No 11: Making our way to St Mary’s Boatyard.

St Mary's Boatyard - Georgia, USA.

👉Our Journey on the ICW

I have often said that owning a sailboat teaches you a multitude of life skills. You are also confronted with a multitude of feelings and emotions. If you haven’t got any resilience and need to learn about resilience – Go Sailing!

Travelling up north to St Marys Boatyard, where Passages will stay for about 4 -5 months while we return to Perth, as Mel needs to work to pay for the new chain plates, we were confronted with some challenging and basically awful weather.

We understand now why so many people from the USA who own sailboats, start making their way back out of the hurricane zone by the end of May, as the weather was just plain awful: Hot and humid in the mornings, then almighty thunder and lightning storms in the afternoon.

This is what we experienced almost every day we were travelling up the St Marys Boatyard, on the Georgia/Florida border.

We tried to go out into the open sea, but we were hampered with north and northeast winds so we, reluctantly, stayed on the ICW. It was quite fascinating to journey along the ICW – see video.

We spent two nights in Melbourne and Titusville, one night in Daytona, two nights on a mooring ball in St Augustine – the oldest city in the USA, where we did a trolley tour around the old town. We were hoping to sail from St Augustine to St Mary’s Inlet BUT when we were over halfway and had
approximately 25 Nmiles to go, an almighty storm and severe weather warning was issued, so we ducked into Jacksonville. As we were entering the harbour, the storm hit us – see the photo taken from some friends of ours, Dana, and Chris. We meet Dana and Chris on Black Elise II while in Guatemala. They arrived in St Augustine on our second day there. They took the photo of the storm, and sent it to us, when they checked to see if we were okay. We eventually found a very small anchorage upstream, on the ICW and spent a relatively peaceful night there before heading to St Marys passing the port of Fernandina.

👉Tour of St. Augustine

As mentioned, we were confronted with some awful storms and many nights we would watch the lightening streak across the nights sky.

One of the highlights of our journey up the ICW, was stopping off at Titusville to watch the Space X
Falcon 9 launch 52 Starlink satellites into low earth orbit. The launch was scheduled for 3.10am, Monday morning 12 June, so we set our alarms so we could watch it. We were approximately 5 kms away from it, but the brightness of the launch and the sound was quite amazing to see and hear.

So… here we are in St Marys Boatyard. It was quite a journey getting here as we had to consider the tides. The tidal range here is 1.6 metres and there is PLENTY of soft mud. Many times, our depth sounder alarm would go off as there was less than 1 metre below our keel. (Mel has set the depth sounder alarm to go off when we have less than a metre below – it is for safety reasons). We spent 4 nights anchored off in the St Mary’s Inlet, waiting to be hauled out, which eventually happened on Tuesday 20 June 2023. So once again Passages is on dry land although she has quite a good view of the whole of St Marys inlet.

Before we leave her, we clean pack away and cover her. She has so many covers!

So, until next time (January 2024??) – enjoy whatever you are doing. Keep safe, Be Kind and Be Happy.

Bye for now.

Mel and Caryn

 

No 10: Lake Worth, Stuart and Fort Pierce.

 👉Lake Worth, Stuart and Fort Pierce

Lake Worth is the first place we anchored at in January 2014 after leaving Fort Pierce. It looked quite different to when we were last there. A lot more mooring balls with semi-permanent live-aboard boats.

Lake Worth is also part of the ICW and is at least 1 km wide. There is a marina for super big and

wealthy yachts and power boats. In fact, there was one boat called Bravo Eugenia that sparkled at night. It was huge and quite beautiful!

FYI:   I, of course, googled to find out some more information about it – here is a link.

BRAVO EUGENIA Yacht • Jerry Jones $225M Superyacht • Oceanco • 2019 (superyachtfan.com)

After we left Lake Worth on Saturday morning, we heard the captain of the Bravo Eugenia say that they were leaving Lake Worth and heading south.

Our time in Lake Worth was lovely and relaxing. There was not much to do as there isn’t a decent dinghy dock although we did tie up at the West Palm Beach yacht club – which was nothing fancy at all. We went exploring but didn’t find much except a corner grocery shop and KFC with some shady characters around. We were still struggling to find decent Wi-Fi so we decided we would buy a burner phone for our time in States, but we didn’t want to be tied down with any mobile phone company. Fast forward…. We found a HUGE Walmart in Stuart which had phones for sale, so at this current moment, we are all sorted... Phew!!!

While at Lake Worth, there was another yacht anchored close by called ‘Tumble Weed’. We later met the owner and explained to him that we almost changed Passages name to ‘Tumble Weed’. This is due to Mel’s connections with Namibia and a very good and special family friend from my days growing up in Zimbabwe, Uncle Trev. When I let Uncle Trev know that I had meet Mel who came from Namibia, he would always refer to Mel as Tumble Weed. We obviously didn’t change her name….. that is largely since there was an Australian boat already called Tumble Weed. In fact, there was a Tumble Weed,2 and 3 registered in Australia too. In Australia, only one boat can be registered under one name whereas in the USA, it is per State hence there being several boats with the same name. It all depends on the State they are registered in.

When we left Lake Worth for Stuart on Saturday morning around 7.00 am, we should have guessed that it would have been busy leaving the entrance, being the start of the weekend. It was like morning rush hour as every size of boat possible was heading out to sea. My goodness, as we were sailing north to Stuart, the amount of fishing boats out and about was incredible. At least 200 boats of different sizes.

We had to time our arrival at Stuart for high tide, as Stuart is known for its shallow depths. At times, we had less than 20cms below our keel. Quite nerve wracking for Mel. I wasn’t looking at the depth instrument just checking the route and the channel markers.

Anyway, the reason for going to Stuart as mentioned previously, was to have the whisker pole installed onto the mast. We had arranged for this to happen while at the Miami Boat show, back in February. The whisker pole keeps the genoa sail in full mode so allowing us to sail more efficiently. Before the whisker pole, as the wind changed, either direction or intensity, the genoa sail would ‘luff’ – flap, spilling lots of wind.

