Travelling Mind

Planning for 2012 Trip, Puerto Rico to Maryland

2011-11-02T17:38:00.020-04:00

Jenny and I have been generally planning to bring Magus back to Maine at some point, but we've put it off for the obvious benefit of having a boat in the Caribbean. We do worry about the hurricane issue, and we seem to have been fortunate again this year. Anyway, 2012 seems like a good time to bring Magus up to St. Mary's City Maryland, because we could be there for daughter Echo's graduation from St. Mary's College of Maryland on May 12. Then leave Magus somewhere in that area until we can bring her to Maine over the summer.

This is a long trip that is essentially a delivery, given the distance and time limitations. The trip could be through some very interesting places, but there wouldn't be a lot of time to stop and relax. The fastest, basic option would be to sail from Salinas around to Mayaguez on the west cost of Puerto Rico, about 90 nautical miles, then go straight to Beuafort, NC about 1,150 n.miles, then take the "waterway" for 190 miles to Norfolk and then 120 miles up the Chesapeake to St. Mary's City. That's 1,550 n.miles that could be done in about three weeks, with no weather delays, and the longest part of the trip would be about 10 days at sea.

The next option would be to go to the Turks and Caicos from Mayaguez, that's about 350 n.miles, then from there to Beaufort for 860 n.miles, then the rest. The total would be 1,620 n.miles, and it would take a few more days because of the stops, but the longest ocean leg would be reduced to 7 or 8 days, and the total time could be less than 4 weeks, or call it 5. Definitely a delivery, though.

Here's a plan that would allow for some vacation, but it would still be a delivery. One month to move the boat from her mooring in Salinas to Nassau Bahamas, then leave her there for a month while I come back and work, then back to the boat and take another month to bring the boat from Nassau to St.Mary's City. It's about 1,000 n.miles to Nassau, with the current plan to sail past the Dominican Republic but stop in the Turks & Caicos, cross the "bank," then go 210 miles to clear into the Bahamas at San Salvador, then follow the Exumas up to Nassau. From Nassau to St. Mary's City is about 920 n.miles that would allow a short stop in the northern Bahamas (the Abacos,) then a 500 mile ocean crossing to Beaufort, NC and then the waterway and Chesapeake to St. Mary's City. These maps show the overall territory, but Google satellite maps are a good way to look at some of the details, and they have a distance measuring tool, now.

It's early December, and Jenny has just decided she wants to do the trip, so now we can really make plans, like find someone to watch the dogs and ducks, and that should be possible. The overnight ocean crossings need to have at least two people, and it would be easier to have four. If anyone looking at this wants to volunteer, let me know. Here are the tentative dates (and it looks like I can get the time off):
First leg: February 24 to March 31, then the second leg from April 20 to May 19. The first of the travel blocks is 5 weeks long instead of 4, so that should make it more fun. We'll also need some time to get ready before we can leave, and then put the boat away, so the travel time is not as much as it sounds like. We should be able to fit in a little time to relax and chill, though.

Jenny here at last

2011-03-27T13:43:00.000-04:00

This post was started as an experiment on my iphone that ended up in Salinas harbor for just a second or two when I fell into the water, but that that was all it took to ruin that unit. (Now I wish I had gotten the insurance.) That was on our last full day in Puerto Rico when we were mostly putting the boat away for another year or so. I will be finishing up this blog over the next week.

For now, here is a link to some photos, and I will add some more and put some in this blog.

When Jenny arrived in Culebra, it started to feel like a real vacation. We got the engine fixed after a couple of days, and we got into island time. I really appreciate that Jenny helped keep me on a vacation pace, with fairly short sails so we had time to swim or explore every day. The first day out of Culebra was a Saturday and we were heading east with enough time to get to Jost Van Dyke when we realized that BVI Customs closes at noon, and we couldn't make it by then-- it's about 36 miles into the wind, so it takes at least 7 hours but more like 8. Anyway, that made it easy to decide to stop in Magen's Bay on the north side of St. Thomas just after noon, after 4 hours or so.

Magen's Bay is not explained in the cruising guides very well, but it was very unique-- a bay with the far end being a sandy beach almost a mile long. It's a public recreation area with lots of parking, and seems to be free. On Saturday, the beach not too full with a mix of tourists and locals. On Sunday, it was even more locals having barbecues under the shade of the palms at the edge of the beach. Jenny swam the length of the beach both ways on both days we were there.

