We married in Fernie, Canada on March 24,2001 with lots of snow and family & great friends with us to celebrate and 15 yrs later are in the Cayman Islands, Caribbean. Life is good.
Had a fab day together as always, finishing up with a nice meal out at Morgan’s Resaurant in Governors Harbor. 
Here’s to more good times ahead!
Getting ready to head to Providencia, Columbia.
Larry & Carey decided they needed some time out of Calgary and arrived into Georgetown to see what we get up to and what this sailing life is all about.
At Camana Bay on arrival
Don’t think Larry will be trading his truck in for our small open convertible to get to shore but they definitely got the hang of getting in and out. No incidents getting back aboard after a few drinks out at night so that was lucky.
This guy on the other hand wanted to be our mascot.
It was a pretty full 10 days, where we got them out enjoying some water sports; snorkeling, swimming and wandering the beautiful sandy beaches most days.
Seven Mile Beach
Carey at Starfish Point
snorkeling the Kittiwake wreck off Seven Mile Beach
Stingray City was a highlight as we had a nice calm day out near the reef and met a local who told us about the stingrays and held one while Carey & Larry rubbed it between its eyes, something they like. The stingrays eat squid but were pretty full given all the visitors.
Not the only ones out enjoying the calm waters
Sailing we got to experience all conditions as we moved about the island. We had all sorts of winds from calm, to low winds (10-15knots) and +30knots with choppy seas. Now they know why we don’t like to go the against the wind!
Larry putting our screecher sail up
screecher day as calm winds & boys up front
girls helping out with sail setting
a little more lively with spray coming over and running down the decks
Did get some relax time in too, of course.
painkillers for Teresa’s birthday at a beach bar
the boys enjoyed a kayak while Carey enjoyed the sun
When anchored out front of Georgetown we would awake to the anchors going down from the cruise ships behind us and watched all the tourists getting shuttled ashore. Da’Fish Shack in Georgetown had great happy hours and a beautiful view so we enjoyed a few stops there.
Da’Fish Shack with great views over the harbor
the local pirate ship passing while a cruise ships leaves
A car was handy to tour the island, see some of the different sights of Grand Cayman and get to some of the beaches further away.
We even went to “Hell”
Pedro San James built by an Englishman in 1780 gave us some history of the island and included a tour of the house and gardens and a presentation on life back in he 1800s.
Horses and kite surfers at Barkers Point on the West End
Looks like fun..
The iron shore rock coastline on the south side
I think they left pleasantly surprised and even had learnt some sailing skills but we were all much in need of an AFD (alcohol free day).
Had a good sail to Caymans after taking advantage of SE winds just after a northerly wind and arrived into Georgetown. Checking in was a breeze here; very professional compared to a lot of places we have been. No cash reqd on entry, given 30 days and directed to a Mooring buoy to start our stay in the Caymans. Every day we were moored in the harbor we were awoken to anchors going down for the big cruise ships that bring in thousands of tourists. Lots of action compared to some anchorages so fun to sit with our coffee and take in the views.
Georgetown itself is a small compact area with colorful buildings made up of many different banks and for the cruise ship tourists lots of high end jewelry stores etc. and of course a wide variety of restaurants and bars to choose from. An easy place to wander around but busy during the day depending on how many cruise ships are in town.
scattered all around the island are painted iguanas; very cute
The fish market is right on the waterfront with the fishermen cleaning the fish on old wooden tables and if you so choose some of the nearby restaurants will cook your fish for you. May have to buy some fish…
the blue iguana that has come back from near extinction; painted on a restaurant in town
The Caymans accept both USD and the Cayman dollar, which is actually pegged to the USD at a premium of 1.2. Ingenious as goods and services look reasonable compared to what you pay in the US but of course it’s 20% higher! Ouch. Great that you can get USD and the Cayman $ out of the ATMs though.
There’s plenty to do here including lots of different sports from diving & snorkeling the many beaches to golfing. You can jump the public buses around the island, hire a car, motorcycle or bike to see the small towns on the coast and some of the history around the island.
1 of the murals at Fort George showing the Spanish attacks of 1779
The Caymans are well known for their diving and on our first dive we were not disappointed by the fish life. We were escorted by a big dog snapper who showed us a green moray eel, 3 legged turtle, spotted eagle ray, a large lobster and lots of other fish life. The coral here is not as spectacular as we thought it would be. Life is made easy for diving as we could hook up to any of the mooring buoys scattered around the island so of course we had to take advantage.
