“Fleetwood” ‘s Log

CARIBBEAN WINTER 2008/2009

For the slide show of the ICW go to: ICW

The ICW:  After a false start, a week earlier, Lynne and I headed into the Intra Coastal Waterway from West Norfolk on November 13, 2008.

The Nautical Boat Marina, where I had moored since my arrival from Trinidad in June 2007, is just west of a freeway bridge which I had brushed with the VHF antenna on every time I passed underneath this bridge. This time it took the Tri-Color off the top of the mast. We moored for a week in the marina on the east side of this bridge until we had our repairs made.

The first night we managed to pass the first of the two locks in the Dismal Swam canal and tied up for the night near milepost 21.  I had done the Albemarle-Chesapeake canal in January of 2008 on my way to Florida. The A-C canal runs nearly parallel to the east, but has only one lock in it. It rained continuously and there were few boats underway. We were Robert’s, the lock keeper, only customer. He showed Lynne his well known conch shell collection.

Twenty one miles up the ICW we had left the city’s noises and settled for the night with just the occasional owl call and a fish or otter splashing the water. On the state line we stopped in at the North Carolina visitors center and then passed through the second lock.

These are the oldest locks in the United States.

It was slow going because the pine needles and leaves floating on the water would collect around the rudder and prop and also clog the cooling water intake; I had to constantly reverse and occasionally blow out the intake hose.

That Friday night we anchored just 5 miles north of Elizabeth City. The skies cleared and it warmed up to summer like temperatures. We managed to get one of the very last mooring spots at the public city dock. The city is known for it’s hospitality towards the crews passing through on their trek south at this time of the year and then on their return in late spring.

We became acquainted with several of the boat crews, a couple Canadian boats, a French/Belgian couple.

Catholic Churches in North Carolina are far and few between, we attended service in the 83 year old Episcopalians church, near the dock.

That Sunday night we anchored about 5 miles south of the Alligator River bridge.

I was looking for Kat, the barkeeper at the River Forest Manor in Bellhaven, N.C. at our stop on Monday, November 17.  I spent a very cold weekend at the Manor nearly a year earlier on my way to Florida.  Kat was then 37 and had just been married for the sixth time.  But Kat was gone, probably looking for another Tom.

A weld had broken on my rudder pintle.  That and the weather kept us in Bellhaven till the 20^th. We made one more stop at Broad Creek before getting into Beaufort, N.C. on Friday the 21^st.  That Friday we sailed and motored in rain and sleet and the weekend in Beaufort it did not get much above freezing.

Lynne decided not to cross the Atlantic to the Caribbean with me but to rejoin me by flying there. Her mom lives in Northern Virginia and Lynne was going to look after her house and dog while her mom visited her niece in Belgium, during Christmas.

I took off from Beaufort on Wednesday the 26, the day before Thanksgiving but when I checked in with Herb Hilgenberg of the South Bound II net, he told me that I’d be advised to turn back to Beaufort because of a nasty gale brewing up ahead of me.

I waited in Towne Creek for several days but no new weather windows were opening up and decided to head further south on the ICW.

From Georgetown S.C., I made another attempt to cross the Gulf Stream but the coast guard came along side just before I was heading out to tell me that the seas were too rough. Back on the ICW. On December 15 I headed out of Charleston, S.C. and tried crossing the Gulf Stream but the wind direction became unfavorable and I headed back to the coast and arrived in St. Augustine, Florida on the 18^th. My good friend from Green Cove Springs, Fred Richards, let me use his mooring buoy in Salt Run. Since it was now so close to Christmas, I called Jeannine, my #3 daughter in Chesapeake Virginia, to tell her that I was renting a car to come spend the holyday with them.

For the slide show of the Caribbean cruise go to: Caribbean 2009

Into the Atlantic: On January 2^nd I sailed once again towards the Gulf Stream and this time I managed to keep going.

I was heading for St. Maarten with a way point at 25 N and 65 W. About 1250 sea miles. It was a difficult and slow sail. There was either too little or too much wind to make headway. I had a tough time making enough easting.

And when I was within 250 miles of St. Maarten, during frequent heavy squalls that night, I made the mistake of dropping the shaker flashlight into the halyard-tail bag next to the compass. These flashlights have heavy magnets in them and it showed that I had been lifted by about 50 degrees. Great, ease some of that sail out and relax a while with a kinder angle to the waves.

When I discovered this in the morning I had given up precious Easting. It was then that I decided to skip St.Maarten and head for the Virgin Islands.

Virgin Islands: I arrived on Virgin Gorda in the early morning of the 19^th of January.

I anchored just east of the Bitter End Yacht Club. Which, as often is the case in the Caribbean, turns out has nothing to do with a Y.C., this was a hotel and restaurant.

