This was the first time I saw a wave break over Jenny's bow.  

We got up at 2:00 AM to get a good start on the limited window we

I adjusted the route a little to drive us closer to the shelter of

We had a good night's rest last night and all is good.  The crew is

We looked at the weather and unfortunately tomorrow is the best day

Jenny is in good shape in spite of the beating and no worse for

So, tomorrow we head out into this nasty sea again.  The next

Well, I never thought I'd see the wire on one of the birds break.

We had high hopes for an easier day today than the one to Punta

What I now know is that the strongest river currents are on the side

Now we were without a bird on the port side, the one getting smashed

I initially thought that I should increase the diameter of the wire

In any case I marshalled the crew to get the bird out of the water

As we got nearer to the shelter of Rodadero Beach the seas quieted

Nicholas was sick and worried the whole day.  He said an extra long

Well we had a busy morning catching up with all the minor

I also climbed up and replaced the anchor light bulb.  We worked on

The kids went swimming last night just before dusk and I'm sure it

We took a set of team photos today and will send them out when we

Nicholas is a much happier dog today and is napping at my feet.  He

Tomorrow we will move to the nice bay around the corner and stay

Well each passage seems to have its own surprise.  On this one we

We pulled anchor at 8 AM and were underway in winds that varied

As we approached our midpoint waypoint an outboard cigarette style

Once we came around the point we were again hit with 6 ft waves,

At Rodadero Beach we were on the west side of the hills and the land

Yesterday I dove on the bottom and it is sparkling clean.  The

I'm going to make a batch of spagetti tonight.  When we are in calm

Yesterday I made spagetti sauce and we had a good dinner of spagetti

We still have no fix on a good weather window for crossing the sea.

We're making water so we are good there, but I think the kids

I'll check the weather again today.  Nothing much else to report.

Nothing much to report this morning.  The crew went swimming

Today we will tackle the small leak in the forward cabin head and do

All is well.

Not much to report today.  We're going to have a cleanup party this

The weather still looks good for a departure tomorrow with the most

Thinking about this passage, I am convinced that the only good time

While there were periods where the wind and waves were larger than

We arrived at Puerto Bolivar around 10 AM and received permission to

Upwind of us are very shallow flats and beyond them is a huge bay

The engine temperature guage continues to be a giant thorn in my

While I was flailing around with wires, a mullett threw itself

I had not had lunch yet, was hungry and decided they had no right to

It looks like there is a nice weather window showing up on the 16th

We have some other minor projects to do on board, but this place has

Time to sleep.  Nicholas is already crashed.

The only good thing about this anchorage is that the waves outside

Right now we are looking hard at leaving at 4:00 AM on the 16th.  We

Today we did some maintenance on the stabilizers, I changed the

Thanks for all the emails.  They help.  It is nice to know we are

We had enought of Puerto Bolivar and headed out this morning.  We

The really good news on this trip was that the guages are all

In Puerto Bolivar I decided we needed to replace the shock absorber

The new rubber takes more line to tie, to the starboard bird flew 3

The weather for the crossing is deteriating slightly, but still

We had a terrible night at anchor, reminicent of Los Frailes.  The

One of the nice things about how I re-rigged the stabilizer booms is

After that I built a new line with a new shock absorber for the port

It now looks like we will leave here at 6 on the 15th and get into

We are ready to go.  All the systems on Jenny are in excellent

We will begin to move around 4:00 PM since we have so much gear to

The weather forecasts have been all over the place.  The latest are

So far we have had the luck of really good weather, at least for the

It is a wonder to me how you can be in the middle of nowhere and

This morning we found about 8 large flying fish in the cockpit.  We

Nicholas is not happy with this continuous movement.  I think this

We are eating the dinners we froze on the way up the Colombian

Just before leaving, I got an email that said something about

We are about 1/2 way now and Jenny is purring along.  What a

Well, we had a really nice (for this sea) night last night and even

We had another bird wire break last night and that prompted taking

I've been reporting our position and checking in daily with the HAM

This has been the longest and certainly the most challenging passage

The crew is doing wonders and I am really glad to have them aboard.

We made enough water to fill out tanks so no worries there and we

We made it!  I definately would not like to do that trip twice.

We effectively lost 4 hours of transit time during the night because

The crew became a crew during the journey.  They really began to

Damage Report

Small Anoyances.

