The most recent transits are first. However, within each section it is written in normal chronological order.
DATE _8/22/08__ TIME __5:00 PM___
START PORT _ Cartagena, Columbia _______END PORT ___Aruba__________________________
START MILES_19019_ END MILES _19393____ LEG MILES __374____TOTL MILES ___19393____
START HOURS _3074__ END HOURS __3134___LEG HOURS __60___TOTAL HOURS __3134____
START FUEL(6446) _3619_ END FUEL _3089___ LEG FUEL ___190____ TOTAL FUEL __402_____
AVERAGE MPGs __1.96_____ REMAINING RANGE ____1500__ GEN FUEL _5954_/_6200_/_320___
END PRT __350___ END STRBD _370____ END SPLY ___60_____FUEL BALANCE ____780_____
SEA STATE__1st day rough on nose, then 2 – 6 foot swell ______________________________________
WIND DIRECTION_____15 knots __________________________________________________________
8/22/08 Heading to Aruba from Cartagena is never a pleasant trip even in the best of conditions. The route between Cartagena and Aruba is called the washing machine and is one of the top five roughest sea conditions in the world. The prevailing wind and seas are on the nose out of the North East or East. The winds are a steady 25 knots normally and most folks we have spoken to have experienced 35 knot conditions on the trip. The seas are normally 4 to six feet and sometimes larger. The big difference on this side of the canal is the intervals between the waves. On the Pacific side the average interval is over 10 seconds and no one really even travels on the Pacific side if the interval falls below 10 seconds. On this side, 8 seconds is the best you will normally get and on this route we are looking at a low of 5 seconds and a high of 7 seconds. This side is very confused and rough where the Pacific is more of large rolling swells.
We headed out of Cartagena on a window which to us did not look great but everyone told us it will be about the best we would get. It showed the best conditions at 2 – 4 feet and the worst at 4 – 6 feet. Unfortunately, all on the nose. No matter how small the seas are if it is on the nose it is uncomfortable. 4 – 6 feet on the nose is downright rough and slamming down the bow every wave. Just nasty.
The only possibility for a great passage is for a tropical depression or a hurricane to pass just north of us. When this happens, the system sucks all the air out and causes a reversal of winds below. This situation would give us following winds and seas. Of-course the other problem is if we leave expecting the system to go north of us and it trends more southerly than expected, we run right into it. It is very unusual for that to happen but that was exactly what happened when Grenada got destroyed with the two hurricanes a few years ago. So it is not unheard of for a system to trend south.
This trip is not forecasted to have a wind reversal, but it is possible. There is a weak system developing ahead of us and if it strengthens we could be in luck. The typical situation is for the system to trend North West as it strengthens and that would be just north of us. It would be perfect if that happened but it is unlikely.
We headed out of Club de Pesca at about 5:00 PM headed for Aruba. It should be a three night trip arriving sometime on Monday morning if we average 6 knots. It is hard to guess at our speed ahead of time. If it is rough we lose up to 1 knot from head seas. If we have a current that can give us a knot or two. The combination of these two factors make the range of arrival quite wide. At 7 knots average we would arrive at 2:00 AM Monday. (not desired to come in at night) At 6.5 knots average we would arrive at 6:00 AM Monday. At 6 knots we would arrive at 12:00 noon Monday. And at 5.5 knots average we would arrive at 4:00 PM Monday.
8/23/08 Last night was very rough. We are concerned that the reports from other boaters that the wind is usually higher than forecasted might be true. Last night was forecasted at under 10 knots and we had 20 to 25 knots on the nose all night. It was a rough night. Larry stayed up for a double shift from midnight to 6 AM to give DeeDee some sleep. She and Isabella were both sea sick.
This morning it was still rough to about 9:00 AM. Then it started to moderate a bit. It is noon now and we have about 10 knots on the nose. (ENE) The seas are still about 2 to 4 feet but they have calmed down in the last four hours. We are hoping the seas will even get smaller if the wind stays down like this.
The other challenge we have is that last night we had a HUGE two knot current pushing us. We were averaging 9 knots. We are now at 6.7 knots and if we maintain this speed we will get into Aruba in the middle of the night. I’m not sure how a night entry is in Aruba but we hate to enter into a harbor we have never been in before at night.
We have been getting the weather from Buoyweather via email using the Sat phone. It is a pretty good system. It allows us to send a simple plain text email message asking for the waypoints we would like a seven day forecast for. We send that email every 12 hours to see what the forecast is and what the trending is. Right now it calls for calming seas over the next 24 hours and then it picks up the last 12 to 18 hours heading into Aruba.
8/23/08 The seas have stayed 3 to 4 foot swells and the wind has stayed down. We got into Aruba in the dark but it was an easy entry.
11/20/08 We have been in Aruba during the entire hurricane season. We have gone back to the states twice but not much to report.
We have made a final decision and we are heading back to the states for good. We just put the boat up for sale and expect to be back to Florida by the end of the year. The main catalyst to this is that Isabella is now 7 years old and she really is wanting to be with other kids. When she was younger Mom and Dad was enough to keep her happy with an occasional friend to play with from another boat. Now she really wants to be able to have friends and play with kids on a regular basis.
Another influence is that with Isabella being home schooled, we are on the boat indoors most of the day. DeeDee is doing the home schooling and Larry is usually doing boat work. The early days of cruising had us snorkeling or at the beach or playing somewhere during the day. Now we are on the boat most of the day and it has changed the cruising. We are feeling if we are schooling Isabella most of the day, we can be working while she is in school and still have the same time free. The obvious down side is that we would be in one place and not cruising.
We did consider for some time of continuing to live on the boat in a marina but with Isabella in School and us working, the opportunity to cruise would be very limited anyway.
One more catalyst was that we are ready for some western civilization again. With the home schooling all day it leaves less time for the care the boat requires, and the domestic chores of cooking and cleaning, This results in very little time for our typical boating activities that we have grown to love such as snorkeling, swimming, spear fishing, hiking and exploring by dingy.
Lastly, as anyone in the world knows, the economy is crashing. Our resources are in Real Estate in Florida. This is probably the worst Real Estate market in the country. Like many others in the world, we are watching our net worth go out the window with the real estate prices. We also see it unlikely the boat will sell for a decent price in the near future so we may be keeping Nexus for some time.
DATE _8/16/08__ TIME __6:00 AM___
START PORT _ San Blas Islands, Panama _______END PORT ___Cartagena, Columbia____________
START MILES_18812_ END MILES _19019____ LEG MILES __207____TOTL MILES ___19019____
START HOURS _3044__ END HOURS __3074___LEG HOURS __30___TOTAL HOURS __3074____
START FUEL(6446) _3528_ END FUEL _3619___ LEG FUEL ___91____ TOTAL FUEL __212_____
AVERAGE MPGs __2.27_____ REMAINING RANGE ____2,400__ GEN FUEL _5954_/_6132_/_231___
END PRT __460___ END STRBD _540____ END SPLY ___60_____FUEL BALANCE ____1060_____
SEA STATE__Calm___________________________________________________________ _________
WIND DIRECTION_____Calm____________________________________________________________
8/16/08 We headed to Cartagena on a great weather window. We hated leaving the San Blas islands and Panama knowing it was likely the last time we be there by boat. However, we headed out in great weather and arrived with no problems.
8/21/08 Glenn and Eddie had introduced us to a fellow by the name of Lee Miles and his wife Pachi.(sp?) We had agreed to bring Lee’s sails from Panama to Cartagena for him. This is one of the great things about cruising. Because everything is so difficult to get done from a boat, and going in and out of various countries presents such custom and immigration challenges, boaters are very willing to go out of their way to help each other. It is very normal for someone who has never met another person to bring a package for them, or to jump on the boat and help repair a problem. It is a great community of people.
Cartagena was everything we were told about it. It is a historic city but within the historic architecture and style, modern restaurants and hang-outs flourish. It is a very active and playful city. We found the people very friendly and most were very educated as well. Lee and his wife Pachi were great hosts. They introduced us to the city as they have been locals forever. Pachi’s family has been here forever and Lee and has been there for decades himself.
DATE _8/13/08__ TIME __5:00 AM___
START PORT _ Colon, Panama _______END PORT ___ San Blas Islands, Panama ____________
START MILES_18741_ END MILES _18812____ LEG MILES __71_____TOTL MILES ___18812____
START HOURS _3033__ END HOURS __3044___LEG HOURS __11___TOTAL HOURS __3044____
START FUEL(6446) _3493_ END FUEL _3528___ LEG FUEL ___35____ TOTAL FUEL __121_____
AVERAGE MPGs __1.90_____ REMAINING RANGE ____ - ____ GEN FUEL _5954_/_6069_/_150___
END PRT __525___ END STRBD _full____ END SPLY ___full____FUEL BALANCE ____--________
SEA STATE__Calm___________________________________________________________ _________
WIND DIRECTION_____Calm____________________________________________________________
8/14/08 We headed back to the San Blas islands as a stop in route to our next destination which is Cartagena. We were able to catch up in the San Blas with Glenn and Eddie on the Grand Banks Tothill who we have not seen since we were in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela. We have stayed in close touch since Venezuela and are constantly exchanges boat ideas or cruising recommendations. It was so great to see them and when our weather window came up quickly, we were very disappointed to leave after only spending a few days with them.
We were not able to get our air tanks filled in Panama so Glenn lent us his Brownie system. The system is a motorized compressor pump which continually pumps air through a scuba hose in lieu of using a typical scuba air tank. It has a 60 foot hose and Larry used it to clean the bottom of the boat. The boat had been cleaned just 30 days ago when we were in the San Blas last time, but the warm water here just generates so much growth. It took Larry two full mornings to get the bottom back in shape.
When cleaning the bottom, the first step is to scrape all the barnacles off the bottom of the boat. This is done with a plastic or metal paint scraper. Then we take a rag and wipe off the slime that has grown on the boat. The last step, which takes the longest, is to clean all the metal. This is difficult as some of the stuff, such as the keel cooler, is really hard to get at. It has rows of long pipes and getting in-between and behind them is really tough. The metal which needs to be cleaned includes the prop, the wing engine prop, the cutters in front of the stabilizers, the stabilizer keel cooler, the engine keel cooler, the line cutters, the mounting plates on the stabilizers, the grounding plates, all three of the sounding devices, and the bow thruster.
When we clean the bottom we also replace the zincs if needed. There are lots of zincs on this boat. It has five large square ones on the hull, the bow thruster, the stabilizer cutting blades, the line cutter, the wing engine shaft, and the wing engine prop.
Before we left Glenn and Eddie gave us tons of great information on Cartagena as they had just come from there.