On Monday morning we sailed on to Jost and cleared in. It was great to see most of the friends we met two years ago, the second time for Albert-- Foxy, Wendell, Erol, and Susan from JVD Preservation. Some highlights: Susan Chaplin paddled over from Tortola, and we had dinner with her and Erol on Magus, and played music at Erol's house. Too soon, it was time to leave, and we went back to Magens Bay for a night, then on to Culebra. We had a couple of good snorkeling events, had a good dinner at Mamacita's, then it was on to Salinas. That was fun, too, checking in with old friends and meeting new ones. Sophi and Travis know Barbara and Stew on La Luna, and they were anchored near us, so we visited with them a couple of times, including a guitar playing night. We also went out to dinner with Mary and Fred. Overall, it was another great adventure on Magus.

Cruising with Sophi and Travis

2011-03-15T23:05:00.000-04:00

At the Annaberg Suger Mill Ruins

Sophi and Travis arrived on Friday, March 11, and Travis quickly climbed the mast to find a seriously corroded/broken rigging plate on the mast that really needed to be fixed/ replaced. We found an abandoned mast at the boatyard in Culebra and were able to find a usable part that Travis installed the next morning, and we left reasonalby early. That was 40 miles direct to Coral Bay, St. John, where we stayed a coupled of days, listening to the bar bands that were pretty good. When we got there, everyone we met was from Maine, or had some connection. On Sunday, we took a hike to the Annanberg Sugar Mill ruins and met some more people on boats in Coral Bay.

The dinghy dock at Coral Bay, St. John

Other repairs we've had to do so far include a dead battery and bad electrical wires, and a disconnected cooling hose that caused a little flooding of the bilge and gave us a good scare.

We stayed one night in Haulover Bay
(USVI), and then sailed to West End, Tortola the next day, that would be Tuesday, March 15, 2011. Cleared Customs into the BVI here.

Motor sailing into Coral Bay

In the caves at Norman Island, BVI

Erol and his chicken Tiny at East End Harbor, Jost Van Dyke

We stayed one night there, then visited the caves on Norman Island, and spent the night at an anchorage off of Peter Island.

We got to Great Harbor, Jost Van Dyke on Thursday, St. Pattys Day, which was a party at Foxy's of course. I caught up with a lot of the people that we met two years ago, including Erol, and Susan from the JVD Preservation Society where she is doing some really excellent things. The Sloop Project is moving along at a good island pace, being built in a shed behind Foxy's.

On Friday we went around to visit Erol (see two years ago,) and hung out with him and his friend Pops, and went snorkeling before heading back to Great Harbor. It seems like he will be losing his great deal place, and he plans to go back to Montserrat in his 22 foot open outboard boat, with all of his worldly possessions; see photos in the link at the end of this post for photos of his place and his boat.

We discovered an engine problem the next morning, so we got a late start, only making it to the western end of St. Thomas that day. The anchorage had quite a swell, and it blew hard the next day, like 18-20 kts NE-- standard tradewind conditions. We were going almost due west, so the wind was on our starboard quarter, and we sailed with all sails and the "big" jib at 5 to 6 kts-- no engine except leaving the anchorage and setting the anchor in Culebra at about noon on Sunday, March 20. The total sailing miles by the GPS with Sophi and Travis was 119.3.

This needs to be fixed some more, but look at Sophi and Travis's web site here. I'm really looking forward to Jenny arriving in two days-- that's Wednesday, March 23. They had snow in Maine on Monday night, and I know she's ready for a break.

Unfortunately, the engine issue will need some attention, and the parts are supposed to arrive on Thursday, and the project will take several hours, but then everything will be good to go. [I knew the oil lines needed to be replaced but my solution to date was to have special high-strength repair tape which was a very good thing, but the lines need to be replaced so we don't have to worry about dumping oil in the bilge and the ocean.]

When Jenny arrives, we will do more snorkeling than I did with Sophi and Travis, and the best snorkeling we've found is right here around Culebra. We want to visit our friend Susan Chaplin in Tortola, too, so we will probably go up there (up meaning into the wind.) I'm not sure if this will be updated until after we return to Maine on April 7. Thanks for checking in. A bunch more photos are here.

