Captain's Log

Double click on any of the pictures to enlarge or view all pictures in the 2007 Photo Gallery.

05-02-2007

We rent a golf cart and tour around the entire island.  We take our time and stop at every place which looked interesting enough to stop at and went down every road we could find and were back with our golf cart in three and a half hours.  Once you leave the city part of the island, the rest of the island has very little population on it. The water all the way around the island is very clear and the beaches and iron shores are very clean.  Even in the anchorage the water is crystal clear.  The government has really done a great job of keeping the environment clean and protected.  It was very pleasant to see.

05-04-2007

We finish provisioning the boat and are ready to head out to a quieter anchorage.  It is a small reef area that has three small islands that is only 15 miles to our east.  The area is called Cayos Del Este Sudeste.  We arrive and weave our way thru the reef and around some coral patches and find a nice sand place to drop the anchor.   The water is even clearer here than it was in San Andres.

While underway we are listening to the cruisers net and find out that another one of our cruising family is in a Mayday situation.   This will be the second boat that we know that has had a serious problem while making a passage.

The first was the catamaran, Paradox on April 10 as she crossed to Florida.  A tornadic force wind struck them and flipped them over.  Their EPIRB went off for a brief moment but discontinued transmitting when it was out of the water.  Tom and Stanna were trapped with the EPIRB in the starboard pontoon of Paradox all night.  When Tom missed his two morning check ins to the net, the red flag went up and we on the net started engaging communications with the 14300 Ham net and the Coast Guard.  At about the same time Lone Star Love and other registered boats in the Caribbean area received an email from the Coast Guard telling us that the EPIRB on Paradox had sent out a signal, but stopped transmitting.  Later that afternoon their EPIRB started transmitting again and the Coast Guard had enough information to start a search.  They were spotted standing on the up side down hull of Paradox by a fixed wing aircraft at 4:00 pm and a Coast Guard helicopter picked them up at 5:30 that evening.  They were safe and uninjured.  Paradox was left drifting and headed for the coast of Cuba.

The second and most recent loss was a boat named Sail About with Gunter and Greta on board.  They bought Sail About in January in the Rio Dulce River in Guatemala and their goal was to sail to New Zealand.  Greta insisted that they install a Single Sideband High Frequency Radio or better known as an SSB.  She finally got her radio when they were in Jonesville, Roatan.  Several boaters finally convinced Gunter that he had to have the radio for safety, since they were planning such a long crossing.  So Doug from our buddy boat Kristiana and Bob from Shamal helped Gunter install the radio and they both taught them how to use it.  They were so cute to listen to on the radio as they both are from Norway and have heavy Norwegian accents.  We all knew their voices before the ever gave their boat name on the radio.

Sail About made its way in early March to the Vivorillo and on to Colon where they went thru the Panama Canal and on to the Galapagos Islands.

05-04-2007

Our good friends on Valentina had their SSB on early that morning and picked up a Mayday on our net frequency.  It is Sail About!  They are taking on water and do not think they can get it under control.  They have set off their EPIRB.  At that point our friends Gene and Brenda on Queen Mary call the 14300 Ham net to let them know that a Mayday has been received from Sail About and they are 700 miles west of the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

We are underway ourselves and by the time we get our anchor down and get back on the radio we find out that the 14300 Ham net and the Coast Guard have their position.  The Coast Guard also has picked up the signal from their EPIRB.  Gene on Queen Mary is the relay between the Ham net and Sail About and two other sailboats that are close to Sail About.  All vessels in the area of the stricken vessel are required by law to go to the assistance of a stricken vessel.  So two sailboats change course and start to make way to Sail About.  Mokisha is released from trying to aid because with their motor and sails they can not make any headway toward the stricken vessel.  Their winds are 25 knots on the nose with 14 foot seas.  The other vessel named Demarri is making good headway toward Sail About.

About mid day Gunter gets the water flow under control.  We did hear him say he lost his forestay and the entire bow pulpit including the dolphin striker.  When the dolphin striker pulled out of the hull it made a hole in the bow at the water line which was were Sail About was taking on water.  With the water flow under control Gunter was able to assess the rest of the damage.  He had no way to rig a line forward to hold the mast and was afraid it would soon come down.  If it did he would not have any radio communications.  He also did not have enough fuel to motor back to the Galapagos, so with out being able to sail or motor, their only choice was to abandon ship.  There was also no way to tow a sailboat 700 miles back against the current.

As the day goes on Gene is still relaying between the Ham net and Demarri and Sail About.  The Ham net is coordinating with the Coast Guard to see if any large ships are in the area.  There are two and both start making headway to reach Sail About.  At the same time the Coast Guard is sending out a P3 Orion aircraft to drop a life raft and emergency supplies.    Demarri is the closest and will stand by Sail About till a larger ship can reach Sail About. Demarri and Sail About were both headed to the Marquises Islands some 2200 miles away.  Demarri could not take Gunter and Greta on board as they did not have water of provisions to sustain four persons for another 20 plus days at sea.