It had been a while since I had seen these white beaches and clear blue water.  I missed sharing this with Lynne and I found few like minded cruisers, the kind I would always find on the earlier part of my circumnavigation in the Pacific and Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic.

I made the same discovery sailing alone on the Chesapeake, last August.  Here the typical sailors are here for one or two weeks chartering with another couple and we have little in common.

This progressively improved for me through the U.S. Virgins, Puerto Rico and once in the Dominican Republic it was like I never left the Pacific.

The electronic raster charts from Imray-Imolaire often showed that I was  anchored on the top of a hill or a reef near the actual locations. 

On Virgin Gorda I made one more stop across the sound at Leverick Bay before heading to Road Town on Tortola.

I anchored near the enormous fleet of “Moorings” charter boats. They could have used a few more customers. I became acquainted with a Dutch couple who had sailed their home built Wharram ketch catamaran from Spain to South America and back up to the Northern Caribbean.  This was a “T” party. Tom, Thea on “Tinto” and the cat’s name started with a T as well, but it escapes me. Three husky young Dutch men came alongside as well. They were chartering a boat to sail to St. Maarten. Marinus is a Rhine barge skipper and he thinks that he might be able to help me get a tow on the Danube to possibly Budapest. This is my desire to leave Holland the fall of 2010 and head for Turkey, via the Rhine, Danube and Black Sea. 

On January 26 I left Tortola for St. John in the U.S. Virgins.

The first night I buoy anchored in Mahe Bay and the next day in Caneels Bay just a few miles further towards the main city on St. John, Cruz Bay. The beaches are gorgeous and great snorkeling in crystal clear water.

For those over 65, be sure to have a U.S. National Park “Golden Passport” card. It saved me half the $15 per night mooring buoy fees in the extensive park administered anchorages and the visits to the Forts in old San Juan were free with the card.

I cleared in with US Customs in Cruz Bay. A delightful town, it is quite busy in the anchorage because of the constant coming and going of the ferries to St. Thomas.

I spent 6 days in Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas. A package with parts and a bank card replacement was sent to the US Post office for me.

The town is quaint with many well preserved colonial buildings with a definite Danish heritage. My folding bike was just the ticket because it was a long walk from the anchorage and marina to town and to the stores. The cars and taxis took a lot longer, in the constant traffic jams, on the bay edge’s boulevard, than I did on my bike.

This was all good fast sailing in an ESE wind in the 20 knot range.  I felt for the many charter boat crews who had to claw their way back against these winds.

I stayed two days on Culebra, the most N.E. island in Puerto Rico. The transition into Latin America is very evident, it reminded me of Mexico.

Puerto Rico: My first stop on the main island of P.R. was on the S.E. corner at Roosevelt Roads. This is a former U.S. Navy base and is now only a marina for active and retired US military. I was not supposed to have gone in there. But they did not escort me out either.

After one stop at Puerto Patillas I sailed through the

reef pass Gates of Hell (Boca del Infierno) into Salinas. This is probably the most popular destination for cruising sailors. It has a very well protected bay and a reasonable choice of marine facilities and it is an easy drive to the capital city of San Juan. Here, at last, I got to interact with some of my cruising kind at the Drake’s bar and grill; run by Miguel and Nancy, it is also the only wi-fi spot around.

A number of boats are semi permanently parked here.

I rented a car for the day and toured Old San Juan, mostly on my “Klapfiets” (folding bike). I thoroughly enjoyed the old town. It is a working town and alive and it is easy to imagine what things looked like here a few hundred years ago.

The two fortifications San Felipe del Morro and San Cristobal presented me with a vivid picture of the history of this island from its discovery at the end of the 15^th century. It is an awesome testimony to the tenacity and patience of the Spaniards to erect these massive structures with the tools they then had.

After 10 days in Salinas I moved on to Ponce; just in time for their well-known Carnival week. Ponce is the second largest city on Puerto Rico. The carnival parade was on the Sunday before Mardi Gras. You have to go to the slide show to appreciate the importance this has for the Poncenos. This is the only place I have ever been where the city provides free Wi-Fi into the park on the city plaza and there are electrical outlets to plug your lap top into behind the park benches….

The “vouwfiets” was essential to get into town from the anchorage, too far to walk and public transportation was not evident. I tried to go through the landside gate of the Ponce Y. C. but was refused entry and I heard from others that they charged $ 10 per day just to land your dinghy from the anchorage.

It was too deep for my taste near the Y.C. and I anchored closer to shore at the end of the bay. But it was noisy with salsa blaring till late into the night. I did not think that I could ever become allergic to salsa sounds. Even the smallest runabouts carry speaker systems that would be the envy of my oldest son. And on the weekends in places like Salinas, Ponce and Boqueron it is coming at you from every direction.

It’s all you hear when you turn on the radio. There are religious music stations that are all Salsa and in the D.R. they had religious songs in Ranchero sounds.