By lunch time, we had anchored in Manatee Pocket in amongst a few rust buckets, permanent live aboards and Island Packet yachts. My goodness, we had never seen so many Island Packets in such a small anchoring area before. We later learned that Mack Sails, the company we were dealing with for the Whisker pole, was affiliated to another business, Mack Yacht Services, which is run by one of the ‘Mack’ brothers, Colin. He has become extremely well known in the States and further afield for working on Island Packets. It is quite a long and involved story with a bit of social media ‘politics‘ involved, but basically now Colin only works on Island Packets.

No sooner had we dropped anchor and were preparing to have lunch and relax for the afternoon, when the crew from one of the Island Packets anchored in Manatee Pocket, Petrel - Mark and Valeri from Connecticut came to introduce themselves. They were on an IP420 and were planning on leaving Manatee Pocket the following morning after having quite a bit of work done on their boat. They filled us in on the ins and outs of Manatee Pocket – for example, the Poop boat, that comes round to the boats that have requested a pump-out, every Tuesday. It is a free service.

We were still experiencing a few issues with our outboard motor for the dinghy. It was quite frustrating as the dinghy is our lifeline to land. After spending another couple hundred dollars to have the fuel pump’s diaphragms replace, the engine stopped in the middle of the channel when we were going to meet up with some friends and we had to row the rest of the way. Mel ended up spending several hours trying to get to the bottom of why the engine was still not working after it was supposedly repaired. It turned out that the ‘technician’ hadn’t fitted the choke correctly and it was left in the ‘on’ position, flooding the engine. The engine is now working well. Hoorah!!!!

The whisker pole.

Being at anchor in Manatee Pocket was quite stressful as we could not make any water while there; the water was brackish so we would fill up our 5-gallon water container, almost every time we went on shore at the local marina.

Early Monday morning, 22 May, Mel and I went to Mack Yacht Services – Colin’s Office/workshop/boatyard. It was down one of the river outlets of Manatee Pocket. There were at least 10 Island Packets along the riverbanks or on the hard at Colin’s boatyard – more information later about what transpired after visiting the boatyard and how it is impacting our plans.

This wasn’t where the whisker pole was being attached – we had to go to the Mack Sails workshop and office which was about a 2 -3 km walk. When we arrived at Mack Sails to find out when the whisker pole was going to be attached, we were a little disappointed as we were pushed back by another week. Anyway, the whisker pole was put onto Passages, a week later, on Tuesday 30 May 2023. In the meantime, we were able to fix a few other bits and pieces on the boat, like the small fans we have in the main living area, kitchen, and bedroom.

We also took the opportunity to have Mack Sails look at the stay sail which had ripped when we were sailing up the Florida Keys, to Boot Key. Unfortunately, it is not repairable as the material has deteriorated, so Mel is busy getting quotes for a new stay sail and genoa.

While in Manatee Pocket, we met a wonderful couple who were also anchored close by and are on an IP38, Johanna and Ronald and their little dog, Henry, on the boat ‘London Calling’. They have stayed in Stuart and anchored in Manatee Pocket on a few occasions having work down on their IP by Colin.

Every day for the next week, until we left Stuart on Thursday 1 June, we would meet up with Johanna and Ronald either on our boat or theirs for drinks, or we would go to the Twisted Tuna or Fish House for a drink. (This is where we would fill up our 5-gallon water container).

One morning, Johanna decided to be independent, and take their dinghy to the local park so Henry, the dog could go for a quick run around. A big part of moving onto a boat is losing one’s independence. In the past, I have tried to drive the dinghy so if I feel like going ashore on my own, I can. Well, this time round the dinghy hasn’t been reliable so I have been reluctant to have a go by myself.

Anyway…. London Calling’s motor is electric and reliant on a small foldable solar panel. Johanna asked if I wanted to join her, which I did and off we went to the park. It was lovely to be walking around in amongst the trees and the squirrels. The squirrels were cheeky little things, coming up really close to Henry the dog, teasing him to have a go at chasing them.

When it came time to head back to the boats and our husbands/partners, the engine wouldn’t start. We tried several things as we were both determined to be independent and to solve the problem of the engine not starting. Well after about 20 -25 minutes, we reluctantly phoned Mel to ask him to collect Ronald on his boat and to come and rescue us. Both Johanna and I were quite deflated as whenever one tries to be independent, like we are on land, something seems to go wrong. Oh well such is life on a boat!

While in Stuart, we visited a huge Walmart, bought our mobile phone for the USA, and stocked up on a few groceries for the rest of our stay and journey onwards to Fort Pierce.

During our stay in Manatee Pocket, we saw and heard of some sad stories:  I know I have mentioned in a previous post about how anchoring spaces are reducing and more and more of these areas are either becoming mooring fields, attached to a marina or a city council. It usually costs between $25 – $35 a day for a mooring ball. In many cases, included in the price is access to a dinghy dock, showers, laundry and a few other facilities that yachties require, like a bus into town, etc. All well and good, however what is happening in the USA is many people can no longer afford to rent a house, so it is cheaper for them to live on a boat. As we have found in a few anchorages, there are live-aboards and their boats in many cases, are rust buckets. While in Manatee Pocket, there was a rust bucket, that didn’t swing on it’s anchor like other boats, so when there was a huge thunderstorm (and we had a few while we were anchored), we became quite close to it. In fact, one night, we hardly slept as we were watching how close we were to it. Our anchor held well, but we had to keep a watch, as if the anchor dragged, which we were sure it wouldn’t as it was deep down in thick, gooey mud, we would need to react very quickly, to prevent ourselves from colliding into it. We re-anchored at least three times and the third time we were just sticking into the channel when the wind was blowing in a SE.

On one of the boats close-by, lived an elder couple who were forced to put on a generator several times during the day and night. The wife is sick with cancer and asthma, and they are hoping to get to the Bahamas, soon. Their boat doesn’t look as if it will be able to survive the up-and-coming hurricane season. It is so sad! In fact, while we have been in the USA, we have noticed how many places have been adversely affected by Covid. Even lovely Fort Pierce looks run down in many sections and the people who are homeless – there are many more than when we were last in this part of the world. Yet the wealth of some people…..enough said.

We headed for Fort Pierce up the ICW – the Intra-Coastal Water way. I wanted to see what the ICW was

all about although Mel doesn’t enjoy travelling along the ICW as you are motoring and it is like connecting the dots, from one green and red channel marker to the next. I did enjoy seeing the ‘countryside’ along the banks of the ICW.

