May 26th 2015.
Five months in New Zealand went quickly, ending with our only daughter's wedding to a great Kiwi guy named Mark Soper! The Soper family are a real support system there for her and we can't wait to visit them again.
Patch cat is happy and loved at Puffy Paws, and our friends are getting a divorce. Guess that went as well as it could.
Back at Fajardo and Firefly looks great! the bottom is clean with NO blisters. Stayed at a little place in Naguabo for a week as we got her painted, cleaned, new batteries and back in the water on April 19th.
Headed out towards Vieques and just outside the marina the steering locked up. Well you know what Capt. Ron says... I got her hove to and Stew proceeded to empty the tardis/sail locker as he suspected something had wedged under the steering stop. ( so why would he think this hmmmm). Yes there is an empty jerry can wedged in there. It is pretty rolly of course and we don't want to go back so we just traveled on to Vieques with all the stuff that was so neatly in the sail locker all over the boat.
Not that big a deal, but we were really beat by the time we were anchored and got everything back in order as the heat was really getting to us. It was so cold in New Zealand!
Since then we have enjoyed Culebra, St. Thomas, St. John, Culebrita, and now are back in Culebra . Leaving tomorrow for southern Vieques and then a leisurely trip back to Western PR to stay for the hurricane season at Marina Pescaderia. Going to get a car and a puppy!!!
***Saw 3 WHALES on our way to St. Thomas!!!!!!! Lots of turtles, dolphins, fish, but WHALES! The first day we watched as 2 of them just played in passing for a long ways. The next day we saw another one flip his tail and surface until a stupid jerk in a catamaran had to try to rush over and scared him off. Frickin idiot!
Fair Winds:)

March 19th, 2015
Well of course many things have not gone as planned. The "War of the Roses" going on at our friends' house ended up with us in a motel in Kissimmee and leaving Patch at a wonderful cattery called "Puffy Paws". This made for both an emotional and financial blow for us before heading on to New Zealand. (still love you both and wish you all the best).
We really loved San Francisco, but didn't plan on Hurricane Anna hitting Hawaii at that time. We ended up staying a week on base at Travis AFB and then giving up on getting on a military flight (really backed up as it is a major Pacific hub) .So we bought last minute commercial tickets to Dunedin at an amazingly good price!
We arrived in Dunedin, NZ just in time for Halloween and about 6 weeks of the worst weather they have had since 1939. I had a hard time with the depressing gloom and most of the houses there are very old and not heated. An oil heater is the standard, or a small one room only heat pump. Being cold outside is one thing, but freezing inside is ridiculous.
Sarah tried to keep our spirits up with trips to a Rugby game, movies, and some good pub food.
We have enjoyed many things over the last few months here including Sarah's PHD graduation and parade, Christmas with the Sopers, fishing trips, gorgeous times in the mountains, and many other wonderful days and adventures.
We are now just waiting for Sarah and Mark's wedding on the 28th and then heading back to Puerto Rico with a whole new excitement about our beloved Firefly, AND some sun and heat!!!
We plan to get her bottom painted and back in the water to cruise for a couple of months to the USVI's and maybe BVI's; then head back along the southern coast of PR and up the west side to the Pescaderia Marina by July. He has an awesome annual deal and great reviews on Active Captain.

Definitely going to buy an old car and maybe rent a little place too for a couple of months...have to see how it goes.
We have some work inside the boat we would like to do and I HAVE to have a couple of puppies. I miss Belle and Patch cat so much. We will raise these two to go potty on the boat so we can take them without the terrible trauma of the potty thing like you have with bringing an older dog aboard. The dinghy is just going to be something extra, nothing to do with a trip to go potty.
We could go get Patch from Puffy Paws, but he was really having terrible anxiety as soon as the engine started. He had an accident as soon as we headed out the last time. I think it was a lot to do with not having his dog buddy with him. I really hate not getting him back......we will see.
We will just have to go from there. Do we want to go down the islands, or back across some real open water to Cuba, or back through the Bahamas next season??? Just don't know.
One thing we do know is we are not ready to quit after just a couple of trying seasons. There are many other options out there. We are way too young to join the RV crowd (Stew is 51 and I am a very young 58 haha).
Beautiful sunsets here we come!

