All posts by : Jessica

Wednesday May 8, 2013

 

Things are winding down for us here in Port Antonio and we’re planning our escape to Cuba.  Since we still rely mostly on Brian and Stephanie for our weather reports (and why wouldn’t we?, they’ve got it down pat), they found a window with winds mostly working in our favor that will help push us up the 300 miles NE towards Cienfuegos.  These winds should give us a good push when we start, but then putter out and die before coming back strong in directly the direction we need to be heading.  We figured we’d take the light winds with chances of motoring over certain motoring into headwinds.  After Serendipity has shown us what she can do throughout the Bahamas and the windward passage, we’d normally think this passage could be done in about 2.5 days, but we’re actually going to give ourselves another full day due to the light winds.  Plans are being made to leave tomorrow evening with arrival in the Bahia de Cienfuegos first thing Monday morning.

The past few days have been pretty open for us with no real plans until we tend to flock toward the pool area in the evening for a drink and internet use.  I’ve spent the past two days ready to swear off sewing again as I make more adjustments to the connecting piece between our dodger and bimini, and also measure and fit covers for our hatches.  With Serendip no longer being in storage or covered for seven months out of the year, the sun is really taking a toll on the acrylic and we need to shield them before they begin cracking.  I have come to a realization in the past few days that my battle isn’t even necessarily with my sewing machine itself.  We’re at odds with each other a fair amount of the time, sure, but we’re figuring out our issues and learning to work together (without even seeing a counselor!).  No.  My issue is with measuring.  It seems like no matter what I do I can’t from measuring to pinning to sewing without it going horribly wrong somewhere in the middle.  I blame it on working with mostly abstract areas which is not even a case for these covers but it must fit into the mix somewhere because the last one keeps coming out wrong.  There’s a very ill fitting one sitting on the hatch over our salon at the moment, and although to me it’s good enough for who it’s for, I already lament the day it’s going to have to be removed and fixed.

In other preparations we took one last trip to the market today since we never fully stocked up after going through a good portion of our stored food in the Bahamas (can you believe we spend less that $100 on provisions in the six weeks we were there?).  Again, we are absolutely terrible at deciding what we need to stock the boat but that’s probably also why we’re always the ones eating Ramen noodles while our friends enjoy afternoon snacks of goat cheese spread on crackers and topped with sun dried tomatoes.  Although I now realize six weeks of Ramen noodles probably will give you a $100 provisioning budget.  Anywhoo, today we were up to the task of filling the cupboards once more.  We’re trying to get ourselves more into fresh produce and I’ve been picking up little things from our friends on meals to make so we walked through the market and stocked up on carrots, potatoes (which, I don’t know how they grow them, but Jamaica seriously has the best potatoes ever), onions and the like.  Then going to a wholesale store we purchased three five lb bags of flour, 5 lbs of sugar, and a case of beer.  To which everyone on the street thought they were entitled to grab one from us on our way back and we had to shoo them away before they were able to pull one out of the case.

For our last night in town here we were on the hunt for one last good meal.   It should have been jerk chicken once more, I don’t know why we’ve now gone over a week without eating it, but we decided on pizzas at The Italian Job instead.  Over food we discussed our future plans which do now include Rode Trip heading to the Mediterranean and us debating between Guatemala and Panama since we apparently can not get insured in Colombia.  We’re excited to have one last new place with Brian and Stephanie although we’ll miss them terribly once they start heading north and east while we make our way south and west.  But after already being separated from each other once I have a feeling that we’ll find each other again, somewhere, somehow.  Jason joined us later and although Brian and Stephanie made their way back to their boat after eating, the remaining three of us went to the pool on more time.  I popped a cork on a bottle of Trader Joe’s Sauvignon Blanc after enjoying Red Stripe on Jason, more payment for something or else Matt helped him with and I joined in on reaping the benefits.  I also reaped the benefits of Matt’s hard work by turning Jason into my personal assistant on the website for the night since there were things that were driving me crazy and not only do I not know how to read html, but Matt is so fed up with trying to figure out the code for this website that he’s just given up.  So we did a little tweaking, downloaded some new versions, and voila, you have the new version that’s sitting in front of you today (as of April ’13).  I’m not sure if I’m 100% happy with the way it looks and I’m sure there will still be future tweaks, but at least it’s a start.

