Captain's Log November 23, 2008

My guess is that no one really reads these anymore because I am not very consistent at writing but for what it is worth thought I would share a few of my thoughts. These last six weeks have probably been the most fun and rewarding of the whole trip. A few of my takeaways…

By far the greatest thrill was swimming with the whales. You have to remember that even though you pay to swim with them there is no guarantee that you will get that close or even see one. The day started out rather chilly (relative for this area) overcast and rainy. If we did see them picture taking would not be very good. They don't want any more than 4 swimmers and a guide in the water at a time once we spot the whales. On our boat that meant there was to be 2 groups. Barbara and I got in
group 1 only by chance I swear. We see a whale and into the water we go. We are supposed to stay with the guide and make sure if the whale surfaces near us to avoid the tail section. That is pretty obvious when you see the tale of a whale up close. One flick of their tale would probably crush you. Not easy to stay up with our Tongan guide who swims with whales for a living. Also hard to keep up when you've got a camera in one hand and you're wearing fins that are about 2x too small. The guide
points down and about 80 ft below the surface you can see the white underbelly of an enormous whale however the mask makes everything look 30% bigger. They start to come up but moving away from us. We kick and swim as hard as we can to catch up to them but we are no match for the whales. They do surface but just long enough to put their tails high in the air and dive down again. They might stay down for 30 minutes or longer. It was a close encounter but really no photo ops. I guess at that point
I would have felt that I got my money's worth. I mean I was in the water swimming and a whale was also swimming very nearby. As advertised Swim with the Whales. Time for group 2. The boat moves into position and off they go. The whales were not interested in swimming with us. OK, this goes on all day group 1 has not been in the water but 1 time. The whales were enjoying staying on the bottom and only occasionally coming to the surface. It was now about 4pm time; to start heading home. Suddenly
one of the whales comes up about 50 yards from the boat. Group 1 is ready to go and into the water we go. It is raining and overcast but who cares I am again in the water with whales. I am trying very hard to stay up with our born to swim in the water Tongan guide. As we move into position the whales dive deep and we can do nothing except float on the surfacing waiting. About 20 minutes goes by the clouds clear, the sun comes out, and the sky is blue and suddenly the whales begin to surface.
I say suddenly, because this huge creature covers a great deal of ocean in a very short period of time. I get the camera ready and look down. Right below me the whale is heading straight for me. All I could think about is get a good picture and don't get hit by the tail. As she surfaced I could almost reach out and touch her. Once on the surface she turns on her back and then back on her stomach. She knows we are there and is very careful not to hit us. She looked me right in the eye and
said, "how ya doing?" I thought I would hyperventilate I was breathing so hard trying to stay with the guide, the whales and take pictures. We tried to stay with them but they were off to the bottom and we were in awe. Tonga is only one of 2 countries that allow humans to be in the water that close to whales. Wouldn't surprise me if it were banned there also in a few years. Whatever they decide I had my shot and something that I will never forget. Barbara and I were very lucky to have had
the opportunity. WOW, still gets to me, just thinking about it.

The sea giveth and we taketh, brings me to my second big take away. I finally catch a fish. Eat your heart out David Topolnicki. David always goes up to Canada in the spring to catch fish. He comes home with a car load of fish and all sorts of fish stories and pictures. I am jealous. Well after nearly 6,000 miles on the open ocean I can say I finally caught and landed a fish. It was about a 25lb Mahi Mahi, which these waters are full of. What a great thrill. I was getting pretty discouraged
with my fishing prowess. In fact Barb had to really get after me to put the line in the water this time. It was a beautiful sailing day I wasn't sure I wanted to ruin it by not catching another fish. Up to that point we had caught fish but were never successful in getting them aboard. Not this time. I was prepared and ready to bring up almost any size fish. I had decided to fish with 200 lb test line, just tied to the back of the boat no rod no reel. If I caught something there was no chance
it could break the line and swim off with another lure. It would be just me the fish and a line. Then the big fishing story here is when we left Tonga to sail to New Zealand. The Opua Cruising Club was hosting a rally for arriving yachts and one of the events there was a contest to see who could catch and land the biggest fish during the passage. I came in second with my next catch a 53 ½" long Mahi Mahi. First place went to a guy who caught an 8 foot black Marlin. I was very happy to have placed
I am now able to say we can live off the sea. We are becoming very self sufficient.

Last takeaway was our passage from Tonga to New Zealand. Historically this section of ocean can be very unpredictable weather-wise. Like everyone else we watched weather forecast and weather maps. We paid for a passage weather routing service and we discussed strategy with other cruisers. The big problem is that about every 5 to 7 days another front passes through and if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time you get hit. Proper planning and a lot of luck go a long way. We finally decided
to head out with a pretty good weather window. The first part of our passage was pretty benign. A good bit of it was light wind and we had to motor. After about 4 days we got word that we would probably get hit by a pretty bad squall with winds between 35-40 kts. We got the boat prepared for heavy weather and as predicted at almost the exact time they predicted the winds began to build. We lost our wind instruments a couple of months ago so we could not really tell how hard it was blowing but
it was more than we had ever seen in the past. As it continued to build we took all the sails in, pointed the boat to go with the wind , and left the main engine running at about 1000 RPMs to give us the ability to steer the boat on a straight course with the auto pilot on. Barbara and I retreated to the dry comfort of the main cabin of the boat and had the ride of a lifetime. The boat never went under 7kts and sometimes it was traveling much faster. We were headed west which just so happens
to be somewhat the direction we wanted to go. Didn't really matter we were at the mercy of the wind and waves. I looked outside at one point and saw our dinghy flying in the wind like it was a kite. I told Barbara there is no way our dinghy would make it till morning. One of the things you worry about in seas like this is that your boat will get going so fast down the back side of one wave that it will plow into the next wave and flip end over end. We never got going that fast. The storm hit
us around 11:30pm and at about 2 or 3 AM I estimated the winds to be in excess of 50 KTS. All we could do was ride the waves and wait for the storm to pass. By about 6 AM the wind and seas had relented a little but were still 30+ kits and the seas were still very high and seemingly coming at us from all directions. In our total amazement the dinghy had held on by 2 lines. The bad news here is that the seas were still so rough it would not be safe to go on deck to tie it down. I have to say it
was great to see sunlight the next morning. Even with the winds blowing at gale force we felt like we had seen the worst of it. As the front moved past us and we were able to talk to some of our fellow cruisers on our scheduled morning net it looked like we were the only boat to see the worst of the storm. Boats all around only had winds in the low 30's and the waves were manageable. After it was all said and done we were able to keep the dinghy but we lost 2 oars, a seat cushion and our American
flag. After the storm passed we were able to sail the boat at a very good speed toward New Zealand. No more motoring. The other positive here is that we were able to see what the boat could do under some very tough conditions. To me, it was very comforting to know that we are on such a seaworthy craft. All in all Destiny hardly blinked at what was thrown at her. Just the same Barbara and I hope to never have that experience again.

