal service offices can be seen on every corner. Others of European extraction are either tied to or work directly in the fishing industry. It looks like a rough, difficult life. When we first got here it was cold (50 degrees) and rainy. We didn’t see any umbrellas or rain jackets; mostly cotton sweatshirts with hoods. One guy who originally came from Georgia was wearing flip-flops! We were frozen and we are from Michigan! These are tough people. The fashion rage for all ages is ExtraTuf knee-high Neoprene boots, which come only in brown. Rebecca appeared a bit faint when we initially considered them but we are now proud owners and she wears them regularly because their appearance is greatly overshadowed by their warmth and dryness. Apparently they are considered high fashion now and some Sitka brides wear them with their gowns—really!!

Yesterday we chartered a fishing boat. It was Rebecca’s time fishing and it was a good one and she caught several fish. Together we must of caught about 200lbs of fish: 2 king Salmon, 6 Chinooks/Silvers, two Yellow Eyes, 7 Black Rock Bass, 2 Halibut and several others such as Ling Cod that we couldn’t keep because they were out of season. It was a lot of fun and, in addition I learned a few tricks about catching fish from our guide, Mika. (Mika, age 20, grew up here and is a licensed fishing guide and USCG licensed captain. He is going to school in the winter to learn diesel mechanics. Guess where: Florida! He said with a straight face he couldn’t find anyplace closer. I asked about a girlfriend: doesn’t have one now; had one, but she got seasick-- so much for that.) Unfortunately, now that I know how to fish and have spent a fortune buying the right equipment, our freezer is stuffed full and we do not need anymore.

It is raining cats and dogs today. We will leave here tomorrow for Glacier Bay National Park via the inside passage on Baranof Island. It is about a 140-mile trip. I hope the weather improves.

Up and at’em early July 4th for our trip to Glacier Bay. The route we took is an inside passage leading to Chatham Strait, which connects to Icy Strait and Glacier National Park. This passage avoids encountering the ocean, which today has twelve footers. We figured on a three-day trip, but as things turned out it was just two. We left Sitka early so that we could make the Sergius Narrows at slack tide, which is another one of those potentially nasty places with big currents and rough water caused by tidal changes. Although the weather was cloudy, cool and rainy, we could see the mountains and beautiful forests along the way. It was really spectacular. After about 6 hours of cruising, we began to look for an anchorage, but decided to make Tenakee Springs. We tied up there about 5 PM. The place is known for its warm springs and public bathhouse. It is a very popular place with boaters, as many boats do not have warm showers or baths, so the ladies in particular like Tenakee Springs. The town is a sort of playground and cottage area for Juneau, but you really couldn’t guess it by looking at the place. There might be 200 residents, with about 50 or so brightly painted rustic homes built along the single road, which is apparently Main Street. There are no cars there, only all-terrain vehicles. In addition to the bathhouse, there is a tiny grocery store, a small bakery, a bar, a marine fuel dock, and a small school. It is interesting to see that in such a small insulated community, people leave their belongings scattered all about, as theft is not much of an issue. There is also a book exchange building in which residents apparently take and leave books at will. Since it was the 4^th of July, the community had celebrated with a parade and picnic (in the rain) earlier in the day, but around 2230 that evening festivities resumed with a bonfire, horseshoe toss, and fireworks. Someone brought a guitar and some-mores, and that capped off the evening.

The next day we set off for Hoonah, a Tlingit village across Icy Strait from Glacier National Park (40 miles). On our way up Chatham Strait we heard a Mayday call to the Coast Guard. The call wasn’t far from us so we responded. Apparently a small boat (28 foot Bayliner) with three adults and four children aboard had lost propulsion out in the middle of the strait, and with 4-foot waves and 20-knot winds, they were in a very dangerous situation. We changed our course to rescue them. Other boats were in the area, but the water was too rough for them to affect a rescue or tow. It was a “piece ‘o cake” for us. After about 90 minutes, we were on scene. The little boat, Summer Wind, was being tossed and blown about. We could see four children, all of which appeared to be under the age of seven. During this time we were in constant communication with the boat owner and the USCG. We had purchased 450 feet of high strength floating line, which was stowed on a real attached to our aft deck rail. Rebecca tied one end to a life ring and the other to Odyssey. We floated the ring and pulled it past Summer Wind and they grabbed it with their boat hook. Unfortunately, it became fowled on their running gear, but after a few minutes, they managed to get it tied to the bow of their boat. Although it was very tense for a period of time, we managed to begin towing them. After about an hour, we were out of the direct path of the wind and the waters began to subside. The USCG called and said that they were going to send a cutter, which arrived on scene about an hour later. By then we were just eight miles from Hoonah, a port that had facilities to repair Summer Wind. When the Coast Guard cutter arrived, we were happy to let 261, that is the radio ID of the cutter, take over. We continued to tow Summer Wind for about ten minutes while all parties strategized about how to unravel our towline from Summer Wind’s running gear. USCG divers were standing ready to jump into the icy water. After a few minutes, 261 understood the situation and asked us to begin slowing. A few minutes later we were dead stop. At that point Summer Wind began trying to free our line and was able to do so with a little coaching from 261. After the line was freed, the USCG took over and everyone on the scene thanked us profusely. We felt both relieved and gratified that we were able to rescue a boater in peril, and that we had the equipment and capability to do so successfully.

Comment on: Captain's Log Update June 29, 2010

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 21:43:34 GMT

Randy and Rebecca: Rescuing mariners in need is in the best of nautical culture. I once rescued a boat without power in Lake St. Clair and towed it to a marina on Harsen's Island. It is the right thing to do, and you followed the culture perfectly. I hope that you have enjoyed Glacier Bay today, for it is Inka's birthday. We will celebrate for you. David Felbeck

Captain's Log June 24,2010

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Captain’s Log – June 24, 2010

After leaving Poet’s Cove, we cruised to Montague Harbor on Gabriella Island. It is about half way up the Gulf Island chain, which lies on the eastern side of Vancouver Island. In the U.S. they are known as the San Juan Islands. They are beautiful low mountain islands covered with forests and surrounded by greenish-blue water. Montague Harbor was full of boats, including three Nordhavns. We lowered our tender and went ashore for an exploratory mission and found out that the local pub ran a bus service from the harbor. On the way back to Odyssey, Kathryn took the opportunity to learn how to run the tender and had a great time getting it on plane and zooming around the islands. At the appropriate hour we reappeared ashore for a trip to the Hummingbird Inn. A few minutes later, there it was: a 1975 Ford school bus appeared right on time and about 20 boaters climbed aboard. With 60’s music blaring and a tip bucket duck taped to the drivers seat, we headed off to the Hummingbird Pub. The inn itself and the people we saw there reminded me of northern Michigan. All around were hundreds of gigantic Cedar, Hemlock, and Douglas fir trees. The beautiful scent of the Cedars was simply lovely. The Hummingbird Pub appeared to be the center of social life in the area and offered something for everyone: it had a play yard outside to occupy the kids, while mom and dad consumed vast quantities and smoked cigarettes inside; for us it offered great fish and chips and a couple of beers.

