Innocence of youth...

So last night I went to the local cinema to check out the "edge of your seat thrill ride" Fools Gold. I haven't been to the movies in a long time and being Friday night I figured I would treat myself to a flick instead of hitting a bar or club. The cruisers had a big party near the marina but there are plenty of those. Anyway, the movie started at 8:30 and I got there a little early. I wasn't sure what to expect price wise but so far most stuff here is very reasonable, sometimes very cheap. My ticket cost 8 dollars U.S. (20 EC) which is around two bucks cheaper than home but a medium coke and medium popcorn was 3 dollars U.S. total. So for 11 bucks I got to sip coke, munch some buttered up popcorn and stare at Kate Hudson for a couple of hours, not bad. Beats the hell out of 50 dollar outing a movie constitutes back in the states. By the way, save your money if you are planning on going to see this movie, I assure you Blockbuster will have it soon if they don't already back home. Of course, thanks to the premise of the movie I started wondering how much treasure is truly down at the bottom of this ocean I have been sailing across. The rich history here shows that countless millions was shipped through this area and judging by the number of shipwrecks I see marked on all the charts I'm sure several of it went down to Davy Jones. Maybe I should become a treasure hunter instead of a charter boat captain, hmmm...anyone interested?

I digress, back to the point of me writing this post. I walked back to the boatyard dinghy dock where I locked the dinghy up and as I arrived there were police and taxis everywhere. This is very unusual here. I have the boat anchored in a place called Prickly Bay and it is near where I will be hauling the boat out for paint and work. During the day, this area is a bustling hub of yachties and workers of all sorts but at night it pretty much goes dormant. There is small waterfront restaraunt called De Big Fish (which the dinghy dock is attached to) but it usually is quiet by about 10. Well I got back just before 11 and was asked to see my invitation by a freakishly huge policeman who reminded me of my friend Gigantor. I'm sure the stupid look on my face told him I had no idea what the hell he was talking about because he smiled and explained that it was "private party" tonight and I wouldn't be allowed in without an invite. So after explaining that I live on a boat and blah blah, he let me pass. As I got to the dock there was a table at the entrance of the place that had 4 girls that were obviously greeters of some sort. They had some sort of list and a bunch of name tags strewn about the table. Being the type that likes to be informed of any activities in my immediate vicinity, I asked what was going on. The casual up and down look I got let me know right away that my name wasn't making it on to that list. As I glanced around I noticed why. Everyone was dressed like rednecks. Serious. One of the girls was nice enough to explain to me that they were holding a "Hoe Down" (please insert your own funny joke at this point). The little hostess informed me that they were all affiliated with St George University (less than a mile away) and that they had private parties all the time with themes and costumes. I am pretty sure I could have talked my way into there if I wanted but I took the high road (or low, still unsure) and headed back out to the boat. I only mention this little episode because try and imagine a bunch of 18-24 year old kids from literally all over the world having a redneck themed party. Some of them had gone all out and really put together some hilarious outfits. They were really into it and the music was great, I could hear Garth Brooks and George Strait wafting out to the boat most of the night. I suppose the best irony of this is that back home it is rodeo weekend and I know a bunch of my friends are going to end up shithoused drunk in Old Town Clovis tonight. So have fun, the kids from St George paid tribute to all you cowfolk last night.

One more thing. Just want to say thanks a freaking lot to my Mom for the e-mail she sent me last night. With the Skype program I have been able to stay in touch with family and friends fairly regularly which is pretty cool and recently I have talked to my niece Brianna. Now for those that don't know, she and I are very close. We have had a connection ever since she was still an uninteresting blob wrapped in a blanket. Whenever I was around she wanted to be around me. She is four now, five in September and when I left it totally sucked saying bye to her. Anyway, the other day I talked to her and out of nowhere she said "Unca Shane, I love you SOOOO much and miss you SOOOO much" and it was like getting smacked in the nuts with a baseball bat in front of people, you know, you try and be tough but you know you are screwed any moment because you are gonna fall and your face is gonna start leaking heavily. My Sis and Mom are bringing the babies down to Curacao in June to see me so I'm super excited about that but there is still that tough part that I know I am missing those times in her life that are irreplaceable. Needless to say, bouts of homesickness and missing people is inherent in this lifestyle. I have talked to several cruisers who have all gone through similar things. I had a pretty good bout back in St Kitts but have been pretty solid since being rejuvenated by everyone's support through e-mails and comments. So last night I open my e-mail and find one from my Mom. Last night Brianna spent the night with her and my Mom asked Bri if she wanted to e-mail me. So of course Bri did and here is an excerpt from that mail, keep in mind as you read this is Brianna dictating to my Mom what she wants her to type to me...

"She says to tell you I miss my Unca Shane so much and I love him so much. I wish he would come home for me and I wish he was a fireman again and he would help the people. I know you miss me so I love you a lot. So you are on a sailboat away from us and we are your nieces and we love you so much. And Nay Nay is your mom. Shauna is your sister and they miss you so much and love you so much. I know you're a pirate and you give me good cards and you're looking for treasure. "

Mom, you suck. I damn near had to break out the bottle of Johnny Walker Blue Label after reading that, I swear if I would have had a cowboy hat I would have gone to the hoe down to drown the image of a four year old saying that about my punk ass. What next? Maybe Griff can e-mail me with a bunch of stuff about how much my dog Drake misses me and include pictures of him with that pathetic look he perfected. So thanks Mom but your attempts to drive your son to the bottle will not work. Just make sure you all make it to Curacao.

Don't wake me up yet...