DATE _7/12/08__ TIME __6:30 AM___
START PORT _ San Blas Islands, Panama _______END PORT ___ Colon, Panama____________
START MILES_18670_ END MILES _18741____ LEG MILES __71_____TOTL MILES ___18741____
START HOURS _3021__ END HOURS __3032___LEG HOURS __11___TOTAL HOURS __3032____
START FUEL(6446) _3455_ END FUEL _3492___ LEG FUEL ___37____ TOTAL FUEL __86______
AVERAGE MPGs __1.90_____ REMAINING RANGE ____ - ____ GEN FUEL _5954_/_6069_/_150___
END PRT __full__ END STRBD _full____ END SPLY ___full____FUEL BALANCE ___full_______
SEA STATE__Pretty rough to start than 4 to 6 foot swells____________________________ _________
WIND DIRECTION_____East 15 – 25 knots_________________________________________________
8/10/08 This past month we spend mostly in the states. We went to Dallas first to accompany DeeDee’s mother for a surgery. After a week in Dallas we headed out to Phoenix and spent some time with DeeDee's family. Then we went to Florida and actually cleaned out our storage unit after four years of being gone.
The last month was spent mostly in the states.
DATE _7/6/08__ TIME __6:00 AM___
START PORT _ Portobella, Panama________END PORT ___San Blas Islands, Panama____________
START MILES_18573_ END MILES _18639____ LEG MILES __66_____TOTL MILES ___18639____
START HOURS _3004__ END HOURS __3014___LEG HOURS __10___TOTAL HOURS __3014____
START FUEL(6446) _3401_ END FUEL _3438___ LEG FUEL ___37____ TOTAL FUEL __49_______
AVERAGE MPGs __1.80_____ REMAINING RANGE ____ - ____ GEN FUEL _5954_/_5981_/_40_____
END PRT __full__ END STRBD _full____ END SPLY ___full____FUEL BALANCE ___full_______
SEA STATE__Mostly Calm –2 to 4 foot swells_______________________________________ _________
WIND DIRECTION_____Variable__________________________________________________________
7/6/08 We headed to the San Blas today. The seas were about 2 to 4 on the nose. Not very big but enough to make our guests Lynne and Lou sick along with Isabella a little. We arrived in the Holandes Cay in late afternoon. The swimming pool is part of the Holandes Cays and the most popular anchorage of the San Blas. There are about 15 boats here all anchored next to each other off of the island called BBQ Island. We chose to get about ¼ mile away and anchored next to a secluded and uninhabited island called Ogoppirladup. We are still in range of the other boats by a short dinghy ride but we also have our own Caribbean island to ourselves.
This is an absolutely breathtaking place. Sitting here we are looking at dozens of islands with tall Palm trees and surrounded by great beaches on the edge. The mountains of the mainland are in the background.
The San Blas islands are the home to the Kuna Indeans. The Kunas have the authority to be Autonomous and run their own society within Panama. They are restricted from marrying outside of the Kuna tribe and as a result the lines of the Kunas are very pure. They are a very short people and do remind me of the American Indian in look. The children are all beautiful.
7/8/08 We are now at the island group called Coco Banderas. We are doing the same thing everyday. There are a dozen islands within a few miles of us that are just 360 degrees of white sand with hundreds of tall palm trees covering the island. We just dinghy or swim to the islands each day and explore the island. We spend hours each day in the water snorkeling.
7/10/08 Today we took the dinghy to an island called Dog Island. It is one island among many which is the typical Caribbean island you would see in the Corona commercial. It is pure white sand 360 degrees around the island with uncounted tall palm trees on the island. At this particular island there was a wreck of a ship right off the island to be snorkeled. The day was a great day of just being at the beach.
DATE _6/5/08__ TIME __6:00 AM___
START PORT _ Panama City, Panama ___________END PORT ___Colon, Panama _________________
START MILES_18508_ END MILES _18551____ LEG MILES __43_____TOTL MILES ___18551____
START HOURS _2984__ END HOURS __2998___LEG HOURS __14___TOTAL HOURS __2998___
START FUEL(6446) _3358_ END FUEL _3389___ LEG FUEL ___31____ TOTAL FUEL _726_____
AVERAGE MPGs __1.40_____ REMAINING RANGE __322_____ GEN FUEL _5679_/_5954_/412___
END PRT __125__ END STRBD _150____ END SPLY _55______FUEL BALANCE ___330_______
SEA STATE__Calm____________________________________________________________ _________
WIND DIRECTION_____Variable_________(Panama Canal Transit)____________________________
6/6/08 We were able to get through the canal only three days after arriving in Panama. This time we made it through the canal in one day. We were scheduled to go at 7:30 in the morning but did not actually get into the first lock until almost noon. We got to the other side about 10:00 in the evening.
The transit was uneventful which is good. We were center tied for all but one lock which means we were in the very middle of the lock away from the walls which is a very good thing. Only on one lock we had to tie up to a canal tug boat. This was a little hairy because the line handlers we had did not get the bumpers lowered to the level of the tug. I’m still not sure how this happened as we asked to have them lowered and they did do it. They just must not have judged properly how low they should be. When we were very close to the tug it was obvious the bumpers (car tires) were not low enough and we were going to bang up against the very dirty and very commercial tug. We (Larry and the canal adviser) yelled to the line handlers to get the tires lower. The finally got them were they should be but it was surely last minute.
We came into Shelter Bay Marina without any problems.
6/24/08 The last few weeks we have been in the states with DeeDee’s mom. She is still suffering the symptoms of her recent stroke and is having lots of testing and doctor visits done to get her rehabilitated. We started in Phoenix and then flew with her to Dallas to see more doctors. We are still here and will be here for a few more days.
Larry is flying to Houston to get some injections in his back. He has a few herniated discs and his pain sometimes get intense. He has had these injections before and they have worked well. The put him under an X-ray machine so they can inject the medication in the exact spots. After he has the procedure done we will fly back to Phoenix, stay for a day or two and then head back to Panama.
Isabella is really missing her dog Buster. We left him with a family in Panama while we were traveling. She really wants to get back to her dog.
DATE _5/30/08__ TIME __6:00 AM___
START PORT _ Golfito, Costa Rica Nicaragua _______END PORT ___Panama City, Panama _____
START MILES_18171_ END MILES _18508____ LEG MILES __387____TOTL MILES ___18508____
START HOURS _2934__ END HOURS __2984___LEG HOURS __50___TOTAL HOURS __2984___
START FUEL(6446) _3189_ END FUEL _3358___ LEG FUEL ___169___ TOTAL FUEL _695_____
AVERAGE MPGs __2.00_____ REMAINING RANGE __820_____ GEN FUEL _5679_/_5912_/ 303___
END PRT __200__ END STRBD _150____ END SPLY _60______FUEL BALANCE ___410_______
SEA STATE__Mostly Calm –2 to 4 foot swells_______________________________________ _________
WIND DIRECTION_____Variable__________________________________________________________
5/31/08 We headed out early for Panama City this morning. We were up by 5:30 AM. We wanted to get going early because the trip is about 340 miles. We are trying to time the trip so if we can arrive in daylight between first thing in the morning or by the end of the day before sunset. To do this we need to take a “best guess” at our cruising speed and time it just right so if we average faster we arrive first thing in the morning and we are slower we will arrive by the end of the day but still in daylight.
Our normal cruising speed (without a current) is 7 knots. This has us burning a conservative 3 gallons per hour. If we average 7 knots we will arrive first thing Monday morning (6:00 AM) which is two days and two nights from now. However, the pilot charts are showing a current against us of about 1 knot. If the seas are rough we also lose an additional ½ knot. So we need to assume we could go as fast as 7 knots or as slow as 5.5 knots. Here is the calculation:
At 7.0 knots: Arrival at 6:00 AM
At 6.5 knots: Arrival at 10:30 AM
At 6.0 knots: Arrival at 3:30 PM
At 5.5 knots: Arrival at 8:00 PM (after sunset)
6/1/08 We ended up arriving around 7:00 AM in the morning. We went directly to the Balboa Yacht Club. A very deceiving name as the Yacht Club is not what you would have in America. It is a field of mooring buoys that we can tie to for $25 per day. No electric, no water, etc.
DATE _5/19/08__ TIME __3:30 AM_
START PORT _Puesta Del Sol, Nicaragua _______END PORT ___Golfito, Costa Rica Nicaragua _____
START MILES_17783_ END MILES _18171____ LEG MILES __388____TOTL MILES ___17783____
START HOURS _2870__ END HOURS __2934___LEG HOURS __64___TOTAL HOURS __2934___
START FUEL(6446) _2975_ END FUEL _3189___ LEG FUEL ___214___ TOTAL FUEL _526_____
AVERAGE MPGs __1.81_____ REMAINING RANGE __1.325___ GEN FUEL _5679_/_5809_/ 170___
END PRT __325__ END STRBD _350____ END SPLY _60______FUEL BALANCE ___735_______
SEA STATE__Mostly Calm –2 to 4 foot swells_______________________________________ _________
WIND DIRECTION_____10 to 15 changing mostly East South __________________________________
5/19/08 We cleared immigration this morning and got ready to head to Costa Rica. The officials in these countries are much different that the official in the United States. The immigration and Port Captain asked for beer at 10:00 AM when they came by. We also gave them Nexus T-shirts. Interestingly the immigration officer came back in about 30 minutes and we think he was asking for a tip. He was saying Propina which we believe is Spanish for a tip. We thought this was sort of odd and forward. We were not 100% sure that was what he was asking for and we just said “no entiendo” which we means we do not understand.
5/20/08 We headed out about 3:30 yesterday and we were about 20 miles behind some other boats that had left earlier. Tropical blend, Wahoo and Moody Blues. The first night was a little lumpy but it smoothed out today. The other three boats stopped at an anchorage in the northern tip of Costa Rica and we are heading on to Gofito, Costa Rica. It is about a 400 mile trip and that should take us three nights and three days.
Today we felt a vibration in the boat. It was slight but noticeable. We stopped the boat but could not find anything stuck to the prop. There was some growth on the prop so Larry scraped that off. While he was under the boat a large group of dolphins were circling him and just watching. The water here is just an incredible color of blue.
The vibration is still there but it is very slight. We are not sure at this point what it may be. The injectors are overdue for inspection and testing so one of them may be not perfect.
May 20, 2008 – From DeeDee’s Personal Log
We are on our 2nd night cruising from Nicaragua (Asserederess) to Golfito, Costa Rica. We were about 12 miles behind Wahoo, Tropical Dance, Moody Blues, and Hiatus, but they pulled into the first bay in Costa Rica and we kept right on going. We needed to take advantage of the good weather. We are trying to make it through the canal and into our reserved slip by June 1st on the other side of the canal, at the Shelter Bay Marina.
