10/25/2011, 9 30'N:78 37'W, Middle of San Blas Islands
This is were we anchored for the day! It was so beautiful it made the cover of THE PANAMA CRUISING GUIDE!!!
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10/25/2011, 9 28'N:78 40'W, Middle of San Blas Islands
I'm at the top of the mast looking down at the Huge Looking Cat below!!! 35 feet by 19 feet looks huge from up here!!! But docked next to the mega yachts, we look like a little toy!!
Our vhf antenna came loose, so I had to climb up and fix it... what a view!!
While I was up there a huge hammer-head shark swam right up to the boat then took off before I could power up the camera! We started wearing our dive knifes after that! :)
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10/25/2011, 9 28'N:78 40'W, Middle of San Blas Islands
I guess i was beginning to stink!!! haha Here comes the bucket rinse!!!!
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10/25/2011, 9 28'N:78 40'W, Middle of San Blas Islands
We were exploring our island, looking for shells & cool junk washed up on the beech... around the corner was this HUGE SHIPPING CONTAINER! Wow! These things are boat killers out in the open seas... Floating just below the surface! This one has been here for awhile, somebody took a torch to it and opened it up!
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10/25/2011, 9 28'N:78 40'W, Middle of San Blas Islands
On the way to the next island, Dad is on lookout for shallow reefs! gotta love a boat with 3 foot draft! We can go pretty much anywhere! (pretty much!)
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10/25/2011, 9 28'N:78 40'W, Middle of Carabien Sea
We decided to move to another island and were looking forward... enjoying the scenery! When Dad yells out "OH Crap! The Dingy got loose!", so we do a U-turn and Chad jumps in after it! Go Chad Go! He caught it just before it ended up on the shallow reef!
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10/25/2011, 9 28'N:78 40'W, Middle of Carabien Sea
Ok... Ok! So we missed the episodes on SURVIVORMAN on how to properly open a coconut... We tried machete, hammer, screwdriver, boat parts, heads, hands and feet... these things are bullet proof!!!
We finally got one open and ate some "fresh" coconut meat and drank some juice. Not sure we could survive on them... We better plan to have alot of Pepsi and water on the boat! haha
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10/25/2011, 9 31'N:78 32'W, Middle of Carabien Sea
We have reached the San Blas Islands and are still motoring West to reach our first anchorage! What an awesome sunset!!!!
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10/25/2011, 9 37'N:77 47'W, Middle of Carabien Sea
We had zero winds, so swim call in the deep end... 3000 feet deep end!!! :)
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10/23/2011
Some days the winds died to zero (during the day) so, we would have a swim call to cool off! It was always kinda spooky to swim with the mask, since you can't see the bottom and images of JAWS would always pop into our heads!
You can see how close the bridge deck is to the water... only about 5-6 inches!!! So when the seas got choppy (every night!!!) the poor boat would get slammed by the waves, making it sound like the boat was exploding!!! Made it real hard to sleep or keep anything on the table too. BOOM! BOOM!
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10/23/2011, 9 37'N:77 47'W, Middle of Carabien Sea
We have been playing tug-of-war with the jib sheets on this boat! The designers put the winches on the house top in a really bad spot, so when everything is going wrong, the jib usually wins the round. :(
I think Dad is winning this round!
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10/23/2011, 9 37'N:77 47'W, Middle of Carabien Sea
I'm washing some nasty cloths the old fashion way... dragging behind the boat!!! :) I bought three of these sun hats for the crew and boy are we all happy I did!!! Saving our necks and ears!!!! Cheers!
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10/23/2011, 9 37'N:77 47'W, Middle of Carabien Sea
We have been getting the crap beat out of us the past few days!!! Lastnight around 0400 the wind FINALLY shifted out of the South, so we hoisted the main, let out the jib and killed the motors! We were "flying" at 6.3 kts with the moon lighting our wake! The stars were out in full brightness and the shooting stars were wizzing past at one every couple minutes! Just an AWESOME NIGHT to be out on the water!!!
This morning, the winds died down so a motor-sailing we will go! Now we have to make a decision about where and when to drop anchor! If we head for the main San Blas Islands, we could arrive around 10pm, not a great option! If we shoot for the nearest point of land with some possible protection, we might reach it just past sunset, still not a great option.... Lastly, go until we get close and drop the sea-anchor and wait until morning... Probably our best bet, but it will take some persuasion for that plan.
Chad is out on deck with my ipod steering away and singing (his ipod is trashed, got hit full on with saltwater), dad is shaving and trimming his face (I'm going total sea-bum... no shaving!).
We lost our fishing gear the other night during our pounding and boucning around... somehow it got loose. :(
The computers are holding up so far! I double zip-lock them and then into a backpack!!!
Lastnight I made Chili-mac camping food (frieezed dried in a bag), took me all day to prepare it! haha I thru in cheeze quesadias just for good measure. We also have one cold can of fruit between the tree of us per day! Yum! This morning was French toast with peanutbutter and gatorade! We aren't starving here, but a burger or steak sure sounds good now!!! :)
Well, it's time to add some more bio-fuel to the tanks.