Just an update. We enjoyed Alan and Carla Olden's visit in July. The tour of the Bacardi Factory in Old San Juan is really great, although we prefer the Dominican Republics Ron Barcelo by far hahaha.
Well as further construction started at the marina on all their great projects, the summer heat hit, and a new spot opened up for Firefly on the hard, we decided to wrap it up. It took us several days to get her ready including recaulking all the port holes, especially in the heat.
We stayed at the Ceiba Bed and Breakfast for 3 nights as we finished up and it was so beautiful up there on the hillside.
Headed for FL on July 28th with little Patch Cat. (Jet Blue is the way to go, Spirit charges even for your carry on!).
Sorry to say but Florida sucks just as much as we remembered, to us anyways. Storms, hot and still, FIREANTS.....have enjoyed catching up on our shopping for the trip to New Zealand and hanging with the Oldens.
They are adopting Patch and he is getting along with their little Dachshund pretty well, kinda remind us of Garfield and Odie.
Plan to fly out commercially to Travis AFB (near Sacramento) and then take Space A the rest of the way to Christchurch, NZ.
Be back to Puerto Rico in April with lots to do. Paint the bottom, new batteries, etc Then off to Antigua where we plan to leave the boat for next Oct. Hope to have our French girl friends back to crew with us, so much more fun with some crew!
It will be short season,back to New Zealand and then in 2016 we will be wanting crew to bring her back to Florida with a stop back at Ocean World to see our friends there.
Ok, that's the plan LOL

May 5th 2014 Marina Puerto Del Rey
We left Salinas for Patillas Feb. 24th for an overnighter on the way to Vieques. Pretty little bay with a couple of reefs in it that were not where the GPS said they were! Luckily it was a good sunny day and we saw them. Ate lunch at a cute bar/restaurant right across the road and enjoyed the sunset.
However Stew hurt his back and one day turned into a week till he was better. We did some rolling as the wind picked up.
Headed on to Vieques on March 2nd to Green Beach which was a tropical looking paradise with the most fantastic sunsets over Yunque (mountain) you could imagine. Swam and snorkeled the reef near us which was very nice.
Stew was still having back spasms so our day there also turned into a week. Although it was a beautiful spot to hang out, again the winds picked up and we were rolling constantly. Rolling is the most uncomfortable thing you can do on a boat long term.

Finally headed on to Culebra on March 9th. Culebra was a surprise as it looked like a dry barren land mass. The anchorage is like a lake, very well protected and calm even with a good wind. The Dinghy Dock restaurant was fun, good food, happy hours and a great staff.
The whole island is set up with little canals and docks so you can dinghy up to almost everything from restaurants to the gas station. There are great little stores and restaurants in the little town of Dewey along with the ferry dock that has a ferry to Fajardo.
We took the ferry one day which was quite an adventure ( be sure to get your tickets the day before!!!). Up at 5 to dinghy to the public dock, walk to the ferry for the 6:30 departure, an hour and a half on the ferry, walk a few blocks to the World Car Rental and finally on our way to Ft. Buchanan Base near San Juan.
The area at the dock in Fajardo is very dirty and quite disappointing. There is a nice bakery with a good breakfast just before the stoplight on your way out though.

Went out for a nice sail around the island one day and then headed over to Culebrita for a night on our way to St. Thomas. Culebrita is a spectacular beach with lots of clear water and reefs to snorkel and turtles!. We were there on Sunday and it was packed with people doing everything fun you could imagine.
Motorsailed on to St. Thomas on March 26th and stayed for 5 days. Huge cruise ships in and out, seaplanes landing, lots of ferries and boats, along with the usual island roll made it fun but VERY rolly. We enjoyed riding the local buses around the island to Red Hook for lunch at a waterside restaurant. You can pick up the “Safari” buses everywhere for 1 or $2 each! (You just have to make sure its not one of the hotel ones that charge taxi rates)
If you want to buy high end stuff, it’s the place to shop for all your jewelry needs, but other wise there is not much to do.
Headed back to Culebra the 31st for a night and then decided we had had enough. We wanted to anchor out for a couple more months to save money for our trip to New Zealand, but first of all it was costing a small fortune just for food! Wine was like gold water!
I know this will sound terrible to some but we were also just plain bored stiff and getting depressed!!! You can only lay around in the heat and not sleep for so long before it starts taking a toll on your sense of humor………….so we jointly decided to head on back to the marina Puerto Del Rey at Fajardo.

April 1st, 2014 Marina Puerto Del Rey. WOW what a place! First time we have had cable tv since we left the states! (even have HBO and ESPN). This place rocks! We love it here.
Stores, restaurants, car rental, golf cart service and a great friendly staff all for only $508 a month! Yes and that includes electric!
Stew had word that one of his students, Mag Ma, was coming to PR for a vacation with her friend Sophie. Well Stew would not be the one to not invite two beautiful French girls to go out for the day for a sail!
We took them to another little island just 6 miles away called Las Palaminos for a wonderful day!
We had such a great time and they did all the work!
We met with them again the next week to go the huge radio telescope at Arecibo and again had so much fun. What a great pair of successful young women! They spent 2 weeks going and doing everything here! We hope to have them come down again next year and sail to a nice French island on down the lesser Antilles!