Monday May 6, 2013

 

Since we had been putting this off basically a week since we’ve been here now, we finally made plans today with Brian and Stephanie to do a little exploring over at Navy Island next door.  This a small little island, about 64 acres, spans in front of both the East and West Bay, and blocks both harbors from the sea.  It was once owned by Errol Flynn, and housed many wild Hollywood parties.  Still standing on the island is the Navy Island Marina and Resort although it hasn’t been occupied in years and is beginning to fall into disrepair.  Inviting Skebenga with us, the six of us traveled over in our dinghies to the dock that still sits in front of the old resort.  Walking up to the resort it was like stepping into the land that time had forgotten.  The derelict resort sat with vines growing over it, adding just a hint of mystery to the place.  We walked up the winding cement stairs to the second floor and were amazed by the interior.  You could tell that at one time it was a magical place.  I could almost put myself back in time to when there were lavish parties where you’d be sitting with a champagne glass in your hand, looking out at the rolling hills of Port Antonio in front of you and listening to the trickle of water streaming down a stone wall into a basin behind you.  Now though, the paint is chipping off the walls and the trees and vines from the outside are trying to make their way in.  We searched the rooms and discovered not only a white owl nesting in the rafters but also the world’s largest moth constantly zipping across our heads like a bat.  It was an interesting place and I wish I could have seen what it was like when it was up and running.

After the initial tour of the resort, we took to the grounds.  There was a path that led out about 1/4 mile from the resort, but just after passing an old cement swimming pool, that trail ended and we started making our own.  As we got further into the brush we began seeing all different kinds of tropical plants and flowers.  The kinds that brochures use to entice you to come to a place, giving you the assumption that you’ll be surrounded by them in a tropical garden while sipping on a Mai Tai.  But cruisers brochures rarely include viewing flowers from well maintained gardens, or even sipping fruity rum drinks while doing so.  We usually find ours the hard way, and that’s blazing a trail through thigh high grass to get to them.  It didn’t make them any less beautiful though.  Eventually we found our way out to water again, on the little channel that runs out between the West Bay and the sea.  Admiring the Royal Palms planted by Errol Flynn and surrounding the coast, Brian even went on a mission to scale any coconut palms he could to get fronds for new hats.  With big bushels of fronds in tow we made our way back to the marina area where a mango tree was found and all three guys spent the next twenty minutes finding the best way to knock the fruit off its branch until we once again had more mangoes than we could eat or carry.

When our backpacks were once more full of mangoes we got back in our dinghies and went to see what the Port Antonio area had to offer for snorkeling.  The water in the bay we’re in isn’t fantastic, but on the other side of Navy Island where the channel leads in from the Caribbean Sea the water clears up a bit and we found a place to tie our dinghies off to a few poles that were sticking out of the water.  Before I could even open my mesh bag to start grabbing my things out all three guys and Elmarie were already in the water.  Stephanie was staying behind in the dink to just soak up a little sun, but soon I was in the water with everyone else and trying to catch up.  Out near the channel everything was just sand and there was nothing to see on the bottom but as soon as you closed in on the island a small coral shelf popped out and fish began darting around.  The water here was much shallower than we were used to snorkeling in, only 3-5 feet, and I made sure to keep a careful eye on all the sea urchins that poked up just below me.  We swam through lots of warm and cold patches in the water which caused a weird salination effect where the water would become blurry in front of our faces.  There was a pretty good current rolling through the bay at the time we were out which made swimming sometimes difficult and we were only out about 30 minutes before pumping our way back to the dinghies to catch our breath and head back.

We spent a few hours back at our boats relaxing before we got cleaned up to meet back up on Skebenga for a few drinks and a tour of their boat.  It was something Lukie had built himself about 20 years ago (it took him 10 years to complete) and it is absolutely gorgeous.  We were busy arguing with Brian and Stephanie on which one of us would be the ones to take it off their hands when they stop cruising in the next year or two.  We all poured over cruising books for the Med and it’s pretty apparent that Brian and Stephanie will be making their way there now this year.  It hasn’t been shouted out as a definite yes, but it’s only a matter of time.  If they go it will be sad to break up our buddy boat armada, but also a little nice that they’ll be able to scout out everything for us before we get there ourselves next summer.  They’re still on for Cuba though which is great because it’s a place we were all looking very forward to seeing together.  And now we found out that Skebenga is also going to be heading to Cienfuegos Cuba at the same time we are.  Between the six of us, I think we should have enough Spanglish to get by.