Don't get me wrong, being in this perfectly flat water, on a

Passage Report for Jenny Passage: Cartagna to Punta Hermosa Departed Sunday, February 01, 2009 at 2:58 AM local time from Club Nautico Anchorage. The departure location was latitude 10 degrees 24.207 minutes North, longitude 75 degrees 32.674 minutes West. Arrival Arrived Sunday, February 01, 2009 at 2:56 PM local time at Punta Hermosa. The arrival location was latitude 10 degrees 56.717 minutes North, longitude 75 degrees 2.131 minutes West. The customs checkin was none. The trip covered 56.11 nautical miles in 0d 12h 18m with an average speed of 4.60 knots and a maximum speed of 7.20 knots. Narrative Sunday, February 01, 2009 6:22:09 PM Location: Punta Hermosa Latitude is 10 degrees 56.714 minutes north. Longitude is 75 degrees 2.131 minutes west. This weather observation was at Monday, February 02, 2009 1:22:20 PM local time. Observation location: Punta Hermosa, Colombia. Latitude is 10 degrees 56.717 minutes north. Longitude is 75 degrees 2.134 minutes west. The air temperature is 83, and water temperature is 0 degrees fahrenheit. The forecast is Sunny, Windy. The current weather is dry. The sky is clear or a few clouds. The wind is 21 knots from the northeast. The visibility is 15 nautical miles. The wave height is 1 feet with 0 foot swells. The barometer is 1007 millibars and falling. This was the first time I saw a wave break over Jenny's bow. We got up at 2:00 AM to get a good start on the limited window we had. It was a good thing we did. We expected and received 6 ft waves at 6 seconds, but I was amazed that this dominate wave was only so marginally dominate. The water was basically chaos. The two british guys on board were puking their guts out all day. The Irish girl was quesy, but did help out on the watches. So this one kind of individual wave came together. I was the only one up to see it form and crest. I knew it would be a ride. It came at us on the port forward quarter and the full of Jenny's hull was up on its side when it broke over the bow and down the side. The port side throwable life ring was washed away and water was forced through the port side pilot house door. Jenny just picked herself up and on we went. We only averaged 4.6 knots, bashing against wind, wave and current. As the window started to close, we saw some 7 and 8 footers as the wind picked up to 25 knots. I adjusted the route a little to drive us closer to the shelter of land sooner and by about 1:30 we were out of the worst of it. We are anchored in a large sand cove with good protection from the raging waves on the other side. Jenny is hardly moving while the wind howls by. The kids are up now making dinner. They have plenty of energy after their 24 hour nap. :-) The genset seems to be starved for fuel and won't run. I'll have to look into that. We might set up the big screen and watch a movie tonight if I can get the genset running. David Narrative Monday, February 02, 2009 1:33:21 PM Location: Punta Hermosa, Colombia Latitude is 10 degrees 56.716 minutes north. Longitude is 75 degrees 2.132 minutes west. This weather observation was at Monday, February 02, 2009 1:22:20 PM local time. Observation location: Punta Hermosa, Colombia. Latitude is 10 degrees 56.717 minutes north. Longitude is 75 degrees 2.134 minutes west. The air temperature is 83, and water temperature is 0 degrees fahrenheit. The forecast is Sunny, Windy. The current weather is dry. The sky is clear or a few clouds. The wind is 21 knots from the northeast. The visibility is 15 nautical miles. The wave height is 1 feet with 0 foot swells. The barometer is 1007 millibars and falling. We had a good night's rest last night and all is good. The crew is smiling again and making good meals. This morning I fixed the genset by replacing the primary filter. I also fixed the forward head that had some mussel shells in the intake. This afternoon I will unpickle the water maker and get it ready for use when we get to clear water. The water here is silty from all the wind and wave action. Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to make some water on our trip over to Rodereo Beach. We looked at the weather and unfortunately tomorrow is the best day all week to make the next hop. It looks about the same as we had coming in here with only the possibility of some better protection from the land we are headed for. The bay we cross is deeper and could give us better protection. Like yesterday, we will probably make some course corrections as we go to make the best of it. I also hope we can catch some counter current this time to help us along. We didn't get any yesterday. Jenny is in good shape in spite of the beating and no worse for wear. I figured out that the keel coolers get air trapped in their hull boxes and it considerably reduces their effectiveness. We ran a little hotter yesterday than I would have liked. Last night I also figured out that I have a relatively easy solution for Jenny. On Jenny I have another keel cooler on the starboard side for the genset. I checked out the plumbing today and with the right parts and hoses, I could easily plumb in the second keel cooler for use with the engine. I would put a couple of valves in place so I could cut it in and out, but I wouldn't even have to take Jenny out of the water. I believe these boats are under cooled anyway and should have about twice the cooling power than they do have. The genset cooler only has two tubes, but it would still give me 50% more cooling. If I wanted to, the hull box is big enough to take a 4 tube cooler just like the motor has now. So, tomorrow we head out into this nasty sea again. The next passage after that is well protected and only 15 miles long. It goes to a nicely protected fjord and positions us nicely for taking advantage of weather openings for the crossing. The weather forecast says we won't get a window though until next week. So, we'll just hang out for a while on anchor. David Passage: Punta Hermosa to Rodadero Departed Tuesday, February 03, 2009 at 4:53 AM local time from Punta Hermosa anchorage. The departure location was latitude 10 degrees 56.293 minutes North, longitude 75 degrees 2.455 minutes West. Arrival Arrived Tuesday, February 03, 2009 at 4:06 PM local time at Rodadero Anchorage, Santa Marta, CO. The arrival location was latitude 11 degrees 12.103 minutes North, longitude 74 degrees 13.981 minutes West. The customs checkin was None. The trip covered 58.08 nautical miles in 0d 11h 13m with an average speed of 5.20 knots and a maximum speed of 7.10 knots. Narrative Tuesday, February 03, 2009 6:10:16 PM Location: Rodadero Beach Latitude is 11 degrees 12.105 minutes north. Longitude is 74 degrees 13.983 minutes west. This weather observation was at Wednesday, February 04, 2009 11:20:16 AM local time. Observation location: Rodadero Beach, CO. Latitude is 11 degrees 12.085 minutes north. Longitude is 74 degrees 13.982 minutes west. The air temperature is 92, and water temperature is 0 degrees fahrenheit. The forecast is Sunny, Windy. The current weather is dry. The sky is clear or a few clouds. The wind is 15 knots from the northeast. The visibility is 15 nautical miles. The wave height is 0 feet with 0 foot swells. The barometer is 1012 millibars and rising. Well, I never