Portobelo, Again!

Almost three years ago I was in Portobelo with my previous boat, Sundowner. Now I am back with Sirocco and the difference is quite noticeable. For one, I have a full three burner stove and oven to cook with, not my Coleman stove that by this point last trip was barely holding on. In addition, though this boat isn't quite completely watertight, what a difference from Sundowner! When it rains its actually cozy and not a rainforest!

The internet here in Portobelo is less than stellar though so pictures will have to wait until I can have a few hours to upload them... It may just have to wait until I get back to the states this Saturday. I hope to have some up sometime this week though.

This week I'll be working on coordinating the transit of Sirocco through the canal. I've already submitted a Request for Line Handling Transit and need to confirm a measurement date with the Canal Authority tomorrow. In the meantime, Ed and I are just enjoying this amazing weather! It is dry and highs are in the mid 80's, lows in the mid 70s with a nice breeze at night. Similar to the snowpocalypse in the states, but completely different.

Pictures should be coming soon!

Last Day in USVI

After a wonderful week with my parents, time to say goodbye and look west toward Panama. The winds look very good through the next week so I believe we should have a quick trip to the Canal where I can coordinate a transit.

On Wednesday we traveled to the British Virgin Islands to visit the very westernmost part of Tortola, West End. It was a very small group of restaurants and shops near the mooring field and marina. Though the buildings were very pretty, there was not much to do. However, the mooring field is very protected and would have been a great jumping off point to visit the rest of the BVIs.

Thursday we went to Salt Pond Bay which has some amazing coral near the middle of the bay. It centers around two rock points that come from about 25 feet up to the surface. The amount of coral diversity and subsequent diversity in the fish and animals on the reef is impressive. As an added bonus, the beach is the usual fine white sand that is just perfect for laying on.

I'm going to use Google Photos to share the majority of my photos from now on because Blogger is very slow to load photos over bad internet connections, which will be the norm until I get to San Diego. Check out the link here!

A true pirate ship! The "Ocean Star" is a learning ship for students who want to do a semester at sea. The captain was expertly parking her in a slip at West End, Tortola, BVI

Sirocco moored up in Salt Pond Bay, St. John, USVI

A beautiful sunset before the next leg even starts!

My mom expertly steering along coming back from Tortola

I'm sure the one foot on the wheel kept us going more or less the right direction...

My dad enjoying the relaxing motor up to Salt Pond Bay. My mom liked this photo because of the splashing waves

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Parental Units Arrive, New Panels!

My parents arrived yesterday afternoon and this morning we all brought Sirocco to a marine store that not only is open on Sundays but also happened to have two 100W rigid panels in stock. The three flexible ones I mounted in Texas have all but given up, producing between 10-50% of their normal output. A few hours of finding some fittings that would work, and I had the panels installed, minus the ripped bimini top which needs to be repaired and modified to fit the new panels. The new setup creates a much stronger bimini though and I think will be much more durable. My dad got some new webbing to replace the 20 year old stuff that is starting to fray and Ed walked over a mile to get some 1/4" nylon locking nuts because the marine store had been cleared out the day before of both locking and standard 1/4" nuts by some guy doing a big project.

We went snorkeling off an island south west of St. Thomas after installing the panels and in the little anchorage there's a FLOATING PIZZERIA! It's a modified motorsailor and the pizza was really good. Plus it is pretty awesome to row up to get your lunch out of the back of the boat.

Before Fred left on Saturday he and Ed went to watch some international women's match racing in the downtown area of St. Thomas. There was some really good wind that highlighted the some amazing talent and they also got some great pictures.

Here are some pictures from yesterday and today and snorkeling videos will be coming up shortly!

Christmas tree and music at the local bar in Red Hook got us all in the spirit of the season!

Women's match racing downwind flying fast under the kites

On the way to pick up my parents Ed and I stopped at Abi's Beach Bar. They had these very comfortable lounges under the palm trees on the beach that almost dared you to stay awake. I sent this picture to my mom and she though it looked just like a Corona ad. I can't argue with that.

New solar panels installed across the bimini frame. Now I just need to modify the bimini cover to fit around them easily.

