March 24 Southside Marina, Provo

Sopadilla Bay was beautiful but we quickly became aware that we would not be able to access the grocery store, dive shops or the airport without crazy expensive taxi rides. Southside Marina runs a morning cruiser's net on the radio and in response to our questions, advised us of their very reasonable rates and many services for cruisers, the most interesting to us being that customs/immigration comes to the boat and that they provide their guests with free rides wherever one needs to go. With a big assist from Mike, it didn't take long to reach the inevitable conclusion of that discussion.

Life on the boat. Going to the store. Boys ride in the back.

We went scuba diving yesterday with Caicos Divers. It was a big boat with about 16 other divers on board. That is big crowd but we were very fortunate that with our experience, they did not require us to follow a dive master. We basically used the boat as a ride to the dive sites and the three of us were able to dive in our own group. Both dives were excellent wall dives to about 85 feet in pristine water.

We were sad to send Mike off to the airport today after banana pancakes and fresh mangoes. OK, bacon was involved too but the ill effects of that were canceled out by the orange juice.

For the rest of our trip to Texas, Mike graciously loaned us his "Spot Me", a personal satellite tracker. Rather than sending automatic signals, we are setting it up so that we will send a location signal every 2-3 hours when we are underway or moving to a new anchorage. Check it out here:

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=01jO48fsx9ND6WJvd9aBHK68Fp0tv63qu

We are leaving the marina in the morning to spend another day at Sopadilla Bay. We plan to passage to the Bahamas on Friday.

March 22 Provodentiales, Turks and Caicos

We pulled out of Fajardo on Thursday morning for the journey to Turks and Caicos. Winds were very light, 5-10 knots for the first couple of hours and then...they....just....died. We fired up the engine and settled in for a night of motoring across very calm seas. On Friday afternoon a front arrived, packing 15-20 knots sustained with occasional gusts to 25 knots. All sails up and we screamed across the water. It was great having Mike on board, not only for his sailing expertise but also to take turns with watches. We quickly settled into a routine and despite building seas, we were all able to get plenty of rest on our trip.

Mike, what with being employed and all, brought a couple of personal gadgets that were great fun. First was a "Spot Me". Unfortunately the link did not work on the blog, but with its satellite signal, it allowed our families to track our progress across open water. He also had his iPhone that was loaded with a star application. You can point at any star or constellation and it will name it. And, f you want to find a constellation, it will direct you to it. Fabulous. Notes to self upon return to US: 1. Get a job. 2. Get an iPhone.

We made such good time with the front that we decided to bypass Grand Turk and head on to Provodentiales, commonly referred to as Provo. We arrived to Provo around 11am, providing direct overhead sunlight to thread our way through the coral heads. Our total trip was 456 miles and took 3.5 days. Mike's flight leaves from Provo and now that we are settled here, we can relax and have some fun for our short stay in the Turks and Caicos.

Leaving Fajardo; Mike at the helm.












During the day we frequently see flying fish jumping outward from the boat. At night, it apparently changes to a suicide game and they jump towards the boat. You see an occasional flash out of the corner of your eye and wonder if it is an apparition. A morning search of the boat reveals the truth. Some of them don't make it across. Diagnosis? Closed head injury, diffuse axonal injury and asphyxiation. Poor little flying fish.











What happens when I am awake. What happens when I am asleep.

Daytime stuff. Boat speed 8.4 knots!! I never get over it, and this time, being in 22,000 feet of water, "something" passed only 10 feet under the boat. We saw several cargo ships and cruise ships on our trip.

On watch. Look up. Look left. Look right.

Over four hundred miles and everyone still smiling!

Arrival to Turks and Caicos. Shallow water with lots of coral heads. Mike and I take turns ont he bow while Craig threads the needle.

My swim suit model, striking a pose.

At anchor in Sopadilla Bay. This is Jergen, a 22yo single-hander from Norway on Morning Star, a 30' Hunter he bought in Florida for $20,000 and took off for destinations south. We were following him across the shallow bank when he suddenly dropped his anchor. We called him and turned out his shaft had fallen out. For those of you who do not know, the shaft is what turns from the engine to the propeller. He has no propulsion and is in the middle of reef-strewn waters. We are not sure why he did not take on water because it is a big hole. Fortunately, it got caught on the rudder so he was able to retrieve it and put it back in place. He declined a tow and we stayed in touch with him via VHF radio until he arrive in the anchorage. We invited him over to dinner. Bless his heart. Plenty of provisions on his boat but no telling how long it has been since he had a cooked meal. We had pressure-cooked port tenderloin, carrots, potatoes and salad. Oreos for dessert. He has never heard of them....

Sopadilla Bay:

OK. Here are a couple of things I forgot to mention in Fajardo. This was a gift from Lisa. This is an actual wax candle, vanilla scented....powered by flickering LED lights!! How fab is that??

