We love Key West!

4-26-07 Thursday
Here is a shot showing the turquoise water at Isla Mujeres.
My old buddy Jeff from work came down to help us get the boat to Florida. Here we are waiting our turn at the fuel dock. After we left IM, we didn't take any more pictures due to the rough crossing...until we got to....
Key West where we found a guy from Toronto who juggled a running chainsaw, a large knife, and a hand grenade!
Then he lay down on a bed of nails and had Andrea stand on him. This is sort of representative of our week so far.
This town is amazing. My son describes it as a drinking town with a small fishing problem. There are about 30 bars and many of them have live bands, good ones! We anchored out in the middle of the harbor for free and so feel a little better about eating and drinking all we want. It is very lively - sort of like New Orleans, just as rowdy, but "whiter".
This weekend is the anniversary of the establishment of the Conch Republic. It seems that in 1983, the locals got upset with the federal government and seceded from the union. They then declared war on the United States and shortly after surrendered. They then requested foreign aid. The government ignored them, which made them feel that their secession was legitimate, so now they have their own flag and a few volunteer officials. This weekend features a big sea battle between the local schooners (of which there are some beauties!) and a Coast Guard Cutter. This will be at sunset tomorrow. Saturday there will be a drag race - folks in drag pulling beds through the streets. Unofficial high-jinks will go on everywhere. The bars normally close at 4AM. I don't think that we are going to be leaving for quite a while.

Key West

April. 23, 2007 Key West, FL
We anchored here at Key West just after lunch following what could not reasonably be called a pleasant passage. It's funny, when I did the run from the Yucatan to Key West in 1980, it was just as nasty. We downloaded all the weather and it showed an easterly wind to 15K. I wasn't real keen on that as it was going to be wind against the Gulf Stream, which always makes the seas short and steep. But, we had a crew available, Jeff Martin, from my former place of employment. Jeff is a keen sailor and all around good guy, so we were glad to have his company, but the schedules of land folks always seem to bite you in the butt. So we didn't get to wait for southerly weather, we left.
Then the weathermen failed us - instead of 15 knot winds we had 20 and above. That little change was enough to change rough and uncomfortable into very rough and very uncomfortable. We had 10 foot seas with steep troughs in between. Ugh! And then it shifted so that Key West was directly upwind. At that point, we decided to motorsail and eventually just took down all the sails. We weren't going very fast, but we were going where we wanted to go. It was a long slog uphill until we got to Key West. Poor Jeff, it wasn't anything like the sail we had from Colon. But he is a good sport and a delight to have around, so I hope it was worth it for him.
One piece of new technology really worked for us and greatly reduced the possible stress. Our AIS (Automatic Identification of Ships) receiver put a picture of all the passing freighters on our electronic map on the computer screen so we could see the name of the ship, it's course and speed, the closest point of approach and the time to closest point of approach. Then, if we were frivolous, we could look up their destination and cargo. You can't believe how nice that is. There you are in the middle of the night and there are lights out in the darkness that can only be ships - and there are three of them. You're not really sure which way they are going until they get a lot closer. Now a sailboat isn't all that visible to the big boys although we run our radar and thus make a big picture on their radar screens. So we are always afraid of being run down. Now, we just call them on the radio to make sure they see us. It makes a huge difference to know the name of the ship so we call, "motor vessel Texaco Maru, sailing vessel Saeta calling". In seconds, the captain is back and we can talk about how we can avoid one another. It is so lame to call out "to any large ship off Cozumel" - usually nobody answers.

I just ran ashore in the dinghy and turned Jeff loose to get to his airplane, but Key West looks VERY cool. I think I am going to like it here. The marinas wanted $2.50/foot/day and so we decided to anchor. We are 5 minutes from town, so I don't mind. Considering what we saved on a marina, I don't think Andi will complain if I take her out for oysters at the raw bar on the wharf! Who knows, maybe we'll stop by for lunch at the clothing-optional lunchroom? This looks like a lively town. Wish you were here. We didn't take any pictures at all.