So much to see and do here, and sooo beautiful. Alan and Carla Olden are coming in July for a week’s vacation and we can’t wait to see them and show them around.

The Plan: Sarah has just got offered (and accepted) a job at Otago University! Now we at least know where we will be heading to in November. Her graduation is in Dec. and now she and Mark are planning their wedding for March 28th so we will be staying there till April.
We will put the boat on the hard here and see how it goes next year.

Jan. 15th : Cap Cana to Boqueron to Salinas, P.R.
Finally it is looking like there will start being some moderation in the weather! Tomorrow is the best day to cross the Mona according to Chris Parker and the Passage weather site with calm winds and 2 to 4 foot seas…However the NOAA has a small craft advisory with higher seas and winds. No squalls and a full moon is also on the plus side, so we decide to go tomorrow, Thursday, Jan. 16th.
The following is the report by Chris:
**E-bound MonaPsg: decent 1-day opportunity Thu16, with E-SE@10-14, 2-4'
wind-chop and insignificant swells...but Thu16 night & Fri17 rebuild
to E-ESE@13-15g20 in MonaPsg (milder close to PR).
Longer-duration and possibly-milder window Sat18-Mon20, with much of
that interval 10k-or-less, 2'.
If you really only need the Catabatic winds tonight and the mild
daylight day Thu16, and can arrive PR around-or-just-after-Sunset
Thu16, then departing tonight works...OTHERWISE...I'd focus on
Sat18-Mon20 timeframe.

The marina staff is at the boat promptly at 6:30 soon followed by the parade of officials and security to get us cleared out again. We give them all a cheery “Buenos Diaz” and are quickly, by DR standards, cleared out for just a minimal charge and a nice $5 tip to each official from Stew. By 8 am we are heading out the pass into the Mona.
(We have taken a different attitude than many about the “tips” after living here for 8 months. Most of these guys make 2 to $300/month and the food prices here are comparable to the states. Most live on root vegetables, mangoes and bananas, avocadoes, and a lot of spam-type meat)

Ok, it seems to be much rougher and windier out here than predicted. What are these huge swells from the NE? Why are the seas so confused and at least 5 feet? Should we go back? Stew says we are on the edge of the Hourglass Shoals and it should settle down soon so we continue on. Whoa! That was a 40 degree roll and we are hitting 30 to 35 consistently in very confused seas. ( For you landlubbers that is hold on to something and just sit tight as shit goes flying!) Turn back? We know we can fly back as we are going against both the seas and the waves, which is why they are supposed to be really light to make this trip.
Finally after about an hour and a half into it started to calm down and the sun came back out ( oh yea the dark clouds had immediately triggered my anxiety and down went a Xanax); so of course this is the perfect time for the engine to quit. Yes, our crap in the fuel tank that won’t fit through the line to get filtered must have gotten stirred up again. Stew gets going with the emergency tank, bleeds the lines (this isn’t an easy chore crawling in the engine and manually adjusting the fuel injector lines while bouncing around) and within 30 minutes or so we are running. Go back? Well now it is looking nice and he will only have to add fuel to the extra tank once on the way so let go.
About a half hour later it is picking up again, really picking up. Wind, 8 foot swells from the NE and 4 to 6 foot chop from the east. It is not as confused and the swells although some are huge are like 14 seconds apart so you just rise up and down gradually. We settle into it, but are really pissed. I know things change constantly, but we trusted Chris Parker for this one important crossing and he was stupid far off and here we are again getting our asses kicked!
The really great thing that goes along with this is that the higher the seas, the slower you go so you can enjoy the torture even longer. We finally hit the lee of PR about 12 miles out and the seas are much calmer. I go down and heat up some leftovers and love on poor little Patch cat.
I have to say, all the distress seems to dissipate quickly as we head into Boqueron Bay under a full moon with water like glass at about 1 am
We slowly enter and drop the hook out from the last boat, not many here. I pour me a glass of wine and make Stew a rum drink and we sit in the cockpit spellbound for a while before heading down for some sleep with the cool mountain breeze coming in the boat.

The next morning we move the boat up closer to the beach as the wind is howling and it will be a long wet dinghy ride otherwise. We then get the dinghy down off the front of the boat, call the taxi guy and head in to shore. Of course all the old dilapidated docks look terrible and the one we thought we were to use has been barreled and roped off as hazardous, but a nice couple on another dock tell us that everyone just uses it anyway.
. We make a quick trip to Mayaguez to pay for our sticker at Customs, a stop for some really expensive groceries (but they had stuff we hadn’t seen in a while), and enjoy a look at the local places and people.
I guess I would have to say my first impression was that it was still colorful and quaint like the DR but with some of the perks of America.
At least the dogs are fat here! I have to say that so far the people in the Dominican Republic have been the happiest, warmest people I have ever met. Puerto Ricans take a little more time to warm up to you, but it is great to hear English spoken everywhere.


