Nov. 29
We are here in Vero Beach on Mooring number 2. We will probably be here at least two more days as Kathleen wants to get Henry Morgan ( our male kitten) spayed bfore we get to the islands. The public transportation system is great as you can ride to anywhere in the city.

Thanksgiving was very nice, all the cruisers got together for a potluck thanksgiving and it was very nice to see all the people come together to share food and stories. Legacy is moored just outside the public dock so it was relatively easy to get back to the boat after eating.

Yesterday our outboard stopped working. It looks like it is the carburetor ( looks like this is the year of the carburetor) float valve as it will run a few minutes and then bog down and stop. I believer it is a stuck float valve, but I have no way on the boat to try a carb repair ( small parts and the water do not mix) so we are having a mechanic come pick it up and see what he can do. It is imperative that we have the outboard working as rowing against the wind and tide can be very tiresome. Hopefully if all goes well we can be on our way this Tuesday or Wednesday.

Hooray!!! our outboard is now working-- apparently the carburator was full of water. So we will be moving on down the ICW.

Tomorrow we will go to Hobe sound and the next day to Lake Worth, and weather permitting the next day we will be in Miami.















pot luck parking lot




















Desert lineup















Legacy on her mooring




=

Nov. 11

The morning was still and relatively calm as we headed to Factory Creek swing bridge. I had misread the notes and thought he would open his last time at 7:00am. It turned out the bridge was closed from 7:00am to 9am, and would only open at 10:00 and 11:00. We had gotten an early start and were able to get an opening at 6:40 am. I am glad we started out a little early.

I looked at the chart plotter without my eyeglasses and thought I could shortcut the ICW by going around an island on the inside of the turn. It turned out that the water for the most part was deep enough but there were shallows for about 1 yards that were only 4 foot deep. Fortunately I caught the mistake before we were hard aground and learned a lesson that it is always better to follow the waterway.

We passed Parris Island at about 8:30 on our way to Port Royal sound and the weather was sunny and winds were light.

As we left the protection of the land out the channel the wind started to pipe up and blow fairly strongly out of the North at around 20 knots. Since this put the wind on our stern quarter the seas were rolling us a little.

We passed Savannah inlet at 12:00 and the ship traffic was light and we had no problems making our way through. It was a relief to get through this area with so little ducking and dodging of container ships.

We approached the St. Mary's inlet at 11:30 pm having covered out 119 miles from Beaufort while it would have been about 300 miles down the ICW from Georgia. The trip wasn't too arduous and we saved about 5 days. So here we are in Fernandina were we will sit for a day or two before continuing our trek south to the Bahamas.












Parris Island









Container ship outside Savannah















Fernandina Mooring Field

Nov. 9

Nov. 9

Today's run to Beaufort, SC (pronounced bohfurt ) was a quick hop. We left South Edisto at 7:00am and were at anchor in Factory Creek in Beaufort by noon. We will stay here today and tomorrow and leave Thursday for Fernandina Beach weather permitting.

Nov. 10

Today we launched the dingy and rowed over to the public launch ramp. From there Kathleen and I walked ½ mile to Publix to pick up a few provisions and haul them back to the boat. The weather today was mild and Factory Creek is well protected from the wind.

I was able to get on the Internet and was able to get the offshore forecast for tomorrow. It looks like wind out of the North at 15 to 20 and seas 3 to five feet. The weather forecast looks good and we will be leaving tomorrow morning

Factory Island Swing Bridge

Nov. 8

It seems a lot of people here had the same idea this morning as about 15 boats all headed for the Wappoo Creek swing bridge on the migration south. The bridge's first opening is at 9:00 PM and nobody wanted to be forced to wait another hour for the next opening. We slowly worked our way to the front of the pack and turned to face the upstream to the current and come to almost a complete stop in front of the bridge.
After we were through I throttled back to 2200 rpm and moved along at between 5 and 8 m/h on our way to South Edisto anchorage. It was only 30 miles from Charleston and I was in no hurry to get there.
The days run was uneventful as we were chasing high tide most of the way. The main ICW trouble spots were no problem as due to the tide we had plenty of water. The weather seems to be co-operating and the sun felt good after 4 days of cold weather.
As we came out of the last cut we swung North around the bend and anchored in a beautiful spot. We got the anchor down and set by 2:30

