Panama Canal Crossing 2013 Atlantic to Pacific

Hallowe'en Grenada

Hallowe’en 

The Hallowe’en Party at Port Louis Marina doubled as our going away party.  It was our last “Hurrah”  with our fabulous cruiser friends who had been our close social circle for many months and even over the last couple of years: 

Matsu...................Tim and Linda

Santosha..............Gabrielle and Marty

Zero to Cruising....Rebecca and Mike

Beau Soleil...........Jon and Shawna

One White Tree....Dianna (and) Ross

Mekeia.................Jack (already departed for Martinique)

El Vagabundo.......Kevin (off in the wild blue yonder)

Notre Vie,,,,,,,,,,,,,,John and Sunny

and all the others that we hashed with and played volleyball with, etc.

Luckily I had an easy costume, an old belly dance costume that I just managed to squeeze into.  My daughter had given me a lovely, long piece of hand printed material from Bali which made a great Turban for Wade along with the table runner from India which was a Christmas present to him from Zephyr, as well.  I became Mau Geisha and my man became Ali Babble.  The staff at Yolo’s voted us Best Couple Costume and we won a bottle of Mapo. kind of felt bad since we felt Linda and Tim won 

hands down with Cruela de Vil and her stolen Dalmation.  Gabrielle fashioned herself and Marty with a brilliant sail cloth design (very avant-garde!).  Jon had a full hammerhead suit and Shawna glowed in the dark as a beautiful Damsel fish.  John looked like Captain of the Love Boat and I covet Sunny’s Squid hat!  Other favorites were Happy Hour, The Weather Report: Sunny with a Possibility of Showers and Waldo (her maiden name is actually Waldo so her friends are constantly asking, “Where’s Waldo??”

Luckily it was so much fun with oodles of distractions away from the reality of leaving Grenada, it’s beautiful people and our friends. 

Bonaire, Netherlands

 Kralendijk, Bonaire

Close to our anchorage.  Kerol's Beach Bar and the waterfront Boardwalk

It was a long, slow, sloppy sail from Martinique to Bonaire.  A 450 mile crossing the Caribbean Sea; 135 miles from land at all times.

IT WAS SO WORTH IT!!

Captain Wade and his boat in Bonaire

Raising the new flag

M/Y Tatoosh
Paul Allen's Boat
Helicopter, Sail Boat and Water Sport Boat Included

Eurika, I found it!  Klein Bonaire!!

Little Bonaire all to ourselves!

Blue Crystal Clear Water

...and the search for the flamingos continue...et voila!!!!  An entire flock!!!

...and we set out on our faithful scooter to find even more.....

...and along the way...

...we come across cactus juice...

Solar water heater, varnishing and friends

The lovely Linda shows the finished product:  a fitted mosquito net cover for our companion way. 

This is her brilliant (hubby) assistant and designer, Tim. 

Clark's Court Bay with Tim & Linda's 54'Matsu, 1st on the right.

Finding a Gabriola Island, Canada homeboy with his British bride aboard his tug,  Flying Buzzard.

Julie & Mike (Homeboy) with singer and right hand mate.  Full Moon Party at Roger's Beach Bar.

The Art of Varnishing:
Tape along gel coat and edge of toe rail.  Sand with 80 Grit and then with 220.  Layer with thin coats of varnish and thin with thinner in the tropics if required or when varnishing in the heat of the day.  Apply coats when varnish is still a bit sticky (about 2 hours between coats).  If left to dry overnight, sand lightly, wipe with a dry cloth and continue so that there are at least 5 coats of varnish.  Some recommend up to 12 coats.  Take off tape as soon as it is just dry enough to do so.
Our swim deck and ladder get alot of abuse and we think that              lasts a bit longer.  It virtually looks the same and Wade is considering using it on everything should we strip the teak completely one day and start again.  I am, personally, a big fan of natural teak allowing it to turn grey as it is silky to the touch and less work although it must be washed more often.

As the varnish dries we have our Tuesday aft. volleyball games.

 HOT WATER POWERED BY SOLAR RESERVE

We take pride in our ambundant supply of solar power.  We have not yet met a boat that has as much solar power as we do with 1400 watts of power from the sun.  (See Solar Panel Installation in our Miami blog).
Since we fill the batteries on sunny days by 11:00 a.m. and had a waste of solar input Wade bought a 12 volt hot water heater element and switched it out so that we have hot water everyday and not just after running the motor.  We never use our new generator now, but it is good to know it is there just in case!

Hot water from my new spray faucet.  A beautiful thing!

HASH AT LA SAGESSE

Jack (Mekeia) and Kevin (El Vagabundo)
NOT Mambi Pamby's but actually Hard Core Hashers!

Mike (Zero to Cruising) ran the Marothon Hash.  It was a Killer and NOT MambyPamby.

Dave and Donna (Merlin) split up with Donna leading our 3 mile Hash and Dave off on the 7 mile trail.

Starting out at La Sagesse Beach

The After Hash Stag

After all the activity we get to stay cool in our new floaty.  It even has a cooler!

Brazilian McCaw

....And this is why they call Grenada, SPICE ISLAND!!