Andiamo!

So Pop would have turned 82 today. This is now his third birthday to come along since his passing. I just keep asking myself if these milestone days are ever going to get easier to deal with. Because I think it should be by now, shouldn’t it??

What’s worse, is that I now have my mom’s milestone dates to look forward to. Like as in next month, when it will be the one-year anniversary of her passing on.

I just want it to get a little easier, that’s all.

Comment from: mietsie [Visitor]

X
06/07/07 @ 17:18

Comment from: Teresa [Visitor]

I’m sorry this is a difficult time for you. My thoughts and prayers are with you sweetie.

Love, Teresa

06/08/07 @ 20:03

Comment from: Ellen Kidwell [Visitor]

Tony, I’m So Glad that My last Message touched U. My Daddy’s going to be 80 on Labor Day Weekend and suffers from quite a few maladies. I really don’t know how much longer we’ll have him either, it is hard. I didn’t realize Your Mom passed away recently too. I am So Sorry to hear it. Well, I know whereever U R You’ll be thinking of Your Family Today, Father’s Day. I hope U are still enjoying Panama. R U going to go through the Canal to the Pacific? Take Care & Clear Seas && Strong Breezes, Oh man of the Sea, XO, El:)

06/17/07 @ 11:01

Comment from: Tanya [Visitor]

Tony….both of my parents are gone now as well…as I approach the age that my mother passed away (48), I am faced more often with my own mortality….it never gets easier…but remembering them with love and remembering the good times with them, you celebrate their life and the love they had for you.
In living your life in a way that makes you happy, you are honoring them….I am sure that is what they would have wanted for you…to be happy!

En amistad,

Tanya 🙂

Our stay in San Andres got stretched out by a couple more days due to some mechanical issues. Appears that BOTH of the alternators decided to give me problems at the same time. What was worse, my spares didn’t work well either. So I had to get one set rebuilt again.

I got lucky with a cab driver who took me to a shop by the airport. There, a guy named Nato told me he was on the case. Considering I was on an island, and my options were limited, I had to go with it. I knew it would take a couple of days, but at least in the meantime, Sarah and I can go do the dives we wanted to do, and basically just enjoy being on the island. Unlike Providencia, San Andres’ nightlife was pretty lively, so we at least had that to look forward to. I sure did, at least.

The diving was really excellent. We did a fairly deep dive on this reef decline that went down to about 100 feet. Lots of fish and sea life down there. The second dive was a dive of a wrecked freighter in about 40 feet of water. This was a neat wreck, because we got to check out the inside of it. Including a cool little air pocket that you can stick your head in and take a whiff of warm air. Nice… Since that dive was in fairly shallow waters, we were able to stay down there for quite a time, more than an hour. It felt good to be back diving again. I can almost kick myself for not diving more while I was in the Bay Islands!

Anyway, we got everything sussed out, and it was time to leave San Andres, FINALLY! On Saturday, we shoved off in the early afternoon to make way to the Albuquerque Cays, about 25 miles away. We figured this would be a good place to hang out for a night or two, before heading on to Panama. Were we ever right.

Getting in was a bit tricky, the 2 cays that comprise the Albuquerques lie inside a reef cul-de-sac. Luckily, I had a detailed chart, and was able to head in with little or no problem. Sarah and Jenni were both on the bow watching out for reefs as we made our way in. We got in just off the cays, but not as close as I would have liked. But we were losing light fast, and I figured where we were was a good spot for the night. So we dropped the hook. Below us were fantastic, pristine reefs, and quite a lot of fish. I managed to hook a good size tuna just before we entered the reef, but as luck would have it, he got off the hook just before I can get him on the boat. DAMN! So we ended up grilling some chicken we bought in San Andres instead.

The next day, the weather was as good as ever, and this time a light breeze from the east. I checked the chart some more, and decided that it would be safe for us to move the boat closer to the cays. So we pulled up the anchor, and headed in another half mile or so just off the cays. From there, we were able to swim ashore and check out the cays.

About that time, I noticed something funky going on with the bilge pump. It just kept staying on for some reason. I thought it might have been because of the watermaker running, because it dumps the brine water right into the bilge. But it seemed like more pump activity than usual. The engine was still running from the anchoring we just did, so I was thinking it was coming from the engine. As I was gawking around it, I noticed some water pooling up around the engine cover. I popped open the cover, and noticed a good size leak spewing seawater everywhere inside the engine compartment. It was a small hose section that blew a leak, and was spraying seawater everywhere. Back in the Rio, Luigi noticed that hose and told me I should change it, but I didn’t have the right size hose at the time. Needless to say, I got the right hose in La Ceiba, but never put it on. Note to Luigi: Before you start shaking your head while reading this, remember that I DID at least have the hose!