The next day we headed for Nanaimo, the second largest city on Vancouver Island. It was about 25 miles through beautiful island landscapes, and required transit through Dent Rapids, a 30-yard wide passage bordered by rocks that tidal flows play havoc with. The water was a mass of huge whirlpools and violent water movements. We went through during a flood tide, and we were tossed about like a cork. It was very exciting and I learned to pay a lot more attention to the time of tide changes.

Nanaimo is a lovely small city and seaport. We pulled in on a cold, rainy day. In fact, the weather up here has been pretty dismal. As we approached the dock, we noticed a large antique 80 ft. Seiner (net fishing vessel) following us. It had been restored and was in beautiful condition and was now a private cruising vessel. We walked over to talk with the captain and he gave us a tour of Midnight Sun. She was built in 1936 of wood. She retired from active duty about 20 years ago when he bought her and began the conversion. It was very interesting indeed. Later that afternoon Yellow Fin, a 1926 vintage steamer came in with an original engine that clickity-clacked its way into the harbor. Both boats were beautiful restorations. Nanaimo is a charming, clean, neat little town that we explored on foot. It is anointed with plenty of flowerbeds, as only the Canadians seem to do. The winds started picking up in the evening and continued well in to the next day and we decided to stay over an extra night.

The next morning was still a little windy, but a sailboat came by on his way into the harbor and told us that the seas were moderate. We packed up and moved out for Pender Harbor, about 4 hours away across the Strait of Georgia. Pender Harbor is actually several small harbors all linked together by a common channel. It is a lovely place, quaint and picturesque with lots of boats at anchor or tied to a dock. We chose to tie up at Pilothouse Marine in Garden Bay. The most interesting thing about this place was the proprietor, Ronan Oger, who lives on a 100ft wooden WWII sub chaser (one of 6 remaining out of 600 built). It was pretty cool, although in obvious need of restoration. Pender Harbor is a jumping off point for a 30-mile trip up Jervis Inlet to Princess Louisa Inlet. Princess Louisa Inlet (PLI) is one of the great natural wonders of the world, on par with Yosemite Valley. It is 5 miles long and about ½ mile wide at the widest point. The sides of the fiord are almost vertical granite walls rising 7-8,000 feet to snow capped peaks. At the end of the fiord is a large waterfall known as Chatter Box Falls. The trip up Jervis Inlet to PLI was one of the most spectacular, breath taking trips I have ever taken. Pictures don’t do it justice, although I have put several of them on the website for you to see. It was truly magnificent, with towering snow-capped mountains providing unparalleled vistas that only a trip up this waterway could reveal. The treasure of PLI is protected by a nasty piece of water known as Malibu Rapids. The is a very narrow double S shaped rapids that produces 11 knot plus currents and nasty vortex and whirlpools during tidal changes. Those wishing to make the passage generally wait for the slack tide and then try to make the transit during the fifteen minutes that waters are passable. In our case, Ronan provided plenty of instruction the night before we left. The next day we spoke with a Canadian (Merlot) by VHF, and they led us through the rapids when our turn came. It was a nail biting time, but we did it! When we passed through the rapids and cruised up the fiord, Merlot hailed us on the radio and said they had space on the public dock for us to tie up. When we got there, there were two large boats with 60 feet available between them: we pulled up beside the open space and used our thrusters to parallel park. Other boaters gathered about and marveled at my ship-handling prowess, but the truth is that Odyssey is so easy to maneuver that it takes no real skill, although I enjoy the illusion.

The dock was a party spot the first night: the guy who owned the boat in front of us had an electric piano tied to the deck and started playing around 6 PM. All the boaters gathered around with glasses of wine and conversation. “Merlot” passed out steamed fresh oysters to the group and a fish head for our crab pot. It was a lot of fun. The next day the sun vanished and low rain clouds filled the fiord. While they floated up and down the walls of the inlet in grey fingers, we explored the falls and the rain forest. Once again we marveled at the beautiful lush, verdant forest with its towering firs and cedars. Spanish moss hung from the tree limbs and huge ferns and other plants covered the forest floor. We left the inlet the following morning and decided to explore the end of Queens Reach, about 6 miles further up Jervis Inlet. The attraction of this particular spot was the view: a panorama of snow-capped mountain peaks, lush forests and grasslands, waterfalls, and the tidal marine inlet. We dropped the tender and spent the afternoon fishing and setting our crab trap, and we hoped to see some animal life. We were told that many of North America’s biggest animals live in this area: grizzly bears, black bears, moose, elk, wolves, mountain lions and more. Although we didn’t see any of the big game, we did see a great many seals. Kathryn seemed to love crabbing, and wanted to set the pot and pull it up after about 15 minutes. Usually it takes about 12 hours of “soaking”. She was very excited if something was in it. We decided to go after bigger crab, and a local fisherman told me we had to be in about 130 ft or more of water to catch anything good. We looked about the boat for extra line to add to our 100 feet of crab line. After we had it all put together, we had about 145 feet of line tied to a buoy. We put a nice big fish head in the trap, put it all in the tender and set off to launch it. When we reached a spot that measured 135 feet on the Fathometer, we put it over the side. Down it went, and down, and down, and . . . disappeared, buoy and all. It wasn’t supposed to do that! What a shame: 250 bucks worth of stuff down the drain. Maybe it would reappear at low tide? We checked, but no such luck. As the sunset, we fired up the BBQ, made a few libations and selected a movie. A wonderful day!

Next morning we started back toward Pender Harbor. Once again the scale of the vistas we saw enthralled us: sunny skies filled with puffy cumulus clouds floating past snow-capped mountain peaks, majestic green forests, waterfalls dropping thousands of feet into the beautiful blue water that was passing under our keel. It was magnificent! The next morning was Father’s Day, and although I had forgotten, Kathryn didn’t. There on the salon table was a card and gift followed by a wonderful celebratory breakfast. Later we pulled our lines and headed for Vancouver. It took about six hours to get there, and at 4 PM we tied up in Coal Harbor Marina, which is located next to the Westin Hotel in downtown Vancouver.