Nov. 6
It was very cold this morning. Kathleen made a quiche in the oven and it helped to warm things up in the salon and made it a little easier to get underway. After clearing the dew off the dodger and raising the anchor we were underway.
Last year as we came through this stretch of the ICW the water was barely 5.4 feet deep. Today , as it was high tide when we left the water was at least 9.0 feet
At Ben Sawyer bridge we ended up waiting an hour for the bridge opening and as we entered Charleston Harbor the wind piped up to 25 knot and there was a regatta taking place in the harbor so we had to dodge sail boat of all sizes and types as we made our way Through to the Ashley River anchorage.
As we were laying the anchor there was a guy 100 feet away who objected to where we were anchoring so we upped anchor and moved about 300 feet more and dropped the anchor in 15 feet of water. The holding was good and we plan to stay here over the weekend and leave Monday morning.














Charleston Bridge












Another Snowbird Entering the Harbor













Part of the Regatta













Fort Sumpter

Nov. 5
We left Bucksport and headed south. The morning was cold and the windshield had fogged over. As we came down the River the ICW was in shadow from the trees on the east side. The Waccamaw River is a wildlife preserve and it is nice to have a river that is a mile wide and 30 feet deep in most spots. The only problem on the day was all the stink-potter gin palaces that wanted to pass on a plane and wake the hell out of us.
Georgetown South Carolina stunk as usual, I don't know what they make there but the factory stinks. We ran to the cut with a group of 5 boats as the day turned windier and colder.
We were planning on staying on South Edisto River but we pressed on and made Five fathom Creek just off the ICW south of Mcllellanville. We had the anchor down by 4:00 and settled down for a cold night. In the morning we plan to make Charleston and stay over through the weekend before moving on.

Nov. 4

The weather was somewhat calmer and it was slack high tide when we left the dock today at Southport and headed out. For most of the morning there was sun and the wind had calmed down to make the traveling pleasant. ( It turned out to be the calm before the storm.

We had timed our arrival at the Sunset Bridge Pontoon bridge for the hourly opening when the heavens opened and it started to rain buckets. Just at 3 minutes before the scheduled opening there was an emergency and the bridge was held for ½ hour. With a blinding rain falling and fifteen to twenty boats both power and sail trying to keep from going aground or hitting each other it made for a tense situation.

The pontoon bridge is the last of its kind in the state ( and maybe the nation) and will be replaced by a high rise bridge that is scheduled to open in a few weeks. The bridge is floated on pontoons and a cable is used to move a portion of the bridge out of the way so boats can pass through.

It continued to rain and at times we had very high winds as we continued on the ICW ( The decision to continue on the ICW as opposed to the Atlantic was looking better and better)

At about 4:00 PM the rain stopped but the wind was still out of the north and very cold as we entered a section of the ICW known as the Rockpile because there are large rocks lining the waterway and you have to be very careful to stay in the center of the channel. As we came around a bend there was a 45 foot catamaran with each side on top of a rock hard aground just 15 feet out of the channel. The good news for him was that his boat wasn't holed and it was low tide so he will probably be able to float off at high tide.

Just at 5:30 PM we got through the Socastee bridge and were able to make our anchorage just north of Bucksport , South Carolina with only about 15 minutes of daylight left to get the hook down and settle in for the night.Tomorrow we hope to reach McClellanville and anchor just off the ICW

.

Wednesday Nov. 3
We were the first out this morning from the anchorage. The sky was overcast all day and the wind was cold out of the North. I think there were about 10 sailboats as well as 5 power boats moving along with us.

One of the big aggravations of the ICW are the swing and bascule bridges. Some only open on the hour and some open on the hour and half hour but it seems that at each bridge there a group of boats waiting for the opening with wind and current contriving to make each minute a hair raising, white knuckle event.

On today's leg there were 4 bridges and at the last ( Wrightsville) there must have been 12 or 13 boats all crammed into a 1/2 mile by 300 yard area waiting for the bridge to open.

Once past Wrightsville the current was favorable and we made good time to Snow's Cut which connects the New River to the Cape Fear River. The current thorough the cut gaves us a good push until we were on the Cape Fear were we encountered a 2.5 knot current against us. The river was fairly choppy and a strong wind was still blowing out of the north.

We finally arrived at Southport at 5:15PM and are now tied up at a marina for the night.

The plan is to continue on the ICW as the weather outlook for the next 4 days doesn't look good. We will continue to the Waccamaw, Edisto Rivers and then to Charleston, and finally Beufort, S.C. where we plan to anchor as we wait for a weather window to go out on the Atlantic to Fernandina.

