After telling the girls to shut down the motor, I went right to work changing out the hose. It didn’t take long, and in a half hour, all was good again with it. I also noticed some issues with the watermaker, and took care of those as well. By this time, Sarah and Jenni had decided to start swimming for shore. I still had some things to finish up, so I told them to go ahead. After I got my stuff done, I decided to paddle in with the surfboard. So I tossed the board into the water, got on her, and started paddling for shore. Interestingly, I made it to shore about the same time the girls did, but only I left about 20 minutes after them. =)

The North Cayo of the Albuquerques is essentially a military base. The colombian Army and Navy maintain a strong presence on their islands in these parts due to the vast amount of drug trafficking that happens here. In fact, San Andres is considered a major hub in the drug trade, and despite Colombia (and the US’) best efforts, it continues to be. Drug seizures in these parts happen almost every day, but despite all the seizures, quite a bit of the drugs get through onward to the mainland. The guys on the base, about 15 of them, appear to be bored for the most part. While the island is nice, there is not alot for them to do. They don’t even have a boat at their disposal. But all the ones we met were nice and friendly enough, and told us about what they do there. They didn’t care if we wanted to walk around and check out the cay. I gotta say, most Colombians I’ve met so far on this trip have been EXTREMELY pleasant and honest people. Again, it’s a refreshing change from what I experienced in Honduras and Guatemala. Makes me look forward to checking out the mainland of Colombia even more now.

I opted to head back to the boat a little earlier than the girls. I was getting pretty hungry. After a bit harder paddle back, I was back onboard Andiamo. While I was making my lunch, a panga with some local fisherman came by. They had a boat load of different kinds of fish and lobster, and wanted to know if I wanted any of it. This is the part of cruising that I LOVE. I ended up picking out one HUGE spiny lobster, and two smaller white lobsters. All for the incredible price of $10, a couple of cigarettes (courtesy of Jenni’s stash), and a round of refreshments. The fishermen even went on to tell me where all the fish were at, and that spearing was ok. That night, after the girls got back, we grilled up the tails, and had an awesome dinner.

We left the Albuquerques on Monday, and started making way for Bocas del Toro. There was absolutely NO wind when we pulled out of the reef, so motoring was the order of the day.

The trip was a totally non-eventful motor run for 170 miles. We arrived in Bocas del Toro yesterday morning, and after a HASSLE-FILLED check-in session with the local officials, we’re settled in the anchorage. I suspect I’ll be taking it easy for the next couple of weeks, figuring out my options for places to visit, and things to do.

It’s just nice to be somewhere NEW for a change! Yeah!

It didn’t take us long at all to get adjusted to the pace of Providencia. This was such a laid-back, relaxed island, that chilling out was easy. The weather was a bit rainy when we arrived, but that didn’t stop us from at least heading in to get a look around. Apparently, that day was a fiesta of some kind, so everything was closed and the streets were empty. So there wasn’t a lot to do except walk around. Which was fine in itself.

The one thing I found particularly interesting on that first day was the friendliness of the locals. It had been a while since I’d met locals who were genuine and sincerely simpatico. The people in Providencia have a nice and simple island life, and they want to share it with visitors. They´re not just jerking you around for your spare change. It was a refreshing change for me, that’s for sure.

There were a few boats that I knew from Honduras there, so it was good to catch up with some people. Not long after we got there, a local rasta guy named Malcolm came up to the boat to see if there was anything he can do for us while we were there. He was a dive instructor and said he could hook us up with some dives for not a lot of dinero. Both Sarah and I had discussed doing some dives in these waters, so we were up for it. He also invited us to come out with him that night, assuming that there was going to be some good partying because of the fiesta. Sarah and I opted in, but unfortunately, there was nothing happening, and we ended up having a few Aguilas at this funky waterside bar called the “Sugar Hole”. But it was still an interesting taste of local nightlife.

The next day, he came to the boat with a larger panga, and all the dive gear we needed. He and his partner, Severo, took us out to one of the nicest reef walls I’d seen in a long time. Didn’t see a lot of fish on that first dive, but that changed on the next dive. We went down to an inverted wreck just off the island in about 50-60 feet. It had been out there since World War II days. While down there, we saw two HUGE green morays, barracuda, some huge grouper and much more.

