Jan 1, 2007

Happy New Year to One and All!

I'm still out here trying to get to Puerto Rico. I am just a little ways into the Mona Passage between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. It has been slow going with the poor pointing angles I am able to make and all the squalls that I've encountered.

In Bruce Van Sant's book, he talks about the thunderstorms that come off the west coast of PR out into the Mona Passage. These weren't thunderstorms but there was a steady string of squalls coming off the mountains. As I got close to Mayaguez, I was northeast of the squalls and could see a string of about six of them heading out into the Mona.

Jan 2, 2007

I got here, Mayaguez, yesterday about 5:00 pm. I called customs in San Juan and they said there were no inspectors in today and that I should just wait until tomorrow and check in. So I fixed dinner, made a few phone calls, changed the oil and went to bed early. Actually, it wasn't as early as I thought since I am now in the Atlantic Time Zone. This morning, after a great night's sleep, I got up and went into town to clear customs. I was anchored off the city dock and went over there to see if there was space for my dinghy. There was plenty of space but getting from the dinghy up to the dock was going to be a problem, plus there was an overhang on the dock about 18" above the water and if the tide came in while it was tied there, it would be trapped. So I went off to "downtown" to see if there was someplace I could land the dinghy there. The customs house was downtown so I though there would be someplace to go ashore there. Wrong! The entire area is commercial and is fenced off and I had to go about halfway back to the boat before I could find a place to land. It was a narrow strip along the road and I just raised the engine and pulled the boat up onto the rocks. There were a couple of guys sitting there so I asked them if it would be OK there. They said that nobody would bother it and we had a nice little chat for a while before I left for customs. People in most places seem to be very friendly toward the cruiser population but I always worry a bit about the one that will want to take advantage of the situation. I went off to customs and was the second person to check in today. After a painless, although somewhat lengthy process, I was checked in and on my way back to the boat. When I got back to where I'd left the boat, it had been moved off the rocks and pulled up onto a concrete ramp with the painter tied to a tree. One of the gentlemen I'd been talking to said he had moved it so it wouldn't get banged around on the rocks too bad. We talked for a while and it turns out he lives right across the street from where we were and said that he had been born in Mayaguez and lived his whole life there except for twenty years spent in the US.

I was pretty much ready to go except that I wanted to check my fuel supply. I had run the engine over 100 hours since leaving the Turks and Caicos and my estimate was that I had 3 gallons left in the tanks. I checked the level, a somewhat tedious process that requires removing a plug down in the bilge and using a stick to check the level. I actually had about 10.5 gallons left so that should be me down the coast a ways. I am going to Boqueron next to do laundry and possibly get this uploaded. Then I need to find a sail repair shop and get some material to fix my head sails. I know I can get what I need in Salinas but that's over halfway down the island and with headwinds predicted for ever, I really would like to have a headsail available. So for now, it's off to Boqueron.

When I started the engine, it started putting out a LOT of smoke. Diesels will do that when the fuel volume is not right or if there is water in the fuel. I did notice last night when I was anchoring that it was idling rough but I had no smoke then. Maybe the engine was just trying to tell me that it doesn't like running for over 100 hours with no breaks. I don't really think much of it either! I had noticed some crud in the bottom of my fuel filter so I decided to change the fuel filters and clean the Racor water separator. It turns out that I had about 1/2 a cup of water in the Racor and a lot of dirt in both filters. I'm not sure where the water came from but the dirt in the filters after a passage in not unusual. The fuel gets shaken up pretty good, along with everything and everybody aboard, and dirt that is normally on the bottom of the tank gets into the pickup for the fuel. I cleaned everything and put in new filters and then had to bleed the air out of the system to get it to run. I had never had to do that before and it took a couple of tries before it would start. The smoke cleared up pretty soon after that and the idle was better but still a bit rough. I am going to take off for Boqueron and will check the filters again there. The fuel problem delayed my departure enough that I am motorsailing to Boqueron to make sure I get there in time to anchor before dark.

Jan 3, 2007

I made it here to Boqueron OK and got anchored shortly after dark although with the full moon, it really wasn't all that dark. I was hungry and didn't feel like cooking so I got the dinghy ready and went ashore to find something. I was looking for pizza or steak but the two pizza places were closed so I went to the steak house and it also was closed along with the seafood place. It seems that the restaurants in Boqueron are closed on Mon and Tues. I ended up with a couple of pollo empanadillas on the beach. Not real filling, or healthy, but pretty good.