Tonight was Jimmy’s last night in his multi-week sailing adventure this year before he heads back to the States.  I would say back to resuming a normal life but he’s moving to Barcelona next week to experience something new, and that’s just not normal for most people.  In any case, I wanted to do a little going away celebration for him at the bar.  A big send off party.  Hell, I would have even been up for going back to Crystal’s if that’s what they had wanted to do.  These guys are crazy.  I expected something crazy to happen, like jumping into the bay in the middle of the night.  Which is why I even made it a point to wear underwear I wouldn’t be embarrassed to be seen in just in case that happened.  But once we finally met up after dinner we sat at our table by the pool for an hour and then called it a night.  I have to tell you Jimmy, I’m just a little disappointed.  That goes for you too Jason and Piers.  I guess you’re not the off the wall guys I fell in love with.  Ah, who am I kidding.  I do still love you.

Friday May 3, 2013

Where we’re sitting in the West Bay of Port Antionio, it’s a pretty protected little area with Navy Island blocking us from most of the Caribbean sea and just a little sliver of open water in front of us covered with shoals.  It’s very calm and as soon as we dropped anchor here on Monday the first thing that crept into our minds was ‘Finally.  A still spot in the water.’.  Things became so much easier once we weren’t violently or even slightly constantly rocking back and forth.  Dinners could be made without me getting seasick (Yes, it can happen even at anchor), boat projects ensued, and we were quite content in our little spot.  We figured this was the best little protected bay that anyone had ever stumbled upon.  Then came today’s storm….

In an almost somewhat lazy day on the boat, we had allowed ourselves to sleep in and then make a nice breakfast of eggs and very thick sliced bacon and coffee.  We tooled around on the internet that was sometimes coming into range and just generally relaxed.  Then it was time to head over to Tamarisk since Jason had found out that Matt is a whiz on little internet set-ups and doo-dads, and needed his bullet set up as well so he could pick up wifi from his boat instead of heading to shore.  Piers was once again on a hunt for boat parts in Kingston which meant that Jason and Jimmy were stranded there without the use of a dinghy.  Jason was fine to sit there, obviously, with the promise of internet in his future, but Jimmy and I decided to ditch the scene and grab some lunch in town.  We went to a cafe serving pizza and sandwiches that was run by a non Jamaican that we spent almost our entire lunch trying to place his origins based on his accent.  Even though I’ve never been there and have no idea what the people sound like, my money was on Morrocan while Jimmy was going with Spanish.

Due to a miscommunication with the server as we were trying to leave, apparently they thought that “I’d like a Coke and the rest of my sandwich to go please” meant “Please make another sandwich and make sure I get charged for it.”  Luckily it didn’t go to waste and was given to Jason when we got back to the boat, who had only eaten a can of beans so far that day…straight from the can.  Matt was just figuring out finishing up the last touches as we got back and soon Tamarisk was set up with internet on their boat.  We were promised many free beers that night to be paid back for Matt’s hard work.  I love when I can reap the spoils of my husband’s skills.  We were all sitting around enjoying the air conditioning and now high speed internet when it started getting really gusty outside.  We checked outside the hatch but everything was still looking normal so we went back to messing around.  As the wind kept up it strong gusts and dark clouds began to roll in we figured it would be best to head back to Serendipity and close all the hatches before a storm blew in.  We got back just in time.

Soon the glass calm anchorage that we had been spending five days in had little white caps rolling through as the wind shot in from the one unprotected area on the West Bay.  All of the boat owners that had been lounging by the marina scrambled back to their boats to make sure everything was secure.  We turned on the instruments and watched the wind speed climb into the mid 30’s and stay there.  Even stronger gusts came through and we watched it top out at 42 a number of times.  A few of the boats around us began dragging back towards the marina and we watched as the owners would up anchor and begin circling the bay, looking for a more secure place to drop.  We knew our Rocna would hold us in place but we were only worried that the half dozen boats in front of us would not.  Looking off to our port side we could see Tamarisk begin moving back towards shore as well.  It was a good thing the guys had been on their boat because it took some quick action to get their anchor up before they ended up on the rocks.  There were a few failed attempts to re-anchor in the same area next to us, but ultimately they had to give up and find a new spot.