ICW Rush Hour

Tuesday, November 2

We got up this morning at 6:00 am to discover that it is still dark. We were able to up anchor at 6:45 AM and start down Adams Creek.

Boy was it cold! The temperature was in the low 50's with 15 to 20 knots of wind out of the North. We were somewhat protected form the wind until we got Moorehead City on the Bogue sound and we were getting the full flow of the wind right in the face.

We planned a stop at Dudley's marina in Swansboro and were within 10 feet of their fuel dock when we went aground in 5.0 feet of water. After a fruitless ½ hour we decided to continue on toward Mile Hammock Bay which is part of Camp Lejeune. We arrived here at 3:30 and had the anchor down by 3:45. The holding is good and there is plenty of room for boats to anchor. They allow cruisers to anchor here but we are not allowed to go to shore. Right now Sea Horse helicopters are flying about but I expect most of it will die down this evening.

We plan to leave at first light tomorrow morning and plan to make Southport by the end of the day.Hopefully we will be able to stay warm tonight and have warmer weather tomorrow.

Nov

We're off. We finally got all our errands done today, I got a prop zinc and two shaft zincs, filled up the dingy tanks as well as the tanks for the generator, topped up the propane, Kathleen got the shot and health records for Uraine, as well as some last minute provisions.

It was good that we waited until today as Sunday the wind was out of the south and the water at the dock was only 5 feet 4 inches, Today, with the wind out of the North the water was up to 6 feet ( all depths referenced to my depth sounder). It was a piece of cake getting out of the harbor and channel as the lowest depth we saw was 5' 9” ( we draw 5' 2”)

1st Night's anchorage

We decided to cross the Neuse and drop anchor in Jonaquin creek, just off the ICW. The wind was pretty stiff on the river but the anchorage is fairly well protected and there is very little chop. We are anchored in 7 feet of water with a heavy clay bottom so we are snug at anchor here. In the morning we just have to raise anchor to be on our way at first light with tomorrow's destination Mile Hammock Bay.














Looking North












Other Boats in the anchorage

Thursday July 22

The last time I updated the blog Kathleen and I were in Vero Beach, Florida. We had Just leased a new Ford Focus and now had to figure out how to get both the car and the boat back to Sea Harbour. We thought we would both drive the car back and take a one way rental from New Bern, NC to Vero

Beach. No joy! All rental agencies we contacted did not have a car available in the time frame we needed so after much discussion we decided that I would single hand the boat back to North Carolina.

My first stop on the way back was at the Canaveral barge canal to fuel up. I had to wait for about an hour as there was ab oat in front of me and this caused me to have to anchor in Titusville. In the morning when I started out I lost the Raymarine GPS and had to fall back on the Furuno system that was tied into the NMEA network. This was helpful but the system was no very accurate and only was able to give me a position within feet of my true position. I was going to stop at New Smyrna but I arrived there at about 1300 hours and decided to continue on. Just outside of Daytona and I was stopped by the potty police who wanted to make sure I wasn't discharging my heads overboard. I wasn't. Later in the afternoon as I was passing Daytona I ran into a thunderstorm and was forced to slow down as visibility was limited for a while. I decided to continue on and try to make it through Saint Augustine. I made it through the Matansas inlet , it was mid tide, but I noticed one of the markers was aground on the beach. I arrived at Saint Augustine just as dark was falling and decided to continue to an anchorage about 10 miles north of the city. It was interesting going through the city in the dark but I made it through okay. and made the anchorage at about 2300.

The next morning I continued on and made it to Fernandina by about 1500 and was able to relax a little before continuing on. In the morning (0600) I left for the 30 hour trip on the Atlantic to Charleston. The day was fair and I had a nice wind for the first 10 hours. At 1400 the wind dropped and the sea was calm so I pulled down the sails and began to motor. The calm helped the motoring but I began to be assaulted by hordes of biting flies and other bugs. Fortunately at dusk the wind began to blow and the bugs slowly disappeared.

The passage offshore of Savannah was fairly uneventful as I moved inside the ship channel and avoided the many ships that were waiting for passage into Savannah. The evening was fairly pleasant until about 03:30 when I saw north of my position what looked like artillery practice- The clouds would light like bombs were exploding. As I came closer to Charleston the wind picked up and started blowing at 23 to 30 knots and I realized what I was was a thunderstorm cell generating a light show.