thought I'd see the wire on one of the birds break. They have a breaking strength of 2000 lbs. But one did today. We had high hopes for an easier day today than the one to Punta Hermosa and for the most part we did. We got up at 4:00 AM, did the departure tasks and were underway by 5:00 AM. The area we were in was pretty sheltered and as usual the wind in the AM is considerably nicer than the wind in the afternoon. So we had a good run up to the Magdalena river mouth. This is a big river that runs through most of eastern Colombia, bigger than I though it would be. We got into the muddy water around 8 and gradually worked our way across. The currents were against us and so all of the muddy water flows west. We met and talked to a sailboat from Austria that had crossed the Atlantic and was headed to Panama. They were on a three year journey to circumnavigate. We found out from them that we were only about a mile or two from the eastern edge of the river current. What I now know is that the strongest river currents are on the side where the sea current is coming from. Only the strongest river currents could reach out to where we were and not get bent down the coast. Well, we were going into the sea current, wind and waves, but the river was also forming waves of its own with its own current and they began to hit us on the port side. One gentle giant was about 12 feet tall and as it lifted us with its steep face, Jenny tried to roll with the wave. It amazed me as I watched the 2000 lb wire snapped. Boom and the bird was gone. Jenny rolled with the punch, and was just fine. Now we were without a bird on the port side, the one getting smashed with the waves. So we pointed more into the waves and got out of the river water to water that was nice and blue and relatively well behaved. It was still blowing stink, and the chop was a good 5-6 feet at 6 seconds. Nasty stuff. Now this is the second time we have had a bird snap off. The first was in Mexico when we hit something in the water. Fortunately we did not loose either bird and the fix is simple. In the first case, I merely cut off the 4 inches of frayed end by the bird and put another end on it. In this case, the wire broke about 20 inches from the boom end and is frayed for another foot or two. So, I need to break out the spare and put it on tomorrow. I initially thought that I should increase the diameter of the wire to make it stronger now that I know that it can break just with a wave. The chain that was first on the birds had the same breaking strength. However this was a 2000 lb load going against all the rigging including the boom, its fittings, the mast, etc. While really inconvenient to have to hobble in without a bird on one side, the fix is really trivial and cheap. If I beaf up the wire, what might be the next point of failure??? Hmmm.... In any case I marshalled the crew to get the bird out of the water and back in its shoe on the boat to make sure we did not loose it. Fortunately they had been vertical most of the day and only Ed had a twinge of sea sickness. The three of us put on our life jackets, snapped onto the life lines and went up top. Ed brought the bird in, Russell raised the boom and I put the bird back in its shoe. Then I tied the bird into the cradle to make sure it did not get knocked out again and we lowered the boom again to brace the starboard side gear. We rolled on. As we got nearer to the shelter of Rodadero Beach the seas quieted down and we have a nice anchorage about 1/2 mile off shore. The water is clear and we are making water, the only limited resource we have at the moment. Tomorrow we'll stay here the day and get the stabilizer back in shape. Then move Wednesday up around the bend on a 13 mile trip into Bahia Guayroca. That is a remote fjord that we will use to kill some time in and have some fun fishing and diving while we wait for MUCH better weather before proceeding to the jump off point at Puerto Bolivar and head across. Nicholas was sick and worried the whole day. He said an extra long prayer tonight before eating. Never a dull day. David Narrative Wednesday, February 04, 2009 11:47:01 AM Location: Rodadero Beach Latitude is 11 degrees 12.094 minutes north. Longitude is 74 degrees 13.978 minutes west. This weather observation was at Wednesday, February 04, 2009 11:20:16 AM local time. Observation location: Rodadero Beach, CO. Latitude is 11 degrees 12.085 minutes north. Longitude is 74 degrees 13.982 minutes west. The air temperature is 92, and water temperature is 0 degrees fahrenheit. The forecast is Sunny, Windy. The current weather is dry. The sky is clear or a few clouds. The wind is 15 knots from the northeast. The visibility is 15 nautical miles. The wave height is 0 feet with 0 foot swells. The barometer is 1012 millibars and rising. Well we had a busy morning catching up with all the minor maintenance that the rough weather and general use created. We replaced the wire on the port side bird. It turned out to be an eaiser job than I though because I could climb up the boom and reach the coupling between the wire and the rope. Originally the rope was long enough to reach from the deck, which was the idea to allow the replacement from the deck. However, the rubber snubbers took up a bunch of line and now the coupling is several feet above the deck. It took less than an hour to do the job and the next time I work on the TPS rigging I'll make sure that this coupling is lower. We could have done the job at sea, but it would have been really difficult to hold on and get it done. With the coupling lower, it could have been done at sea with minimal risk. I also climbed up and replaced the anchor light bulb. We worked on the forward head and figured out the the overboard discharge valve was closed and was causing all the current problems. I also discovered that the macerators won't run unless the 12 volt outlet circuit breaker is on. Who would have guessed? We did a good cleaning of the forward head and the kitchen. The kitchen required special attention because a sugar bowl tipped over and sugar was everywhere. The kids went swimming last night just before dusk and I'm sure it will be on their list of activities for today. I have a general salt water washdown on their list along with scrubbing the teak rails. It will be nice to see the tan of the teak again. We took a set of team photos today and will send them out when we get internet again. I also took some shots of the shore where there are a bunch of new condos and more going up. I tried to get on the internet here, but all the access points were locked down in one way or another. Nicholas is a much happier dog today and is napping at my feet. He made the photos too. Tomorrow we will move to the nice bay around the corner and stay there until the 9th. If we see a weather window opening we will move to the jump off point at Puerto Bolivar on the 9th and 10th. Then we will be only 3 days out from the DR. David Passage: Rodadero to Bahia Guayraca Departed Thursday, February 05, 2009 at 10:56 AM local time from Rodadero Beach Anchorage. The departure location was latitude 11 degrees 19.404 minutes North, longitude 74 degrees 6.465 minutes West. Arrival Arrived Thursday, February 05, 2009 at 10:57 AM local time at Bahia Guayraca . The arrival