It's that perfect moment right now at sunset where the sky is on fire in every direction and everyone in the area stops just to stare in wonder, trying to capture the memory. People are snapping photos, walking hand in hand down the dock, stopping on the beach to stare. I'm surrounded by boats full of cruisers that are sitting contently sipping their particular choice of sundowner cocktail while they watch the sun sink under the waves. This moment, and it will pass quickly, is enjoyed by those lucky enough to be in the right spot to witness the majesty of another sunset on the sea. I have seen these sunsets for several months now, every night a little different, always inspiring and calming. The trade winds start to lay down around this time, finally taking a break from the incessant onslaught from the east as if the wind itself is stopping to enjoy the raw beauty of the twilight. Everything seems to be in harmony at these moments. Connected. I always try and stop what I'm doing (if anything at all) to take these in fully. I smile and think comforting warm thoughts of friends and loved ones and of how lucky I am to have taken so many breaths day in and out bearing witness to these events. Sometimes in this fading daylight I wonder if I am in some sort of perpetual state of dreaming, where waking up at any moment will snap me back to reality. If it is, please don't wake me up yet, I'm not ready for this dream to be over, there is still so much more horizon out there for me to sail across...

Grenada pics...

De Coo Man...

So after more than two months of cruising we have made it to Grenada, which I can assure you was no easy feat given our time schedule. As usual for the past week or so, internet connections have been sporadic and when I have had them, most of the time they don't last long enough for me to get anything done. Now we are anchored in the Lagoon in St George the capital city here in Grenada and the local boat shop has a Wifi that covers the anchorage so I'm hoping it will hold up.

The past week was fairly memorable, covering several miles and islands over the course of a few days was pretty tough overall. As I wrote in my last written post, Dominica was an amazing island. We sailed there from Guadeloupe after our unexpected week and a half layover there waiting on parts. I have to say, in the end I was fairly disappointed in the mechanics there. Originally when we got them to come out they seemed very competent and confident they could get us going in a few days. Well we ended up waiting for quite a while and the part never showed up, apparently there was some mix up with the shipping company. Miraclously, the mechanics found the exact part we needed on a brand new transmission that had been in the shop since our arrival and got us back up and running that same day (last Tuesday) and we left the marina around 7 that evening bound for Portsmouth in Dominica, 40 miles away. Of course that wasn't before those fuckers stuck Brian with an absolutely ri-goddamn-diculous bill. I won't say how much but let me assure you it was WAY overpriced. Fuck Guadeloupe and all those French jerks with their idiotic Euro prices. We made Dominica late that night and got anchored up in Portsmouth. The following morning we cruised in and checked in with customs. Dominica has the youngest elected governor of all the islands and in an effort to attract more yachties to visit they have streamlined the entry/exit process and combined it all into one form and one visit. This is extremely helpful and a huge difference from some of the more cumbersome entry procedures. We walked through the "downtown" area if you can call it that. You can't help but become saturated with the relaxed attitude that is produced in these islands and it was very apparent there. During the morning, various vendors come out to your boat in dinghies, wooden boats, kayaks, pretty much anything these dudes can get to float they will paddle up to you and try and sell you something. Some offer fruit, some jewelry, but in Dominica most of them want to take you on a river tour of the Indian River. We have several cruising guides onboard that recommend what to do in various islands and anchorages and the river tour was suggested as was which guides to use so we set up an afternoon cruise in the river with Lawrence of Arabia (all guides have a nickname, some pretty creative but I liked Spaghetti the best because it was in reference to his huge mane of dreads, and he rows a pink wooden boat so you know he has to rock, I digress). Our guide picked us up and we were off. The tour was great and very informative. I guess for a long time the vendors were pretty unruly and wild and chased off a lot of yachties until someone got them organized and educated them on how to run the tours so now it has become very professional. You are not allowed to run outboards on this river and these guides row these boats by themselves, sometimes with up to 8 people on board. You go in close to a mile and tie the boat up to the dock provided at the Jungle Bar. Our guides name was Reginald (Bogey, short for Humphrey Bogart, I have no idea why) and he insisted that the Dynamite punch was the only way to go at the bar so I complied and bought him and myself one each. After finishing it I had to agree. After that we headed back down a small side section of river where part of the river scene from the Pirates movie was made, the one where they go see the witch. Bogey said that Johnny Depp was cool to hang with and told his bodyguards that he didn't need them because no one on the island cared who he was anyone. After getting to know Bogey it's worth mentioning that he was born in Dominica and left to study abroad. He lived in Europe for four years and traveled extensively around the world. He speaks 6 languages and is very intelligent. In the end, he said it came down to being happy. He said no where in the world makes him happier than Dominica. He has hiked every inch of the island, dove lobster and conch, fished tuna and marlin, and my favorite reason he quoted was when he talked about the imposition of laws and rules in different countries.

ME: So why did you end up coming back here besides the obvious reasons of the beauty and family?

BOGEY: Man, ya know I can make mo money in other countries but here if I get drunk and sleep on the beach, nobody cares, I mean in your country they gonna tell me I can't walk down the street with a beer in my hand? Nah man, in Dominica you sail fast and live slow.