Singlehanded to Culebra

2011-03-09T18:04:00.000-05:00

Departure was at 6:05 on Monday, March 7, planning to stop somewhere on the south shore of Vieques. That's basically due east, which as usual is right into the wind, so it was bumpy, and things fell and broke along the way. However, I made 52 miles in less than 10 hours, so that was good. Motor-sailing the whole way, like this:

Stopped at Puerto Real, or the Town of Esperanza, and spent most of the day checking out the condition of Magus and doing a few little projects. Also went into the nice little tourist town and bought some groceries, the highlight being the discovery of a mango tree with enough ripe mangoes to spare.

After lunch, I left for a short 6 mile trip to Isla Chiva to spend the night, a little closer to Culebra. This place has a lovely beach, and not many people, day trippers only it seems. The phosphorescence in the water is big in certain places along the south shore of Vieques, and it was very cool at this spot. Once it was dark, the water was sparkling, and the big fish would make trails in the water, with the little fish doing occasional freak-outs and dispersing. Never seen that before.

Left sort of early again, but not until 6:45. It's about 20 miles to Culebra, and I motor-sailed into the wind to the east end of Vieques, then actually did some sailing. Slower, though, especially since I was still going as close to the wind as I could. The wind went around to almost due north, so I motorsailed the last 5 miles or so. And the tacking added 5 miles to the trip. I got into the ferry harbor at Dewey on Culebra at about 12:30, Wednesday, March 9. I also almost caught a couple of fish on this leg, but they got away, of course. I'm going to buy some more lures and equipment, though.

Daughter Sophi and her boyfriend Travis will be here on Friday morning, so I'll get a few projects done in the meantime, in addition to this post.

2011 First week or so

2011-03-04T21:20:00.000-05:00

OK, I arrived on Sunday,February 27, and in less than a week I've gotten a lot done. On Monday, I rebuilt the carburetor on the dinghy outboard. It went pretty well and I'm very glad that I didn't pour the little bit of “fuel” from the gas container into it-- it was all water. I rowed into the marina, bought a few things including gas, and was thrilled that it worked fine for the ride back to Magus. In fact, its working better than it ever has.

My shopping trip included getting some produce at a little roadside place in Salinas. Another reason I really like Puerto Rico.

$5.50 for all of this. And fresh squeezed OJ for 4 days.

That evening, I tried to start the engine and found out that the engine battery was essentially dead. This was my own fault because I didn't have the solar charger on it. The system was set-up to just charge the house batteries, but that will change this trip.

I brought the battery in to Fred's house and we put it on the charger, then made an evening of it at Drakes. The next morning, it still didn't show any signs of life, so I bought a new one. As it turns out, two days later, it was essentially fine, and Fred didn't want it, so its now the fourth battery for the "house" system.

Before I bought the battery, I replaced the old running light fixtures with LED fixtures and bulbs. And on the way into the marina (by dinghy,) I stopped and talked to Gilbert on his boat about cleaning the bottom of Magus, which he was doing when I got back from the battery trip. [Thanks, Rick of Orion at the Salinas Marina who I didn't see somehow.]

Anyway, by Wednesday I was ready to do the engine work, which was nasty, but the engine works great, with the new water pump and other stuff. All with thanks to Fred and his tools and moral support. Thursday was a bunch of shopping, and Friday was a few more things and returning the rental car to Sydney-- see the story from last year. On Friday, Fred made some excellent rice and beans at his and Mary's house in Salinas. Here they are in their backyard.

Saturday was the beginning of really getting ready to go, with putting up sails, rigging the anchors, etc, etc. Also did some laundry and had dinner at Drakes. Brought in a piece of canvas to Maryann at Tradewinds to have it modified to fit better when we put the boat away.

On Sunday, I had a tour of Barbara, the “live anywhere” boat designed by Michael Porter, tour by Barbara Porter, both of Chebeague Island, Maine. The boat is outrageous and I learned about a great little hatch screen that I want to get for Magus, among other things. Mike is still finishing out the interior, with a schedule to get a cabin finished in about a week for a visit from the grandkids. It turns out that Barbara and Mike are friends with some neighbors of ours in Bowdoinham, David and Allison Berry, because Mike designed and built a boat that Dave uses to sell vegetables in the summer; check this out.

Tomorrow I plan to leave early for parts east.