location was latitude 11 degrees 19.416 minutes North, longitude 74 degrees 6.462 minutes West. The customs checkin was none. The trip covered 15.81 nautical miles in 0d 3h 45m with an average speed of 4.20 knots and a maximum speed of 6.70 knots. Narrative Thursday, February 05, 2009 12:08:36 PM Location: Bahia Guayraca Latitude is 11 degrees 19.446 minutes north. Longitude is 74 degrees 6.431 minutes west. This weather observation was at Friday, February 06, 2009 10:16:22 AM local time. Observation location: Bahia Guayraca. Latitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes north. Longitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes west. The air temperature is 85, and water temperature is 0 degrees fahrenheit. The forecast is Sunny Windy. The current weather is dry. The sky is clear or a few clouds. The wind is 10 knots from the northeast. The visibility is 15 nautical miles. The wave height is 0 feet with 2 foot swells. The barometer is 1017 millibars and rising. Well each passage seems to have its own surprise. On this one we were stopped by the Colombian Navy. We pulled anchor at 8 AM and were underway in winds that varied between 25 and 35 knots. Fortunately we were under the lee of the land for nearly all of the trip. This kept the seas in the 2-3 ft range. So while we were making only about 4.5 to 5 knots against the wind, the boat's motion was good. We passed through several fishing boats (pangas) that were really curious as usual. Most of the time these folks think we are a commercial fishing boat with our stabilizers. As we approached our midpoint waypoint an outboard cigarette style navy boat came up and ran its siren asking us to follow them back into a nearby port. They too were really curious about our stabilizers and my guess is that one of the fishing boats alerted them to us, claiming we were a foreign fishing boat in their waters. They came alongside and after exchanging some information let us go on. The lieutenant spoke English very well. So we got our birds back in the water and off we went. Once we came around the point we were again hit with 6 ft waves, this time at about 7 or 8 seconds, but still in wind that gusted into the high 30's. This water is definately not west coast stuff. We worked our way to our bay and found the big rock, small island was about 1/2 mile from where it was marked on the chart, so made some course adjustments and got in. At Rodadero Beach we were on the west side of the hills and the land was dry like in California. However in this bay we are surrounded by green trees and we have had showers now and then, giving Jenny a nice fresh water bath. The temperature here is also about 10 degrees cooler than the beach. The wind here comes from all directions because the hills are on all sides and some might be coming down from the big mountains nearby that have snow caps. We are getting a little swell coming in but this little fjord is very nice. Yesterday I dove on the bottom and it is sparkling clean. The watermaker has givent us 50 gallons so we are ok there and the water here is nice and clean so we can make more. I'm going to make a batch of spagetti tonight. When we are in calm waters we set up the big screen and watch a movie at night. I'm also listening to the 7th Harry Potter book that Derek and Heather gave me before leaving. Now we just need to wait here for good weather for the crossing. David Narrative Friday, February 06, 2009 10:23:50 AM Location: Bahia Guayraca Latitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes north. Longitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes west. This weather observation was at Saturday, February 07, 2009 7:24:09 AM local time. Observation location: Bahia Guayraca. Latitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes north. Longitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes west. The air temperature is 79, and water temperature is 0 degrees fahrenheit. The forecast is Sunny, windy. The current weather is dry. The sky is clear or a few clouds. The wind is 10 knots from the northeast. The visibility is 15 nautical miles. The wave height is 0 feet with 0 foot swells. The barometer is 1015 millibars and falling. Yesterday I made spagetti sauce and we had a good dinner of spagetti last night. This bay is quite nice. It has strong gusts of wind coming off the hills now and then that really move the boat around, and today we have a gentle swell making its way down the fjord. But overall it is quite nice. The temperature is very pleasant and most of the time we are in a breeze. We still have no fix on a good weather window for crossing the sea. The general consensus is to catch the small window on the 9th and 10th and get up to the jump off point at Puerto Bolivar. The kids are now not anxious to go out if the weather is even as bad as we had the first day. I'm inclined to wait until we have a couple of days of 10 second period waves. But, none are in sight. We're making water so we are good there, but I think the kids underestimated the amount of food they eat. We may be down to the basics in another week. Unlike normal shore life, situations like this are unforgiving about less than rigorous thinking and planning. I think the kids are starting to come to that realization. I'll check the weather again today. Nothing much else to report. David Narrative Saturday, February 07, 2009 7:31:34 AM Location: Bahia Buayraca Latitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes north. Longitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes west. This weather observation was at Saturday, February 07, 2009 7:24:09 AM local time. Observation location: Bahia Guayraca. Latitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes north. Longitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes west. The air temperature is 79, and water temperature is 0 degrees fahrenheit. The forecast is Sunny, windy. The current weather is dry. The sky is clear or a few clouds. The wind is 10 knots from the northeast. The visibility is 15 nautical miles. The wave height is 0 feet with 0 foot swells. The barometer is 1015 millibars and falling. Nothing much to report this morning. The crew went swimming yesterday and I worked some on my BoatExec software. There were some nagging small problems with it that I have been delaying working on. Sitting here has given me some quiet time to fix them and polish the code some. It has been too rolly here to set up the big screen. Last night I broke out the Season 1 Boston Legal DVDs that Mary gave me for Christmas and watched the first three episodes on the laptop screen. It did not disappoint me and remains the only TV series worth watching. The crew like it too. Today we will tackle the small leak in the forward cabin head and do a load or two of laundry. I'll also do some more software work, and get weather reports. We are still planning on our first overnight trip on Feb 9/10 to get up to the jump point. The forecast is for mostly 3-5 ft seas with some periods of 4-6 ft seas. We'll be hugging the coast the whole way. I have not seen a weather break for the sea out through the 12th though. All is well. David Narrative Sunday, February 08, 2009 9:01:11 AM Location: Bahia Guayraca Latitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes north. Longitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes west. This weather observation was at Sunday, February 08, 2009 8:46:03 AM local time. Observation location: Bahia Guayraca. Latitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes north. Longitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes west. The air temperature is 79, and water temperature is 0 degrees fahrenheit. The forecast is Sunny, windy. The current weather is dry. The sky is scattered clouds (10 - 50% clouds). The wind is 15 knots from the northeast. The visibility is 0 nautical miles. The wave height is 0 feet with 0 foot swells. The barometer is 1015 millibars and steady. Not much to report today. We're going to have a cleanup party this morning when the forward cabin decides to wake up and a discussion about keeping the boat squeeky clean. This anchorage is probably the best protection along the whole caribbean coast of Colombia and still we get gusts of wind from every direction running up to about 35 knots. The wind builds up behind the hills and then floods over and pounds the bay here. We moved Jenny yesterday to minimize the periodic pounding. The weather still looks good for a departure tomorrow with the most challenging wind and waves at the start, and a gradual improvement all day. Below is the latest forecast from Buoy Weather at a point 1/3 along the way and the second at 2/3 along the way. First waypoint: 2/9 01 ESE 104 12 - 16 NE 7sec 4 - 7 2/9 07 ESE 108 13 - 17 NE 7sec 4 - 7 2/9 13 ENE 77 11 - 15 NE 7sec 4 - 6 2/9 19 ENE 63 11 - 15 NE 7sec 3 - 6 Second waypoint: 2/10 01 ESE 101 9 - 13 NE 6sec 3 - 5 2/10 07 ESE 109 10 - 13 NE 6sec 3 - 5 2/10 13 ENE 73 9 - 12 NE 6sec 2 - 4 2/10 19 ENE 69 12 - 17 NE 7sec 3 - 6 The best weather in the middle of the way to the Dominican Republic now is: 2/14 01 E 86 17 - 23 E 8sec 9 - 14 2/14 07 E 82 17 - 23 E 8sec 9 - 14 2/14 13 E 93 15 - 21 E 8sec 9 - 14 2/14 19 ENE 78 14 - 20 E 8sec 8 - 12 and this is not good enough yet. Hopefully the trend to better conditions will continue and give us a break. Thinking about this passage, I am convinced that the only good time to transit the Caribbean is during hurricane season, catching the calm that one creates along 12 degrees north as it passes by Cuba. The problem is that if you want to experience Cartagena at its best you need to be there at Christmas. Otherwise it is too hot, wet and you don't have anywhere near the events you can enjoy over the Christmas period. So, if you are going to do Cartagena correctly, you will need to stay there until the hurricanes start up to catch a nice ride out. Then your destination has to be Trinidad or Granada, because if you go north, you are exposed to the next hurricane going through. So, a Christmas in Cartagena costs a year in getting from there to the states. Otherwise, you are stuck fighting the trade winds in the Caribbean Sea as we now are. All are well. Nicholas got his shampoo yesterday and is quite the dapper dog now. P.S. Ed has been sending some emails from the KI6CEL@Winlink.org address, but has not heard any replies. Please make sure this address is not blocked by spam filters. Ed thanks you. David Passage: Bahia Guayraca to Puerto Bolivar Departed Monday, February 09, 2009 at 11:08 AM local time from Bahia Guayraca at anchor. The departure location was latitude 11 degrees 22.055 minutes North, longitude 73 degrees 46.120 minutes West. Arrival Arrived Tuesday, February 10, 2009 at 12:04 PM local time at Puerto Bolivar. The arrival location was latitude 12 degrees 15.285 minutes North, longitude 71 degrees 57.222 minutes West. The trip covered 145.47 nautical miles in 1d 0h 55m with an average speed of 5.80 knots and a maximum speed of 6.40 knots. Narrative Tuesday, February 10, 2009 8:05:04 PM Location: Puerto Bolivar Latitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes north. Longitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes west. No recent weather observation is available. While there were periods where the wind and waves were larger than forecast, on the whole, the average was pretty much on target. By last 10 PM the seas were in the 2-4 foot range and we motored through the night very comfortably. We had a full moon to light the way too. For down here, you couldn't ask for much better. We also made water all the way across and have our tanks filled. Our watermaker is down to 4 GPH, but it is keeping ahead of the needs of the 4 of us. I'll have to get a new membrane before too much longer. We arrived at Puerto Bolivar around 10 AM and received permission to enter. This is one of three spots to anchor around here. Unfortunately, it is a choice of the least of three uncomfortable spots. The whole area is pretty flat and the wind is howling overhead. This is the best of the three anchorages and we are anchored off of a turning basin for ore carriers. The ship dock is the only thing here and ships are lined up outside waiting their turn to come in and load, one at a time. Three tugs turn them and our entertainment is watching the action. Upwind of us are very shallow flats and beyond them is a huge bay that you can't get to. The area shallows gradually so you can't get far enough in to avoid the water having a nice fetch to build an annoying 3 ft chop. We'll be glad to get out of here! The engine temperature guage continues to be a giant thorn in my nerves. In spite of being new with a new matching sensor less than a year ago, it continues to lie to me. It constantly reads between 200 and 210 degrees when normal is 180. However, every time I hook up the temperature sensor on my multimeter and tape it to the engine right where the sensor is, the multimeter reads 170 degrees. I even put insulating tape over the sensor this time. It still read 170 degrees. So, I figured the only thing left is the wiring to the guage. This afternood, after we got settled, I pulled the panel and rewired all the guages on the panel. The original wiring jumped a single wire from one instrument to another including the lights on each. One hopping red one and one hopping black one. It was definately not ABYC compliant. So, I had a spare buss bar and started clipping wires, pulling wires, making up new wires, etc. The original wiring had even used the holding brackets to connect the hopping wire mess! So, there is some probability that there was an interaction among the instruments that lead the Engine Temperature guage to go wacky. It is the only wacky guage though. I hope this boat mystery is solved! While I was flailing around with wires, a mullett threw itself onboard. Yup. While the boys had been dragging a lure the whole past 24 hours, and got nothing, this mullett just gave itself to me. I heard it hit the salon window and went out to see it flapping on the deck. I called the boys and expected them to pick it up and get ready for a meal. Well, to my surprise they were afraid to touch it. Such a terrifing mullett it was. I told them to get the bucket and put the mullett in until I could attend to it. They brought the bucket over, turned it on its side and hoped the mullett would flop in. REALLY! Both of them. So this is what happened to the British Empire... I had not had lunch yet, was hungry and decided they had no right to it. I cleaned