So that's all it took to sell me on the place. Honestly though, there is brilliance in that statement if you look deeper into it and truly understand how that sums it up. He also asked if we would come to a small place so he could make dinner for us so we did. It was pretty funny but he busted his ass and we had a good time. We gave him forty bucks and he provided chicken, salad, rice, bread, and all the rum cokes we wanted. It was a perfect way to end a very good day. I slept like a rock that night as I had sailed the boat from Guadeloupe the night before and didn't get to sleep until about 4 AM. Time was not on our side and we had to get moving to the next place the following morning so I helped Brian get the anchor up in the morning and once we got clear of the harbor, I hoisted the sails and got the boat set on course and crashed back out. When I woke a few hours later and did some chartplotting I figured we had around 80 miles of sailing to get to the bay in St Lucia we were going to anchor in. Sailing along the coast of Martinique during the evening, I was checking the rigging and noticed that the jibsail (headsail) was starting to tear up towards the top and the webbing straps the attach it to furler in front had come off. I rolled the sail in about a third of the way so it wouldn't rip off and added one more thing to the list of repairs I have to do. We had good wind, calm seas and a full moon so I sailed the boat hard through the night and after talking it over decided we would make our next landfall in St Vincent. I was a little disappointed about having to blow past St Lucia but given the wind and weather we had we needed to exploit that and continue south, especially given that there are so many little repairs that need to be done. I have a couple of friends who have been there and they liked it so I was looking forward to seeing it but I'll have to hit it another time.

Early the following morning (last Friday), we slipped into the tranquil little anchorage of Wallilabou Bay (wally-la-boo) in St Vincent. This is the beach and area nearby that several scenes from the Pirates movies both 1 and 2 were shot (see St Vincent pics). Upon our arrival we were greeted by Frankie, the boatman who rows out to meet you at the mouth of the bay and guide you into your mooring. Because the winds blow kind of crazy in this spot, after you drop anchor or moor up, it's necessary to tie a rope to the back of the boat and the boatmen will row it either to moorings that are in near the shore or they will take them up the beach and tie the ropes to palm trees. It was very interesting to learn by watching this guy help us get settled. The charge is 10 EC (Eastern Caribbean currency). 1 U.S. dollar=2.67 E.C. dollars so when they charge you 10 it's basically 3 bucks. Things are cheap in this area of the Caribbean and it's kind of a fun game when you pay 50 EC for something (around 20 bucks U.S.) and you get to haggle with the merchants. We were so close to the dock that we just rowed the dinghy over to go in and have lunch. I had read about a waterfall that was supposed to be a mile above town and planned on hiking that after lunch. Brian and I brought a bunch of cookies to the kids that were fishing on the pier and I made a new pal, Johnny. He asked if I wanted to go see the waterfall and I said yes. He said, I take you now. I told him after I ate I would go. I gotta give it to this kid, he waited an hour for me while his friends ditched him. When we finished, I walked outside and he was sitting patiently. He asked if I was ready and we were off. He is 13 and it was obvious he had done this before with cruisers that come through there. He knew all kinds of info about the movies and showed me all the sets and where they used to play cricket and football (soccer) with the actors near the beach. We hiked up the hill and he knew all the plants and trees and fruit and what you could eat and not eat and even showed me some leaves that you make soup with. The waterfall itself wasn't very spectacular although it was a nice hike and it was a photogenic little place. On our way back down the hill he asked me if I liked to dive and of course I said yes. He asked tank or no tank, I said no tank. He asked if I had an extra mask that he could have. According to Johnny, he asked every cruiser that came through but no one ever had any. Well on Rum Boogie, which used to be a charter boat, there are several sets of old fins, masks and snorkels. This kid was way too cool and very polite so I had to hook him up. I told him I wanted to get lobster and he said he could show me where so we rowed the dinghy out to the boat and I busted out the snorkel gear. I gave him a coke and I swear that kid never stopped smiling. I showed him how to get his gear all set up and we hopped in the water. I started out hunting near the boat and working in towards the beach and kicking out towards the open water. This bay has a nice reef inshore but it drops off very quickly and the water starts getting deep. As we kicked around I could tell he had never been in the water that way as he was up my ass the whole time and his eyes were huge inside his mask. He pointed out a conch shell to me down about 40 feet in the water and said he wished it wasn't so deep because he really wanted it. I smiled and told him to hang on. I popped down, grabbed the shell and from then on, he held that shell like I had just handed him some treasure. When we got out to the deeper water, I went down to about 90 feet to look under some rocks for lobsters but I still wasn't finding the slightest trace of them. I saw octopus, big eels, puffers, all the pretty reef fish and even found a bunch of really tiny shrimp but no freaking lobsters. When I came back up he motioned to go back and I realized that we were out pretty far from the harbor and the poor guy was scared to death that we were gonna be a sharks dinner. When we got back on the boat, I asked him if he was scared and he said he was just cold. We dried off, bagged up his new gear and I gave him a candy bar and rowed him back to the dock. He said thank you a million times and headed back to his village. I rowed back out and did some little chores around the boat for a bit when I heard some shouting. I looked over at the pier and there was Johnny with two of his friends. He was frantically waving for me to come over so I rowed over. He needed me to verify his story to his friends, they were calling bullshit on his story that he had just gone diving way outside the harbor and that some guy could dive "all de way de bottom". I vouched for him with his pals and they immediately started assuring me that THEY knew where there is a huge lobster hole and we can take the dinghy over and go dive for them. I laughed and told them they should have waited with Johnny for my little waterfall guided tour. Johnny said he told his dad and brothers about "de coo man who dive like de fish" and that he wished I wasn't leaving. It was all a good experience and I hope that that gear works out for him. He told me that when I come back he will know the cool man right away and that I have to come to his village. Needless to say, it was a little bit of a drag to have to leave the next morning but we had to head south.