The history of the ICW is quite fascinating as it is a water way that runs from Massachusetts in the north, right down the east coast of the USA to the Gulf of Mexico. It is 4.800km long and basically one does not need to go out into the open sea/Atlantic Ocean to travel down the east coast of the USA.

Here is some information about the ICW: Thanks to Wikipedia: Intracoastal Waterway - Wikipedia

It took us about 4 hours to travel up to Fort Pierce, where we had arranged for a slip in the Fort Pierce City Marina. This is quite a significant place for me and Passages, as this was the place where I was first introduced to her in December 2013. We were keen to see if any of the lovely people we had met 10 years previously were still around, but sadly no. One such character – Frank, who was a retired New York City police Officer and was serving when 9/11 happened, and his wife Annie, were living aboard their motor boat, passed away a few years back and nobody is sure what/where Annie is. Their boat is still around, in fact diagonally opposite us, as when Frank passed away, Annie sold it to the couple who are currently living on it at present.

While we were in Fort Pierce, we enjoyed the Saturday Farmers Market, went for a bike ride to Aldi and around and down some of the side streets of Fort Pierce. On one such occasion, we saw a sign that said, ‘Peacock Crossing’. Upon investigating a little further, we came across a whole field of Peacocks of all different ages. It was quite fascinating to see the males, strutting their stuff.

Well, our plans for this year have had to change and quite drastically. Our plan was to complete all the upgrades on Passages and then sail south down to Curacao. However, we have realised that she needs a lot more work than what we originally thought, so we have decided to find a boatyard out of the main hurricane belt and continue having all the necessary work done on Passages. We will be sailing up north to the Florida/Georgia border to St Marys Boatyard, where Passages will be for a while, while we travel to Cape Town and spend some time back on our land base home – Perth.

Here is what still needs to be done on Passages:

The windvane: Mel is not totally happy with the positioning of the windvane and would like to make an adjustment. This adjustment requires some fibreglass work, so we are waiting until Passages is back in the boatyard. The lovely washing machine we bought for Passages, requires some fibreglass work as well, to make it stable on the boat.

The HUGE issue we have are the chain plates: While in Stuart and at Colin’s place with all the Island Packets, it became apparent that we need to have the chain plates replaced. This is MAJOR work – 6 weeks of work and I will not mention the amount of money. HOWEVER, they are an essential part of the boat as without secure and stable chain plates which hold up the mast, we would not be able to sail Passages.

SO, while the chain plates are being done in December 2023, later this year, the mast will have to come down, so the wiring for the new radar and wind instruments, will be added. At the same time, we will have the new stay sail and genoa made.

At Colin’s boatyard, there are storage containers where we can place everything that is on Passages, in a safe environment. Mel and I are busy working out different scenarios where we can go. We could organise an Airbnb as Johanna and Ronald did when they were in a similar situation to us, having to live off and away from the boat for over 6 weeks. I will have plenty of time to make the new hatch covers and some rope bags while Passages is having the work done on her.

I will not write any more long detailed posts of our journey up to St Marys, but I will make a short video to share with you once we are about to leave Passages.

So, until next time – enjoy whatever you are doing. Keep safe, Be Kind and Be Happy.

Bye for now.

Mel and Caryn

No 9: Our journey up the Florida coast.

👉👀Our Journey up the Florida coast 

One of the many challenges about sailing is choosing the correct weather window to sail. Our intention is always to sail. After all, we are a sailing vessel and not a motorboat. However, in this part of the world, the prevailing winds are easterlies. There are the occasional SE winds, and on the rare occasion a westerly but more often E, NE winds.

We were heading due east to Marathon. Yes, I know we could have tacked about a million times but then it would have taken us double or even three times longer to travel the 38 N miles to Marathon, so we put the motor on, and motor-sailed to our next destination. It is not our favourite thing to do as it is far more peaceful listening to the sound of the swishing of the water than the noise of the engine. A plus side is we have hot water readily available after motoring, instead of turning on the water heater which we very seldom needed to do when we were in the Caribbean as it is far more refreshing having a cold shower.

Our journey to Marathon was not very comfortable as the swells were much higher than anticipated and directly head on, but we arrived at Boot Key, Marathon just after 5.30pm. Unfortunately, despite all the hard work Mel had put into ‘fixing’ the windlass, it was still problematic, so we had to drop and raise the anchor, manually. Oh no, not another thing for Mel to ponder, problem solve and fix.

Boot Key, Marathon is located at the start of the Seven Mile Bridge. We had decided to spend two nights anchored at Boot Key as we enjoy just being anchored somewhere and spending time on the boat relaxing. There is an extremely common and well-known sailing saying: ‘Sailing is maintenance in exotic places/ in paradise’. We spent the day fixing things as, while we were motor-sailing to Boot Key, we decided to put the small stay sail up – well that managed to rip and the line to the sail had worn down to a thread. Mel and I started laughing as we couldn’t believe that now something else needed to be fixed or repaired. Anyway, we always see the positive - at least it happened now and not in the middle of the Caribbean or Pacific Ocean. We are heading to Stuart, Florida to have the whisker pole added to the mast and the company that will be doing that for us, also fixes sails.

On Tuesday 9 May, we headed off to Key Largo, Rodriguez Key but once again had to motor sail although this time the seas were flat and calm so travelling the 45N Miles was a piece of cake and we arrived there just after 3.30pm. Mel enjoyed having a swim while checking on the anchor, plus checking that everything on the underside of the boat was looking good.

While sailing along the Keys, like in the Bahamas, one must get used to the shallow depths. At times, we could have only 2 metres of water below our keel, and we knew that in some areas we would have to time our journey just right, preferably at high tide to ensure we didn’t touch the bottom.

We spent a relaxing night at Rodriguez Key, Key Largo before heading up the inner channel, the Hawk channel (part of the ICW – (Intra-Coastal Waterways) to ‘No Name Harbor’, Miami. It felt like we had

completed a full circle of the Caribbean as way back almost 9 ½ years ago, we had anchored at ‘No Name Harbor’ before setting out on our journey to the Bahamas, which would eventually lead us onto the Caribbean. My goodness has a lot happened and changed since then. When I think back to that time, I remember how nervous and clueless I was about sailing. Although there are times I feel the same way, but know that I have learnt a tremendous amount. I still have a LOT more to learn.