When I was about 10 miles from Charleston the seas also started to build to 8 to 10 feet, and my boat speed dropped to only about 1 to 1.5 knots as I had to move into the teeth of the wind to make the ship channel. I finally made the ship channel at about 1400 and was able to make an anchorage at bout 1600. After I made sure the anchor was set I went below and fell into a sound sleep.

When I awoke at 0600 I decided to continue the trip up the ICW as the forecast was still for higher wind and seas. From Charleston I was able to make it to just outside Georgetown and arrived there fairly early in the afternoon.

From Georgetown I planned to make my evening at Southport. The pontoon bridge at the North Carolina border was not cooperating however/ The bridge operator could not open due to low tide and I had to anchor for two hours waiting for the tide to rise to allow the bridge to open. Fortunately I had a nice current and I was able to tie up to the marina slip at 1600.

From Southport I was able to ride the tide up the river and made up to 10 knots for the next 2 hours. This allowed me to anchor in Mile Hammock Bay where I was only one day away from Sea Harbour. The day was uneventful and I made our slip at Sea Harbour at 1500 and was finally home.

The last two months have been busy making repairs

1. fixed GPS antenna ( broken wire in the antenna lead)

2. Fixed water system. The original system supply pipe to the pump was too large and was allowing the pump to suck air ( It is amazing how much you miss water pressure when you don't have it)

3. repaired air conditioning condensing pipe leak

4. Repaired the solar panel charging system. ( the system showed battery voltage at only 10 volts and all lights were flashing on the charging panel. It ended up being a fuse that wasn't blown but had a high resistance across it. After replacing the fuse the system is working fine.)

5. Varnishing the teak. The sun had done a job on all exposed surfaces and the varnish was flaking off.

We had Kirk Hathaway dive on the boat to replace the prop zincs and we discovered that the cutlass bearing has spun out and the prop shaft is able to move fairly freely and we are scheduled to go on the travelift at Sailcraft to inspect and repair.

Hopefully all will be complete before we leave November 1 for the Bahamas.

Thursday July 29

Tow Boat US showed up this morning and we were towed to Sailcraft to have the necessary repairs made. When we asked Sailcraft to give us an estimate on the potential cost to repair the high end was $2,500.00 if we needed to replace the prop shaft, prop strut cutlass bearing, and this was an optimistic estimate, if the strut was truly broken we could have fiberglass damage and face a much larger bill.

We arrived at Sailcraft at 8:30am and had to lower the aft mast stays and the forestay to allow the travelift access to lift Legacy out of the water.

Securing the forestay Legacy in the Travellift slings

When we had Legacy in the slings, out of the water, we were pleasantly surprised. As it turn out the prop shaft on Calibers is secured to a shoe with two bolts. The bolts were had loosened over time and

was allowing movement in the prop shaft. The cutlass bearing was worn and it allowed the shaft some movement in the shaft. It was a fairly simple matter to unbolt, and remove the strut and replace
the cutlass bearing on the bench.

After the bearing was replaced and the strut reassembled and the bolts tightened there was zero movement in the prop shaft! Boy did we dodge a bullet!

While we were in the slings we were able to tighten the rudder shaft and prop shaft stuffing boxes and tighten a lose motor mount, and refill the transmission oil. At 11:45 we were back in the water and the total bill was only about a ¼ of the original estimate.

Motoring back to Seaharbour there was virtually no vibration and the engine seemed to be running much smoother. BIG SMILE. It looks like we will be well prepared for this winters trek to the Bahamas.

The only thing left on the punch list is to replace the anchor chain. That will be done on August 18^th and we hope to shake down all the repairs on a trip to Ocracoke, or Cape Lookout.

Georgetown water taxi

March 21

We left Boqueron- headed for Ponce ( pronounced pon-say) , which is located about mid south coast of Puerto Rico, At 0500. It was barely light but the way through the reef was lighted bu a green marker. The day was pleasant and we had a very nice motor sail. As we were passing about the mod point the engine started stumbling and we were only able to make about 1700 rpm. I suspected a fuel problem but the aft tank was empty. The rest of

the trip we were able to make about 4 knots and made our way into the harbor at Ponce.

The first thing was to take on fuel in the aft tank which we did ( 50 gallons) , and asked for a slip. They had none available as there was a fishing tournament scheduled and all the slips were taken. We then anchored in the small bay there .