The next day, the girls decided to rent some scooters and ride around the island. As much as I wanted to go, I had to take care of some issues on the boat, so they went without me. Then, after they got back, we came up with a plan to go out that night. Again, Malcolm was there to show us around. It was again a kicked back night, so we decided to go to a pool hall and shoot some pool. That turned out to be a good call. We had a great time shooting pool for the next few hours, playing against some locals.

The next day it was my turn to do the around-the-island ride. I rented a motorcycle and spent most of the afternoon whizzing around Providencia. I found some trails off the road that led to a beach called Manzanillo Bay, and had a great time venturing there. Most excellent. Before I knew it, it was time to bring the bike back.

So I had been watching the weather lately, looking for a good time to head to San Andres. While it’s only about 60 miles away, there are lot of local weather patterns that can make the trip iffy. Thunderstorms and squalls roll off the Nicaraguan coast right for the islands. There was also a nasty low hanging out south of San Andres, and over the last few days, I watched where it was going. It headed south onto Colombian shores, and the weather opened up nicely for the rest of the trip.

I came up with the idea to do a night sail over. Because of the distance, we could leave about 10 AM and have an easy sail over to San Andres and get there by morning. The girls were up for it, so we got Andiamo ready and headed out.

There’s a pretty nasty reef surrounding Providencia, so getting out at night using the markers was a bit of a challenge. Once we made it past the reef, we essentially unfurled the sails, set the course on the autopilot, and that was it. With the 10-15 knot northeast wind coming over the beam, we pointed straight for San Andres. The conditions stayed that way the whole night. It was a fantastic overnight sail under mostly starry skies. I really liked the fact that I didn’t have to trim the sails or adjust our course one single time. Why can’t it be like that all the time??

Approaching San Andres was also quite a challenge. The “harbor” lies inside the east side of the island’s reef, which is highly unusual since most islands put their harbor on the leeward side of the island, which in this case would the west or the south side. Once you come into the channel on the southeast end of the island, you make your way back up to the north end of the island inside the reef via a well-marked channel. Definitely a first for me. We had a tough time finding a good deep spot to drop anchor, because the harbor is quite shallow in some spots. A fisherman in a panga came out to us to show me how to get to the deeper water. It involved going around this cay over to the other side. He patiently guided us in, and I happy enough to give him a tip for his help.

So now, we’re in San Andres. It’s a totally different island with a completely different attitude than Providencia. This island is very touristy, lots of hotels, shops and tourist traps. The island itself, however is quite nice, and there’s alot to see and do. It’s kinda nice to see some taste of civilization, with a Colombian twist.

On our first day here, we were on our way back to the dinghy from an internet cafe after getting caught up with online stuff. The really bad internet connections in Providencia caused all of us to fall a bit behind on emails and stuff (horrible, huh? I know…), And incredibly enough, I got to experience another “small world” moment.

As we were walking down the street, I heard someone calling my name, when I looked over, it was Rosie and Scotty!!! They’re the friends I’ve met up with in Utila, London, and most recently Costa Rica when I visited them last summer for a week. And now, here they were, in San Andres and we run into each other ON THE STREET. Unbelievable.

Turns out that they were in San Andres on their visa run (you have to leave Costa Rica every 3 months, stay out 3 days and then come back to get a new stamp, hence the term “visa run”). They came over to the boat, and we had rum drinks and got caught up. It was really nice seeing them. We hadn’t been in touch over the past few months. They were going diving the next day, so they couldn’t come out that night. The girls were also very tired, so I went into town solo to see what was up with the nightlife. It was a bit quiet in town for a friday night, but I still managed to find some fun places, and chatted with alot of locals. The chicas here are VERY friendly. Which is kinda nice.

I managed to meet up with Rosie and Scotty again after their dive, and we had a few more drinks. They were leaving the next day, but were trying to see if they can stretch out their visit, to no avail. I told them about Providencia, and they decided they would try to visit there. We’ll see if they make it.

Then, last night I managed to get the whole crew off the boat for a night on the town. It turned out to be Theresa’s last night, as she decided to head back to Ceiba from here today, because she decided her time was getting tight before heading back to Germany. So we all made it count, and Sarah, Jenni and I ended up closing a disco club down at 4 AM. It was a fun, crazy night loaded with dancing, drinking and everything else.

So, we’re still in San Andres, probably will be here for a couple more days before heading onward to Panama, depending on the weather, which right now, looks really good.

So, after a day or so in Utila, the crew was onboard, last minute details were taken care of, and we were off to Roatan. We did have a little issue with the anchor windlass (that’s the thing that raises and lowers the anchor). Seems that the relay switch that operated the controller decided to stop working, right when we were anchoring in Utila.