See the moray behind our friend
Tiger grouper
Stingray City near the entrance to north sound is a busy place ALL THE TIME! It’s kinda neat getting up and close and being able to touch the stingrays; just watch their tails. They have no qualms about coming up close as they are fed by the day trip boats that come.
Anchoring off Starfish Point on the northern end of north sound was protected and pretty with the palm trees on the white sandy beach. The day trip boats typically bring their guests over to the spit, to stand in the clear shallow water and look down at the many starfish in the sand after visiting Stingray City. Sunset was perfect as the day trip boats were gone and there was no one else around and we could look back at the lights along the other side of the island.
The water was nice and calm so we kayaked into the various bays in the area, past some pretty substantial homes, up to Rum Point, which we found to be really touristy.
Kayaking in the canals near Rum Point
Seven Mile beach on the West side of the island has that white powdery sand and turquoise water but it’s really closer to 5 miles long. Lots of different water activities are available; parasailing, snorkeling, paddle boarding, sailing a hobby cat or Kayaking. We enjoyed just laying around on the pristine beach and swimming in the clear water.
Fo a change of scene we ended up scoring tickets to the 2016 Legends Tennis at Camana Bay to see 3 matches. After talking to the Welcome Centre at Camana Bay we were allowed to stay the weekend at the docks, for free! A nice area with lots of expensive shops, bars and restaurants which is very protected as its in the North Sound. It just so happened it was also Super Bowl weekend so great place to be as there was plenty going on.
Sunset over the docks at Camana Bay, from the tennis
Anna Kournikova & Jim Courier vs Mansour Bahrami & Ashley Harkleroad.
a rather large impressive iguana also hanging out at Camana Bay
We found another great anchorage in Governors Creek and thru the canals to Mitchells Creek, which we used when a Northerly came through. Very calm and right across from Cost U Less for our grocery runs.
Tucked away in a nice neighborhood
Our bikes were handy for getting around the island as its nice and flat so we could get some good exercise seeing the island.
The West Bay Loop bike trail (10m) was a good ride where we got to see the Western end of the island including Barkers National Park and cycled through the different neighborhoods on the West side.
Heritage Kitchen, a great find for lunch
Lots of kite surfers off Barkers Point playing in the wind
Also cycled down to South Sound past some pretty palatial homes. Went to a couple of nice beaches with great shade for us people that burn. Smith Cove wasn’t far from Georgetown and is a protected cove that was actually really busy. Spotts beach was on the south end of the island and busy with people snorkeling out to the reef that is fairly close. It was a Saturday so there were a lot of locals out enjoying the day as well.
Smith Cove
Spotts Beach and yes the water is that clear
Our last dive before posting this we saw quite a few large fish. One was the biggest fish we have ever seen while diving; a 4ft (?, huge) Goliath Grouper that was hanging out outside his cave. I’ve included a picture of one from the internet so you can see how amazing they look as unfortunately my photo was looking down on him so he looked the same color as the coral, shame!
We were also approached out in the open by a rather aggressive green moray eel with his mouth opening and closing, which is actually their way of breathing but not attractive when it’s after you. After doing some reading they are typically shy and retreat but do have bad vision so guessing this guy mistook us for something else. Brett had to kick at it a number of times till he fled up over the coral. Bit of excitement for the day!
Great day diving
Well we have guests coming to enjoy the Caymans with us. Will have to hire a car and see what else we can find around the island. Really enjoying our stop here.
We have had to extend our visa which meant a trip to both Customs and Immigration and a fee for extensions. Nice that they give you 1 month free though.
So it was farewell to friends at Nana Juana. After taking advantage of some Westerly / Northerly winds we had a good overnight sail across to the Bay Island chain of Honduras.
Utila
Checking in was a piece of cake in East Harbour, Utila and both immigration and the customs officers were so friendly. US$3 each per passport and $20 for the boat. Each cruiser we met paid a different amount & some nothing so it was going in someone’s pocket, but at least not unreasonable. The customs officer noticed that Brett was in pain on his foot and so called the local doctor who came to the customs office. That’s customer service! After an initial inspection we ended up going to his private clinic by Tuk Tuk and before we knew it Brett was getting an injection for an infection moving up his leg from a wound on his toe. Very clean clinic and very professional. Thanks Doc!
