Whales are all around our ship as we are making our way to Juneau, AK
Test posting from Iridium Go!
We are seeing lots of whales and having a nice day at sea. Winds were very strong and its bee cold.
We did an Alaskan beer tasting.
It looks like the winds and waves are calming down.
The boys played shuffle board and we are going to the Brazilian Steak House for dinner.
Test posting from Iridium Go!
We are seeing lots of whales and having a nice day at sea. Winds were very strong and its bee cold.
We did an Alaskan beer tasting.
It looks like the winds and waves are calming down.
The boys played shuffle board and we are going to the Brazilian Steak House for dinner.
Testing testing!!
This time we are trying to send a picture.
We are testing our new IridiumGO while we are at home so we know what to expect and how to work it while we are underway. This is only a test!!
It has been a very busy two weeks.
It has been raining in PA everyday. Not just a light rain, but heavy downpours and some sort of water problem has been at the top of our to-do list!! An Investment Property’s basement flooded, a water heater flooded another investment properties basement, the driving rain poured into the garage of the spec home, and we can’t get the yard finished at the spec home because it is so wet. Every phone call we received was for a water problem at one of our properties.
Also during the last two weeks we did not have any showings on our primary home, the closing has been delayed on the spec house, and the tenant who was filming a reality show in Barkway, gave us less than two weeks notice that she was moving out. … AAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!!! What else could go wrong?
Things were not looking good. We were beginning to wonder if the universe was telling us it is not time to Sail Away…. but yesterday, July 1st everything fell nicely into place!!
The Spec house closed, a really great new tenant moved into Barkway, and we executed an offer on our primary home which does not close until September 30th, just a few weeks before we leave.
Now, we can take a deep breath and start to focus on tying up loose ends with our real estate business and have a property management company take over the management of the investment properties. Things are coming together nicely, but it has not been without a few bumps along the way.
Sail Pending is currently pretty well-equipped for Charter boat. She has 4 private staterooms (bedrooms), 4 heads (bathrooms), a fully equipped galley (kitchen) with a stove top, oven, microwave, refrigerator, freezer and all the other modern appliances anyone would need for a weeks vacation in paradise.
But, there is a big difference between being well equipped for a week vacation in the Virgin Islands where the islands are, at the most, a mile or two apart and being well equipped for a 14-16 month voyage between islands that are 20 – 75 miles apart.
Sail Pending is currently equipped to Sail in areas like the Virgin islands, where the islands are all within line of site.
As we expand our cruising area we need to think about long term sailing and being out at sea for several hours and sailing overnight. We may even choose to do larger passages where we will be at sea for several days at a time. Our first “big” (at least big to us) crossing will be from the BVI’s (Virgin Gorda) to St. Martin, and this passage will be done with most of the passage completed overnight.
There are several additions that we are adding as soon as the charter season is over.
1.) Solar Panels – The electrical System on Sail Pending is pretty complex. There are 5 batteries and an inverter which turns the 12 volt battery system (like in a car) into a 110 AC volt system for the outlets (the outlets are normal 3-hole plugs that we all have in our homes). The way the batteries are currently charged is if the engines are running or if we are running the generator. Everything on the boat, except for the Air Conditioning can be run off of the batteries, but when the batteries get low and we have to start an engine or start the generator to charge them. The generator uses about 1/2 a gallon of fuel an hour, and with fuel at +$4.00 a gallon in the Caribbean we want to avoid using fuel as much as possible. So, We are adding five (5), 100 Watt each solar panels to charge our batteries without having to start a fuel burning engine. During the Day the solar panels will fully charge our batteries. It will take approximately 2 panels to create enough electric to run our refrigerator and freezer for 24 hours and the other three will be additional to add extra charge to the batteries.
We will be using the wind to propel us from island to island, and the sun to charge our batteries. We are planning on using very little fuel.
2.) A Water Maker – Water is also very expensive in the islands. You won’t hear us complaining that the Rum and Beer are cheaper than the water, but we still need clean water for drinking, washing and bathing. We are adding a desalination unit with a filter for drinking water, so we will be able to turn salt water from the Sea into fresh, clean, drinking water at rate of about 15 gallons an hour. We will be able to keep our 80 gallon water tank full. Currently, we have to pull into a marina and pay to fill it up about about every 7-10 days.