The next order of business was to contact Kato marine about the broken spreader bar on our davits. Even though they did not sell us the davits ( we bought them used) the shipped us the bar and the hardware without making us pay for the complete assembly ( the stainless steel ends which we had were serviceable we ended up paying for only the bar and some hardware. It turns out the spreader bar we had was not the right size for our dingy and this was the probable cause for the weld failure. Since Puerto Rico is effectively part of the united states the 2 day freight was relatively inexpensive.

I then took apart the supply hose to the filter for the forward tank and the valve was filled with stuff such that you could not see though it. After cleaning the valve and reassembling the motor ran fine. The clogged tube was apparently the cause for the engine stumbling and not running properly.

Since we would be waiting for the part, the next day we rented a car and re provisioned. In Ponce there was a Sam's Club, Walmart, Office Max as well as Hernando's cash and carry. After a hectic day of visiting the various shops we returned with our purchases to stow on board.

The next day we took a driving tour about parts of the old city and you could see the Spanish influe

nce as at the center of the city was a public square and a church with Spanish architecture. There were horse drawn tours available but we decided to continue via the car.

Thursday March 25

We got the part from Kato marine and installed it so now the davits work as they are supposed to. We decided to start our trip home tomorrow rather than continue on to the Spanish Virgin Islands.

Friday March 26

At 0600 we set out to return to Boqueron to stage our return home. The trip was uneventful and the engine is now running fine off of the forward tank. The trip was uneventful and we arrived back in Boqueron at 1400, After anchoring for the night we will leave early tom

orrow morning.

Saturday 27

After some discussion Kathleen and I decided we would by pass the DR and head back to the Turks and Caicos. Either trip would be about 48 hours but we would be 13 hours closer to home by heading for the Turks.

The weather and seas were very settled and the wind was light and variable. As we passed Isla Desechio ( about 20 mile out ) The wind picked up to

about 10 knots and the seas became very confused ( nowhere near as bad as our trip over) and gave us an uncomfortable ride. As soon as we passed the hourglass shoals waypoint the seas became regular and for the rest of the night we had a broad reach with 10 to 15 knot winds. The morning saw us off of Samana bay and we were halfway to our destination.

Monday March 29

The winds picked up a bit and we were able to maintain almost 7 knots as we passed the Silver Bank. For most of the day we had following seas and 10 to fifteen knots of wind. We sighted Big Sand Cay at 0530 and were able to get the anchor down by 0630. The rest of the day we rested as both of us were exhausted after 48 straight hours at sea.

Tuesday March 30

We left Big Sand Cay at 05

00 as the anchorage is completely open the the east and headed for Provo. The trip across the Caicos Banks was a nail biter as you had to dodge coral heads and deal with thin water ( in spots it was less than 5.6 ft deep and we draw 5.1 feet). We made it across without hitting anything and arrived outside South side Marina at about 1600. We hailed them and Simon said that we could try our luck getting in but it was just 1 hour passed low tide. We decided to give it a try and we made it to within 50 yard of the final set of buoys before we got stuck in 4.9 feet of water. Simon and his wife came out in their runabout and gave us a tow and finally we made it to the dock. After two days and sea and a day crossing the banks is was that last 50 yards that was the toughest.

We stayed at the marina for 2 days to take care of washing, Kathleen had to get a tooth looked at and we took on some more provisions, water, and we filled up the aft tank. I plan on letting the front tank run dry to make sure I have all the stuff cleaned out and trapped in the filter.

We left the marina and staged ourselves at Sapadilla Bay so we could get an early start to Mayaguana.

April 1

The exit from Sapadilla was fine and the weather was settled as we made our way the 43 miles to Abraham's bay. We had a good wind 15-18 knots off the beam and were able to average 7 knots for the trip. The anchorage at Abraham's bay is a little tricky as it is pe

ppered with coral heads so I laid down a track coming in on the chart plotter that I could follow the next morning. This next leg from Mayaguana to Calabash bay on Long Island will be the last long overnight for until we get back to the states.

April 2

Shore of Calabash Bay

The first half of the trip was fairly nice sailing as the seas were calm, the skies clear and the winds were 10 to 15 knots off our beam. As we approached Acklins Island however the seas started to rise to 5 to 7 feet and the winds began

to freshen 15 to 20 knots. We were able to maintain about 7+ knots but the ride was roll and bumpy to say the least. Finally about 0300 we ran into a few squalls and the winds piped up to 20-25 knots with gusts to 30. I had reef the sails when it started to get dark so we were prepared for the winds. At 0500 we reached Long Island, made it around the point and were anchored in Calabash Bay. It was still a little bumpy but a far cry from the night and both Kathleen and I were ready for a rest.