Bequia was the next stop and it was not quite 20 mile away to Admiralty Bay and the town of Port Elizabeth. It was Saturday so upon our arrival in the afternoon, pretty much everything was closed but we did manage to take on a small amount of diesel as we were very low. It was only a mere 18.50 EC (6.73 U.S.) per gallon, so as you can guess, we didn't get much fuel. We had a really good dinner and I decided that we should leave that night so I could just sail through the night and get us to Grenada, 60 miles away by the next morning. We had a full moon, clear skies, calm seas and I didn't want to miss the weather window. I got us underway around midnight and it was a great sail, even with the jib ripped, she was hitting speeds over 9 knots at times. That kind of sailing is exhilarating, especially at night with a full moon. There is just something about having that big ocean all to yourself with the moon smiling down on you, lighting up everything around you. You can feel the life teeming around the boat and with no motors running the only sounds are the water rushing by the hulls, the occasional creak from the rigging as the sails harness the wind to move you and the breaching of the seemingly neverending amount of flying fish as they jump out of the water and fly, sometimes it seems like the length of a football field before they land again. We slipped into the lagoon Sunday morning and got settled. Most of the day we lounged around, me mainly cause I was dragging ass from sailing though the nights 3 days in a row.

So far, Grenada seems like a cool little place and it looks like I'm going to be spending about a month here. Tomorrow we are going to set a date for me to haul the boat out here at a local yard and do the bottom painting and all the work that needs to be done. So that pretty much catches everything up til now. Tomorrow we are going to do our island tour in the rental car after we set our dates for the haul out. Keep your fingers crossed for me as I'm hoping to survive this one last car ride with Brian. Of course, the steering wheel is on the right side and you have to drive on the left of the road so the intensity is doubled as you spend most of your time staring straight ahead at the curbs he continuously likes to run into. Hope everyone is doing well.

Bequia to Grenada pics

St Vincent pics

Dominica photos...

Dominica, the REAL Caribbean

Made it to Dominica. I read that someone said that if Chris Columbus were to see the islands today that this is the only one he would recognize. Now I understand why. We are anchored in Portsmouth and got in late last night. Today we took a walk through town and then a guided tour up the Indian River. They don't allow outboard motors to be run in the river so the tour is by rowboat. It was amazing. I cannot even begin to describe how great this place is. I don't have a lot of time to write at the moment but I will post pictures and more info when I can. Tonight we are having a bbq with our river guide Reginald and then there is a reggae jam at Big Papa's Bar and Grill on the beach. Should be good. The worst part of this place is that we have to leave tomorrow because of our time frame. It is killing me that I can't stay here longer but I made a promise to myself today to return someday and spend a few months here. Just in the short time we have been here we had a delicious Creole fish lunch followed by our tour, which took us by the place where they shot the river scene with the witch from the Pirates of the Caribbean 2 movie, then had Dynamite rum punch, followed by fresh Cacao fruit (cocoa) and a fresh coconut to make curry later. Like I said, I will be back. Hope everyone is well, we had a great sail here last night, tomorrow we have over 100 miles of sailing to St. Lucia so I'm hoping the weather holds. We will see.

Bon jour amigos

So it looks like we are stuck here in Guadeloupe until Monday. Our part didn’t make it here today so we are going to have to sit tight through the weekend. It’s sort of a pain in the ass but you just have to be understanding. We are on an island and there is nothing anyone can do to make the parts arrive faster. Of course try telling that to my shipmate. I’m just hoping that by tomorrow he doesn’t nut up and want to leave seeing as how the entire transmission is disassembled on the port engine. Everything else is done. Both motors have been serviced (thank god, you should have seen the oil and the fuel filters) the motor mounts are fixed and we have a new alternator on the starboard engine. We are just waiting for the last part that fits around the drive shaft and we should be money. Interestingly enough, when they went to change the motor mounts they found that 3 of the 4 were broken and the fourth one was bent. I asked what could cause the bend and our new pal Fred, the mechanic from Fred Marine, said if a rope got caught around the propeller with high engine RPM’s that it could twist the engine on the mounts. So because two of the mounts were broken and a month or so ago on the north side of St John, Brian had backed down on the dinghy tow line at high RPM’s, the motor must have twisted on the mounts causing the rest of the damage. Boats are fun.

I’m still enjoying myself here and it’s nice to be able to hop off the boat to head into town and get laundry done, shop for groceries, etc without having to dinghy in every time. Last night after I did some research online I bumped into the mechanic who has been doing the majority of the work. His name is David (Dah-veed) and he was bartending at the Guadeloupe Marlin Club, the local fishing club. So he invited me in and I spent the night drinking with him and some local fishermen. Between my horrible French, their rough English and one poor woman who tried translating for us we actually had a really fun evening trading stories about fishing and yachting. It’s amazing the universal language of hand signals and simply making sound effects to carry on a conversation. I’m sure we looked nuts to anyone who passed by as we waved our arms around and imitated catching fish. After they closed, one of the guys and his wife invited David and I down to their boat and we had a few more drinks and some kind of French crackers. By that point the Vodka Tings we were drinking had us all pretty lubed up and we ended up talking until well after 4 AM. I saw poor David over at the boat shop today and we laughed about last night when he told me that he had fallen asleep in the engine room of a yacht he was working on this afternoon.