Leaving for Florida

April 19, 2007 Thursday
We are leaving for Key West in the morning. I'm typing this on our "new" computer. Our friend Jeff that I used to work with came down today to join us for the sail to Florida. He got a used Sony computer off Craigslist for $375 and we took the hard disk from our old computer, stuck it in the new one and voila - it worked. We had all our navigation programs all configured and working again. Most happy camper here!
We enjoyed Isla Mujeres although we had little time for tourism. It will be interesting to be back in the old USA. We're looking forward to Key West and it's craziness. Then we'll head up to St. Augustine which is charming and far enough from South Florida to be affordable. The megayachts have driven prices out of sight to the point that a night in a marina can cost from $75 to $125 for a small boat like ours. For those prices, I expect to have the bed made every morning and find chocolates on my pillow. We're hoping we can afford to live in the USA. We'll see.

More canal pictures...

When we were up-locking, we got to tie to a tugboat, which is really easy. You just use it like a floating dock.
Here we are coming into the Pedro Miguel Locks at the same time as a big freighter.
I made a panoramic picture out of 6 individual shots. When I put them together, the picture looks as if there was a big curve in the lock. Actually, it is straight, so you have to adjust the view in your head. Double-click on it and it gets a bit bigger.
These days, the Koreans are building mega-container ships that are as big as the canal will hold. Here is one of them that went through just ahead of us.
Our canal advisor, Rudolfo, was a terrific guy. He spoke good english, which made everything easy. He is a tugboat captain most of the time and fills in helping yachts through the canal the rest of the time.

Canal Pictures at last!

Here is some of the stalwart crew of linehandlers as we left the Balboa Yacht Club to start the adventure.
And here is the Miraflores Lock as seen from the inside. You may remember that wall with the name on it from a previous picture of Andi and Elinore having cocktails at the restaurant just above it.
When you are down in the locks on a small yacht, they look pretty imposing. You can see the turbulence as the locks begin filling with water from the level above. The lines need to be very tight to keep the boat from being pushed around.
These little locomotives are called "mules" and our canal pilot tells us that they cost several million dollars each. They haul the big ships along the locks. Obviously, little us didn't need their services. Four men holding our lines did the job.
This is either the Gaillard Cut or the Culebra Cut. I was so busy that I didn't get it straight. Thousands of laborers perished in making those cuts, thanks to yellow fever and malaria. There was a terrific museum with old movies and photos of the construction. What a job!

At Isla Mujeres

April 16, 2007 Monday
We got into Isla Mujeres in the wee small hours Saturday morning after a 5-1/2 day passage and carefully (nervously) found our way into the harbor. The Gulf of Mexico is typically shallow for people used to the deep waters off California. A deep spot in this harbor would be 14 feet. So we came in seeing 8 feet on the depthsounder a few times, which makes you a little nervous when you are 6 feet deep. Thanks again to electronic charts, we drove the little red boat through the deep spots and got ourselves anchored. The next afternoon, we came over to El Milagro Marina and ran aground trying to get into a slip. There is a sandbar just off our stern and it took lots of help from the local cruisers to get us pointed into the slip. When it's time to leave, we are going to use our dinghy to drag ourselves out stern first.
Isla Mujeres is a big change. First of all, it's cool! And dry! For the first time in a long time, I don't feel the need for a shower every hour. Of course, we are now 20 degrees North instead of 8 degrees North. Yesterday, a Norther came through and it blew 30 knots for a few hours and 20 knots much of the day. Northers happen every time a bubble of cold air comes down from the central US and into the Gulf. To get to Key West, we are going to have to find a window between Northers. That is 341 miles, so we'll need a little more than 2 days clear.
Another big change here is the cruising community. There is a lot of Texas and Southern twang in their voices, but they are very friendly and helpful.
We still haven't taken the pictures out of the camera, having chosen sleep over all other activities, but today we are more active and promise lots of pictures with the next post. We have quit a few projects on our list for today, including officially checking into Mexico. We have internet for a few days, so write.