Kathryn was glad to be in a big city again, and Vancouver is a gorgeous and exciting. It’s perhaps the newest city in North America and certainly very sophisticated. The city is located on a peninsula. At the tip is Stanley Park, which is similar in size to Central Park in NYC or Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Coming into the harbor, we passed under the Lion’s Gate suspension bridge linking Stanley Park and Vancouver to some of its suburbs on the far side of the harbor. Around the inner harbor (Coal Harbor) are thousands of high-rise condos. These are beautiful glass towers that attract investors from all over the world, particularly China. Very few of the owners are full time residents, and at night most of the buildings are dark or unlit, but they create a residential environment that supports high fashion stores, lounges, cafes and restaurants. We were told that the average selling price for a home or condo here is $1 million. After dinning out at the marina restaurant the first night, Rebecca and Kathryn went shopping at Granville Island and the Yale town district the next day. Canadians are very fashionable and like to dress well. As a result, shopping in Vancouver is among the best in the world, but it is pricey. After working on the boat during the morning, I joined them for lunch at the Granville Public Market. This is the best market I have been to, and it is a place I always go when in Vancouver. It is a vibrant place surrounded by water and boat slips. Every type of food and gourmet item can be found here, as well as cloths, art, and all kinds of interesting things. That evening we dined in, with Kathryn and Rebecca joining forces to whip up a wonderful dinner from some of the items we found that day. The next day we decided on a fitness focus. We started out walking around Stanley Park, which is about 5 miles around the outer walk. After about 2 hours we cut it short and made for the Aquarium, where we saw an impressive dolphin show, along with sea otters, beluga whales, and the normal fish exhibits. Kathryn suggested that we eat a late lunch on the boat, and then conduct a pub-crawl through Vancouver’s best nightspots. We went to four really neat places. All were distinctive: an Irish pub featured over 100 different whiskeys and a large variety of draft beers; another claimed the best bar tender in all of Canada, and he might have been. His drinks were very unusual. Mine was a Havana cigar infused Makers Mark; combined with Laphroaig Scotch and a dash of red wine, finished off with two tiny black cherries. The third place was more conventional and was in the middle of the Gaslight District, the key entertainment area of the city. The fourth place was a rotating space needle type of restaurant that featured panoramic views of the area. There is both good things and unfavorable things about a pub-crawl in Canada: the good things is that the john’s are clean, which is true of everything else. It is a delight. The unfavorable thing is the taxes: 12.5% sales tax plus and extra 10% on any alcoholic beverage. In addition, the poor buggers up here pay an income tax with a 50% marginal rate and very few deductions, and they pay property taxes. It is a wonder they have money left to buy a drink! Yesterday, our last full day, we revisited Granville market to restock some of the best pasta I have ever tasted. Rebecca spent the late morning vacuum packing it and some salmon for the trip north. Meanwhile, Kathryn and I enjoyed Dim Sum for lunch, a specialty in Vancouver as they have over 1 million Chinese citizens here. Dinner was Japanese style Tappas, a very unusual place, but perfect for a closing evening and celebration of Kathryn’s birthday. The following morning Kathryn left for NYC, and we pushed off for our trip to Alaska.

Comment on: Captain's Log June 24,2010

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:02:38 GMT

So good to hear from you after your hiatus from the computer and Captain's Log!!! No doubt this was due to the fabulous time the three of you shared for the last few weeks! Wondering if there will be enough darkness in the sky for July 4th fireworks?!! You'll have to let us know... Love, The Gordons

Captain's Log Update as off 6/2 to 6/13/2010

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Captain’s Log – June 11, 2010

We are off on our second adventure, this time to Alaska! We arrived in Seattle on June 2, and proceeded to Elliott Bay Marina, which is located right downtown. A professional captain brought up our boat from Dana Point. Shortly after Odyssey arrived, its starboard door was damaged and required extensive fiberglass repair work. After six weeks in Seattle, wouldn’t you know that they didn’t have enough time to fix it properly? When it was presented to me as repaired, it was, in their words, “proud” about 3/8 inches. I didn’t think it was good enough and it will have to be redone when we get down to Dana Point in the fall. As the days passed by, we readied the boat for our trip north and acquired appropriate fishing equipment for salmon, crab and other northern species.

On Sunday June 6 we departed for Victoria, B.C. The trip was about 70 miles, which is about an 8 hour run for us. The weather was overcast and rainy, although we were cozy in our heated pilothouse. One of the most interesting things about boating in this part of the world is the extreme current. The tide is usually diurnal, meaning that there are usually two tide cycles per day, with the flood tide often in the 13-foot range. This produces currents up to 11 knots in narrow channels, known to the locals as “rapids’. Since we only go 8 or 9 knots, you can see that currents can be a problem. It is essential to plan a trip using tide tables specific to each local so as to transit rapids and narrow channels during slack tide. We noticed several places where the currents produced whirlpools in the water about 20 feet in diameter. I was surprised when the current pushed our 127,000 lb boat back and forth as we passed through the narrows.

As we cruised by Port Townsend at Admiralty Inlet we spotted a large naval vessel making its way out to The Straight of Juan De Fuca. Within minutes one of two Coast Guard vessels approached and hailed us on the VHF radio as “little white boat off my starboard bow”. They asked us to keep a 1000ft distance from the ship. Although this wasn’t really surprising given the experience with the USS Cole, it is more than a little sad. When I was in the Navy war ships didn’t have to be protected, it was the other way around.

We arrived in Victoria on Sunday afternoon. Customs in Canada is obsessed with alcohol and imposes atrocious duties on any amounts carried on the boat in excess of a couple of bottles. It doesn’t pay to lie either. On Monday, Kathryn flew in from New York after graduating from Harvard and finding a new apartment in NYC. Victoria is a beautiful place (pop 83,000, metro area 343,000) and capital of British Columbia. The city center is very lovely and the capital building is a stunning Romanesque structure appointed with copper domed copulas and a beautiful black granite statue of Queen Victoria. We toured the city and Butchart Gardens, and visited the Empress Hotel for High Tea, just as we did when Kathryn was 7 years old. The next morning Kathryn heard from her future employer, and learned that she was going to work in an area of the company that she hopped to work in, and that they were going to pay her more to move than she had anticipated. Everything is going great for her.

We shoved off for Sydney, which is about 25 miles up the coast. As we left Victoria Harbor, we spotted the aircraft carrier Ronald Regan (CVA 76) and her escorts in the distance. It was an awesome sight. This weekend marks the 100^th anniversary of the founding of the Canadian Pacific Fleet and there is a big shindig in Esquimat Harbor (just around the corner from Victoria) and the home of the Canadian Fleet. We also saw a French frigate in Seattle that must be here for the same reason. Apparently they will all be hanging out together on anchor over the weekend.

Sydney is a charming small town with cute shops and restaurants and a favorite with local boaters. There are a lot of beautiful, expensive new apartment buildings along the water. We wondered who bought them all. It turns out that wealthy Albertans vacation here. While I polished some of the metal work on the boat, the ladies went shopping. That evening we dinned in watched a good movie. The next morning we moved on to Poet’s Cove on South Pender Island. Poet’s Cove is also a favorite with the locals. It is beautiful inlet and harbor, next to a provincial marine park. The harbor can handle about fifty sailboats and is operated by a four star resort on the water overlooking the bay. It is a picturesque spot done in the Adirondack style of architecture. Boaters can use the hotel ‘s facilities. We anchored out the first night and put out a crab pot. Just before dinner, a call came over the VHF. When I answered, a person told me that they recognized our “M” flag and knew that we must be well equipped including having a lime on board. The Canadian Customs had taken their limes, and his wife needed one for her cocktail. He was in luck, and came by in his boat with his wife Karen. They handed us a bottle of wine in exchange for the lime (completely unnecessary), and of course we invited them onboard. Marco was formerly a fisherman a la The Deadliest Catch, and knew quit a bit about boating and cruising these waters. His wife Karen is a surgical technician, so she and Rebecca had a lot to talk about. Anyway, Marco thought we ought to consider going to Asia via the Aleutian Island chain and recommended a consultant for our consideration. After they left, we put out our crab pot. A few hours later Kathryn pulled it up and we had netted the biggest Blood Star we had ever seen. Later, we caught a few crabs!