We have just spent a week and half in the Bay of Islands in NE New Zealand and are on our way to a marina in Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty. We will leave the boat and fly home for 2 months and plan our next year's journey. We are still excited about our next port wherever that might be. It is hard to believe we have come this far. We have learned a lot and we know we have more to learn but we are not rookies any more. It will be great to come home and see family and friends but we also look
forward to next year and where the winds will blow us. "This is Destiny going back to 16".

Captain's log for October 4th 2008...

and almost 2 months since my last update. We have been busy sailing the South Pacific and visiting some very interesting places. So here are a few of my thoughts.

We left Bora Bora and French Polynesia on August 16 and decided to head southwest toward Rarotonga the main island in the Cook Island chain. Can't say we were sorry to put French Polynesia on our stern because we were running out of money. The expense of staying there sort of takes the fun out of it. Don't get me wrong it is a great place to visit beautiful islands and people but maybe being there 3 months is a bit much. Sure glad we couldn't extend our visa now we can say; "been there done that".
We had a great sail to Rarotonga. Calm seas and light winds. Would have liked more wind but those were the cards dealt on this leg. This was a good time for us to unwind and relax from the hustle bustle of Bora Bora. The other good thing is that when we are away from land we aren't spending any money.

We arrived in Avatiu, Rarotonga the capital of The Cook Islands rested and ready to see a new land fall. Our first adventure here was getting situated in the harbor. It was required that you drop your anchor toward the middle of the bay, and then back the boat about 200 ft. up to this very large concrete sea wall and tie your stern lines to the wall keeping the boat at least 15 ft. from the wall so you don't crash into it when the weather gets rough. Thank goodness we had some of our cruising
friends there to help because it is a daunting task for 2 people. I do have to say Barbara did a great job setting the anchor and helping us tie up. She is really becoming quite the sailor. After getting the boat safely in place it was off to town. This is the first place we had been since leaving San Diego where the people speak English. So great to be able to communicate in English again. However, the biggest reward was the American dollar was now worth something. On the Cook Islands they
have their own money, only good in the Cook Islands, and the New Zealand dollar. One NZ dollar was 70 cents in US money so everything we bought there was at a 30% discount, yea! Just as a comparison the French Franc in French Polynesia cost $1.36 US. So, not only did the dollar go further but the cost of items was cheaper. We were really excited about being there. The people were great and acted like they were happy we were there, and it was a lush green tropical island. We stayed a week and
I think all but 1 day it rained. Can't complain we still had a great time. Rented a moped and circumnavigated the island, about 2 hours, went to their big open air market on Saturday and generally had a good time. After a week though it was time to move on. The weather calmed down enough for us to leave port and head off to our next port on the Island of Niue.
A big gold star if you know where Niue is on the map. Unless you have a detailed atlas there is a good chance it's not on your map. In fact we were considering bypassing this island and heading directly for Tonga. We changed our mind and decided it would be a good break in the passage to stop and spend a few days seeing a new place. We ended up staying 8 days. The people on the island, 1200, took us under their wing and treated us like royalty. When we first came ashore to check in with customs
the people from the yacht club picked us up and made sure everything was taken care of during check in and then they drove us around and showed us the island. The yacht club is a house in town with a big front porch and all the cruisers seemed to hang out there. They had a kitchen and if you wanted anything like a soft drink, beer, wine, or anything else you just helped yourself and then paid up when it was time to go, and all on a honor system. Another kind of different thing on this island was
that when you needed to get around on the island you just hitch hiked. The locals always stopped and picked you up and took you where you needed to go. We really enjoyed our stay here. We spent a day hiking along the coast line, did bingo with the locals at one of the local bars, I think everyone on the island attended, and hung out at the yacht club and caught up on the internet, which was free. We could have stayed longer but the weather and ocean was giving us a break so we thought we better
take advantage and move on to Tonga.

The passage to Tonga is just 240 miles and can really be a piece a cake or very rough. We caught it on a rough couple of days. The seas seemed to come at us from all directions and the winds were not strong enough to drive the boat through them. It was therefore our pleasure to enjoy a very rough 2 days at sea. Not life threatening just very uncomfortable. We didn't get much sleep but the passage was made a little more doable because we had an extra crew on board with us. Ryan, from Parker,
Co., was crewing on another boat and needed help getting to Tonga after his services were no longer required on his other boat. We agreed to get him to Tonga so he could pick up another boat and head to New Zealand. After his departure Barbara and I are much happier when it is just the 2 of us.

We got to Vava'u Tonga, the northern group of islands, in one piece and have enjoyed this place probably the best of all the places we have visited so far. The main city of Neiafu is centrally located on the island and from this spot you can go to about 40 different anchorages all within about an hour's time. If you want peace and quiet and the place to yourself there are plenty of spots or you can anchor with some of your sailing friends in other anchorages. When you come into the harbor at
Neiafu there are plenty of restaurants and stores to go to. What is really special is all our cruising friends we have met over the past 8 months are all here and it is great to get together with everyone and talk about all our experiences this year. Tonga and especially these islands are where the Humpback whales migrate to every winter to have their calves and mate. So, from July to October the waters are full of whales. Tonga is also one of only 2 places in the world where you can swim with
the whales. Barbara and I took one of the whale tours and had the good fortune to be able to get up close and personal to the whales. What an experience to be next to these giant creatures in their marine environment. That has got to be the highlight of our year.

It is now time to start heading south. Tomorrow, Monday, we start the last leg of our journey for 2008 and start working our way 1,000 miles south to New Zealand. We are again excited about a new land fall and new experiences. It will also be a good stopping place to come home and see family and friends.
This log report finds Destiny and crew all well and in working order. We have so many memories and so many more to make. With that this is Destiny back to 1-6.