The end is in sight...

April 13, 2007 Friday
We should make landfall at Isla Mujeres around midnight tonight. We have had a grand sleigh ride for the past 4 days with the wind behind us. We haven't run the engine at all except for dodging a squall the first night. This has been classic trade-wind sailing...and fortunately, the winds have been mellow but strong enough to move us well.
We have been surprised that we haven't seen many signs of life. We saw about 5 big ships when we were off Honduras, but absolutely no small craft of any kind including shrimpers and trawlers. The banks we crossed were supposed to be rich with sea life but we didn't see any fish feeding and strangely enough, there were no birds. I saw ONE bird several days ago. That's it! I didn't bother fishing because we didn't feel like messing with fish cleaning, etc. Other than one visitation of dolphins, we have been very alone out here.
We enjoy the informal nets of cruising sailboats that meet at 9AM on the HF radio. We talk to cruisers all over the western Caribbean and it's nice to know that someone is monitoring our progress and waiting for us to check in. We participated in nets in Mexico, Panama and now here. We meet a lot of people that way.
Once we get to Isla Mujeres, we are going to do some serious sleeping (and in the same bed). Standing watches hasn't been too bad for the two of us. The autopilot does all the steering, so it is just a matter of trimming sails and watching out for things that might go bump in the night. Still, we only have a few hours each day to hang out with each other. Andi has cranked out some great meals in spite of the challenging motion and last night at 3AM she crawled into a locker to grease the steering cables because big old me couldn't fit. She's amazing. Anyway, we're going to take some sacktime and then ready the boat for the next leg to Florida, which isn't really very far at all. Our friend Jeff is coming down to do that leg with us, so life should be even easier. If the marina prices aren't too expensive, we are going to take a slip and enjoy being on shore, including some tours of the pyramids.
We'll leave Isla Mujeres on the 20th. We'll try to get caught up on our internet work including putting up the pictures on this blog. We can't send those over the radio like this text message. Best to all of you.

On passage - going North rapidly

April 12, 2007 - Thursday
Sorry to have been so quiet for the last several days - we spilled coffee on the navigation/email computer in the middle of the night and effectively killed it. It took several days to get email working on the other computer - but we're back!

Here is the computer in better days showing us going through the locks of the Panama Canal.


We left you with me whining about being wet. Well that was pretty much the end of the rain and since then we have enjoyed classic trade wind sailing with winds that go day and night from the same direction and the same force. I haven't touched anything for more than 24 hours. Right now we are sailing dead downwind with the jib poled out on the spinnaker pole on the opposite side from the mainsail. The autopilot steers and we read, cook, write emails, fix things, and practice our singing.

We have 260 miles to go before we get to Isla Mujeres and so should be there in about a day and a half. We have been doing 150 to 180 miles per day, which is quick for a 41' boat. One night we averaged 10.5 knots all night long - with a little help from the Gulf Stream. This passage is more than 1100 miles, non-stop.
This is a view out of our "bedroom window" showing the beautiful blue color of the gulf stream - very different from the bottle green of the Pacific. Normally, our porthole isn't under water, but when a wave comes along, it buries for a few seconds.

We've seen a few ships, but otherwise little sign of life. We had a dolphin visitation yesterday and this morning I saw a bird, but that was it. One thing that has surprised me. I haven't seen a single shark since we left home. I used to see them around Catalina all the time, but not anymore. We saw a crocodile in the Panama Canal - that was exciting. He was big!

We're looking forward to some "dock time" at Isla Mujeres and, if we get time, will do the tourist thing and go see some Mayan Pyramids. We really like Mexico. Don't forget to write.