A slightly swollen foot. he must have been in pain as he never likes to go to a doctor…
The Doctor volunteers at a public clinic for the poor till noon and then works at his private clinic from 3pm to 6am. Nice guy. Brett still liked him even after this …..Ouch!
We were back relaxing with beautiful sunsets and a rum in hand, OK maybe for one of us as the other was on medication for a week. Heehee!
The town of Utila is very small with one main road and Tuk Tuks and motorcycles buzzing up and down.
1 main road along the island with little stores, dive outfits and lodging
every day we were there the Locals were playing dominoes in the street
The are a pile of backpackers around town all going diving. Yes diving is the attraction here with something like 91 dive sites around the island. So a diving we must go…..
We decided to dive with a company given it was our first time out in 6 months and chose Utilia Dive Centre, which cost $35/ dive a lot cheaper than Roatan at $50/ dive. There were whale sharks in the area and so in between dives we went in search of them but no luck. Did see a couple of green moray eels swimming, which we have never seen before.
They are fast swimmers and hide in rocks. Very cool to see 2 of them on diff dives.
It’s so nice to be back on the water where we can swim off the back & kayak. The kayaks came out to venture across the bay into Oyster Bay Lagoon and thru a mangrove canal to Rock Harbour on the north side of the island. 6miles each way so the stop at the REHAB bar on the way back was a must for lunch & a cold one. There’s definitely a lot of variety in places to eat all around the island and they are reasonably priced.
We hired an ATV to tour the island and go in search of Pumpkin Hill which was fun. Brett was in heaven finding the mud puddles from the rain but finishing on the beach looking out to the boats was much nicer.
the West end of East Harbour
Utilia definitely had a very cruisy way of life, was affordable with some good places to eat & drink at and where we could definitely relax.
Roatan
We arrived at West End where mooring balls are placed around the anchorage area. We’d heard they were no longer maintained so tied our own line to the pin, as a friend had run into trouble the previous week.
Snorkeling and diving off the reef at West End was easy as there are dive mooring buoys scattered along the reef edge for you to tie to. To dive we chose a mooring buoy that we noticed all the dive boats going to each day. Great choice as it started at 20ft with lots of coral and led to a shelf that plateaued at 40ft and then went out to the wall which dropped to 60ft and then continued down.
The water was clear with some bright coral and different formations, a few groupers hiding in some of the rock ledges, schools of fish, a porcupine fish that followed us and big lobster that looked at you and said you can’t have me I’m in a marine park. The Hawksbill turtle that calmly ate the coral and didn’t care we were there was a real treat. Good diving.
The town at West End is quite touristy with lots of bars/restaurants, dive shops and little stores to wander through. After kayaking down to West Bay where all the tourists from the cruise ships are lounging in deck chairs around the many resorts on the beachfront we headed back to West End had Jerk Chicken (yum) and found a cool Canadian bar called Sundowners and enjoyed the views out to the bay.
Great views and free internet at Sundowners
When a strong Nor-Westerly wind is forecast its best to move out of the West End anchorage as there’s no protection. While in Roatan we visited the West End twice and yes had to move to French Cay on the southern side of the island, which provides better protection for a front.
French Cay has a nice big anchorage and 2 marinas; Fantasy Island with Aussie Pete the dockmaster and Brooksey Point, which Mike owns and operates. Both welcome cruisers and have different events going on. We anchored off Little French Cay at the LEK Zoo where we could hear the local lion roaring regularly. Quite strange. Most days they transported the horses to the island for the cruise ship guests.
The town of French Harbor had lots of shopping opportunities with a great big supermarket which had lots of American food for provisioning, hardware stores and a variety of marine chandleries. Brett’s favorite tool on the boat finally wouldn’t start as it was so rusted so off we went to ACE hardware down the road in search of a new vacuum.
A pink one was the only small powerful one they had!
French Cay, Roatan is somewhere most cruisers pass through. It was funny looking around the anchorage one day and recognizing 8 boats from Nana Juana. They just kept arriving but as usual it was nice to see familiar faces. Some of us ended up going on an island tour with Mike from Brooksey Point Marina.