Comment on: Captain's Log Update as off 6/2 to 6/13/2010

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 21:39:00 GMT

Hi, From Kim Darlene and Taylor ....Glad to hear you are all well and are having another great experience..Eveything is fine in our little neighborhood and we will finally be finished with construction tomorrow if there is no rain.. We take walks around the house just to be sure all was well and it looks great we have had some bad storms...the Pinskys house burned to the ground Friday night..horrible it was struck by lightning they lost everything..Miss you stay in touch Love the pictures Darlene Randy, Kim talked to your office all is fine ...

Comment on: Captain's Log Update as off 6/2 to 6/13/2010

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 23:11:53 GMT

Randy and Rebecca, The adventure continues in the Great Northwest! The captains accounts have left me feeling like I am there( any means of escape on some days). Congratulations of course to Catherine and to the proud parents. Her future looks so bright and amazingly exciting! The world is at her feet. Sorry to hear about the troubles with the boat damage. The last thing you want is for your baby to be dinged up, and then not to have it repaired properly, well, its enough to drive you to drink, if only the Canadians would let you. It is interesting that a country that is well known for its ample consumption is so strict with their visitors. Graduations abound here for us as well, with Megan and Zach having done their ceremonies a week apart recently. We will host a party for both of them this Friday. Wish you were here! We look forward to more from the Odyssey, now that I am computer literate enough to handle the website.

Comment on: Captain's Log Update as off 6/2 to 6/13/2010

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 08:10:17 GMT

Off to a great start for what's sure to be another fabulous adventure at sea for the Tisch's!!! It must be absolutely perfect to have your whole family together for this leg of the voyage...best to Kathryn! Wait 'til Christopher hears that you actually met with someone from "The Deadliest Catch!!!" (The program has become one of our family favorites!) It was nice to read your comments about Victoria...I had an aunt and uncle who resided there for years and I've heard that their botanical gardens are not to be missed. Hoping that the stiff tariffs on the wine weren't something that we may have been responsible for?!!! If so, we'll settle up in August!!! Safe travel and love to all of you! The Gordons

Captain's Log Update March 20 -26, 2010

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

3/20- 26/2010

Bound for California

We left Cabo San Lucas about 7 pm and headed for San Diego. Saturday night and Sunday were gorgeous. The sun was brilliant, the winds were fair and warm, and the seas had only a low swell. Monday began well enough, with winds around 10 knots from the northwest. This is the normal pattern for the north Pacific. About every three or four days a front moves in and stirs things up. I had talked by phone with our weather consultant, who told us things could get rough starting Monday afternoon and continuing through Tuesday, depending on the speed of the incoming front and how fast the low over the Sea of Cortez moved. He suggested we call him Monday for further clarification. He though we should consider an overnight or two at Turtle Bay.

Monday at about 4 pm we were just south of Turtle Bay and the wind was beginning to climb. At that time it was about 15 knots, but within an hour it was near 30 knots and climbing. We decided to push on because our captain needed to get back to San Diego, and because we were about three hours to a change of course that would put us on the leeward side of Cedros Island and shelter us from the winds. As the minutes ticked by the wind rose as did the seas. Soon the wind was howling and it reached 45 knots. The waves were about ten feet and growing. The boat was headed right into it and moving up and down. Just as I was thinking of turning for shelter, the winds calmed and gradually fell to about 25 knots. The seas fell and things looked like they might get better. As the sun was setting, things picked up again. I watched the wind vane: 25..30..35..40..45..48 and that frightening howl started again. This time the waves were really big, and Odyssey climbed one and then slammed into the trough of the next wave. Rebecca came up to the pilothouse looking a little grey and offered me a seasickness pill. As the night began to fall, I thought the pill was a good idea. At midnight my watch was over and Devin relieved me. I went below and climbed into bed. Rebecca (her watch was 4 am to 8 am) turned and asked me if I really thought I could sleep while levitating as the boat rode the seas. I fell asleep right away and woke up at 7 am to calm seas. What a relief!

The rest of the trip was very pleasant, with dead calm and beautiful seas all the way home. We arrived in San Diego at 6:30 pm Wednesday evening and made the Customs dock at 7 pm. Just as we were coming in, our starboard engine alarm went off and we had to shut it down as it was overheating, but we have two engines, so no sweat. When we got to the dock we started to investigate. Eventually we had to change the thermostats, and then we were on our way again. Dana Point is about 6 cruising hours north of San Diego, so by the time we fixed the engine and made it out of the harbor, it was about 1 pm. We tied up at Dana Point at 6 am. A great cruise!

We had a wonderful time on this, our first passage and cruise. Now we are looking forward to coming home and seeing all the people we love so dearly and our beloved Ann Arbor Town. Our next cruise starts in June.

Comment on: Captain's Log Update March 20 -26, 2010

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:45:37 GMT

Miss you both! Can't wait to see you soon and hear all about your adventures!

Captain's Log updtate from 2/26 to 3/20

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

2/26/2010 Friday

Arrival in Barra de Navidad

After an all nighter from Puerto Vallarta, we were a little tired. But, after tending to boat issues, we noticed that there were eight Nordhavns of various sizes in the marina. We introduced ourselves and one of our neighbors (Glen and Carol from Calgary on a 64) showed us were the Port Capitan was located. We checked in, reconnoitered the beautiful hotel complex, condo, and marina complex. The Grand Bay Hotel is located on Isla Navidad. The setting is absolutely eye popping. The hotel is built on the side of a hill and is surrounded by the large Bahia Navidad and two lagoons. Water taxis take people back and forth to the town, which is very small and colorful. There is an ex-pat population who live here at least during the winter. We saw one car from New York parked in the driveway of a modest condo. By 4 PM we began making plans for Margaritas, and we decided to familiarize ourselves with the hotel’s cocktail lounge. It’s an outdoor affair located high on the hill and provides a spectacular view of the whole area. From that vantage point one can see at least twenty miles: high mountains covered with verdant tropical vegetation, with valleys visible and accentuated by a moist haze that clung to the hillsides. Ocean swells rolled ashore along the crescent beach that was about five miles long. Mangroves surrounded the lagoons, and the blue water was dotted with sailboats at anchor. In the middle of the view was Barra de Navidad, this little village with its buildings painted the vibrant colors of Mexico…pink, bright blue, orange, yellow and white. As the sun set, it cast a rose hue over the whole magnificent setting.

2/27/2010 Saturday

Barra de Navidad

Usually the day after an overnight cruise is a slow day. What with the temperature around 80 degrees and the sunshine abundant, time seems to slip by. Come to think of it, I rarely wear a watch and don’t really know what day of the week it is most of the time. I do know that it is March, however. Rebecca and I occasionally use the computer or her cell phone to confirm our estimate of what day it is. But it really doesn’t make much difference as we plan to stay here for a while. We did, however, manage to get the boat washed and introduce our traveling companions Peter and Mary-Rose to the beautiful view we had found the previous day. They loved it.