On the 27^th of February I sailed into Boqueron on the S.W. corner of P.R., on the Mona Passage. Between Ponce and Boqueron I anchored for the night at Jorobato.

Boqueron has nice public beaches and the town fills up with weekend guests. It is a typical beach town scene with road side food vendors and a great choice of restaurants. I celebrated my 72^nd birthday that Saturday with my anchorage neighbors, Duncan and Abbey, from Dawson City, Yukon. And on Sunday Randy Register of “Moon Rise” took me to dinner. Randy and I became friends in Green Cove Springs when I hauled the boat out there, last spring. He was coming from Samana, D.R., and continuing eastward to the Virgin Islands.

Rowing back to shore that Monday morning, I discovered that someone had stolen my folding bike. They apparently used bolt cutters to cut the chain lock.

That was a sad discovery because I had so much good use from the “klapfiets”.  The police was very cooperative.

A Drama at Sea: While in Salinas I learned of the fate of a single handed sailor’s drama that started while I was underway to the Virgin Islands. On January 10 Terry a British s/h sailor on “Marigold”, a 37 foot ketch, reported to the South Bound II net that he had suffered a mild heart attack that night. He was on his way from England to Martinique.

Herb Hilgenberg, who hosts the net, notified the coast guard in Martinique and twice daily radio rendez-vous were set up. He seemed to recover but then we lost radio contact for several days. The French coast guard located “Marigold” and talked to Terry via VHF radio.

He was able to fix his SSB radio and contact was re-established for a week or so and then the check-ins stopped again. He had changed his destination to Barbados in expectations of better medical attention. The Barbados coast guard was unable to find “Marigold”.

Sometime in the first week of February the wreck of “Marigold” was found washed up on the coast of Trinidad. Terry gave his home port as Preston.

Dominican Republic: The Mona Pass which separates P.R. from the D.R. can get rough in case of unfavorable wind and current directions. It is 150 miles from Boqueron to Samana. The first part was a good sail but heavy rain squalls and the wind turning against me made the last 50 miles challenging, to say the least.

I sighted the unmistakably distinctive tail of a Humpback whale and later a Humpback surfaced only 150 feet away. It had to be twice as long as my boat.  I had hoped to see more of them because this is area is known for easy sighting of whales at this time of the year, but in the weather I sailed in on the way out of Samana not even a whale would have wanted to be out in it.

The clearing in and out procedures in the Dominican Republic are still a bit vague to me. Customs, Immigration, Port Captain, etc. fees and procedures are unpredictable. I was told that for my 100 pesos ($2.80) tip the young officer from the commandancia would look after customs and immigration as well. But when I got to Luperon I found out that my passport had never been seen by immigration yet.

Samana was founded by freed American slaves and you can still find many typical American black names here.  Martin, our guide to the waterfalls, talked about how his grandparents only spoke English at home.

I arrived at day break and at lunch I met Richard and Karen from “Snowaway”, Canadians from Calgary. They were part of a number of boats that had met in the Bahamas and Turks/Caicos on their way from Luperon to

Boqueron, P.R.  This was a very pleasant break for me and I was able to participate in their company for the week that I was in Samana. That evening there were 9 of us for dinner at the local Italian restaurant.

The next day we went in a mini bus with guide with 6 of us to hike up to the waterfalls. The slide show describes it best.

On Saturday the 7^th of March 5 boats made a three day trip across Samana Bay to San Lorenzo Bay. This is part of the Los Haitises national park.

“Midnight Sun” a Swiss boat with Daniel and Christine from Berne, had arrived at the anchorage before we did and they joined our 9 cruisers group till we all left Samana the next Wednesday.

On Sunday morning we explored the caves with the pre-colombian Indian hieroglyphs. In the afternoon and again on Monday we took dinghies up the river, through the low hanging Mangrove canopy, to the “Paraiso” eco resort. Only the pictures will describe this delightful spot.

Terraced up into a steep rocky hill, overlooking the mangroves, the rice fields and cattle pastures that are all part of the owners estate, and beyond across San Lorenzo and Samana Bay. Cruisers are welcome to use the pool and showers. We had an excellent lunch on Sunday and Monday.

On Tuesday we all got back to Samana in time to do or last minute shopping for the next legs. The four boats headed for Boqueron and Midnight Sun and Fleetwood for Luperon. The wave and wind conditions were not even close to the predictions. They were rough, mean

and out of the N.N.E. This meant that us two had it right on the nose and the others as a broad reach, but all 4 boats to Boqueron returned to Samana, I heard later on.

It took me for ever to get around Cabo Cabron. (I just went to google the meaning of Cabron, because it has always had a nasty meaning to me. Well, it literally means a male goat).