Mike & the Nana Juana group, thanks to April
We drove along the spine of the island with views out to the reefs on the side and down to Oak Ridge, where small basic wooden homes were perched out over the water on wobbly pilings. Punta Gorda was a small village where the Garifuna people live. We watched the kids out playing on the water with a fridge and draws as their canoe. At the West End of the island was West beach with all the bars, restaurants and dive stores for the tourists. Quite a contrast.
scattered thruout the island were these brightly colored homes, this is at West End
a new disco being built on the spine with 360 views, not to sure if this will be a success
Boat building in Punta Gorda
Look familiar – the Ex Mayor of West Ends house like the White House
April, Cain & Brett hanging out in West End
Aussie Pete at Fantasy Island has events most days to draw cruisers in to his palapa and appreciates everyone stopping for a drink at the end of the day and so of course we had to go in to hassle the Aussie about losing the World Cup rugby.
We had missed Cain’s Big birthday celebration in the Rio Dulce so had April & Cain over for fresh snapper, champers and wine. Yummy, fresh fish again. These guys are going south and we are going north but no doubt we will see them in a few months when we get down to Panama too.
Off into the sunset
We’ve been watching the winds to head East and then North. We decided to take advantage of the end of a northerly and was surprised when we turned up at the Port Captains office to get our zarpe (Permit to remove the boat from 1 country and enter another) to hear he wasn’t giving out zarpes today. What? We are a sail boat we need some wind to go East and a northerly helps. He thought 5-8 knots of wind the next day was better for us. Ah no that’s not sailing that a motor boat and we can sail faster than our engines will take us. We’d already checked out with Immigration so passports were done. We sat in his office for an hour reviewing weather charts and talking about sail boats. He then said come back in 2 hours after lunch and pay the Zarpe fee and I’ll give it to you. Anyway US$3 later and we are sailing out of the French Cay bay with the sun setting and it’s great sailing weather for us as its on our beam, seas are flat at the mo and we have 11-15knots. She likes flat water this boat. May be different further out but hey we have to go East to go North.
In the Rio Dulce in Guatemala we have had local people working on various projects, spending ways too much money (but helping out the local Guatemalan economy). Life of a boat owner! Even managed to practice my Spanish with the workers here. Here’s some of the big jobs we did up the Rio Dulce:
1. Replacement of our cracked glass coach top window with non-skid gel coat, thanks to Arney from Nana Juana yard. The glass top was always covered as it was too hot in the tropics. 
2. Removal of a fiberglass corner table between the two couches, by Arney so we could make a “L” seat for more comfort, so yes the cushions needed to be replaced too & Elmer did a great job on this.
3. New lounge table and extendable legs. Thanks to Isaiah who made our table & Tom the sailmaker who organized it for us down at Texas Bay.
4. A sunshade to keep the boat cool in hot climates was also made by Elmer and included a water catching system. Given how long I was here I really appreciated the sunshade to keep the boat cool.
5. The big job for us was coppercoat on her bottom so we don’t need to be hauled for a while.
Sanded back to the gelcoat first and looking good
Coppercoat applied
Enjoying a cold one with Arney, Jesus & Hector after working all day applying the Copper coat
Just before getting back in the water we had the boat cleaned and polished by Donis Zapata and his team here at the marina. They did an amazing job and we’d highly recommend them.
Prices cruisers are being quoted on the Rio Dulce for work being done was not as cheap as we were led to believe prior to coming. Costs are going up and we think will continue to go up. Not sure if the quality and work ethic is always there given the prices quoted but is still significantly less expensive than the USA.
At last we are ready to head out towards The Bay Islands, Honduras. We have a weather window this coming week so are heading out while the winds can help us go East. Nice to be back on the water.
Merry Christmas everyone. At Nana Juana marina in Guatemala we had a great group of people to enjoy Christmas eve and Christmas day.
On December 24th we enjoyed drinks and finger food with the sun setting and fireworks going off. Guatemalans celebrate Christmas on Xmas Eve and fireworks light up the skies when the sun sets through into the wee hour of the morning. We also had a gift exchange where a gift could be taken from someone else up to a maximum of 3 times. Lots of fun as you can imagine with some very imaginative gifts; the live chicken for one.
Our fireplace designed by Wendy
Wendy & Ken organizers of the gift exchange & Don with his new gift after his original was stolen.