Considering that these kinds of relay switches are not just available anywhere in Central America, much less the Bay Islands, I had to improvise. I managed to set up a way of “hotwiring” the windlass when I needed it to work using a pair of jumper cables. Sure, it’s not as pretty as pushing a button to raise the anchor, but it gets the job done. So it will have to do for now.

With the crew aboard, we made way for West End of Roatan. We got there not long before dark, and decided to just stay onboard the night, and hang out as a crew. We made a nice chicken dinner, of which for some reason, I managed to drop TWO pieces of the grilled chicken right into the deep blue (don’t ask me how) as I took them off the grill. That never happened before. So the chicken portions were a tad reduced, but dinner was good nonetheless. After a couple rounds of rum drinks and a movie, we called it a night.

Next morning, we were off to French Harbour, a little more down east on the south side of the island. The plan was to finish up the provisioning there, and for me to go into Coxen Hole and try to get us checked out of Roatan. We saw that there was an empty slip at the yacht club, so we just opted to pull in there. It would make things much easier. Plus, I know the manager, Nikolai, a crazy Russian guy who has owned the marina for the past few years, so I’d get a chance to say hi and bye to him. I’d seen him about three months ago, the last time I was in French Harbour. Imagine my absolute shock when I found out from his girlfriend that he had been shot dead at his house at the marina about 2 months ago. That was really upsetting. I’d known for some time that he’d had some enemies on the island, and being a hot-headed russian, I’m sure that didn’t win him any friends. It turned out that it was probably a hit, as his girlfriend Jessy told me the whole story. Anyway, that was a pretty upsetting note to end my last visit to Roatan for some time to come.

With the provisioning done, and checkout completed, we headed out for Guanaja the following morning. The weather was expected to be good, with light variable winds coming in from the north, which was PERFECT for us. The first couple hours required us to motorsail, as the winds were VERY light, but by the time we got to Guanaja’s soutwestern tip, the wind was blowing nicely, and we were able to sail right up the coast. It was nice, easy-going sail. I was particularly excited, because despite my being in these waters for three seasons now, I never made it to Guanaja. One attempt in 2005 (with the self-proclaimed “Dutch Bitches” as crew) was called off due to rough seas and major crew seasickness. The second attempt was thwarted when my headsail blew out last year off Roatan, causing us to pull into French Harbour and make repairs, thus ruining our already tight end of season schedule. So, needless to say, it was AWESOME finally seeing some new lands and waters.

We went up Guanaja’s southern coast towards a place called Josh’s Cay. It’s a private Cay owned by a guy named Graham who moved to Guanaja from Grand Cayman 15 years ago. He bought the whole island and built a really nice place on it with a bar, restaurant, some bungalows and lots of free services for yachties, which included free ice, water, and moorings. I’d heard about it from some other cruisers who’d been there, and figured that would be the best place to go while hanging out in Guanaja. And we were not disappointed. I even got to meet Graham, who turned out to be a hell of a nice guy. It was a nice, idyllic way to spend a couple of days in Guanaja.

Then, on the day we were to leave Guanaja, we headed over to Guanaja settlement to finish up some final shopping, go online one last time, and get a look at the town. Despite Guanaja being situated on a large picturesque island, the locals instead chose to build their “town” on a small flat cay just off the main island. It’s a cramped, chaotic little town that has no streets, only sidewalks and all traffic in and out of it is strictly by boat. It was a pretty interesting place to see.

After taking care of our stuff, we pulled up the hook and headed out of Guanaja for our first stop, the Vivorillo Cays. The sail over that first night and most of the day were nothing short of phenomenal. The wind kept blowing steadily from the north, and we were able to maintain a beam reach towards the Vivorillos with no problem at all. Our only problem was that we left Guanaja a little late in the day the previous day, making our timing to get to Vivorillos, about 140 miles away, a little tight for a daylight arrival. This got further complicated by a nasty squall that blew on us just about 20 miles out of the Vivorillos, causing me to put the storm behind me, pushing back a couple more miles. This issue, exacerbated by the fact that the weather remained kinda crappy, caused me to decide to not stop at the Vivorillos after all, but instead just keep going. I can see that the crew was disappointed, but there really wasn’t another choice. So we continued onward to Providencia, which was another 200 miles away.

So for the next day and a half, we ventured onward. The weather remained good for the first 100 miles past Vivorillos. But then, the wind died, and we found ourselves surrounded by some nasty thunderstorms and squalls. We luckily managed to dodge the nasty lightning, but did get deluged by one of the rainy squalls pretty good. The weather remained hazy and strange the rest of the day, and into the night. The wind was pretty spotty, and we ended up needing to motor the last 60 or so miles to Providencia.