Another year, another planning exercise

2011-02-25T13:23:00.000-05:00

In 2011, planning was a little difficult due in some part to our move to Bowdoinham from Peaks Island, and the fact that we have a new dog, three total, and three ducks, that basically means someone needs to stay back at Whole Dog Camp. Just before Albert was going to go for a shorter than usual time, we got a friend of Jenny's to stay for two weeks at the end of the 6 weeks that Albert will be on Magus. After he's been there for 10 days or so, Sophi and Travis are going to meet him, hopefully in Culebra. Then Jenny will meet there for the last 2 weeks. So, basically, the planning came together again.

Oh, also, our friends Fred and Mary in Salinas were a super big help by re-registering Magus before it was due at the end of January. And, this process is a big hassle-- ask me about it sometime.

Next Update

2010-03-04T11:23:00.000-05:00

March 3, 2010

OK, this could be known as the year of major engine and mechanical problems, but in my overly optimistic style, I'll call it the year of tourist trips and a shorter than planned sailing trip.

After Jenny arrived in Ponce, it took another day to finish up some things, and we left to enjoy Isla Caja de Muertos for a day before going to Salinas. It was there that we discovered that the alternator wasn't working, and the engine water pump had a very bad problem. Back in Salinas, it took over a week to deal with these two things. Eventually we took a trip to Culebra, and it turned out that the water pump “repair” was not complete, so the leaking device will still need to be changed out-- again, but probably next year, if a hurricane doesn't destroy the boat first.

But dealing with the water pump and the alternator was a good Puerto Rico experience, and our friend Fred Long was a big help. He knew a good machine shop, and that guy found some tractor parts, and got it back together in less than a week. During that time, we caught up with both old and new friends in Salinas and around.

While we waited for the pump to be rebuilt at the machine shop, we took a day trip to the rainforest for a hike and zip-line tour. Another classic Puerto Rico experience was getting the rental car to go to the tour. The car company was late picking us up at the marina, and we explained that we were in a hurry to meet a schedule, so Sidney said just take the car and go-- no drivers license copy, or signature, or phone number, or nada, just take the car. So we did, and arrived at the meeting place exactly on time, while we waited for the tour group to get there-- 45 minutes later. But the whole tour was a blast, with a nice group of people, a great couple of guys giving the tour, and an outrageous authentic lunch up at the trail-head.

We finally left Salinas on Sunday, February 21, with a 25 mile trip to Puerto Patillas, an open anchorage that is usable in the prevailing easterlies. We had another Puerto Rico experience at a waterfront bar: Asking if there was a grocery store in town, the waiter said what do you need? Onions, mostly, we said. How many? Maybe four. OK, he asked another employee something in Spanish, and she came back with a bag of onions. We said great, how much? Nothing, no problem, they were in the kitchen. We stayed another day and took a hike through an old coconut forest, and left early on Tuesday, as the winds turned south and then southwest, which is unusual, but helped us going east.

Tuesday night we got to Isla Pineros, about 45 miles, and spent the night at a nice spot, but not very good snorkelling. Then we left early on Wednesday for Culebra, about 10 miles. We stayed in a few different places around Culebra, and enjoyed the nice clear water and great snorkelling. Had to leave on Sunday morning, though, and we did the whole 72 miles back to Salinas in less than 12 hours, even though the wind was west of south, which was unusual again, and not in our favor. But we were able to get the boat put away a day or so early, and we took a tourist trip to Ponce, which may be in a final blog.

2010 First Week

2010-02-07T16:23:00.000-05:00

This year, the plan was for me to go to Magus in Puerto Rico a week before Jenny, so that I could get some work done before she arrived. Like all plans, it hasn't gone perfectly, but quite a lot has been done. Magus was made seaworthy enough to move her from Salinas to the boatyard in Ponce, and she was hauled, and they started to paint the bottom. A few other projects have also been started, and she might get back in the water on Monday or maybe Tuesday. Jenny arrives on Tuesday at 5:00 am at the Ponce airport, so that will be good. And then there are a couple of other boat things that might take a day or two, and of course there's the whole provisioning thing.

The best news is that the termites seem to have been eliminated by our massive treatment effort last year-- that's an article that I haven't seen in Cruising World, yet. I still seem to have plenty of other projects to get all hot and sweaty, over, though. I realize that I really like coming up with plans and improvements for the boat, especially while I'm in the comfort of home. Actually doing them, however, is real work, and it's not exactly fun-- until it's over. Here are some photos of the nastiest dirty job I did so far, installing a “fuel polishing” system, with two filters, plenty of valves, and a little high-tech pump.

This is the work in progress, and the finished set-up, down below the floor of the pilot house. The new filter unit is obvious, but they are both Racor's that take the same replacement filters.

