Hurricane Omar came and went but we're still here

This has been an interesting week, as in "May you live in interesting times!" We motored over from Aruba on Saturday and spent the evening in Santa Cruz Bay, a small harbor in the northwest of Curacao. This is a lovely spot with a pretty white beach set up with perigolas and thatched roofed tables for day and overnight campers and a small dive shop/restaurant. Thirty foot cliffs line the sides of the bay and a small creek meanders up around the corner with a few small fishing boats. We had stopped here for a night on our way west last fall. It was a quiet lovely evening with a spectacular sunset. We thought about spending a second night but one of our weather reports mentioned a possible wind reversal coming (that means the normal east/northeast trade winds turning west) and the mouth of this harbor faced west. If you are between the wind and the shore that's called trouble.

So after a lovely snorkel and swim we motored down the pretty coast of Curacao to the narrow winding passage in to the big lagoon called Spaase Waters, the major anchoring spot here in Curacao. It was packed with over a hundred boats! This made it difficult to find a good anchoring spot. As everyone would be turning 180 degrees soon with the wind change we decided to plunk ourselves down in one of the channels and move in the morning. The next morning's weather forcast mentioned the wind reversal with a spike in expected amount - up to 15 to 20 possible. We decided we'd better stay put until this passed and happily old friends Brad and Gloria on "Kindred Spirit" volunteered to take us around to Customs and Immigration in their rented car. We ended up spending the day with them shopping and having a great lunch out.


When we returned it just seemed late to reanchor and other friends Jeff and Una on "Dragonfly" were coming over for drinks. It turned out to be a smart decision. That night the shit hit the fan! Around midnight I heard the wind start to howl. I got up to close everything down and suddenly the boat began to shake. Steady winds up into the high 40's and driving rain moved in. The anchorage came alive. Scott had just joined me when we saw a catamarin in front of us come loose and head towards our neighbor - a fabulous vintage 53' yacht.


We got our air horn out and blasted it. Just in time the captain of the cat managed to motor forward and avert collusion. He reanchored but not for long and they weren't the only ones coming free.
We were extremely lucky we were in the channel and further away from another boat. Ours sails around alot in heavy winds as we have a lot of freeboard. We were able to let out more chain and hang on. The rest of the night was scary and sleepless.
Everyone was tuned into weather the next morning. Now to be fair, Chris, our weather guru, had said there were possible squalls with gusts up to 50 knots, but he'd been saying that for a week and this wasn't just a squall.
Suddenly it was TD15 (Tropical Depression) and hanging around northwest of us, moving our way slowly. We had another day and night of this ahead - yeech! Scott reinforced our anchoring strength by lowering our second anchor on a line with a loop over our other anchor chain. This puts the two anchors in a parallel position and adds to our holding capacity without adding more scope (not possible to do with the number of boats around us). It was tough to do in the wind and rain but happily he's a big guy (these anchors weigh 75 lbs).
It was another 24 hours before we had some relief. We took turns getting as much sleep as we could. Many boats left to find more secluded anchoring spots elsewhere in the lagoon and happily that left us with the most solidly fixed ones around us. Everyone shared information and weather over the VHF radio as our TD15 turned into a Tropical Storm Omar and then Hurricane Omar. AND it was still moving slowly towards us! All predictions called for it to change direction and move NE but it stubbornly refused to follow directions. Finally in the early morning hours the word came out, "It turned!" Yeh! Relief was mixed for all with the knowledge it was now headed for the Virgin Islands area where other nervous boaters sat over their radios.
As we are in a landlocked lagoon we did not have to deal with high waves. Our friends in Bonaire however are exposed from the west. All the docks and several boats were destroyed there, and beaches washed away. Any water front structures were damaged or destroyed. Most of the cruising boats were able to pack into the one marina and were safe there thank goodness.


By Thursday morning the last of the trailing squalls had ceased and the sun peaked out a little through the general cloud cover. We hadn't been off the boat since Monday! I took the supermarket free shuttle to do some shopping in the morning and Scott took the public bus into town to look at outboard motors. We are finally replacing our on again off again old one. It's never been the same since it had a dunk in the ocean twice.
That night we celebrated Gloria's birthday with decorations and dinner on board "Scott Free". Years ago Francoise and Roger on "Starship Annie" did this for my 60th and it was fun to pass on this tradition (Gloria however is younger!).
Today, Friday the 17th, Scott bought the new Tohatsu 9.8 hp outboard. Brad took him over to pick it up and he and Dennis from "Jubilant" helped him hoist it onboard. Unfortunately the space on the dinghy transom is not big enough and Scott will have to reshape it to steer. We'll need a few days to test it out before heading for Bonaire.