2/28/2010 Sunday

Barra de Navidad

Another sleepy day, punctuated by the Olympic Hockey Championship. Peter and Mary-Rose hosted a group of eight on their boat and we watched the game on satellite TV. One Canadian couple and one person who was born in Canada but immigrated to the U.S. were among the guests. When Canada won, the Canadians went wild. We had a lot of fun and wondered to ourselves whether this was a sign of U.S. decline.

3/1-2-3-4 /2010

Barra de Navidad

Time in Barra seems to sort of slip away. First of all, it is very warm and lovely in Barra and this seems to cultivate a relaxed state of mind. Life around the marina is very casual and punctuated by interesting conversations about places to travel and boating issues. These conversations can take an hour or two. Then there is the compulsion to exercise, followed by lunch, some boat work (our boat takes about an hour per day to maintain), perhaps some time at the pool, then cocktails, dinner, a little reading or a movie, them off to dreamland. Some nights we make dinner for friends, or they invite us. Usually one day is spent on internet correspondence or bill paying. The hotel here (Grand Bay Hotel) is excellent and is only about 20% occupied. It has a beautiful golf course, several pools and restaurants, and is architecturally very lovely. I would recommend it to anyone. After about a week here, however, we felt the need to do something. We felt as though we should see something of Mexico, so Thursday afternoon we planned and booked a trip to Guadalajara.

3/5-6-7/2010

Off to Guadalajara

On Friday morning the Budget Rent-A-Car people delivered our Ford Expedition to the driveway of the marina. I noticed it had no fuel, but it did have several bumps and scrapes that we carefully noted on the contract. Here in Mexico, every little imperfection is noted because you will be charged for any additions to the nick inventory. Glass is particularly subject to damage and this car had two cracks in the windshield. In Mexico, we always buy full insurance, so renting a car can get a little expensive. After signing all the paperwork, we set off on our adventure; Peter, Mary-Rose, Rebecca and I. After a few miles we found a PMEX station and pulled in and ask for a fill-up. The Spanish-speaking attendant filled the car and presented the bill. I handed him the card, but he refused: pesos only- that would be about 750 pesos. Rebecca and I had $150 (the $ sign is used for pesos also), and P/MR had $500. We were short about 100 pesos. How about U.S. dollars? OK, but at a 25% discount. Sorry, company policy, I was told. The guy behind me was blowing his horn. He looked American so I walked over and explained my problem. His wife offered to change some American money to pesos. She was around age 60, heavy with evidence of excessive tanning, and she had a butterfly tattooed on her right breast in plain view. While I was sizing things up and negotiating the conversion rate, I looked at her husband and thought, ”you lucky dog!” As she counted out the money she offered a tutorial on how I should carry more pesos with me, after all I was in Mexico!

Now we were really off to Guadalajara. The road wound around the hills and dales, and through villages for about 50 miles until it reached Manzanello, where it follows the Pacific coast for about 20 miles; there it turned inland and became a limited access toll road. The toll road climbed the coastal mountains for about 20 miles and then dropped into the fertile Colima Valley, which is much like the Sacramento Valley. After driving about 75 miles across the valley we climbed out of the valley and over the low mountains to reach Guadalajara.

Guadalajara is Mexico’s second largest city with 5MM people, and claims to be not only its artistic capital, but also the Silicon Valley of the country. Many Mexicans compare it to San Francisco in terms of its a vaunt guard, cool, upscale night life. Since I do not speak Spanish, it is hard for me to comment on how sheik the city was from a nightlife perspective, however I found several things very interesting. First it seemed more livable than Mexico City (which I haven’t been to in 20 years): it didn’t have the smog, the slums, or the crime of the capital. The city has some interesting buildings from an architectural viewpoint, and the central square with its historic government buildings, the University, and Cathedral were very worthwhile and interesting places to visit. We particularly enjoyed the murals of Jose Clemente Orozco, who portrayed so emotionally Hidalgo y Costilla’s cry for freedom during the Mexican revolution of 1810. Hildalgo is to Mexico what Washington is to America. At any rate, the murals are fantastic and the fact that Orozco was partially colorblind and could use only his left hand compounds the remarkable brilliance of his talent. Many of the buildings around Freedom Square are from the Spanish-Catholic Church dominated era of the 1600’s. The scene conjures up a picture in the mind’s eye of the Church with its monks, nuns, convents, bishops and the Cardinal on the one hand, and the elite aristocracy with their ranches and haciendas on the other, ruling a society that lived in poverty and was suppressed by the fear of the Inquisition. At any rate, it is a rich and interesting history.

We traveled through several of the city’s neighborhoods to see how people lived, which seemed to me to be a very acceptable standard of living. Some of the neighborhoods were very lovely indeed. One of the most interesting is an area called Tlaquepaque. This is an historic residential area that has been largely converted to upscale shops, restaurants, boutiques, and small European style hotels. It’s a place you could wander through for more than a day.

After leaving Guadalajara we traveled south to Laguna de Chapala, a fresh water mountain lake about 30 miles long and 10 miles wide. It is the main water supply for Guadalajara. We stopped at the towns of Chapala and Ajiijic. If you cannot pronounce the latter, don’t worry; neither can the Mexicans. Both towns are beautiful artist and craft areas, and they also are residential colonies for Canadian and Americans. It was Sunday morning and church was just ending. Families – grandparents, parents, and kids - were walking about enjoying a moment together under the brilliant morning sunshine. The experience that these people enjoy isn’t really something we have anymore in our society, i.e., quiet family walks around the town square with several generations enjoying each other in just casual, free atmosphere.

After a couple of hours we turned west and headed back to Barra. The trip through the Colima Valley was breath taking. The valley is a rich, fertile area and one of the most important agricultural areas in Mexico. The valley is dominated by the 10,000 ft Nevado de Colima, which is an active volcano. The mountain has three peaks, almost like three mountains. Two of them are snow capped, and the main mountain is a perfect volcanic cone. It is truly breath taking. The sides of the mountain flow down and create the valley. The floor has many mountainous uprising and faults that sculpture the landscape in a most beautiful way. All sorts of crops are grown, from agaves for tequila to strawberries for export. Prosperous ranches and haciendas dotted the landscape, and the ranchers drove big Detroit built Dodge, Chevy, and Ford luxury trucks. But the mountain dominates the scene and is splendid!

As we passed from the valley we passed over the mountains and back to the coast. For thousands of square miles the area is cultivated in coconut palms, under which is grown corn, papaya, cattle, sugar cane, and other crops. One of the farms was for sale: it was 950 acres with 6,500 palm trees on it according to the sign.

Driving in Mexico is a real trip. Almost all the roads are two lane, and every time the road passes through an area with even a few people living near it, speed bumps are in place. Usually there is at least one bump coming into an area, one or two in the center, and one or two on the way out. There are also speed bumps placed randomly, just to keep things interesting. The bumps are large, so that if you hit one about 20 mph, the rear set passengers are going to hit the roof. As one travels on the road, trucks, busses, vans creep to a virtual halt as they tiptoe over the bumps, and then try to regain highway speed. It is a slow and tedious process. One thing we noticed, like Italy, drivers think of road signs as decorations: double yellow lines mean very little to Mexican drivers! After about 5 hours of driving, we arrived back in Barra de Navidad safe and sound.