Gunter and Greta were in luck as the first and closest ship to assist them was a Norwegian freighter named Bell Nor headed for Panama and on to Brazil.  A boat from their own country was going to be rescuing them.

As the day went dark into the night the two sailboats got closer and closer to one another.  Gunter was motoring at about 5 knots toward Demarri and their combined speed of about 11 knots got them together about 8:00 pm.  The two boats were then in VHF radio range and we could not hear much going on any more.  The Bell Nor was not scheduled to arrive on the scene till the next morning after 9:00 am.

It was a long night for the two sailboats, but Demarri stayed close to them and both boats informed the Coast Guard that the emergency and supplies drop would not be necessary.  The pilot of the aircraft talked to Demarri and Sail About as they passed overhead and circled them to make sure that they still did not want the drop.  Both sailboats felt like it would be a waste of money to drop it since the water flow was under control on Sail About.  Sail About and Demarri tried to tell the Coast Guard several hours ago that they did not need the drop, but the Coast Guard wanted to assess the situation before they called the airplane off.  The pilot said to Demarri and Sail About, "We live to serve".  That really hit everyone's heart when we heard that.  They circled again and headed back home.

As daylight broke the sailboats were still together waiting for the Bell Nor.  It arrived and got Gunter and Greta on board without injury at about 10:30 that morning.  Gunter was instructed by the Coast Guard to put Sail About in gear and lock the auto pilot on a course of 355 degrees and get off.  Don't know exactly why, but probably to use as much fuel up before she sinks as possible.  It was estimated that it might take two days to sink.  Demarri was released from service and wanted to know where they could email photos to, so if they show up on the nwcaribbean.net web site in a couple of months, it will be interesting to see.

Well that was enough excitement for a couple of days.  Gene and Brenda on Queen Mary stayed by the radio thru the whole ordeal and we are very proud that they were a key player in the rescue of our cruising family members. Thank you Gene and Brenda!

Now back to playing at Cayos Del Este Sudeste.  The water is so spectacular; you can see two hundred feet across the water while we are snorkeling.  There are shallow sand flats about 8 feet deep and then it drops of like a sand dune to about 20 to 40 feet and at the bottom of these big holes are huge reefs that come back up to the surface. Truly a spectacular sight!

While enjoying this wonderful area we celebrate Judy's birthday with Doug and Rayene from our buddy boat Kristiana.  Rayene made a wonderful dinner and even baked a birthday cake.  It was a great birthday!

05-08-2007

It's time to move on and we are headed to the Albuquerque Cays about 25 miles to the southwest of where we currently are.  The seas are comfortable and the winds are low as we make our short day sail.  Upon entering the reef we are told that you have to navigate around a lot of coral patches.  This was definitely true!  It took us about an hour to weave our way to the two small islands that we wanted to anchor by.  Once we got up by the island that was the farthest to the north we saw a sand bank that came out into the water and dropped off to over 20 feet, so we inched forward onto this shallow sand bank area and dropped the anchor in about 5 feet of water.  We backed off of the sand bank and allowed the boat to set in over 20 feet of water with coral heads under the boat.  The nice thing is the sand bank is just sand so there is no coral that the anchor chain can get tangled around, but we can look down in the water and see the coral heads and the fish under the boat.

We don't need to fish anymore since our freezer is full so we have been spending lots of time just exploring and snorkeling.  The island that we are anchored closest to is actually an Army base for the Colombian Army.  There are seven guys that guard the two islands and protect it from the surrounding countries of Nicaragua, Coasta Rica and Honduras.  If they did not have the Army presence here all the time there would be fighting between all the countries to get possession of all the islands around this area.  The guys are very nice and enjoy our visits.  They have given us coconuts that are nicely trimmed and ready to knock the hole in the top and drink the coconut water. They spend a month at a time and then a new group comes out from San Andres for a month and the guys that are here go to San Andres.  When they come out they bring everything they will need for the month.  All their food, water and supplies are transported with each new group.  They have a huge generator that would run a whole neighborhood in the states and all they have running on it is a refrigerator, a few lights and the most important thing is the TV and satellite dish.  Their food supplies are rice and beans, some meat and whatever fish they can come up with.  They also have a fresh water pit, but have to boil the water if they plan to drink it.  They bring bottled water with them, but if that runs out then they have to use the water pit.  The island next to this one is a fish camp and temporary home to a lot of fisherman from San Andres.  The fisherman trade water for fish with the Army, so it all works out.

