May 11 Update

Hey, good news! It's day four, which I believe is the longest they've been off shore together, and as far as I know they don't appear to have thrown eachother overboard. As of yesterday their position was:

Position 1800 11 May 2012
23 deg 06.400 min North
69 deg 15.627 min West

I think that translates into 23 6' -069 15' (?) on Google if you're tracking.

    Wind has been light the whole trip so far. Today we are in the southern end of a stationary front so even less. We had to start Nanni this morning and will likely have 18 - 24 hours of motoring through this to some nice air on the other side. Today actually did a few boat projects, played some music, finished a Chris Jackson book.

Position Report

Here I am, with the entire world of the Sail Celebration blog at my fingertips and I've got nothin'. Well ok, not nothing. I do have a position update for today. The location they sent is 21 deg 39.126 Min North 068 deg 28.00 Min West. If anyone can get that to work in Google maps let me know because I sure couldn't.
Have a good night!

North (temporarily) from the Caribbean

     Making last checks of Celebration, the weather, and posting this at almost the same time.  Lynn has cooked up some entries in advance and we have on hand plenty of fresh fruit, veggies, and easy to prepare, easy to eat food. The thought is to head north tomorrow. Straight, or actually kind of arced westerly, toward the Beaufort/Moorhead City North Carolina inlet. As we started this cruising journey we knew not what it would bring and where we would go. We started off slow, up the coast, then south, doing longer and longer jumps off-shore. Finally deciding on the trip to the Caribbean. We have been asked often if we intend to "cross oceans" or go "around the world" and the answer is always "we don't really know". But we are always learning more about this little ship and more about us, likes, dislikes, expanding our comfort zone and our ability to sail in weather. So in a way we are learning more of what we can, and might like to do. This trip is another extension. Will we want more crew, or are the two of us about right? Too long a passage, or will we find a groove. Exciting, or like many we've met who find long passages boring? Whatever the answers, we'll know more by the time we reach the next port.

   This passage has few firsts for us and we are in fact pretty excited. It will be Lynn's longest off shore voyage, and our longest together. It will also be my longest with a crew of just two. We've done 4 1/2 days together before just fine. This one at  over 1300 nautical miles will take a few more.  It is our first with wind steering providing an alternative to the power consuming Auto helm and of course another way to steer without Lynn or I standing behind the wheel for days/week plus. Done that...it sucks...so we carry a spare motor, control unit, etc for the electric version and now a completely unpowered option. As some remember I was on a "powerless" delivery 18 months ago and it altered several priorities for me in off shore sailing. And the new vane has been christened "Rejse"  (Danish for voyage) in deference to early Aries wind vanes being manufactured in Denmark. Although now made in England we're sticking with our Scandinavian theme, counting on the combo of Hjlmr and Rejse to steady the wheel. 

External Sound Card

    Another firsts is no weather routing. Of course we can always tune in to Chris Parker and listen, but he is no longer on call for us. After a long period of fee paying service, we realized we never called for advice. Only listening, watching, taking in weather forecasts/faxes from NOAA,  grib files and have done OK. Not always perfect, but OK, so we're giving it a go. We use the SSB (marine HF radio) for weather faxes, grib files, and position reports. Faxes over HF radio have been around for a long time, but newer technology allows this laptop to receive it via that radio, decode, file, and display it. As well we can send and receive rudimentary e-mails and with attachments like the grib file which again being decoded with a simple viewer on this laptop allow us to see the wind, wave, and pressure models running out a few days.

System up, RMS Express Transmitting/Receiving

No "Pactor" modem!  The modem appears to be the most common cruiser solution, but it is another expensive, sometimes problematic solution. We use software called RMS Express which uses the computer to emulate the modem without the $1400 cost. One key to making it work however is a good clean sound card, in our case external to the computer. This one is a SignaLink by Tigertronics. For ~$100 the company includes all the cables for attaching to your specific radio, the USB connection for the computer, and several more. What it does is the same as the sound card in the laptop, but without all the extra electronic "noise". The faxes are clearer, the e-mails work better, and all the cords are now off the navigation station.

    And one last first: our daughters, Amanda and Hannah, have volunteered to make a few blog posts here, so we will send them position reports via the SSB which they will post here. They can also send us e-mails back along the way, of course short and no photos. So if anyone is interested, they can follow along for the trip. Hope to see most of our US based friends soon!!

Carnival St Thomas

Two-tier steel pan band float.