We made an early morning arrival into Providencia this morning. The weather coming in was nearly perfect and breezy. We all got caught up on sleep, had some breakfast and headed into the island for a look around. This island is far from touristy, which is a refreshing change, and the people are really friendly and genuine, also refreshing. Looks like we’ll be here for at least another day or two while we assess the weather situation south of us.

So far, so good…

Comment from: mietsie [Visitor]

Nice to read you are enjoying being on the blue and getting to see new places, it makes me smile, take care,

x

05/23/07 @ 01:24

Since getting back from the states last week of April, most of my time has been getting Andiamo prepared for the next chapter, heading down to Panama for hurricane season. A trip I’m really looking forward to, because alas, it’s time to move on.

When I got back to Puerto Cortes, I arrived to find that the navy yard’s boat lift out of commission. This was due to the fact that two of the lift’s tires had non-existent sidewalls, and the concept of rotating tires on the lift was apparently an alien one to the navy yard guys. I was told over the next four days that the lift would be ready “manana”, only to find that it wouldn’t happen. Which of course, I’m used to by now.

The main problem was that the guys didn’t understand that they needed to CHANGE THE TIRES. They kept trying to change only the inner tubes, and after four tries, they realized that wasn’t going to work. Mitzy was planning on going to Utila for her monthly trip and offered to crew, but I told her to wait until I knew that the boat would really get ready to be splashed. After the fourth or fifth time that I was promised to be put back into the water, I told her to come down, which ended up being on a Friday.

Of course, the tire blew out again, and we weren’t going anywhere. So we were told that we’d have to wait until Saturday. The lift operator said he thought he can get us into the water with just one tire on that side (each corner of the lift has two tires). So saturday morning, we were told that we’d be splashed that afternoon. Then that afternoon, the yard engineer told us that the lift operator never came back from lunch. Oddly enough, we were walking back to the hotel, when we saw the lift operator kicking back a few brews at a small watering hole just outside the yard. We told him that the engineer was looking for him and that he was trying to get us back in the water that afternoon. The lift operator, Eduardo, was pretty buzzed obviously, but said he’d go and run the lift if someone from the base came and got him.

Mitzy then sprang into action. She went over and lobbied one of the officers to come and get the lift operator and get him off his ass. Then Eduardo had a little tiff with the engineer over how drunk he was. Then, there was the matter of moving the other two boats that were in Andiamo’s way so we can get splashed (planning and organization are also alien concepts to these guys). Mitzy showed her stuff as a mover and a shaker and got everyone involved until the lift guy was actually in the seat and moving boats. We figured it would be a while before they’d get to Andiamo, so we went and got lunch. By the time we got back, they had moved two boats and were only minutes away from moving Andiamo. We were stunned and amazed. They were moving boats so fast that one of the boats they had to move had a french family on it, and the woman didn’t even have enough time to get her kids off the boat before they put it on the lift. Crazy stuff.

Anyway, they managed to get Andiamo on the lift, and start moving her to the water. It was about that time that Mitzy and I noticed that the one tire that was handling all the load on that particular side was eroding before our very eyes. We were watching chunks of rubber fall off the tire as it flexed and rolled over to the lift dock. We were really hoping they’d Andiamo in the water before it blew, which was inevitable.

Luckily, they managed to splash Andiamo in time. And from what I heard, Andiamo was the last boat to get moved by that lift for SEVERAL days while they waited for tires to arrive from the states. So finally, I got a lucky break for a change.

The sail over to Utila was fun, but slow. We battled a nasty surface current that kept us below 5 knots most times. The wind finally shifted a bit to make pointing to Utila better. But the current persisted. We ended up making it to Utila is just over 16 hours.

I then spent the next few days in Utila, hanging out with Moni and Mitzy. Moni was getting ready to head over to Guatemala City for her birthday and some vacation. And she was doing all she can to get me to go. But I was definitely not keen on riding a bus to GC, and I was also rather focused on getting Andiamo ready for the next big trip. Beside, I had to find crew, and a whole slew of other stuff. So I was unable to make the trip to GC for Moni’s birthday.

It didn’t take long for me to line up crew for the trip, so after doing that and knocking out some projects, I headed over to La Ceiba last Tuesday to get some more stuff done, get diesel, and provision the boat for the trip down to Panama. I had a little problem with my coolant tank which required me to pull it off and take to a machine shop. So that cost me a day or two. While in Ceiba, I hung out with Lucia, Cristina, and Teresa of the LC Gang. That’s when Teresa decided she wanted to go to Panama too. So another crew member joined the roll. I also managed to catch “Spiderman 3” at the mall theater for just a little over 2 bucks.