Captain's log August 13, 2008

I admit it; I haven't done real well keeping you posted on what's going on. You have to understand it is very busy out here. Where will we snorkel today? What boat will we watch the sun set on? What's for dinner? Why is the moon so bright? Busy, Busy, Busy.
We are at the end of our stay in French Polynesia. Hard to believe it has been 3 months since we got here. If you read my last blog Barbara and I were a little down with all the boat mechanical problems. But soon after the last blog we got everything working and we have been that way ever since. Water maker completely is overhauled and working. In fact it is working and making water better now than it ever did. Our dinghy went to the dinghy hospital and had a major healing. The fuel leak fixed and nonexistent. All is well TODAY; tomorrow that can all change.
Our stay in all the islands has been very memorable. A few of my highlights. I will never forget the first land fall in the Marquesas. After being on the open ocean for 21 days and seeing the island of Fatu Hiva with its lush green valleys and mountains. What a welcome sight. It was a tremendous sense of accomplishment to sail that far and hit the target. The modern world of navigation is really great. The Marquesas were like going back in time very rural and rustic.
Our next stop was the Tuamotu's. We had a great time there because Barbara and I checked into a luxury resort hotel and stayed 3 days. These islands are very different because they are really reefs that have formed a big circle with a lagoon in the middle (called an atoll). The reef part has developed enough to support trees and land for growing things and a few villages. I don't think there is anything quite like these islands anywhere in the world. We were lucky to be able to spend a few days there. One of our highlights was doing a dive at one of the passes into the atoll of Rangiroa. They drop you off outside the pass and then the current swipes you through the pass and then they pick you up on the inside. The water on the surface is rough and the current is even rougher. Under the water it is a different world. It would be like swimming in an aquarium. The fish and coral are so abundant it literally takes your breath away.
After a few days we were off to the Society Islands with Tahiti being our first landfall. Seeing Tahiti for the first time was really inspiring. This is one of those life goals that were finally coming true. Barbara and I kept saying to each other, "we are in Tahiti". One of our main goals in Tahiti was to get the boat fixed and working again. We were very lucky to be able to get a slip in the largest marina in Papeete. Normally we anchor out from land but with what we needed to do to get the boat fixed it was great being at the marina. In 2 weeks we were all well and ready to go again.
From Tahiti we sailed to Moorea, just 10 miles but a world apart. This island is truly what you think about when you think about French Polynesia. The bays between the mountains and the reefs with all the colorful fish. We liked it so much we stayed here for 2 weeks. A high point for me was being able to swim with the Stingrays and sharks. Sounds pretty intense but was a very serene experience being a part of their world for a few moments. The rays would come right up to you and allow you to touch them. A really awesome experience.
During the middle of July we were blessed to have Jeri Lyn and Jeff Martin, close friends from Denver, join us for a few days sailing and exploring the other islands. As luck would have it for them the weather was not very kind to them. Three of the 5 days they were on board it rained. In spite of all that it was memorable to me because they came all that way to see us. They were great sports and we had a great time anyway. On their last night with us in Bora Bora we had dinner at a restaurant that might have been the best food I have ever eaten. The restaurant is Villa Mahana and we want to thank Mac and Pamela Buckland for the recommendation.
The days pass quickly in these islands. It is now time to go to a new land and a new adventure. One thing stays constant, the people we get to associate with our like no other. It is a very special community of people where everyone watches out for each other. We feel lucky and blessed because of it. We are both excited about what tomorrow brings. You have to be careful and not get ahead of yourself. Very important to live in the moment probably want be this way again. I hope this gives you a perspective of my last 3 months. It's been a great time but I can't wait for the next land fall. Destiny back to 1-6!

Captain log update 6/18/2008

A lot of people have been writing in wondering where my updates are.  Barbara reminds me every day that I need to do the update so finally I feel compelled to write.  It has been a long time so I will try not to repeat too much.

Our life aboard for the last 3 weeks has been consumed with the fact that our water maker didn't work.  At first it would work in the evening then it would work for 8 hours and then nothing for a few days.  It was very frustrating.  I spent many hours taking the thing apart to try and determine where the problem was.  Finally it quit all together.  We were still in the Marquesas and were getting ready to head to the Tuamotus but we had no water on board to make the crossing.  On a whim we decided to go over to a little island in the Marquesas that we hadn't been to yet and see if we could get some water and then make the crossing.  When we got to the harbor on this island we found out that if we waited till high tide we could tie the boat to the dock and hook up our hose and fill the water tanks.  The water was not drinkable but at least we would have water for bathing, doing dishes and running the toilets. I can't tell you what a God send this was.  By the way, in all the islands in the Marquesas this is the only one that had a dock that would allow us to do this type of fill up.  Without this we were looking at many hours of going back and forth in the dinghy filling water jugs and pouring them into the water tanks one by one.  Ok, water issue solved for at least 2 weeks if we were real careful how we used it. 

It seems that when one thing goes wrong something else happens at the same time.  As the water maker was dying on us Barbara kept telling me she smelled diesel fumes on the starboard side of the boat.  We had just filled up with fuel so I figured there might be a pocket of fumes that had developed during the fill up.  We had very rough seas after we filled up and made our way over to the island to get water. The diesel fumes got worse and finally we started going through every compartment to see if we had a leak.  It didn't take long for us to discover the problem.  We had a break in the fill line from where we put the fuel into the boat on deck to the fuel tank.  This break in the line had allowed fuel to wash up from the tank and out the break and into several compartments and into the bilge. In one of the compartments that the fuel had leaked into we found probably a gallon of fuel.  On a boat where the fumes cannot escape easily a few drops of diesel will stink up the whole boat.  We really had a mess on our hands.  I really had no way to patch the leak and as long as we were at sea in rough water the fuel would continue to wash up that line from the fuel tank until we used up enough fuel so it couldn't reach the break.  So we turned the main engine and generator on and started using fuel.  Doing this for a couple of days got the fuel level down enough so we didn't have any more spillage.  Problem, resolved for the time being.

I cannot tell you how stressful this is on captain and crew.  Cruising the islands was suddenly not much fun.  The boat stunk and we worried about the water running out.  We decided to throw the towel in and head for Tahiti and get this stuff fixed.  On the way we would stop over in Rangiroa in the Tuamotus and then proceed to Papeete the main port in Tahiti.  It took us about 3 days to cross between the islands and get to Rangiroa, which is the largest atoll in this group of islands.  The anchorage here was just offshore from this beautiful resort the Kia Ora Village resort.  This place is exactly what you would think of if you pictured a south sea island resort.  It was perfect and of course it was Barbara's birthday so we got a room (bungalow), for 3 nights.  This was the perfect place at the perfect time.  Can't tell you how much we enjoyed those 3 days away from the issues of the boat and our way of life on the boat. 

After our stay in Rangiroa we did an overnight sail to Tahiti where we are now, working on getting things fixed, replaced or whatever it takes to make life on the boat good again.  How could I forget our last problem.  Our dinghy has a big hole in the front tube.  I have tried to patch it but have not had great success.  About 4 times a day I would have to pump up the tubes so we could use the thing.  To fix the problem we need to have the dinghy out of the water for a few days and have them use some special glue that needs to dry inside to work.  To do all that we needed to be in the marina so we could tie up and let them take the dinghy away to be fixed. This is the time of year that everyone comes to Tahiti to sail and charter so the marinas are completely full.  I just happened to be at the right place at the right time and the marina manager said he had a spot that just opened .  My lucky day!

So here we are in a marina in Papeet ,Tahiti.  The parts for the watermaker have been ordered and should be here by the end of the week. They will come get the dinghy tomorrow and fix the leaks and the rest of our little problems are getting resolved.  In spite of all the problems I can't believe we are here.   It just doesn't seem possible that a few months ago we were in the cold and snow of Denver and now we are in French Polynesia.