it while the grill was warming up, put it on the barbie while the meat was still twitching and had it for lunch. Yum. Oh yes, we are down to vegies and potatoes for dinners now. Lord knows what we will be eating a week from now. Caroline expected to go shopping here. And on the subject of some choices have consequences, in spite of me saying over and over to Ed that he had better check out Puerto Bolivar via the net through family or friends, he was sure he could get off here. NOT. We are all checked out of Colombia and there is nothing here; certainly not immigration. The port captain would not let him off the boat. Hmmm... Things might get interesting... It looks like there is a nice weather window showing up on the 16th and hopefully lasting a couple of days. If it holds we will go. If it gets too bad, we'll turn down wind, down current, down waves and surf to Jamacia maaaan. So, we should be either in Jamacia or the DR by EOD on the 19th. I'll get more forecasts tomorrow. We have some other minor projects to do on board, but this place has nothing to offer. We'll be going nuts by the 16th for sure. Time to sleep. Nicholas is already crashed. David Narrative Wednesday, February 11, 2009 7:02:57 PM Location: Puerto Bolivar Latitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes north. Longitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes west. No recent weather observation is available. The only good thing about this anchorage is that the waves outside are way larger than the 4 ft chop we are anchored in. It is an awful anchorage. I originally planned to stay in Bahia Guayraca until just before a weather opening. But Ed was keen to be on his way and figured he could get off here. I also was anxious to be ready to jump as soon as an opening showed up. So, we left earlier than we should have. We will all be well conditioned for the journey, and eager to depart! Right now we are looking hard at leaving at 4:00 AM on the 16th. We will have at least 2 solid days and probably 3 of wind in the teens and waves mostly less than 6 feet. We'll keep monitoring the forecasts. I'm also hoping to loose some of this chop as we pull away from the coast. Today we did some maintenance on the stabilizers, I changed the primary fuel filter we had used getting here. It was really dirty. I imagine the tank is really clean with all this action! We now have two fresh filters for the crossing. We also did a major cleaning of the inside of the boat, wiping down all the surfaces with fresh water. Other than that we spent most of the day resting and reading. I made Chili for dinner. It's missing some of its usual ingredients, but I think it will be a hit anyway. Thanks for all the emails. They help. It is nice to know we are still connected to the world. David Passage: Puerto Bolivar to Bahia Honda Departed Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 10:26 AM local time from Puerto Bolivar at anchor. The departure location was latitude 12 degrees 19.188 minutes North, longitude 71 degrees 56.068 minutes West. Arrival Arrived Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 1:19 PM local time at Bahia Honda. The arrival location was latitude 12 degrees 22.631 minutes North, longitude 71 degrees 45.911 minutes West. The trip covered 16.77 nautical miles in 0d 3h 47m with an average speed of 4.40 knots and a maximum speed of 6.90 knots. Narrative Thursday, February 12, 2009 3:00:38 PM Location: Bahia Honda Latitude is 12 degrees 22.627 minutes north. Longitude is 71 degrees 45.012 minutes west. No recent weather observation is available. We had enought of Puerto Bolivar and headed out this morning. We headed 15 miles further NE to Bahia Honda. While this is still a windy, rolly place it is noticably better than Puerto Bolivar. So here we stay for a while. The really good news on this trip was that the guages are all reading spot on now. The temperature guage hits 190 and stays there. Perfect. All the guages are right on their spec!!! The wiring was the problem. So, if you have some mysterious guage issues, make sure each guage is directly wired to a buss bar, not guage to guage! When I have time I will increase the guage of the power supply wire to this buss bar. In Puerto Bolivar I decided we needed to replace the shock absorber rubber in the stabilizers. I got the starboard side done ok yesterday, but this morning I could not get the old rubber untied. The knot was thoroughly jammed into the rubber. So again at 5 tomorrow when the wind and waves are least, I will go back out and try to get the whole rig down. This morning I went up with the pole verticle and could not reach the top where the shackle is. Tomorrow I'll go up with the pole out and should be able to reach it. The new rubber takes more line to tie, to the starboard bird flew 3 feet closer to the surface than it should. I'll put an extension on that wire tomorrow and when I make up the new line I'll make it 3 ft longer. When I get to a slip I'll rebuild the other and get rid of the wire extension. The good news is that the new shock absorber worked great on the way up this morning. The weather for the crossing is deteriating slightly, but still doable. We might need to head down wind on the third day though. 2/16 01 E 91 13 - 18 ENE 7sec 5 - 9 2/16 07 E 91 11 - 15 ENE 7sec 5 - 9 2/16 13 ENE 78 9 - 12 ENE 7sec 5 - 8 2/16 19 ENE 50 10 - 14 ENE 7sec 4 - 7 2/17 01 ENE 67 10 - 14 E 7sec 5 - 8 2/17 07 ENE 58 8 - 11 E 7sec 4 - 7 2/17 13 NE 43 9 - 12 E 7sec 4 - 6 2/17 19 NE 36 13 - 18 E 6sec 4 - 6 2/18 01 NE 31 20 - 27 NNE 5sec 6 - 10 2/18 07 NE 35 18 - 25 NE 5sec 6 - 10 2/18 13 NE 45 16 - 22 ENE 6sec 6 - 9 2/18 19 ENE 54 15 - 20 ENE 5sec 5 - 8 Unrecorded Narrative Friday, February 13, 2009 12:52:34 PM Location: Bahia Honda Latitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes north. Longitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes west. No recent weather observation is available. We had a terrible night at anchor, reminicent of Los Frailes. The wind was blowing out of the east at 20 knots, pointing the boat east, and then a swell started coming in from the North. No one got any sleep as we were tossed about. We can't put the birds down because we are only in 15 ft of water. One of the nice things about how I re-rigged the stabilizer booms is that you can unhook one end from the hull now and use it as a 3 part block and tackle to raise things to the end of the boom. So, I got out our drogue, got the guys up and tied some dive weights to the bottom end. We the rigged the open end to the end of the boom. It helped alot, working as a break on our rolling. At 7 we got up and re-anchored. I moved the boat up more along side of the bluffs here to block the east wind and we put a stern anchor out to keep up pointed into the swell. This is a good anchorage now and we are comfortable finally!! After that I built a new line with a new shock absorber for the port side. We again used the boom down haul to raise the boson's chair lines to the end of the boom. The guys helped me get launched over the side and up to swap out the two lines. We are good now on both sides. It now looks like we will leave here at 6 on the 15th and get into the DR in the afternoon of the 19th. The weather has improved through the middle, so the only