Two Years out… almost
We have no accurate measure of miles traveled, our GPS chooses to reset at will. 20 countries, and counting. We’ve made numerous improvements and upgrades to Inishnee both for comfort and safety. We have had amazing adventures, planned and not. Met incredible people doing extraordinary things. Been witness to countless jaw dropping experiences and sights… We have learnt a lot about ourselves, not alway faltering. A lot about the boat, a Passport 40, which has proved she is more capable than we are.
The cruising life style… like an erratic heart beat has been calm and relaxing with jolts of reality sparking our anxiety meter.
And still we crave more…
St. Martin preparations to cross the pond…
April 14 - May 20
Motoring away from Culebra, Puerto Rico with the sun climbing into the sky heading into an overnight passage. The weather window indicates no wind, desirable since the trades are generally from the east, our heading. This passage will be fueled by diesel though the clouds on the horizon were teasing us with the possibility of wind. As the day slipped by the clouds built tossing out a few water spouts to keep us warily. The motor and Chris the auto pilot kept us on course steadily chugging south and east. Our dry spell for fish was broken when we hooked a Barracuda, luckily for us (and him, we don't eat them due to Ciguatera poisoning) it threw the hook as we lifted it aboard… planting the barbs just slightly into my calf. Nothing serious. By morning we were at anchor off the the entrance to Simpson Bay Lagoon, St. Martin waiting for the 9:30 bridge. It opened on schedule, we found ‘our spot’ between the causeway bridge and La Palapa Marina and deployed the Rocna.
The next few weeks were spent doing chores and preparing for the crossing, catching up with fellow cruisers as they passed through en route to hurricane season haul outs or anchorages. Our dear friends Don and Phylis Turberville had contacted us a month prior and were beating a path north to the States where they would compete their 5 year circumnavigation voyage… We were able to spend several days catching up with them, hearing stories from their travels, imparting their seasoned advice to us ‘newbies’. Don and Phylis were our dock mates in Michigan prior to their departure for “The Voyage of the Yacht Solstice”. A weepy (Phylis and I… the guys much too manly) departure left us humbled by their sustained friendship. We also claimed some booty from them… charts, guides and pilot books for the Pacific… hmmmmm
We found time to take in the Dutch St. Martin Carnival Grand Parade with a number of other cruisers. We handed out ear plugs assuming the event would impart the usual speaker vibrating rhythms we experienced previously at similar parades. The floats; semi trucks hauling trailers loaded with dozens of speakers the size of Smart Cars piled high front and back. DJ”s or bands adorning the beds lubricating themselves with drink from their portable cooler bars, followed by the dance troupes (also lubricated) clad in feathers, glitter, spandex and beads. The parade slowly maneuvers the city streets, taking hours to complete the route. A couple of hours of watching we walked the parade route to the end taking in the glam and glitter of the dancers as they strutted and sweated their way past thousands of spectators. 
Another wind event..
This season we have seen tremendous winds while in the Lagoon in St. Martin. The worst of which came in the middle of the night (of course) with 30 knot suspended winds for 2-3 hours gusting to 40… several boats drug anchor, one calling a pan-pan (emergency) at approximately 12:30 am. Their anchor had drug for the second time in 3 days, this time placing them squarely on the rocks behind them / us. Several boats came to their aide. We heard / saw none of this dealing with our own issue. Our wind generator was in overload and roaring loudly, the boat pitching and swinging (so glad we purchased a Rocna anchor!) when the chilling smell of hot wires made it’s way forward to the v-berth, our sleeping quarters. @#!t…. Jim was soon deep in the battery compartment looking for clues. The control panel for the wind generator appeared to be over heating and we had no way to stop the wind generator from spinning due to the conditions. A few restless hours; the wind diminishing to a respectable 15 -20 knots, we returned to our bunks. The morning net (cruisers news vhf) reported on the boats that drug and the safe recovery of the Meinerkinder; the boat that went on the rocks, and subsequent tow to a dock for haul out and inspection. Our electrical problems were resolved with the help of a fellow cruiser (former electrician) and a call to the wind generator company. The consensus: the unit is designed to dissipate heat through the unit that we thought was overheating, the smell was from the residual solder used when manufacturing the unit. In 1.5 years of it’s use we had never had enough sustained winds to put it into ‘dissipate’ mode. 