Cartagena to Aruba

Chris Parker, our weather forecaster, finally gave us a heads up. We asked our agent to get our departure papers and paid up our bill at Club Nautico. Early on October 1 we filled our water tanks, did a quick last minute grocery run and left the dock at 9:00 AM for the fuel dock. Seven hundred and fifty dollars later we pulled away and temporarily anchored off the marina. It is 22 hour trip to the Five Bays anchorage so we have decided to leave at 6 PM to cross the River Magdelana in the early morning when the winds are calmer and we can watch for debris - and still anchor in Guayraca, the middle bay of the five before dark.
It's always eerie to leave a harbor in the dark. The channel is pretty well lit and we've been this way before so it's safe. Still I held my breath a little as we negotiated the narrow entrance throught the breakwater. The rest of the night was really lovely - calm and full of stars. We had a positive current so we really had to turn the engine down so as not to get to the Magdelena before daybreak. It was calm as we approched but once the wind came up against the currents steep waves with short intervals crashed over our bow and tossed us a bit around. We knew this often happens here so we were prepared and it only lasted a few hours. Then it was a nice the rest of the way.

Approaching the Five Bays in Tayrona National Park is always wonderful. The highest coastal mountain range (peaks over 19.000 ft) in the world looms up behind the rocky cliff lined harbors. Our favorite is the middle bay with it's small fishing village and coffee colored beach. Our friend Reynando came out to visit with us and we spent five days snorkeling, kyacking and admiring the view. We were waiting for Chris to give us the go ahead for our next passage and he finally said, "GO"
This next part of our journey was full of possibilities and timing arrival in daylight at the potential anchorages was tough. We left early in the morning and at 3:00 AM passed the first possibility, Cabo de Vela (Cape of the Winds). It had been a good passage with some great positive currents and we were making good time.

Some squalls and a second oil platform not marked on our charts gave us some exciting moments but we were feeling pretty good. We decided to keep going and at least make it to Monjes del Sur, a rocky Venezuelan outpost we had visited last October (see posting for all these anchorages in October 2007). The weather still was great late in the afternoon but if we continued on to Aruba we would be there at 2:00 AM so we tied up onto the rope at Monjes at 5:00 PM and settled in for the night.
The next morning gave us an unexpected challenge. I was up early and noticed that we were lying in a strange position relative to the wind. We had somehow been pushed over the line and our keel was caught. Scott had to wake up quickly that morning for a swim to free it before the wind came up. We cast off not long after and set our course for Aruba and the Renaissance Marina - luxury ahead!
This is a first class establishment and a good value. We pay $50 a night to stay there and the rest of the hotel guests pay $300 and up. Three nights refreshed us completely. We also met a very nice couple from Scotland on "Atlantia", Margaret and Will that were heading west.


Our first day there however was spent on the internet and on Skype. We had decided not to continue on to Trinidad if we could change our plane tickets. These were frequent flier ones on American and Continental so this was a difficult process. It took a day but we managed. Unfortunately it meant I couldn't be home for Thanksgiving and my planned sister Paula's visit. This was very disappointing but frankly it was a huge relief not to be transiting the Venezuelan coast at this time. Security problems have been rampant. Just last week a French cruiser was killed there on his boat by robbers in front of his wife and 10 year old son. There have been many incidents within the last month. The Russian navy is off the coast till November in joint exercises with Venezuela. To top it off I've been suffering from bursitus and sitting for long periods of time has probably caused it to flare up again.
We emailed and then called all our family after we made the changes. Everyone has been understanding. Our next port of call is Curacao and we had a lovely day to motor sail the 50 miles over there.

Sitting and Waiting - for a window

A weather window to be precise. This next leg of our journey east to Trinidad is about 450 miles along the Columbian coast to Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire (off Venezuela). We would love to go direct from here to Bonaire, taking about 3 days (and nights). But it is unlikely the weather will hold long enough for us to do this. The prevailing currents and winds are against us and this is a notoriusly windy and stormy area. Squalls and thunderstorm are predicted pretty continuosly. So it's a little nerve wracking waiting.
Meanwhile we've had workers swarming over the boat. Scott and they have fixed the generator, the air conditioning, the ice maker, and the shore power relay. He's been searching out boat parts to accomplish that. We hired a young man to clean and polish the stainless steel and fiberglass. He's on his third day ($25 a day).
I've been cleaning the inside of the boat; washing down all the inside surfaces to get rid of mold and dirt. And then there is shopping at the supermarket and the public market, followed by repackaging, pre cooking, stowing and inventorying.
Every morning we walk for an hour or more around the old city. There had been a happy hour evening and pot luck here at the marina with the whole cruising community showing up. We've met a lot of new friends and seen many old ones.
So waiting around isn't boring - or scary, but we're still hoping to take off soon and get this section of our trip over and done with!