I know this report seems a little gloomy but there are 2 sides to this life style.  When everything is working and the weather is right this is a wonderful experience. On the other hand when things are not working this can be a real challenge.  We are very thankful we have more of the good days. That's it for now from the South Pacific. This is Destiny back to 16.                        

 

Captain's Update May 27, 2008

It doesn't seem possible but we have been in the Marquesas Islands for 3 weeks.  As a first landfall after 21 days at sea this isn't too bad.  Lush green islands with fruit trees everywhere.  The native people of the islands could not be nicer. They are always smiling and welcoming you to their village.  They have the patience of Job dealing with people like us who know no French and have a hard time with the language.  Somehow or another we both figure out what the other wants and we end up with a mutual understanding.  You get the point this place is very unique; both the land and the people.

A few days ago a friend wanted to know what it was like seeing land for the first time in 21 days when we arrived in the islands.  Out at sea the colors you see are very limited.  There are many shades of blue, gray and white.  At sundown we have orange, red, yellow, and pink. The one color you don't see is green.  When we came in sight of land and we could start to make out the island with its many shades of green that you see and it reminds you how much you have missed that color.  When we pulled into the little bay we were headed for I really didn't give much thought to this being the end of 21 days at sea.  Those first few minutes we were very focused on getting the anchor set and making the boat ready to stay a while.  Barbara was not feeling well so as soon as we got the anchor set she went below and took a nap. I got the deck chairs up on deck, got a cold beer and a cigar and started to think about what we had just accomplished.  It was a very special moment.  The dream of doing this for so many years was finally being realized.  The other thought I had on first seeing the island from about 30 miles out was that I could travel 2,700 miles in this giant ocean and find this little speck of land.  Technology is great.   

 After 3 weeks we are actually getting excited about going back out to sea.  Next weekend we will head SW toward the Tuamotu Islands.  These islands are about 460 miles SW from the Marquesas and about 200 miles east of Tahiti.  In fact they are the largest island chain in French Polynesia.

Since my last update the water maker stopped working again.  Spent several days taking it apart and putting it back together.  I was able to finally get in touch with the guy who installed it and he told me what was probably wrong.  When we get to Tahiti that will be one of the first things that gets worked on.  So as far as making water, when we are underway it seems to work and when we sit at anchor it doesn't work.  Such is life on a boat.   The only other thing that isn't working quite right is our dinghy.  4 days ago a rusty dock ladder put a hole in the side of the dinghy.  That's not good because air leaks out.  My first attempt at patching the leak would be graded as a C-. When we bring the dinghy back on deck I will start over and try to get the leak stopped.  Compared to other boats we are doing quite well in the area of equipment breakdown.

Some observations after joining the cruising community.  The boats and crews we met when we arrived in the islands are kind of our cruising pals all the way to New Zealand.  Good thing we like most of them.  When things break it usually happens along with other stuff at the same time.  That phenomenon greatly increases the stress level on our boat, if you know what I mean.  Even though we are surrounded by water, fresh water is like gold.  When we talk about the water maker going out you might as well be talking about sinking the boat.  It is the ultimate stressor.  The Milky Way is brilliant here and we watch it every night. Additional information - it runs east to west and you could use it to navigate.  The villagers are getting rich off of coconut oil.  Who would of thought?  The one part of our boat life Barbara and I have not mastered yet is the radio.  Our goal in the next month is to learn how all that works.  We are really not acceptable members of the cruising society until we master that aspect. 

Time to go it is way past my bedtime (9pm).  Busy day tomorrow, we move to another bay and village.  We really are having the time of our life.  Every day is new and rewarding and we look so forward to the next day and what it will bring.  Take care land lubbers and we hope your day and week will be as rewarding as ours. "This is Destiny, back to 16."       

Captains Update, May 17, 2008, Bahia Hanamoenoa on the Island of Tahuata

Please forgive me for taking so long to give you an update. A lot has happened since the last time we talked. Before I get started I want to tell those of you who have emailed that I am sorry I haven't got back to you. Since we crossed the equator our ability to send and receive email is very limited. There is only one station that we are able to get connected with and that station will only let us be on line with them for 30 minutes a day. By the time we send some messages and then start receiving
we run out of time. That's what you get when its free so It might take awhile for me to get back to you.
We arrived in the Marquesas on May 8th. We did the crossing in 21 days and that is way above average for 2 people from Denver. The last 4 days of the crossing was like we were in a speed boat. We had 2 days that we averaged 190 nm. That probably doesn't sound like much to land lubbers but for a sail boat that is moving. A little perspective if we did 120 nm a day we thought we were doing well. So, when we got to the islands our first stop was the island of Fatu Hiva. The bay we anchored in was
like going back in time. For 6 days we never paid money for anything. Everything we got was bartered for. Seven pamplemousse (grapefruits) & a stalk of bananas was about one tee shirt and 3 small bottles of shampoo. Barbara got real good at wheeling and dealing with the locals. I probably gave too much away for what I traded for but in my mind the things we were trading were really throw aways. The best way to describe the bay we were in is to envision the movie Jurassic Park. In fact we cut
one of our hikes short because we feared a T-Rex was right down the path. Every morning I would go up on deck to have a cup of coffee and I would have to pinch myself I just could not believe we were actually here and living our dream. What a great way to start our journey in the South Pacific.
The boat has been great. We have had a few bumps in the road like the generator stopped working again and our water maker went out. Both problems were overcome and we are back with all systems normal. I am learning very quickly how all this stuff works. I better because without the generator we can't turn on the air conditioner and when the water maker goes out we can't take a shower every day. As of today all systems are working normal and that makes Barbara and me very happy.
As a foreigner we are required to check into the country and clear customs. In the Marquesas there are 3 islands you can go to that have the facilities to do that. We choose the island of Hiva Oa. We felt like we had gone into the city after being in Fatu Hiva for 6 days. We were in the largest town on the island and its population was about 1500. There was a post office, 4 little grocery stores a gas station , bank and 2 restaurants. One of the restaurants was only open for lunch. The anchorage
was a 40 minute walk into town so we rented a car for 2 days. This was the first time in over 30 days that I had to take money or a credit card out of my pocket to purchase anything. That is probably a first in my adult life. The anchorage in Hiva Oa left a lot to be desired in fact it was maybe the worst I have ever experienced. The water was only about 10 ft deep and when the tide went out and we were at low tide I probably only had about 1-2 ft of water below the keel. To make matters worse
the tides are greater during the full moon stage, which is what we are going through now. Now let's add large 4 ft rollers coming in and now the boat was rocking and rolling like we were at sea. Finally Saturday morning we were exhausted and at first light we got out of there. Next stop the Island of Tahuata which is a short 7 mile trip across the channel from Hiva Oa. We are currently anchored in a little bay with a white sand beach and water so clear you can see forever. This bay is completely
deserted with only lime, coconut and banana trees. Back in paradise! This is a place you read about in travel magazines when they talk about the islands in the South Pacific. It's beautiful and made even more so by the anchorage we just left but tomorrow we move on.
It is really hard to describe the beauty here. The sea, the people, the sky, sunsets it is too much to put into words. Got to go, its Sunday night and I have to get up and go to another little bay to sit and watch another sunset. Wishing all who take the time to read our story another great week and good health where ever you are. "Over and Out Destiny back to 16."