We have had quite an emotional year so far, and are trying to decompress from such sadness and stress, all the while being thankful for our family still being together and making through the rough times.
I no longer have the desire to write about the places we have been or the people we have seen because at the time of meeting the people or seeing the places I am usually just trying to recoup some sanity, serenity and tranquility from our hectic times back in the States. Maybe it’s because we are just going through the motions, so to speak, and trying to get off this coast, (which is still pretty and holds fond memories of great people we have met), because we have been sorely disappointed in the fact that there so few great beaches and the water clarity out right sucks. We are all about being in the water, getting exercise by just being active in the water and enjoying great beaches, thus we moved on to a boat. When your daily routine is built around being in the water, snorkeling, diving and just playing around, going to the beaches, hanging out with your kids, having drinks and foods from restaurants and bars within a few feet of your children playing at the water’s edge with their friends, it can get boring really fast on the Pacific side because the coast line doesn’t offer that. The water is either too cold to get into at all, or you can’t get your dinghy to the beach because of this enormous swell that is too difficult and uncomfortable to navigate, or the water is too unhealthy from dumping waste that you fear to go into because of getting sick (which we did every time we visited Zihuatanejo, Mexico—still one of our favorite places to be due to people, lifestyle, etc.). My motivations have changed. I no longer seem to care anymore even to keep up the game. I want less people that I truly “know” in my life and want acquaintances to just hang out with and have light hearted fun and conversation. I am so tired of being serious and having a point to everything. I used to be able to just be silly. That is one of the great things about having young children around. They are light hearted and don’t take anything too seriously. That is why I like hanging out with Isabella so much. She’s easy. Some how I have just let life and the crap in other people’s lives get to me and it takes me longer to shake it off. I am so tired of needing down time. I need the downtime because I am too wound up in bullshit that just doesn’t matter and accomplishes nothing. I want meaningless fun and no-nothing days. I miss being a kid. Nobody expected you to solve all problems, be effective, be punctual, be productive or efficient all the damned time. I’m tired of being a grown up all the damned time and I’m tired of being around people who hold on to only crap in their lives and want only to pass that misery on to everybody else because they don’t have the balls to be anything but be miserable and lifeless. Every time Isabella says she wishes she was a big kid I tell her that she should really enjoy the heck out of being a kid. It doesn’t last long enough and, while you get to do more things when you’re older, you also get more responsibility and accountability, which isn’t that fun. Whenever she says things like that I put on one of two movies, which are great examples of freedom as a kid: “Goonies” and “The Sandlot”. I loved these movies when I was younger and she loves them too.
We are traveling about 9 miles off the coast of Costa Rica. We have 2 more days before we reach Golfito and I have so much I would like to get back to doing. I would like to clean the boat. I did laundry today, but was so wiped out from the massive, hectic traveling that I did before that I just didn’t have the energy to even stay awake for long. I slept through most all of my shifts last night, barely keeping my eyes open. I would like to start back working out and get on my little 90 day schedule again. I started school again with Isabella today and it was great. We have never been able to do school while under way because she usually gets sea sick, but today was very calm and she was obviously not sick because she was playing her wii (not misspelled—it is her favorite interactive, roll playing game) all day and watching movies. So, it was a good day to give it a whirl.
While in Phoenix, taking care of Mom’s situation, we were all reunited with our long-time family friend Arlene. She moved from Monroe to San Francisco many years ago and is still in the business of electrolysis and permanent make up. She looks great and seems not to have changed at all. She brought us her famous, delicious pralines and we were so happy and sad to see her. It’s so hard to believe how much she has been gone from our lives. She was with us all of the time, being such good friends with mom, and then she moved on in life and we just lost touch over the years. One thing about cruising, you get to meet so many people and there are usually a few that you hang on to, but due to moving on so much, you really don’t get to see the ones you connect with because everyone has their own agenda and it usually never coincides with yours. We say that there are only a handful of people that we will stay in touch with, the ones we will keep “for life” and that when we do settle somewhere and aren’t living on as tight of a time schedule and as tight of a budget, we plan on visiting them and keeping them around. I think back to how many people have grown out of our lives and seeing Arlene made me miss her so much and made me realize how much I have missed her. She was such a big part of our everyday lives and it doesn’t seem that long ago, but it has been 20 years. I don’t want to wait 20 years to see anyone again. It’s just difficult, because these days, even if you’re not a cruiser, most people move away from each other and don’t see each other for many years. I guess that is just progression, but I remember there was a time, not too long ago, when people lived in the same neighborhoods for 20, 30 years and had the same friends for ever. I guess that was kind of boring and it definitely isn’t my style, but it’s so sad that kids aren’t truly friends for ever. Larry had a great child hood, living in the same neighborhood for several years and his family, the whole clan, got together at someone’s house every weekend and all holidays. He is still friends with the guys he went to school with as a young boy. I think that is so wonderful.
May 21, 2008 From DeeDee’s Personal Log
Our 3rd day on our voyage from Nicaragua to Golfitto, Costa Rica. We cannot seem to wake up on this trip. Isabella seems to have more energy than Larry or I. I just can’t seem to shake the “sleepies”. Usually I use the down time, when it’s calm, to clean house, dusting, vacuuming and what not, but I can’t seem to keep my eyes open past completing one task, usually preparing a meal. I guess we have not recuperated from our trip to Phoenix. That return was a very long day and we barely got any rest the next day or so before we had to prepare the boat for our departure on Monday.
We have had calm seas and good weather for the most part. We foresaw bad weather in a certain area before we left but decided it would pass before we got that close, so we went anyway. Only a few spots have we had rough seas and it only lasted a short while, but last night, or early this morning before the sun was up, I had a scary experience with a thunderstorm (or papagallo as the natives call them) and it included lightening. I came on watch at 3 a.m. and was on edge until a little after 5 a.m. I saw how big the storm was on the radar (thank God for radar---to think some cruisers don’t have one on board) and I could see that it was moving pretty quickly, but if we didn’t get moving the wind was going to blow the biggest portion of it right on top of NEXUS.
I am never worried about storms. I get uncomfortable in rough seas and I don’t like traveling in dense fog or heavy rains only because it wipes out your visibility on your radar and makes for a tougher passage. You just have to be on the look out for other boats by looking for their navigation lights and sometimes, when it is really “soupy” you have to make security calls over the VHF and blow your horn at regular intervals. Nothing complicated; it just means more work and being sharp. But I cannot stand lightening. No boater/cruiser wants that to deal with it. If rust is a boat’s cancer, then lightening can be a boat’s cardiac arrest. We were involved in a situation many years ago, aboard our first boat, trying to outrun a storm for 80 miles. We just felt it was a matter of time before we got hit, because lightening was striking all around us. We were never struck, but the water near us was and Larry felt it through his contact with the radar screen. Anyway, last night, I have to admit was not as intense as my first, bad experience in a lightning storm, but I was intimidated and prayed constantly, watching flashes of lightening strike the water or in the air just above us. It was difficult to tell how far away it was, actually, because it was dark and my frame of reference was gone. But it was close enough. Just a soon as we would get close to the edge of the storm on the radar the wind would kick up and the rest of the storm would blow in. On the radar, the storm had the shape of a walking cane, mostly just the handle part of the cane, with the worst of the storm on my starboard, to the west of us. I was hoping to get out of it before that part hit.
Around 10 ‘til 5 the sky starting getting that beautiful color of blue, which sort of looked like the night before when there was a full moon. We weren’t completely out of it yet, but would be soon and the lightening seemed to be behind us. There was still a lot of cloud coverage and the sky didn’t turn that beautiful pink and bright yellow it does when the sun peaks over the horizon, but it was light enough for me to see these huge trees floating in the water just to my starboard bow. One was about 20 feet long and less than a foot in diameter. But there was what looked like an upside down tree floating, with its root system on top. The last time we saw something like that, we were in the Tobago Keys area of the eastern Caribbean. We stopped the engines and Larry jumped in to get a better look at it and found that it extended about 30 or 40 feet down into the water. That’s probably what the situation was this morning. Another couple of trees floating adrift were at least 30 to 40 feet long and 2 feet or more in diameter. I cannot imagine what it would have done to the boat had we hit them. It was almost like being back in Alaska and British Columbia last summer. Due to all the logging up there it was like a floating forest in the water, which is why you can’t cruise at night up there.
We have seen a few pods of dolphins but not much other sea life. A few birds have landed on the boat and even stay when Larry shoots them with his sling shot. They must be brave or Larry’s not hurting them or maybe they’re just stupid. I seem to be rambling. It must be because I am tired but cannot sleep.
This is what our usual cruise mode is like: We take off, either from a marina or from being at anchor. Everything has been put away so it doesn’t fly around in the event the seas pick up. Isabella gets comfortable on the port side sofa in the salon. Larry’s at the helm. I float between the two of them, getting them stuff to drink or eat. Then I read a bit and get sleepy. Just as I drift off into a little nap I feel a little, bitty finger poke me in my head until I open an eye. It’s Isabella. She wants another video or for me to set up her wii so she can play Super Mario’s Brawl. She plays for a while and then she gets me to play. I like it but only play about 5 or 6 games with her and then move on to other things like preparing lunch or finding a video for Larry to watch. Larry turns on the generator because it’s hot and muggy, which means I can do some laundry. I usually have 2 or 3 loads. I get that started and go back to reading a book. I ask Larry if he wants to take a break (I can read or watch a video while on watch during the day) and he usually says no because he is cursed with never being able to sleep when the sun is up. Thank goodness I don’t have this problem. As Larry says, I can sleep on a picket fence. So, I go back to the laundry and try to entice Isabella with treats if she will do some school while underway. She usually gets sea sick with the least bit of motion, so, in the past I have not made her do school while underway, but lately we’ve been successful. I have a feeling that will all change when we get back on the Caribbean side. It gets quite choppy and uncomfortable over there.