Once again, we motor-sailed to ‘No Name Harbor’ and enjoyed a lovely evening watching the skyline of Miami.

By 7.00am the following morning, we had lifted the anchor and headed to Fort Lauderdale, where we had arranged to stay at a marina for a few days, while we completed a few chores on Passages, namely putting the new and additional solar panel on her and our new navigational instruments.

I know this is a matter of one’s perspective but since I live on a sail boat, naturally I feel a bit sad about the whole situation….. let me explain.

There are some amazing marinas in and around Florida but many now are becoming far too expensive for the average middle class yachtie. In some cities, like Fort Lauderdale there are hardly any places for yachts to anchor. When we were last in Fort Lauderdale in January 2014, we anchored at a place called Lake Sylvia. It was completely protected from every direction of the wind and there was easy access to the many facilities, marine shops and groceries stores in and around downtown Fort Lauderdale.

Apparently, you can no longer anchor there although we did hear that mooring balls might be placed there at $35 a day.  The locals in their huge mansions are tired of seeing boats anchored outside their multimillion-dollar mansions while sipping away at their morning coffee, or daily martinis. What is happening; and we noticed this in Key West too, where many of the marinas are now associated with a well-known up-market hotel chain. Yes, the facilities are great – but they were good anyway before the hotel group came along and the price of the marinas have skyrocketed. At one time we paid $1 per foot, now we could pay up to $7.50 per foot.

The marina we had arranged to go into in Fort Lauderdale, Pier 66, is under construction. A huge Hyattor Hilton hotel is being built so we got a slip at a ‘reduced’ rate because there were no facilities like bathrooms, laundry etc. We had access to water and electricity, without any additional charge, although they did charge us $40 for pump out. (A pump out is emptying the holding tank – the toilet deposits).

We arrived at Fort Lauderdale harbour by mid-morning after a lovely beam-reach sail and I found it

quite nerve wracking. The entrance to the Fort Lauderdale port is quite narrow for traffic that goes through there. There were three container ships waiting to come into the harbour plus there were so many local boats screaming past us in all directions. Boaties – power boats often make a huge wake, which means we are rocking and rolling. They go at one almighty speed, while dear Passages, when her engine is on, tends to go at 5N miles at 2100 revs per minute. She can go faster but then the engine is screaming and of course, there are times when we must go as fast as we can.

Mel notified the harbour master that we would like to enter, who mentioned that we could enter after one of the container ships had gone through, after which  we had 15 minutes before the next container ship would be entering the harbour.

We made it through the entrance then had to radio the Bridge operator on 17^th Street that we would like to go through the bridge when it was opened. The 17^th Street bridge is opened on the hour and half hour. We had to wait for about 15 – 20 minutes at the marker, going round in circles and watching as the huge power boats roared passed us on their way up the river and under 17^th Street bridge.

When it was time for the bridge to open, the Bridge master informed us to get ready and this is when Passages goes as fast as she possibly can. See photos from both perspectives – on the boat and then in a car, waiting for the bridge to close.

As mentioned, previously, we had arranged a slip for Passages at Pier 66. We had to meander our way passed huge and extremely expensive boats trying to find our slip. It was nerve wracking as I have mentioned on several occasions, Passages has a full keel, no power steering and it is not easy manoeuvring her in tight spaces. Thankfully we eventually found our slip and were tied up and connected to shore power within ½ an hour of going through the bridge.

Whenever we have had the opportunity, we have ordered parts and bits and pieces for the boat online and have them sent to the next marina we intend visiting. This time, Mel had arranged for the chart plotter, radar, and new wind instrument to be sent to Pier 66 marina. Thankfully all those items were waiting for us.

Mel spent the next few days putting the new chart plotter into our current navigational pod. We have ordered a new one but that is a whole other frustrating story that I will not bore you with. (Basically as I am typing this in Fort Pierce, Mel is trying to contact the company, who sent the wrong navigational pod to us in Stuart, we sent it back and we have only just received an email to stating that they had sent the new and correct one to us in Stuart, after we had made it quite clear to send it to us here in Fort Pierce Grrr…..).

While in Fort Lauderdale, we organised our new and additional solar panel, which Mel put up, so now we have 1000 Watts of solar power.

We enjoyed our time in Fort Lauderdale sorting out several issues, like a new line/rope for the stay sail and I enjoyed buying a few bits and pieces for the boat, from Walmart.

Our plan is to sail up to Stuart via Lake Worth, where the long-awaited whisker pole will be put on the mast, so after spending 5 days at Pier 66 Marina in amongst the super wealthy boats and yachts, we set sail for Lake Worth.

FYI: one of the power boats at the marina was for sale – over $100 million! We walked alongside one of the boats; the fenders were taller than me!

Once again, we radioed 17^th Street Bridge so we could pass through at the required time.

We had an enjoyable sail up to Lake Worth. More later….

Until next time, enjoy whatever you are doing.

Bye for now.

Mel and Caryn

sv Passages

No 8: Florida, Key West.

👉Key West, Florida

 

It took us quite a while to recover from our awful sail from Havana to Key West. As mentioned in our previous post, we were utterly exhausted from the sail.

We thought our time in Havana finding some Wi-Fi connection was frustrating, well trying to find a SMS card for our phones here in the USA was equally as frustrating. Apparently, our phones are not compatible to the networks here. At least in many places there is free Wi- Fi so we can connect to the outside world and most important of all, check the weather.

We stayed in Perry Marina, Stock Island for a few days while we recovered and got sorted, ready for Passages to go up on the hard which Mel had arranged for on Tuesday 25 April. Many of the goodies we had bought while at the Miami Boat show, were waiting for us at the 3D Boatyard so Mel was eager to start work on Passages.

Unfortunately, it is a boatyard, and the bathroom facilities were not great, so we booked into the “Southernmost Inn’ in Key West for the 6 days that Passages would be on the hard. We arranged for a car so Mel would be able to go back and forth to West Marine or ACE Hardware, all the shops that had the necessary supplies and accessories to assist Mel with the work he was planning on doing on Passages.

In the meantime, I enjoyed staying in the coolness of an air-conditioned room, catching up on the blog and computer work.