Cruising is a study in Contrasts

Actually our life is split into two very different lifestyles; home in the US with our family, friends and now our new community of Shrewsbury, Vermont and our cruising life aboard "Scott Free" with a different group of friends and community. This later existence provides a much wider scale of certain experiences - in particular recently is frantic activity/pain/fear vs boredom/pleasure/comfort. Our first two weeks back to the boat, "on the hard" at Shelter Bay Marina,
Colon, Panama we had both ends of the scale. When the boat is up on stilts in the boatyard the plumbing doesn't work - think back to chamber pots! It's the rainy season and the boat is covered with canvas so there's little light below and WOW, is it hot! Plus of course the boat is filthy. Frantic activity and pain are the dominent feelings for several days. Once in the water however the cover comes off, the breezes blow and the toilet is usable - heaven, comparatively. The manager of the marina, Bruce and his wife April, live with their children and their pet sloth (see here) on their boat "Chewbacca". They really helped us out with boat projects and in two weeks we were ready to head east. We took off in with thunder storms on all sides to motor towards the San Blas islands: the next day and twenty miles from our destination the engine stopped. There was very little wind and we were not far from the coast so immediately the pit of my stomach tightened up. There had been storms with thunder and lightning off in the distance for two days and one was
approaching. Scott started working in the engine room and I watched the wind indicator start moving up. Soon we were in 20+ knots of wind and pouring rain. Happily Scott changed a fuel filter and got the engine working but it stopped twice more. Changing fuel tanks (we have 2) seemed to help but we didn't know why. The "bad" tank had more fuel than the good one and we didn't fill up in Panama as it was cheaper in Cartageña. So now I'm also worried about running out of fuel before we reach there (Scott doesn't worry; he gets frustrated). We managed to get into Porvenir, an administrative location for the Kuna, and get our paper work done just before it closed for the day.

We are on a "schedule" unfortunately. We need to be in Trinidad by Nov. 18 and that is 1,000 miles away from Colon, Panama. We stupidly bought round trip plane tickets from there. As we go 6 miles/per hour at the best, that is a lot of traveling. And then, of course, we got a later start from the marina than hoped. Everyone thinks we are crazy as this is a notoriously difficult passage, against prevailing winds and currents (and of course along the coasts of Columbia and Venezuela).
The next day the engine stopped several more times. Now, except for the squalls, there is little to no wind right now. This makes it possible for us to make this trip - but you have to have an engine! Scott got it started each time but only for a while. We managed to get into the Coco Bandares islands (through a narrow reef entrance - I was holding my breath) and they are as close to paradise as you can get out - think Bali Hai. This is the pleasure/comfort end of the experience and it IS definitely heightened by the anxiety experienced earlier. If you enlarge the picture of me after a lovely swim you'll still see the worried look.

The next day we swam, snorkeled etc. and Scott spent time cleaning, tightening and changing oil filters. So we set to out sea the next morning early for Columbia - two full days and a night away. Twenty five miles out and three stops later we turned around and returned back to our anchorage. Fifty miles with no gain and a lot of anxiety (me) and annoyance (Scott).
The next day he spent hours going over the entire fuel/air system, found a broken hose clamp and declared the problem solved. Happily for us, not long after that a Kuna man in a dugout brought over some crabs for sale. They are huge and we bought just one as we had a lot of fresh fish on board. Scott caught two more earlier out to sea. We cooked it and picked off quite a bit of meat which I combined with some heavy cream and green onions to put over the fish. Wow! That made us forget the engine for awhile.

We were off again the next morning. This time, after more problems, I suggested we head towards the nearest mechanic. Much to Scott's frustration this was going back towards Colon. But the engine continued to quit and he aknowledged it was the best decision. We managed again to anchor near the "Swimming Pool" in the Eastern Holandes islands and he made a VHF call out for help. Several people called to talk and make suggestions. One of them really sounded promising, cleaning out the fuel hoses with compressed air from our air tank. After accomplishing this difficult task, he declared victory again. We would be running some tests tomorrow. The anxiety in the pit of my stomach continued however, although the pot luck on BBQ island that night temporarily shut it down!)