As for now the plan keeps evolving but the rough idea is that we hope to leave here Monday afternoon and sail to Dominica. From there we may have to skip a few islands on our way to Grenada but we should be stopping in Martinique, St Vincent and St Lucia along the way. We have until the 24th for Brian at which point he flies out of Grenada and I plan on heading to Barbados. I’m planning on spending 10 days or so out there getting dive certified which is around 5 days and organizing and cleaning the boat, an enterprise that is futile while Pigpen is still on the boat. I can’t wait to get the boat cleaned up and KEEP it that way. We are doing research as to where the best place to get work done on the boat will be and so far we haven’t decided. It’s possible I will be going back to Grenada to do the work but Trinidad and Cartagena are still on the list of maybes. Doesn’t really matter to me. If I do the work in Grenada I should be able to have it done by the end of May, early June and head along the coast of Venezuela to check out the 350 island chain of Los Roques which I have heard great stuff about. From there it should be the ABC island chain which consists of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao. After that it should be the San Blas islands and finally into Bocas del Toro in Panama around August or so I hope. As with everything I’m sure a lot will change between now and then but that’s the tentative itinerary. For now I’m content to keep murdering the French language and eating the gigantic avocados I have been buying at the grocery store here.

So until my next post, here are a few free tips for traveling on a French island. You have to ask your server to bring the check, it’s considered rude for them to interrupt your meal so they will let you sit there like a complete moron waiting all by yourself until you ask, most of the toilets I find don’t have seats so you have to make one with toilet paper, there seems to be some sort of obscure French law that requires everyone to smoke possibly starting around the age of 3, you absolutely cannot sound bad ass speaking French, Klaxon is the French word for hooters, Voila means a bunch of different things, DON’T have your laundry done for you it will cost your entire year salary, if you tip at all they get incredibly excited so give like 30 cents and you can roll like a rockstar, get a language translation book to take out to eat or you will be looking at words like fromage (cheese) or poulet fermier (chicken) and hoping that you aren’t ordering some nasty shit, and when they ask you if you want you drink with glac (pronounced glass) or no glac they aren’t asking if you want it in an actual glass you knucklehead, glac means ice. Oh yeah, and don’t drink Vodka Tings with fishermen and mechanics until the wee hours of the morning or you will end up dragging ass the next day in the hot Caribbean sun working on the boat. Au revoir.

Repairs are fun

Making some progress on fixing the boat. Turns out that the alternator on the starboard engine is out and was replaced this morning. The port engine has turned out to be the bigger pain in the ass. It has two broken motor mounts that has caused so much vibration that it stripped part of the gearing in the transmission. It is also in severe need of an alignment. We are waiting for word of an ETA for parts from the U.S. We are hoping to get out of here by Saturday but it's uncertain as of yet. There are several smaller projects I have finished while we are in the marina. It has been a great luxury plugged into shore power and having an unlimited water supply.

Still struggling to get by in French but I'm managing much better now as I found a great book to help me. I was able to buy a kilogram of fresh dorado this morning from the fishermen near downtown for 10 Euros. It's cool cause they just cruise their wooden panga boats right up to the old ferry dock and sell their morning catch to people near the outdoor market place. Dinner should be good tonight. We are still on an insanely tight schedule to make Grenada by the 21st and we still have over 250 miles of sailing and around 7 islands we wanted to visit. If we can't leave by Saturday I imagine we will have to miss some islands. Guess we will see what happens.

Headed to Guadeloupe pics

This is why I'm Captain Chaos

Monday, April 7th, 2008 Marina Bas du Fort, Port Pietre, Guadeloupe

10:46 PM

Well as usual it’s been a long week filled with several cool experiences coupled with the general chaos that seems to be accompanying Brian and I on our voyage through the islands. Where to start? From the time of my last blog (sorry if the tone was too sentimental, after talking to everyone on the phone I was thinking about everyone a lot and thought I would write it down, I’m sure the rum and coke contributed to the nostalgia, thanks to everyone who wrote and I know you are behind me and if you think that was bitching Nick just wait until you read this post) we have been pretty much getting our asses kicked at every turn. The plan was to sail to Nevis, an island that is part of St Kitts and hang out for one day there. We set sail early and arrived in the early afternoon. During the quick trip over I noticed that a critical piece of hardware that just happens to hold the boom down was broken and the stress of the mainsail flying in the wind was very close to completely breaking. I dropped the sail right away and we had to motor in the last few miles. When we got to Nevis, we anchored up near a quiet little beach, Brian figured out how we could fix the hardware so I drilled out the rivets on the piece and we cruised into town on the dinghy to search for some parts. After a nice mile walk we got to the Nevis equivalent of a Home Depot and picked up essentials. This island is very small and really only settled in the area we were in. Everything was pretty much shutting down early so we headed back to fix the boom. It seems appropriate to remind you here that it pretty much POURED rain most of the day so it was fun laying on the arch way drilling and riveting the boom in the rain, good times. I was really stoked that we left St Kitts in such great weather, I suppose I forgot to mention that during the sail we had wind in excess of 35 knots and gusts well over 40, anyone have an idea how that piece started failing? Buuuuuttttt…………since we are on a tight schedule, we push on, rain, sleet, snow, all that.