 We lucked out again, and found ourselves in St Thomas for their annual Bacchanal Carnival. Being the staid, go to bed at 8 cruisers we are, we skipped most of the festivities.  I should say, we stayed on the boat, but could hear and see most of the festivities.  We were anchored in the harbor off of Charlotte Amalie, only about 2000 feet from Carnival Village, where most of the concerts and partying happened.  There was plenty of really good music, really loud, really late. Sometimes as late as 0430.  Not that that kept either of us awake.  I would turn over in bed, still hear the thumping of the music and wonder at the people who could stay up past midnight.

We did hear some good reggae and salsa/Puerto Rican rhythms and lots of good steel pan bands. We heard the reggae version of "Take me home, country roads", we heard, as we have heard all the way from Trinidad north, a song that goes like this " Lord, don't let me cheat on my girlfriend, as far as I can see, she loves only me, but Lord if you can't stop me from cheating, don't let me get caught", and my personal favorite (and one I think written just for the occasion): "Enjoy yourself, it might be your last".

 We did manage to get to the Children's Parade.  They were SOOOO cute in their costumes, some of them too young to do much but walk the route and stare, some really hamming it up for the crowds. It was a really hot, sunny day so the route was about 2 blocks long. 

This woman was along the parade route, all dressed up. As she was walking along, her phone rang. She pulled out the big red hand piece from her bag. So funny to see her talking on it, she attracted a lot of attention.

Enjoy yourself.

Day Sail!! and with Wind Vane Steering

    Yesterday Lynn and I did something on Celebration that we haven't done since we started cruising full time. No not that! Our kids might read this!!  We went for a day sail. Yes, pulled up the anchor from the clay of Charlotte Amalie St Thomas and are now on a mooring in Christmas Cove St James Island.  We had a beautiful, slow, comfortable sail in between as we tacked and tacked windward to get here.

    Why? Both why; as in why don't we day-sail more? And why; as in why today? Why not more day-sailing? Well it seems like every time we anchor somewhere, things just appear. Things from in cabinets come out....like tools, spare parts, project lists, lots of stuff like that. Then there are things that in a place like Charlotte Amalie appear from off the boat...like the 1.75 liter bottles of Cruzan Dark rum we found for $9.95 each, a few extra groceries for the next trip, and always a couple of bits needed to keep the good ship operating properly i.e. ready for the next voyage. So to leave even for an afternoon, all these things have to be put away. Otherwise when the boats heels (leans) with the wind, they will noisily find their own temporary home at the lowest point below. Not a great sight or sound and definitely not fun to clean up afterward.

    Why today? After a couple nights in Charlotte Amalie which we love for the people watching, restocking, and finding needed parts and pieces, we need we also needed a little break. Carnival is gearing up thus so is the music in both hours and loudness. We love it and the party atmosphere. But Sunday night it was loud and going until 0200 in the morning. The day before 0345, the same on Friday. Nice, but with a break.

Line routing and Quadrant driving rudder post

   But the real reason Lynn was able to get me to break the anchor loose is that we needed a test of the new (to Celebration anyway) wind vane steering. After years of looking, setting the boat up for it along the way and not being able to afford one, not liking most of the commercial solutions, I found the "perfect" match. An old Aries lift up unit which needed a LOT of work. I often say "I have more time than money" so it wound up on celebration courtesy of a fellow cruiser/guitar player in Grenada for the tidy sum of $200 and a bottle of Clarks Court Dark. Weeks, actually months later, all the parts were broken loose (hammered in many cases) reshaped, refit, modified, Teflon coated, assembled and appeared to be working. A couple of custom brackets and a self designed quadrant for getting the unit connected to the rudder and we were ready for a test run. The journey from the bottom of someone’s bilge to the stern of Celebration, to even include the recast of the lead counterweight using a tin can and the BBQ grill,  I'll cover in some detail on another blog dedicated to maintenance and refit stuff. Today we'll settle for a photo of how it's rigged to the rudder post and hopefully a brief video.

    I have to say that I had never sailed with one before so really didn't know what to expect. Surely there would be some tweaking with my "one of" design, and I'd heard and read all about the wandering course many of the wind steering units take. So I expected the worse, probably a whole day of figuring it out, followed by some redesign and reworking parts. Well to make it short, we headed out, set sails, Lynn held a course while I tensioned and cleated off the control lines. Next I heard from Lynn was "it's steering isn't it? Lo and behold it worked! What, can't be that easy. So after an hour we tacked with no problem, tacked again and again. Eventually we sailed along relaxed and trusting this new thing to steer. No beeps, no clicks, no whirr of the linkage, nor whine of the motor, best of all no amps consumed and no squiggly little lines on my weather fax. Tonight we will christen it after we come up with a suitable name over cocktails. We'll let you know.