FW: Update!!

Hello everyone!!!
 
It's Jen, Barb's daughter. Mom and Frank have landed!! They hit shore in the Marquesas on friday...  All is well, but they have no internet :( .  They are actually in Fatu Hiva and will be doing a small halfday trip to Hiva Oa on tues or wed. Hopefully they will pick up an internet signal there :)  They asked me to send a little message to the blog, to let every one know they made it! I only get a short convo when they call, due to the cost of the sat. radio... so i only have a small amout of info to report to all of ya'll.
 
HAPPY MOTHERS DAY :)
Jen

Captain's Update May 5 @ 03.29 S, 133.25 W, 2315 GMT . South Pacific 550 NM,

You could cut the excitement on Destiny with a knife. We are not done yet but we can start to smell the tropical flowers and fruit or least Barbara can I just pretend. What a journey this has been now its not over but we can start the process of summarizing the last 65 days. it seems a lot longer than that but we have come a long way in a short time. Most cruisers don't move this quick, in fact most we have found are a little intimidated about losing site of land. In about 3 days Barbara and I join
a very elite group of sailors who have made this passage. Since leaving San Diego February 28th we have sailed over 3,700 NM with more than 2/3 of that more than 50 miles off shore. A few highlights:
Right at the start of our journey from San Diego, Captain, me, entered the wrong port in Ensenada. It was dark and hard to see, anyone could have made the same mistake. In Asuncion Bay we tied the dinghy next to the boat and in the middle of the night it was hitting the hull and the Captain couldn't sleep. So I went on deck and started to re-tie it forward. As I untied it I let go of the wrong line and the dinghy was set adrift. How in the world was I going to explain this to Barbara, "I lost the
dinghy, honey". The gods looked onto me with favor because as I contemplated diving in after it the wind blew it right back to me. Whew, that was close! In Santa Maria bay we entered on a very dark and foggy night, anchoring next to shore with only our instruments as a guide and our ears listening to the surf hit the beach. I was happy camper when the sun came up the next morning and we were exactly where we were supposed to be and not washed up on shore. Barbara gets all the kudos on that one she
did a great job setting the anchor. We caught our first fish on the passage from Cabo to Mazatlan. It was a great moment I could taste it already but as it got closer to the boat, we realized it was a shark. Now what? I could just see me bringing that thing on deck and one of us gets bitten. No need to fear catching and landing are two different things. We have got the catching part down but we have had some issues with the landing part. When the shark got right next to the boat, it took a deep
look into my eyes of terror as I was about to whack it in the head, and took off, whew that was close! For those of you who keep asking we have yet to land one yet but we are close.

When we got to Puerto Vallarta I again went into the wrong port. Hey, honest mistake they all look alike besides I wanted to see what that area of town looked like. When we got to the right marina "there was no room in the inn" because it was Easter weekend, and everyone was in town for the big holiday, so we just took the biggest slip we could find. The marina was full and we couldn't prove our reservation to the security officer. The guard said we had to go! I said let me talk to your boss. He
said do whatever you want. That whole exchange was done in my fluent Spanish.

We have had a few mechanical and boat part failures along the way. The generator wouldn't start. Finally after 5-6 hours of trying everything the book said to try one of my marina mates called Teacup (no kidding, an English mate). This guy is in such high demand if I had tried to get this guy with his help it would have taken 2 weeks. Teacup stops by, listens, looks and in a couple of minutes finds the fuse housing in the start circuit was broken. A 15 cent piece of plastic had rendered us helpless.
He went to the local hardware store got a replacement and we were back in business. I am now an expert in generator repair. We broke a windshield not long after that. Suffice it to say I am now an expert on import/export laws of Mexico. We have had 2 shackles come undone. Never leave the dock until you are sure every shackle on deck is secured. I have been up the mast in a bosons chair while underway. I would not recommend that stunt to anyone but the view is excellent. Disney has contacted me about
making this a ride, "UP THE MAST OF TERROR"!

All in all we have had a very good 65 days. We have had problems like everyone out here and we have overcome each by putting our heads together and coming up with solutions. Bottom line, each time we faced these problems we overcame them and moved on. Two days ago we crossed the equator and both of us declared each other Shell Backs. We poured the Sea Gods a drink of our finest red wine. After a couple of hours of admiring our accomplishment we moved on. If we stopped right now the trip has been
a success Now in about 3-4 days we land in French Polynesia, a dream of both Barbara and I for many years. I am very honored and grateful to have Barbara as my first mate on Destiny as well as in my life as my wife. It has been a great adventure and will continue to be. We both can't wait to see what tomorrow brings us. We are truly blessed.

I will talk to you again in the islands where I am sure there will be more adventures. Destiny,KD0CFF,over and out.

Update from the Captaims Log Sunday April 27 2008l

We are into our 10th day out here and I am happy to report I haven't had to go back up the mast since I last talked to you. Lets hope that only happens once in a retirement. You will be interested to know that someone passed my story on to The Flying Wallenda's
and they are interested in talking to me when I am done with this trip.

We are just about to complete the north leg of the passage. The next leg of the trip is very interesting. We will be traveling through the area known as the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). This is an area that is always changing in size and position and is somewhat important to one sailing from the northern hemisphere to the southern. Most people think of this area as the doldrums and in some respect that is correct but there is more to it than that. Sailing through this area you can encounter
severe thunderstorms or dead calm seas. What ever the case you want to minimize the time you spend going through this zone. So, before we left Manzanillo we contacted a weather service that provides routing for mariners, and especially in this area of the world. They give us the coordinates to sail to and what kind of wind and seas we should expect as we make the passage. Tomorrow afternoon we will reach the position to turn south and head through the ITCZ. It leaves us pretty excited and anxious
at the same time. When we make our left turn tomorrow we have a very narrow window to sail south through. What ever we encounter we would be remiss if we didn't stop at the Equator and celebrate, which is customary and quite ceremonious, after all how many people get to sail across the equator. With all that build up I need to let you know this doesn't happen quickly. It will take almost all week for us to get to the other side of the zone. As we sail south trough the zone, we will be watching
for the wind to shift around and we then pick up the trade winds from the Southeast. When that happens we will have started the final leg of the passage to the Marguesas. This is also suppose to be the best sailing because the SE trades are very reliable. Keep watching and we will keep you updated as to what's happening.

