SE 12-14 kts
06/07/2009, 1700 miles from Marquesis

Heading into our 7-1 am watch the sky was clear with a Full Moon. Amy took the first watch and let me catch come rest in the cool breeze of th cockpit. We swapped places and she bathed in the soft moon light with the seas following and a gentle breeze to keep us moving along.

Amy spotted her first whale 2 days ago. Ever since then she keeps coming up to me and whispering..." I want to see another whale now." We are moving along steadily. The passage from Galapagos has been smooth except for two sail snaffoos. Our big genikker and our big spinnaker.... both had problems on the first set. With following wind we can reallly use it now. The team onboard has been working together to get things patched up and hopefully flying the spinnaker again tomorrow. The repair included sewing, splicing new line and fiberglass repair of the sock ring. Oh yes. Fiberglass. Be sure to dust off really well afterwards and take of the old clothes.

Food rationing has begun. The fresh veggies are dwindling and yet all the meals today looked like Amy is working with a grocery store. There has been a mexican cuisine theme lately. Fish tacos, tortilla casserole, fresh caught tuna with avocado dressing... We are doing well here.

The weather is calling for lighter winds tomorrow from behind us. This is going to be great for the spinnaker. The big sail also offers a nice sun shade in the afternnoon as we head west.....

Our thoughts are constantly reaching out to you all as we roll along the big blue. Send us your thoughts, we'd love to hear from you.

Fair winds and following seas....
Shawn and Amy

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SE 15-20+ Gusting
05/28/2009, San Cristobal, Galapagos

Yes, we are in another hemisphere folks. And though we are practically on the equator, the weather has been cool and pleasant. We have recently returned from the Island of Isabella where we traveled by horseback to the largest volcano, visited the stomping grounds of endemic penguins, even a little leisure with breakfast in bed..... Hooray Isabella for preserving your natural environment and respectful community. It was a truly beautiful place to visit.

Today, Amy and Shawn are in town picking up a few things before we depart this afternoon for the Marquesis Islands, such as, heavy duty drano for the toilettes, and coffee, picked and roasted in the Galapagos. In addition, Shawn is contacting service for the inverter and watermaker. When you are crossing an ocean for a month its best to make all the part orders in advance. The hope is to have the parts waiting for us when we arrive in Tahiti.

Across the internet cafe, Amy is searching veraciously for a place to stay when we arrive in Tahiti. If one can do some leg work before arriving in these paradise locations you are going to have an easier time of matching your experience with your dreams. Of course, we are always leaving room for serendipity!

Great wind, the boat is fit and the crew is ready to be out on the open water again.

Peace and Safe Passages to Everybody.

Shawn and Amy

p.s.... the sea lions are like children here. They don't like to be woken up and when they are awake they are full of playful energy. The marina is full of lively sea lions. We have to remind ourselves we are not a a sea park...

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Hazy and warm. Light breeze....
05/08/2009, Shelter Bay Marina

As we are preparing to transit the Panama today. We wait for our transit time from Cristobal Signal, the authority.

All morning we heard a wild noise from the dense forest that surronds the marina. We have taken two trips into the forest searching for MONKEYS! In the hot air, they are slumber. Their hands droop over branches as they rest in the shade of tall tropical trees. Watch our feet while you are looking up into the jungle gym of trees, there is a good chance you are probably standing in the middle of a major ant transit highway. This is fascinating to watch. The size of their cargo is easily 8 times larger than them. Where they began and where they go is much farther from the other than you might ever imagine. The ants cause me to think about the work done by Egyptians when they built the pyramids. Nonetheless, we have enjoyed visiting our cousins in the lush greeen forest....

There is an excitment on board today. We have a transit time and all the crew and supplies to make the passage safely. When we enter into the Locks we will have 6 plus 1 extra line handler and a pilot.

You can watch the web cams from your computer at: http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html

You can actually see us passing through the Locks!

Our schedule is this:
8 May 2009 1830 Enter Locks for transit south. Check webcam.

We will anchor this night in Gatun Lake and depart tomorrow for the Centennial Bridge and the Milaflores Locks. I will post a note tomorrow for those details.

Panama is warm. The crew is excited. The boat is ready. Pictures will be posted after the transit of the Canal.

Godspeed.

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SG
04/19/2009, WADERICK WELLS CAY

PIZZA SUNDAY. PARKED IN A SPECIAL PLACE. EXUMA SEA PARK. LONG CHAIN OF MOORINGS IN A NARROW CHANNEL, SAND FLATS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE CHANNEL. CHECK IT OUT ON GOOGLE EARTH.

UNDERWAY, AMY MADE SOME DELICIOUS PIZZA. TRY TO SAUTE VEGETABLES IN SALT. NO OIL NEEDED. YUMM.

SASCHA AND CAMERON MARTINEDELL WILL BE JOINING THE BOAT IN 5 DAYS!!! wE ARE VERY EXCITED TO HAVE THEM ON BOARD.......