In total we saw four boats that had to re-anchor due to the storm.  As is the case for most strong storms, it was over in 30 minutes, but no one wanted to leave their boats for awhile just in case another one was on it’s tail.  It was also a nice excuse to finally be back on the boat, doing a little cleaning, finishing a few small indoor projects, and just relaxing after being on the go for multiple days now.  We relaxed into the evening until getting a call from Tamarisk asking if we could please either bring them some food or shuttle them into town since there was nothing to eat on the boat.  I guess when you’ve eaten a can of beans for lunch it’s a little repetitive to have it for dinner as well.  Picking the guys up we also placed a call out to Rode Trip and all met up once more at Ambiance to hang out.  Matt and I enjoyed free Red Stripes while we all listened to Rhianna and Taylor Swift pump through the speakers, this time without any threats from me to burn someone’s boat down.

Monday April 29, 2013

Leaving Great Inagua just after 8 pm on Saturday we set out to cross through the Windward Passage and finally towards a new country. Once again, I was starting my sleep shift just after leaving and quite weary about the prospect of navigating the narrow area between Cuba and Hati alone when I was to wake up a few hours later for my night watch. Matt must have felt the same way about putting me up there alone at that time, or was just dying to try out a new sleep schedule, because when I was finally stirred for my shift we had already gone through it. I don’t know what superhuman strength he had in him to give me almost a full night’s sleep while stayed awake, but that’s what happened. I woke up shortly before the sun was to rise, and while we ran comfortably near downwind between 6 and 7 knots I watched it come up and slowly illuminate the mountains of Cuba off in the distance. For everything I’d heard about this passage, the high winds and steep waves that tend to build up where these giant bodies of water were funneled through a much smaller area, I felt like we were actually having a pretty good sail. Winds were holding steady at 20-25 knots and the 1-2 meter seas did nothing more than push from behind us and carry us along as we flew toward our destination.

There was only one nerve wrecking moment in the day and it was while Matt was down below sleeping. I was on watch in the mid-morning, keeping an eye on the tankers that passed by and praying that the wind didn’t shift enough for a dramatic sail change. I kept steady watches 360 degrees around the boat until at one glance when I noticed breaking waves ahead of me. I looked around to the side and to the back but no other areas had the same frothy white tops. A quick panic set in as I realized the only reason the waves ahead of me would be doing this is if they were building up due to shallow water. Zooming in on the chart I didn’t see any noted reefs, just depths listed at over ten thousand feet. Searching the horizon in front of me for any way around it I could see that these whitecaps spread as far as I could gaze and my only two options were to either turn around or go through them.

I wasn’t sure yet if I should wake Matt and make him aware of the situation when I noticed one of the tankers I had been keeping an eye on was passing me a couple miles off my port. They were headed into the same breakers I was and with a draft 20 feet deeper. If they were ready to charge through these things, then surely I could make it. Keeping my eyes lasered at the depth sounder as we came up to the breakers I watched it jump from unreadable to 16 feet. Oh shit. But before I could even move a muscle it ascended to 24 and then 42. I had just passed over something, I have no idea what, but I seemed to be in the clear. In under a minute the depths went back to unreadable even though the breakers stayed for a bit longer. My heart slowly slid back to a normal rate and the rest of the day luckily passed by uneventfully. The winds even died out in the afternoon, calming the seas and giving me a chance to bake cookies, but their sweetness did not make up for the fact that if we continued at this half speed we were now on, arrival in Port Antonio wouldn’t happen until Tuesday. Fatefully the winds did fill back in throughout the night due to us being on the edge of a passing storm, during Matt’s shift thankfully, we even made up the miles we had lost earlier in the day. It looked as if we may still coast into Jamaica the next day before sunset after all.

I’d like to take a quick moment here to talk about nautical superstitions. If you’ve ever owned a sailboat, if you’ve ever even set foot on one, you may have realize that it comes with a hefty amount of superstitions dating back hundreds of years. Superstitions such as whistle if you want wind. Don’t rename your boat, it’s back luck. Don’t ever leave for a passage on a Friday, it’s bad luck. Don’t ever bring bananas on board, they’re bad luck. (What is up with all this bad luck on the high seas?) Don’t bring a woman on board it’s back luck. However, you can counteract this last one if the woman is nude. That in fact, is supposed to be good luck. But I would like to dispel this superstition. We were having a great sail toward Jamaica on our second day. The sun was shining and we were surrounded by happy, puffy white clouds. The winds started to decrease a little, and ever determined to make it in to port that day, we decided to put up the spinnaker. There was a little extra work getting it on deck since the dinghy was covering the hatch to the v-berth where it gets stored under my bunk, so instead of easily raising it through the hatch we had to bring it up the companionway and then around to the foredeck before it could be tied and lifted. All lines to the spinny were soon secured on and it raised without issue. It was the first time we’ve used it since Lake Michigan, some 2,500 miles ago, and it was enough to bump our speed up to a swift 6.5 knots, now ensuring we’d make port with plenty of time to clear in that afternoon.