Well there you go a science lesson right here in Frank's Notes. Will sign off now until the next update.

Life at Sea, Update April 22,2008

We are into our 6th day at sea. You could almost rubber stamp the last 3. We start in the morning with a nice breeze blowing from the north or northeast. as the day progresses the seas get bigger (10-12 ft) and the wind builds to about 23 kts. This will continue until about 2am and then everything gets mixed up and it is as if we were in a washing machine . Waves coming at all directions, the wind shifting from one direction to another and we are very uncomfortable. Someone of a low disposition
more toward motion sickness would probably be quite ill at this time and would have thoughts of jumping overboard or putting a gun to their head. So it is about this time we turn the engine on and head any direction that will get the boat a little smoother - doesn't always work. For some good reason God made Barbara and I where we don't get sea sick. I guess that's why we like doing this so much. So, continuing at about 6 or 6:30 am we start the process all over again.

On a boat this size things can break, come apart, or just stop working. There is no West Marine or Home Depot so you have to figure it out yourself. I have discovered that when an item breaks or needs fixing what ever amount of time you thought it would take you can usually multiply that many times. The next thing you find is the item you are working on is so hidden away that Harry Houdini would have a problem getting to it. We call fixing things the Yachty Pilates. The builder of the boat must have
derived great pleasure putting equipment where he knew it would be very difficult to find and fix.

Speaking of fixing things 2 or 3 days ago the topping lift on the boom let go. The topping lift supports the boom which holds the main sail to the mast. It is a line from the end of the boom to the top of the mast. Without that line attached you could never take the main sail in because the boom would come down into the cockpit. We were lucky to be able to save the piece of hardware that attaches the line to the boom otherwise I would have had to improvise with something else. Our next issue was
to retrieve the line attached to the top of the mast which has a pulley on the end so we could attach a line and put the topping lift back together. Here comes the fun part. The line that I needed to retrieve was a quarter the way up the mast and the only way to get it was go up there. It is scary going up the mast in port not to mention doing it in open water with rolling seas. We had no other choice. We waited until the seas were fairly calm which is very relative out here . I hooked up and Barbara
winched me up the mast. Everything went pretty smoothly in fact I was thinking that was pretty easy. We tied a line around the piece so we could walk it back to the end of the boom. Barbara let me down without incident and we went to put it all together. As I was piecing everything together the boat rolled and the line went flying out of my hand. I was very sad. This meant I had to go back up the mast. This time it was a little different because when I was going up I lost my grip, and off I swung
which would normally be alot of fun except on the way out I hit the wires holding the mast up and on the swing back in I slammed into the main sail. One time was not good enough I got to repeat this high wire act about 3 times. Please do not try this at home. In fact don't do this anywhere. Long story short we got the end of the line and successfully attached it to the boom. Back in business. Barb let me have a beer as a reward (which by our rules is forbidden at sea) and she cleaned and doctored
all my wounds. Just another day at sea.

They are not all that exciting in fact most of the time you don't feel like doing anything. Standing watches at night sort of takes a toll on you during the day. We end up taking a lot of naps. We have been experimenting with different watch schedules for the time between 9pm and 8am. We started with 4 hours on watch and 4 off. We then went to 3 on 3 off. Tonight we are going to try 3-4-3. No easy way to make this nice at night, one of us needs to be on deck at all the times and this gets very
boring and tiring.

A couple of other things about our life. We love to get your emails (kd0cff@winlink.org) that is a zero not an oh. We never get tired of watching another sunset or another sunrise. Life is good but we can't wait to get this part of the journey done. Until next time this is Destiny returning to 16, over.

Captain Frank is again a happy sailkor - UPDATE FOR APRIL 18, 2008

On Monday I was not going to be denied. I was going to see to it that I get my window from customs. I started the day by going down to DHL (package delivery service) and telling them I don't speak Mexican and I want to get my window. PLEASE HELP. Since they were only the people that deliver the packages they had nothing to do with getting stuff through customs. They did get me in touch with someone at the customs office who spoke English. She said that I needed to go to the bank and pay the import
fee and then send a copy of the recite to her by 2:30pm and she would release the package back to DHL. Seems simple enough but just that little bit took 2 hours. It was now 11:00 and I was worried that 31/2 hours was not enough time and I would have to start all over again on Tuesday. I then took a cab to the bank she told me to go to and my heart sank when I saw the line to get in the bank was out the door. I decided to just get in the bank and start crying and maybe someone would take pity on
me. Not exactly. I did go in and find the first person at a desk and told him my story. He took pity on me and started trying to help. Two more hours and we were almost there. He took my money gave me a voucher and then said I would have to go down the street and find a fax machine to send to customs because their machine was broke. Bottom line is I Got it done with hardly a minute to spare. Ok that was step one window could now be delivered. Step 2 I needed to get the people at DHL to deliver
the package as soon as possible and they did it was in my hands Tuesday afternoon. Step 3 get the old window out and the new one in. For that the dock master called someone. Larry, Curly,and Moe showed up ready to smash and thrash. They would take no prisoners. Glass went everywhere. I sent Barbara up to the hotel to do email so she couldn't see the mess. Long story short we got the new glass in. When they were done the work area around the window looked like someone had been murdered. There
was blood and black sealer and glass everywhere. These guys didn't believe in gloves. They grabbed glass with their bare hands and tore it away from the window. When we got done I told them I would clean up just tell me what I owe. One of them had a phone and made a call then all 3 just left. The next day I found out what I owed and left it with the dock master.

Thursday we topped off the fuel tank and by 1 pm we were on our way. What an ordeal. This was all a blessing in disguise because it gave us a chance to slow down and enjoy our new life style. As I stated earlier it wasn't a bad place to be stranded.

We are now about 170 miles off the west coast of Mexico heading sort of SW. I say sort of because at this stage of the game we just need to generally follow the wind. We have a long way to go. The weather is perfect but we could use a little more wind. There is no other boat traffic in this area which makes it nice to not have to watching out for the big ships all the time. We have seen no other vessels since last night at 11.

That is pretty much from here. Just a reminder I will update our position on the web site about every 6 hours and if you want to send us an email do so at kd0cff@winlink.org.

April 11, 2008 Latest news from the Captain's Chair

We are now going into our second week in beautiful Manzanillo,Mx. I guess if you have to be delayed some where this is not a bad place to have that happen. To catch some of you up we are waiting for a replacement windshield to arrive. The glass is in Mexico but for the last 3 days Customs has delayed it reaching us at the marina. Not much else we can do but wait and try to comply with any rules they have. The problem is they have a hard time telling you what the rules are this week.