We cleared customs the following morning and were off for Montserrat, about 35 miles to the southeast of Nevis. What should have taken us about 6-8 hours max to sail on this boat, ended up taking over 14 by the time we dropped anchor. We got absolutely hammered. 15 foot+ swells, 35+ knots of wind and squall after squall of torrential rain. The wind instrument recorded a gust of wind at 46.6 knots in one of the squalls. The sky was black all day and it was almost impossible to see when the rain was driving in through the cockpit. It was the first pass that I actually got out my foul weather gear and all of my safety equipment. Early on in the run, I noticed that some bolts were coming out of some hardware (fairlead blocks for the jib) that basically holds the rope that we tighten or loosen the tension for the jib sail with. Not exactly a good thing. Since we are SOOOOO well stocked on board with spares (notice the sarcasm, I’m laying it pretty thick because I swear this dude has some grudge against having spare anything) I had to dismantle the hardware from the same piece on the port side to use on the starboard side. Keep in mind, I was doing this in heavy rain, crazy wind and the boat bucking wildly in the swells. It’s real fun working on things with one hand because I’m holding on for dear life with the other one. After getting that rigged up, I found a small anchorage on the chart that looked like it was pretty well protected and we could wait out the weather. We got in to that spot around 11 at night, having left St Kitts at 9 AM. Much to my dismay, I let Brian take the wheel of the boat while I sat on the front and used a spotlight to look for hazards. Of course, as with most things, the light barely had a charge so it didn’t last very long. It was late and he was tired so regardless of the countless small buoys that were floating around the area he wanted to drop the anchor. I took the helm back and after dragging the anchor through this minefield of moorings for a good ten minutes, I told him to bring it up and I motored to another spot that according to the chart and the DEPTHFINDER (a device that is fairly straightforward and simple but for some reason I’m not quite sure that Brian actually believes it when it warns us that there is only a couple of feet between the keel and the bottom) looked like a safe place. After he dropped the anchor down, it set well and I let out the appropriate amount of chain. I won’t go into great depth here about our huge lack of good ground tackle here but it’s pretty inadequate, we have 150 feet of chain, that’s it. I finally marked the anchor chain the other day after a debacle in which he assured me there was 100 feet of chain out (when I marked it I found that we had less than 40 feet out in over 20 feet of water) so that particular night I made sure we had 150 feet out in the heavy winds. The next day we decided not to go check in to Montserrat and I did some chores around the boat and relaxed when that was done. He was anxious to move on and with good reason this time. Our house batteries, which power pretty much everything including neat little things like the auto pilot, GPS, radar, windlass, and other important items, were constantly showing a warning light that the batteries required charging. We ran the motors for several hours attempting to get a charge but it simply wouldn’t hold. Why not just use the generator? Hmmm, great question. Something I asked back in the Bahamas but was told that the motors provided plenty of charge. Yeah, right. We have a huge bank of batteries that are brand new but we have really been using a lot of power. We attempted to use the generator in Montserrat but couldn’t get it started. Oh hooray, another problem. What else could go wrong right? I planned to troubleshoot the generator but was assured it was a solenoid that was out again so I abandoned my idea of trying to keep it simple. So we talked and decided to try and make Guadeloupe the next morning which would require leaving that night (Thursday). I got the boat sea ready and went hunting with the spear for a bit. No luck hunting, didn’t feel like shooting the huge puffer fish or eels I saw, so I headed back out. When I got back he was his normal ADD self and wanted to leave right then. Perfect, let’s go.