On Christmas Day we had a big feast with 47 cruisers and had a great day which started early (6am) by getting the spit ready for our 30lb lamb and continued through to sitting around a fire at night telling stories and singing carols.
Finn, a kiwi delivering our lamb to the cooking area
We had lots of helpers starting at 6am
Girls Prepping lamb for going on the spit
Brett & Brian setting up a system to rotate the lamb on the spit after building the fire
Lamb nearly ready and looking Tasty!
Belinda had competition for eating the bones of the lamb.
Lots of food to eat…thanks to everyone bringing dishes to contribute to our amazing dinner.
Dave the carver & Chef Pat who cooked the turkey
Chef Wendy who did the ham
April from Spirit of Argo had cooked a chicken for the feast too, so lots of food.
The Xmas gang of 2015
The Marina staff joined us for dinner as well; Walter, Edgar, Mario, Marilyn, Riccardo & Juillo
New Years celebrations fast approached and Marilyn our Marina Manager organized an event at the restaurant where there was a good mix of cruisers and Guatemalans to enjoy the night.
Marilyn and David salsa danced most of the night for us, which was great to watch. She also organized a DJ so we could all dance the night away. Great night, thanks Marilyn!
Elise the owner of the marina brought in horns, hats and masks to make for a fun night. Don’t the girls look great!
Me, Sue, Belinda & Anne
Happy New Years! Safe travels and enjoy 2016. Life’s what you make of it.
Well I made it back to the Rio Dulce, Guatemala after two and a half months, 9300 sailing miles, four airplane rides and a six hour bus trip. I’m back home on Seismic Wave and Teresa has made me write my first and probably last blog entry! Teresa took great care of the boat while I was away and organized lots of things to help get the boat ready for the next couple of sailing seasons. I thought she was trying to take over as chief engineer but she has assured me no she doesn’t want any of that again.
Blue Dream was a 50ft Benateau Monohull. For the leg from Rio Dulce through the Panama Canal we had a crew of four (Bill, Brett, Richard and Johno), 3 catamaran owners and for the canal transit we were joined by Chris from the yacht Exit Strategy. Why so many well the canal authority requires a captain plus four line handlers on each yacht transiting the canal.
Crew to Panama
Blue Dream had been in storage for about 4 months so the first week on the water heading south to Panama was spent repairing numerous items to prepare the boat to be ready to cross the Pacific Ocean. All of the crew were more used to our own Catamarans than the longer but sorry less comfortable monohull rocking and rolling over waves. I don’t think any of us will be trading to a monohull soon.
On the trip to the Caribbean side of Panama the agent that was arranging the Canal transit contacted us with a date the Canal Authority would measure the boat. The date gave us a few days to kill before we needed to be in Panama so we stopped for 3 nights at the Colombian tourist island of San Andreas. This was much preferred to spending extra days waiting at Shelter Bay in Panama as Shelter Bay is not located close to any facilities or beaches. I’m sure there is a good story on how Columbia came to possess islands that are closer to Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama than to mainland Columbia. We enjoyed the stop over and then sailed a couple more days to the Caribbean end of the Canal.
San Andreas was great for provisioning and hitting the local bars
Once the Canal confirmed a transit time we took the vessel out to the anchorage to meet the Advisor who is provided to coach each small vessel through the canal. Slow vessels like sailboats are required to transit over 2 days. The first day didn’t really start until almost dark when we entered the 1st of the 3 locks to lift us to the level of Gatun Lake. It’s pretty neat to watch the water fill around the boat and lift it and the huge cargo ship in the lock with us. Once the 3 locks were transited we motored about 5 miles to a mooring station to overnight. A pilot boat picks up the Canal Advisor and brings back another first thing in the morning. The 2nd day started with a 4 hour motor through Gatun Lake and some narrow cuts of the hundred year old canal to the 3 down locks. On the way down yachts enter the locks in front of the cargo ships then the behemoths get pulled up to the stern of the yachts.
Lock closing behind us
Once the down locks were completed there is an hour or so of motoring to the Balboa area of Panama City on the Pacific Ocean side of the Canal. A pilot boat picks up the Advisor and a small launch picks up the long lines and extra fenders provided by the agent for use in the locks taking the crew to land that weren’t continuing. Bill and I did a quick stop at a floating fuel dock for some diesel and headed out to the Pacific before dark. Almost there, only a couple of months and 8400 miles left!