real bashing seems to be on the 16th and we are now pretty used to that. The boat is all ready to go and so are we! David Narrative Sunday, February 15, 2009 8:05:03 AM Location: Bahia Honda Latitude is 12 degrees 22.77 minutes north. Longitude is 71 degrees 45.884 minutes west. This weather observation was at Sunday, February 15, 2009 7:56:27 AM local time. Observation location: Bahia Honda. Latitude is 12 degrees 22.771 minutes north. Longitude is 71 degrees 45.884 minutes west. The air temperature is 86, and water temperature is 0 degrees fahrenheit. The forecast is Sunny, Windy. The current weather is dry. The sky is clear or a few clouds. The wind is 6 knots from the east. The visibility is 15 nautical miles. The wave height is 0 feet with 1 foot swells. The barometer is 1015 millibars and steady. We are ready to go. All the systems on Jenny are in excellent condition and we are well rested. We'll be making water as we cross and have enough food to make it. I've upgraded the shock absorbers on both stabilizers and they will be running deeper than they have been, actually the depth I originally designed them to run. Nicholas is getting bored with being on the boat and keeps going into the cockpit to sniff the land. He knows we are close and is greatly disappointed that we don't have the dinghy down. We will begin to move around 4:00 PM since we have so much gear to get in and stored. We need to pull in the drogue / flopper stopper and reattach the downhaul lines. It needs to be washed and stowed. Then we need to run a line from the bow back to the bitter end of the stern anchor. I don't want to let go of the bow anchor until the stern anchor is up and stored. So, we will maneuver the boat to loosen and then drop the stern anchor off the stern cleat. Then we'll be bow anchored by both. By letting out 3-400 feet of bow anchor chain, we should be able to come up on the stern anchor and bring it over the bow. Then we need to disassemble that anchor (a Fortress that has worked perfectly) and get it stored. Then a final check and we are ready to raise the bow anchor. The weather forecasts have been all over the place. The latest are copied below and look really good. So, we may be able to beat our current ETA on the 19th. Now that the engine temperature guage is telling the truth, I won't need to worry about burning it up if I raise the RPM. The worst weather is on the first day and is not much more than what we have already experienced. 13 Degrees Feb 16 at 01:00 2/15 07 E 90 14 - 19 ENE 7sec 6 - 9 2/15 13 E 81 13 - 18 ENE 7sec 5 - 8 2/15 19 E 80 15 - 20 ENE 7sec 5 - 9 14 Degrees Feb 16 at 17:00 2/16 01 ENE 77 13 - 18 ENE 6sec 5 - 8 2/16 07 ENE 75 12 - 16 ENE 6sec 5 - 8 2/16 13 ENE 78 9 - 13 ENE 6sec 4 - 7 2/16 19 ENE 54 10 - 14 ENE 6sec 4 - 7 15 Degrees Feb 17 at 02:00 2/17 01 NE 45 10 - 14 E 6sec 4 - 6 2/17 07 ENE 61 8 - 11 E 6sec 3 - 6 2/17 13 NE 48 11 - 15 E 6sec 3 - 6 2/17 19 NE 43 13 - 18 E 6sec 3 - 6 16 Degrees Feb 17 at 10:30 2/17 01 ENE 64 7 - 10 E 6sec 3 - 6 2/17 07 ENE 57 8 - 11 E 6sec 3 - 5 2/17 13 NE 43 11 - 15 E 6sec 3 - 5 2/17 19 NE 42 11 - 15 E 6sec 3 - 5 17 Degrees Feb 17 at 19:00 2/17 01 ENE 79 5 - 7 E 6sec 3 - 5 2/17 07 ENE 57 10 - 13 ESE 6sec 3 - 5 2/17 13 NE 34 10 - 13 ESE 6sec 3 - 5 2/17 19 NE 39 15 - 20 ESE 6sec 3 - 5 18 Degrees Arrival Feb 18 at 08:00 David Passage: Bahia Honda to Boca Chica DR Departed Sunday, February 15, 2009 at 10:33 AM local time from Bahia Honda Anchorage. The departure location was latitude 12 degrees 23.050 minutes North, longitude 71 degrees 46.197 minutes West. Narrative Monday, February 16, 2009 2:33:14 PM Location: Caribbean Sea Latitude is 14 degrees 6.567 minutes north. Longitude is 70 degrees 0.801 minutes west. This weather observation was at Monday, February 16, 2009 2:32:53 PM local time. Observation location: Caribbean Sea. Latitude is 14 degrees 6.378 minutes north. Longitude is 70 degrees 0.881 minutes west. The air temperature is 80, and water temperature is 0 degrees fahrenheit. The forecast is Sunny. The current weather is dry. The sky is scattered clouds (10 - 50% clouds). The wind is 9 knots from the northeast. The visibility is 15 nautical miles. The wave height is 3 feet with 4 foot swells. The barometer is 1016 millibars and steady. So far we have had the luck of really good weather, at least for the Caribbean Sea at this time of year. The first 24 hours started off really nice with about a 4 ft chop out of the NE, but built as expected through the evening into a 5 - 6 ft wind wave at about 5 seconds by midnight. Then it started to come down again as forecast and became a 4 ft chop at about 5 seconds mostly from the NE, but some coming out of the North as well. There really isn't a defined swell that you can see, just a lumpy sea. We have made two of our three turns north already and have gradually decreased how much we are pounding into the waves. The birds are working their wonder, and wee have no perceptable roll. While not lake smooth, we are not uncomfortable. It is a wonder to me how you can be in the middle of nowhere and have a committee meeting. Here we were at 1:30 AM last night and we had 4 ships crossing our path from various directions. Two Princess cruise boats were coming from the Canal with one heading for Aruba. That on was going to pass within .04 NM of us. So, we slowed way down for about an hour and changed course to let it go by. Meanwhile I could hear the pilots on both boats yacking on channel 69 about their jobs, never giving any indication that we were here. This morning we found about 8 large flying fish in the cockpit. We scooped them up and put them in a zip lock in the refer for bate. But, with one on the hook so far all morning, we haven't had a single strike. This is quite different from the Pacific where we would have had a strike within an hour. Nicholas is not happy with this continuous movement. I think this is only his second multi-night passage and he wants it to be over. He wants dry land. Poor thing. I owe him big time. We are eating the dinners we froze on the way up the Colombian coast, and I made up the Suddenly Salid with Tuna for myself for lunchs. So, all is well on that front. Just before leaving, I got an email that said something about Catching Up heading for the DR so I'll have to send them an email when we get in. We are about 1/2 way now and Jenny is purring along. What a magnificant boat. David Narrative Tuesday, February 17, 2009 2:40:20 PM Location: Caribbean Sea Latitude is 16 degrees 32.723 minutes north. Longitude is 69 degrees 41.133 minutes west. This weather observation was at Tuesday, February 17, 2009 2:40:04 PM local time. Observation location: Caribbean Sea. Latitude is 16 degrees 32.454 minutes north. Longitude is 69 degrees 41.142 minutes west. The air temperature is 77, and water temperature is 0 degrees fahrenheit. The forecast is Sunny, Windy. The current weather is dry. The sky is clear or a few clouds. The wind is 13 knots from the northeast. The visibility is 12 nautical miles. The wave height is 5 feet with 5 foot swells. The barometer is 1018 millibars and steady. Well, we had a really nice (for this sea) night last night and even had the birds up for a few hours to get some speed. We managed to get up close to 7 knots for about 5 hours and are