A bad day in paradise

Yesterday was NOT a good day.

We were due to be launched at 3pm. Everything was ready. Water topped up, anodes on, fuel filter changed. And then the yard told us they had just snapped two of the wires on the travel lift. So we won't be going back in until Thursday at the earliest.

No jobs left to do. Lets walk through the old holiday village up to the point and watch the waves crashing onto the rocks below. No one around and a lovely evening looking down to the bays of La Sagesse and No Name, themselves a favourite walk.

Back at the yard though we discover that the night before an American tourist, just arrived at La Sagesse, had been raped and murdered, with her husband looking on in No Name bay. In a direct line this is less than half a mile from our boatyard. All very sobering. The guy has now been caught but it's all a bit too close to home particularly as only a couple of months previously a Canadian lecturer from the University was also murdered nearby.

And yet these things are very rare indeed in Grenada which is generally thought to be one of the safest of the islands. It just goes to show you never can tell what's around the next corner.

Technical Post - Replacing Profurl Swivels and Forestay

Today for a change it's a technical blog posting. When we return home most people ask for more posts about our life in general but a few ask us about technical stuff in particular. This one's for them!

The files below detail the steps I went through when I refurbished the Profurl rolling furler gear and the forestay that runs up through the foils of the furler. Hopefully they will be useful to others attempting a similar exercise.

But first a picture showing Jack from Carpe Diem (thanks Jack) and me hard at work in the Caribbean sunshine checking that the bolts holding the foil sections are all tight.

There are five files, all in pdf format for easy downloading.

1. Background, Approach and Tools Required
2. Removing and Dismantling Forestay
3. Servicing Upper Profurl Swivel
4. Servicing Lower Profurl Swivel
5. Reinstalling Forestay

If you you have any comments or improvements please add them below.

Thanks
      John

Back home in Grenada on Petronella

Current Location: Grenada Marine Boatyard

Today was a GOOD day because....

1. We found that my missing Debit Card had been handed in to the boatyard office. Thank you Christopher for being so honest.

2. Amazingly the yard had a spare tin of red Pacifica Plus antifoul. We had previously bought two which should have done two coats but it didn’t. We needed another tin. So, by 8.50am our two main tasks for the day were complete!

3. Mum and Dad have exchanged contracts on their house and completion is on 29^th January. Another worry gone.

4. No rain was forecast so we got the second, and last, coat of antifoul on.

5. Three of the four sails are back on.

6. My cousin Pete has invited us to his house warming party in St Lucia on 21^st February.

7. Jenny (she of the beautiful wooden house) is still with jilted Serge after a passage up to Carriacou on his yacht.

8. Our Jenny got safely back to the UK for her friend’s wedding next weekend.

As you can see we have slotted happily back into the boatie life but not before the final leg of our American trip. We left you in Panama City and that’s where Hugh and Linda arrived the following day. 

Friends reunited

Hugh and Linda are friends we made in South Africa over 30 years ago. We bought the landrover they had driven from the UK and then drove it back to England in 1984/85. By then they were back in the UK and over the next few years their two boys, Jenny and Emma all arrived. When the children were 5, 4, 4, and 2 we took all four back to the Sahara for 8 weeks, us in trusty DBL and them in a “new” landrover. Hard but fun times – mending the alternator in snow in France, freezing nights and short days in the desert and Emma shouting “Wait for me” as the other three slid down sand dunes on tea trays. Another 8 week overlanding trip to Namibia and Botswana 10 years later and then Linda turning up in Ibiza to crew the last bit of the Med last year when we were just shattered. Great friends. Good enough that they lend us their house when we are in the UK and our car lives in their garage for when they are in the UK. They just happened to be flying out of Panama the next day having completed their second stint as Project Leaders with Operation Raleigh.

Panama City is full of contrasts. It has a huge modern skyline of variously shaped skyscrapers. Lots of money from somewhere. Casinos all over the place, Porsche, Jaguar and Ferrari dealerships and building everywhere. All more American than anywhere else we’ve been. 