We are very anxious to get started across the Pacific. The boat is ready and our supplies are on board ready to go.

April 6, Update

APRIL 6, 2008
How time flies. I can't believe I let this much time go by since making an input. I will try to catch up. I will also try to explain a few of our contact issues.
I last updated this page when we were about to go into Mazatlan. We had a great stop over there and stayed at the Mazatlan Marina. I would highly recommend this for cruisers looking to rest up for a while. A lot of Americans were here most of the cruisers were here waiting to go north into the Sea of Cortes for the summer. After 3 days here we again headed out. We are trying to get to Puerto Vallarta by Friday March 22.
Out of Mazatlan we made one stop at San Blas a little fishing village on the coast. Nothing of real note here except for the fact we took a jungle cruise. If you have seen one jungle you have seen them all. I did like the fact that on the way back our guide stopped and bought me some cervaza's for the return to the dock. Out of San Blas we sailed a little south to another bay where we overnighted and then headed into PV.
On our way to PV we would have got in earlier except I turned into the wrong entrance and missed the port entrance we were suppose to go to. All looks the same on the map. If you have been reading my notes and you are keeping track that is #2. Anyway we turned around and went 3 miles south to where we were suppose to be. It is Saturday the day before Easter and at the Marina no one is there. The rule is you take an open slip and wait till Monday and settle up. This is Easter weekend and the place is very crowded so we took the best place we could find. As my friend Dick Miller says, "if you are going to take someone's seat take the best you can find". Your probably way ahead of me on this, we got in tied the boat up and then the security guards came and told us we had to move. I really didn't want to move because this was really a great slip for us and the boat. After buying some time I ended up telling the guard I wanted to talk to his boss because I was told I had a reservation. He wanted no part in calling his boss over the weekend so he finally left us alone. My Spanish American is better than I thought.
A great time was had by all in PV. We met up with friends from Denver, Jeri Lynn and Jeff, who were there on business. On Monday my sister, Mary and B-I-L, Tom. came into town to spend the next week sailing with us to Manzanillo.
Mechanical problems are a fact of life on any boat especially one that is in salt water. Tuesday after Tom and Mary arrived I turned on the generator to charge the batteries and it would not stay running. I changed the fuel filter , checked the coolant, air filter, and basically everything you can do get it going. Nothing worked. I got with Paul on Pencoya to see what advice he might offer and both of us worked on it all day. He finally called a mechanic friend, Teacup, to take a look at it. He looked around opened the breaker box and found that a 10 cent piece of plastic had broke which caused the engine to fail. No substitute for experience. A 10 cent part added up to a bottle of Scotch for Paul and a hourly rate to Teacup for finding and fixing the problem.
Wednesday we are off for a a few stop overs and then into Manzanillo. Our first stop was Bahia de Ipala and very small village with a very small bay. Mistake on Captain Frank's part #3. We should have left and gone on down the coast. This anchorage was very rolly and there were other boats there so you didn't have room to maneuver. Short version of the stay here. we drug the anchor and went into some buoys with a bunch of rope tying them together, pulled up anchor to leave at 5am and got the prop caught in the ropes, deployed anchor again to keep us from going ashore , pulled anchor back aboard and had a fishing boat from village pull us out of harms way away from the rocks on shore, put dive gear on and went under boat to free prop and cut ropes. In this process somewhere we broke the windshield on the boat. We have had better nights.
That was enough excitement for this trip so with another stop and then into Bahia Navidad we seem to finally get into the flow. We stayed 2 nights at anchor in the lagoon and then moved to the Marina for 2 days. Very nice stay because we got to enjoy the amenities of the resort. This became one of our best stops to date.
After 2 days we came into Manzanillo where we currently sit in the Marina at Las Hadas Resort. This is the resort they used in the movie "10" with Dudley Moore and Bo Derek. We patiently wait for the front windshield to be shipped to us so we can continue the journey. Mary and Tom left yesterday after spending a few days at an all inclusive resort just down the beach from our Marina. As our first sailing guest aboard Destiny I hope we didn't scare them too much and hopefully they give us their blessing to continue the trip.
It is now Sunday morning the weather is the same as it has been everyday since leaving Ensenada the first of March. Blue skies and a light sea breeze with the temp in the 80's and humidity in the 90's. Hopefully we get the window installed this week and as soon as it is in we are off for the Marquises. Until next time happy sailing to all.

March 2008 postings

March 16, 2008 - A Dedication
A week ago my long time friend, Steve Haltom's Dad passed away. I knew him as the "Colonel". It was during my years in high school the Colonel was sort like a second father. During that time Steve and I did everything we could to give our parents reason to disown us. Colonel Haltom persevered through all our foolishness and even though he was a tough Marine he was always fair. His favorite saying to Steve and I was always " Fun and games spin those wheels". He was exactly right; it was all a big party back then and we were always out in our cars going somewhere and usually getting in trouble . I really didn't have much time to spend with the Colonel after high school but he left an impression to this day. Colonel Haltom was buried in Arlington on March the 11th with full military honors. He was a great warrior a great dad and friend, whom I wish I had gotten to know better. Semper Fi.

March 15, 2008
Spent 2 days in Cabo and if I were 35 years younger it would have been a dream come true. Spring break, the beach, Mexico, college days, and no worries, Mom and Dad will take care of it. Barb and I were wondering where these kids get the money? Cabo is not cheap. Probably the most expensive place in Mexico I have been to.

We had plans to stay in a marina while we were there but that didn't happen. Every slip was taken so we stayed out of the harbor on the anchor. When we went into town we took the dinghy to the the middle of town tied it up and gave them $3 dollars. Needed a part for the boat and because it was an item you would usually find on a sail boat no one carried the part. Cabo is strictly motor yachts.
No tears were shed on leaving this morning. Checked with the weather people last night and we should have an easy crossing to Mazatlan, about 200 miles due east. If you are watching the national news there are gale force winds off the coast of California and down the Baja peninsula. Where we are it is almost a dead calm.

We caught our first fish today or better stated our first shark. It was exciting until we saw it was a shark and then we said "now what do we do". I tried to get him up the side of the boat so I could knock it out but the line broke. Oh well we proved we could catch something. Most upsetting was he took my lure. That was an expensive non catch. Pictures are in our Picture This! section.

We continue to enjoy our new life style. The boat is everything they said it would be and more. Barb and I are doing very well. Feel great and just loving life. From 23.00 north and 109.02 west so long until we visit again.

March 11, 2008
We had an easy sail to our next stop , Bahia de Santa Maria. I will not go into too much detail about our 2 days in this bay because I am sure Barbara will go into great detail. Suffice it to say it was a grand 2 days. We had this whole bay to ourselves. What more could one ask for, temp in the 70's, blue skies , white sand beach and sand dollars for as far as the eye could see.