Since, I hate to admit it, we hadn’t bathed since our second day in Great Inagua, we thought a nice bucket bath was in order before customs and immigration decided to deny us entry just based on our stench alone. Getting all soaped and sudded up we ended with a fresh water rise and sat back in the cockpit to dry off. The funny thing is, as I sat there looking at the perfect afternoon and watching the water evaporate off my bare skin I actually thought to myself ‘Ha, a bit of good luck for this trip! I should do more passages without any clothes on.’. But I was..oh..so wrong. I hadn’t even had time to fully dry off when those puffy white clouds began turning black. Yes, I knew from the first time I saw them that they were cumulonimbus, I was just hoping they would pass behind us. Pointing it out to Matt since the last thing you want to happen with your spinnaker up is have a sudden storm blow past, we turned on the radar to check for rain. The whole screen was pink. We were about to get hit, and get hit hard. With fluid movements and great communication, the spinnaker was down within moments and reefs were put into the mainsail. We unfurled the headsail about half way just to keep speed and waited for the storm to come.

The sky all around us had turned a dark gray and you could see the haze of a downpour ricocheting off the water long before it ever reached us. Along with the storm came a wind shift, almost on our nose of course, so we conceded and went to turn the engine on. Seconds later Matt was shouting up to me to turn it off, there was an issue with the belt again. I quickly ran below to assist him while he once again began to take apart the engine and piece it back together. With thirty knot winds and rain now pelting us from above I listened to the autopilot beeping at me, advising that it could no longer keep it’s course into the wind and was turning itself onto standby. Now drifting into whatever direction the wind felt like pushing us I just hoped the winds didn’t gust any higher and give us a possible knockdown while we sorted out the belt issue. Luckily for us Matt is a master with the engine and not even five minutes later I was given the ok to start the engine back up. It roared to life and I let out a sigh as I punched up the throttle and pointed us back to Port Antonio. From a perfect and calm afternoon to a blinding and high wind storm in all under a half hour. If that is what comes of having a nude woman on board, I think I will make all future passages wearing every article of clothing I own.

It wasn’t until we were almost right on top of shore that the Blue Mountains came into view, and although I had originally been thinking that I could get a great shot of these mountains with our spinnaker flying high and possibly even a rainbow in the background (a girl can dream, right?), we were still just as elated to see them through the haze. 247 miles completed in 42 hours, we were finally there. Hailing Nila Girl on the radio, they gave us instructions on where to come in at the marina and let us know they’d be fetching customs and immigration so we’d get checked in as soon as possible. Clearing in was much easier this time when everyone came to you although I did get a few surprise glances, mostly from the women in Quarantine, that I was in fact the captain and not Matt. Before we even had clearance to get off the boat we were greeted by Ren and Ashley with big hugs and from Lance with a cold Red Stripe. Once everything was in order we moved the boat from the dock out to anchor in the bay, still paying a daily fee to be affiliated with the marina and use their facilities including the dinghy dock, laundry, and, oh yes, hot showers.

Though we were going on very little sleep we were way to excited to rest and were quickly back on shore to do a little exploring. Having made Matt promise we’d actually go out to eat our first night there instead of me fixing something on the boat, we were given ten different recommendation of places to try but couldn’t turn our backs on having jerk chicken our first night in Jamaica, and were directed to a little shack down the main street called Piggy’s. After the 1.5x American prices we had been paying in the Bahamas, our mouths watered as we saw they had whole meals for only 300 J, or $3 US. With hot jerked chicken in one hand and an iced cold Pepsi in another we sat on a bench overlooking the East Bay, watching the navigational buoys shine in the dark and relieved we were back on solid ground instead of out at sea. Arriving back at the marina we found that Ren had reserved the large projector kept in the outdoor pool/bar area and was setting it up to have a movie play. In the best outdoor theater I’ve ever been in, we watched The Big Year while sipping on Red Stripes and listening to tropical birds call out from hills and mountains in the distance. Let me be clear that we thoroughly enjoyed the Bahamas, but I think Matt summed it up best when he turned to me and said, “This is what I’ve been waiting for”.