The next somewhat nasty job will be changing the engine oil, but now that I know the “system,” it won't be too bad. The boatyard crew is supposed to clean the bilge, and that will be money well spent, if it happens.

When I first got to Salinas, things went slow, partly because I wanted to deal with the Puerto Rico registration renewal, and that is an all day job, as it turns out-- I won't bother with all the details. And not knowing Spanish hardly at all doesn't help either.

As I did all the little preparation things that I needed to do, I found that the two forward turnbuckles for the mizzen mast had serious stress cracks-- one all the way around the fitting. It was lucky that the little marine store near the marina had the parts, so they got changed out. When I showed the old fittings to Boyd on Elusive Dream moored next to Magus, his reaction was “You need to put in a temporary parallel connection until you can get new parts, those are ready to fail.” I could say, done.

The daytime temperatures are really not that bad, like low 90's, but it's not comfortable if you're doing anything. This photo shows is a cute little meter on Magus; that's humidity on the right, not the temp of 90 F on the left.

Besides doing boat work, it feels a little like vacation. I'm having fresh squeezed orange juice from Puerto Rico oranges every morning, and I fond the time to write this. Here's the view from the club patio:

OK, so where are we going this year? Well, we didn't get anywhere close to my grandiose plans for last year, and it was completely a good time, so we'll probably just do about the same. I'd like to visit with Erol on Jost Van Dyke, and there's a lot more of the BVI's that we didn't see. I also would like to stop at Coral Bay on St. John. Just that itinerary could fill up the two full weeks that is about all we will have, after provisioning and getting back to Salinas in time to make plans to leave. Life is good.

The rest of the cruise

2009-04-11T11:33:00.000-04:00

We returned to Salinas on Monday, March 30, and did all the projects to put the boat on the mooring for the next 10 months or so. We put the dinghy away, and brought Magus to the mooring, borrowed another dinghy, and went to bed for a few hours. At 2 am, we got up and took the borrowed dinghy into the marina, put the outboard motor back on Fred's boat, and he gave us a ride to the airport in Ponce. He has been unbelievably helpful.

Here are links to some photos of the trip. Check out the one's at Erol's cabin on the east side of Jost. It's a very sweet place. http://picasaweb.google.com/alpeaks/2009BVIErols#

We spent a lot of time on Jost Van Dyke, most of it at Great Harbor. We took a trip to Road Town to get an extension on our immigration papers, so that was very interesting in a West Indian kind of way. We spent a night at Peter Island, where there were no other boats; this seems to be rare with all the charter boats around. Certainly, Great Harbor always had charter boats coming and going.

Anyway, if you want to hear the good stories, let me know.

Update with photos

2009-03-19T16:51:00.001-04:00

Adding some photos to this post from last week.

We just got back to JVD, after a couple of days of visiting other places, and getting our visa extensions in Road Town-- that was a classical West Indian experience that took plenty of time. Nest time, we'll know to ask for the full 30 days or whatever it is. We found a harbor with no other boats where the snorkelling was outstanding.

Albert visited with Erol at his cabin on the north end of JVD one night, and we plan to visit again for a cookout on Sunday and get some photos.

Jenny's going to the school tomorrow to do a dog training presentation. Erol's playing at Foxy's on Friday night, and there's a big reggae concert there on Saturday. Then it'll be west to Culebra next week sometime.

Cruising at last

2009-03-16T17:29:00.000-04:00

Just a quick update-
We left Salinas on Monday night, March 9 and anchored where we could leave at night. At about midnight on Tuesday, we were getting ready to leave, and got stopped by the Marine Policia, but no issues. Once we were underway, we learned that the autopilot worked like a charm, and we got into Vieques in the morning, after a bumpy ride all night long. We got chased out of a really nice harbor by some official guys doing ordinance removal operations, but found another nice spot at Isla Chiva. We took a day to rest, and left at about 1:00 am on Thursday morning, getting into Cruz Bay at 10 am or so. We stayed for a few hours, but it was hot and touristy. We then left for Great Harbor, Jost Van Dyke, BVI, arrived at 3:30, and cleared Customs.