Panama City - a modern skyline

But away from the commercial centre is the old town. A fascinating mix of different styles. Churches, a cathedral, museums and other cultural stuff. But also restaurants (we ate at one overlooking the sea), our first view of the Pacific Ocean (we paddled in it), ice cream parlours (we made our own yoghourt ice cream milkshakes) and of course, Panama Hat shops (Hugh and Gilly bought one each).

Panama Hats!

We didn’t have long with Hugh and Linda as they flew out the next day but we had to go and see the Panama Canal. We know a few people who have transited the canal either on small yachts or big cruise liners but fewer people who have watched the ships passing from the shore. We caught a taxi to the main lock at the Pacific end of the canal (Miraflores). The canal was completed in 1914 and is now managed by Panama. 20% of all world shipping cargo is said to pass through the canal from which Panama does very nicely thank you. It is very impressive. We watched for three hours in the afternoon. At that time of day traffic is passing from the Caribbean/Atlantic side into the Pacific. In the morning it’s the other way. The new sister canal is now almost complete which will allow cargo to pass in both directions at the same time. It’s not cheap but still cheaper than the fuel needed to go south and around Cape Horn (it’s also considerably less stormy).

Next day Hugh and Linda left and the following day it was out turn for Jesus to take us to the airport (though it turned out to be his friend who I thought should be called God but was actually called Clinton). The dreaded US immigration people gave us an easy time as we passed through Fort Lauderdale but Caribbean Airways needed a lot of persuasion (and Petronella’s insurance document) before they would let us board the plane to Trinidad. This was because we did not have an onward ticket from Grenada and neither are we residents of said country. After sleeping on the floor one more time in the airport at Port of Spain, Trinidad our final flight bought us back to Grenada, Petronella and home.

We hope to “splash” on Monday and then finally start sailing again.

Fucking Bueno

Current Location: Drawing breath in Panama City, Panama

Wow. What a few days we have had. Mostly islands, booze, music and a lot of laughs.

So after two nights and a full day sailing we finally arrived at the first anchorage and the party really began. Music (mostly South American Spanish music) blasted out from around 7.30am til 02.00am in these beautiful tranquil anchorages. A lot of rum was drunk, a lot of beers were drunk and many cigarettes of various types were smoked. This was their trip though so we just chilled and went with the flow. I don't know how she managed as she is usually a bit uptight about these things but Gilly just let it all wash over her. Away from the responsibilities of skippering she relaxed enjoying everything going on around us. I'd forgotten how much more energy 20-30 year olds have than our usual 50s, 60s, 70s crowd, young at heart though we may be.

The San Blas islands are absolutely stunning. More like I imagine South Sea islands than Caribbean ones. Over 400 of them are dotted around an area off the coast of Panama. Here are some pictures of these magical islands.

The islands and much of the adjacent mainland is "owned" by the Kuna tribe. They seem pretty laid back, making their living by fishing, selling tourist bits and pieces and charging a small tax to visit their islands. Gilly wants to be a Kuna in her next life! They are a very attractive race, especially the small children, with big smiles across their faces.

Their islands are so low lying though that a rise in sea level of only a metre or so would see many of them disappear. A recent big storm inundated several islands completely. These are basically coral islands separated and protected by reefs, shallow areas of coral on which the waves break. Behind the reefs all is calm but being on them is not a good place to be. We've never seen as many wrecks. Maybe twenty battered and broken hulks lie in the shallows with waves continually pounding them. David, our French skipper told us the story of many of them. Skipper had too much rum, anchor dragged at night, came in at night etc etc. So you have to work to benefit from all this beauty but boy is it worth it. Many sailing boats spend several months here before making their way further west and through the Panama Canal into the Pacific. Maybe that will be us some time soon? There are far fewer boats in the anchorages here than in the Caribbean Island chain that we are used to. Many are private charters out of Panama but there's a good sprinkling of live aboards too. There's not a lot of stress round here I have to say.

As we got to know each other barriers slowly dropped and we learned about relationships, big events in their lives, likes and dislikes and plans for the future. Many envied our lifestyle but they are not ready for our quieter life yet. There is too much to do and see!