But this time it worked! It took 100 miles before I really relaxed - it didn't last long! Our first day the weather was perfect - flat seas, a gentle breeze and sunny skies. There were a lot of tall clouds way off in the distance. Well at 10PM that night we entered them - all night long we traveled through a series of squalls and the seas built and built. Think of being in a washing machine, in the dark, in the pouring rain with wind in the 20's, gusting to the 30's. One of us is glued to the radar trying to see little dots that indicate other boats out there as there's no visability outside and the other is in the cockpit hanging on for dear life.
Meanwhile we found out just how poorly we had stowed things away! Bottles, dishes etc. crashed into each other in the shelves and a lot of things hit the floor. Scott saw the computer sliding off the table and managed to slide underneath it - saved! We were however extremely lucky that none of the exciting lightning bolts came near us. Other people have not been so lucky out here - several have been hit and have every piece of hardware fried on the boat. This is not only expensive and time consuming but makes it hard to find shore!

It was a long and sleepless night for both of us and as dawn approached, the storm abated and eventually the seas started to calm down. By noon the sun came out and we could start to put the boat back together. We had several "hitchhikers" during the night - two tiny birds, one shown here, huddled below decks at times and found respite from the storm. The last despite finding a moth to eat and some fresh water to drink succombed to exhaustion and we found him lifeless on the bunkroom floor.

Our engine was fabulous thank goodness and we made very good time on the crossing. By early afternoon we realized that we could make it all the way to Cartagena. The grand entrance to the harbor, guarded by twin Colonial forts with the Columbian flag waving proudly over them, looked wonderful to us. And then to make our joy complete, our old friend John, manager of the Club Nautico marina, was able to find a berth for us (that evidently had been promised to others we heard later).


Now this is the other side of the contrast - the opposite of activity/fear/pain and it is bliss. At 5:30PM we were tied up tight to the dock, in the cockpit drinking gin & tonics, followed quickly by great leftovers and then into the flat, soft, dry (I managed to drum up the energy to change the sheets) bed in the quiet boat. We slept for 11 hours straight!

Still Alive in Peru

Our entire trip to Peru has now been reorganized so that it flows from the beginning to the end! This first entry is a general intro, the rest follow chronologically. Only the first 10 entries appear when you check into the blog, but if you click on the month of June, you'll get the entire trip.





What was I thinking? I knew that we were spending 16 days trekking in the Andes. I knew we'd be hiking 6 - 8 hours a day from 10k to 16k feet. Our friends Walt and Honoree had emailed us that they were running 6 miles a day and were at their optimum weight. "How were we doing?", they asked. NOT GOOD! was the answer. We had walked 3 - 5 miles a day in Cartagena, but the last month we spent in the islands off Columbia and Panama swimming and kyacking - and that's it, and at sea level.

Well I paid for this ommission in spades. Scott has never had any problem walking up mountains. His lung capacity is amazing - mine is horrible. I'm as slow as molasses at home walking up 6,000 ft. mountains. Basically for many hours each day I felt like I was in hard birthing labor - the breathing is the same for me. Breathe in, step; breathe out, step - legs exhausted and wobbley. Only will power and too many stops for rest kept me going. But we all made it in the end.


It was one of the hardest things I've ever done and one of the most memorable. We look forward to coming back and trekking again with Peruvian Andes Adventures! I can't say enough good things about this organization. See for yourself...go! (www.peruvianandes.com) Eli, our guide, and the rest of our crew were amazing, as you'll see if you read the details of our trip which follow.

Our reservations for this trip were made last fall, along with those for the Inca Trail (with SAS) and the train to Huancayo (with Incas de Peru). Other than that we winged it.
We flew to Lima on May 1 and met Honoree and Walt on the next day. On the 3rd we took a 8 hour bus to Huaraz and were met by Esau Morales from Peruvian Andes
Adventures. We stayed at the Morales Family Guesthouse (very comfortable and attractive!) for four nights while we did 3 day hikes to acclimitize.
Our first day we were off early that morning and WOW realization hit. This was an easy day, supposedly. I thought, "They're going to tell me I can't go!"

