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Passage from Bonaire to the San Blas Islands – Days 3 – 5

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Day 3

At 0900 this morning the waves had climbed up to 6 feet. But then the wind died down to less than 10 knots apparent and the seas followed. By 1300 the seas had smoothed out quite a bit. It was still not flat calm by any means, but at least the seas were better. It was actually quite nice overall. With calmer seas, we could open the hatch downstairs for more ventilation, which helped tremendously in cooling it off and making it smell better. We tried to run the AC downstairs, figuring it would work in calmer seas, but it didn’t. That isn’t a good sign. We should have cleaned the strainer, it must be a bit clogged.

It was sunny and hot. In the mid-afternoon some clouds rolled in, which made being in the pilot house more bearable today than it was yesterday in terms of blinding sunshine. But even with the light cloud cover, by 1700 it was so bright in the pilot house from the setting sun that we could not physically stand to be in there. Eric saw a school of what looked like a 1,000 flying fish, the biggest school of them he has ever seen.

At about 1430 the wind started to Continue reading →

Passage to San Blas, Panama – Days 1 & 2

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Yesterday, Christi woke up not feeling very good. Her tummy hurt and her digestive system was unhappy. Despite that, she had a busy morning. She continued cooking for the passage, and while food was in the oven, went in to scrape more barnacles off the metal and the hull. Eric scrubbed the bottom with a sponge for a little bit, taking off the softer things that grow, like the grass. We kind of dragged our feet with our usual get ready to go routine. We were especially happy in Bonaire and we are having a hard time leaving.

Eric went to start up the engine at 1600. It clicked but didn’t turn over. Hmmm. The battery must be low. Eric used the house batteries to start the engine and we pulled out a few minutes later (the starter and generator batteries are separate from “house” batteries that run the electricity for lights, plugs, appliances, etc). There were a lot of snorkelers in the water near our boat, so we had to be extra careful to make sure we didn’t run anyone over. Even though we moved well away from the snorkelers we could see, there is always a little fear that there is one more you can’t see that decided to swim right in your path. When we were out far enough from shore, we deployed the paravanes.

When we left, the winds were light, the seas were calm, it was sunny and visibility was excellent. By 1800 we could clearly see Curacao in the distance. Wow. These two islands really are Continue reading →

Settling in Bonaire and Minor Watermaker Trouble

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Yesterday didn’t get off to a good start. First of all, we had intended to get up early. We wanted to get all of our errands run in the morning so we could spend the afternoon SCUBA diving. But we wound up sleeping late, which put us behind schedule.

Our morning routine at anchor/mooring is to turn the generator on to charge the batteries and make water when we get up. Eric turned on the watermaker and was dismayed to see the high pressure pump didn’t go on. Eric suspected that Continue reading →

Welcome to Portsmouth, Dominica

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At midnight we heard a loud crash on the top deck. It was windy and rainy and very dark out from the lack of stars and moon. We turned on the lights and looked out the back windows. Everything looked fine. The kayaks, dinghy and dock boxes were all secure. Eric went outside briefly and glanced at the top deck. All looked fine. We couldn’t figure out for the life of us what caused the crashing sound.

About the same time as the crash, the wind calmed down some and the seas started to improve a little. By 0100, we were in the lee of Guadalupe and the ride became smooth and nice. The wind was blocked by the big mountains on Basse Terre, so it died down to 3 5 knots. There are definitely a lot more lights at night on Guadeloupe than on Antigua, but it is no surprise since Guadeloupe has 450,000 people and Antigua only has 72,000.

We left the shelter of Guadalupe at about 0400 and it was instantly back to not being a fun ride. At sunrise, Dominica was visible, but the big mountains were mostly enshrouded in clouds. As morning progressed Continue reading →

Gran Canaria to Guadeloupe Days 19 – 20

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Day 19 – 1000 UTC location: 16°52.00’N by 056°34.00’W and 2474 nm from Las Palmas. Yesterday’s average speed was 5.8 knots.

Conditions:
Around 0130, the seas picked up even more, though the wind was still dead. It was still an OK ride, but not nearly as nice as it was. By morning, the wind had picked up to 10 knots apparent and shifted to our nose. The swells were only at 4 6 feet on our starboard beam, but they were coming from two directions, north and northeast. The wind waves were at 1 – 2 feet and choppy. The wave intervals and force had picked up, so it was definitely rougher than yesterday. Eric commented that Continue reading →