Hanging out in one of the locks
And then suddenly it was nearly on top of us.
The first week out of Panama was hard onto the wind and a current on the nose and I’m sure Teresa was glad she didn’t come. Progress was slower than we would have preferred and sailed and motor sailed as conditions allowed. Not the smooth downwind holiday I was promised! Our goal was to go non-stop to Cairns, if possible, so we had to sail the majority of the time not motor. This issue was solved on the fourth day out of Panama when the engine starter had a complete meltdown/dead short. I tore the starter apart but it was a write-off with the varnish melted off the windings and all insulation missing from the internal and external starter wires. As we didn’t have a spare starter Blue Dream was officially a sailboat until we could source and install a new starter motor. Battery charging would now be handled by a small gasoline powered auxiliary generator as the boat doesn’t have any solar panels (note to everyone a good solar charging system is a must on any cruising boat in the tropics). Good thing in Panama we had decided to bring 100 liters of gasoline along with the extra jugs of diesel fuel.
Nothing but time now to contemplate life’s next adventure
A few days after the starter motor failed we had made our way southwest enough that the wind had started to back us and a couple of days later the current was with us also. Now the routine can start as the boat is slightly flatter with the wind from behind but the swells still push the rear of the boat around enough to dump the air from the foresail every once and a while. When the wind was right we ran with the asymmetrical spinnaker. Usually only during the day but we did run it on a couple of clear nights also.
Toasting King Neptune at the Equator
Through email and texting from our satellite phones we had arranged for a new starter to be delivered to Nuku Hiva in the Maqueses Islands of French Polynesia and 25 days & 4000 miles after leaving Panama we made an overnight stop at Nuku Hiva, sailing into the anchorage.
Mark a kiwi on Balvenie doing the Haka to welcome us to Nuku Hiva
The starter was delivered to us and half an hour later the engine was purring again. Still don’t know what caused the starter to meltdown as the engine was running at the time it smoked itself. Anyway we were ready to hit the road again but a group of Aussies and Kiwis had other plans. Mark and Amanda from Balvenie along with Roger and Sasha from Ednabel cooked us a great dinner along with a couple of nice take-away meals for the road. So we enjoyed the evening with them and a hoard from the boat “Alabama”. Once all the rum and wine was gone everyone returned to their boats and we had 8 hours of sleep with no watch duties. Bliss! After a couple of up mast repairs in the morning we set off again. When Bill was up the mast he discovered the forestay had a couple of parted strands. We would have to limit the use of the foresail to reduce pressure on the forestay for the second half of the trip so we decided to aim to American Samoa for a fuel and water stop, as there was no water maker onboard.
Nuku Hiva had quite a few boats anchored for cyclone season
The rest of the trip was pretty routine other than a couple of days skirting the edge of a low pressure system just north of Fiji. This low ended up becoming cyclone Tuni. But we squeezed though with less than 4m waves and 35knot winds, all from behind so it made for a good sail for us.
Veneuatu where Bill finally completed his circumnavigation 39yrs in the making
So what did we do for 54 sailing days you may ask. Really ocean sailing seems to be a test of keeping your mind busy day after day especially when you are out there for 50 odd days.
Fishing was our favorite thing of course. We caught 5 fish on the Pacific side that we landed and numerous huge ones that stole all the lures and lines by the end of the trip. The sailfish that jumped into the air and took off with the lure and stripped the line was the best. We read all the paper books and magazines that we found on the boat, cooking was a chore as food didn’t always make it to the stove or stay on your plates what with the rock and roll of a monohull. We worked out it was better to eat out of a bowl in our laps. At night we did 2 – 3 hour night watches and found that the Pacific is a big empty place. We saw a dead floating whale, 1 freighter and 2 fishing vessels until we neared the shipping lanes into Australia.
Shaved again and a smile on the Captains face as we get closer to Cairns.
Cairns our final destination in sight
Jan, Stoney’s wife was happy to have Blue dream back in Australia and after 2 hours with customs and immigration on arrival, she took us out for huge juicy steaks. With no freezer on board we hadn’t had red meat in 2 months so as you can imagine was appreciated.
Good trip with Bill. Next time I do the Pacific there will definitely be a lot more stops along the way though. Lots and of islands to see.
Passing an island chain in Samoa.