Finally got my laundry done for the first time since Marsh Harbor and am back on the boat by 9:00 am. I'm going to try to find some sail repair stuff this morning and fix the heavy headsail so I'll be able to point a little better. The engine ran fine coming down here although the idle is still a little rough.

Jan 4, 2007

I didn't find anything I needed for the boat in Boqueron so I decided to get ready and leave for Salinas. It was shortly after dark, again a full moon so not really dark, when I got the anchor up and headed down around the SW corner of PR. It was really pretty as I headed out of Boqueron harbor with the moon over the lights of town. The winds had shifted slightly to the north and I had a really nice motorsail all night. Almost no boat traffic out there last night and the seas were calm giving me a very relaxing trip. Salinas is about 2/3 of the way east from the west coast. PR is a surprisingly small island, only about 100 miles long and about 30 miles thick. Almost all of the coast is developed and there were few areas where there were not a lot of lights but the central portion of the island is rugged mountains. This is a picture of Ponce, the second largest city in PR, with the typical mountains in the background. Unfortunately, they are in the process of harvesting the sugar cane now. This is still done by burning the fields to get rid of all the excess vegetation making it easier to get to the sugar. It stinks all the time and there is soot in the air everywhere. This process has been banned in the US but they still do it here.

One of the few islands of the south side of PR is Caja de Muertos, or Coffin Island. From some angles it sort of looks like a coffin although to me it looks like a body with it's arms folded of it's chest and ready for burial at sea. It takes a little imagination to see some of these things but then when you've been at sea for some time, your mind can make most anything out of nothing at all. I was approaching it at sunrise this morning and was treated to a very unusual sunrise. The sky was light above the clouds but still had the brilliant reds below the clouds. This is the small island south of the "coffin". Soon after the sunrise, the sun broke through a 'hole' in the clouds and really lit up the island, or at least the small southern portion of the island. The island is a national park with the only people living there being the park service folks. There is an old lighthouse on top of the peak that was built by the Spanish about 20 years before the US took possession of PR in the 19th century.

Shortly after passing Caja de Muertos, the winds and seas picked up and it was a bit of wet ride until I got close to Salinas. This is one of the best protected harbors I have been in with the only drawback being that as a mangrove lined harbor, it is very fertile and stuff grows like crazy on the bottom of your boat. I am going to try to get out of here tomorrow and head on over to St Thomas if the winds aren't too high. It's about 100 miles to St John but I think I will stop in St Thomas for some provisioning before heading on to St John. I think I'll go to the Cruiser's Cafe tomorrow for internet access and update the web site. It's been about three weeks since I've been online.

Jan 5, 2007

I got up this morning and went in to the Cruisers Cafe for breakfast and internet. This is a little place that opened a little over a year ago and was catering to the cruiser population. There are quite a few cruisers that seem to live in the harbor and always more passing through. The breakfast is still good but the internet access is not as good a deal as it used to be. I got on and had about 50 emails waiting for me. It had been about 3 weeks since I had internet access. I also got the web site updated finally.

Then I decided to take the boat to the dock and fill up all the vital fluids: Diesel, gas, water and Medalla Light. The wind had picked up a bit and by the time I was ready to leave, it was holding me pretty firmly against the dock. I setup a spring line and a fender at the aft corner of the boat so when I motored in reverse, it would swing the bow away from the dock and into the wind. It worked pretty well except that I couldn't quite get the bow pointed far enough into the wind to allow me to get underway after shifting out of reverse. Finally, I got it out as far as I could with the engine and then went forward and pushed it almost into the wind. It was far enough that I was able to get moving and away from the dock. Since I was already underway, I decided to leave Salinas and either head for the Virgins or anchor at one of several little anchorages east of here. I had checked the weather on the internet and it predicted winds around 20 K but from ENE to NE. That sounded pretty good so I headed east behind some small islands. At the end of the island chain, I wanted to check and see what the seas were like before deciding whether to continue on or anchor. They didn't look too bad so I headed out through the channel to the Caribbean and east. Seas were running about 4-6 feet but I was hoping they would settle some once I got to deep water, about 7 miles out. There is a wall where the depths go from about 80 feet to well over 1,000. It also get you out of the fish traps area. It's not as bad here as the lobster traps in Maine or the crab traps in the Chesapeake but they are still pretty annoying. It's only about 80 miles to St Thomas so I hope to be in there tomorrow night and then it's about 20 more to St John.