April 3

This morning we made the 18 miles from Calabash to Georgetown and are now anchored in Kid Cove were we will wait for favorable weather before continuing on.

At sea on the way to Staniel Cay

April8

At 0700 we left Georgetown Headed for Staniel Cay ( It has the cave were scenes were shot for the movie Thunderball). We had a nice quartering wind and were able to maintain a 7 knot average speed and arrived in Staniel Cay at 1600.

April 9

Kathleen with a Banaquit

This morning we contacted the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park at Warderick Wells and were able to secure a mooring. The park is beautiful and the water is crystal clear. There are bananaquits ( small birds) that visited us every mooring and would perch on your hand if it held a little bit of sugar.

April 13

Today we took a small weather window and headed for west end of New Providence ( Nassau is on this island). We will be here through Wednesday and hope to get a weather window for Bimini on Thursday. If all goes well we should be back in Florida by Saturday

A view of the shore of Samana Bay











Hotel on Samana Bay










Sunday Feb 28
We started to leave Ocean World Marina at 08:00 and as we were leaving the dock we failed to notice one of our lines in the water and naturally the line got wrapped in the prop. Gil and Dennis helped us get secured back to the dock and Doris was kind enough to dive on the boat and unwrap the line-- no damage but not an auspicious beginning. After that we moved to the fuel dock and filled our aft fuel tank and pumped out the holding tank, got our despachio from the navy for Samana and were out of the marina at 10:00.
Our plan was to go to Sousa and stage there for the day and leave later in the evening. When we arrived the waypoint given for the anchorage looked to be off by about ½ mile and we could find only rock on the bottom- nowhere to set the anchor so we decided to continue to Escondido, which was about 15 hours away.
The weather was relatively calm until about 2200 when the sky opened up and it started to rain. The radar showed a clear areal about 2 miles ahead but as we approached the rain moved with us. After the rain the wind started to pick up out of the south and the seas started running at about 3 to 5 feet.

Monday March1
We reached Escondido at 0630 and worked our way in. The place was like being in a steep canyon with fjord like walls all around and the seas being reflected back into the bay creating confused and choppy seas. We tried to anchor, but again were meet with a rocky bottom and decided to move on to Samana.
The seas picked up yet again as we rounded the cape and were met with 20 knot headwinds. I felt pretty bad until I saw some folks out in those seas and wind in open fishing boats. As we entered the bay the seas fell off and we were able to make our way into Samana. Just as we were approaching the anchorage we were met with two cruise ships taking up most of the channel and at first weren't sure whether they were anchored or not. As we got closer we saw that they were anchored and were disembarking passengers in small craft.
We arrived at the anchorage and I was in the front dropping the hook when an open boat with 5 people came alongside and demanded to board. At first I refused and then they showed some ID and it was the a rep from the Navy, a local port official, customs and immigration, a drug enforcement agent and an interpreter. It all made for a crowded cockpit. The port official wanted 24 dollars ( 0.60/foot of vessel length. The immigration guy looked over our passports and dispachio, the drug guy gave our below decks a quick run through. I didn't have any Dominican currency on me so I had to get a ride to the dock to go to an ATM machine to get money. I thought I was back in Viet Nam. There must have been hundreds of small two cycle motor bikes going every which way and the general atmosphere was of a third world country.
I went to the ATM outside the local bank and the machine swallowed my card. Fortunately the interpreter was still with me and we went inside to request the return of my card. The place was crowded with at least fifty people and I had to wait about ½ hour for someone to help me. I got my card back and using a different ATM was successful in getting the money I needed.
The next step was to pay the local port official, get my receipt, and then I could go to the Navy to get a dispachio to Puerto Rico. They were kind enough to write it out so we could leave early in the morning. I was then given a ride back to the boat and after 32 hours with no sleep was able to get some rest and prepare for an early departure across the Mona Passage.
Tuesday March 2
We left Samana at 0700 and had clear going until we reached the mouth of the bay. According to the weather forecasters we should have had a calm crossing, they were predicting winds out of the south with 10 15 knots and swells out of the south at 3 feet. WRONG!!!!. The winds we encountered were out of the south but there the accuracy ended. The wind was 20 to 25 knots out of the south and the swells were 7 to 10 feet out of the south east. The best legacy could do was 2.5 knots on the rhumb line into those wind and seas, so we had to roll out the sail and tack down the rumb line. While our speed through the water was 6.5 knots our velocity made good was only about 4 knots at best.