While we stayed at the Inn, we enjoyed using the swimming pool, the 24/7  coffee and tea machine and especially the cheese, wine, and nibbles between 5 – 7pm every night. We met some interesting people like a lovely couple from Heidelberg in Germany, Katja and Jens who we later met for dinner. There are some wonderful restaurants in Key West, but most places close between 9 – 10.00pm.

 Cheese and Wine time would also coincide with Mel arriving back from the boatyard all hot, sweaty, and desperately in need of a swim. We tried going outside with our cheese, wine, and nibbles, only to be bombarded with iguana’s. There must have been 10 - 12 iguanas at a time and as soon as they heard the crackle of a chip packet being opened, most would make a bee-line for you. I couldn’t cope! Yes, I know they are harmless, but they are so prehistoric looking.

In Key West, both around the town centre and the outskirts, there are hens with their chicks and plenty of roosters walking around. Every morning, we were woken up with not just one rooster but quite a few crowing, ushering the start of a new day. They seem to have right of passage, even when crossing the main US Highway 1.

Back to Passages…. Mel fitted the new feathering prop onto her – it looked good, plus he put in the new depth sounder, GPS, display unit and Bluetooth receiver for the wind instrument, so as planned Passages went back into the water on Monday 1 May, and we went back to Perry Marina on Stock Island. While Passages was on the hard, Mel also had a chance to look at the air con. We haven’t used the air con since the Dominican Republic, April 2014, so we weren’t even sure it would work once we were back in the water. Thankfully it did! We can never use it when we are anchored as it uses far too much power but since we are on shore power at the marina, we took advantage of the situation.

While we were back in the marina, Mel worked on the windvane and fixing our windless (it helps to drop the anchor) and a few other bits and pieces.

The marina is very close to an air force base, so every day we hear fighter jets, swish past – it makes us think of Top Gun and Maverick.

We enjoyed our time in Perry Marina as we had use of a swimming pool and transportation into Key West centre. We took advantage of the ‘free’ transport service and spent a wonderful evening in Key West once again as we knew our days were numbered and we would be sailing up north towards Fort Lauderdale.

Our new prop.

The much-anticipated coronation of King Charles III took place while we were in Perry Marina, however, we could not get any T.V. coverage from the boat. (I am a royalist - I just love the royal family). So, we found the cheapest hotel/motel we could in Key West that advertised having a T.V. in the rooms, and spent the night in the hotel, switching on the T.V. at 3.45am on the Saturday morning. We bought some croissants, jam and cheese along with Mc Vite dark chocolate digestive biscuits from the International/British section of the local supermarket and watched the coronation until it was time for us to vacate the room.

On Sunday 7 May, as the sun was slowly rising, we released our lines from the dock and started our journey up to Fort Lauderdale. Our plan was to stop off at Marathon, which is at the start of the Seven Mile bridge across the Keys, stay a day anchored there to enjoy some time being at an anchorage, then ‘sail’ to Rodriguez Cay, Key Largo, then to No Name Harbor in Biscayne Bay, Miami and finally to Fort Lauderdale to Pier 66 Marina, where our new radio, radar, and chart plotter were waiting for us.

So..., until the next update of our adventure, take care and enjoy whatever you are doing.

Bye for now.

Mel and Caryn

sv Passages

No:7 Our sail to and time in Havana, Cuba

👉Our time in Cuba 

Our sail to Havana was the longest sail to date that Mel and I had ever done. Previously our longest sail had been 4 days from the Cayman Islands to Guatemala, back in June 2018.

We knew that a major part of the sail to Havana would require us to motor as we were easting out of the Bay of Honduras, and the prevailing winds were coming from the east. We never enjoy putting the engine on but there are times when it is unavoidable.

It takes us a while to settle into a routine so our first night of sailing is always a bit unpredictable and lacking in sleep but as the following days progress, we start getting into a routine when one is on watch while the other rests or sleeps. This sail, we decided to see if we could each be on a longer watch – 6 hours at a time.

This was our schedule: 5.30pm – dinner (I usually have prepared some frozen dishes, like what I do at home in Perth – when cooking mince, I make a huge quantity for a few meals and then freeze it.)

While Mel is washing up, I shower – the boat is on Auto pilot, we have an AIS (Automated Identification System) – this alerts us if any ship or sailing vessel (with AIS) is within 2 nautical miles of us. However, despite having this, we still do a 360 degree scan every 15 – 20minutes, regardless.

I then go on watch while Mel showers and has a snooze until 8.00/8.30pm. If we are in the cockpit on our own, we always wear our life jackets and at night, we attach ourselves to the safety cleats in the cockpit.

8.00pm – 2.00am it is my sleep time, while Mel is on watch. He sets his watch alarm to go off every 20mins so he can shut his eyes for a while.

Sometimes, we sleep in the cockpit while other times, we sleep down in the main saloon/lounge/living area. Our seating area can change into a double bed. It is in the centre of the boat so is quite stable and comfortable to sleep, although I struggle with the glare of the lights on the main switch board and the AIS, so I wear an eye mask which certainly helps.

2.00 – 6/7.00am it is Mel’s sleep time although if I am in doubt of anything, I wake Mel up.

A few people have asked what I do while on watch. Well, I usually read. I have found reading a book on my Kindle so much better than reading a paper book, as I can increase the size of the font. I found through a bad experience that if I read a paper book while sailing, I tend to become quite seasick. This sail, I read two books (Ken Follet) and started another book. I can’t do any hand sewing while we are sailing as it makes me seasick having to concentrate on such a small, precise area.

During the day, as mentioned earlier, we take turns to sleep and to be on watch.

For our second, third, and fourth days, the wind was a beam reach – the wind was coming from the east and we were sailing north, so the wind was coming from our side, our starboard/right side, which made for comfortable sailing.

 

We had a little bird visit us on the second day. It looked quite tired and seemed keen to get out of the wind and so hid behind our dodger (a windscreen).  A few times, when we were not watching the little bird, it flew into the cabin and made itself quite comfortable on one of the shelves. We shoed it outside and it seemed happy to have somewhere to rest.

After about half an hour, it flew away across the water. We were not sure where it was heading but at the same time the following day, we think the same bird paid us a visit and once again made its way into the cabin.

We didn’t see it on our fourth day of sailing although a bird similar to the little one, flew by the boat early on our fifth morning.