Some things it's hard to put across in words. When we show people pictures of our Trans Atlantic crossing it's hard to put across the feeling that you are fighting to stand up or make a cup of tea. Everything was affected by that continual rolling motion. In much the same way it's hard to put across the continual blast of music from this trip. As soon as one track ended another began. Unknown tracks and others that they all knew, joining in at the top of their voices.

And to their credit they made us feel like one of them. The boat name, we finally discovered was, El Gitano del Mar which means Sea Gypsy. One of the previous cooks was an Aussie with limited Spanish. Her favourite phrase was Fucking Bueno (fucking ace in "Spanish") and this has become Sea Gypsy's catch phrase. You can even buy T-shirts with it emblazoned on the back. Yes, I was tempted, but thought better of it!

There were a lot of names to remember so to make things easier most were initially know by nationality. Mariana and Mariana (soon referred to as 'M' and 'M squared') were "Portugal". Their lives had been more sheltered than the rest and as one of them said to Gill "We don't do this sort of thing in Portugal". The three Canadian lads were "Canada" and with South Africans, Aussies, a German, two Swedes, a Puerto Rican, two Americans and us Brits we were a pretty cosmopolitan lot.

The next couple of days we spent moving from anchorage to anchorage. Amazingly most boats seemed pleased to see us! We swam, we snorkelled, we fished (another big wahoo?), we lazed and we chatted, and of course we listened to music.

The group stayed as one remarkably well considering the cramped conditions but by the last day things had started to break down. Portugal was pissed off with the music, One guy admitted he had some personality disorder and started cursing the skipper and the cook, especially when the (admittedly crap) final night BBQ food arrived 4 hours late. To cap it all there was an international bonking issue. The rest of the group was not impressed. More dissent in the ranks!

After the crap BBQ we were invited to the Olympic Games on one of the little islands. Our boat won the high jump with lanky Swede Hannes leaping well over 1.50m but we lost the "pass a woman from your front, through your legs, up your back, over your head and back to the starting position" (only because the generator failed and the lights went out as we actually achieved this incredible feat). I say "we" but I have to say this wasn't my strongest event. Finally we lost the tug of war because the opposing boat had a 15' tall man mountain pulling for them. Somehow David shinned 30' up the pole in the centre of the bar in less than 2 seconds (quite amazing and reminiscent of the way Bernard Moitessier used to scale the mast on Joshua number one). Limbo dancing also took up an enjoyable few minutes as young and older attempted to shimmy beneath the bamboo pole. We left the party early at 1am hoping to get a bit of sleep but 30 minutes later the rest of the team arrived, the speaker was switched on and we were treated to another two hours of drunken debauchery.

Next morning the cook, who earns 45US dollars for feeding 22 people for five days had been transferred to another boat, we had a replacement skipper for the return leg and David had checked us out at the cutest little border post set amidst thatched huts on yet another perfect desert island. Christian, the German, earned a hearty cheer when he was finally released from the clutches of Immigration following a date of birth mix up. When a helicopter circled overhead we had thought that was the last we would see of him.

Then it was time to pack up and retrieve our belongings from all over the boat. As "senior passenger" I made a little thank you speech both to the crew and to our fellow guests. My final summation that the trip had been "fucking bueno" was received with a loud cheer. In response they told us we were Legends and they would have liked us as their Mum and Dad!

Finally we set off on a 45 minute fast boat ride to the mainland amidst much raucous singing, beer and rum drinking (yes, they found another two bottles of rum hidden away somewhere) before spending three hours in a 4x4 up through the mountains and finally down into Panama City and some degree of sanity.

Brilliant. What a trip!!

Crazy Catamaran

Current Location: 20 miles east of San Blas islands, Panama

It's night two on the crazy catamaran. 22 of us, yes 22, on an apparently unnamed Lagoon 52. Music is blasting out and the rest of the guys are singing along to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Californication I think. (Ah now it's the Rolling Stones maybe in deference to us oldies). We are old enough to be parents of everyone else on the boat including the skipper (and probably grandparents to a few of them).

