Another year, another planning exercise

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

And we learned about the Jost Van Dyke Preservation Society/ Environmental Group/ Sloop project, and met the executive director person, Susan. Check out link. 

First week in Puerto Rico

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." I did worry about them, and they are now completely gone.

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.  Considering the disaster that it seemed to be at first, I now know the boat and all of it's nooks and crannies better than I would have, and I know that the little bit of structural impact is now better than new.