So we left Ceiba yesterday, after a stay that was a little longer than I would have liked. We stopped in Utila to pick up the rest of the crew, which consists of Sarah, a dive instructor from the UK, and Jenni, a Finnish girl who’s riding her bike through North and South America.

So after a stop in Roatan, we’ll be on our way to Guanaja and onward…

Stay tuned…

Yep, it was that time. Had to make the obligatory visit to the states to get stuff, visit the kids, visit friends, file taxes, and enjoy my little stateside vices like In-n-Out burgers, Jamba Juice, and LA Sushi, among other things.

My timetable was a bit messed up on account of losing a half day because I couldn’t get a rental car when I landed in Miami. This was because nobody would accept a scanned copy of my replacement license (which was waiting for me in Daytona). So, I ended up having to catch another flight to Orlando, then taking a shuttle to Daytona from there. What a pain.

It was nice to see my brother and my niece Rayna (who even performed a couple of songs for me, she’s quite the musical talent). But I didn’t get a chance to see my nephew Madison when I was in Florida this time around. It was also nice to hang out with my daytona friends for the short time I was there, and get caught up on all the local happenings.

My time in Florida was short and sweet, and then it was off to LA to hang out with my sister and the kids. She’s going through a marital split, so I wanted to go spend some time with her and see how she was handling things. I was VERY happy to see that she was rolling with the punches, and keeping a grip on things. It was especially nice to see her kids too, who are both getting pretty big now.

Other highlights included meeting up with a couple of myspace friends, Teresa and Kristi, along with their whole posse, for a night at the Improv in Hollywood. Good times! My old buddy Miguel came down for a night, and hung out in Venice. We had lunch in Marina del Rey along with Elizabeth, who had visited Andiamo just a couple of months ago.

I especially enjoyed wearing city clothes and shoes for the time I was in LA, and driving around in my very fast and comfortable rented Chevy Impala. I’m becoming more and more insightful and reflective when I’m in LA these days. I think it’s because I can see how far things have come in my life whenever I’m there. There are many difficult memories and emotions to deal with, but I find it therapeutic to do so here.

It’s not always pleasant, sometimes painful. But despite all that, LA is a place I always look forward to seeing again. Not sure I can ever live there year round again, though. I suspect I’ve slowed waaay down to do that.

Made it back to Puerto Cortes with two bags full of boat stuff, dvd’s and other things I had to buy and buy again due to the theft of all my stuff last December when Miguel came for a visit. With the keel repair mostly done, it’ll take a day or so more to put Andiamo back in the water and get moving again. That is with the hope that the navy yard has some repairs done to the boat lift so it’s back in commission in short order.

Looking forward to it…

Alas, the bottom job project in Puerto Cortes was completed on time, on budget and on schedule. I never thought I’d be able to say those three things in the same sentence when it comes to anything having to do with Andiamo maintenance. Even more bizarre, it was despite some delays due to some rather idiotic planning by the navy yard guys.

This involved them putting a navy patrol boat back in the water before my boat, then leaving it in the lift dock. All day. Then they lowered my boat in the water in front of it, but I couldn’t get out of the dock, because I was blocked in by the patrol boat. Which, incidentally, they couldn’t get started. The end of the day came and went, and I was still stuck there.

Luckily, I found the commandante of the base at his office and told him about the situation. Being the “take charge” type, which is rare in these parts, he dealt directly with the issue. After arranging a mechanic from another boat to come and get the motor started, he personally took the helm and got the boat out of the dock so I can get out. Now I know why he’s the commandante.

Despite my escape from the navy yard, the weather and seas were not at all on my side to begin my trip back to Utila. As soon as I got out of the confines of the harbor, the seas were POUNDING over 10 feet, and the winds were horrific right on the nose. Rather than spend the night getting the crap beat out of Andiamo, I turned around and came back into the harbor. I anchored just off the navy yard, and spent the night there.

The next morning, the winds were still kicking, but the seas were smoother, so I decided to make a go for it. Despite the smoother seas, there was a bitch of a current working against me, so despite doing some exhilarating sailing, I was hardly going anywhere. But I just kept on going towards Utila. After taking more than 12 hours to cover just over 40 miles, I turned on the diesel and pointed the boat right into the wind, which also happened to be the same course to Utila. After another three hours of motoring, and I was in Utila finally. I ended up dropping anchor a little after 11pm.

Of course, it was the peak of “Semana Santa”, so the island was packed with mainland Hondurans and other tourists for the week. I really didn’t feel like dealing with any of that insanity, so I just turned off the lights and went to bed.

