Here are the latest blog posts. For older posts click here for the previous blog site. Eventually we will bring all the old posts over once we automate the process.
donathon take 2 miami to san blas panama – 15 to 25 aug 2014
backing up a bit before don and i could start our next adventure the anchor windless had to be fixed. fortunately it started acting up only a few days before arriving in miami. once safly on the dock in dinner key marina i began the process. pretty quickly it became obvious the gear box was shot. when i got into the anchor locker i could feel oil leaking out of the lowee seal, not a good sign. i also looked in the manual and it recommended having the gear box serviced every 3 years by an authorized dealer. mine was 8 years old and i dont...
read moreThe end of the final donathon – 13 May 2014
So the final day of the delivery/donathon started a bit earlier than i planned. we got a wake up call from aimee calling to check in and confirm my arrival plans. i wanted to go out for coffee and after about an hour of waiting on don to book is flight online we where off. it was a 1nm hike or so to the city marina but we where rewarded by one of the best breakfasts in a long time. we both got the crab cake Benedict with fresh local crab along with asparagus and tomato and canadian bacon, even gave aimee’s bfasts a run for the...
read moremade it mostly in one piece! – 11 may 2014
so after our morning engine work i managed a short nap and when i awoke it was time for a celebratory beer. the sun finally came out for some warmth. as the day progressed projected arrival time slowly came down. we chatted with a lepord 48 song 1 that passed us also on the way into Charleston. they had brought the boat from south Africa and where on their way to Annapolis. the arrival time finally settled in at 1900 which was good as the tide/current was projected to turn at 1830. we followed the channel in past the civil war era forts...
read moreFoiled again! – 10 May 2014
Yesterday was another uneventful aka relaxing day at sea. I was pleasantly surprised to see we where doing 7+ kts when i came on watch at 430 am. apparently we had finally motored into a bit of the gulf stream. we did not hold that speed all day but averaged over 6. they day was a bit overcast and definitely not tropics weather i was actually trying to get into dirrect sun to stay warm, does not boad well for Charleston 200nm north. after more book reading and relaxing I made us another yaki soba dinner with raman and our last...
read moreon the home streatch – 9 May 2014
So the good news was nothing exciting happened last night or all day today!! Don started the day by boiling us eggs for bfast and then used the hot water to make a pot of mac and cheese for dinner. I got to have curried tuna with mayo thanks to the mayo replacement. we also worked our way though the last of our madella beer and some of our new 5$ chips. the weather is finally back on track with 10 to 15k kts of wind on the stern getting us back to 125 nm days after much debate we decided on charlson sc as a target destination. it has an...
read moreso much for relaxing! – 8 may 2014
so this morning i was actually feeling a bit guilty about our plan to take the day off and go out on a abaco tour with joe in his new boat. as it turned out this guilt would be very short lived. as i was still waking up (did i mention not only are we doing sans meat this trip but also sans coffee) don announced that the starboard engine was overheating and he suspected another water pump failure. in my daze i recommended we press on to guana cay where we where to meet up with joe and i would fix it underway. it turned out to be a bit rolly...
read moreabaco ho! – 7 May 2014
so we made it out of eluthra sound (i may have used a few other names for it on previous posts) with no trouble. its a reasonably deep but not very wide pass and we went out just an hour after low tide and there was already a 3 kt current. with us fortunatly, we had the headsail up for more “power” in case we needed it but where doing 8 kts with the engins back. shortly after we exited don made us been and rice buritos finally taking us off the mac and chease and raman diet! we had a magnificent sunset before turning north for...
read moreSailing on the sound! – 6 May 2014
So we made it into Exuma sound with no problem last nigth, a bit freeky coming into a new country at night for the first time. Don’s Garmin and my Navionics charts where not exactly in agreement but we used them both. We droped anchor in about 10 ft of water of a pretty deserted piece of land at about midnight. It was officially an anchorage but we could not see any other boats. We had a celebratory rum before bed and a great nights rest. Don was up at 630 or so and we got underway right away. We got a nice sunrise and super calm...
read morenew plan! 5 May 2014
so after suffering along like a pin ball in a pin ball machine don and were both clearly the not having fun camp not looking forward to the next 36 hours at all. more water was coming in the boat in more places so i finally i said to don “we could bail out and go to another island”, yes, he said that sounds good, how far, “50nm straight down wind” i replied. this would take us on a track pretty much perpendicular to our destination but would let us work our way through the exemenos giving us some protection form the...
read morehow quickly things can change! – 5 May 2014
So in the afternoon things cleared up and we where motoring sailing more north in anticipation of the winds clocking around to the north east. everything was going great don decided we where officially in the bahamas and declared an early happy hour. we got a not great sunset but enjoyed the happy hour. around sunset i started to make dinner and all hell broke loose. i had the mac and cheese on stove when from out of no where the wind came up straight on the nose we went from doing 4.5 kts to doint 3 kts. no problem i thought ill just fire...
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