While we were sailing, we saw and passed quite a few cruise ships, mainly at night, and container ships. They look so big out in the ocean, so we usually make sure we are at least 2 -3 nautical miles away from them.

The night of our fourth day of sailing we reached the western point of Cuba and knew as we slowly made our way around Cuba’s NW coastline, heading eastwards the wind would die and become easterly, forcing us to put the engine on if we wanted to maintain our average of 5 nmiles an hour.

We eventually arrived at the safe water mark outside Marina Hemingway early Sunday morning and waited for the Marina and Customs to respond to our call for permission to enter the channel and marina. We went round in circles, admiring the skyline of Havana.

After waiting for quite a while and going round in circles, we just took it upon ourselves to enter the marina, as nobody responded to our request and we could end up waiting for ages.

We were grateful for the fact that the depth of the channel and marina were clearly shown on our navigational charts as our depth sounder was not working.

We tied up at the Customs and Immigration dock as we knew this was the correct protocol and procedure. The Officials were all very young and helpful but all I can say is ‘Sheltered employment’. We had the customs, immigration and health official – who changed us each $US35 just to have our temperature taken, another health official making sure we didn’t have anything illegal like fresh fruits and vegetables.

After filling out triplicate forms for each official, we were allowed to make our way to the marina, which was literally around the corner. Once we were all tied up and secure, we had the same amount of people come on board with the same type and number of forms to fill in. We were advised that we had to apply for a visa. This was new (compared to 2018) and of course just a money-making exercise.

The Marina Captain was a gentle giant and said we had access to water and electricity. Great as we could wash down Passages after 5 days in salty water. Mel proceeded to wash her down, using quite a bit of water – Later we learnt that the marina has two large water tanks, and the water is brought into the marina. If we wanted water from the water tap at our berth, we would have to ask for the water to be ‘switched on’. We were happy to be on land so settled down for the afternoon, going for our usual walk to explore the place.

I will not go into too much detail except to say that we found the whole experience in Cuba quite stressful. We knew from experience (2018) that there were shortages – that’s okay as we had enough food on board, but the lack of Wi-Fi and Internet access was extremely frustrating. In 2018, we could visit the local hotel, pay for a log in/sim card and all was fine, even though the Wi-Fi was slow.

We need the Internet to check the weather. It is our lifeline. Yes, thankfully there are new developments in this area (Starlink, etc), but these are still very new and extremely expensive. Who knows what Elon Musk will do in the next year or two with SpaceX – all very exciting for us yachties.

Marina Hemingway is about a 30 min/ 25km drive outside of the city centre. We knew there was public transport but the people at the marina were eager for us to use the ‘taxi’ service into Havana. We tried to find out about the bus system but hit a brick wall all the time. Not knowing enough Spanish was also an issue. We can get by with the Spanish we know but we are by no means fluent and confident to follow a long and involved conversation and discussion. Translator on our phones is amazing but you require the internet/Wi-Fi.

We tried to find out some information from the two hotels on the marina. It was so sad to see, everything was like a ghost town. This huge development with apartments, restaurants, shops – a lovely community but nothing was open. It did have some interesting and creative statues around the place – see in video. If it was open like one of the hotels (the other was closed) there was a skeleton staff. We asked for Wi-Fi connection. We needed to go into town/the city to get a card. We asked how we could get into Havana city centre, take a taxi. The taxi ride would cost us $25US one way and even then, it was dependent on fuel. I said many times to Mel, this so reminded me of my university days, when I would go home to Harare, Zimbabwe for the holidays and spend most of my time in petrol queues, helping my parents to get some petrol that would allow them to get to work the following day.

We noticed that many people now had electric bikes, scooters which is the way to go, especially if there are fuel shortages, however at the marina, the electricity was quite inconsistent.

We relented and arranged for the ‘taxi service’ to take us into the city centre on the Tuesday so at least we could organise some internet connection. Our taxi was an old car which I think was older than Mel and myself. 😊

It was lovely to be back in the city centre of Havana as it is suc

h a mixture of old, new, modern, and outdated. We were approached by many people to exchange US$ into the local currency.

We noticed that some places had had a revamp, while others had either closed their doors or the building was being torn down. We knew from our time in 2018, that squatters’ rights and privileges dominated the whole city centre – basically if squatters were staying in the building that is in the prime real estate area, tough. They could stay there. However, we noticed – remember this is our perception, that the city centre is being redeveloped and ‘cleaned up’. Unfortunately, our favourite pastry shop was no longer open.

Please remember that what I write is our observations and opinions…… There is certainly money to be made in Cuba although we have often said; “who is making the money and how is it being distributed”. There were certainly some very wealthy local people around.

Anyway, we managed to find the mobile phone / Wi-Fi shop so by mid-morning, we were feeling a bit less stressed as we had downloaded the weather and were able to respond to some messages that were on Mel’s phone.

We saw that the weather looked good to cross over the 90 nmiles to Key West, the following day, Wednesday and that the weather would progressively get worse as the week progressed, only improving a week later – Tuesday. We made the decision to leave Cuba on Wednesday arriving at Key West, Thursday morning. We were desperate to get to the States, as we wanted to start working on all the modifications and upgrades, Passages needed and to instal all the new goodies we had bought at the Miami boat show in February.

After enjoying a lovely afternoon walking around Havana, we caught our taxi back to the marina and advised the necessary authorities about our decision to leave Cuba. There is still a lack of toilet seats and toilet paper in Cuba – please refer to my previous blog entry about our time in Cuba, June 2018 – after this blog entry.

Wednesday morning arrived and we thought we would check the weather as we usually do before we set sail. If the weather is still good to sail, then off we go, if it is not, we stay put. Once again, the Wi-Fi at the marina was not working despite us having bought the necessary cards, so we thought bugger this, we ‘re still going.

Well, there were moments over the following 24 hours we regretted our decision to set sail without checking the weather as we had the worst ever sail!

Not many people like to sail close hauled, that is when you are sailing very close to the wind and the boat is healing a lot. I dislike it immensely, however, after this sail, I am cured of being scared that the boat will ‘tip’ over. At midnight, Mel even said ‘maybe we should sell Passages!’ IT WAS THAT BAD!!! We hardly slept! AND it was EXTREMELY uncomfortable.