Mom and Dad at the helm on the way to get new solar panels. Watch out for the rocks!

Pizza Pi boat. They just opened yesterday, what luck!

Well earned meal after getting the solar panels installed.

Passage Photos and Westin Day

Well here are the long awaited passage photos from Marathon! Today we decided to take a quick day trip, leaving Red Hook around 7 am to get to Dog Island before the winds got strong. Dog Island has a nice area to snorkel without any people usually, and today was no exception. I swam around and got some great video, which of course will be uploaded later :).

Then we made the quick trip over to the Westin resort on St. John in Great Cruz bay. After coming here for ten or so years when I was younger, it was really really awesome walking down memory lane. Most of it has not changed, but they have added a new restaurant and painted some of the units that were becoming a little aged. If there was a goal for this trip, it was to see my boat anchored off the beach here, so mission accomplished! Enjoy the rest of the pictures.

Sunset over the Atlantic, cruising easily under the big genoa.

Wind starting to pick up from the NE, but still manageable. Again this trip we saw winds in the 25 knot range, but not approaching the 30 knots we saw in the Gulf. I'm not sure if it was because we had already gone through one good beating, but the waves didn't seem as bad. It could also be because of the Atlantic not having the washing machine affect like the Gulf.

Faithful crewmember Ed takes a selfie at sea. You can see the poor bimini has about had it... I'm going to have to sew it up the best I can over winter break.

Drinking some tea to get ready for my midnight watch. It's amazing how cold it is at night going to windward, even when it's only mid-70s at night. Can't imagine how it will be as we get closer to California...

Sirocco off the beach at the Westin in Cruz Bay! Mission accomplished!

These big iguanas are all over the Westin resort. The bigger they are, the less scared of people they become. This one dared me to come closer; I didn't.

They even are in the trees! At first it seems like there's a squirrel running around, but then you realize it's a huge iguana!

Bike Ride

Got up this morning to a beautiful blue sky so decided to try to bike up Crown Mountain, which gains 1500 ft of elevation in 3 miles. A short rain put enough water on the road to make my back wheel slip, but I eventually made it to the Miuntain Top restaurant! Beautiful ride, humidity was high but the breeze made it comfortable. Ed is still working on getting his photos from the crossing to me, so maybe tomorrow we'll post a summary of the trip. In the meantime, enjoy these biking photos :).

Smith Bay

St. Thomas from above with Water Island and Hassel Island in the distance

Top of Crown Mountain, with Magen's Bay in the background

Near Frenchtown in Charlotte Amalie

These tarpon are protected by the government so grow huge and prowl around the docks. Don't worry, they only eat trash, not crazy guys swimming in the anchorage

The Islands!

After another hard run to windward, we arrived in St. John's on Sunday afternoon, tying up to a mooring ball in Cinnamon Bay. The biggest casualty of the passage was my phone, which decided to go for a swim about 20 miles north of the islands... But I've gotten a new one, as well as a big floating waterproof bag :).

Other than the phone, no other major issues. The boat, despite traveling 2200 miles to windward over the past 20 days, is in great shape! I'm looking forward to some rest before we take the nice downwind run to Panama.

Here is a picture of Fred and I on the way past Jost Van Dyke on the way to Cinnamon Bay and one of Sirocco on the hook in Cruz Bay. I'm actually flying back from Chicago right now after a surprise visit to my girlfriend, but once I'm back in St. John's I'll upload a bunch more photos and videos that Ed took during the trip.

Coming into the islands between Jost Van Duke and Great Tobago 

Sirocco at anchor in Cruz Bay, USVI

Videos

We uploaded two videos Ed took to YouTube. Check them out!

Nick and Slocum: https://youtu.be/B0lnLkIXO68

Nick the Bird Whisperer: https://youtu.be/EHPpDw7b1xE

Marathon, FL

After a wet and fast trip across the Gulf, we are tied up to a mooring ball in the Marathon City Marina (also called Boot Key Harbor, still not sure what the difference is...). No serious issues on the way over is allowing us to make a quick turnaround to try to catch this weather window and make a quick trip again to the Virgin Islands!