The next morning I asked Eli Morales, our guide, and his brother how I had done the day before. They laughed and said, "Today is the test!" Shit! It sure was. We hiked up to a hill above Huaraz of 14,500 feet in three hours of very steep rough climbing. Several times I thought I couldn´t go on, but Scott encouraged me. At the top I took Eli aside and asked him, ¨Do you think I can go on the trip?¨ He looked at me like I was crazy. ¨You - you´ll be fine.¨ It turns out that we made it to the top in normal time and down in even better.
The down affects people differently. Three or more hours steeply downhill is exhausting on the legs, especially the knees - but at least I could breathe. Years of skiing has strengthened Scott´s and my knees.

Our last day hike was 7 more hours of way up and way down with, at least for me, a fun breather doing some rock climbing, with ropes to help. That´s Walt here coming up the rope with Eli behind him.

The lake at the top was amazing. We had a father and daughter from the Dolmonite region of Italy with us this day. They didn't speak Italian! Their native language is Ladino and they also spoke English, Spanish and German.
The fourth day was the start of our trek. There were five of us clients, Geoff Spedding from British Columbia joined the four of us. Our team was composed of Eli Morales our guide, Roger, the.

¨sweep¨, Myoume Morales, our cook and Eli's sister, and her assistant, three donkey drivers and around 15 donkeys to start. We had a dining tent, a kitchen tent, three tents for the clients and three tents for the support team. Oh, and a toilet tent of course, which surrounded a deep hole in the ground, dug freshly at each location.

Our trek lasted 13 days and we crossed at least one pass each day, three were close to 16,000 feet and two were in snow. The people we met were equally
important to our enjoyment of the trip, especially the children. We brought candy, pens and notebooks with us to pass out to the children in the high mountains. We were kid magnets!

Walt and Honoree had a wedding anniversery on our trip and we had a terrific celebratory dinner. Myoume (that is her far right above

toasting our happy couple with Roger and Marcello) outdid herself, making a beautiful orange cake, decorated and with a candle! The dining tent was adorned with ballons and the meal was as always outstanding. We had a toast with wine too! Scott and I surprised them with a tapestry we had bought at the market.

After we returned from our hike we felt teary leaving these wonderful friends with whom we had shared such an amazing experiences. Additional entries follow with more details and pictures. But we, after this trek, were off again, back to Lima and then to many other places in Peru. Check out my further entries!

Trekking around the Alpamayo - Part I

After three days of day hiking we really enjoyed our first day of the trek - driving down the valley and up a long narrow dirt road to our first campsite - no hiking! That's Esau Morales with his dog saying goodbye to us. That's Marcello our assistant cook behind him and Roger, our "sweep" on the right. In the group picture from left to right that's Roger, Myoume, me, Ali, Honoree, Walt, Geoff and Scott with Marcello kneeling in front. We made several stops on the way. Our first was the memorial park for the town of Yungay where in May, 1970 14,000 people were buried by a landslide set off by an earthquake. A group of children and their teacher were visiting a mausoleum built on
artificial hill near the town when it happened. They watched while their homes and families were inundated. Now a beautiful park lovingly tended with thousands of flowers covers the remains. The facade of a church was erected with views of the mountains at the end.

Nearby we stopped by the side of the road for lunch. Myoume is a talented chef that can prepare terrific meals anywhere. Despite the continuous nausea I'd been experiencing for days, her lunch tempted me. Fresh trout with carrots, onions and herbs, and brocolli.

Next was a stop at the local market in Sucre where we found some local tapestry to put away for Honoree and Walt's wedding anniversery later in the trip and Honoree found a terrific hat which she wore for the rest of the trek (on her head in the picture, third from left).
Our first campsite was at the end of a very long dirt road and the site of a small village. Every child in the vicinity hung around us until dark. Honoree was the ringleader. She had us and the kids singing songs - no mean achievement!


The next morning we started out early - six hours up an endless series of switchbacks. For the first four hours it was discouraging as we could see our campsite below for what seemed like forever. Up above we saw the waterfall we would cross and then the distant pasture with trees where we would have lunch. Today we had chicken vegetable pasta salad - delicious and healthy. Hot tea is served with every meal, even on the trail.

With two more hours of hiking ahead I settled into plodding along, head down. Joyfully we reached our campsite earlier than expected and the gaily colored tents are a wonderful sight. It was a beautiful spot with endless views of the mountains and it was a lovely sunny day. It was the first and last time we were able to sit outside and read before dinner.
It was always too cold or too late from then on. Dinner was terrific but I was still having problems eating. Eli didn't feel it was altitude sickness so Scott diagnosed side effects from the altitude medecine and my blood pressure pills. So I stopped taking both for 24 hours and I felt much better. Then I resumed my normal blood pressure prescriptions and all was well.