Anyway, later I cook dinner, clean up after that. I can use this time to break out the bread maker and make the boat smell really good. Yesterday I made 3 loaves of bread to have some to freeze. (I also made brownies—Larry’s favorite). Sometime after dinner, I take Isabella downstairs if it’s not rough or we go outside in the cockpit if it is rough and I give her a shower, make her brush her teeth and put on fresh, clean bed-time clothes. We have a great hot/cold shower on the back in the cockpit and a sink by the grill and icemaker. All of this makes it easy to shower and get cleaned up if it’s too rough for Isabella to go down stairs, or when we come home from a long day at the beach. I try to spend a little time cuddling with Isabella, reading a book, watching a good movie, and get her ready for sleep. I go on watch at 9 p.m. and prefer that she is asleep or close to it. I stay on watch until midnight. Last night I went on watch early because Larry was tired and I had gotten some rest during the day. I’m usually better about staying up late and don’t mind pulling longer shifts at night, sense I can sleep on a picket fence, anytime, anywhere. Larry comes on at midnight to 3 a.m. I go back on from 3 to 6 a.m., which is great because he usually gets up that early anyway. If Isabella lets me sleep I have no trouble staying asleep until 9 or 10 but sometimes that doesn’t happen and it’s usually o.k. with me because I know I will get some rest later. And then our whole cycle starts all over again. Pretty uneventful (hopefully) and can get mundane, but after the 3rd day it gets pretty easy to do. The first day isn’t so bad but the 2nd day is sometimes hell. After the 3rd day you get used to sleeping for 3 hours and even wake up earlier than when your next shift begins. It’s like a little internal clock that works on its own. However, when you finally make your destination and are staying there for a while, I find that I still wake up in the middle of the night, after about 3 hours. I usually go back to sleep pretty quickly, though.
This day has been nice because it is cloudy and rainy with a cool breeze. You rarely see this. The sun is usually up high and hot and there isn’t always a breeze at all. The humidity is what makes it uncomfortable and the reason everything sweats on the inside of the boat. Being sticky and not being able to get comfortable for sleep is why we turn the generator on. We try not to run it too much because Larry has to change the oil more frequently, and now the fuel prices are so high, much higher than when we began cruising, so now we try to tough it out more than we have in the past.
5/22/08 We had an easy and uneventful balance of our trip to Golfito. We like or should say love it when it is calm and easy cruising. It is much different on the Pacific side as everything is usually big slow swells. The average interval between waves is about 12 to 14 seconds and on the Caribbean/Atlantic side it is usually about six seconds and 8 seconds is a good day. The work Pacific actually means calm or tranquil.
When we are on the Atlantic side we measured how rough it was getting by when the doors on the electric panel start sliding forward and back in a head sea. As I think about it, that has not happened at all on the Pacific side.
Clearing in here in Golfito is probably the most difficult we have had anywhere. It is not that they gives us problems, it is just that they are rarely available. Here in Golfito we start with the Port Captain. He clears you in and makes sure we have all our papers in order. Then we need to head to all the other places and we return to him when complete with our rounds. The other places all need to be reached by Taxi so we hired a taxi to take us place to place. The next place is immigration. We all need to show up in person there. That was about 90 minutes to fill out paperwork. After immigration we headed to customs. That was about another 60 minutes to answer questions and fill out the paperwork. Then we headed to quarantine. We had called her and let her know we were coming from the Port Captains office. She said she would be available but would be out to lunch from 12:00 to 1:00. We went and ate lunch ourselves and headed over there at 1:00. When we arrived she was not there so we waited. We waited until 2:00 but no one showed up. Fortunately, the taxi driver knew where she lived. He drove over to her house to see if she was at home. When he arrived at her house, she was not home but her mother told him she was shopping at the duty free shops. Her mother gave the taxi driver her cell phone number and let her know she was waiting. We waited another 30 minutes before she showed up. She said she just forgot we were coming and apologized.
We ran into this type of problem lots of times in the smaller islands of the Caribbean so we were not surprised by it. However, it sure makes you miss the 1st world way of doing business sometimes.
5/23/08 The bottom of the boat had not been cleaned in some time. The last time was in Mexico. We have a set up with air tanks and a 60 foot air hose to clean the bottom. It takes about 2 hours to clean the bottom if it is not too bad but up to 4 hours if it has lots of growth. When Larry jumped in the hull did not look bad but it was obvious that the metal was not done in Mexico. This is why Larry prefers just to do the work himself. 50% of the time he ends up needing to do the work over. In this case, the hull takes some time to do but it is easy as it is a flat surface and he just scrapes the hull with a plastic scraper. The metal is more intricate and a bit of a pain in the ass to do. The metal includes the main prop, the wing engine prop, the blades in front of the stabilizers, the base of the stabilizers, the grounding plate, the bow thruster, the engine keel cooler and the stabilizer keel cooler.
Getting behind the keel coolers takes a little bit of ingenuity. The keel cooler is basically pipes that have oil or anti freeze running through them and the water cools the fluid. The pipes are installed against the boat so getting behind them is quite a trick. Larry uses some metal pipe tape that is bendable and can get behind them. He wraps the tape around the pipe and slides it up and down to get the barnacles and growth off. The bow thruster is a bit more challenging. It has a counter rotating prop on each side and getting behind it is a bitch.
A few of the zincs had also gone bad. The zincs are sacrificial metal which are designed to corrode first so the metal on the boat does not corrode. They last forever if we are anchored out but when we are in a marina the stray electrical current chew them up pretty quick. We have 5 large hull zincs, one on the prop, one on the line cutter which is a blade attached to the prop to cut any ropes or fish lines we pick up, one on the wing engine shaft, one on the wing engine prop, two on the stabilizer blades, and two on the bow thruster. This is also a bit of a trick to change because they each have a nut holding them on and a washer in front and behind them. You need to remove this underwater when moving back and forth from the current. (without dropping them) There are just not enough hands to hold the wrench, the old zinc, the washers, the nuts, etc. Larry just takes one trip at a time taking off one nut at a time.
We are still putting things on which we brought back from the states. Today Larry also installed the new dinghy light. The old one broke when the dingy got caught under the dock in Mexico and a swell came in and crushed it under the dock.
Back to the “might as well do it yourself” mantra. Larry found a guy to come help him wax the boat. He came the first day and worked for three hours and then said he would come the next day and really get started. We are anchored out here and Larry was to pick him up at 8:00 AM the next morning. He was a no show. This is the usual course of business here in Latin America. The argument usually goes “Why should I work for a low pay when all the owners are getting rich?” The logic is that it is better to not work and not have any money than it is to work for a low wage. We find this in Latin America with the exception of Mexico. We found the workers in Mexico to be very good. We would not consider ourselves experts on the subject, but this is what we have found here.
5/28/08 There is a marina here by the name of Banana Bay Marina. The restaurant is just excellent. We remember how good the food was when we were here last time. We have eaten every lunch and every dinner there since we have arrived. DeeDee spends a good part of the day there doing home school with Isabella. There are also two or three huge sea turtles that hang out off the dock.
Small World – We are sitting here in Golfito and three other Nordhavns are waiting to get loaded onto the Yacht Path ship and be transported to Vancouver. It just amazes us how small the world is. Here we are sitting on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal and one boat sitting here is Grey Pearl. The original name of the Grey Pearl was Kavalli and it was the first Nordhavn we ever saw. We saw it in the Bahamas 8 or 9 years ago. We met the owners at the time and they gave us a tour of the boat. Then a few years later the boat was for sale. We seriously considered buying the boat but did not. Then right after we considered buying it we pulled into the Atlantis Marina in the Bahamas right next to the Grey Pearl. We met the owners and told them we almost bought a similar boat named Kavalli. They informed us that the Grey Pearl was Kavalli and renamed. The new owners, Braun and Tina, have become good friends of ours. We don’t get to spend much time together as we are cruising in different parts of the world but we stay in touch often.
The second boat is San Souci. Ken and Roberta are also good friends of ours that we also don’t get to see often. We have run into each other in Mexico and stayed in touch via email and phone often. The prior boat owned by Ken and Roberta was with Grey Pearl on the Nordhavn Atlantic crossing a few years back. Ken kept an excellent blog detailing the adventure. At the time we were waiting for our Nordhavn to be delivered and it was going to be too late to make the crossing.
The third boat is Paloma. We met Patrick and Susan along with their son Jonathan in Sausalito, California and headed to British Columbia at the same time. Then we got to see them again in Dana Point when they were heading south. Now their boat is here as well.
How amazing is it that these four boats, Grey Pearl, Paloma, San Souci and Nexus are traveling all over the world and all meet in one place such as Golfito, Costa Rica. If I had to guess, I would bet there is more than 100,000 miles of distance which has been covered around the world by these four boats.
May 28, 2008 From DeeDee’s Personal Log
Still in Costa Rica and it has rained for the past few days. It’s not too bad, though, it keeps the temperature down and a nice, little breeze usually accompanies it. Last night it got down to the low 60’s. When we go ashore to the restaurants, we actually get cold, especially on the ride home.
While it is nice to be in the cooler temp’s, I miss getting a sun tan and going swimming. The water here is not that great, and closer to shore you can really see the crap in the water, like oil and other substances. We usually try to get in everyday, in the morning, and Isabella and I swim laps around the boat to cool off and get some exercise. We have done it a few times while here in Gulfito, but only when the tide is on the move, in or out, and when the water looks clear. We have heard that occasional a croc comes to the marina, looking for food, but they have not heard of it attacking animals or people while in the water. Still, I think we will refrain from our morning swim until we make it to better water.
Yesterday at the marina restaurant (Banana Bay Marina) we went for our usual, daily routine of making phone calls from the pay phone, using the very inexpensive calling cards we purchased from the restaurant. We also do school up there because it is a good change and it is sometimes much cooler. We saw this huge sea turtle and Isabella fed it a banana. It ate the peel and all. You could tell that it stayed in the gulf area, though, because it had a mark down its shell from a run-in with a boat’s prop and it also had growth on it. None of the turtles you see out at sea have growth on them, no matter how old they are.
We are getting itchy to leave. While this is a treat to be near a restaurant with such good food, we are ready to move on to Panama. The closer we get to Panama, the closer we are to the other side, where the water is clear, there is snorkeling and sea life to enjoy, great beaches and no 15 to 20 foot tide swings. The San Blas Islands are just on the other side of the canal and where we stayed with two other boats, Yamana and Minke, two years ago. They are still great friends of ours and we miss them a lot. We stay in touch with Yamana via email and can’t wait to hopefully catch up to them in New Zealand. We spent about a month with them in the San Blas because they both had children on board and Isabella, though younger than the other kids, was loving being with them. They all were so good to her, tolerant and patient and accepting of her being so young, and we really enjoyed them. We started out with them all in Providencia, Columbia, a Columbian island in the middle of the Western Caribbean, and traveled to Bocas del Toro, Panama, where we stayed about a month. We got together almost everyday with the families and the kids really had a good time. Then we moved on the Chargres River in Panama, which is the river that was dammed up in order to create the lock system for the canal. Then we moved on to the San Blas, which is where we parted ways after about a month.
We are anxiously awaiting our return to the “other side”. We really had no idea that we were leaving the best of the best for our style of cruising.