We weighed anchor a little after 4 and were off for Guadeloupe. 9 hours later, through 15-20 foot seas and heavy winds, we arrived at a small bay to anchor for the night and get a little sleep before we attempted our final pass (another 30 miles) to our current location. We badly needed to get to a marina and get plugged into shore power to charge the batteries, take on fuel, water and make necessary repairs but the nearest one was here. During this trip we had one of those unbelievable close calls that I still shudder to think about (don’t read this part Mom). I made some dinner for us while Brian took a turn on watch. After we ate I told him I was gonna get some sleep and for him to wake me around 8 PM and I would take over and get us to the anchorage in Anse la Barque. I headed down a little after 6 and was woken around 7 by him calling me up to check something. I wearily dragged my beat down ass out of bed and headed up to see what was going on. He asked what this was. This, was a piece of round plastic sticking about a foot through the bimini cover. I could not believe what I was looking at. In the mainsail there are things called battens. Battens are basically a long pole made of solid, heavy material (fiberglass, plastic, depends on the boat) and are sewn into the sail horizontally to help keep the shape of the sail. During his watch the wind kept increasing in intensity and he kept plowing along and at some point the pressure from the wind caused the stitching to fail and literally shot the batten out of the sail like a freaking arrow fired from a bow. Only this arrow is almost an inch thick and over 8 feet long and when it shot through the fragile canvas of the bimini top it missed Brian’s head by a little less than a foot. With no exaggeration, this projectile would have easily killed him. I wasn’t sure what stunned me more, the fact that he was almost hit or that he had no clue what that weird pole was from. I know I said it before somewhere but I have no idea how this guy has lived this long. He has a dynamite lady in his life who has been with him for 25 years and after these past few months I’m considering converting to some sort of religion so I can figure out how to nominate her for sainthood. Tish, I’ll never know how you have done it but you are truly bad ass. Anyway, back to the ass kicking. We got into Anse la Barque around 3 AM and I made sure to keep the helm this time. I slowly made progress in to the bay keeping an eye on the depth sounder and charts. Of course, he was tired and in a hurry (which is the bane of my existence at this point) so he insisted we anchor a little earlier than I liked. We did, the anchor drug and we had to try again. After fighting that spot for twenty minutes we finally got set…or so I thought. We got the bridle set, he went to bed and I marked down our GPS position so I could get up and check our drift to ensure we weren’t dragging. I was exhausted but got up an hour later to check, we hadn’t moved. Two hours later all was still good. He woke me at 7 AM, anxious to get moving as usual. I woke up and fired up the motors. As we started to weigh anchor I realized the chain was stuck. I contemplated diving down to unwrap it but tried first to finesse the boat around with the engines. I was able to get the chain loose and we continued to pull up the chain. I felt the boat lurch and went up front to see what we were hung up on. The water in this bay was beautiful and crystal clear. You could easily see the bottom, only 25 feet down. Standing on the bow I was staring at yet another sight that I could not fathom. Right below us I could clearly see our anchor and it was obvious that we had NEVER dug into the sandy bottom the night before. We had actually gotten the anchor wedged in between two huge boulders in the shallow bay. I have no idea how it held all night but it was a big bitch slap to me and a reminder that no matter what time it is at night or day, I need to get my ass in the water and dive down to check our anchor set. Better lucky than good huh? Well we got the hook up and were off for Point a Pitre and the Marina Bas du Fort. The run was approx 25 miles and should have taken around 5 hours but oh no, not on the Boogie baby. After the hook was up I went back to bed and Brian took watch. When I got up around 10 I went up to check our progress. None of the electronics were on. Nothing was on. I went below to check the breaker and it had tripped. The batteries had gotten so low that it shut everything down. We had to hand steer the entire way. Luckily we were only running along the coastline so it was easy for me to chart our progress and keep a running log (since I’m the only one who thinks that it’s semi important to know where the boat is, call me crazy guess I’m just not a fan of reefs). It was pathetic. We had no power and we had to make the marina before sundown. We managed to make it into port and I still regret giving up the helm. Brian was napping and I asked him up top so I could tie up the fenders and dock lines in preparation for arriving dockside. I showed him on the charts where we were going and went up front. When we arrived inside the marina I got the dockmaster on the radio to meet us at the entrance and guide us in. He came up and asked me in very broken English to wait for 5 minutes while he prepped our spot. Meanwhile, the wind didn’t stop blowing and Brian, being at the helm, apparently decided to have a quiet moment to himself. I told him to keep power on the engines because of the wind but as with most things I say, it pretty much fell on deaf ears. Within about 20 seconds we were blown to the west past the red markers that you are supposed to stay inside of and bam, we were grounded in the mud and rocks. Of course at this point, instead of keeping calm, panic was the first instinct and resulted in him wildly throwing both motors into forward and reverse at random intervals and of course full throttle. After ignoring me long enough, I finally took over by pretty much yelling to get the fuck out of my way and I got us to the outside to regroup. While I was running the boat out I realized that we had no power from the port side engine. Just outside the entrance to the harbor there are several moorings that you can pick up. We grabbed one and secured the boat. I geared up and dove to find out if something was wrapped around the propeller. Nope. I had him engage the prop and rev the engines but I could see that the prop was just loosely spinning with no power. After some inspection and reading some reference material it seems that the prop is out of service because of the grounding episode and the high speed shifting that stripped the hub of the prop. The good news? The boat has to be pulled out of the water to fix this. Something we weren’t planning on until Colombia. I was so pissed I could barely think. This basically means that I now have one engine until we haul the boat out. This may not seem like a big deal (it’s really not huge just more of really big pain in the ass) but if you can picture that this boat is 25 feet wide when you only use the engine on the right side of the boat it tends to make you want to head in a circle, forward or backward. I will manage but it still sucks huge rhino balls. So as mad as I was, I set the dinghy up and hauled ass to the marina. I explained our situation, we needed power badly, we didn’t even have lights and could not sit on a mooring all night. The marina staff has been great and the dockmaster stayed after (this was Saturday evening this nightmare was happening) to help us dock up. I dashed back out to the boat and got things ready to approach the marina. I brought the boat in and having the dockmaster help on our broken side, backed the boat into our current position on the dock. As soon as I had the boat tied up safely I went to my stateroom and read the rest of Angels and Demons by Dan Brown in order to calm down. Oh yeah, I read using my headlamp because at this point, we still couldn’t plug in. The spot they gave us was too far from the power hook up we needed. We don’t have European connections so we couldn’t use the one close to us. Fun stuff. Early the next morning we were up and off to find mechanics and check into customs. I got us checked in and all of our facility stuff taken care of. We walked to the mechanics and waited for quite a while wondering why they weren’t open by 8. It wasn’t for probably close to an hour as we were walking through the shopping center that someone told us it was Sunday and that nothing was open. Great. No parts or help until the next day. I took off and walked around checking things out. I found a small aquarium here that was cool and only cost 6 Euros to walk through. It has nothing on the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach but it was nice to walk through. The highlight was probably when I went into the ridiculously small men’s restroom to sit down and take care of business and half way through the lights went out. There I was, sitting on the can in the freaking dark in some random ass aquarium in Guadeloupe, home of people who only speak French and look at you like you are a retard because you only speak English. I didn’t really know what to do. I hoped the lights were motion sensors so I waved my arms but no luck. So I sat in the dark, finished up and groped my way out of there. Welcome to paradise friends.

Things are good. Everything I wrote is true but no worries, we are getting things done. The generator is up and running, the batteries are fully charged and tomorrow morning we have the Yanmar mechanics coming out at 9 AM so I will be spending my day down in the engine rooms again. Hopefully we can be on our way to Dominica by Friday and we will still be on schedule. Today Brian rented a car and we drove around the western island of Guadeloupe. This is the biggest island we have been on in a long time, complete with freeways, a full port and tons of commerce. The biggest problem here is the language barrier and getting Euros. Everything is crazy expensive here. There has a been a lot more that has happened in the last week but I’m tired of typing and I’m sure you are tired of reading so maybe some other time I will tell you about the moron that walked by me rapping in French (sorry, you just can’t sound cool doing that period) or the little kids who were so cool but kept laughing at MY funny accent and the fact that I couldn’t understand them.