3/8/2010 Monday

Barra de Navidad

This was a maintenance day on the boat. Although we went to the next town for groceries in our rented Expedition, we spent about half the day changing oil and filters on our main engines. There is a great picture of my beautiful wife crawling over the engines to reach a difficult spot that I would have trouble accessing. After being an eye surgeon, this is quite a change of pace for her, and she is an invaluable helpmate and good sport. She is an enthusiastic student of everything from navigation to electronics to diesel engine mechanics.

3/9 -10 –11 /2010 Tuesday

Barra de Navidad

Don Ferris and Heidi Salter-Ferris, friends from Ann Arbor, accepted out invitation to spend some time with us onboard Odyssey. After a five-hour bus ride from Puerto Vallarta where their plane landed, they arrived about 9 PM in Barra. We spent the next two days lounging around the hotel and taking a water taxi to town for shopping in the Thursday craft market. One of the highlights of the day was when Heidi insisted that we come to the deep part of the pool to watch her and Don perform the “double dolphin”. Don floated on his back with Heidi’s feet cupped to his ears. Heidi initiated a complex swimming maneuver intended to bring them both underwater in a backwards ballet. It was hilarious!

3/12/2010 Friday Off to Tenacatita

Barra de Navidad

Friday the four of us left for beautiful Tenacatita Bay just north of Barra. This is one of the most famous anchorages in Mexico. Boaters flock here to enjoy the beautiful views and safe conditions. We launched the tender and drove across the bay about 3 miles to a very famous resort, El Tamarindo, which is reputed the have the #1 golf course in Mexico. There didn’t seem to be a central hotel building, rather it was a complex of individual villas hidden from view. Each villa is a thatched hut affair with its own private pool. We put several pictures on the web. This would certainly be a great place to vacation. That evening at 5 PM we started out for Puerto Vallarta after checking the weather on the internet and asking the opinion of other boaters. Things looked great for our 18-hour overnight passage.

Things started out as expected, with seas a little rough. We found a current going north and running about 1-1.5 knots. Winds were from the north and grew over the next few hours to about 20 knots. The result was big box waves about 10 feet high, and Odyssey was pounding up and down over the waves. Rebecca said she felt a little quizzie and took a pill, but Don and Heidi said they never got sea sick, so, no problemo. The sunset was beautiful, but with no moon, it was pitch black outside. The ship was moving up and down. About a half hour later I started feeling ill, and before you knew I was barfing over the side. Don started to look green, and Heidi said that if she got sick she would also faint. That was enough for me, so in heavy seas, we turned around and headed back for the 3 hour run to Tenacatita. As soon as we turned (stabilizes made the turn very easy), things smoothed out and everyone started feeling better. I had taken a pill for motion sickness, so I cruelled up in the captain’s cabin, and Rebecca ran the show until we anchored. When we got back to Tenacatita, we accomplished our first night anchorage. Everyone was fine, but a little tired and quizzie from the ordeal. The next day I checked the weather again, and things looked as good as they were likely to for awhile, and since Heidi and Don had a plane to catch in PV and Heidi wanted some shopping time, we upped anchor at noon and started north again. This time things were acceptable, although still a little rough. Heidi and Don took turns keeping night watch with us, which was fun. They were great sports and their attitude made things a lot of fun. We hit a very favorable current and were able to cruise at over 8 knots while burning about 6 gallons of fuel per hour. That is very economical for a boat of this size.

We made Puerto Vallarta about 4 AM and anchored outside the marina until 10am, when we moved to our slip. It was a beautiful day with brilliant sunshine and a pleasant temperature. As soon as we tied up, Heidi appeared at the door with pedal pushers and a wide brimmed hat ready for shopping. Her tourist book told her that the shops closed at 2 pm on Sunday, so, she didn’t want to waste a minute. Off she and Rebecca went, while Don and I finished boat duties. We rented a car and met them later on the Malecon, the historic area and beachfront.

The Malecon is a lively, beautiful area full of restaurants, shops, and sea side sculptures. There are many local artists, musicians, and sculptures making sand or stone art. It is the best place for people watching. We met Rebecca and Heidi near the central church with its unique lattice crowned steeple, and shopped for a while. About 3 o’clock the ladies gave in and we tested one of the two margaritas for 70 pesos places. They were real margaritas and the food was great. After a couple of drinks, we were all a sleepy, but Heidi had made reservations at the #1 PV restaurant in PV, Trios. It was a fine spot with great food, but we were all tired out and we needed a good night’s sleep.

3/15/2010 Monday

La Cruz, near Puerto Vallarta

Heidi and Don left about 10 am for the airport and their trip home. We prepared the boat for our trip to Cabo San Lucas, which is a 35-hour passage across the Sea of Cortez. This would be our longest and most adventurous undertaking. We planned to meet Kathryn in Cabo on March 17^th. We checked and double-checked the weather and things looked great. Very good conditions were expected. We left La Cruz at 7 pm. It takes about 3 hours to get out of Banderies Bay. Things were fine for a while, then the winds began to build and the sea began to rise. By midnight Rebecca was having a hard time sleeping because of the boat’s motion. By the time she relieved me on watch, the sea had gotten worse and I was actually levitating off the bed every few minutes as the ship rose and fell off the waves. Neither of us got very much sleep, and we had another 24 hours to go.

3/16-17/2010 Tuesday At Sea

Conditions were poor, and we hadn’t managed much sleep. We were tired. The boat was perfect as far as it’s abilities were concerned, but sea conditions were very bumpy, with water blowing on our pilothouse windows. We suffered through the day and counted the hours until we reached port. About 2 am, the sea calmed and for the last 5 hours, we had beautiful conditions. The sunrise was fantastic, with clear brilliant golden light shinning on the beautiful blue water and the mountains of the Baja and Cabo. We tied up at 10 am, right on schedule. Kathryn was visiting Cabo on Spring break with about 50 fellow students from HBS. She came onboard for the first time and, after a tearful reunion, we embarked on a brief walk about the town. Kathryn asked if she could invite her housemates for a tour of the boat, which we planned for the next day. That evening we dressed up and went to Frieda’s Restaurant at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, for a fabulous meal and celebration.

3/18/2010 Thursday

The next morning 13 HBS friends showed up for a daylong cruise aboard Odyssey. They are great young adults, and we really enjoyed having them as guests. We took them up the coast about 20 miles, stopped for an offshore swim, and then came back to Cabo. Rebecca catered lunch, and everyone had a great time.

3/19/2010 Check Out

Today we checked ourselves out of Mexico. This requires an encounter with two different government agencies: immigration and the Capitania de Puerto. There are several problems here: first, the offices are located in different parts of the town, and what with siestas and other factors unknown to us regarding hours of operation, getting back and forth between to complete sequential paper work is iffy. Anyway, we went to Capitania de Puerto first. English was in short supply, but everyone was congenial. The bottom line was that we needed to pay a 306 peso fee to leave, and that had to be paid at a bank 15 blocks and we had to exit immigration and get back to the port office by 2:30. It was then1 pm. It all seemed doable, but not a moment to waist. Off we went bank to pay the fee, and they only took pesos and we had 300 pesos, not 306. They broke the rules and accepted $1 U.S. and called it even. Next to immigration: they closed the service we needed at 1 pm, and it was now 1:20 pm. Would we have to wait until Monday to depart Cabo and pay another $550 in port fees and miss our weather window? The helped us out and we made it back to the Capitania de Puerto in time to finish our paperwork and legally leave Mexico.