And just before rounding it I discovered that I had lost the vane blade to my self steering wind vane. I turned the cabin into a carpenter shop, cutting a piece from one of the settee locker tops. It worked reasonably o.k. in the strong winds but the next day in lighter air it was not working properly.

Once around that N.E. corner of the D.R. I was able to get a break and ease the sails and start making some headway again. The current was also with me and I did the 150 odd miles from Samana in about 30 hours. “Midnight Sun” arrived hours ahead of me.

I had heard much about Luperon, some like it very much and others not at all. It is a well protected anchorage with excellent holding. There is no swell from the ocean and it is delight for a good night’s sleep. Many boats come here and never leave again.

The town is not much, a few cruisers hang outs, “Shaggies” and “Steve’s Place”, both run and owned by stranded cruisers. The marina has a number of activities for cruisers, Friday night Kareoke, which is a blast and very popular. The karaoke D.J. is Dave who is from Oklahoma City and boat name “Carry Okies”.  On Sunday they have a cruisers flea market.

The hardware store and lumber yard has a decent selection and I bought a sheet of 4 mm plywood to replace my vane blade. I had a local carpenter cut the sheet. I reinforced the thin plywood with carbon fiber cloth, which I had left on the boat for a postponed rudder replacement. Lots of fairing and sanding but I consider that it is working better than the factory supplied honey comb plastic versions, which tend to crack when you tighten the nuts too much. Or if you do not tighten them enough you end up losing three, like I did since last July. (I would not have if I had paid attention to the instructions and tied a string to it for an eventuality like this, I do now….)

SANTO DOMINGO: I had heard and read about the capital City of the D.R.  It is the cradle of the colonization of the Americas. The very first cathedral of the Catholic Church was built in S.D. Before dawn on Saturday, March 14, I rowed to shore before sun up to catch the 6.30 bus to Imbert. The bus usually does not show and then the taxis will take you for the same 45 pesos ( $1.25) if they can fill the taxi. We were squeezed 7 into a mid size compact. From Imbert I had the very last seat on a bus to Santiago, but no waiting at all, then within 15 minutes I was on my way to Santo Domingo and arrived just after 11 a.m. I was the only white person both ways on the busses/taxis. There was just one live chicken on one of the buses and she held her cool except when getting off.

You need at least a week to fully grasp the history of this city and its surroundings, with all the museums and antiquities and ruins.

I stayed in a nice small, clean, noisy, hotel, right near the main plaza for $ 65.00

Again, see the slides to get a better feel. I attended mass at the Cathedral of Santo Domingo, the oldest cathedral in the Americas. The Parish of New Orleans used to be under the bishop of Santo Domingo till the late 19^th century.

By crossing the island from North to South you pass through the mountains and across the high fertile plateau. Tobacco, corn, sugar cane, coffee, orchards, etc.

In Puerto Rico practically all the temperate fruits and vegetables, lettuce, etc., are flown in from the U.S.  In the D.R. they grow it all on the cooler high plateau and you get good fresh cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, etc.;

and all at much better prices than here in the U.S.

When I asked for chicken in the small grocery store, they bring out a whole chicken that is not refrigerated but obviously just slaughtered. They just hacked me off a leg and it tastes a whole lot better than the grotesque beasts they raise in the states, no fat.

Return to Florida: I had wanted to stop in Haiti and also try visit Cuba but I was getting anxious to get back to the States and cruised out. I departed Luperon on March 26 and arrived here in Fort Lauderdale on April 1^st. 680 miles

By way of the Old Bahamas Channel. I had the benefit of the current. The night from the 31^st to the 1^st I tried everything to slow the boat down to be able to enter Fort Lauderdale in daylight. I was hitting over 9 nautical miles per hour over the ground at times.

On entering the Old Bahamas Channel I was intercepted by a coast guard cutter. The next morning another cutter sent out a boarding party and then in the evening I was once again hailed by a cutter. You are all being extremely well protected. Your taxes at work!

Now the end of this trip here in Fort Lauderdale will be for sure one of the best memories. I am being treated like visiting royalty by my long time friends from Gig Harbor. Greg and Marlys Clark are a Captain/Stewardess team, who together with another 7 crewmembers work on a 161-foot mega yacht. They are letting me use the tender dock for moorage and are spoiling me rotten.

On Thursday morning Greg comes to the boat with this enormous box, a brand new folding bike with 6 gears.

I could not believe my eyes. Losing the one that was given to me in the summer of 2007 by Bob Ellsworth in Gig Harbor, was a real set back for me. Because I used this bike all the time and there are places where walking is out of the question and public transportation non-existent. I cover so much more of the area than any of the walking cruisers.

So, the beginning of the trip with my favorite first mate, Lynne, and now the end with such dear friends make all the nasty days and set backs a vague memory.

Stay tuned for the next adventure.