Well Seismic Wave has been taken out of the water and into the boat yard at Nana Juana for sanding the hull and prepping for Brett’s return. I have a great spot with plenty of wind, looking out to the forest where the howler monkeys will wake me in the morning. They are loud!
Brett and Billl left Pago Pago, America Samoa a couple of days ago bound for the final destination of Cairns, Australia. They have had great weather and good winds so hope that continues for them.
Off to celebrate American Thanksgiving. Nana Juana again was one of the larger tables. Yes still lots of people here.
We have met some great people here at Marina Nana Juana in the Rio Dulce, some of which are starting to head out for the upcoming sailing season.
Halloween arrived and was a perfect time to have some fun and say goodbyes to those leaving. Everyone made an effort to dress up for the occasion and good times were definitely had.
Marilyn Marina Manager
Marina (Lucky 7) & Michelle (Jade)
The Devil Sue from Sea Rose
Phil & Monica from Miss Molly
Jen & Richard from Our Rose
April & Cain from Spirit of Argo
Jane & Russell from Ta-B
Symone & Kim from Ramone
Wendy even set up a haunted house for everyone to take a tour and was the key feature in a gravestone in the house. The graveyard at Nana Juana had all sorts of surprises, sorry to the Wallabies…..
We also had a party to say goodbye to S/Vs Our Rose and Ta-B who are both heading off to eventually go through to the Pacific. Who knows when we will cross paths again. The girls below looking a tad full and were.
We had another going away over at Sundogs where the Nana Juana people had 3 big tables to say goodbye to S/V Jade, my recent travel companions to Tikal, and hear Phil, from S/V Miss Molly, play at the open Mik on his harmonica.
Marina and Kevin from Lucky Seven were heading out so we had our final yoga class with Marina. She’s one tough woman I’ll give her that, no slacking in her class. We had a big gathering in the Palapa at the Marina where yes they finished the night with their favorite wine, Clos, hence their Halloween costumes.
Ken from S/V Free Spirit, who had broken his foot, FINALLY left his hotel room, via a luggage cart kitted out with pillows for comfort, to join us in the palapa for farewells to Marina & Kevin.
And so the socializing continues as there’s still plenty of boats here getting ready to depart…..
Bill & Brett arrived in Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas, stayed the one night after sorting a few things out and have already continued on. Here they are coming in to anchor under sail. Good job boys!
Once Brett is back and our final boat jobs are finished we plan on making our way towards Panama where we will spend time cruising the San Blas and Bocas del Torro islands, including doing some inland travel. Well thats the plan and we know how that is always subject to change.
Maybe we will have visitors!! hint hint.
Decided to go to Flores & Tikal with a friend Michelle from the Rio Dulce and her 2 kids.; Fern & Noah.
Had an interesting bus ride there, we’ll say that. The bus company Fuente del Norte oversells tickets on the bus so yes you can end up sitting in the isles waiting till a seat comes up. On the positive we were able to practice our Spanish with the locals.
The town of Flores, where we were staying, is actually on a small island with cobblestone streets, colorful buildings and lots of small tiendas selling touristy things. There were some good restaurants on the lake front to enjoy a couple of cocktails after our busy days out and about.
Even toured the island by Tuk Tuk which was a blast all squashed into the tiny car.
We booked a guided 3hr tour starting at 4:30am(wowsa!) to see the ancient Mayan city of Tikal about an hour away from Flores. Tikal is set amongst the rainforests in an area of 120 sq kilometers and is an impressive site. The remains of temples that tower up to 230ft high, smaller pyramids, platforms and inscribed stone monuments are throughout the forest some with great views back to temples we had visited earlier in the day. Temple 11 below stands at 125ft.
Temple 11 in the Main Plaza
Temple 111 the last of the great pyramids to be built apparently
Looking back to the temples we saw in the morning
We all loved spotting animals as we walked through the forest. The howler and spider monkeys were great to watch playing in the trees. These turkeys are so colorful and were very friendly.
Have returned to the Rio Dulce and guess what the World Cup rugby is on. We have transformed the Tiki Bar so we can watch in comfort. Wonder who we are supporting.
The boys all went thru the Panama Canal and then Bill & Brett continued on to Australia and are currently passing the Galapogas Islands. All well on board.
Going thru the canal tied to a fishing boat.