DATE _5/1/08__ TIME __1100 _AM_
START PORT _Barillias, El Salvador _______END PORT ____ Puesta Del Sol, Nicaragua _______
START MILES_17701_ END MILES _17783____ LEG MILES __82____TOTL MILES ___17783____
START HOURS _2857__ END HOURS __2869___LEG HOURS __12___TOTAL HOURS __2869___
START FUEL(6446) _2913_ END FUEL _2974___ LEG FUEL ___61____ TOTAL FUEL _312_____
AVERAGE MPGs __1.35_____ REMAINING RANGE __1.400___ GEN FUEL _5443_/_5731_/ ______
END PRT __475__ END STRBD _510____ END SPLY _60______FUEL BALANCE _1045_______
SEA STATE__Mostly Calm –2 to 4 foot swells_______________________________________ _________
WIND DIRECTION_____East South East____________________________________________________
5/1/08 This morning we unexpectedly had to pack up and head for Puesta del Sol, Nicaragua. DeeDee’s Mom has fallen ill and her Dad is in the hospital in New York. We need to go to Nicaragua and fly from there back to the states. We have to put the boat in a marina with electric power while we are gone. There are only moorings here. We could ask someone to come and run the generator for awhile each day but we don’t know how long we are going to be gone. And so many things could go wrong with having someone else come on to the boat and operate things they are not familiar with.
Puesta Del Sol is about 80 miles away. We called ahead and asked if we could have a pilot come out and meet us because we will be getting in close to midnight and don’t want to come in on our own at night. The entrance looks a little tricky even in the day with areas we need to be right in the channel to stay out of the shallow water. Too close for our comfort unless we had to do it.
5/2/08 The cruise here to Puesta Del Sol was fairly easy. The pilot was ready to bring us in when we arrived. We would have never been able to find our way in without the pilot.
The marina is very nice and attached to the hotel. The hotel has a beach, pool at the beach, and a pool right here at the marina. There is a restaurant at the marina as well.
5/3/08 We headed to the airport to fly back to Phoenix to visit DeeDee’s mom. The trip was about four hours and very rough. We are flying out of the capital, Managua, then to Houston then on to Phoenix. The trip to the Managua airport was an average of about 25 miles per hour because we were on VERY rough farm roads for the first half. We must have stopped 6 times for cattle or some other livestock to cross the road. It is very rural surrounding the marina.
Our flight out of Managua was delayed and we had to catch a later flight out of Houston. However, after waiting in the airport for five hours, the later flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems. We ended up grabbing a hotel at the airport and stayed the night in Houston. We then caught a flight the next morning to Phoenix.
5/17/08 We have spent the last two weeks in Phoenix with DeeDee caring for her mom in the hospital. She is recovering but will need a surgery in a few weeks to fix the problems. We will head to Panama as quick as we can so we can fly back to Phoenix for DeeDee’s Mom’s surgery.
When we returned to the boat the back window on the boat was pried open. It was opened by someone but we have not found anything missing in the boat. Our best guess is that someone was breaking in but got spooked while in the process.
Another problem we had was that the port wind scoop we had attached to the window was broken off. This scoop is held on by very strong bolts and they were ripped out. The local suggestion was that the wind ripped it off but there is no way the wind could be strong enough to rip out these bolts. Our guess is that a boat was pulling into the slip next to us and ripped it off. It sticks out and we have ripped it off ourselves once when we forgot to remove it and it got caught on the piling. It sticks out 18 inches from the side of the boat so it is easy to catch.
This is of course why we hate leaving the boat.
We brought back tons of stuff from the states for the boat. We had to buy a refurbished DVD player which is exactly the one we have on the boat now. The old one broke and we needed to replace it with the exact unit. This is because one of the few mistakes we made when commissioning the boat was to install a very sophisticated media system with computer programmed remote controls. We don’t have the software nor do we know how to reprogram the remote controls and the dinky link system that operates the media. Therefore we had to replace the DVD player with the exact one so it would work. Sony does not make it anymore so we had to buy a refurbished one.
We also brought a new light for the dinghy which we broke in Zwah, new LED light bulbs for the navigation lights, duct tape, silicone sealer, new fishing knife, new mounts for the generator elerctical box, hose nozzles, and repair product for high pressure hoses. We also brought back a prop for a friend of ours dingy.
When we bring stuff back like this it is always a risk the customs officials will tax us heavy duty on everything we bring in. Fortunately the customs official just asked about the DVD player and waved us on.
Our government at work……. Here is another great move at the government level. Isabella’s passport was ready to expire in three months. When flying out of the country, you must show that your passport will be valid for at least six months or you can’t leave the country. However, the government will not allow you to renew your passport until it is less than two months to expiration. The summary is if you are trying to leave the country when your passport is between 2 and six months to expiration you are screwed.
5/17/08 With all the parts we brought back, Larry had some work to do on the boat. He replaced the navigation lights. He replaced the DVD player in the stereo rack. We will bring the other one back to the United States next time we go and send it off for repair. He also put the new rubber mounts on the generator electrical box. This initially looked like an easy job but there were lots of parts that had to be removed to get to the mounts.
DATE _4/2508__ TIME __9:00 _AM_
START PORT _Huatulco, Mexico ________________END PORT ____Barillias, El Salvador__________
START MILES_17206_ END MILES _17701____ LEG MILES __495___TOTL MILES ___17701____
START HOURS _2783__ END HOURS __2857___LEG HOURS __74___TOTAL HOURS __2857___
START FUEL(6446) _2662_ END FUEL _2713___ LEG FUEL ___251___ TOTAL FUEL _251_____
AVERAGE MPGs __1.97_____ REMAINING RANGE __2.400___ GEN FUEL _5443_/_5731_/ _78___
END PRT __500__ END STRBD _550____ END SPLY _60______FUEL BALANCE _1110_______
SEA STATE__Mostly Calm – Had 15 to 29 knots on the second day for about 8 – 10 hours. _________
WIND DIRECTION_____East South East____________________________________________________
4/25/08 DeeDee was pretty tired from her trip to Phoenix but she muscled through and went provisioning while Larry got the boat ready for next trip. It seems a little tough on DeeDee to have her come in from Phoenix where she had to get up at 3:30 AM to catch her flight back to Mexico. However, the next leg is the very famous and very dangerous crossing of the Gulf of Tehuantepec. The way you eliminate, or at least greatly reduce the danger, is to travel on good weather. A great weather window was developing with very little wind and we wanted to make the window.
The gulf of Tehuantepec is 260 miles wide. There is a 75 mile gap in the Sierra Madres Mountains where wind funnels through at tremendous speeds and converges on the gulf on Tehuantepec. This causes tremendous winds and seas in the gulf and even huge freighters which have been caught in the wind have been blown 200 miles out to sea. Not to mention many boats capsized, damaged and sunk.
The key to crossing the tehuantepec is to watch the weather in the Gulf of Mexico. If there are weather patterns which could create what they call a “tehuantepecker”, you just don’t go. We happen to have a five day forecast of hardly any wind at all and no systems in the Gulf of Mexico. We want to catch this window because it is only three and ½ days to Barillias, El Salvador which is our next stop.
4/26/08 We left this morning for El Salvador. We are supposed to have great weather and hopefully we do. We have been out now for about eight hours and are in fairly calm seas with a slight chop, a 2 to 3 foot swell off our starboard rear quarter, and a12 knot south wind which is coming to us on our starboard side. We were benefitting from a two knot current all morning and hitting 9 knots which is flying for us. At 9 knots we are only burning 3 gallons per hour. That gives us three miles per gallon and about a 4,500 mile range on one tank of fuel. This is great as boat s go. However, in the past hour or two we lost about 1.5 knots of current and still have about a ½ knot beneficial current but are not only going 7.5 knots. This is all a little difficult because we are trying to get in by daylight. At 8 to 9 knots, we get in at daylight. However, at less than that we are coming in after dark. So as we go we will have to make a decision. If we are close to getting in before dark, we may speed up for awhile. We don’t like doing this because the relational gain of speed is really poor versus the fuel used. For example, to gain one more knot and cruise at 8 knots we would be burning almost double the fuel at 5.7 gallons per hour. The better choice is to slow down and get in the next morning at daybreak. We often will slow down by utilizing the wing engine for awhile instead of the main if it is calm. It is a good way to give the wing engine a workout.
The breeze feels good because we prefer to save fuel and not run the generator while we are cruising. The main engine has a 200 amp alternator which provides enough power to run everything on the boat but not Washer, Dryer, Water Maker or Air Conditioner. If we have a breeze it is usually cool enough to leave the generator off. However, if the wind is not present, it gets pretty hot and sticky and we will run the generator longer than normal. We run the generator each day for some time to make water anyway. But that is probably only necessary for a few hours a day.
The seas were really calm this morning and it looked like a wake was right in front of us from another boat. But it was hundreds of dolphins jumping and swimming and as we got closer they joined us in our route for about 2o minutes. They are just scary intelligent animals. When we go on the bow they will turn sideways to look directly at you. It is just amazing.
Larry took advantage of the calm seas this morning and scrubbed the non-skid decks. He also waxed the rear cockpit of the boat. This is the area that we seem to trash the most. We always come in the aft door and all of our entering and exiting activities seem to happen there. It seems to need the most attention.
4/27/08 It has been a great cruise so far. It has been so calm we took the folding chairs and put them on the bow to sit and get some sun. We purchased a little water mister from Home Depot that just hooks up to the hose. It is the same as the mister you see in the restaurants to cool the air. We only bought one because we did not know how it would work but it is really great. We hooked it up to the seawater washdown hose and it just keeps misting water. Using sea water allows us to run it continuously. Isabella attached it to her chair and just relaxed with water constantly keeping her cool.
It has been wicked hot. There has been no wind which has kept the seas very calm. However, it reaches about 90 degrees and without wind it is just suffocating. Unfortunately we have been running the generator about 15 hours per day. We turn it on sometime in the afternoon when it gets really hot and sticky. Then we leave it on through the night so we can sleep without the heat and humidity. We shut it off about 6:00 AM and then leave it off until we just can’t take the heat anymore. Even the water is up to 89 degrees. We are truly heading towards the equator.
It is Sunday morning and we are planning to meet the pilot to take us into the cut at 6:00 AM Monday morning. We have already gone 335 nautical miles in the last 48 hours and have about 24 more hours to go if we maintain or current 6.4 knot speed. Our speed has ranged from as high as 9 knots to as low as 6 knots. If you do a quick calculation you will see that the difference between 6 knots and 9 knots is 72 miles per day. This could mean a 10 hours addition or subtraction of our trip time per day. It is really tough to try and arrive at a certain time 3 ½ days in advance.