Ok I have now been retired about month and a half. how am I doing? If I was any better it would be illegal. I miss my friends and the great agents and people at State Farm but the job is pretty easy to put out of mind. I do need to challenge myself mentally because it is very easy to sit on the back of the boat and do or think about nothing. To keep busy I try to study one little part of the boat each day. There is still a lot I don't know but am slowly picking it up. Now I know you are probably thinking how is this guy going sail around the world if he doesn't know how to operate the boat. The answer is I know the important stuff and need to learn the things that will make us better. And by the way, after I learn it I teach Barbara.

My First mate is doing an outstanding job standing watch and helping to run the boat. One little example. when we came into Bahia Santa Maria it was almost midnight it was foggy and you could hardly see the length of the boat. We were strictly using our GPS to guide us. When we got to where we thought would be a good place to drop the anchor Barbara needed to go forward and lower the anchor and get it set so we wouldn't go any further and run up on the shore. This would be a daunting task under the best of conditions. She never wavered she dropped the anchor and set it with out any hesitation or complaint. She's quite the sailor.

I'll wrap this up. The boat is doing great and we are too. Tomorrow we head to Cabo which will take us about 36 hours. That will end our stay on the Baja.

March 7,2008
Well I'm doing better only a week has passed since my last up date. I am not sure one person should have this much fun.

We left San Diego to start our journey to the South Pacific on Feb 29. If we had a schedule that was an important date because that was the date we had set to get going. It is real easy to keep saying I need this and that and the list never stops growing. I think we could have stayed in San Diego another 2 weeks and we would have kept adding items to the things to do list. Off we sailed or motored. Not much wind in that area. out of a 10 hour trip the sails were only up about 2 hours. We got into Ensenada about 8pm. The great sailor I am missed the harbor entrance and went into a work area. I thought it looked strange who knew maybe they were doing work in the harbor. Barbara came up and helped me get back on track. Might have destroyed some of her confidence in me being able to get her ,us, around the world.

Ensenada was a blur. Got our fishing license and bought fishing gear , up dated our web site and paid some bills. Starbucks has a great wi-fi site., might be the best place in town to sit and do nothing. Did paper work to continue cruising Mexico, I hope. Every Port Captain seems to have their own rules.
March 1 we left Ensenada and again headed south. I thought we would have better winds a little further off shore. About 80 miles off shore we found all the wind could ever want. We also found 15 foot seas and a very confused sea. I can only describe it as being in a washing machine. So for the next 55 hours we persevered. About half way through the first day and half of that we decided to head closer to shore. When I made the turn to again start heading south the Santa Anna winds started. straight out of the East they roared. Great wind direction if you are going south but not at 35 kts. Our goal for this leg was Cedros Island but all the anchorages for this island were on the East side of the island the same side as where all the wind was coming from. NOT GOOD. Made an easy decision to head to Bahia de Tortuga . This the most protected harbor on the whole west coast of the Baja. Even in this protected bay we were dealing with winds over 30 kts. I chickened out on anchoring in all that wind and ask one of the fuel operators to take one of his moorings. He helped us get the mooring line on the cleat and we were home.

Turtle Bay is not any where near what you would call a garden spot. There are no paved roads, and the village is occupied by about 1000 people. Mostly fishing and taking care of cruisers, like us. We stayed for 3 nights and did a lot of repacking of the boat. We discovered that where we put stuff when we first brought it aboard made for a great launching pad for those items in rough seas. The inside of the boat looked like some one came aboard and threw stuff every where. This is, by the way about the third time we have changed things around. We are getting better.

Yesterday we sailed about 56 miles south of Turtle Bay to a little fishing village, Bah ia de Acuncion. Great sail. Saw a pod of whales and it was just generally a great day. Weather is getting warmer as we get further south. We are actually sitting out in shorts and tee shirts today. Don't want to forget some moments from yesterday. Flew the genniker and sailed about 2 hours with it up, this is the large sail in the front of the boat looks like a big parachute, sailed wing and wind for about 2 hours ( main sail on one side of the boat and the genoa on the other side wind directly behind us) , and anchored. Barbara was impressed that we could do all that. She has more confidence in me and maybe we can make it around the world. That's all for today. Happy birthday Rick Rentschler (March 5th) and Happy Birthday Scott Morlan (March 9th).

February 2008 postings

February 27 ,2008
A lot has happened since the last update. I want to fill you in on everything but will try to hit the high lights.

The Party on January 26th was something I will never forget. Special thanks to Michelle Boley, Scott Morlan, Rick Rentschler, Patti Wagner, Lee Baumann, and I know some others. It was a special night, my only regret was that I couldn't spend more time with each of you who attended. It was especially great to see Steve Haltom a long time friend from high school, Randy and Judy Holloway in from Idaho, John and Thyel Turner who were there all the way from North Carolina, Tami Melindez from Florida, my girls from Houston Sharon, Mo Sally, Marianne and Jennifer I really could go on all night. Of course I don't want to forget all the agents , AFO staff and my peers I have worked with over the last 30 years who were there. Someone asked me What I will miss the most and without hesitation I said the people. I thought about that later and should have added the experiences we have all shared together is really what I will miss. So many memories, I have really been blessed to have known and be associated with such great people.

The month of February has really been a blur. On the 1st we flew to Houston to get our Texas Driver's licenses, see Jennifer and Trace and spend time with Doris and Scott Barb's Mom and Dad. We then drove to Dallas to spend a day with Beverly, D and Tre. Flew back to Denver and turned right around and drove to Ensenada to start moving aboard the boat. One day there and we sailed up the coast to San Diego to have some work done on the boat. Real important to have a third TV on board. During the first week here in San Diego we did a lot of shopping. We would fill the car up with stuff go back to the boat and put it in places. Everyday more stuff and every day the boat swallowed it up. Its hard to believe the boat is still floating. The next issue we face is where is all that stuff. If you can imagine we have enough food on board for 2 us to eat every meal for 90 days. Not only have we bought food for us but we have extra stuff to use for trading. The islanders love Spam. I hope we can find it before we reach the islands.

On the 19th we flew back to Virginia to see my Mom, Sister and brother in law; Mary and Tom. It was a great stay and was a lot of fun hanging out with my Mom and all her wonderful friends at the Virginian. We also got to spend time with my nieces and nephews their wives and future brides, significant others, and their cats and many dogs. Good to see everyone but Barbara and I were both anxious to get back to the boat and buy more stuff.

It is now the eve of our departure from the US. Tomorrow starts the journey we have been pointing to for the last 8 years. Can not tell you how excited we both are. We could easily stay another week and buy more stuff but we are going to give our credit card a break. Besides, we are running out of room.

That's it for now but I promise I will do better in the future keeping you posted on what we are doing. Got to get to bed because tomorrow we sail.