now showing an arrival time around 8 AM tomorrow. Cheers!!! We put the birds back in the water around 8 because the seas were building and we are again plowing through a 5 ft chop with about a 3 second interval. The sea seems to be getting a little better now though. We had another bird wire break last night and that prompted taking both up. The 1/8 inch wire is just not strong enough for the kind of chop that exists here. It was another quick repair this morning thankfully. When I get to the DR, the next person flying in from the states will be carrying replacement wire that will be 3/16 inch. The 1/8 is rated at 1750 lbs breaking strength and 3/16 is rated at 3700 lbs. So, that should fix the breakage problem. The 5/8 inch nylon line is rated at 11,000 lbs so the wire will break before the lne does. Hopefully, before anything else does. I've been reporting our position and checking in daily with the HAM Marine Mobile Service net on 14,300 hz USB. It is good to know that someone knows we are out here and where we are. Unfortunately I have not been able to get an email connection so I know you are all wondering if we are ok. I feel bad about that. This has been the longest and certainly the most challenging passage in our cruising experience. It has made me ready for some shore time for sure. I've begun looking at various options and timings. I plan to contact Ketching Up and finding out what their plans are for heading back to the states. I may hook up with them and head back earlier than I previously planned. I need to find a nice inexpensive marina to stay at though and am worried about the prices in the states. Maybe with this recession, some deals can be made? The crew is doing wonders and I am really glad to have them aboard. I know I would have been really struggling to get this done solo. They are turning into real sailors and are good to be with. Nicholas hangs out with them a lot now and a friendship has developed among them. We made enough water to fill out tanks so no worries there and we have enough food to get us through the night. Tomorrow we will dine out and drink some cervesas. Hope all is well with all of you. David Arrival Arrived Wednesday, February 18, 2009 at 2:06 PM local time at Boca Chica Dominican Republic. The arrival location was latitude 18 degrees 23.930 minutes North, longitude 69 degrees 36.671 minutes West. The customs checkin was Dominian Republic. The trip covered 407.00 nautical miles in 3d 14h 09m with an average speed of 5.10 knots and a maximum speed of 7.10 knots. Narrative Wednesday, February 18, 2009 5:57:59 PM Location: Boca Chica, DR Latitude is 18 degrees 26.688 minutes north. Longitude is 69 degrees 37.371 minutes west. This weather observation was at Wednesday, February 18, 2009 5:40:36 PM local time. Observation location: Boca Chica, DR. Latitude is 18 degrees 26.688 minutes north. Longitude is 69 degrees 37.372 minutes west. The air temperature is 73, and water temperature is 0 degrees fahrenheit. The forecast is Sunny. The current weather is dry. The sky is scattered clouds (10 - 50% clouds). The wind is 3 knots from the northeast. The visibility is 5 nautical miles. The wave height is 0 feet with 0 foot swells. The barometer is 1020 millibars and rising. We made it! I definately would not like to do that trip twice. Whew. I can't complain about the weather though. It was exactly as Buoy Weather predicted except for the wnd direction last night. BW predicted 3-6 ft waves with wind out of the E or ESE. Well, for someone used to the Pacific, 3-6 does not sound tooooo bad. BUT, it is not the same here. The 3-6 refers to the peak waves in a continuous chop with washing machine action that would make the Maytag Repairman proud. AND the wind came out of the NORTH, right in our face. We were slowed to 3.5 Knots for 12 hours, all night AND the wire on the starboard side bird snapped AGAIN. None of us got any sleep. Nicholas is totally crashed next to me now. We effectively lost 4 hours of transit time during the night because we had to slow down to survive the waves. Yesterday, all was looking beautiful and we predicted a 10 AM landfall. We got on our buoy at 2 PM. The crew became a crew during the journey. They really began to understand that this was not just your tourist adventure and was a true adventure with significant risk and lasting reward. I am really glad they were aboard and probably would have REALLY struggled to make it solo. I am really proud of them and thankful we met. This was the most difficult set of passages I have yet made, and they were a significant factor in its success. I hope they stay in touch. Damage Report 1. I need to re-rig the stabilizers with 3/16 wire. 1/8 does not do it. 2. The refer stopped being effective during the thrash. I think it just needs coolant. 3. One of the two 4-D batteries for the bow thruster shorted out during the night. I think I will shut down the bow thruster given the amount of use it gets. 4. I lost the port side throwable at the river. 5. The light on one of the Auto Helm guages went out. 6. When I rewired the engine guages I left some of the guages without lights. 7. ??? Yet to be found. Boca Chica Marina Zar Par is too much of a yacht club for me. It is too far from food shopping, town action, etc. It also has music blasting from across the bay already. I'm spoiled by Cartagena!!! I only paid for a week here. I'll start to research where next to go. I'm thinking of hooking up with Ketching Up on their way back to the states though. Nicholas and I are heading into the YC for dinner now. There isn't a crumb of food left on board! David Narrative Wednesday, February 18, 2009 7:42:20 PM Location: Boca Chica, DR Latitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes north. Longitude is 0 degrees 0 minutes west. This weather observation was at Wednesday, February 18, 2009 5:40:36 PM local time. Observation location: Boca Chica, DR. Latitude is 18 degrees 26.688 minutes north. Longitude is 69 degrees 37.372 minutes west. The air temperature is 73, and water temperature is 0 degrees fahrenheit. The forecast is Sunny. The current weather is dry. The sky is scattered clouds (10 - 50% clouds). The wind is 3 knots from the northeast. The visibility is 5 nautical miles. The wave height is 0 feet with 0 foot swells. The barometer is 1020 millibars and rising. Small Anoyances. Don't get me wrong, being in this perfectly flat water, on a mooring, temperatures in the 70's, able to see the bottom in 20 ft of water is really nice. Especially after a long passage. BUT. The marina does not have an ATM, you have to go to Boca Chica. I arranged to go to the small grill here for dinner and to pay in Pasos tomorrow. Nicholas and I got there at 6:30 and they were closing up. UGH. I was hungry. Back to the boat. The kids ate the bottle of spagetti sauce. :-( So it was chicken noodle soup for dinner. And some 1800... :-) David Report Totals Total recorded distance is 699.24 nautical miles. Time underway was 5 days, 5 hours, 39 minutes. The average speed was 5.6 nautical miles / hour. Total fuel used during this period was 292 gallons. The total fuel efficiency during this period was 2.32 gallons / hour, 2.39 nautical miles / gallon. David A Schramm M/V Jenny Current Location (blue pin) Jenny Journey Log