NOTE OF THE DAY. THE ENGINE ROOM IS A GREAT PLACE TO EXPRESS YOURSELF WITH PROLIFIC LANGUAGE WHEN TRYING TO FIX THE ELECTRICAL SYSTEM...... AND GOOD PIZZA FIXES EVERYTHING. ; )

BIG HELLO TO YOU ALL. WE ARE THINKING OF YOU ALWAYS.
LOVE,
SHAWN AND AMY

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W 10-15 kts.
04/15/2009, Big Major Spot

Everybody seems to like things a certain way. Eggs over easy, toast slightly browned, ice or no ice in their water... On the boat we have tried to get everything working smoothly; keeping the boat safe while having everybody getting their "toast" the way they want it. Well today we learned that chocolate chip cookies are fairly new to the family.
I returned with half of the group from town to find Amy and Helene (11 year old daughter) baking chocolate chip cookies. When the cookies reached the table there was a silence for a moment, then there was a question. " Was this hard to make?"
Hi everybody. As you can see, we have not left all the comforts for a life at sea. We have been sailing the chain of bahamas called the Exumas. They chain separates the sand banks from the open sound. You can pass between some of the islands with careful navigation searching for fish in the sound or calm waters on the bank side. The chain of islands are covered with incredible beaches and wonderful coves for a quiet night.
People have been coming and going. The kids are full of activity and the youngest has finally let go of the boat to kick free in the water. Amy was the first to have her swimming free. I was so proud of her that I sketched her name in the nearby beach at our last anchorage. KATIA **
We have been working hard and getting ready for a big passage to Panama Canal at the end of April. Any possible chance we get we grab a swim or some sleep. In times when the small sailing dinghy is in the water we have taken 15 minutes to sail in the evening after the sun is down and everybody is asleep. It reminds us of walking around the block at home. Even a little voyerism takes place while we sail around the other boats..... We are thinking about you all...... Big hugs everybody.

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Shawn
03/16/2009, Atholl Island, Bahamas

We all know the well known adage, "there are many ways to skin a cat". And though we have hopefully never done it we still know its meaning. This leads me to say there are many ways to jump in the water from the back of the boat.
Yesterday, Sunday, we departed the swanky marina and went searching for our own piece of sand in the lee of a quiet island; hanging on our very own anchor, clear from all coral head or resting starfish. (We literally changed our anchorage for the life of a beautiful golden starfish.) The following morning we woke to the crystal blue surrounding us in every direction. The next obvious thing to do was to run back inside and grab our suits and goggles, oh and our niffty new underwater camera.
Amy and I have demonstrated two ways of entering the water. My first inclination when I walked down onto the swim platform which sits just 5 inches off the water was to simply walk straight off the edge and plunge into the "refreshing" 80 degree water. I was completely and thoroughly sure of the place we had finally arrived after nearly 2 months of organizing, packing, plane flights, beating to windward through the night and long watches. I took my opportunity and walked staight off. Down I went. Salty bubbles everywhere. Ahhhhh.
I looked back to the boat expecting Amy to be jumping joyfully right behind me.... Amy had made the mistake of dipping her legs into the pool first. She was now wrapping herself with her arms and wondering how to cross this bridge. Knowing herself well she had now tell herself why she had come here and literally walk the plank.!!!!
Although it sounds warm, 80 degrees is chilli when you have jumped staight out of bed.

Many ways to jump in. mOre to come.

Comments [6]

Amy
03/16/2009, Nassau, Bahamas

I don't think either of us expected to come on this boat and do so much
1. Organizing
2. Throwing old, rusted, useless, tangled, moldy, gross stuff away
3. Shopping

Since Shawn came back from Florida (with not even enough time to spare to write his own blog entry, even) it has been a non-stop festival of junk on every surface of the vessel. First, we had the boat survey for insurance and our new registry in the Marshall Islands (and for extra safety measures before we head for Panama and the open Pacific on May 1). So everything had to be taken out of every hold anyway to examine the seaworthiness, security, and perfection of the boat for the examiner.
While this was done it was impossible not to notice how disheveled things had become, whether through neglect or ambivalence on the part of the former captain. Perhaps it was just less than stellar organizational skills--but my Captain and I do possess the desire and facility to whip any space into a freakishly perfect order when we do so choose. And this is now the titanic effort we are putting forth.

Add to that a rather initially benign request from the owner's wife to get all new dishes, glasses, sliverware, etc. for the galley and to generally spiff the place up to make it more welcoming and then it becomes an all-consuming project. See, it's not like we can just march on down to Ikea or the local Target and trot out our petty cash and go home with our spoils.

Not so much. It took us the first two days, driving on what we, in our US-centricity call the "wrong" side of the road, to try to hunt down places that sell such items. Who knew that you could buy throw pillows at the auto parts store? It wasn't until we went in looking for alternator belts for the engines that we ourselves discovered this Bahamian phenomenon.

Now, after five days of rental car and better bearings, we have now proudly purchased items we hope will meet the rigorous aesthetic standards of the very elegant Europeans for whom we now work.
And we've taken M-H out to anchor to spiff her up and get her ready.
Then we're going sailing for a few days, then back to Nassau again to pick up the owners on the 27th for a month-long trip with the whole family.

In a happy twist of fate, we were able to line up the stars, internet access and pirated YouTube videos enough to watch all three parts of this last week's episode of 30 Rock while we were still at the Marina. Though it was an ill-fated effort on her part main character Liz Lemon gave us the happy title for this blog--the love child of decorating and organizing that has consumed our daylight (and some long night) hours this week.

We are confident, though, that when complete, anyone could step aboard and find whatever they need, in good order, clean, unrusted, free from mildew and other stench, and enjoy a pleasant trip aboard this boat.

We hope the bosses agree...

And maybe we'll even post before and after photos.

Hope springtime is coming fast for everyone.

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