We're still flying along at over 8 knots even though the spinnaker is now down. A fantastic sail, almost 200 miles in 24 hours. Wind on the starboard quarter, flattish seas, 15-20 knots, sunshine and a load of great young travellers. Topped off by catching a small tuna which quickly became sashimi served with a chilli sauce.

On board with us, in addition to the crew, we have several chefs, a food scientist, a welder, two super yacht hosts/crew, several gap year students and a young real estate entrepreneur who wants to expand his business from Philadelphia to Medellin. Judging by tonight most of them will soon be alcoholics (but then alternatively they may just turn out to be cracking, open minded members of the next generation).

This is the first time I've sailed any distance of a catamaran and it really does have things going for it. Comfy trampoline. Huge cockpit. Great view. Fantastic downwind. And an amazingly loud sound system. One hull good, two hulls better?

Frenchman David and his two crew members have been great and we've had a blast. This isn't a cheap trip at 500US dollars each for 5 days so everyone is making sure they get their moneysworth. The 3 Canadians hit the rum at 8.45 this morning and are now suffering the effects of sunburn. Several of the girls tried to emulate them and have suffered from 'seasickness'.

Food is good with a cook but everyone chips in with choppin' and washin'

During the night we will arrive in the first of the San Blas islands so we should wake up in a beautiful tropical Caribbean island tomorrow (Bob Marley now to get us in the mood). It's odd to have handed all responsibilities for sailing to somebody else.

Oh, by the way Andy, it was a Catfish Girl sailing day today!

Bus journeys, haircuts and gold museums

Current Location: on a bus approaching Cartagena, Caribbean coast, Colombia.

It's just gone 7am and we are on a long distance bus having just completed our first overnight bus journey. In fact we've been on buses now for 22 hours. The air conditioning on this one is on full blast and it's bloody freezing! The more experienced travellers all bought their blankets and sleeping bags with them. Unfortunately we did not.

Our journey started in Villa de Leyva, itself 4 hours bus journey from Bogota, on in our case 6 hours due to heavy traffic, rain and a very nasty bus crash going in the opposite direction. Villa de Leyva is a lovely old town high in the hills. Formerly on the main road from Bogota to the coast it has now been bypassed which has allowed it to remain unchanged for centuries. A big central Plaza Mayor, cobbled and surrounded by almost Turkish looking low houses with wooden balconies. We became proper tourists for a couple of days.

The bus to Villa de Leyva was full of Colombians, us and one American guy. We talked briefly as we passed the bus accident and arranged to meet him in a restaurant the following evening. Ron is 77, from Portland, Oregon, is a previous Episcopelean priest and gay rights leader, restaurant owner (never again), and then upmarket worldwide tour leader for 30 years. As usual he was travelling alone and we had a great evening with him. Conversation never stopped. We even have an open invitation to visit him and Yellowstone National Park if we ever make it to the NW USA.

Update from Cartagena

Cartagena is on the northern Caribbean coast of Colombia. Colombia has both a Caribbean coast and, to the west, a Pacific coast. This is the furthest west either of us has ever been. It's a bustling mix of a city and definitely more western than the interior of the country. Spanishy, Mexicany, Caribbeany. It's at sea level too so we came down on the bus through mountains for eight hours and then VERY steeply and twistily through the night onto the large coastal plain. The gods were with us though and the bus finally pulled up in Cartagena bus station at 9.30am.

Hats are all the rage in Colombia. Further south all the old guys wear really cool pork pie type hats and here there are wide brimmed ones on sale with (for Emma and Jenny) plenty of other 'tourist tat'.

The Old Town though is very beautiful especially early in the morning before the crowds are out.

An excitement this morning was haircut time. I'd been looking a bit bushy so decided a crop was in order. We had passed a street barber yesterday and eventually we found it again this morning. It was all a bit hit and miss but I was pretty pleased with the outcome in the end. It took over half an hour, and all for 20,000 Colombian pesos, around £4.50, and I still probably paid twice the local price.

Then it was off to the gold museum. Apparently a poor substitute for the one in Bogota but it was still pretty impressive. Apparently in days gone by it was not unusual to find nuggets the size of hens eggs in the rivers south of Cartagena. The local tribes knew what they were doing with the gold too.