Wednesday March 3
As we got further off shore the winds clocked a little bit and we were still into the wind and seas
making an average of 4 knots. As we approached an area just off what are called the hourglass shoals the waves became taller, steeper and closer together. Legacy was taking a pounding. At about 7:00 in the morning the front fitting on the dingy backed out and dropped the front end off the davits into the water. I had to drop the dingy and then get in while the seas were pounding and twice I was almost thrown out of the dingy. I was finally able to get the fitting back on, get back aboard and raise the dingy back on the davits. About 10 in the morning I noticed our front navigation light near the coaming of the cockpit, with the port lens shattered. A couple of hours after this chore was dine the chart plotter and autopilot started to act up saying that position was lost and heading was lost, it would come back for a second or two and then start to lose it again. With the boat bouncing in the seas I had to get my tools out, take the console apart and locate an intermittent connection. I was successful in fixing the chart plotter and autopilot and I was just figuring what else could happen when the welds on the support post of the davits gave way and almost dropped the rear of the dingy in the water. I jury rigged some support with lengths of dock line and we continued on.
As we approached Boqueron, Puerto Rico the seas moderated somewhat and and we limped towards the harbor. As we approached it appeared that our chart was off again because as I entered the harbor through the reef the chart plotter showed the boat going through dry land. As we were not taking any chances we were moving at only 2 knots as it got completely dark. We nosed our way in until the depth shoaled to 19 feet and I dropped and set the anchor. As I went forward to do this I noticed that the teak bow seat had been ripped off of it's mountings- probably the cause of the loss of our navigation light.
All through this 36 hours, Kathleen was sick as a dog, not from sea sickness but suspected food poisoning. As the anchor was set and we could finally relax it felt good to have finally arrived here in Puerto Rico.

Friday March 5
After relaxing and resting for a day I went into Boqueron to contact customs. I had no local money and both ATM's in Boqueron were non functional. I had about $1.50 in change so I figured that would be sufficient. The local pay phone required $.50 for the first two minutes and .25 for each additional minute. As I was giving my information to the customs officer I was interrupted every minute to deposit another quarter. As we were almost done I ran out of quarters and was disconnected. I walked the entire town of Boqueron and was unable to find another ATM or a bank of any kind. I spent the entire day attempting to contact customs and was unsuccessful.

Saturday March 6
Doris , on Magic. was kind enough to let me use her cell phone and I was able to complete the check in process but still need to go to Mayaguez on Monday ( they are not open Sunday ) to completely check in and get my official documents. Hopefully our cruise of Puerto Rico will only get better from here.

One of the animal acts at Ocean World



















I don't know what the traffic rules are for horses on main street!







Us at the Brugal Rum factory. ( We even got free samples!)













The oldest fortification in the new world overlooking Puerto Plata harbor







General Luperon's statue












A view of Puerto Plata harbor
















Town Square in Puerto Plata










You can see the REALLY narrow streets ( especially with cars parked on both sides of the road)










View looking up the cable to the top of the mountain













View from the top














Christ the Redeemer statue










Another view from the summit










Fri Feb 12

We arrived today at Sapadilla bay on Provodinciales in the Turks and Caicos. The entry to the bay was through a channel in the reef called the Sandbore channel and after picking our way for a few miles through coral heads and rocks it was a relief to finally drop the hook.

Check in was fairly straight forward as I took the dingy over to government dock and went in to see customs and immigration. The Turks allow you to be there for up to a week without having to purchase a cruising permit so we will probably be here just a short while.

Sunday Feb 14

Today we moved to Southside Marina and it was nice to be hooked to the power grid and have a really high speed wifi connection. Simon, and the crew at the marina were very friendly and helpful and even drove us into town for a provisioning trip. The local IGA supermarket was the best we've been at on our travels outside the US. We took on 85 gallons of water and are now set in that department for a while.

Tue Feb 16

I took the autopilot linear actuator out and was preparing to send it to Raymarine for repair when I noticed that the actuator cylinder was loose and the outside housing was also loose. After tightening them the autopilot arm no longer rattled and moved smoothly in and out. I then re-installed the arm and IT WORKS!!! You cannot believe what a thrill it is to have the autopilot back in operation. After hand steering for 24 hour you can really appreciate the advantage of having the autopilot on the job.