Of course, the biggest surprise upon landing in Marathon was the election. I don't want to turn this blog too political, but suffice to say each one of us aboard was very surprised.

City Marina is really amazing, the staff is incredibly helpful and the other cruisers are a great group. We found someone aptly named "Stich" to patch up our No. 2 jib which was the only real casualty of the crossing (after the forestay of course). It would be a cool place to visit for a while, though in all honesty, I feel like Edward Bloom in the movie Big Fish stumbling on Spectre twenty years too early.

Our faithful crew member Eric safely got home to Freeport, TX and we picked up our new crew, Fred from Seattle, WA. He'll continue to the Virgin Islands, then fly home while Ed and I continue to Panama after we meet up with my parents in St. Johns.

Enjoy the pictures below from Marathon and the crossing! Ed's having some technical difficulties so we'll have to wait to upload his photos in the USVI.

Oil rig off of Freeport. This was just a small one. Later on we saw what we believe was the Bullwinkle oil rig off of New Orleans. It looked a like a large city lit up at night. At least it was easy to avoid.

Ed bravely manning the helm in a bit of easterly breeze and spray.

This supposedly shy parrot, "Slocum," took a liking to me. We ended up whistling the march from "Bridge on the River Kwai" together, which Ed got on video! Check out the video here.

On my bike ride this morning to Bahia Honda, I met this guy on Seven Mile Bridge. His name is Ed and is currently 44 miles from hiking from Canada to Key West. It's taken him 5 years, doing it in section as the seasons permit.

Route 1 looks a lot different here than it does in West Chester, PA!

Yes, the bike is a pain to bring on the boat. And yes, it is totally worth it :).

We're Off (Again)

With a little bit of luck and some great help from Hayes Rigging who turned around both main shrouds and both stays in about 2 hours, Sirocco is ready for the sea again. The two crewmates, Eric and Ed, had a great time hoisting me up and down the mast again today, and with our hard work, we're ready to go. Winds are looking good for now so hopefully we have a fast trip to Florida.

We're Back

The word adventure has gotten overused. For me, when everything goes wrong, that's when adventure starts.
                                                                                                        -yvon chouinard


Friday afternoon, 100 miles from Freeport, I was taking down the big headsail (the front sail) to put up a smaller one because of the building wind. After it was down, I noticed a piece of string on the piece of wire that holds the mast up, called the forestay. Only it wasn't string, it was a piece of the wire. The forestay was fraying, drastically reducing it's strength and making it impossible to raise another headsail.

Because of the safety factor, we decided to turn around and come back to Galveston to get a new forestay and while we are at it, the other rigging that keeps the mast up. Hopefully when it starts really blowing out there I'll sleep more soundly with the new rigging.

It sounds like we may have found someone to make new rigging tomorrow, so we could be gone as early as Wednesday. I'll be sure to post updates as they become known. In the meantime, enjoy some pictures of the short "shake down" trip! All picture credits go to the faithful crewmate, Ed Stancil.

Eric relaxing as we motor out the Freeport jetties

Last view from slip in Freeport

Stores that we keep in the kitchen. We have more than twice this stashed under the cockpit, ready for some great meals!

After salt shower, before I found out about the forestay...

Sunrise on Friday

The rainbow ended up not being a great omen...

I believe I'm actually asleep here...

Carnival ship leaving from Galveston

Just hanging out

Inspecting the spreaders and removing the shrouds

We're Off!

Looks like everything is ready. The wind is starting to come from the east and we have enough food to seemingly last years! Anyway, thanks Texas for a great two years! Next stop, Key Largo, FL. Also, I added the Yellowbrick tracker to this blog. It's in the header.

Itinerary

I'll be sailing back to California from Texas starting November 3rd. I'll update this blog with pictures with short captions and upload any videos to Youtube. Like when I sailed to Texas, there will be a Yellowbrick tracking page allowing everyone to view my progress.

The itinerary is basically sailing east to the Virgin Islands before during west to Panama then up the coast. I plan to transit the canal the first week of 2018 and be in Berkeley by the last days of April. If you are interested in specific dates, let me know and I'll email you and itinerary if you don't already have one.

I still have some work to complete before I sail away, but a big thanks to everyone who has helped out so far!