Thar She Blows

No, not a tale of whales, but two tales of volcanoes and the destruction they cause.  The Eastern Caribbean islands where we've been living this past year are mostly volcanic.  They have the same MO as we sail by: lush green hills crowned by a perfect volcano crater, topped with fluffy white clouds, quiet and peaceful.  We got a chance to see the other side of the mountain, so to speak, the destructive, uncaring, violent side.



Mount Pelee, above, stands above the town of St Pierre on the NW corner of Martinique.  It erupted in 1902, sending a "fireball of superheated gas that flowed down over the city... All that remained were smoking ruins". Almost 30,000 people burned to death, leaving (depending on the reports) only 2 or 3 survivors.  The new city of St Pierre wasn't rebuilt until 1923 and is built around and on the old ruins.  The ruins are visible throughout the town, old walls that are now part of new structures.





The former entrance to the Theatre.



The ruins of the Police Station/Prison where Louis Cyparis survived the eruption .



Louis Cyparis, he had an interesting life,
go to here for the story.



Statue and inscription at the entrance of the old Theatre.

Volcano #2 is the island country of Montserrat.

Soufriere, from outside the 2 mile maritime exclusion zone, showing the ash flows. Plymouth was on the far left.

The Soufriere eruption is a much more recent event, so with more modern seismic equipment, only 19 people died when it blew in 1995, burying the capitol city of Plymouth. It continued to spew ash, making living conditions very difficult, and during the next few years nearly 2/3 of the population left the country.

Plymouth houses surrounded by the ash flow.



The third story of a home buried by ash.

The ash continues to fall, bird tracks on a stair rail.

I don't know if it was the ash in the air or just the time of year,
but the sunsets were spectacular.

Taxis, Busses, Rum and New Friends

    St Croix: We have some friends Pablo and Tatia (s/v Borealis) who wondered why there were no cruisers in St Croix. They had all great things to say after their visit. Since it was one of the islands we missed last year and we were going with the wind and current this time, we thought we'd give it a taste. We loved it and too are surprised there are few cruisers. Checking in was a breeze, especially as US citizens and having registered with the local boater option., getting around was not hard. Pueblo supermarket is within walking distance from downtown Christiansted where we anchored and $2.50 busses available if you need to go farther. The busses can be a bit confusing but a little time talking to a local clears it up quickly.



    The $2.50 bus: Well more like full-size US vans, they are really taxis, and they say taxi, but some are taxis and some are busses, pretty clear eh?

    Well...you just put your hand out and ask when they stop if they are a two-fifty bus. So what you really have is a taxi, but if its driver is willing to play like a bus and you're willing to go along, then it can be a bus. The difference, ahh...the only difference is that as a $2.50 bus you'll share your "taxi" with as many folks as are willing to get in/out along the route, all only paying $2.50 vs the normal fare. And you will get off and on a main route...no deviating down a side street for a door side drop or pickup.

    So there we were... another distillery to visit in our one year circumnavigation of Caribbean Rum tasting but a really long walk away. A taxi at $25? Nope the two-fifty bus with an easy half mile walk down the side road right to the Cruzan Rum Distillery front door.

A nice tour although a bit superficial, (perhaps a result of us getting the one tour guide/host who doesn't drink!) followed by a bit of sampling in their indoor/outdoor host area. One of the most interesting points is that while ALL the rum is made right there in St Croix, it is ALL shipped in bulk to Florida for spicing, flavoring, and bottling. Then we looked at the prices. Yes you can buy a bottle of Cruzan from the distillery for far less than in Florida even after the trip there and back. Hmmm? Oh yea prices...Cruzan dark aged two years was $6.00/750ml bottle. So how much of that can we stand to backpack out to the road for our taxi/bus back to Christenstead? Unfortunately not much.

   We made our meager purchase and packed it up for the trek. So on the way out one of those great cruiser moments occurred as we met a wonderful couple Jorgen and Nonne (s/v Luna) from Denmark. We chatted and shared information, where we're from, where headed all that when I noticed they had several cases of the good stuff. By then I already knew their boat was in Christiansted near ours so I asked if they had a spare seat we could hook a ride back to "Fredrickstad" with them. The second I said that I realized (confirmed by a gentle kick from Lynn) I didn't mean Fredrickstad at all...we weren't going to Fredrickstad. Too late as Jorgan had heartily agreed so yes we were indeed going to Fredrickstad and off we went.