05-11-2007

Greg and I are working on several boat projects when Doug comes by in his dinghy.  He wants to see if Greg wants to go fishing with him.  Greg was in the middle of things so he did not go.  Later that afternoon when Doug comes back from fishing Rayene calls us on the radio and tells us that Doug my have ruptured his eardrum.  This is not good news at all.  We discuss what all of our medical books have to say and determine that since he can hear that he must not have ruptured the eardrum completely, but he did feel water rush into it, so he did damage it to some degree.  He will have to stay out of the water and take antibiotics for at least ten days and free diving 20 to 30 feet will be off limits for at least a couple of months.  The bad thing about this is that Doug and Rayene rely on the sea for their protein source because they do not have a freezer to hold more then a few days of meat products, so they fish all the time.

05-13-2007

It's Sunday and Doug finds out that the Army guys get Sunday afternoon off and he offers to take a couple of them fishing.  The Lieutenant named Rincor and one of the guys under his command, Sergio take Doug up on his offer and Greg goes along to show them how to spearfish.  Doug stays in the dinghy to keep his ear dry.  Rincor is not a real good swimmer and he gives up in a short time.  He said he was swallowing too much of the sea water.  Sergio on the other hand, took to it just great.  Greg showed him how to go after the fish and that was all he needed.  He shot two fish on his first time ever to spearfish and Greg got five for them.  With seven fish to cook for dinner the Army guys would have a good dinner.

05-14-2007

Greg and Judy are going to go snorkeling.  If we see a really nice fish we might shoot it but we are still in our no spear fishing mode since we have fish in the freezer.   Rayene wants to get out and do some snorkeling too so we all go together.  Greg spots a hogfish under a coral head in about 25 feet of water.  Neither Judy nor Rayene see it at all and think Greg is after a snapper.  Greg dives down and shoots and comes up with a really nice hogfish.  That has to be our favorite of all the fish we eat.  Rayene was really surprised that Greg got such a nice hogfish.  We ended our snorkeling trip and dropped Rayene off at her boat and Greg told Doug he had to get to work and clean the hogfish.  They didn't want to take the hogfish, but we told them we were not shooting fish for our table any longer since we had so much in our freezer.  It's sad about Doug's ear, but it works great for Greg since he likes to fish, he can get fish for them.  Perfect solution!

05-15-2007

Another beautiful day, the winds are low, the seas are low and the temperature is warm.  Our little group of three, Greg, Judy and Rayene head out for a snorkel and to maybe see what the fishing is like.  We are in some really deep water, about 35 feet and Greg spots a mutton snapper.  He dives down and takes a shot.  He hits the snapper, but it pulls off the spear and goes into a coral head.  The grouper living in that coral head gets mad and chases the snapper out of his home and gets all puffed up and mad standing guard at his hole in the coral.  In the mean time Judy and Rayene are keeping an eye on the snapper while Greg is reloading his spear gun.  Greg dives down and shots the grouper that is so mad he is just sitting there.  Then back up for air, takes the grouper off the spear and reloads the spear gun.  Then it's back down after the snapper who is now tucked under a small coral head.  Greg shoots and has the snapper.  With two fish in hand it is time to head to the dinghy.  We do not snorkel around with our fish because these waters are known for sharks.  Once back at the dinghy we pull the anchor and head to another spot.  We have only been out snorkeling for thirty minutes and we still want to snorkel some more.

We find a spot that looks good.  We are snorkeling around and Rayene call out that she has two grouper under a coral head.  We all swim to the head and Greg dives down and there are at least three.  He shoots one and comes up, puts it on the stringer and Judy takes it to the dinghy.  Greg goes down again and get another, brings is up and again Judy takes it to the dinghy.  All this time Rayene is keeping and eye on the rest of the groupers.  That's it we have plenty of fish and call it a day.  We snorkel around for a little longer and then head back to Kristiana.  We put Doug to work cleaning the snapper and two grouper and we keep the smallest grouper for dinner.  That will help to keep Doug and Rayene in fish for a couple of days.

5-16-2007

Today is the first day in months that we woke up to cloudy overcast skies.  It looks like it will rain all day.  We only
see a light shower, but it remains overcast the rest of the day.  We have made plans for Doug and Rayene to come over for a happy hour/dinner.  Judy wants to make conch fritters and it makes a lot so it turns into a meal.  Rayene wants to use some of the fish from yesterday to make fish cakes and a pasta salad to go with it.  We get together in the evening to share some really good food and lots of stories and the sun comes out just in time to give us a nice sun set.

We are working on plans to have a fiesta on the island on Saturday to celebrate Doug’s birthday.  The Army guys want us to come ashore and spend some time together to celebrate.  Rayene and Judy have decided to make a huge pot of spaghetti and brownies and cookies and the Army guys are going to make a bonfire to add to the fiesta.  They wanted to know if they could make some beans or rice, but we told them we would do the food.  The Army guys are really looking forward to the spaghetti dinner since they only eat beans and rice for most of their meals.  It will be as much fun for them as it will be for us to celebrate Doug’s birthday.  The planning is still underway!