I was only going to be there for the morning of the next day. I was going to go get the cats back from Moni, and then get with another friend Deb who’s opening a dive resort with some other people because I had a cabin-load of bamboo for them that I arranged to bring over to them from Puerto Cortes. After knocking those items out, I was to head over to Ceiba that afternoon to meet up with Mitzy and the GC gang, Campollo, Andres and Rosi, who had er… retained… me to take them sailing for the next three days around Cayos Cochinos and the other islands. The weather was looking mostly favorable, despite a front that was supposed to be coming late Friday.

So after checking in with Moni, and talking her into keeping the cats a few more days (which she easily agreed to do, a bit TOO easily…), and getting rid of all the bamboo with Deb, I was outta there. I made it to Ceiba with time to spare. Well, not really, because I was going to need every minute I could scrape to CLEAN THE DAMN BOAT!

After docking, I got right to it. It took a good three hours to get Andiamo ship-shape again, and ready for the guests. They were driving over from Guatemala City, so they weren’t due to get in until later in the evening. The timing was perfect though, the boat was ready. After loading all their stuff on the boat, we headed into town for a late dinner and a couple of beers.

The next morning, we needed to run around and pick up some last minute supplies and some extra diesel. By 10 AM, we were ready to go. The seas were super smooth for the ride over to Cayos Cochinos. The winds were light, so after a while, I came up with the idea of putting up my nice big gennaker sail. I’ve only actually flown it once before, and was anxious to use that baby. These were the perfect conditions for it.

Unfortunately, the last time I tried to fly this sail, was back when Liz was onboard back in February, and it didn’t go so well. Due to some boneheaded mistakes, mostly on my part, the sail ended up taking a nice swim underneath the boat instead of being flown. Only after more than an hour of careful heaving and winching, did we manage to get the sail onboard intact with no injuries.

Needless to say, I was a bit more cautious this time, and I had to undo some knots and tangles as a result of that last debacle before we can get her flying. After a few minutes of untangling and rearranging lines, she was up and flying. And wow! What a fantastic light-air sail it was. We were going about 6 knots on a close-to-beam reach in less than 8 knots of wind. These conditions held for the entire sail, and we made it to Cayos in record time. Note to self… I really gotta fly that sucker more often.

Ok, so we get into Cayos, and settle down on my usual mooring, which is not far from a small resort’s dock and out of the middle part of the bay. It’s close to a really nice reef so snorkeling from the boat is a breeze. After some swimming and snorkeling, we got the dinghy together and headed into the Plantation to have a drink and see what was going on. When we got there, Roger, the manager, was there, cordial as ever. We started talking about the incoming front and I wanted to know what his thoughts on it were. He expected that it wasn’t going to be too bad, but there was another that they had to watch out for that was due late Sunday or early Monday. He agreed that we wouldn’t see any weather from the front due until late Thursday or early Friday. So I figured we didn’t have anything to worry about that night.

About this time, I started feeling the symptoms of a nasty cold that was coming down on me. Campollo gave me some heavy duty cold medicine that managed to ease the symptoms, but also made me pretty groggy. But at least I was feeling better. We all turned in for the night, and despite my cold, I woke up a few times that night to check what was happening outside. By 3 AM, the wind started howling pretty good from the west. This usually means that the anchorage starts to get really rolly from the incoming waves. That started happening about a half hour later. I went on deck to check things again, and everything seemed to be ok and manageable despite the waves.

By 5 AM, it started blowing really, REALLY bad, and the waves were really pounding. Despite my groggy state from the cold medicine, I became more concerned with the movement of the boat. The bow was pitching into the air with each passing wave, and that can’t be good. About a second after that thought, I heard something “pop” on deck as we went up another wave. That caught my attention. Then about 2 seconds later, I felt the boat rise up on another wave and come down on top of the reef we were right off of with an absolutely bone-shuddering, eyeball-rattling, brain-shattering, eardrum-bursting, bowel-quaking, crashing thud that resonated across the whole boat.

Within seconds, I was on deck, and Mitzy was right behind me. I didn’t know whether the whole mooring dragged back and we were now in shallower water, or if the line just broke. Mitzy yelled back that the line had broken off. So we were just getting washed around by the waves. Not a good thing. The boat smacked on the reef again as it came down the trough of the wave. Making the same wonderful crashing thud noise we just heard. I began to worry that the rudder and prop didn’t survive that one, because the boat was a bit more at an angle than the first time we slammed down. Luckily, I got the engine started immediately, and hit the gas and headed for deeper water. A wave had just passed, so we were back in shallow water, I can hear the keel rubbing the reef as the boat started to move. But the boat DID start to move, and turn with the wheel. So was I ever happy about that. 20 seconds later, we were back in deep water, in sheeting rain and gusts of over 30 knots no less. Everything that I just mentioned in the previous paragraph took place within less than 2 minutes. Unbelievable.