3/20/2010 Saturday Bound for Californi

Devin Zwick, our captian, joins us today to help us with the trip up to Dana Point. We plan to shove off around 2 pm and reach Dana Point in five days, which is next Thursday.

Comment on: Captain's Log updtate from 2/26 to 3/20

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 18:54:30 GMT

California, here you come!!! Bet you are looking forward to being back in the U S of A after such an exciting trip, south of the border! We sure have enjoyed your detailed reports and will be happy to have you back at home... Love, The Gordons

Comment on: Captain's Log updtate from 2/26 to 3/20

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 17:10:11 GMT

Such vivid reporting..... you make it all visual and experiential reading. I am getting addicted to your updates.

Captain's Log Update as of 2/15 to 2/26/2010

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

2/15/2010 Monday

Depart for Mazatlan

We left port this morning about 6:30 am bound for Mazatlan. We decided to take a route that allowed us to pass through the Channel de Cerralvo, which separates the Baja from Isla Cerralvo, and protected us from the stronger swells of the sea for as long as possible. Windsurfers from around the world come to this channel to enjoy their sport, as winds are constant and favorable during certain times of the year. This morning winds were light, but the swells out at sea were moderate and potentially uncomfortable. We were hoping that the channel would provide some shelter from the north wind, which prevails in these parts. As we turned into the channel we took waves of about 6 feet on our starboard quarter, but as we progressed, the seas improved. The sun was blazing in the sky, and the view of the land from the sea during a sunrise was spectacular. After about four hours underway, we made the Sea of Cortez and began our first solo overnight open sea cruise. For the first few hours we continued taking moderate seas, but as evening approached the sea calmed and the night was clear and beautiful. Rebecca and I decided to split the night into two six-hour watches. I took a nap from 3 to 6 pm, and then we had dinner. I stood watch from 8 pm to 2 am while Rebecca slept. She took the night watch from 2 am to 6 am or so. It was a great trip. We reached Mazatlan around 9 am.

2/16/2010 Tuesday

In Port at Mazatlan

Solana (Peter and Mary-Rose) led the way into MarinaMazatlan harbor. (All of the places we travel can be viewed on Google Earth or Google Maps.) The entry to the harbor was very intimidating. First it could hardly be seen from the approach, and second, the surf was braking on the rocks at the entrance. It was really frightening! Peter radioed that we should give the entrance a wide birth, but as we made our turn we found only 3 ft of water under our keel. Too late to make a change now: we moved on into the channel but were buffeted by waves that pushed our stern as we tried to remain in the center of the channel. No sooner did I have the boat properly positioned than a 90-degree turn was required. A large whirlpool to starboard became visible and it seemed that there were rocks everywhere. My rudder was not very effective as the tide was incoming. That’s when I put my thrusters to work and all was well.

That afternoon we hopped a cab for downtown to see the beginnings of the Carnival, reputed to be the third largest in the world following Rio and New Orleans. The streets of the old center were filled with celebrants, street vendors selling food and drink much like the Ann Arbor Art Fair minus the art. The main street of Mazatlan runs along the coast for about 20 miles. The northern third is primarily devoted to tourist hotels and condos. The center third comprises the interesting and beautiful historic center, and the southern third is primarily devoted to business and industry. We were there just in time to see the opening parade.

I was thinking of a New Orleans type affair with the addition of a priest and altar boys carrying a statue of Jesus or the Virgin above the crowd. Instead, we got a parade that started off with a half dozen beer trucks adorned with young beauties in tight white pants or shorts and skimpy tops. Rebecca tells me they dispensed with their undergarments in order to enhance the effect, which wasn’t what I would call subliminal. Next came the Coke trucks, with young ladies fully attired and wholesome, then the bread company trucks, etc. That’s when we gave up and started for home. On the way we encountered a fellow who made his living diving off a cliff into an incredibly dangerous ocean inlet. It was really something to see. I put a copy of the picture on the web site. We found a little taxi, sort of a golf cart sort of thing. The driver maneuvered through the streets like a mad man, but came to an abrupt halt as people streamed from the carnival in what appeared to be in a state of hysteria. Apparently they thought that gunshots were fired. It turned out to be firecrackers, but you can’t be too careful!

2/17/2010 Wednesday

In Port at Mazatlan

We met Lee, who hails from West Virginia and got along famously with Rebecca…a sort of “old home week”. Lee had been in Mazatlan for about nine years, where he met his wife. Apparently he courted her for eight months before popping the question, and during that time was not left alone with her once. There was always an aunt or someone to chaperon them. Anyway, Lee showed us around town, including the cathedral, opera house, Main Square, and the second tallest lighthouse in the world. Peter wanted a picture of the sunset from its heights, so up we went. Peter sprinted to the top, the two ladies walked, and after the sun went down I finally made it. It was truly a grueling experience, and if you are ever in Mazatlan, forget this attraction.

Mazatlan is one of the largest tourist centers in Mexico. The economy is struggling because it was the epicenter of the Swine Flue outbreak. Restaurants were closed and quarantined for the last year or more. Apparently the city was basically closed to tourists. Although tourist activities have reopened, the US economic downturn has added an additional burden.

2/18/2010 Thursday

Underway for Barra de Navidad

The weather systems hitting California and creating wind and waves in the Sea of Cortez finally subsided and we prepared to depart for Barra de Navidad. We left about 10 am and hopped to make it to Barra in about 36 hours. We timed our departure in consideration of tides (it’s best to arrive during slack tides), to take advantage of a weather window, and to minimize the nighttime hours at sea. Two systems, one coming across the Pacific and stirring things up in the south, and northern winds from California were making a mess of things. We enjoyed a lovely cruise along the Mexican coast during a bright sunny day. Riddley Turtles were sunning themselves on surface. Sometimes a bird would perch on their backs. The night was equally beautiful, with a gentle warm breeze and starlit sky to make our overnight watch very pleasant. However, about midnight, Peter called on the radio to discuss the fact that we were going slower than we had projected due to adverse currents, and that we would be unlikely to make Barra in time to forestall another overnight at sea. In addition, our weather forecast indicated that sea conditions were likely to deteriorate in the region of Barra de Navidad. So we decided to slow our speed and turn to Puerto Vallarta and await better conditions.

2/19/2010 Friday

Arrive Puerto Vallarta

We arrived at dawn and proceed into Banderis Bay(Bay of Flags). The bay is about 20 miles wide at its mouth and about 10 miles deep. It is one of the largest bays in Mexico, and is a true geological treasure; full of whales, tuna, Dorado and other sea life. The bay in certain places is about 5,000 deep. At the end of the bay is Puerto Vallarta. The bay is ringed by one development after another, and overall it is a nice place to visit. We stayed at Marina Riviera at the tiny town of La Cruz, about twenty miles from Puerto Vallarta.