Last night we had to work around lots of fishing nets. Fortunately, here they are lit very well so all you need to do is look for the two lights and you know the net is run in-between them. What we have been told is that if there are not lights they are usually illegal nets. The biggest offense of an illegal net is to have the actual net holes be too small so they can catch undersized fish.
The fuel we just got in Mexico seems to be very clean. When I first get fuel I will polish it from the side tanks into the day tank where the engine and generator pull it from. I do this for the first 100 gallons off each tank. If I don’t get any dirty fuel, after about 100 gallons being polished on each tank I will then open the valve and let the fuel gravity feed from the side tank to the day tank without polishing. I have a valve on the bottom of the day tank and can open it to test the fuel or drain water if necessary. The fuel in the states and Mexico has been really good. However, in other countries such as Venezuela, I would need to come down and drain the dirt and water out of the fuel even after I polished it to the day tank. I guess that is what you get for $0.07 per gallon.
It is hard to explain the difference of a great cruise like this with no wind or waves versus a rough trip. When it is calm you can cook, sleep, walk around the boat, go outside on the boat, and easily do the necessary things like take showers. When it is rough it all cumulates. The cruising is very discontenting, then you don’t sleep because it is rough, it is tough to cook so the meals are not as good and even taking a shower is an effort. Most of all the lack of sleep just does not do great things for your mood. However, on a trip like this there are lots of great meals, lots of relaxing times, lots of laughter and all the necessities such as showering are pleasurable. Even the sunrise and sunset seem more spectacular.
5/30/08 We met the pilot in the morning and he took us up the approximately 9 mile trip to the Marina. This is not a marina like you would normally think of it. It has moorings which are right next to the marina club. When you get a mooring for about $12 per day you get full use of the services. There is a pool, a restaurant, and even a little airport. They have mini palapas set out on the property with internet and power at each one. We have great internet on the boat. Our Wi-Fi booster is doing a great job amplifying the Wi-Fi signal from the club and we have full Wi-Fi throughout the boat.
While we were here for our short stay we went to the Palapas each day. DeeDee did school with Isabella and Larry was able to work with high speed internet access. The pool was great and we had Buster in the pool for lots of the time. We would take him in and he would swim across the pool to the stairs to get out. Another boat here, Wahoo has two golden retrievers. They came in for a swim a few times as well.
Some of the boats we were with in Huatulco are here as well. This is situated as a perfect stopover heading north or south so most boats will make a stop here.
DATE _4/1/08__ TIME __10:30 _AM_
START PORT _Zwah__________________________END PORT ____Huatulco_____________________
START MILES_16852_ END MILES _17203____ LEG MILES __340___TOTL MILES ___17203____
START HOURS _2740__ END HOURS __2777___LEG HOURS __99___TOTAL HOURS __2777___
START FUEL(6446) _2528_ END FUEL _22659___ LEG FUEL ___131___ TOTAL FUEL _728_____
AVERAGE MPGs __NA______ REMAINING RANGE __700____ GEN FUEL _5443_/_5665_/ _310___
END PRT __150__ END STRBD _150____ END SPLY _60______FUEL BALANCE ___360________
SEA STATE__Mostly Calm _____________________ __________________________________________
WIND DIRECTION_____North West________________________________________________________
4/1/08 Today we left for Huatulco. It is about 350 miles. This is about a 2 ½ day trip. We left Zwah at 10:30 and depending on our speed (6 to 7 knots) we will arrive between 11:00 am and 5:00 pm on Wednesday.
Once again we are bypassing Acapulco. We communicated with Misty Michael which is a trawler who was anchored next to us in Zwah. They told us the moorings were $1.00 per foot per day and the marina was $2.50 per foot per day. This is a little pricey as the typical marina in Mexico runs from between $0.50 and $1.00 per foot per day. We are not passing it because of the cost, we are just not that excited about harbours that are not “cruiser” friendly. Most cruisers don’t spend much money. They stay on anchor and try to keep their costs down so they can extend their cruising time. Big cities don’t really cater to this type of person as it does not bring in much to the local economy. To the smaller cities and villages, cruisers bring a good amount of business, but to larger cities like Acapulco or a New York, it is simply not enough money to justify supporting the cruising community. Rather, they dedicate the marina slips to local boats which use lots of fuel, buy lots of dinners and are there all the time. We actually don’t like this but we understand it. Typically the way they keep cruisers out is they keep the prices high and have lots of regulations. In Acapulco, the authorities tend to keep a close watch on the cruisers and some have even complained of being hassled.
4/3/08 We have had one hell of a trip. About 100 miles out we sprung an oil leak on one of the hoses. It was the hose that went from the top of the oil filter to the hydraulic pump. It supplied oil to the bearings in the hydraulic pump. It started out as a little leak dripping a little bit. However, the leak rapidly got worse. We tried to put a fuel hose around it and clamp down on the leak. This slowed it at first but the leak just grew. The battle had just started. The leak got worse and more leaks sprang up. I’m not sure why we got multiple leaks in the hose but one explanation was that the hose has an inner and an outer lining. Almost like an inner tube. Possibly the inside sprung a leak and the hot oil was working its way between the inner and outer hose. The outer hose was just a thin covering and not meant to hold oil so the hot oil was breaking through the weaker spots.
We usually have spares and have spare oil hoses. However, this hose had two different size fittings at the ends. We simply did not have a spare.
The battle started with trying to clamp a fuel hose over the leak and clamping it down tight. This did not work well and we were losing about one gallon per hour from the leak. (the engine holds about 5 gallons) We had to put a bucket under the hose to catch the leaking oil. We were putting the timer on for every 30 minutes and Larry would go down and dump the old oil and put in some new.
We have a back-up engine but the two drawbacks of the back-up engine are that you only cruise at between 3 to 5 knots and it does not power the stabilizers.
The next strategy was to put a layer of duct tape and then a layer of insulated tape around the hose. This was done for six layers. Then we put a wet exhaust hose around the whole thing and clamped it down. This was a total failure. The oil just worked its way to the end of the tape and leaked from there.
What is not really being presented is how long all of this took and how hot it was. It was about 125 degrees in the engine room where all this work had to be done. Also, each time we tried a new strategy we started up the wing engine and ran on that. Larry was working in the 125 degree engine room with hot oil and no stabilizers. Not fun. Of-course most of this took place between 12 midnight and 7:00 AM.
After some time we accepted we lost the battle and ran on the wing engine. The engine room was a disaster with oil all over the place. The next strategy was to let Larry sleep and then when was back on watch he could start the big engine and catch the leaking oil in the bucket and keep putting it back in the engine. This sounded good until the leak got even bigger and was putting out about one gallon of oil every 20 minutes. It was just too much oil to try and keep returning to the engine. We accepted our fate and got ready for the 36 hours of “unstabilized” cruising it would take to reach Huatulco on the wing engine. (Averaging about 4 knots)
All in all we probably took the oil hose off and tried some way of stopping the leak about 7 or 8 times. It was quite maddening. Once we got on the wing engine we did have a little luck with a positive current. We were staying around 5 knots or higher most of the time. Also the weather was on our side. The seas were fairly calm but frankly with no stabilizers, the boat was rocking quite a bit.
When it rains it pours – The last two days of the trip we had lost the bilge pump. Although we have a high water bilge pump which will kick in when the water gets high, it is better to keep the water low as it sloshes around when it gets that high. Another thing that Nordhavn does well is to have great backups to most stuff. This boat has standard on it a back up hand bilge pump. We simply open the floor panel in the salon and the hand pump is right there.
The shaft has a packing system which means it allows water to slowly leak in the boat past where the shaft goes out of the boat. This is done so the water can cool and lubricate the shaft as it is turning. This system drips a few times a second so we needed to pump out the bilge by hand every few hours the last two days. Not that big of a deal but just one more thing to keep us awake.
4/9/08 we made it into port fairly easy getting about 9:30 PM. We took an end tie and just tied up the boat for the night. The next morning we visited with the dock master who we had met the previous year, Enrique. He was great to catch up with and was very helpful.
This last week Isabella got sick AGAIN with an ear infection. We took her to the local doctor and paid $2.50 for a consultation. He prescribed medication for her and the medications were ten time the cost of the doctor at $25.00. Quite a different medical system here.
This is the first place since heading south that we have seen the beaches with real sand instead of the mud sand. It is great because the water is very clear and the mud does not stain our clothes. It is very hot here in the high 80’s and the water is about 84 degrees.
Larry was happy to find a Gym close by with all modern free weights and equipment. He rides the little mini scooter to the gym every morning. He gets lots of weird looks when the 220 pound guy is on a 40 pound foldable motor scooter. However it works real well. Larry even took it out of town about 20 miles to check out the towns and beaches. It is a great little vehicle.
The bilge pump failure ended up being a failed diaphragm. The bilge pump has been rebuilt more than anything on the boat and this is probably the 5th or 6th time Larry has rebuilt it. The diaphragms just seem to fail every six months or so. We carry at least three rebuild kits on the boat and one full replacement bilge pump.
We found a great restaurant here by the name of Terra Cotta. It has great food (little pricey) and it is very clean and has kind of an earthy Mediterranean décor. It has free wireless internet and even to Isabella’s delight chocolate shakes.
Larry’s company is putting on a Mixed Martial Arts event in Mexico City on April 19th so we will probably stay here through then. We really love the beaches here and the little center of town as well. They also added a brand new supermarket this year which makes provisioning here tremendously easier. There is also cell phone service and internet service available so Larry can work from here easily.
DeeDee will probably head to Phoenix to visit her family while we are here. It should be an easy flight in and out and there are some health issues in DeeDee’s family that could use some attention.
4/24/08 Larry’s event in Mexico city went very well and DeeDee did head back to Phoenix to be with her family. We have met lots of people at the marina here and some are going north, some are going south, and some are going to stay for awhile. I’m sure we will run in to many of them heading south again.
Larry changed the oil hose and changed the oil on the main engine again. Although it was just changed Larry was concerned that because he was taking the oil which was leaking out of the hose and pouring it back into the engine it might have some particles in it. Changing oil is cheap compared to rebuilding an engine.
Larry hired a local guy and went over to get fuel while DeeDee was out of town. The swell was so bad at the fuel dock that EVERY time a swell came in it would stretch the line very far and then the boat would snap back so hard it sounded like the cleats were going to get ripped right out of the boat. We had the helper tighten the line every time the swell came in. This minimized the amount of momentum the boat would pick up against the lines. The swell is so bad here they do not even let sailboats come and fuel up.
We also had the bottom cleaned and are now fueled up and ready to travel again. Larry also spent a few hours replacing the GPS which was sent to Northstar for warranty work. It lost its brightness and the keypad was no longer working. We had it shipped to DeeDee in Phoenix and she brought it back.