It was awful because it was like a washing machine, a situation no sailor wants to be in. Wind against current as it can be quite dangerous at times.

When we were halfway – literally – 45 nmiles, we received a call on our radio from the US Coast guard, requesting details about us and the boat and where we were heading. It was a slight comfort to know that we were being watched by the US Coast Guard.

What should have taken 18 hours, took us almost 30 hours! I nearly hugged the girl at the fuel dock of the marina we had booked into at Stock Island, Key West, when we tied Passages and switched the engine off.

As we sailed closer to the US coastline, we informed the US Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection about our intentions and where we were going. We were told under no circumstances, were we allowed to step onto land but to stay on the boat until some officers from Customs and Border Protection had visited us at the marina’s fuel dock. We had arranged to meet them at the fuel dock at a time we knew we would be there, so we didn’t have to wait very long.

By 6.00pm, Passages was all secure in a pen at the marina, Mel and I had a wonderful shower, a bite to eat and we slept for over 12 hours as we were exhausted.

The following day, Friday, we made our way to Key West Airport, to the Custom and Immigrations Department to complete the necessary paperwork for entrance into the USA. It went much smoother than anticipated.

Our goal now is to have Passages taken out of the water for a few days while the new prop, depth sounder, and windvane are put on. This will be taking place at 3D Boatyard which is right next door to where we are staying at the marina. We know many of our packages are waiting for us at 3D Boatyard, so..., until the next update of our adventure, take care and enjoy whatever you are doing.

Bye for now. 

Mel and Caryn

sv Passages

If you want to see where we currently are – press on the "Latest Location" link at the bottom left of the page. This may not be accurate and is dependent on sites with access to AIS (automatic identification system).

No 6: Guatemala - Life on the Rio Dulce.

 

Click here: 👉Life on the Rio Dulce, Guatemala

I thought I would put together a video showing Life on the Rio Dulce.

While on the docks at RAM, every night when the lights came on, the May flies would descend on us. They were an absolute pain as every morning we would hear the birds enjoying their breakfast on Passages as she would be covered in mayflies.

Since Passages was on the dock, we saw all kinds of boats being taken out of the water and put back into the water. One of the largest we saw was a motorboat worth over $3 million. It was quite nerve wracking to watch.

When we were making our way down to Livingston, it was wonderful to watch how the communities along the river functioned. We saw many parents taking their children to school in their boats or canoes.

We enjoyed our time on the Rio Dulce and hope one day to go back there, as there were so many other places to see and visit.

The Rio Dulce, like the whole of Guatemala, is certainly a hidden gem and a country that is worth visiting.

So, until the next update of our adventure, take care and enjoy whatever you are doing.

Bye for now.

Mel and Caryn

sv Passages

No 5: Guatemala – Preparing to leave the Rio Dulce

 

Over the past few days, I have been singing the song “Tomorrow” from the film, show, etc., ’Annie’ – you know the one – ‘Just thinking about tomorrow the sun will come up tomorrow’. I think Mel is tired of hearing my attempts at singing.

I have also had moments when I remembered what my dear Mum would say ‘Things will look better in the morning once you have had a good night’s sleep’.

But first let me go back a bit. We arrived back at the boat after spending 6 days in Antigua and Lake Atitlan ready to do the final preparations of Passages before we leave RAM Marina after 4 ½ years.

We had also completed all the necessary forms and payments for the boat’s insurance. Mel was keen to do some of the suggestions Chris, the surveyor, had made, so he set about working on the solenoid of the gas bottles for the stove/oven. A simple modification.

However, when it came to switching on the gas to make a cup of tea, there was no gas. A simple modification, as this modification had caused a domino effect on the workings of the whole gas system. Mel had started working on this modification just after lunch time, Saturday (1.30pm) but by 6.00pm, I said to Mel ‘Stop, we can try to find out what is going on tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a new day’. One bonus is I didn’t have to cook as we went out for supper. There is always a positive to a negative.

We did sleep on the matter although I know Mel was thinking about ‘gas’ the whole night. By 8.00am the following morning, we were enjoying a nice cup of tea. All was fine and well. For the moment…..

We had arranged to join Rob and Jole and a few other cruisers for a dinghy float later that day, Sunday afternoon. A dinghy float is when we all meet somewhere on the river, join the dinghies together and float merrily, wherever the wind or current may take you. One obviously brings along something to drink and nibbles to share. It is a fun way to spend an afternoon, with like-minded yachty people discussing the usual topics. Very gender-based topics of course.

Rob and Jole were going to drive past our boat to make sure we knew where to go. Thankfully we had arranged this as when it came to starting our dinghy, the engine would not start. We hopped into Rob and Jole’s dinghy and thought ‘well, we can deal with this later’.

We had a wonderful time on the dinghy float. We started off just past the main bridge, upriver and floated all the way into Lago de Izabal – the largest lake in Guatemala. We bobbed passed the Castillo de San Felipe which is one of the main castles along that Rio Dulce that was built by the Spanish but was invaded and later occupied by actual Pirates.

Unfortunately, in my haste with the problems with the dinghy, I didn’t take my camera/phone with me. The sunset was beautiful across Lake Isabel – you’ll just have to take my word for it.

When we arrived back at the boat after a wonderful afternoon, Mel looked at our dinghy again. He couldn’t get it to work so decided that in the morning, he would try to take it to the main dinghy guy in the Rio who was close by. If he had to, he would row there.

Luckily, in the morning (Monday), he managed to get the dinghy engine started and let rip until he arrived at the dinghy man’s workshop. Mel was back at the boat less than half an hour later with the dinghy in working order.

We had decided that we needed to get going and to make plans to leave RAM and Guatemala. We were also keen to see how certain aspects or equipment on Passages would work and function when we cut the umbilical cord from RAM. Would the batteries and solar panels work? How were the electronics. Remember, Passages had been out of the water and hadn’t been used for almost 4 1/2 years! At RAM we had power as we were connected to the shore power.

So, the week starting 27 March, we decided that by Friday 31 March, we would leave RAM, go down river to a place called Cayo Quemado and see how everything faired. From Cayo Quemado, it was a relatively easy journey, about an hour, to Livingston where we would check out of Guatemala, pay whatever fines we had to pay ☹ and sail to Punta Gorda, in Belize. We would spend about two weeks in Belize enjoying the world’s second largest barrier reef, then head for the States – Key West, to be precise, where all our new electronics, wind vane and other goodies we had ordered and bought while at the Miami Boat Show, were waiting for us.