We toured the Dutch fort, after which we shared a picnic lunch on a hillside and a drive back through the forest and countryside to Christiansted. At one point Lynn commented that we didn't want to mess up their plan for the day only to be told "you are now a part of our plan". We could not have asked for a nicer afternoon and a chance to meet another set of friends. Sharing ideas, talk of kids, pets, sightseeing, past and future journeys, sailing weather for the next days and the afternoon was over all too quick. All due to a slip of the tongue, which by chance and the graciousness of new found friends, suddenly became "the plan"

We've put on a few miles since Steve last blogged about his elbow. (It's healing well, still very sore if hit in just the right spot, but he's taking it easy and it should continue to improve. Thanks to all of you for your concern and good wishes.) 
We ended up doing a 'Humanitarian Run' from Martinique back to Rodney Bay in St Lucia. Our friends, Anne and Chris on Mr Mac, were there and were out of wine!  There they were, slaving away writing, editing, together, on a boat and no wine for Anne at the end of the day. It was an emergency of the highest priority because as Chris pointed out, "The Red Cross won't deliver alcohol". We did what any cruiser worth his rum would do: bought 2 cases of white, checked out of Customs and headed south.  Steve caught a beautiful Mahi on the way, which Chris cleaned for us after our arrival, so we had fresh Mahi to go with some of that wine. It was great to catch up with Anne and Chris and be able to celebrate the book contract that Chris had just signed.  As usual, we had lots of Anne's wonderful cooking (lamb roti's anyone?) , and the kind of good conversation you can have with old friends over an evening of great food and drink.
We're currently on a mooring in Isles des Saintes, a group of islands on the south end of Guadeloupe. Les Saints, as they're called, are picture perfect islands.  Beautiful beaches, old forts to hike to and explore, deep blue water, and of course, great bread.

The Observation Tower.

Steve on the not really great ladder to the top.

Iles Des Saintes from the Observation Tower.

 I could tell I'd eaten too many baguettes in the last 2 months when we hiked to the Observation Tower the other day.  It's 1000 feet up.  I'm a North Dakota girl, so when the guide says there is a road most of the way up, I never think it'll be too steep.  I forget that they don't worry about snow and ice here and as so long as the concrete sets before it slumps down the hill, they can make a road anywhere.  Nothing like a 45 degree walk uphill for a couple of miles.  The view was worth the effort when I finally gasped my way to the top of the rusty ladder in the tower. There was a spectacular 360 degree view, from Dominica in the south, to Guadeloupe in the north.  The tower was originally used by the French to keep watch for the sneaky British navy back in the 1600's, and

Injury Log, #XXXX?

20 Jan, evening dinner, felt an "itch" in my left elbow, no big deal. Middle of the night it felt like it was swelling and started to be painful.   Next day suspected mild bursitis, wrapped it loosely, started Ibuprofen, took it easy, that night a fever of 102. Improved quickly but only to a point.

Now a month and some later…still slightly swollen, much less than before but it is just not getting better. Pain now very sharp and along the underside of the elbow with any pressing motion involving extension of the triceps. So been thinking about arthritis, infection, gout, reading everything, even asking the opinion of a great friend in the medical profession.

Got in here in St Lucia to see a doc, exam, blood tests, everything fine except the pain, no extra uric acid or platelets, none of the indicators for the most likely or expected maladies. Today another path, x-ray. Bull’s-eye, yes it is broken, not the usual break, but a nice divot off the back corner.  Here’s the picture, a close look and you can just see the outline of the chip sitting away from the bone. …now if I can only figure out how the hell I did that?

You've Got Mail!

Rodney Bay, St Lucia

One of the things about being 'homeless' is the lack of a mailbox.  (Well, that and the paperboy can't find us anymore.)  We get asked all the time about how we get our mail.  I thought I'd 'splain. Before we left Florida we set up an account with a company called St Brendan's Isle.  They're a mail forwarding service, which means that after we signed a bunch of paperwork, their address became our legal residence and all our mail goes there.  We don't have a physical residence anywhere, so it solves the problem of where we vote and pay taxes, or don't pay, as is the case in Florida.  They scan the front of every piece of mail and we have an account we can log into and see what's there.  Once we see it, we can have them hold it, shred it, forward it to us unopened or open it and scan the contents.  We have the held mail sent to us every couple of months when we plan to be somewhere long enough for it to catch up. So, to all those who sent us Christmas cards, I can't wait to see them next month! Anything that looks important we have scanned and then we can store it on our harddrive and have SBI shred the original.  We also gave SBI a limited power of attorney to open the mail from the US Coast Guard.  Our boat is documented with them and the documentation has to be renewed yearly.  The documentation is free if we do it on time but fairly pricy to renew if it lapses.  There must have been enough cruisers not getting their documentation in on time that it's profitable for SBI to do it for us, as they do charge an extra fee. FYI, the documentation is like a car title or proof of ownership and we must have it to check into Customs and Immigration in every country.

Since SBI handles mail for hundreds of cruisers, we run into our 'neighbors' from Green Cove Springs all the time.