DATE _3/20/08__ TIME __6:00 _AM_
START PORT _Tenacatita Bay__________________END PORT ____Zwah______________________
START MILES_16229_ END MILES _16852____ LEG MILES __223___TOTL MILES ___16852____
START HOURS _2706__ END HOURS __2740___LEG HOURS __34___TOTAL HOURS __2740___
START FUEL(6446) _2413_ END FUEL _2528____ LEG FUEL ___115___ TOTAL FUEL _597_____
AVERAGE MPGs __1.9_____ REMAINING RANGE _1200____ GEN FUEL _5443_/_5529_/ _129___
END PRT __275__ END STRBD _325____ END SPLY _60______FUEL BALANCE ___660________
SEA STATE__Mostly Calm with 2 to 4 foot SW swell __________________________________________
WIND DIRECTION_____South West________________________________________________________
3/20/08 Isabella said her goodbyes to new friends yesterday and we took off this morning at 6:00 AM. We are going to Zwah and it will be an overnight trip and will arrive late in the day tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be great with very little wind and a 2 to 4 foot swell. Then as we arrive Friday night it is supposed to pick up.
The weather has been so good Larry has taken advantage of the calm cruising to fix the dinghy bilge pump and try and patch a leak on the big dingy. He is good mechanically but anything that takes some artistic ability (such as spreading glue) he is not at the top of the class. He glued on the patch but he is doubtful it will work. While clamping the patch on he also dropped his wood clamp into the drink. Someone will find it when the ice age comes back and this becomes land again.
3/21/08 Today is Brandon’s birthday. (Larry’s 23 year old son) We will probably have phone service tonight but he will also probably be out celebrating by the time we get in. Brandon is living in Houston working for a company that designs video games. He is in 7th heaven and loves his job. He should be good at it as he has been training for this job since he was five years old.
Lindsey, Larry’s 21 year old daughter has put her modeling career on hold and has entered school. She wants to study holistic medicine and will first get a massage therapist’s certifications so she can work as a massage therapist as she attends school for holistic medicine. She has mentioned however that she may just take off on a cruise ship and see the world for awhile.
We are about six hours from Zwah. The seas have been as predicted and very benign. It is a 2 to 4 foot swell but with no wind waves at all. The water temp has jumped from 57 degrees in San Diego to 68 degrees in Tenacanita Bay to over 80 degrees where we are now. The engine room has been running at about 100 degrees and now is up around 120 degrees. The engine temperature has jumped a few degrees from 183 to 186 as well. The stabilizer oil temperature was running about 100 degrees and is also at 120 degrees now. For the last year my Xantrex Inverter has shown the actual battery voltage and compensated battery voltage as exactly the same. For the first time in a year there is about a two volt difference. The Xantrex calculates the temperature and compensates the voltage of the batteries so the batteries don’t get overcharged. I believe as the batteries get hotter, the charge should be shorter. (I could have it backwards)
As we arrived in Zwah we notice there was a pretty big swell. To reduce the swell we were going to put out the flopper stoppers. These are used to slow the boat’s roll back in forth. However, when we went to engage the starboard one, the hinge got stuck where it is mounted so it turned at a strange angle and ripped the bracket right out of the wall. The bracket is through bolted to the inside of the salon. There is a plate but we were worried it might have damaged the wood on the inside as it was pulled so hard. Fortunately when we looked there was no damage. The only damage was the bracket for the flopper stopper pole was bent. We removed the through bolts and re-inserted them through the wall. We used some good 5200 marine sealant under the bracket so there would be no leaks and we reattached the bracket. It will be fine until we can replace the bracket with one that is not bent.
3/26/08 I don’t know what it is about Zwah but DeeDee and Isabella are really sick. We all got VERY sick here last year. It could be the drinking water, it could be the sea water in the bay, or maybe some bad food. DeeDee is so sick she has aches in all of her bones. Isabella is not as bad but everytime she eats her stomach starts to get sharp pains. They went to the doctor here and hopefully the medicine will kick in.
Larry took advantage of the time and did some work on the boat. It was time for the service on the Lugger engine. (Oil change, Oil filter change, Fuel filter change, Air filter change, and the Racor fuel filter change) It was hot as hell in the engine room.
He also changed all the same on the generator. However, he also had to change the raw water pump. We have gone through a few of these raw water pumps. They start to leak the seawater and a big salt deposit starts to build up right under it as the water slowly drips. I don’t know how long it would last before it starting spraying the water all over the generator. To be safe, we changed it. Changing it is not that big of a deal. However, there is a gear on it that needs to be pulled off with a gear puller. The first time we did not have one and it was a bitch to get off. Now we have a gear puller and it is no big deal. (The generator is now up to 5,600 hours)
One other little project was to re-seal the outside sink. We keep our towels in the cabinet under the sink. We kept inspecting the drain and the faucet but no leak. We finally figured out that it was the water working its way under the lip of where the sink is set into the structure. We pulled it out, cleaned it up real good, and re-sealed it will silicone sealer.
3/27/08 We are having some bad luck this week in Zwah. Larry went in to the pier with the dinghy because he needed a hard surface to break up the new briquets we have for the grill. When he tied up the dinghy he did not notice how big the swell was. When he tied up, the water was high enough for the dinghy to be up against the pier. As the swell went out, the dinghy got pulled under the pier and then the swell came back it picked it up and crushed the dinghy under the pier. There was not a tremendous amount of damage but enough. The top of the engine was very scraped up and the rear navigation light was ripped right off.
By the way – good news , the patch on the dinghy has been working and the big dinghy is holding air. We will still have it repaired by someone who is good at it when we can find someone.
DATE _3/8/08__ TIME __9:30 _AM_
START PORT _Ensenada __________________END PORT ____Tenacatita Bay______________
START MILES_15584_ END MILES __16629__ LEG MILES __1045__TOTL MILES __16229____
START HOURS _2557__ END HOURS _2706____LEG HOURS __158__TOTAL HOURS __2706___
START FUEL(6446) _1931_ END FUEL __2413__ LEG FUEL __482____ TOTAL FUEL __482_____
AVERAGE MPGs __2.16____ REMAINING RANGE _1,700____ GEN FUEL 5443_/_5484_/ _53____
END PRT _375___ END STRBD _425___ END SPLY __60____FUEL BALANCE ____860_______
SEA STATE__Mostly Calm_with 2 to 4 foot following seas at times_________________________
WIND DIRECTION_____North to North West______________________________________________
3/3/08 We fueled up in Coral Bay which is about three miles north of the main Ensenada port. We had an interesting fill up because the boat only holds 1,500 gallons. We had six hundred gallons on board however when we filled up the boat took 1,000 gallons. This indicates to me that the calibrations are not accurate on the pumps. I’m not sure if it is planned or sloppy but when I raised the issue at the fuel dock they stated the government comes out once a month to calibrate. I double checked and unless we completely are missing something, we for sure were charged for almost 100 gallons more than the boat can hold. (Exactly a 10% difference) I want to give them the benefit of the doubt but we have filled this boat up dozens of times and are pretty good at tracking usage.
We are now in route south from Ensenada. We are not sure where we are going to stop as it will depend on how the weather holds up. It looks like good weather with wind at 15 knots out of the NW. This is good as it will be off to our starboard quarter and as we turn more east it should be behind us.
It has been some time since we have cruised for multi days so we will see how we hold up. It is about four nights and five days of travel to Cabo San Lucas. We will probably stop before then for a rest unless the weather is just perfect.
3/9/08 It is Sunday morning and we are heading south. Our next good anchoring port would be Turtle Bay. However, the weather is not too bad. We have a five to six foot swell but it is coming behind us. The wind waves are 1 to 2 feet but the wind is also behind us so it is fairly comfortable. The swells take you up and down as they pass under us like we are riding a very slow merry-go-round horse.
Last night Isabella was not feeling good. Not sea sickness, she just had a rash that was bothering her. Larry came on watch at 12 midnight but DeeDee had to spend the next hour or so helping Isabella. Because DeeDee did not get right to sleep, Larry let her sleep an extra hour on her shift until 4:00 AM.
The weather is clear as can be and the air temperature is about 75 degrees. The water temperature is still down under 60 degrees. We will probably keep a good pace until we hit water temperatures in the 80 degree range. I think that would be around Ixtapa.
3/12/08 The last three days the weather really laid down so we just kept on going. It has been almost flat with 4 to 5 foot swells at about 15 seconds apart. This is perfect weather to break us into cruising again.
This trip has broken our record for non-stop cruising at over 100 hours straight with just us two. The closest to this was the non-stop from Bonaire to the U.S. Virgin Islands.
We have just seen tons of whales and dolphins along this coast. It is now the season for the whales. We also saw what we believe was a seal killing a fish by winging it in the air and then seizing it again in its mouth as the fish came out of the air back into the water. It was a huge fish the seal was doing this to.
We also had a bird land on the boat completely exhausted. We have had this happen before and all the birds died. We left the bird upstairs on the dingy deck and Isabella said she saw it fall of the deck into the water. We told her it flew into the water and was a water bird so was comfortable. I’m not sure if she accepted the explanation or not. She seemed awfully suspicious.
We are going to keep on trucking. Larry now is working and needs to stop in a port he can work from which has cell phone service and internet. We are going to hit Puerto Vallarta or one of the smaller villages south of there. That will be at least two more days of non-stop travel and would bring our non-stop days up to 6 or 7 straight.
Today we stopped in Cabo San Lucas to consider anchoring for a night or two. However, the anchorage was a little rolly so we thought it was best to just keep on cruising.
When we came into Cabo, we heard someone calling our boat name “NEXUS NEXUS” on the radio. Amazingly it was a guy by the name of Alon who we had help us take the boat from the Bahamas to the Virgin Islands a few years back. He had taken a job with a sail boat company doing day tours out of Cabo. When we met him he was with his girlfriend Nila who he is still in touch with but no longer a couple.
The water temperature has risen from 57 degrees to about 68 degrees. I have noticed the water maker is showing more “Parts Per Million” This is the number of particles in the water when it is made from seawater to freshwater. It is my understanding as the water temperature goes up; the PPMs go down and the volume of water the water maker makes goes up. I’ve seen the PPMs go up but I have not seen any notable increase in the volume of water being made. Maybe it is just my water maker membranes getting more used and less efficient or another possibility is the water is getting more salty.
I hate running the generator when we are underway. We are using about 3 gallons per hour from the engines which produces about 2 miles per gallon. This sounds terrible for fuel mileage but it is a fantastic performance for a boat. Our last boat used 3 GALLONS per mile and this boat is getting 2 MILES per gallon. I guess that makes this boat about 600% more efficient than our last one.