This little town and the island are very nice and interesting. A guy offered to hold Tiger’s leash as we walked into the Customs office. At first we declined, but then the Customs office made it clear that dogs were not allowed, so we took him up on it. His name was Gregory, and he was one of Foxy’s sons. We listened to the music from Foxy’s bar that night, but went to bed early. First thing the next morning, we went into Foxy’s dock and met Foxy. He had a couple of good jokes, and we did some other business around town. We’ve decided to stay here for awhile. Jenny has an appointment to do a dog class at the school at the end of this week, and we want to stay for the big Reggae show at Foxy’s next Saturday. We may take a couple of day’s to visit some other BVI places, but it’s great to get to know this place.

I can’t begin to mention all of the people we’ve met, but they include Errol who has lived here since 1987, from Montserrat, after the volcano eruption. He’s an old friend of Foxy’s and played in his band for years. Foxy has now stopped playing, but he played the role of band leader when Errol and Jenny jammed at the bar on Saturday afternoon. There was another jam Sunday afternoon, with some of the other cruising people, but Erol never made it.

This morning, that would be Monday, we met Wendell, another of Foxy's sons, and listened to him play guitar on the beach for awhile. And we finally found this internet connection at another bar down the beach. For more photos and info, check out Jenny's blog: http://www.jennyruthyasi.blogspot.com/

And we learned about the Jost Van Dyke Preservation Society/ Environmental Group/ Sloop project, and met the executive director person, Susan. Check out: http://www.jvdps.org/sloop.htm

First week in Puerto Rico

2009-02-27T18:47:00.001-05:00

This will be short for now. The good news is that we found the main termite nest today, that's Friday, February 27, exactly a week after we arrived. The termites were not good news when we first got here, and they will be delaying our departure by most of a week. But we have met some great people, and are enjoying the marina "resort." When we first figured out that the boat had termites, the first thing we heard was "Welcome to the Caribbean/" Then a great guy that we met last year and who is an official boat surveyor, Fred said "I wouldn't worry about them too much-- a lot of boats have them."

Here's some carpentry I needed to do. That's new PT wood that the local lumber yard ripped to size for me. Fortunately, termites don't like teak wood, and most of the wood on Magus is teak.

Planning for 2009

2009-01-29T16:17:00.000-05:00

This is just a short blog about our planning to visit Magus for 6 weeks in 2009; that will be from February 20 to April 2. We'll be flying into Ponce and renting a car for a week while we get things ready to go for some travelling. We're also bringing Tigerlilly, our French waterdog; so that will be interesting with customs and clearance and everything.

After that first week, we are going to go around to Fajardo and Culebra, where we will meet up with daughter Sophi and her boyfriend Travis for just a couple of days. Then we will be working east through the US Virgins and the Brittish Virgins. Hopefully, we'll have the time and good enough weather to do an overnight trip to St. Martin, and then it's an easy trip to St. Barts. And then downwind back to St. John or Culebra or similar.

There's plenty more that I could say about all the things we are doing to get ready to go, including mailing stuff down to our friends in Puerto Rico, getting charts, etc... Also, the new mainsail was sent down a month or more ago.

Now we'll see what we really do once we get there, and if we make it as far as St. Barts or not.

"Magus" in Salinas, Puerto Rico

2008-04-21T15:22:00.000-04:00

This is a short photo essay of Jenny's and my trip to Salinas, Puerto Rico to buy "Magus," a Banjer 37 motorsailer boat. For more info about this kind of boat, see: www.banjer37.net

We got there Monday, March 31, after a bunch of airline delays. We still had time to get to get to West Marine, where the biggest purchase was an inflatable dinghy. We then drove to Salinas (about 1.5 hours from San Juan,) getting there maybe at 9 pm. We put together the boat, rowed out to Magus, and crashed.

We then proceeded to make plans, buy a bunch of stuff, and work hard. We needed liability insurance to be able to getthe boat hauled at a boatyard. Short story, our Portland insurance agent (Dan Haley) had an insurance friend who got the insurance for us. We ate some good tropical food, too.

We had to do a lot of things just to get the boat seaworthy enough to make it the 25 miles to the marina we hoped to use: Ponce Yacht and Fishing Club. Hoachee and his guys did a great job with all the projects including the bottom paint. Here are some photos from that stop:

The photo above shows the 100+ pound battery that hadn't worked in many years, but had not been removed.

We were lucky to get in a little vacation time on the way back to Salinas:

See the Barracouda going by?

We then did some more work, and put the boat on a good set of anchors. We spent the last night at the Marina hotel, leaving very early on April 17 for San Juan, and got back into Portland in the afternoon.