Thursday Feb 18

At the end of our 7 days we started out for the Dominican Republic. The first stop was a day trip across the Caicos Banks to Ambergris Cays. The trip was kind of nerve wracking as there were coral heads and rocks every so often and as the sky was overcast the heads were hard to see until you were almost on top of them.

The anchorage was very rolling and bouncy as it was open to the north and there was a north wind blowing so we were out of there the next morning as soon as we could see to navigate around the coral heads and reef. The next stop was Sand Cay, a remote uninhabited animal sanctuary. We anchored in 15 feet of water over deep sand ( hence the name) and were firmly tucked in for the night, planning to leave the next morning for the Dominican Republic.

Saturday Feb 20

Legacy departed Sand Cay at 12:20 PM today bound for the DR. The advice we had was to expect a 20% reduction in speed due to adverse current. WRONG!!!. For the first 40 miles we averaged 6.0 knots and if we continued we would have arrived at 4:00 AM. Instead I had to reduce speed to 3 knots to insure we arrived after daylight. The last half of the trip was somewhat uncomfortable as we had a 3 to 4 foot swell from the NNE while the wind was blowing 15 knots out of the SSE. This caused the boat to roll severely as well as a significant pitch.

Sun Feb 21

The coast of the Dominican Republic is a lot different from the Bahamas or the Turks and Caicos. The Island rises out of the ocean in a steep hillside that is covered with subtropical vegetation. As we approached the island peaks were covered in clouds and the fog was thick in the valleys. The radar picked up a line of rain shower cells that were marching along about a mile off the coast. It seemed like a scene out of Jurraisic Park and that was not too far off the mark as some of the film was shot here.

We arrived at about 6:30AM and discovered that the marina did not open until 8:00 so we had to motor around and kill an hour and a half. When were able to raise the marina on the radio we were quickly assigned a slip and assisted in rigging our dock lines. The Navy visited us to sign us into the country then it was to immigrations. After checking our passports and such I was given a bill for 14000 ( fortunately it was in pesos which was about 42 us dollars.) Next was customs and all went smoothly. The marina is part of the Ocean World complex which includes a casino, a dolphin experience, and a sea show. The amenities are first rate and the dockage fee is moderate especially if you stay a week.

Monday Feb 22

Today we went to market in town ( free transport to and from). The ride reminded me of driving in Saigon in Viet Nam. The motor bikes outnumbered the cars 4 to 1 and the rules of the road were not rules but mere guidelines, There were several times I thought we were going to be involved in a maiming accident but somehow at the last minute a massive dose of braking was applied by some of the parties and disaster was averted.

There was a lot of poverty as well as affluence here and the contrasts are stark. The people are very friendly and tend to overlook the fact that we cannot speak their language.

After the grocery expedition we went to the Ocean World park and partook of their buffet lunch and watched the animal show. The first show was a series of bird tricks performed by macaws, parrots and cockatoos. The second show was a group of seals performing.

Tomorrow we have booked a tour of Puerto Plata and look forward to seeing the sights.

Tue Feb 23

We booked a tour of Puerto Plata for today and It includes the transportation as well as an interpreter. Eduardo was very friendly and gaves us an in depth tour of the town. We went for a tour of the the Brugal bottling plant and following the tour were given free samples of the product. I could definately tell the difference between the 6 year old and two year old rums, they also manufacture a type of clear rum that is more like a vodka.

We then proceded to a jewelery and cigar emporium. The Dominican Republic is one of the worlds greatest suppliers of amber and Kathleen was in her element. In addition to yellow amber there was also latimar and red amber and the prices were fairly reasonable.

The next stop was on old Spanish fort , Fort San Felipe,which overlooked the harbor of Puerto Plata and is the oldest such structure in the new world. .

After stopping for something cold to drink we then went to the cable car that takes you to the top of the mountain Loma Isabel de Torres 2600 ft up overlooking the city. At the top was a statue of "Christ the Redeemer" which was very similar to the statue at Buenos Aires. The view was spectacular and the altitude caused my ears to plug up. From the top the entire city of Puerto Plata could be seen.

After a day of walking up stairs both Kathleen and I were tired so after a small dinner we retired to the boat to rest. Tomorrow will be a laundry day and boat cleanup and hopefully today my navigation lights will arrive. I ordered them shipped FED EX international direct and it looks as though the transit time will be much less than it was in the Bahamas