On passage - joys and travails

April 10, 2007 - Tuesday
We are just starting our 3rd day at sea. The first day didn't show much progress, but was easy enough. Our destination was directly into the wind, which means that we had to tack (zig-zag) to get there. But the waves were mellow and the wind was 12 knots, which is comfortable and fast enough.
The next day the wind started shifting (as predicted) and by afternoon, we were pretty close to our desired course. But when the sun set, we began our battle with squalls. A squall is a mini-thunderstorm with more wind, rain, and sometimes lightning. We can see them on the radar and visually, a dark black cloud with rain coming down under it. So for a while we dodged them, but finally they were so close together that we just had to sail on and take a pasting. We saw some amazing lightning - one group of flashes were right off our stern and were followed by thunder that sounded like the sky was being ripped. Most of the lightning was sheet lightning, but we did see a few bolts as well. We saw several that started up from the water into the cloud. The bolt was fat and pulsed about every second. The whole discharge lasted about 5 seconds. I don't ever want to be anywhere near that kind of energy! And the rain! Torrential! If we needed to trim the sails, we had to go outdoors and got soaked. Even in our "leisure suits", it was inconvenient. It got to where everything was wet. We kept tracking water in and out and a few times we left ports open by accident. It all resulted in a very large collection of wet stuff. The period from dark to midnight was one of the most loathsome nights I have ever spent at sea. Then at midnight, we sailed out of the rain and the trade winds started coming from a better direction so that we could go directly and quickly to our destination. Nice sailing! So the 2nd half of the night was really quite nice.
Today the wind has been favorable and the speed good. We have had some rain at times, but have made a lot of miles, averaging between 7 and 8 knots! For land people, that is good. We are in the Gulf Stream now and are getting a small lift from the current. Tomorrow, the wind is forecast to come behind us, which should let us get a bit more comfortable. Going upwind is a little like being an astronaut; you move from handhold to handhold and the motion is always trying to spill your drink. Getting the waves behind us will be grand. In the meanwhile, I dream of being dry - I mean Really Dry.

We did it! Into the Atlantic.

April 8, 2007 (Easter)
Yesterday we finally made it through the Panama Canal. It was an easy trip. The hardest part is usually the upward locks because water rushes up from the floor of your chamber from the one above it and that causes lots of turbulence. That doesn't bother a ship, but little yachts sure notice it. But we came throug ih the Miraflores locks tied alongside a tugboat, which worked like a floating dock for us. We rose up alongside them without having to do anything but take pictures.
After we got through the 3 locks going up we had to race through Gatun Lake in order to get to the Gatun locks in time to lock down. Fortunately, we are very fast under power. Even our Canal Pilot was surprised at how fast we were. We had a team of 5 line handlers and a canal pilot in addition to the two of us. Andrea had to provide food and drink for all those folks as well as treats for the tugboat crews. She did a marvelous job as hostess and the crew commented that it was a special trip for them as well. We did a little flamenco along the way and basically had a good time. After we finished, Andi surprised them with shots of tequila and the crew left us in a very good mood! And the Moroccan Chicken dinner she made didn't hurt any either.
The downward locks were easier due to less turbulence, but by that time it had started to rain. Yes, the rainy season is definitely starting in Panama. It wasn't too bad while we were locking, but by the time we were putting the crew ashore, it was pouring.
Still, it was a very pleasant day with memorable scenes. We'll post some pix when we can get to the Internet.
Right now, we are about 20 miles off Colon on passage to Isla Mujeres, Mexico. That will be a long trip and Andi's real offshore baptism. Until now, we've stayed out overnight a few times, but mostly went from harbor to harbor on daytrips. Now we have to cover 800 miles in one shot. There are lots of islands where we can seek refuge if the weather gets bad, but the weather predictions are uncommonly good at the moment. So we will try to get away from Colon and then turn left, putting the Gulf Stream behind us all through the Yucutan Channel. That should give us a lift of 2 knots which is a lot.
We'll let you know as we go along. Don't forget to write.