Travel Log of Felicia 777

Remarkable speech by Peter Shiff - Why the Meltdown Should Have Surprised No One

2009-08-15T19:22:00.000-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgMclXX5msc

--
Gregory
www.evolutionofbpr.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregoryyankelovich
@piplzchoice

2009-03-08T20:20:00.002-05:00

Valiant/Esprit 37 Felicia 777

Hull # 108 Year 1978

L.O.A. 37’0” Draft 5’9”
L.W.L. 31’8” Ballast/Displacement 39
Beam 11’6” Beam/Length Ratio 31
Displacement 17,000 lbs
Ballast 6,700 lbs
Sail Area 667 sq. ft
Vertical Clearance 54’0”

General Information

“Felicia 777” is a classic Perry offshore design performance cruiser with a tumble home stern, bulwarks, dorades, opening ports, oversize rigging and quality construction. She was build by Nordic Yachts of Bellingham, WA, is Canadian flagged and currently cruising San Blas Islands of Panama.

The Esprit 37 (later build as Valiant 39) is a successful performance blue water cruising sailboat, which was specifically designed to maximize safety, comfort, and speed.

The entire boat, including the one piece hull with externally ballasted lead keel, all of the bondings, cockpit hatches, engine bed stringers, and floor timbers is hand-laid with resin of the highest quality.

The large, comfortable, T-shape, cockpit has contoured seats and backs. Pedestal steering and excellent visibility is consistent with the proven offshore capability of a Valiant Yacht.

The boat has a high degree of custom furniture and cabinetry. The interior wood is of finest African (light color) teak. Galley cabinets are outfitted with stain glass. Hanging lockers have wick doors for ventilation.
Below decks, ventilation is superior with opening ports, dorade ventilators, and large opening deck hatches.

Mechanical and Electrical

Universal 35B HP (2003)
45 Gallon Fuel Tank Capacity (aluminum)
Engine Alarm System
Two battery banks (Trojan 105T with total capacity of 675 Ah)
Xantrex “Link 20” Monitoring system (2006)
6 Shell Solar 85KW solar panels (2005)
Navigation Lights
Strobe light on Mast
Foredeck Flood Lights
Anchor Locker Holding tank with electric pump-out
Raymarine 6000 Autopilot (2004)
NewMar HDM 30 charger
Ample Power 90A alternator with electronic regulator (2006)
Honda 1KW auxiliary generator
Powermate Invertor (2004)

Electronics

Cockpit ICOM VHF & VHF Antenna (2004)
Signet Depth Sounder, Signet Wind Speed/Direction Indicators, and Signet Speed/Log
Hummingbird auxiliary depth sounder/fishfinder (2005)
Panasonic Stereo (2005)
ICOM GP-360ML GPS/Chart Plotter (2002)
Danforth Compass on Pedestal (2004) and Danforth Compass on Chart Table

Sails

Fully Buttoned Main – 2 Reef Points and Lazy Jacks (1997)
90% Jib (2002)
0.5 oz Asymmetric Spinnaker with a sock (2004)
ATN Storm Jib (2004)

Interior

All Teak Interior
Berths for 6
6 Calframo and Hella fans
Drop Leaf Dining Table
Custom Made Cushions for All Berths (Color – Light Vanilla) (2005)
Abundance of storage space
Spares, parts, and supplies storage

Safety

6 Fire Extinguishers and 4 Life Vests
Air Horn and Flares
Marinetic LPG Solenoid Switch
Bilge pump counter/monitor (2002)
Mansling retrieval system
MOB Strobe and Pole

Deck Hardware

Spar Tech Mast and Boom (keel stepped)
ProFurl Roller Furling Headsail
Navtec Rod Rigging (2004)
“One Line Reefing” System
Downwind pole with track lines and rigging
Outreach spreader pole
Dutchman Boom Brake (2003)
Lofrans “Cobra” Electric Windlass (2003)
CQR Anchor & Danforth Anchor
120” HT Chain and 100 “ Line
36” Stainless Edson Wheel
Emergency Tiller
Winches: 2 Self Tailing Barient #28
2 Barient #24
2 Self Tailing Barient #23
2 Barient #22
Dodger and Hard Bimini with rainwater catcher (2005)
Sun shade bimini curtains (2005)
Outboard motor lift (2003)

Galley

2 Deep Stainless Steel Sinks
Kenyon burner LP Stove with Over & Broiler
NorCold Tek II AC/DC Fridge/Freezer (2005)
Adler Barber 85 DC Fridge/Freezer (2006)
100 Gallon Fresh Water (2 Stainless Steel Tanks) (2000)
Wema Remote Water Level Indicators
Fresh Water Input Filtering System
Spectra 150 Water maker (2006)
Pressure Cold Water Supply
Foot Pump Seawater
Dry Food Lockers, Dish Lockers, and Spice Racks
Paper Towel Rack

10.5 ft Zodiak Cadet inflatable tender (2002)
5 HP Tohatsu outboard motor (2007)

2008-11-15T15:20:00.001-05:00

The bimini, we've built in Costa Rica, provides plenty of shade.