05-19-2007

We think we have all the plans in order.  Rayene makes a batch of cookies and Judy makes a big pan of brownies. The Army guys tell us that we can cook the whole meal there, but the sauce has to simmer for hours.  Rayene and Judy pooled together their supplies and Judy makes a huge pot of spaghetti sauce on Lone Star Love and takes it in to the island at 3:00.   The Army guys have planned to play a game of soccer for our entertainment and of course it was a good game.  They get Doug out there to play with them, but he did not play long as they guys were pretty intense in the game and Doug did not want to get hurt.  All Spanish speaking Latin American boys know how to play soccer from the time they can walk.  We used ALL the spaghetti pasta we had on both boats and cooked it up in a huge pot on their one burned stove.  I would not go so far as to call it a stove, it was more like something we would use in the states to cook outside with, for deep frying turkeys or boiling up a huge pot of shrimp or something like that.  Rayene and Judy and the guys that wanted to learn to cook pasta all worked on it together.  The building where they cook is a separate building from where they have their meals.   So we put the guys to work and had them carry the big heavy hot pots of spaghetti and sauce to the other building.  Rayene and Judy dished it up for them because they were to shy and didn’t really know what to do so we did it for them.   We had parmesan cheese and some other toppings for them, but they all seemed happy with just the parmesan cheese.   Bless their hearts they all ate till they were ready to pop.  We hope they don’t have belly aches tomorrow.   After everyone had eaten as much as they could, Greg cut the brownies, one of his favorite jobs.  Judy had taken some icing and wrote on top of the brownies “Happy Birthday Doug”.  At that time the guys all broke out and sang Happy Birthday to Doug, first in English and then in Spanish.  Then everyone got started on the brownies and a very short time after that the pan was empty.  It was so much fun!  Rayene told them to save the cookies for tomorrow as she was afraid that all this different food might make them sick.  They are use to only eating beans rice and fish.  We visited a while longer, but then Greg and Judy decided to go back to the boat before it got dark because the wind had been blowing hard and the skies were dark grey and Doug and Rayene were shortly behind us.  We didn’t get to do the bonfire, but maybe some other time.

05-20-2007

Sundays are a light work day for the Army guys so all of us go back in to the island to check on them.  We discovered that everyone was fine and no one got sick from eating to much and they all slept really well since they all had full bellies.  Only Eduardo was missing from the group.  He was sleeping because it was his turn on night watch last night. We showed the guys all the pictures that we took for the party and Judy told them that she was going to put some of them on our web site, so they all took down the web site and will look it up later when they get back to their base.

05-22-2007

It is a beautiful day and we think it would be either a good day to go fishing or set sail south to Bocas Del Toro, Panama.  We discuss it with our buddy boat Kristiana and the decision is made that we will lift anchors at 3:00 pm this afternoon.  As we lift our anchors the Army guys came to the beach waving and calling out their goodbyes.  They will also be leaving the island as their month will be up on Friday.

We have to have good light to get out of the reef system at Albuquerque Cays, so leaving in the late afternoon will give us the light we need.  The winds are light and the seas flat with big rolls, so it is very comfortable.  We are supposed to get 10 to 15 knot winds during the night, but the wind never happens.  We have to maintain 4 knots of speed so that we do not arrive too early at the Bocas Channel so it is a motor boat ride all the way.

At noon of our second day out the fishing rod begins to sing.  It is a beautiful Maui Maui!  Greg and Judy both work together to get it landed on the boat and five minutes later it is on the cleaning station.  It was 44 inches long and will make some tasty meals.

05-24-2007

We arrive at Bocas Channel at daybreak just as we planned. We went into the anchorage off the Bocas Yacht Club, dropped our anchor and made some breakfast and waited till the marina opened to go into our slip.  We were in our slip and ready for the Port Captain to arrive and check us into the country by 9:00 am.  We are here and happy to have the long journey to Panama behind us.

05-29-2007

Greg was busy helping some of the other boats with some engine and transmission repairs for a few of those days.  Judy spent a couple of days checking out the town of Bocas Del Toro and took a water taxi to Changuinola with some of the other boaters to see what was available there.  The others included Kaija from Kaija’s Song, David from Bruadair and Lyla from Blow Me Away.

The water taxi ride went thru a canal that had been dredged out by the banana company’s so that the banana barges could get inland to pick up their banana freight.  The ride was about 45 minutes each way.  The trip to Changuinola was in flat calm seas.  The channel was full of beautiful floating water plants.  The trip back was nice in the canal, but when we got to the open waters it was a wave banging wet ride.  The winds had come up to about 20 knots, but it did not slow the taxi driver down.