Jan 7, 2007

I made it to St Thomas yesterday about 5:00 pm. It was a continuation of the previous legs, head winds about 15-20 knots making for a slow, wet sail. The route I setup showed an 81 mile trip but I ended up sailing 114 miles. The seas weren't too bad although with that strong a wind almost every little wave will send spray back over the boat.

I anchored in Brewers Bay again and it is about the same as before except that it has been discovered by the rest of the cruising world. There were two other sailboats anchored here with people on them. They are at least a 1/4 mile away so their not that much of a problem.

Today I took the safari to Home Depot and Cost U Less, sort of a low budget Sam's Club, to pick up a few things and I plan on going to St John tomorrow. The wind has backed around to the NE and if it holds till tomorrow, I won't need to motor sail to get there. Today has been nice but there are frequent gusts of wind up over 25 K.

Jan 28, 2007

I made it to St John on Mon, Jan 8, and picked up a mooring. I had the motor off the dinghy for the trip over and before I got it back on the park volunteer was over with my payment envelope. I told him I was a volunteer at VIERS and he didn't seem to believe me and gave me the envelope before he left. Apparently people have found out that volunteers get a free mooring and they are saying that they are volunteers so they won't have to pay for the mooring. I went ashore to the VIERS compound and found the director preparing dinner. I ended up staying and meeting most of the other volunteers at dinner. Work started the next morning.

I thought I would be working the restoration of an old sugar mill but they were still having discussions with the Park Service over what would be done and how it would be done. That is still going on and that project will be sometime in the future.

I have been working at the lab which is down by the water. It was pretty much destroyed by a hurricane a few years ago and since then has been almost entirely rebuilt including new plumbing and wiring. Most of that work is done and we are trying to get it ready for the various research groups that come here to use it. I have built 5 work tables and have three more to go. There are also the misc little jobs to do like building a cabinet next to one of the work sinks, wiring lights and outlets in the utility building, a little work on the new deck extension, hanging and trimming doors, installing a new leach field for the waste water from the new sinks and rewiring the horn on one of their vehicles so it would pass inspection.

The days start with breakfast at 7, work from about 7:30 to 11:30, lunch at 12, play time till dinner somewhere between 5 and 7 pm. Some of the volunteers go diving nearly ever afternoon and there is a dive compressor at the lab for refilling the tanks. There are a lot of trails for hiking and of course great snorkeling and a beautiful beach. The picture of Reef Bay leads to a page with pictures from some of the hikes I've done since I've been here. I've done a few of the trails and today went to see the petroglyphs, the old sugar and rum factory in Reef Bay and the Great House where the sugar plantation manager used to live. It's about 1/2 mile from the dock to the compound and the bike I bought last summer is working great to get back and forth. I thought I would be able to get lost of exercise and lose some weight but the food has been great and I think I have probably put on a few pounds.

I took out the fuel injectors to check the system and found that two of them had no fuel coming out. It appears that the fuel injection pump has a serious problem. I don't have the expertise or tools to work on them so I called the local Yanmar dealer. They can send it off to be rebuilt but it can take from 3 to 5 weeks to get it back so I ended up ordering a new one. It is now in St Thomas and I am going to get it on Tues. A couple of people are going to the Univ. of the Virgin Islands, the operator of VIERS, to check out their salt water system in their lab prior to building the system here. I will ride over with them and pick up my parts on the same trip. I sure hope that takes care of the problem. I have spent a lot of my afternoons working on the boat and am getting tired of it. Also, I have friends coming for the next two weeks to do some sailing so I need the engine working.

Jan 30, 2007

I went to St Thomas with a group from VIERS to pick up misc stuff, me primarily to get the fuel injection pump. We took one of the trucks, with a 5 passenger cab, to Cruz Bay on the west end of St John and then on the car ferry to Red Hook on the east end of St Thomas. From there it was off to K-Mart at Tutu, the UVI to look at their salt water table installation, to Offshore Marine for my pump, to Kokopelli for lunch, to Cost-You-Less for provisions and Home Depot for building supplies. It was a long day and we got back to VIERS about 6:00.

The roads on St John are pretty rough. They go up and down the mountains with tight switchbacks where needed. The last couple of miles to VIERS are dirt except where they had to pave it to keep it from washing out. It was a nice trip for me to be able to see the island.