(So, think about this… 3 of us use ONLY about 10 gallons of water total per day while living on the boat. A typical person living in the United States will use 25-40 gallons of water while taking a 10 minute shower!!)
3.) A I S – Automatic Identification System. This is an automatic tracking system used on large vessels world-wide. The system electrically exchanges data with other vessels, so even though you can not see another vessel with your bare eyes you will be able to know what type of vessel it is and its currently position, course and speed. A boat of our size is NOT required to have AIS, but we are adding it as additional safety equipment.
4.) Radar – When you have AIS, you can only see other boats equipped with AIS. AIS is only required on boats of 300 gross tons or more. But, there are a lot of smaller boats out there that are not equipped with AIS, so we will also have Radar on Sail Pending, so we will be able to know where these boats are with out being able to see them visually, as well.
In short, AIS will keep very large ships from running into us and Radar should keep us from running into any smaller boats.
We will also have other Smaller, Personal safety equipment on the boat, such as; life-raft, life jackets, ditch bag, Satellite Phone and EPIRB.
Our house has been on the market for a little over two weeks now. The first 10 days we were in the islands with friends, so it was easy to keep clean, but now that we are home it is a chore to keep it in tip top shape for any last minute showings. (Right now, I should be cleaning instead of writing this blog)
This past Saturday, we assumed there would not be any showings so we decided not to make the beds and we had a few dirty dishes in the sink because we wanted to spend extra time working with Tyler on his End of the Year Project for school. … Then, we received the call!! Someone wanted to see our house in 30 minutes, Yikes!!
We immediately stopped working on Tyler’s project and…. Washed the dishes, Wiped off the counter tops, Made the beds, Dried out the sinks, Closed the toilet seats, Freshly Vacuumed the Carpets, Packed the Dog and all of his toys in the Car and drove around while strangers walked around and critiqued our home. We cleaned the house up better under stress than we would have if we cleaned it up in the morning just “waiting” for the call for a last minute showing.
YES, It’s a very scary thought of giving everything up and moving onto a Sailboat. But, it is even more scary for me to think about staying here and doing this same thing for another year. I have a life that most people dream of; I have a life where most people would feel comfortable and secure, but what most people “think” of as their comfort zone, bores the HELL out out of me.
Jimmy Buffett has a song “Growing Older But Not Up” and in this song and he says, “I’d rather die while I am living, then live while I am dead.” Currently, I feel like I am am “living while I am dead”, doing the same thing, in the same place, at the same job, day after day after day after day. I am constantly working for material things that I own, rather than working towards living life.
I know that amazing adventures await and they may test the boundaries of my comfort zone, but I am excited to see where the “winds of change” will take take me.
“I’m growing older but not up
My metabolic rate is pleasantly stuck
So let the winds of change blow over my head
I’d rather die while I’m living then live while I’m dead” ~ Jimmy Buffett, Growing Older but Not Up
We spent 3 nights moored in Puerto Real, just outside of Esperanza.
The day after we arrived we rented a car and toured the island. From Esperanza we drove west along the beach and the closest beach to where we were moored was Playa Grande.
One things we learned about Vieques is that each beach we visited was more beautiful than then the last, but some of the beaches can be tough to get to by car. Here is the road to Punta Arenas.
Punta Arenas or “Green Beach” is the Western Tip of the island.
Another beach we visited was El Gallito on the Northern side of the island.
We stopped by to thank a local lady who helped me coordinate our visit. I met Wanda through a cruiser Facebook page and she walked me through everything I needed to know about the island. Her house and guest cottages were absolutely stunning and her beach was the most beautiful beach we visited. She was nice enough to let us spend the reminder of our afternoon there. We call this beach Wanda’s Beach. If you ever visit Vieques and need a place to stay make sure to check out Ababor Suites, I will promise that you will not be disappointed.
Above is Wanda’s dog who was just left at her house as a stray a few weeks ago. A guest has adopted the dog and the dog is moving to Ohio…. This poor dog is going to wonder what the hell he did to have to move from this beautiful home to Ohio.
In the distance you can see a few of the wild horse that call Vieques home. They are seen everywhere around the island.
Wanda’s beach had a very calm tidal pool protected by a natural rock shelf. The tidal pool felt like bath water and had some little areas that you could sit in like a hot tub.
There are several South side beaches too that we didn’t make it to the first day… Stay tuned for Vieques Underwater, because these were the beaches that were calm enough for snorkeling.
Sail on Sail Pending 