Lagoonies Bar and Bistro hosts a swap meet every Friday, The French side at TOBY’s (Time Out Boat Yard) hosts one monthly. A great way to acquire or rid the boat of items of use. Our lockers, bins and lazaretes contained some of these items. Most of our ‘treasures of the bilge’ were snatched up quickly, some for sale, some for free, the remaining odd things we donated to 
Shrimpies. Mike and his wife own Shrimpies. He is the net controller (a volunteer position) of St. Martins cruisers net Monday - Saturday, has a laundry service and an inventory of ‘treasures of the bilge’ for buy, sell or trade. Why the name Shrimpies? Mike told us that in one of his former lives he and his wife ran a restaurant called Shrimpies … their menu specialty was shrimp… the nickname stuck
Boat projects and upgrades…
Purchase an Iridium Go! After talking with Don and Phylis we decided to exercise the credit card and get and Iridium Go… it is a hot spot for computers, iPads etc, the data coming from a satellite enabling the user to download files such as weather. We will be able to get reports daily for weather routing as fellas emails to and from family and friends.
A sewing machine! One of the things I have missed from home has been crafting and or sewing. With a number of canvas repairs needing done, we purchased a small machine capable of doing small repair work, not for sails, we’ll leave that for the lofts. The first project was to make covers for all our our jerry jugs on deck, we have 8 now; water, gasoline and diesel. Lashed to the deck in full sun the plastic deteriorates quickly. Fabric covers slow the process. The local sail loft was happy to part with an old bimini (free) and an end cut of Sunbrella fabric for cheap. I worked out the dimensions and made a pattern then cut the usable pieces of fabric from the old bimini which produced enough fabric for 4 jugs, the remainder from the new. 12 +/- hours later and the jugs are all dressed out with their new clothes. Other projects include simple repairs to canvas an clothes and a ditty bag for carrying things.
Provision purchasing and organizations… and storage
Having bought most of the provisions for the crossing (canned meats, veggies and fruits, instant potatoes and quick cook pasta) in Puerto Rico I organized it into 4 one week bags. And then we got THE call. Son Alex says he wants to come along on the crossing which was perfect since our 3rd crew member had recently had to cancel. Time away from family would be significant (5 -6 weeks) and difficult not to mention his job. He will be welcome crew and we are much appreciative of his wife Nicki for her support for this… she will be a single parent for their young family (ages 1 and 3) while Alex is away.
An afternoon of shopping and reorganizing followed the bags bulging with their new additions. Our garage / Alex’s bunk already stuffed with gear will need to be packed into the shower for the passage…
Jim scaled the mast and gave the rigging a good inspection. The deck hardware checked out OK too. Safety equipment in place and checked as well.
Our energy consumption continues to be one of our biggest issues, mainly the fridge / freezer, which we replaced while in St. Martin in March 2 months ago. Though new and under warranty it has not worked as well as we hoped. Our calls and emails to the company have been largely ignored once after the unit was installed and the check deposited…
Our batteries were nearing the end of their life, not holding a charge, so we decided to replace them before our upcoming departure. Thankfully Alex was here to help with the heavy lifting. 3 batteries, 130 pounds of dead, lead weight. Alex (and Nicki) are avid Cross Fit members. With little space aboard for workouts this may be the best / only heavy lifting he’ll get for the next 6 weeks.
We are on the eve our our departure, Azores bound. Passage time; hope for 3 (weeks) plan for 4. Some 2,40068 +/- miles north and east. A whole lot of water in-between. We are ready.
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