2008-11-15T15:15:00.002-05:00

This is a starboard pilot berth aft of the nav station with the wet locker door on the right and hunging locker with the ship clock, on the left. The old weatherfax receiver was uninstalled and replaced with the cellular signal amplifier.

We had two medium size people sleeping there once during a passage.

2008-11-15T15:06:00.002-05:00

Slightly different perspective is taken to show v-berth space and arrangement. We have two fans and reverse chute to channel wind through the hatch into sleeping quarter. The closed cell foam, we purchased for cushions, are very comfortable to sleep on.

The door forward leads to the chain locker. This is the access to windlass motor and controls.

The is a storage compartments under the bed, and high pressure salt water pump with the foredeck outlet for washing down of anchor, chain, and deck showers.

2008-11-15T15:01:00.002-05:00

The mandatory picture of the nav station.

I have installed my laptop in a position to be visible from the cockpit. Right under it a lower part of electronic barometer can be seen.

Icom chart plotter is located next to the laptop and SSB/HAM radio control panel is below it. The radio itself is installed behind control panel, which folds down to expose all the connections and equipment it covers.

2008-11-15T14:51:00.003-05:00

While in Cartagena, we have built this fold down shelf to turn single bed satee into a queen size bed. It makes sleeping much more comfortable than in the V-berth on very hot nights.

There are book shelves and storage compartments above and behind the satees. Water tanks are located under them on both sides.

2008-11-15T14:40:00.003-05:00

These are pixs of exterior taken in 2004

2008-11-15T14:30:00.003-05:00

Here are the pixs of the engine compartment. The arrangement is still the same, however this old yellow monster, which gave me too much excitement too many time, have been replaced with the brand new (2003) Universal 35. The new engine is about 25% smaller in size and much easier to access than this pictures would let to assume.

The gray surface behind the engine is the front wall of the fuel tank.

Oil (orange cylinder on the right above the engine) and fuel (white one right and forward of oil one) filters are placed for easy access and maintenance.

2008-11-15T14:22:00.002-05:00

I took this picture of the saloon from companion way. Felicia has much larger saloon space than most boats of this size. That is a benefit of V-Drive transmission and reverse positioning of the engine, which is placed further back than common designs allow.

Unfortunately only a part of the dinner table, with folding down leaves, is visible. I also closed door into V-birth to have better light without interference.

Keel-stepped mast in the center, and some exposed chainplates on starboard site can be seen.

2008-11-15T14:16:00.002-05:00

This is a view of the head. Unfortunately it is almost impossible to see the entry into shower stall on the right sight. I never had a nerve to splash water inside of the boat, so I use the stall for storing parts, spares, tools, etc. I have build shelves for that purpose, but they could be easily removed without damaging water insulation or appearance of the stall.

2008-11-15T14:09:00.002-05:00

This is a view of the galley from the amid ship taken during our cruising time, not propped for sale. The black panel, opposite to the double sink, is front door of the refrigerator. Stained glass pantry doors above propane stove (the old one since replaced), covers some provision stores.

2007-04-28T20:15:00.000-05:00

“What a difference a knot makes”

We are straddling the seasons as we wrap up our time here in the San Blas, which means you can be enjoying a lovely anchorage, snorkeling your heart out, enjoying a great sunset, and then the wind dies and you are attacked by gazillions of noseeums, who live to eat….you! They are said to feed only at sunrise and sunset but there is a high illiteracy rate for insects here and they did not read the handout. Usually there are very reliable NE winds (trades) of 12-15 knots that keep these anchorages very comfortable, providing both natural air conditioning and pest control. As the winds died out in the “Hot Tub” anchorage, these vermin chased us out to the more open anchorage of East Lemon where absence of mangrove allows for more comfort. On the way there we caught a nice dinner sized yellow tail snapper. After snorkeling and swimming there for a week
we returned to Eastern Hollandaise Cays for a goodbye dinner with our friends Mel and Jackie from “Feisty”. They took off for Curacao and while we are sad to see them go, we are glad they got the weather window they were hoping for to get some boat work done there. Then we hightailed it to the safety of East Lemon Cays again. Aside from being “safe haven” it is also a lovely place with excellent snorkeling ops and picture postcard beauty.

Before the noseeums ran us off, we discovered some great “new to us” snorkeling reefs in the East Hollandaise and enjoyed the bounty of the veggie boat from Miramar that made the rounds just before we weighed the anchor.

The time is coming for return to the “normal” life in San Francisco again, and we have sat sail for our base on the mainland. The wind kept changing directions all day long, but we safely arrived to Puerto Lindo under squalls and rain. This is like returning home, since we acquired some good friends who either live in and around Puerto Lindo, or other cruisers who use it as a base. So now it is a time for some shore leaves and preparations of the boat for our departure. We plan to arrive to San Francisco on May 15th.

There is a good “fish story” from our friends you may find enjoyable.

April 27, 2007Life is still good here.We had a very interesting day yesterday. We're traveling (or anchored as the case may be) with two other boats. One couple from Texas and another from Washington state and both of the guys are avid spear hunters. The women are all about matched on how long we can stay in the water so we usually take two dinghies so the ladies can come back when we get enough. We're snorkeling and free diving. Most of the water here is fairly shallow. Yesterday we all went out in the morning and picked a nice looking area to snorkel. Turned out that it was about 25 feet deep and then right up to the surface. Visibility wasn't all that great since we've had some pretty good winds the last few days.We all headed our own ways but shortly we'd decided it was just a bit too deep to be good. We headed back toward the dinghies and Sonny and Kay were waving and motioning us over to them. We got there and Sonny's saying he shot a snapper and it took his speargun down and he can't get it back. We look down and there's the speargun floating up out of a hole with the spear and all of the tether gone. Sonny had gone down a couple of times but figured it was about 25 feet and he just couldn't get it. Gene went down and it was all the way up in a cave with the fish still on it. I could see a very big grouper down on the bottom by the speargun and Gene headed down with me yelling "Don't shoot that! Don't shoot that!" He completely ignored me and came back up with a nice grouper that weighed in at 13 lbs. I was surprised that it was no larger than that but things are magnified in the water. Chris took the fish to the dinghy while Gene made two more attempts to get the spear out but wouldn't go into the cave so he came up and we decided to go get scuba gear to go after the spear and fish.We headed for the boat and the other four continued to watch Sonny's gun and snorkel around the area. We gave Gene's gun to Sonny. Monty had his Hawaiian sling and we were leaving them with a dinghy. We hurried back to the boat about 1 1/2 miles away, grabbed our gear, and headed back to the reef. We spotted the dinghy but no swimmers and then we heard them yelling and waving us over to the other side of the reef from Sonny's speargun. The first thing we comprehended was that Monty had shot a very big fish with Gene's gun and lost the gun. Now we have two to go after. Monty is yelling for us to bring another gun and a rope to tie to it so they can hold on to it. We send the gun and rope with Sonny and go anchor our dinghy and gear up. Monty goes down and shoots the fish again with my speargun but the line wasn't attached. I went down behind Gene and saw a huge fish swim around the corner with Gene. He chooses to say that he swam around the corner with the fish but I'm writing this and it looked to me like the fish was in control and very very big. Matter of fact he looked somewhat familiar and I think this is the fish that I saw earlier. He's got two spears in him and swam into a cave with Gene. I was right behind and tried to tie the line onto the speargun. About then Gene had a hold on both spears and was bringing the fish out all hugged up to him. We all got to the dinghy and Sonny climbed in. Monty and Gene got a rope thru the gills and pushed while Sonny pulled and got the fish into the dinghy. He's BIG!We all loaded up and headed back to the boats and did the same process again to get the fish on Queen Mary. We rinsed down and started gathering cameras, knives and all the paraphernalia needed to be a fish processing plant. The scales, tape measure and cameras were first on the list. Gene's fish weighed in at 13 pounds and Monty's at 83 pounds and was 50 inches. It took us several hours to get all the fillets in a bucket and the carcass chopped up to fit in the pressure cookers. The other couples went home for showers and to make rice and salad. We were a bit late for lunch. It was 4pm by this time. Gene filled our tanks and I started cleaning all the red off the fillets and cutting and bagging the fish. Chris has a recipe for fish sausage that we've all eaten and like so we're going to grind some of the fish today and make sausage and can it so we'll have room in the freezer for the rest. We ended up with two quarts of stock after we reduced it about 40% and about a gallon of cooked meat from the head and carcass. We ate the jaw meat from the big guy and one side of the smaller one. We decided this day was going to be very hard to top and we'll all have something to talk about when we're rocking away in the old folks home. I'll write more later.April 28 AMWe have distributed fish to everyone. We're the only ones with a freezer. We made about 2 gallons of fish chowder and had it for dinner with fresh bread with capers, onions, and peppers in it. Boy was that good. And Kay made peach cobbler for dessert. We still have 6 bags of about 4 lbs each in the fridge. Kay made two big pans of grouper patties. We made about 12 lbs of sausage and canned all but two tubes. We got 5 pints and 9 half pints of canned fish sausage. I guess we won't be short of breakfast meat for a while. We're all eating fish 3 times a day and really enjoying it. Gene & Brenda"

2007-04-04T19:25:00.000-05:00

It’s been a while since our last post. We have been very busy selecting the prettiest anchorage in San Blas archipelago. As you can imagine it is very challenging appointment with a lot of responsibility that distracted us from the blog post schedule. We will announce the “official” results later. In addition there is only a very limited area where we can get telephone and Internet connection here.

Here is an update on “After You” sinking in 150 ft of water in January. She came back to “life”, salvaged by an enterprising Mark of sailing vessel “Melody” after spending a few weeks on the bottom. Miraculously he was able to start the engine, and transfer her to a safe anchorage, where haul patch and other immediate repairs are done. The skipper, who did not believe that she can be recovered, surrendered his ownership rights to salvage, and is now shopping for the next boat in Panama. I cannot even imagine damage the boat systems suffered being submerged for weeks in salt water, but structurally she is sound again and will probably be towed to Cartagena, Columbia for refit and sale. It is hard to leave this story without mentioning one of the key participants, a very colorful Irish lad by the name Derek of s/v “Celtic Dancer”. I came with him in his dingy to the site on a very first distress call from “After You” at 3 AM that memorable night. He is very enthusiastic, engaging, helpful, and fast-talking fellow. Unfortunately quite a few people including me can only comprehend what he is saying, when he slows down to exclaim “Shyte!” which made it interesting during salvage effort coordination. The legends started to circulate about all sort of disasters happening when he is around, and ugly rumors of “Larry the Leprechaun” following Derek and causing the mischief: the dingy flipped by a large wave while fishing with his girlfriend and another cruiser resulting in loss of fishing gear, radio, and mysteriously Derek’s swimming trunks; neighboring boat loosing an anchor without any reason, etc. Fortunately he had to return to work pumping oil in Kazakhstan, so we can breath easier, however I am really concerned about price of crude on the world markets now.

We celebrated St. Patrick’s Day at Kaimou Cays desperately looking for something green to wear, but since our clothes are very limited (for a lack of need) we had to emerse ourselves into bright green Caribbean water. I think it worked out OK. We were very happy to receive a note from the Lost Celts, Betty and Kevin, formerly known as s/v “Citation”.

While anchored in the “Hot Tub” (Kalugir Tupu island), we participated in another rescue from a reef incident. French catamaran “Babagnuff IV” of Outremer design and construction, lodged itself on a reef entering the anchorage at dusk. Alain, the skipper, broke a cardinal rule of San Blas navigation to travel inside the reefs only at full light, and paid for it with a scare and sleepless night. Since the site of grounding is not exposed to sea surf, the catamaran was happily pulled back into deep water next morning with only cosmetic damage to the hauls. Alain and Henry (the crew) invited all participants in the operations for a “Sundowner” celebration that afternoon; unfortunately we had plans to leave that day for Isla Tigre and did not witness the event.

We celebrated Passover anchored East off Isla Tuala in a company of Linda and Doug of “Que Linda”. Carol baked “Kosher for Passover” matzos under my official, but not very Orthodox supervision. They came out very well, even though I had to fight off Carol’s attempts to “foodify” them with Parmesan cheese and garlic – imagine “designer bread of affliction”. Doug, being the youngest aboard, had to impersonate a child to ask four traditional Seder questions. It came to him quite naturally which illustrate that you cannot always be young, but you can always be immature.

Well, now the drums please:

The prettiest anchorages in San Blas:

5. Uchutupu Dumat of Chichime Cays
4. “Potluck” Island known as “Swimming Pool” of Eastern Hollandaise Cays
3. Isla Nuinudup of Eastern Lemon Cays
2. Isla Kuanidup of Los Grullos Cays
1. Isla Tuala of Coco Bandero Cays

Disclaimer: any disagreement with these “official” rating should NOT be directed to us.

2007-03-13T18:30:00.000-05:00

Things are looking up. We have mitigated our boat crisises, managing the systems problems and finally took off for San Blas islands again. The sail eastward was spectacular with 15 kt on a beam, and 5-6 feet swell. It took us about 8 hours to cover almost 50 nautical miles, and snugly anchored in one of our favorite spots in Eastern Lemon Cays.

On Friday we reunited with our "new best friends" Jackie and Mel from "Feisty" who sailed almost 20 n.m. from Coco Banderas to meet with us, attracted by smell of freshly baked challah, Carol got them addicted to. We had great dinner with them and their guests from Florida aboard their beautiful vessel. Everyone had good time in good company toasting : "There are wooden ships and the steel ships, but the best ships are the friendships".

The weather is unusually cool (84F) and cloudy for this time of the year here, but today the Colombian Low moved to West and we had a full day of sunshine. I am happy, my solar panels are happy, ship's batteries are happy, we making water and Carol smiles. Considering how remote this area is, it is miraculous that we are capable to make air travel reservations and update our blog from here. We plan to move farther east from this area soon and the communication will not be possible any longer, so I am taking advantage to do this.

2007-03-04T08:43:00.001-05:00

So you don't get too envious....we had some darker experiences of cruising lifestyle since our last report. Our "faithful" outboard motor was stolen at the little dock in Rio Chagres, while we were shopping in town. That forced us to leave the river prematurely, and necessitated taking a dock side at Panama Canal Yacht Club in Colon. After extensive 8 days "Colonoscopy", we have secured a replacement motor and brought it from Panama City, completely provisioned, and left Colon for San Blas in a company of Mel and Jackie of "Feisty".

2007-02-12T19:20:00.000-05:00

We are currently anchored in the Rio Chagres, Panama’s largest river, which supplies water to the Panama Canal system.
It is truly a jungle out there, with more botanical wonders per square inch than I have ever seen and a fragrant smell of tuberose like flowers.
The Howler monkeys can be heard both day and night, their “howls” sound more like a lion’s roar even though they are quite small. What are they howling about? I don’t know, most likely it has to do with feeding or mating. I guess what happens in the jungle stays in the jungle.
We spotted a toucan on our dingy ride today, not the Fruit Loops variety; it was black and blue with a yellow striped beak. The variety of birds is breathtaking, some come to visit on the lifelines of the boat but gorgeous, smorgeous, they crap on the boat so I chase them away.

The first two nights we spent here, we felt like the only people on the planet. That is how remote and isolated it feels, yet the Gatun Locks of the Panama Canal are only about three miles away and we were able to receive the latest update to Barry Eisler’s blog (http://www.barryeisler.com/blog.html).

Last night however a couple other sailboats passed by, and one anchored near us. We plan to stay here for a few more days, and then decide where to go next.

2007-01-31T17:23:00.000-05:00

Update from Puerto Lindo

Matthew came and left with some unfortunate complications. The airline, Air Panama, changed departure time without notifying anybody, and Matthew missed his connection to Toronto and had to spent extra night in Panama City and incurred some extra expenses. Welcome to Latin World.

The day before his departure we made a dingy trip to Rio Diablo and had a very good time.

We took advantage of a weather window, a breather between reinforced Trades, known as Christmas Winds, to sail back to Isla Linton anchorage for dental appointments, immigration office to extend our visas, and some inland travel to explore Panama. It was an "invigorating" sail for me, and a "hairy" sail for Carol, with 20 kts of wind on the quarter and 12-15 feet waves. We had no "adventures" and a fast passage.

Last week we rented a car in Panama City and visited mountains of Panama interior. We drove to El Valle de Anton, a small town situated in a crater extinguished volcano, in search of rare and endangered golden frog. However the place which touted terranium sporting one "genuine article" informed us that "the frog - she died!". Fortunately they had a plastic one on display, which was ten times the size of the original - so we liked it better.

Our next goal, was to see town of Bouquete, which is located on the eastern slopes of the tallest mountain in Panama, Volcan Baru. The mountains are beautiful, but the town is too trendy for our taste, too many bad restaurants, too much "third world crap at first world prices".

The highlight of the trip was driving to the western slope of the Volcan Baru, and along the edge of Parque de Amistad. It's hard to find the words to discribe the beauty seen driving along the road from the Trans American Highway to Cierra Punta, to Guadeloupe.

It was great to have a break from out Taskmaster Felicia, but we are glad to be back at our floating home now.

2007-01-14T11:09:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Paradise

While I have a decent conection, I would like to provide some reference information about this area from http://www.moon.com/planner/panama/regions/kunayala.html

Welcome to paradise. Cartoonists who love to picture tropical islands as dots of soft sand with a few coconut palms could have gotten the idea from Kuna Yala, otherwise known as the San Blas Islands. That image fits countless idyllic spots in this archipelago of nearly 400 islands off the eastern Caribbean coast of Panama. When the sun hits the sea here you’ll think of emeralds and sapphires.

The islands are part of the Comarca de Kuna Yala, a semiautonomous homeland of the Kuna people. Kuna territory also encompasses a mountainous strip of mostly virgin forest on the mainland, along the Caribbean slope of the Darién. It runs the length of the archipelago, ending at the Colombian border.

Any lingering romantic notions one has about indigenous people’s harmonious relationship with nature gets a jolt upon realizing how severely the Kuna are overfishing their waters, or seeing the garbage and sewage they routinely dump into pristine blue waters.

On the other hand, there are still plenty of lovely, uninhabited islands in the archipelago, more than anyone could possibly see during a visit. A big part of the charm of these islands is their very simplicity: no timeshare condos or tacky T-shirt shops here. Nodding off in a hammock slung between coconut palms, watching a Kuna woman sewing a mola, and showering by the light of a kerosene lantern can soon seem like a pretty good way to spend the day.

2007-01-13T07:15:00.000-05:00

From Carol.

We were witness yesterday to a real tragedy of the boat "After You" first getting stuck on the reef and then after many hours and the efforts of many fellow sailors, being pulled off only to sink within 2 min. Fortunately, realizing that may happen, much of the most valuable items were offloaded. Gregory went out at 3 am when he heard another boat asking for help. They had to find a way around the reef in our anchorage as he was stuck on the other side, no small feat on a moonless night. Two dingies came to him but there was no way to pull the boat off with the combined horsepower and darkness.A boat with an experienced salvage operator was called to come at daybreak.He could not get them off and the big guns, “Gabriel”, the boat I cooked for, came in. “Gabriel” is 65’ US flagged motor boat with 2 350 hps engines. After a couple of hours of jockeying lines from boat to boat in the surf by those assisting, they coordinated a plan to pull her off and get her to shallow water to try and repair the crack in the hull made by the reef.We watched both now back on the boat (Gregory was out there helping most of the day) with goosbumps as we listened to John (“Gabriel” skipper) and Derrek ( “Celtic Dancer” Irish flagged sailboat skipper, who coordinated the operation) over the radio " She moved 5 feet!" We watched as she slowly moved and then her mast became upright!Whoooooohoooooo we screamed joyfully that the seemingly impossible had been achieved.The feeling was too short-lived as we saw her start to sink as she was being towed.I cannot explain the berklept at this sight.Then she disappeared.The collective grief was palpable even though most of us never met the guy.He was adopted by another boat till he figures out what to do next. His plan was to go around the world in his boat.He was not insured as he was a single hander and they are considered a bad risk.The other boaters here were so forthcoming and put themselves at risk to help, some lost property as their dingie flipped in the surf and damaged the motor.Sad to say, I had nothing to offer personally.The guy, Keith is doing as well as can be expected and held a postmortem on the radio today, thanking everyone and taking accounts of losses so he could reimburse people.He even seems to have a sense of humor intact and is more grateful to be alive than devastated.That is it for now... Gotta start a challah. Shabbat is coming!

From Gregory.

That was heartbreaking experience. I could never believe that one can get so chilled in tropics, but after hours of being soaked by ocean spray and exposed to winds of 20-25 kts, I was really cold. Carol warmed some water so I could “shower” it over me in cockpit between trips to the wreck or outside the reef.
Everybody came together as a community in a matter of hours, even though most of us never met or even heard of each other. French, American, British, German, Finish, Irish, Swedish sailors and Kuna fisherman just came to help with no reward and plenty of risk to share. It is amazing what people can do with no authorities to depend on.
The first “Mayday” call came at 2:30 AM, and the last view of the “After You” came at 5:30 PM as she sunk rapidly in 150’ of water. She was a beauty (may her soul rest in peace).

2007-01-03T14:18:00.000-05:00

Very best wishes to all of you.

We have celebrated New Year arrival in a very fine company of Ruth and
Buddy (Annapurna), Molly and David (Tumbleweed), and my son, Matthew, who came to visit us after graduating from Trent University.

We first met Annapurna 9 years ago, while cruising Mexico. They were in the beginning of their circumnavigation. So we were thrilled to hear their
radio call here, as they are about to complete their adventure by crossing
Panama canal and cross their tracks in Acapulco. Ruth and Buddy are quite
happy to go home now and rest after all these exciting adventures.

We were anchored off the island of Kuanidup, Los Gruillos archipelago
which has Kuna owned resort of 6 or 7 huts with hammocks, and a little mess hall covered by palms throngs, where the guests are fed. Very cute! The guests arrive by Air Panama 20 passengers planes to the airstrip on the mainland 8 miles away, and are brought to the island by small pangas
(fiberglass boats with outboard motors).
At midnight we could see bonfires and fireworks miles away in Kuna
villages.

Gregory

2006-12-20T15:14:00.000-05:00

A few days ago, as we left a popular East Hollandaise anchorage (also known as the Swimming Pool), the latest crisis raised it's ugly head (or was it some other part of it's body?). The engine overheat alarm pierced through my ears, and sent me into an acute state of horror. I have a long and unhappy history of dealing (with intermittent success) with overstmulated diesel engines. Since there was no sufficient wind to sail, we continued using the engine on very low revs, which allowed us to control temperature until we reached Coco Bandero cays. The anchorage was quite busy with 6 or 7 boats, but we found a spot that was a bit rolly. I dove under the boat looking for intake obstruction, which would have been the easiest problem to solve with my highly developed "yanking out" skills, but nothing was there to "yank out". The visual examination of engine, immediately revealed absolutely nothing, which led me to expert opinion that raw water pump impeller needs to be replaced. Now that procedure, which is quite common and easily performed by average diesel mechanic, offers brilliant opportunity to completely destroy something to the real expert cruising sailor like myself. The very next morning, armed with complete set of instructions from the engine manufacturer (written by someone who could not make a living writing for entertainment or any other industry where somebody would be actually reading their writing) and replacement parts, I gloriously succeded in utterly destroying the water pump. It was not easy, but it only took me about two hours of hard and sweaty labor, so I want some of you, who are not initiated in the art of engine mechanics to fully
appreciate the impact of this achievement. In words of famous American philosopher and linguist, Clint Eastwood, "good men know their limitations". This indicates that I am not good man, but I am learning and one day...Well, I asked for help and God gave it to me in a form of John of sailing vessel "Nirvana" which was anchored near by. Although I was surprised to learn how much longer it takes to rebuild the broken pump compared to breaking it. I hope you now realize together with me that the state of spiritual bliss (aka Nirvana) can only be achieved through development of engine maintenance skills, as John thaught me that day. I remember reading the book about it - "Zen and the Art of Diesel Engine Maintenance" or something like that, but I am deliriously rumbling now.
Everything is "cool" now, and that includes my diesel. Thank you John for your generosity and patience.

We are now anchored off an island of Cangombia, all by ourselves.

Carol says:
Some are born to cruising and some have cruising thrust upon them. Being something of a JAP, the challenges, work and "creature discomfort" of this lifestyle sometimes make me long for a simple apartment, a double cappucino and HBO.
There are great pleasures though, the natural beauty and people we meet being the best. I saw several shooting stars last night and we often see fishes parading by in the clear waters. At Coco Banderos we re connected with Suzanne and Hans from Nautibear and
met some great people at the trash burn/cocktail party.

Sue from Seapupu (Indian for the birthplace of life) and Suzanne and I schlepped our laundry to the well on the island and made doing the wash a social event with circumnavigations of the island between soak and rinse.
We also had a great time getting better aquainted with Jackie and Mel from Feisty over drinks and snacks. They have a gorgeous boat and keep it so well, I am inspired to spruce up our Felicia.
We will be here another 2 days till we go back to the "Swimming Pool" to get our goods which include filet mignon from Cartagena, flour and yeast via Mark the personal shopper.
I have had major challenges making my challah on Fridays.
First I could not find active enough yeast, last week the yeast was great but the flour tasted funny. Oy!

Happy Holidays!

Hello from San Blas islands

2006-12-08T16:42:00.000-05:00

We have finally made it to the first chain of islands (East Lemon Keys)
about 10 days ago. The sail was uneventfull - just like Carol likes it, no
wind, no waves, no catching fish, no seaseakness. Time here has very
different dimension. Familiar anchorages, familiar Kuna faces selling
molas, etc. Very beautiful and very peaceful. We finally got some fish and
then some lobster to eat, and slowly adapting to routines of swimming,
snorkling, "making" water, managing energy production/consumption, "happy
hours", special projects - quite boring and very slow, beacuse it's
difficult to be excited when it is so hot.

Now we are anchored off East Hollandaise islands in a place called " The
swimming pool" as it is that blue and calm. Even in high winds like we had
a few days ago. Gregory dove in for a swim and as I was descending the swim
ladder behind him, I heard, "watch out for the cuuuuurrrrennnt!" as he
whoshed by. You can swim very hard and stay in place like a treadmill. It
has calmed down a lot since then.
There is a boat called "Melody" that is the cruisers personal shopper. He
sails between Colon and Cartagena every two weeks to transport backpackers
and to get supplies for all of us. You give him a list and he gets your
stuff a week or so later for a 30 percent markup. Sounds steep but prices
are low enough that it still beats the schlep.

We have no way to post any pictures from here for now, but working on this
problem.
Gregory

Hola from Puerto Lindo

2006-11-25T17:41:00.000-05:00

We are still here in Puerto Lindo, anchored off the Isla Linton. Last Monday we got the bad news that our SSB radio, which would allow us to communicate long range, is beyond repair. We had bought a new tuner and modem for it, and got all the licenses as well. I even learned Morse code to hold the proper radio operators license, so now we are like "The Gift of the Magi". We decided to go without it at this point.

Tuesday November 21, a major storm system came our way. This normally tranquil anchorage was turned into a Maytag, heavy-duty wash cycle. Boats dragged off of anchor, one boat Orion, seems to desperately want to escape out to sea. This is the 4 ^th time she has dragged or broke anchor while we have been in the same anchorage with her. Before that a call for help came over VHF radio from a single-handed sailor with a broken fingers, who could not find secure spot, and kept re-anchoring during the night.

Gregory went out to the rescue twice that day, glad for the chance to help another sailor as we have received so much help from the community.

One boat is still on her side on the reef and the village docks have all been wiped out by heavy surf.

I was trying to be a good sport about all of this, but on day 3, I really needed to get off the boat. Our friends here invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner at Roger and Binnie's Summer Place (which should really be called Summer Palace), but without a dock to land on and the surf pounding it did not seem possible.

Gregory did not want to leave the boat just then so he dropped me off at a private dock that had survived.

I got to the end of the dock, sooooo happy to be on land. At times like this, I wish my husband had a "normal" vice: like gambling, drugs, or women. I took the coastal path; timing my progress with the waves I made it to Roger and Binnie's. Roger is a former builder and has built a unique refuge here in Puerto Lindo. Their place reflects their love of nature and wildlife that is everywhere here. It is absolutely incredible beauty, comfort, and convenience of the best the modern world can offer, without disturbing natural, wild beauty of jungles around it. They invited us to stay in one of their guest apartments, which of course made my day. The thought of going back to the rock and roll in the anchorage was not a pretty one.

Gregory joined us a bit later and we had a fabulous, traditional Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings, great company best of all, and the floor was not moving!!!

After three days of storming the seas are finally quieting down, and we are considering to weigh our anchor in the next two-three days to sail for San Blas.

This is a picture of Carol and Lightening the Sloth.
--

Gregory

2006-11-16T12:09:00.000-05:00

We are still in Isla Linton and finding life much more civilized now that we have returned the rental car and spend less time on the road with the "Panamaniac" drivers.

There are large monkeys on the Island, which walk upright much of the time (there are rumors of genetic engineering ala Dr Moreau but we think they were rum induced).

We hear them howling every night, they used to be friendly to people we are told but have been visited by one yahoo too many and now are very anti visitor.

We watched a few nights ago as one hapless couple went to the Island and were promptly

charged by the monkeys, who sent them running into the water, unable to untie their dingy to make a getaway they tried franticly to distract the monkeys by splashing water all about.

I don't guess they will be back too soon.

It is very beautiful here, rimmed by mountains and dotted with small islands.

The nights are stunning when it is not raining and last night I had a great yoga practice under the very starry sky with a nice breeze.

The area we are in is like a percolator in whicn cruisers circulate between Colon, the San Blas and Cartagena.

They go to the islands for peace and quiet and to Colon and Cartagena for repairs, provisioning and some urban entertainment.

We have re encountered several friends, in their percolation cycle while here in Linton.

It is always a treat to see once more, folks you thought you left in your wake.

We had hoped to be on our way to the San Blas by now but are awaiting the verdict on the fate of our SSB radio and Gregory's dental work.

Last night was Pizza night. There are 2 couples of former cruisers who
"Swallowed the hook" and became residents of Panama.

Cindy and Reed and Binnie and Roger (The image to the left is their home). Cindy does great canvas work and she and Reed have helped us out so much, we hope we get to return the favors one day.

Binnie and Roger are big animal lovers and have 2, 2-toed sloths as pets.

The image to the left is Reed and Cindy's Place.

Turns out one of the reasons sloths are so slothful, is that the leaves they chew on all day are slightly narcotic. And you thought they were just dumb animals.

They are very cuddly and sleep with teddy bears.

Anyway, we, and 2 other couples ("Lizzy Jean" who we met in Nicaragua in 2004 and "Spellbound" who was the original listing broker for our boat) piled into their cars and off we went.

You would not think this far out in the middle of nowhere there would be 4 French restaurants in a 6-mile radius.

There are a lot of French ex Pats in the area and being French, they need a good place to eat and entertain.

This place, Don Quixote is run by a Frenchman and Argentinean/Italian woman and the food is great.

The back patio faces the base of a mountain range and the setting is spectacular.

Gotta bring the bug spray though if you do not want to be on the menu yourself.

It was Melissa's 59^th birthday. I call he Mountain Mama. She is a machete swinging, monkey raising, horse riding, crop growing, 16 mile a day running force of nature who lives up on a remote mountain alone in a house with no walls and loves it.

Keep your fingers crossed for us that we get the dentist's blessing on Thursday to head out to the San Blas.

Best to all of you,

till nest time,

Carol, Gregory and Felicia 777

P.S. the picture is of our antenna base, which used to be a cylinder until lightening hit it.

--
Gregory

2006-11-02T13:57:00.000-05:00

Hola desde "Carolina Del Norte".

For all of you who are green with envy at our life in paradise, hold the drool now, like spouses and pets, boats do not like to be left alone and make sure to find their own special ways to let you know just how much you have let them down. Our boat/spouse (Felicia 777) is very dramatic and she went so far as to get hit by lightning in our absence which resulted in losses of several electronic instruments.
She also greeted us with some new leaks and "aromas" - my favorite.We are getting her squared away step by step and she finally looks, feels and smells like home again. I am currently mourning the loss of Trader Joe's and Berkeley Bowl's cornucopia of produce and now have to shop like a grown up with a list and a plan. In a week or two we will be able to head out to the San Blas Islands which are gorgeous. There, the Kuna Indians paddle up to your boat to sell the days catch of lobster, conch and crab. Thinking of this gives me some perspective.

Now it's my turn (Gregory that is).

I still am smarting from the dental surgery I had the day we arrived to Panama City, and then driving rental car to Puerto Lindo. The first experience is mitigated by massive doses of pain killers and antibiotics. That leaves impact of driving experience unthreated since it only can be managed by alcohol consumption which is not recommended with antibiotics. Driving rules in Panama are somewhat different:-speed up when approach "Stop" sign;-cross double yellow solid lane only when passing at least two cars;-honk, when running red light, etc.I treasure it as a "cultural" experience. Hopefully all this will be in the past soon, stitches should be removed in a week, and we will be free to weigh our anchor and sail to San Blas. Meanwhile a few projects have to be completed such as replacement and tuning "fried" electronics, oil/filters changes, etc. We have problems with our old digital camera which does not want to be recognised by our new, shining computer, so no new pictures are available.

Here we go again

2006-10-17T17:30:00.000-05:00

We are almost ready for departure again. Felicia is patiently waiting to reunite with us in Panama next week. I wish I could be that patient. It helps of course that she is anchored in a beautiful, peaceful, well protected harbor of Puerto Lindo while I have been hassling to bring our "normal" life to a halt. Not that I am complaining, this privilege is reserved for Carol, aka as "Carolina del Norte" (Domingo of Bahia Honda), and "Queen of Sheba" (Kevin, The Lost Celt, former of "Citation"), since I am the one who "uproots her life".

I have long resisted suggestions, by few kind souls who expressed an interest, to blog our adventures, but after my experience during Pacific Cup 2006 aboard "Cirrus" http://cirrusblog.blogspot.com/ and a nudge from her skipper I decided to try.