Chow from the much happier three amigos!!! PS Todd and Tyler, you get the Panama to Hawaii leg!!!!! :)-
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10/22/2011, 9 35'N:76 39'W, Middle of Carabien Sea
Hello from somewhere in the middle of the Carabiean Sea... We left the shelter of the Cholon Islands to press on to Panama a little to early! We had a great sail for about 5 hours then i-yi-yi... the winds and seas decided to unleash it's force on us! Huge waves and high winds kept us up all night with POUNDING on the boat!
Right now, it's sunny and hot with winds around 15 gusting to 25 and seas around 5' with occational 10 footers!! Chad has been battling seasickness yesterday and today.. poor guy! Dad and I are fine just getting worn down. I think we all lost quite a bit of weight.
We have some dead animal on the boat that we just can not find, but OMG is it getting NASTY!
It's EXTREMELY hard for me to cook anything with all the rocking & rolling and pounding!!! The stove isn't gimbled or have pot holders... ugh! So, I have to be extra careful and do the cooking dance while holding the pan. I'm getting cat like reflexes! haha Excpet I head-butted the cabin this morning! OUCH!!! So much for cat like i guess! haha
We are squeeking out 5kts to windward in this 35' Cat... What happened to the downwind trades!?!?!?! I guess it's that HUGE storm just North of Panama that is causing all the havac! :(
Sorry for not sending pics or updates for awhile, it's just been TOO NASTY to risk breaking anthing more electronics! Chad took a direct hit to the face and ipod from a HUGE wave! Seas-1, electronics-0.... my BRAND NESW SATPHONE antenna broke! uigh! My solar panel wire was cut, on and on... stuff getting broken. I'm in my bunk trying not to throw up.. .the smell of that animal or what ever it is, is really getting to me... sorrry gotta run!
cheers from the ready for shelterd crystil clear warm, no lightning, amigos!
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10/20/2011, CHOLON ISLANDS, COLUMBIA
We set sail to the small islands of Cholon, about 20 miles south of Cartagena. It took us all day to reach this anchorage, since the wind gods returned a strong headwind for us.
We were told "the water is better and you can clean your boat's bottom here". Well, ANYTHING would be cleaner than Cartagena's Harbor!!! NASTY!!!
Chad and I were pretty disappointed when we dropped anchor inside the protected area... the water wasssss "better", but you still couldn't see your fins in the water... So, we decided to move on the next day, even tho the forecast called for crap weather. (big mistake... )
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10/20/2011, Cartagena, Colombia
We decided enough was enough... the nasty water, constant rain and lack of good internet service sent us on our way. The OLD U.S.C.G. tender passed close to us as we made our way down the channel.
This was a sister-ship to the WOODRUSH, which my Dad served on in Duluth, Minnesota back in the 70's. Pretty cool!
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10/20/2011, 10 24'N:75 32'W, Club NOT TO GO!
We finally got our clearance papers lastnight during the Cruisers Pizza Gathering, so it was a great night for sure!
It was a beautiful evening, no winds, no heat, no rain.... until NOW! 5am... UGH! We were planning to set sail at first light this morning, so of course the sailing gods decided to make it a little intresting for us, as usual!
We stocked up on drinking water, canned foods, tortillia and cheese for the next leg of this crazy voyage.
Next stop Cholon (sp?) about 20 miles south of here. It's a small group of islands that evryone has promised safe, protected anchorage with CLEAN WATER! We plan to jump in the water every chance we can!!!
Our plans are still up in the air after that.... probably make a beeline to San Blas Islands for a bit, then on to Portaballo to make Panama Canal decisions.
I'll start my daily SPOTs today and hopefully upload more pics. It's been raining like cats and dogs here for the past few days, it's been hard to find a dry place to open the computer. (land and boat)
Cheers from the Cleared three amigos!
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10/19/2011, Cartagena, Colombia
We are celebrating Todd's Birthday with some Ice Cream! oh ya!!!!
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10/18/2011, Cartagena, Colombia
Chad and I decided to tour this old church... We had to were attached at the ear to this pre-recorded tour box. We would walk to sign number 1 and listen for 10 minutes then move on to sign number 2 and so on..... we got board after i think sign number 4 and just went on our own to the other 10 signs and made up our tour! It was like a sauna inside and we were the only ones touring the place.
Apparently Sir Frances Drake sailed into the city and demanded a huge ransom. The padre told the people to stand and fight... that didn't go over so well, as Drake's forces took the city and anyway and almost knocked down the church with one cannon shot.
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10/18/2011, Cartagena, Colombia
There were dozens of people all lined up to get their picture taken with this statue... however, they were all on the OTHER SIDE, so Dad decided to go for the BEHIND shot!!! The crowd all started to laugh as we took this shot!!!! :) haha
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