The generator uses about 1.5 gallons per hour or a little less if it does not have a big load. The only thing we need the generator for as we are cruising is to make water. The reason I hate to run the generator is that we are using 1.5 gallons an hour whether we are just making water or using the generator for lots of things. Typically when we run the generator we are making water, charging the batteries, heating the shower water, running the air conditioners, and sometimes using the grill and washing clothes.
Currently we have traveled about 700 miles non-stop from Ensenada and we have about 350 miles to go. This is equal to only about 200 miles short of a non-stop trip from Florida to New York.
Hope it continues to stay calm.
3/14/07 We are about 7 hours out of Tenacatita Bay where we have decided to stop. This will make this trip a 7 day trip and by far the longest we have done non-stop. Although we are proud of going this long non-stop, the weather has been so good we never once had an uncomfortable ride. This is of course not usual. Our strategy is to go as long as the weather allows and to stop and wait for weather windows if we can. This weather window has been very good and very long. The most wind we have ever seen on this trip is 15 knots and that was directly behind us.
We now live like a normal family although we are still living on the boat. Now that Isabella is old enough to be in school, Monday through Friday she is home schooling with DeeDee most of the early day. Larry is now working and usually on the phone or computer. This means that like a normal family, we get most of our chores done on the weekend.
Larry has a good number of small and big boat projects – Fix the oil leak on the transmission oil cooler, clean the engine room and bilge, fix the compass cover, make a cover for the fly bridge GPS, remove and send in the fly bridge northstar GPS for repair, repair or replace the main salon’s DVD player, send in the night vision binoculars for repair, clean the strainers, do the monthly checklist, etc. And of course clean the boat.
Here is a list of what we do hourly on the systems and monthly, bi-annually and at haul out on the boat.
MONTHLY CHECKLIST
____ Oil Air Horns
_____ Check power steering fluid level and pressure
____ Check pressure of fire extinguishers
____ Check stabilizer hydraulic oil level
____ Check bow thruster oil
____ Run Wing Engine
____ Lube fuel caps, water cap, waste cap, gas cap
____ Check/Clean fresh water screens
____ Flush with holding tank manual pump
____ Flush holding tank
____ Power flush drains
____ Flush with hand bilge pumps
____ Check windless oil
____ Spray CRC or WD-40 on Windless
____ Check Davit Hydraulic Oil
____ Charge of fire extinguishers in cabin
____ Check main engine mounting bolts
____ Check wing engine mounting bolts
____ Check generator mounting bolts
____ Check hot water heater relief valve
____ Check rudder for leaks
____ Clean AC unit filters
____ Clean Fridge and Freezer grills
____ Tighten hex screws on all rails
____ TefGel scoop screw holes
____ Check Zincs (Hull, Prop, Gori (2), Bow Thruster, Stabilizer, Keel Cooler, Spur cutter, Dinghy)
____ Check Stabilizer Oil Filter (replace when reads 25 psig)
____ Check antennas are secure
____ Run the KVH TV Gyro
____ Test Epirb
____ Check Electrical Connections
____ Bow Thruster
____ Charging system
____ Run Windless
____ Run Bow Thruster
____ Run Windshield Wipers
____ Run Dinghy(s)
SIX MONTH CHECKLIST
____ Weigh engine room fire extinguisher system
____ Check SCAs in AntiFreeze
____ Grease
· Windless main bearing
· Davit bearings
· Rudder
· Dinghy Yamaha engine
· Water Maker motor
· Anchor rollers
____ Clean dust off of condensers of AC units
____ Tighten all bonding straps on seacocks
_____ Inspect and clean Black water tank
_____ Inspect and clean Grey water tank
ANNUAL (HAUL_OUT) CHECKLIST
____ Check cutlass bearing (replace annually)
____ Inspect fuel tanks
____ Remove Davit bearing trim ring and grease seal
____ Check condition of Davit hydraulic oil
____ Replace Bow Thruster Oil (two years)
____ Flush Keel Fresh Water Cooling System
____ Replace Generator Coolant
____ Replace Wing Engine Coolant
____ Replace Stabilizer Oil Filter
____ Remove Stabilizer winglets and inspect shaft end zincs
____ Check gap and condition of spurs line cutters
____ Check impellor on Air Conditioning
_____ Rudder Post lubrication
_____ Rudder Post shaft packing replaced or checked for leaking
_____ Service Life Raft
_____ Check/Change Zincs
· Hot Water Heater
· Hull
· Bowthruster
· Spurs line cutter
· Wing Shaft
· Wing Gori Prop
· Stabilizer cutter
· Stabilizer winglets
· Keel Cooler(s)
LUGGER MAIN
Every 500
Change Engine Oil and Filter
Change Spin-on Fuel Filter
Check Belts
Check for Air Leakage at Turbo
Check Air Filter and Air Filter valve
Check Turbo Boost (Dealer)
Check Injectors
Check crankcase vent tube
Check Air Intake Hoses
Check Electrical Ground
Every 2000
Check Valve Clearances
Check Crankshaft Vibration Damper
Check Fuel Injection Pump
Check and Clean Heat Exchanger
Check and Clean Gear Oil Cooler
Test Thermostats
Every 4,500 or 60 Months
Replace Crankshaft Vibration Damper
LUGGER WING
Every 100 (or annually)
Change Engine Oil and Filter
Change Spin-on Fuel Filter
Check Belts
Every 600/ (or annually)
Replace Air Cleaner
Check V-Belts
Check Valve Clearances
Check Injectors
Flush Cooling System
Change impellor in Raw Water Pump
Every 2500
Clean heat exchanger
Clean gear oil cooler
GENERATOR
Every 200
Change Racor and spin-on fuel filter
Change engine Oil and Filter
Check Belts
Check Glow Plug Function
Every 600
Check Valve Clearances
Check Injectors
Check and Flush Cooling System (annually)
Change Impellor
Check and/or replace Air Filter
Every 2,500
Fuel Injection Pump (o-rings / send to lab)
Check and Clean Heat Exchanger
TRAC STABALIZERS
Monthly
Inspect actuator mounting area for leaks
Inspect actuator for oil leaks
Inspect cylinder hoses for chafing
Yearly
Tighten electrical connections
Check actuator bonding strap
Replace reservoir oil filter
Check cylinder trunion bushings
Check Zincs
6 Years or 2000 hours
Replace actuator shaft seals and inspect shafts
Replace actuator cylinders
WATERMAKER
Weekly
Flush with fresh water
Every 500 Hours
Change pump oil
Every 90 Days
Clean salinity probe
Every 6 Months
Replace fresh water filter
Lubricate pump motor
Every 1500 Hours
Seal Change
Valve Change
YAMAHA F60C
100/6 Months
____ Grease all points
____ Engine oil replacement
____ Oil filter replacement
____ Change Gear oil
____ Inspect/Change Fuel filter
____ Inspect/Change External Anodes
_____ Inspect/Replace Internal Engine Anodes (suggested every 200 hours)
____ Replace spark plugs (suggested every 200 hours)
Dealer Service
____ Timing belt (Inspection every 100 hrs, Replace at 1000 hrs.)
____ Valve clearance
YAMAHA 15 Hp.
100/6 Months
____ Grease all points
____ Change Gear oil
____ Inspect/Change Fuel filter
____ Inspect/Change Anodes
____ Replace spark plugs (suggested every 200 hours)
3/18/08 We enjoyed our stay at Tenacatita Bay. It had about 40 boats anchored in a bay that did not really have a town but did have a number of beaches. The anchorage was a little rolly but not too terrible.
Isabella was happy because we ran into another boat with kids on it. We met a family from a boat named Wingstar and they had two girls (13 and 8) on board. We spent lots of time with them and the girls even did a sleep over with Isabella one night. They are a family that had taken off a year to cruise. Great people.
DATE _3/7/08__ TIME __6:00 AM_
START PORT _San Diego___________________END PORT ____Ensenada_____________
START MILES_15515_ END MILES _15584___ LEG MILES _69__TOTL MILES _15584__
START HOURS _2548__ END HOURS _2557__LEG HOURS __9_TOTAL HOURS _2557__
START FUEL(6446) _1887_ END FUEL _1931__ LEG FUEL __44___ TOTAL FUEL __626____
AVERAGE MPGs ______ REMAINING RANGE ________ GEN FUEL 5228_/_5442/ _278__
END PRT ______ END STRBD ______ END SPLY _______FUEL BALANCE __________
SEA STATE__Calm_______________________________________________________________
WIND DIRECTION_______________________________________________________
3/8/08 Coming into Ensenada yesterday we saw Jim on Antipidies (sp?) coming out of the port. We met Jim and his wife Lara in the Virgin Islands a few years ago when they were renting a boat for a month or so in the islands. We stayed in touch and they joined us for our leg from Cabo to San Diego last year. As a matter of fact, as soon as we arrived in San Diego they jumped off the boat to go look at a boat they wanted to buy. They ended up buying a boat, (I’m not sure if it was the one they looked at in San Diego) and we end up seeing them coming out of the cut in Ensenada. I will never get over how small the world is.
DATE _3/5/08__ TIME __6:00 AM_
START PORT _Dana Point_________________END PORT ____San Diego________
START MILES_15456_ END MILES _15515___ LEG MILES _59__TOTL MILES _15515__
START HOURS _2537__ END HOURS _2548__LEG HOURS _11_TOTAL HOURS __2548_
START FUEL(6446) _1848_ END FUEL _1887__ LEG FUEL __39_ TOTAL FUEL 582____
AVERAGE MPGs ______ REMAINING RANGE ________ GEN FUEL 5228_/_5442/ _278__
END PRT ______ END STRBD ______ END SPLY _______FUEL BALANCE __________
SEA STATE__Calm_______________________________________________________________
WIND DIRECTION_______________________________________________________
3/5/08 We just returned from Monroe Louisiana where we have been the last many weeks. DeeDee’s uncle passed away from lung cancer and we were attending the funeral services.
We are currently under way from Dana Point to San Diego. We will jump from San Diego onto Ensenada and then continue down to the Panama Canal.
The boat now has over 2,500 hours and we are starting to see some leaks on the main engine and the generator. The leaks are something I consider normal. I have a small trickle of oil coming from the oil hose connection going into the transmission oil cooler. There is a small leak oil leak on the hose crimp coming from the oil filter, and the transmission has a few drips coming from it after running for some time. All this is telling us that the boat is no longer new and we are no longer new cruisers. We have now had the boat over three years and cruising for just over three years.
We did make a major repair today. We had to replace the toilet seat in the master head. The nylon bolt that fastens the seat had broken. We are now back to proper seating in the master head.