It is a month before Christmas and I can't believe how the time is flying by. We will have to make some more plans in order to make our Christmas rendezvous with my parents for Christmas. We have met a number of other cruisers who are doing the same passage and have traded information. With computers and USB pens it is some easy to share knowledge. I even take pictures with my camera of cruising and diving guides. From every thing we have read the next few months
We are currently anchored in the harbour at San Andres island. It is an Columbia island of the coast of Nicaragua. The San Blas islands were picturesque but with little wind. We were anchored in the 'swimming pool' and at one point were surrounded by four different water spouts. It was hard to determine it's path and I had started to think about ditching the anchor on a float and trying to move out of it's path. |It was definitely rainy season and it rained at least an hour most days. We met some new fun people as well as some people from before.

We had thought to leave San Blas at the beginning of November but were gently reminded that the hurricane season lasts until at least mid November. We waited until the named storm Ida went through and left San Blas mid November. The two day sail was good if not a little wet. We did find out that the original torlon ball bearing have been replaced with stainless steel ones inter spaced with plastic. Over time the plastic balls have eroded and we are having some difficulties. My parents are already bringing some down for Christmas but we are have difficulties. Luckily there was a little bit of a lull when we tried to unroll the head sail after a squall. It got stuck half way and would not roll in or out. I volunteered to go up the mast underway as I was the only one with a kite boarding helmet. Armed with caribiners and web slings Scott winched me up where I discovered that the wire halyard had wrapped around the top of the furling. A couple of bruises later I had the jib ready for the old fashioned drop to the deck. The trip to the top of our giant swivel stick was a bit stirring to say the least. Once back on the deck I had to lie there and try not to puke. Soon enough the winds really picked up and we dropped the sail for the rest of the trip and went with the trusty stay sail.

The winds in San Andres have been great for kiting and after four days my body is hurting. The jumping is great for the abs. I can't sit up in bed I have to roll over. Today Scott and I had a 'who gets the first beer' competition to be the first to do a back loop. What can I say but the cold beer was tasty!!We have been practicing pumping up the kites and launching them from a dinghy on anchor. We had pulled up a twenty pound Bruce anchor in Grenada and finally found a use for it. We can leave one kite flying on it's shoulder on the anchor and take the dinghy to rescue each other if we get into trouble. We are still fine tuning the method but it is good practice for launching off Excusme when there is not traffic behind.