As a sidenote, I don’t want anyone to get the wrong impression about my feelings toward Brian. The things I write are true and actually happened but we get along well. As with anything, it has been an adjustment period because we have literally become roommates over the past few months and fundamentally we are very different. I think he is a great guy but mainly what I’m trying to convey in my writing is my disbelief in the fact that he isn’t dead. That and the fact that what we are doing is not easy. It’s a ton of work and maintenance on the boat, which I find well worth the reward. Wish us luck tomorrow getting the alternators fixed and all of our systems up and running. At this point, I’m probably gonna need some crew help moving the boat around so if anyone is interested in spending a week or two crewing here and there you can e-mail me direct at oceanhuntersb@gmail.com

One last personal note, I got an e-mail from someone in Greece which means people are reading my blog from half way across the world and that in itself is very cool to me. Thank you all for reading and I hope you are still enjoying.

Comments...

By the way you bunch of freaks....you can leave comments, it's good to hear from you whether you are ripping me or giving me props. Just leave an anonymous one if you are too much of a pussy to write one.

Missing my crew...

Missing the crew...

"Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm." -Publilius Syrus





Hello from St. Kitts my loyal readers. I'm sitting here in my bunk in the port aft stateroom (the room in the back on the left side of the boat) and I'm feeling pretty content. You have to marvel at the internet. Thanks to the Skype program I have managed to talk to many of the important people in my life tonight and let me assure you, it was a welcome respite. I have to be honest. I'm REALLY missing my friends. I get a lot of e-mails from random people who read this blog asking things like how did you leave your job or how could you give up your house. The answer is simple. None of that means shit. It can all be replaced. The right question to ask is...how did you leave behind the amazing group of friends that you had. That is something I struggle with everyday. There is a quote that sums up how I feel at the moment, please allow me to share it with you.





"Riches unshared are a prison." - C. Wayne Owens





How much richer could I be at the moment? Every day gets better. Every night I am rocked to sleep by the gentle swells of the Caribbean and every morning I wake to a sleepy sun stretching out over the Eastern horizon. The weather is perfect and the islands keep getting better. Every day I enjoy near perfect weather coupled by the major choice of what to do...have breakfast on the boat or go to shore. Hmmm... Should I read in my bunk or hang my hammock off the rear of the boat? Let me check the wind. Oh. Perfect. Let me set up my hammock and read for an hour before I doze off. Every day...some new amazing experience. But who do I share it with? I take photos yes. I post them on this blog. Do they do these things justice? I doubt it. That quote is so true. I have the riches but can't share them with the people who mean the most to me.





Today I was really having a withdrawal from home. I missed my friends. My family. My old job. Everything that I was comfortable in. Things I knew were SAFE. We drove around the island. Saw so many things that I could type pages about and this is only one island. Every place holds so much beauty and history. But who to share it with? I can't help but wonder if people really read what I write. For the past few weeks I have felt like my creativity for writing has been stumped and I wasn't sure why. I think I figured it out today. I made such a dramatic change in my life. One that was so swift and the finality of it would have probably made most people insane. I'm holding things together. Even if I have a few weak moments. I needed some Americana today. I ate some pizza from a Dominos. I called a lot of my friends and family. I e-mailed many people. I'm ok with the weak moments. I think they are necessary to help a person transcend.



What's next? No telling. I love the uncertainity of tomorrow. I think that the majority of people who are even taking the time to read this know me well enough. I really don't care what most people think but they also know me well enough to know that I worry and think about them every day. People ask all the time, what is a typical day for you. A typical day starts around 8 am (fuck you Jeffho, I really have been getting up that early) and it's either a combo of me working on the boat to fix something that Brian has broken or we are headed into town for some really important function like buying ice. Since he is pretty much done by noon he likes getting an early start. It's funny but I swear I haven't really been chasing ass. Most days I'm content to work on the boat, get a quick dive in before dinner, eat, then read til I crash out. Call me crazy but driving around these islands and seeing signs every couple miles that say things like Stop HIV or Let's Cure AIDS Together doesn't exactly put you in a mood for meeting the opposite sex. Bottom line is this. I am going through some phase that is telling me that going back will be easier but I refuse to give in to those impulses. I'm going to stick things out. I believe in my ability to make tomorrow successful. Brian and I are very different, he is twice my age. I miss Taco Salads, sirens and the burn. The jokes, line up and questions about the rigs. Hold em til 10 am the next morning at my house or pool parties at random houses. The lake and after hours bbq's at my place. Wassabi to Fridays loop followed by drunken hot tub action and Clovis PD at my casa. Late night California burritos from Arsenios and Blue Moon on tap. The Deer in costume drinking Jager from a pink cup and random people we don't know showing up to party. I miss hearing the tone, sliding the pole and knowing we are heading to a worker. Playing loud rock music running Code 3 70 mph through downtown in an 80,000 lb ladder truck just so we could throw a ladder and cut a hole in some strange roof inside of 3 minutes of arriving on scene. It's tough man. Now (even at this moment) all I worry about is if the anchor will hold in this blow. 30 knots of wind on the nose, will she drag. Since Brian insisted on this fucked up spot, will we drag into the smaller catamaran that is less than 100' behind us?

I hope everyone is well and I want you all to know I think of you often. I wish you could all share every experience with me. Please keep in touch and remember...

"A writer writes not because he is educated but because he is driven by the need to communicate. Behind the need to communicate is the need to share. Behind the need to share is the need to be understood." - Leo Rosten

Brimstone Hill Fortress pics

St Kitts pics