Mel started checking everything over again, while I spent a large part of the week, cutting and preparing veggies for the freezer and stocking up our food bank. The vegetables and fruit in Guatemala are so fresh and cheap, I sometimes felt as if I should have paid the vendors more than what they were asking. For example, half a dozen HUGE mangoes cost the equivalent of $2 Aussie! The HUGE heads of broccoli and cauliflower and the size of the carrots and avocadoes! HUGE!

Passages was looking so clean and shiny after the amount of scrubbing and polishing we had done on her. We were very proud of how she had scrubbed up!

On the Thursday evening, we went across to MAR Marina for movie night and to say our farewells to some of the lovely people we had met while at RAM.

(FYI RAM and MAR marina were once owned by the same couple – unfortunately they got divorced. She got MAR and he got RAM).

The movie showing on Thursday movie night was called ‘The Swimmers’. It was based on the true story of two sisters who lived in Syria and who were training, under the guidance of their father, to compete internationally in swimming. Unfortunately, their plans were thwarted due to the awful war that happened in Syria. It is a thought-provoking film about refugees and their desperate attempts to make a better life for themselves.

Friday 31 March, we said our final ‘Byes’ to RAM and off we were heading down the river towards Cayo Quemado. The first thing we noticed on the boat was the depth sounder wasn’t registering the depth. Mmmm an important function to have on a boat. Thankfully, we knew that the Rio Dulce was consistent in its depth – at least 6 metres, plus we had our track to follow from when we arrived in the Rio on our navigational chart plotter, from 2018.

It was a lovely feeling being back on the water and for Passages to be in the water. Our depth sounder was still not registering so we thought we would get a chance once we were anchored in Cayo Quemado. We had to motor as we were heading east, and the wind blows from the east.

We arrived at the lovely quiet anchorage of Cay Quemado just after lunch time as it was about an hour and half motor down the Rio Dulce, across El Golfete – the second lake that forms part of the Rio Dulce.

At Cayo Quemado, there is a well-known character and place called Mini Mikes. Mike is a Texan who has been in the Rio for over 15 years and set up a restaurant called Mini Mikes. It is very rustic but the hospitality and tasty food is wonderful.

 Our depth sounder was still not working properly and our windlass, the equipment that helps us to drop the anchor instead of doing it manually, was also problematic.

Well to cut a very long story short, Mel spent the whole weekend trying to fix the depth sounder with no luck at all. To add to our woes, the batteries were not doing too well either, so we were having to switch the fridge off at night-time when the solar panels were no longer effective, for obvious reasons.

By Monday morning, we had decided that we could not go to Belize without a reliable working depth sounder and that we needed some new batteries (two minimum) to get us back to the States. It was a pity that we wouldn’t be going to Belize, but we knew that it was far more important to make plans to head to the States as soon as possible, so we could give Passages all the upgrades she so desperately needed.

Mel caught a water taxi back to Fronteras – RAM on the following Tuesday, 4 April 2023, to buy two new batteries, which made a huge difference to our power supply.

We started watching the weather to see when we could make plans to leave Guatemala but, in the meantime, we tried to enjoy the lovely surroundings around us. We would watch the local Mayan people take their children to school in their dugout motor boats, the young boys after school would
catch fish by casting huge nets. A few times during our stay, we would have people come around to the boat selling fruit, lovely carved bowls and lovely weaved baskets, or fresh baked goods.

We also spent a few evenings enjoying the tasty food at Mini Mikes and getting to know Mike. To add to our woes, our outboard motor for our dinghy still wasn’t working as well as we thought it should. Mel serviced it and did everything he could. Thankfully we were close enough to Mikes place so we could row to his place. It seems the guys at the fuel station added double the amount of oil to the petrol when Mel filled up (2-stroke engine). The excess oil kept on clogging the spark plugs.

Every day, I kept on thinking that tomorrow will be better, and we had been expecting a few issues with Passages, but we had underestimated just how many.

We saw that there was a good weather window from Tuesday 11 April for the next few days, as we knew it would take approximately 5 days to read Marina Hemingway, Havana, Cuba. We kept our eyes on the weather as things always change.

We were unable to use our water maker as the Rio Dulce is fresh water and the water maker only works in sea water, plus we needed the new membrane which was on its way to Placencia, Belize. We decided to head back up to RAM Marina where we would be able to fill our water tank, so we raised the anchor on Monday 10 April and headed back to RAM.

(Thankfully, we were able to have the membrane redirected to 3D Boat yard in Key West, where most of our other goods were being sent, waiting for us to get to Key West, Florida).

It was lovely to see some of the wonderful people we had met while in RAM and to hear how they were progressing with their boats. We were anchored back in Cayo Quemado by mid-afternoon, preparing for our sail to Havana, Cuba. We had also contacted the agent, Raul, who was dealing with our paperwork to leave Guatemala.

Mike came to pick us up from our boat so we could have supper at his place on our last evening in Guatemala. The food was excellent!

Tuesday 11 April arrived, and just as the sun was rising Passages’ engine was switched on and Mel started taking the anchor up, preparing to motor down to Livingston to finally check out of Guatemala.

I was still singing the song ‘Tomorrow’ as we knew we are very fortunate to be doing what we are doing but there are times when one does become a bit despondent, when things keep on breaking. Mel and I kept on reminding ourselves that Passages had been in storage for a very long time and if we had had the opportunity to sail her during the past 4 ½ years, we would have maintained her, preventing some of the issues we were experiencing. However, the main thing is that her structure and ability to sail and keep us safe, were in good working order, so we would be fine out in the open seas. As far as the depth sounder was concerned, we kept to the path we had come in on, on the Rio Dulce down to Livingston and knew the charts to Havana and Key West were accurate, if we kept to the marked channels, we would be fine.

So, until the next update of our adventure, take care and enjoy whatever you are doing.

Bye for now.

Mel and Caryn

sv Passages

A video: Cayo Quemado

If you want to see where we currently are – press on the "Latest Location" link at the bottom left of the page. This may not be accurate and is dependent on sites with access to AIS (automatic identification system).