2/20/2010 Saturday

In port at Puerto Vallarta/La Cruz

R & R

2/21/2010 Sunday

In port at Puerto Vallarta/La Cruz

After resting most of the previous day, we headed out for a little exploring. We took the local bus to town (20 pesos or about $1.50), which was a 45 minute jostle, and ended up in the charming historic section of the city on the beach know as The Malacon. It is a lovely historic area with a beautiful church, shops, Central Square and garden, and a walkway on the beach adorned with bronze sculptures. It was very nice, especially after a few Margaritas at one of the seafront cafes. However, we had had enough of the bus and took a cab back, which cost $40.

2/22/2010 Monday

In port at Puerto Vallarta/ La Cruz

We rented a car and proceeded to town in search of fishing gear. As it turns out, we crossed a long-line (a commercial fishing line which can be miles long and strung with baited hooks every yard or so) on our trip from Mazatlan, and it became snagged on our stabilizer fins. Luckily, we had a long enough boat hook to pull it up and I cut it with my pocket knife, but in the process of backing up to prevent damage to our boat, our fishing line got caught in the propeller. It unwound around it as fast as you could say Jiminy Cricket; hence I needed some new line. On the way to the local fishing shop I made an illegal turn and was stopped by the MX Federallies. I was issued a ticket, and they confiscated my driver’s license until the ticket was paid. You wouldn’t believe the hassle involved. I begged, I pleaded; I tried everything except getting Rebecca to cry. Finally the officer said that if I didn’t need a receipt, we could pay the ticket right there and then ($40 USD) and I could keep my license. However, I insisted on justice and fair play and I certainly wasn’t going to be a party to any sort of corruption. So, … (just kidding).

That afternoon we went to the little beach town of Bucerius for drinks on the beach and walk thorough a craft area. The town was interesting, but the surf and sand was spectacular in the afternoon sun. Later we drove about ten miles out to Punta Mita, the point at the south end of the bay for a look at a spectacular resort area, the Four Seasons and the St Regis. After a through screening by the gate guards, we made it to the hotel just in time for sunset. The ocean crashes on the rocks at a point in perfect view of the hotel’s cocktail lounge. The gardens were magnificent, and the infinity pool added to the overall effect. Margaritas here were about $18, as compared to $2 in downtown PV.

2/23/2010 Tuesday

In port at Puerto Vallarta/ La Cruz

Today was a major touring day. We drove about three hours deep into the Sierra Madre Mountains. This is hacienda and Agave Azul country – the source of Tequila. Our destination was Talpa de Allende, a destination of pilgrims from all over Mexico who come to pay homage to the Virgin of Rosario de Talpa. People walk on their knees from the town gate to the church, especially during important religious festivals. The church was splendid, and the square was surrounded with shops making and selling guava candy. It is very similar to fudge, and hence it reminded us of Mackinaw Island fudge shops. The town is also the center of chicle production. Chicle is used to make chewing gum, e.g. Chiclets (travel is enlightening, isn’t it). The town itself was a traditional Mexican village, and the church was very beautiful. Pictures are on the website. Mexican villages and small towns have streets made of stone, with speed bumps every few hundred yards. It seems impossible to speed, let alone keep a car in one piece. (I am glad ours was a rental car.) While in Talpa we looked for a luncheon restaurant, but here wasn’t one that we felt we could eat at successfully in the long run, so to speak. So back to PV we went, four of us crammed into the smallest little car. It was a real ordeal (particularly for the shorter people in the back seat), however the scenery was spectacular. I have posted pictures on the site. On the way back we found a nice roadside restaurant. When we went in look around, a schoolgirl spoke to us English. She grew up in Southern California and her Grandmother who was cooking in the back room was from Chicago. Small world. Her nine-year-old brother came out and showed us his lariat tricks while we had lunch. A little further down the road we came upon a tequila distillery. We couldn’t pass that up. I always wondered how they made tequila, and now I know. I also have some, as you might have guessed.

2/24/2010 Wednesday

In port at Puerto Vallarta/La Cruz

Today we prepared for the overnight cruise to Barra de Navidad. This was estimated to be an 18-hour passage, and we all needed a good night’s sleep after the grueling road trip of the previous day. Before returning the rental car we drove to the nearest supermarket (as good as anything we have at home) to stock up on perishables. On the way back I stopped at the panga area in our boat marina to see if any of the fishermen had caught a nice fish. A very nice man helped me with Spanish interpretation and told me what he had ordered, so asked for the same. Tuna. A fisherman just caught a 100lb plus tuna and the fishmonger brought it out for filleting. What a marvel! A beautiful beast: too bad it had to perish. Rebecca and I bought 5 lbs for $15, cut right out of the side of the fish just for us! Wow, a little oil and some fresh oregano purchased in Talpa the day before…out of this world!

2/25/2010 Thursday

At sea bound for Barra de Navidad

We crossed Banderis Bay and made our way out passed Cabo Corrientes. The waves were 5-7 ft on our starboard beam. The stabilizers worked well, but this type of sea motion makes one feel a little punkey. After about four hours we made our turn south and now the waves were on our stern, and were much more comfortable. We picked up a current that added about a knot or more to our speed. Because of timing issues related to when we wanted to enter Barra, we reduced engine RPMs and speed. The result was that we were burning about 4 gallons of fuel per hour to make 6 knots. That’s considered to be extremely economical. The night was warm with a full m moon. The sea was bathed in a silvery glow. It was beautiful.

Every hour or two the watch person goes into the engine room and inspects all the equipment, looking for leaks or over heated components using and infra red heat sensing gun. Unfortunately, at around midnight I found that our starboard engine had developed a very small leak in its cooling system. We watched it very closely all night, but no serious problems have yet developed.

2/26/2010 Friday

Arrival in Barra de Navidad

Wow, what a beautiful place. More info next week.

Comment on: Captain's Log Update as of 2/15 to 2/26/2010

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 14:05:36 GMT

It sounds like a beautiful area to be traveling around. I was happy to read the blogs-------didn't find them until today--------------hugs to you both-------------doing okay-------had to take matters in my own hands ---------have a new therapist-----it is a long story and I will talk to you about it later----love, Mary SUe

Comment on: Captain's Log Update as of 2/15 to 2/26/2010

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:11:22 GMT

I love all your commentary - makes me feel like I am there with you - safe travels - hope to see you soon- xoxox

Comment on: Captain's Log Update as of 2/15 to 2/26/2010

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 12:34:58 GMT

Wow! Just coming off a cruise ship 3 days ago, I read all this with deep respect. The seas were rough even in the Caribbean during the 13 days we were aboard the Azamara Journey (700 passengers, so large ship but not as large as the big floating hotels). We were buffeted about enough that I put on my acupressure bracelet. At a lot of the islands we visited, red flags were out for swimming and snorkeling was discouraged (at St John, St. Barths, St. Kitts and some of the other islands). So just imagining the 2 of you out in such seas in a smaller boat is a matter of wonder. We also toured the bridge and the engine (or rather, the computers monitoring the engines, etc), and again gained a deeper respect for all you have learned and your courage in applying it. WOW!