I'd also like to turn you on to her sister's jewelry business. Among other things, she specializes in compass rose jewelry. www.maggieleedesigns.com

Notes to self upon arrival to the US: 1. Have Craig get a job. 2. Drop hints around Christmas regarding the diamond compass rose.

So we are here for a couple of days. Diving tomorrow.

March 17 Leaving Fajardo

Happy St Patricks Day!
It has been a busy few days. We are in Puerto Rico and enjoying US prices. In preparation for travel up to the Turks and Caicos and Bahamas which are crazy expensive, we have provisioned this boat to the hilt. Just to give you an idea, I have been paying $7 for a roll of paper towels and here they are only $2.59 for a roll of Bounty. Sweet! And Charmin? Forget it! So now there are toilet paper and paper towels squirreled away all over the boat. They are a precious commodity. I don’t care who you are or how many sham-wows you have (Candy—they are the best ever!!), you use a lot of paper towels on a boat. Anyhoo, paper products abound and the freezer is crammed full of meat. Tired of chicken and pork, we have also taken advantage of US beef prices…lean cuts for my post-CABG man, but a few rib eyes also tucked away. Because sometimes you just need a Craig perfect-grilled steak.
We drove back to San Juan yesterday to pick up our windlass motor. OMG. Puerto Rican drivers. And road-kill iguanas. I can not understand how a populace that typically walks so slowly can drive so fast. And you thought Central was bad. Dang. You see, Craig drove the last time, I drove this time, in our sexy Toyota Yaris. A lawn mower motor with wheels. Manual windows. What? The power surging through the accelerator and steering wheel was intoxicating but then again, the game down here is not so much how fast one can go 0-50mph, but how fast one can go 50-0mph because they love to pull out in front of other cars down here. It was a harrowing adventure. Long story short, we got back to the boat, parts in hand. Craig re-installed and it works like a charm. Whew.

This afternoon we picked up Mike Nauman from San Juan International Airport and dropped off the rental car. We enjoyed happy hour on the dock with new friends and are having a quiet night before the big passage tomorrow. The trip is 350ish miles which we anticipate will take us 72 hours at sea. Mike is a guest tonight. Starting 0700, he is crew.

A picture of Craig with his new do. Mike wanted to post pictures how how the blog really gets made.
















Mike in the red cap with Andy and Lisa of S/V Zingaro, a 47' Passport. The name means gypsy in Italian. They met in Italy while on active duty (she US Navy and he Royal Air Force) and now own a sailing school/charter business out of Maryland.

Will and Ann of S/V Como No, a 40' Cape Dory. They are leaving next week and heading back to Kemah via Jamaica and Isla Mujueres, Mexico. We have very much enjoyed their company and getting to know them this week, and also look forward to seeing them in Kemah.

March 13 Old San Juan

Today we took a trip into several hundred years of history. We went to the forts of Old San Juan. These forts, Castillo San Cristobal and Castillo San Felipe del Morro, were built by Spain starting in the 1500's and were used to defend Puerto Rico from French, Dutch and English invasion until the Spanish-American War of 1898. For inquiring minds, we won.

The fort structures and cannon placement are interesting. Multiple levels. One level to shoot "hot shot" cannon balls at the ships, heated to set the hulls of attacking ships on fire. Another level to shoot and cause deck and sail damage. Another level to defend against land attack.

So, here we are, oozing in history, thinking about what it is like to live on a daily basis in a fort like this...truly an an engineering marvel of its day. Surprisingly cool. Hundreds of men living, fighting and dying within these 15 foot thick walls. But then, these are the things my twisted mind thinks about. For real. I read it on a US Dept of Interior placard so it must be true. They wouldn't bring draft animals inside the forts to cart the cannons up and down the SIX stories of the fort for fear of contaminating the precious fresh water supply with animal waste, but then they had hundreds of men with not only routine daily biological needs but also dysentery (bacterial-induced diarrhea). Evidence of the rain water catchment system is everywhere but nothing of a waste system, and I want to know how you deal with hundreds of men with serious diarrhea. No tetracycline or Charmin back then so they poo'd until they died. Frankly, I'd take horse pee. For all you post-menopausal girls out there who take estrogen supplements, that's what they use to make premarin. But then I digress....

And what of these shoes?? Tough, fighting men, living in a tough environment, even if they were only 5 feet tall, wearing Big Gay Al's Big Gay Ribbon Shoes. Satin bows,, no less!!

A map that shows the strategic position of Puerto Rico between Spain and the New World:

An obvious addition to the fort, circa 1940's, by the US military....looking for German U Boats:

This island, at the entrance to San Juan Harbour, was used as a leper colony. No antibiotics for that back then either but not a shabby place to live out your few remaining years with the dread disease...

The original fortifications of Morro Castle. A missile fired during the Spanish-American War penetrated and is embedded in the wall: