Cruising with Wifi

San Cristobal Galapagos

I am sure this will be a continuing subject as we meander our way try across the globe, but I thought this was a fine time for an update on our Wifi system. Generally I have been VERY pleased with our wifi system. The Port Networks 250 pulls in signals at great range and seems to do fine with a fair amount of rocking and rolling. Wifi availability has been pretty good. We had excellent wifi in Cartegena, both in the anchorage from Club Nautico ($) and in our marina from Club de Pesca (free). The San Blas had ZERO coverage, but they barely had electricity so no surprises there. We were connected in Panama at Shelter Bay ($) and on a mooring at Balboa (included with mooring) in Panama City. The Las Perlas were a dead zone as we were near uninhabited islands, but we got service from the Tropic Star Lodge (free) in Bahia Pinas at the southern border of Panama. Coverage was good in La Libertad around the Puerto Lucia Yacht Club (included with dockage) as well as in Bahia de Caracas from the Puerto Amistad Yacht Club (included with mooring). In Bahia we even could pull in several signals when anchored a few miles out waiting for high tide and our Pilot, but they all were either locked or MAC address restricted.

Here in San Cristobal in the Galapagos, the City has free wifi (see screen shot above) throughout the Malecon (boardwalk) and it reaches quite well the half mile out to the anchorage, coming in stronger than the onboard Linksys router (probably due to the fact the linksys is mounted about 3" above the waterline and the Port Networks antenna is 15 feet off the water while only separated by 25'). In fact, we started pulling in working wifi 9 miles from town (see screen shot below) and more than 2.5 miles from the nearest land as we came down the western side of the island. In the Harbor I can still see that same AP (verified by mac address) I picked up 9 miles out, though there are others closer by with better signal strength. They certainly have some high powered access points here, but it is still amazing that I am getting at least 4.5 miles of working range (and maybe more) while underway at sea.

Almost universally, this is a connection shared between MANY boaters and sometimes many on shore as well, so it tends to get slow from about 10 am till 10 pm. Generally at night the connections are decent with maybe 40 to 50 kbps pretty normal. Many of these have firewalls blocking useful services and websites (blogs seem to get mislabeled as adult content quite often) though sometimes you can get around that by not using their DNS servers and inputting your own. It will be interesting to see how the coverage compares as we head west and further from civilization. I will keep up with some occasional updates for others to reference as they follow in our wake.

Cartagena Pt 1

The city of Cartagena des Indias

Greetings from Cartagena, Columbia. Jo and I rejoined Visions of Johanna this past Wednesday, safely berthed at Club de Pesca on the island of Manga.



Literally ensconced within an early 17th century fortress, the marina is gated and exceedingly secure. While the Isle of Manga is residential and not unsafe, security at the marina is job one and there are always guards at the gate, as well as several others scattered around. They often position themselves at the ends of each “T” dock, and as we are berthed near a “T” head, we often feel that we have a “boat guard” standing by of our very own. The marina is full and we are shoehorned into a tight stern-to slip.












It was a bit exciting backing in to said slip with at least 12” between us and the pilings to port and starboard, but fortunately, both we and the pilings escaped unscathed. Fortunately, we have a full but shapely stern which just nestles into the diminutive fingers.

While I was gone, various boat jobs were done either by Gram or under his direction. Aside from the major acquisition and installation of the air conditioning unit, a forward bow awning is being sewn, some varnish work was done, and our baby was washed and awl-cared.

The Columbian people, certainly those who work about the marina, are industrious and hard working. Labor is inexpensive, and our friend Javier, and his twin brother Reynaldo, will spend a seven hour day working on your boat for $50,000 Pesos, or about $25.00 dollars.

More on the people of Cartagena later, but suffice it to say that I have found them to be uniformly friendly, interested, and patient with us and in our attempts to communicate.

Hopefully we will soon get back into a regular blogging mode, but since our return on Wednesday, we have been having a great time busy as both tourists and with typical vessel maintenance. The engine room and sole has been cleaned and the boat is being squared away. Even simple chores such as changing money and going to the outdoor market becomes an adventure.

Saturday I managed to squeeze a swim and a run in between early an morning cockpit teak clean and brighten, a wonderful and informational mid-day city tour, and finally…drum role please…a wrestle with a toilet as I changed seals and valves on the vacu-flush head. It worked again the second time I put it back together.

The long awaited Saturday tour made the day worthwhile and was much anticipated, as our first tour attempt with (our fantastic) delivery crew failed. Thus, I dedicate this portion to Jacob, Chuck, and Peter. I have become quite fascinated by the history of Cartagena, a history colored by wars, walls, and defensive measures necessitated by geography and it’s strategic location. Now a city of 1.2 million, the area was inhabited by indigenous Carib Indian tribes until European colonization by the Spaniards in the early 1500’s. A 200 year litany of siege and attacks, ensued, necessitating the creation of a walled fortress around the downtown (centro) and multiple, multiple strategically located forts and armaments.

The picture is from the Museo Naval del Caribe Cartagena de Indias. More details about this and our tour of the fort to follow soon but it is now time to get back to chores and tourism.

Also, please see our picasa web albums for more photos.

Air Conditioning

Cartegena Colombia - 10 24.5N 075 32.6W

Well, Chuck wins the bet....and it took less than two weeks. After two sleepless nights due to extreme heat and no wind and stories of the San Blas being even hoter at times I managed to procure a used Air Conditioning unit from our friend David on Brudair. I had originally wanted to bring down a dehumidifier, becoming a believer in their cooling and comfort factor in Hawaii, but we weren't sure if it would fit, so it didn't make the list. I tried to find one here, but no-one even knew what they were and the only units I found were very small "mini" units. It appears they either have Fans or A/C here in Colombia. I then looked everywhere for a portable air conditioning unit. They are like window units, but the whole unit sits in the room (on wheels...hence the portable part) and they use a duct (or preferably two) to pump the hot air out a window. This would be a much easier install than trying to fit a window unit to a flat hatch. I did finally find a place that has some on order, but he didn't know when they would get there and the price was rather steep at over $600 for a 9,000 btu unit (this would be about $300 in the US).

I knew David had a 16,000 Btu unit for sale, trying to make space as they are now using a window unit into their butterfly hatch, so I went about determining if it would fit. After many careful measurements I determined that it would fit under the sink in the galley and we could use the SW intake for the sink spigot as the supply and drain out the deck drain using a left over SS "Y" fitting we had in our spares box. Wiring would be easy as the AC panel is right there. Short term we would just run the duct-work out the cabinet which would probably need to be open for proper air supply and long term, we could put a louvered vent out the inboard face below the AC panel and put louvers in the door or kickstop for return air.

It took about 2 1/2 hours on Saturday to take the AC unit out of Brudair, complicated as the foam pad had bonded to the wood platform pretty well over the 5 years it had been installed. I then spent about an hour cleaning the unit and strainer on the dock. Here I made a minor mistake that would come back later.

Sunday morning I got started at 7:00 installing the system. The strainer ended up fitting in the back of the cabinet mounted to the plexiglass separator, with the pump just forward of that and the main unit outboard. I had to relocate the fire extinguisher within the cabinet and relieved the water filter bracket with my dremel to make the fit easier. By 2:00, just 5 hours later, the unit was up and running, producing cold air. I had the crew of Silandra V over for drinks to celebrate the accomplishment and then sat down for a movie. About halfway through, at 8:30 or so the unit shut off with a high pressure alarm, which is usually caused by insufficient cooling. I tried a few things, checking the strainer and things, but couldn't figure it out and was getting tired and gave up at about 9:45. The next morning I tried a few things, eventually finding two small muscle shells in the pump that must have gotten past the strainer when I was cleaning it. I figure they took a while to work their way into the pump, explaining why it ran fine for over 6 hours. It worked the ramainder of monday evening and overnight, allowing me to sleep in comfort, even requiring a sheet over me for the first time in weeks.

I went about trying to figure out the power consumption today, but it appears our electric meter (on the dock) isn't operational. I know it uses about 3 kW when running, but don't have a great idea of what that means over 24 hours or so. The bad news is I don't know how much power it uses over time, but the good news is I guess we aren't paying $.25 US per kW since the meter doesn't work. It will be interesting to see what the marina does when we go to check out, but I think we are fairly safe.

The rents show up Wednesday afternoon, so I will finally have some company. Today is a holiday here (no-one knows what the holiday is, but much is closed and noone is working). Hopefully the Stainless polishers will finish tomorrow so I can wash the deck Wednesday morning (it will be covered in dust from the polishing and being in this city) before Bill and Mom get here.

Finally some Relaxation

Cartegena Colombia - 10 24.5N 075 32.6W

Last night was just too hot to sleep. I finally got to sleep around 1:00 in the hamock and moved downstairs at 3:00. Made for a slow morning, but that was ok. The awning guy came by about 11:00 and he was my final worker to deal with so I was free. I packed up the bike, and went to the fan shop to exchange the fan for my room that had died the night before (perfect timing) and then to the fabric shop to find some netting for the companionway (partial success). Then it was on to the Hotel Caribe where I have joined the gym/pool. I headed to the beach for about an hour before getting sick of being pestered and headed back to the pool. A nice swim, some reading, a short nap, and then another swim before hopping back on the bike for the 20min ride home in some CRAZY traffic. This is not a ride I would suggest mom go on, but it is fine as long as you are confident in traffic. The good news is people ride bikes here, so the cars are used to it...they just drive like maniacs so you need confidence that you can ride VERY straight and stop on a dime if neccesary (Newport was good training for this). The good news is this evening seems much cooler and at least at 6:30 there is still a breeze.

Best Job EVER

Cartegena Colombia - 10 24.5N 075 32.6W

I found my new favorite chore on the boat....defrosting the freezer. The humidity is so high here that the frost was already becoming a problem on the freezer plates. There is too much food to defrost the "normal way" so instead, you have to shave the frost off with a knife. The good news of this method is that you end up with a medium sized bowl of snow which feels really good when rubbed over your body and stuck under your armpits.

This afternoon brought a series of thunder-showers that have pretty much killed the day. Ronaldo, the young man that has been cleaning the boat the last few days was unable to finish polishing the stainless as it was all wet so he will have to come back either tomorrow or Monday to finish the job. I will have a varnisher here in the mornings for the next 4 to 6 days depending on weather (needs 6 coats which with the rain would take 6 days, but if it stays dry and warm, they can apply two coats in a day), but he should be gone after an hour or so, so hopefully I will start to get to head out and explore cartagena in the next few days.

For now I am sitting in the pilothouse waiting for the rain to stop so I can put the bikes away. I was hoping they would be dry, but I didn't get started washing them down in time. I will have to bring them back out tomorrow to dry.

Solemente por Dos Semanas

Cartegena Colombia - 10 24.5N 075 32.6W

Yesterday we managed to back Visions into her slip at Club de Pesca de Cartagena which was a rather tight fit through two pilings and a concrete notch that is only two fender widths wider than our aft beam making for a tight fit. The good part of such a tight fit is that the boat is nicely nestled in and quite secure with crossed stern lines and twin bow lines out the the piles as well as twin forward and aft springs (both sides). It was a long day, but finished nicely with some drinks with three fellow american cruisers we had met last week. It was also the first time I was comfortable outside. The wind was drier than previous days and it cooled off to probably 75 degrees last night. Of course, it was still 85ish in the boat, but much drier. My thermometer didn't survive the passage down as it got some salt water spray along the way. I will have to look for a replacement at Commercial Centro which is the craziest bazar, mostly with odd computer parts and electronics.

Today we got the help of Ronaldo to clean the deck. Tomorrow he will tackle the stainless steel and the topsides. It was very hard to sit and watch him work, but after lunch I did lay in the hamock for an hour or so as it was just too hot to keep working at 1:00 in the afternoon. By three if finally starts to cool down, but it isn't nearly as cool as yesterday evening as the humidity has returned. Pache says that it isn't usually this hot here, so I suppose there is hope and it makes us feel beter to see the locals suffering as well. Apparently, we are expecting some rain later in the week. It will be interesting to see what it is like here when it is raining.

Bill left today around 10:00 for his flight home for two-ish weeks. This leaves me alone in Cartegena (if anyone wants to visit, please let me know...I would love the company). Since he didn't come back I assume he made his flight. I went grocery shopping after Ronaldo left at 4:00 and discovered the one thing worse than going grocery shopping hungry....going shopping thirsty when you have to carry the grocereries the mile or so home. I managed to fill my backpack almost entirely with things to drink making it rather heavy. Apparently you can have the bagger bring the cart to the marina and take it back for only $2-3 so I may do that next time if I go overboard again. I have one or two more days when I am stuck at the boat all day taking care of dayworkers, then I can head to the home center to find a dehumidifier as well as spend a few days at the beach. I need to get in touch with a canvas-maker and wood-worker as well...maybe tomorrow.

Settling In

Cartegena Colombia - 10 24.5N 075 32.6W
Yesterday we played Tourist with our delivery crew, shopping for Emeralds, touring the old city, museums, & churches, and being hounded by pedlers of everything. Pictures will be added to the previous few weeks posts soon, so stay tuned, and don't forget to look back at our delivery posts. I also fixed the date issue we had so we are no longer predicting the future and there are two additional posts that got archived back to 2003. This morning Chuck, Jake, and Pete left early for the airport to head home to their wives, lawnmowers, and jobs and Bill and I tackled the work list. I basically now have the security system squared away. I still some finishing details to add like the inside motion detector and the dingy sensor, but he main parts are wired though I couldn't test the outside motion detector because the ambient tempurature was around 92 degrees by the time I couldn't take it anymore at 11:30 and I don't think there was enough difference between my body temp and the background. I will test tonight when it cools off and see if it works.
In the afternoon I set the hammock up under the boom awning and relaxed for a few hours, checking e-mail, restoring lost data, and some general web browsing. I have decided that this will be my primary location from 11:30 to 15:00 most days.

Luckily the wind has picked up and the sun has dipped lower, and it is now a much more reasonable 86 degrees.

Cartegena Colombia

Cartegena Colombia - 10 24.5N 075 32.6W
We got into port yesterday afternoon around 1600, launched the dingy and sent Bill on his way to clear customs. 20 minutes later we had just about finished putting up the boom awning (my new favorite thing in the world) and Bill was back, having left our passports and papers with our Agent David who will take care of everything (we hope) this morning. After some much deserved showers and changes into clean dry clothes we headed off to shore. A short walk later via the Club de Pesce Marina we arrived at a wonderful resturaunt De Oliva with a very friendly owner who was very patient with our stupid questions in broken spanish and french.

Today our goal is to find a slip in a marina. Club de Pesce looks very nice, but apparently is full. We met the "Heffe" yesterday who is going to see what she can do, but we don't have a ton of hope.

John, who runs Club Nautico [pictured], was off yesterday, so we are hoping that one of the "two reservations" the workers talked about was for us.

Today we have a few boat projects to do and will continue to put the boat away and clean off the salt this morning, then probably head to the old city in the afternoon to play tourista.

Newport to Cartegena Day 12

Western Carribean Sea - 13 30.6N 75 19.8W

Today was rather rough in the western Carribean. Apparently a small tropical depression added to the trades quite a bit so we saw 20+ kt winds and very steep seas. Things are finally settling down and thankfully there was some cloud cover today or else it would have been unbarably hot. As is, it was 95 degrees in the pilothouse this afternoon and noone slept well last night. I think most have caught up today, so hopefully we will be in fine shape tonight with the seas subsiding a bit. We only have 185 miles to go so we should be in to Cartegena tomorrow afternoon.

I will try to post after we get in, but if I don't it probably just means it took us a while to settle in to port and I needed some sleep.

Newport to Cartegena Day 11-2

Middle of Carribean Sea - 16 46.5N 74 52.5W

Water Temp: 84 deg
Air Temp: 90 deg
Cabin Temp: 92 deg

Hot got a new definition this afternoon when I went down for my afternoon siesta. It was the most unrestful 2+ hour nap in my life and I woke up sweatier than a fat southerner at an august picknick. The sea state and high speed while close reaching had precluded opening any deck hatches until about 30 minutes ago, so my aft cabin with waterheaters under the bed quickly got up to extreme temperatures even with all three fans going full bore. The rest of the cabin was nearly as hot and the cockpit was basically unbarable in the direct sunlight. The pilothouse on the other hand was somewhat reasonable (relatively speaking).

Evening hours has brought reduced temps, backing winds, reduced spray, cold showers, and a much better overall feeling. Why can't all day be like 18:00. We have just 385 miles left to reach Cartegena which at the current rate puts us in before noon on thursday. We are guessing we will slow down at some point, but we should be able to get in before dark at least. The issue now will be managing to get into the marina before Bill leaves. Work is Cartegena is very popular right now with at least 50 boats in the anchorage.

Newport to Cartagena Day 11 - Captains Log

Exiting Windward Passage
17 36.0N, 74 43.3W

It's a bit of roller coaster today as we blast through the Windward Passage into the Caribbean. We are passing Jamaica to our west, and enjoyed beautiful vistas of Haiti through the early morning today. We have a steady easterly to ESE wind at about 10-12 knots. Seas are moderate, but fairly close as there is some element of wind against current. We had some significant (that means 1.5 knots)f current against us overnight, and steererd east through the passage to avoid the strongest parts of the stream. This brought us to within 15 miles of the Haitian coast. We continued to stay east of the rhumb line out of the WW passage into the Jamaica Channel, and the strategy seemed to work as we roughly halved the speed of the adverse current. We now are back to rumb line, more or less.

Last night was filled with lights on the water and AIS targets on our course plotter (radio broadcast of ship posiitons via Automatic Identification System, for all you landlubbers out there). We saw more ships traversing the Windward Passage than we encountered on the entire trip. This stretch of water is busy! Now, 50 miles south of Haiti, traffic is once again getting scarce.

The course back to rumb line allows us to sail a close reach in this buliding breeze, and this is much more comfortable than the nearly close hauled sailing we did in our slide to the east. I also have the engine ticking over to power us through the occasional large swell, but I suspect we will be able to sail with engine off by evening if the wind backs to north of east, as predicted. In any event, the predicted wind over the next 48 hrs. mitigates concerns about fuel supply.

We did about 214 nm yesterday, and continue today to blast along at 10 kn through the water, and 9 kn over ground. If the situation remains stable (which it may or may not), I can anticipate a 2 PM Thursday arrival at our waypoint outside Cartagena, and anchor down, or dockage if possible, around 4 PM!

How likey is that? Well, let me tell you some stories about boats...

Later,

Bill

Newport to Cartegena Day 10-2

20 Miles East of Cuba - 19 51.4N 73 59.9W

The clouds cleared just enough for us to get a glimpse of Cuba this afternoon as we made our way into the Windward Passage. It put the finnishing touches on a georgeous, but brutally hot and humid day with fresh dorado al fresco in the cockpit for dinner. The winds are ligh,t meaning that we have to motor, but the advantage is we get to keep the deck hatches open keeping it reasonably comfortable in the cabin.

We are currently heading southwest to clear the tip of Haiti before turning back south to Cartegena. We have done our fuel calculations and are in good shape so long as we either get some helpful wind, or not too much adverse current along the way, but the 30 extra gallons from the Bahamas will be a big help (keep in mind this is all with a 50gal reserve for emergency use).

We got a bit lax with our reports while on land, but I can assure you we will get back on schedule now that we have little else to do. Still, keep in mind, just because we haven't updated doesn't mean there is any trouble. It probably means we are too busy catching fish or having fun.

Newport to Cartegena Day 10

En Route 8 miles South 0f Great Inagua Island, Southern Bahamas
20 49.6N, 73 42.7W
1130

Well, we know we in de Islands, mon, when we jerry jug fuel to the boat.

Yesterday was a pleasant layover day anchored off Great Inagua Island; the new boom awning does a masterfull job of keeping the sun out and allowing the breeze in. After the requisite boatwork in the morn, we all went ashore to explore. We learned that Hurricane Ike blasted the Island last year, and left much damage in his wake. It is sad to see that the island remains in disrepair, with much work left to do. Many of the large trees were uprooted, and as "Williams" (the man we met who became our agent) said, "Ike was mad at the roofs, mon". 90% of the structures lost some part of their roofs, and patches of blue tarps are still occasionally visible.

Yesterday happened to be a Sunday, and when we went ashore, the town was quiet. We ended up being very lucky when Williams drove by and asked us if we needed any help, fuel, or information. We explained that we were here for 24 hrs, and would like to buy some diesel, some foodstuffs, and supplies. He drove me to the home of a customs officer and then several conversations ensued between Williams and Mr. Customs, Mr. Customs and Boss of Mr. Customs, and thankfully not immigration. In the end, we were trying to avoid the cost of a $300 Bahamas cruising permit plus additional immigration fees, as we only needed 24 hrs on the island or in the Bahamas, and not 3 months. This is where the luck came in. It was agreed that we could buy some fuel from Williams, and that he would take us to the grocery 0730 Monday morning, but not later, as we needed to be off the island and back on the boat before customs opened.

Noon: Brief interlude as I gaff our second Dorado (aka Mahi Mahi). The hook was in the water for only 7 miles this time before a fish struck! Whoo Hoo. Good eating tonight.

Back to the island story. Williams also wanted us to fuel up yesterday, so as not to be around too much Monday AM. We jerry jugged 6 five gallon containers on board via our dinghy, and segregated these "comfort factor" 30 gallons into our otherwise empty aft tank. One never can be too carefull about the fuel we take aboard and I will transfer it and scrub it with our filters before we use it. We had already calculated that even accounting for a 50 gallon emergency reserve, we could motor sail all the way to Cartagena in light winds. Motoring into a stronger breeze on our bow would have left us short however, and this additional 30 gallons gives us 10-18 additional hours of engine time...just in case.

Finally, after a much anticipated 40 minute run and a few more afternoon chores yesterday (such as hanging hooks in the lazzerette for the scuba gear), we had cocktails and dined al fresco. After movie night, a good sleep was had by all.

This morning Chuck and Gram went on the early excursion for food and drink. Fortunately they were mostly successful, and did buy several gallons of that most desirable elixir, amongst other liquids. They struck out on bread and produce, but we have mucho tortillas (which have lasted amazingly well), a few heads of lettuce, and broccoli remaining, before we go on to the slaw.

After a good check and clean of the engine room this morning, we weighed anchor at 0933. We will pass between Cuba and Haiti, and then Jamaica and Haiti, before a 487 nm run to Cartagena. Conditions look good, with light tomoderate SE winds for the first 24 hours, with winds building out of the east over the next 3-4 days. Swells should be moderate. I do not wish to jinx us, but this has the potential to be an 80 hr leg to Cartagena. I hear the restaurants are quite exceptional there.

We'll let you know how exceptional soon enough!

Later,

Bill

Newport to Cartegena Day 7

Mayaguana Island - Bahamas -- 22 19.6N 73 02.4W

It took us 151 hours to travel the 1350 nautical miles from Newport Rhode Island to Mayaguana Island in the southern Bahamas. This works out to an average of 8.6kts or 206 miles per day, an impressive average for non race boats. Last night ended up being a very spirited blast reach at about 9-10 kts with spray pummeling the cockpit. Luckily for us we can hide in or behind the pilothouse, with behind being chosen more often than not as it was getting VERY hot and sticky inside the boat.

On our approach to the islands we landed a nice sized Dorado (video to come when high speed internet is available for upload). The pork loin that had come out of the freezer 30 minutes earlier was quickly returned and the Dorado was butchered and marinated for dinner tonight. We pulled inside the reef at Mayaguana around 2:00 this afternoon, took a quick swim, and went about some boat chores making sure we are back to as close to 100% as possible. It is amazing the difference being able to open the hatches and get some air flowing will do for a boat full of guys.

I grilled up the fish loins on the George Forman grill, steamed some broccoli and cooked up some pine nut cous cous. The fish was AMAZINGLY moist and the spices came out very well if I must say so myself.

The plan right now (subject to change of course) is to sail tomorrow to Great Inagua which will take most of the day (10 hours). We will relax in Mathew Town on Sunday and Sunday night, go grocery shopping for a few items monday morning, then depart by noon for Cartegena. It will be nice to have a few nights sleep with hatches open and a level, relatively motion free bed.

Newport to Cartagena Day 6, Captains Log

Southwest North Atlantic 25 50N 70 34W
21 May, 2009
0700

We passed south of Boca Raton, FL middle of last night (allow me a moment to say good morning to my parents, Arnold and Trudy who miraculously have figured ot how to read our blog), and we continue southbound 528 miles east of Miami, course 217 mag, now 247 nm from our waypoint at Caicos Pasage.

Another day, another 200 miles. Well, make that 234 nm. Visions of Johanna contiues to steam along at a great pace, making 24 hr totals of 206 nm the 19th and 234 nm on the 20th. I am most pleased with her performance, and a well known designer has opined "this boat is wicked fast". Can you tell he is from Maine?

Over night,the wind has picked up and we are finally beginning to see some seas. Yestrday, the wind actually eased a bit from mid morning to midnight, usually less than 15 kn T from just north of east. Wind direction currently unchanged, but wind speed has increased to 19-22 kn. Seas, which were surprisingly docile yesterday, are making their presence known, now 6-9 ft. Our boat speed remains an awesome 9.8 kn @ 17 kn wind, and 11 kn @ 22 kn wind - in other words, we are TRUCKIN'. While a bit rolly, Visions of Johanna is handling these conditions with aplomb, and never has felt unsafe, nor have we felt insecure. She continues to exhibit a lovely balance of speed and seaworthness.

We are closing in on our waypoint, and I, and the rest of the crew, are beginning to sense that this first leg of our trip has begun it's end game. I expect another 12 hrs. of wind and seas, but then anticipate some rather fast easing over the last 18 hours of this leg to the Bahamas. With all the weather action around us, I am greatful that we have managed to thread the needle and insinuate ourselves between fronts and low pressure systems. To that end, I would be amiss if I did not acknowledge our weather guru, Ken McKinley, from Locus Weather in Camden, ME. Through daily e-mail contact, Ken has always routed us where the storms ain't,which has not been an easy task this week.

Thanks, Ken.

That's all for now,

Bill

Newport to Cartegena Day 5 - 3

340 Miles NE of Bahamas 27 15.5N 69 44.1W

Do-do-do-do do-do -- to the tune of "Sleigh Ride"

Outside the fish are flying and crew are calling Whoo-hoo
Come on lets get to gether for a sleigh ride together with you.
Giddy up, Giddy up, Giddy up, Giddy Up lets Go.......

Early evening conditions are a blast. We are holding a steady 9+ kts, with peaks above 11kts as we surf down the waves. It isn't the most comfortable motion, but it isn't too bad and the miles are really ticking off. We are currently looking at making landfall in Mayaguana (or your iguanna, if your not careful) friday morning as we most likely won't get to Great Inagua before dark if we were to continue on. As I write this we just had a 12" long flying fish land on the side deck and start thrashing around. Luckily Peter was able to send him back into the water.

Newport to Cartegena Day 5 - 3

340 Miles NE of Bahamas 27 15.5N 69 44.1W

Do-do-do-do do-do -- to the tune of "Sleigh Ride"

Outside the fish are flying and crew are calling Whoo-hoo
Come on lets get to gether for a sleigh ride together with you.
Giddy up, Giddy up, Giddy up, Giddy Up lets Go.......

Early evening conditions are a blast. We are holding a steady 9+ kts, with peaks above 11kts as we surf down the waves. It isn't the most comfortable motion, but it isn't too bad and the miles are really ticking off. We are currently looking at making landfall in Mayaguana (or your iguanna, if your not careful) friday morning as we most likely won't get to Great Inagua before dark if we were to continue on. As I write this we just had a 12" long flying fish land on the side deck and start thrashing around. Luckily Peter was able to send him back into the water.

Newport to Cartegena Day 5 - Part 2

380 miles NE of Bahamas - 27 48.6N 69 22.1W

The building winds have taken an afternoon siesta bringing our boatspeed down to 8-9 kts, but making for a rather pleasant afternoon, especially when the sun pokes out from behind the clouds. We had a wonderful lunch of Pizza (thank you Digeorno's) and Cappy's Clam Chowder (thank you other Johanna). Everyone is loving the quite speed of Visions without her engine running and the motion is pretty reasonalbe with just the occasional hard roll when the two wave directions meet at just the right spot. Unfortunately this is usally occompanied by a bit of spray across the deck, so we have had to close our hatches (except for two in the galley that are protected by the pilothouse. Offshore passages in moderate to bad conditions may be the one time we regret not having air conditioning.

We are currently chugging along at a VERY comfortable 9 kts and have averaged better than 200 miles/day for the trip, so it looks like we will arrive in the Bahamas late morning in two days. We still aren't sure which island we are going to stop in as it depends on the time of our arrival (we don't want to come into harbor in the dark).

To pass the time I have started reading "Spanish for Cruisers" as I figure I will need as much spanish as possible when haning out in Cartegena for two weeks by myself. It makes me realize both how much I did learn in two years of High School Spanish and just how much I forgot. I have also been playing around with some minor (completely non-critical) bugs in the interface of our Nav software and our instrument systems and have a bunch of questions for the developers ready once I have a real internet connection. -- Gram

Newport to Cartagena Day 5 - Captains Log

Southwest North Atlantic 29 06N 68 39W
0700

Like a horse coming home to the barn, Visions of Johanna is steaming towards the Caicos Passage, our entry gate into the Bahamas. While the wind is blowing fairly hard, it is from the east off our stern quarter, and can be mitigated and contained by carefully choosing the amount of sail we are flying. The wind has increased from 14-15 knots through the night to 18 knots steady right now. We brought down our lighter weight reaching sail (meant for down wind sailing, but with lesser winds) and now fly the 103% jib - with no change in boat speed, but on a more tamed animal. The sail change occurred at change of watch, as six hands are better than two.

Right now we are 475 nm from our waypoint at Caicos Passage, making 9-10 knots with our east wind of 18-20 knots. This is pretty much what I will expect throughout the day,and pretty much what I will expect over the next 36 hours. We started last night with a reef in the main, but then shook it out as we were a tad underpowered with winds in the 15 kn range. Our next move, if wind and seas build, will be to put back that reef.

The seas are slowly building with the consistent winds. They are 3-6 feet and we are rolling a bit with the wind on the quarter, but they are also regular and pleasantly shaped. In general they are smooth and rounded, and are not developing the squared off charactor that creates a jarring motion. I do think they will continue to build some, though.

The crew has settled in to a nice routine. There is plenty of conversation, good books being read, and enjoyment of being out here, so intimately connected to the elements. It is fair to say that everyone has enjoyed themselves to this point.

I can see one problem brewing however, in that I am running low on the crew's favorite libation. This vessel was stocked with the finest of victuals and elixers, acknowleging that satisfying food and drink make for a happy and well behaved crew. Well, I underestimated their nearly insatiable demand for this mother of all liquids and I am beginning to sense an uncomfortable undercurent of side talk and conversations about how much is left and "where is it stored?". Mind you, before we departed Newport, I made sure that we were well stocked with gallons upon gallons of this most desirable drink, but I never thought that a crew of grown men would choose milk as there beverage of choice - party animals that they are. So here stand I, watching our dwindling supply, with concern about the possibility of "the milk mutiny". Well, to that I say "let them drink water!

Note to self: Purchase milk, anchovies, and pickles at our next stop.

Bill
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Newport to Cartegena Day 4

175 Miles SW of Bermuda - 31 03.7N 67 56.6W

Last night and today have been near perfect sailing days. This morning around 8:00 we were able to shut the engine down and still mainain our speed. Thus far we have traveled just short of 700nm, keeping a better than 200 mile/day average and keeping us on schedule. We have managed to empty the cooler and relocate that fod to the freezer and fridge before all the ice melted so once again the fridge and freezer are stuffed to the gills. Speaking of gills, we had the fishing tackle out again today, but as of yet no nibbles. The good news is I have no idea where we would put the fish if we caught one.

Right now we have about 12kts of wind on our port quarter making for a very comfortable day of sailing. It looks like by tomorrow morning the wind will increase quite a bit toping off at 25kts or so (nothing to be worried about, just not quite as comfortable). We will have stronger winds for about 36 hours before it calmes down for our approach to the Bahamas.

The guys are currently down below watching "Eyes Wide Shut", getting out of the sun for a bit with some mindless entertainment. Tonight we are having chicken enchiladas (thanks mom), probably with some salad. Oddly enough, the only things I am worried about running out of are Pickles and Milk (not together I promise). Usually I am the only one drinking milk regularly, but both Jake and Chuck are also milk drinkers so we will have to pick up more in Mathewtown. Pickles weren't really a provisioned item, but there was a jar left over from my winter onboard. Luckily we have plenty of other food to eat.