The currency here is difficult as the numbers are so big. There are around 4,500 pesos to the pound. Basically to convert you knock off a load of zeros and divide by five to find a cost in pounds (Gilly is really struggling with this basic arithmetic!). A couple of times we have been given the wrong change with profuse apologies when we have queried it. Interestingly all the errors have been in favour of the merchant rather than us. Uncanny.

At lunch yesterday in an excellent vegetarian restaurant (Jen, we've founds loads of good, cheap, fresh food here) we met Ricardo, a Colombian chap who runs an English language school. He left Colombia when he was six and lived in Philadelphia for twenty years. He came back in 1995 and told us of hairy stories of the guerrila road blocks. If you were western you would be kidnapped and if you had the wrong Colombian surname you were never seen again. Apparently at one time Escobar the big bad cartel leader offered to repay Colombia's entire national debt. Like all the Colombians we have met though Ricardo is very proud of his country now.

Tonight we meet our fellow sailors for the catamaran trip to the San Blas islands on Monday. Then there is a free classical music concert in the main square. It looks as though this will be broadcast on national television.

Playing at being backpackers in Colombia

Current Location: Marriott Hotel, Bogota, Colombia

Until recently my only knowledge of Colombia was of drugs, kidnappings, oppressive regimes, guerillas (Farc?), and maybe some American involvement. Now we are only a few hours drive from the city of Medellin whose famous drugs cartel was said to have supplied 80% of the world's cocaine market during the 70s and 80s. Heady stuff indeed.

I don't pretend to understand the complex politics here in Colombia but you can see a brief history at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1212827.stm - complex or what? Suffice to say that parts of the country are now safe to visit and neighbouring Venezuela is now the country to avoid. So, on Jen and Marcus' recommendation we flew, via Argentina, to Bogota. High on a plain in the centre of the country, Bogota lies at over 2,600m. Luckily, due to our incredible(!) fitness, we have not experienced any altitude sickness, just the slightest of breathlessness today when we took the funicular up to 3,200m.

Before we left Uruguay Jenny gave us the sort of 'how to keep safe in Colombia' talk that we might have given her 10 years ago. 'Whatever you do mum, don't get your iPad out in public'.

Back in the UK when we were looking for somewhere to stay in Bogota what should drop into my inbox but a nice email from Marriott hotels telling me if I didn't use a few of the points I had gathered during my GlaxoSmithKline days by the end of January 2016 they would take them away from me. Two problems solved at a stroke! I have to say the Marriott Hotel is absolutely ace, especially for nothing. With a bit of an upgrade we have ended up with an executive room, access to the Exec Lounge including canapes and breakfast. With so few other guests staying the bar staff have become our friends and provided us with bus station information and advice on where to go. They were, however concerned that we wanted to travel by bus and again urged caution especially in the old town, La Candeleria. One of them even wanted to come with us.

As it happened we had a great day -  proper tourists for a day. We walked to the big bus station and booked tickets for tomorrow to Villa da Leyva and then caught a bus to the old town. Public transport is excellent here with separate lanes for buses, with Oyster card equivalent, bikes and cars on the main roads.

We were early to the top of Monserratt hill with a fabulous view back down to the plain and Bogota. Then into La Candeleria, the Old Town. A bit dodgy here and I wouldn't want to be there alone at night but Jen's advice was heeded and we walked round no problem. Lots of hostels (for proper backpackers) and the university is in the same area as well I felt a bit old! For lunch we had Colombian savoury pancakes and I had a hot drink called canelazo (sugar cane drink, cinnamon, cloves, strawberry slices and aguardiente, an anise flavoured liquor) - very good it was too.

Images of Colombia so far? A country trying to get itself back under control, at least in some places. More police and security people than I have ever seen anywhere. Sniffer dogs and bodyguards. The most amazing street art a bit like those in Northern Ireland but in this case mostly advocating peace. Gilly's Spanish coming into its own.

Ah yes. Here's a picture of all our luggage for our time in S America. We think that's not too bad. The younger generation probably think we are travelling too heavy!