I decided to just keep the boat in deep water in the bay, and keep her pointed in the wind until the horrific squall passed over. In the meantime, I would try to find another mooring that we can grab on to after, or at the very least, a good sandy spot to anchor on. It took a good hour for the weather to even start calming down, the waves were still coming in, but at least the wind and the blinding rain eased up.

I took the boat closer towards the northwest wall of the bay, here, the island’s shape deflected some of the incoming swells, giving us calmer waters. I also found a good spot to drop the anchor, so I gave Mitzy the go ahead to get the anchor ready to drop. We got the anchor to set on the first try despite the nasty waves rolling by. I secured two snubber lines on the anchor chain (these lines transfer the loads from the chain directly to the boat rather than to the anchor windlass).

After the anchor was set, everybody started to relax. Rosi was overwhelmed with seasickness during the whole ordeal due to the tossing around we were feeling, but she handled it like a sport. Campollo and Andres were both ready to help me with anything I needed to do during the ordeal, so it was truly an “all hands on deck” situation.

I was relieved that the boat was still intact after that massive pounding it just took. I knew the rudder was at the very least functional, even if damaged, as was the prop shaft. So that left the keel. I suspected the keel was going to have some damage after the pounding it had just gotten. But honestly, I didn’t know what to expect. This boat has proven itself to be pretty damn strong and resilient on so many occasions that I tend to underestimate her strength.

After the seas calmed down a bit more, I donned a mask and snorkel and went in for a look. The rudder was PRISTINE, which not even a scratch on her new bottom paint. The prop, still shiny and polished, as well as the shaft. Big relief. The keel, however, was a different story. Starting from the top, where the keel meets the hull, I was super glad to see that at least on the starboard side, there were no cracks or damage of any kind.

This is where it’s most critical, because damage here, means hull damage, and THAT means the boat is probably taking on water. I looked down towards where the wings of the keel were. There was a pretty distinct crack going along the wing at the base where it meets the keel from one end to the other. I went down and gripped the keel, and there was no movement at all. This is what I was most worried about. I swam around to the other side, and saw that same kind of crack going down that side of the keel as well. I also saw a pretty hefty crack at the front of the wings’ base. So there was definitely damage. But not nearly as bad as I expected. Still bad though, bad enough that I was going to have to haul the boat out again pronto and make repairs.

After looking it over, I made the call that we keep going with the sail. The weather was due to get better by the next day, and at the very least we can head over to Utila for one night. The group agreed. We spent one more night in Cayos Cochinos (at anchor this time, I preferred having a chain hold us rather than nylon dockline), which ended up being very tranquilo and clear.

The next morning, despite being a bit cloudy with patches of rain, we headed to Utila. Unfortunately we had to motor due to the fact that there was NO wind (what the hell was up with that?). We met up with Moni for lunch (she knows all these GC people of course, herself being Guatemalan), and spent the rest of the day in Utila eating, drinking, relishing our good fortune and telling stories. The day was nice and clear until sunset, and then the rain came in. This was the last real party night of Semana Santa, so of course we had to drag ourselves over to Tranquila do some really serious partying. But trust me, we earned this night out.

After a fun night, we headed back to the boat about 3 AM, with the music blasting from the dance club next to Tranquila, which incidentally, kept going until the very time we left the next MORNING! After a rude wake up call from Mitzy, I was forced to get the boat under sail again to get back to La Ceiba so the GC Gang can make their way back to GC. At least the winds were on our side, and we had a great sail over to Ceiba, even with a cracked keel. Made it to Ceiba in record time, and a half hour later, the GC gang were Guatemala City bound.

Sunday evening, I went over to Lucia’s house for easter dinner. One of the German volunteers, Teresa was cooking dinner, so of course I took them up on that. It was a nice way to cap off a very eventful weekend.

So after picking up some needed materials to fix the keel in Ceiba, I’m back in Puerto Cortes to get it done. Now that I know how things work around here, I figured I’d take advantage of the far lower cost to haul out the boat. Just wish I didn’t have to do it NOW.

All I know is that I never want to hear that sound again.

Comment from: Jacqueline [Visitor]

Poor Andiamo…I’m telling you those French know how to build a boat. Glad to hear everything is okay. Take care and I will see you later.

J

04/12/07 @ 18:13