Sat. Jan. 17th.
We head out at dawn for Gilligan’s Island. We have a relatively easy 6 hour motor but are quite disappointed at the anchorage. It is just a scrubby island with no palm trees and the water is murky. Don’t get all the fuss. Still a nice afternoon and we decide to just head out in the morning to Caja de Muertos which is another island off the coast from Ponce.
It is an easy 4 hour motor, but we guess as our fuel was getting lower it was easier to suck up that crap again. Ugggg! Stew had a harder time bleeding it and I hate having to run the starter so hard as you try to start it over and over, also draining the batteries. Ok so we will now just use the aux, tank until we can get somewhere to get the tank cleaned.
Muertos is beautiful! Big green hill with a working lighthouse on top and crystal clear water. We get the ladder on and go for a swim and enjoy the day. It gets rolly overnight with the swell so we are ready to head out at first light for a quick 3 hour trip on to Salinas.

Salinas Bay is really nice and a very safe harbor with a very comfortable marina. We are drained financially so the plan is to anchor out here for a month or so and then to continue on to the Spanish Virgins, continuing to just anchor out for several months to get our kitty back up.
We joined the Marina de Salinas club for $125/month which includes getting our mail, pool, garbage, water, showers, and laundry. We really enjoy the casual outdoor bar to hang out and use the internet. They have a great Friday night BBQ too.( Unfortunately we can’t get the internet on the boat even with the booster.)
We rented a car from Sidney, the local car rental guy, and drove over to Ponce to hit up Walmart and the mall. Later we drove up a small mountain road. What a view and the rainforest vegetation is amazing.
The next day we drove to the east coast to look at Palmas Del Mar Marina and Del Rey Marina. Palmas is a condo resort area and the boats were really rocking with the swell.
Del Rey was a surprise as it is advertised as being so large we expected it to be expensive and impersonal. It was the opposite! Everyone we met was very friendly and they are willing to work back and forth between keeping the boat on the hard and in a slip. Their year contract for our boat, all inclusive (even with electric!!), was $508/month! We are not ready to do a contract like that now, but may haul the boat and leave it there later for $450/month while we are in New Zealand. We can then do the bottom painting when we get back and be back in the water. We will see.
We have lots more to see and do here. It is a beautiful place with all the American perks that we had started to miss like mail hahaha
We might stay on the boat here in PR through the summer and then leave it on the hard come late October when they will have room for us.
We are planning a quick trip back to Florida to see our friends Alan and Carla, and hopefully get Patch cat settled in with them for a while. Then up to Charleston, SC to start our MACing ( taking the Military Air Lift Command flights) to New Zealand.
We hope to spend Nov through January in New Zealand with Mark and Sarah. We will have to see how the MAC trip to Christchurch goes and what expenses we incur with lodging etc., along with affording to keep the boat.
We may end up selling the boat in St Thomas next year and giving someone a real deal on a cruiser ready boat in the right place to cruise!
Yes, we are confused too and all plans are written in jello.
Until then, lots of exploring to do and sundowners to drink

Well it took forever to get our part for our 38 year old motor, which of course arrived on the last day of the only window there has been which was Dec. 27th.
Stew worked on the motor for several hours and it seems to be running fine now. Chris Parker is excited about next week, which for us on the Mona looks like Thursday, Jan. 16th. The moon will be big, and hopefully we can leave here early and drop the hook in Boqueron Bay by midnight. (one of the few places that is ok to come in at night).
We took a trip to La Romana down the new 4lane highway; what a treat to be on a real road!Of course we almost ran out of gas not thinking about the fact that there are really no towns or anything else on the whole stretch. Luckily there was a brand new gas station that had just opened a few miles up the road towards Higuey!
We paid the ridiculous entry fee of $25/person to enter the Casa de Campo mega-rich "sub-division". It was amazing as it included the replica of the old Mediterranean city, an awesome marina, stores and shops, golf courses, an equestrian center, a shooting range with a Hemingway Bar, and some of the biggest, most beautifully landscaped mansions we have ever seen anywhere.
The area here around Cap Cana and there are home to many famous actors and other mega rich, including Vin Diesel! The down side is of course that it is stupid expensive and everyone thinks if you are here "you'all must be rich"!
Going to rent a car and check out Higuey tomorrow to try to buy some cheaper goods at a local market and pharmacy. Of course we are out of the good Ron Barcelo rum too!
Hopefully my next entry will be about the beautiful, uneventful crossing of the Mona:)